THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 A 
 
 MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 WITH 
 
 Scenes anD facts 
 
 II.I.USTRATIVK OF 
 
 INDIA, ITS PEOPLE, AND ITS RELIGION 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM ARTHUR, A.M. 
 
 EDITED 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND APPENDIX 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY HAIGH 
 
 LONDON 
 CHARLES H. KELLY 
 
 2, CASTLE ST., CITY RD., AND 26, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C, 
 
 1902
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED 
 
 EDINBURGH
 
 
 TO 
 
 JOHN POYNDER, ESQUIRE, 
 
 WHOSE 
 
 ABLE AND SUSTAINED EXERTIONS, 
 
 ©It behalf of EnUia, 
 
 HAVE, BY THE BLESSINO OF GOD, 
 
 ENCOURAGED EVERY LABOURER FOR HER ENLIGHTENMENT, 
 
 REMOVED 
 
 DISHONOURS FROM THE BRITISH NAME, 
 
 AND FACILITATED 
 
 THE REGENERATION OF A GREAT CONTINENT ; 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 
 
 1661523
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 " A Mission to the Mysore " was Mr. Arthur's maiden 
 volume. It created an extraordinary interest at the 
 time of its publication, alike in the author's own 
 Church and in other Churches ; and it circulated widely 
 for a long period. Few volumes have done more to 
 stimulate missionary interest. I, for one, can never 
 forget the glamour which the book threw over me 
 when I first read it, more than thirty years ago ; and 
 now, having lived the greater part of that time in the 
 very region of which Mr. Arthur writes, I find as I 
 turn to it once more that it is yet a living book. Its 
 enthusiasm is still catching, its eloquence still attrac- 
 tive; and, judging it from a standpoint which was then 
 impossible to me, I own myself surprised at the range 
 and accuracy of its information, at its clear insight into 
 many problems, and at the validity of many of its 
 judgments. It is fifty-five years since the book was 
 first published, and, inevitably, that lapse of time has 
 changed the point of view in regard to many things 
 Indian; but on the whole there has been little to
 
 VI INTRODUCTION 
 
 correct in this volume, and the work of editing has 
 been in the main supplementary. 
 
 Fifty-five years ! They have been among the most 
 fateful years of India's history. Think of the changes 
 which they have wrought in her outside relationships. 
 England is now only a fortnight from her shores, and 
 each evening the cable tells her what of importance 
 all the rest of the world has done that day. India is 
 not any longer islanded from every other nation. The 
 whole world obtrudes itself upon her, mingles its 
 interests with hers, and compels her attention. Her 
 old aloofness has become impossible; her old disdain 
 could henceforth be only a silly anachronism. Within, 
 the changes have been still more impressive and 
 potential. The Mutiny first tested, and then con- 
 firmed, British supremacy ; the East India Company 
 has been superseded by the Crown ; railways and 
 telegraphs have been making for political unity and 
 a national sentiment; and education — inviting both 
 sexes and all classes, displacing ancient and venerable 
 fables in favour of history and modern science, and 
 provoking such literary activity as India has not often 
 known before — has set on foot a revolution. 
 
 Side by side with these momentous developments 
 there has been a steady but gradual extension of the 
 Christian propaganda. In Mr. Arthur's time the 
 number of Protestant missionaries in India was still
 
 INTKODUCTION VI 1 
 
 insignificant. To-day, though far from being sufficient, 
 they are ten times more than they were then ; while 
 the Indian preachers, few relatively, have become in 
 the aggregate a great company. With larger numbers 
 there has come better organisation, the friendly de- 
 limitation of areas, increasing concentration, and a 
 much greater variety of method. Christianity is not 
 only touching a vastly larger number of the people of 
 India than ever before, but it is touching their life at 
 far more numerous points. It reaches them through 
 their women ; it talks to them in their newspaper ; it 
 appeals to them in their sickness ; it invites them 
 through their industries ; it suggests relief for their 
 social wrongs ; and is striving with patient zeal and 
 growing success to encompass the whole round of their 
 interests by its gracious ministry. 
 
 Of the various missionary developments which have 
 taken place in India since Mr. Arthur's time, three 
 may perhaps be briefly indicated : — 
 
 (1) The first has reference to missionaries themselves 
 and their attitude towards the non-Christian systems 
 that confront them. Mr. Arthur's book reflects the 
 assumption which was prevalent in his time, and for a 
 long while after, that that which is outside Christianity 
 is wholly and hopelessly false. It was not unnatural 
 that such an assumption should express itself chiefly 
 in uncompromising criticism, and earnest, if pitying.
 
 Vlll INTRODUCTION 
 
 denunciation. Gradually, however, the method of 
 St. Paul at Athens has been impressing itself upon 
 Christian missionaries. They have come to apprehend 
 that God can never have left Himself anywhere without 
 witness, and that in Hinduism and such like systems 
 there is of a surety some, vital truth, however hidden 
 and entangled, the recognition of which is just and 
 necessary, and likely to afford the best approach to 
 the heathen man's intelligence and heart. 
 
 (2) The second development has been among Hindus- 
 of the most thoughtful and best educated type. In 
 many striking ways the conviction has begun to 
 express itself that somewhere in their system they 
 must find a Christ, or their system will stand finally 
 discredited. 
 
 (3) The third development is among the Pariahs. 
 A great nation, that does not know its greatness, has 
 begun to stretch out its hands to Christ's messengers, 
 and to demand of them recognition, instruction, and 
 direction. In tins movement there are potentialities 
 transcending all common dreams. The Pariah cannot 
 emerge into manhood and freedom and knowledge 
 without becoming a force tliat shall move and mould 
 the thought and sentiment of the caste populations of. 
 India. 
 
 Tlie Chureli of ('lirist is in truth only just fairly 
 embarked u]»on the task which awaits it in India.
 
 INTriODUCTION IX 
 
 The most difficult conditions meet it tliere — moral, 
 intellectual, and social, — and it has been mainly 
 occupied hitherto in apprehending those conditions, 
 and preparing itself for its enterprise. It has already 
 won results which, if not sensational, are substantial 
 and strategic. If individual conversions are less 
 numerous than devotion desires and enthusiasm anti- 
 cipates, they are nevertheless multiplying steadily and 
 with increasing rapidity ; while all the time the con- 
 version of India as apart from the individual — of its 
 standards, sentiments, and ideals — is proceeding with 
 sure and unhalting success. Not easily and not 
 quickly will India become Christian. If anywhere 
 enthusiasm needs to express itself in steadfast patience 
 and courageous hope, it is there. But the task which 
 the Master has committed to His Church in India, if 
 so difficult, is also so splendid that she cannot for very 
 shame shrink from any toil or sacrifice that may be 
 necessary to fulfil it. Everything which can stimulate 
 in Christian minds the sense of obligation in regard 
 to the evangelising of India has special value, alike 
 religious and imperial ; and it would be hard to suggest 
 a volume better calculated to do this than Arthur's 
 Mission to the Mysore. The pen that wrote it was the 
 same as that which wrote The Tongue of Fire, and 
 there is in this volume the same passion of devotion, 
 the same urgency of desire, the same spirituality of
 
 X INTRODUCTION 
 
 toue as are to be found in that. The book by no 
 means exhausted its message in the generation to 
 which it was addressed. It has a message for the 
 Churches of to-day, and we may well expect that that 
 message will prove as impressive and compelling to 
 the Christians of this generation as it did to those 
 in whose day it was written. 
 
 The text of this volume remains unaltered, but the 
 spelling of all proper names, except the most familiar, 
 has been brought into accord with the system followed 
 by the Government of India. For the rest, the attempt 
 has been made in notes, which have been enclosed in 
 square brackets, so far to supplement the information 
 of the text as to give the book a present-day use and 
 worth. In compiling them, I have not been content 
 merely to draw upon my own experience and obser- 
 vation, but have consulted many authorities, both 
 European and native. It is hoped tluit in regard to 
 everything important due acknowledgment has been 
 made. In regard to two or three points, the Eev. 
 G. M. Cobban has kindly placed at my disposal his 
 knowledge of Tamil and the Tamil country ; and the 
 Secretaries of the Church ]\Iissionary and London 
 Missionary Societies very courteously supplied me with 
 some of their latest statistics. I trust that this reissue 
 of Mr. Arthur's book will uKain do much to stimulate
 
 INTRODUCTION XI 
 
 and develop the missionary zeal of the Churches of this 
 land, and that it may prove in various ways of special 
 service to many young men and women, who shall 
 henceforth be designated for mission work in our great 
 Eastern Empire. 
 
 HENRY HAIGH.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The following pages, prepared with the hope of con- 
 tributing, in some humhle way, towaixl circulating 
 information with regard to India, and promoting an 
 interest in its welfare, were communicated to the 
 Weslcyan Methodist Magazine. Hundreds of persons 
 who read them in that periodical have requested that 
 they should be separately published, and a respectable 
 New York journal has deemed them worthy of re- 
 production. To these encouragements, and not to any 
 previous resolution, is due their appearance in the 
 present form. 
 
 The reader should be apprised that, as the views 
 of Hindu mind and manners he will here find were 
 formed through familiar intercourse with the people 
 of a district remote from any European station, they 
 will probably differ in some points from those of 
 writers who have resided only in the Presidencies or 
 other centres of English influence. It should also be 
 remembered that India is so vast a region, that a trait
 
 XIV PREFACE 
 
 prominent in tlie character of one Hindu nation may 
 be faint, or even imdiscoverable, in another. 
 
 In extenuation of defects beyond those incident to a 
 first attempt at authorship, all the usual pleas might 
 be urged with more than usual truth. But apologies 
 would neither enrich the matter nor improve the style ; 
 and where neglect may reasonably be apprehended, it 
 would 1)6 gratuitous to raise a shield against criticism. 
 With whatever success, the writer has desired through- 
 out to avoid equally the extreme of those who, from a 
 culpable prejudice, exaggerate every blemish of Hindu 
 society, overlooking every grace, and the more tempting 
 extreme of those who, from a generous prejudice, 
 exaggerate every grace, overlooking every blemish. To 
 give fair representations, and to promote good ends, 
 has been honestly meant, and the attempt is humbly 
 commended to the blessing of God.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction v 
 
 Preface xiii 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 The Voyage 1 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Madras 25 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 The Journey "Up Country ' . .... 63 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Bangalore 117 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 My Circuit Ifil 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 Our Work 202 
 
 XV
 
 XVI CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 India: What Is It ? 265 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 India : Its People 287 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 India : Its Religion 368 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 The Return 449 
 
 APPENDIX 477
 
 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 -»>^ 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE VOYAGE 
 
 On the afternoon of Sunday, April 14, 1839, the "holy 
 and beautiful house " at City Road was thronged with a 
 devout multitude, met for the purpose of commending to 
 the Lord of the harvest four labourers for His field in the 
 East. It was the Centenary year ; and the Rev. Thomas 
 Jackson, then President of the Conference, wdio conducted 
 the service, diifused through it the intiuence of that special 
 unction wherewith the Head of the Church had endowed 
 him for the duties of that memorable time : this, with 
 Dr. Hamaah's touching and appropriate counsels, the mighty 
 supplications of Dr. Bunting, the fervent response of that 
 Christian assembly, and the emotions raised by the surrender 
 of every early endearment, and the entrance on untold 
 responsibilities, conspired to make it an hour never to be 
 forgotten by the departing missionaries. Often since, when 
 ministering in the same sanctuary, have I longed to recall 
 the very feelings of that day of dedication. 
 
 The following morning, in company with Messrs. Square- 
 bridge, Garrett, and Pope, I embarked at Gravesend on the 
 Essex, Captain Foord, bound for iSIadras. The secretaries 
 of the Missionary Society had accompanied us on board, 
 where, assembling in one of our cabins, Mr. Hoole and 
 
 I
 
 2 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Dr. Bunting earnestly implored on our voyage and mission 
 the blessing of that God in whose name we were going forth. 
 The latter then addressed us in a few sentences of counsel, 
 blending an indescribable fatherliness with his characteristic 
 wisdom. The thoughts of the moment made our hearts 
 tender ; and the impression of those last kind words was 
 deep and enduring. They then took their leave ; my eye 
 followed them till no longer discernible, and then turned to 
 the Friend who " forsaketh never." 
 
 Time was when a voyage to the East commanded some 
 such interest as will await the journal of Mr. Green's first 
 aijrial voyage across the Atlantic ; but, living in less favoured 
 days, we must be content to proceed on our way accom- 
 panied only by such as may be attracted by sympathy with 
 our object, or who will deign to fill up a vacant hour by 
 listening to our tale. We found the Ussex, a line new 
 ship of nearly eight hundred tons, well officered, manned, 
 and provisioned. There were about fifteen passengers, 
 for whom the accommodations were good and the fare 
 sumptuous. About one hundred and fifty recruits for the 
 service of the East India Company occupied one apartment 
 between decks, their hammocks being suspended by cords 
 of dilierent lengths, so as to form tiers one above another ; 
 thus they slept, and that they managed to exist in the warm 
 weather of the tropics was wonderful. In all other respects 
 they were well provided for. The sjxxcious poop, being 
 free from hencoops, which usually encumber that locality, 
 served the passengers fur an agreeable promenade. At the 
 ]jow was a similar erection, called by the sailors " a top- 
 gallant forecastle," under which a multitude of geese, ducks, 
 fowls, and guinea-fowls were })acked into coops " as closely 
 as bottles in a rack " ; here also a cow and calf had a com- 
 fortable berth. In the space between the fore and main 
 masts stood the capacious long-boat, serving, I'or the time, 
 as a sheep-fold, while underneath it a number of pigs were 
 closely penned. Everything gave indication of plenty ;
 
 THE VOYAGE 6 
 
 and on a long voyage tliore is not a more welcome ship- 
 mate. 
 
 A foul wind prevailing for some days, we were detained 
 off Deal in company with a numerous fleet, which, weighing 
 anchor simultaneously, gave us the gratification to see our 
 own vessel outsail all the others, the last being one of tlie 
 American line of packets, which had a considerable advan- 
 tage in starting. This triumph completely established the 
 Essex, not only in the confidence but in the affections of her 
 crew. For it is just as impossible for a sailor not to invest 
 his ship with personal attributes as it is to traverse a noble 
 picture-gallery and not forget that those eloquent groups, 
 which stir in turn every feeling of your nature, are them- 
 selves devoid of emotion as the air around them. Basil 
 Hall tells us that the men of the Leander were in the habit 
 of saying the old ship " could do anything but speak " ; and 
 I well remember with what emphasis our boatswain ex- 
 claimed, after we had cast anchor in ^Madras Eoads, " She 
 has done beautiful ! " Thus, too often, our seamen, when 
 brought to " their desired haven," praise their ship and 
 forget their God. 
 
 Daring our first Sabbath at sea we were " beating down 
 Channel " in a thick fog, which so occupied all hands as to 
 prevent an assembly for public worship ; but we had service 
 twice in one of our own cabins. On the second, the Atlantic 
 was tossing us on its majestic waves in such a way as to 
 render a deck service impossible, and accordingly we assem- 
 bled in the cuddy. On the third we were sailing before a 
 mild breeze, with the sea smooth and the sky bright ; so 
 orders were issued that all should " prepare for church." 
 A few minutes before the time, the ship's bell commenced 
 to ring exactly like the " churchgoing bell " of a village 
 Sabbath. This was unexpected, and brought crowding 
 before the mind many a memory of the past, and with 
 them those emotions which only they can know who have 
 proved the susceptibilities awakened in the heart by long
 
 4 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 distance from all who are dear, added to the uncertainty 
 of reunion. Above we found the larboard quarter-deck 
 occupied by the seamen sitting on temporary benches, and 
 presenting in their beautifully clean clothes a pleasing con- 
 trast to their ordinary appearance ; on the opposite side 
 stood the soldiers, rank and file, each man furnished with 
 a Bible and prayer-book ; the officers and passengers were 
 seated upon chairs. The capstan was the pulpit, the British 
 ensign its drapery. A congregation so picturesque I have 
 never seen, and seldom one more attentive. These services 
 were continued every Sunday throughout the voyage ; on 
 deck, when the weather permitted, and, when too boisterous, 
 in the cuddy, each of the missionaries officiating in turn. 
 Our opportunities of doing good among the soldiers were 
 restricted to visiting the sick and conversing with those 
 Avhose attention we could engage on such occasions. We 
 found amongst them two or three who had known some- 
 thing of the grace of God, whom we brought to our weekly 
 class-meetings, and, when practicable, to our morning and 
 evening prayer. Christian fellowship is always sweet ; but 
 it was doubly so when, far from sanctuaries, we weekly met 
 on the deep to recount the mercies of our God, and to look 
 forward with prayerful hope to the toils which lay before 
 us. Beside our regular class-meetings and " family prayer," 
 as we called it, we two or three times joined, with a few who 
 were devout, in commemorating the Saviour's death. 
 
 After having struggled to the mouth of the Channel, we 
 were favoured with a fair breeze, which never failed till it 
 had carried us within tlie inlluence of the north-east trade- 
 wind. The ])ay of Jjiscay gave us a vigorous tossing, which 
 caused abundance of sea-sickness, and ludicrous accidents at 
 the dinner-table. In six days after clearing the Channel, 
 Madeira came in view, at the distance of about twenty miles ; 
 reminding me in its appearance of Clare Island, as it stretches 
 across the month of the incomparable Clew Bay, sheltering 
 its hundreds of islets from the ocean, as of yore it screened
 
 THE VOYAGE 5 
 
 the armaments of Graiiua Uile from her Saxon foes. From 
 this point the climate perceptibly changed, the breeze became 
 balmy, the sky cloudless, the sun fervid. Shoals of porpoises 
 occasionally gambolled round the ship, seeming to take delight 
 in racing Avith the gigantic intruder on their home. It is 
 hard to find a more vivacious exhibition than they display, 
 as they dart along the side, round the stern, before the bows, 
 now under their comrades, now over their backs ; as intent 
 on progress and sport at the same time as the children of a 
 village school just let loose for dinner. Occasionally, also, 
 "we saw the interesting little nautilus spreading its graceful 
 sail, as confident in the care of Him who " holdeth the winds 
 in His fist " as if that sail propelled a fleet on which the 
 hopes of a nation were attent. Our wake was often followed 
 by the symmetrical and many-hued dolphin, some of which 
 were made to increase the variety of our cuddy table. As 
 we advanced, shoals of flying-fish were seen to rise upon the 
 wing, and, after a brief airing, return to their native tide. It 
 seemed very plain that they took flight, not from any danger, 
 but from the impulse given by the Creator to all His works, 
 to develop every power with which they are endowed. 
 
 While sailing in this beautiful region, a soldier became 
 dangerously ill. To afford him more air he was carried on 
 deck, where it formed a strange contrast to the ordinary 
 gloom of a sick-chamber, to see the bright sunbeams dancing 
 not only on ever}"^ object round the poor invalid, but on the 
 very features which death Avas blanching. He had been a 
 man of good character, much respected among his comrades, 
 and manifested deep feeling when spoken to on his religious 
 state. His prayers for mercy were fervent and touching ; 
 and, ofl'ering those prayers, he died. This called us to wit- 
 ness that scene which is always described as so melancholy 
 — a funeral at sea. It is certainly affecting — affecting from 
 its own solemnity, and perhaps still more so from the contrast 
 it presents to all you have been wont to witness. You have 
 death without any of those attendant forms with which it
 
 6 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 seems so naturally to harmonise. There is no sable bier ; no 
 dark train moving slowly on a sad errand ; no passing from 
 common ground within the hallowed enclosure consecrated to 
 the memory of the dead, to the hope of the resurrection ; no 
 grave before you yawning for its prey ; none of the objects 
 in which the eye usually recognises Death. All his retinue 
 is wanting ; but himself is there, and his presence is the 
 more startling because of the everyday and lifelike character 
 of surrounding appearances. The body, wrapped in the 
 hammock it had been wont to occupy, was carried to the side 
 of the ship, and laid on a plank so placed as to incline toward 
 the v/ater. Around this thronged a numerous group, every 
 countenance wearing the impress of thought and tenderness. 
 During the reading of the solemn service, the reckless look of 
 the young recruit gave way to one of deep emotion ; the 
 hardy visage of tlie seaman relaxed, and his eye swam ; every 
 spectator shared and manifested that " undefined and sudden 
 thrill" which the nearness of death does not fail to inspire. 
 The words " AVe therefore commit liis body " were not 
 followed by the usual thrice-repeated hollow sound which 
 rises from the grave as the decree of separation between the 
 living and the dead ; but at those words the inner end of the 
 plank, on which rested the corpse, being raised, it glided 
 slowly into the deep blue wave that was heaving below. 
 
 " One sullen plunge, and the scene is o'er ; 
 The sea rolls on, as it rolled before." 
 
 In the case of another man, and also of a soldier's child, this 
 sad ceremony was twice lepeated during the voyage, willi the 
 same circumstances, except that in the last-named instance 
 the melancholy silence usually following the " sullen plunge " 
 was broken by a mother's grief. 
 
 We were now fairly in tlie tropics. The weather had 
 become extremely hot, but an awning pleasantly shaded the 
 poop ; here the passengers were usually to be found, either 
 in study or promenade ; these occupations lieing sometimes
 
 THE VOYAGE 7 
 
 vaiied l)y a game of leap-frog or a lu.sty romp. One day, 
 while I lay stretched on the dock reading, the man at the 
 wheel cried out, " A school o' whales ! " Havhig never seen 
 a whale, I started np in great haste, but, placing my foot on 
 a round stick, left there by the sailmaker, came down again 
 with greater, receiving such an impression on the protuberant 
 joints of one side as served to remind me of my first sight 
 of a whale for a week after. The "school" (shoal) proved 
 to consist of several grampuses and one immense whale, 
 which the sailors averred was as long as the ship ; but that, 
 being about one hundred and forty feet, seemed rather 
 improbable. We saw him fill and blow several times ; which 
 operation very much resembles the first puffs of steam from a 
 locomotive engine just starting. 
 
 The marine scenery of the tropics exceeded in splendour 
 and variety all my anticipations. During the day the sky 
 formed a superb dome of stainless and polished azure ; while, 
 lighted from above by its one magnificent lamp, it constituted 
 an object passing beyond the beautiful to the highest order 
 of the sublime. At evening those two features of scenery 
 were displayed in a combination scarcely attainable in any 
 other field of nature. ^Vs the sun sank to the ocean, heavy 
 clouds gathered about him, like sorrows round a deathbed. 
 r>ut as the soul that is departing in faith makes pain, feeble- 
 ness, and poverty but the means of more fully displaying its 
 graces, so the setting sun made each cloud a prism whereby 
 to analyse his golden light and exhibit its variety of hue. 
 The whole hemisphere glowed with indescribable beauty. 
 All nmud the horizon islets of gold were floating on the 
 bright blue surface of the "ocean hung on high"; while in 
 the west the assemblage of gorgeous forms and dazzling tints 
 Avas such as to produce a bewildering ecstasy. The prevail- 
 ing hues were burnished gold and the pure prismatic red ] 
 but all the primitive colours were present, and formed them- 
 selves into combinations so lovely and so various as equally 
 to outstrip the vocabulary and delight the eye : the " pale
 
 8 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 translucent green " of Bishop Ileber was one of the most 
 pleasing ; wliile the blue, now combining with the red, now 
 displaying its own brightest tints, exhibited every variety, 
 from the deep purple of the pansy to the lightsome blue of 
 an uifant's eye. On the craggy sides of many a mountain 
 cloud were pencilled, with inconceivable effect, every hue 
 that is delicate or brilliant, till the impoverished expression 
 is glad to escape the difficulty of specifying by the aid of 
 Mrs. Hemans' adroit summary, " the rich hues of all glorious 
 things." 
 
 The charms of the nocturnal heavens are not inferior. Not 
 only are new and brilliant constellations brought within the 
 field of vision, but the pellucid atmosphere gives to the most 
 familiar stars a larger disc and brighter radiance ; Avhile 
 numbers, barely discernible in our clime, shine out from 
 their retirement with modest lustre ; the planets, and even 
 some of the stars, casting on the wave streaks of silver light. 
 "When the moon is dark, the sea itself becomes an object of 
 great interest. Whenever a wave curls, the broken waters 
 emit a brilliant phosphoric light, supposed to proceed from 
 animalculae ; turn which way you will, the eye rests on 
 numberless fires, seeming as altars of incense sending up 
 their grateful flame to heaven. Sometimes, as the ship 
 dashed along in her course, the spray cast from her side 
 sparkled with such hues that you might have imagined 
 yourself on a sea of liquid jewels: This marine phosphor- 
 escence is known in northern climates chiefly to fishermen, 
 who, on a dark night, after a draught of herrings, have their 
 humble boat glowing with an illumination of more brilliant 
 tints than the proudest metropolitan saloon. If God has 
 treasured up such mines of enjoyment in every recess of a 
 world stained with sin, what will be the display of His 
 resources where trespass and defilement are unknown? 
 
 I particularly remember, and shall never forget, one 
 Sabbath night in those glowing latitudes. ( )n gaining the 
 deck, after our usual evening service, the scene which
 
 THE VOYAGE 9 
 
 met our eye was not calculated to dissipate, but to renew, 
 the feelings of devotion. It was one of those nights to be 
 witnessed only on a tropical sea, when the moon and stars 
 seem so bright, so large, so near, as almost to make you 
 think you are looking on other things. Orion was stretching 
 his giant frame across the mid heaven, his " studded belt " 
 seeming newly set with richer gems. From the west, Venus 
 flung a long stream of silver light which danced on the wave- 
 lets of the peaceful sea. In the extreme north hovered the 
 Great Bear, at once the memento of past scenes and the 
 ornament of the present. A few degrees above the opposite 
 horizon shone the four bright stars of the Southern Cross. 
 Marshalled under these leaders, the celestial host thronged in 
 countless multitude around their peerless queen; and the 
 Milky Way was spread abroad, as the white banner of their 
 peaceful march. That host was sublime from its very 
 numbers ; and the impression became overwhelming by the 
 thought that, though the least of them all was a sun, and the 
 nearest at a distance too great to be measured, even by the 
 giant hand of modern science,^ yet all were made, sus- 
 tained, scrutinised, and ruled by the great Being, whose 
 presence at our lowly devotions had been shedding such 
 sweetness on our souls. We felt it was a time to worship. 
 The temple was not to be sought. One of God's own rearing 
 was encircling us, and "Keason's ear" heard, from the spheres 
 suspended in its dome, a silvery chime, summoning us to 
 praise and prayer. Yielding to the influence of our reflec- 
 tions, we sat down on the taftrail, and, with feelings not 
 to be described, sang Addison's inimitable version of the 
 nineteenth Psalm. Such was the efl"ect produced by the 
 "spangled heavens" on Christian missionaries : and yet the 
 great sceptic poet, when describing their beauty as they 
 beam on an Eastern sea, asks — 
 
 " "Who ever gazed upon them shining, 
 And turned to earth without repining 1 " 
 
 1 The successes of Bessol and Henderfon were not then known.
 
 10 A MISSION TO THE :\IYSOrxE 
 
 This is natural enough in a sceptic; for to him earth is "a 
 forsaken and fatherless world." He must look on the glories 
 above,, not as a child viewing the display of his father's 
 wealth, hut as an exile gazing on the shore from which he is 
 excluded. 
 
 When approaching the Line, we fell in with two French 
 ships, one being a frigate homeward bound from the South 
 Seas. We spoke her, and requested to have a packet of 
 letters forwarded, which was readily granted. Accordingly, 
 a boat from our ship boarded her, manned by six noble- 
 looking seamen, who might have served as a specimen of 
 British tars, and certainly were calculated to make anything 
 but a mean impression of their prowess. The two vessels 
 lay nearly side by side for some minutes ; and it was a 
 pleasing sight to view the two formidable ensigns — the 
 meeting of which would once have been a signal for 
 thunder and blood — peacefully spreading their folds within 
 a few yards, and, as Campbell prettily expresses it, "wooing 
 social the wind." 
 
 Although quite prepared for a day of barbarous sport on 
 crossing the Equator, I did not anticipate such a set routine 
 of fun and absurdity as really occurred. One evening, when 
 we were known to be very near the Line, it was generally 
 reporteil that jS'eptune would board us. And accordingly, at 
 nightfall, a noise of the voice species was heard proceeding from 
 the bow — loud, grutf, and monster-like enough to have been 
 that of His Oceanic Majesty when rebuking the violence of 
 /Lolus. He demanded to know the ship's name and destina- 
 tion. Tlie chief mate answered, and invited him to stay to 
 tea. This he declined, on the score of haste, but promised 
 to call in the morning, take a glass of grog with the captain, 
 and see "some of his children who had never passed that 
 way before." A vessel, purporting to be his car, was then 
 dropped into the sea ; and, as it floated past, exhibited a 
 tolerably forinod figure holding a trident, seated in a half- 
 barrel, nearly filled with tar, which was blazing liercely.
 
 THE VOYAGE 11 
 
 The sea was (^uict, so that, as the car rose and sank on the 
 gentle waves, the alternate flash and darkness were observable 
 until lost in the distant horizon. The next morning we 
 found a kind of booth standing on the waist of the ship, so 
 constructed by means of tarpaulins as to contain a consider- 
 able quantity of water. Over it was a board bearing the 
 inscription, "Mr. JSTonsuch, escy shaver." After breakfast 
 a procession came aft, with a great display of mimic pomp. 
 A gun-carriage, decorated with flags, formed no despicable 
 chariot, on which was seated l^eptune, — an old sailor dressed 
 with some attempt at classical costume, and smeared over 
 with paint. Beside him a lusty young tar, in female garb 
 and richly rouged, personated Amphitrite ; while one of the 
 boys, rejoicing in the title of " Master Xeptune " — Triton, 
 I suppose, — shared the royal seat. This august vehicle was 
 drawn by eight brawny seamen, disguised with grotesque 
 painting and the most hideous masks. The charioteer, who, 
 in all other stages of the proceedings, seemed to act as 
 Mercury to the royal visitor, was so dressed as to look half 
 Negro, half monkey. An elderly man, in shabby black and 
 wearing a hat cut into squares, with the words "Doctor 
 Syntax " chalked upon it, carried a portable medicine chest 
 suspended round his neck, in the fashion of a street organ. 
 Another, going on all-fours and covered with a sheepskin 
 painted black, made a better representation of a bear than 
 would be thought attainable- by the human form. This 
 burlesque procession moved slowly along the deck, and 
 halted before the cuddy door, where the monarch was mot 
 by the chief mate, with whom he interchanged civilities. 
 Amphitrite then sang "Rule, Britannia," all joining in the 
 chorus ; and, in spite of the heathenish aspect of the whole 
 scene, when the full deep bass of so many manly voices 
 burst forth in the words of our national pride, every tone 
 thrilling with the impulse of patriotism, I could not repress 
 the heave of a strong emotion, nor abstain from ofl'ering a 
 prayer that Britons never might be slaves. A dram was
 
 12 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 theu circulated, which even the monarch did not disdain ; 
 nor did Ursa forego his share. They next proceeded to the 
 booth, beside which Neptune took his seat; the bear and 
 his keeper making their way into the inside, and standing in 
 the water. Outside, Mr. Nonsuch stationed himself, bran- 
 dishing a piece of hoop-iron, having one side smooth and the 
 other horribly rough. The smooth side he described as a 
 " splendid razor, prepared by Queen Victoria's own barber " : 
 this was for the passengers who would pay a fine. The 
 rough side he called " a very good plain razor": this was for 
 the use of those from whom nothing was to be expected but 
 amusement. He was also furnished with a copious lather— 
 of what composition deponent saith not ; but certainly not 
 any of those which are so frequently the theme of mag- 
 niloquent encomium in perfumery lists. These preliminaries 
 arranged, Neptune, through his speaking-trumpet, ordered 
 his children to be produced. Nearly all the passengers had 
 voluntarily chosen to submit to the uncouth tonsure, and 
 were assembled in the steerage, waiting their summons. 
 The sailors Avho had drawn the chariot now assumed the 
 name of "constables," and, proceeding down the after-hatch, 
 speedily returned, leading the surgeon by a bandage passed 
 round the eye?, and held tightly behind the head. A 
 number of men had stationed themselves ready with buckets 
 of water ; and the moment he set foot on the deck, dash 
 went the contents of the first in his face, then another, and 
 another, and another, in instant succession, until he was 
 fairly seated on the top of the bootli, with his back toward 
 the water contained in it, where the bear and keeper were 
 anxiously waiting his descent ; while he of the bandage 
 hold him with " no maiden's hand," ready, at the signal, to 
 jerk him from his balance. Sundry ridiculous questions were 
 then put, an ample lather applied, this scraped vigorously 
 with the hoop, and then the jerk given by which he was 
 precipitated backward into the water, where bear and keeper, 
 pouncing on him, rolled him about till he managed to escape
 
 THE VOYAGE 13 
 
 by climbing over the side. After all the willing passengers 
 had been attended to came the novices of the crew, who 
 were much more roughly handled. Beside the rough razor, 
 and an increase in every other stage of torment, Dr. Syntax 
 put many considerate (juestions respecting their health and 
 that of their family, taking occasion of the least motion of 
 their lips in reply to insert a nostrum in the form of draught 
 or pill. Their medical properties were not stated ; but, from 
 the distance, they seemed to produce an instant and unique 
 action of the muscles of the face. In almost every case 
 these inflictions were borne with good humour : and when 
 one or two showed symptoms of resistance, hot and heavy was 
 the retribution which befell them. It is impossible that a 
 custom so barbarous should continue to be tolerated, were it 
 not that the monotony of a long voyage induces an ennui 
 which makes any diversity acceptable to both crew and 
 passengers. Sir E. Parry tells of beguiling the tedium of 
 frozen winters in the northern latitudes by theatrical enter- 
 tainments got up on board. This, no doubt, would afford 
 amusement. But only imagine the officers, non-commissioned 
 officers, and men of the Royal Navy turned into mimic play- 
 actors and actresses ! Xo one will wonder at the ceremonies on 
 crossing the Line who has witnessed the equally ridiculous, 
 and far less modest, masquerade at Paris on the Sunday 
 and Tuesday preceding the commencement of Lent. That 
 takes place, not in a lonely ship, among rude sailors, but in 
 the chief promenades of the belle of capitals, on the Sahbafh- 
 day ; is shared in by both sexes, and gazed on by the 
 haul ton of the country, whose glittering equipages, filled 
 with ladies, crowd to witness the silly, contemptible, 
 often indecent, exhibitions of thousands of male and 
 female buffoons. And this is part of their religious 
 routine — of what Mr. Keble would call their *' Christian 
 year." 
 
 Shortly after passing the Line we were favoured with the 
 mild, steady breezes of the south-east trade-wind, which
 
 14 A MISSION TO THE MYSOllE 
 
 frequently carried us along at the rate of eight or nine 
 knots per hour, on a sea smooth as a lake. This kind of 
 sailing is delightful in the extreme. There is scarcely 
 any motion : the water rushing past like an immense 
 river gives exhilarating impressions of progress ; the ship 
 spreading her volumes of canvas to the breeze furnishes 
 the eye with an object of no common majesty and 
 grace, — exceeding her own appearance under moderate sail, 
 as far as the tree in full bloom does that of the early 
 spring. 
 
 The regularity of hours and absence of all temptation to 
 wander make a ship not disadvantageous for study. Having 
 learned a little of the Kanarese grammar before sailing, and 
 being furnished with M'Kerrell's Grammar, Reeve's Dic- 
 tionary, and a copy of St. Luke's Gospel, I was able to 
 occupy myself with the language in which it would be my 
 duty to preach. The want of capital letters, of divisions 
 between the words, and of stops, makes the rudiments of 
 Kanarese perplexing without a living tutor. From the 
 commencement of a jjaragraph to its close there is no space 
 between any two letters, so that you can no more tell, by 
 the eye, where one word or sentence ends and another 
 begins, than you can tell on a railway when you change 
 counties.^ To be told that this custom obtains in the old 
 Greek manuscripts may satisfy the student of its anti- 
 quity, but even that does not make him feel it to be 
 convenient. Mr. Pope, my companion in the same cabin, 
 was occupied with the acquisition of Tamil; and day and 
 night we toilel side by side, without being able to render 
 each other any considerable assistance. Like other students, 
 we had often to pursue knowledge under difficulties. Being 
 young sailors, we did not know how to provide ourselves 
 with the articles necessary to make a small cabin serve 
 
 ' [Tins was true at the time ; Imt in modern Kanarese prose publi- 
 cations, tliough there are no eapitals, words are divided and European 
 methods of punctuation are larj^ely followed.]
 
 THE VOYAGE 15 
 
 conveniently the double purposes of bedroom and study. 
 One item of furniture, though not 
 
 " A bed by night, a cliest of drawers by day," 
 
 served me for nightly repose and daily employment, taking 
 in the latter case the office of a sofa. Table I had none ; 
 so, seated on my couch, with Reeve's ponderous c^uarto of 
 nearly fifteen hundred pages on my knees, my feet raised 
 upon the rail of a chair, the grammar by my side, the 
 gospel in my hand, and my sea-lamp hanging overhead, 
 many a long hour did I spend in conquering the difficulties 
 of our Lord's Parable of the Prodigal Son. All went on 
 pleasantly enough when the ship was steady, but when she 
 laboured it was no easy matter to preserve an equilibrium. 
 What with the jolting of the books, the violent swinging of 
 the lamp, and the effort to hold on, one was obliged to read 
 by snatches, like boys in a class. Occasionally a violent 
 pitch would dash chair, books, student and all to one side 
 or other of the cabin ; while the effort to regain our former 
 arrangement would be twice or thrice foiled by similar 
 catastrophes before it could be accomplished. These diffi- 
 culties may look formidable to one who has never passed 
 beyond the threshold of comfort ; but they are nothing in 
 reality. He that has an object in view so exciting as the 
 acquisition of ability to preach Christ to the heathen, plods 
 along without one thought of weariness or inconvenience ; 
 loving to tread the rough furrows, because he sees them 
 strewn with the promise of many a sheaf. The drudgery 
 of conquering rudimental difficulties was enlivened by read- 
 ing the works or memoirs of those who, under greater dis- 
 advantages and fewer encouragements, had trodden the same 
 path and attained noble results. The young missionary 
 derives from the records of such heroes as Ziegenbalg, Carey, 
 Schwartz, and Marty n the same incitement to lofty aims and 
 giant toils which the noble Romans attril)uted to the statues 
 of their ancestry. Their example kindles an intense ilame.
 
 16 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 His heart burns to live as they lived ; the remnants of 
 worldly feeling are discovered in their lurking-places and 
 warned away ; while the fused affections are cast into form 
 in the apostolic mould, 
 
 Near the island of Trinidad the trade-wind failed us. Up 
 to this time our progress had been so rapid that the officers 
 began to talk of completing the voyage in thirteen weeks. 
 But, after losing our steady friend, we were baffled with 
 light and contrary winds, so as to make scarcely any progress 
 for a fortnight. This lengthening of the voyage wonderfully 
 shortened the temper of almost everyone on board, except 
 the sailors, who said that the fair wind was the owner's 
 wind, but this wind was their wind ; for the longer the 
 voyage, the more money to draw. This view of the case 
 surprised me, but it evidently comforted them. The result 
 of the regular noonday observations, by which is ascertained 
 the progress made during the twenty-four hours, was always 
 a matter of interest to the passengers, but now they were 
 to be seen pressing round the officers as eagerly as the 
 politicians of a village round the coach which arrives from 
 the county town during a contested election. At length, 
 however, cloudy skies, cold rough winds, turbulent seas, and 
 the appearance of several beautiful birds, called Cape pigeons, 
 indicated an approach to the region of the Cape, the half- 
 way house of the Indian voyage. The passengers frequently 
 amused themselves by shooting the poor creatures, which 
 never fell into their hands, and would have been of no use 
 if they had ; but, dropping into the water, they must, when 
 only wounded, have died a lingering death. These torments 
 were inflicted for that cogent reason which justifies all kinds 
 of cruelty to fish, fowl, and quadrui)eds — sport. Magic word ! 
 which transforms the ugliest barbarism into a captivating 
 pleasure ! The pigeons were joined by a large dark bird called 
 the Cape hen, and also by several albatrosses. Of these latter 
 two were caught, which measured ten feet across the wings. 
 This feathered convoy bore us company for several weeks.
 
 The voyage 1^ 
 
 Kot intending to touch at the Cape, we stood considerably 
 to the south, and, in latitude 40°, encountered one of those 
 gales for which that region is so notorious. It blew for 
 upwards of two days, and Captain Foord, though an officer 
 of long standing in the Honourable Company's service, 
 stated that he had never seen it worse. But with a good 
 ship, an admirable commander, and competent crew, nothing 
 occurred to excite grave alarm. The bulwarks were dashed 
 to pieces, a soldier had his leg fractured by the breaking 
 loose of a water-cask, and a cadet who occupied one of the 
 awning cabins had it literally filled with water while he was 
 asleep in his cot, a sea having swept the ship, carried away 
 his dead-lights, and burst in upon him at once through both 
 window and door. He was almost drowned, and could 
 scarcely believe himself when, gaining the deck, he found 
 the ship gallantly riding the waves. AYith the exception of 
 falls, bruises, and copious aspersions, we were preserved, by 
 the mercy of Providence, from injury. 
 
 I could not help comparing the storm, when at its height, 
 with the anticipations raised in my mind by descriptions of 
 that spectacle. In almost every case you are told of mountain- 
 waves, and that you cannot conceive the terrors of the scene* 
 Now, the fact is, you find no wave anything like a mountain j 
 and most probably you have carried your conceptions to a 
 pitch by which the reality loses much of its effect. While 
 you remain below, the roaring of the wind and the rush of 
 the sea make the voice of the storm fearfully impressive j 
 and to look at the waves from the narrow cabin windows, 
 you are obliged to assign their height by imagination, for 
 you cannot by the eye. It is here where you feel the shock, 
 and listen to the roar of the tempest, without being able to 
 watch its movements, that the impression is most appalling. 
 The ship pitches, writhes, and trembles beneath you, every 
 joint in her giant frame groaning doleful complaints against 
 the violence with which she is assailed ; the howling of the 
 wind, the rush of the seas making a highway of the deck,
 
 l8 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the moaning of the ship, sound like the shock of the onset, 
 the struggle of contending feet, and the cries of the wounded. 
 
 On deck the scene is truly grand. The sky is black, 
 rugged, and shifting ; the wind terrible, with its alternate 
 gust, "sough," and lull; the sea heaped up into a ridge of 
 low hills on either side. The ship lies wriggling in the dale, 
 like a winter tree, the masts stripped of all their clothing, 
 the storm staysail being the only stitch of canvas set. A' 
 billow is rushing forward, with its white crest shaking like 
 a lion's mane. Nearing the bow, it looks so lofty, that she 
 must be overwhelmed ; but, with mingled delight and appre- 
 hension, you see her rear herself upon its base ; then rapidly 
 mounting, till the summit is gained, she dashes forward, as 
 if rejoicing in her escape. At that moment a cross-sea 
 strikes on the weather-bow with a dull sound, like the stroke 
 of a battering-ram : the noble bark shudders like a child in 
 a thunder-clap ; and, while you are quivering by sympathy, 
 a fierce surge careers along the deck, making your firmest 
 grasp needful to prevent being borne away. When you 
 emerge, the ship is reeling on the top of another wave, as if 
 to shake off the moisture of her last immersion ; and just as 
 this passes from under her, it strikes fiercely on the counter, 
 in seeming anger at being foiled in its assault. While 
 staggering from the effect of this after-blow, a broken sea, 
 like an ambush attacking in fiaiik, dashes suddenly upon the 
 weather-beam. Instantly the topmasts seem nearly touch- 
 ing the water ; the firmest hold of rope or bulwark can 
 scarcely save you from sliding down the almost vertical deck ; 
 it seems impossible the ship can right. Volumes of water 
 rushing over you confirm the impression that the moment of 
 danger is come ; but a counter-swing restores you to your 
 footing, and shows the bow jilunging bravely into another 
 billow. 
 
 The whole scene is sufficiently awful ; and, if one but give 
 way to fear or fancy, it nmst be easy enough to make the 
 waves mountains, the gusts artillery, and to crowd the picture
 
 THE VOYAGE 10 
 
 with gigantic forms of horror. The lesson of a storm is one 
 of humility. Each cloud may he the engine of destruction ; 
 you cannot bid it hurst elsewhere. Each blast may bring 
 the additional strength necessary to crush you ; you cannot 
 divert its course. Each sea may capsize or overwhelm your 
 ark ; you cannot lighten its stroke by a single drop. Sur- 
 rounded by agents all potent to destroy, there is not one on 
 which your skill can work the least amelioration. The sky, 
 the wind, the wave, are eloquent with the announcement— 
 " God is all in all." You can do nought but meekly crave 
 His compassion or mutely await His will. And, when the 
 danger is past, man has had no hand in averting it. It came 
 upon you, pressed you on every side, brought you to your 
 " wits' end," showed human help to be vanity, and then dis- 
 appeared. You are safe again ; that safety is sealed with the 
 hand of God, and attests itself His own gift. You see His 
 agency through no obstructive instrument ; you have been 
 dealing directly with your Maker. Therefore " being glad, 
 because they are quiet, they praise the Lord for His 
 goodness." 
 
 From this time we proceeded in an almost directly eastern 
 course, until, having gained the longitude of Madras, we 
 turned northward, and began to look forward to the close of 
 our voyage. The probable time of landing, the people, man- 
 ners, and productions of India, now become exciting subjects 
 of conversation. We had some amusing instances of the 
 difficulty with which missionary motives are understood by 
 the world. One evening a gentleman who had spent several 
 years in India said to me, "If you take my advice, you will 
 go, not to the Mysore, but to the western coast." To this I 
 replied, that it Avas not my intention to say a word to deter- 
 mine the station Avhich might be assigned me. This he 
 strongly objected to, on the ground that a young man ought 
 not to leave himself in the hands of others. " But why," I 
 inquired, "should I prefer the one country above the other 1' 
 "Why, for one thing, you would have a much easier situa-
 
 20 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 tion." " But I don't want an easy situation ; I am going on 
 purpose to work, and intend to work as hard as I can." 
 " Well, but you could save a great deal more money, for it 
 is a much cheaper country." " But I don't want to save 
 money ; I intend to leave the country no richer than I 
 entered it." "Oh, then," was the final reply, "if you don't 
 want either ease or money, it doesn't matter where you go." 
 Another gentleman, in conversing on our mission duties, 
 said, " I suppose you will have a pretty good thing of it." 
 I replied that no doubt our provision would be quite suffi- 
 cient. " How many rupees per month will you have 1 " I 
 was obliged to confess my inability to answer this business- 
 like question, and replied by simply stating that, being 
 confident our Committee would make a provision adequate to 
 my wants, it had never once occurred to me to ask what that 
 provision would be. This elicited a look of all but incredu- 
 lity ; and he said, laughing, " Well, I never before heard of 
 a young man coming out to India without knowing what was 
 before him." This conversation, being reported among the 
 passengers, excited some attention ; and possibly they re- 
 garded me as very much of a simpleton, until they had 
 discovered that each of my three companions had been 
 equally negligent to inform himself respecting his financial 
 prospects. God forbid that our glorious mission work should 
 ever be committed to men who could wait to consult pro- 
 spects and negotiate terms ! Marius aptly designated as 
 homines p-op/^rAs/o-i those who first assumed the consulate 
 and afterwards commenced to study military tactics. lUit 
 exquisitely preposterous as is an undrilled general, a mer- 
 cenary missionary is abundantly more so. 
 
 We soon re-entered the tropics ; and about that time my 
 sea-sickness, which had faithfully pursued me hitherto, 
 abated. At the second passing of the Equator, a calm de- 
 tained us for two or three days. The sea was glassy, but 
 not still. Every ripple disappeared from the surface ; but 
 there were long, heavy swells, like undulations in an ex-
 
 THE VOYAGE 21 
 
 tended sheet of tin. The smooth surface strongly reflected 
 the liglit of a blazing sun ; the glare was dazzling, the air 
 motionless, the heat oppressive. It was an unquiet sleep for 
 the giant ship ; she now lay perfectly still, now turned 
 heavily on her side. The canvas fretted upon the yards, and 
 flapped against the masts, like an impatient steed chafing his 
 bit. Pjveryone looked the picture of ennui and lassitude. 
 The very atmosphere was languid and unable to spread its 
 wings. It is often said that even a storm is preferable to a 
 calm ; which is quite true, so long as the storm keeps below 
 the danger-point. During one of those breathless nights I 
 was called from my bed to witness the capture of a shark. 
 He had been discovered, by the moonlight, sailing round the 
 ship ; was hooked, haided up, and, after a stout resistance, 
 despatched. He proved about seven feet long, and was 
 cooked by the sailors, who, with the soldiers, were glad of 
 some fresh food to vary their salt provisions. It looked very 
 coarse, but is eaten freely in the South Seas, and also, I 
 believe, on some parts of the coast of Spain. 
 
 Three months had just elapsed since our last glimpse of 
 land. During that time a few ships, birds, and fishes were 
 the only tokens that we were not alone in the world. Day 
 after day, week after week, it had l>een to our eyes as of 
 j'ore to the Trojan exiles : Caelum undicjue et undique pontus. 
 After Captain Foord had taken his usual noonday observa- 
 tions, on the 30th of August, he said, " If the wind holds, 
 we ought to see the Friar's Hood " — a mountain in Ceylon 
 — "about three o'clock." Someone expressed a doubt of his 
 being able to calculate so accurately. He replied that it 
 was quite possible he might be out in his reckoning " a 
 handful of degrees"; "but," said he, with a smile, which 
 did not indicate much doubt, "we shall see." About half- 
 past two, a man aloft cried, "Land on the weather-beam." 
 Instantly passengers, soldiers, sailors, all, were straining their 
 eyes in the direction indicated. It was some time, however, 
 before any landsman could distinguish anything from the
 
 22 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 clouds. At length the outline of an elevated coast disen- 
 tangled itself, and the telescope shortly gratified the eye with 
 groves of palm — the region so long pursued was at length 
 hefore us. It was a moment of gratitude and joy. The 
 memory of dangers, apprehensions, and prayers, of mercies 
 unnumbered, fears disappointed, and hopes fulfilled, came 
 crowding upon the heart, and elicited a burst of praise to 
 God. After a while, the summit of the Friar's Hood rose 
 upon the view, fully attesting the accuracy of Captain Foord, 
 and offering an example of the perfection to which naviga- 
 tion has attained, certainly not less striking than the case 
 made so famous by Captain Basil Hall. 
 
 The groves of tall and branchless palm were soon visible 
 to the naked eye, looking, in the distance, like groups of 
 Corinthian pillars, with disproportioned capitals. On the 
 jidge of a wooded hill rose a huge volume of smoke, showing 
 that we were not gazing on solitudes, but that men were 
 there. We could not help wondering how they were em- 
 ployed. Were they mourning over the conflagration of their 
 village 1 Were they gazing timidly in the distance on tracts 
 of sunburnt grass, which a spark had ignited, and which 
 the flames were sweeping with resistless haste ? Were they 
 lioting in some heathen feast? Were they performing some 
 occult sacrifice, far from the eye of civilisation and reproof 1 
 We wondered how it might be ; and while we wondered 
 distance covered the hill. 
 
 Some journals had led us to expect that the shores of 
 the spice-bearing isle, now beneath our eye, would greet 
 us with aromatic gales. On naming this to Captain Foord, 
 he smiled, and bade me ask the chief mate. My applica- 
 tion to him also produced a smile; and, after a time, the 
 exjtlanation that, in the earlier days of voyaging, sailors 
 took great delight in imposing upon the less-travelled lands- 
 men. Accordingly, on nearing the shores of Ceylon, a few 
 sticks of cinnamon were ignited and carried to windward, 
 so as to difi'iise their incense over the whole ship. The
 
 THE VOYAGE 23 
 
 delighted olfactories of sea^wearied passengers hailed, in this 
 odoriferous gale, the promise of voluptuous festivity. 
 
 The next day found us again out of sight of land, sailing 
 with a light breeze under a cloudless sky and directly 
 vertical sun. On coming on deck the following morning, 
 I found a lengthened line of low coast close upon our 
 starboard, In the distance, apparently right ahead, was 
 Avhat seemed to me a ridge of breakers stretching into the 
 sea, To this I called the attention of the officer on watch, 
 who said, " Why, that is the town of Pondicherry." That 
 the town of Pondicherry ! I then felt that I was looking 
 on the continent of India. Leanhig over the bulwark, and 
 gazing on the extended coast, the tufted palms, the shining 
 surf, and the distant city, what a crowd of confused but 
 exciting suggestions rushed upon my mind ! Home, with 
 its endearments ; the dangers and mercies of the voyage ; 
 the duties and hopes of my mission ; native splendour, and 
 European enterprise ; Delhi, with its mosques ; Benares, 
 with its pagodas ; Jagannath, with its immolations ; the 
 sati pyre ; the pilgrim train ; the Thug banditti ; Timour 
 and his conquests ; Aurangzib and his magnificence ; 
 Hasting.'^, the changes of his lot, and eloquence of his 
 impeachers ; Dupleix, his talents, victories, and humiliation ; 
 Clive, his meteor course and maniac end ; Schwartz, the 
 John of the Indian apostles, by meekness, integrity, and zeal, 
 rising, without genius, to the loftiest heights of character 
 and achievement ; Hyder, the Napoleon of the East ; Tipii, 
 uniting the natural cruelty of Nero with the religious bigotry 
 of Mary ; Carey, with the faith of Abraham and the powers 
 of Grotius ; Wellington, rising on the farthest horizon of 
 our Erai)ire, and culminating at the very steps of the throne ; 
 Martyn, with his seraphic piety glowing on deep constitu- 
 tional melancholy, like sheet-lightning on a black sky ; — 
 these, with images of heathen temples and orgies, Christian 
 congregations and sacraments, sped across the mind in 
 exciting disorder, and raised a state of feeling which baffled
 
 24 A :\rissiON to the mysoee 
 
 analysis ; but tiie prevailing elements were gratitude and 
 hope. 
 
 It was a day of restless excitement. Every eye was fixed 
 on the shore, every glass extended, every voice busy in 
 discussing the probabilities of landing that night. All were 
 as impatient for Madras as a schoolboy for home when 
 returning at his first vacation. The wind Avas blamed for 
 not being steady enough, the current for not being strong 
 enougli, the ship for not being fast enough, and the captain 
 for not crowding sail enough. We passed Pondicherry 
 sufficiently near to see some vessels, and to distinguish the 
 governor's house. In the afternoon a native boat hailed 
 us. Then St. Thomas's Mount was descried. Just as the 
 sun was setting in a gorgeous horizon, the spire of St. 
 Andrew's Church was announced in sight. This speedily 
 congregated the passengers on the forecastle ; and it was 
 not with ordinary pleasure that, by the help of a glass, 
 I traced the slender forms of several masts, and three 
 church spires, pencilled on the brilliant ground of the 
 western sky. The Roads of Madras, thronged with English 
 and native ships, were presently in full view. Fort St, 
 George and a line of lofty buildings stretched behind them. 
 The distinctive flags were got ready to signal our ntime. 
 "We could see the flagstaft" on shore, and witness the 
 hoisting of what there could be no doubt was the question, 
 "What ship is that?" l»ut the distance was too great to 
 read even the language of Marryat's code. The light failed 
 rapidly. Our ready signal was laid aside. Just as night 
 fell we cast anchor opposite Fort St. George, and made 
 u|) our minds to sleep once mo^e in our sea-home,
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 MADRAS 
 
 The night was moonless. The lighthouse lamp blazed 
 before us. The well-known appearance of two lights, in 
 rapid transit, told us, ever and anon, that some fellow- 
 countryman was whirling in his buggy ^ along the beach. 
 Glimmers in the distant south indicated where St. Thome 
 stretched along the shore. The starlight faintly showed 
 the tall, unearthly forms of the English ships, sluggishly 
 rolling on the waves ; while, on the other hand, a bristling 
 underwood, barely traceable, marked the situation of the 
 "mosquito fleet," as our sailors delight to call the native 
 craft which throng the northern portion of the jNIadras 
 Roads. The scene was strange, and still, as to all human 
 sounds ; but the hoarse voice of the surf roared in the 
 distance, like a storm upon a grove, with occasional lull, 
 but instant repetition, A sudden flash crossed the scene, 
 followed by a peal of man's mimic thunder. Then came 
 the roll of a drum beating to quarters the crew of a man- 
 of-war that lay close by. 
 
 Rising wild and high above the moan of the surf, a harsh 
 noise was heard from the direction of the shore, which 
 seemed to be vocal, but whether articulate or inarticulate, 
 — the strain of one voice, or the effort of many — was at 
 first a mystery. As it neared, however, a voice was distinctly 
 heard performing a something. I had heard lilting song 
 and holy anthem, the glee of mirth and the keena of 
 bereavement, — but never anything with which the strange 
 ^ [A species of light gig, high and with a large hood.]
 
 26 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 tones of the unseen warbler might be classed. Its uncouth 
 strains, sounding in the darkness of that exciting scene, 
 awoke strange imaginings. One could not but wonder 
 what would have been the effect of such a phenomenon 
 ou the superstitious crews of Columbus, had it visited 
 them on that anxious night when, after the first glimpse 
 of the Caribb lamp, they were held in doubt as to whether 
 the morning sun would reveal that wondrous Ind which 
 they were pursuing, or only the blank of sea and sky 
 opening before them,— nature's silent reproof of their 
 leader's temerity. 
 
 We learned that the singing — for singing it was, but 
 such as only Tamil boatmen can achieve — proceeded from 
 a catamaran. It ceased by our ship's side ; and presently 
 we had on deck a man of light frame, nearly jet black, 
 and destitute of drapery, except a very scanty morsel. On 
 his head was a neat conical cap, of soft, mat-like texture, 
 made from the leaf of the jjalmyra tree. Doffing this, from 
 between the plies, of which it had two or three, he pro- 
 duced a note from the master attendant to the captain. 
 This was the first I had seen of the people of that great 
 country which was to be the place of my future labours ; 
 and never before had I gazed on a human being with such 
 feelings. I thought of the multitudes he represented ; of 
 the deep, deep sinfulness in which they lay ; of the super- 
 stitions that crushed, and the vices that polluted them ; 
 of their identity with ourselves in origin, fall, immortality, 
 and redemption : and, as I thought, my heart grew full 
 and heavy. If ever I olfered a prayer, it was then, — that 
 God would give me grace to preach the gospel to these, 
 the brethren of my nature, but strangers to my hopes. 
 Charged with letters from almost every passenger, he presently 
 took his departure, with the same wild chant as before. 
 
 A catamaran (literally, "tied tree") is a raft formed of 
 three cocoa-nut trees lashed firmly together, the middle one 
 being a little longer tliau the other two, and the whole so
 
 MADRAS 27 
 
 flattened on one side as to make a surface nearly even, and 
 to preserve the same side uppermost under all accidents of 
 weather. It measures about fifteen feet, and carries two or 
 three men ; one of whom, by means of a paddle, navigates 
 with great dexterity and ease. The body of the raft being 
 almost wholly submerged, the appearance from a distance 
 is very singular, the men seeming to tread the waters. 
 They are free and unencumbered navigators ; no drapery 
 embarrasses their persons ; their bark can spring no leak, lose 
 no rudder, nor sink in any sea. When the terrors of the 
 surf are not to be faced by any species of boat, they venture 
 without fear, are swept off by a wave, climb on again, are 
 once more overwhelmed, again remount, and so effect their 
 passage. When at any distance from the coast, dispensing 
 with the paddle, they show you a brown three-cornered sail, 
 with two or three black men, skimming along the surface of 
 the sea in a style which recalls all the lake legends of fairy 
 skiffs. Tliose whose nautical excursions have never carried 
 them beyond the region of saloons, stewards, and pantries 
 will not so much covet the position as they will honour the 
 self-denial of Mr. Percival, when told that in the prosecution 
 of his mission duties he has more than once passed on these 
 exposed and comfortless floats, from Negapatam on the 
 continent to Jaffnapatam in Ceylon, — a distance, I believe, 
 of about eighty miles. 
 
 The sound sleep that had followed a day of unequalled 
 excitement was broken at morning light by a perfect storm 
 of the same wild songs which had formed one of the wonders 
 of the preceding evening. From the cabin window a crowd 
 of awkward boats and black men were seen thronging the 
 ship's side. Hastening, without loss of time, to the deck, I 
 found a large number of natives, presenting, in their grace- 
 ful costumes, a pleasing contrast to the nude Neptune of the 
 catamaran. To form an idea of a respectable Hindu, take a 
 man of the middle size, with a light, supple, graceful figure, 
 the complexion of a dark hazel-nut, a good forehead, small
 
 28 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 but regular features, a black eye — quick, intelligent, and 
 curious — and a moustache covering the upper lip. On a head 
 closely shaven you })lace a turban of white or turkey-rod 
 muslin, with stripes of gold j a tight frock-coat of calico, with' 
 out any collar and white as snow, clasps round the base of the 
 brown neck ; a piece of the same cloth showing a broad stripe 
 of gold or crimson forms a kind of flowing trousers, which 
 cover the person nearly to the feet in front, but behind leave 
 the brown leg, from the calf downwards, standing out in 
 contrast to their white folds. The costume is completed by 
 a pair of red slippers, always down at the heel ; while the 
 toe, spreading to a great width, turns up in a curl. You are 
 struck at first by a mark on the forehead indicative of the 
 religious sect to which he belongs ; it is frequently in the 
 form of a trident, having all the parts white but the central 
 prong, which is bright yellow. In other cases it consists of 
 three stripes, which cross the whole breadth of the forehead, 
 intersecting a dark circular mark in the centre. The trident, 
 or any vertical mark, designates a worshipper of Vishnu ; 
 horizontal marks point out the votary of Shiva ; and those 
 sects which unite the worship of the two rival divinities 
 combine both. 
 
 Of figures such as this a large number were perambulating 
 the deck inquisitively eyeing the new-come Europeans, who 
 stared at them not less in(|uiringly in return. They made 
 free ofleis of their services for different employments^ 
 exhil)iting certificates of character, and describing their 
 qualifications in tolerable P^nglish. The passengers, having 
 been more anxious to see the natives than to make a good 
 impression, had contented themselves with a hasty toilet, 
 and were all in morning attire. I stood amongst them in 
 like garb, without anything to designate my office ; but a 
 native, after glancing round, walked right up to me, and 
 said intjuiringly, "Master missionary?" IJeing the only 
 missionary at that moment on deck, this impressed me 
 strongly with his power of discernment. Further inter-
 
 MADRAS 29 
 
 course with the people abundantly confirmed that impression. 
 They are keen students of character. One of the first things 
 a Hindu does when introduced to an Englishman is to scan 
 him thoroughly, mainly with the view of deciding in his 
 own mind whether or not he is a liopislitaim, " a man of 
 anger." For, by some means or other, they have got the 
 impression that a white face, though a very respectable 
 thing in India, is not in itself an absolute guarantee against 
 infirmities of temper. 
 
 The deck at this moment afforded a scene of uncommon 
 variety and animation. There were the red coats of the 
 British soldier, and the blue of the British tar, mingled with 
 the light, snowy costume of the Oriental and the unclad sable 
 of the boatman. Presently pale-faced Englishmen in round 
 jackets of white calico jumped on deck inquiring for their 
 friends. Then came joyous meetings. Some of the soldiers 
 looked wistfully on, and their eye seemed to say, " There is 
 no one to welcome me." The rising sun shone on Madras. A 
 line of noble buildings stretched along the northern beach, 
 their chunam fronts glistening in the morning beam. The 
 sombre fort was right in front, with its white lighthouse and 
 church, spire ; while the ensign of England, waving from the 
 flagstaff, seemed to proffer us both welcome and defence. 
 The minaret of IMuhamniadan mosque, the tower of heathen 
 temple, and the spire of Christian church were equally 
 sharing in the brightness of the new sun. To the left the 
 eye caught sight of many detached dwellings scattered along 
 the shore, and looking like the villas adjacent to English 
 towns. The city looked fair and beautiful, but the pleasure 
 of the prospect Avas repressed by the recollection that it was 
 "given to idolatry." 
 
 Three missionary brethren — INIessrs. Haswell, Male, and 
 Fox — soon welcomed us to India. Having taken leave of our 
 truly kind and gentlemanly captain, we left, with hearts full 
 of gratitude to our gracious God, the ship where we had 
 spent so many days and seen so many mercies. Months of
 
 30 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 preservation on the sea, the happy close of a long voyage, 
 the presence of Christian brethren, the knowledge that we 
 were again amongst sanctuaries, and the hope of shortly 
 preaching among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ, Avere thoughts under which the soul thrilled with no 
 common emotion. We looked to the ship with thanks, to 
 the shore with prayer. 
 
 We found ourselves seated in a large, clumsy boat, with 
 high sides of rough plank. It was manned by a crew of ten, 
 eight men rowing witli long, thin sticks, having a flat piece 
 of wood at the end like the fluke of an anchor ; and these 
 puny oars, instead of playing freely in the rower's hand as 
 with us, are tied to a pin in such a way as to permit the 
 performance of the necessary evolutions, and yet secure 
 them from escape in all emergencies. They pulled with 
 more energy than order, and ?ang excruciating ditties all the 
 while. These ungainly conveyances, called viastila boats, 
 are rendered necessary by the peculiar character of the 
 landing-place. Along the coast of Coromandel a surf of 
 three successive waves rolls heavily upon the strand. Even 
 in fine weather it is loud and high, but in a storm terrific. 
 No European boat can cross it. Its violence at Madras has 
 l)revente(l the formation of any harbour,^ and compels ships 
 to anchor in the open roadstead at the inconvenient distance 
 of a mile or upwards from the shore. The vias/ila boat is 
 the only safe medium of communication. It is constructed 
 of planks -which, after being bent by fire, are not nailed to 
 timbers as in English boats, but are fastened to one another 
 by a monster seam. The edges of each plank being pierced 
 with numerous holes, a cord of cocoa-nut fibre is employed 
 as a tliread, and thus they are literally sewed together, 
 although that term conveys an inadecpiate impression of the 
 strength and compactness of the frame. Held together thus, 
 
 ' [A good liaibour, built at very great cost, liaR been in existence 
 many years now, and passengers by steamer generally land at the pier, 
 not through the surf as in Mr. Arthui'a time.]
 
 MADRAS 31 
 
 they easily yield to the pressure of the wave, Avhen it is 
 removed resuming their natural shape, and in this way arc 
 able to dare the surf in which none of our boats can live, 
 unless, indeed, the new and beautiful process of building 
 recently introduced into Chatham dock-yard, in which 
 timbers are dispensed with, be found to combine the 
 requisite strength and pliancy with the elegance of a 
 British man-of-war's boat. 
 
 The morning being perfectly mild, the surf was low ; but 
 the shock of its three waves Avas sufficient to accredit the 
 accounts given of its violence in stormy weather. The 
 power of these comparatively small waves, where there is an 
 evident progression of the water itself, strongly confirms the 
 hydrostatic theory Avhich regards the propagation of sea- 
 waves, like those of a cornfield, as not consisting of any 
 progress of the agitated body, but simply the progress of an 
 undulating motion, while the particles affected by it vibrate 
 in a vertical line. The dangers of those inshore waves 
 which, though the body of water is small, yet carry it in a 
 forward direction, clearly show that if the huge masses of 
 elevated water which form the waves of the open sea had a 
 forward motion of anything at all like the apparent velocity, 
 not only must the very first of them overwhelm a ship, but 
 a violent storm in any part of the ocean would be attended 
 Avith consequences of a most destructive character, even in 
 remote provinces of the watery domain. The last of the 
 three waves cast our boat aground upon the beach, on which 
 the men leaped out and laid hold to prevent her being 
 carried back by its return. Two men from the shore then 
 ran into the water, carrying a small arm-chair on their 
 shoulders which they presented, and, receiving a passenger, 
 hastened to the dry beach where, having discharged him, 
 they returned for another, and so on till we were all stand- 
 ing safely and thankfully on the soil of India, to which 
 many cheerful faces of various hues gave us a hearty 
 Christian welcome.
 
 32 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 In a few minutes Mr. Fox was driving me briskly through 
 Blacktown in his buggy. The streets are of tolerable width, 
 and occasionally lined with rows of palm. The houses are for 
 the most part built of mud, flat-roofed, only one storey high, 
 without windows, and beautifully whitewashed, thus present- 
 ing a continuous line of smooth white wall, broken only by 
 narrow doors. Projecting about two feet from the wall, a 
 raised seat of the same material, and similarly whitewashed, 
 runs along the whole extent of the street, and is broken by a 
 kind of pillow-like elevation, which divides unto each house 
 its share ; thus affording an agreeable open-air couch for the 
 inhabitants. On these were seated a number of men, some 
 cross-legged, like tailors ; others with their black eyes peep- 
 ing over the knees, which stood up dusky and meagre, support- 
 ing the cbin ; others again, resting the weight of the whole 
 body upon the heels, a position which, though less disagreeable 
 to the eye of a European than the last named, is more dis- 
 tressing to his feelings, as he is put in pain for the poor man's 
 heels and toes. These are the usual positions of the natives : 
 the climate is so dry that no danger arises from sitting on the 
 ground, and consequently the use of chairs would only be 
 increasing the number of their wants without any correspond- 
 ing addition to their comforts. For, though we may think 
 otherwise, they feel more easy in their own posture than on 
 a chair. I have seen a native, on taking a chair, fidget from 
 side to side, backward and forward, and in every other way 
 by whicli he could express uneasiness, until, taking courage, 
 he pulled up his legs, crossed them under him, adjusted him- 
 self with an air of great complacency, and so sat perched as 
 we are wont to see Eastern kings painted on their musnuds. 
 
 Several women were passing along the streets ; they are 
 about the middle size — slender, symmetrical, and brown ; the 
 hair — long, glossy, and jet black — is gathered into one heavy 
 and ungraceful clumi) behind. An elegant flowing garment 
 covers the person from the waist downwards ; from the right 
 side a fold of the same piece passes across the shoulders,
 
 MADE AS 33 
 
 leaving the small of the back exposed, but covering the chest, 
 and even the face, when the wearer pleases. In some cases 
 a very small, tight bodice is added ; for without this the 
 other robe, like the Roman toga, requires the hand to pre- 
 serve it in position. The favourite colours are purple, white, 
 yellow, and red ; frequently plain, but often also in stripes 
 or checks ; while a broad border, of some bright contrasting 
 colour, is always disposed with great taste. The dyes are, 
 to an English eye, very striking, as, probably from the 
 advantages of climate, they have a vividness which we 
 cannot give ; while the white far surpasses our finest bleach. 
 Tlius attired, with the left hand supporting a waterpot on the 
 head, and the right carrying another, the Hindu housewife 
 returns from her morning errand with an air of considerable 
 grace, but defective vivacity, presenting a figure more pict- 
 uresque than animated. The waterpots are exactly the shape 
 you would obtain by taking a cabbage, covering it with brass, 
 and leaving a large aperture at the top of the form of a tulip. 
 Eut no description, and no European drawing, can give so 
 accurate a view of the natives of India as is aiforded by their 
 own drawings on talc, where you have the colours of person 
 and costume, the shape of implements, and the air of easy 
 listlessness or pompous conceit, with amusing exactness ; 
 while the very defects in perspective seem to render the 
 picture all the more instructive. Besides the ladies who had 
 been with their waterpots to draw water, a number of others 
 were engaged in an occupation strange to Western eyes, — 
 diligently gathering into baskets all the cow-dung they could 
 find on the streets. This is as much a domestic duty as the 
 former, and serves also both cleanly and culinary purposes. 
 It is spread in broad patches on a wall for several months, to 
 bake in the sun, and then used for fuel. Part of it is 
 employed, while fresh, to wash the floors and walls of the 
 mud-built dwellings ; for which purpose it is highly service- 
 able, when plentifully diluted with water. Odd as this 
 may sound in English ears, everyone who has proved the 
 
 3
 
 34 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 (lifFerence between a dirty choultry ^ and the cleanly freshness 
 of one just washed out with this strange preparation, will 
 bear testimony to its utility for that unlikely purpose. Many 
 other females appeared at the doors sweeping their houses, or 
 marking the ground just before the entrance with white 
 stripes of the ashes of cow-dung, crossed into various checks, 
 according to taste. This is done as a kind of cleanly orna- 
 ment. It is a favourite amusement with writers on India to 
 rate at the natives for dirtiness, but it is done in perfect 
 ignorance of their domestic habits. 
 
 Though the whole scene was novel and interesting, one 
 aspect rested on it all, one thought was continually recurring, 
 — it was a city given to idolatry. The men and women before 
 me were wont to worship and kneel down, not before the 
 Lord their Maker, but before things themselves had made ; 
 the houses I was passing contained idols ; at that instant 
 incense was ascending to scores of miserable stocks ; and 
 hundreds of accountable immortals were in the act of pro- 
 stration before man-made gods. These were thoughts to chill 
 the heart, to invest eternity with redoubled awe, and to 
 make the soul yearn for the time when God should look 
 down upon earth and see no rival to His claims, no wanderer 
 from His fold, 
 
 A short drive carried us through the northern gate of the 
 city into the suburb of Royapuram, where we were most 
 hospitably received at the house of Mr. Orme, who kindly 
 became our host in the absence of INIr. Crowther, then at 
 Pulicat. We immediately sat down to breakfast, which 
 differed only from a bountiful repast of the same kind in 
 England, by the addition of several Indian fruits and such a 
 profusion of dishes as made it resemble the French dejeuner 
 a la fourchette. With tea and coffee, bread and butter, toast 
 and eggs, one seemed rather more at home than suited the 
 idea of an Oriental meal ; but yet the strange fruits, the crowd 
 of black attendants, the play of switches protecting you from 
 ' [A [tlace of rost and slielt'T for passing travfllors. ]
 
 MADRAS 35 
 
 Hies, and the swing of the punkah above, sufficiently attested 
 a strange land. The favourite term to describe a punkah 
 among Indian tourists is a " large fan." It is hard to imagine 
 what idea will be formed, by a person wlio has never seen 
 one, of a fan large enough to serve a whole company, and 
 playing overhead. You have observed by the side of a 
 country inn a sign-board suspended so as to flap about with 
 the wind. Now just fancy one of these, instead of being 
 nearly square, extended so as to stretch the whole length of 
 a long diniug-table ; you suspend it from the roof — for 
 ceiling there is none ; in place of the wind, you use a line 
 which, being attached to the punkah, is carried through a 
 doorless doorway into another room, where stands a servant, 
 and, by slow but constant pulling, produces a refreshing 
 motion of the air. 
 
 It is said that some of the patricians at Rome had such a 
 multitude of slaves that one was constituted nomenclator, 
 being charged with the duty of reciting to his master the 
 names of the others, who were so numerous as to require an 
 official memory. I am not aware that this ancient and 
 reputable custom has yet been introduced among our 
 countrymen in India ; but certainly their retinue is such as 
 to suggest its desirableness. This arises partly from a will- 
 ingness to live in state, partly from the inactivity of the 
 natives, who believe the doctrine that many hands make 
 light work, and partly from their habit of considering the 
 several offices of menial service as so many different trades. 
 The man who cooks the meat would as soon think of washing 
 the plates as would a milliner of making horseshoes ; and 
 the man who grooms your horse would as soon think of 
 cutting grass for him as a hosier would of making hats. All 
 the servants find, or profess to find, their own provisions ; 
 sleep about the verandahs or outhouses, no one ever dream- 
 ing of affording them apartments, and receive wages ranging 
 from five to ten rupees a month, according to the dignity of 
 their office and the wealth of their master.
 
 36 A MISSION TO THF. MYSORE 
 
 After breakfast we were summoned to family worship. It 
 is always refreshing to sanctify our mercies by the Word of 
 God and prayer ; but on this occasion the hymn seemed 
 passing sweet, the word flowed with fresh unction ; and 
 few can tell the feeling with which the missionary breathes 
 his first prayer on heathen soil. The soul has no greater 
 thoughts than those with which such a moment supply him. 
 Separated from home and its joys, the world and its excite- 
 ments, he there gives up spirit, soul, and body to be employed 
 of God in conferring, by the gospel, life and immortality on 
 multitudes who are hopeless and unholy. The knowledge 
 that he is doing God's will, the hope of winning souls, and 
 meeting them in heaven, fill his breast with a lofty happiness 
 which must strangely contrast with the feelings of those who 
 land on such shores with no higher aim than to get a living, 
 or make a fortune, or earn a name. 
 
 During the morning we observed in the neighbourhood a 
 high pole, with the appearance of some machinery at the 
 top, on which sat a large bird, of bright brown plumage 
 marked with white. The pole, we learned, was erected for 
 the barbarous uses of the chedil feast, ^ about to be cele- 
 brated ; and the bird was that species of vulture which 
 receives divine honours from the Brahmans, being that of 
 Garuda, the steed of Vishnu. To look on those two objects, 
 and think of the worship the one was wont to receive, of the 
 torments the other would be used to inflict, they seemed a 
 meet emblem of idolatry pedestalled on human woe. 
 
 Whilst walking in the verandah some snake-charmers 
 approached, and forthwith began to show us their skill. 
 They produced several bags and baskets, containing serpents 
 of the most poisonous kind — the cobra di capello ; then 
 blew upon an instrument shaped like a cocoa-nut, with a 
 short tube inserted, and producing music closely allied to 
 
 ' [Vhedil-attam is the Tamil name for the Hook-swinging festival 
 in honour of Marianima. " Chedil" is the name of the machine, i.e. the 
 post and long swivel used in swinging.]
 
 MADRAS 37 
 
 that of the bagpipe. The animals were brought forth, raised 
 themselves to the music, spread out their head, showing the 
 spectacle mark fully distended, and waved about with con- 
 siderable grace and little appearance of venom. The men 
 coquetted with them, and coiled them about their persons, 
 without any sign of either dislike or fear. This power of 
 dealing with creatures so deadly is ascribed by the natives 
 to magic. Europeans generally account for it by saying that 
 the fangs are extracted. But the most reasonable explana- 
 tion seems to be, that, when the snake is first caught, by a 
 dexterous movement of the charmer the hand is slipped along 
 the body, until it reaches the neck, which he presses so 
 firmly as to compel an ejection of the virus — thus destroy- 
 ing, for a time, all power to harm ; and that this operation 
 is repeated as often as is necessary, to prevent the dangerous 
 accumulation. If this be true — and I believe it is — noth- 
 ing is necessary to the safe handling of these reptiles but a 
 knowledge of the laws which regulate the venomous secretion. 
 The wonder seems to lie in the power they possess of attract- 
 ing the snakes by their rude music, and seizing them, in the 
 first instance. But enough is known to make it evident that, 
 in what all natives and many Europeans regard as mysterious 
 and magical, there is nothing but experience, tact, and courage. 
 With a Hindu, the cobra is the most sacred of reptiles. 
 Most of the natives pay him divine honours ; in some places 
 he has temples consecrated to his special worship ; and not 
 even the charmers, who seize, imprison, and sport with him, 
 will take away his life. The grounds of this are several : 
 Shiva makes him his chief ornament ; Vishnu reposes on 
 his ample folds on the sea of milk, and the whole earth is 
 sustained upon his head, which has consequently a llatness 
 observable on the back part of it when distended. The 
 native Romanists are said to account for this by saying he 
 was the serpent that tempted Eve ; and that she, retiuiring 
 help to reach the fruit, availed herself of the offer of his 
 head, which the pressure of her foot flattened. As illus-
 
 38 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 trative at once of their astronomical system and their rare 
 talent for flattery, the following circumstance may be named : 
 — A Brahman desirous of a court appointment had obtained 
 an introduction to the celebrated Bhoja Raja, and, entering 
 into learned discussion, delighted his majesty by the display 
 of superior parts. After having exhausted his store of pro- 
 blems, in the vain attempt to perplex the candidate, the king, 
 in despair, demanded to be told why the serpent was made 
 ■without ears. " Oh," said the pundit, nothing at a loss, 
 " the reason of that is very plain. When Bramha -was 
 engaged in the work of creation, he foresaw that, in process 
 of time, Bhoja Raja would arise, and, by unequalled achieve- 
 ments, spread his fame through the fourteen worlds. Some 
 great Rishi, in his delight, would hasten to Adi Sesha, 
 the serpent who upholds the world, and recount the wonders 
 that were astounding the universe. Adi Sesha, trans- 
 ported by the matchless rehearsal, would forget his position, 
 and, as he does when delighted with music, would shake his 
 head, by which the world would be cast out of equilibrium, 
 and all things be reduced to confusion. To })rcvcnt this 
 otherwise unavoidable catastrophe, the serpent was made 
 without ears." But though they, in theory, hold serpents 
 to be deaf, they never walk in a grassy place at night with- 
 out making a noise to frighten them away. And, notwith- 
 standing their veneration, I have known them to stand 
 quietly by to see one killed ; and the low-caste people make 
 curry of the flesh, which they pronounce a delicious dish. 
 
 We spent the night under the same hospitable roof. The 
 beds used in India are very hard mattresses, generally of 
 cocoa-nut fibre, with pillows of the same substance, so unyield- 
 ing that someone has humorously compared them to 
 petrified meal sacks. A single sheet is the covering, and 
 mosquito curtains of thin gauze complete the equipment. 
 It would be hard for the Madras magistrates to impose a worse 
 punishment than to make a man lie — sleep if he could — 
 on a good feather bed, with Holland sheets, Witney blankets.
 
 MADRAS 39 
 
 Marseilles counterpane, and damask curtains. A comfortable 
 bed in England is a warm one, in India a cool one. 
 
 The next day we attended a prayer-meeting, held in the 
 schooh'oom under our Blacktown chapel. The larger part 
 of the persons present were Indo-Britons ^ ; and it was no 
 small happiness to hear fervent thanksgivings for our preser- 
 vation and prayers for our usefulness oifered up to God by 
 persons themselves the fruit of missionary labour. For a full 
 description of this chapel, as well as for many particulars 
 connected Avith the mission in Madras and the Tamil country 
 generally, I would refer to the valuable and accurate work 
 of Mr. Hoole ; a work full of information on the customs, 
 literature, and religion of the Hindus, and quite free from 
 the exaggeration and incorrectness by which so many clever 
 books on India are vitiated. 
 
 At this meeting we first met with 'Mv. Crowther, who 
 received us with a most affectionate welcome, and conducted 
 us to his own house, where we were kindly entertained 
 during the remainder of our stay. It was on this occasion 
 I first entered a palanquin, and shall not easily forget my 
 excessive discomfort at being carried by my fellow-creatures. 
 But when one learns that the men are cheerful and content, 
 have no other means of living, and are, physically, one of the 
 finest castes of men in the country, though he does not be- 
 come wholly reconciled to it, he feels it would be as unreason- 
 able to refuse to employ them as to refuse to burn coal in 
 England because your fellow-creatures must live and toil 
 underground to obtain it. To form an idea of a palanquin, 
 look at the body of an omnibus, and you have the exact 
 shape ; only just imagine it removed from the wheels and 
 reduced to about six feet long, with a corresponding decrease 
 
 ^ To this class the name "half-caste" is odious, and "cotuitry 
 born" distasteful. They like "East Indian," but that is unintelli,i,dblc, 
 for persons in Europe would suppose it meant natives. ' ' Imlo- Briton," 
 is at ouce acceptable and signilicaut. [The universally accepted name 
 now is " Eurafian."]
 
 40 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 of the other dimeusions. The entrance is on the side, which 
 is open or close at pleasure, by means of slidiug doors. 
 From the centre of the end panel projects a thick pole for 
 about four feet behind and before. The passenger, having 
 entered, has the choice of lying full-length, sitting up as in 
 a bed, or, as the natives do, cross-legged ; but other posture 
 he cannot adopt. Three men seize the pole in front and 
 raise it upon their shoulders, three more do the same with 
 the one behind, the head bearer strikes up a song, and the 
 whole start off at a quick trot. 
 
 On the Sunday morning I proceeded to Royapettah in order 
 to be near St. Thome, where I had to preach at night. 
 Here first it was my happiness to see a native Christian 
 congregation, of which the number was small, but the 
 appearance devout and pleasing. Mr. Haswell read the 
 Liturgy and preached in Tamil, and though I could not 
 understand a single sentence, yet the scene awakened reflec- 
 tions which made it a season of surpassing interest and profit. 
 In the afternoon Mr. Haswell went to distribute tracts and 
 converse with the multitude he knew would assemble in the 
 immediate vicinity to celebrate the cliedil feast, and I gladly 
 embraced the opportunity^ of accompanying him. We found 
 an immense crowd in an open place around a pole similar to 
 the one we had remarked at Royapuram. They received the 
 tracts offered, and freely entered into conversation ; but all 
 that passed was secret from me, except so far as looks might 
 happen to reveal it. It is a fearful thing to see a number 
 of men met together to do evil. Dut when the evil is part 
 of a system, when it is accounted right and even religious, 
 when it includes both dishonour to God and cruelty to man, 
 when nations are in sympathy with the deed, and when, 
 standing amidst them, you see theni rush along the road 
 that leadeth to destruction, and are not able so much as to 
 say, "Turn ye, turn ye," — oh, then there is a pressure upon 
 the heart, the intensity of which none can tell, but he that 
 Avith a Christian's feelings has looked upon the abominations
 
 MADRAS 41 
 
 of heathenism perpetrated on the Sabbath. A movement in 
 the crowd presently called our attention towards the pole. 
 From a slicd placed near it was led forth a man naked from the 
 waist up, but having round it a cloth so tied that a part of it 
 formed a kind of bag, which was filled with flowers. A little 
 below the shoulder appeared two large hooks, inserted into the 
 back, one on either side of the spine. ^ Across the top of the 
 upright pole was another of great length, and so affixed that 
 it could revolve freely, and either end be lowered or raised 
 at pleasure. A rope was attached to each extremity. One 
 of these was seized, the end of the cross-beam was lowered 
 nearly to the man, the rope was passed through the loop of the 
 hooks, and tied fast. Four men began to pull upon the 
 rope attached to the opposite end, and thus gradually raised 
 that to which the poor victim was attached. He bent for- 
 ward, was lifted from the ground, and hoisted into high air 
 amid the plaudits of that great concourse over whom he 
 hung quivering. The men holding the rope then began to 
 move slowly round, causing a corresponding motion in the 
 other end of the transverse beam, by which the miserable 
 object suspended from it was made to describe a circle in 
 the air, where, as he writhed and shudderetl, he frequently 
 took a handful of llovvers and let them fall on the crowd 
 below, by whom they were caught up as if an angel were 
 scattering blossoms from the tree of life. After having four 
 times traversed the circle, the poor victim was taken down 
 and led away. jNIr. Ilaswell continued earnestly conversing 
 with the people, and distributing tracts at such intervals of 
 excitement as permitted tlie withdrawal of their attention 
 from the spectacle, until four persons had submitted to this 
 revolting penance. Disgust rendered a longer stay impos- 
 
 ^ [This is not now, to the best of niy knowleilge, permitted or 
 practised anywhere. The feast is still heUl, but hooks are no longer 
 inserted in the devotee's llesh. A rope is placed under the arms or 
 round the loins, and the swinging is thus reduced to a harmless 
 amusement.]
 
 42 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 sible ; and, as we left, I could hardly prevent my desire 
 for the ability to preach Christ to those multitudes from 
 heaving into impatience. Sympathies, at once poignant and 
 ennobling, are stirred in the breast of a missionary standing 
 amid masses of heathen. The heart bleeds to think of their 
 darkness, but finds large consolation in the assurance of 
 being an agent, however humble, in God's great plan for 
 their regeneration. Faith opens the view of better days, 
 when Jehovah shall be honoured and man blessed ; hope 
 exults in the prospect, and joy; unique and fervid, glows 
 upon the heart. Then does the gospel seem glorious, and 
 the commission to preach it an unspeakable gift. When 
 standing by the deathbed of the venerable Henry Moore, I 
 asked him, " Were you again young, would you wish to 
 apply your life to any other purpose than that to which it 
 has been devoted 1 " The aged servant of God, raising him- 
 self in his bed, and looking me steadfastly in the face, said 
 warmly, " No, not at all, not at all : the best thing a man 
 can do, the very best, is to preach the gospel."^ It is truth. 
 To be employed as God's instrument in making men good 
 is the noblest, happiest, most remunerative application of our 
 brief but momentous life. Would to God that every Chris- 
 tian parent and every Christian youth felt it so ! Then we 
 should not see the otfer of a cadet's commission, a merchant's 
 partnership, or a civilian's appointment hailed as "a good 
 thing," and a commission to preach Christ to the Gentiles re- 
 luctantly yielded to Avith speeches about heroism and sacrifice. 
 During our stay, the friends at ^Madras held their Cen- 
 tenary meeting, having purposely delayed it till our arrival. 
 It was numerously attended, and evinced the same spirit of 
 holy joyfulness and gratitude which so remarkably charac- 
 terised like assemblies at home. INIany delightful testimonies 
 were borne to the power of saving grace. From some of the 
 statements it appeared that a few pious individuals had 
 
 ' The Kcv. Henry Moore, tlic friend and biographer of John Wesley, 
 who iliid at the ago of nincly-thrcc.
 
 MADHAS 43 
 
 formed themselves into a society, adopted lules very similar 
 to those of the Wesley?, and taken other measures remark- 
 ably coincident with the usages of Methodism, before they 
 had any correct information of its character, and previous to 
 any of our missionaries reaching their shores. 
 
 During our stay we visited St. Thomas's Mount, which, 
 beside its religious celebrity, has a military importance os 
 the depot for the Company's troops. The drive is said to 
 be one of the finest in India, and certainly is the most 
 interesting in the neighbourhood of Madras. Leaving Black- 
 town, you cross the spacious esplanade, which is flanked on 
 the east by Fort St. George, with its sloping glacis and all but 
 impregnable rampart, beyond which rises the roar of the 
 " much-resounding sea." You shortly pass Chantrey's noble 
 equestrian statue of Sir Thomas Munro, a man who, by emi- 
 nent talents, unswerving rectitude, and careful attention to the 
 people's interests in the various offices to which his merits 
 raised him, attained a reputation among the natives of South 
 India far higher than that of any other European. In the 
 remote villages the brilliant name of Clive is forgotten, that 
 of Wellington barely known ; but Munro's is cherished and 
 dwelt upon with the liveliest admiration. I have known 
 a native say, with evident pride, when asked from what 
 country he came, "I am from the country of Munro," mean- 
 ing the Ceded Districts. I once heard a Brahman bitterly 
 complaining of the ]\[adras authorities for placing his statue 
 in the open air, as he thought exposure a mark of deficient 
 respect; and added, with as much feeling as if resenting 
 an insult to his mother, " I saw an unclean bird perched 
 on the head of the illustrious ]\Iunro." It is said that in 
 the districts which were favoured so long with his judicious 
 government, the natives frequently call their children by 
 his name ; and that, soraewliere near Gooty, a likeness of 
 him is kept, and treated with a veneration very similar to 
 that paid to their gods. 
 
 As you proceed, the way is crowded with pedestrians,
 
 44 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 steeds, and equipages. The English soldier, the brown 
 native, and the Indo-Briton, M'ith light garments and 
 leisurely pace, move along in continuous and picturesque 
 succession, a stream almost as constant, but not so impetu- 
 ous, as the torrents of Cheapside and the Strand. Mingled 
 with these are the light Arabian horse, the sturdy Persian, 
 the sprightly Pegu pony, the bullock, belled and caparisoned, 
 and occasionally the tall, soft-paced camel, bearing riders in 
 the respective costumes of England, Persia, and Hindustan. 
 Then you have the open carriage, with a black groom holding 
 on by either side, and keeping pace with the horses, however 
 fleet, brandishing their switches the while, as a warning to 
 all mosquitoes ; buggies, with the master driving and the 
 servant pursuing on foot ; native carriages, with a dome- 
 shaped roof supported on four pillars, showing you the 
 portly bust of some Hindu seated cross-legged, while the 
 coachman, perched upon the pole, urges on two bullocks, 
 each graced with a necklace of tinkling bells ; then there are 
 palan(|uins, with their troop of singing bearers ; tonjons, 
 with pale children and black ayahs, and of bandies ' no end. 
 The way, thus animated, is lined by rows of trees, among 
 Avhich you recognise the aloe, the palmyra, yellow tulip, 
 mango, banyan, and lime. At every few perches a neat gate 
 opens into a cultivated enclosure with a handsome residence, 
 while a glow of intense sunlight sheds brightness over all 
 the scene. The Armenian bridge of Marmalong is an inter- 
 esting object, near which is a Romish church, said to stand 
 on the spot where tlie Apostle Tliomas had his residence, 
 and whence he took liis last flight when assailed by the 
 heatlien. The Mount, distant from Madras about eight 
 miles, is an isolated cliff of granite, rising abruptly from a 
 plain near the shore, and crested by a simple but picturesque 
 Romish churcli. Steps have been cut in the rock to facili- 
 tate the ascent, which they may do in the case of the infirm 
 
 ^ [Springless carts drawn by bullockw and used for all purposes of 
 transport.]
 
 MADRAS 45 
 
 or timid, many of whom doubtless are to be found in the 
 crowds of pilgrims resorting hither ; but, for my own part, 
 I would much rather clamber a hillside, however rugged, 
 than drag up flight after flight of dull, heavy stone steps. 
 The summit was the first place from whence we obtained 
 any extensive prospect of the country. To our east spread 
 the wide and placid sea, fringed by the foaming surf, and 
 agreeably spangled by the strange sails of the dhonie and 
 catamaran. Immediately below us lay the cantonment, with 
 its barracks and bazaar, the noble English church, and our 
 own beautiful gothic chapel ; enlivened by figures in light 
 costume, and the evolutions of the soldiery at drill. The 
 view inland has but little interest, the land spreading abroad 
 in one extended flat, with a few hills in the distance, scat- 
 tered clumps of trees, and paddy-fields of rich green; but 
 not anything to save the landscape from an air of dulness 
 and monotony. Persons at home are apt to look at every- 
 thing Oriental through an atmosphere of beauty and romance, 
 with which the books read in childhood surround them, and 
 which those of after years too often leave undisturbed. 
 Lands where the orange and lime, the banana and tulip tree, 
 the talipot and banyan flourish ; whose soil imbeds diamonds 
 and nourishes incense ; in whoso forests elephants range and 
 peacocks glitter ; where the tedious night never abridges the 
 day, nor the dew-drop chills to frost; where nature never 
 puts on the hoary covering of a barren age, but stands 
 always dressed in the green of prolific youth, — such lands, 
 it is thought, must be far fairer than the commonplace 
 scenery at our own doors. But it is not so ; our groves and 
 gardens, our fields and flowers, are lovelier than theirs. 
 Palms are graceful, but, when constantly before the eye, the 
 branchless and scaly shaft becomes monotonous ; banyans, 
 when many-trunked, form an object of singular interest, but 
 their occurrence in such specimens is not so frequent as to 
 affect the general aspect of the scenery ; and, on the whole, 
 though the woods of India never are leafless as ours in
 
 46 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 January, they are never equal to them in May, either as 
 regards appearance or perfume. Those who have wandered 
 in the woods of Bolton Abbey, by the banks of the Dart, 
 the Avon, or the Wye, have stood on Croagh Patrick or 
 Richmond Hill, or sailed on the waters of Lough Erne or 
 Lough Gill, need not sigh for the region of cloudless suns, 
 nor envy " the green of its shores or the blue of its skies." 
 
 But it was not possible to stand on St. Thomas's Mount 
 without other reflections than those suggested by the land- 
 scape. On this spot tradition states that the apostle, having 
 fled from his usual dwelling-place, before referred to, was 
 overtaken and slain. On the strength of this tradition the 
 church now standing was erected by the Portuguese, and 
 time was when their warships never sighted the sacred place 
 without greeting it with the honours of a royal salute. A 
 Christian missionary then was not likely to stand here 
 without asking, " From that plain below did the very hand 
 which our blessed Lord called to touch His sacred wounds 
 point the eye of nations to their God ? And did that hand, 
 on this very spot, stifl"en in a death incurred for love of Him 
 whom once he doubted 1 " The authenticity of the tradition 
 is matter of dispute.^ But be the decision of history what 
 
 ^ Hamiltoii doubted not ; Bishop Heber believed it firmly ; and 
 Captain Swanston, in a paper on the "Primitive Christians of 
 Malayala," in the Royal Asiatic Society's Journal boldly states : 
 "This is not asserted on the authority of any obscure tradition, 
 but unites in its favour all the proofs which can wairaut its correct- 
 ness ; the accumulated testimonies of the lirst ages of the Church, of 
 St. Jerome, of St. John, surnamed Clirysostom, Athanasius, and 
 Easebius." Mr. Hough, however, to whoso historical researches 
 Christianity in India is greatly indebted, has given to the question a 
 lengthened review, and concludes decidedly against the tradition. 
 He does show that in the ancient ec(desiastical histories of the West it 
 has a very slender foundation, but does not iuforiu us of the records 
 held by the native churches, or what credit he supposes due to tliem, — 
 an omission which certainly weakens the impression of his argument. 
 His own Images, however, contain enough to show tliat his conclusion is 
 no more free from historical dillicuUics than the other ; nor, indeed, so
 
 MADRAS 47 
 
 it may, it was not to be expected that Romanism should 
 exist near a place favoured with such a rich mine of pious 
 marvel as that presented by this tradition without adopting 
 means to develop its resources. Accordingly, after the Portu- 
 guese had established themselves in the neighbourhood, 
 their priests, as quaintly narrated by Hamilton, discovered 
 the lance with which the apostle had been slain, and the 
 cross stained with his blood, which, with other relics equally 
 genuine, are preserved to this day, and occasionally exhilnted 
 for the edification of the pilgrims resorting to the holy place. 
 St. Thomas's Mount is to the Romanists of India Avhat 
 
 much so. The tradition exists, and lias existed from a very early 
 age. If we deny its truth, it is but reasonable that we account for its 
 origin. This Mr. Hough endeavours to do by referring to two persons 
 of the name of Thomas, who, having an early connection witli the 
 native churches, might have been confounded with the apostle, owing 
 to the identity of name. It is not professed that either of these intro- 
 duced the gospel into India ; for Mar Thomas lived in the ninth 
 century, and Thomas the Manichee in the latter part of the third ; 
 whereas Mr. Hough admits the existence of Christianity in India 
 previous to the mission of Pantivnus from Alexandria, which occurred 
 in the second. Now, the existence of churches in the second century 
 being proved, it follows they could not adopt the name of any labourer 
 subsequent to that period as the name of their founder ; and that, if 
 adopted at all, it must be on account of eminent influence and reputa- 
 tion. But had any man attained such consideration amongst them, 
 that they delighted to be called by his name, they would surely not 
 have rejected his doctrines ; and there being no kind of proof that 
 these churches embraced the heresy of Manes is strong presumptive 
 evidtnce that whosoever might be the Thomas from whom they took 
 their name, he was not a Manichee. All the information given of 
 such a missionary is thiit Manes "is said to have sent one of his 
 disciples named Thomas into India to propagate his heresy " ; which 
 certainly is slender ground whereon to rest a grave conclusion. 
 
 As to Mar Thomas, Mr. Hough himself scarcely goes so far as to 
 attribute to him the origin of the name ; and that he should at all 
 cite him in the case is not easily accounted for, when he himself informs 
 us that in the seventh century the claims of the patriarch of Seleucia 
 were disputed, on the grounds that "the Christians of Persia and 
 India were Christians of St. Thomas," a statement sutliciently 
 proving that a person who lived in the ninth century could have
 
 48 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Croagh Patrick is to those of Ireland, or a Becket's tomb 
 once was in England. 
 
 On descending from this remarkable eminence we found a 
 good company assembled in our elegant little chapel, where 
 we held a missionary meeting characterised by lively feeling 
 and liberality. I cannot refer to this chapel without being 
 reminded of a circumstance which occurred at a subsequent 
 visit, wlien, after the service, a young man in artillery uniform 
 came into the vestry. He was introduced to me by Mr. 
 Pope as the son of one of our ministers at home, a man of 
 great distinction and respect. His looks indicated a full 
 
 nothing to do with giving them that name. Again, he notices the 
 celebrated mission of our own Alfred the Great to the "shrine of St. 
 Thomas in India," which, leaving England as it did in the same 
 century as that in which Mar Thomas flourished, proves that in the 
 West a belief prevailed that the apostle had laboured and died in 
 India long before it could possibly have arisen from a confusion of two 
 persons separated from each other by so many centuries. From what- 
 ever source the primitive churches of India derived the name of Chris- 
 tians of St. Thomas, and whatever may have been the origin of the 
 tradition which ascribes that name to an apostle, it seems tolerably 
 plain neither is to be found in the persons from which the historian of 
 Christianity in India supposes them to have arisen. 
 
 But besides these matters of consideration furnished by j\Ir. Hough's 
 own pages, there are others which go strongly to corroborate the 
 tradition. We must take into account the ancient origin of those 
 churches, their own confident belief that the apostle founded them, 
 their use of the Syriac language, and the assertion of their own 
 historians (see Swanston's Treatise as above), that up to the year 345 
 there had been no foreign bishop or clergyman amongst them, — a fact 
 which goes far to confirm the opinion that the India visited by 
 Pantajnus was, as so many good authorities suppose, not Hindustan 
 but Ethiopia. Another fact of great moment is that the Jews on the 
 Malabar coast have a tradition, stating that their fathers landed in 
 India in the year of our Lord 69, and that the Apostle Thomas had 
 reached it seventeen years before, having arrived in 52. Now, as this 
 leaves a space of nineteen years after the ascent of our Lord, and 
 mentions a time when the intercourse with India had just become 
 greatly facilitated by the enterprise of Hippalus, there is about it an 
 air of considerable probability. 
 
 As Parthia is named l)y Eiisibius as the sphere of St. Thomas's
 
 MADRAS 49 
 
 heart, and he said, " I have just heard from home. My 
 father is dead." He wept sore, reproaching himself bitterly 
 for conduct which he feared had shortened the days of the 
 excellent parent he was now lamenting. After his feelings 
 had somewhat subsided, lie told us that had this terrible 
 news reached him only a short time before, he feared to think 
 what the consequences might have been ; but that God had 
 in mercy brought him to a state of heart in which he was 
 better able to bear his self-reproach. " For some time," 
 he said, " I have felt the burden of my sins, and longed 
 to become a new creature ; but in the barrack-room I had 
 little opportunity to seek God, and was interrupted in every 
 attempt to pray. At last my desire became so earnest 
 that I resolved to seek Him where I could do so in 
 
 ministry, we should have been led naturally to expect that he would 
 penetrate into the north of India, which lay so adjacent, to which 
 attention had been long directed, and which had been made compara- 
 tively known by the residence of Megasthenes at Palibothra, which, 
 notwithstanding the opinion of Robertson in favour of Allaluibad, 
 appears to have stood on the site assigned by Major Rennell at the 
 junction of the Sone with the Ganges near Patna. But the appear- 
 ance of Christianity so near the apex of the peninsula renders it very 
 improbable that it was carried thither from the north, and points out 
 the commerce with the West as the channel of its introduction. Here 
 lies the only dilliculty of believing that the labours of Thomas called 
 Didymus were the first which ever brought Christ to the knowledge of 
 Hindus. Bishop Heber states that the passage from the Persian 
 Gulf was then quite common, — a statement, however, which cannot 
 apply to the Persian ports, as there did not then exist any maritime 
 commerce from that country, in consequence of the religious aversion 
 to the sea entertained by its inhabitants — an aversion never overcome 
 till when under Artaxerxes they had thrown of the Parthian yoke, 
 which event did not occur till the third century. Now, as no port was 
 open on the Arabian Sea, or the eastern shores of the Persian Gulf, the 
 missionary must have sailed from some port in Arabia or Egypt. To 
 the former country the traditions of Malayala ti'ace the apostle, so that 
 the only difficulty is to reconcile the statement of Eusebius, that his 
 sphere w'as Parthia — a very wide term, with the fact of his being 
 found in Arabia some twenty years after the commencemeut of his 
 labours, which difficnlty, we apprehend, will not be esteemed formidable. 
 
 4
 
 50 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 quiet. So, retiring to a grove of cocoa-nut trees, I there 
 knelt down, poured out my soul to God, cried for mercy, 
 and continued wrestling with Him until He was pleased to 
 reveal Christ in my soul, and to give me the sense of His 
 pardoning love. Had it not been for this, what should I 
 have done now ] " There was every token of sincerity and 
 true penitence. "We rejoiced over him greatly, but with 
 trembling ; for, knowing the temptations by which he was 
 surrounded, it was impossible not to have apprehensions. 
 The event, however, showed that the work was of God. He 
 continued steadfast, left the army, and obtained a respectable 
 situation. His health failed, he was ordered into the interior, 
 and on the journey was attacked by cholera. His only 
 attendant was his excellent wife, to whom he had not long 
 been united, and who now watched the agonies she could 
 not alleviate, closed his eyes in death, and committed him to 
 a lonely grave far from any place where Christians bury. She 
 has since been called to follow, but survived long enough to 
 tell of the peace and hope which comforted her husband 
 during his last struggle, and animated her amid the gloom of 
 her own bereavement. We doubt not that now father and 
 son are together before the throne of God and of the Lamb, 
 adoring His mercies, and rejoicing that He sent His servants 
 to the far country whither the prodigal had wandered. 
 
 During our stay at INIadras, the missionaries of the different 
 denominations met to spend an evening at Mr. Crowther's. 
 This they are in the habit of doing monthly, at one another's 
 houses in turn, for the purpose of mutual profit, by con- 
 sidering subjects connected with missionary enterprise, and 
 offering united prayer. There were present Episcopalians, 
 Presbyterians, Independents, and Wesleyans, being all the 
 Protestant denominations having establishments in Madras. 
 This exhibition of union and love is most refreshing, and 
 yet it is melancholy that our miserable littleness has reduced 
 us to a condition wherein even natural co-operation assumes 
 the aspect of an attainment, and wherein we are pleased with
 
 JIADKAS 51 
 
 ourselves for just beginning to be something like what our 
 religion requires. 
 
 Being ignorant of the Tamil language, the vernacular at 
 Madras, it was not possible for me, by personal observation, 
 to learn much of the state of religion among the natives. 
 The oldest mission is that of the Romanists. It is probable 
 the Portuguese found some Christians on their arrival at 
 St. Thome, and managed to incorporate them with their 
 own church. At one time they had large numbers of 
 natives who called themselves Christians ; but the disputes 
 of the clergy amongst themselves so violently agitated their 
 congregations, and brought upon them such reproach, as 
 greatly to diminish their influence. When the English 
 established themselves in Madras, so far from taking any 
 steps to spread the* truth, they thought the importance of 
 their place might be increased by a settlement of monks ; 
 and, accordingly, some Capuchins were invited. One of 
 these, not being sufficiently a Mary-worshipper to suit the 
 Romanism of India, was cajoled beyond the English terri- 
 tory into St. Thome, there kidnapped, hastened off to Goa, 
 and immured in the Inquisition. Some time after, a party 
 of English landed in that city, and went about seeing the 
 "lions" of the place. Among others, they wished to view 
 this far-famed tribunal of religious terror, and were admitted; 
 but no sooner had they gained an entrance than, like 
 Glenara's accusers — 
 
 "Each mantle, unfolding, a dagger displayed." 
 The gate was immediately secured ; then, rushing into the 
 presence of the Inquisitors, they presented to that astounded 
 tribunal the unwonted alternative of instant death or the 
 surrender of their victim. Caught for once in their own 
 snare, they yielded, and Father Euphrem was borne back in 
 triumph by his deliverers. The Romish cause, thus be- 
 friended, has not languished, although the number of their 
 adherents has never recovered the loss occasioned by the 
 wars of the monks. In the year 1811 there were in ^ladras,
 
 52 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 St. Thome, and the neighbourhood fourteen priests, — some 
 Portuguese and some from Maynooth. These two parties, 
 rekindling the embers of former fires, had been vigorously 
 contesting their rights, and suing each other in the courts 
 at ]\ladras. They have several large churches. The uniform 
 testimony of everyone, lay or clerical, whom I consulted as 
 to the character of their converts, was that they are not 
 superior to their heathen neighbours in any point of enlighten- 
 ment, civilisation, or morality ; that they wear heathen marks, 
 maintain the heathen institution of caste, and participate in 
 heathen festivals ; while they have many processions, and 
 such like, which are only accommodated heathen ceremonies, 
 adopted to conciliate, and remove all idea of difficulty in 
 passing from the rule of the Brahman to that of the priest. 
 
 The Church of England has long had a valuable mission 
 at Yepery, a suburb of Madras, where there is a noble 
 Gothic church, a priiiting-press, and a considerable number 
 of converts. This establishment is under the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, which also has 
 a station at St. Thome. In Blacktown the Church Missionary 
 Society have a large chapel in an important cause ; also an 
 institution for training natives and Indo-Britons for the 
 work of carrying the gospel to their countrymen. There is 
 also a bishop, with several chaplains ; but, as they receive 
 their appointment and salary from the Company, they are 
 regarded as Government officers, and confine their labours to 
 the English, none of them preaching in the native tongues.^ 
 
 The London Missionary Society has a large chaj^el in 
 Blacktown and another in Vepery. The American brethren, 
 besides several schools, have a large printing establishment, 
 which employs a considerable number of presses, and is 
 conferring incalculable benefit on the country. The Church 
 of Scotland had also three missionaries, who now belong to 
 the Free Church. They conduct an English school, in which 
 
 ' The liishop. however, takfs the supervision of tlie missionaries of 
 the Church of Enjiland.
 
 MADRAS 53 
 
 an excellent education is given, and every means taken to 
 imbue the minds of their pupils with Christian truth. 
 Some recent successes in their labours have so alarmed the 
 Brahmans that steps were taken to agitate the whole country 
 asainst mission schools. Our own missionaries have several 
 schools, congregations, and small societies. Taking all the 
 labourers together, they are, as compared with the magni- 
 tude of the work, few, very few ; but their faith is unshaken, 
 their hope high, and their resolve steadfast to proclaim 
 Christ to the multitudes who surround them, until, moved 
 by His attractions, they shake themselves from the dust and 
 rise to lay hold upon His strength.^ 
 
 Schwartz tells us that in his early days he sought in vain 
 for a pious European in India ; and I have myself heard an 
 old missionary say that when he first was in the country he 
 knew not one. At that time Englishmen were in the habit 
 
 ' [This description of missionary agencies in and around Madras 
 needs now, happily, to be greatly supplomented. There are at least 
 eight great Missionary Societies at work there, representing England, 
 Scotland, America, and Denmark. They differ in name and organi- 
 sation, but they are all evangelical in spirit, and they work in com- 
 plete harmony. The department >< of mission work have multiplied 
 greatly during the past sixty years. Women missionaries were then 
 practically unknown ; now they are numerous and invaluable. Medical 
 mission work was not then in vogue ; now it is steadily increasing. 
 Literary activity has developed enormously, stimulated on the one 
 hand by the Religious Tract Society and Christian Literature Society, 
 and on the other hand Ity such splendid missionary printing estab- 
 lishments as that of the American Methodist Episcopal Mission. 
 The " English School " mentioned by Mr. Arthur has developed into 
 the United Christian College of Madras — one of the most remarkable 
 missionary institutions in Asia. Dr. Miller, its Founder and Prin- 
 cipal, has seen an organisation grow under his hands which is 
 contributing most intluentially to the conversion of India. The 
 neighbourhood of Madras has also seen, and is still seeing, a very 
 successful work among the Pariah classes. During all these years, 
 Mr. Arthur's own Mission, the Wesleyan Mission, has fully held its 
 place with the others. Its work has grown steadily, alike in variety 
 of range, intensity of influence, and in visible results.]
 
 54 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 of saying they left their religion at the Cape of Good Hope, 
 where they should resume it on their way home. They 
 were faithful to the spirit of this surrender; their State 
 religion was Paganism, their private devotions paid at the 
 shrine of Mammon, of Bacchus, and of Venus. But, by the 
 blessing of God on the word of His grace, there is now 
 another state of things. Profanity has grown timid, intem- 
 perance is awed into secrecy, and the miserable copyist of 
 Eastern voluptuousness is a rare excrescence upon Anglo- 
 Indian society. Perhaps there is not any similar number of 
 our countrymen among whom may be found a larger pro- 
 portion of persons truly converted to God than the civil 
 and military servants of our Indian Government. The fol- 
 lowing extract from the work of a French writer, M. de 
 Warren, reviewed in the Church of England Quarter] i/, 
 though designed to caricature the piety which — blessed be 
 God — is cherished in the hearts and families of so many of 
 our countrymen in India, yet affords an important testimony 
 of its existence, and so delineates some of its features, that 
 Christians at home will gratefully recognise the family like- 
 ness. Speaking of Madras, he says: "At my last visit, in 
 1840, I was struck with the change that had fallen upon all 
 social relations. The saints, as they are called in the 
 country, have spread themselves like a leprosy over all 
 society. A dark fanaticism — excusable when it is sincere, 
 but odious when it is a hypocritical mask, assumed by 
 avarice or ambition — has invaded everything. Merchants 
 and civil and military functionaries of the highest rank, who 
 desire to economise almost the totality of the profits of their 
 enormous salaries, assume this mask voluntarily enough, in 
 order to escape from the obligation of contributing to the 
 pleasure of the community, and from the exercise of a 
 ruinous hospitality which was once almost exacted from 
 them. In place of dinners and balls, which once cost them 
 much, they now entertain you with sermons, whicli cost 
 them nothin" Youul' men who wish to advance in life
 
 MADRAS 55 
 
 also put oil the same mask — -which suits them even more 
 indiflferently still — that they may find favour with the power- 
 ful and obtain appointments from them. Thus, at Madras, 
 a man had need to be upon his guard : an invitation to a 
 dinner, or even to a soMe, is nothing but a trap. Immedi- 
 ately after the repast, or previous to the introduction of 
 the refreshments, the master of the house compels you to 
 purchase or to expiate your pleasures by keeping you at least 
 an hour on your knees, while he gives forth a sermon, under 
 the guise of a prayer, with all the nasal recitative of the 
 Roundheads of the time of Cromwell. In my preceding 
 visits to Madras I considered that I had fairly to complain 
 that the English seldom spoke ; but, like the father of the 
 dumb girl in the AL'decm mahjre lui, I confess that I pre- 
 ferred their silence of former days to their rhapsodies of the 
 present, and I would, with all my heart, have rendered them 
 as dumb as they were used to be." 
 
 On the last day of the sixteenth century, that springtime 
 of great men and great events — the century of Luther and 
 Knox, Galileo and Bacon, Tasso and Spenser — the virgin 
 Queen of England aftixed her name to a deed, incorporating 
 " the Governor and Company of the Merchants of London 
 trading to the East Indies." Little thought the clear-sighted 
 Elizabeth that such a transaction was destined, in the pro- 
 vidence of God, to give a wider sweep to the sceptre of her 
 successors than any other of her reign. Little thought the 
 "merchant adventurers" that, in the scroll then presented, they 
 laid the first stone of a monument to their country's prowess far 
 more colossal than any her Edwards or Henrys had reared. 
 And little did the century that followed promise such wonders. 
 The early days of the British enterprise in the East — like 
 the youth of Clive, who first raised it from adventure to 
 empire — were remarkable only for a want of promise. Over- 
 awed by the Portuguese, beaten by the Dutch, circumvented 
 by the French, and despised by the natives, our countrymen 
 maintained a precarious existence of little measures and
 
 56 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 great murmurings. The islands were their main desire ; 
 but, driven by the jealous Dutch from one post after another, 
 they sought refuge on the coast of Coromandel. Here, 
 again, pursued by the rivals, they were compelled to abandon 
 their first settlements at Masulipatam and Pulicat. At 
 length they found rest at Armagaon ; but that settlement 
 proved unsuitable for trade, and another was desired. Thirty 
 years after the signing of the first charter, powers to purchase 
 land for a new town were granted to Mr. Day, the English 
 agent at Armagaon, by Sri Ranga, Raja of Chandragiri. 
 At the place assigned was a local naik, whose father was 
 named Chinappa ; in deference to the wishes of this officer, 
 the new town was, after his father, called Chinappa Patam, 
 or the city of Chinappa ; under which name, contracted into 
 Chinapatam, it is still known among the natives. The origin 
 of this great city, like that of others more ancient and more 
 renowned, was sufficiently humble. "At the Company's 
 first beginning to build a fort," wrote the local agency to the 
 Presidency of Surat, " there were only the French padres, 
 and about six fishermen's houses ; so, to entice the inhabi- 
 tants to people the place, proclamation was made, in the 
 Company's name, that, for the term of thirty years, no 
 custom of anything to be eaten, drunk, or worn, should be 
 taken of any of the town-dwellers."^ But the Theseus of 
 Coromandel, intent, like his Athenian prototype, on an 
 aggregated population, did not confine his inducements to 
 mere fiscal immunities, but proceeded to add ecclesiastical 
 attractions. He, as already stated, encouraged the settlement 
 of Capuchin monks ; not, as INIr. Hough very naturally 
 supposes, with the view of afibrding the benefit of their 
 instructions to the members of their own community already 
 settled in the Company's territory, but for a reason, to him, 
 far more cogent, namely, " in order to draw the Poituguese 
 from San TIiouk', wlio, being considered as Eur()j)eans, 
 would add to the military reputation of Madras, con- 
 ' St'c Ornie's Fraiiincnlf, Note xxxviii,
 
 MADRAS 57 
 
 sequently attract the resort of the natives, and with them 
 an increase of trade." ' Thus, at the foundation of our 
 oldest existing Presidency, religion was made the handmaid 
 of secular advantage — a procedure which, however derogatory 
 to our national character, has, unhappily, not been confined 
 to obscure factors and struggling enterprise, but been too 
 often adopted by exalted dignitaries, ruling an empire, the 
 very magnitude of which might have made salutary impres- 
 sions of responsibility. 
 
 Fourteen years after its foundation, the new city had 
 attained such importance as led to its being erected into a 
 Presidency, having Bengal dependent. During the early part 
 of its existence, the whole Carnatic was swept by the armies 
 of Viziapur - and Golconda ; but it was too insignificant to 
 excite their jealousy, and therefore escaped unhurt. The first 
 enemy who threatened its peace was Daudd Khan, one of 
 Aurangzib's generals, who, in 1702, laid inefi'ectual siege to 
 it ; after which time it enjoyed forty years of peace, rapidly 
 increasing in commerce and importance. In September 
 1746, La Bourdonnais arrived on the coast; a man who, 
 by genius, courage, enterprise, and moderation, was equally 
 fitted to conquer or govern, and who, had his employers in 
 France only possessed similar foresight, and had he met with 
 a coadjutor instead of a rival in Dupleix, Avould, in all 
 human probability, have crushed the nascent power of 
 England in the East. He had imported to the INIauritius a 
 number of Africans, called, in the histories of the times, 
 " Cafires," but more likely Mozimbiques ; had them trained 
 in military discipline, and, with an army consisting of one 
 thousand French, four hundred sepoys, and four hundred 
 Africans, aided by a fleet from which the English admiral 
 commanding in those seas had run away, he commenced a 
 vigorous investment of the place. Five days reduced the 
 garrison, consisting of two hundred men, to the necessity of 
 
 ' See Orme's Frcu/moif-; Note xxxviii. 
 -' [Best known as Bfjapilr,]
 
 58 A MISSION TO THE .MYSORE 
 
 signing articles of capitulation, by which it was agreed that 
 the French should take formal possession, receive a stipulated 
 ransom, and then deliver up the place to the English. But 
 Dupleix, having already formed the project of an Eastern 
 empire, with France for its head, and himself for its exe- 
 cutive, foresaw that the English would be dangerous rivals, 
 and, in direct opposition to the honourable remonstrances of 
 La Bourdonnais, violated the agreement, marched the Madras 
 authorities in triumph through Pondicherry, bravely repulsed 
 the Nawab of the Carnatic, who appeared with a large force 
 to claim fulfilment of a promise that Madras should be his 
 reward for services rendered to the French against the 
 English, and retained the place for three years, until com- 
 pelled to resign it by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle. Though 
 these proceedings were for the time so disastrous to the 
 British, yet to them may be traced the foundations of that 
 pre-eminence which they shortly after began to acquire, and 
 have since maintained. Up to this time they were under 
 awe of the Mughal armies, and formed their own solely of 
 Europeans. Dupleix defeated a Mughal force by one of very 
 inferior numbers, and had in his ranks an efficient auxiliary, 
 formed of natives whom he had trained to the European 
 mode of warfare. Thus he taught his opponents, as Peter 
 the Great said Charles xii. did the Russians, the way to 
 beat himself : the English learned the superiority of Euro- 
 pean to native valour and discipline, as also the possibility 
 of raising from the natives a valuable force. They were not 
 slow to practise these lessons, and l^y so doing have become 
 masters of Indin. 
 
 The flight of ten short years brought another French 
 armament under the walls of Fort St. George. Count de 
 Lally was a man of great bravery and talent, whose enmity 
 to the English was not the result of national jealousy, as in 
 the case of La Bourdonnais, or of personal ambition, as in 
 that of Dupleix, but of that fierce religious rancour which 
 characterised the Irish Papist of his days, and is yet far from
 
 MADRAS 59 
 
 being extinguished. He landed in India with the full 
 intention of extirpating the British from that country ; 
 marched on Fort St. David, where they had been sheltered 
 during the time that Madras was in the hands of the French, 
 took it, and razed it to the ground ; occupied Arcot ; assailed 
 Madras, taking Blacktown, and laying formal siege to the 
 fort. The siege was active, the defence resolute : two months 
 elapsed before any decisive advantage was gained. The 
 breach was reported practicable, the assault ordered for the 
 hour when the moon should set, Lally was exulting in the 
 hope of a triumphant to-morrow, the besieged determined 
 to repel him or die, when Admiral Pocock appeared with 
 an English fleet ; the besiegers broke up precipitately, and 
 lied ; their opponents became assailants in turn. After 
 several minor actions, Lally sustained a decisive defeat at 
 Wandiwash, and the power which a few years before had 
 been paramount in the Deccan and Carnatic was reduced to 
 dependency on the Mysorean usurper. Since that time the 
 thunders of Fort St. George have reposed ; and the place 
 where, only two centuries ago, there were " about six fisher- 
 men's huts," has for many years been the second city of 
 Hindustan, giving a home to nearly half a million inhabitants, 
 presiding over a territory wider than some of the great 
 kingdoms of Europe, and boasting an army of above seventy 
 thousand men. 
 
 The climate of Madras is hot, the thermometer often rising 
 to 100° in the shade ; sometimes being known to reach 110° ; 
 and in the coldest night of winter not falling below 65°. 
 But, as the absence of marshy ground prevents those exhal- 
 ations so deadly in the tropics, and as the wide Bay of Bengal 
 both protects it on the east from all noxious influences, and 
 serves to fan its inhabitants by cool, refreshing gales, it is 
 more salubrious than many a more temperate place ; and not 
 a few " old Indians " prefer it, with all its heat, to the 
 cooler regions of the Mysore. The most unpleasant part of 
 the year is in the month of May, when the sun is vertical ;
 
 60 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 and, concurrently with this, a wind from the west brings all 
 the heated air of the peninsula in a scorching current, like a 
 furnace-blast, producing a disagreeable irritation of the skin, 
 known by the name of " prickly heat "; so that to drink a 
 cup of tea at that time subjects you to a sensation like the 
 simultaneous prick of a thousand needle-points. It is a 
 familiar fact that wherever two portions of atmosphere are 
 at different temperatures, the dense air of the cooler region 
 will press in upon the space occupied by the lighter air of 
 the heated one, as everyone knows Avho has ever sat at the 
 window of a crowded place of worship, or other warm room. 
 Now, as this principle acts equally on the large scale as on 
 the small, its effects are very observable in the winds which 
 prevail in those regions of the earth where climate is not 
 subject to endless vicissitudes, but annually exhibits its 
 phases with little variations. Thus at Madras, when, shortly 
 after the summer solstice, the lands to the north become 
 greatly heated, the winds naturally tend in that direction, 
 and thus the westerly gale becomes south-west, which wind 
 brings from the Indian Ocean immense quantities of rain, 
 the clouds carrying which break against the western Ghauts, 
 or are expended on the table-lands of the Mysore, trans- 
 mitting only occasional showers as far as Madras. Again, 
 after the autumnal equinox, the regions lying southward 
 become more heated, and the consequent rarefaction of the 
 atmosphere in that direction demands a supply from the 
 north. To meet this, vast currents of air rush southward, 
 and, receiving in their course the natural trade- wind direction, 
 blow horn the north-east, and burst upon Madras, in the 
 month of October, with terrilic ell'ect. The l)arometer falls 
 half an inch, the air becomes still and oppressive, portentous 
 clouds load the sky, and the monsoon opens with thunder, 
 lightning, and rain, which far surpass anything witnessed 
 beyond the tropics ; while the wind beats fearfully, and the 
 roaring of the surf makes wrathful interchange with the peals 
 of thunder. For more than six weeks there is a succession
 
 MADRAS 61 
 
 of such storms, witli l)riglit intervals ; and then succeeds a 
 period of dry, clear, and, for Madras, cool weather. So 
 accurately is the commencement of this season of tempests 
 reckoned on, that on the 15th of October the flagstaflf at 
 the fort is annually struck, as a warning to ships in "the 
 roads," that their anchorage is no longer safe ; and when any 
 are hardy enough to delay their escape for a day or two, 
 they not unfrequently sutler shipwreck fur their temerity. 
 Besides these unfailing annual phenomena, God has made a 
 daily provision for moderating the temperature of those sun- 
 burnt shores. The sea does not absorb heat so rapidly as the 
 land : consequently, under the sun's rays, the atmosphere of 
 the latter becomes warmer, and thus the denser air of the sea 
 presses in upon the land, causing an agreeable current, known 
 by the name of the sea-breeze, Avhich rises before noon, and 
 blows steadily till evening cools the land. Again, the land 
 radiates its heat more rapidly than the sea, and thus, in the 
 sun's absence, sinks to a lower temperature ; so that its 
 atmosphere in turn becomes cooler, consequently more dense, 
 and so presses out upon the sea, making what is called the 
 land-breeze, which rises about midnight, and blows from the 
 shore till morning. These arrangements of divine Providence 
 beautifully exemplify the truth that God " rejoices in the 
 habitable parts of His earth, and His delights are with the 
 sons of men." Did He not care that the earth should be 
 peopled, and that men should live in comfort, liow differently 
 might He have arranged the distribution of land and sea, 
 and so rendered whole continents, if habitable at all, the arid 
 nursery of a miserable and complaining population ! We 
 find that, in traversing the surface of the globe, the eejuator 
 wholly escapes the great continents of Asia and Europe, 
 crosses Africa and America at points where the breadth of 
 the land suddenly decreases, and touches no great island but 
 Borneo and Sumatra. Thus by far the greater portion of the 
 earth's surftice lying within the tropics exposes to their 
 torrid heats, not the habitable plains, which drought would
 
 62 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 desolate, but the pathless and homeless sea, whose waters 
 yield to the same influence those abundant evaporations 
 which serve to fertilise the land that our Father's care has 
 gathered beneath milder skies. By this gracious arrange- 
 ment the continents are both saved from destructive heat 
 and provided with copious irrigation. But were it otherwise, 
 — were the great continents spread around the torrid zone, 
 and the oceans now so beneficially occupying that region 
 transferred nearer to the poles — then the aggregation of 
 such masses of land beneath tropical suns would engender a 
 heat, in all likelihood, destructive to animal life ; while, on 
 the other hand, the waters, acted on by more languid suns, 
 would have but a slow evaporation, and consequently the 
 supplies of rain become scanty as the necessity for their 
 profuseness increased. Under such a distribution, extreme 
 heat and defective moisture must induce widespread sterility, 
 and if not destroy, at least sorely embitter, all existence. 
 The same benign wisdom is also manifested in the allocation 
 of the great ranges of the Mountains of the Moon, the 
 Himalaya, and Andes, in those parts of the three continents 
 where the copious rains and large rivers, which they attract 
 and originate, are most necessary to constitute the adjacent 
 countries " habitable parts." ^ In our favoured clime these 
 reflections are not so likely to arise, as where fiery suns, "in 
 a hot and copper sky," make one feel that if Providence had 
 not provided means to "abundantly Avater the earth," life 
 must shortly languish. There the eye is far more open to 
 the records, and the ear to the voice, by which Nature pro- 
 claims the mercies of her Author. The bright testimony, 
 " God is love," is seen equally emblazoned on ocean and 
 plain. " The trees of the field clap their hands, the floods 
 lift up their voice," even " the mountains and hills break 
 forth into singing," and all creation speaks eloquently of His 
 wisdom and grace from whom it sprang. 
 
 ' The same benevolent design is conspicuous in the elevation of 
 immense plateaux in Asia, Africa, and South America.
 
 CHAPTEll III 
 
 THE JOURNEY " UP COUNTRY 
 
 About sunset on the 27 th of August, on the compound, or 
 grass-plat, in the front of Mr. Crowther's house stood four 
 palanquins, looking like dwarf omnibuses dismounted. 
 About fifty natives, with dusky skins, and drapery of 
 tarnished white, surrounded them. These consisted of four 
 sets of bearers, each numbering twelve ; for, though only six 
 carry at a time, they change every seven or eight minutes, 
 and thus require double the number actually engaged. The 
 spare men run beside the others, and so rest. They were 
 busy girding for the journey. A piece of coarse, half-bleached 
 calico, several yards long and about one and a half broad, is 
 produced ; a man stands at either end ', it is doubled to about 
 half a yard's breadth ; then the one to be girded passes his 
 own end about his person, and, turning round and round, 
 while the other holds with all his might to secure its tight- 
 ness, he winds it up on his waist as in factories they do on a 
 roller. This preliminary accomplished, they are ready at a 
 moment's warning. Each set of bearers has a niashalchi, a 
 gentleman bearing in one hand a tin vessel, like a small 
 gasometer, with a spout, and, in the other, an instrument 
 which at first sight you are ready to imagine a cigar, intended 
 for some illustrious Brobdignag. The vessel, you learn, con- 
 tains oil, and the monster cigar is a flambeau, which, though 
 looking very like tobacco, is composed of rags tightly rolled 
 together into one hard stick of about three feet long and 
 several inches round. On the end of this he pours a quantity 
 of oil, ignites it, fans it by running, till it flings on the path-
 
 64 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 way a broad and In-illiant light. He feeds it with fresh oil 
 as regularly as a student snuffs his candle ; while its hardness 
 is such as to secure its lasting through the night. This 
 custom beautifully illustrates the Parable of the Ten Virgins, 
 as showing the folly of neglecting to take " oil in their vessels 
 with their lamps." 
 
 Then there were the kavadi coolies, each man with two 
 tin boxes painted green, and shaped like a wooden bee-hive, 
 but rather larger. These contain the travelling wardrobe, 
 and are suspended from either end of a long bamboo lath, 
 which the coolie places on his bare shoulder, and trots after 
 the palanquin with one box swinging before and the other 
 behind. The bearers also have coolies of their own, who 
 carry in similar style a pyramid of round black earthenware 
 pots, which constitute their itinerant kitchen ; for, being 
 particular in caste matters, they will not eat any food unless 
 cooked in their own vessels. Shortly after night, the 
 flambeaux were lighted, the coolies took up their loads, the 
 bearers stood round their palanquins, and the completion of 
 the multiform preparations was announced. Taking leave of 
 our fellow-voyager, Mr. Pope, who was appointed to stay in 
 Madras, and of our other kind friends, we each re2:)aired to 
 his own unsocial vehicle. We were hoisted from the ground ; 
 "Bey-din, hey-din" &\\o\xi(i(\,m. a loud recitative, the head-bearer 
 of the foremost palanquin ; and in a few minutes the flash 
 of torchlight and the song of four dozen voices, announced 
 our progress along the " Great Western" road to ]>angalore. 
 
 The exajnple of the munificent usurper .Shir has not been 
 wholly lost on our Indian Government. He was a father to 
 travellers ; ordered that they should be entertained at the 
 public expense, built caravanserais from the Bay of Bengal to 
 the Indus, planted the road with trees to shade them, dug 
 wells every two miles to refresh them, and erected s{)lendid 
 mosques to pronq)t and accommodate their devotions. ^ The 
 
 1 Mill's History of Uritixh IvdUi, by Wilson, vol. ii. p. 328. It 
 is a remarkable proof of the civilisatiou of his govennnent, that about
 
 THE JOURNEY "IT COUXTRY " 65 
 
 religious part of these princely arrangements was not likely 
 to find imitators in our authorities ; but they have conferred 
 on travellers an invaluable boon by the erection of bungalows 
 at convenient distances, along the most frequented roads. 
 Bungalow is the term invariably used in India to designate a 
 house of one story, built after the style adopted by Europeans. 
 In those provided for the benefit of the wayfaring, you find 
 a table, half a dozen chairs, and an old pensioned sepoy, who, 
 gracefully combining the native obeisance with our military 
 salute, makes a profound salaam, and proffers his services to 
 obtain any requisite articles of food. Of these he presents 
 you with a list provided by authority, with prices affixed, to 
 prevent imposition. You are amused to find a sheep stated 
 at a rupee (two shillings), and one of an inferior order at 
 fourteen annas (one and ninepence).^ The sheep of the 
 Carnatic are small and lean, without a particle of wool, the 
 hide being just like that of a calf ; but their mutton is toler- 
 ably good. Almost every day during a journey a deputation 
 from the bearers, after very low salaams, present a request for 
 seep : the gift is not near so much as would be paid to coach- 
 men and guards at home for a night's travelling ; but it is not 
 claimed as a right, only sought as a favour, and, when granted, 
 they go away as pleased as schoolboys with a holiday. 
 
 Before daylight we were deposited in the verandah of the 
 bungalow at Stn'permatur, about twenty-seven miles from 
 Madras. By sunrise the coolies had arrived with the 
 changes of raiment and culinary apparatus ; the sepoy was in 
 attendance; milk and eggs were procured, and we lacked noth- 
 ing whereby to make comfortable the hours which the heat of 
 
 the middle of the sixteenth cciituvy he established a post system, by 
 means of horses, " for the more rapid conveyance of intelligence to 
 Government, and for the accommodation of trade and correspondence." 
 ' [Prices of food have risen greatly and permanently since the days 
 when this was written — the result, in part, of repeated famines. On 
 the other hand, the value of the rupee in sterling has declined to one 
 and fourpence, at which rate it now seems fairly stable.] 
 
 5
 
 66 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the sun compelled us to pass under shade. During the day 
 the sepoy laid on the table a small box containing books, all 
 of which we found to be of a valuable and religious character. 
 This laudable custom is frequent in the bungalows ; and I 
 never saw one of those little libraries that did not bear marks 
 of having been Avell read. It is true that in some places 
 there are unseemly records of distaste for such literature. I 
 recollect one poetical effusion complaining that they Avere 
 
 " Too dull to read, too good to tear." 
 
 But who can tell the benefit that may accrue even to a tra- 
 veller of this temper, from his consenting to relieve the ennui 
 of an idle, hot day in a lonely bungalow, by reading a chapter 
 of Doddridge's Rise and Progress, or of James's Anxious 
 Iiiquirer 1 
 
 The country around answered ill to the descriptions which 
 authors delight to give of India. But it would be well for 
 readers of travels to remember that the popularity of a book 
 depends far more on eloquence than accuracy. When look- 
 ing on the tame flats and patches of brown copse about 
 Stripermatur, it was hard to believe that this was the Ind of 
 history, fable, and song — the country by whose transit 
 commerce the isolated Tyre rose to such fame ; and " Tadmor 
 in the wilderness," Solomon's " city of store," into that proud 
 Palmyra which, though sand-girt and without territory, 
 rivalled the first capitals of earth, subdued Mesopotamia, 
 Syria, and Egypt, won from Gallienus the right to array its 
 prince in imperial purple, and, under a woman's leadership, 
 tried well the strength of Rome, though directed by the war- 
 like Aurelian ; — the country from whose surplus treasures 
 Alexandria, Genoa, and Venice, derived their splendour ;i 
 whence Shoaljeddin is said to have carried a booty of three 
 thousand i)Ouiuls weight of diamonds, and the monster 
 
 ^ See Robertson's HiMorkal Dinqiugition concerning the Knoickdjc 
 which the Ancinits had of India.
 
 THE JOURNEY " VV COUNTRY" G7 
 
 Thamas Kauli Khan seventy millions sterling ;i and, above 
 all, that this was the very Carnatic from the plunder of which 
 the eunuch Kafur returned to his ambitious master, Ala, 
 laden with a sum which even our own historians are not 
 disposed to reduce below one hundred millions. But the 
 tameness of one district or the beauty of another is never to 
 be taken as the type of a great country. We do not judge of 
 England either from the cheerless fens through which the 
 southern Ouse loiters toward the sea, or from the exquisite 
 pictures that adorn the progress of the Wharf. India, though, 
 on the whole, much inferior to England in beauty of land- 
 scape, has many regions of exquisite attraction. But, when 
 looking on those pleasant spots, you cannot but remember 
 that their beauty and their bounty are lost on those who 
 enjoy them ; that the eyes that look on their charms, and the 
 hands that reap their produce, lay the thankoflering of this 
 year before an idol, and to it look for the fruits of the next. 
 This reflection breaks in on your enjoyment like a knell 
 among merry voices ; gratification yields to pensiveness ; and 
 the train of thought, that began in a lively sense of the 
 beautiful or the grand, ends in a mournful sympathy with the 
 feeling that wrested from the dissimilar minds of the sceptic 
 peer and the Christian bishop, when lingering on such scenes, 
 the twin sentiments — 
 
 " All, save the spirit of man, is divine." 
 " Only man is vile." 
 
 When the heat of the day had passed Ave started, two on 
 horseback and two in palanquin, two of the latter convey- 
 ances having been sent back to Madras. The road lay over 
 a flat country, interspersed with groves. In these Avere 
 multitudes of croAvs, Avho chattered and caAved just as they 
 do at home ; the SAveeter voice of the dove mingled with their 
 tuneless clamour ; flitting among the trees Avere numbers 
 
 ' Orme's Military Transactioit'i of the British in India.
 
 QS A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 of those beautiful little parroquets which abound in the 
 country, whose plumage of sparkling green is a favourite 
 simile with native poets ; squirrels were gambolling nimbly 
 and merrily in the boughs ; crawling on the roots of the 
 trees, or squatting on a stone, you would see, every now 
 and then, a hmnble scion of " that most ancient family of 
 quadrupeds," as Dr. Buckland calls the lizards, betraying, 
 however, no consciousness of the ancestorial honours where- 
 with geological industry has enriched them from the heraldic 
 records of " former worlds," and, in physical proportions, 
 woefully degenerated from the ]\Iegalosauri, the Iguanodons, 
 and other distinguished founders of the " most ancient " 
 house of Lacertse, whose escutcheons still grace their former 
 homes in the Oolitic and Wealden formations. 
 
 We passed a body of convicts working on the reads, 
 guarded by peons (native police), and every man in chains. 
 This is one of the most common punishments inflicted by 
 our Government for serious oflences, and, to an English eye, 
 the poor manacled wretches look sufficiently miserable. Yet 
 the natives frequently complain that our administration of 
 criminal laAv is too lenient, and that our judges are exces- 
 sively scrupulous about convicting, unless the evidence is 
 complete in every part. A judge, in their estimation, ought 
 to have some such facility in detecting a culprit, by his very 
 appearance, as Cuvier had in discovering by a solitary bone 
 the genus to which an animal belonged. They think he 
 ought not to wait servilely on the chain of evidence, which 
 may be interrupted by the absence of a witness or entangled 
 by his dishonesty, but to use his own discretion, guided by 
 the general aspect of the case. In cases of theft, they con- 
 sider this procedure imperative. " Who," they have often 
 said to me, "who ever heard of a man calling Avitnesses 
 when he was going to steal] To elude observation is the 
 very perfection of his art; and to punish him only when he 
 suffers himself to be seen, or leaves traces by which he may 
 be detected, looks very like punishing him not for being a
 
 THE .TOURNEY "UP COUNTRY" 69 
 
 thief, l»ut for being a blunderer." All claims for justice to 
 the accused they get over with great ease, and reject as 
 purely mischievous the principle of English law — that it is 
 better ninety-nine guilty persons should escape than one 
 innocent man suffer. "And then," they will say, "suppose 
 a thief does blunder, so that evidence is found to bring guilt 
 home, what do you do with him 1 Why, you just put him 
 in a good house, set a guard before the door to see that 
 nobody hurts him, give him rice twice a day, send him 
 home not a pin the worse, and then call that punishing 
 him ! Pretty punishment for rogues that is ! " They can 
 no more sympathise with the feeling which looks on the 
 loss of character and deprivation of liberty as themselves con- 
 stituting a severe punishment (except to persons of family 
 and repute), than a Turkish serf, viewing the comparative 
 comfort in which Charles xii. lived in his retreat at Bender, 
 could sympathise with the mighty dissatisfactions that stirred 
 in the breast of the fallen hero. In cases of petty theft, 
 their own laws award a fine as the punishment; but in 
 graver one^, dreadful mutilation. Halhed's Gentoo Code 
 informs us that " if one steal a horse, excellent in all 
 respects," his penalty is that "the magistrate shall cut olf 
 his hand and foot and buttock, and deprive him of life." 
 Whether correctly or not, they complain that petty theft 
 increases under English rule; as also a certain domestic 
 crime for which our code provides no commensurate punish- 
 ment, and against which the executive do not choose to 
 administer the severities prescribed by Manu. 
 
 The next evening we started with the intention of 
 reaching Kaveripak, Mv. Crowther and Mr. Garrett being in 
 palanquin, and Mr. Squarebridgc and myself on horseback. 
 Proceeding quietly along, with INIr. Crowther a few paces in 
 front, we heard a crash, when down came the hindmost end 
 of his palanquin on the road, the pole having broken off at 
 the point of junction. The head-bearer, who was full six 
 feet high, thin, dusky, and stooping, gazed down on the
 
 70 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 prostrate vehicle with as great consternation as a child on a 
 broken plaything, anH, lifting up his hands, cried, ^' Hunibu 
 bhdram" ("Plenty of weight"), while Mr. Crowther scrambled 
 out upon the road to learn the cause of his sudden arrest. 
 The breaking of leins or traces, the loss of a horseshoe 
 or linchpin, are calamities in their way ; but the breaking 
 of a palanquin pole is to lose your axletree, and place 
 your vehicle in utter helplessness. After several ineifectual 
 attempts to repair the damage, the poor bearers, mounting 
 the body of the palanquin on their shoulders, slowly pro- 
 ceeded to the next village. The inhabitants gathered round, 
 and a multitude of things were said, but all unintelligible to 
 me. At length came a venerable-looking old Musalman, 
 with broad turban, portly carriage, dark skin, and flowing 
 white beard, who seemed to give decisive information to the 
 effect that neither carpenter nor wood Avas obtainable. Our 
 only hope was Wilcheri, a bungalow some miles in 
 advance ; so there was no alternative left but to carry the 
 dismantled vehicle thither as best we could. The bearers 
 cheerfully undertook this tedious task, but first demanded a 
 bottle of arrack, a spirit commonly drunk in the country, 
 and obtained by distillation from rice, sugar in its raw state, 
 or toddy, as the juice of the cocoa-nut tree is called. Mv. 
 Crowther had been provident enough to bring with him a 
 spare pony, so that in case of accidents we might not be 
 detained ; but on the present occasion, not apprehending 
 any need for his services, he had been despatched in advance. 
 ]\Iy pony was resigned to Mr. Crowther, while Mr. Sipiare- 
 bridge rode on to order back the other, and i\Ir. Garrett 
 proceeded to the bungalow to await our arrival. After a 
 long walk, at the miserably slow pace made necessary by 
 the awkward load on the bearers, the pony arrived, and I 
 was again mounted. 
 
 Throughout the day the sky had been cloudless, its 
 irradiated sapphire looking calmly joyous as the counten- 
 ance of one who had long had peace Avith God. But, in
 
 THE -lOL'KNEY "UP COUNTRY" 71 
 
 advancing to the west, the sun flung other beauties round 
 him, and, as if conscious king of light, marched royally to 
 his chamber, arrayed in purple suffused with gold. For 
 the last few minutes he shone from behind a bank of 
 dark and watery clouds, too dense to permit of his body 
 appearing through, but exhibiting on their upper edge a 
 fringe of thrice-burnished gold, that hung over the crags 
 below with an effect singularly majestic. At the same time 
 a radiance streamed upwards from the invisible luminary, 
 making one think of the first stream of celestial light greet- 
 ing the ascending saint, ere yet the throne of Presence has 
 opened on his eye. The clouds rapidly mounted, and hung 
 fiercely on the face of night. They grew black, dense, low, 
 till the very air, as if fearful to stir in such a presence, 
 hushed itself to perfect stillness. We entered a wood ; 
 every leaf stood motionless with the same awe. The gloom 
 was fearful, the silence broken only by the bearers' hum. 
 A flash gleamed across the sky : its light was still lingering 
 on horse's mane and bearer's turban, on leafy mango and 
 slender palm, when a peal crashed over us, so nigh, so loud, 
 that it seemed the united voice of a hundred storms. Then 
 the sound of abundance of rain rustled in the trees, followed 
 by masses of crowded and ponderous drops, dashing head- 
 long to slake earth's greedy thirst. Amidst this deluge, flash 
 succeeded flash, and peal after peal roared fearfully, each of 
 which was followed by a thicker rain, as if the gleam had 
 been struck from chains that bound up the stores of Provi- 
 dence, and the thunder were the crash of that rending wliich 
 set them free to enrich the earth. The horses shuddered 
 and started ; the bearers plodded on with a low, Ijroken 
 murmur ; the branches glowed in the almost continuous 
 light, trembled with the thunder, and stooped beneath the 
 rain. The whole scene vividly recalled the Psalmist's 
 words, *' He bowed the heavens and came down, and dark- 
 ness was under His feet. He made darkness His secret 
 place : His pavilion round about Him were dark waters anil
 
 72 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 thick clouds of the sky." In that august pavilion sat the 
 power of the Supreme. The scowl of its brow, the gleam of 
 its eye, the tones of its voice, were all furious as long-pent 
 vengeance ; and yet its mission was not wrath, but good- 
 ness ; not to wither, but refresh. So it is in the ways of 
 God : amid appearances that prove our nothingness, He 
 mildly works our weal. 
 
 Well drenched and weary, we reached the bungalow at 
 last. By the time a cup of coffee was prepared, a slumber 
 had seized me that no persuasion could break, and from 
 which I was released only by the broad light of day. In 
 the meantime the palanquin had been set to rights, and we 
 were ready to proceed. That morning we reached Kaveri- 
 pak, which, though a small place, is celebrated as the 
 scene of a night-battle, in which Clive gained an important 
 victory over the French. Among the natives it is famous 
 as the residence of learned jotishas, or " astronomers," who 
 annually publish almanacs that are in great repute even 
 as far away as the western districts of the Mysore. In 
 these, eclipses are accurately calculated ; but they afford 
 no other astronomical information of value. It is mar- 
 vellous that, by any perversity, men can manage to com- 
 bine the astuteness that distinguishes an educated Hindu 
 with belief in the monstrous absurdities which their 
 sacred books teach respecting the heavenly bodies. Being 
 all considered as gods, the various phenomena which 
 they exhibit are accounted for, not by laws that a presiding 
 mind has impressed on passive matter, but by myths which 
 seem equally to exhaust man's wits to invent and his 
 credulity to receive them. The sensible founder of Anglo- 
 Indian history, Orrae, tells us of "the sun getting his teeth 
 knocked out, and the moon having her ^ face beat black and 
 blue at a feast, at which the gods quarrel and fight with the 
 spirit of a mob. They say the sun and moon carry in their 
 
 ^ He should have said "his"; for the moon is not a goddess, but a 
 god, in Hindu mythology.
 
 THE JOURNEY "UP COUNTRY" 73 
 
 faces to this day the marks of this broih" And thus the 
 Galileos and Keplers of India have been saved the trouble of 
 observation or conjecture as to the solar and lunar spots. 
 Eclipses are accounted for in a way equally satisfactory. On 
 one occasion Vishnu was distributing the amrita, or "food 
 of immortality,"^ among the gods, when two Asuras (the 
 Titans of Hinduism) having obtained admittance in disguise, 
 he ignorantly helped them to the precious repast. Silrya 
 and Chandra (the sun and moon) having discovered the 
 fraud, apprised him of it by a wink, when he instantly 
 beheaded the intruders : the bodies died, but the heads, 
 having received the death-preventing amrita, were immortal, 
 and obtained a place as planets in the sky. There they live ; 
 and, in the form of a red and black serpent, periodically 
 seize on Silrya and Chandra, by whose untimely disclosures 
 they were prevented from acquiring perfect godship. The 
 waxing and waning of the moon, again, is readily explained 
 by the happy genius of Hinduism. On a certain occasion 
 Chandra was so unhappy as to aggrieve Dakslia, the son of 
 Brahma, who vented his fury in a curse. That curse brought 
 a rust on the silver countenance of Chandra, which, by 
 alternate increase and decrease, obscures or permits its 
 radiance. The tides, again, which have so sorely puzzled 
 Western sages, have long been known in the East to depend 
 on the heaving or contraction of that enormous turtle 
 into which Vishnu entered at the Kfirma Avatara,^ when he 
 descended into the sea to recover the lost Vedas, — thus 
 showing that we have been all along mistaken in supposing 
 that the most distinguished service in which tortoiseshell 
 had ever been employed was to cradle that illustrious rene- 
 gade, Henry the Great. Nor are their notions of the 
 permanent facts of astronomy less curious than those of its 
 
 ' [More strictly the wine of immortality, or water of life— a beverage 
 resulting from the fabled churning of the llilk Sea.] 
 
 - [The Kurraa Avatara, or Tortoise Incarnation, is the second of 
 the nine incarnations of A'^ishnu. ]
 
 74 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 periodical phenoiuena. The river Ganges is considered as 
 the earthly antitype of a celestial original. That heavenly 
 Ganges is the Milky Way, which is placed nearer the earth 
 than even the sun, to whom, however, the second place is 
 assigned, and that at the distance of just half a million of 
 miles. The moon is exactly twice as far off; then come the 
 stars, and after them tlie planets, Avithout any distinction 
 between the inferior and superior ones, although Mercury, 
 Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are placed in their proper 
 order. The suspicion that Earth is a member of this family 
 is not once entertained. Farthest off of all is the pole-star, 
 who, however, is distant only seven and a half millions of 
 miles. These are not regarded as the deductions of vulgar 
 science, but as authoritative revelations on matters inac- 
 cessible to unaided research. It is true that they strangely 
 contradict the results of the beautiful argument from parallax, 
 on which we — who are not favoured Avith more direct 
 methods of computing celestial distances — are wont to look 
 as about the choicest effort of man's reason, and which leads 
 to the startling conclusion that one of the " swift-winged 
 arrows of light," though travelling in a second eight times 
 the circumference of our globe, would spend three weary 
 years on its flight to the nighest star ; while to the one first 
 calculated by Bessel, the journey would occupy ten. 
 
 As if conscious of parsimony in the celestial measurements, 
 the Hindu philosophers are munificent in terrestrial dimen- 
 sions. The earth, instead of the twenty-four thousand miles 
 lo which our astronomers reduce it, expands, under the 
 warmth of Brahmanical fancy, to a si)acious orb of one 
 thousand and twenty-seven millions, having seven overgrown 
 continents, each with an ocean to match. These oceans are 
 ditfercnt in composition as in dimensions from that which is 
 familiar to our grovelling researches ; the first is of salt water ; 
 the other six consist respectively of wine, sugar-cane juice, 
 clarified butter, curds, milk, and fresh water. In the centre 
 of Jambu, the first of the seven continents, and the only one
 
 THE JOURNEY "UP COUNTRY" 75 
 
 whicli exists elsewhere than in the Puranas, stands Mount 
 Meru, not shaped as vulgar hills, hut bearing the elegant 
 form of a lotus. This mountain measures in height four 
 hundred and twenty thousand miles, its circumference at the 
 base two hundred and forty thousand, and at the top it 
 spreads to double that extent.^ To support this gigantic 
 world, three different agencies are named — a serpent, a 
 turtle, and eight elephants. What relation these sustain to 
 each other — which is higher or lower, how their different 
 offices combine — I never could satisfactorily learn. The fact 
 seems to be, that different •writers have assigned the impor- 
 tant duty of upholding the world to that animal which each 
 has happened to regard with greatest favour. 
 
 When viewing the colossal nonsense whereby the Hindu 
 sages have endeavoured to build up their claim to inspiration, 
 it is impossible to resist a vivid impression that one has 
 written of creation without being abandoned to his own 
 conjectures. There is a book written by one educated in the 
 first Egyi^tian schools, and consequently versant in their 
 system of cosmogony : written for a people still sunk in the 
 ignorance attendant on serfdom, and thus prepared to receive 
 blindly any feasible speculations on subjects beyond their 
 reach ; written in a desert, where there were no scliools to 
 criticise, no enlightenment to detect errors, no rivals to 
 expose them ; written, in fine, under every imaginable 
 temptation for the author to indulge his fancy or display his 
 learning. Yet while the advancing stream of knowledge has 
 swept into the sea of fiction all other early records of creation, 
 this one stands proudly amid the tides which fret against its 
 borders but bear not an atom aAvay. The very torrents 
 that have overwhelmed its counterfeits flow around it, 
 an unfordable defence ; while every tributary poured in 
 from some new-sprung source of knowledge only swells 
 the stream that would bear down an assailant. He 
 
 ^ Vishuu Puraaa, Wilson. In all these computations I take tfie 
 ydjana at five miles : it may be nine.
 
 76 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 who believes that any man, by his unaided foresight, 
 could have chronicled creation's birth, in times when 
 its system was grossly misconceived, without assuming 
 principles and hazarding facts which would be falsified by 
 the discoveries of subsequent ages, not only displays a 
 capacious credence, but forgets the character of all such 
 chronicles but one. 
 
 But monstrous as are the chimeras of Hindu science, I 
 have been as much laughed at for crediting the facts of our 
 system as we are disposed to laugh at them for entertaining 
 the follies of their own. To say that the sun, which is so 
 warm, is farther off than the moon, which is so cold ; that 
 the world, which is so heavy, is " hung upon nothing "; that, 
 though everyone sees it to be flat, it is round ; that, though 
 a child may tell it is perfectly still, it is whirling both round 
 its own axis and the sun ; that an eclipse of the moon comes 
 of her getting into the earth's shadow, which no one ever 
 saw ; that an eclipse of the sun comes of the other luminary 
 wandering between him and us, when it is plainly farther off 
 than he ; and that the fixed stars are more than nineteen 
 billions of miles distant, — does appear an exhibition at once 
 of boldness and imbecility not to be adequately scorned. 
 They summarily dismiss all reasoning on our different 
 methods of arriving at conclusions by saying, " We trust the 
 Shastras, which, as divine revelations, cannot err ; you trust 
 to instruments and calculations, which may easily mistake : 
 our ground is sure, yours fallacious." We sliould entertain 
 about the same opinion of him who should tell us he had 
 just completed a survey of the moons of Uranus with 
 chains and theodolites as does the Urahman of the Euro- 
 pean who states that our astronomers can calculate the 
 apparent size of the earth to an eye situated at the distance 
 of the sun. The seven seas might l)c thought a weak point, 
 as requiring nothing but travel to demonstrate their non- 
 existence ; l)ut to all my objections about circumnavigators 
 never seeing oceans of curds, butter, or toddy, they used
 
 THE .TOT-fT^NEY "UP COUNTRY" 77 
 
 coolly to reply, " That only proves that they have never gone 
 beyond the sea of salt water." Of all phenomena, an annular 
 eclipse of the sun enabled me to perplex them most, as they 
 could not account for it on the serpent-seizing theory, and 
 were constrained to admit that its appearances were such as 
 would naturally result from the combination of causes to 
 which ours ascribes it. It is perfectly true that if you teach 
 a man science, you annihilate his faith in Hinduism. Astro- 
 nomy is as dangerous to the Shastras as the Vatican once 
 deemed it to the Bible. But it can never be taught by 
 desultory argument : its proofs must be exhibited in series, 
 and then conviction is inevitable. This, however, cannot 
 be extensively afforded to the advilt population. In dealing 
 with them, my own experience utterly contradicts the 
 opinion that it is best to approach them first by exposures 
 of the scientific blunders of the Shastras, and so destroy 
 their confidence in these, the basis of their own religion, 
 before advancing the truths of which you require their 
 acceptance. The Shastras are equally assailable on moral as 
 on scientific grounds ; while in the one case your appeal is to 
 the man's conscience, which decides for you ; but in the 
 other, is to facts he discredits, and to processes he can neither 
 comprehend nor trust. The shortest way to his heart is to 
 " reason of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," 
 of the consequent need of pardon and sanctification, the 
 impotency of his gods to bestow it, and Christ's glorious 
 power to create anew. 
 
 But to return to Kaveripak, whence we have been 
 beguiled by its astronomical fame, it has the advantage of a 
 noble tank three miles broad and eight in length. Tanks 
 are of two kinds, those which serve as public baths and 
 those constructed for the purpose of irrigation. The former 
 are nothing more than gigantic wells, generally sunk to a 
 great depth with an upward opening shaped like the hopper 
 of a corn-mill, which, being lined on four sides with stone 
 steps, affords an easy descent to the water. These are to be
 
 78 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 found near most towns, and every morning the respectable 
 inhabitants, especially the Brahmans, may be seen crowding 
 the steps, performing their ablutions and the accompanying 
 devotional exercises. The erection of these is considered an 
 act pre-eminently meritorious. But should the projector be 
 unhappy enough to fail in obtaining water, or to find it of 
 an inferior quality, he remains for ever under the stigma of 
 being frustrated in his attempts to acquire merit in the 
 present birth by some blot contracted in the last. They will 
 not hear of mineral causes modifying the supply ; and, as a 
 triumphant proof that it is regulated only by the merit of 
 the party seeking it, adduce instances in which two persons 
 having dug on the opposite sides of the same road, the one 
 obtained good water, the other bad. The merit, however, no 
 way depends on their virtues in the present birth, for I 
 remember a Brahman naming a case in proof of his point, in 
 which the parties being a polygar^ and one of his favourite 
 temple women, the latter was the successful candidate for 
 *' sweet water." This gave rise to the question, If she were 
 superior in merit, how came it that the birth assigned her was 
 not only female, but that in disreputable circumstances ; 
 while the other, though less meritorious, obtained the male 
 birth, and that in a position of honour? This was a 
 difficulty which the worthy disputant had not seen, and 
 could not solve. The tanks constructed for agricultural 
 purposes are usually placed on the bed of some rivulet ; a 
 strong embankment being run across the line of its course 
 at a favourable place, sometimes to the length of one or two 
 miles. In the rainy season, when the stream swells, this dam 
 retains the water, which forms a lake of greater or less 
 extent, according to the nature of the ground. Should the 
 water overflow, arrangements are made to conduct it to 
 another tank, perhaps several miles below. All the ground 
 which the level will command is parcelled out into compart- 
 ments of a few yards squaic, separated by low ridges of 
 ' [A feudal lord.]
 
 THE JOUKNKY "UP COUNTRY" 79 
 
 earth. Xarrow chaiiLcls run between every two rows of 
 these compartments, having an inlet to each. These are 
 supplied by a large duct connected with the tank. The rice, 
 from the time of its sowing till on the point of shooting into 
 ear, is kept in water about ankle deep. Great ingenuity is 
 manifested in all these arrangements. 
 
 The irrigation of gardens and smaller plats of ground is 
 provided for by other means. Close by a well stands a high 
 pole, on the top of which another is fixed transversely so as 
 to play up and down. From one end of this depends a long 
 bamboo rod reaching to the water, with a leathern bag 
 attached. A man mounts on the transverse spar, and, start- 
 ing from its junction with the upright one, proceeds towards 
 the extremity like a seaman making for the yardarm, only 
 that he walks upon the spar itself, which, pressed by his 
 whole weight, sinks down, so raising the opposite end and 
 lifting the vessel out of the water which, gaining the top, 
 strikes against the edge and empties its contents into a 
 trough prepared to carry them over the ground. He then 
 hastens back to the centre ; the spar, relieved from the 
 pressure, follows the weight of the bamboo and bag, which 
 latter becomes instantly immersed and filled : thus he pro- 
 ceeds backwards and forwards, adroitly balancing himself on 
 his dizzy footing. A less frequent, because more expensive, 
 method is to place two oxen with their backs to the well ; a 
 rope connected with a large vessel is passed over a revolving 
 axle and attached to their traces. They being backed close 
 to the edge, the vessel is immersed and filled, on which they 
 are driven quickly forward, thus raising the vessel to the top 
 where it u^jsets, and channels are prepared to distribute the 
 water. As these operations vividly recall, and at the same 
 time illustrate, much of the beautiful imagery of Scripture, 
 to observe them is peculiarly pleasing. Those who live 
 under showery skies little think how precious is water 
 where whole months together are cloudless, and the earth is 
 scorched by fierce red suns. Someone has truly said, "The
 
 80 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 luxuries of India are cold air and cold water when we can 
 get them." The people of India have only one fear — a 
 failure of water. Let but Providence vouchsafe that price- 
 less essential and all their necessities are met, all their 
 labours productive. I remember when there had been no 
 rain for some three months, and when it was apprehended 
 that a continuance of the drought for a few days longer 
 would be fatal to the crops, seeing a ryot clap his hands at 
 the first drops of a shower ; and as it descended richly, his 
 satisfaction turned to joy — 
 
 " Delight o'er all his features stole " ; 
 
 with the glee of a child, he cried out, " It is just as if God 
 had sent it !" 
 
 So far their estimate of water is natural and wise, but 
 they carry it further than we should be disposed to go. 
 Water is everything. If they thinlc of settling in a new 
 place, the first question will be, " What kind of water does 
 it enjoy V All the benefits Ave attribute to a change of air 
 they seek in a change of water. If healthy while resident in 
 a strange neighbourhood, they celebrate the virtues of the 
 water ; if bilious or feverish or rheumatic, they lay all the 
 blame on the water. The most common complaint of an 
 invalid is, "The water disagrees with me." This is not to be 
 wondered at when, according to their physiological system, 
 it is water which, transmuted by internal processes, forms 
 the blood, while its more refined particles sustain the 
 respiration. And this is but a mild si)ecimen of their 
 attainments in that branch of science ; flesh is formed from 
 corn and vegetables : oleaginous food supplies bones, marrow, 
 and the faculty of speech. The various emotions and 
 physical states are regulated by certain sylvan exercises of 
 the soul, which dwells in the region of the heart, Avhere it is 
 surrounded by sixteen leaves, each possessing a distinct 
 property : as it flits around this pericardial bower it alights 
 on leaf after leaf, each change of perch being attended with
 
 Ttr^: JOURNEY "UP country" 81 
 
 a corresponding change of state. On one it sins, on another 
 sleeps, a fourth transforms it to virtue, a fifth makes it wide 
 awake, and so on. These are not all the wonders of the 
 Hindu heart, for out of it proceed no fewer than a hundred 
 and one arteries, one of which passing to the crown of the 
 head is of no small importance, as holy men are capable of 
 elevating the life to that point where it will remain during 
 pleasure without any aid from food.^ These absurdities 
 could not, of course, exist for a day were anatomy studied, 
 but that science their religious prejudices induce them to 
 regard with about the same feelings as we entertain towards 
 cannibalism. The consequence is, they judge of our internal 
 structure and operations on the most fanciful principles, and 
 arrive at conclusions which, though highly serious as regards 
 the treatment of disease, are so inimitably ridiculous that to 
 avoid laughter is impossible. I well remember one day my 
 munshi asked leave to go home sooner than usual, saying he 
 was very bilious and must take remedies. I asked him what 
 medicine he used, and whether he had any confidence in its 
 efficacy. He said that as to its efficacy he had ample proof, 
 but seemed rather reluctant to name it ; when pressed, how- 
 ever, he told me it was an application he had often success- 
 fully adopted, and of admirable properties, as all skilful 
 physicians knew ; and that it was simply to cut an onion in 
 two and squeeze the juice into his eye. 
 
 After Kaveripak the next i)lace of importance was 
 WrUajnagar, a town built by the ^""awab Muhammad Ali 
 Wrdaja, called after him, and peopled from the neigh- 
 bouring town of Lcllpet. Those who have taken their 
 imjjressions from certain writers, who represent every Hindu 
 as an incarnation of idleness, would look with surprise on 
 such a town as Walajnagar. The streets are beautifully 
 clean, the houses Avliite as purest snow, and in many cases 
 ornamented with streaks of red. You have everywhere 
 symptoms of stirring commerce and various manufacture. 
 
 ^ Second Exposure of Hiiiduit<7v, by Dr. Wilson, of Bombay. 
 
 6
 
 82 A MISSION TO THE :mysorE 
 
 "Well-dressed merchants, tidy artisans, shopmen in their 
 bazaars, weavers dressing their warp or plying their loom in 
 open air, numbers of females assisting in the various opera- 
 tions, — all attest an active and Avell-employed population. 
 Goldsmith's Auburn or Campbell's Wyoming could hardly 
 exhibit greater cleanliness, industry, and comfort. It is, 
 however, the most busy town in that part of the Carnatic ; 
 the spirit of its merchants having made it the entrejyut for the 
 commerce between the Presidency and Mysore. The betel- 
 nut, the produce of the beautifully tall and slender areka- 
 palui, is a leading article of tralhc, being chewed by every 
 native. It is a j)OAverful astringent, tasting somewhat like 
 catechu. 
 
 But Walajnagar contained one object far more at- 
 tractive to us than any we had met with on our way. Close 
 by the town stood a neat bungalow, the residence of Mr. 
 Bilderbeck, an excellent missionary of the London Society. 
 He was, unhappily, from home, and thus Ave lost the pleasure 
 of seeing him and learning his progress. On this mission 
 residence the Christian traveller from Madras to Bangalore 
 looks with mingled joy and dissatisfaction, — ^joy to see one 
 place where the God he loves has an altar, and the Saviour 
 who bought him a herald, but dissatisfaction, deep dis- 
 satisfaction and pain, to think that, though his road lies 
 over two hundred miles of populous country, through the 
 important towns of Arcot, Vellore, Kolar, and a multitude of 
 smaller ones; near Arni, Ambiirdrug, and other places 
 celebrated in the history of India ; though our armies have 
 marched every step of the way many a time ; though every 
 village abounds with tales of our prowess, and reposes under 
 our sway, — yet, in the whole distance, this is the only place 
 where you can find a man sent to instruct the people in our 
 religion and lead them to our God. You are met everywhere 
 by proofs of the religious activity of the Musalmans 
 during the short time that they held this part of the 
 country, before Western ambition snatched it from their
 
 THK .TOUIINEY "UP COUNTRY" 83 
 
 hvld, but look in vain for temples to attest thattlie people wlio 
 rule it now know or regard a God. Is this wise, or guiltless ? 
 Considerably after night we arrived at the far-famed city 
 of Arcot. Robertson supposes this to be the place men- 
 tioned by Ptolemy as Arcafi-Iie/jia ; but the identity is at 
 least doubtful. There is reason to believe that no town 
 existed on the present site till 171G, Avhen the Mughals, 
 driven from Gingi by its unhealthiness, encamped on the 
 banks of the Palar, and built a town which speedily rose 
 into note, and became the capital of their possessions in the 
 Carnatic. In 1744, it witnessed one of those tragedies 
 with which INIuhammadan courts are so dreadfully familiar. 
 The murdered Nawab, Safdar Ali, had left a son named Saiyud 
 Muhammad, whom the Nizam placed under the guardian- 
 ship of his father's successor in office, promising that when 
 of age the nawabship should be his own. His youth, 
 parentage, misfortunes, and character all conspired to make 
 him a favourite with the people. He Avas celebrating the 
 nuj^tials of a relative with great pomp, and had invited 
 his guardian, Anwar-ud-din, to attend ; when he approached, 
 the noble youth, to show all due respect, proceeded to the 
 foot of the steps before his house, in order to receive him. 
 Here a crowd had assembled, among whom were some 
 Patans formerly in his father's service. One of these ad- 
 vanced towards Saiyud ]\Iuhammad in a humble posture, as 
 if to crave forgiveness for insolence he had lately shown, 
 and, when sufficiently near, stabbed him to the heart. In 
 an instant (to quote Orme) "a thousand swords and daggers 
 were drawn "; the assassin sank imder countless wounds, 
 and several of his companions shared his lot. Suspicion 
 instantly fell on Murtiza Ali, uncle to the victim, and the 
 murderer of his father. The crowd rushed in search of 
 him, determined to avenge the crime. He was found sur- 
 rounded by a guard that defied attack, and proceeded to 
 his fortress at Vellore unharmed, except by the malediction 
 of a whole city.
 
 84 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 It SO happened that we were in Arcot on the anniversary 
 of that event which is the most important of its history, 
 as well as the first that, in the words of Morari Rao, taught 
 the natives to "believe that the English could fight." In 
 1751 Chanda Sahib, the Nawab supported by the French, 
 had reduced his rival, whose pretensions our countrymen 
 espoused, to the single post of Trichinopoly. He led an 
 army to besiege this, leaving eleven hundred men to defend 
 his capital. The English, seeing their last hope threatened, 
 despatched a force against him. They encountered him, 
 but ran away from the attack, even while the natives in 
 their pay continued in action. Chanda Sahib proceeded 
 triumphant ; the English had become despicable, and every- 
 thing portended their speedy extirpation. But, on the 30th 
 of August, the garrison of Arcot were astounded by intelli- 
 gence that a British force had been seen marching towards 
 the city, with perfect steadiness, in the midst of a terrific 
 thunderstorm. This they took both as indicative of great 
 courage and as an omen favourable to their enterprise ; 
 they were awed accordingly. Tlie next day two hundred 
 Europeans and three hundred sepoys presented themselves 
 before the capital of the Carnatic. The heart of the 
 garrison failed ; they quietly marched out of their strong- 
 hold, of which that handful of men took possession amidst 
 the mute and wondering gaze of the inhabitants. 
 
 That bold band was led by a young clerk of limited 
 education and unmanageable temper, who, at the time, 
 according to his contemporary Orme, " had neither read 
 books nor conversed with men capable of giving him 
 much instruction in the military art." Dupleix's perfidy 
 at Madras turned against him and his schemes those pro- 
 digious passions which had sorely troubled Shropshire 
 pedagogues and Indian merchants. Clive, disguised as a 
 Musalman, fled from the scene of the dishonoured treaty, 
 reached Fort St. David, joined the military, displayed 
 matchless bravery, and, up to this juncture, had alternated
 
 THE JOURNEY "UP COUNTRY" 85 
 
 between battles and bookkeeping. By the siege of Trichino- 
 poly, be saw assailed the last stay of his country's interests. 
 Roused himself, he succeeded in rousing the lethargic Govern- 
 ment ; pointed out the seizure of Arcot as the only way 
 to procure a diversion ; oil'ered to conduct the expedition ; 
 obtained five hundred men, under eight officers, of whom 
 four left the desk, while other two had never been in 
 action ; marched against a fortress manned by above double 
 his numbers, and took possession without firing a shot. 
 Property found, to the amount of half a million sterling, 
 he restored to the owners ; conciliated the people by modera- 
 tion ; repaired the fort, and provisioned it for a siege ; made 
 two successful sorties against the former garrison, which 
 lingered in the neighbourhood ; beat up their whole camp 
 in a night attack ; and, at a time when all his men but 
 eighty were despatched to a distance, repelled an assault 
 made by them with the knowledge of his weakness. Raja 
 Sahib, the son of Chanda, led against him four thousand 
 men, who were joined by the remains of the garrison, and 
 also one hundred and fifty French. They took possession 
 of the town ; Clive made a sally, and drove them from the 
 street, but was compelled to retire to his fort. The next 
 day, two thousand men, under Murtiza Ali, arrived, to 
 reinforce Raja Sahib. They commenced a vigorous siege ; 
 but the feeling within was indomitable : Englishman and 
 sepoy were equally inflamed by the spirit of their leader. 
 Daring and skill so counterbalanced paltry numbers and 
 wretched supplies, that it was fifty days before the beleaguer- 
 ing host were prepared to storm. At the end of that time, 
 two wide breaches invited tlieir advance. Raja Sahib sent 
 to Clive a proposal of honourable terms and costly presents 
 if he would surrender, accompanied by severe threats in case 
 of resistance. Little did he know the mind with which he 
 had to deal. Danger awed Clive just as darkness shrouds 
 phosphorus ; and to bend him by threats was as likely as 
 to chisel from granite a drapery of gauze. His soul was
 
 86 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 unutterably proud, audacious, and inflammable, but acute, 
 self-possessed, and generous the while. At this juncture 
 his force was eighty Englishmen and one hundred and 
 twenty sepoys ; the general who challenged him led a host 
 of ten thousand; but the answer was, that "he had a 
 better opinion of his prudence than to believe that he 
 would attempt to storm till he had got better soldiers 
 than the rabble of which his army was composed." Such 
 a spirit within a fort is more terrible than a thousand 
 men. 
 
 Even in times of peace, Musalman breasts are stirred 
 with mighty passions by the anniversary of the day on 
 which Hasan and Husain were martyred. That day had 
 come. Its memories fired, the soldiery with tenfold hatred 
 of the infidels ; while all whom the sword should release 
 from life during its holy hours were secured instant re- 
 ception to the realms of houri without purgatorial delays. 
 Bang, freely distributed, added intoxication to bigotry. 
 Then the fierce stream of fanaticism and inebriety was 
 rolled against the weak defences. The gates and both 
 breaches were simultaneously assailed. A steady fire made 
 the elephants which led the attack on the gates recoil, 
 treading down in their retreat the crowds that pressed 
 behind them. The party attacking the breach, which lay 
 across the wet ditch, were foiled by the effective play of 
 a gun which Clive himself pointed. A mass that seemed 
 resistless mounted the other breach, while a multitude 
 coolly sat down below to replace them if they should fall. 
 Not even at Badajoz was breach more effectively counter- 
 worked or more bravely defended. The stormers ascended 
 without receiving a shot, gained the first trench that had 
 been raised, and then were opened on by a fire close, cease- 
 less, and deadly. The front ranks of the defenders fired 
 without intermission, being supplied from behind with 
 charged muskets. Every shot slew, they fell in masses, 
 were instantly replaced, their successors fell as they ; while
 
 THE JOURNEY "UP COUNTRY" 87 
 
 sliells, cast I'lom the ramparts, were spreading wide destruc- 
 tion and wider terror among the crowd seated below. For 
 a whole hour they passed on to certain death as doggedly 
 as snovvHakes to the ocean. For a whole hour every man 
 that advanced perished in that terrible fire. At length they 
 faltered, wavered, and withdrew. Their brave leader was 
 left among the slain. And heroic as were the deeds at 
 Lutzen, when Gustavus fell, none equalled that of a soldier 
 who returned beneath the wall to rescue the body of his 
 commander. Forty muskets showered danger around him ; 
 but he flinched not, and bore aAvay his generous burden 
 unharmed. That night the siege was raised. Clive was 
 reinforced the next day, pursued the enemy, defeated them 
 at Arni, captured Conjeveram, and made the English arms 
 respected — eventually triumphant. Perhaps the historians 
 of future ages may say that the defence of Arcot bore 
 the same relation to the Muhammadan power in the East 
 as the battle of Tours in the West ; and that Charles 
 JNIartel and Clive were the instruments of Providence in 
 giving the check, at those extreme points, to the restless 
 current by which that system of lust and bloodshed had 
 overswept the nations, and in commencing the reflux by 
 which we now see it falling back, with rapid subsidence, 
 on the centre whence it originally sprang. 
 
 An instructive lesson is conveyed by the fate of those 
 who conducted the struggle for a European empire in 
 India. Dupleix rose to splendid dignity, became arbiter 
 of the Carnatic and Deccan, was courted by Eastern kings, 
 ennobled by his own, and then died the victim of dis- 
 appointment and poverty. La Lourdonnais found the reward 
 of pre-eminent talents and services in the Bastile. Lally, 
 after displaying bravery and zeal in the cause of his adopted 
 country, was drawn through Paris in a dung-cart to the 
 guillotine.^ Clive rose from an obscure clerkship to be 
 
 ^ Voltaire states that he was imprisoned in tlie same cell of the 
 Bastile where La Bourdonnais had laiu. — Frcujni. Jlistorique sui: V Inde.
 
 88 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 governor of Bengal, a British peer, the boast of his country, 
 the hero of his age ; and, at the very moment when his 
 sovereign was looking to the talents he wielded as the 
 only hope of saving America, his life of victories, aggrandise- 
 ment, and fame was closed by suicide. Such is the bliss 
 of greatness ! The love of conquest, like INIoore's Prophet, 
 wears a veil of transcendent lustre, to shroud features of 
 ineffable disgust. On that mask poets and historians con- 
 verge the rays of glory, till it dazzles, fascinates, inflames. 
 But, ever and anon, such events as the suicide of Clive 
 lift the veil, and discover lineaments far fouler than those 
 which mar the less destructive, but less caparisoned furies. 
 Pestilence and Famine. How different is his lot who toils 
 under the same suns to turn men to God ! His deeds rejoice 
 the hosts who little reck of the battle's issue, but sing when 
 a soul is saved. His name is written in letters bright as 
 heaven's crystals, incorruptible as its light. His reward is 
 God's approval upon earth ; and, when earth is burnt up, 
 a crown flashing with the glories that beam from Deity 
 unshrouded; a throne that even eternity cannot crumble, 
 and which immortals whom his toil was the means of 
 saving, will joyfully surround. Let the merchant tell 
 his gold, the statesman sway his realm, the warrior trample 
 on his foe ; let the philosopher expound creation, the 
 scholar elaborate his tome, the poet attune his lay ; but let 
 him that would have bliss for ever unshorn go and win 
 souls ! 
 
 Arcot has no missionary, and, I believe, never had any.' 
 
 ' [It was not until 1851 that Dr. Henry M. Hcudder founded the 
 American Arcot Mission. He was joined in his enterprise by five 
 brothers— a noble company, of whom only one remains alive and at 
 work. The Mission is supported by the Reformed Protestant Dutch 
 Church of America, has been very ably manned, and is to-day one of 
 the most vigorous and successful Missions in South India. Its 
 activities are manifold — evangelistic, educational, medical ; the area 
 over which its operations extend is comparatively limited — an 
 important advantage.]
 
 THE JOURNEY " UP COUNTRY " 89 
 
 " The next day," to quote Mir Husain Ali Khan Kir- 
 mani, the admiring and devoted biographer of Ilyder Ali,^ 
 " when the lion of the heavens at one leap or bound liad 
 scattered the starry host like a Hock of sheep, and had 
 risen from the East with his jaws and claws stained with 
 blood " — that is, as we commonplace occidentals should 
 say, when the sun rose, — we were urging our way to the 
 celebrated fortress of Vellore. Hitherto the country had 
 been monotonous Hats, but at this point several hills started 
 suddenly from the j)lain, looking like gigantic haycocks on 
 a level meadow. Overlooked and partly embosomed by 
 these eminences, lies the stronghold which, in the contests 
 of the last century, was regarded as the key of the Carnatic. 
 Turning round the base of a hill, the minarets and dome 
 of a noble mosque rear themselvts from the midst of a 
 grove, with whose dark green foliage their forms of glisten- 
 ing white stand in bold and picturesque contrast. Passing 
 a native town of no attractions, you find the citadel, so 
 completely commanded by the hills, on which traces of 
 once formidable works are still discernible, that a six- 
 pounder will pitch a ball beyond it. The fortifications are 
 of immense strength, and surrounded by a deep, wide ditch, 
 in which, as an addition to the dangers of assault, a number 
 of alligators are carefully kept and fed. 
 
 Yellore has full often been deluged with blood. Here its 
 notorious commandant, Murtiza Ali, obtained the assassination 
 of the Nawab while sleej)ing in imagined security as his 
 kinsman's guest, during the festivities of the Muharram. 
 Here also Hyder Ali pressed close sieges ; and the place was 
 twice relieved by Sir Eyre Coote, when reduced to 
 extremities. Of the action which preceded the first relief, 
 Mir Husaiu gives the following characteristic account : — 
 " The general left his ground, and advanced to an extensive 
 plain. He had scarcely reached it, before the Nawab's 
 
 ' HUtory of Hydur X(tlk. Translated from the Persian by Colonel 
 AY. Miles,
 
 90 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 cavalry, with horses as swift as the wind, attacked him on 
 all sides, and, giving up all consideration either of their 
 lives or those of others, surrounded the general's troops in 
 close combat ; and to what an extent did they not exert their 
 valour ? The ISTawab himself, with his artillery, took up a 
 position on a high ground on the general's route, and lighted 
 up the fire of war in his front. On the right flank, the prince 
 (Tipii) determined to imitate in his attack the battle of the 
 Last Day ; and a total dispersion of the troops, followers, 
 and baggage of the rear-guard ensued ; and, at one charge, 
 thousands of men and women passed under the edge of the 
 sword, perished by the arrow and musket-ball, or were put 
 to flight. The officers of the musketeers, and "ahsham," or 
 irregular foot, with the breath of the musket and rocket, lit 
 up the fire of battle and slaughter, and many were uselessly 
 burned, and many drowned in a river of their own blood. In 
 fact, a great multitude of officers and men, on both sides, 
 slept on the field of death. The army of the general in this 
 action received a severe blow, a cannon-ball from one of the 
 IS'awab's guns having broken the leg of Colonel Stuart, and 
 thereby caused the commander a deep affliction ; but, more 
 than this, another shot also struck the horse of Syfe ul Moolk, 
 by which he, Syfe ul Moolk, was thrown on the ground, and 
 his brave heart split in twain. In short, it went very near 
 that the stone of defeat and dispersion would fall among the 
 troops of the general, when gloomy night suddenly arrived, 
 and cast a veil of darkness over the world, and closed the 
 contest of the two fierce lions." He does not insinuate tliat 
 a missile so awkward as " tlic stone of defeat" fell among the 
 host of his own licro. 
 
 After the dynasty of Ilyder had been hurled from the 
 Mysore throne, Vellore became the scene of an atrocity which 
 has ever since allied it with fearful associations. At the 
 death of Tipii, his family, consisting of several sons and 
 daughters, were removed to this ibrtress, where, indulged 
 with a jjrincely income and retinue, they lived far more in
 
 TlIK JOUKNF.Y "UP COUNTllY " 91 
 
 state tlum in captivity. Four of the princesses had Leon 
 married ; and amid the splendid festivities attending tlie 
 nuptials of the fifth, closed the 9th of July 180G. About 
 three o'clock the next morning, the European troops, con- 
 sisting of four companies of the G4th Itegiment, were 
 awakened by volleys of musketry crashing into their rooms. 
 The assailants were the sepoys of the garrison, who remained 
 outside, pouring in a murderous fire, not daring to encounter 
 the bayonets of the Englishmen by attempting an entrance. 
 Two colonels, thirteen officers, and eighty-two men became 
 their victims ; ninety-one others were wounded. Some found 
 shelter in nooks, where the shot could not reach them. A 
 few managed to gain the ramparts, and maintained them- 
 selves by desperate valour. A fugitive carried the tidings to 
 Arcot. The 19th Dragoons, under Colonel Gillespie, were in 
 instant motion ; the galloper-guns followed. By eight o'clock 
 the Dragoons Avere at the gate, but could not effect an 
 entrance. At ten the guns arrived ; the gate was blown 
 open, the troopers dashed upon the crowd within, cut them 
 down by hundreds, and avenged the treachery with an un- 
 sparuag hand. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that the alarmists of the time 
 should find the cause of this horrible catastrophe in a religious 
 panic created by the labours of missionaries ; but it is greatly 
 to be regretted that, in the present day, a name so distin- 
 guished as that of Professor H. H. Wilson should be found 
 giving its sanction to that opinion. Our regret, however, 
 would be greatly moderated could we only make sure that 
 every reader of his able volume ^ would carefully weigh the 
 statements adduced by the learned professor in support of 
 his allegation. Dr. Buchanan, writing after considerable 
 intiuiry, said, "That the insurrection had no connection with 
 the Christian religion, directly or indirectly, immediately or 
 remotely, is a truth which is capable of demonstration." 
 
 1 The Hidory of British India ; being a continuation of Mill.
 
 92 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 This, with similar denials, Professor Wilson characterises as 
 " wide of the truth," and says : " The essential and main- 
 spring of the mutiny was religious principle, although its 
 occurrence was influenced, in the manner and season of its 
 development, by incidental and local excitement." To sus- 
 tain this statement, the following fticts are brought forward : 
 — " The sipahis (sepoys) were forbidden to appear on parade 
 with ear-rings, or the coloured marks on the forehead and 
 face significant of sectarial distinctions ; and they were 
 commanded to shave their beards and trim their moustaches 
 according to a standard model. . . . Other innovations 
 in their dress and accoutrements, such as a particular 
 undress jacket, black leather stocks, and a turnscrew which 
 some susceptible minds had identified with a cross, had 
 previously occasioned widespread dissatisfaction ; and the 
 last drop of the cup was poured forth when a new pattern 
 for a turban was devised, which, in the apprehension of the 
 sipahis, resembled a hat. This confirmed their fears, and 
 insubordination was the result." That insubordination was 
 a demur to wear the new turban ; on which their officers 
 acted with great violence, and the commander-in-chief, to 
 whom the matter was referred, dealt most severely with the 
 offenders, 
 
 Now, this is really all that is said, and, we presume, all 
 that can be said, to prove that the disafi'ection which 
 occasioned the mutiny was the result of missions. These 
 facts — for as such we cordially accept them — do prove that 
 Buchanan used a loose expression when he said the mutiny 
 had no connection with the Christian religion. It had a 
 connection with it ; but that connection was simply this : the 
 sepoys knew that the P]nglish were Christians ; and identify- 
 ing, as they do, costume with caste and religion, naturally 
 looked on the innovations made, with such reckless contempt 
 of their feelings, as steps towards breaking their caste and 
 coercing them into the creed of their foreign masters. 
 Harshness turned jealousy to rage, to which the presence of
 
 THE JOURNEY "UP COUNTKY " 98 
 
 tlie captive princes gave point and direction. But what had 
 the missionaries to do with all this 1 Was it they who told 
 the Musalmans that the English were Christians, or who 
 taught them to hate Christianity ? The religious distrust 
 was occasioned, not by missionaries, but by the simple fact 
 that the English held a different creed from the sepoys. The 
 feeling thus created was roused to exasperation by incon- 
 siderate meddling with prejudices which, though silly as the 
 whims of a child, are, to those who cherish them, sacred as 
 the postulates of a mathematician. Suppose — which Avould 
 have been far more reasonable in the climate — that the order 
 had been for the British soldiery to adopt the dress of the 
 sepoys ; that they should shave the cranium as close as the 
 chin ; dismiss hats, and wrap up their heads in a mass of 
 calico, and supersede their pantaloons by a long loose cloth of 
 the same fabric, — woidd they not have remonstrated? And, 
 if treated as mutineers for such remonstrance, would they 
 have been quite submissive, even without the aggravations 
 of opposed religion, alien blood, recent conquest, and the 
 presence of those who represented illustrious leaders of their 
 own race and creed, to stimulate their disaffection and point 
 their revenge 1 
 
 Surely the learned professor assigns causes for the mutiny 
 sufficient to satisfy any reasonable man without seeking for 
 it in the labours of the few Protestant missionaries who 
 were acting at a distance, and of whom in all likelihood 
 most of the sepoys had never heard, for at the time there 
 was no English missionary in the Madras Presidency, and 
 the Danes and Germans were labouring at a great distance 
 from Yellore. But he does not prove, or adduce a single 
 fact going to prove, that the slightest connection existed 
 between the missions and the massacre. Had Buchanan 
 only used the definite term " missionary efforts " instead of 
 the vague one "the Christian religion," his position — for 
 anything, at least, that Professor Wilson has shown — would 
 have been unassailable ; for to show that the mutiny arose
 
 94 A MISSION TO THE ^MYSORE 
 
 from religions jealousy is no proof that the jealousy was 
 either created or developed by missions, in the absence of 
 any fact indicative of such connection, and when, inde- 
 pendently of it, there were ample causes and bitter excite- 
 ments. "We may add, that though many of our intelligent 
 countrymen have regarded with singular timidity every 
 attempt to teach the Hindus the truths of their own pro- 
 fession, w'atclung missions as a sailor watches a troubled 
 sky, they have yet to prove a single case in which the pro- 
 ceedings of Protestant missionaries have begotten hostility 
 to the British Government. AVe cannot profess any sym- 
 l^athy with that style of feeling which regards all the fears 
 of our Eastern rulers on this score as merely the expression 
 of dislike to the progress of Christianity, and of desire to 
 perpetuate the revenues so shamefully derived from idolatrous 
 rites. The fears were genuine, produced in minds where 
 the love of truth was postponed to secular expediency, partly 
 by the representations of native officials, or of English ones 
 who had adopted native vices, partly by confounding the 
 effects that Avould rcsidt from their tolerating their own 
 religion with those that would spring from their proraulging 
 it. Any attempt to convert the Hindus by public inter- 
 ference would be as pregnant with mischief to our politics 
 as it Avould be abortive of benefit to our religion. On such 
 a course the body of Protestant missionaries could not look 
 otherwise than Avith strong disapprobation. The religion 
 they disseminate repudiates hollow adherents. It seeks not 
 a new ceremonial, but a new heart ; not a change of creed 
 only, but a change of character. They feel this. Conse- 
 quently they desire to approach the strongholds of Hinduism 
 with the one weapon of fair argument, wielded by vernacular 
 addresses and publications, and thus to lead the people to a 
 purer faith than that which their fathers taught ; showing 
 them, at the same time, that they are armed with no power 
 to coerce or to reward ; while, so far from seeking, they 
 would dread compulsory disciples. oS'ow, we think that this
 
 THE JOURXKY "UP COUNTRY" 95 
 
 mode of procedure, so I'ar from being likely to excite jealousy 
 of the Government, is the only means of dissipating the 
 suspicions naturally entertained respecting rulers of an alien 
 religion, by giving just views of the spirit of Christianity, 
 and of the relation in which the executive stands to its 
 propagation. And in this conviction we confidently antici- 
 pate the concurrence of everyone whose knowledge of the 
 Hindus has been derived from a free intercourse with all 
 classes of the community, at a distance from those difficulties 
 to accurate views which are found in pundits, officials, and 
 the sophisticated natives of the Presidencies, who, being the 
 ordinary channels of information, soon learn to impose all 
 sorts of deceptions, which deceptions we sometimes find re- 
 produced in clever books. 
 
 On no point can any people be more sensitive than are 
 the Hindus to forcible interference with their caste and 
 religious customs. Any course indicating a desire to violate 
 these would be the height of folly on the part of Govern- 
 ment. At the same time, no people can be more accessible 
 to argument. Only address their reason, no matter how 
 pointedly, or with what discredit of their most cherished 
 dogmas, and they are never enraged, but seldom oflended. 
 On discovering that the people who rule them have a 
 religion which can bear, and even court, comparison with 
 their own, their first feeling is one rather of gratification 
 than otherwise. When the missionary has succeeded in 
 convincing them that he is no Government officer, no 
 fortune-seeking adventurer — that his sole object is to pro- 
 mulge truth and turn men from sin — they freely accord 
 him the respect due to a noble intention and an elevated 
 character. Our authorities may rely upon this : that the 
 more the natives see of Protestant missionaries, the less will 
 they suspect any collusion between them and the Govern- 
 ment with a design unfriendly to their religious freedom. 
 With profound respect for Professor Wilson's pre-eminent 
 accomplishments as an orientalist, we cannot but deplore
 
 96 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 that, in his office of historian, he has countenanced a habit 
 of thinking little calculated to accelerate what must come, if 
 truth and righteousness are not phantasms — the extinction 
 of Brahmanism, and with it the regeneration of those fair 
 provinces of the human kingdom Avhich that system of 
 sublimated depravity has so long enthralled, polluted, and 
 accursed. 
 
 After leaving Yellore, our next stages were Pallicondah 
 and Goriattam. When at the latter place, on a subsequent 
 visit, I found that the old sepoy attached to the bungalow, 
 having served in the Mysore, had a slight blundering know- 
 ledge of Kanarese, and asked him if any persons in the 
 neighbourhood could speak it. He said, "Not one," but 
 after a while returned to tell me that there was a village of 
 Kanarese people at the distance of about a mile and a half. 
 Finding that I intended to visit it, he offered to be my 
 guide. Crossing the broad sandy bed of the river, which 
 w'as almost free from water, we found a neat, sequestered 
 village, situated Ijy a grove which shaded a handsome 
 temple. On entering a clean but narrow street, we found 
 several respectable-looking men of the mercantile castes 
 seated outside the doors. They seemed not a little sur- 
 prised by my appearance — never, most j)robably, having 
 been visited by a white man before ; but, when addressed 
 in Kanarese, they stared at one another as if I had been 
 uttering thunder. Soon, however, recovering that easy self- 
 possession in which a Hindu never fails, they entered cheer- 
 fully into conversation. I learned that they Jiad — h&%R 
 settled in this place nearly two hundred years, but still 
 spoke their own language amongst themselves, although it 
 was of no use to them elsewhere. This custom is main- 
 tained by all native families, no matter how far removed 
 from their original country, Uand ought to satisfy those 
 "sanguine Anglicans who expect to make their mother-tongue 
 the vernacular of Hindustan ; if, indeed, satisfied they can 
 be, who hear in vain the perpetual jar of Irish, Welsh,
 
 THE JOURNEY "UP COUNTRY" 97 
 
 ^liuix, and Gaelic, amidst the luinuony of Anglo-Saxon 
 vocables. Certain forms of pronunciation leading me to 
 ask if they did not come from the Bellary district, they 
 replied, "From its immediate neighbourhood." During this 
 conversation a considerable number of men had assembled 
 round me, while some women stood looking on in the dis- 
 tance, or came, and, casting a furtive glance on the pale- 
 faced stranger, rapidly disappeared. I then opened my 
 Bible and read; explained why I had sought them out; 
 entered into a statement of the great truths of religion, and 
 enforced them with feelings which he only can tell who has 
 found himself preaching Christ to an audience who never 
 heard of His grace before, and who, likely, might never hear 
 it preached again. It was a moment to make one in earnest. 
 They listened with deep attention, and received some tracts 
 with wonder and delight. I earnestly implored the blessing 
 of the Holy Trinity on my feeble attempt to make Him 
 known, and, after a cordial interchange of civilities, closed 
 my interesting visit, heartily praying that some other day a 
 messenger of the Cross might find them the enlightened 
 worshippers of the only wise God. 
 
 At Lalpet, our next stopping-place, we found a superb 
 mausoleum, marking the resting-place of some distinguished 
 ]\Iuhammadan. Here, also, eager vendors invite your atten- 
 tion to baskets of small, sweet oranges, brought from the 
 adjacent gardens of Satgur, a place formerly of great note, 
 being, as Mir Husain says, "one of the greatest fortresses 
 in the Carnatic, and, like the seven heavens in strength and 
 height, towers fearfully above all the rest." From this point 
 the dark outline of the Ghats stretches before you. Several 
 bluft" hills are jutted out on the plain, as if redoubts of the 
 great citadel. Along the base of the ridge runs a ravine, 
 nearly dry in fine weather, but furious in times of rain. A 
 serpentine road, cut out of the mountain, facilitates the 
 ascent. A thick jungle covers the rugged and precipitous 
 hills. As we proceeded, the sun shone cheerfully on the 
 
 7
 
 98 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 many-shaded foliage ; birds of bright plumage glistened in 
 his beams ; squirrels careered in the trees with nimble glee ; 
 the bearers' song sounded musically among the echoes ; a 
 string of bullock-drawn bandies were slowly and laboriously 
 toiling np the steep ; and native sportsmen, with long, rude, 
 fragile-looking matchlocks, were in pursuit of game. But, 
 amidst the mingled grandeur and vivacity, one thing was 
 wanting — no lark was chanting its matin, no note of linnet 
 or thrush, of goldfinch or blackbird, sounded the Creator's 
 bounty or the creature's joy : of all the birds that flitted 
 about you, not one had a voice to sing. It seemed as if 
 idolatry had struck Mature dumb. 
 
 I had climbed mountains before ; but there was a strange 
 sublimity in finding oneself on that wondrous ridge, Avhich, 
 rising in Khandesh, stretches to Coimbatore, and, there 
 turning northward, travels back to Cuttack ; thus extending, 
 on both coasts of the peninsula, through a distance of latitude 
 greater, on either side, than from Newcastle in the north of 
 England to Bourdeaux in the south of France. Yet all this 
 may be considered as one huge mountain ; for the wide area 
 embraced in its sweep is not a hollow between two ranges, but 
 stands upheld on the shoulders of these everlasting hills ; 
 so that countries of vast territory and varied language are 
 spjt'cad out in high air, one enormous mountain-top. 
 
 Entering the Indian continent on its apex, you find, a 
 little above Cape Comorin, " a bluff granite peak, about two 
 thousand feet high." ^ Commencing from this point, a chain 
 of mountains extends northward through Travancore and 
 Cochin, terminating a little below Cherpalcheri. After a flat 
 of about twenty miles, you are met by a huger ridge, called 
 the Nilgiris, of which the highest peak towers eight thousand 
 seven hundred and sixty feet above the sea.- This giant 
 
 ^ See an able article on the geology of Southern India, in a number 
 of the Journal the I'oi/al Asiatir Sorhtlij, by Cai>tain Newbold. 
 
 - [Tennyson writes most aptly ia '' The IJrook " of " the sweet half- 
 English Neilglu-rry air."]
 
 THE ,TOUI!XEY "UP COUNTRY" 99 
 
 stretches an arm of tlie same stern mnscle as liimsolf 
 for about seven liuntlred miles along either coast, and 
 holds aloft the wild regions encircled in their granitic 
 embrace. These arms are called respectively, the Eastern 
 and Western Ghats. Diverging, as they do, to a distance 
 of several hundred miles, and meeting the traveller in direc- 
 tions exactly opposite, they might easily be regarded as 
 separate chains, but are in reality one, and connected in the 
 way suggested by this illustration. In their whole course, the 
 only breaks of importance are one lying in a direct line 
 between Seringapatam ami Salem, through which the 
 Kaveri descends from the tableland to the plain ; the other 
 at Nagari, above fifty miles from J\Iadras, at which point 
 the eastern range varies its direction. The tract on the two 
 coasts lying between the Ghats and the sea is called by the 
 Musalmilns Payin Ghat, or the foot of the Ghats. On 
 the east this includes the Carnatic, with the country known 
 as the Northern Sirkars, and may be said to extend from the 
 mouth of the iMahanadi to that of the Coleroon, a distance, 
 in latitude, greater than the whole length of the British Isles, 
 or than the breadth of the European continent, taken from 
 the Adriatic to the Baltic, or from the Gulf of Genoa to the 
 mouth of the Rhine. These countries are flat, with "a sandy 
 soil, resting on a bed of black clay, embedding marine 
 shells," ^ and thinly interspersed with detached hills of 
 granitic rock. The breadth of this tract varies from a few 
 miles, as between Ganjam and Chicacole, to a hundred or 
 upwards, as towards its southern extremity. The western 
 Payin Ghat includes Kanara, the Portuguese territory of 
 Goa, the state of Sawantwari — -which has recently been 
 disturbed, — the Konkan as far north as Daman, with part of 
 the Gaekwar's territory. This, in some parts, is only a strip 
 of land at the foot of the mountains ; but, in others, acquires 
 a breadth exceeding fifty miles. The tableland comprises, 
 in its enormous plateau, the Mysore, the Ceded Districts, the 
 * Kewbold, ut su2)ra.
 
 100 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 South Maliratta country, and the Deccan. The whole of 
 this has an inclination from west to east ; the Western 
 Ghats having an average height double that of the Eastern ; 
 the intermediate region gradually slopes from the one level 
 to the other, like the roof of a hothouse. This arrangement 
 of Providence confers on the flat, sandy countries of the 
 eastern Payin Ghat the benefit of a copious irrigation, by 
 means of those noble rivers — as the Godaveri, Krishna, and 
 Coleroon — which are formed by the drainage of the elevated 
 regions ; while the narrow tracts of the western are provided 
 for by the greater height of their adjacent Ghats and other 
 peculiarities of surface. The elevation varies at different 
 points of the plateau : at Hyderabad it is one thousand eight 
 hundred feet above the level of the sea ; at Bangalore, three 
 thousand. Captain Newbold describes the tableland of the 
 Mysore as " hypogene schists," that of the Ceded Districts 
 as similar, and that of the Deccan as presenting, in some 
 cases, overlying trap, — in others, blue, grey, and buflf lime- 
 stone, with extensive tracts of granite and hypogene rocks, 
 penetrated by trap-dykes, and partially covered with 
 regur. 
 
 "~ "With all respect for the geologists, it does tax one's faith 
 in the power of their " incandescent elements " to stand on 
 the summit of the Ghats, spread your thoughts over the 
 wide regions they sustain, think of the kingdoms, the capi- 
 tals, the tens of millions held up on the top of this mammoth 
 mountain, and then ascribe its elevation to the activity of 
 forces within the earth. The mind is disposed to refer this 
 stupendous phenomenon to a direct exertion of the Creator's 
 power. At the same time, we must own that His hand is 
 seen most conspicuously in the endowment of agents evidently 
 incapable of self-production or self-control with the ability 
 to accomplish magnificent results. In the powers of fire, 
 light, and electricity we have glorious proofs of what God can 
 do ; and who can trace the services in which He employs 
 those mighty, but mindless, things, without asking, To what
 
 THE JOURNEY "UP COUNTRY" 101 
 
 style of achievement may He not yet conduct the spirit of 
 man, which daily demonstrates its superiority to them by 
 making them all its instruments 'i The man who discovers 
 and exhibits the servants whom our Maker has been pleased 
 to employ helps me to adore more humbly His eternal power 
 and Godhead; as also to take conceptions of the possible 
 attainments of my own soul, which more impress me with 
 the responsibility of its possession, with the need to be 
 sedulous in its culture. His industry deserves, and has, my 
 gratitude. But if he descant on the wonders of agents 
 which, after all, have neither will nor judgment — no, not the 
 knowledge of their own existence — without rising higher, he 
 forces me to think of a mechanic who would account for all 
 the marvels of the factory, the telegraph, or the calculating 
 machine by referring you to the engine-room, the battery, or 
 the framework, without one allusion to an inventive or pre- 
 siding mind. Light is at this moment rejoicing every eye in 
 a hundred nations, but it knows it not ; it has no share in 
 the vivacity which it bestows on living things ; no sense of 
 the beauty wherewith it decks the inanimate. It is well to 
 ponder the laws under which nature operates. But laws 
 never make themselves. 
 
 It was a touching and a mournful thing, as, full of such 
 reflections, we pressed upon the giant hill, to see the bearers 
 ground their palanquin, produce some cocoa-nuts, turn aside 
 to a small temple, and there reverently present them to a 
 miserable little image, as an offering to propitiate his favour 
 on their way. The surrounding witnesses to the Creator's 
 glory, and the idol's impotence, were so numerous and so 
 plain-spoken that this act made one feel he belonged to a 
 race degraded indeed. The stock's nothingness was inscribed 
 on all you looked at. The mountain, swelling with a majesty 
 it never wore ; the light, glowing with a radiance it never 
 gave ; the vegetation, springing Avith a life it had long since 
 lost ; the parroqiiet, clad with a loveliness it could neither 
 give nor prize ; the squirrel, gamboling with a vivacity it
 
 102 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 could not share ; the very fruit, lying as its ottering, and 
 rich with nutriment it could not impart, could not even 
 derive, — all, all lifted up their voice, and witnessed against 
 the madness, the wickedness of man. To see the Almighty 
 insulted so, amid the stupendous monuments of His power, 
 and to think that, inane, loathsome, as was the deed, yet 
 half the millions of our race would not blush to join in it, 
 awoke within a strife of shame, indignation, and pity that 
 tore the very heart. Lord God, holy and true, how long 1 
 How long will rational beings affront thy Godhead ? How 
 long will men, lost, contemn their Creator and adore His 
 creatures'? Earth and heaven answer, "How can they call 
 on Him of whom they have not heard 1 And how can they 
 hear without a preacher 1 " Oh, where is the youth with 
 soul so earthly that would rather spend his days in gathering 
 money than in calling the cities of heathendom to behold 
 their God 1 And where is the mother who would not thank- 
 fully devote her firstborn to a work so holy 1 And where is 
 the man who Avould rather reserve his thousands to tempt 
 his children when he is dead than send them to bless his 
 species while he lives 1 
 
 At the head of the pass stands the bungalow of Naikaneri, 
 surrounded by copse and low hills, without anything to indi- 
 cate that, close by, an extensive country is spread out on a level 
 many hundreds of feet below you. A change of temperature 
 is at once perceptible. The sun shines just as fiercely, but 
 the air is not so heated, and at night has a bracing coolness, 
 not wholly lost even in May, at which season the night 
 atmosphere of the Paytn Ghat is so languid and sudorific 
 that you are not surprised the author of the Jaimcuii — a cele- 
 brated native poem — should, in one of his fancies, put the 
 question, "If the wind should grow so warm that he began 
 to perspire, who would be found to fan himf One is much 
 struck to find the sheep on the top of the Ghats having a 
 covering of wool, far short of the luxurious garment of a 
 Southdown or Leicester, but (|uite sufficient to afford the
 
 THE .lOUKNEY "UP COUNTUY " 103 
 
 inhabitants material wherewith to manufacture kamhlis 
 (" camlet "), which the cold incident to their elevated situa- 
 tion renders desirable, and wliich they weave in long pieces, 
 like Scotch plaids, and use generally as a night-covering ; 
 but, in tlie cold season, do not disdain its comfort even in the 
 day. This provision is forcibly illustrative of God's paternal 
 care, when you remember that, within two or three hours' 
 walk, on the i)lains below, sheep are browsing with precisely 
 the same kind of hide as the calf or foal beside them ; 
 because there, even in December, woollen clothing would be 
 only an encumbrance. The same attention to our happiness 
 which leads the All-giving to ordain that various climates 
 shall produce each the most suitable kind of sustenance is 
 equally manifest in the distribution of material for covering: 
 the delicate silk and cotton, so admirably suited to the 
 regions of balmy airs, we find to flourish there ; the sub- 
 stantial wool, so well adajjted to the changing heats of the 
 temperate zone, is in that zone profuse ; while for the furs, 
 that protect from extreme cold, we travel to the realms of 
 snow. 
 
 Just about the Ghats the language changes from Tamil 
 to Telugu. This latter continues to near Hoskotti, where 
 the Kanarese begins. These three languages have a 
 strong affinity, but are not to be regarded as dialects of the 
 same tongue. The Kanarese and Telugu use a similar 
 alphabet, but are as distinct as French and English ; only 
 the sensible usage of having a letter for every elemental 
 sound, and of writing every word as it is pronounced, 
 greatly facilitates the acquisition of one when the other is 
 known. The Tamil alphabet is perfectly different, not having 
 a single letter the same, nor even the numeral signs, which 
 in European languages are common ; while its letters in 
 number are only between two and three hundred, whereas in 
 the Kanarese they are nearly seven. ^ Persons used only to 
 
 '[Tamil has 216 vowel-consonants. "Nearly seven" should bo 
 " nearer six."]
 
 104 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the parsimonious alphabets of the West take alarm at this 
 host of letters, regarding it as a useless and embarrassing 
 multiplicity. But it is the most convenient arrangement 
 of which orthography admits. In English the learner is 
 deluded into the belief that there are five vowels, and then 
 is rebuked, not five nor fifty times, for pronouncing each of 
 them just as he had been taught to pronounce it half a 
 minute before. Every time he meets with the vowel a, it 
 has to be considered whether he will pronounce it like itself, 
 as in "bacon"; or like e, as in "many"; or short, as in 
 "man"; or long, as in "mar"; or broad, as in "all"; or 
 something else ; and thus the time lost and the labour 
 demanded are incomparably greater than if, in the first 
 instance, he had been required to learn a separate letter for 
 every separate sound. In Kanarese the vowels are sixteen ; 
 the consonants thirty-three. Every consonant adopts sixteen 
 changes of form, each expressing its combination with a 
 certain vowel. Thus five hundred and twenty-eight com- 
 pound letters are really syllables, which, though they facili- 
 tate the writing of the language, yet, by multiplying the 
 forms, increase the tediousness and, consequently, the 
 expense of printing.^ This is the only inconvenience of 
 the extended alphabet, and it is a serious one. But it 
 arises not from securing to each elemental sound a distinct 
 sign, but from the syllabic combinations. To the natives 
 our alphabet seems exquisitely absurd. They think its 
 framers must have been of remarkably barren invention, 
 when they could afford only two dozen signs for all the 
 varieties of sound which language employs. They com- 
 plain bitterly, and no wonder, of the miserable uncertainty 
 entailed upon them as to whether they are pronouncing a 
 word riglit or wrong. The boys in one of our Ceylon 
 "nTission scliools archly called the letter a " the lying letter," 
 
 ' [There are really .^)'2 letters — Ki vowels, 34 consonants, and 2 
 other letters belonging to neither class : a nasal symbol and a final 
 aspirate. In conildnation, the signs number 532.
 
 THE JOURNEY "UP COUNTRY" 105 
 
 saying that it so constantly changed they could never trust 
 it. The Kanarese alphabet affords four, to take the several 
 posts, on all of which, and some others to boot, we compel 
 this one overworked vowel to do duty. Would the chemical 
 student deem his task lightened if, instead of having to learn 
 a name for each of the fifty-four elements, he were obliged 
 to use the sound sodium equally for the one it now indicates, 
 and for :dnc, azote, and chlorine, leaving the context to 
 determine which was meant? Or would the juvenile 
 musician be assisted by having semibreves, minims, and 
 quavers all expressed by one sign, memory or judgment 
 deciding the particular application? Or would the master 
 of ten workmen diminish his trouble were he to get three 
 John Joneses, three John Smiths, and three Thomas 
 Browns, rather than learn ten separate names? Yet such 
 is the principle on which all the sounds of our copious 
 tongue are compelled to find expression, through the stinted 
 and impoverished medium of the Eoman alphabet. 
 
 A certain lively writer gives the following description of 
 Tamil : — " This Tamil is a fearfully ugly language ; clatter- 
 ing, twittering, chirping, sputtering, like a whole poultry- 
 yard let loose upon one, and not a singing-bird, not a 
 melodious sound, among them." This is far more likely 
 to be read and remembered than the sober descriptions of 
 those Avho are guilty of weighing words. It is, however, 
 mere humorous rattle, a playful way of venting the annoy- 
 ance so natural when hearing a thousand things said that 
 you cannot understand, and when perplexed in attempts to 
 learn what you are told is very easy. I never spoke Tamil, 
 and understood it but very imperfectly ; but feel no hesita- 
 tion in saying that were one who knew nothing of it, or 
 English, or French to hear the three languages well spoken, 
 he would at least hesitate as to whether the palm of euphony 
 were not due to the " poultry-yard let loose," / Telugu is 
 remarkable for soft, agreeable sounds, and is popularl}'^ called 
 " the Italian of India." Kanarese, on the other hand,
 
 106 A MISSION TO THE MYSOPxE 
 
 abounds in rugged combinations of mutes and aspirates, 
 which give it a character of force and harshness.^ But 
 though defective in melody, its grammatical structure 
 has a beautiful philosophical simplicity ; while as a vehicle 
 of knowledge and emotion it is admirable. Wealthy in 
 native resources, and abundantly replenished from the 
 exhaustless Sanskrit, it is copious, definitive, and nervous — 
 equally competent to express the boldest passion or the 
 softest sympathy, the tale of history, the flights of song, 
 the refinements of metaphysics, or the high and spiritual 
 discourses of theology. For the discussion of physical 
 science, it will require a liberal invention of technicalities. 
 Kanarese is spoken all over the Mysore, in the provinces 
 of Kanara and a considerable portion of the Ceded Districts. 
 The population using it is variously estimated by Europeans 
 at from ten to fifteen millions.- The natives state it 
 higher, but they are poor authorities. Up to a quarter 
 of a century ago every book in this many-tongued language 
 was a heathen one. '. No volume kindled the fancy of 
 
 ^ I am aware that in this statement I differ from the Kev. W. 
 Campbell, who in his work, British India, etc., characterises Kanarese 
 as "mellilluous in its sounds." It is capable of softness, but that is 
 not its eliaracteristic. 
 
 - [The census of 1791 put the number of Kanarese-speaking people 
 at close upon ten millions. This, however, only represents the 
 number of those who reckon Kanarese as their mother-tongue and 
 "house-language," and does not represent the range of its actual use. 
 There are many people whose ancestors came long ago from the Tamil 
 or Telugu areas, who at home always speak their ancestral language, 
 and who in the census paper would enter themselves as Tamil or 
 Telugu. JNIeauwhile, Kanarese is the only language they read ; it is 
 the language also in which they transact all the business of life outside 
 their own doors. The same is true of some Muhammadans. The 
 Kanarese-speaking country is practically cut in two by the Tunga- 
 bhadra. North of that river the language is used in the South Mahratta 
 country, and other parts of tlic Bombay Presidency, in portions of the 
 Nizam's Dominions, the Central Provinces, and Berar. South of the 
 river it is used in Mysore, in Kanara, Bdlary, and several other parts 
 of the Madras I'rcsidencv, in Coorg and Cochin.]
 
 THE JOUKNEY "UP COUNTRY" 107 
 
 youth or beguiltd the tedium of age, but stultified the 
 intellects with drivelling idolatry, and polluted the soul by 
 foul and disgusting recitals.^ A dark awe comes over one to 
 think of a tongue, spoken by civilised and populous nations, 
 continually uttering men's cares, agitations, and joys; as 
 continually instilling doctrines, principles, facts ; but dumb, 
 wholly and for ages dumb, as to any sanctifying truth, any 
 saving message. Blessed be God that, with Kanarese, it 
 is so no longer ! It is eloquent now with every truth of 
 that religion Avhich is rich enough in holiness to make even 
 a Hindu pure ; rich enough in love to melt the chains of 
 centiiries and fuse all castes into brotherhood ; rich enough 
 in consolation to heal the countless sorrows that follow 
 strange gods. In 1820 the Rev. John Hands, of the London 
 Missionary Society, printed the New Testament at Bellary, 
 and twelve years after, the Old." I cannot utter, nor yet 
 repress, the veneration with which such a boon to mankind 
 inspires me. He that benefits his species is greater than he 
 that pleases or astounds them. But to be the benefactor of 
 millions, and that to the end of time, is a dignity conferred 
 on few. Let others pay their honours where they will. The 
 profoundest reverence, the liveliest thanks I may offer to 
 creature, shall be reserved from genius, grandeur, heroism, 
 but cheerfully rendered to him by whose godly toil a wide- 
 spoken tongue is first made to utter the words whereby my 
 Redeemer may be known, my fellow-sinners may be saved. 
 The deed is too vast for the chronicles of earth, too pure for 
 
 ^ [In Kanarese literature, as in all Indian literature, there is a per- 
 vasive idolatry, and debasing narratives have too much place. But it 
 is not wholly devoid of things of better import. One meets now and 
 again with worthier views of God, with confession of sin, with 
 the expression of siiiritual desire ; and it includes a serious philo- 
 sophy.] 
 
 - [A new translation of the Bible into Kanarese was completed, after 
 sixteen years' labour, in 1759. This is now undergoing careful 
 revision, the revised New Testament having been com])leted in 
 1901.]
 
 108 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the praise of men. Every letter of its record will be a re- 
 generated soul, every stone of its testimonial a redeemed 
 family, every note of its paean an angel's joy. He who can 
 pursue the sunbeams, and trace, without one omission, every 
 lineament of beauty they pencil on tree, and flower, and 
 living thing, may tell the blessings that accrue when the 
 light of life is flung on the pathway of millions, whom the 
 darkness bewildered and destroyed. 
 
 It is strikingly characteristic of the two systems that, 
 while Protestantism has enriched the various tongues of 
 India by versions of the Holy Scriptures, and is rapidly 
 adding the boon of a pure literature, Komanism found sacred 
 tomes in the custody of the native churches, which would 
 have been valuable both to the biblical critic and the ecclesi- 
 astical historian ; but she consigned them to the flames by 
 the hands of her infamous Archbishop Menezes, who, with 
 the soul both of an Inquisitor and a Goth, was not content 
 to inflict wrongs on the Syrian Christians, which associate 
 his memory with that of Pizzaro and Cortes, but must 
 consummate his barbarism by burning documents whose 
 antiquity and sacred character, while they would have 
 commanded veneration everywhere else, only served him 
 as a stronger motive to remove such undesirable impedi- 
 ments to the assumptions of his Church. Of his proceeding 
 a full detail may be found in the Rev. James Hough's 
 History of Christianity in India ; while a succinct and 
 interesting summary is given in the second edition of the 
 Rev. E. Hoole's Mission in Madras, Mysore, and South India. 
 
 The second stage from Naikaneri was Betmangala, 
 which lies within the Mysore boundary. Here, one of our 
 horses having lost a shoe, we had the opportunity of seeing 
 the operations of a native blacksmith. He came with ready- 
 made horseshoes, hammers, fuel, anvil, and bellows, all 
 contained in one very portable bundle. The fuel was char- 
 coal, and the anvil tiny, with a spike, by which he drove it 
 into the ground ; but the bellows were the most elaborate
 
 THE JOURNEY "UP COUNTIIY " 109 
 
 and ingenious implement in his whole workshop. The pipe 
 was an iron tube, about one inch in diameter ; after a few 
 inches it branched into two, each of which terminated in the 
 corner of a leather bag, where it was tightly tied. These 
 bags were open at the top. The operator, placing the pipe 
 under the fuel, sat him quietly down, and took the top of a 
 bag in either hand. Thin slips of wood ran along the edges 
 to enable him to open and close them more readily. Spread- 
 ing his right hand to its full extent, and raising it at the 
 same time, he both opened and stretched the bag held by it 
 which, consequently, filled with air. He then closed his 
 hand firmly, and, pressing down the bag, forced the air con- 
 tained in it to escape through the pipe below. The left hand 
 then performed the same duty; and the two plying in- 
 regular alternation, sustained a blast sufiicient for his pur- 
 pose. Wlien the shoe was heated, he shaped it on his tiny 
 anvil, still sitting on the ground ; his easy quiet presenting 
 a strange contrast to the sturdy manipulations of our Vulcans 
 at home. This habit of sitting at work gives the Hindus an 
 air of laziness to English eyes. The bricklayer sits to build ; 
 the stonecutter sits to chisel ; the reaper sits to reap ; the 
 potter sits to turn his wheel ; and, from all appearances, the 
 ploughman would sit to plough, but that the erect posture is 
 more convenient for walking. It is usual, during the growth 
 of the rice, to rear a kind of platform to watch it against the 
 crows ; and there you may see a poor boy squatted, for 
 hours together, under a sun hot enough to scorch the board 
 he sits on ; and yet he takes it as patiently as though he 
 were a portion of the wood. 
 
 Here, also, we saw part of the process of preparing 
 cliunam} The lime (generally made of shells), after being 
 slacked, is sifted again and again through thin cloth. A 
 woman takes a quantity of this, and, sitting down with a small 
 
 ^ [Chunam — the common name in India for lime. The Madras 
 dmnam, made of calcined shells, has a great reputation all over 
 India.]
 
 110 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 pot of water aud two stones, one flat the other round, places 
 a little lime on the flat stone, moistens it, and then rolls it 
 with the other till she thinks it impossible that the minutest 
 particle can have escaped. Then it is mixed with the white 
 of eggs, and also, I have been told, with sugar, after which 
 the pounding is repeated. The plaster thus produced, when 
 carefully polished, has a surface singularly smooth, and of a 
 whiteness not so soft, but more intense, than the finest 
 Italian marble. Erections which, have received the highest 
 chunam finish, aff'ord, in the massive purity of glistening 
 white, a species of architectural beauty not to be found in 
 Europe, The interior of some churches at Madras look as if 
 the plastic hand of some giant modeller had shaped the 
 whole from one Parian rock, without vein or joining. This 
 majestic unity is far more impressive than the agglomeration 
 of gilding, painting, sculpture, white marbles, coloured 
 marbles, balustrades, colonnades, angels and emperors, saints 
 and crusaders, which decks that paragon of magnificent bad 
 taste, the Madeleine at Paris. 
 
 Our next stage led us to Kolar, at the entrance of which 
 two stately minarets, glistening in the morning sun, and 
 gracefully contrasting with the dark foliage of a surrounding 
 grove, indicated the spot where the remains of that wonder- 
 ful man, Hyder Ali, had been interred.^ Of low extraction, 
 utterly uneducated, and spending up to his twenty-seventh 
 year in idleness, he managed to subvert the throne of Mysore, 
 conquered several adjacent countries, maintained long con- 
 tests with " the stormy and warlike English," as Mir Husain 
 terms us, ravaged all their territory, annihilated a division of 
 their army, eclipsed the glories of the hero of Buxar, and 
 dictated peace almost at the gates of Madras. His bravery, 
 enterprise, decision, and foresight will bear comparison with 
 those of Xapoleon. His power of giving simultaneous 
 attention to several concerns exceeded that even of Csesar. 
 Yet he never could read or write, his greatest literary attain- 
 ' Afterwards removed to Seringapatam.
 
 THE JOURXEY " VV COUNTRY" 111 
 
 ment being the ability to shape one letter, which he 
 appended to official documents as his sign-manual ; and 
 even this is called by hi.s laudatory biographer the result of 
 " much labour." This ignorance, doubtless, whetted the 
 suspiciousness that ever curses a tyrant. Never were 
 countries ruled with a more coarse and relentless despotism 
 than those that fell beneath his sword. The tales of his 
 cruelty that circulate among the villages of Mysore chill the 
 blood, even at this distance of time. His desires were large, 
 and he lived for himself. The pleasures of conquest, of 
 wealth, and of the harem moved his soul with resistless 
 impulsion. In their way, the faith of treaties, the rights of 
 property, the sanctity of homes were but gossamer. He 
 lived in battles and in marches. His appearance in any 
 neighbourhood was a portent of woe to all who had aught to 
 lose. The wealthy were commanded to produce their long- 
 kept treasure : reluctance was ruin. Those who had beautiful 
 daughters saw them torn away to swell his harem or amuse 
 his favourites. Woe to him who murmured, no matter how 
 deep his wrongs ! The ears of the tyrant where everywhere ; 
 his spies numberless and unknown, The silence of Russia 
 on a toijic inhibited by the Czar is not more perfect than 
 was that of the dominions of Hyder on his oppressions. In 
 ruling men he used but one instrument — terror, pure and 
 unmasked. The faith of his ministers, the integrity of his 
 zemindars, the zeal of his spies, the punctuality of his horse- 
 dealers, the very courage of his troops in the charge, were all 
 secured by terror.^ The faithful Mir Husain, though 
 asserting that " he was altogether full of kindness and 
 generosity," quietly admits that " the backs and sides of his 
 
 ' " AVhen, stimulated and forced on by the abuse he gave them, the 
 horse had charged the enemy, he sent for the syces ('grooms' or 
 ' horse-keepers ') of the cavah-y, and, giving them bamboos or shoes, he 
 placed them in line, himself taking a post in rear of the whole, and 
 giving orders to them to strike and beat any who retreated." — Colone 
 Myles' translation of the Ahwali Ilydur.
 
 112 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 negligent and extortionate servants were frequently softened 
 by stripes of the whip," an emollient to which he was very 
 partial; while the author of the Aluuali Hydur hesitates not 
 to say that "cutting off the nose and ears of any person in 
 his territories was the commonest thing imaginable ; and 
 killing a man there was thought no more of than treading on 
 an ant." The account of his death is very characteristic, 
 and, to those who look on a dying man with Christian eyes, 
 very sad. " On the last day of the Mohurrun ii Huram," 
 says Mir Husain (page 471), "he asked his attendants 
 what was the date of the month ;^ they replied, 'This is 
 the last day of the month Zi Huj, and to-night is the first of 
 the Mohurrun.' He then directed that water should be 
 made ready for him to bathe ; and, although the physician 
 objected to his bathing, they turned him out of the tent, 
 and the Nawub bathed. Then, having put on clean clothes, 
 he repeated some prayer or invocation on his fingers, rubbing 
 his face, and at the same time despatched two thousand 
 horse to plunder and ravage the country of the Polygers, 
 north of Arkat, and five thousand horse towards Madras, 
 for the same purpose, and to alarm the people there. He 
 next sent for some of his officers, and gave them strict 
 orders for the regulation of their departments, and afterwards 
 swallowed a little broth, and laid [lay] down to rest. The 
 same night his ever-victorious spirit took its flight to 
 paradise." 
 
 Such were the last deeds of a man who possessed talents 
 equal to any that the history of wars has developed ; while 
 in character he combined the darkest features of the tyrant, 
 the libertine, and the lover of pelf. Who would die under 
 the curses of a whole nation 1, But the last moments of a 
 hero are seldom envialjle. No one would covet Alexander's 
 end. Caesar had for his dying thought a biting sense of 
 ingratitude and friendlessness. William the Conqueror died 
 
 ' He knew that he was dying, having been suffering for some time 
 witli a cancerous affection.
 
 TllE JOURNEY "UP COUNTRY" li."^ 
 
 with tormenting recollections of the "many robberies "he 
 had committed ; and his corpse lay rifled and exposed on the 
 floor for hours.' The proudest hero of our navies, when he 
 felt himself smitten by death, cried, " What will Lady 
 Hamilton sayl" thus giving the last thought of his great 
 spirit to one whose disgustful life should have made A 
 common informer blush to name her. Happy, happy, happy 
 hcj lowly or illustrious, who in the final call can recognise 
 the voice of Him whom he sought in his youth and served 
 in his prime ! 
 
 Our journey was now drawing to a close. In India tht3 
 incidents of travel are few. The roads are anything but 
 crowded. You see now and then a string of bullock-carts ; 
 a sepoy on furlough, with native complexion and English 
 attire j a peon,- with sword and tiger-skin belt ; a barbel: 
 sitting under a ttee, and performing the monthly tonsure ort 
 the heads and chins of patient-looking victims ] a dram-sellei* 
 in a shed, with bottle and glass of English manufacturej and 
 native vessels for toddy ; or a religious mendicant ringing 
 his gong, sounding his shell, or bawling out the names of his 
 god. By a village at sunrise you are sure to meet, issuing 
 out, a multitude of cows and buffaloes, which are driven 
 within the walls every night for greater security. The cows 
 are generally small and ill-fed, but the bullocks, being well 
 cared for on account of their value as beasts of draught and 
 burden, are fine animals, with a broad flowing dewlap and 
 large solid crest on the shoulder, shaped not unlike a cock's 
 comb, but without the scalloping. Of all animals the bufiFalo 
 is least indebted to beauty. The hide is a dull, dingy blue, 
 without hair ; the head long, poking, and horizontal ; the 
 
 ^ See Pictorial Ilidory of France. 
 
 -[A "peon" is a messenger. Every Government office, civil or 
 military, has its own staff of peons, and each one wears a belt 
 (generally red) with a brass plato setting forth the Department ill 
 which he serves. Constables also are called "police peons." The 
 " sword and the tiger-skin belt" are not now the iusignia.] 
 
 8
 
 114 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 gait shambliug and lazy ; the look ineffably stupid. You 
 are ready to imagine it an ill-shapen cow, clothed in soiled 
 slate, and feeling about as comfortable in mail as the " man 
 of brass " at the Lord Mayor's show. Occasionally on an ox, 
 with decorated horns and necklace of sounding bells, rides 
 by a country gentleman, with bright garments, rich turban, 
 and expansive slippers, who looks, as country gentlemen 
 sometimes do, as if he were somebody in his own neighbour- 
 hood. Then you meet a family, the father walking before, 
 silent and haughty, the mother coming behind, silent and 
 craven, with a child slung at her back and a bundle, con- 
 taining their household goods, on her head. They go on 
 and on in dead silence, with as little sign of mutual feeling 
 as the fore and main masts of a ship. For miles together 
 the husband maintains his dogged silence, the wife her 
 humble distance. Sometimes you see a pompous, swelling 
 Musalmdn, followed by a pony supporting a white pyramid, 
 which, when near, is discovered to be a lady in a muslin 
 bastile, with only a small aperture at the eye for her to 
 peep through. Such poets as Mr. i\Ionckton Milnes may 
 commend the atrocities of the harem by singing— 
 
 " Within the gay kiosk reclined, 
 
 Above the scent of lemon groves, 
 Where bubbling fountains kiss the wind, 
 
 And birds make music to their loves, 
 She leads a kind of faery life, 
 
 In sisterhood of fruits and llowers, 
 Unconscious of the outward strife 
 
 That wears the palpitating hours." 
 
 As if a human breast were to be freed from cares by 
 lemon-scents, fruits, flowers, and bubbles, when those very 
 things come to her in an isolation which remind her of her 
 own, and show in their very form that she is not allowed to 
 wander in fields where their beauties flourish, or trace the 
 stream whose waters are free ; but that, with Jealousy for 
 her judge, and Contempt for her jailor, she is captured and
 
 THE JOURNEY "UP COUNTRY" 115 
 
 caged, a perpetual prisoner, for the crime of being a Avoraan, 
 and that, too, by the man whose children she has borne ! 
 Let those who choose read and admire such elegant inanities. 
 For our own part, we honestly say that they who could look 
 on such a monument to man's depravity and woman's degra- 
 dation, as is afforded by a Muliammadan lady in her itinerant 
 prison, and recollect that her humiliation and wrongs are 
 shared by the women of many a nation, without being heart- 
 stung, deserve, if men, such affection as tyranny fosters, such 
 peace as jealousy brings ; if women, could such women be — 
 
 " If women, to Turkish serails let them sfieed, 
 And be mothers of Mussulmaun slaves." 
 
 Painful reflections arose in looking back on the way we 
 had passed. It is much frequented by our countrymen, but 
 the spiritual interests of the population lying along it are 
 sadly overlooked. Villages, towns, cities are slumbering in 
 undisturbed idolatry. They worship gods of wood and 
 stone ; no one points them to a greater. They seek purity 
 by torture and ablution j no one tells them of the fountain 
 that is opened for sin. It is sad — and sad with shades of 
 awe and sorrow not easily depicted — to pass, one after an- 
 other, through places where thousands dwell, and think of 
 their children, all imbibing errors that will vitiate their life 
 and curse their eternity ; of their daughters, whose birth, 
 instead of being hailed as a father's joy, is endured as fate's 
 decree, who learn no letters, aspire not to equal companion- 
 ship, but live and die in ignorance and contempt ; of their 
 mothers, who never share their husband's board, and seldom 
 see his smile ; of their widows, whose bereavement is looked 
 on not as a sorrow to attract pity, but as a curse to mark 
 them for execration ; of their orphan girls, sold to the 
 temple and infamy; and, saddest of all, of their old men, 
 in whose eye no hope kindles as they bow down to the 
 grave. He that knows the heart of a missionary knows 
 what anguish these reflections bring; but anguish is not 
 all : ever and anon will stir within him an impetuous
 
 116 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 indignation at the supineness by which fields thus opened 
 by Providence are left imtilled, and the mind grows 
 bewildered with questions as to what shall be the final 
 award of Christian men who, aware of the world's state, 
 prefer laying up for themselves treasures on earth to making 
 millions rich for ever. 
 
 At Hoskote, the last stage from Bangalore, we were 
 delighted to find Mr. Cryer and Mr. Jenkins waiting to 
 receive us. After a happy day spent in their society, we 
 started early in the afternoon. About an hour after night, 
 hedgerows skirting the broad, regular roads, English-looking 
 gates, lights shining from between clumps of trees, the white 
 fronts of houses glistening in the brilliant moonlight, and 
 tlie stir of buggies hurrying hither and thither, told us that 
 the merciful care of our Heavenly Father had conducted us 
 to the English capital of the iSfysore.
 
 CHAPTEli IV 
 
 BANGALORE 
 
 The first object morning presented to our view was that 
 whicli is always beautiful, but doubly so in a land of idols. 
 Surrounded by heathen dwellings, the house of God is 
 welcome as a water-spring in the desert. Just before the 
 mission-house at Bangalore stands a chapel, capable of accom- 
 modating about three hundred persons, substantial and neat. 
 It is situated in the very centre of the cantonment,' on a spot 
 more eligible for the English and Tamil communities than 
 any in the place. A large part of the cost of its erection 
 was defrayed by the liberal contributions of the resident 
 European gentry, many of whom are ready with their aid in 
 every good work. A native gentleman who had acquired 
 great wealth, and received a highly honourable title from 
 Lord "William Bentinck when Governor-General, handsomely 
 forwarded £100 towards the expense of the building, accom- 
 panied by a letter to the missionaries, in which he begged 
 their acceptance of this sum as a token of his respect, 
 and especially of his gratitude for the benefits derived by 
 his grandson, who had been educated in one of their 
 schools. 
 
 In front of the chapel stretches an open esplanade more 
 than a mile long and of considerable breadth. Each of its 
 sides is skirted by an avenue of trees, with a fine broad road. 
 
 ^ [The cantonment is that part of an Indian city in which British 
 troops are quartered, and the part, therefore, in which Europeans chiefly 
 live. It is often some distance from the native portion of the city — the 
 Pettah. In Bangalore, the distance between the two is about a mile, 
 
 117
 
 118 A MISSION TO THK MYSOKE 
 
 Along the riglit-hand road extends a series of barracks, 
 capable of accommodating a regiment of European cavalry, 
 one of infantry, and two of sepoys. The opposite road is 
 lined with compounds, as the garden plots in which houses 
 stand are invariably called ; a large building for assembly- 
 rooms terminating the row at one end, and a spacious English 
 church adorning the other. At the head of the esplanade is 
 seen the residence of General Cubbon, the chief of the Com- 
 mission for governing the ]\lysore territory, who, in connec- 
 tion Avith his colleagues, has administered that responsible 
 trust in a manner honourable to the English name and 
 advantageous to the country. Branching from this centre, 
 roads run in every direction, pleasantly skirted by com- 
 pounds, each with its smiling bungalow, and not a few 
 bearing marks of horticultural taste. At a short distance on 
 one side, a regiment of native cavalry is quartered on the 
 border of a smooth lake, while in a different direction you 
 come upon the post of a large body of artillery, horse and 
 foot, English and native ; each of these places forming an 
 agreeable extension of the military lines. The martial air of 
 the place strikes you at once. Your eye is constantly falling 
 on a military figure. In the early morning you have in one 
 direction the brilliant manoeuvring of the Hussars ; in another 
 a regiment of sepoys, like an assembly of bronze statues in 
 red coats, turned into a huge automaton, and performing 
 rapid evolutions at the will of a mounted operator ; in another 
 a squadron of brown lads in dark trousers and white jackets 
 doing drill at the word of a sepoy sergeant, who is educating 
 them in soldiership, that, when of proper age, they may be 
 drafted into regiments not as awkward recruits, but as 
 veterans in tactics, if not in campaign. On the left you hear 
 the angry artillery practising its thunders on mock mud forts, 
 and, on the other hand, the volleying of musketry from some 
 sham fight or regiment in exercise. Then, during the day, 
 look where you will, into church, drawing-room, street, 
 carriage, or palanquin, you are almost sure to see either
 
 BANGALORE 119 
 
 the scarlet of the line, the blue of the artillery, the glitter 
 of the Hussar, or the bright sky-colour of the native horse. In 
 the evening everybody is abroad, most of the carriages being 
 drawn by a pair of well-conditioned bullocks, At this time 
 the sparkle of military costume, combined with the richness 
 of the foliage, the beauty of the sky, groups of natives, 
 palanquins, and an occasional train of elephants, gives a 
 romantic air to Bangalore, The faces, too, look more 
 English than those that are paled or browned by the 
 fiercer heats of Madras ! you often see a child looking rosy 
 and merry, which is hardly ever the case below the Ghats. 
 But the endless recurrence of war-dresses brings no pleasing 
 thoughts of the struggles through which the country has 
 toiled to its present peace, and of the seeming distance of that 
 day when men shall learn war no more. At the same time 
 it is delightful to feel that under many a military coat beats 
 a heart wherein the love of Christ has implanted those 
 principles which, when generally diffused, Avill make " peace 
 to spring out of the earth, and righteousness to look down 
 from heaven." 
 
 Close around this beautiful assemblage of European dwell- 
 ings, the Tamil population are congregated in clusters of 
 houses, some of which, as Alasur, the ShCilei, and the Great 
 Bazaar, swell into considerable towns. This is what first 
 meets the eye as Bangalore, and what many of the residents 
 regard as such, treating the Pettah — the real Bangalore — as a 
 mere appendage, which they seldom see, some of them never. 
 "A lady" states that, on proposing to visit it, she was 
 dissuaded from the step on the ground that it was " quite 
 native " ^ — the very reason that one would have thought 
 would command interest. All we have been describing is 
 merely the creation of the English, the clumps of Hindu 
 dwellings interspersing the cantonment being tenanted by 
 foreigners who have come from the Tamil country in quest 
 of the trade and employment incident to the presence of a 
 ' Letters from Madras,
 
 u 
 
 120 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 large European force. It is a singular fact that, though tlie 
 English have held the place for nearly half a century, you 
 scarcely find a single Mysorean among their menial servants • 
 but, if employed at all, it is as gardener, bearer, or wet-nurse. 
 The other offices are filled by Tamil people or Musahnans. 
 The Mysore having been far less accustomed to foreign 
 intercourse, and less broken by foreign conquest than the 
 countries on the coast, its people are more shy of domestic 
 connection with strangers, and maintain a more independent 
 bearing. 
 
 Bangalore itself lies above two miles from the military 
 centre, and is, on that side, completely hidden by a dense 
 tope (grove) which stretches round it, and is penetrated at 
 different points by roads leading to the gates. This grove is 
 a perfect metropolis of monkeys. They swarm in thousands, 
 chasing each other on the roads, capering on the hedges, 
 chattering on the boughs, and grinning hungrily at every- 
 one who passes with any eatable. They are a constant pest 
 to every housewife in the town, discovering unsuspected 
 passages to their stores, forestalling the meal, and making 
 hasty retreat. A native fable, in illustrating the danger of 
 mischievous companions, tells of a man who took a journey, 
 accompanied by his monkey and his goat, taking with him 
 rice and curds for a refreshment by the way. Arrived at a 
 tank, he resolved to bathe and dine. Laying down the 
 bundle with the provisions, he tied the two animals to a 
 bush, and went down to the tank. No sooner had he dis- 
 appeared than the monkey took the bundle, untied it, 
 disposed of the good things, and then wiping his hands 
 on the beard of the goat so as to leave plenty of marks, sat 
 down solemnly at the other side of the tree. The poor 
 goat suffered the beating due to her arch companion. The 
 endless gambols of the monkeys would afford amusement, 
 but that idolatry invests them with an unnatural and repul- 
 sive importance. They are the representatives of a delusion 
 tl^at darkens countless souls. Their impunity in mischief is
 
 BANGALORE 121 
 
 not granted by the indifference of those they infest, but is 
 guaranteed by their own sacredness, a sacredness that would 
 entail on one who killed them all the odium of murder, and 
 which often brings to their ridiculous presence a man per- 
 forming his namasMra (sign of religious veneration), or 
 presenting his offering. All over the country you find 
 temples to Hanumanta, a monkey ; and before those wretched 
 images you see the child and the grandfather bowing. 
 
 The Ramayana, one of the great epic poems, gives this 
 account of the origin of monkey- worship. In the Treta Yuga, 
 Vishnu (the preserver of all worlds), under disguise of her 
 husband, succeeded in seducing the beautiful and virtuous wife 
 of Salantankasura. On discovering her dishonour, she pro- 
 nounced on him a curse to the effect that he should become 
 a man, have his wife stolen by giants, and rescue her with 
 an army of monkeys. In consequence of this curse, a 
 part of Vishnu became incarnate as Rama. At the same 
 time Anjana Devi (wife of the wind), had a monkey son, 
 whom she called Hanumanta. He was an avatdra (incarna- 
 tion) of part of Shiva, the destroyer. Rama married Sita, 
 who had been originally born from the pure sound of 
 the Veda. She was carried away from her husband by 
 Ravana, a giant king of Ceylon. Eacus, when in trouble, 
 obtained help by having ants elevated into armies ; but 
 Riima was assisted in his distress by all the gods incarnating 
 as monkeys. Hanumanta became his general, and, as the 
 host was approaching Ceylon, undertook a mission to the 
 island, discovered the prison of Sita, cheered her by the 
 prospect of deliverance, received a token of her constancy to 
 Rama, and when bearing it back was seized by the giants 
 and dragged before their king. They set fire to his tail as a 
 punishment ; but, dashing through meadows, cornfields, stack- 
 yards, and dwelling-houses, he spread general conflagration, 
 until, chased into the tower of a temple, he threw it down 
 on his pursuers, and then, extinguishing his tail in the sea, 
 returned triumphant, The army, interrupted hy the strait
 
 122 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 which separates Ceylon from the mainland, seize on moun- 
 tains, and hurl them into the sea till a bridge is formed. 
 Terrible conflicts ensue. Rama's host is nearly destroyed, 
 A council of war is held : one sage declares that an herb is 
 growing on the Himalaya, which, if applied before the next 
 sunrise, will restore both dead and wounded. Hanumanta 
 offers to procure it. Three leaps carry him over the fifteen 
 hundred miles that intervene. After spending hours in a 
 vain search, he despairs of finding the herb in time, so he 
 shakes the mountain, starts it from its base, heaves it on 
 his shoulders, and, with this credible burden, hastens back. 
 On his way he sees the east reddening, and fearful lest the 
 sun, rising before his arrival, should nullify the virtue of the 
 herb, speeds to meet him, bows low, represents the pressure 
 of the case, and craves half an hour's delay. The proud day- 
 king denies him abruptly. But the captor of the Himiilaya is 
 not to be daunted. He mounts the car of Surya, seizes him 
 by the hair, drags him from his seat, gathers him under his 
 arm, and thus, doubly freighted, completes his journey. 
 The specific is found, the army restored, and the giants 
 vanquished. 
 
 Such are the recitals which millions of our fellow-subjects 
 devoutly read as revelations from God ! But it is not 
 supposable that this rhodoraontade is the real origin of that 
 leverence for the monkey race which has for ages possessed 
 the soul of whole nations. The doctrine of metempsychosis 
 is the natural source of all the varieties of animal worship. 
 "All life is the same," is the great axiom of that monstrous 
 theory. The moment a man assents to this dogma, nature 
 is metamorphosed, all animation equalised, and a countless 
 brotherhood surrounds him. " All life is the same." To 
 him the same soul that beams forth from the human 
 countenance glares in the serpent's eye, speaks in the 
 tiger's howl, guides the march of the ant, and the trunk 
 of the elephant, animates the wing of the fire-fly, the beak 
 of the vulture, the horse's limb, the scorpion's claw, and all
 
 BANGALORE 123 
 
 that crawl or swim or fly or reason, differ only in the form 
 under which the kindred spirits are at present housed. This 
 amuses the Englishman as unadulterated absurdity. To 
 the Hindu it is ponderous and overwhelming truth. It 
 makes every form he sees one of mystery. For aught he 
 knows, the horse he rides, the dog he beats, the worm he 
 crushes, may have been not long ago a poet, an orator, a 
 priest ! The parrot he teaches to chatter may be the man 
 from whom he learned letters ; the son Avhose birth he hails 
 may be the ant his own foot trampled ; the lamb that is 
 yeaned to him to-day may be the child he buried yesterday ! 
 He looks on the lizard that crosses his path without any 
 means of conjecturing which has been greater in past history, 
 it or he, or for which the better lot is in reserve ! He may 
 yet be a lizard, the lizard may yet be a king ! Muhammad- 
 anism, incapable of seeing indications of soul except in the 
 gleam of the sword, which woman wields not, denies it to one- 
 half of the human species. Hinduism, prodigal of that 
 which it cannot appreciate, lavishes it on every emmet. 
 The jNIuhammadan despises his wife as a perishable toy ; the 
 Hindu reveres his cow as a rightful equal. This is amusing 
 as a theory but calamitous as a creed. It rives from the 
 human mind every dignity of birthright or hope, and reduces 
 it to timid fellowship Avith "fowls of the air and four-footed 
 beasts and creeping things." Everything that loiters in the 
 dust or nibbles in the pool is its equal. "All life is the 
 same." It fears all, worships most. Low as the curse- 
 smitten serpent wriggles, man bows lower, and calls the 
 reptile God ! It is a bitter sight to see. 
 
 It is natural that those who hold this doctrine should 
 regard the monkey tribe as embodying their forefathers — a 
 notion which must beget a reverence soon passing to adora- 
 tion. But it is not to be supposed that the Hindus pay to 
 animals, or even to subordinate gods, what some reasoners on 
 worship delight to call "divine honours," — that is, adore them 
 as supreme. Idolatry never imagines a plurality of supremes.
 
 y 
 
 124 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Its principle is that the executive of the universe is vested 
 in the hands of "lords many," to whom we should look not 
 as each the supreme, but either as His deputies, each acting 
 in a certain province, or as the friends of man possessing a 
 certain degree of influence, and willing to exert it on his 
 behalf. Its sin does not consist in multiplying supremes ; 
 but in interposing between the Supreme and His servants 
 beings avowedly inferior ; as if His power were too much taxed 
 to meet every claim, or His goodness too lethargic to act with- 
 out prompting. Its blasphemy consists not in avowing a 
 second Almighty, but in raising many to a virtual equality 
 as to knowledge and presence, and to a superiority as to grace. 
 The moment any being is declared a suitable object of uni- 
 versal prayer, he is assumed to be not only omnipresent, but 
 omniscient ; for a million souls may be each pouring into his 
 ear a different prayer at the same moment. Then if he is 
 moved by a feebler petition than would move the Supreme, he 
 outdoes Him in the attribute of goodness. The true test of 
 divinity is being to all men the legitimate object of prayer. 
 He who holds these to be many, may, as does the Hindu, 
 attempt to cover his sins by distinctions ; but the sin is upon 
 him. He who owns many objects of universal prayer owns 
 many gods. 
 
 On the inner edge of the grove whose vivacious tenantry 
 have called forth these remarks you have the mud wall of 
 the town. Within the gate a scene opens, strongly con- 
 trasting with the broad avenues, the military groups, the 
 intermingling of lawns, gardens, and villas which grace 
 the adjoining cantonment. Here you have a native town in 
 all its perfection. To conceive rightly of this, it is necessary 
 to dismiss all the red bricks, grey stones, drab stucco, storied 
 houses, windows, balconies, slates, pavements, and lamp-posts, 
 which so naturally introduce themselves with the idea of a 
 town, as if they were essential to it. There is none of them 
 here. 1 You see a long, moderately narrow street, witli houses 
 of one low storey, llat-roofed, white-washed, and windowless.
 
 BANGALOKE 125 
 
 Parallel with them runs a thinly planted avenue of cocoa-nut 
 trees. Monkeys countless are scrambling up the side-walls, 
 playing antics on the roof, bounding from the houses to the 
 trees, and peering everywhere in search of plunder. The 
 street is thronged with turbaned men, some fully clad in 
 shining white, the majority bare from the waist up ; some 
 with flowing beard, some with simple moustache, and some 
 with every hair shaved to the very eyebrow. There are 
 numbers of women, some bearing water-pots, some baskets of 
 fruit ; some having a child seated on the hip, with its face 
 against the mother's side, and supported by her arm — beauti- 
 fully illustrating the prophetic expression, " Daughters shall 
 be nursed at thy side." Occasionally a widow steals through 
 the crowd, in her miserable dress of pale yellow, looking as 
 if under the feeling that she had no right to live, or to obtrude 
 herself on a world from which her religion would have cast 
 her, had not the kind hand of British Christianity interposed. 
 On turning into the bazaar, if you have allowed your 
 expectations to be formed by the descriptions which travellers 
 in Persia give of the structures found in that country, your 
 disappointment will be woeful. Instead of the grand build- 
 ings and glittering display which would suit your Eastern 
 notions, there is the same long, narrow, low street, differing 
 only in this, — that the houses are not built up in front, but 
 open, in the fashion of a coach-house. Indeed, you can 
 hardly form a better idea of an Indian bazaar than to imagine 
 a street of small, doorless coach-houses, parted by Avhite- 
 washed mud walls and roofed with red or black tiles. The 
 only dissimilarity is that the floor of the shop is raised above 
 the level of the street, and the cross-beam sustaining the 
 roof supported from below by two bamboos. The front is 
 often without any protection ; the owner withdrawing the 
 goods at night into his house, which communicates with the 
 shop by a door from behind. In many cases, however, a 
 piece of wicker-work, as large as the whole front, is hinged 
 on the beam which supports the roof 3 and, being let down at
 
 126 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 night, forms a covering, which is secured by a lock of con- 
 struction and workmanship far behind Chubb's detector. 
 During the day it is lifted up, and forms a projecting shade. 
 On the floor of one of these shops you see the banker 
 seated, with a few small bags about him, scales to weigh coins, 
 and a stone whereby to test gold. Of this precious metal he 
 tells you there are sixteen qualities, each of which his stone 
 instantly detects. All he judges trustworthy may borrow at 
 various rates of interest ; the most equitable in the esteem of 
 the people being what they call one per cent., that is, per 
 month, or twelve per cent, per year. They say if a man is 
 not willing to give one rupee to have a hundred for a whole 
 month, he cannot be in great need, and has no business to 
 borroAv. A great many of the merchants trade on capital 
 entirely fictitious. Few families are found who are not, in 
 one way or other, suffering under the curse of usury. The 
 banker is money-changer also, not giving rupees for a single 
 pagoda, or annas for a single rupee, without his deduction. 
 Perhaps next door to him sits the draper, surrounded by a 
 few rude shelves, covered with pieces of silk and cotton cloth. 
 His stock offers no great variety. One set of pieces is dresses 
 for women, another for men ; another, turbans ; another, 
 handkerchiefs ; and these, with perhaps a piece or two of 
 English goods, complete his store. The endless variety of 
 f articles which a cold climate and changeful fashions have 
 I introduced into Europe are unknown where the breezes are 
 \ kindly and a man is content to dress like his grandfather. 
 Then the grocer has a host of spices, for curry powder, piled 
 up in rough round baskets, with sugars varying from a white- 
 ness almost equal to flour to a dark hard substance like dirty 
 jlue^A variety of grain is also displayed. They enumerate \ 
 nine kinds, several of which, however, are properly pulse. 1 
 Rice is generally spoken of as the universal food of India ; 
 but in many districts it is comparatively little used. In the 
 Mysore, ragi (Cynosurus corocaiius) is the general food. It j 
 is a round seed, of reddish brown colour, and much smaller
 
 BANGALORE 127 
 
 I than millet. It is ground, made into a sort of thick pudding, 
 I rolled up between the hands into long quids, which are 
 : dipped into a condiment formed of several spices, and 
 ^1 swallowed by efforts that none can make who has not had 
 \^ the benefit of an early training. They regard it as a far more 
 substantial food than rice, speaking with no measured contempt 
 of the imbecile frames of those who eat only the latter. It 
 is as difficult of digestion as rice is easy. " Sir," said a youth 
 to me one day, in extolling his country's food, as would a 
 Scot his bannocks, — " Sir, an hour after a meal of rice, you 
 feel as if you had eaten nothing ; it is melted and gone : but, 
 after a meal of ragi, it is just as if a cannon-ball had sat 
 down in your stomach ; it stands by you the livelong day." 
 Yet all who can afford it, eat rice once a day. Ragi requires 
 no artificial irrigation, and is capable of being preserved, when 
 buried in a hole dug in the ground, for five years or more ; 
 I have been told, for ten. The people of Mysore say they 
 have enough food buried in their fields to serve for a year, 
 even if the crops should fail ; but that, when a scarcity occurs, 
 the people from below the Ghats flock to them, and "eat 
 them up." Then you have the fruiterer, and the goldsmith, 
 and the coppersmith, whose wares consist of pots, lamps, toys, 
 and gods. Of these latter you may buy several for a few pence; 
 for the image is of no account until it has been duly transub- 
 stantiated by a priest : after that, no price will win it from a 
 really devout Hindu. It stirs one's spirit within him to see 
 a man buying a water-pot and a god from the same stall. The 
 bazaars of Bangalore give ample testimony to the prevalence 
 of idol-worship, and, at the same time, indicate a rude state 
 of commerce, as compared with the superb temples of traflS.c 
 at home. The tradespeople themselves look active and 
 respectable. Close by the town is the fort, containing a 
 considerable number of inhabitants. In it Tipu's palace is 
 still standing, but is now used for Government offices. 
 
 It is difficult to ascertain the population of the place. I 
 have heard intelligent natives state it at from half a lakh to
 
 128 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 two lakhs, — that is, from fifty to two hundred thousand. The 
 best-informed Europeans estimate it at from sixty to eighty 
 thousand. Now, let any Christian living in a considerable 
 town conceive the place to be suddenly changed. In the 
 morning you walk out, and find a low building, in which is 
 a rude image of a bull. Before that image a white-headed 
 man, with his staff in his hand, " for very age," is casting 
 himself prostrate. You ask him why. He replies, "It is 
 God." A little farther on, in a similar building, stands a 
 cast of a human form, not larger than a child's plaything : 
 before it fathers are bowing, and teaching their children to 
 bow. You ask why. They say, "It is God." The men 
 that meet you carry small silver boxes on their chests. You 
 ask, "What are these?" They say, "It is God;" Every 
 man, woman, child you see has a lie in his right hand. 
 They are calling stocks, birds, beasts, reptiles — God. Think 
 how shame — that men should be so foolish, and horror that 
 they should be so wicked — would sting you to the soul; think 
 how you would call on the God they were forsaking, to save 
 them from their darkness ; think how you would throw into 
 that prayer all the pang of a calamity, all the vigour of a 
 rescue : and then judge how the soul of a good man mourns 
 as he threads his way through multitudes, each one of whom 
 bears on his forehead marks that he knows not Him whom 
 to know is life eternal ! 
 
 On the morning after our arrival we received a visit from 
 the Rev. Messrs. Hands and Rice, of the London Missionary 
 Society, who were about to hold their annual missionary 
 meeting the same evening. They hailed with joy the arrival 
 of more labourers in their wide, neglected field. The 
 venerable Mr. Hands referred, with touching gratitude, to 
 the advances made by the cause of God since he landed, 
 thirty years before. At that time a missionary was as 
 welcome in India as a preacher of freedom in Carolina. The 
 Government saw plots, mutinies, insurrections, all kinds of 
 political disorders, attending the man who would attempt to
 
 BANGALOEE 129 
 
 break the long repose of superstition in Hindustan. Mr. 
 Hands' arrival caused no small stir. He was cited before the 
 authorities more than once. They cautiously resolved to 
 remove so dangerous a visitor from shores they had tabooed 
 to idolatry, and to send him back whither he had come. The 
 influence of an excellent chaplain saved them from doing them- 
 selves that disgrace. But things were altered now; the country 
 was wide before us ; the authorities favourable, the people 
 attentive ; and all the facilities that Providence could furnish 
 were inviting us to preach the gospel to every creature. At 
 that time a European professing religion was as rare as a 
 white Negro ; now they were to be found in every little com- 
 munity. " What," said Mr. Hands, " what hath God wrought !" 
 
 That evening, in the beautiful chapel of the London 
 Missionary Society, was held a numerous meeting, character- 
 ised by spiritual feeling and high confidence in the victory 
 of the gospel over the giant errors with which it is grappling. 
 One most pleasing feature of the meeting was the truly 
 Christian co-operation of some gentlemen connected with the 
 Government — men representing a class once unknown in 
 India, but now, happily, numerous, who combine all the 
 qualities of valuable public officers with piety based on a 
 scriptural conversion, and manifested by open and consistent 
 acknowledgment of God. 
 
 Our brethren of the London Society have the honour of 
 being the first Protestant missionaries who sought out the 
 millions whose tongue is Kanarese. In 1810, Mr. Hands 
 opened the mission at Bellary. It has been prosecuted with 
 admirable zeal. Good men have fallen ; others have been 
 forced to retire shattered : but their toils have not been in 
 vain. At Bellary they have gathered a native church, 
 numbering about sixty.^ In the surrounding districts a 
 wide spread has been given to Christian light, and no small 
 influence exerted on the people, tending to the abrogation of 
 
 ^[To-day there are 172 Church members, and 450 "other native 
 adherents." There are also 13 schools and 1041 scholars.] 
 
 9
 
 130 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Hinduism and the acceptance of the holy faith. They have 
 also translated the entire Scriptures, issued a number of 
 valuable publications, and prepared a copious lexicon of the 
 language : thus both placing the Word of God within reach 
 of the people and providing greater facilities for every 
 successor in the field. Many a time, when my heart has 
 been " hot within me," either from impatience for the ability 
 to preach freely or from joy in the assurance that God would 
 make the truth I was uttering to effect something towards the 
 regeneration of India, have I invoked a blessing on Mr. 
 Hands and Mr. Reeve, by whose toilsome years of translation 
 and lexicography the difficulties of mastering the language 
 had been so greatly liquidated. In Bangalore they have a 
 handsome and spacious chapel in the cantonment, with a 
 smaller one in the pettah, as the town is called.^ Their 
 native church numbers upwards of fifty.- Mr. Crisp is at the 
 head of a seminary designed for the training of native agents. 
 They have also day, Sabbath, and infant schools. Their 
 female schools contain above fifty girls, all the children of 
 caste parents. In the school of the Wesleyan mission are 
 above seventy girls. Thus in Bangalore more than a hundred 
 Hindu females are under Christian instruction, — a circum- 
 stance both delightful and surprising to those who know the 
 prejudices universally entertained by the natives against 
 female education.^ The evil power that reared those 
 
 ^ The term " pettah " is used with regard to every town with a fort 
 attached, and distinguishes the town from the fort. 
 
 -[Now there are 121 Church members, and 336 "other native 
 adherents." There are also 14 schools and 1326 scholars.] 
 
 •' [All this is greatly changed. At the end of 1901 the Wesleyan 
 Mission had 1193 Hindu girls reading in their various schools in 
 Bangalore ; the London Mission also some hundreds. In addition, 
 there are several girls' schools started, and managed by the enterprise 
 of the Hindus themselves. It must also be added that education has 
 been extended to the women and girls of the Muhammadan com- 
 munity in Bangalore liy the ladies of the Church of England Zenana 
 Mission.]
 
 RANGALOIJE 131 
 
 munitions of iniquity with which the social code of India 
 everywhere abounds contrived that education should be 
 allowed to no female but such as would use it to grace impure 
 attractions. For ages female education and female infamy 
 have been associated in the mind of every Hindu. This has 
 been a law of entail securing to every family in the land an 
 inalienable heritage of narrowness of mind and obdurate 
 prejudice. Every man born in all the nations of India 
 has been doomed to be the son of a mother studiously 
 consigned to unmitigated ignorance. Every breach in this 
 system is a high joy to those who long for the day when the 
 sons of India and her daughters shall rejoice together in 
 light. 
 
 Of the commencement of the Wesleyan mission in 
 Bangalore, Mr. Hoole, who was one of its founders, has given 
 a full account in his work. As our brethren had learned 
 Tamil, and found in Bangalore a population using that 
 language quite sufficient to engage all their attention, and 
 were too few to detach any of their number for a new sphere, 
 many years passed before they were able to include the 
 Kanarese people in their labours. During the residence of 
 Mr. England a chapel was built, which stood until shortly 
 before our arrival, when Mr. Cryer bad it taken down to 
 make way for the more spacious one now occupying the same 
 site. Two of our brethren had been appointed to Calcutta. 
 After a short time that post was, unhappily, abandoned.^ 
 Mr. Hodson, one of the withdrawn missionaries, was sent 
 to Bangalore. He directed his attention to Kanarese, and, 
 by urgent representations to our home committee, prevailed 
 upon them to undertake operations in that language. And 
 since that time our work has proceeded in three separate 
 departments — English, Tamil, and Kanarese. In each of 
 these languages the gospel is preached, the sacraments 
 
 ' [It was reoccupied more than thirty years ago, aud is the head- 
 quarters of an extensive and successful work among the Bengali 
 people,]
 
 132 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 administered, Christian publications diffused, and schools 
 maintained. 
 
 For English services we have three places — the large 
 chapel, a very small one close by the fort, and one extremely 
 small in the cavalry lines. In the last, service is held one 
 night in the week ; and in both the others once on the 
 Sabbath and once in the week. There are also class and 
 prayer-meetings. The congregations are good, and highly 
 interesting. They are composed almost exclusively of 
 officers and soldiers, with their families. In that far land 
 many a prodigal, on whom warnings had been wasted at home, 
 has come to his right mind, and with astonishment found 
 himself received in his Father's mercy. Many whose souls 
 dwelt in darkness while the day of English Christianity was 
 glowing around them, have here, in the very shadow of death, 
 seen a great light. It is most touching to mark the joyful 
 wonder of a man who, amid Christian privileges, had lived 
 as a heathen, but amidst heathen darkness finds his God. I 
 once or twice met an English class, composed mainly of 
 soldiers, and was delighted by their simple experience of the 
 Saviour's love and their warm devotion to His service. The 
 fruit of our English labours has been highly encouraging ; ^ 
 and yet young ministers at home will perhaps be surprised 
 to learn that, of all departments of their work, the mission- 
 aries are least attached to this. For though in such a land 
 the soul is glad to commune with those who have learned the 
 will of God from youth, the wants of the natives are so 
 crying, and the joy of meeting those wants so pure, that I 
 found our brethren, without exception, to prefer that above 
 
 ^ [Since this was written, three new chapels have been built for 
 English work in Bangalore, and four "other preaching places" are 
 in regular use for English services. In addition, three chapels have 
 been built on the Kolar Gold Fields, fifty miles away, where there is 
 a consideralde colony of Cornish niinrrs. In 1901 the circuit returned 
 •j;'l "English" adherents, of whom 200 are communicants.]
 
 BANGALORE 133 
 
 every other work. This is their great calling ; the English 
 duties they regard as extra. But they are constrained to 
 sustain them by the conviction that it would be wrong 
 to leave undone anything they can effect for the spiritual 
 welfare of our own countrymen, and also that the labour 
 bestowed on them tends to facilitate the conversion of the 
 heathen by presenting to their view more attractive examples 
 of Christian life. The London Mission has also English 
 services/ and the garrison has two chaplains - appointed by 
 Government. The effect of these agencies on the English 
 community at Bangalore has been truly blessed. In that 
 community at present, may be found a large amount of 
 scriptural piety. The experience of many hearts, and the 
 life of both individuals and families, is such as to elicit 
 the warmest gratitude to God from any who rejoices in 
 the spread of Christ's kingdom. 
 
 The Tamil department presents much interest and 
 encouragement. Beside the large chapel, there are several 
 preaching-places in the bazaars. The aspect of the congre- 
 gation on the Sabbath is beautifully clean and reverent. I 
 heard many mention with delight the impression made upon 
 their minds at the watch-night service at the close of the 
 year 1840, on which occasion Mr. Hardey assembled the 
 members of the native church at the same time with their 
 English brethren. During my visits to Bangalore, 1 was 
 greatly pleased to see candidates for baptism coming 
 regularly to the mission-house, that they might receive 
 instruction. Nathaniel, the native assistant, was a man of 
 decided piety and active zeal. He had been converted 
 from a family purely heathen ; but the blessing of God had so 
 attended his example and his arguments that they were one 
 by one becoming partakers of like precious i'aith. j\I;niy 
 instances have arisen in which the converts have withstood 
 opposition such as none have ever to encounter in a Chris- 
 ^ [This is 110 longer the case.] - [Now four.]
 
 134 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 tian land. One case is mentioned by Mr. Hardey, in which 
 a man and his wife after baptism were assailed by their 
 relatives with vexatious opposition. They were firm, but in 
 the heat of the strife one of their children was seized with 
 convulsive fits and died. The heartless relations exulted, 
 declaring that they had influenced the devil to kill the child 
 as a punishment for their apostasy. The poor mother was 
 overcome by grief and conflict : her reason fled. The man 
 lost his employment. But, while stung to the soul by the 
 death of his child, the frenzies of his wife, the failure of his 
 subsistence, and the restless assaults of his kinsfolk, he 
 " did not," to use Mr. Hardey's own words, " waver for a 
 moment "; but standing still in his faith, he saw the salvation 
 of God. His wife was perfectly restored, his employment 
 recovered, and his trials ended in peace. In another case a 
 Christian mother had a prodigal son who had forsaken his 
 home. She heard that he was at Vellore. She had other 
 children, over whom she watched with motherly tenderness. 
 But her heart yearned after the prodigal ; he was her first- 
 born. She determined to make the long journey, hoping 
 that his mother's presence would melt him, and that she 
 should win her son. She stated her intention to Mr. 
 Hardey, who reminded her of the claims of her other 
 children, of how faint M'as the prospect of success, and of 
 the hardships attending such a journey on foot. " He is 
 my son, my child still, and I must go," was the mother's 
 reply. She went, she found the prodigal ; but her toils 
 and her tears were vain. Weary and broken-hearted, she 
 returned ; and shortly after, " being warned of God in a 
 dream" that her end was nigh, she diligently put her house 
 in order, was taken ill, and died, peacefully resting on her 
 Redeemer. At one Sabbath morning's service Mr. Hardey 
 baptized four adults, of whom three were people of caste, 
 who declared that they fully and for ever abandoned " every 
 part of that heathenish system." On one occasion Mr.
 
 BANGALOKE 135 
 
 Hardey met the people on the day previous to the adminis- 
 tration of the Lord's Supper. He remarked strongly on the 
 guilt of any who, while sinning against the Lord Jesus, came 
 to take those emblems of His sorrows. The next day thirty- 
 seven natives celebrated the Saviour's death under an influ- 
 ence deeply hallowed. But one was wanting who had l)cen 
 with them on the Saturday. Inquiry being made as to the 
 cause, it was found that he had been living in secret sin. 
 The word of rebuke had pierced his heart : he durst not go 
 to the holy sacrament, and thus was saved from continued 
 hypocrisy, and the church from the guilt of such a member. 
 God has given our brethren who have laboured in this field 
 many proofs of His approbation. Mr. Cryer was Mr. 
 Hardey's predecessor, and I have seldom seen anyone 
 more affected than was he when parting from his beloved 
 Tamil flock. Their evidences of fervent attachment quite 
 melted him, and it was easy to see that between him and 
 them subsisted warmly all the affections that endear pastor 
 and people. In connection with this branch of the mission 
 are five day and two Sabbath schools.^ 
 
 The third, and most important, branch of our operations 
 in Bangalore is the Kanarese.- About three miles distant 
 from the Tamil mission-house, and just outside one of the 
 gates of the town, Mr. Hodson obtained a piece of ground. 
 At first there was no missionary to occupy it ; and, as the 
 only measure then practicable, a school was built, with a 
 small house for the master's residence. The education given 
 was in English, and the attendance became considerable. 
 Afterwards Mr. Webber, an excellent and gifted Indo- 
 Briton, was sent to labour on the station. In the year 
 1840 Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Garratt were appointed as 
 Kanarese missionaries, with authority to build a mission- 
 
 ' [Now nineteen day schools with 1251 scholars of both sexes, and 
 twelve Sabbath schools with 728 scholars.] 
 
 '■' This word ought to be Kannada, but the corrupt form is cnirent.
 
 136 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 house and printing-office. The English gentry subscribed 
 most liberally to the new erections, which in a few months 
 were completed. The mission family took up their abode 
 close by the town, and the printing-press Avas put into 
 immediate operation. The coolness of the morning air, the^ 
 early habits of the country, and the comparative freedom of 
 the people from occupation about sunrise, point out that 
 time or shortly afterwards as the most favourable for 
 preaching to the natives. Having been obliged to spend 
 some time in Bangalore under medical treatment, which 
 was not to be obtained nearer my own station, I had many 
 opportunities of witnessing and sharing the labours of our 
 brethren in the Kanarese department. Going into some 
 street, they would select a favourable place, open the Scrip- 
 tures, and read. While thus engaged, the people gather 
 round. The missionary then selects a text, and proceeds to 
 preach. The subjects are generally of the most elementary 
 kind. The unity of God, His spirituality and holiness, the 
 corrupt heart and guilty life of man, the certainty that these 
 will entail punishment, the incompetence of penance or idols 
 to save, and the wonderful atonement of Christ, whereby 
 pardon is made just and renewal of heart possible, are the 
 truths I have often heard Mr. Jenkins proclaiming in the 
 streets of Bangalore, and often attempted to proclaim. Few 
 things are more affecting than to see a messenger of the 
 Cross take his stand in some thoroughfare of a great heathen 
 city and begin to set forth the truth of God. A crowd of 
 dark faces soon surrounds him, some sneering, some deeply 
 attentive, the greater number with a look of pure curiosity. 
 They hear strange things. You see on their countenances a 
 constant play of wonder, reluctant concurrence, or resolute 
 dissent. Sometimes the simplest truths in religion or the 
 plainest duties in morals are strenuously controverted. The 
 missionary needs to be prepared with a ready answer to an 
 ingenious cavil, and with a placid temper to meet biting
 
 BANGALORE 137 
 
 reproach or startling blasphemy, liut in general he has the 
 candid attention of the people, and by far the greater 
 number admit the beautiful purity of his doctrine. They 
 rarely assail Christianity, except on the ground of the 
 immorality of Englishmen or that of Romanism, Avhose 
 disciples, though Christians, are as great idolaters as they. 
 So difficult is it to make them believe that Popery and 
 Protestantism are different religions, that I have very little 
 fear of injurious effects arising from the labours of different 
 evangelical churches, whose faith and worship are one, 
 unless, indeed, the agents of those churches should be 
 guilty of seeking to make their distinctions prominent and 
 their claims exclusive. The congregations are frequently 
 numerous. I have preached to hundreds in the busiest 
 parts of the city. Sometimes a discourse is heard from 
 beginning to end without a word of interruption. The 
 missionary never preaches without the clear conviction that 
 the truth he is delivering will in God's hand speed that 
 change by which the people of a continent will rise into the 
 glorious liberty of the children of God. Of all the combina- 
 tions which in our strange world grief makes with hope and 
 joy, none is more exciting than that in the breast of a 
 Christian man looking on a city of idols, and employing 
 for its regeneration the means appointed of God. Besides 
 their labours in the city, our brethren visit the neighbouring 
 villages, to the distance of six or seven miles, reaching them 
 at such an hour as will permit them time to preach and 
 return before breakfast. They preach to the heathen every 
 inorning in the year, and frequently have evening service in 
 addition. 
 
 In the Kanarese department of our work at Bangalore are 
 one Sabbath and six day schools. One of the latter receives 
 a grant monthly from Government towards its support. The 
 recent decision by which public employment is opened only 
 to those Avho shall have acquired a competent education will
 
 138 A MISSION TO THE MYSOUE 
 
 do much to increase the efficiency of this branch of Christian 
 operations. Many more will send their sons, and progress 
 will now be so essential that the attendance will not be 
 suspended by every native holiday, which has hitherto been 
 the case, and has proved a serious counteraction to the good 
 received at school. These effects, I learn from my esteemed 
 friend, Mr. Garratt, are even now observable. Mrs. Garratt 
 has established a school, of a character peculiarly interesting. 
 Of all the objects presented to the eye of Christian kindness 
 in India, there is scarcely one more pitiable than an orphan 
 girl. They are sold for a trifle. Traders in iniquity buy 
 them, teach them to read, sing, and dance, and at an early 
 age devote them to the service of some temple, — that is, to 
 infamy. ]\Irs. Garratt has undertaken a girls' orphan school, 
 in which she not only educates, but entirely supports them ; 
 thus averting the hateful destiny to which they most likely 
 would have fallen, and early imbuing them with Christian 
 truth. 
 
 Although this mission is of recent establishment, first- 
 fiuits have already been gathered. Mr. Jenkins had not 
 laboured upon it much above a year when illness compelled 
 him to return to England. But on the last Sabbath of his 
 stay he had the delight of baptizing two persons, on whom 
 he looked with joyful hope as the promise of a rich harvest. 
 Since his return he has heard that one of these has testified 
 in death to the Redeemer's grace. Mr. Garratt continues on 
 the station. Under his most efficient management the 
 piinting-press has effected important services. I have in 
 my possession a variety of works issued from it, all of 
 which are calculated to be useful. In Bangalore we have 
 121 church members, 11 schools, and 507 scholars.^ 
 
 ' [lu the area covered by this statement, the AVeslcyan Mission 
 now reports a native Church numbering 668 members, with 107 
 candidates for full membership ; a native Christian community of 
 1127; 38 schools and 3016 scholars.]
 
 BANGALORE 139 
 
 The operations of the missionaries are aided by a Tract 
 Society and a School-Eook Society. I had the pleasure 
 of being present at the formation of the latter, which has 
 for its object the preparation of valuable school-books in 
 Kanarese, as also to keep on sale a stock of Tamil and 
 English school-books, with various articles of stationery, 
 thus affording the natives every facility for the pursuit of 
 education. Tliis society has proceeded with great vigour 
 and success ; they have published many valuable works, 
 and brought others into circulation. This is a field of 
 labour eminently important ; for even where no more direct 
 Christian agencies can act upon the people, their own vicious 
 books may be supplanted, and their youth, instead of wading 
 through filthy mythology, receive solid information cast in a 
 Christian mould. This is not so difficult as might be sup- 
 posed. The native books are written on the leaves of the 
 palmyra tree, which are from nine to eighteen inches long, 
 and from two to three broad. Each leaf is pierced with a 
 round hole, through which runs a cord, serving to bind them 
 all together, but permitting them to be held loosely when 
 the book is used. They can only bo multiplied by copying, 
 and the writing is performed by an iron style, like a large 
 skewer, which is held upright in the hand, and scrapes 
 marks on the soft leaf. The writer proceeds rapidly, his 
 letters are well formed, and though both sides of the leaf 
 are deeply indented there is never a perforation. But how- 
 ever you may admire the scribe, his bookmaking is slow 
 and expensive, and, when finished, it is a clumsy thing 
 compared with the compact and beautiful production of 
 the printer. In elegance, portableness, and economy, the 
 European book at once asserts its superiority. The natives 
 are sensible of this — they admire it amazingly. It is as 
 great an advance in literature as in travelling the loco- 
 motive is on the stage-coach. They covet a book, and I 
 have seen them on receiving one squat them down then
 
 140 A MISSION TO THE MYSOlJE 
 
 and there, and begin to pore over those pages so mysteriously 
 multiplied and yet so unaccountably correct. With adequate 
 funds and agencies, it would not be difficult to introduce our 
 school-books into almost every native school in the country. 
 A proper system of colportage would effect it. One day a 
 fine Brahman boy came into my study at Gubbi and asked 
 for a book. I denied him ; but he repeatedly urged his 
 request. I still declined, saying my few books must be kept 
 for grown persons, as boys were likely to misuse them. He 
 would not be refused. I said, " If you are so anxious to 
 have our books, why don't you come to our school ? " He 
 replied, with vivacity, "I wish to do so, but my father won't 
 let me." "Then to what school do you go T' He men- 
 tioned one, of which the master had always evinced the 
 utmost bigotry, strenuously resisting all our attempts to 
 approach either himself or his scholars. I then asked, 
 " "What are you reading at school 1 " " Just at present, we 
 are reading Strictures on Hinduism " — that being a tract by 
 Mr. Eice, of Bangalore, ably exposing the sins and follies 
 of that system, of which this boy was born a priest. On 
 another occasion I^as preaching under shade of a jack-fruit- 
 tree {Artocarpus^wiejjrifglja) in the market-place of a town 
 called Bidare. On my left arm was a pile of tracts and 
 portions of Scripture intended for distribution. At the close 
 of a long discourse I began to give away the books, when 
 almost every hand and voice in the crowd was raised. Men 
 and boys strained and shouted to gain a book. Low salaams, 
 huge compliments, and right lofty titles were lavished upon 
 me in hope of catching my attention. "Can you read?" I 
 would ask one. " Yes, I can read," and, seizing the book 
 I handed, he would begin in a low recitative to show his 
 scholarship. " Can you read ? " I would ask another. 
 " Yes." But when told to do so — " No, I can't read ; but 
 my son can." In the crowd I observed a tall country lad 
 plying elbows and shoulders with all imaginable spirit, in
 
 BANGAT.ORE 141 
 
 the vain liope of forcing a passage. At length, despairing of 
 success, he reached over the shoulders of a man, and cried at 
 the top of his voice, "Sir ! sir ! you must keep one for me, 
 sir ; you must keep one for me ! " Amused at his earnest- 
 ness, I said, "Why one for you, above all others'?" "Oh, 
 sir, we want it for our school — we want it for our school ! " 
 This at once arrested my attention, and he told me that he 
 lived in a village some miles distant, in which a missionary 
 had never been ; that some of their people had got books 
 from us during a former visit to Eidare market ; that these 
 had been introduced to the school instead of those in use 
 before ; that they were wonderfully pleased with their 
 huddhi ("sense"), but that they wanted some more to 
 complete the set, and the schoolmaster, hearing that we had 
 been at Cheltir, a neighbouring town, the day before, con- 
 cluded we should be that day at Bidare, and accordingly 
 had sent him on purpose to obtain them. These instances 
 show how easily the Christian school-book may gain access, 
 even where both master and pupils are heathen. Could 
 such a society as the Bangalore School-Book Society only 
 command funds to send their publications through every 
 village in the country, offering them for sale at very low 
 prices, it is most probable the people would greedily receive 
 them, and that they would go far towards paving the way 
 for the advance of Christianity. 
 
 The Romanists have long had a mission at Bangalore. 
 The only effects of it which came under my notice were 
 these : One day when entering the pettah near the fort, I 
 observed a rude erection, something like the booths built by 
 mountebanks in fairs, and on asking what it meant, was told 
 that it was the Christians, who were getting up a play in 
 connection with some of their religious feasts. From the 
 hints I received as to the subject, it appeared to be the holy 
 family, or the Saviour's history. The Romish priests have 
 carried into India the profane habit obtaining in Popish
 
 142 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 countries of making the holiest themes of Scripture subjects 
 for the drama, and the Hindus learn to judge of the purity 
 and the dignity of our religion from barbarous theatricals. 
 One morning, in approaching the same gate, I overtook an 
 old man, and began my conversation with him in a way 
 which was very much my custom, by asking, " Who is 
 your god?" He said, " Nanage Antow7ii devaru" {" An- 
 towni is my god "). I observed that of all the gods with 
 whose names I was familiar, I had never heard of that one 
 before, and repeated my question. He simply replied, 
 "Antowni is my god." Puzzled, but resolved to learn 
 who this new god was, I said, "What caste are you of?" 
 " I am of the Eoman caste," said the man ; and in a moment 
 I saw that the strange name was Anthony, that Portuguese 
 saint being a favourite among his fellow-countrymen in 
 India. Still, it seemed impossible that the man could mean 
 what he had said, and I asked, " Do you say that he is 
 your god?" "Yes," replied this Christian, '^Antowni 
 devaru" ("Anthony is god.") I asked where he was, 
 what made of, and what size. He said he was in the 
 chapel, made of clay, about as high as his breast, and 
 painted white, yellow, black, and red. " But," I asked, 
 "have you no other god?" "No." "What, no other god 
 but Anthony?" His dogged reply was, "They talk about 
 Mariamma,^ but Anthony is the god." This is a melancholy, 
 a horrifying fact, and will completely remove the surprise 
 that any may have felt, that Protestant missionaries in New 
 Zealand and elsewhere should have raised the question as to 
 whether they ought to rebaptize those who, having been 
 Romanists, seek admission to their communion. Is a man 
 baptized by the water and the words when he does not 
 know whereunto he was baptized, does not so much as know 
 " whether there be any Holy Ghost"? Is baptism, adminis- 
 
 ^ This is very like the name of the heathen goddess of disease, viz., 
 Mari.
 
 BANGALORE 143 
 
 tered to a man who has no kind of Christian faith and no 
 knowledge to found that faith upon, a sacrament or a 
 profanation ? ^ 
 
 Before proceeding to my station, I was detained in Banga- 
 lore for nearly a month. Having obtained a Brahman 
 munshi, I daily prosecuted the study of the language, under 
 his tuition. Feeling the importance of a correct pronuncia- 
 tion, and' the difticulty of obtaining it, I made use of him 
 almost exclusively for this purpose, making him read word 
 by word, and repeating each after him, with an attempt to 
 imitate his tones. After a while this extended to clauses, 
 and then to whole sentences. It soon appeared that he was 
 no way scrupulous in correcting mistakes, and urging him to 
 be so produced nothing but large promises. To meet this, I 
 often made a slip intentionally, and when it was permitted 
 to pass, reproved him sharply ; this produced some little 
 
 ^ [The Roman Church has developed its work greatly in Bangalore 
 since this was written. I do not know the number of its adherents, but 
 its fine Iniildings are much in evidence — two large churches, a large 
 hospital, a college, and some other important erections. Its progress 
 in the Province generally is less striking, but is not inconsiderable. 
 In commenting on the success of the Roman Mission, the writer of the 
 Mysore Census Report of 1S91 (Mr. V. N. Narasimmiyengar, a Brahman 
 official, whom I have known intimately for many years, and whose 
 ability and judgment I greatly respect) makes the following observa- 
 tions : — "Roman Catholicism is able to prevail among the Hindus 
 more rapidly and easily (than Protestantism), by reason of its policy 
 of tolerating among its converts the customs of caste and social 
 observances, which constitute so material a part of the Indian social 
 fabric. In the course of investigations engendered by the census, 
 several Roman Christian communities have been met with which 
 continue undisturbed in the rites and usages which had guided them 
 in their pre-conversion existence. They still pay worship to the 
 Ixila-'iam (water-pot) at marriages and festivals, call in the Brahman 
 astrologer and puruhit (Hindu priest), use the Hindu religious marks, 
 and conform to various other amenities, which have the advantage of 
 minimising friction in their daily intercourse with their Hindu fellow- 
 oaste brethren."]
 
 144 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 amendment. But he seemed to think it was not quite 
 respectful to expose every little blunder, as if one were to 
 be offended at his doing the very thing he was paid to do. 
 He knew English, and liked to talk it, so that my object 
 being not to improve him in English, but to learn to preach 
 in Kanarese, it became evident that the better way would be 
 to get a man with whom it would not be possible to com- 
 municate except in that tongue. Through the kindness of 
 Mr. Jenkins I secured the services of a Brahman living in a 
 remote village, with some reputation both as a scholar and 
 as an author, and who had not an English word or an 
 English idea in his head. He promised to join me at my 
 station. 
 
 The earliest historical notice of Bangalore which I have 
 found is that Shaji, father to Shivaji, the celebrated 
 founder of the Mahratta empire, had here the seat of a 
 government which he held under Viziapore.^ The town of 
 Mysore, distant about ninety miles, was the capital of petty 
 rajahs, who gradually extended their territory northward 
 till it embraced Tumkiir and Chelur, and thus the posses- 
 sion of Bangalore became desirable. Chikka D6va, who 
 reigned towards the close of the seventeenth century, was a 
 man of considerable enterprise. He consolidated the grow- 
 ing kingdom by establishing post-offices all over it, and 
 making every postmaster a spy. To gain Bangalore he 
 agreed to pay three lakhs of rupees (£30,000). The terms 
 were concluded with Ekkoji, brother to Shivaji; but before 
 the transfer had taken place, Kassim Khan, one of Aurang- 
 zi'b's generals, stepped in, took the place, accepted the 
 stipulated price, and handed over his capture to the Mysore 
 king. When the old race had fallen under that decrepitude 
 which soon overtakes heathen and Muharamadan dynasties, 
 Hyder seized the country with lion grip. Soon perceiving 
 the importance of Bangalore, he erected a fort, in which his 
 son Tipu had such confidence that, in 1755, he transferred 
 ' Wilko's Historical Sketches,
 
 l^ANGALORE i4o 
 
 liis iiarem thitlitii' from Seringapatam. But when, in 1791, 
 the Marquis of Cornwallis approached at the head of an 
 English army, his confidence gave way, and, instead of de- 
 voting himself to military preparations, he was occupied in 
 personally superintending the removal of the same precious 
 charge back to the island capital. The first stroke of the 
 British was to storm the pettah. Mir Hussein, in his 
 amusing life of Tipu, says: "Colonel Moorhouse and General 
 j\Ieadov/s, with a strong body of troops, attacked the town, 
 and after the sacrifice of thousands of men on both sides, 
 and after an attack of six hours, the town was, with great 
 gallantry, taken ; and so large a quantity of spoil, such as 
 gold, jewels, etc., fell into the hands of the captors, that 
 penury and want were thenceforward discharged or struck 
 off from the muster-roll of the English army. After thiSj 
 the English army commenced raising batteries, and for four^ 
 teen days they battered the fort continually." The result of 
 this battering was a breach, which Lord Cornwallis stormed 
 at night. The next morning a thoiisand lifeless bodies 
 showed how diligently both assailant and defender had done 
 the work of death. The peace of the next year placed 
 Bangalore again under the flag of TipU, who had so com- 
 pletely lost his confidence in the fort that he caused it to be 
 dismantled. 
 
 At his downfall, the lineal representative of the ancient 
 kings was restored to the throne. But our Government re- 
 served to themselves the right to "interfere to any extent 
 in the internal administration of the country, or even to 
 take the unlimited management of it to themselves," ^ stipu- 
 lating also, that the entire military force of the kingdom should 
 be drawn from their own armies. For the headquarters of 
 this force, Bangalore was marked as highly eligible, equally 
 by its importance as a city, its position toward the realm to 
 be protected, the salubrity of its climate, and its accessible- 
 ness from the Carnatic. On it the choice fell — a choice 
 
 ' Mill.
 
 146 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 which greatly increased its importance, and provided the 
 Madras army with a station whose cHmate furnishes a 
 welcome relief from the fiery heats under which they sutler 
 at many of their posts. 
 
 The new Rajah was a boy. The administration fell into 
 the hands of Brahmans, who continued to hold all real 
 power even after he had attained his majority. Those 
 endless corruptions and rapacities, indigenous to Hindu 
 governments, flourished among the officials, both metropolitan 
 and provincial. The poor ryots were mulcted and oppressed 
 on every hand. To complain of wrong was to incur ruin. 
 The net of ofiicial influence surrounded every village ; and 
 w^oe to him who, in the frenzy of his griefs, attempted to 
 rend a single mesh ! In a country where property is sacred 
 and actions free, it is impossible to credit the tales which 
 the Mysore ryots tell of the heartless cupidity with which 
 the Brahmans were accustomed, during this period, to seize 
 on their little possessions; and of the imperturbable vindic- 
 tiveness wdth Avhich they hunted to beggary any " village 
 Hampden " that ventured upon resistance. A ryot hates a 
 Brahman as a negro hates a slave-driver. And yet he dreads 
 him in his soul. Behind his back he calls him haruvava (" a 
 jumper"); to his face, Siodmi, or Devaru, ("God"). The name 
 "jumper," they say, was given because a Brahman could 
 never be caught in an offence ; no matter how clear the 
 evidence against him, no matter how notorious his crimes or 
 his extortions, no matter how many the witnesses prepared 
 to prove his guilt, by bribery, by cunning, or by interest, 
 he always leaped over the enclosure of difiiculties in which 
 his victims thought him to be inextricably bound. At 
 length even Hindu endurance was worn out. The ryots 
 became maddened ; they rose, seized twenty Brfdimans, and 
 hanged them on trees. The whole country was disturbed, 
 and every eye turned to the British Kesident as the only 
 person possessing the power to terminate these disasters. A 
 Biahman has told me, such was the state of feeling, that, in
 
 BANGALORE 147 
 
 Nagar, a party of herd-boys, who were in the hahit of 
 beguiling their time with some rude drama, catching the 
 spirit of the day, began to act the characters then most con- 
 spicuous in the national politics. Some were ministers, some 
 provincial officers, some ryots ; one was the British Resident. 
 On him the clamorous ryots cast the principal blame, alleging 
 he could end their wrongs but would not ; on him the one 
 appointed judge declared the blame to rest, and sentenced 
 him to die ; and so thoroughly had they caught the spirit of 
 their piece, that the unfortunate boy was actually hanged. 
 At length, the supreme Government interposed. To the 
 rajah a princely income was secured ■ but they took into 
 their own hands the entire administration of the country. 
 The people say that the rajah was much aftected on learning 
 this decision ; and that his principal officers, appearing before 
 him in high excitement, urged him to take up arms, promis- 
 ing to spill the last drop of their blood in maintaining his 
 rights. But he wisely answered, "The Company are my 
 father ; they gave me my kingdom, and they have a right to 
 take it back. Besides, what king has fought with the Com- 
 l)any and succeeded? I will not fight with the Company." 
 He quietly submitted to the change, lives in comparative 
 retirement, but retains all the insignia of royalty, and enjoys 
 ample revenues. To conduct the afi'airs of the kingdom, a 
 Commission was appointed, consisting of eight gentlemen, 
 most of them military men. To us, with our notions of 
 representation, liberty, and so on, it seems strange that a 
 country which had been disturbed under its own prince 
 should settle down into peace under eight foreigners, un- 
 practised in the duties of statesmen or magistrates. But 
 such has been the case. The people have sometimes sar3~~tcn 
 me, "We can hardly believe ourselves: we lie down at 
 night, and rise up in the morning, and find our cattle safe, 
 our crops safe, everything just as we left it, and this for year 
 after year ! Formerly it was constantly an army here, a 
 foray there, and we never knew what was our own. The
 
 148 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Company have done a great thing." But they murmur 
 sorely at the amount of power still left with the hdruvavaru 
 ("Brahmans"), paying that, in spite of all possible vigilance 
 on the part of the Commissioners, there is vast extortion in 
 the collection of village revenues. This complaint they 
 incessantly urge ; but, beside it, 1 found entire satisfaction 
 with their new rulers, except an occasional murmur tliat the 
 laud-charge was too heavy, and frequent expressions of dis- 
 satisfaction at the impunity aftbrded to offenders against the 
 marriage vow, and the insufficient punishment, as they deem 
 it, of theft. General Cubbon and the other Commissioners 
 deserve the highest credit for the temper, judgment, and 
 integrity with which they have discharged their onerous 
 trust. ^ 
 
 In connection with this change. Lord William Bentinck 
 — the best of India's governor-generals — visited the Mysore. 
 The country people from the neighbourhood through which 
 he passed have told me, in terms of unbounded wonder, that 
 they saw him riding in his palanquin like a private gentle- 
 man, without escort or pomp. And their admiration was 
 equal to their wonder. One could hardly believe that this 
 circumstance would have made so deep and favourable an 
 impression upon their minds ; but, from the language they 
 used, it was obvious that no amount of display could have 
 given them such views of the greatness of his own mind or 
 ^f_oijr national character. Closing their tale, they would 
 say, " Among us, if only a little Polygar had to go to the 
 I next village, he must have guards and heralds, and all the 
 [re st of it j but here, the man that rules from the Himalaya 
 
 ^ [The British Commission continued its work in the Mysore State 
 from 1830 to 1881, wlicn the country was handed back to a young 
 Maharajah. During that time the finances of the country were 
 restored, and considerable credit balances accumulated ; splendid 
 roads were made ; the police, justice, and education were carefully 
 organised ; and the young new ruler found a fine body of native 
 administrators trained in I'ritish methods, awaiting his instal- 
 lation.]
 
 BANfiALOHE 149 
 
 to Raiiieshwaram comes as if he were nobody at all ; ahali ! 
 ahahf ijenthd janaru nrwuf ('wonderful! wonderful! what 
 a people you are !')" If anything were surprising, it would 
 surpass belief that a gentleman could be found to write the 
 history of India and bestow on Lord William Bentinck such 
 parsimonious commendation and such liberal censure as he 
 has received from ISIr. Thornton. But Mr. Thornton belongs 
 to that class of historians who admire nothing but conquests ; 
 and Lord William performed no great fights. Notwithstand- 
 ing this, both his statesmanship and his philanthropy will 
 be venerated by nations when the censures of Mr. Thornton 
 will be forgotten. 
 
 The climate of Bangalore is a combination of the tropical 
 and the temperate. It has the sun of India, with the airs of 
 southern Europe. The thermometer seldom exceeds 88" in 
 the shade ; and in the cool season I have known it at 64° 
 at noonday. During a great part of the year the sky is/ \ 
 covered with clouds, which gently shade you from the burn- 
 ing sun — a term really significant in India. At these seasons 
 the gales are cool and bracing, so that those who come from 
 Madras almost fancy that they recognise English breezes. 
 The situation of the country secures it a share in both the 
 south-west and the north-east monsoons, which shed down 
 copious, but not inundating, rains. The soil yields, with 
 cheerful profusion, the various fruits of India and very many 
 of Europe. The orange and the potato, the yam and the ' 
 apple, the strawberry and the cocoa-nut, the mango and V 
 peach, with gooseberries and guavas, grapes and pineapples, 
 are among the productions of this charming climate. 
 
 At the change of government the whole Mysore became 
 open to Christian missionaries, and it may be fairly asserted 
 that there is no country on the face of the earth where their 
 labours are more free. By the wayside or in the public 
 street, at the temple door or in the tradesman's shop, in the 
 thickest of a feast or the busiest of a market, the minister of 
 Christ may open the I>iblo, preach the gospel, and otter 
 
 ■^
 
 150 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 prayer to God. In city or town or village he is heard 
 without molestation, and often with profound attention. 
 Our missionaries have already preached Jesus and the 
 resurrection from the palace of the king down to the hut 
 of the outcast. The kingdom contains thirty-three thousand 
 towns and villages. Of these, four have missionaries ! ^ 
 All the others are equally open, but there is no one to enter 
 in. The labourers are few. 
 
 ^ [la the same area now the Wesleyan Mission has twenty-four 
 English missionaries and native ministers, with about forty-five native 
 evangelists, at work. The London Mission has six missionaries, and 
 fifteen pastors and evangelists ; the American Methodist Episcopal 
 Church has several representatives ; and an undenominational mission 
 furnishes four or five European workers.]
 
 CHAPTER y 
 
 MY CIECUIT 
 
 The ^Mysore is never so lovely as in the month of October. 
 
 The rains have just fallen ; the fields are all green, the tanks 
 
 full, and the emerald of the trees luxurious. It was on a 
 
 cloudless afternoon of this month that Mr. Jenkins and 
 
 myself, riding along the road from Bangalore to Belgaum, 
 
 approached the hill-pass of Nijagal. At this point the 
 
 road intersects a chain of hills which runs across the 
 
 country, offering a bold variety to its gentle undulations, 
 
 and at some points jutting up to mountain height, as in the 
 
 case of Shivaganga, a high conical peak, not less sacred here 
 
 than the scene of St. Patrick's miracle on the coast of Mayo. 
 
 We dismounted and walked slowly up a declivity, between 
 
 fields of the castor-oil plant, conversing about our mission 
 
 work. When nearly entering the pass, Mr. Jenkins said, 
 
 " Now in a few moments you will see into your circuit." 
 
 The words were thrilling : joy and hope and prayer rose 
 
 together and went up to God. AV'e were now at the head of 
 
 the pass : on either hand rose the hills. Up their sides 
 
 crowded thick woods, with varied and intensely beautiful 
 
 foliage, but they were capped with bald domes of dark rock 
 
 like a weather-beaten helmet surmounting holiday apparel. 
 
 At the foot of the hill spread several old banyans, their 
 
 branches in different places forming Gothic arches through 
 
 which the sun darted glowing beams that, by the aid of 
 
 the grey stems and green loaves, produced a novel beauty, 
 
 strangely blending the effect of architecture with that of 
 
 painting and rare, unhackneyed landscape. Beyond, the 
 
 151
 
 152 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 country stretched to the western horizon, seeming at first a 
 long, bright glen resting between two ranges of guardian 
 hills, but as you advanced spreading out into a verdant, 
 undulating vale. The sun was near setting, and his eye 
 kindled to see the charms of his own pencilling. Numerous 
 tanks sparkled among the bright green ricefields. Water in 
 India is not merely beautiful — it is precious. It may not be 
 really a lovelier feature in a landscape than at home, but it 
 is far more effective. It touches two chords instead of one, 
 awaking at once the joy of beauty and the thrill of gratitude. 
 In an English landscape it is only the complexion ; in an 
 Indian one the eye. Those broad sheets of water lay under 
 the evening light, some of them blushing red as if they had 
 been turned to wine to rejoice in a day so fair, some with a 
 delicate radiance on their still surface, beautiful as the light 
 of genius on a pale countenance. Xot a man, not an animal 
 was to be seen — not even the song of a bird or the smoke of 
 a cottage to indicate life. All was peace and solitude. The 
 sun might have kept the spot for himself to look on, and if 
 Peace wanted a temple, let her build it there. But that 
 valley stretched within the circle where lay my sphere of 
 happy duties? It was this that gave to every object a 
 mystic power, which first prepared the heart, and then 
 transferred to it the whole scene with the speed and the 
 truth of a mental photograph. It is there still — there just 
 as at first, with the same objects, the same lights and 
 shadows, the same dear companion watching my emotions 
 with a brother's eye. 
 
 Descending the pass the hill on our left began to wear 
 appearances that little harmonised with the feeling hitherto 
 reigning over the place. In a few minutes the mouldering 
 outline of fortifications was distinctly visible. Then the 
 path led close by a crowd of graves, — " in the garden there 
 was a sepulchre"; then by the ruins of an extensive town, 
 where hut and mansion were crumbling among brushwood, 
 and all as silent as the hill ! At first sight of this spot one
 
 MY CIRCUIT 153 
 
 was ready to feel as if it had escaped tlio }jlight of sin, but 
 now it was proved full sadly that death and war had found 
 it. That noiseless hill had listened to the clash of arms. 
 That still rock had echoed the cry of agony and danger. 
 That gentle turf had drunk human gore. Those beautiful 
 leaves were enriched by the ashes of butchered men ! Yes, 
 of men, for men had been there ! Where were they now ? 
 — Where were they nowl This Avas a sudden turn for 
 the feelings. Such desolation on such beauty ! It was 
 melancholy as mourning on a laughing infant. It reminded 
 you of the fine country around, with its polished manners 
 and dead souls. Then the heart, softened as it was, might 
 well weep. It was as when some mighty orator has raised a 
 tear to your eye with delight, and then brings it down with 
 sorrow. I shall never forget the first sight of my circuit. 
 
 These fortified hills (or drugs, as they were called after 
 the native name) once abounded in the Mysore, and the 
 sudden capture of several by our troops has done far more to 
 impress the people with a conviction that British valour is 
 invincible than all the grand battles or regular sieges. 
 Nandidrvlg and Savandrilg especially were held to be 
 beyond any possibility of assault ; the latter very much 
 answered to Sallust's description of that Numidian dr/nj 
 which was lost to Jugurtha by a Roman soldier's taste for a 
 dish of snails. The march against them was deemed an 
 impudent absurdity. And even now the villagers talk more 
 of some officers employed in these daring exploits than of 
 Lord Harris, who led the grand army which took Seringa- 
 patam, or of Sir David Baird, who stormed that citadel. 
 They say that in our set battles there is little room for the 
 exercise of personal courage ; that the men are a machine, 
 and the weapon is fire. But when speaking of the great 
 drugs and their captors, they shrug their shoulders, shake 
 their heads, cry, " AhaJi / ahah /" and say, "They were as 
 bad as lions." 
 
 We spent that night at Tumkdr in the house of an
 
 154 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 intelligent Indo-Briton apothecary in the employment of the 
 Government, and started the next morning for Gubbi, the 
 place of our destination. Hitherto we had travelled on a 
 good road lately formed under the direction of Captain 
 Dobbs, the valuable superintendent of the Chitaldrilg 
 division.^ But now, leaving all traces of the English, we 
 struck off to the left by a native road. This was no more 
 than a well-beaten track, occasionally marked by two low 
 fences, but more frequently lying across the cornfields or 
 open plains of grass. The grass is onlj^ such as grows 
 spontaneously, no pains being taken to improve it, by 
 manure or irrigation ; it is, consequently, coarse and in- 
 nutritious ; and on this the numerous cattle of the villagers 
 are miserably pastured. 
 
 When we had ridden about eleven miles and were wind- 
 ing round a hill, we came upon a path, skirted by two 
 hedgerows, like the road leading to a farmhouse. At the 
 head of this, distant about a furlong, a white bungalow was 
 glistening in the sun. This was the mission-house, the 
 scene of my destined labours. Js^ever did I approach a spot 
 with such feelings. It was a lonely home, but it was a post 
 of glorious duty. There was no Christian congregation with 
 whom to worship, but there was the God whom Christians 
 adore. The people never hailed a Sabbath, nor observed a 
 sacrament, but in another generation they should. By a 
 fault of mine, before these heathen, the Kedeemer would be 
 wounded in the house of His friends, but by grace and faith- 
 fulness His enemies would be won. It was a position in 
 which there was only One to help, but He was nigh. 
 
 The mission-house is a cottage of one storey, covered with 
 red tiles, beautifully neat, well furnished, and situated on 
 
 ^ The Mysore is distributuil into four provinc^es or divisions — Asli- 
 tagram, Baiif^alore, Chitaldrug, and Nagar. The oHlcer in charge of 
 one of these is called "superintendent." [Tliis arrangement of terri- 
 tory was in vogue only while the coiuitry was being administered by 
 a British Commission.]
 
 MY CIRCUIT 155 
 
 the crest of a considerable hill. About it, Mrs. Jenkins 
 had arranged a tasteful garden, on the parterres of which 
 ])leasant flowers were smiling, and a beautiful convolvulus 
 wandering among the shrubs of the hedge. The place had 
 a delightful air of homely cottage comfort, far different from 
 what one would expect in so remote a situation. It was 
 sweet, after six mouths of wayfaring, to bow before God 
 on the very spot to which all your journeys had been 
 directed, and there commemorate the mercies which had 
 enriched the past, and pray for those that would crown 
 the future. 
 
 The hill on which the mission-house stands commands an 
 extensive prospect. Close round its base spreads a large 
 tank — a sheet of water about two miles long and one broad. 
 At its opposite side lies a smaller tank, where large numbers 
 of wild ducks congregate. In the interval between these two 
 stands a grove, through the branches of which you see the 
 roofs of Gubbi and the tower of the chief temple. On 
 the east the view is bounded by the hills already mentioned, 
 the woods of Tumkur nestling at the base ; whence the 
 blue outline stretches away to jSTijagal, and the sacred peak 
 of Shivaganga, distant about eighteen miles, near which at 
 night you see the blaze of fires, lighted to keep tigers away. 
 Just across the large tank, close by the water's edge, an old 
 temple is shaded by a group of decaying trees, and, close by, 
 a village lies under its tutelage. Behind this, and to its 
 left, you trace other villages. To its right a high hill rises 
 with gradual swell : it is for the greater part overrun with 
 brushwood, but has a bald piece of ground towards its foot, 
 on which stands in solitary pride the noblest banyan I saw 
 in India. It is about two miles from the mission-house, 
 and at that distance looks, as to extent, like a small grove ; 
 but even there the harmony of outline gives an impression 
 of unity. There are — as well as I remember — upwards of 
 thirty trunks, as large as a middle-sized elm, each of them 
 projecting branches, from which again pendant roots have
 
 156 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 struck down into the earth, and are maturing tliemselves 
 into auxiliary stems. The combination of bulk and vitality 
 is unique, and consequently impressive. This stately pile 
 of vegetative architecture, of which the foundations, pillars, 
 arches, all are direct from the hand of God, and vital with 
 His impulse, forms a shade irresistibly calling to meditation. 
 But so far from exciting adoration to Him, amongst the 
 heathen it attracts their worship to itself. Under it you 
 find a rude empty altar, of which this tree is the divinity ! 
 b the right of this stretches a plain, irrigated by the waters 
 of the tank, and covered with ricefields and villages. Toward 
 the west the eye travels over a long valley, with groves, 
 villages, the tower of a temple, and a few mountains peering 
 above the horizon. The whole scene was neither tame nor 
 savage : its combination of objects gave an air of peaceful 
 civilisation, united with novelty and boldness. It was fair, 
 but lonely, passing lonely. There were temples ; but no 
 tower marked a sanctuary of the living God. There were 
 men, old and young, " and boys and girls playing in the 
 streets " ; but in town or village was not a single one who 
 had even been baptized in the ever-blessed Name. And 
 there were homes, not the wild wigwam, nor the miserable 
 kraal, but " fenced towns," with a busy and polite people ; 
 but you could not take to your heart the assurance that 
 one of them was the dwelling of a united family. To one 
 fresh from the land where a sanctuary is always near, where 
 the fellowship of saints is familiar, where round many a 
 fireside domestic love and divine hopes shed their mingled 
 joy, these thoughts were dreary. But the chill they 
 brought was warmed away by the recollection, that to this 
 spot had come at last that gospel, by which, in time, it 
 would be graced with every object that rejoices an angel's eye. 
 In the year 183G Mr. Hodson made a tour in the Mysore 
 and Coorg, in order to acquire information as to the general 
 facilities for missionary labours existing in the country, and 
 also to fix upon some station for immediate occupancy. Of
 
 MY CIRCUIT 157 
 
 that journey interesting records were publislied at the time 
 in the Missionary Notices, and I have reason to hope that 
 Mr. Hodson himself will give the public some further account 
 of his missionary operations. Several reasons led to the 
 selection of Gubbi. It was the centre of a large and 
 accessible population. It was far from English soldiery, by 
 whose example the cause of Christianity might be prejudiced. 
 The number of resident Brahmans was small, and their in- 
 fluence unimportant. AVhether a prospect of feeble op])osi- 
 tion is a good ground on which to choose a mission station, 
 it is not necessary here to inquire. Perhaps the most natural 
 line of proceeding is both the best and most accordant with 
 apostolic example ; that is, to carry the gospel just to those 
 places where are the greatest number of sinners in need of 
 it, leaving all questions about opposition and facility in the 
 hands of God. 
 
 When the selection had been made, Mr. Hodson obtained 
 a piece of ground, and began to construct a mud house for 
 temporary residence, Captain Dobbs kindly lending him a 
 tent to live in until its completion. One day, before time 
 was given to take any precaution, a squall, charged with 
 a whole cloud of dust, came down upon them, overwhelmed 
 the tent, filled all their stores with sand, and left both Mr. 
 and Mrs. Hodson to live in their palanquins till the damage 
 was repaired. These squalls are frec^uent at one season of 
 the year ; but high winds and hurricanes are scarcely known. 
 When the mud house was finished, they were very comfort- 
 able till the wet season came ; but then they would some- 
 times awake in the night with the rain pouring on them, 
 and, no other part of the house being safer, Mr. Hodson 
 used, as the only available shelter, to sit up in bed, holding 
 an umbrella over them. After a while he raised the present 
 substantial building of brick and mud, a cement which, 
 though inferior to mortar, is not despicable, but used in 
 many a goodly Indian bungalow. It has this inconvenience, 
 that you are constantly liable to irruptions of white ants
 
 158 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 from any part of the walls. They will break out and spread 
 themselves as rapidly as an army of Mahrattas, devouring 
 everything in their Avay, and sometimes damaging a whole 
 library in the course of a night. Shortly after the com- 
 pletion of the house, Mr. Jenkins joined the station, and 
 Mr. Hodson went to form a new one at the city of Mysore. 
 Mr. Jenkins had been there about a twelvemonth at the 
 time of my arrival. 
 
 The town of Gubbi, situated about sixty niiles north- 
 west of Bangalore, has between six and seven thousand 
 inhabitants.^ They depend principally on mercantile pur- 
 suits, having a weekly market, and carrying on a consider- 
 able trade in betel-nut, coffee, and grain, which they 
 purchase from the people of the western province, Nagar 
 (formerly called Bednfir), and sell in the markets of 
 Bangalore and Walajnagar. The place has long enjoyed the 
 reputation of great wealth, being called " Golden Gubbi." 
 But wealth in India must not be estimated by English 
 standards. There a man will gladly work for three rupees 
 (six shillings) per month, and be able to support himself. 
 His ragi and spices cost but little ; his rent, except in large 
 towns, scarcely anything ; firing he wants none, but a few 
 fragments of parched cow-dung to cook his two meals, — of 
 these one is often eaten cold ; and if he has no spare 
 money for clothes, it is very little matter — the climate 
 clothes him. A man with ten rupees ^ per month is in 
 comfortable circumstances ; Avith twenty, respectable ; with 
 fifty, prosperous ; and wealthy on a hundred. The merchant 
 
 ^ [This was probably a mistake. The population now is between 
 four and five thouf^and.] 
 
 - A rupee is two shillings, consequently ten are a pound ; a hundred, 
 ten pounds; a thousand, a hundred pounds, and so on. [The value of 
 the rupee has decreased ; it is now worth sixteen pence. On the other 
 hand, the cost of provisions has increased, and the price of labour is 
 higher. The standard by Avhicli comfort and wealth are judged has 
 been appreciably raised in recent years.]
 
 My circuit 159 
 
 \vho can command a capital of five thousand rupees is a sort 
 of prince. Of course this remark does not apply to large 
 commercial cities, where the expansion of English trade 
 dilates everything. Beside the merchants and shopkeepers, 
 there are a few weavers ) but their work is of the coarsest 
 kind ; all fine cloths being obtained from distant parts of 
 the country. The market is hold every Sunday, and is 
 
 numerously attended. -^ 
 
 The town is, like all towns in India, surrounded by a 
 wall. They are always of mud, varying in height and 
 thickness according to the importance of the place. It is 
 generally a mere line of wall, capable only of repelling 
 robbers or wild beasts ; but in larger places has, at intervals, 
 square projecting towers, intended for military defence. 
 These mud fortifications have often proved formidable ob' 
 stacles to artillery, the sodden mass permitting the shot 
 to sink into it, without being materially shaken. Even 
 .small villages, with fifty or a hundred houses, have their 
 wall. As well as I could learn, the term " town "_i[[r) is 
 applied only to a i)lacc with both wall and market ; " village " 
 (halli), t o one with a wall, but not a market; and "hamlet" 
 (pdlj/a), to a group of houses without either. " City " (pafna) 
 is used only of seats of government, or very large places. 
 A village usually has one gate ; a town two, at opposite 
 points ; a city several. The gates are of wood, and, though 
 ponderous, help one to conceive how the gigantic strength 
 of Samson might wrest such from their hinges, and bear 
 them away. The gateway is a covered passage of several 
 yards long, with a raised seat on either side. In a country 
 village you will often find the elders {Jiiriyaru) seated here 
 in the early morning. It is a position from which they 
 can speak to the men as they proceed to their duties in 
 the fields, to the women as they go to draw Avater, or 
 where they may be easily found by anyone having to seek 
 advice or make complaint. The town of Gubbi consists of 
 two main streets, intersected by several minor ones. At one
 
 160 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 side stands the fort — mud, of course, — within which live most 
 of the rich merchants ; several holding a private residence 
 here, even though they carry on business in the pettah. On 
 another side is that unfailing appendage to a Hindu town, 
 the village of the out-castes. This is a polluted spot. No 
 caste man, though he be a drudge or a menial, would be 
 found here. He will come within call, without touching the 
 accursed ground, and, bawling out his summons for the 
 person he may happen to want, continues on his own sacred 
 ground till the message is conveyed. No one who has not 
 Hved familiarly among the people can conceive the weight 
 of that curse which Hinduism has prepared for those unhappy 
 beings who cannot claim a standing among the accredited 
 castes. The meanest of the people loathe them as viler than 
 swine. Caste men have followed me to the very verge of the 
 defiled ground, begging me, by all manner of arguments — by 
 my respectability, my regard for decency, my disapproval 
 of everything disgustful, and by the utter impossibility of 
 making them understand anything, not to degrade myself, or 
 affront the people who had just been listening to me, by 
 going to preach to wretches wholly incapable of being taught.^ 
 Servitude is honour ; slavery, brotherhood ; and public con- 
 viction, reward, compared with the fathomless degradation 
 into which the poor out-caste is plunged. Father, mother, 
 children, down they are sunk ; all trample on them, all abuse, 
 all revile, all execrate, all shun ; and this has been going on 
 for generations. By this horrid proscription, millions of 
 human beings are held in a state of anomalous slavery. No 
 
 1 [The aloofness is not only and wholly on the side of the caste 
 men. It is true that in country districts the Brahmans avoid the 
 Pariah quarter themselves, and refuse to allow the Pariah to come 
 near to them — to their houses, or even their streets. But it is also true 
 that the Pariahs, on their part, will under no circumstances allow a 
 Brilhman to pass through their portion of the village, believing that 
 his presence would involve them in the direst calamities. In cities 
 and large towns such sharp distinction of neighbourhood is im- 
 possible.]
 
 MY CIRCUIT 161 
 
 one claims their person — it is too vile ; but, with limbs 
 unchained, the man is denied every right of citizenship ; he 
 and his unborn children, and his children's children, are 
 doomed to ignorance, exclusion, and contempt. He is an 
 exile from the human family, cut otf, and cut off for ever, 
 from affection and improvement. No sum can buy his 
 ransom ; no monarch make him free. He was born to his 
 curse, and his offspring is predestinated to the same. Let 
 him look where he will, he reads the sentence of his exile, 
 pronounced for a crime he knows not. The earth rejects 
 him — he may not own a single rood ; the water rejects him — 
 his defiled vessel, or more defiled person, would pollute a 
 whole well : let him dig in a corner, or drink with the swine. 
 Law rejects him — who is he that he should complain 1 
 Religion rejects him— his impure step would contaminate the 
 holiest fane : lot him crouch to a goblin on his own vile 
 ground. Aye, Charity herself rejects him — to give him a 
 morsel would be "to take the children's bread and cast it 
 unto dogs." And this bitterness is in his lot, that he is 
 dwelling in his own land, not captured in war, not sentenced 
 for crime, not banished as dangerous ; but living full in the 
 sight of all blessings, and denied every one, because he was 
 born accursed. And will it be believed, that a European, 
 that a Christian missionary, that the Abbe Dubois, first 
 accurately details their vices, and then justifies their 
 wrongs ] " If the caste of the pariahs," says the Abbe, " be 
 held in low and vile repute, it must be admitted that it 
 deserves to be so." It is true they are base, filthy, and 
 immoral ; and, after ages of such treatment, no wonder. 
 They would have been more than human had they not long 
 ago sunk into everything lamentable. But whence their 
 recklessness, their filth, their voracity 1 From oppression, 
 from despair, from hunger. They have no rights to lose : 
 their fathers had none ; their children will have none. If 
 everyone of them vented a ferocious misanthropy on every 
 human form he could fasten upon, it would be only a natural 
 
 1 1
 
 1G2 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 result of the treatment that he and his have borne. The 
 Abb6 Dubois states that this wretched section of the 
 Hindu community " must include, at least, a fifth of the 
 whole population." But, in another part of his work, 
 he also states that the " cultivators amount, at least, 
 to five-sixths of the population of India." Now, if the 
 cultivators are five-sixths of the population, and the pariahs 
 one-fifth, it follows that the immense multitudes composing 
 the Brahman, soldier, merchant, and artisan castes are 
 reduced to a fraction less than nothing ; a result which one 
 hesitates to receive, even on an authority so high as that 
 generally conceded to the Abbe Dubois. The proportion of 
 these victims of the caste system is certainly not so large.^ 
 They flock to the places where Europeans have settled, as 
 the employments which they can there obtain greatly alter 
 their circumstances, and, indeed, raise them to a kind of 
 independence of the caste people. But throughout the 
 country, one in ten is a nearer proportion than one in five, 
 though I do not pretend to say what the proportion is. But 
 it is a fearful example of what habit may eft'ect, that the 
 Abb6 should quietly resign a mass of people — more, according 
 to his own calculation, than those of his native France — to a 
 state of degradation so directly at variance with every prin- 
 ciple of that religion which he professed to teach, — to 
 contempt, to exclusion, to slavery (he calls them the " born 
 slaves of the other tribes ") ; yes, to slavery, slavery imposed 
 by custom, a tyrant the most absolute of all, who, in the 
 foulest injustice, is venerable because of age, and because, 
 too, he makes his throne on the tombs of our fathers, and 
 calls to his council the ghosts of the dead. lie laughs at 
 Rucli limited powers as statute-books or armies, and pours 
 his commands through the milk of every mother, through 
 the veins of every babe. 
 
 ' [The census returns sliow tliat in the Mysore the Pariahs (now 
 known as the Panchanut, classes) of all sects number about sixteen 
 per cent, of tlie total pn|nilatioii.]
 
 MY CIRCUIT 163 
 
 1 
 
 The streets of Gubbi are much like those of IJangiilore, 
 
 except that instead of the crowd and hurry of a large city 
 you have a few people moving about with the leisurely air 
 of a country town. Almost every person you meet bears on ^ 
 his breast a bright silver box, of more than two inches in 
 length, which he tells you is "god," — that is, it holds the 
 Unga, an idol which may not even be described. Their 
 complexion is observably fairer than that of the people at 
 Madras, owing to the milder climate of the tableland. 
 Almost every forehead is smeared with the white ashes of 
 cow-dung, some in stripes, some having the whole surface 
 covered, and others with the bare chest and arms sanctified 
 in the same way. These marks proclaim them worshippers 
 of Shiva. Then you are sure to meet with beggars in some 
 part of the streets, almost covered with these ashes ; while 
 others of the same profession, but attached to the rival sect 
 of Vishnuites, have forehead, chest, and arms marked over 
 with huge, ugly tridents. Thus adorned, bearing a small 
 brass gong and a conch-shell, and lustily bellowing the name 
 of Govinda or Ishwara, these beggars boldly demand alms, 
 which they receive not so much as a humane gift as a religious 
 debt. They are not the poor who are forced to beg, Init 
 holy monks who have abandoned worldly pursuits. Woe to 
 the poor man who does not meet their demand promptly ! 
 Though it were his own food, it must be given. The really 
 poor fare ill beside these sturdy and licentious vagabonds. 
 It was common on market-days — Sundays — to hear an alms- 
 giving by some rich man announced with the sound of a 
 
 trumpet ; but it was always a feast to these monks. , 
 
 At the door of some wealthy merchant you would occasion- 
 ally ^ee his wife or daughter in full dress of costly silk, her 
 glossy black hair graced with a round ornament of gold 
 on the crown ; long pendants from the ears, the perforation 
 of which had been artifically increased to the diameter of 
 half an inch ; the edges of the ears crowded with a succession 
 of rings up to the very tip ; a ring, large enough for a bunch
 
 164 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 of keys, inserted into the nose/ resting on the cheek, and 
 strung with pearls ; a heart-shaped piece of gold suspended 
 from the centre membrane of the nose, and resting on the 
 upper lip ; several chains of gold on the neck, sometimes a 
 richly gemmed collar ; the arms thronged with bracelets from 
 above the elbow ; a ring or more on every finger ; massive 
 silver anklets loading the feet and tinkling with every motion, 
 while each toe rejoiced in a broad ring. In fact, the first 
 trinket graces the crown, the last decks the little toe, and 
 between these two points no available spot is without its 
 decoration. Then, to perfect all, the teeth are stained red, 
 the eyelid a deep black, and the cheek painted straw colour 
 with an effusion of saffron. This latter custom is conclusive 
 evidence against some writers who tell us that among the 
 Hindus a dark complexion is held to be more beautiful than 
 a fair one. Were dark brown or jet black most in esteem, 
 the ladies would paint dark brown or jet black. They paint 
 the very colour peculiar to the fairest natives, which 
 sufficiently indicates the prevailing taste. But everyone 
 acquainted with their habits knows that to be called Icempu, 
 " red or fair," is always deemed a compliment, while kappu, 
 " black or dark," is about as much so as " sallow " among 
 ourselves. Then the statement of Bishop Heber, that there 
 is no observable connection between rank and complexion 
 is an unaccountable mistake. It is a rule, to which the 
 exceptions are very few, that good families, who can keep 
 their children from exposure, are several shades fairer than 
 the labouring classes. 
 
 I have seen a little girl, not more than live or six years of 
 age, with all the finery just described, standing in her father's 
 
 1 That quaint writer, Thomas Fuller, was not a little puzzled with 
 the nose-jewel of which the prophet speaks as part of the finery of the 
 Jewish women ; conjecturing that it must have hung from the fore- 
 head between the eyes: for he thinks they would never be so foolish 
 as to ' make more nostrils than nature has given us " by boring the 
 nose to insert it there. Vanity, like necessity, has no law.
 
 MY CIRCUIT 165 
 
 door to display it. But I have also seen a little girl, of not 
 more than that age, in one of those same houses, with every 
 ornament gone, her hair shaved oft', and other signs of 
 widowhood. A poor girl of three, or five, or seven may be 
 given by her father to a husband of thirty, or fifty, or seventy. 
 She may never have set her eyes on him, except on the 
 wedding day ; she is still living at her father's house ; but 
 if the man who calls her wife die, she is his widow, and his 
 widow for life. She is stripped of all her ornaments, her 
 head shaved, and a widow's robe put on. Then begins a life 
 of bitterness : she is charged with her husband's death, he 
 has been taken from her to punish her sin in a former birth ; 
 the younger she is, the greater sinner she must have been, to 
 be overtaken so soon, and her accusations are proportion ably 
 malignant ; her presence is a curse — it must never blight 
 social festivity nor sacred ritual ; the house is cursed for her 
 sake ; no accident or misfortune occurs but it is her fault ; 
 she is the drudge, the butt, the sorrow, the reproach of her 
 family. If she has the honour to be a Brahman's widow, in 
 addition to all other inflictions, she is permitted Imt one 
 meal a day. She may not marry again : it Avould be more 
 disgraceful than any immorality. "With us the word "widoAv" 
 sounds tenderly, even on harsh tongues. In the families of 
 India it is a term of execration. And spite can find no name 
 so bitter as the " son of a widow." The influence which 
 this system must exert both on individual happiness and 
 general morality must be apparent. It is a strange instance 
 of the fact that familiarity with vice often changes dislike 
 into fascination, when we learn from the Aljbe Duljois that 
 though quite aware of the "disgusting inequalities of age," 
 and though, when fresh from Europe, he resented the "cruel 
 usage " which dooms a girl of seven to be for life the widow 
 of some dotard ; yet that in time he " completely changed 
 his opinion," concluding that " in no view does society lose 
 anything by this restraint." Were there any truth in 
 metempsychosis, it would be jjlain that the soul of Manu
 
 166 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 had been born, as a European, in the person of the Abbe 
 Dubois, and had taken a jnurncy to India for the purpose of 
 vindicating his own institutions. 
 
 The town is enriched with two or three scho(jls. These 
 are generally, like the shops, open in the front. As all 
 reading is done in recitative, your ears are regaled from a 
 considerable distance by the nasal music of a score of small 
 voices chanting the changes of the alphabet, arithmetical 
 tables, or the disgusting legends of some purdna. Master 
 and pupils are comfortably squatted on the earthen floor, 
 which is strewed with fine sand. On this the younger boys 
 are busily tracing letters with the forefinger, singing industri- 
 ously all the while a long ditty, which, with an admirable 
 mastery of jingle, describes the various changes by which 
 each letter or syllabic form is made. This is the vestibule 
 of the Hindu temple of knowledge ; and happy and clever is 
 that urchin who within the first three months succeeds in 
 mastering all the forms of the alphabet, so as to chant 
 correctly the history of their mutations, and to trace the 
 example as he chants. This tediousness arises not from any 
 want of aptitude on the part of the boys, — indeed, I never 
 knew a European to vi.sit a native school without receiving the 
 impression that the children were even more apt than among 
 ourselves, — but wholly from the complexity of the alphabet 
 and the utter clumsiness of the system on which it is taught. 
 Tiie alphabetic forms piit forth by the missionaries and in 
 use in mission schools reduce the labour far more than half. 
 
 At a short distance outside the eastern gate, close by a 
 thick grove, and with an open ground in front, stands the 
 great temple of the town. It occupies the centre of a con- 
 siderable area, enclosed by a high stone wall, in which, just 
 opposite the front of the temple, stands a high pyramidal 
 tower, with a gateway at its base. The temple is raised some 
 feet from the ground, and then stone pillars support the 
 open front of a low sipiare apartment, without window. 
 Behind this is a low nairow door, of which the j^/ljnri, the
 
 MY CIRCUIT 167 
 
 officiating priest, keeps the key, and in which the god is 
 housed. No one is permitted to pass the gate without taking 
 off his shoes, and, not being disposed to pay such homage, I 
 never entered. The temples are generally of this character : 
 a square area enclosed by a wall, in the centre a low building 
 without any "window, in the dark recess of which a holy 
 lamp is glimmering before an image j^ainted perhaps two or 
 three colours, smeared with oil, and decked with garlands. 
 When the temple is large, the outer wall embraces several 
 acres, and is followed by two or three others before you 
 reach the shrine, eacli wall having perhaps four gates, and 
 every gate its tower. The only temple of any architectural 
 pretensions which I had the opportunity of seeing was at 
 Nanjangild, between Mysore and the Nilgiri Hills. It 
 is built on the ordinary model, differing only in scale. The 
 sculpture, however, is most elaborate, the whole surface of 
 the temple being literally thronged with mythological groups. 
 Up to the point of the highest tower crowds a thick suc- 
 cession of images in every possible form, size, and posture. 
 There is a countless muster of shapes, colossal and pigmy, 
 human and animal, actual and fabulous, devotional and 
 indecent. All the rabble of strange beings with which 
 Hinduism peoples its heaven might, in the midst of their 
 wars, frolics, and debaucheries, have been overtaken, like 
 Lot's wife, with a statuary death, and this temple might be 
 the agglomeration of them all. The worst nudes even of the 
 French school are monitors of modesty compared with these 
 figures. No man who has once seen the gates can ever 
 forget them. It is a strange and hideous sight. And then 
 to see groups of children playing before this pile of sculptured 
 temptation, looking at it, gazing on it ; and to think that 
 thousands of the youth of both sexes go round it every year, 
 regarding it as the shrine and embodiment of religion! Oh, 
 it brings a feeling of oppressive sickness. You feel as if 
 Milton's Belial, " the dissolutest spirit that fell," were stand- 
 ing close by, and, with a hateful leer, pointing to a huge and
 
 168 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 audacious monument to the victory he had won over every- 
 thing pure in man. 
 
 One day in conversing with a Brahman about China, a 
 country of which he had only lieard the name, he asked me 
 if it were large, and had many people. When told that it 
 had more than all India, his incredulity was perfect ; for if 
 the Persians say that Ispahan is half the world, to a Brahman, 
 India is the whole world, the countries lying beyond its 
 sacred frontiers being only some insignificant spots for " out- 
 side barbarians." At last he demanded, " Well, how many 
 people are there?" "Why, from three hundred and thirty 
 to three hundred and fifty millions." " Three hundred and 
 thirty millions !" exclaimed the astounded Brahman ; " impos- 
 sible ! Three hundred and thirty millions ! how can that be ] 
 Why, that is as many as there are of the gods!" Such is 
 the number of beings, various in power and functions, which 
 the Hindu sltastras recognise as constituting the beatified 
 community of the ccelicolcB. Ample, however, as this number 
 of accredited divinities might be deemed, we found that the 
 great god of Gubbi did not belong to the ranks of the 
 thirty-three krores,^ but was one unknown to any altars save 
 those of the place. About tAVO centuries ago, they say, a 
 schoolmaster lived in their town, who, by learning, piety, 
 and Avisdom, acquired considerable fame. At his death the 
 whole town mourned for its wisest man. They buried him 
 with ceremony, and reared a handsome tomb to mark his 
 grave. Among his pupils was one called Burn' Gauda, Avho 
 entered the public service, and, rising by rapid steps, became 
 a fouzdar, or great officer of the state. Assembling the elders 
 of his native town, he said that all his success in life was 
 due to the lessons of his distinguished tutor, and that he 
 was fully persuaded that one so devout and wise, so virtuous, 
 so learned, so far above ordinary men, could not be a common 
 mortal, but must be an avatara of Shiva. The elders agreed 
 that he must have been an avatara. " Tlien," said Ikirre 
 ' A hrore or kivortd is ten millions.
 
 MY CIRCUIT 1G9 
 
 Gauda, "if he were an avatdra, is it not right that he should 
 have ptija (worship)?" They said, "He ought to have 
 jpiya." This point conceded, Burrc Gauda at once volun- 
 teered to he at the expense of erecting a temple, and 
 providing for the due celehration of i>«/a, in honour of the 
 new god, who received the name of Gubhi AjyjM, "the 
 father of Gubbi." The present temple was built, a staff 
 of priests and temple-women appointed, an endowment of 
 land obtained, an image made, installed, and in due form 
 transubstantiated. Gubbi Appa soon obtained universal 
 honour in the neighbourhood, and all the older gods were 
 eclipsed ; they are not cast away, they receive their honours, 
 but before their rival they are only dii minores. 
 
 This is an illustration of the ease with which objects of 
 worship are multiplied, when once a course of idolatry is 
 begun. The knowledge of the true God being lost, divinity 
 is thought so mean or so terrible, that men arc ready to 
 worship anything they respect or dread. AVe are shocked by 
 the darkness which permits the inhabitants of Gubbi to 
 adore their schoolmaster, and yet these simple townspeople 
 are only manifesting the same blindness under which the 
 refined citizens of Athens sacrificed to Theseus, and those of 
 Rome to Romulus. The character ascribed to Gubbi Appa 
 is more entitled to respect than anything recorded of the 
 Latin bandit or the Greek chastiser of banditti. It is most 
 likely that idolatry first began by paying reverence to an 
 image of some departed hero, various tribes adopting that of 
 their progenitor, and communities that of their founder, as 
 those of Athens and Rome.^ Popery is embarrassed in the 
 process of apotheosis by the deference which it is necessary 
 to pay to the Christian Scriptures. Hence, instead of the 
 convenient and intelligible position of a subordinate deity, 
 gifted by the Supreme with a certain realm and definitive 
 
 ' If Eusebius is right {Chronkou, Lib. Prior), the worship of Baal 
 had a similar origin, being paid to Belu.'s, the first l^ing of Assyria, 
 ijueni As-'<)jrii Dcum nominairrunt.
 
 170 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 powers, she is obliged, in theory, at least, to place her beatified 
 men in the intrusive position of a third party between God 
 and man, effectually precluding all direct approach to the 
 great Presence. This theoretic disadvantage is no doubt 
 fully made up to them by the utter oblivion into which it is 
 cast in the prostrate devotion of the worshipper, who seeks, 
 as the breviary instructs us to do in the case of "blessed 
 Nicholas the bishop," that he may, " by his merits and 
 prayers, be delivered from the flames of hell." 
 
 Amazing reverence, confidence, and zeal are manifested 
 by the votaries of Gubbi Appa. I have known an old 
 woman say, " What, pray no more to Gubbi Appa ! 
 Why, it is he that gives me health, food, everything. He 
 protects the house from robbers and evil spirits ; he keeps 
 away sickness ; he gives strength to work ; he does every- 
 thing for us. There is no god like Gubbi Appa : I must 
 pray to Gubbi Appa." The merchants avow that when 
 any of their transactions have been successful, they devote 
 part of the profit to Gubbi Appa ; " for," say they, " he 
 gives us health and success : it is therefore just we should 
 acknowledge his favour. If we did not, we should not 
 deserve to be favoured in a similar way again." The way 
 to wealth, station, and domestic happiness is constantly 
 asserted and firmly believed to open or close at the will 
 of Gubbi Appa. Helenus did not more urgently impress 
 on his anxious friend the prime importance of propitiating 
 the vindictive Juno than does every father in Gubbi 
 enforce upon his son the conviction that his sole prospect of 
 a happy life rests in devout and liberal services to this great 
 disposer. For the terror of all sceptics, they tell that on 
 one occasion some robbers scaled the temple wall at night, 
 violated the shrine, took all the valuables, bore away in 
 their sacrilegious hands the very god, and carried him to a 
 distance of several miles. liut he was not to be kept from 
 his favoured altar. So, by a single bound, he passed from 
 the hands of the thieves and replaced himself in his wonted
 
 MY CIKCUIT 171 
 
 position, to tlic unuttemble joy of his worshippers, who, on 
 his being missed, had spent a sorrowful morning. There are 
 not wanting those who say waggishly that the pockets of some 
 of the rich men know well how the miracle was performed. ^ 
 
 The honours of Gubbi Appa are frequent and punctually 
 rendered. Every day he has a morning and evening sacrifice. 
 The holy lamp is trimmed ; libations of oil and ghee ("clari- 
 fied butter ") are poured upon the god and before him ; 
 offerings are presented, according to the mind of the devotee, 
 of fruits, flowers, ghee, prepared rice, or, in special cases, of 
 clothes, jewels, or, precious metals. The priest waves the 
 offering before the idol, walks round him with it in his 
 hand, then takes a part, and gives back the rest. Ordinarily 
 the worshipper is content with an invocation and namashhn, 
 an obeisance, in which the hands are joined and raised to 
 the forehead, which is bowed low. If, however, the occa^ 
 sion be solemn or his devotion great, he performs the lowlier 1 
 S'hhtanga,'-^ in which the forehead, chest, shoulders, both 
 hands and both feet must simultaneously touch the groijadrJ 
 There is no united worship. At the evening sacrifice it is 
 usual to ring a bell, which sounds loudly over the town ; 
 then the musicians and temple-women assembling, play, 
 
 ^ This tale forcibly reminded nie of one with which I had been lourr 
 familiar. On the coast of Mayo, between the town of Westport and 
 Croagh I'atrick, there is a well much resorted to by pilgrims. Rags 
 of all colours are fixed about the sacred spot, bleaching in the sun and 
 rain, the hope being that as the colour leaves them ihe sins of the 
 pilgrim are purged. In this holy well is a holy trout (idolatry will 
 make anything holy but the human heart), which sometimes rejoices 
 the penitents by coming out and eating of the crumbs they cast to it. 
 At one time some Protestant soldiers from the neighbouring town 
 seized the holy trout, and, carrying him to their barracks, were 
 enjojing the sacrilegious thought of eating that which the deluded 
 Papists held sacred. But no sooner did they place him on a gridiron 
 than he bounded away to his own dear well, some mile or two distant, 
 where to this day. he bears on one side the mark of the gridiron ! ■ 1 
 
 - [Sdt:htdnga — {\')TOistra.tion with) the eight members; the eight ' 
 being those enumerated in the text, replacing '■ shoulder?," however, i 
 by " the two knees."] — !_l
 
 172 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 dance, and sing before the idol. About the orgies enacted 
 in the temples of India quite as much has been published 
 as is useful; but those who have done so have this justifica- 
 tion, that it was necessary to lay bare all the abominations 
 which riot in Hinduism, that the ties by which our authorities 
 had bound it to them, if proof against every milder agency, 
 might be burnt up at last by shame. 
 
 In India no god is thought sufficiently honoured without 
 a parisli6 — a day of devotional festivity — once a year. With 
 modifications from our climate and local customs, the parishe 
 is fairly represented by the patron, or annual feast day of a 
 patron saint or tutelar god, in Ireland. The patron is the 
 great day of the year, a day for the exercise of all kinds of 
 devotion and the indulgence of all kinds of depravity, for 
 penances and gambling, for paying vows and drunkenness, 
 for masses and match-makings, for invoking saints and 
 feeing showmen. Such also is a parishe, but with more 
 parade, less intemperance, and abundantly more of nocturnal 
 licence. Gubbi Appa being far above the ordinary rank 
 of tutelar divinities, his parishd extends over a whole week. 
 One day, as this festive season was drawing nigh, we saw a 
 train of well-dressed natives make for the rnission-housp, 
 led by the shetti and yajanii'nia, the two great municipal 
 authorities;. L'^aving their slippers at a short distance from 
 the house, they advanced with that graceful formality in 
 which they excel, made low mJaams, presented some limes 
 and plantains, and proceeded to pay compliments, which, if 
 " done into English," would sound more ludicrous than respect- 
 ful. After a while, we were informed that they had come 
 to ask a favour, which they hoped would not be denied. 
 Th.Q parislii was approaching; but one wheel of the great 
 car was damaged, and it was found difficult to obtain suit- 
 able timber for a new one, for they are not made with spokes, 
 but of solid wood, in the ancient fashion. When Mr. 
 Hodson was building the mission-house, he had bought 
 and felled some trees ; one of these remained ; it was the
 
 MY CIRCUIT 173 
 
 very thing for their purpose ; and now they had come to 
 entreat that we would be " favourable, and command them 
 this tree." In vain did we protest that we could not in any 
 way abet idolatry. All who have been in India can bear 
 witness to the importunity of a Hindu applicant. Resolute 
 as a barrister and pertinacious as a tax-gatherer, he assails you 
 on every side. He seems to make it a point of honour not 
 to take a denial : it is a reflection on his power of flattery 
 and knowledge of character, on both of which points they 
 pique themselves. You are entreated, wheedled, and be- 
 praised until, if you persist in refusing till he is beaten off, 
 you feel very much as if you had gained a battle. In the 
 present case they did not want for numbers, for skill, or 
 perseverance ; they argued, they prayed, they cajoled, but 
 all in vain ; it was a matter of conscience, and we stood 
 there. At length, one who was very familiar with me 
 turned to me and said, "Are you not my friend?" 
 "Certainly." "Well, then, as you are my friend, and as 
 you have an objection to give the tree to Gubbi Appa, 
 you can just make a present of it to me, and I will be very 
 thankful for it." This was a stroke of rhetoric by which 
 they plainly thought I was fairly placed in a dilemma. " It 
 would delight me," I replied, " to give you any private mark 
 of friendship ; but, knowing that you want it for the service 
 of an idol, it would be a sin for me to give it to you, and 
 one must not commit sin for any friend." This evidently 
 disconcerted them ; and I added, " Now, does it not strike 
 you as strange 1 We came here for the very purpose of 
 turning you from the worship of Gubbi Appa, declaring 
 that he is only an image ; that he can do nothing for you ; 
 that, indeed, he can do nothing for himself. AVe have never 
 asked anything from Gubbi Appa since we came, yet we 
 have everything we want ; but here comes Gubbi Appa to 
 us, saying, ' I am a very great god, and have many worship- 
 pers ; they are going to make me a grand feast, and I want 
 to go and see them ; but I am lame, and cannot go : won't
 
 174 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 you help meV Is it not strange that Gubbi Appa should 
 come as a petitioner to nsl" They soon took leave, with 
 obeisances far less dignified than those of their introduction. 
 Before the day for commencing the feast, the top of the 
 car was towering among the trees. The prints which every 
 one has seen of tlie car of Jagannath give a just idea of the 
 vehicles used for idol processions all over the country — a 
 ponderous structure of wood, rising through several successive 
 storeys in the form of a tower, and resting on four giant 
 Avheels of solid wood. On the appointed day crowds of 
 people flocked to the sacred spot from every direction. They 
 had no means of shelter, and therefore selected a place under 
 some tree where they might sleep, engaging it by preoccupa- 
 tion. With the devotees was a proportionate number of 
 jugglers, showmen, and gamblers. Those swinging boxes 
 popular in English fairs (called, I believe, " whirligigs "), in 
 which four persons ride at a time, and, revolving vertically, 
 are in turn above and below, were whirling boisterous freights 
 of urchins. I^ot a few were enjoying the excitement of 
 cock-fights and ram-fights, the latter being a favourite 
 pastime with the Hindus, but the former chiefly practised 
 by the Muhammadans. Early in the evening, when enter- 
 ing the eastern gate, we were met by a stately procession. 
 A band of music led the way. Then came a train of ladies, 
 the wives of the merchants residing in the fort, who had 
 exhausted their own skill and their husband's wealth to make 
 themselves splendid. Their silks were costly, their jewels 
 profuse ; they shone with gold ; and, as they walked, silver 
 music tinkled on their ankles. Their cheeks were saffroned, 
 their teeth vermilioned, and their black eyes surrounded 
 with a circle of auxiliary blackness. They marched with a 
 slow and reverential grace, each lady holding upon the 
 palms of her hands (palnias supi7iaK) two vessels, some of 
 polished brass, some of silver, on which were tastefully 
 arranged banana?, mangoes, pineapples, pomegranates, limes, 
 oranges, and tufts of cusha grass, or the sacred tulasi. They
 
 MY CIRCUIT 175 
 
 were on too high an errand to walk on vulgar earth. Before 
 them a man spread upon the ground a succession of silk 
 cloths, such as are used by the ladies for garments ; and on 
 these garments, thus strewed on the way, they walked the 
 whole distance from the fort to the temple, ahout half a mile, 
 that they might with becoming reverence approach a presence 
 so august as that of Gubbi Appa, the old schoolmaster ! 
 
 Towards nightfall the crowd stood densely over all the 
 ground spreading before the temple. A small mantapa, or 
 domed canopy, supported by stone pillars, and covering a 
 small raised platform, stood about half-way between the 
 temple and the car, and was used as a station, or resting- 
 place, for the idol. Flambeaux gleamed on the dark faces 
 and variegated attire of the thick mass. Hosts of musicians 
 tortured the air into excruciating cries, as if it were in mortal 
 pain. Groups of gaily-dressed temple-women added to the 
 brilliancy and to the blackness of the scene. Gaudy flags 
 hanging out from the car waved gently, and a thick rope 
 from each side stretched far before it. Between it and the 
 mantapa we stood preaching the gospel of Christ to a serried 
 crowd of listeners. Presently came a priest, bearing in one 
 hand a small brass vessel, and in the other a bunch of cusha- 
 grass. He walked slowly round the car and round the 
 mantapa, which he then ascended ; and, dipping the bunch 
 of grass into the holy water, carefully sprinkled the spot on 
 which the god was about to rest. By this rite India seemed 
 brought into present and vivid connection with ancient and 
 modern Kome. One might have been watching a Romish 
 priest, either of our own day or that of Virgil. Who ever 
 witnessed the close of burial service in a church on the 
 Continent, without being vividly reminded of the very same 
 scene as occurring at the grave of the hapless minstrel ? — 
 
 " Idem ter socios pura circuratulit unda, 
 Spargens rore levi, et lamo felicis olivie : 
 Lustravitique viros, dixitique novissima veilia." 
 
 ^Ea., lib. vi , v. 230.
 
 176 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 A moment or two after this, a band of music issued from 
 the temple, accompanied by a blaze of torchlight and a 
 troop of dancing-girls. Priests and wealthy votaries followed; 
 then, borne on men's shoulders, a richly-caparisoned litter, 
 on which sat the idol, covered with a graceful canopy. On 
 each side were men plying large fans, to protect him from 
 dust and flies. The march was slow, solemn, and devotional. 
 It might have been the ark of the Lord. On reaching the 
 mantapa, they rested the god for a few minutes ; and then, 
 reaching the car, began to pace round it a slow circuit ; but, 
 when approaching us, the litter suddenly stopped, and the 
 men moved back a few paces, as if dragged involuntarily. 
 This was repeated several times, leaving us to infer that the 
 god was offended at our presence, and would not proceed ; 
 but not choosing to see the cause of his reluctance, we kept 
 our ground ; and at length some of the great men, seizing on 
 the pole of the litter, pulled it heartily forward, by which 
 zeal the indignation of Gubbi Appa was appeased ; for he 
 forthwith proceeded, and in a few minutes was upon his 
 lofty throne. A suite of priests surrounded him, and the 
 fan-men fanned lustily. Immediately on seeing him seated, 
 the people took hold of the ropes in front, forming two long 
 lines of men, with a space of three or four yards between. 
 In this space the musicians and temple-women took their 
 post. At this moment the car, with its enormous height, its 
 waving flags, and the airy figures perched on high, towered 
 imi)ressively in the glaring torchlight. The long avenue of 
 human beings in front, centred by the group of dancers, gave 
 it a touch of new and wild sublimity, before which curiosity, 
 wonder, and weeping struggled for the mastery. The band 
 struck up, the dance began, the men at the ropes gave a 
 shout, and stretched to the draught. There was a moment's 
 pause ; then the ponderous vehicle trembled, creaked, sliook, 
 and rumbled forward with a heavy crashing. At that instant 
 rose from the centre to the utmost edge of that throng a loud, 
 reverent, but exulting cry, Swamif Sivdmi! "0 God!
 
 MY CIRCUIT 177 
 
 God ! " Thousands of voices swelled that invocation ; 
 thousands of heads bowed low. The lost race might have 
 risen to hail the Redeemer, " travelling in the greatness of 
 His strength, mighty to save." Then from all sides a shower 
 of plantains rained on the car ; and, as they rebounded, 
 happy, happy did he seem who secured a fruit sanctified by 
 the touch of a thing so holy. The moving tower rumbled 
 on, and the hapless people shouted. Little did they think 
 tliat that wretched idol was both the sign of their darkness 
 and the instrument of their undoing. Their lamentable 
 glee, and the magnitude of the car, irresistibly reminded you 
 of the Trojans rejoicing about the pompous trophy that 
 carried, but concealed, their destruction. And these were 
 men ! And they were our fellow-subjects ! And they must 
 die, and meet God ! And our fathers were once as dark as 
 they I A procession of maniacs to hail madness, or of 
 skeletons to honour famine, or of corpses to welcome 
 plague, could hardly touch you with a stranger or sadder 
 thrill. 
 
 After the first great day, the attendance on the feast 
 diminished ; but throughout the week the ceremonies went 
 on. Every night the idol made a procession, the vehicle 
 being varied each time, — an elephant, a kite, a peacock 
 and other forms, being called into requisition. Every 
 evening we had a large and attentive audience. We 
 pitched our little tent close by the ground, in order to 
 be near the people during the heat of the day, that 
 we might have op[)ortunities of conversing with them. 
 But our house was such an object of curiosity that the 
 numbers coming to see it were quite sufficient to furnish 
 us with a perpetual congregation. While we reasoned 
 with them freely on religious subjects, we conciliated them 
 by gratifying their curiosity. It is often said, by persons 
 who ought to know the Hindus, that they have no 
 curiosity, which is just as true as the favourite assertion 
 that they have no gratitude. Their capability of the latter
 
 178 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 is not very often tested ; and the existence of the former is 
 frequently concealed by their good breeding, or their pride, 
 which does not like to look ignorant. Everything in our 
 house was wonderful, for the domestic inventory of a Hindu 
 is complete when he has got four walls, a roof, a floor, a few 
 waterpot^ and cooking-pots, a pestle and mortar to pound 
 rice with,^ and a handmill, exactly the same as is still found 
 on the west coast of Ireland, and in some of the Scottish 
 isles, under the name of a quern. A mat for a bed is a 
 comfort ; a ratna kambli — just one of our hearthrugs — is the 
 couch of the luxurious ; carpets are for kings. The dry, 
 clean floor is both chair and table ; the plates are made daily 
 as the meal is cooking, by stitching together a few leaves ; 
 knives are not needed to cut rice — practised fingers make 
 good spoons ; a Brahman has as much notion of a fork as 
 had that worthy Briton, Caractacus ; and a Hindu lady knows 
 as much about a china service as did King Alfred's mother. 
 The cloth that covers a man by day wraps him by night — a 
 custom plainly common in the time of Moses, from Exod. 
 xxii. 26, 27 : "If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment 
 to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun 
 goeth down ; for that is his covering only, it is his raiment 
 for his skin : wherein shall he sleep ] " If a man be so 
 luxurious as to have under him a mat or rug, he is ready, at 
 a moment's warning, to roll up his bed, put it under his arm, 
 and walk away. He sleeps as comfortably under a tree as 
 in a house. The houses of the rich differ from those of the 
 poor only in being larger, furnished with better vessels, a 
 few mats and rugs, and perhaps one or two silver drinking- 
 cups. Those who came from remote villages stared at our 
 rooms with pure bewilderment. The table first took their 
 notice: "What is that? What is it for?" And hard it 
 was to make them comprehend how we should need such a 
 cumbrous thing to eat off, a matter they managed with 
 
 ^ This must not be fancied on the scale of a chemist's shop. The 
 pestle is a hard stick as thick and long as a man's arm.
 
 MY CIRCUIT 179 
 
 perfect comfort from their knees. ^ A bed was wonderful, 
 and a chair mysterious. The books were objects of special 
 marvelling. One day a fine old man, with white hair, after 
 having wondered over and over again at everything in my 
 study, from the steel pen to the Venetian blinds, said, 
 pointing across the verandah to Mr. Male's study, " May I 
 go into that house 1" He had scarcely entered, when his 
 eye fell on the Centenary volume,- which lay on the table, 
 beautifully bound in red russia, Avith gilt edges. " "What is 
 that 1" he cried; pointing to it with delight and surprise. 
 " A book." " A book 1 " exclaimed the old man ; " that a 
 book]" The printing astounded, and the portraits en- 
 raptured him. " What do you do with it ? " he cried ; 
 "what do you do with if?" "Why, read it, to be sure." 
 "What, do you do nothing but read it? Oh, if we 
 had it in our village, we would do j:>i(;'a (worship) to 
 it ! " Some of them had heard of a watch, and craved a 
 sight of that strange thing. They would eye it at a distance, 
 hearken to the ticks like a child, then eye it again, venture 
 to take it in their hand, turn it round and round, and watch 
 the hands, — uttering notes of high amazement. What was 
 it 1 How did it know the time ? Where could it be got 1 
 How long would it live 1 And a flood of such interrogatories 
 poured upon you. They would insist that it was alive, 
 " Look at it — it moves ; listen to it — it speaks ; if speech 
 and motion are not attributes of life, what are 1 " They can 
 themselves tell the time with remarkable exactness, either by 
 the length of their .shadows, or by the position of the sun in 
 the sky, — a kind of horography ill adapted to our cloudy 
 regions. As the length of the days does not vary more than 
 thirty minutes during the course of the year, they suppose it 
 to be perfectly equable. Owing to this my watch was in 
 
 ' [Hindus do 7iol eat from their knees. Their plate, generally 
 made of leaves, but sometimes of metal, is always placed on the Hoor, 
 and the man sits cross-legged beside it. ] 
 
 - Centenary of Methodism, by Kev. T. Jackson.
 
 180 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 danger of losing its character ; for when, in December, I 
 happened to say it was not quite six o'clock, although the 
 sun had set, they replied, " Who ever heard of the sun setting 
 earlier one day than another 1 No, no ; the sun always sets 
 at six ; he must be right ; the watch is wrong." ^ 
 
 Gubbi Appa is indisputably the most honoured god of 
 the town and neighbourhood, but he is by no means the 
 only one. To worship only one god is not in the nature of 
 Hinduism. A secret distrust of the favourite deity is mani- 
 fested by a search after others.- The temple of Gubbi Appa 
 stands, as has been said, outside the eastern gate. A few 
 yards within that gate in the main street an open building 
 attracts your eye to an altar of the god Mailappa. Facing 
 you at the head of the same street is a small building to 
 the goddess Yellamma. It is of mud — mean and neglected- 
 looking. But when the cholera was scourging the town, 
 here centred the general hope. They did not take any 
 medicine. They would say, " Medicine is for diseases, but 
 cholera is no disease. Yellamma just determines to kill a 
 certain number of persons, and for that jiurpose put a fire 
 in their belly. To take medicine only enrages her, and 
 makes her kill more." Sacrifices are esteemed the only 
 remedy, and to these they had resort. I saw the heads of 
 the buffaloes ranged before this disgusting idol, and the 
 I)lace around slippery with their blood. The priests 
 managed to delay this sacrifice mitil the disease was 
 abating, but the day after it was offered it broke out 
 anew. After a fortnight had elapsed without a case, they 
 repeated it, but tlie next day a person was seized. This 
 gave us a great advantage in reasoning with them. Where 
 they are within reach of English doctors the success of their 
 treatment soon does away with the prejudice against medicine. 
 
 In the same street with this temple is a large one with an 
 
 ^ This, of course, dots not ajiply to the Jotishas, who well under- 
 stand the variation in the length of the day. See Vishnu Pitrdna. 
 - [This cannot be maintained.]
 
 MY CIRCriT 181 
 
 immense image of 15asava, the ox. Few idols are more 
 honoured than he : his temples are numerous, his wor- 
 shippers everywhere. He is the vahana, or " steed," of 
 Shiva. They say that to honour the steed is to honour 
 the rider, and if they arc not worthy to approach the 
 supreme Shiva they may yet draw near to his steed. Two 
 huge bulls, as fat as they could live, were constantly 
 perambulating the streets with u seal on the hip which 
 served to attest their sacredness. They seem conscious 
 that they are free of the whole town. You see them 
 quietly walk up to the baskets of a grain dealer to levy a 
 contribution, which he tries to make as light as possible 
 by coaxing the god away ; but woe to the profane wretch 
 who would strike his sacred hide, no matter how heavily 
 he may tax his stores ! It has been put to me as a deep 
 question in ethics, whether it were lawful to drive Basava 
 out of a cornfield, and if so, whether violence might be 
 used. Once an arch ryot said, " Oh yes, it is lawful ; for if 
 Basava were left in the field he might eat too much, and 
 hurt himself." Their veneration for these animals is very 
 deep. Sometimes while sitting in one of the shops a man 
 has broken off the conversation, and run into the middle of 
 the street in order to worship one of them that happened to 
 be passing. No crime is held so revolting as cow murder. 
 Had one of us killed a poor old woman of the out-castes, it 
 would not have raised a hundredth part of the commotion 
 that would have followed our getting a beefsteak or a fillet 
 of veal. Sometimes, when we had been preaching against 
 sin, they would say, " You padres are certainly remarkable 
 men ; you have only one sin, but that is as bad as all ours — 
 you are murderers ; we have a great many sins, but we are 
 not murderers." In this they alluded to our eating fowls 
 and mutton, for with them all life-taking is murder. This 
 prejudice is so deep that I sometimes felt disposed to eat 
 only vegetables, but was decided against that course from 
 the consideration that it would be a concession of Scriptural
 
 182 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 truth, and would seem at least a recognition of the dogma, 
 "All life is the same," out of which, this prejudice arises. 
 All that proceeds from the cow is holy. The domestic uses 
 of her droppings have been already mentioned ; but they 
 have far higher offices. Made into pills and swallowed, 
 they are highly effectual for inward purification. The 
 panehagavija, or five products of the cow, including the 
 nauseous with the pleasant, are, when taken by a penitent 
 — whose penitence, by the way, consists in taking them — 
 effectual, as the Abbe Dubois, quoting from a native author, 
 informs us, " to the remission of all sins," even when " com- 
 mitted with a perfect knowledge." It is a wonderful thing 
 to see a man with strong sense looking you full in the fiice, 
 and confidently maintaining this mischievous absurdity. 
 Monday is specially sacred to Basava, and on that day it 
 is not lawful to put him to the yoke, but that rule is 
 observed only by few.^ 
 
 In the very next street to the temple of Basava is one to 
 Bala Eama,- one of the incarnations of Vishnu. To a curse 
 of this god the Brahmans ascribe the exclusion of their caste 
 from the kingly office. He gave them the whole earth ; 
 and then, to test their generosity, asked for as much land as 
 he could stand on, that he might perform austerities. They, 
 with their characteristic greediness — a disposition they no 
 more seem to think of concealing than a soldier thinks of 
 concealing his bayonet — at once refused, and began to up- 
 braid him with the contemptible sin of dattapahara, "snatch- 
 ing back a gift." Incensed at this, he cursed them to the 
 effect, that no Brahman should ever hold the sovereign right 
 of any land, and should enjoy it only by grant from a prince 
 of inferior caste. Passing from this point through a narrow 
 lane, you find a small mud temple, kept very clean, with an 
 
 ^ [Farmers rarely plough on a Monday, but carriers will yoke their 
 bullocks to the cart on that day.] 
 
 '^ There have been three Rainas : Parusha Rama, Bala Eama, and 
 Sri or Dasharatha Rama.
 
 MV riRcuiT 183 
 
 image of M;uiamma, the goddess of disease, in the same 
 material. She is painted and decked with flowers. In the 
 fort is a temple to lianumanta, the monkey generalissimo ; 
 and another to Shiva the Destroyer, or, as one of the 
 Shilstras calls him, "the fierce lord of devils." Ilis images 
 usually represent him adorned with coils of serpents and a 
 necklace of human skulls. The head of Bramha the Creator, 
 which he cut off with his nail, is sometimes placed in his hand. 
 Besides these public altars, every house has its j;e?ia<es, 
 they being selected according to preference. Of these, 
 perhaps the most important is Vighni'shwara,^ the god of 
 difficulties, of wisdom, and of gluttony. This hideous idol 
 far outdoes Horace's fancy of a human head on a horse's 
 neck. His form is perfectly unaccountable. An elephant's 
 head rests stupidly on a monstrous rotundity of paunch, 
 which a band encircles, and from behind it two little legs 
 are poking, as if it were a boy hiding behind a hogshead, 
 and holding on the top of it an elephant's head. The image 
 is odious enough, but the explanation increases the disgust. 
 Born from the excrement of Parvati, Shiva's wife, he was 
 her doorkeeper. Having offended Kumara, he cut off his 
 head, which loss Shiva repaired by decapitating an elephant, 
 and giving him the severed member. He avowed an un- 
 natural passion, and was doomed to perpetual celibacy. On 
 a certain occasion he ate till he was in the act of bursting, 
 when his brother Yirabbadra snatched up a snake and 
 wound it round him to save his life, which explains 
 the band now encircling his body. INIan is far fallen ; yet 
 one would think it impossible that he could worship such 
 an image with such a history. But the honours of 
 Yighneshwara are not impeded either by his deformity or 
 his crimes. He holds firm monarchy over the hopes of 
 millions. It is his to give wisdom and scatter difficulties ; 
 nothing can succeed without his smile. The ceremonies 
 attending the various stages of life ; the solemnities of 
 ' Called also Ganesa and Puliiir.
 
 184 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 marriage; the commencement of a journey or a book — in 
 fact, every important undertaking must be preceded by 
 sacrifices to " the lord of difficulties." One of the finest 
 stanzas in the opening of the Jaimani is in praise of his 
 loathsome figure, comparing his countenance to the dawning 
 day! 
 
 Another favourite household god is Yenkatramana, the 
 idol of the great temple at Tirupati, from which our Govern- 
 ment so long derived a disreputable income in the shape of 
 pilgrim tax. The image used for family devotion is a copper 
 cast, hardly so large as one's little finger. Many a time I 
 was told that our countrymen thought more of him than all 
 the gods, and that his English name was " the Collector," 
 because he brought in such handsome revenues. 
 
 Krishna, again, is a favourite family god. He is wor- 
 shipped in an image not bigger than an infant's fist, which 
 represents him as a creeping child, having both hands filled 
 with butter just stolen from his mother's dairy. This feat, 
 performed at the age of nine months, you are soberly in- 
 formed, was a proof of his divinity ; as was also the fact 
 that he had sixteen wives and sixteen thousand concubines. 
 His history is a concrete of vices. From very infancy he 
 rejoiced in theft, lying, libertinism, and murder. All his wives 
 _and concubines had children, every one of whom he killed. 
 
 Of all the domestic idols of Gubbi, there is none for 
 number of votaries or depth of zeal to be compared with the 
 Linga, a word we may not translate. Most of the people 
 carry it on the chest in a shining box of silver ; but some 
 have it bound on the arm, and some inserted in the hajr. 
 It is daily worshipp ed, j Of all the inventions of Hinduism 
 this is the most flagitious, the most loathsome, the most un- 
 accountable. One cannot but wonder into what strange 
 chaos of lawless imaginings temptation had borne him who 
 first conceived this hateful allVont to the conscience of man, to 
 the dignity of God ; or by what insjtiration of Satanic audacity 
 he dared to utter the concei)tion when formed, or by what
 
 :\iY CIRCUIT 185 
 
 diabolic pollution the heart of man was so corrupted that it 
 did not spurn with impetuous hostility a dogma so shameful, 
 and scorch with the wrath of general society the wretch that 
 ventured to propound it. 
 
 Perhaps to this head of pcnafi's properly hclongs the 
 worship ])aid to im])lements of industry. A workman, before 
 taking up any tool in the morning, usually raises liis hand to 
 his head by way of reverence, that it may be propitious and 
 cheerfully serve his purpose. On the great day of the 
 Gauri feast everyone brings forth his tools, — the clerk his 
 style or pen, the tailor his needles, the goldsmith his 
 hammer, the blacksmith his bellows, the barljer his razors, 
 the carpenter his hatchet, the labourer his plough, the house- 
 wife her baskets, iiandmill, and waterpots, — each, having 
 gathered his own articles into a heap, presents an offering 
 of incense, flowers, fruit, and grain ; then, falling prostrate, 
 invokes them as gods, and prays that they will continue 
 to be propitious and afford him the means of subsistence. 
 
 During the Dipavali, or " feast of lamps," — and for 
 contirmation of this almost incredible statement I am glad 
 to refer to the work of the Abbe Dubois, — they actually go 
 to the dunghill, place upon it a kindled lamp, with an offer- 
 ing of prepared rice, fruit, and perfume, and, with acts of 
 reverence, pray that it may be propitious and fertilise their 
 ground ! 
 
 The heart grows sick in relating these things, but how sick 
 in beholding them ! Yet the description is far from com- 
 plete. Sunday is specially sacred to Garuda, the holy 
 vulture. On that morning I have often seen a number of 
 Brdhmans standing on the north side of a certain street and 
 looking intently to the sky. All the faces were intelligent, 
 the air of some highly contemplative, and, marking their 
 thoughtfid looks and upward gaze, you would have supposed 
 they were spurning the Avays of vulgar men and conversing 
 with holy things. But suddenly one gives a signal to tlie 
 rest ; in an instant every head turns toward the point
 
 186 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 indicated ; then the joined hands are lifted up like a child 
 at prayer, and every lip utters the sacred invocation, Swami. 
 And, as they adored, the white breast and bright brown wing 
 of the Garuda swept by. It was a sorrowful sight for a 
 Sabbath morn. This bird is voracious, and useful because he 
 preys on snakes ; his sacredness makes him tame, but he is 
 cowardly. He is the steed of Vishnu, and his worshippers 
 frequently address him by the name Hari, which belongs to 
 that high dignitary. One of the Shastras calls Garuda 
 " the lord of all things movable and immovable." Offerings 
 of food are presented to him, sometimes by being placed on 
 the ground within his sight, sometimes by being thrown up 
 into the air to be caught in his claws. 
 
 In the early morning I have passed an ant-hill, at the 
 base of which was a hole neatly strewn with flowers. This 
 hole was a temple, and these flowers offerings. The being 
 whose presence gave awe to this unlikely shrine was the 
 potent Adi Seslia, the cobra di capello. The utility of 
 the cow and of the kite, the monkey's cunning and 
 resemblance to the human figure, have raised them to the 
 very accessible elevation of heathen gods ; and the serpent 
 has gained the same distinction by his terrors, as did the 
 crocodile in ancient Egypt. His image graces most temples, 
 and some are reared to his sole honour. The most celebrated 
 of these in the Mysore, and, I believe, one of the largest in 
 India, is at Subrahmanya, a place considerably to the west of 
 Gubbi. There a spacious temple is devoted to serpents, 
 who, under a long protection, have vastly increased, and 
 crawl about every corner. A retinue of priests is in attend- 
 ance, by whom they are plentifully served Avith milk, butter, 
 plantains, and other agreeable nourishment, (How must a 
 man feel who is consecrated the priest of a snake V) This 
 temple is very popular ; streams of worshippers pour to its 
 solemnities from all the surrounding districts.^ The serpent, 
 great everywhere, is on that spot extolled as supreme. Not 
 ' [Tliis is by no means the only tenijile of the kinil.J
 
 MY CIRCL'IT 187 
 
 that they believe him to be so, but they look on ilattery as on 
 (j]iee — they love it themselves, and think the gods must love 
 it. No man of the higher castes will kill the cobra, in con- 
 sequence of wliich they abound in the country. At Gubbi 
 I have leaped on the grass Avithin a foot or two of one, and 
 wo have liad three kiUed in our ground in a day. One 
 morning, when returning after preaching at a distant village, 
 two men were passing whom I knew, and I entered 
 into conversation with them. My whip took their atten- 
 tion ; they said the thong was evidently made after the 
 pattern of a snake. " Yes," said one, " it is exactly like 
 the one we have just seen." This led me to inquire, and 
 I learned that they had just watched a cobra into a hole 
 near the mission-house. "Why did you not kill if?" I 
 asked. " Kill him ] " they said ; " kill him 1 He is our god ! " 
 They were quite willing, however, to show me the hole, and 
 stood quietly by while I called my horsekeeper, when we 
 filled the hole with water, waited to see if he would rise, 
 and poked him with a stick, on which he jetted up his head 
 and was speedily despatched. Just as we set upon him, our 
 two friends uttered some smothered exclamations, but, as 
 soon as the danger was over, came forward and, looking at 
 certain marks on the neck, said that a person would only 
 survive his bite for three hours. This they professed to 
 determine by the marks, saying that they indicated the age, 
 just as those in the horns of a cow, and that the virus was 
 more or less powerful according to age. On another occasion 
 one was discovered in the " go-down," or storeroom, among 
 bottles. Being dusk, it was difficult to find him, but by 
 carefully removing the bottles— no very pleasant task, know- 
 ing what was there — we at last disturbed him. He hissed 
 loud and made a rush. ]\[r. Si|uarebridge, who happened to 
 be with us, fastened him against the wall with the point of 
 a stick, but in a position so awkward that it was impossible 
 to get a fair l)low at him, and should he slip, someone of us 
 must sutler. 15y taking short hold of the end of a whip I
 
 188 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 managed to get at his head, and hit j:>fl/, p^^t, pat, till he 
 seemed fairly stunned with the number of little blows ; 
 then we let him free, and soon finished the contest. It is 
 a singular illustration of the way in which depravity perverts 
 advantages, that the low castes kill this reptile and the high 
 castes adore it. When my munshi, a Erahman, learned on 
 the morning just referred to what had been done, he quite 
 lost his temper ; insisted, with much excitement, that I had 
 been guilty of a great crime in killing his god, and main- 
 tained that the serpent never injured anyone ; if it did bite 
 a person, and he died in consequence, it was only because 
 his fated time had come. They give it great credit for 
 intelligence, asserting that if anyone attack it and fiiil to 
 kill it, no matter where he may flee to, it traces him out, 
 and never rests till avenged by his death. The ryots are 
 afraid to leave the skeleton in the fields, saying young 
 serpents rise out of every bone — they burn it. They also 
 believe that the cobra di capello is only the female, pointing 
 out as the male a larger snake, which is not venomous, but 
 defends itself by lashing with its tail, for which reason it is 
 called the whip-snake. I have found these generally to 
 measure from eight to nine feet, while the cobra seldom 
 reaches seven. They add that if anyone happen to over- 
 look these two snakes when pairing they both give chase, 
 and do not rest till he is destroyed. 
 
 Surely this is enough — enough for wonder, for grief, for 
 satiety — but not enough to exhaust the manifold idolatries 
 of Gubbi. Inanimate nature is not overlooked in the 
 general lavishing of worshi]). In spring, when the crops are 
 rising, it is usual to hear frightful noises about the fields 
 at night. These proceed from ryots oU'ering sacrifices to 
 Bhdmi, the Earth, who is a goddess. The victim is usually 
 a goat, part of which is burnt, and in the dark the ashes are 
 carried to the fields, on the corners of which they are placed 
 in tessolated marks to warn away evil spirits, witchcraft, or 
 blighting winds. During this ceremony they set up horrible
 
 MY CIRCUIT 189 
 
 yells to scare oW ilmils. In the (Juni.sur country, a part 
 of India as yet but little known, this sacrifice demands a 
 human victim, lie is placed alive in the midst of a host 
 of ryots, each armed with a knife. They tie him to a post, 
 and at a given signal rush upon him. Each man cuts from 
 his person as large a piece as he can obtain in the struggle, 
 and immediately divides it among the people of his own 
 village, who hasten to their fields and bury in the soil the 
 morsel of palpitating fiesh. In one part of the Himalaya it 
 is done by making a rope fast at the head and foot of a 
 precipice a mile high, and forcing the victim to descend. 
 Should he alight on his feet he is free, but if he lose his 
 balance, even though still holding on sufficiently to prevent 
 his being killed by the fall, he is at once despatched on reach- 
 ing the ground. If, as is most likely to be the case, he parts 
 from the rope, of course he is dashed to pieces.^ 
 
 The sun, too, is a god, and a great one. The most sacred 
 of all mantras (forms of prayer), the Gayatri, is an invoca- 
 tion of this luminary.^ Its virtue is wonderfuk " He who, 
 seated opposite the sun, repeats it, is liberated from fear 
 and sickness, misfortunes cease, and unlawful meats, drinks, 
 intercourse and connections become pure and lawful."^ Of 
 the sun's private history the following curious passage is 
 given in the Ha7-l Vamsha : — " His wife, the daughter of the 
 Hindu Vulcan, found the heat of her situation so intense 
 that, after bearing it till almost consumed, she at last created 
 out of her own shadow a goddess, the perfect image of her- 
 self, and set off to her father's house. He refused to sanction 
 
 ^ Wallace's Memoirs of India. [Needless to say, these things have 
 long since ceased.] 
 
 - [The Oiiyatri is a short prayer to the suu as Savitri the Stimulator. 
 It is the most sacred of the Vedie texts, and is repeated by every 
 orthodox Hindu in his morning prayers. It runs thus: — "Let us 
 meditate on the transcendent glory of that divine Stimulator ; may 
 he stimulate our minds."] 
 
 ^ The Sunja Ndrai/ana Upaniahad, as quoted by Dr. Wilson, in 
 the Ecposure of Hiudiiitm.
 
 190 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the crime of forsaking her husband by admitting her ; on 
 which, rather than return, she transformed herself to a mare, 
 and betook herself to the wilderness as a solitary ascetic. 
 Surya (the sun) never suspected the cheat that had been 
 played upon him until, after the lapse of years, one day 
 Yama, his eldest son, came to him in great trepidation, 
 complaining that his mother had cursed him with a severe 
 doom. Surya demanded of his wife why she had pronounced 
 such a doom on her son ; and she justified herself by saying, 
 he had raised his foot to kick her. He then told Yama 
 that the curse, being pronounced, must take efi'ect ; but asked 
 how he came to think of kicking his mother. He said, he 
 was provoked by her constant partiality in dealing with the 
 children, indulging the younger ones, but being very harsh 
 towards him. The mother was now called to account, and, 
 in her confusion, acknowledged that she was not the mother 
 of Yama, but a counterfeit made from her shadow. Grieved 
 and indignant, Surya hastened to his father-in-law, and 
 bitterly accused him of concealing his wife. This he 
 denied, telling him he was so insufferably hot, she could 
 not live with him, and that no power could induce her to 
 return ; for she had refused, even when driven from his door 
 in disgrace. Plunged into the utmost sorrow, poor Silrya 
 asked if, with all his knowledge of the arts, he could not 
 discover means of reducing him to a bearable temperature ; 
 on which the great mechanic put him on his grindstone, and 
 ground oil' an immense host of rays, which he then collected 
 and forged into that terrible and mysterious weapon, the 
 chaJcra of Vishnu.^ The fugitive goddess was then sought 
 out ; and, perceiving the fires of Surya so greatly moderated, 
 _was prevailed upon to resume her natural relation." When 
 I first road this strange talc, it was in the presence of 
 
 ' The Vishnu Punlua adds — " The student of Sliiva, tlio weapon of 
 the god of wealth, tlie lance of Kaitikejii, and the weapons of the 
 other gods, — all those Vishwakarnia f.ibricatud from the .superfluous 
 rays of the sun."
 
 MY CIRCUIT 191 
 
 two Brahmans, to whom 1 freely expressed the incredulity 
 and amusement to which it gave rise. This they both 
 resented, and vindicated the truth of every word Avith what 
 an eloquent writer, speaking of Charles Simeon's preaching, 
 has called, " a contagious intensity of faith." "It must be 
 true," said they ; " it is in the Shustra ; the Shastra cannot 
 lie. If the Shastra lied, where could truth be found 1" It 
 is easy for those who have been educated in a land of 
 Bibles and free thoughts to say, with regard to the absurdities 
 of superstition : " They cannot believe them." Yes, they 
 can — they do ; men can believe anything. 
 
 The moon is not passed by : lie is a god ; and his functions 
 are not confined to nightly illuminations ; but, when the rain 
 has been exhaled from the earth, he receives and accommodates 
 it till the proper time for its return. The clouds also are 
 personated in the god Indra, who holds theiu chained up in 
 eight great masses, and at his i)leasure looses any one. When 
 he angrily smites them with his bolts, it thunders ; and the 
 rainbow appears when he draws his bow. The wind is a god. 
 The sea also is a god, whose Avaters are signally efficacious 
 to purify,— -a single bath sufficing to wash away sin. On the 
 coast, cocoa-nuts and other offerings are cast upon his Avaves. 
 
 Then the poor soul of the Hindu crouches before several 
 members of the vegetable family. It has already been said 
 that the noble old banyan, before described, has beneath it 
 an altar to its OAvn honour. The banyan tree is everywhere 
 held to be divine. The araJc, ov Jicus relujiusa, is Avorshi^jped 
 as an avatdra of Vishnu, Avho took its shape Avith the same 
 object as Jupiter had in becoming a sAvan. The beautiful 
 margosa also is included in the pantheon. It is not unusual 
 to see these tAvo trees growing so closely together that their 
 branches intermingle, and surrounded by a Ioav Avail, in token 
 that they live in Avedlock, the marriage ceremony having 
 been performed by a priest Avith all due solemnities. The 
 herb tulasi, Avhich is used at almost every religious festivity, 
 is a transformation of one of Vishnu's unlaAvful Avives, to
 
 192 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 whom he was so devoted that, when metamorphosed into a 
 plant, he resolved to abide with her, and for that purpose 
 became the shcilagnima, a black schistous stone, which is, on 
 this account, held to be adorable. Mora Bhatta Dandhekarii, 
 in ably defending the superstitions of his country against 
 Dr. Wilson of Bombay, asks, " How can His (God's) honour 
 be tarnished by saying that fire, the cow, the shalar/rdma, 
 and other things, so holy and purifying, are His very glory 1" 
 These vegetable deities have sacrifices presented during the 
 feast of Dipavali. The cocoa-nut tree is appropriately held 
 to be an embleui of gratitude ; for man brings it water 
 when young and weak, which, when strong, it yields him 
 back in a delicious form. It is highly valued and frequently 
 personated, but does not receive divine honours. I am not 
 prepared to say that it is never worshipped : no doubt it is ; 
 for you can hardly fix on an object, animate or inanimate, 
 useful or noxious, but some time or other has the soul of a 
 man cringing before it and calling it God. 
 
 These are the leading features in the exterior of religion 
 in Gubbi. It is a dark picture — very dark, if considered 
 merely as to appearances ; but how woeful does that dark- 
 ness grow when we think that it is not a bare shape, not a 
 fugitive phenomenon, but the living representative of souls, 
 of their thoughts, their l^elief, their hopes, their morals ; of 
 the attributes they assign to God, the views they have of 
 their own destiny, the principles on wliicli they guide their 
 life. What state of soul is represented by bull- worship, by 
 monkey-worship, by vulture-worship, by serpent-worship, by 
 implement-worship, by tree-worship, by the worship of the 
 duiigliill ? What state of morals is represented by the 
 worship of Vighiushwara, and Krishna and the Linga ? 
 What state of hope is rei)resented by the worship of the 
 fierce and filthy destroyer, Shiva 1 Who, uh, who would 
 enter into one of those craven bodies, and be a hapless soul, 
 looking out upon a universe in which every monster is a 
 god, and every beast an 0([ual ; in wliicli men are vile, and
 
 MY CirvCUlT 193 
 
 gods far viler; and in the whole of which the weary eye 
 cannot rest on one pure being worthy to be loved with all 
 the heart, and soul, and mind, and strength 1 Is there any 
 curse one should feel more dreadful than to be transformed 
 into one of these dark souls, bereft of all knowledge of the one 
 holy and true God, of redemption, of the resurrection of the 
 dead, or the life of the world to come ; haunted by a count- 
 less horde of vicious powers, each one demanding our dread ; 
 looked down upon and bidden to crouch by soil and sea, by 
 tree and beast, by bird and snake ; and yet our immortality 
 left with us? The soul shrieks at the very thought, and 
 cries, " Make me miserable, or make me mad ; but oh, do not 
 make me a thing like that !" Yet such are the souls that 
 dwell in Gubbi, and such are the souls that, in our 
 wonderful realm of India, inhabit a thousand plains;. 
 
 In the vicinity of Gubbi were above twenty towns and 
 villages, which were formed into a regular circuit, and a 
 plan made by which they were visited in turn. Bidarc 
 was a considerable market-town. Chelur, a large village, 
 with about thirty temples. Hosahalli, Netagunta, Nara- 
 mangala, Lekeuahalli, and several others, were populous 
 villages, each with its gauda, or headman. The gauda is 
 of the same caste as the rest of the villagers, but has great 
 honour paid him from his office : he is the umpire in 
 disputes and the medium of all negotiations with Govern- 
 ment. In Hosahalli was a shekdar, a kind of revenue 
 and police magistrate, who holds jurisdiction over ten 
 gaudas. A few miles olf was Kadaba, a considerable town, 
 much under the influence of I^rahmaus, and the residence of 
 the amildar, who is judge and collector for a taluq, a district 
 including many shekdars. The amildar was a civil and in- 
 telligent Muhammadan, who hatl four wives, and married 
 the fifth while I was there. Chunchathalli was a neat 
 village, mainly inhabited by potters, who work in the open 
 air, shaping their ware with great dexterity on a simple 
 wheel fixed horizontally, and revolving close upon the ground, 
 
 13
 
 194 A Mission* TO THE ^[YSOEE 
 
 so as to permit the workmen, according to custom, to sit. 
 The pots are burnt in large open ovens. They make tiles, 
 waterpots, and cooking-pots ; but the fine wares and endless 
 variety of articles manufactured by their Chinese and 
 European brethren are unknown. Their most curious article 
 is a large vessel for holding grain, much the shape of a 
 Chinese jar, and capable of containing several gallons.^ 
 One hamlet was inhabited Avholly by stonecutters, who are a 
 low and ignorant caste ; and, if I remember rightly, one of 
 the few castes that permit a second marriage to young 
 widows. Another hamlet was occupied by shepherds, who 
 rank far below the cowherds. They have about them none 
 of the romance belonging, in our imaginations, to that 
 primitive calling. Once, in the dusk of the evening, I saw 
 a man running along the road, with his whole flock in close 
 pursuit, when, coming up to us, he crossed the road, and was 
 followed by every hoof : he stood still as we passed, and they 
 all clustered behind him. It strongly reminded me of the 
 Saviour's words, " My sheep hear My voice,'and follow Me." 
 Besides the places close about Gubbi, we included in 
 our plan Tumkur, a large market-town, about twelve miles 
 off. It is the residence of the superintendent of the 
 Chitaldrug division, and, in consequence, much resorted to 
 from all the surrounding country by those who have any 
 litigation, or other attraction to the seat of authority. It 
 would be an important post for a missionary, could one be 
 given to it.^ We also visited some villages in its neighbour- 
 hood. I cannot pass over this town without naming one 
 affecting occurrence. Close by the travellers' bungalow, far 
 from any place where Christians bury, stands the lonely 
 tomb of a British officer. One morning, about three o'clock, 
 
 ^ A vessel of like size and sliapc is shown in Colchester Castle, as of 
 the times of the Romans. 
 
 '^ [It is MOW a prosiicrous Wcsleyan Mission station, with about two 
 hundred and fifty church members, and a Christian congregation of 
 nearly six hundred.]
 
 MY CIRCUIT 195 
 
 Mr. Jenkins Avas calk'd up by a niaii, wlio delivered a note, 
 dated Tumkur, from a lady with whom he had some 
 acquaintance, in which she informed him that her husband 
 was dead, and begged he would hasten to her assistance. 
 
 He found that Captain had left his regiment at Hari- 
 
 har, to accompany his wife to ]Madras, who Avas obliged to 
 go to England by a total failure of health. Their three 
 children were with them. On their route lay Chitaldrug, 
 where cholera was raging. When between it and Tumkur, 
 
 Captain was seized with those symptoms, dreadful 
 
 anywhere, but doubly so on a lonely march. They 
 urged on in hopes of reaching Tumkur ; but, when seven 
 miles from it, his sufferings became so great, that he could 
 proceed no farther. The bearers laid him down on an oj^en 
 plain without either house or tree. He could not, for agony, 
 remain in the palanquin : he writhed upon the sand. For 
 hours he lay there enduring the pain of the disease, aggravated 
 by the bare ground and burning sun. His poor wife was too 
 feeble even to walk : she could only watch and weej). 
 Shade, or help, or friend, she had none. The only white 
 faces near were those of her children, whom she felt to be 
 already fatherless. They now came to mourn over papa, and 
 now went off to play. There sat that weakly lady, hour after 
 hour, watching her kind and excellent husband torn with 
 pains, till at last he lay a corpse on the lone roadside. She 
 got the bearers to carry their sorrowful burden to Tumkur, 
 certain, at least, of all that Christian hospitality could do, in 
 the house of the estimable Captain Uobbs. But he was 
 from home, and the servants in charge, finding she had a 
 dead body with her, refused admittance. The travellers' 
 bungalow, only just built, was incomplete, damp, and un- 
 furnished. Thither she went, her only care being how she 
 could place the remains of her husband in a decent grave. 
 She could not get any one to procure a colfin, or aught rise, 
 fit for interment. She was ill and weak, and not al)le to 
 bully the Musalman attendants, who care little for a
 
 196 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 woman in sorrow. Happily, she remembered there Wiis 
 an Englishman within twelve miles. INIr. Jenkins soon 
 obtained the things necessary for burial, and committed the 
 body to its lonely home. It was an affecting funeral ; but 
 hope, far better than a crowd of mourners was there. 
 
 Captain had long been seriously disposed, but a few 
 
 months before had evinced a decided religious change. For 
 some days he had seemed to be under a presentiment of 
 death, and spoke of its coming with a Christian's confidence. 
 The same evening the widow proceeded on her sorrowful 
 journey. 
 
 At the distance of about twenty-five miles from Gubbi, 
 is the town of Kunigal, with a population of about seven 
 thousand,^ a considerable manufactory of silk, and a Govern- 
 ment depot of young horses intended for the army. It is 
 situated on a noble tank, ten miles in circumference, the 
 shores of which are variegated with groves of date and 
 mulberry, clusters of bare rock, and, in the distance, blue 
 mountains, among which towers Shivaganga. Morals in 
 India are bad, very bad, but in Kunigal they are lower tlian 
 even the common level. A large proportion of the inhabit- 
 ants arc Miihammadans, and several of the horsekccpers are 
 Roman Catholics. These have a small chapel, with suitable 
 furniture of idols ; and it is no injustice to them to say, that 
 not in any one particular of knowledge or morality aie they 
 before the worst of their neighbours. They are favoured 
 with an occasional visit from a priest residing at Mysore, 
 who, after the habit of the Jesuits, calls himself a European 
 BiAhman, and maintains toward the people the relations 
 implied by that ca.ste. If his teaching were aimed to make 
 the people wise and good, it was utterly inn)otent for that ; 
 but it bore the indubitable voucher of genuine Romanism, in 
 a talismanic power to make bigots. The man who could not 
 make a liigot would be a poor agent of Popery. This priest 
 fully authenticated his mission ; for while heathen and 
 ' [Less than five tliousainl now.]
 
 MY CIKCUIT 197 
 
 Muhammadau came to hear the Word of God, not one of liis 
 people dared. The curse of God and the priest, denial of 
 absolution, penance?, purgatory, and hell, are mighty things 
 with an ignorant man, when put before him, not to check a 
 passion or enforce a virtue, but to aggravate a fictitious sin 
 or rouse a feeble prejudice. 
 
 In 1839 a piece of ground was obtained at Kunigal, on 
 which a house of two small apartments was built for a 
 missionary, and close by, a similar one for an assistant 
 missionary. In the opening of 1840, Mr. Squarebridge 
 and jNIr. Webber were appointed to the station. It was 
 considered part of the Gubbi circuit ; but, owing to the 
 distance, the work was conducted on a separate plan. Here 
 the villages lie even more thickly than round Gubbi, and 
 about forty of them were embraced in a regular circuit. 
 They were populous ; many of them, besides agricultural 
 pursuits, rearing silkworms and spinning silk. They were 
 everyone open to our fullest labours.^ 
 
 Measuring from Chelfir on the north, to below Kunigal 
 on the south, the length of our circuit was about forty miles ; 
 from Tumkilr on the east to the most Avesterly point, the 
 breadth was more than fifteen. It was not possible to bring 
 every jjlace within these limits under regular cultivation, 
 but only the most important towns, and the villages near 
 to Gubbi and Kunigal. Exclusive of villages, the towns 
 alone of the circuit embraced a population full four times 
 
 ' [Kunigal lias not been a niissionaiy sueoess ; but then it has not 
 been workeil. J[r. Arthur was in Mysore at the beginning of things. 
 The missionaries were still prospecting ; they had not struck their 
 lode. AVhen they did so, labourers had to be withdrawn from less 
 promising places, and stationed where they could best follow the lode. 
 Thus Kunigal lost its mi.ssionary some forty years ago, and it has 
 never since been possible to replace him. A native evangelist is 
 stationed there, and the town and neighbourhood receive brief 
 periodical visits from a missionary. But the Mission has never been 
 in a position to maintain vigorous continued work there. There are 
 twenty-one Christians in the town.]
 
 198 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 as large as that of Tahiti, ^ where a whole colony of mis- 
 sionaries laboured for half a generation, patiently waiting 
 to see fruit, and saw it at last. The population of the 
 circuit was far greater than that of some Avhole groups in 
 the South Seas, and certainly not less than that of New 
 Zealand.- Then these were not isolated from all external 
 influence. The difference between a circuit like this, formed 
 out of the midst of India, and one in Tahiti, or Tonga, is 
 that the one is an island in an ocean of salt water, and the 
 other is an island in an ocean of human beings. In the 
 one case every impulse given terminates at the beach, whence 
 it is reflected back, to increase the commotion within the 
 narrow compass ; in the other, when it has reached the 
 boundary-line of your circuit, instead of travelling back to 
 the centre, it goes on, and oil, and on, for a thousand miles, 
 giving a feeble but momentous disturbance to those cum- 
 brous prejudices which liave crushed down, for ages, inquiry 
 and improvement. You cannot, in India, concentrate your 
 influence under your own eye ; it goes far beyond you, and 
 spends much of its strength where you cannot follow it. 
 This necessarily gives your results slowness ; but it gives 
 them width. You are not so likely to convert a town in 
 ten years, but far more likely to convert a hundred thousand 
 towns in a century. At Gubbi we had no mission-station 
 on the east nearer than Bangalore, sixty miles ; none on the 
 south nearer than Mysore, ninety miles ; none on the north 
 nearer than Bellary, about two hundred miles ; and none on 
 the west nearer than Mangalore, the same or a greater dis- 
 tance; and yet every spot enclosed in these wide outlines 
 is just as open to the gospel as a village in Yorkshire or 
 Cornwall. There is not a })lace where a single missionary 
 might not go, and though the foot of wliitc man, or the 
 name of Jesus, liad never reached it before, he might pro- 
 claim his entire message, not only with safety to liis 
 person, but with the certainty of commanding respect for his 
 ' Taliiti lias IGOO. - Coiiiimted at 100,000.
 
 MV CIliCUIT 190 
 
 doctrines. There never was before the Church such a field. 
 To leave it untilled is shortsighted and scandalous neglect. 
 When we turned northward, the thought was appalling ; it 
 was like facing an ocean. Between us and the limit of 
 India, the vale of Cashmere, lay about fifteen hundred miles 
 of the finest and best-peopled country in the world ; but, 
 drawing a line direct north from Guljbi, it did not 
 touch a single missionary post but at Bellary. Hundreds 
 of miles to the east of this line, a few stations were lying 
 far scattered. To its west were some at Bombay, Poonah, 
 and Guzerat; but, taking the city of Nagpur as a centre, 
 we could sweep a circle of three hundred miles' radius 
 without touching one post, except a solitary American 
 missionary at Jalna. From Nagpur to Jaipur, another 
 capital, is quite five hundred miles, in Avhich Avhole course 
 is no missionary ; and round this centre, again, you can 
 draw the same terrible circle of six hundred miles' diameter, 
 including only the single station of the Church JNIissionary 
 Society at Agra.' 
 
 • Such was my circuit, and so situated : its freedom from 
 the interruptions incident to a European settlement, its 
 exclusive intercourse with the natives, its unequalled facilities 
 for studying them, and its boundless opportunities for 
 spreading the gospel, all combined to make it just such a 
 field as a 3''oung missionary might rejoice in ; and if there 
 were a feeling in his heart to be stirred, that field would stir 
 it. The people are courteous and civil, subjects of our own 
 Government, bowing to us as the most powerful, and con- 
 fiding in us as the wisest of nations. They receive us with 
 frankness and treat us with respect. Their towns and 
 villages are as open to the missionary as to the Brahman. 
 
 ' [This description, terribly tnie sixty years ago, is happily now no 
 longer true. In all the wide areas indicated, missions have beau 
 established; and are vigorously at work. Nevertheless, thtro is .still 
 an almost desperate disproportion between the masses to be reached 
 and the labourers available to roach then).]
 
 200 A .MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 He may come at any hour, stand in any place, handle any 
 subject. Business will make room for liim in the market ; 
 amusement will yield to him in the feast ; devotion will not 
 hunt him from the temple ; he may stand at its door and 
 illustrate his argument by the idol they are then worship- 
 ping. Close by the idol car he may proclaim Him who 
 sitteth on the circle of the heavens : by the fire where they 
 are performing penance, or the altar wdiere victims are yet 
 reeking, he may tell of the one Atonement. Everywhere, 
 not only safety, but respect, awaits him. There never has 
 been, in the history of the Church, a field so perfectly open 
 in the midst of a great heathen country ; there never can be 
 another field more open ; and there never can be but one so 
 xtensive — China. On this field meets every element of 
 exciting interest : it is a field where a beautiful country is 
 defaced with obscene idols, where gentle manners are de- 
 formed by rank depravity, and keen intellects are stultified 
 by drivelling superstitions. The intelligence, polish, and 
 gentleness of the people make the darkness of their souls a 
 thousand times more frightful. There is no savage congruity 
 between their superstitions and their manners. You are 
 shocked by the alliance of education and darkness, of polish 
 and debasement. A man makes an elegant bow, pays a 
 graceful compliment, discusses metaphysics, writes poetry, 
 calculates an eclipse — and worships a snake ! The abrup- 
 tion is horrible ; the shock far greater than to see a similar 
 act done by a savage who never wore a robe nor saw a letter. 
 In the one case, Satan stalks as a marauder ; in the other, 
 sits as a king, with liteiature, science, and antiquity adorn- 
 ing bis throne. This civilised, lettered, accomplished idolatry 
 is the most startling thing on earth, man's worst curse, 
 Satan's highest triumph. It should thrill and rouse us. To 
 see naked, tatooed savages, with fiendish yells, holding a 
 cannibal feast on some wild island would be horrible, yet it 
 would be consistent ; but who could bear to see courtly 
 ladies, in the aisle of a catlioilral, and (o the sound of
 
 MY CIRCUIT 201 
 
 Handel's music, eating liuiuan limbs? The darkness of the 
 Hindus demands the gospel ; their accessibleness invites it. 
 It is true that by castes and by families they are in firmly 
 concreted masses ; but they lay bare the surface to our opera- 
 tions, and already a quivering passes throughout the entire 
 bulk which attests it, that nothing is needed but a strong 
 and continuous shock, and it will all rend. But to give and 
 sustain that shock ought not to be left to the hands of a 
 few. The labourers are few — lamentably, shamefully few, — 
 but they faint not. They sigh that they are few, not because 
 they have a single fear of ultimate failure, but because, from 
 their fewness, tens of millions must die before they have 
 once been reached. This makes them mourn ; it bows their 
 strength ; it tears their hearts ; it shortens their days ; it 
 makes them indignant with money-clutching Christians ; ic 
 makes them cry to God. But as the faint labourer, with the 
 wide field round him, kneels and lifts up his weary, trem- 
 bling hand, there comes upon him a kind of assurance that 
 the day of redemption draweth nigh, such as no other can 
 feel, and such as no doubt can encounter. The prayer of a 
 missionary, with thick masses of benighted souls on every 
 hand, is the most poignant, but the happiest, of prayers. 
 A hundred griefs pierce him ; but every wound makes 
 entrance for a new balm. I am sure i\Ir. Jenkins will never 
 forget the feelings we used to have, when, meeting every 
 afternoon to plead together with God, on behalf of the poor 
 souls that were sitting in the shadow of death before our 
 eyes. There was heaviness and bleeding of heart; but oh, 
 there was with it an assurance as bright as heaven, that 
 God's good Word would accomplish its mission, and that 
 truth and righteousness, peace and mercy, would one day 
 overspread the land that was now so mournful.
 
 CHAPTEE VT 
 
 OUR WORK 
 
 The essential preliminary to the entrance of a missionary on 
 his work, is the acquisition of the language spoken by the 
 people among whom he is called to labour. IMany have 
 adopted, as a substitute for this, the 'plan of preaching 
 through an interpreter ; but that expedient has never been 
 resorted to in our Kanarese mission, a fact which proves 
 that it is not indispensable. INIany grave objections lie 
 against it : it is cumbrous ; it leaves every truth uttered 
 dependent, for its correct transmission, on the talent or 
 fidelity of the interpreter; and, by cherishing in the mission- 
 ary a habit of self-distrust and reliance upon another, places 
 him in danger of contracting an incurable embarrassment. 
 It also removes the powerful motive to study, which would 
 be supplied by the feeling on his part, that, till sufficiently 
 acquainted with the language to preach, he is utterly 
 useless ; and thus, though appearing to anticipate the time 
 of commencing his public ministry, it really postpones, and 
 that indefinitely, the time of his doing so in the only way 
 that can be either happy to himself, or eflective for his 
 purpose. Let two men of equal talents begin at the same 
 time in the same language, the one by using an interpreter, 
 the (jther by deferring all attempts to preach till his progress 
 enables him to venture, and it will be found that, at the 
 end of three years, the; latter has delivered far more 
 sermons than the former ; and not only so, but acquired a 
 freedom and command which it is doubtful wliether the 
 
 202
 
 OUU WORK 208 
 
 uLher will evci' gain. Except tu ii man uf genius, ur ol' 
 indouiitable energy, any lengthened use of an interpreter 
 is a certain entail, for life, of hesitating ami (le[)endent 
 incapacity. 
 
 The habit of reading sermons is also unknown in our 
 Kanarese mission. ]\Iuch may be said in favour of a 
 beginner, before he lias sufficiently mastered the language 
 to speak extemporaneously, composing and then reading a 
 discourse. V>y this means he may bring the truth before a 
 congregation, when otherwise he must have been silent. 
 On the other hand, every one knows that even in an audience 
 accustomed all their days to hear sermons read, only the 
 thinking portion can ordinarily keej) up their attention 
 throughout, unless the reader has the attractions of a pleas- 
 ing or forceful deliver}'. But none of us would ever think 
 of expecting that a congregation of persons not accustomed 
 either to read themselves, or to hear discourses read, should 
 give sustained attention to a lecture composed by a German, 
 or a Frenchman, in still', ungainly English, and read with 
 the hesitancy of inexperience, and the indistinctness of a 
 strong foreign accent. Such an audience could neither 
 understand nor remember such a diatribe. Yet such, for 
 the most part, are the congregations the missionary has to 
 address in India ; and such, at the outset, his condition to 
 interest them. Again : every thnc the preacher trusts to 
 his manuscript, he increases within himself a dread of 
 extemporaneous elfort ; and, from this circumstance, many 
 men, of passable talents, have spent more than half their 
 lifetime, and wasted all their energy, before they dare 
 venture to go out among the people, and, wherever they 
 found them, call them, like heralds of God, to repentance. 
 It is hard to conceive a position more distressing than that 
 of a good man living amid a swarming population of heathen, 
 and wishful to bring them to God, who yet, by a vicious 
 training, has rendered himself incompetent to preach to any 
 of them, but the paltry modicum that may l)e minded, at a
 
 204 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 stated time, to come within the walls of a place of worship. 
 To any Hindu audience, except such as long usage may have 
 trained, ten minutes of animated extemporaneous address 
 would convey more knowledge, and make upon them a 
 deeper impression, than a read discourse half an hour long. 
 It should also be especially remembered, that the missionary 
 Avho speaks extemporaneously for ten minutes this week, 
 has overcome a difficulty and acquired a power that will fit 
 him to speak, with equal ease, for fifteen next week ; and 
 a few such efforts, made nfter careful preparation, will 
 introduce him to the delightful liberty of addressing the 
 people at will, on any topic present to his mind. A young 
 missionary, by a few well-studied and bold attempts at the 
 first, will escape many a day of vexatious inaction. Without 
 an early and a resolute beginning, he need not hope for 
 first-rate success. 
 
 Every missionary ought at the very outset to determine 
 that, by the help of God, he will preach to the people in 
 their own tongue as well as if he were a native. To fix an 
 aim lower than this, is suicidal to his own respectability and 
 influence. The attainment of it is not hopeless, if he give 
 his life to his work, and grudge no time nor pains to complete 
 his preparation for its calls. To preach like a native, four 
 things are necessary, — a perfect knowledge of the grammatical 
 and idiomatic structure of the language, a copia verhorum, a 
 power to write and speak fluently, and a correct pronuntaa- 
 tion. 
 
 A perfect acquaintance with the gi'animar of the Kanarese 
 is not to be obtained without close study; but will infallibly 
 reward any one who takes that pains. The orthography is 
 simple, the etymology compact and easily mastered ; but 
 there is a novelty in the syntax, and a complexity in the 
 I)i'osody, wliich render patient application indispensable to 
 that complete mastery of them, withitut which elegance of 
 style is an impossil)ility. In the first stages of this depart- 
 iiiciit (if study, llic assistance of ii l-'airnpciin is most desir-
 
 OUR WORK 205 
 
 able, aiiil, witliout that, the student must rely chiefly on 
 himself ; for, in the niceties of grammar, he will receive little 
 aid from native munshis. The idioms can become familiar 
 only by extensive reading and extensive conversation. 
 
 Respecting a copia verhorum, it is most necessary to avoid 
 the impression, that if a man lias only acquired a great stock 
 of words, he is therefore furnished. A rojna verborum is 
 not merely a crowd of words, but a number of words in use 
 among every class of the people, adequate to intercourse 
 with that class ; and a number of words on every subject, 
 adequate to the discussion of that subject. In copious 
 languages, like those of South India, it requires an extended 
 vocabulary to reach this standard ; but, generally speaking, 
 the number of primitive words in a language is not near so 
 great as people, in their dread of study, suppose ; and when 
 once master of the root, you easily acquire the derivatives. 
 A person with five thousand roots, gained from various 
 sources, is not despicably furnished : and who would be 
 frighteneil at the prospect of learning that number of words ? 
 After the first live thousand, the rest come as of themselves. 
 From Mr. Pope I adopted a plan that proved of incalculable 
 service : every new word that occurred in reading was 
 written down, Avith its derivation and chief meanings ; 
 then, each evening, all acquired during the day were 
 transferred to an alphabetical vocabulary. Thus, at the 
 cost, it is true, of some patience, every word once sighted 
 was permanently housed in the mind.^ The natives say, 
 that to read a word once, is worth liearing it three times, 
 and to write it once, worth reading it seven times ; and no 
 one can doubt but that their opinion has some foundation 
 in fact. But the reason of this is not, as it seems to me, 
 correctly stated either by them, or by Colibett and other 
 
 ' [The iilau is excellent ; but it is at least ctpially necessary tliat the 
 student should promptly register and carefully learn evei-y iicic idiom. 
 A large vocabulary is a very imperfect achievement without a pure 
 idiom.]
 
 206 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 English writers, to rest in the fact, that the eye is a better 
 remembrancer than the ear, and the hand than the eye. 
 Eye, ear, and hand, are all equally innocent of efforts of 
 memory. The process by which the mind is detained for 
 tlie greatest length of time on a new word when presented 
 to it, is the process that will most serve to fix it in the 
 memory ; and the more frequently the new word is recalled 
 within a short period of its first appearance, the more certain 
 does its ultimate retention become. A boy who has seen 
 Sully's name in a sliort account of St. Bartholomew's 
 massacre may, and most likely will, forget it; but if he 
 read the history of France, he never can ; not because" he 
 emploj^s a different remembrancer, for it is the eye in both 
 instances, but because in the one case the new name was 
 just looked at, and passed instantly, while, in the other, it 
 was kept before the mind for a considerable time, and re- 
 called again and again. After the failure of my sight, which 
 rendered reading and writing equally impossible, it proved 
 that by getting a munshi to read, pronouncing every new 
 word after him, mentally repeating it several times, then, 
 after a short interval, recalling it, and again repeating, all 
 mnemonic purposes were as well secured as by writing. It 
 is very doubtful, however, whether this would have been, 
 the case at an earlier stage of acquaintance with the language. 
 Fables and stories, as replete with the language of every- 
 day life; pur anas and poems, as exhibiting the higher styles 
 of diction ; and the Scriptures, as the grand repository 
 of theological terms, must be the sources Avhence the 
 missionary will gather into his treasury things new and 
 old. Except the Bible, no composition but what has come 
 from a native author, ought to be looked at until the 
 student, by much writing, and much speaking, has, to 
 some extent, acquired a style of his own. But did a man 
 read every book in the language, that alone Avould not 
 replenish him for all the intercourse necessary to a success- 
 ful mission. Without conversation on all subjects, with all
 
 OUR WOKK 207 
 
 grades of people, daily prosecuted, and studiously varied, his 
 "cistern" may be full, l)ut lie -will lack "the wheel," 
 whereby alone its waters can be dispensed over the land. 
 My study door, which looked into the verandah, was 
 always open, and wlioever came was welcome. They were 
 encouraged to talk on whatever subject happened to be 
 uppermost in their minds, and thus led to exhibit their 
 modes of thinking, their village and household usages, and 
 their views on all sorts of subjects, as also their familiar 
 idioms, and the peculiar accents of different localities. 
 Frequently a dozen strangers, or more, Avould be thus 
 present at a time ; and, on some occasions, it was easy to 
 raise a discussion between parties belonging to different 
 sects, by wdiich means were obtained at the same time a 
 valuable lesson in the language, a view of their exact shades 
 of religious opinion, and an exercise in their method of 
 controversy. Their coiiversational style ranges, according 
 to the grades of society, from the vulgar through the 
 passable, the respectable, and the elegant, up to the ornate. 
 The difference does not lie wholly in gradations of propriety, 
 but in a free use, among the lower orders, of words belong- 
 ing to the old Kanarese, which, like our Saxon, forms the 
 basis of the modern dialect ; while the educated classes 
 introduce a profusion of terms borrowed from the Sanskrit. 
 To express the idea of falsehood, the Brahman uses the 
 M'ord ahaddha ; the tradesman, sidla ; the lov/ ryot, sat/ ; 
 and in numbers of equally familiar words the same diversity 
 is observable. Feeling that an intimacy with the dialect of 
 the ryots was essential to that familiar intercourse which is 
 the surest way to confidence, I determined on acquiring it ; 
 and, among other means, requested my munshi to converse 
 in it for an hour each day. To this he stoutly demurred, 
 saying that it was an indignity to a learned Brahman, to be 
 asked to speak the vulgar and broken Kanarese of the ryot ; 
 but, on being threatened with having a ryot munshi placed 
 by his side, he first laughed heartdy at the idea of a ryot
 
 208 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 luimshi, and then said lie always thought the purpose of 
 education was to gain polish, not vulgarity ; but that if I 
 were not content witii a Brahman's education, without that 
 of a ryot in addition, why then he could become a ryot, or 
 anything else I pleased. After a while, he caught the spirit 
 of my design, and, with consummate tact, threw himself into 
 the character of a ryot, personating, in turn, every class of 
 villager, and exhausting the Avhole round of rural incident. 
 The advantages of this exercise soon became apparent in 
 conversing with the ryots. 
 
 To acquii'B the power of fluent writing and speaking, it is 
 imperative that the missionary should make a commencement 
 in both as soon as he can put three words together. Cases have 
 been lamentably frequent in which, after years of study, the 
 writing is uncouth, and the conversation insufferably foreign. 
 Indeed, I have known those who would not converse till 
 they could do it correctly ; and the consequence was, they 
 never did so at all. It is absurd to attribute this to the 
 impossibility of mastering the language ; no such impossibility 
 exists : persons not remarkable either for native genius or 
 academical aids, are to be found in India, who, by sheer 
 dint of hard work and common-sense plans, have gained a 
 perfect command of the most diflicult languages. It is 
 dangerous to begin composition, in a new language, by 
 translating from a language previously known. It may do 
 well enough to teach the art of " making Latin " ; but it is 
 not the way to gain the free, natural, and vigorous style, 
 which a man ought to possess in a language he must use 
 every day, and for the most important purposes. On that 
 method, every word you write, instead of being the ex- 
 pression of one of your own thoughts, is only the equi\'alent 
 of another foreign word ; and each repetition of this process, 
 surely, and most injuriously, induces a habit of interposing 
 a second language between your mind and the words in 
 which it is seeking to express itself. Attempts at com- 
 municating your sentiments through a certain medium.
 
 OUR WORK 209 
 
 though at first completely unsuccessful, give the mind a 
 tendency to act through that medium, and habit soon 
 strengthens this tendency into a power, which will command 
 its appropriate facilities. No man will form a correct, much 
 less an elegant, style, without writing; but he will reap 
 tenfold the advantage from putting down sentences originated 
 in his own mind, and such as his stock of words enables him 
 to construct, that would accrue from an equal effort of his 
 wits, and a greater outlay of his time, made to render into 
 Kanarese a sentence previously cast in a mould utterly dis- 
 similar. If he fail in attempting to express any fact or 
 sentiment, he has two methods of procedure : the one, to 
 avail himself of the help of a lexicon ; the other, and by far 
 the better, to leave his sentence unfinished, keep the fragment 
 in his mind, and be on the constant watch for the M'^ord or 
 phrase he wants ; a few days, at most, Avill bring it : once 
 gained in that way, it will never be lost again ; and, in the 
 search for it, he will have found many others. Conversation 
 alone must not be trusted to as the means of learning to 
 speak with facility : nothing can be worse for a missionary, 
 than to imagine that all is right because he can converse 
 fluently with the people in the bazaar without being laughed 
 at. Laugh at him they will not, even though in every 
 sentence he perpetrate outlandish idioms, barbarous grammar, 
 and ridiculous pronunciation ; but in that case he cannot do 
 much good ; for the uneducated have but a misty view of 
 his meaning, and the educated regard his efforts with con- 
 tempt. Correct striicture of sentences is not more necessary 
 to the refinement that will delight the learned, than to the 
 lucidness that will be intelligible to the vulgar. On the 
 other hand, if a man defer his attempts to converse till he 
 has formed his style by composition, he must either be of a 
 most happy genius, or his powers of conversation will be 
 always feeble. The two exercises must go togethei'. As 
 soon as a man can say, " How do you do ? " let him begin ; 
 and then, through all the mortifications of false accent, false 
 
 14
 
 210 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 grammar, false idiom, false pronunciation, misplacements, 
 hesitations, repetitions, blunderings, failures, absurdities, and 
 impossibilites, let him flounder on, laugh at his own mistakes, 
 try to do better, fail, laugh again, and combat the embarrass- 
 ment till he surmount it. It is essential to have a munshi 
 who does not know a word of English. N^or let this frighten 
 the student : during the first month his temper and per- 
 severance will be well tried ; his hope will often faint away ; 
 but at the end of that time it will begin to revive, and never 
 droop again. He need not fear being laughed at : the 
 Hindus are too polite. Sometimes, Avhen striving in vain 
 to make myself understood, I have said, " How is it you do 
 not laugh at me?" "Laugh at you !" they would reply: 
 " you are a foreigner, an<l have only been a short time in our 
 country ; the wonder is to hear you speak our language at 
 all ; it would be rude to laugh at you ; but if one of our own 
 people make a blunder, he deserves to be laughed at." On 
 one occasion, just after I had begun to attempt conversing in 
 public, they charged us with being murderers, because we 
 used animal food. In reply to this, I told them, that if to 
 take away animal life were murder, that crime was charge- 
 able upon them all ; for in walking along the roads they 
 frequently trod insects to death ; and then, forming my hand 
 into the kind of spoon-shape in which they use it to drink 
 with, I added : " In this much of your stagnant tank-water 
 you have often a great many thousand live deer," — intend- 
 ing to say, "living things"; but, by one of those lapses 
 which will happen to a beginner, using the word jinlxegalu 
 instead of jantugalu. Supremely ridiculous as this blunder 
 was, they did not even smile, but politely corrected me. 
 
 It is to be deei^ly regretted that in regard to pronuncia- 
 tion, some missionaries fix their utmost attainment at the 
 point of intelligibility. No one needs to be told, that the 
 pronunciation of a foreigner may be intelligible, and yet 
 very painful ; and it is most unaccountable that any man 
 who has even once in his life had his ears rasped by rough
 
 OUR WORK 211. 
 
 foreign accents, and witnessed the force of sensible remarks, 
 that were perfectly understood, nullified by the amusement 
 or impatience excited by bad pronunciation, can soberly 
 make up Ids mind to talk, and above all to preach, to a 
 people in a style of pronunciation dilfering from their own. 
 Amongst those who are speaking their mother tongue, you 
 can scarcely have a more ready passport to a man's attention, 
 than an elegant way of enunciating words wdiich he is 
 accustomed to have hurled upon his ear in all the disarray 
 of carelessness, ignorance, or bad taste. This accomplish- 
 ment has a still more powerful charm in a foreigner. When 
 a man whose complexion marks him as born to the tongues of 
 Africa or India, addresses us in our own with a natural accent 
 and correct idiom, who does not feel a lively gratification, 
 and lend a willing ear? The people of India are most 
 susceptible of this impression : among them the grace of 
 correct pronunciation is so exclusively characteristic of the 
 Brahmans, that it is not designated by any other term than 
 " a Brilhman's mouth." A missionary will find " a Brfdiman's 
 mouth " to be on all occasions a guarantee of respect, and 
 over a crowd it will give him commanding influence. It is 
 amusing to hear the tones of deep respect in which the less 
 educated will say, Brdlimanara hdyi hantu f "He has a 
 Brahman's mouth ! " Careful reading after a native, making 
 him pronounce difficult words several times over, and follow- 
 ing him ; committing to memory, and daily repeating verses 
 which contain the most difficult sounds ; in construing, 
 always to read aloud ; and, above all, daily conversation 
 with persons of different class, will, in time, secure to any 
 man of fair abilities a most respectable pronunciation ; and, 
 if persevered in, will, after a few years, make him an 
 admiration even to the natives themselves. I have been 
 present when a missionary, in order to silence an impudent 
 Brahman, quoted and demanded an interpretation of some 
 very dilficult verses, composed expressly to group together 
 all the hardest sounds in the alphabet; and as he rolled
 
 212 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 out those words of " learned length and thundering sound," 
 I heard some of the respectable men present saying to 
 one another, in an undertone, with evident delight, Bdyi 
 Mliril hdyi keliri / "Hearken to his mouth! hearken to 
 his mouth ! " 
 
 At present the student of the Indian languages has not 
 to contend with, the same diflficulties as the first missionaries, 
 but has every facility furnished to his hand ; and no man, 
 except those of the slowest talents, will study in the way 
 just indicated, for a twelvemonth, without being able to 
 preach. He is then in the fair way for gaining the standard 
 of equality with a native ; and he will gain it if he only 
 refuse to let people persuade him that it is an impossibility. 
 Impossibility ! let every young missionary strike that word 
 out of his vocabulary ; there should be no impossibilities to 
 a young missionary : in this case there is no impossibility ; 
 difficulty is admitted, considerable difficulty ; but no man, 
 with the soul of a missionary, wishes to do only work that 
 may be done by a drone. If one studies languidly, or 
 confines himself either to books or conversation, he creates 
 impossibilities : but if he works hard ; if he divides his time 
 between reading aD.d conversing ; and above all, if he lives, 
 not among the English, but among the Hindus, he will 
 certainly preach with ease by the end of the year ; some 
 will do so in six months, and the very slowest in eighteen.^ 
 
 To a student fresh knowledge is always sweet : to a 
 
 ^ I am glad to refer to tlie remarkably sensible work of the Rev. W. 
 Buyers, — Letters on India — in confirmation of tlie above views on 
 the practicability of acquiring a perfect knowledge of the Indian 
 languages. [Mr. Arthur had very exceptional gifts as a linguist. If 
 at the end of his first year the young missionary can preach at all — 
 even falteringlj^, stitHy, and with many a mistake ; if at the end of 
 the second year he can preach with general accuracy and intelligi- 
 bility and a sense of comfort and confidence ; and if at the end of his 
 third year he has attained to "ease," precision, and power, he will 
 have no cause for self-reproach. He will have done well. Even then 
 he will feel that he must still be a learner for years to come.]
 
 OUR WORK 213 
 
 linguist a new word is always musical ; for it unites some 
 thought of his to the mind of families of men from whom it 
 had been previously cut off: to any man, in any pursuit, 
 progress is buoyant, and acquisition grateful : but to a 
 missionary, as he consciously surmounts the difficulties of a 
 heathen tongue, all the pleasures of gain, of improvement, 
 and of learning, are fused into one feeling of ardent 
 happiness. His acquirements are not hailed by the noisy 
 admiration of the crowd, nor by the stately approval of 
 academic tribunals ; but they are hailed by the warm voice 
 of the angel who hath the everlasting gospel to preach. In 
 gaining every additional word, or phrase, or idiom, he grows 
 richer ; and seems to draw nigher to the ascending Eedeemer, 
 that he may hear again His last command, that command 
 which is at once the missionary's warrant, and the world's 
 hope. In conquering every difficulty, he uncoils golden 
 wires ; and, in securing each new word, sets another string 
 necessary to complete the tones of the harp on which, before 
 the heathen, he will celebrate Him who loved him, and 
 washed him from his sins in His own blood. In this study 
 the missionary has, also, a sense of right to seek special help 
 from God. Most solemnly do I believe that no man, learning 
 a language for the sake of preaching in it the gospel of 
 salvation, will pray in vain for wisdom and aptitude more 
 than are at his command for any common-place exertion. 
 
 It was on the morning of Sunday, October 13th, 1839, 
 that I first witnessed a Kanarese service in my own circuit. 
 Before six o'clock I accompanied INlr. Jenkins and Mr. 
 Franklin into the town. The people were stirring about, 
 shopmen opening their shops, merchants preparing for the 
 market, women going out of the gates to draw water, or 
 sweeping and marking with white stripes the entrance of their 
 houses, children sitting in the doors, and the devout either 
 carrying their offerings to Gubbi Appa, or waiting for the 
 appearance of Garuda to perform the accustomed Avorship. 
 They knew not that it was a Sabbath, nor what a Sabbath
 
 214 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 meant. On reaching our schoolroom, wliich, according to 
 usage, was open in the front, we found a man sleeping on the 
 earthen floor ; but he immediately arose, wra2)ped up his 
 bed, — only a piece of cloth, — and put it under his arm. The 
 service began by singing a Kanarese hymn, during which 
 several persons entered, and some stood outside. Then 
 prayer was offered up ; and though I could not follow the 
 words, it may be easily supposed that to kneel there, in the 
 very midst of idolatries, and surrounded by the people to 
 whom I had been sent, would call forth, with uncommon 
 strength, one's " heart's desire and prayer to God, that they 
 might be saved." Repeated practice in reading one portion 
 of Scripture had made me so familiar with it, that Mr. 
 Jenkins thought I might venture to read it in this quiet 
 service ; and in that humble way I thankfully made a 
 commencement of my public duties. Mr. Franklin then 
 preached a sermon, of which only isolated words were 
 intelligible to me. And oh, how enviable did it seem, to be 
 able with such freedom to tell these poor idolaters of the 
 Saviour's love ! 
 
 The same morning, at half-past ten o'clock, we proceeded 
 to a little building on our own ground, which we dignified 
 with the name of chapel. It was of mi;d, and washed 
 beautifully white : a small erection of the same material, 
 and with the same covering, served for a pulpit. Seats there 
 were none ; the people, according to their custom, using the 
 floor. The roof was of tiles, supported by a frame-work 
 resting on cross-beams of cocoa-nut trees. It was a loAvly 
 sanctuary ; and close by were costly buildings to the honour 
 of imaginary and abominable deities ; but it was intensely 
 delightful there, where, a short time before, altar or servant 
 He had none, to Avorship, even Avith a fcAV, the only God. 
 FcAV joined in His praise, iew responded to chc prayer ; but 
 the soul felt that all nature Avas in harmony Avith its 
 adorations, and setting to its seal that our God is true. And 
 yet one in such circumstances could hardly help finding fault
 
 OUR WORK 215 
 
 ^vit]l the lessons of astronomy, which prevented him from 
 enjoying the delightful illusion that he was worshipping 
 simultaneously with the millions of Christendom. Humble 
 as was tlie temple, few as Avere the congregation, I could not 
 but feel, as j\Ir. Jenkins proceeded with the service, that his 
 work had a dignity and a joy above any duties lying within 
 " a line of things made ready to our hand." 
 
 About four o'clock Ave sallied out again : the market Avas 
 proceeding busily ; one street especially Avas thronged Avith 
 dealers in grain, fruit, betel-nuts, coffee, and ornaments. 
 Here Ave took our stand. A portion of Scripture Avas first 
 read, during Avhich a number sufficient to form a considerable 
 audience, leaving their various occupations, came and stood 
 close around. They listened throughout the discourse Avith 
 still attention ; but at the close a feAv observations Avere 
 made. The service concluded Avith solemn prayer. Let any 
 one Avho loves God just bring these circumstances before his 
 vieAV. It is the Sabbath. The peace Avhich on that day fills 
 a Christian's soul radiates on all nature, is beaming on field 
 and sky ; but the hurry of a market agitates the toAvn. There, 
 in the midst of barter and noise, the preacher takes his 
 stand ; the book of grace is opened ; God's holy Avord sounds 
 amongst the hum of unchristian Vdices ; then the Avay of 
 salvation is pointed out to those Avho are indeed afar off; 
 they hearken mutely ; the sermon is ended ; and there, under 
 that sky from Avhich the countenance of God is shining, and 
 surrounded by men Avho never raised their hearts so high, he 
 lifts up his hands in prayer to the unseen, all-present Father ; 
 the tones of supplication, of hope, and faith, the holy 
 promise, the mention of the " blood of sprinkling," and the 
 name of Jesus Christ, — all ascend on the Sabbath air, mingled 
 with the murmurs of adjacent traffic. It Avas a scene to melt 
 any Cliristian heart. Devotion, in her love for the Lord's 
 day, and Zeal, in her love for souls, both Avept over the 
 congregation ; but Faith bent over the preacher Avith an air 
 of radiant joy, and Avhispered, " The sons of these men Avill
 
 216 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 keep another kind of Sabbath." In the evening, few though 
 we were, we held a service at the mission-house in our own 
 language. Then was the promise welcome, " AVhere two or 
 three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the 
 midst." This was the i;sual routine of our Sabbath duties : 
 at six o'clock in the schoolroom, at half-past ten in the 
 chapel, at four in the market, and in the evening the 
 English service at home. 
 
 Besides the labours of the Sunday, we gave to the 
 town of Gubbi a service every Wednesday and Saturday 
 morning, and one every Friday evening. The morning 
 services were^f requently devoted to the out-castes. Excluded 
 as they are from any education, or any share in the religious 
 attentions of the Brahmans, it was to them a matter of 
 surprise that they should be sought out in theu' own 
 polluted quarter, and taught religion at their own door. 
 The transmission, through many generations, of unmitigated 
 ignorance, combined with oppression, outlawry, and every 
 form of debasement, has left the mind of this hapless 
 people in lamentable imbecility, and their morals in frightful 
 disorder. But even in them the human soul asserts itself 
 inextinguishable : it is there still ; there, with its awe of 
 an invisible world, and its thoughts of another life. Un- 
 taught in the system of Brahma, Buddha, or Muhammad, it 
 collects from the rites of those around a misty siiperstition 
 of its own, and pays timid adoration to clay images of 
 sanguinary goddesses. With these poor creatures it is 
 necessary to abound in homely illustration, and to define 
 every principle with line upon line ; otherwise the terms 
 used to convey religious truth will either give them no idea 
 at all, or one utterly foreign to what was intended. They 
 usually heard us with respectful attention, and frequently 
 we had the painful duty of reproving them for calling us 
 Devaru, "God." 
 
 Another favourite preaching-place was the door of the 
 great temple. We always went at the time of either the
 
 OUR WORK 217 
 
 morning or the evening sacritice, and, though denied 
 admittance within the door, took our stand close outside. 
 The congregations here were of a kind to awaken pensive 
 interest ; the missionary stood close by the door, and, while 
 reading the Bible, became surrounded by a number of 
 respectable people. On taking his text, he Avould see many 
 hands holding the offerings they were bearing to the 
 " presence " ; but the missionary had arrested them on their 
 way : others, again, had the empty vessels or cloths from 
 which they had just presented theirs; and sometimes his 
 eye would fall on those Avho were prostrate on the ground 
 before the idol. Here, in the midst of the votaries, and 
 within hearing of the altar, it was a stirring thing to stand 
 and tell them all the truth, to tell them that their god was 
 an idol, that their services were folly, that their worship 
 was sin,i and that there was " one God, and one Mediator 
 between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." It was 
 stirring to look upon them, stirring to see them so devout 
 to an object so unAvorthy ; and oh, it made the very soul 
 pant for their conversion, to witness their firm confidence, 
 for this life and the future, in a mere stock ! They often 
 attended to a whole discourse with marked interest ; but at 
 other times made frequent endeavours to interrupt. I have 
 even knoAvn the pdjdri (officiating priest) to leave the 
 altar, and come to assist some of his controversial brethren. 
 They frequently took strong ground in favour of idolatry, 
 urging that the human mind is so unstable that it cannot 
 be fixed on any spiritual object Avithout some appeal to the 
 senses ; that, therefore, to Avorship by uiere mental effort 
 Avithout external aid is impossible ; but that by placing an 
 image before the eye they can fix the mind on it, say 
 "Thou art God," and by that means form a conception, 
 and then Avorship. It Avas easy to reply to this, that hoAV- 
 
 ^ [Should we not say rather that their worsliip is religiousness 
 grievously misdirected — as tlie result of ignorance ? Acts xvii. 22, 
 R.V, (margin).]
 
 218 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 ever difficult to stay the thoughts ou the invisible God, and 
 to form suitable conceptions of His glorious character, by 
 mere contemplation, it becomes infinitely more so if you 
 make an image of a man, or a woman, or a monkey, or an 
 ox, or a snake, and, saying, " Thou art God," endeavour to 
 raise in your mind the desired conceptions ; for by such a 
 procedure the thoughts are wholly diverted from God, by 
 being fixed on another and utterly dissimilar object; just 
 as, although it is very difficult to form an adequate idea of 
 the universe, it would be much more so were you to shape 
 an image of a mosquito, and say, "Thou art the universe." 
 Another favourite argument of theirs was, " We have gods 
 that we can see, we have respecting them drislitdnta (proof 
 to the eye) ; but you cannot see your God. How can one 
 be safe, trusting in a God of whom he has no drislitdntal 
 We are far better off" than you ; for our gods are palpable, 
 yours is impalpable." To this we could reply, by saying, 
 that, if we chose, there was nothing to prevent us from 
 making as many idols as they ; but then we could not make 
 them God ; and that to call them God when they were 
 neither almighty nor all-wise, would do us no good ; but, 
 on the contrary, would be both foolish and wicked. Then, 
 as to being better off' with gods they could see than with 
 one they could not see, let them suppose a man who took 
 it into his head to say, " This air, this air, I cannot under- 
 stand this air! If I look, I cannot see it; if I shut my 
 hand I cannot catch it ; I know nothing about its size, or 
 shape, or colour, or where it comes from, or what it is made 
 of.^ Surely a man cannot be safe living in a thing it is 
 impossible to see or understand. Eut there is the water, 
 there is some understanding it, — you can see it, and feel it, 
 and know all about it: I won't stay any longer in this in- 
 
 ' It must Ih; rumeiiibcrutl tliat Uicy Iwive )io knowledge oitlior of 
 cliemistry or {meumatics ; and are not aware that such things as 
 oxygen and nitrogen arc in existence, nor tli:i.t tlic iitnios])here is blue, 
 nor tliat its extent is ascertained.
 
 OUR WORK 210 
 
 visil)l(', uniiitL']ligil)lo, iiiystcrious air; luil I will ts^o and 
 live in the water, wliieli is tangible." "Now," we wonld 
 ask, " what would ])e the result if he left the intangible air, 
 because he fancied he had no drishtunta of it, and went to 
 live in the tangible water?" " Why," they would instantly 
 reply, laughing, "he would be drowned." The application 
 was easy. Again, they would ask, " Is not Clod sarvavydjd," 
 " all-diffused," — that being the term they employ instead 
 of our "omnipresent"; and to which, although aware that 
 they give it a perverted application, you cannot take an 
 exception, because they would at once charge you Avith 
 limiting the divine existence, and reducing the Deity to a 
 finite being. You must acknowledge that he is all-diffused. 
 " Very well," they proceed, " if all-diffused, he is in every- 
 thing, and consequently in the idol." This you admit. 
 "Then, if he be in the idol, why should we not say (for 
 God is there), 'This is God,' and worship it accordingly?" 
 Such an argument would be met thus : " Have you been to 
 the tank this morning, to bathe ? " " Yes." " Is the water 
 low?" "Very low; we had to walk ever so far over the 
 mud before we could get to it." "]'>ut Avhy should you 
 be at the trouble of walking over the mud?" ""Why? 
 because we could not otherwise reach the water." "(Jli, 
 that is a mistake: is not the water all-dill'used through the 
 mud?" "Yes, to be sure; or else it would be hard and 
 dry." "Very well ; wlicn you get to the innd, why should 
 you not say, ' There is no use in going farther, the water is 
 all-diffused through the mud : I will therefore say to the 
 mud (for water is here), T}w7i art irater, and thus save 
 myself the trouble of going farther, and bathe in the 
 mud ? ' " 
 
 They enter into such discussions with exceeding zest ; and 
 when the disputant is so unfortunate as to be overtaken by 
 a redudio ad almirdum, all the crowd, though supporting 
 his opinions, join in a laugh at his discomfiture. They 
 generally argue with perfect good liumour; and if such were
 
 220 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the missionary's object, he could at any time raise a hearty 
 laugh at the expense of the gods. It is only necessary to 
 satirise their impotency, their uselessness, their fabulous 
 histories, or their crimes, to excite a degree of merriment 
 which clearly shows that although the power of custom binds 
 these dark people to the altars, yet the gods have no deep 
 hold on their reverence. Sometimes, however, when any 
 particular god is assailed, some zealous votary will become 
 his champion, and boldly defend him through every passage 
 of a flagitious history. The grounds usually taken on such 
 occasions are, that what is sin in a man, is not sin in a god ; 
 that a god can do what he pleases ; that some of the crunes 
 were committed on a scale so grand as to be in themselves 
 proofs of divine power ; and some will even contend, that, in 
 the gods, the most flagrant immoralities are not only 
 virtuous, but profitable.^ Their mode of putting this is well 
 exemplified in the following passage from " Mora Bhatta," and 
 found in his Verification of the Hindu Religion, published 
 Avith Dr. Wilson's invaluable Exposure : — " ' Krishna's 
 committing theft Avith the cowherds, and playing the 
 adulterer with their wives; Shiva's spreading death and 
 destruction by his curses, and behaving indecently with 
 Parvati ; Brahma's looking on his own daughter with the 
 eye of a paramour ; Rama's crying out, ' Sita, Sifa ! ' and 
 embracing the trees in a frenzy . . . such abominable 
 ^ [It should be remembered — and it is a curious fact — that Hindus 
 recognise no invariable and universal moral standard. "What is right 
 and necessary for one may be wrong and imendurable in another. 
 Every one — man or God — is under obligation to conform to some law, 
 but that law differs in each individual and is peculiar to each. 
 Practically the right to do a thing is conditioned Ity the power to do 
 it successfully — that jiower having been gi-antcd by the Supreme as a 
 l)oon for some deed of merit, done probably in a forgotten birth. 
 Supi)orted by views like these, communities have i-esigned themselves 
 to the caprices of inhuman tyrants, and have felt no sense of revolt 
 against the oliscene orgies of, say, the Vamacharis of Bengal. Under 
 the influence of these views it is easy for men to reconcile themselves 
 to the sensualities of Krislina.]
 
 OUR WORK 221 
 
 transactions as these, too bad. to be even mentioned, — are 
 these,' you will say, ' what you adduce, and place on a level 
 with the good acts of Christ? Wliat merit will accrue to 
 you from listening to the tale that narrates them? And as 
 for purity of heart, not the least of it can be obtained by 
 means of them. As by listening to love-songs, lust is 
 inflamed ; and by hearing of the feats of Sindhia and Holkar, 
 the spirit is stirred ; so, by hearing of the deeds of the gods 
 formerly referred to, men will only be prompted to wicked- 
 ness.' Regarding this objection, we maintain, agreeably to 
 the word of God, that all these deeds are so many virtuous 
 actions in the gods that performed them. We maintain, 
 further, that, by hearing and speaking of them, the ignorance 
 of the imprisoned spirit, and its consequent subjection to 
 passion, are removed ; and that thus they have as much 
 power as image-worship itself, to create in the soul pure and 
 holy dispositions." To see a man, with animated and 
 intelligent countenance, look you right in the eye, and avow 
 these monstrous opinions as his solemn creed,— and to hear 
 a whole assembly concur in the declaration, — would make 
 even an infidel thank God for Christianity ! 
 
 The service on Friday evening was generally of a con- 
 versational character. Selecting a shop that seemed to promise 
 a good auditory, we would enter, and, making our salaam, 
 familiarly take our seat on the floor beside the shopkeeper 
 and his customers. They received us courteously, and even 
 when busy would desist ; not, however, without an occasional 
 remonstrance on the inconvenience of being interrupted. 
 But this was generally waived on our saying kindly, that we 
 should be glad to see them whenever they would favour us 
 with a visit ; and that, besides, religion was of so much 
 greater importance than business, that it was quite right the 
 latter should be set aside now and then, in order to give the 
 other due attention. If no such remonstrance were made, 
 we would at first spend a little time in general conversation ; 
 but very soon turn to religion. Our most ordinary plan of
 
 222 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 introducing religious topics with a stranger was, to ask him 
 who was his god. To this I have seen very respectable men 
 reply, by patting their person, and saying, Idu nanage 
 devaru, hofte, "This is my god, my belly." Others 
 would lift up their hand with some rupees, and, shaking it 
 till the mone}' chinked, would say, Idti nanayi' devaru, 
 nqxnji, " This is my god, my rupees." Dthers, again, would 
 look you in the face, and, with an obeisance in which respect 
 rose to veneration, w^ould say, Swdmi, nam nanage 
 devaru, "Swdmi (God), you are my God." It may be 
 easily conceived how we received such declarations ; but they 
 would coolly defend themselves in this strain : " What is the 
 office of God 1 To rule all things : and what does not the 
 belly rule 1 What is the office of God 1 To rule all things : 
 and does not money govern the world ? What is the office 
 of God ? To govern and protect : and do not you (meaning 
 the English) govern us all and protect us all? Therefore 
 you are our God." The grand heresy of man is a vicegerent 
 godship. This is the first and most prolific of all idolatries ; 
 and the state of mind indicated in the remarks just quoted 
 is only its legitimate issue. When fairly left to work its 
 own results, it brings the mind to regard any person, or 
 indeed anything, from whom benefit is derived, or to wliom 
 deference is due, as so far God : the monarcli to his subjects, 
 — as we have gracefully insinuated in the Sapphics of 
 Horace, and broadly stated in the pastorals of Virgil,- — the 
 husband to his wife, the father to his child, the priest to 
 his disciple, all are, by virtue of their office, gods vicegerent. 
 How completely this is the case with the husband, the 
 following extract will sufficiently show : — " Let the Avife 
 who wishes to perform sacred ablution, wash the feet of her 
 lord, and drink the -water ; for a husband is to a wife greater 
 than iShankara or Vishnu. The husband is her god, and 
 giiru, and religion, and its services ; wherefore, abandoning 
 everything else, she ought chiefly to worship her husband." ^ 
 ^ Skain/a Puriina, quoted liy Dr. "Wilson.
 
 OUR WOKK 223 
 
 The devotion is not less prostrate in tlic case of a disciple 
 toward his priest. They tell a tale illustrative of the 
 principle, that even a silly or worthless guru ^ is, by virtue of 
 his order, all in all to his disciple. During the rainy season, 
 a guru and his disciple, on a journey, came to a river so 
 swollen that there was no possibility of crossing. The 
 disciple, however, strong in faith, cast himself into the 
 water, and crying out, Nanna guruvina pmlcwe gati, " My 
 priest's feet are salvation," he was borne safely to tlie other 
 side. Seeing this, the guru became elated with a like faith 
 in his own powers, and casting himself into the river, he 
 cried lustily, Nmina pddave gaii, " My feet are salvation " ; 
 but, to the consternation of the devoted follower who had 
 just made such marvellous proof of his virtue, he was borne 
 down by the stream and lost. They add, he ought to have 
 used the same invocation as his disciple, " My priest's feet 
 are salvation " ; for while he was as God to his disciple, his 
 priest was as God to him. Is not this identical with a dogma 
 familiar in Europe, that a wicked priest can absolve a 
 disciple, but cannot absolve himself 1 
 
 In our conversation we freely discussed any topic of 
 religion or morality which might arise. Nor did I deem it 
 right to refuse to enter, occasionally, on general subjects ; 
 for to please the people by attending to their inquiries Avith 
 regard to England, or public events, or points of science, 
 conciliated their kindly regards. The vulgar talk among 
 writers on India about the people being incapable of 
 gratitude, is sheer nonsense : even a little polite deference to 
 their wishes will soon show that they are not inaccessible to 
 that gentle virtue. When the conversations became con- 
 troversial, they were generally conducted on their part with 
 perfect good humour; but we often came in contact with 
 one Brilliman of intense bigotry and explosive temper, with 
 whom it was impossible to discuss without bringing on 
 yourself cataracts of insolence. This, though no way grate- 
 ' [A ix'ligious toapber.]
 
 224 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 ful to one's feelings, was not at all dangerous to our argu- 
 ments ; for the Hindus appear generally to hold, that when 
 a disputant becomes angry, he casts the cause into the hand 
 of his opponent, and both loses and deserves to lose. They 
 take lively pleasure in a discussion conducted with skill and 
 good temper. 
 
 The logical acumen of the Brahmans has been much 
 extolled. No doubt they have at least an average amount 
 of natural reasoning power, and by force of volubility, 
 readiness at illustration, mastery of quibbles, and unscrupu- 
 lousnesSj they are very unmanageable, if not very formidable, 
 opponents. But of any fair logic they are perfectly 
 innocent. As all men who reason at all must do, they 
 frequently throw out the rough form of one kind of syllogism 
 or another ; but it is done without any knowledge of the 
 general laws which would enable them to refer it to its 
 class, or to guard it against flaws ; and in five cases out of 
 ten, a conclusion no way consequent on the premises is 
 announced with a profound complacency, which a very 
 little logic would disturb. They have no notion of the 
 principles of deduction, nor of any compact categorical 
 formula, and as much of analyzing an intricate argument as 
 a Brazilian-mine slave has of analyzing diamonds. They 
 never dream of reasoning fairly. A sophism among 
 Brfdimans is like theft among rogues, a crime not as per- 
 petrated, but as detected. An illustration will always pass 
 for an argument ; and your only resort is to give it some 
 turn in your own favour. They raise subtle questions, 
 seize readily on a weak point, illustrate profusely, mystify 
 admirably, and dogmatize to perfection. But there is far 
 more rhetoric than logic. The figures of the latter have no 
 chance beside those of her more showy sister ; Barbara is 
 tame in the presence of Hyperbole ; and Camestres insipid 
 in comparison with Prosopopoeia. It must be acknowledged, 
 however, that they readily catch the points of a case, and, 
 when an argument is clearly put, do not manifest the con-
 
 OUR WORK 225 
 
 fidence liabitiial to those who arc incapable of being jjlaced 
 in a difliculty, because incapable of perceiving sequences ; 
 but, on the contrary, they sliow that confusion and desire to 
 shift the ground, which are the proofs of a conscious 
 dilemma. When you have any important point to carry, the 
 safest way of reasoning with them is to begin by getting their 
 adherence to general principles, from which your conclusion 
 may be clearly deduced. In most cases this may be done ; 
 for general truths commend themselves to all. Few dialectic 
 exhibitions are more amusing than the discomfiture of a pert, 
 highdieaded Brahman, who has confidently entangled him- 
 self in mesh after mesh of this Socratic net, when he is 
 suddenly arrested and dragged to a conclusion the most 
 repugnant to his feelings. 
 
 We lived among the people on terms of the most perfect 
 familiarity, making it an object to invite their approaches. 
 Many of them were in the habit of visiting us, which we 
 were careful to encourage, as it gave us the opportunity both 
 of conciliating their good feeling, and of conversing at 
 large on religious subjects. These visits also enabled us to 
 judge of the state of feeling in the town with regard to our 
 proceedings. Sometimes we had evidence of bitter opposi- 
 tion ; but it was manifest that many were no longer at ease 
 in idolatry, and that the public sentiment, with respect to it, 
 was passing from profound veneration to dubious regard. 
 We found, also, that as the heathen cannot conceive of a 
 person devoting himself to live in a strange country merely 
 from benevolence towards its inhabitants, they at first 
 regarded us as servants of the government, enjoying a 
 handsome stipend. We were most careful to convince them 
 that we stood wholly discunuected from the Company, 
 without their instriictions, their pay, tlieir sympathy, or 
 other benefit from them, except that they would protect us 
 as they would protect any parties residing in their dominions. 
 Our vouchers were at hand, — the absence of retinue, of 
 power, of communication with the government; and all the 
 
 15
 
 22G A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 intelligent classes soon became satisfied that we were simply 
 what we professed ourselves. 
 
 One day shortly after my arrival at Gwbbi, and when 
 Mr. Jenkins was from home, an intelligent young Brahman 
 came into the A'erandah, and waited till my munshi had 
 taken leave. He told me that he lived at Kadaba, a few 
 miles distant, and had some time before made several 
 visits to the mission-house, where Mrs. Jenkins had kindly 
 given him lessons in English. No sooner were we alone 
 than he began to converse on religious subjects ; and, after 
 glancing round timidly, as if to be assured that no one 
 overheard him, he said he wanted to know if I could tell 
 him how to obtain forgiveness of sins, saying, he was con- 
 vinced that idols were no gods, and had a strong desire to 
 walk in our way. He then inquired, with mueli solicitude, 
 whether, if he joined our caste, he must wear European 
 costume and eat meat. I put into his hands the fourteenth 
 chapter of Komans, and, as well as I could (for at the time 
 my acquaintance with the language was very slight), 
 explained the real demands of Christianity ; after which he 
 declared that he was most anxious to serve God in the 
 Christian way, but added, that if he did so, his friends 
 would beat him, cast him out, and leave him destitute of 
 subsistence, and asked whether we would not, in that case, 
 give him "rice and cloth." I declined to make any promise 
 to that effect, assuring him that he must bo willing to suffer 
 persecution for the Lord's sake, and that if he exposed him- 
 self to want, trusting in God, no evil would befall him. 
 The next morning, about sunrise, he came again, and 
 declared, with increased earnestness, that he was in deep 
 sorrow for his sins, and thirsting for forgiveness ; that he 
 had utterly abandoned idols ; that he now prayed to the one 
 God through Christ; and, moreover, that he was perfectly 
 willing to lose father, mother, brothers, and sisters, and to 
 endure any amount of jtersecution, if he might only rely on 
 having rice and cloth. This was the point of trial. I knew
 
 OUR WORK 227 
 
 well, iliat to become a Christian was, to him, certain destitu- 
 tion, and was fully determined that, in such a case, he 
 sliouM not want while rice and cloth were within our reach ; 
 l)ut it was most desirable to prove to the utmost his dis- 
 interestedness, and therefore I avoided making any promise, 
 simply assuring him that, if he cast himself on the Lord, 
 He would protect him, and that God's people would gladly 
 help. To this he replied, that it was easy for me, who had 
 a good house over my head, with food, clothes, and friends, 
 to say this; but what had he to fly to? This, and the 
 importunity which followed it, were very moving; but I 
 resolved not to make any promise which might prove to him 
 a temptation to decide in favour of Christianity from worldly 
 hopes, or to us, in case he joined us, to suspect his sincerity ; 
 or which might lead others to believe that the profession of 
 Christianity was the way to a temporal provision. After 
 some time, he repeated his visit, avowing the same feelings ; 
 but after that we could hear no more of him, and were led 
 to fear that he had been suspected by his family, and 
 removed to a relative residing at a very great distance, and 
 high in office under government. 
 
 One morning while Mr. Jenkins Avas preaching in the 
 shop of a very respectable money-changer, I observed that 
 the owner of the shop evinced symptoms of strong internal 
 emotion. We had not been at home more than half an 
 hour, when he came to the mission-house, frankly acknow- 
 ledging that he had been following false gods, that our 
 word was true, and that he felt he ought to walk in our 
 way. His whole air gave the strongest indications of a 
 wounded conscience. But, though really earnest to enter 
 on the way which he believed would lead to peace, he felt 
 the power of those tender entanglements with which every 
 man is surrounded by the family system of India. He said, 
 that as to the mere matter of caste, he could make up his 
 mind to part with that; but that he lived in the house of 
 his eldest brother, the yajamana (highest hereditary official)
 
 228 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 of the town ; that all his capital was in his brother's hand, 
 every anna of which would be retained if he became a 
 Christian ; that his wife and children were under his 
 brother's roof, and would be denied him if he forsook the 
 family faith. These considerations held him irresolute. 
 He trembled at the spiritual consequences of remaining a 
 heathen; and yet shrank from the temporal consequences 
 of becoming a Christian. He more than once repeated his 
 visit, evidently under deep anxiety of mind, and apparently 
 meditating some plan of escape ; but still he came to no 
 decision. After the lapse of several weeks, I met him 
 alone coming out of the gate of the town, and asked him 
 what he intended to do. With an air of melancholy and 
 shame, he replied : " I have made up my mind to walk a 
 Avhile longer in the bad way." 
 
 Though the people of Gubbi treated us with uniform 
 respect, they did not regard our operations without some 
 alarm. Some of the elder and more influential men fre- 
 quently besought me to desist from preaching, and leave 
 them to follow, undisturbed, the way of their fathers. 
 Toward the latter part of my stay, these requests increased 
 in frequency and earnestness, and were sometimes backed 
 by appeals to my love of peace. The yajamana, and a 
 younger brother of his, pressed this point, on several 
 occasions, with an anxious importunity that convinced me 
 they were not wholly ignorant of their brother's leaning 
 toward Christianity. They would .put the matter thus : 
 "Does not your religion teach you to promote peace?" 
 "Certainly." " Well, then, if you are faithful to your own 
 religion, you will cease to preach ; for various opinions are 
 springing up, from which serious misunderstandings follow ; 
 and if you persist, it is hard to know what amount of 
 division may be the result. You, — if you continue in a 
 course that will breed contention, when your religion 
 teaches you to be a peacemaker, — you are not true to 
 your own religion." They were surprised to learn that
 
 OUR WORK 229 
 
 tlii.s statement was to me a strong encouragement to per- 
 severe. 
 
 On all those mornings of the week which were not 
 devoted to Gubbi, we visited one or other of the adjacent 
 villages ; for we deemed it wrong for a missionary to allow 
 any sun to set without having seen him preaching the gospel. 
 We always left home in time to reach our appointed place 
 shortly after sunrise, at which time the people are stirring, 
 and about to proceed to their duties in the fields. Leaving 
 our horses outside, we entered, and generally found some of 
 the elders sitting in the gates ; and there we took our stand, 
 unless the village offered a more advantageous place, in the 
 shape of a school, or open temple. In some villages our 
 congregations regularly comprised a considerable portion of 
 the males, and now and then several females Avould join 
 them, though in the towns none ever ventured to do so, 
 except very old women, or those of the lowest character. 
 "We began by reading a portion of God's word, and then 
 preached. During the sermon, the people would freely 
 express their concurrence, dissent, or any other feeling 
 which might be awakened. If remarks likely to lead to 
 controversy were offered, we did not usually stop to answer 
 them, judging it more desirable to give the people a state- 
 ment of the truth, than to engage in a discussion which 
 might consume all our time, and oblige us to leave without 
 having communicated any definite view of the scope of our 
 message. After making good our exposition of the gospel, 
 we would freely enter into the consideration of any objections 
 they might choose to raise. AVhen, in the course of a 
 sermon, we have alluded to their idols, sometimes you 
 would see a frown on some countenances ; while others 
 would laugh ; and others cry, " They are nothing ! " and I 
 remember cases in Avhich they have said, " You need not 
 talk to us any more about the images : we know they are of 
 no use : we will trust them no longer." This, coming from 
 plain ryots in secluded villages, was a welcome, not to say
 
 230 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 "Wonderful, sign of slow, but resistless, conviction. (Jn the 
 other hand, an opponent would sometimes set himself for- 
 ward, and contend with a confidence bearing little pro- 
 portion to his logic. Objections coming from ryots were 
 generally of the simplest order; — they could not Avalk in 
 another way than that in Avhich their fathers walked ; the 
 ancients had been far wiser than they, and it would be folly 
 to imagine they could improve upon their customs ; they 
 could not pray without an image, — that might do for scholars, 
 but ignorant people must have something to look at ; it was 
 a bad thing for a man to change his religion ; the gods 
 would be incensed, and punish or kill them, if they did 
 them dishonour. But on no argument did the ryots more 
 frequently insist, than on this : " The Company are far the 
 wisest rulers we ever had in this country, and understand 
 tilings well : now tliey support the gods by money and 
 ofi'erings " (for what our authorities would call " presents," 
 they ahvays regard as offerings, not made to amuse the 
 votaries, but to propitiate the deity) ; " and if the gods were 
 not powerful, Avould the Company do honour to thepi?" 
 Wiien we reiilicd, that the Company supported the gods 
 not at all because they trusted in them, but only because 
 they wished to please the people, they would rejoin, " Then, 
 if they know that the gods are no good, is it not sinful for 
 them to make ofllerings'?" This we were not prepared to 
 deny ; and sometimes they have added, with keen point, 
 "You ought first to teach your own people not to honour 
 false gods, and then come and teach us." 
 
 It was very common for them to deny that lying and 
 libertinism were sins ; not that they are su))ported in such 
 a denial by the authority of the Shastras ; but l)ecaiise these 
 l)ractices are so universally allowed, thai it was strange tu 
 hear them accused as criminal, 'i'licir notions of moral 
 guilt in general are exceedingly vague. They feel that sin 
 is punishable ; but it is rather a feeling than a conviction ; 
 rather a conscience independent of all teaching or reflection.
 
 OUK WORK 231 
 
 than a definitive conclusion of the understanding, drawn 
 from recognised premises. Their definite ideas of moral 
 turpitude seldom go farther than the blame attachable to 
 the violation of ceremonial prescriptions, or of social rights ; 
 which blame is removed by a ceremony, or a restitution, as 
 the case may be. Hinduism has not the revelation of a 
 God who disapproves of everything impure, unjust, untrue, 
 or unkind, because his own nature is of such goodness that 
 he cannot look upon such things but with disapprobation. 
 The toils of many Hindus after pardon sufficiently show that 
 an inward voice, which their creeds cannot translate, apprises 
 them of an awful displeasure impending over their sins, — 
 a displeasure of Avhich they have sufficient apprehension to 
 deprecate it with the most painful tottures. But all this 
 is clouded and inexplicable feeling : they have no great 
 principle of truth in view by which to account for it ; no 
 idea of a good Creator, to whom every act of evil must as 
 necessarily be displeasing as deceitfulness in a child to a 
 good father, or dishonesty in a subject to a good king. To 
 give them this idea, to make them feel the eye of God on 
 their hearts, was our first object in preaching. We believed 
 that they were likely to be brought to Christ much sooner 
 by a sense of their sins, than by a mere conviction that idols 
 were only blocks. Nor is it so difficult to convey this idea 
 as has been represented. It is utterly and unaccountably 
 incorrect to say, as some very respectable men have said, 
 that they have no conscience. A man without a conscience 
 would be a demon : God would not suffer him to live. A 
 nation without a conscience is a physical impossibility ; 
 society could not cohere. The Hindus have not the well- 
 taught tender conscience of a Christian ; but they have that 
 light from God in Christ which enables them, and enables 
 "every man that cometh into the world," in spite of the 
 ] (reference given ])y his depraved affections to evil above 
 good, to iliscern in good a beauty, and in evil a stain, which 
 makes the choice of the latter defiling. There is quite
 
 232 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 enough of common ground Ijctween the conscience of the 
 missionary and that of his hearers, to enahle him, in every 
 "accusing" of evil, or "excusing "of good, to awaken an 
 echo in their hreasts. Mr. Buyers, who thoroughly under- 
 stands his subject, and writes with a common sense which, 
 had it always been used in the works of missionaries on 
 India, would have done no small service, makes the follow- 
 ing statement Avith regard to a Hindu on this very point :— 
 " His conscience accuses or excuses ; and though he some- 
 times has recourse to the doctrines of fatalism, or even of 
 atheism, to defend himself against imputations of personal 
 guilt, he rarely, if ever, has a solid belief in such theories as 
 destroy moral responsibility.^ He may be addressed by a 
 preacher in nearly the same way as ungodly men amongst 
 ourselves," One might take it for granted beforehand, that 
 
 ^ [Yet it must not be forgotten tliat large niunbers of the people are 
 Pantheists, and that Indian Pantheism does these two things : — it 
 throws all emphasis on man's meta])lij'sical relationship to God, and 
 treats Avith comparative inditterence his moral relationship ; it also 
 invests with unreality everything outside God, including that which 
 we call right or wrong, and throws back all responsiliility upon Him 
 of whom these things are passing manifestations. Then again, all the 
 Hindu peoples believe in transmigration. Noav that doctrine teaches 
 that "whatsoever a man sowetli that shall he also reap," and means, 
 therefore, moral responsibility. But it does nothing really to waken 
 or develop conscience. For the sufferings of the present arc the 
 penalty of deeds done in a past birth of which I have no sort of 
 knowledge, and for which, therefore, it is impossible that I should feel a 
 sense of guilt and repent. I may regret these sufferings, or resent 
 them, or resign myself to them, but they simply make no appeal 
 whatever to the conscience. On the other hand, transmigration tells 
 me that the former birth or births fixed the character and ercnfs of the 
 jn-csenl birth beyond evasion or control — which lands me in sheer 
 fatalism. Once again, Hindus are almost universally persuaded that 
 the decisions of the community, as expressed thiough caste, are of 
 more binding authority than the sugi^estions of any individual con- 
 science, and that in case of conflict caste must triumph. Pantheism, 
 transmigration, caste — these three pinion conscience in India, inter- 
 feriug with its dcvelopuient and preventing its free exercise.]
 
 OUR WORK 233 
 
 if he were to address to a heathen audience a statement of 
 religious truth, in set order and well-translated theological 
 terms, they would not readily sympathise with his morality, 
 because they would not understand it. It is not fair to 
 talk to Hindus in the Sanskrit terms Avhich best translate 
 your English or Greek ones ; and because they do not con- 
 cur in your views, deny them a conscience. INIany a good 
 man in England would hesitate to say that "furtive acquisi- 
 tion " was criminal, who would at once pronounce it sinful 
 ** to steal " ; and many a worthy housewife would plumply 
 deny that it was any duty of hers to " supervise the domestic 
 economy," who would at once own that she was bound to 
 " see to the house." Let the missionary only make himself 
 familiar with the people's modes of thinking, and he will be 
 fully convinced that if he talk to them in theological fashion, 
 they will not comprehend him ; but as fully convinced that 
 it is quite possible to convey to their minds every Christian 
 truth. The most glorious themes in the gospel are ex- 
 pressed by words for Avhich their language has no proper 
 equivalent, though furnished with etymological synonyms. 
 Their languages (and it is a sad thing to say) have no Avord 
 that conveys a true notion of atonement, intercession, justi- 
 fication, regeneration, or resurrection. They have terms 
 that will translate your terms ; but that is not the thing. 
 The heathen have not the ideas which these awaken in our 
 minds ; and consequently a mere word, no matter how 
 correctly it translates our word, cannot give them our ideas. 
 But this does not close the medium of communication. A 
 native will not understand what you mean by "justification " ; 
 but will fully understand what you mean by a man having 
 all his sins forgiven. He will be confounded by the term 
 " regeneration," but will readily comprehend when j^ou 
 speak of making a bad man good. Thus, by speaking of 
 the thing, rather than harping on the term, the missionary 
 may easily give the people his own ideas, and place himself 
 in a position to use them in an appeal to the conscience.
 
 234 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 On the question of moral guilt, I have seen a village 
 audience deeply affected. They have very strong views of 
 the filial duties. The niissit^nary, talking advantage of this, 
 asked them, " What would you think of a son who had a 
 very good father, and was frequently in the habit of refusing 
 to obey him?" They instantly replied, "He would be very 
 Avicked." " Suppose he regularly, every day, broke some 
 commandment of his father's ? " " He ought to be turned 
 out of doors." " ]5ut suppose he made a practice of dis- 
 regarding all his father's commands, and doing the very 
 opposite?" "Why, such a fellow would not be fit to live." 
 The missionary then, applying the illustration, showed that 
 God was our Father, — wiser, kinder, more Avorthy of 
 obedience than any earthly father ; that all kinds of sinful 
 acts were in direct disobedience to his will ; and asked, if 
 such blame lay on a child for systematic contempt of his 
 father's authority, what weight of blame was upon him Avho, 
 for many years together, never spent a day without several 
 times breaking the commandments of his great Father in 
 heaven. As he proceeded in this strain, they listened with 
 the eager attention of men drinking in a new and startling 
 truth ; and presently, some of them striking their mouths 
 with the palm of the hand, as is their hal)it in astonish- 
 ment or grief, cried out, Ahah ! abaJi / yrnii madabcku ? 
 (" Ah ! ah ! Avhat must we do 1 ") On another occasion, 
 such was the impression made by a similar strain of remark, 
 that some, as they would do uuiler any urgent need, or 
 sudden calamity, began to "call upon the name of their 
 gods." To a Christian minister, telling sinners of their 
 guilt, with the intention of pointing them to the Lamb of 
 (lod, it sounded harsh to hear just before him an invocation 
 of the abominable 81iiva ; yet it satisfied him not only that 
 his argument was understood, but that tlie people were 
 brought to feel that their condition demanded superhuman 
 aid. 
 
 Witliin sight of the mission-house, but distant above a
 
 OUR WORK 235 
 
 mile, stood llic village of Singonahalli, with a ieniplc to 
 Ilanga, on a knoll a few hundred yards from the gate. 
 About the time of my arrival, the inhaljitants of this place 
 declared that they had abandoned idolatry and would no 
 more honour the temple of Ranga. To test their sincerity, 
 Mr. Jenkins one morning asked them, whether we might go 
 to the temple. " Oh, by all means ! " " Might we enter 1 " 
 " Yes, go where we liked." " Might we enter without 
 taking off our shoes 1 " " Certainly ; we don't care who 
 goes, or how : we have given up the idol." This was strong 
 proof that their old feelings had vanislied ; and, accordingly, 
 at the temple we found no obstacle to our entrance. Shod 
 and covered, we passed up through the outer apartment to 
 the sanctuary, Avhere sat the grim image of lianga, incrusted 
 in the congealed oil and ghee of many anointings, with the 
 lightless lamp before him, faded garlands hanging round his 
 neck, loads of dust settled on his person, and part of the 
 roof falling in directly above. No room remained for doubt. 
 The faith which once adored Ranga had changed into 
 contempt; and we rejoiced over that forsaken idol, as an 
 earnest of better days. (3n afterwards inquiring what 
 induced them to withdraw tlie confidence they had so long 
 reposed in Ranga, they answered, " You " (meaning the 
 missionaries) " told us that the god did not ju'otect us, but 
 that we protected the god ; that if we only left him alone, 
 we should see that he could not take care of himself ; and if 
 he could not take care of himself, how could he take care of 
 us? Now we thought that was a buddhi mdtu ('a word of 
 sense,') and so we resolved to see whether he could take 
 care of himself or not ; for we felt certain that if he could 
 not take care of himself, it was out of the question that he 
 Could take care of us. Accordingly, we discontinued ^ji/^/'a. 
 A\'"e soon found he could not keep the lamp burning, nor 
 the garlands fresh, nor the temple clean, nor do a single 
 thing for himself. The lamp went out, the flowers withered, 
 the temple became dirty ; and then," they added, laughing.
 
 236 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 " the roof fell in just over his head, and there he sat 
 summane ('tamely') under it; so we saw very well he 
 could not take care of himself." 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, we had some fears that the 
 return of their annual feast-day would revive their love for 
 heathenish merry-makings, with a force too strong for their 
 new convictions. The day came, and Ave watched the 
 village narrowly. There was no car, no procession, no 
 music ; and, when night came, no tomtom was beaten, no 
 rocket sent up, nor any other sign that it was the day of 
 Eanga. One morning, when preaching in the village, I 
 observed that the old man who used to conduct the services 
 of the temple was not in the congregation ; and feeling, for 
 the moment, a suspicion lest he should have returned to his 
 former occupation, I asked, "Where is ih& pfijdriV A 
 young man instantly replied, smiling, and patting his 
 person, " Oh, he is gone to the fields with the cattle : now 
 that the temple is given up, he must do something for his 
 stomach." Their abandonment of idol - worship seemed 
 complete, and not a few of them averred that they now 
 oflfered prayer to the one true God ; yet they evinced no 
 disposition to embrace the profession of Christianity. This 
 they accounted for by saying, " AVere we to do so noAv, Ave 
 should be persecuted ; Ave should lose our lands and our 
 village : but if Ave Avait a Avhile longer, all the people Avill be 
 of the same mind, and then Ave can all become Christians 
 together, Avithout the risk that would attend such a step at 
 present." This ansAver I, at first, regarded simply as one of 
 those adroit subterfuges in Avhich a Hindu never fails ; but 
 Avhen I heard it repeated in different neighbourhoods, and 
 by persons between Avhom collusion Avas impossil)le, it 
 satisfied me thai, though they had not those poignant con- 
 victions of sin Avhicli Avould impel them to decision at all 
 risks, a persuasion Avas groAving upon their minds that the 
 day drew nigh Avhen our doctrines must prevail. I Avell 
 remember one old man in Singonahalli, Avho Avas very
 
 OUR WORK 237 
 
 seldom in our congregations, and showed a remarka1)lo 
 unwillingness to hear us preach. Yet that man, with his 
 wife and three sons, has been the first to come out, and, in 
 the face of considerable opposition, to embrace the gospel of 
 Christ. This took place about two' years ago ; and of his 
 present character the missionaries on the spot give this 
 account : — " Daniel, the father of the family, is really an 
 interesting man. He is in the constant habit of collecting 
 the people of his village, to read and to pray with them. 
 Although he cannot himself read, he has, through his sons, 
 obtained such a knowledge of tlie gospel, and of many parts 
 of the Old Testament, as makes him an efficient man in 
 discussion with his countrymen." 
 
 It sometimes happened, in visiting a village, that the 
 people were either so busy or so careless, that a congregation 
 could not be obtained. At such times we would look round 
 for some person who happened to be so employed that he 
 need not be interrupted by our conversation ; and, attaching 
 ourselves to him, would enter at once on religious topics. 
 In this way we have often spent an hour with a knot of 
 weavers, plying their art under the open air, and on simple 
 machines with which their European brethren would deem 
 it almost impossible to produce any fabric ; or by the wheel 
 of the potter, who, maintaining the whirl, and dexterously 
 shaping his wares, gave, at the same time, attention, and 
 perhaps frequent response, to our discourse. With the 
 shepherd watching his fold, the ryot measuring his corn, the 
 pedagogue surrounded by his pupils, the tax-gatherer collect- 
 ing his dues, the old woman spinning her cotton, the 
 housewife grinding at her mill, we have familiarly talked 
 about the things of God. It was pleasant work : we were 
 constantly rejoiced with the conviction that we were doing 
 good in the name of the Lord, and laying the foundation of 
 an imperishable edifice. No heart need wish for a happier 
 feeling than that of a lonely missionary, who has just been 
 talking about Jesus to the simple people of a heathen
 
 238 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 village ; and, in offering up the prayer in which no one 
 joins, feels a divine assurance that the work he is so feebly 
 beginning will be advanced by the power of the Highest, till 
 the whole scene around is created anew. At that moment, 
 far above any other, his feelings approach to the rapt 
 anticipations of Isaiah. 
 
 One morning, on entering a village a little to the west of 
 Gubbi, we discovered a man in the act of rising from the 
 floor of a chatram} where he had been resting for the night. 
 AVe foxmd that he had come from a long distance to the 
 westward, and was on a pilgrimage to the temple of 
 Yenkatramana, at Tirupati. In the meantime his wife had 
 risen from the floor, with an infant on lier side. She 
 looked weak and ill ; and, persuaded that she was not fit to 
 undertake a journey of more than two hundred miles, I 
 asked her if she were not unwell. The husband sulkily 
 reminded me that I ought to speak to him, and not to his 
 wife : for a married woman is expected not to converse with 
 any man but her own husband ; unless, indeed, he be a very 
 near relative, and then but sparingly. Turning to him, I 
 insisted that his wife seemed utterly unfit for the journey 
 they had before them ; but he was not in the least disposed 
 to hear such representations. At length the poor woman, 
 unable to restrain herself longer, exclaimed, in a piteous 
 way, " Indeed, sir, I am very ill ; this child was born 
 only last night upon the road, and I am not fit to go on." 
 The fellow seemed much provoked that his wife had dared 
 to speak. I kindly urged him, as he valued her life, and 
 that of his child, to rest for at least a do}' or two. I'.ut, no ; 
 he muttered, " I am going to make the sight of th& great 
 god, and the season is far advanced " ; and so saying, he 
 sullenly walked away, casting a look of angry command to 
 his poor wife, who with slow and fainting step began to 
 follow him, supporting her infant on her side. I thought, 
 "And tliis is the pilgrimage to Tirupati, from which a 
 ' [A native rest-house]
 
 OTTU worjv 239 
 
 Christian govornment derives large revenues ! " Thank 
 God, that such gokl no longer pollutes the treasures of 
 Britain ! 
 
 One morning, in proceeding to a pretty sequestered 
 village, called Udaliir, we were surprised to meet numhers 
 of the Gubbi people returning from it. On inquiring 
 what had taken them to Udalur so early, we were informed 
 that they had spent the night there, at a feast in honour of 
 Mariamma, the goddess of disease. Outside the gate we 
 found large numbers of persons, who informed us that the 
 solemnity had been one in which several individuals lately 
 restored from dangerous illness, by the clemency of Mariamma, 
 passed two or three times through a fire, in fulfilment of a 
 vow to that effect made during their sufierings. Just inside 
 the gate was placed a wooden image of the goddess, before 
 which lay ofterings of plantains and flowers, with a small 
 censer burning. Mr. Webber, who was with me, addressed 
 the people at length on the subject of these wretched 
 penances. A large audience closed round him, and heard 
 with deep attention. A gaily-dressed temple-girl, with a 
 retinue of fantastically-painted musicians, came just by, and 
 danced her most enticing dance, while her suite exhausted 
 all the powers of instrumental discord ; but they did not 
 succeed either in interrupting the preacher, or distracting his 
 congregation. 
 
 In India it is not wise to be exposed to the heat of the sun 
 later than eight o'clock in the morning, or sooner than 
 from half-past four to five in the afternoon. In visiting 
 towns too distant to admit of our returning in good time, we 
 took with us a little tent, and returned in the cool of the 
 evening, or in some cases stayed all night, and went to 
 another place the next day. At I>idare, where a large 
 market offered an advantageous opportunity of preaching, we 
 frequently spent a day. We had a school in the town ; and, 
 on arriving, our first duty was to examine the boys in the 
 Scriptures, and in our Catechisms. During the examination,
 
 240 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 several respectable men would come in and sit down, while 
 a still larger number gathered round the open front of the 
 school. Immediately on concluding with the boys, we 
 preached to those assembled. Outside the wall of the town 
 was a miserable group of huts, inhabited by the out-castes. 
 Hither we proceeded from the school ; and, in perhaps two 
 or three places, gathering a few of these degraded beings 
 round us, would in a familiar way explain to them the 
 salvation of the gospel. By this time our tent would be 
 pitched, whither we gladly retired for shade and refresh- 
 ment. On one occasion, while at breakfast, we heard a 
 Bnlliman outside reading, to a circle of natives, a tract he 
 had just received. After breakfast, we found the people 
 assembling, and arranging their wares. The most weighty 
 commodities were grains, such as rice, rngi, and gram 
 (PJiaseohis radiatus), a valuable legumen used by the English 
 to feed their horses, but by the natives as an article of diet. 
 These were carried to market in sacks, slung over the back 
 of a bullock, one hanging on each side, and balancing each 
 other. Coffee, also, was becoming an article of some traffic, 
 and they were anxious to ascertain its use (for they do not 
 drink either coffee or tea), inquiring whether we used it 
 because it intoxicated ? or was it good for the stomach ? or 
 good for the blood ? or did it cool the body 1 or did it warm 
 it ? And they seemed puzzled to judge why we should lay 
 out money for a beverage not distinguished by any of these 
 properties. The other articles on sale were spices, plantains, 
 cocoa-nuts, unripe (for the sake of their milk, which is good 
 only at that stage), ripe (for the nut as an article of food), 
 and dried (for the manufacture of oil), tobacco, onions, 
 various fruits and vegetables, with sweetmeats, earthenware, 
 cloths, ornaments, and idols. The stalls consisted of a piece 
 of cloth spread on the ground, on which the goods were 
 displayed, the vendor sitting by. Women frequently had 
 charge, especially of fruit-stalls, and those devoted to 
 ornaments for the person. These latter were various, — rings,
 
 OUR WORK 241 
 
 necklaces, and bracelets, with many minor decorations ; Imt 
 none of them appeared so much in request as a bracelet 
 formed of a ring of coloured glass, large enough for the arm. 
 A village-damsel, after a due length of time spent in select- 
 ing, would negotiate a tedious bargain, and then, sitting 
 down, hold out her hand to the seller, and) with inimitable 
 patience, submit to the torture of having the ring forced 
 over her hand^ The process took several minutes, and 
 required no little adroitness in the lady performing it, to 
 avoid breaking the fragile decoration. Some have a dozen 
 or more of these glass bracelets on an arm, both above and 
 below the elbow, coloured red, green, or yellow, according to 
 taste ; and, if possible, interspersed Avith a few of silver. 
 
 The commerce of a Hindu market is not so urgent as to 
 prevent a missionary from gaining attention. The shade of 
 some trees standing in the market-place enabled us to preach 
 in the open air at any hour of the day. When only a small 
 group assembled, we gave a short address ; wlien a large 
 congregation, we discoursed at length. The anxiety 
 manifested for our books suggested a plan for gaining 
 patient attention. When preaching in the busiest part of 
 the day, I placed a pile of books on my left arm. However 
 lengthened the discourse, this chained the auditory ; for 
 every one hoped to secure a book at the close. ISTo sooner was 
 the sermon concluded, than an amusing contest began, every 
 one striving to distinguish himself by forcible appeals, or 
 lofty compliments. The strength of their desire for books 
 was forcibly manifested by one circumstance. According to 
 Hindu law, contact with a dead animal is polluting. 
 Leather is part of a dead animal; and, consequently, unclean. 
 It may not be touched Avithout defilement ; hence it is that 
 none work in leather but the dregs of the out-castes ; that 
 all shoes are made with the heel down, capable of being 
 slipped on and off" without touching them with the hand ; 
 that they must be left outside a temple or a friend's door, — 
 to carry them in, being in the one case an irreverence, in the 
 
 i6
 
 242 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEB 
 
 other an insult ; and that no indignity is so outrageous as to 
 be struck with a shoe. Owing to this, when books bound 
 in leather were first offered for distribution, many regarded 
 it as an attenipt upon tlieir caste, and indignantly refused. 
 It was consequently found necessary to have the greater part 
 done up in cloth. Notwithstanding this, toward the latter 
 part of my stay it was frequently demanded, Charmada 
 pustaka helm, " ^Ye must have a leather book." "Why a 
 leather book % " I would reply : " is it not contrary to your 
 caste?" Houdayija, ndarc hahala hoitu 7nllufade, "Yes, 
 sir; but it stands a long time." And to obtain a book that 
 would stand a long time, they were willing to contract a 
 little defilement. 
 
 In the intervals of preaching, we frequently walked round 
 the market, entering freely into conversation with groups 
 or individuals ; thus both winning their confidence, and 
 familiarly explaining the truths they had heard us 
 announce. When in our tent, the door was open, and a 
 tempting pile of books lying on the table. We were seldom 
 without a visitor ; and thus, in one way or other, almost 
 every moment of the day was turned to account. 
 
 A few miles from Bidare, on a commanding hill, and 
 overlooking a rich landscape, stood Chelur. Persons from 
 this town asked us to establish a school there, before we had 
 ever visited it. This was done ; and shortly afterwards Ave 
 left home one morning, long before daylight, and arrived 
 before the town about sunrise. When entering the gate, 
 we met several women carrying their water-pots, to draw 
 water. ]\Iost probably they had never seen white men 
 before ; and either terrified, or doubtful what the appari- 
 tion might signify, they drew their garments over their 
 faces, turned round, and hurried ])ack into the town. Some 
 men soon made their aj^pearanco, who gave us a polite 
 welcome, and led us to the school. In a town where a 
 Christian had never dwelt, it was no unwelcome thing to 
 find a number of fine boys, Avith a Brfdiman for their master.
 
 OUR WORK 243 
 
 reading our Lord's Sermon on the INIount. (_)ur appearance 
 soon attracted a concourse : tlie ]5r;'ihmans, and more respect- 
 able men, came into the schoolroom, and sat down; the 
 others stood in front. We examined the boys in the 
 Scriptures, and the Conference Catechism. This excited 
 marked interest among the bystanders. At its close, 
 selecting from the chapter they had read the Avords, 
 " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," 
 and referring to their constant demand to he shown our 
 God, I insisted that to take part of a tree or stone, give it 
 a certain shape, and call it "god," no more enabled us to see 
 God, than to take another part of the same tree or stone, 
 give it a different shape, and call it " soul," would enable us 
 to see the soul ; and then described that spiritual com- 
 munion with God in this life, and that vision of His glory 
 hereafter, which alone can be rationally viewed as seeing 
 God. This opened the way to show that persons of impure 
 heart could have no such blessedness ; that our nature was 
 deeply tainted ; that it was impossible for such a nature to 
 maintain friendship with a IJeing wholly good ; that we are 
 unable to effect its renewal ; and, finally, to declare, that 
 through Christ that renewal might be obtained, the vilest 
 mind be sanctified, and the soul, where before no goodness 
 had existed, be replenished with every virtue. They heard 
 these novel doctrines with profound attention, and appeared 
 favourably impressed. When I concluded, a Brahman said, 
 " This is a good word ; no doubt it is true ; what you say 
 about obtaining purity is good. For you, it is a good way 
 to obtain purity through Christ; but it is not the only 
 Avay ; there are other ways for us. You find purity through 
 praying to Jesus Christ ; but we find purity by other means, 
 such as j^/ya, bathing, penance, contemplation, and pil- 
 grimage." To this we replied, " You are a man of years, 
 and doubtless of observation. You are quite aware, that 
 when the heart is pure, the life is pure : now, Avill you say 
 whether a case ever came under your notice, in which, by
 
 244 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 any of the means you have named, a man who had long 
 been known as a bad man was changed into a good man ; 
 say, a cheat into a man of integrity, or a liar into a man of 
 truth, or a miser into a man of benevolence 1 " He stared 
 in pure amazement ; and the others stared at him, to see 
 how he would answer so strange a question. Aware how 
 utterly novel must be the idea of such a transformation, I 
 said, " Perhaps you are thinking of the Shloka " (text of the 
 Shastras), " which declares that ' a confirmed sinner cannot 
 be reformed, even though he were to wash in the Ganges*'" 
 " Yes," he replied, evidently relieved ; " and how could you, 
 knowing that Slilnka, ask such a question?" "I do ask 
 the question : Did you ever know a case of the kind ? " 
 " Of course I did not : how could I ? It would be contrary 
 to the scriptures." " I knew what you must sa3^ You 
 never knew a case in which the means you have named 
 succeeded in purifying the life ; which abundantly proves 
 that they do not purify the heart. I^ow, mark Avhat I say : 
 I have known many cases in which, by faith in that Jesus 
 whom I preach to you, the worst of men have been suddenly 
 changed into the best of men." This called forth looks of 
 surprise from all. The Brahman observed, " You do not 
 mean that you hneii: such cases : you heard of them." " ]S^o, 
 no ; I have known the thing to occur again and again ; 
 known the persons and their character, both before and 
 after the change. And, what is more, I am willing to stake 
 all my reputation among you — to stake my name for truth, 
 and my character as a padre — on this, that if there is 
 amongst you any one who in his soul is sorry for his sins, 
 and anxious to be cleansed from them, if he will this day 
 trust with his whole heart in Jesus, though he were the 
 worst man in Ch^lur, Jesus will this day change him into 
 a good man!" This declaration, made with the air which 
 sincerity always gives, evidently produced a deep impression. 
 The Brahmans were here confronted with a power before 
 unthouglit of, — a power to purify the human soul ; not by
 
 OUR WORK 245 
 
 occult washings, tliat leave all appreciable defilement un- 
 touched ; but by an actual change of corrupt into lioly 
 affections, attested by an appropriate change of life. This 
 real, obvious, demonstrable regeneration Avas to them a terra 
 inroijnita ; they had no sophism prepared to meet it, no 
 hereditary dictum whereby it could be touched. It was a 
 simple fact stated on credible evidence ; and they could only 
 hear the testiuKiny with undisguised astonishment. 
 
 Some would gravely question the discretion of thus at 
 once unfolding to the heathen the peculiar characteristics 
 of the gospel. They would judge it more prudent first 
 to shake their confidence in pretended revelations, and then 
 advance the claims of the true ; to make them ashamed of 
 the idol, before you turn their eye to the cross. There is 
 something feasible in such a view ; but perhaps only feasible. 
 It is more easy to expel an old sentiment by the introduc- 
 tion of a new one, than by a simple assault. AVe might be 
 wrong ; but it did not strike us that the plan which would 
 postpone the cross to the demonstration was suggested either 
 by wisdom or faith. We did not deem it more desiraljle 
 simply to make the impression that we disapproved of their 
 customs, than to tell them of that salvation which they 
 would recognise as above all things desirable ; which their 
 system had not to offer ; and the knowledge of which, with 
 the mode of its attainment, was the most precious deposit 
 we could leave in their minds, — a deposit which, even though 
 they should never see us again, might prove to them an in- 
 corruptible treasure. 
 
 Our little tent was pitched just outside the gate. Here 
 we spent the heat of the day, receiving visitors. One of 
 these showed himself well acquainted with a tract which he 
 had received at a distant place. In the afternoon we again 
 entered the town ; but not a Brahman was to be seen, and 
 the labouring men were all out. Numbers of women stood 
 in the doors, watching us with lively curiosity ; but to 
 attempt a conversation would have been imprudent ; for
 
 246 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 while Hinduism, less severe than Muhammadanism, per- 
 mits them to be at large, it makes all their respectability to 
 depend on the most punctilious reserve. After having 
 nearly made the circuit of the town, we came ti) the 
 .sh^''/i'(far's cliouUrij (police magistrate's ottice), and found 
 there seated a group of Brrdrmans, numbering not less than 
 thirty. In front of the group, and a short distance from 
 each other, sat two Bnlhrnans, face to face. The junior of 
 the two had a book open on his lap ; the other was expa- 
 tiating, in ra[tid eloquence, to the assembled Br;1hmans, who 
 hearkened to his oratory with countenance attent. Thus to 
 hear one of their number, who has adopted the profession of 
 improvisatore, enlarge in extemporaneous (though not, like 
 his Italian brother, poetical) comment on some celebrated 
 work, is one of the most popular entertainments of the 
 Brahmans. A junior attends the pandit to read, when he 
 pauses, a portion, to furnish him with matter for additional 
 harangue. They were at present thus engaged ; and their 
 assembly gladdened us, as forming an admirable congrega- 
 tion. Advancing to the front of the choultry, we made a 
 low salaam, and politely inquired after their health. They 
 returned our salaam in silence, gracefully intimating that 
 they must attend to the learned man. We made several 
 attempts to engage them in conversaticm ; but no, they 
 signified that they must not be interrui)ted. At length the 
 pandit paused, and his junior began to read. We had 
 already observed that the book was the Pancliatantra,'^ the 
 most popular of their non-sacred writings. An acquaintance 
 witli it is essential to a foreigner who learns their language. 
 Repeated readings had made me familiar with it; and while 
 the Bnlhman was reading, I resolved, rather than lose such 
 a congregation, to venture upon a temerity. When the 
 reader had ceased, and while the pandit was drawing himself 
 up to re-commence with due stateliness, I tried to look un- 
 
 ' The oiii^inal of tlic licttiT kiidwii IIi/u/i(i(h'sa, a ri)llc('tion of fablrs, 
 (iMiislati'il IVoiu Saiiskiit hit" Imi^^HsIi liy Sir William ,I(Hies,
 
 OUR WORK 247 
 
 conscious of a breach (<i inaniicrs, and struck in before hini, 
 attcmptinf,', to the best of my power, to give an account of 
 tliat portion of tlie work. The pandit stared, and the others 
 stared witli hiui ; and it must be confessed that their looks 
 expressed no compliment to my modesty. Resolved, how- 
 ever, not to be aware either of my own impudence or their 
 surprise, I proceeded; till, having given a summary of the 
 tale hinted at in the passage read, I added, with the design 
 to engage them in conversation, " What a thing it is, to see 
 thirty lirahmans, thirty learned men, studying a book which, 
 in my country, we should hand over to schoolboys ! " 
 "What!" they cried, "hand the Panrhatantra over to 
 schoolboys? Why, it is one of the wisest books in the 
 world ! " Their attention was gained, and at any risk it 
 must be fixed. " Yes," was the reply, "we should consign 
 the Panel I ai antra to schoolboys ; and, what is more, there 
 are the Shastras which you deem so holy, some of which 
 you Bnlhmans would not repeat in my hearing, they are so 
 sacred ; now, I am come to tell you that those Shastras are 
 false." At these words, amazement, indignation, and horror 
 played witli vivid expression on those thirty countenances. 
 It is hard to conceive a more striking display of the passions. 
 They all opened upon us at once, with varied and impetuous 
 utterance of the feelings roused by our astounding words. 
 It was impossible, in the vehement strife of voices, to 
 distinguish the sentences of anyone; but the language of 
 a Ilrtlhman on a like occasion I well remember. " What ! " 
 he screamed, at the top of his voice, " the Shastras false ! 
 the four Yedas, the six Shastras, the eighteen Puranas, false ! 
 Then you are false, and I am false, the sun is false, the 
 moon false, heaven false, earth false, the whole universe 
 false ! The Shastras false ! then there is nothing true in 
 the universe." iViuid the surges of wrath, the pandit 
 alone appeared self-possessed, evidently penetrating our 
 design to rob him of his auditory. He lifted up his hands, 
 (vnd endeavoured to calm them down ; saying, that they had
 
 248 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 better never mind us ; we were only foreign 2^cidres, with 
 whom they had nothing to do : let them just attend to him. 
 "But," they impatiently replied, "they have attacked the 
 Shastras, and we must defend them : we should not be 
 Brfihmans, if we did not defend the Shastras." " Yes," I 
 added, "the Shastras are false." Again the full tide of 
 controversial choler rolled upon us, unrestrained by the 
 looks of the disappointed pandit. A discussion now began 
 in good earnest, — they endeavouring to drive us from the 
 bold stand just assumed, we endeavouring to make it good. 
 The pandit made several attempts to regain his lost aud- 
 ience ; but they had become too deeply engaged with us. 
 Unable to sit by and see us in possession, he folded up his 
 book, took it under his arm, and walked away, with a look 
 at us neither complimentary nor thankful. After some 
 time, the argument on their side fell into two or three 
 hands, and eventually they all became silent. Mr. JNIale 
 and I spoke, for a short time, alternately ; and thus were 
 able to sustain the discussion with less fatigue and greater 
 vivacity. A crowd had gathered round, Avho watched, with 
 obvious wonder, the progress of this assault on Brahmanic 
 faith. When the Brahmans had all become silent, we were 
 left at liberty to enlarge on the nature of Christianity, ex- 
 pounding its doctrines and its blessings. During one of the 
 turns when the sul)ject happened to be in my hands, the 
 s]ir/,-(lar (a Brahman), wlio had lioen sitting in silence, 
 suddenly raised himself, and, beckoning towards the crowd, 
 cried out, " Sicdmi!" (God !) the term by which a Bnlhman 
 wishes always to be addressed,^ " come in, come in : they are 
 ruining us, and nothing at all comes to our mouth to say to 
 them." Turning round, I perceived, by the bare head, the 
 triple cord, and other appearances, that the person addressed 
 
 ' {Swdmi is a word of wide connotation, like Kvpios. It is used in 
 addressing God ; but it is in constant nse among the peojile as a very 
 respoc'lfnl term of address, and may he translated "lord," or "yonv 
 honour," or "your reverence."]
 
 OUR WORK 249 
 
 was a Brahinan of the vaidilia, or Baored class ; and the 
 title " shastri," on many lips, told that he was the " wise 
 man," the astrologer of the town. I bowed low to the 
 shastri, pointed to a place among the Brahmans, waited till 
 he was seated, and tlien addressed him personally, stating 
 what had transpired, recapitulating the points already dis- 
 cussed, and proceeding with the one then in hand, The 
 looks of the Lrahmans told that they awaited a re})ly from 
 the shastri with interest and confidence. In expectation of 
 this, I paused. No reply came. Mr. Male took up the 
 thread of the discourse. There sat the Br;l,hnians, silent as 
 the dumb, with their eyes on tlie shastri, who sat in the 
 midst as silent as they. Whether, in the words of the 
 sht'kdar, " nothing came to his mouth to say to us," wo 
 could not tell ; but certain it was, that nothing came out of 
 it. That strange silence continued : it was almost incredible ; 
 we could hardly believe that thirty Brahmans were sitting 
 before us without replying a word, while we endeavoured 
 to establish doctrines which would destroy all that attached 
 their affections, or subserved their designs. It was so : we 
 wondered, we rejoiced, we hoped. ()ur hearts felt glad 
 when, as we gave them our blessing, and turned away full of 
 prayers that grace would attend the seed just sown, we 
 heard the people exclaiming, Ahah ! ahah ! idu yi'mi bantu ? 
 Brnhmanara hdyi muchrhi lioijitu ! " Wonderful ! wonder- 
 ful ! What is this that has come to pass % The Brahman's 
 mouth is closed ! " ^ 
 
 This fact illustrates the opening placed before us in the 
 interior of India. Here, some days' march from a British 
 garrison, is a town wliere the gospel has never been preached, 
 full of idolatry (having about thirty temples), with an 
 influential community of Brfdnnans ; and yet here two 
 
 ^ A niemoranchnn, discovered since the ffre.ater part of the above 
 was written, shows that I have confounded the services of two days ; 
 the preacliiiig in the schooh'ooni narrated liaving taken phice on a 
 ijilTerent day from the argument at the clioultry.
 
 250 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 missionaries impeach the reigning superstition in the most 
 public way, and enforce the claims of Christianity without 
 the slightest molestation. jSTor let any one give us credit 
 for courage. We knew perfectly well that, however the 
 peo})le might oppose our doctrines, they would never dream 
 of carrying that opposition farther than words ; and that 
 we ran no more risk of personal violence than by discussing 
 ethics in a college, or politics in a drawing-room. At our 
 next visit to Chelur, we had in the morning a good con- 
 gregation in our school, nearly the whole of which followed 
 to the shekdar's choultry, Avhere we preached again : during 
 the day many visited us in our tent, and in the evening we 
 preached first at the school, then to the out-castes, and 
 lastly in a ryot hamlet outside the wall, in all which places 
 we were attended by a considerable audience. Thousands 
 of towns — yes, tens of thousands, as idolatrous as Cheliir — 
 are equally open ; towns within long, long miles, of which 
 the messenger hath never come " that brlngeth good tidings 
 of good, that publisheth salvation." 
 
 In visiting Tumkur, we usually chose the market - day, 
 and stayed for the night, preaching to the people of the 
 town before the market began, again in the market, and in 
 one of the adjacent villages the next morning. Once, in 
 company with Mr. Sullivan, our assistant missionary, I took 
 my stand at the corner of a street, where the Brahmans 
 were passing to their morning ablutions. We soon had a 
 numerous congregation, which several Brjlhrnans joined. 
 They put questions Avith a view of provoking discussion ; 
 but not choosing to lose such an oi)portunity of setting forth 
 the gospel, I signified that they should be answered after- 
 wards, and proceeded with the discourse. They made 
 several fresh attempts, wliidi, as tlic people gave unbroken 
 attention, it seemed wiser to pass without notice. At length 
 two or three left, as if on an errand, and soon returned, 
 accompanied by another Bnllnnan. He pushed in among 
 the crowd, till he stood right before me. His air was not
 
 OUR WORK 251 
 
 to 1)0 mistaken : he eaiue to [)lay the cham[iion. He was 
 of middle age, and of a countenance which unequivocally 
 markoil him as belonging to that class of clever persons who, 
 with eU'ervescent intellect and aquafortis temper, spend 
 their whole lifetime on the selvage of insanity, lie heard 
 a few sentences with a keen look of derision that augured 
 little good ; and then commenced a discharge of words hard 
 as grape-shot and thick as hail, I tried to speak on, as 1 
 had done with the others ; but he raised the pitch of his 
 voice like the opening of a fresh battery, and, heating his 
 shot, poured it out in fiery showers. I waited till, having 
 run himself out of breath, he paused, and then attempted to 
 resume without any allusion to him. But the mere act of 
 pausing had refreshed him : forth burst his ire more turbulent 
 than ever. He was innocent of argument as a bombshell of 
 etiquette ; yet his magnificent passion carried away the 
 crowd. At the next pause, 1 made another attempt, and 
 had got a few words uttered, when, fiercer than before, his 
 thunder-and-lightning invectives came pealing about our 
 ears. It was quite obvious that it would be impossible to 
 preach, in the presence of this Nabal, " such a son of Belial 
 that a man could not speak to him ! " And knowing that 
 a congregation could be obtained in the pettah, 1 resolved 
 to lose no time. Feeling, however, that to leave while he 
 was speaking would seem as if we had taken offence, we 
 waited for a pause, and then said, in their own phrase, " We 
 will go and come again," an expression which implies no 
 promise to retvirn, but is only a mild announcement of your 
 intention to take leave. He now lost all bounds, and opened 
 a tirade of personal abuse. Waiting till this was past, 1 
 said, " God bless you, we must go now ; but I hope God 
 will give you grace, and that we shall meet in heaven." 
 Passing through the crowd, we heard them say, in an under- 
 tone, Geddaru, geddaru, Iwpa haralilla, " They have won, 
 the}' have won, they did not become angry " ; an observation 
 which convinced us that the object of the Brahmans had
 
 252 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 been to provoke us into a bad temper, and use that as a 
 proof that our teaching was not to be heeded. 
 
 The same afternoon, in the market, we had one of the 
 largest congregations I had seen. In the very centre of the 
 traffic, a long discourse was heard by hundreds, with scarcely 
 an attempt to interrupt, which, whenever made, the people 
 themselves put down. After tlie sermon, some arguments 
 were started in defence of the Purdnas, into which we entered 
 at full. The whole audience remained, nor did they evince 
 the least impatience, though the entire service lasted nearly 
 two hours. I was much struck to see present during the 
 whole time, and with a countenance deeply attentive, the 
 very Erahman whose expression has been quoted above, to 
 the eflTect, " that if the Shastras were false, sun, moon, heaven, 
 earth, and all things must be false." He took no part in the 
 discussion, except once or twice to say a word in our favour ; 
 but he came afterwards, bringing with him a friend from 
 the same neighbourhood, and asked for books, saying he 
 had read attentively those he previously received, and was 
 much impressed with the goodness of our religion. 
 
 We started early one morning to attend a great feast at 
 Yettanhalli, a secluded village about seven miles distant. 
 We found before the village a spacious green skirted with 
 trees, and having on one side a small, open temple of 
 Mariamma, the goddess of disease, in whose honour the 
 festivities of the day were to be celebrated. Opposite this, 
 distant perhaps a hundred yards, was a car as tall as any 
 of the trees, which several men were decking with gay- 
 coloured cotton flags. Several loiterers who stood by stared 
 with genuine amazement at an arrival so unlooked for as 
 ours. We at once joined them, and, by preaching to them, 
 commenced the labours of the day. We next entered the 
 village, where our appearance excited as great a commotion 
 as would that of a pair of Namacquas in a midland hamlet, 
 where an outlandish costunu; or a black face had never been 
 seen. Men, women, and children hastened to the spectacle.
 
 OUR WORK 253 
 
 Tho nion ami Ixiys closeil us loiiiid, tlic wmiioii slood in the 
 distance, the elder girls clung to their mothers, and the 
 younger ones came a pace (tr two nearer. AN^c op(!ned to 
 them the fundamental truths of the gospel, "which they 
 heard with a wondering attention. Early in the forenoon, 
 the green began, from the constant arrival of small parties, 
 to wear an animated aspect. Sometimes they came in 
 procession, the woman bearing, in brazen vessels, oiierings 
 of fruits for the goddess, and all waving bunches of the 
 sacred Inda grass.^ They proceeded directly to the temple ; 
 wliicli having no door, we coidd see all that occurred. The 
 Avorship consisted merely in the performance of the 
 namaxlalra (a low bow with the joined hands touching the 
 forehead), at the same time handing the ollering to the 
 priest, who waved it before the idol, took a part as his own 
 due, placed amid the remainder a light from the holy lamp, 
 and returned it to the party by whom it was presented. 
 
 During the morning, we witnessed an Eastern greeting of 
 more than usual interest. A young man, who had evidently 
 come from a considerable distance, was crossing the green, 
 "when he suddenly hastened towards an old man, who proved 
 to be his father. On reaching him, he kneeled down on the 
 ground with an air of strong affection, placed both his liands 
 tenderly on the feet of the old man, bowed hisj head low, 
 and, lifting his hands, rested the forehead upon them for a 
 moment. The father's countenance beamed with joy to see 
 this filial reverence. 
 
 In every part of the ground Ave freely conversed with the 
 people, and preached as often as our strength would permit. 
 We were not debarred from any place : without hindrance, 
 we proclaimed Jesus, now at the very front of the temple, 
 and now leaning against the massive wheels of the car. No 
 attempt was made to restrain us, no murmur at our intrusion 
 on their festivities. Objections we had ; but we had more 
 
 ^ [A grass with long stalks and muiierous pointed leaves — the Poa 
 cijnosiiroldcs. Monier Williams^ It is essential iu all sacrifices.]
 
 254 A MISSION TO THE MYSOi;E 
 
 expressions of assent. A])oi;t the middle of the green, near 
 the car, and directly opposite the temple, a shallow hole, of 
 about three feet Avid.e and six or seven long, had been dug. 
 In the centre of this was a large pile of wood and leaves. 
 About noon the priest left the temple, preceded by musical 
 instruments, and bearing in his hand a light from the altar- 
 lamp. 'With slow and reverential formality, the miisic 
 still before him, he several times walked round the pile, and 
 then, uttering a mantra, applied the light. The dry leaves 
 shrivelled up, emitting a faint smoke ; but no flame Avaa 
 visible in the light of the glorious sun. When satisfied that 
 the pile was ignited, he marched back to his position at the 
 altar. The intention of this ceremony Avas, that those who 
 had been restored from illness, on vowing to ^lariamma that 
 they would " tread the fire," might noAV have the opportunity 
 of discharging their vow. By this time every fcAV minutes 
 brought in a fresh group of villagers. We were standing 
 close by the temple when a numerous procession entered. 
 Almost immediately, sounds of angry contention arose 
 within. Turning round, we found priest and people, men 
 and women, in a violent broil, scolding, clamouring, pushing, 
 and dragging one another with hearty rage. So liigh did 
 the dudgeon of some rise, that they even left the temple 
 with their ofTerings, without having them presented. The 
 dispute rose from the priest demanding a larger portion of 
 the offerings than they judged to be his due. 
 
 As the day advanced, several men appeared, naked from 
 the waist up, having the body painted with a chequer of 
 light blue, and each carrying a branch of the sacred tidasi,^ 
 These were the parties intending to tread the fire. Forming 
 
 ' [Tlic tulasi {Ocyminn sanclmn), or lioly l)asil, is a native of India, 
 but soinctliing closely rcscnililiiig it grows in Europe, and is said to lie 
 niueh used in French cookery. In India tlie wor.sliipiicrs of Vishnu 
 hold it in special regard. When one of them is dying, a bit of its root 
 is placed in the mouth of the dying man, and the leaves are placed on 
 his face, eyes, ears, and chest ; he is then sprinkled from head to foot
 
 OUR WOUK 255 
 
 a 1,'rouii, ami waving' tlicir brandies, tlioy raised a loud shout, 
 and dashed at full speed from one end of the green to the 
 other, the crowd everywhere making way for them to pass. 
 This they continued to do for some time, apparently with 
 the design of raising their spirits for the coming effort. At 
 the same time several cars, much smaller than the great one, 
 but of the same construction, arrived, each attended by a 
 procession and a band. Their numbers told of the power 
 that superstition still retained ; yet their being drawn, not 
 by the people, but by oxen, spoke of its decadence. The 
 buzz of the crowd, the movement of the cars, the sight of 
 the votive fire, the oft-repeated shout and coursing of the 
 devotees, and the clangour of musical instruments, all stirred 
 the people to a high excitement. Night was approaching, 
 and we must leave. The moment was melancholy and 
 rousing. There were our rational brethren celebrating 
 with glad enthusiasm these wretched solemnities. There 
 were the mingled notes of mirth, fanaticism, and lewdness 
 going up to regale the ear of gory Superstition, seated on her 
 throne of skulls, feasting on human hearts, and shrieking at 
 each ray of light that fell on her bloodshot eye. We knew 
 that these multitudes had no better hopes than she could 
 give, no better model than she presented. We knew that 
 the old men and the children whom the revellers had left in 
 their villages, were, the one dying with her talons in their 
 vitals, the other springing up Avitli her venom in their blood. 
 It is easy to advise a missionary not to overwork his strength ; 
 but when a man with zeal for God finds himself surrounded 
 by thousands of lieathen, there is a woe in their condition, 
 and a fire in his soul, before which no personal considerations 
 can stand. The sinners are l)ef(>re liim ; life is uncertain; 
 
 with a tiiJasl twij^ wliidi lias lircii ilijipcil in water. Tliat is, in fact, 
 the Vai.sluiavite form of e.xtrenie unetioii. But nearly all Ikahiiiaiis 
 grow the plant in the courtyaids of their houses, and the women offer 
 worship to it. The AMie Duljois has an interesting account of it in 
 his hook.]
 
 256 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 before another opportunity lie may l^e dead, or they may be 
 dead, lie must warn them while he has time. It is true, 
 the effort may close his life ; but that he must leave with 
 God. Under such feelings many a missionary hastes to an 
 early grave. It must be so, while the proportion between 
 the harvest and the labourers continues such as it is at 
 present. Hoarse and weary, I again took my stand close by 
 the fire. A large audience closed round me. The train of 
 painted men rushed by with an exulting shout. I turned 
 and addressed them particularly. Several stood to hear. 
 Entreating them to consider whether a being who could 
 delight to see them tread the hre, were worthy of worship 
 or of execration, and whether the ascription of such disposi- 
 tions to God were not most sinful, I urged them, with bold 
 earnestness, to abandon a design so foolish, — a design which 
 could only make them more than ever obnoxious to the 
 displeasure of the Almighty. They uttered not a word ; 
 but stood like men convinced and ashamed. When called 
 upon to justify their conduct, they only said, that they had 
 made the vow, and it must be fulfilled. iSTight was falling ; 
 they had not trodden the fire ; but we were obliged to 
 leave. 
 
 Preaching the gospel to the heathen we regarded as our 
 great work ; but viewed the establishment of schools as an 
 auxiliary not only legitimate, but important. We deemed 
 it neither expedient nor lawful to merge the evangelist in 
 the schoolmaster ; and deemed a public announcement of the 
 gospel both the most apostolic and the most direct way of 
 bringing it to act upon the public mind. At the same time 
 we could not sympathise with those who think that a 
 missionary has nothing to do with schools, who expect no 
 good from them, and who (provoked, it must be admitted, 
 by assumptions neither reasonable nor modest) decry the 
 labours of those who judge themselves called to that and 
 to no higher sphere. We felt that, however defective, if 
 standing alone, a system of mere school-keeping, and how-
 
 OUR WORK 257 
 
 ever inconsiderate the way in which it liud been advocated, 
 yet that, viewed in connexion witli other existing agencies, 
 those excellent men who devoted themselves to that work 
 were performing a service of prime importance to Christianity 
 in India. To rescue youth from the deleterious education 
 given in Hindu schools, and to store their mind with scrip- 
 tural truth, is indubitably a benefit to their country, and a 
 work acceptable to God. Situated as we were, among a 
 population exclusively heathen, the alternative lay between 
 very unsatisfactory schools and no schools at all. "We 
 deemed it well to bring the youth under our influence, to 
 the extent of which our circumstances admitted. Accord- 
 ingly, at a small monthly salary, we retained a master, 
 stipulating that no instruction should be given but such as 
 we approved ; that the Scriptures should be read daily ; that 
 the Catechisms, with Scripture proofs, should be committed 
 to memory ; that we should visit and examine the school at 
 pleasure ; and that all the boys above a certain age should, 
 once a month, be brought to the mission-house, to be 
 examined with those of the other schools. One such school 
 we established in every village offering encouragement. 
 Many of the masters, and also the pupils, were Bnlhmans ; 
 and, though occasional difficulties arose from admixing the 
 castes, matters proceeded more satisfactorily, in the main, 
 than might be anticipated. Many of our monthly examina- 
 tions were highly interesting, the boys of various castes 
 vying with each other in their knowledge of the Scriptures, 
 and of the invaluable digest of truth contained in the 
 Catechisms. AVe felt that the perfect committal to memory 
 in boyhood of these manuals, with the frequent examinations, 
 in which the grand truths of religion, with their proofs, 
 were enlarged, must, at least, so tattoo the things most 
 essential to be known upon the memory, that they could not 
 be effaced by any after-process. 
 
 Another important branch of operations was, the distribu- 
 tion of books. The INIadras Bible Society liberally supplied 
 
 17
 
 258 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 US with the Gospels, Acts, Psahiis, Genesis, and other 
 portions of Scripture, bound separately ; for, as the entire 
 Bible occupies four large volumes, it may be supposed that 
 it is not possible to distribute it gratuitously to any great 
 extent. The Bangalore Tract Society readily answered our 
 calls for tracts. For both classes of books we met with a 
 reception not only ready, but joyful. Many a stranger left 
 our house bearing wath him, to some distant town, the first 
 record it ever received of God's love to sinners. 
 
 We were publicly employed three evenings out of the 
 seven, besides the services every morning. On the other 
 evenings, I was in the habit of walking on the highway, and 
 entering into conversation with the first passenger. This 
 led to many most interesting opportunities of explaining 
 Christianity to persons from various districts, and of all 
 classes : now a merchant returning from a distant market ; 
 now a family removing ; now a religious mendicant hasting 
 to some new harvest ; now a pair of itinerant Brabmans, 
 coming to regale the imagination, and try the liberality, of 
 their brethren ; now an old woman, whose age made 
 conversation with her permissible; now the milkman, 
 leading home his kine ; now a group of playful boys ; now 
 a pilgrim on his weary march ;— in fact, every order in turn 
 received familiar instructions in the way to God. One 
 evening, on accosting a fine old man, he said, with much 
 vivacity, " I never before was spoken to by an Englishman 
 in my own language : this is a pleasure ! When we go to 
 the sirdars (government officers), they say, Knn hat ? Now, 
 that is not our language, it is the Turks' language ; ^ and 
 we do not like to be talked to as if we were Turks." He 
 went on to say, that he knew I must be the Gubbi padre ; 
 and that he was a gamja from Mfdvanaikanakote, a place 
 many miles distant. After some conversation on religion, 
 he said, " Some time ago, one of our people Avent to your 
 house : you took him into your room, and said a great deal 
 ^ Hindustani, spoken by the Musalinans.
 
 OUR WORK 259 
 
 of sense to him, ami gave him a hook. He brought it home. 
 It was the first book^ that had ever been in our town, and 
 we were all delighted. We assembled, and read it together. 
 It was certainly a very wise book, but had one fault tliat 
 much surprised us all." Oi course, I requested to know 
 wliat the fault was. " Oh, I must not tell you ; for you 
 would be angry." A Hindu will trust to anything about an 
 Englishman sooner than his temper. They readily confide 
 in his courage, or justice, or truth ; but his patience is in sad 
 discredit. It is much to be doubted whether this opinion 
 has arisen from an excess of amiability on the part of our 
 countrymen. Having repeatedly assured the good man that 
 he need not fear, he at length said, but not without a look 
 askance, to see if my countenance grew stormy, "The fault 
 was this : it would not allow of any God but one ! Now, 
 wliat do you say to that ? " He evidently regarded this, the 
 first truth of all truths, as a grave blemish in a book other- 
 wise distinguished by wisdom. 
 
 Thus we pursued our work, every morning and three 
 evenings in the week preaching to the heathen, visiting them 
 in their shops and at their doors, receiving them into our 
 studies, mingling in their markets and feasts, walking with 
 them on the highwaj^ teaching their children the truths of 
 grace, and circulating those truths in a printed form. The 
 servants of God find many happy duties, but none to equal 
 those. Years have passed since I preached my last Kanarese 
 sermon, I was eri route to embark for England, with the 
 sentence of the doctors over me, that, on pain of blindness, 
 1 must never again enter the tropics. The feeling that I had 
 then, returns now, — the feeling that God removed me from 
 the most blessed office that man can hold, because I was 
 unworthy. Those parents who consign their sons, who have 
 the heart for a higher calling, to a life spent in making 
 
 ' That means, the first printed Look, to describe wliich, as 
 distinguished from their own nianusciipt works, they have adopted 
 our word.
 
 260 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 bargains, or plodding lawsuits, or swaying with gentlemanly 
 satisfaction the small sceptre of some decent neighbourhood, 
 little know the treasures of grand emotion from which they 
 shut them out, — treasures to be found only in preaching 
 Josus to the heathen, and for one year's enjoyment of which 
 any man with faith to look to lieaven would cast to all the 
 winds the most grateful respectabilities of private life, the 
 most pompous commercial success, or the most flattering 
 professional distinctions. He whose heart once heaved with 
 the desire to live and die preaching Christ, but who, by a 
 preference on his own part, or that of his parents, for the 
 things precious in this life, has been withheld from the work, 
 may sit him down and weep. He has lost what he will 
 never regain. He lives a poorer man (for wealth consists 
 not in what a man has, but in what he is), he will die with 
 an undergrown soul, and to all eternity will lack joys and 
 honours that others, mayhap less fitted to win them, will 
 wear with glorious triumph. In immortality there will be 
 no secrets. Every man will know the whole of his historj^ 
 and the causes whereby its com})lexion was decided. Full 
 many a Christian father may take to his soul the assurance — 
 that the son of his doting love will know, that he is for ever 
 and ever abridged in rewards in consequence of the influence 
 under which he preferred, to the toil of Jesus' ministry, 
 comforts the very names of which have perished, pomp that 
 has been swept from the universe of God, and pelf that was 
 burnt up with vulgar clay. He will know that to this 
 influence he owes it that he is behind others, behind what 
 he might have been ; and owes it, that he dwells in heaven 
 as a refugee, when he might have mandied among the princes 
 of God ; that he glimmers in nebulous distance, when he 
 miglit have shone "as the sun in the kingdom of his 
 Father." Many a lofty motlier will be well humbled when 
 she sees her peerless boy, who was too good to resign to (Jod, 
 too precious to be spent for Christ, too tender to toil for 
 s nils, placed, and that irrecoverably, far behind the son of a
 
 OUR WOllK 261 
 
 lowly neighbour ; when she sees hardships, and studies, and 
 torrid heats, the lonely dwelling, the unshared anxiety, the 
 xintended sickness, all transmuted into illustrious forms of 
 ornament and joy, enhancing the bliss of him who suffered 
 them, and of her who, for Jesus' sake, yielded him up to 
 suffer ; Avhile station and revenues, mansions and equipage, 
 the stare of the vulgar and the smiles of the elite, have long, 
 long ago, ceased to give either satisfaction or excitement. 
 Let every mother, to whom the Lord has given a son Avith a 
 mind capable of a better life than one of barter, know that 
 she can take no step that will so certainly impoverish and 
 abase him, as to pervert his aspirations from pursuits that 
 lead straight to " glory, honour, and immortality," into those 
 Avhich are competent to the most vulgar intellect or the most 
 selfish heart. Xext to the hour that brought me to the love 
 of Christ, I shall ever most bless that hour when she who 
 loved me most said, " From the Lord I reccrived thee, and 
 to the Lord I give thee up." I wept at that parting; but 
 I wept far more when parting from the work that had 
 become dearer than all earthly things. My missionary race 
 was short. God made it so. But, looking back this day, I 
 would not for the universe have that brief space blotted 
 from my existence. 
 
 The people of India resemble their own banyan. View- 
 ing their distinctions of nation, language, and manners, you 
 would deem them (like the stems of that noble tree) stand- 
 ing clearly apart ; but you find that, as those stems have 
 sprung from the same root, and are pervaded by the same 
 sap, so a common literature, a common religion, and, above 
 all, the institution of caste, give to those several nations a 
 remarkable unity, — a unity which serves to transmit through 
 the whole some effect of an impression produced on any 
 part. Imperceptibly, but infallibly, every blow dealt on 
 one point of the Hindu structure affects the entire pile. 
 The impulse given in Tinnevelly vibrates to the Himalaya ; 
 the shock felt in Ijemral thrills to Travancore. The whole
 
 262 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 population is cemented. No individuality exists. Each 
 family and each caste is impacted in itself, and concreted 
 with all the others, each person forming but a particle of 
 the mass. A man's mind consists of the traditions of the 
 ancients, the usages of his caste, and the dogmas of his 
 sect : independent principles, independent convictions, in- 
 dependent habits, he has none. He is neither more nor 
 less than an atom of the public mind, bearing the type 
 impressed by those with whom he is in contact. Such he 
 is, and such he deems it wise to be. He is an integral part 
 of a mental system, vast by the sweep of nations, solid by 
 the action of ages, and ponderous by countless accretions. 
 You cannot move him Avithout disintegrating the mass. It 
 is no light work. A Hindu mind is not dissevered from 
 the system, but by the application of vast forces. Slowly 
 and painfully it disengages itself, it halts, and heaves, and 
 writhes before finally parting : — and many (even some 
 missionaries) treat this as an obstacle to the spread of 
 Christianity in India. Is it so 1 Most indubitably, if the 
 object of Christianity be to gain, in a few years, a given 
 number of converts. But if her object be to pervade all 
 the regions* of Hindustan, to imbue with her truths the 
 people of every hamlet on those oceanic plains ; then the 
 social bonds which at first retard individual conversions, so 
 far from being obstacles to a universal revolution, are but 
 agencies which infallil)ly conduct to the remotest depths 
 of the country the impression made by the missionary at 
 the surface. He may be impatiently thinking that the 
 solidity caused by these bonds has reflected into vacant 
 space the impulse he had applied ; while, in fact, by that 
 very means it is transmitted through many a region unseen 
 by him, and is even then vibrating at the core of the mass. 
 It does seem clear, that when you have a moral force equal 
 to effect the change designed, the more close the mutual 
 dependency of those to be acted upon, the more wide the 
 influence exerted by every application of that force. Where
 
 OUR WORK 263 
 
 the population is limited, and the relations of society are 
 loose, it is, humanly speaking, comparatively easy to convert 
 a man to Christianity. His conversion is of iinspeakable 
 importance ; it saves a soul from death. But what relation 
 has this event to the stability of Satan's empire in the 
 continents that contain more than half the human family ? 
 Scarcely any. A jewel has been snatched from destruction, 
 but no stone struck from the foundation of the citadel of 
 evil. ]S"ot so with the conversion of one forming part of a 
 system which embraces a continent. His escape rends a 
 link in a chain whereby millions upon millions were bound. 
 Every individual who, overcoming the restraints of Hinduism, 
 embraces Christianity, effects, however unconsciously, an 
 achievement by which Asiatic superstition is one degree 
 weakened, and the way to grace made, for the people of 
 nations, one degree easier. Little undertakings have speedy 
 issues. Great undertakings are of slower consummation ', 
 but a large soul would rather eifect the feeblest service 
 towards the ransom of multitudinous people, than reap the 
 hasty delights of a small achievement, begun and ended in 
 a lifetime, but, when ended, leaving the great interests of 
 the human kingdom as they were before. To one who 
 thinks for the present only, the peculiar features of Hindu 
 society Avill appear most formidable obstacles ; to one who 
 thinks for a century, they will appear the most certain 
 instruments of universality in the ultimate triumph. It 
 would be an undertaking of appalling magnitude to attempt 
 the conversion by units of two hundred millions of souls. 
 The ties that bind them together more increase the hope 
 of universal regeneration, than they diminish the facilities 
 of partial change. All that we lose in velocity, we gain in 
 power. In no country will individual conversions, in a 
 given locality, be sIoAver at first than in India ; in no 
 country will the abruption of masses from the " great 
 mountain " be so vast or so rapidly successive. vSome time 
 ago, this would have been called " speculation." The
 
 264 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 events of the last seven years prove these views to be just. 
 The thousands who have lately embraced Christianity in 
 neighbourhoods long under missionary culture, are so many 
 witnesses in their favour ; witnesses, also, that the im- 
 patience that would decry a great continental mission, if 
 its conversions be not so rapid as in little islands of savages, 
 is the result, in some cases, of unbelief, and in others of 
 ignorance as to the character of the enterprise ; an ignorance 
 which frequently consists, even in its highest degree, with 
 what is called " intelligence." 
 
 Around Gubbi appeared many signs of that gradual 
 change of public opinion which must precede every re- 
 volution. Things ancient and venerable Avere losing their 
 influence ; startling questions were broached in private 
 circles ; the gods were not dreaded or trusted as before ; 
 and, above all, the whole people avowed a belief that their 
 religion would pass away. KSeveral times, when I have 
 said, to persons declaring themselves resolved to die in the 
 paths of the ancients, " All the idols shall perish, and every 
 knee shall bow to the Lord Jesus," they have replied, in a 
 tone of pensive assent, Idditu, " It will be so."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 INDIA ; WHAT IS IT ? 
 
 India is a region more than twenty times as large as England 
 and Wales, and equal to the united extent of France, Spain, 
 Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey in Europe, Austria, Prussia, 
 Bavaria, all the minor German States, with Belgium, 
 Holland, and Denmark. Its people are divided into thirty- 
 five different States, speaking thirty different languages.^ 
 They number two hundred millions ; ^ a population equal to 
 that of the whole continent of I^urope, and comprising at 
 least one-sixth, probably one-fifth, of the entire human 
 race.^ China excepted, India is the most populous country 
 in the world. 
 
 Its ijhysical outlines deserve a word. That magnificent 
 mountain-chain which runs eastward from the Caspian Sea, 
 traversing Asia, is interrupted as it approaches the vale of 
 
 ^ These languages, tliough, like the tongues of Europe, having close 
 affinity one with another, are quite as widely separated as they, and 
 in some cases more so. 
 
 ^ [The census of 1891 showed a population of more than 287,000,000. 
 It is now (1901) little less than 300,000,000.] 
 
 ^ In a Lecture on the "Extent, etc., of tlie British Eniiiire," I have 
 
 said, "For proof tliat this, and not the common estimate of 
 
 130,000,000, and sucli like, is correct, see the works of the Count 
 
 Bjornstjerna and Montgomery Martin. The latter shows that the 
 
 population of 422,990 sijuare miles, tlie only portion of India for 
 
 which there are correct returns, is 89, .577, 206 ; but the entire area of 
 
 India is 1,128,800 sipiaro miles, consequently these 89,000,000 are the 
 
 poi>ulation of little more than a third of the country, which must 
 
 therefore contain considerably above 200,000,000. 
 
 2U5
 
 266 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Kashmir by an opening which parts the Hindu Kiish on 
 the west from the Himalaya on the east. Through this 
 opening the Indus descends from the plains of Thibet, and, 
 separating India from Afghanistan and Beluchistan, forms 
 its western boundary, i On the north, for a length of fifteen 
 hundred miles, an uninterrupted barrier is formed by 
 the gigantic Himalaya; while the Brahmaputra, rounding 
 the further extremity of that chain, marks the eastern 
 frontier. The two sides of the triangular peninsula which 
 constitutes its southern termination rest respectively on the 
 Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. 
 
 Starting from the Indus, and proceeding eastward, every 
 stream encountered for about four hundred miles takes the 
 direction of that great river, and runs southerly towards the 
 Arabian Sea. The whole tract covered by this geological 
 level is called the Plain of the Indus, and includes the 
 Punjab, Sind, and neighbouring states. Further eastward 
 than the above limit, all the streams are found to take 
 the same direction aS the Ganges, flowing toward the Bay of 
 Bengal. The tract covered by this level, although extending 
 over a length of about one thousand two hundred miles, 
 with a l)readth of six hundred, is called the Plain of the 
 Ganges, and includes most of the Bengal provinces. On 
 the southern limit of the Plain of the Ganges, or six hundred 
 miles south of the Himalaya, you encounter a lofty range 
 called the Vindhya INIountains ; and south of these a great 
 river (the Nerbudda) flows to the west, having a second 
 range of mountains (the Satpura) on its southern bank ; 
 beyond these you find a second noble river (the Tapti), 
 flowing also to the west, while southward of it rises a third 
 chain of mountains. But having ascended these, instead of 
 finding a ready descent to carry you down on the other side, 
 you discover a plain, level with the summit of the hills, and 
 stretching in gentle undulations beyond the southern horizon. 
 
 ' Tliis liver is said to discharge in tlie dry season eighty thousand 
 cul)iu feet per second.
 
 INDIA: WHAT IS IT ? 267 
 
 Proceeding in that direction to discover a descent from this 
 wide-topped mountain, you travel eight hundred miles before 
 passing from the elevation to the same level as that from 
 which you started. This elevated tract, varying in breadth 
 from one hundred to five hundred miles, forms a third 
 geological level, inclining strongly from west to east, as is 
 indicated by the course of all its rivers : it includes the 
 Mysore, Ceded Districts, Hyderabad, Berar, and IMahratta 
 territories. A person will form a tolerable conception of the 
 relation which the countries lying on this plateau occupy to 
 the rest of India, if he just think, — The Island of Great 
 Britain stands up from the sea at a certain elevation : now, 
 suppose that elevation increased till every cliff round the 
 coast were as high as Snowdon, the whole surface of the 
 country being proportionally raised, then our fields would 
 hold the same position toward the beach, as the kingdoms 
 just named do to those lying at the foot of the Ghats ; 
 while the mountainous heights up which one ascending from 
 the lieach must climb, would exactly represent the Ghfits 
 themselves. A tract of table-land is in fact the very same 
 natural phenomenon as an island, only that the one is 
 surrounded by land, the other by the sea. 
 
 The Plain of the Indus, the Plain of the Ganges, the 
 central mountainous district, and the grand plateau, are the 
 leading physical divisions of India. 
 
 It is an error to take India as a Avhole for a tropical 
 country. It is true that part of it lies within eight degrees 
 of the equator ; but then such is its magnitude that another 
 part lies more northerly than Jerusalem, and little more than 
 a degree south of Gibraltar. So far from being all a tropical 
 country, in starting from the northern limit of Kashmir 
 you travel nearly seven hundred miles before entering the 
 tropics. Lahore, the most northerly capital, and Trichin- 
 opoly, the most southerly, are two cities as far apart as 
 Stockholm and Naples, and Avith climates equally diverse. 
 Thus, while in some of the kingdoms of India snow has
 
 268 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 never been known, in others it comes with every winter ; 
 and the name of that matchless chain which embattles its 
 northern frontier signifies " the dwelling-place of snow." ^ 
 Again, from the circumstance that so large a portion of 
 tropical India is tableland, a climate . is secured many 
 degrees milder than if it lay at the natural level. This 
 diversity of climate gives rise to a great diversity of produce : 
 India rears crops of rice and of wheat,^ of maize and barley, 
 with equal variety in fruits and vegetables. 
 
 Let it, then, be remembered that India is not one State, 
 but thirty States ; not a country of one language, but of 
 thirty languages ; not a tract of uniform heat, but a region 
 of various climates ; not a residence of one tribe, but of a 
 sixth of all the men that live. These things must not merely 
 be read as statements. They must be viewed, dwelt upon, 
 felt, as facts. Much depends on this : the share of your 
 benevolence given to India will be ruled by your conception 
 of what it is. Your heart will never kindle with an interest 
 appropriate to its claims, until you carefully and clearly set 
 it out before your mind, as a large family of populous nations, 
 which comprises one-sixth of all the hearts that are now 
 throbbing. 
 
 The productions of India nearly exhaust the catalogue 
 of things precious in the mineral, vegetable, and animal 
 
 ^ Him-dlaya. It has been thought that all land above ten thousand 
 feet high was perpetually covered with snow : but this opinion is 
 completely contradicted by our knowledge of the Himalaya. It is 
 observed also that on the northern side of this range the line of per- 
 petual snow lies at a much greater height than on the southern or 
 more sunny side, a result just the reverse of what might be antici- 
 pated. The Count Bjonistjenia remarks, that "the cause of this 
 must be the greater purity of the atmosphere" on the northern face 
 of the chain. It would be much more natural to ascribe it to the fact 
 that the land of Tliibet on the north of the chain lies at an immense 
 elevation above Hindustan on its south, consequently its heat alfects 
 the mountains to a point corresponding to its own height. 
 
 - It is not generally known that Indian wheat is a)i article of 
 import in England, being used principally for glair in manufactures.
 
 INDIA : WHAT IS IT ? 269 
 
 kingdoms. The trader looks at the mercantile worth of 
 its spices, jewels, grains, sugars, cotton, silk, indigo, 
 tobacco, woods, ivory, drugs, and perfumes. The naturalist 
 pores enamoured over its fauna, its flora, and its mineralogy. 
 But no eye looks so wondering on those productions as 
 that of the philosophic or the Christian historian, who 
 traces the power they have in all ages swayed over the 
 social state of the world ; the ways innumerable in which 
 that power is now pervading all civilised life ; and the 
 certainty, every day growing clearer, that hence will spring 
 changes which, for the magnitude of the spheres affected, 
 the value of the benefits conferred, and the splendour of the 
 consequent career, will shine without parallel in the annals 
 of man. 
 
 This, though perfectly intelligible to those versed in the 
 history of the connexion between the West and the East, 
 requires, for others, some explanation. 
 
 The strongest tie used by Providence to preserve the 
 relation of people to people, is the craving of men for pro- 
 ductions not indigenous to their own climate. Had all 
 nations found at home everything necessary and agreeable, 
 it is impossible to conceive to what extent their mutual 
 alienation might have proceeded. China and Japan help 
 us to an idea of that which, in such a case, would have 
 constituted nationality. But while God gave to all men the 
 capacity to enjoy every good thing the earth yielded, lie 
 mercifully appointed its productions so that each individual 
 should receive many of his gratifications at the hand of his 
 brother who bore a foreign tint and spoke a foreign tongue. 
 Each was constituted co-heir of all the riches of the family 
 estate : but he could inherit only by virtue of a family com- 
 pact. Hence arose international commerce ; and, as its 
 necessary result, intercourse between distant people, the 
 knowledge of each other's tongues, and the formation of 
 mutual interests. 
 
 The productions natural to India excited from the earliest
 
 270 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 times the desires of all nations lying to the west ; while 
 their portability facilitated transport even before the exist- 
 ence of those means of carriage required by the unwieldy 
 commerce of the present day. Spices, jewels, perfumes, 
 and silk, while the very articles certain to be craved for, 
 were yet such that a camel-load formed a considerable 
 investment. 
 
 Persia and Arabia first received these luxuries, and com- 
 municated the taste for them to their western neighbours. 
 The Phoenicians, when no longer content to receive this 
 commerce at second-hand, launched upon the Red Sea, 
 brought their merchandise direct from the ports of India, 
 and, conveying it across the Isthmus of Suez, re-shipped it 
 at Khinocalura on the Mediterranean ; hence they carried it 
 to Tyre. The wealth which they derived from this traffic 
 so impressed Alexander when he became their captor, that, 
 in order to divert it into another channel, he founded a city 
 at the mouth of the Nile, to which cargoes could be easily 
 conveyed from the Red Sea, and from which they could 
 again be distributed round the European ports. He had 
 calculated justly : the new city soon became the entrepot of 
 the Indian trade, and, deriving from it the same advantages 
 as Tyre, won eminent wealth and power. Throughout the 
 revolutions of many ages, Alexandria preserved, by its 
 position, the regular flow of this traft^ic, with all its lucrative 
 results ; nor did this cease till the Muhammadan conquest 
 cut it off from the intercourse of Europe. In the meantime 
 another branch of the same trade had raised up in the 
 Syrian desert Palmyra, which, growing upon the wealth 
 that trade ever conferred, reached great magnificence and 
 political power ; but, after a long struggle, fell under the 
 all-humbling arms of Rome. When the ]\[usalmans had 
 conquered Persia, observing the advantages which this trade 
 brought with it, they founded Bosrah with the same views 
 as had dictated the building of Alexandria; and the new 
 city rose into note with a rapidity little less remarkable than
 
 INDIA : WHAT IS IT ? 271 
 
 that of its Egyi)tiaii predecessor. At this point we first 
 observe a religious reaction upon the East from those whom 
 its produce had led to its shores. The Muhammadans, 
 urging their way to the eastward of India, where neither 
 the Tyrians, the Egyptians, nor the Romans had ijonctrated, 
 founded settlements on the shores of the great Archipelago, 
 whence arose the extensive diffusion of their doctrines, now 
 observable in those regions. A day was to come when the 
 same material channel should convey to those shores a 
 spiritual power both milder and more potent. 
 
 The wars of Islam for a time closed Alexandria to the 
 nations of Europe ; but so unconquerable was the desire for 
 the commodities they had hitherto received through that 
 port, that, notwithstanding the difficulties of overland 
 carriage, such was found. The merchandise of India was 
 now borne across the rugged countries lying between the 
 Indus and the Oxus, and forwarded from the latter river to 
 the Black Sea. Constantinople thus became the emporium 
 of the Indian trade ; and thence acquired an allluence by 
 which she was enabled to maintain her political existence 
 much longer than she could otherwise have done. The 
 tendency of this trade to aggrandise whatever people 
 happened to possess it, was forcibly illustrated when the 
 inconsiderable reiiublic of Venice, gaining the traffic 
 between Constantinople and the rest of Europe, rapidly 
 attained to splendid opulence and formidable power. Genoa 
 also, for a time supplanting Venice at Constantinople, 
 gained an eminence very surprising for its limited extent 
 and unsettled government. The Crusades carried to the 
 Levant some of the inhabitants of every considerable 
 country in Europe. There they became acquainted with 
 the productions of India : many now saw sugar, cotton, 
 silk, antl various kinds of spice, for the first time. The 
 warriors returning home carried back a relish for these 
 commodities, and inflamed the desire for them in the 
 minds of their countrymen. Hence the Indian trade
 
 272 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 increased beyond all precedent, and raised Venice to a 
 height of power and magnificence that moved the envy of 
 all Europe. Every eye turned covetously toward the region 
 whence flowed these streams of wealth. Attempts to share 
 the advantages were made, hut rendered abortive either by 
 the power of Venice, or by the unfriendliness of the 
 Musalmans, who held every path of access to India. 
 At the same time the descriptions of that region given by 
 Marco Paulo inflamed to feverish excitement the desire to 
 reach its shores. 
 
 Amid the general devising of projects to arrive at India, 
 Columbus, arguing from the earth's sphericity, concluded 
 that country might be found by sailing to the west. He 
 made the attempt ; and, in failing, discovered a new world. 
 At the same time the Portuguese were led to coast along the 
 African continent, in hope of discovering a passage to the 
 land of so many real treasures, and so many fabled wonders. 
 They found it. With these two discoveries a new era 
 opened on Eiirope, afl"ecting with the most important changes 
 her politics, her commerce, her manufactures, and even her 
 social manners ; while revolutions not less signal hastened in 
 every other region of the world. As we look at those 
 revolutions in their past developments and future promise, 
 and ask, What was their cause? the answer is. Under 
 Providence, the productions of India. 
 
 Portugal possessed for nearly a century a monopoly of 
 the commerce with India, reaping the wealth that had ever 
 been its fruit. In the meantime England, searching in 
 the north-west for a passage to the same region which the 
 ]^ortuguese had reached by the south-east, formed relations 
 with Xorth America, from which important effects have 
 flowed both in our own history and that of the new 
 continent. As if destined, by elevating inconsiderable 
 States, to demonstrate the real magnitude of its influence, 
 the eastern commerce passed from tlie Portuguese to the 
 Dutcli, then a people in feeble infancy. It raised them to
 
 India : witAT is it ? 273 
 
 the head of the marine powers ; but the stream, turning from 
 them to our own shore, has steadily flowed thither during the 
 last century, swelling our affluence to a height never before 
 seen in the tide of human afl'airs.^ During that period has 
 arisen the most wonderful of all the phenomena resulting 
 from the influence of India's produce. Attracted to her 
 shores, and contending for her treasures, the nations of 
 Europe gradually became mixed up with Indian politics^ 
 Hence it has followed that a European empire is estab- 
 lished over two hundred millions of Asiatics, that they 
 have been trained in the European art of war, that their 
 institutions have been ameliorated by the spirit of British 
 law, that scriptural Christianity has commenced her action 
 upon their mind, and that a boundless prospect is opened of 
 grand regenerative changes. 
 
 A moment's reflection on this hasty summary of facts will 
 show how deeply universal history has been affected by the 
 productions of India. They gave Tyre its fame, and made 
 its merchants princes. They raised Solomon's " Tadmor in 
 the wilderness " to the Palmyra of stately palaces and potent 
 armaments. They created Alexandria, and filled its port for 
 ages with the merchants of Greece and Rome. They 
 sustained the sinking empire of the East, enriching and 
 adorning its capital long after her western sister had fallen. 
 They, during the middle ages, enabled petty Italian republics 
 to outshine even great kingdoms. They stirred the genius 
 of European enterprise to fret against the limits that had 
 caged her so long, until at last, breaking forth, she made the 
 circuit of the world, and brought back to her children wealth 
 gathered from every land. No people on earth have been 
 wholly free from the effects of this influence. The few 
 hapless Carribbs that linger in the AVest Indies, when they 
 
 ^ The best account of this interesting branch of history is in 
 Robertson on India, in which the course and the effects of this trade 
 are most ably traced. Every man who wishes to understand tlie 
 history of commerce ought to read that book. 
 
 i3
 
 274 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 think of the wrongs their fathers sank under, and see the 
 invader rejoicing over all their isles, may ask, " What first 
 brought our destroyers here ? " The reply must be, " India." 
 The Eed Man, as he sees the forests of his tribe turned into 
 a garden for the stranger, may ask, " What brought them 
 first across the great waters?" "India." The Esquimaux, 
 seeing our sailors shiver in their snows, or the Indian of 
 Labrador selling us his furs, may ask, " What first led them 
 to lands so chilly 1 " and he must be told, " The search for 
 India." The Negro seized for slavery, the Hottentot staring 
 at civilised industry, the Kafir ravaging the white man's 
 homestead, the New Zealander fighting for his field, or 
 hearkening to the gospel, all may put the same question, 
 " What first led white men to our shores 1 " And to all the 
 reply must be, " India." That country has been the means 
 of most powerfully affecting the state of all this world. Her 
 productions have been the most influential physical cause in 
 modern history. 
 
 To make more palpable the part India lias taken in the 
 history of modern nations, let us consider for a moment her 
 influence on England. Take our shipping. The vessel that 
 first brought the produce of the East direct to England, that 
 in which Drake had circumnavigated the world, was of one 
 hundred tons' burden ! The length of the voyages which 
 the new discoveries made necessary, the magnitude of the 
 demand for the foreign productions, the necessity in times 
 of war to join defence to carriage, all led the conductors of 
 the Indian trade to a style of shipbuilding hitherto 
 unknown ; and from the example of their magnificent fleets 
 the will lie marine of the country eidarged its proportions. 
 In our cor.oNiES, again, we have a system by which our own 
 condition has been materially aiFected, and new States created 
 on other shores. This system wholly issued from the 
 discoveries made in seeking various paths to India. To 
 reach India we went westward, and found the West Indies 
 and America. To reach India we went northward,
 
 INDIA: WHAT IS IT ? 275 
 
 and found Labvadov. To reach India wc rounded the 
 termination of 8outh America, and found the South Seas, 
 where lie Austraha and New Zealand.^ To rcacli India, the 
 coast of Africa was explored. To enable them to command 
 the trade with India, the Dutch colonised the Cape of Good 
 Hope ; and for the very same reason we drove them from 
 that possession. 
 
 Our TRADE, not less than our shipping or colonies, testifies 
 to the power of India. Those articles which strike all as 
 the most lucrative are either such as originally came from 
 India, or to which that country first introduced us. Tea, 
 for instance, though the production of China, became known 
 to us only through our Indian trade ; and perhaps those who 
 are ready to imagine that without that beverage daily comfort 
 would be impossible, will be surprised to learn that no 
 mention of it occurs in the records of the East India 
 Company till sixty-seven years after it had been char- 
 tered. Only then Avas their factor at Bantam instructed 
 to procure " 100 lb. u-eight of the best tay he could geit." 
 The sugar-cane, again, had been transplanted from India to 
 western Asia, where it was unknown in earlier times ; there 
 it was seen by Europeans during the Crusades, thence 
 brought to different parts of the ]Mediterranean, thence 
 introduced to Madeira and the Canaries, finally to the "West 
 Indies and I'razil.- Hence arose the extensive use of that 
 tempting luxury, hence the slave-trade, hence our missions 
 to the West, hence the noblest strife of philanthropy, hence 
 the sublimcst record of colonial legislation. Cotton also 
 originally came to us from India.^ By the trade which the 
 Romans maintained with that region through Alexandria, this 
 
 ^ These various routes were sought, because the Portuguese claimed 
 an exclusive riglit to that which they had discovered ; and had their 
 claim forfeited by the Pope's authority. 
 
 - Some think that the sugar-cane was indigenous to Soutii America ; 
 but I believe all are agreed that for the manufacture of sugar from the 
 caue we are wholly indebted to India. 
 
 ■* Baines's llislorn of the Cotton Mttnu/aclonj.
 
 276 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 light and agreeable fabric was first made known 'to Europeans, 
 and became valued among the luxuries of the imperial 
 city. During the middle ages the Venetians supplied 
 enough to create a desu-e for more. The Moors introduced 
 the plant itself into Europe, and thus the way was prepared 
 for its general reception. When a direct commerce was 
 opened with India, cotton was imported from Calicut ; and 
 hence the name " calico." Silk Avas first introduced to India 
 from China (as cotton was introduced to China from 
 India) ; but for many ages it was supplied to Europe wholly 
 through India. With these facts before us, it is altogether 
 unnecessary to remark that our manufactures have not less 
 felt the influence of India, than the other branches of our 
 national activity. 
 
 To estimate the influence which, through all these 
 channels, India has exerted on our national character and 
 domestic habits, is a sheer impossibility. The changes that 
 have passed upon our homes by the introduction of 
 silk, cotton, tea, sugar, and spices, are now too distant and 
 too many to permit accurate enumeration. Strike these 
 articles from our imports for a single year, and you will 
 produce a revolution that would help to illustrate the 
 magnitude of their influence ; but yet even that would not 
 conduct us back to the same manners, the same modes of 
 thought, and the same physical condition Avhich began to 
 depart when these new comforts entered, and have since 
 been gradually yielding to softer and more luxurious 
 habitudes. These articles have metamorphosed both our 
 persons and our tables : we neither dress nor eat as did our 
 ancestors. They have entered not only the highways, but 
 every bye-path of society, which marches not a step but in 
 their companionship. Take our remotest homestead ; and 
 though the inhabitants have no knowledge of foreign parts, 
 and never considered themselves debtors to India, yet on 
 every male and female you will find articles of clothing, and 
 at almost every meal cither food, beverage, or condiment,
 
 INDIA: WHAT IR IT? 277 
 
 which were unknown in their hamlet before the way to 
 India was opened. The debt to India is universal ; no man 
 in the community is free from it ; it contributes to the 
 comforts of all. Everything we look upon testifies to 
 the grateful influence of its productions, — the luxuries of 
 the most refined, the comforts of the most economical, the 
 garments of all. We do not survey a room, we do not 
 enter a shop, we do not take a meal, we do not look upon 
 the dress of a child, without encountering some memento 
 of the universal debt to India. In the saloons of our 
 nobles, the mansions of our gentry, the houses of our 
 tradesmen, the cottages of our workmen, and the chambers 
 of our sick, we find India contributing helps to comfort or 
 ameliorations of pain. 
 
 Who then can look with a well-instructed eye on the 
 present state of the British nation, without being amazed at 
 the influence that has been exerted upon us by a country 
 so far away ; and a country the people of which never 
 meddled with our concerns ? India never sent an expedition 
 to our shores, and yet it has diffused its influence through. 
 every vein of our national life. We see it in our refined 
 clothing and our sumptuous boards, in the stir of our ship- 
 yards, in the magnitude of our nuirine, in the splendid 
 heritage of our colonial possessions, in the manifold issue of 
 our factories, and in the ubiquitous commerce with which 
 we are pervading the world. Ifor have we been alone : 
 changes have passed over the condition of man from Italy to 
 Scandinavia, while newly discovered tribes have shared in 
 the universal impulse. Let no one, then, regard the 
 productions which form the chief articles of commerce as 
 created to gratify foibles, or make fortunes. They are the 
 ties by which the All-wise has held together the most distant 
 races of men, provided for the general diff"usion of local 
 blessings, and finally called forth the nations on whom His 
 truth shone, to enlighten their brethren who sat in 
 darkness.
 
 278 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 The influence of India has scarcely presided less over 
 man's intellectual than over his material history. To take a 
 very obvious proof : every one feels the prodigious benefit of 
 being able to express the endlessly diversified records of 
 arithmetic by only ten ciphers. Into what consternation 
 would all the counting-houses and all the observatories 
 of Europe be thrown, were a decree to reach them that their 
 accounts must be kept, and their calculations made, accord- 
 ing to the Roman model, in the letters of the alphabet ! 
 Yet, only a few centuries ago, this was their method ; for 
 no language of Europe, or of Western Asia, furnished a 
 more compendious arithmetical notation. The Hindus had 
 invented, in very early times, the system now in universal 
 use ; from them it had been adopted by the Persians and 
 Arabs ; and it is matter of dispute whether it reached 
 Europe before Leonardo of Pisa,^ in the thirteenth century ; 
 but it seems more probable that it was brought to Spain by 
 the Moors. Its progress among men of business was very 
 slow. Had it not been for this invention, the rapidity with 
 ■vvhich the largest commercial transactions are now executed 
 would have been impossible ; and if the calculations of 
 astronomy could have been conducted at all, it would have 
 been with immense difhculty.- 
 
 It must be felt that the nation who took the lead in 
 astronomical science would gain immense influence over 
 
 ^ He made known the S3\stein of algebra, also a Hindu invention. 
 [See the articles "Aritlnnetic " and ''Algeljra" in Chamheva'a Encydo- 
 pa'dia]. 
 
 2 Take the quantity 333, and l>y the Roman notation you liave 
 just treble the nunil)er of figures, and those more complex, 
 cccxxxiii. The principle of the Hindu invention is to increase tenfold 
 the value of a ciplier for every time it is removed from the final digit 
 of the series. There cannot be a doubt that the possession of this 
 unequalled vehicle for numbers tempted the Brahmans into those 
 extravagances by which they play, in their sacred books, with billions 
 of years. Archimedes is said to liave written a book for the purpose of 
 proving tliat it was possil)le to express such numbers as were familiar 
 to every Brahman in India.
 
 INDIA: WHAT IS IT ? 279 
 
 the mind of other ancient people. Though the controversy 
 on this subject cannot be fairly said to have yet led to a 
 conclusive decision, yet it has established the fact that 
 Chaldea, Egypt, and China are to be set aside, and that the 
 whole of what deserves the name of science lies between 
 Greece and India, With tlieni only has been discovered 
 knowledge that could servo as a basis to the stupendous 
 fabric of modern times. In comparing the system of these 
 two nations, the Hindu astronomy has been found to be 
 more correct, as regards the precession of the equinoxes, the 
 length of the tropical year, and the synodic periods of the 
 moon. Add to this their unquestionable antecedency to 
 the Greeks in civilisation ; their great superiority in 
 arithmetic ; their sole possession, at first, of algebra ; with 
 their habitual indisposition to receive instruction from 
 foreign nations ; and it can scarcely fail to appear that 
 probability leans rather toward the precedence of the 
 Hindu, than the Greek, astronomy,^ Perhaps when we 
 have become as familiar with the history of science in the 
 East, as we are with its history in the West, this probability 
 will ripen to demonstration. The early progress of the 
 Hindus in logic, ethics, poetry, and metaphysics, is uni- 
 versally acknowledged ; and enabled them largely to infl\i- 
 ence the literatiire of other civilised nations. 
 
 But the most gigantic effects produced on the world by 
 India, have been in the field of religion. The extent to 
 which the Greeks and Romans, and through them all 
 Europe, borrowed religious usages and tenets from the 
 Egyptians, is matter of universal notoriety. Even some of 
 
 ^ This is further confirmed by the fact, that while the Greeks 
 sent their sages to study in India, we have no account of Hindu 
 sages seeking light in Greece ; and though it may be true that the 
 Greeks did not commence this piactice till after the solid founda- 
 tion of the science had been laid by Hijiparchus, yet it could oidy 
 have begun after Hindu learning had been long and highly prized 
 by their philosophers. This whole subject is well treated in the 
 Penmj Cydopxdia, article " Vija Ganita,"
 
 280 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the superstitions now prevalent in Christendom can be 
 traced, through mediaeval and Roman modifications, to an 
 Egyptian original. When India and ancient Egypt began 
 to be known, a remarkable similarity was observed in 
 their rites and institutions. The mutual divisions of castes, 
 hereditary trades, the worship of the ox, the resemblance 
 between the linga and the plialJus, the agreement of the 
 mundane egg with the Hindu doctrine of creation, all 
 attest a close connexion. The question arose. Which 
 nation had taught the other. It was very natural that 
 Europeans should at first attribute the precedency to the 
 country from which the earliest lights of civilisation had 
 reached their own regions. But with the advance of 
 knowledge opinion has gradually changed; and now the 
 accurate author of the Theogony of the Hindus appears to 
 have set the question at rest, adducing proofs, that amount 
 to all but demonstration, that Egypt derived from India, 
 and not India from Egypt.^ This point once conceded, we 
 view a prodigious field, on which the mind of India has 
 moulded the character of man. The prevalence, in times 
 of authentic history, of the Hindu doctrine of metemp- 
 sychosis, is a forcible proof of their religious ascendancy ; 
 for they not only impelled that dogma through the schools 
 of Greece, but even into the credence of the Jews them- 
 selves. Whether we adopt the views of Mr. Higgins with 
 respect to the " Celtic Druids," or place that remarkable 
 
 ^ His proofs are: 1, It is testified by Herodotus, Plato, Solon, 
 Pythagoras, and Philostratns, tliat tlie religion of Egypt proceeded 
 from India. 2. The monuments of Egypt testify that the religious 
 system gradually descended from tlie south towards the north. 3. The 
 chronicles recorded by Josephus and Eusebius state that the religion 
 of Egypt came from India. 4. Asia was first peopled. 5. Tradition 
 marks central Asia as the first home of man ; consequently, India 
 \yould be peopled before the valley of the Nile. 6. We liave history 
 to this effect. 7. The Abyssinians have a tradition, that the first 
 inhabitants of their country came, by way of the Red ^ea, from a 
 remote country in the south.
 
 INDIA : WHAT IR IT ? 281 
 
 hierarchy in the more sober position assigned to it by the 
 author of the Religion of Ancient Britain, and whether or 
 not we join the Count Bjcirnstjerna in affiliating the Edda^ 
 of Scandinavian mythology to the Veda of India, we 
 cannot doubt that at the time of our Lord's appearing, every 
 civilised people in the world, except (perhaps) the Chinese, 
 held religious doctrines adopted more or less directly from 
 the Hindus. kSince then a still more signal illustration has 
 been given to their religious power. Shortly after the 
 opening of the Christian era, Fo carried into China 
 Buddhism, — a religion which had sprung up in India as a 
 reform of Br;1hmanism. Such has been its spread, that, 
 according to some high authorities, it has now three hundred 
 millions of disciples in that country ; while, I believe, none 
 would demand a larger deduction from this number than 
 fifty millions. When to these are added the Buddhists of 
 Thibet, Tartary, Burmah, Siam, Japan, and Ceylon, we 
 arrive at the unquestionable conclusion, that this creed far 
 surpasses any other in the number of its adherents. If we 
 take the Buddhists at three hundred and fifty millions 
 (thirty millions less than they are estimated in the Tlieogony 
 of the Hindus), and the adherents of Bnthmanism at one 
 hundred and fifty millions, we liave then five hundred 
 millions of the world's existing population under the power 
 of creeds originated in India. Nor will any one attentively 
 survey the countries over which these systems extend, and 
 compare them with the whole world, without concluding, 
 that, M'hether these numbers be too great or too small, at 
 least one-half of the human race are worshipping at the 
 altars of Buddhism and Brahmanism, 
 
 Until within the last eight centuries the Hindus enjoyed 
 a singular exemption from foreign rule. The ancient 
 
 ' The Edda, though not composed till the eleventh or twelfth 
 century, is supposed to embody the tenets introduced by the second 
 or third Wodin before the Christian era ; in wliich tenets the learped 
 (Jou;it discovers Buddhism.
 
 282 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Persians held, for some time, a province on their north-west 
 frontier ; across the same frontier, Alexander made a short 
 inroad, which has not left even a trace in their histories ; 
 but their whole career, np to the above period, had been 
 free from any grand conquest by a foreign power. ^ Hence 
 much of their maturity in political and literary civilisation ; 
 for, in domestic civilisation, which Christianity alone creates, 
 they have always been, and still remain, exceedingly back- 
 ward. In the beginning of the eleventh century, the 
 scimitar of Islam inflicted the first severe wound upon the 
 independence of Hindustan. After the princes of that fierce 
 faith had been established for about seven centuries, the 
 whole of India might be regarded as subdued, under the 
 sceptre of Aurangzib. By a succession of events, without 
 any parallel in history, and without any explanation, but 
 in the will of the supreme Ruler, those nations, so long 
 exempt from conquest, and over which even Musalman 
 ardour so slowly won dominion, have passed one after 
 another, until they are all now united, under the British 
 power. 
 
 This conquest, uni(^ue in its rapidity, has been not less 
 unique in its results. The ordinary efiect of conquest is to 
 abase the vanquished, to abridge their liberty, check their 
 enterprise, and preclude all improvement. In this case it 
 has been just the reverse. The conquered have augmented 
 their liberty, recruited their commerce, received a new 
 impulse in literature, and had cast into their lap many of 
 the fruits of western civilisation. ]}y this conquest, India, 
 so far from being reduced in moral influence, has been raised 
 to a position from which she will lead Asia in the modern 
 march of civilisation, as she did in the old. By its means, 
 she, of all Asiatic countries, Ih-st receives the true philosophy, 
 first knows freedom of person, freedom of commerce, freedom 
 of conscience, and freedom of the press. She will also be 
 
 ' I do not liciv toucli tlie perplexed (|np.stioii, whctlicv the Bifdini^ns 
 tlifiiiselves wero not a race of iuvadcr^.
 
 INDIA : WHAT IS IT ? 283 
 
 the first oil which the steaiu-engiiie and the railway will 
 confer their prodigious influence. These things give lier 
 advantages to which none of her neighbours can pretend, 
 and by whicli she will excite the emulation of them all. 
 Geographically, slie occupies the very focus of Asiatic power 
 and refinement, liaving on the one hand and on the other 
 the countries most important to be influenced, and most 
 accessible to amelioration. The Bu(hlhist of eastern Asia 
 looks to her as the fatherland of his faith ; the Musalman 
 of western Asia, as tlie region wliere sparkled the most 
 gorgeous monarchy of Islam ; while on her plains are the 
 co-religionists of the one and of the other, to carry out a 
 grand mission when a regeneration shall have blessed them- 
 selves. Up to the present day, Jerusalem, Rome, and 
 Mecca, usually held to be the chief springs whence religious 
 influences have gone forth upon the world, have not all of 
 them together commanded the faith of so many human 
 beings as Hindustan. The history of the past not only 
 warrants, but demands, the expectation that the conversion 
 of that country will bring results on a scale far grander than 
 any that have yet been witnessed. 
 
 It is strange with what coolness even well-informed 
 persons speak and write of the few nations of Europe, as if 
 they constituted the world. True, others are known to 
 exist ; but, in the usual thinking of most persons, " all the 
 world" is at peace, wlien Europe reposes; "all the world" 
 in pangs, when Europe is at war; and Wellington and 
 Napoleon are celebrated "all over the world." Alas! how 
 little is the world of most minds ! how far short of the wide, 
 wide field, all over which the hearts of men are throbbing ! 
 Far more than half the world never heard Napoleon's name ; 
 far more than half the world neither know nor care what 
 are the relations of our potentates ; far more than half the 
 world could not tell you Avhether Europe is one country or 
 many. We are not a quarter of the world's population ; 
 and yet, because we have received from Christianity elements
 
 284 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 of greatness that lift us above our fellows, wc are ready to 
 regard them as but distant retainers of the human family, 
 we only constituting its circle. From the soil of Asia man 
 was formed, in Asia he had his Eden, on a hill in Asia 
 rested the ark that saved hinx in the day of ruins, in Asia 
 he spent his early years, in Asia he has always had his 
 chief dwelling, and on Asia dropped the blood that bought 
 his ransom. The eye that watches all the world has ever 
 seen in Asia far most hearts beating, far most mothers 
 rejoicing over their newly-born, far most houses mourning 
 for their dead. If any section of the earth might call 
 itself the world, Asia would be the world : Eiirope does not 
 contain half so many human hearts. The merchant sees 
 the world where he sees trade, the literatus where he sees 
 readers, the soldier where he sees renown, the man of 
 fashion where he sees refinements, the politician where he 
 sees power, and the unreflecting of all nations see the world 
 in the sphere bounded by their own interests. But when 
 the Christian would see the world, he looks for one thing, 
 — hearts, human hearts ! These are the world to him, 
 these are the seat of conflicts like to his own, these the 
 field on which are decided the issues of eternity, on which 
 is battled the cause of his God. Asia is the largest assem- 
 blage of human hearts : thither, then, should the human 
 heart most affectionately turn. The darkness of Asia glooms 
 more hearts than that of all the world beside, and its sunrise 
 will gladden more. While Asia is alien from Christ, more 
 than half the world is far away ; but when Asia shall be 
 brought nigh, it will indeed be the fulness of the Gentiles. 
 Asia is Satan's stronghold, and wide and proud is the 
 empire over which he boasts. The lessons of the past, the 
 movements of the present, and the indications of the future, 
 all unite in pointing us, for the key of Asia, to Hindustan. 
 Let it be won to Christ, and it will win the tribes surround- 
 ing. And, wonderful Providence ! the whole of that vast 
 land from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, and from the
 
 INDIA: WHAT IS IT ? 285 
 
 Indus to tlie Brahmaputra, is o})cii to Christianity ! Head 
 of God's ransomed Church ! why hast Thou placed before 
 Thy people this yawning door, through which wc hear, 
 coming from the valley and shadow of death, the wail of so 
 many souls 1 
 
 What then is India 1 The region Avhich of all upon earth 
 has most affected the history and the habits of every other ; 
 the region to whose influence are traceable the most striking 
 characteristics of ancient civilisation, the most notable feats 
 of modern enterprise ; the region whence sprang the creeds 
 that even now command the largest number of souls ; the 
 region that ofi"ers the best medium for transmitting moral 
 influences throughout Asia ; the region that embraces in 
 her arms a host of human hearts, comprising at least one 
 out of every six that beat, and, holding them up to the eye 
 of Christian pity, tells her they are all open to her approach, 
 and susceptible of her action. 
 
 Oh that God would give His Church a heart large enough 
 to feel the sublimity of this call ! Think, Christians, think 
 on the state of the world. Dream not of the gospel as 
 already known everywhere. Feel, oh feel, when you pray, 
 that one-half of your brethren never heard of your Redeemer ! 
 Bone are they of your bone, flesh of your flesh, conflicting, 
 sighing, bending to the grave, like you ; but crown for their 
 conflicts, comforter in their sighs, hope in their grave, they 
 see none. Think of every land where Satan has his seat, 
 and give to them all a part in your prayer. But oh, think 
 long on the land where the throne, whose sway you love, 
 has heathen subjects outnumbering sevenfold the Christians 
 of the British isles ! Think long, long on the fact, " I 
 belong to an empire where seven to one name not the IS^ame 
 that is life to me ! " Think that yonder, under the rule of 
 your own queen, a full sixth of Adam's children dwell ! Take 
 a little leisure, and say, " Of every six infants, one first sees 
 the light there : To what instruction is it born 1 Of every 
 six brides, one offers her vows there : To what aff"ection is
 
 286 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 she destined ? Of every six families, one spreads its table 
 there : What loves unite their circle 1 Of every six widows, 
 one is lamenting there : What consolations will soothe her 1 
 Of every six orphan girls, one is wandering there : What 
 charities will protect herl Of every six wounded con- 
 sciences, one is trembling there : What balm, what physician, 
 does it know ? Of every six men that die, one is departing 
 there : What shore is in his eye 1 "
 
 CHATTER VIII 
 
 INDIA : ITS PEOPLE 
 
 In thinking of the people of India, you must dismiss the 
 ideas of jet-black skin, thick lips, flat nose, and woolly hair, 
 which we too readily associate with all natives of the tro})ics. 
 None of these belong to the Hindu ; he bears not the 
 African, but the Caucasian type. Keep him before your 
 mind as he was described in our chapter on iNladras, — a 
 man about the middle size, of slender person and graceful 
 carriage, with good features, a soft black eye, a mild expres- 
 sion, and a complexion varying from straw-colour to a deep 
 dusky lirown, almost black. Instead of the stiff black 
 cylinder that surmounts the European head, he has a muslin 
 turban of bright colours and graceful folds ; for shirt, vest, 
 and coat, he has a simple frock-coat of white calico, or, in 
 country districts, a long piece of the same cloth, which he 
 folds so as to cover, at pleasure, a greater or less part of the 
 person ; for trousers he substitutes a flowing robe of calico. 
 The female has no other head-dress than her long, black, 
 glossy hair ; and for all other garment, a single robe and a 
 simple bodice. 
 
 When a Hindu honours you with a visit, he leaves his 
 shoes at some distance from the door, and enters barefooted, 
 for stockings he has none ; but he wears his turban : for it 
 would be as disres})ectful to appear before you with his 
 head bare as with his feet covered. Thus, his politeness 
 and yours are directly opposed. He approaches with an air 
 at once self-possessed and respectful, ami, bowing low, lifts 
 
 287
 
 288 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 his hand in a graceful sweep, till the fingers touch the front 
 of the turban, saying, at the same time, Salaam ai/i/a, or 
 Salaam sahib, according to the language he may employ, 
 Should your rank, or his circumstances, incline him to still 
 humbler obeisance, the head is more profoundly bowed, and 
 the turban touched with both hands. In this case, a differ^ 
 ence is obvious between those who adopt the " double 
 salaam " of the Musalmans, and those who retain the Hindu 
 namasJiura. In the former case the hands are brought to 
 the forehead open, as in a salutation ; in the other, they are 
 laid together, and raised as in the attitude of prayer. This 
 latter salute, when offered by the poor, is painfully abject ; 
 but even that does not always suffice for their profound 
 politeness. I have seen a man of six feet high bow slowly 
 down till his forehead touched the floor, leaving you 
 astounded equally at his humility and his suppleness. If 
 he come to pay you a formal visit, he is required by etiquette 
 to bring some present, as all well know Avho have had 
 patience to read the narrative of the visits and return-visits 
 of Lord Valentia. The gifts presented in ordinary polite- 
 ness are very simple : a few limes, plantains, oranges, or 
 pineapples ; but if the visitor have an important favour to 
 demand, or is approaching a dignified personage, the present 
 is valuable, and sometimes magnificent. The judges in 
 native courts were generally favoured with a call from the 
 suitors on both sides of every weighty cause, before the 
 hearing came on ; and all were supposed to learn from 
 the judgment delivered which had been the more liberal. 
 The same politeness was plentifully accorded to those of our 
 own countrymen who first undertook the administration of 
 justice ; but the government at length felt that such habits 
 were incompatible with purity, and therefore wisely forbade 
 their servants to receive presents of value. Though the 
 natives are aware that this regulation was made for their 
 benefit, they hardly know how to be pleased with it, for it 
 grievously interferes with immemorial usage. To be led
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 289 
 
 before a judge whom you have not conciliated with a hand- 
 some present, is for them a rude, point-blank way of going 
 to law. I was told of a case in which the rule was ingeni- 
 ously evaded, by presenting the lady of a judge with some 
 fruit on a richly-wrought silver dish, shaped like a leaf, and 
 then refusing to receive back " the leaf on which the fruit 
 
 lay." 
 
 A Hindu visitor is of easy manners and fluent conversa- 
 tion : a propriety and deference the most flattering mark his 
 address. If he asks you where you are going, his politeness 
 couches the question thus : " What place are you going to 
 favour ? " If he desires you to tell him anything, he says, 
 " Give your command " ; if himself desirous of making an 
 observation, he says, " I will make my petition " ; and thus 
 in various ways he insinuates a delicate politeness into 
 common-place remarks. If he be little acquainted with 
 Europeans, and at the same time looking for a favour, he 
 will greet you with titles the most sonorous, and overlay you 
 with compliments the most resplendent. To be called Maha- 
 rajah, "a great king," is a common matter; while "Prince 
 of the earth," " Lord of the four worlds," and " Lord of the 
 fourteen worlds," are titles at which my unaccustomed ears 
 have often laughed, when the countenance dare not for shame 
 keep them company. The lower classes frequently address 
 you as Siodmi, " God " ; and the lowest as Devaru, a still 
 more sacred appellation of Deity. One day a fine young man 
 came up to me, and, after the most profound salaams, opened 
 with a swell and pomp of adulation that might have 
 proclaimed him captain-general of compliments : " Great 
 king, governor of the earth, lord of the fourteen worlds, 
 your fame is universally diff"used. I have heard it at Bellary, 
 and am come thence" (a distance of two hundred miles) 
 "just to make the vision of your countenance." "Indeed," 
 rejoined T, trying to preserve a sober face ; "I was not aware 
 that I had done anything to spread my fame as far as 
 Bellary : may I ask what it is for which I am so celebrated 1 " 
 
 19
 
 290 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 With perfect coolness and complacency lie replied, " You 
 are the ruler of the country, and the benefactor of the 
 people. You are making roads, and building bridges, 
 and digging wells, and constructing tanks, and planting 
 groves, and, in fact, doing everything munificent." " Really," 
 said I, with all gravity, " I was not aware that I was j)er- 
 forming such great works : would you have the goodness to 
 tell me where one could find the roads I have made, the 
 bridges I have built, and the groves, tanks, and wells of 
 which you speak 1 " He looked puzzled ; for he had never 
 imagined that any one would .be so dull as to treat those 
 magnificent flights of oratory in the vulgar, matter-of-fact 
 way ; he meaning by his expressions nothing at all, but that 
 he wished to be understood as intending all the civilities 
 under the sun. After a second of embarrassment, he 
 recovered his self-possession, and said, " Why, your people " 
 (the English) " are doing all this, and that is just the same 
 thing ! " The whole of this display was only to introduce a 
 request that I would interest myself to procure him a 
 situation. These excesses of flattery are not found among 
 natives who have had much intercourse with Europeans ; 
 their compliments are often really delicate ; and even the 
 lowest of the people, when assured by a frank and kindly 
 bearing, soon lay aside their servility, and become frank and 
 candid in their turn. 
 
 Having now glanced at the person and address of a Hindu, 
 we shall look at his residence. This will not be correctly 
 fancied, without some care to divest your mind of European 
 ideas. It is not a building of many stories and many 
 windows, nor a red-brick cottage, nor a cottage with stone 
 walls and slated roof, nor with leaded windows and thatch. 
 Though the Hindus have long known glass, they have not 
 learned to emi)loy it for the purpose of introducing broad 
 day within thick walls, and of happily uniting shade and 
 sun. Set, then, before your eye a small cabin, seven or 
 eight feet high, without a single window ; the walls white-
 
 INDIA : ITS PEOPLE 291 
 
 washed, at the base a broad stripe of red or brown, with a 
 flat roof, or perhaps a sloping one, of tiles. If the owner 
 be poor, the house contains two apartments ; if rich, it forms 
 a small quadrangle, open in the centre to the sky, with 
 apartments lying on each side of the square opening. 
 Entering this house, you find no boarded floor, no papered 
 walls, no chairs, no tables, no mantel-pieces, no grates, no 
 delf or china-ware, no mirrors, no hangings, no time-pieces, 
 no book-shelves, no toilet-tables, and (except among the 
 great) no carpets or bedsteads. In the nations of the north, 
 a modest substitute for the latter might be found. In fact, 
 all your ideas of a home are at fault. You have bare walls 
 and a bare floor ; you are among a people to whom a house 
 is nothing more than a cover from the weather and the 
 public gaze. A severe climate, rendering more than mere 
 shelter essential to ease, multiplies the household inventory ; 
 and domestic happiness prompts us to adorn the scene of 
 the most select enjoyment. From these two causes have 
 sprung the endless comforts of an English home : but the 
 Hindu has not felt either of them ; his native breezes are 
 ever mild, his family relations ever chill; and thus, while 
 the gifts of his clime and the works of his hand have been 
 enriching distant homes, he has continued to dwell within 
 the same earthen walls, to sleep on the same earthen floor, 
 and to employ only the same apparatus of brazen pots which 
 served his fathers three thousand years ago. Difference of 
 wealth or rank causes little change in the character of the 
 dwelling : the same simplicity exists until you go as high in 
 society as a petty Kajah. It must, however, be distinctly 
 borne in mind, that this statement, and those of this chapter 
 generally, do not include that small fraction of the people 
 who, inhabiting large cities, have learned in many things to 
 imitate the English, and of whose mongrel habits some 
 authors speak, as if they were those of the Hindus at 
 large. 
 
 The Hindu families are often very numerous. Several
 
 292 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 sons may be married, and each have children, yet, while 
 the father lives, it is not unusual for them all to continue 
 under his roof, and subject to his authority. Ctenerally 
 they do not receive any separate provision until after his 
 death ; and even then they sometimes continue to reside 
 together, the elder brother succeeding to the father's power, 
 and to a large extent holding the capital of the others in 
 his hands. The mother-in-law is supreme over the females, 
 and strangely deems it part of her duty to prevent great 
 tenderness between her sons and their wives, — an obligation 
 in the discharge of which she often wounds so deeply the 
 feelings of the daughter-in-law, that the latter betakes her- 
 self to her father's roof, and will not return till after 
 negotiations and apologies. Not even caste itself more tends 
 to compact Hindu society than this family system ; for a 
 man may arrive at middle age, or more, before he has a 
 house of bis own ; his wife and children are liable to be 
 taken from him in any dispute which would alienate himself 
 from the family circle. Xot a few, when they contemplate 
 embracing Christianity, are menaced by this trial, in addition 
 to others. All the people freely claim the right of home in 
 the house of a relation. If a man be in flourishing circum- 
 stances, his brothers, uncles, cousins, and other near kin, 
 will live upon him without scruple, nor concern themselves 
 to obtain an independent livelihood, so long as he retains 
 his means ; and I believe the case is rare in which their 
 claim, however unreasonable, is rejected. 
 
 The private scenes of Hindu life are covered from all but 
 members of the same caste ; and, as Europeans do not belong 
 to any of the castes, all family circles are closed against 
 them. A European may live for years in a town, and on 
 the most friendly terms with the people ; but he is debarred 
 their homes. For the most part he never enters the door ; 
 and, if he do, it is only to a conversation in the outer 
 apartment witli the males of the family, or to some great 
 entertainment, with nothing domestic in its character ; and
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 293 
 
 this, instead of showing liim thoir family life, only shows 
 how far they can succeed, upon an occasion, in laying out a 
 table in English style. True, they manage, by garlands, 
 scents, and dancing-girls, to give the matter a native air ; 
 but though this enables travellers of a certain class to talk 
 of entertainments at the houses of natives, to one really 
 desirous of studying their inner life, it. only gives painful 
 evidence of the care with which it is covered from his 
 view. 
 
 jNTuch knowledge, however, is gained by daily intercourse 
 with them, and careful observation of their allusions to in- 
 door acts. The number of their meals is usually two. The 
 first duty of the morning is, for the females to proceed to 
 the well to draw Avater. And as the men may not partake 
 of the morning meal before they have performed their 
 ablutions, they go to the tank, bathe leisurely, wash their 
 clothes, put carefully on their foreheads the marks of 
 their sect, and repeat forms of prayer. In these duties 
 the Brahmans are specially strict, and the Sudras almost 
 totally negligent. These ceremonies, and others of a re- 
 ligious character, performed at home, being terminated, the 
 first meal is taken, about ten o'clock ; the second, which is 
 also preceded by ablutions, is taken about sunset. 
 
 " He who eats," says the Vishnu Puraua, " without per- 
 forming ablutions, is fed in hell with lilth ; and he who 
 repeats not his prayers, Avith matter and blood. . . . Let the 
 householder, having l)athed, and offered libations to the gods 
 and manes, and decorated his hands "with jewels, proceed to 
 take his meal. . . . He must not eat with a single garment 
 on, nor with wet hands and foot, but dressed in clean clothes, 
 perfumed, and wearing garlands of ilowers : he. niust not eat 
 with his face to any intermediate point of the horizon, but 
 fronting the east or the north : and thus with a smiling 
 countenance, happy and attentive, let him partake of food 
 of good quality, Avholesome, boiled with clean water, pro- 
 cured from no vile person nor by improper means, nor
 
 294 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 improperly cooked. . . . The man who commences his meal 
 with fluids, then partakes of solid food, and finishes with 
 fluids again, will ever be strong and healthy. In this 
 manner let him feed without fault, silent and contented 
 with his food; taking, without uttering a word, to the 
 extent of five handfuls, for the nutriment of the vital 
 principle. Having eaten sufficiently, the householder is 
 then to rinse his mouth, with his face turned towards the 
 east or the north, and, having again sipped water, he is to 
 wash his hands from the wrist downwards. With a pleased 
 and tranquil spirit, he is then to take a seat, and call to 
 memory his tutelary deity ; and then he is thus to pray : 
 ' j\Iay fire, excited by air, convert this food into the earthly 
 elements of this frame, and in the space afibrded by the 
 ethereal atmosphere cause it to digest, and yield me satis- 
 faction ! May this food, in its assimilation, contribute to 
 the vigour of the earth, water, fire, and air of my body, and 
 afford unmixed gratification ! May Agasti, Agni, and sub- 
 marine fire, eff'ect the digestion of the food of which I have 
 eaten ; may they grant me the happiness which its con- 
 version into nutriment engenders ; and may health ever 
 animate my form ! May Vishnu, who is the chief principle 
 of all invested with the bodily structure and the organs of 
 sense, be propitiated by my faith in him, and influence the 
 assimilation of the invigorating food which I have eaten ! 
 Vov verily Vishnu is the eater, anil the food, and the nutri- 
 ment; and through this belief, may that which I have eaten 
 be digested ! ' " 
 
 The Brahmans, the Linga worshippers, and large sections 
 of the other castes, do not touch animal food ; and the 
 statements made by Montgomery Martin and others, respect- 
 ing beef-steaks at Brilliman's tables, and similar things, can 
 be received only as proof that, in the centres of English 
 influence, a few individuals Ijcgiu to despise the sacred laws 
 of their caste ; for it must not l)c for a moment supposed 
 that such offenders are other than the rarest, and, to the
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOrLE 295 
 
 people at large, the most disgusting exceptions.^ Of the 
 many millions who compose those castes, not one, from 
 birth to death, tastes anything that has lived, fish included, 
 and even eggs. They loathe all animal food, as "\ve do 
 human flesh ; and they profess to know a flesh-eater by his 
 scent. In some of the northern countries, where caste-laws 
 are in general less stringently maintained than in the south, 
 many of the Brahmans eat fish, calling it a sea-vegetable. 
 Even those castes who allow animal food, never let beef 
 cross their lips ; that enormity is left to the out-castes 
 alone; nor do tliey kill the cow in order to obtain it, but 
 only take the carcases of such as have died. The staple 
 food of the Hindus varies with the climate of their different 
 countries : rice, Indian corn, ragi, and some other grains, 
 are each, in diiferent places, the staff of life. ]\Iilk, in its 
 various preparations, is an essential article of food ; curds 
 are highly esteemed ; but clarified butter in a liquid state 
 elicits their most dilated praise. It is called ghee, and 
 affirmed to be quite as much in favour among the gods as 
 among mortals. As corpulency is indicative of respect- 
 ability (for all poor men are thin), and as ghee is supposed 
 to assist in obtaining it, those who can afford to indulge their 
 vanity use it in large quantities, and sometimes drink it 
 pure. With their food they freely use spices, Avhich, mixed 
 and pounded, form curry, the delicious accompaniment of 
 their boiled rice or other food. This curry, as eaten by the 
 natives, is frequently so hot, that no European palate, ex- 
 cept one long accustomed to it, could bear more than a few 
 spoonfuls. Our countrymen universally eat and highly 
 prize it, but in milder forms. It must be remembered that 
 
 ^ [The muiiber of those who break their caste laws in the matter of 
 eating and drinking has largely increased, chiefly among Englisli- 
 edueated Brahmans. Still, what is done in this way is mostly done 
 not regularly but as a special and occasional indulgence, and it is 
 always understood that those who are allowed to become aware of it 
 shall carefully keep their own counsel.]
 
 296 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 spices are the only stimulants of the natives at meals ; for 
 even those who do allow themselves to taste exciting drinks 
 never make them a beverage at table — if we may speak of a 
 table, where none exists. A curry generally contains ginger, 
 limes, onions, salt, coriander-seed, cloves, pepper (red, and 
 perhaps black), turmeric, citron, saffron, and garlic ; with 
 cocoa-nut milk, tamarinds, and other ingredients : these are 
 mixed with vegetables fried in ghee, and form a condiment 
 capable of being varied in endless ways, and in all its 
 varieties pleasing.^ 
 
 Temperance is the most striking virtue of the Hindus. 
 The laws both of the Brahmans and the Lmga worshippers 
 proscribe all drinks that inebriate ; and the use of these is 
 confined to the lowest orders, except in rare and monstrous 
 exceptions. Among respectable persons drunkenness is 
 held in the utmost detestation ; and in their eyes Europeans 
 have been more degraded by intemperance than by all other 
 causes combined ; because in this vice they were obviously 
 below themselves. Such is their horror of spirituous 
 liquors, that when in fear of cholera, and Avilling to accept 
 medicine prepared by Europeans, I have known them to 
 declare they would not touch it, unless satisfied of its 
 freedom from brand}'. Several divisions of the Sudra 
 caste use toddy and arrack, and so do all the out-castes ; 
 but even these latter, though more infected with the vice 
 than any other class, are not universally chargeable Avith 
 drunkenness. I doubt, indeed, whether any class of tlie 
 people, can, as a class, be called drunkards, unless it be 
 in some large cities where they have long had our example. 
 In the matter of temperance, both Hindu and jNluhammadaii, 
 with j)i'i(le and derisinii, bnast their superiority to tlie Chris- 
 tian ! Nor is our shame lessened })y alleging numerous 
 defections among these two classes, when it is sadly 
 
 ^ Those wlio are curious on Hindu cookery will fiml a tract on that 
 sul)jc'ct in the " Mi.scullancou« Translations" of the Oriental Trans- 
 lation Fund.
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 297 
 
 manifest that such apostasies are often due to our 
 presence.^ 
 
 Toddy is the juice of the pahn. In every palm-grove you 
 see trees with small pots attached to thorn in different places : 
 these are affixed to an aperture caused by boring, and receive 
 the exuded juice. They are changed every morning ; and 
 the liquid, when fresh, is said to be delicious, and not in- 
 toxicating; but it is seldom drunk till after fermentation. 
 Arrack is a strong spirit, distilled from rice, and also from 
 several other substances. The vendor of these drinks raidvs 
 amongst the most disreputable professions. 
 
 Their temperance is not equally commendable in food as 
 in drink. Though many avoid animal food, such abstinence 
 does not necessarily imply moderation. Taking but two meals 
 a day, they sit down with a sharp appetite ; and Avhen they 
 rise, their lightly covered person displays the elfects of the 
 repast. A Brahman, on seeing me return to my study after 
 dinner, looked at me, and said, " What is the use of your 
 going to dinner? You come back just as you went away." 
 I assured him that my visit to the table was of very essential 
 utility. " ]]ut," said he, patting his person, as they always 
 do on any allusion to gastric operations, " one cannot see 
 that dinner makes the least alteration in your appearance : 
 you are just as you Avere before ! " A native after dinner 
 bears symptoms as plain as a colt coming from a Held of 
 clover. Of cooks and epicures the Brahmans claim to be the 
 firstborn. It is their birthright, as gods of the earth, 
 especially to enjoy the fruits of their domain. AVhen 
 perfectly at home, and set upon the theme, they descant 
 
 ^ [Government of India returns show that during tlie last twenty 
 years alone the net excise and customs revenues on liquors and (hugs 
 consumed in India have more than douhled. This increase is due in 
 part to improved excise administration and the restricted use of illicit 
 intoxicants ; but it is also undoubtedly due in part to enhanced 
 consumption in a growing population whose earnings liave been 
 increasing. In the Mysore country there luis been a great develop- 
 ment of toddy-drinking during the last twenty-five years.]
 
 298 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 with luscious eloquence on their peerless skill in dressing 
 and enjoying food. They boast much of their ability to 
 fast ; and when in another humour, boast as loudly, though 
 less haughtily, of their ability to feast. They will smile, and 
 quote the Sliloka : — 
 
 " Dear to Vislniu is veneration ; 
 
 Holy unction is dear to Shiva ; 
 
 To the Sun adornments ai'c dear, 
 
 And to the Brahman food." 
 
 They tell of most extravagant gourmand feasts by members 
 of their own fraternity. " Oh," said a panting Brahman, 
 after an entertainment, " I am choking with thirst." " Why 
 not take a little water?" asked a friend. "Bah! you 
 simpleton; don't you think, if I had room for water, I 
 would have taken another sweetmeat V I do not mean to 
 charge the people generally with gluttony, though they mis- 
 represent themselves if they are not easily tempted to eat to 
 excess ; and I should have regarded the above statements 
 respecting the Brahmans as slanderous, had they not come 
 from themselves. 
 
 The service of a Hindu meal is primitive as can be. In 
 Europe, we summon all nature and all art to wait iipon us at 
 dinner, and to do us honour. The forest yields its costly 
 woods ; the mine its steel, silver, copper, and tin ; the field 
 its fine linen ; the hard flint appears in delicate porcelain ; 
 the tusk of the elephant presents our cutlery in smooth 
 cases ; and the sand of the sea comes in crystal goblets to 
 moisten our lips. Then, how turner and joiner, weaver and 
 miner, cutler and silversmith, potter and glass-worker, have 
 shown their skill ! But none of this elaboration is known 
 in India. A good man just sits down upon the floor ; a few 
 leaves sewn together contain his food ; and with his own 
 fingers he conveys it to his mouth, as satisfactorily as if all 
 Shefiield had been at his service. When the repast is over 
 the leaf-plate is thrown away, and another provided as the 
 next meal is preparing.
 
 INDIA : ITS PEOPLE 299 
 
 But the simplicity of a Hindu meal is not more striking 
 than its loneliness. In all the length and breadth of vast 
 Hindustan, a family-board is not known ! We look on that 
 simple thing, a family-board, as an indifferent, almost an 
 unavoidable, accident of family life ; but go to India, and 
 you have it not. Let all the homes of that wide continent 
 open to your eye to-day, and in every one you see a man 
 sitting down alone, eating in silence ; his wife serving, then 
 taking away the food, and silently eating in a separate 
 apartment. You may then exclaim, " Is it possible that even 
 my family-board is another of the boons for which I am 
 indebted to the gospel 1 " 
 
 The furniture of a Hindu home is not more inferior in 
 comfort to that of an English one, than are its domestic 
 relations in joy. There the heart is ruled by another code 
 than that which warms our hearths. Amongst all the 
 unaccountable things said about India in Europe, perhaps, 
 considering the character and opportunities of Sir Thomas 
 Munro, the most unaccountable is that which he said before 
 a committee of the House of Commons, in 1813, respecting 
 the domestic character of the Hindus : — " A treatment of the 
 female sex full of confidence, respect, and delicacy." What 
 that most respectable man could mean by these words, I 
 cannot even conjecture ; unless that, having lived in India 
 from boyhood, he, in his laudable attachment to the natives, 
 — an attachment to which they gave a merited return, — had 
 learned to appreciate the Hindu treatment of females, not by 
 the just standard of Christianity, which he had seen applied 
 in Scotland when a boy, but by the detestable oppression of 
 Muhammadanism, which had been under his notice through- 
 out his active life. The Hindu woman is not, like her more 
 unhappy jNIuhammadan neighbour, doomed to perpetual 
 prison : she is privileged like other animals to see the sky, 
 and to breathe the free air. On this, therefore, may she 
 congratulate herself ; but in view of the rights given her of 
 God, she has much ground to complain. Her husband is
 
 300 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 taught in the popiilar ranchatantra, that one essential 
 quality of a great man is severity to women. Wickedness, 
 deceit, impurity, and baseness, are pronounced inseparable 
 from her nature ! " Let the wife," says the Skancla Purdna, 
 quoted by Dr. Wilson, " who Avishes to perform sacred 
 ablution, wash the feet of her lord, and drink the water ; 
 for a husband is to a Avife greater than Shankara or Vishnu. 
 The husband is her god, and gurn, and religion, and its 
 services ; wherefore, abandoning everything else, she ought 
 chiefly to worship her husband." From the Padma Purdna, 
 Dubois cites the following and similar passages : — " Let 
 him " (the husband) " be choleric and dissipated, irregular, a 
 drunkard, a gambler, a debauchee ; suppose him reckless of 
 domestic aflairs — even agitated like a demon ; let him live 
 in the world destitute of honour ; let him be deaf or blind ; 
 his crimes and his infirmities may weigh him down ; but 
 never shall his wife regard him but as her god. ... In every 
 stage of life a woman is created to obey. At first she yields 
 obedience to her father and mother. When married, she 
 submits to her husband, and her fatlier and mother-in-law. 
 In old age she must be ruled by her children. . . . When in 
 the presence of her husband, a woman must not look on one 
 side or the other. She must keep her eyes on her master, 
 to be ready to receive his commands. . . . Her husband may 
 sometimes be in a passion ; he may threaten her ; he may 
 use imperious language ; nay, he may unjustly beat her ; 
 but under no circumstances shall she make any return 
 but meek and soothing words." These startling extracts 
 show the principles inculcated upon Hindu husbands by 
 the most venerable authorities; but one would suppose 
 that they would make nature revolt, and thus prove their 
 own antidote. I often questioned men on this subject ; and, 
 amongst those who were unaware of the icay in vliirlb 
 Christians feel, invariably found concurrence in the 
 abominable sentiments of the Shastras. A respectable man 
 said, in rejjly to such interrogations, " The most fatal error
 
 INDIA : ITS PEOPLE 3 1 
 
 one can commit is to treat his wife affectionately. From the 
 day he exhibits tenderness towards her, his independence 
 and his peace are gone. She will dread him no longer ; all 
 the vices of her nature will break forth ; his home is no 
 more his own ; and he must bear with her tongue and her 
 temper all his days. If," added he, — and I shall never 
 forget the words, — " if you bear affection to a parent, a 
 brother, a child, or even a servant, you may display it ; but 
 if you love your wife, you must never allow her to suspect 
 that it is so ; or farewell to peace ! " 
 
 This calamitous sentiment could never be carried into 
 practice where marriage is a voluntary contract between 
 persons of mature age. But in India the bride is probably 
 not older than five or seven : she may be as young as three. 
 She most likely has never seen her lord before the wedding- 
 day, and possibly may see him no more for years. Affection, 
 on the one part or the other, has no place in originating 
 the union ; and that, to any tender extent, it should arise 
 out of it, at least on the part of the husband, he is taught to 
 regard as weak and uiiseemly. 'No wonder Dubois should 
 have ground to say, " During the long period of my observ- 
 ance of them and their habits, I am not sure that I saw 
 two Hindu marriages that closely united the hearts by a 
 true and inviolable attachment." 
 
 A family of cold hearts and chill intercourse is always an 
 unwelcome scene. But how sad is it to review the homes 
 of an entire continent, and see every husband, like an 
 irrational animal, eating silent and lonely ; and every wife 
 humbly attending at the beck of her lord ! So it is in 
 India. Perhaps only a week ago that couple became united 
 for life : no matter, this great gulf lies between them. 
 Perhaps they have spent half a century in union : no 
 matter, the ice that parts them yields not either before the 
 ardour of youth, or the mellowness of age. " "What Avoman 
 would think of eating till her lord had had his fill ? " asks 
 the author of the Padma Purdna; and the same authority
 
 302 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 graciously adtls, "When he" (the husband) "goes abroad, 
 if he bids her go with him, she shall follow." And follow 
 she does ; but accompany, never. The woman who would 
 dare to walk side by side with her lord, would be thought 
 as much out of her place as a fishwoman at a royal drawing- 
 room ; and the man who would allow his wife to take his 
 arm, Avould be universally scouted as a weakling. JSTo, no ; 
 she must "follow," and that at a respectful distance. The 
 same vehicle on which the dignified person of her master is 
 borne is forbidden to her, except in case of a very long 
 journey, when necessity conquers pride. ^ 
 
 Another striking feature of domestic life is the denial of 
 education to females.^ Except the hapless girls destined to 
 the profession of temple-women, no female is permitted to 
 learn to read or write. Needlework, also, is out of the 
 question ; for their own dresses, except where they adopt 
 a very small bodice, are without seam, or hook, or button, 
 or pin, or other imaginable fastening or joining ; being 
 formed, as already stated, of one long piece of silk or muslin 
 cloth. The same is the case with the dresses of all children, 
 and also of the men, except those who wear the frock-coat, 
 which, though apparently of modern introduction, is now 
 
 '[In towns "educated" men may be seen sometimes taking out 
 their wives for a drive. This is a sign of an advanced Hindu.] 
 
 - [The statements immediately following, true fifty-five years ago, 
 may now be greatly modified. The education of women and gii-ls lias 
 fairly begun, if it is not far advanced. At the census of 1891 one in 
 eight of the men and boys and one in 117 of the women and girls of 
 Mysore was either learning or was already able to read. When the 
 results of the last census (1901) are published, still better figures will 
 be forthcoming. The Christians are easily first in education. Among 
 them every third woman or girl can read ; but among Musalmans 
 only one in 26, and among Hindus only one in 220, can do so. Some 
 of the schools include English in their curriculum, while needlework 
 and music (sometimes instrumental as well as vocal) are very 
 generally taught. Most of the girls' schools are missionary institu- 
 tions, but Government gives generous aid and follows a most en- 
 fightened policy in the matter.]
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 303 
 
 very general. Besides, to sew would be to adopt the pro- 
 fession of a tailor ; to embroider a piece of muslin would 
 soem, to a Hindu lady, as much out of her province as, to 
 an English one, would driving a waggon. Of musical 
 instruments, or other accomplishments, they know nothing. 
 Then the Hindu housewife has no furniture to keep in 
 order, and the washing falls of right to professional hands. 
 Thus they are left without any pastime, or any employ- 
 ment, save only the spinning-wheel. I have sometimes 
 asked, " How do your women employ themselves during the 
 length of the day 1 " — " Dress their hair, and sleep, and 
 talk nonsense." And, with the exception of cooking two 
 simple meals, waiting upon her husband, and occasionally 
 spinning, the occupations of respectable Hindu females are 
 described in the dull summary, " to dress her hair, to sleep, 
 and to talk nonsense." The wives of persons eminent in 
 rank are, of course, relieved from culinary duties ; but I 
 believe none of them despise wholly the exercise of the 
 spinning-wheel. Among the labouring classes, the women 
 assist the men ; and from the statements of many credible 
 writers, we must believe that, in several Indian countries, 
 they endure an oppressive share of the toil ; but, from my 
 own observations, I should say, that in the Mysore they 
 have scarcely a larger proportion than falls to women of the 
 same class at home. That which struck me as the greatest 
 severity, was, that when families travel, you have the father 
 walking light and free, with the wife behind, carrying a 
 child slung upon her back, and their household goods in a 
 bundle on her head. 
 
 It is frequently stated, that the men, to account for and 
 justify the denial of instruction to women, pronounce them 
 to be destitute of soul and incapable of learning. This 
 statement must be erroneous ; for Hinduism, so far from 
 considering woman destitute of a soul, teaches that a soul 
 is possessed by all living things ; and the rewards of paradis^ 
 ever invite woman to her husband's funeral pile. For my
 
 304 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 own part, I never once heard this reason assigned. On the 
 contrary, they nsi;ally spoke of women as gifted with much 
 quickness and strength of intellect ; so that, if only per- 
 mitted to overhear the discussions of the learned, they 
 rapidly gained knowledge. With me, they advocated the 
 non-education of women, not on the ground of mental 
 feebleness, but of moral perversity. Woman is, according 
 to them, a compound of all the vices. The following 
 passage, cited by Mill, accurately expresses (notwithstanding 
 the remarks of Professor Wilson) the estimate of woman 
 generally given by the natives in familiar conversation : — 
 " Infidelity, violence, deceit, envy, extreme avariciousness, 
 a total want of good qualities, with impurity, are tlie innate 
 faults of womankind." " To teach a woman," they have 
 said to me, " would be to give a serpent milk ; she would 
 turn her knowledge into venom." And, again : " Keep our 
 women at what distance we may, it is hard to govern them ; 
 but did we make them our equals, by teaching them to read 
 and write, farewell to the hope of ruling our homes ! " 
 Even the gentlemen at the court of Ahasuerus were not 
 more jealous than the meanest Hindu of tlie right of men 
 to " bear rule in their own house." They also profess 
 great alarm for the moral consequences of female education, 
 asking, — " If it be almost impossible in the present state of 
 things to preserve a family from intrigues, how would it be 
 if the women could send and receive notes 1 " In addition 
 to all this, the connexion that has long existed betAveen an 
 educated and a disreputable woman enlists the prejudices 
 even of the females themselves against their own elevation. 
 The coolness with which our writers usually handle this 
 subject is astounding. They treat it rather as a curious 
 peculiarity of Hindu society than as a bold wickedness, and 
 an execrable deduction from the lawful sum of human 
 happiness. There is an animal philanthropy, never awaken- 
 jjiig but at the cry of oppression, or the lash of the slave-whip ; 
 there is an intellectual philanthropy, moved to see a mind
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 305 
 
 groping in tlie caverns of an unknoAvn universe ; and, more 
 noble and more tender still, there is a spiritual philanthropy, 
 which kindles to find a soul wandering through shades and 
 pollutions to a hapless end. The first, as the most gross, 
 is the most common ; we need only the instinct of the 
 gregarious animals to echo the cry of a smitten man. But 
 the darkness that bewilders an intellect is a heavier evil 
 than the chain that binds a limb ; and the sin that dyes a 
 soul ought to make us shudder more than the blood that 
 stains a brow. The public would be moved by a tale of a 
 thousand women driven in captivity across a desert, or 
 barbarously flogged, more than by the statement that all the 
 women of India, numbering a hundred millions, are, from 
 generation to generation, doomed to perfect intellectual 
 darkness, to perfect spiritual delusion. Yet this latter is 
 ten thousand thousand times a greater calamity to the human 
 race. The eyes that weep will soon be closed ; the limbs 
 that toil Avill soon rest ; the frames that bleed will soon 
 moulder ; and, as they pass to their repose, they do not 
 unavoidably bequeath their agonies. But the mind that 
 errs never ceases to think, and, from generation to generation, 
 the follies it left upon earth are preserved and made fruitful ; 
 the soul that sins never ceases to feel ; and from generation 
 to generation, the stains it bore are handed down. Oh, If 
 we had fully the spirit of that religion Avhich repugns every 
 wrong, and takes part with every suff'erer, Ave should con- 
 front, with a wrath that could neither be appeased nor 
 mitigated, the system that parts humanity into two different 
 natures; that makes the sister her brother's inferior, the 
 wife her husband's slave ; that shuts up myriads of intellects 
 from all culture ; that dooms families to despotism ; and 
 that sweeps from many nations a domestic board. "We 
 cannot too often repeat, nor too deeply ponder, the fact, 
 that, though India is so wide, none of its homes knows a 
 family circle. Desolate England, to-morrow, of her house- 
 hold boards, and not a son of England would care to remain
 
 306 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 on her shores. Her fields might smile, and her streets 
 glitter ; but her heart would then be cold. Our first fear 
 of God, our warmest throbs of patriotism, our morning rays 
 of knowledge, our gentlest emotions of benevolence, and the 
 most softening culture our hearts ever receive, are all due 
 to that glorious creation of the gospel, a happy home. Few 
 children of Christianity duly estimate the boon she gave to 
 human society, when she said : " Likewise, ye husbands, dwell 
 with them according to knowledge, giving honour to the wife 
 as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the 
 grace of life." Who that has any relish for human bliss — 
 that catches any peace from a home of love, any joy from a 
 merry child, — that has one tender remembrance of motherly 
 teaching or sisterly attachment, does not raise his heart to 
 Him, in whom are to be blessed all the families of the earth, 
 and vow to spread afar the knowledge of His name 1 
 
 It is well and timely that some English ladies have thought 
 upon their sisters in the East, and have devoted, to their 
 elevation, the intelligence and influence put by Christianity 
 into their own hands. They have already effected much ; 
 their opportunities are growing ; and the interests of 
 humanity in Asia loudly demand that they should be 
 enabled, by increased support, to keep pace with the increase 
 of facilities. That increase will be rapid ; for, the usage 
 of ages once violated, and the prejudice of ages once con- 
 fronted, right will assert its claims, and wisdom enforce its 
 lessons.^ 
 
 ^ I allude, of course, to the Society for Promoting Female Education 
 in the East, which has existed tl)irteen years, and sent out nearly 
 sixty agents. Incorrect statements have been published as to the 
 number of those agents who liavc honourably fulfilled their term of 
 service. So far from being only a fraction of the whole, those who 
 have failed are but a fraction ; and even of them the greater part, 
 having married missionaries, continued as much to promote female 
 education, after their nominal removal from the service of the society, 
 as before. Last year (1846), twenty-one of their agents were actually 
 at their post, of whom one had served for eleven years, two for eight,
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 307 
 
 Being now in the family, we may notice the chief 
 " domestic occurrences." A birtli, if it be that of a son,^ is 
 hailed with unbounded pride and joy. " By a son," says 
 Manu, " a man obtains victory over all people ; by a son's 
 son he enjoys immortality ; and afterwards by a son of that 
 grandson, he reaches the solar abode." These prodigious 
 benefits from male offspring are owing to the fact, that they 
 only can duly sacrifice to the ancestral manes ; a rite so 
 essential, that if one be not able to present to the Brahmans 
 on behalf of his ancestors " land, conveyances, wealth, or 
 any valuable presents," not even " food," or " unboiled grain," 
 or "sesamum seeds," rather than not sacrifice at all, "he 
 must go to a forest, and lift up his arms to the sun and 
 other regents of the spheres, and say aloud, — ' I have no 
 money, nor property, nor grain, nor anything whatever fit 
 for an ancestral offering. Bowing, therefore, to my ancestors, 
 I hope the progenitors Avill be satisfied with these arms tossed 
 up in the air in devotion.'" If, however, his lot be more 
 propitious, the sacrifice actually accomplished is attended 
 
 two for seven, five for five, and all but five for above three years. 
 Tliis conqiletely disjn-oves the statement, that these ladies invariably 
 embrace the earliest opportunity of settling in life. Then, it ought 
 to be stated, that the society does not restrict its aid to schools con- 
 ducted by its own agents, but readily helps all plans of female ini' 
 provement, conducted by any Christian 2Krson, and in connexion with 
 any evangelical church. I knew of an application made on behalf of a 
 school at Bangalore, the lady conducting which had no connexion 
 with the society ; and a liberal grant was instantly accorded. The 
 si)here of the society embraces Western and Southern Africa, the 
 Levant, India, and the Eastern Archipelago. Their income is only 
 some £1500 per annum ; a sum wholly unworthy of their object, and 
 inadequate to their opportunities. All religious bodies are interested 
 ill their success ; for all arc impartially aided from their funds. [In 
 these days every Christian Church at Avork in India has its con- 
 tingents of women-workers, and the value of their infiuence is beyond 
 expression.] 
 
 ^ [The Sanskrit name for son is 'pidra, which means "one who 
 saves [xQ\\\ iml" or hell — the hell to which childless men are said to 
 be condemned.]
 
 308 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 "witli this prayer : " May my father, grandfather, and great- 
 grandfather, in the persons of these Bralimans, receive 
 satisfaction ! jMay my father, grandfather, and great-grand- 
 father derive nutriment from these oblations to fire ! May 
 my father, grandfather, and great-grandfatlier derive satisfac- 
 tion from the balls of food placed by me upon the ground ! 
 . . . ^lay my maternal gi-andfather, his father, and his 
 father also enjoy contentment from my otierings ! iMay all 
 the gods experience gratification and all evil being perish ! " 
 {Vishnu Purcina.) It is easy, from this, to comprehend 
 how the failure of male offspring is looked upon as a curse 
 from the gods, and how a son is a crown of joy. The birth 
 of a daughter causes no pseans ; but it is better than a want 
 of issue ; and some fathers have told me, sub rosd, that they 
 even preferred daughters, because they produce something 
 when sold to a husband, whereas it is expensive to buy 
 wives for sons. A name for the neAV-born child is selected 
 carefully out of what the Abbe Dubois rather naively calls 
 " the calendar of their saints " ; and Avhen the child is tAvelve ^ 
 days old, the relatives assemble, Avlien the father, taking a 
 plate of rice, marks upon it the intended name, and, after 
 some ceremonies, calls the child by it three times. 
 
 Children are taught blind submission to parental will : 
 just as a wife, at the bidding of her lord, does right in 
 committing the greatest sins, even to violation of her vows ; 
 so the son, at the bidding of his father, must do any 
 deed whatever, without once suspecting it to be wrong ; and 
 should he even see his father commit murder, he must not 
 judge it a sin. P^xcept in cases where religious rites — as for 
 instance, sail — violate nature, I do not think that a lack 
 
 ' Tlic Vishnu Funhia says — "Ten days after the birth, let tlie 
 father give a uaTrie to his cliild, tlio first term of wliieli sliall be the 
 aiipellatioii of a gofl, tile second of a mail. . . . A name should not be 
 devoid of meaning ; it should not be indecent, nor absurd, nor ill- 
 omened, nor fearful ; it should consist of an even number of syllables ; 
 it should not be too long, nor too short, nor too full of long vowels, 
 but contain a due proportion of short vowels, and be easily articulated."
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 309 
 
 of filial regard is generally chargeable on the Hindus : high 
 authorities have given a different opinion ; but my own 
 observation leads me to distrust the accuracy of theirs. 
 Contempt of either parent is held to bo a frightful crime ; 
 and affection for the mother seems deep and universal. It 
 has been quoted to me as a maxim, that the grief of a father 
 (occasioned by the death of a father) lasts six months ; the 
 grief of a son a year ; that of a wife, till a second marriage ; 
 and that of a mother, till death. 
 
 Marriage is a high honour, a signal virtue, and a religious 
 duty. No parent can perpetrate a greater crime tlian to allow 
 a daughter to gain maturity without having endeavoured his 
 very utmost to procure her a husband. The same obligation 
 rests upon him to present each of his sons with a Avife. 
 When a boy has reached seven, and a girl three, parental 
 anxiety becomes wakeful for their settlement. The festivities 
 of marriage are tedious and costly : presents must be liberally 
 distributed, and the bride must be bought Avitli a sum pro- 
 portioned to the wealth of the family. This usage of selling 
 wives has not the sanction of the Shastras, and perhaps is 
 not practised in all the nations of India ; but I believe it is 
 universal in the south, except among the Nairs, where one 
 wife has a plurality of husbands. ^ The costliness of the 
 marriage ceremony probably arose as a natural corrective to 
 polygamy, and operates as an important check to that evil ; 
 for, though it is permitted by the Shastras, few men are 
 found who have more than one wife, because few can afford 
 the outlay of more than one wedding. The only considera- 
 tion previous to a marriage is, how the sum necessary for the 
 expenses can be raised. That obtained at any interest, or on 
 any terms, no thought is given to other difficulties. To 
 
 ^ See Forbes's Oriental Memoir. Tlie same habit prevails among 
 some of tlie Hill tribes of Northern India. [The selling of daughters 
 is not " universal " ; it can hardly be said to be the prevailing practice. 
 But it is very common, and is one of those customs against which 
 flindu social reformers 3,re striving.]
 
 310 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 consummate the union is the one idea ; and no one thinks of 
 asking whether the young people have the prospect of 
 providing for a family. Honour and happiness consist not 
 in providing for a family, but in having one. On no account 
 is celibacy permitted to a woman ; and every single man is 
 contemptible ; for it is well known that he would not be 
 so, were he not so destitute of credit that no one will lend 
 him money, or so vile in reputation that no one will give 
 him his daughter.^ Honour and pocket-picking united in 
 the same person is not a conception more impossible to us, 
 than is that of celibacy and virtue to them. "Are you 
 married 1 " is one of their first questions to a missionary ; and 
 if he answer in the negative, they, unless familiar with our 
 habits, judge him accordingly. 
 
 A father, having selected a girl for his son, sends an 
 acquaintance to sound her father as to whether the alliance 
 would be agreeable. If so, he goes in person, formally 
 proposes, and ofiers his price for the bride. The directions 
 given by the sage Aurva for the choice of a wife are 
 sufficiently characteristic to merit quotation. " He must 
 select a maiden who is a third of his age ; one who has not 
 too much hair, but is not without any ; one who is not very 
 black nor yellow-complexioned, and who is not from birth a 
 cripple, or deformed. He must not marry a girl who is 
 vicious, or unhealthy, of low origin, or labouring under 
 disease ; one Avho has been ill brought up, or who talks 
 improperly, or who inherits some malady froui father or 
 mother ; one who has a beard, or has a masculine appear- 
 ance ; one who speaks thick or thin, or who croaks like a 
 raven ; one who keeps her eyes shut, or has the eyes very 
 prominent ; or who has hairy legs, or thick ankles ; or 
 who has dimples in her cheek when she laughs. Let not a 
 wise and prudent man marry a girl of such a description : 
 nor let a considerate man wed a girl with a harsh skin, or 
 with white nails, or with red eyes, or with very fat hands 
 ' Mdiiks arc, of course, an exception, celibacy being tlieir vow.
 
 INDIA : ITS PEOPLE 311 
 
 and feet ; or wlio is a dwarf, or very tall ; or whose eyebrows 
 meet, or whose teeth are very far apart, and resemble tusks." 
 He further prescribes that he select one who is " in kin five 
 degrees remote from his mother, and seven from his father." 
 Some native author, whose name T cannot recall, prescribes 
 that the lady shall have a gait resembling that of a young 
 elephant. 
 
 Preliminaries arranged, a day must be fixed. Properly 
 speaking, this ought to be either in March, April, May, or 
 June ; for they only are lucky marriage months ; but the 
 other parts of tlie year are often ventured upon. In this 
 case, however, the astrological observations, which decide 
 the propitious day, have to be taken with such care, that 
 much delay and anxiety are inevitable. The day at length 
 fixed, the guests assemble at the house of the bride's father.^ 
 Outside the door is erected a portico Avith twelve wooden 
 pillars. Under this is placed the hideous image of Vighnesh- 
 vara, the god of difficulties, who, if not duly honoured, 
 Avould assuredly cast some impediment before the hymeneal 
 car. Here also the bride and bridegroom are seated, on a 
 small mound of earth, with their faces to the east. The 
 married women, bearing on a copper plate a lamp made of 
 rice-paste, and lighted, then approach, and holding this as 
 high as the heads of the happy pair, make several circuits 
 around them. This, called the sacrifice of Arati, averts the 
 influence of an evil eye, and is a leading rite in all solemnities. 
 After this, the whole three hundred and thirty millions of 
 gods are earnestly invited to come to the wedding, and to 
 stay throughout the five days during which it lasts; the 
 ancestor gods are honoured with the same invitation, and 
 are entreated to bring Avith them the still more distant pro- 
 genitors. A sacrifice is then offered to Brahma, the creator. 
 On the second day, the bridegroom makes large presents to 
 the Brahmans in expiation of his faults. After this, he 
 feigns a desire to make a pilgrimage to Benares, to wash in 
 ^ la tlie sxicceeding details I closely follow Dubois,
 
 312 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the sacred Ganga • he equips himself for a journey, takes a 
 supply of provisions, and turning his face towards the holy 
 city, takes his departure in the fashion of an actual pilgrim, 
 preceded by musical instruments, and accompanied by friends. 
 He has not proceeded far on his pious journey, which would 
 probably be fifteen hundred miles long, before he is met by 
 his intended father-in-law, who inquires where he is going, 
 and, on being informed, offers, if he will return, to reward 
 him with the hand of his beautiful daughter. The pilgrim 
 is not obstinate ; and on his rejoining the party, the 
 ceremonies commence anew. With much pomp, a piece of 
 saffron is tied round the wrists of the youthful pair. The 
 bridegroom is then placed with his face to the east, and the 
 father-in-law steadily contemplates him, till he fancies that 
 in his countenance he sees the divine Vishnu, upon which 
 he presents him with a sacrifice. Next he places him with 
 both his feet in a dish filled with that very sacred substance, 
 cow-dung, and then, uttering mantras, washes his feet first 
 with water, afterwards with milk, and again with water. 
 This done, he profoundly meditates on the three hundred 
 and thirty millions of gods unitedly, and invokes by name 
 all whom he can recollect ; after these, he invokes the seven 
 rishi$, " sages," the five virgins, the ancestor gods, the seven 
 mountains, the woods, the seas, the eight cardinal points, 
 the fourteen worlds, the year, the season, the month, the 
 day, the minute, — praying them all to bless the marriage ; 
 then solemnly taking his daughter's hand, he places it, in 
 sign of surrender, within that of the bridegroom, ^nd pours 
 water over them both.^ The young couple are now surrounded 
 by a number of the attendants, reciting mantras, and invok- 
 ing the gods and their wives. While this is proceeding, 
 enters a salver neatly graced with flowers, and bearing a 
 small golden ornament, with the image of a god engraved 
 upon it, and having attached a cord composed of a hundred 
 and eight extremely fine threads. To this ornament incense 
 ^ [This ceremony is the kanyA ddna — " the gift of a virgin."]
 
 INDIA : ITS PEOPLE 313 
 
 is offered, and each of the persons present touches it, invok- 
 ing blessings upon it.^ The bride then turns to the east, 
 and the bridegroom, taking the ornament thus consecrated, 
 places it in front of her neck, and ties the cord behind, 
 This is called the tali, it is their wedding-ring; but, 
 contrary to the usage with us, it is removed in case of 
 widowhood. Fire is now introduced ; on this the bride- 
 groom offers a sacrifice ; then, taking the bride's hand, they 
 walk thrice round it; thus ratifying their union by the 
 witness of that element which they hold to be divine. 
 When all the great ceremonies are concluded, the attendants 
 sprinkle with rice the heads of the newly-married pair. In 
 some cases they are placed each standing in a bamboo basket, 
 and each is furnished with a vessel of pounded rice. The 
 bridegroom pours the contents of his on the head of the 
 bride, who returns the comi)liment ; and this they several 
 times repeat. The significance of this ceremony, as emblematic 
 of plenty, is obvious. On the fourth day of the nuptials both 
 bride and bridegroom eat off the same plate; and Dubois 
 says, " Well may the woman now continue to eat what the 
 husband leaves, and after he has done ; for they will never 
 again sit down to a meal together." The whole is closed by 
 a torchlight procession, in which both are carried in a 
 decorated palanquin ; they are hailed by their neighbours 
 with gifts and gratulations, while fireworks and music 
 complete their honours. We may add that the wife may 
 well enjoy this ride ; for never again, except in case of a 
 tedious journey, may she mount the same vehicle with her 
 lord, 
 
 The girl thus pompously married is always of inamature 
 age,^ and, after the ceremony, remains in her father's house 
 
 1 [The blessing of an old woman whose husband still lives is 
 particularly valued, as likely to ensure a long married life for the 
 couple.] 
 
 - [The Mysore Census Report for 1891 showed that 74 girls under 
 one year qld, 349 lender two years ohl, 2347 under three years old,
 
 31.4 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 for a shorter or longer term, as the case may be. AVhen 
 deemed fit to be united to her hnsband, she is led to his 
 residence, on which occasion ceremonies are renewed, but 
 on a much smaller scale. Though we should hold the 
 original ceremony only a betrothment, they hold it a 
 marriage. From that moment the man has all the rights 
 of a husband, the girl all the obligations of a wife ; and 
 should he die, though she may never have left her father's 
 roof, she is his widow ; and his widow all her days she 
 must remain. The tnli is removed from her neck ; then, 
 one by one, her articles of jewellery ; her dress changed for 
 a widow's robe, and her rich black hair shaved, to be 
 allowed to grow no more. From that day she commences 
 a life of .shame. Her lot is not regarded as an affliction to 
 which all are liable, and which entitles the sufferer to 
 universal sympathy, but as a retribution for the vices of a 
 former birth. The gods hold her unworthy of the joys 
 and honours of marriage. The liusband's relatives do not 
 scruple to charge the loss of their kinsman on her sins. 
 Their religion teaches that the only atonement she can 
 make, the only path whereby she can escape days of infamy 
 and woe, is self-destruction. She ought to burn Avitli the 
 clay of him whom she had never seen but at the wedding, 
 or under whom she had lived in bondage for years. The 
 benign spirit of Christianity has now averted this final 
 stroke ; but the life thus spared is a life of sorrow and 
 shame. The world scorns her; and the care of her own 
 family is to keep her steps so watched, her spirits so broken, 
 ami her frame so weak, that she may not bring disgrace 
 xipon them. Should their endeavours fail, her crime cannot 
 make her condition much more severe. With us, a widow's 
 weeds are the signals of charity, inviting commiseration and 
 respect; in India, they are the brand of justice, inspiring 
 
 and 8387 under four years old had had tlieir destiny finally fixed by 
 marriage. The total number of married girls under fourteen years 
 of age was G.')8,832.]
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 315 
 
 horror. Xo human being is more to be pitied than a young 
 Hindu widow. Then it is to be remembered that this class 
 is far more numerous in India than amongst us : for, first, 
 every man, Avithout exception, marries and may remarry as 
 often as he likes ; secondly, every bride is a young girl — a 
 child ; thirdly, every female once widowed continues a 
 widow for life. From these three causes, widows in India 
 must be at least twice as numerous as in England ; ^ and 
 when it is remembered that the population of India is 
 sevenfold that of the British Isles, it will be seen what a 
 multitude of breasts are pierced by Hinduism with continual 
 sorrows. 
 
 When a death is approaching in a family, certain 
 ceremonies are practised which need not be noticed here, 
 as they belong rather to the head of religion than of 
 manners. Care is taken that the dying man shall not be 
 surprised upon his bed, nor even upon a mat ; for in such 
 a case, his soul, upon entering another body, would have 
 to carry with it this cumbrous appendage. To save him 
 this burden, a clean cloth is spread upon the floor, and there 
 he is laid. When death has taken place, the assembled 
 relatives mourn aloud ; and the widow, if one be left, is, as 
 well she may be, violent in her sorrows. She passionately 
 reproaches the deceased for having abandoned her, screams, 
 tears her hair, and gives every testimony of despair. 
 
 Among the Brahmans the corpse is carried on a bier, 
 placed on a pile, and burned. Among some of the other 
 castes the same usage prevails ; but in others it is buried, 
 being carried to the grave dressed as in life, and in a 
 
 ^ [The proportion is as 8 to 18. In the Mysore, which has tlie 
 worst recoi'd in India in this respect, the proportion of widows to 
 women and girls is 21 per cent. ; in Enghmd it is 7 per cent. In 
 otlier words, every fifth woman in the Mysore or every foiu-th 
 Brahman woman, is a widow. Omitting from our reckoning the 
 little girls not yet given in marriage, there are half as many widows 
 as there are wives in the Mysore. Of these Mysore widows, 3554 
 were xmder ten years of age.]
 
 316 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 sitting posture. Headstone, tomb, or inscription, they use 
 none. The upward-pointing stone tells of a resurrection 
 which their faith knows not. 
 
 From their homes and domestic life we pass to their 
 villages and towns,^ Small groups of huts are occasionally 
 found on the open plain ; but they are few, and inhabited 
 only by the very poor. Xo considerable village and no 
 town is found without a high, thick wall of mud, except 
 in those districts Avhich have long enjoyed the security 
 conferred by British government. In the villages the 
 houses are closely grouped together, without any attention 
 to order or to airiness, and frequently with less cleanliness 
 than could be desired. This is much owing to the practice 
 of bringing within the walls every night all their cattle, which 
 are very numerous ; and their presence leaves effects, even 
 after all their droppings have been carefully gathered, either 
 for fuel, or to wash out the houses. The men of the village 
 Avear, for the most part, nothing but a few hand-breadths of 
 cloth ; but the women are always modestly covered, except, 
 indeed, in those parts of India where it is the usage for 
 all females, except the immodest, to go uncovered from the 
 waist up ; a custom which, strange as it is, they hohl so 
 sacred, that it is said that a queen of Malaya-la once ordered 
 a Avoman to have one of her breasts cut oft', because, on 
 returning from a distant country, she followed the practice, 
 held by her majesty to be insufferably foreign, of covering 
 her chest. The Hindus have a very complete organisation 
 for village government. The smallest village has its head- 
 man, Avho leads their councils, arbitrates in disputes, and is 
 the responsible medium of all communication with the 
 government. Every town has a regular staff of officers, 
 comprising the head-man, the accountant, the tax-gatherer, 
 
 ^ [India is pre-eminently a country of villages. Ninety per cent, 
 of its population is rural. In the Mysore 44 ]ier cent, of the total 
 population is to be fouml in hanilefs of less tliap 500 inhabitants 
 each,]
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 317 
 
 the astrologer, the irrigator, tlic poet, the schoohnastcr, and 
 the watchman; besides whom, the blacksmith, the joiner, 
 the barber, and the goldsmith, are often included ; and 
 some add the washerman, the cowkeeper, the potter, and 
 the dancing-girl. These officers, having each his defined 
 sphere, preserve perfect order in local affairs, and much 
 ligliten the duties that would otherwise devolve on the 
 central government. For years after the Mysore was taken 
 under our administration, each division of the kingdom, 
 including, perhaps, a population of a million, was super- 
 intended by a single gentleman, without one European 
 assistant. A fact like this, as indeed the ease with which 
 all India is governed, strongly illustrates the value of the 
 village system. Plach little community has a head responsible 
 for its good order ; and every one of these head-men holds 
 an office venerable by immemorial tradition. Even the 
 Musalman governments did not violate these ancient 
 corporations ; and by the English they are fully recognised. 
 Over ten head-men is placed a superior officer, and the 
 native model of rank graduated from authority over one 
 to authority over ten, a hundred, or a thousand towns. 
 This complete and simple plan of local government, Mr. 
 Mill, resolved at all risks to establish his amusing theory, 
 that the Hindus were barbarians, characterises as " unskilful 
 and rude." Among the natural effects of this system, is 
 the profound deference for authority universal among the 
 Hindus. Accustomed, even in the remotest villages, to see 
 I^ersons govern merely by virtue of office, they are trained 
 to venerate power, and too often carry that veneration to 
 servility. The village system is adapted to protect the 
 ryots from the severity of a harsh government ; but it is 
 also adapted to prevent them from reaping all the benefits 
 of a mild one ; for as all matters are transacted through 
 local officials, these are under strong temptations to turn 
 their office to personal account. It cannot be doubted, that 
 in our own territories many villagers suffer exactions wholly
 
 318 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 unauthorised ; but it is better to submit than to incur the 
 resentment of the official men and their clique. 
 
 Such a number of these villages as any Kajah could bring 
 under subjection formed a kingdom. But it would not 
 appear that the limits of a monarchical territory ever remained 
 long settled ; every petty war producing changes. Nor did 
 such changes materially affect village interests. " The 
 inhabitants," say the Parliamentary Committee of 1800, 
 with much truth, " give themselves no trouble about the 
 breaking up and division of kingdoms : while the village 
 remains entire, they care not to what power it is transferred, 
 or to what sovereign it devolves ; its internal economy 
 remains unchanged." Petty officers, intrusted with the rule 
 of a few towns, and called polygars {pahjagdra, literally, 
 " village man "), took every opportuiuty of gaining in- 
 dependence, and in unsettled times were never held by the 
 Kajah but with a loose and doubtful allegiance. The Rajah 
 was always lord of the soil, and to him were paid all the 
 rents. Each village community, through its head, rendered 
 a certain share of its produce, generally in kind. Manu 
 authorises the king to take of grain " an eighth part, or a 
 sixth, or a twelfth " ; but these terms are far milder than 
 those found in actual use. The committee just quoted 
 report, that a third, and even a half, of the produce, was 
 frequently taken by the king ; and that under the jNEuham- 
 madan governments, the poor cultivator " seldom retained 
 more than a fifth " of his produce. This report is founded 
 on the evidence of Place, Munro, and others, whose authority 
 is conclusive.^ The Musalmans also introduced a system of 
 farming to Zemindars the revenues of a certain district. 
 They paid to the king a stipulated sum ; and, though 
 frequently restrained by conditions as to the terms they 
 would impose on the ryots, generally burdened the latter 
 with intolerable exactions. Lord Teignmouth unhappily 
 established this system in many of our provinces : it still 
 ' Mill, vol. i.
 
 INDIA: ITR PEOPLE 319 
 
 exists, and has many advocates ; but I never conversed with 
 a native in the rural districts who did not testify towards its 
 lively abhorrence, and earnestly deprecate all second parties 
 between the cultivator and the government. I cannot con- 
 ceive of such a system existing in any country, and, above 
 all, in an Asiatic country, without exposing the husbandman 
 to numerous and oppressive wrongs. The more immediately 
 our government deals with the mass of the people, the more 
 clearly will be known the equity of their principles, and the 
 mildness of their intentions. All interposition is detrimental 
 at once to the interests of the cultivator and to the popularity 
 of the rulers.^ 
 
 The Hindus have never known any but despotic govern- 
 ments. " A king," says Manu, " is formed of particles from 
 the chief guardian deities, and consequently surpasses all 
 mortals in glory. Like the sun, he burns eyes and heart ; 
 nor can any creature on earth even gaze on him. He is fire 
 and air ; he, the god of criminal justice ; he, the genius of 
 wjealth ; he, the regent of waters ; he, the lord of the firma- 
 ment. A king, even though a child, must not be treated 
 lightly, from the idea that he is a mere mortal : no, he is a 
 powerful divinity that appears in human shape. In his 
 anger, death." But, notwithstanding these extravagant con- 
 cessions to royalty, the king has always been required to 
 hold the Brahmans as his natural council, while laws, in some 
 cases wise and benign, were instituted to guide his conduct. 
 On the whole, tyranny has been the rule, and a paternal king 
 a very rare exception. Each subordinate ruler exercised in 
 his own province absolute authority ; but his office and his 
 
 ^ [In the Mysore all Goverumeiit lands are held on kanddyam, i.e. 
 a fixed money assessment. An hereditary right of occnpatiou is 
 attached to all such lands. As long as the holder pays the Govern- 
 ment dues he has no fear of displacement, and virtually possesses an 
 absolute tenant right as distinct from that of propiietorship. If 
 Government needs the land for public purposes, he is always paid 
 compensation, fixed either by mutual consent or under the Land 
 Acquisition Act. See Rice's Gazetteer of Mysore and Coorrj.']
 
 320 A Mission to the Mysore 
 
 head were always at the disposal of the king, unless, indeed, 
 he were protected by his power, or by troublous times. 
 Revenue and legal authority were constantly vested in the 
 same officers. Trial by jury was in use ; the number of 
 jurors consisting of not less than five ; or whatever might be 
 the number, it was always odd, in order that, on a division, 
 there might be a majority, the verdict of the majority 
 holding good.^ 
 
 In observing any department of Hindu life, one soon 
 perceives that all its relations are pervaded by a reigning 
 peculiarity. Besides the distinctions of ancestr}', Avealth, 
 and education, which everywhere graduate society, here 
 exists an artificial order, by which persons close in neigh- 
 bourhood, and equal in fortune, are rendered incapable of 
 domestic intercourse. This thick barrier, caste, is held to 
 be of divine origin. "Formerly," as the sage Parasara 
 teaches, " when the true-meditating Brahma was desirous of 
 creating the world, there sprang from his mouth beings 
 especially endowed with the quality of goodness ; others 
 sprang from his breast pervaded by the quality of foulness ; 
 others from his thighs, in whom foulness and darkness pre- 
 vailed ; and others from his feet, in whom the quality of 
 darkness predominated. These were in succession beings of 
 the several castes, Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Yaisyas, and 
 Siidras, produced from the mouth, the breast, the thighs, 
 and the feet of Brahma."- The popular account describes 
 
 ' [Tlie pancMyat, or triljunal of five (or more), is still much resorted 
 to in village disputes, and is very useful as a local court of arbitra- 
 tion. For the rest, there is, everywhere in India, an elaborate 
 system of judicature ; and courts of varying powers, civil and criminal, 
 are conveniently available.] 
 
 - [This is an echo of the Puruslia-sakla, the Hymn of Man, which 
 occurs in the Rig Veda, and from which caste is supposed to derive 
 divine sanction. This allegorical passage suggests occiqmtion as the 
 Iiasis of caste distinction : the Briihman, sprung from the mouth, 
 being the wise man and teacher ; the Kshatriya, sprung from the 
 arras, being the warrior ; and so on. But the constant name in
 
 INDIA : ITS PEOPLE 321 
 
 the Kshatriya as born fnjm the creator's arm. These castes 
 have thus distinct origins, and natures equally distinct. 
 They repel the doctrine that " God made of one blood all 
 men to dwell upon the face of the earth " ; and, in opposition 
 to it, maintain, that the different castes of men have 
 natures as dissimilar as the difierent castes of grain, fruit, 
 or animals. Caste is their word for species. Wheat, rice, 
 and Indian corn are dilferent castes of grain ; mangoes, 
 bananas, and tamarinds, different castes of fruit; tigers, camels, 
 and elephants, dilferent castes of animals ; and Urahmans, 
 Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras, diil'erent castes of men. 
 " You may say, if you please," they will observe, " that 
 Bnlhmans and Sudras are both men. They are both men, 
 if you will, just as a horse and an ass are both animals ; 
 but as you never can make an ass of a horse, nor a horse of 
 an ass, so you can never make a Brahman of a Svidra, nor 
 a Siidra of a Brahman." The idea that the out-castes are 
 yprung from the same stock as the rest of mankind is scouted 
 with disgust. 
 
 Into these four divisions, then, is society parted ; each 
 being a separate commonwealth, with its own heads, its own 
 prejudices, its own pursuits and its own laws. The various 
 castes may not eat together, may not intermarry, may not 
 reside in the same house, and may not assume each other's 
 professions. Thus they are really wider apart than if 
 separated by national distinctions, or even than races alien 
 
 Sanskrit for caste is varna^colour ; and this, too, may be au indica- 
 tion as to the origin of the institution. The Aryans were a fair race, 
 the aborigines of India mucli darker. Professor Maedonell says: 
 '•The gulf between the two races need not have been wider tlian that 
 wliicli, at the present day, in the United States, divides the wliites 
 from the negroes. When the latter are described as men of 'colour,' 
 the identical term is used which, in India, came to mean 'caste.'" 
 Thus caste may be described as tlic outcome of "etlinic variations and 
 trade -guilds," but it early took to Itself the strongest religious 
 sanctions, and tlireatens disobedience to its rules with the direst 
 spiritual penalties.] 
 
 21
 
 322 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 in blood and complexion. Again, the calling is transmitted 
 from father to son, and it passes on through indefinite genera- 
 tions. The design of this was doubtless to secure perfection 
 in the various departments of trade. Whether it has done 
 this or not, it has certainly established professional genea- 
 logies. " Old houses " and " ancient families " are common 
 things in India. Every tailor may confidently reckon that 
 his sires clipped and fitted since before the days of the 
 Caesars, and every barber can boast an ancestry of barbers 
 who shaved in remote antiquity : the weaver, too, the joiner, 
 the potter, the Avasherman, and the blacksmith, may each 
 pride himself that the line of his fathers stretches up 
 through long centuries. How far this has contributed to 
 the progress of the arts appears in the fact, that for ages 
 the arts have made no progress. This system would, in an 
 unsettled state of society, prevent arts from being lost, and 
 for some generations would promote advancement ; but 
 in the lapse of ages, stagnation must result ; because 
 natural adaptation is violated, and a settled order of pro- 
 ceeding formed, which all are trained from infancy to revere, 
 and which no one thinks of breaking. Great nicety in 
 manual execution might be expected from hereditary 
 artisans ; and this has been attained in India, perhaps, more 
 than in any other country, — but at the price of all originalit3\ 
 AVith the rude implements used fifty generations since, the 
 Hindu weaver, carver, or goldsmith executes most delicately; 
 but he wotdd deem it presumptuous to think of improving 
 on the plans of the ancients, who were far wiser than men 
 of modern days. 
 
 The duties of the several castes are thus dclined in the 
 Vishnu Purdna : " The Brahman should make gifts, should 
 worship the gods with sacrifices, should be assiduous in 
 studying the Vedas, should perform libations and ablutions 
 with water, and should preserve the sacred flame. For the 
 sake of subsistence he may offer sacrifices on behalf of others, 
 and may instruct them in the Sh(hfnts ; and he may accept
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 323 
 
 presents of a liberal description. . . . The man of the 
 warrior-tribe (Kshatriya) should cheerfully give presents to 
 the Brdlinians, perform various sacrifices, and study the 
 Scriptures. His especial sources of maintenance are arms, 
 and the protection of the earth. The guardianship of the 
 earth is, indeed, his especial province : by the discharge of 
 this duty a king attains his object, and realises a share of 
 the merit of all sacrificial rites. By intimidating the bad, 
 and cherishing the good, the monarch who maintains the 
 discipline of the ditferent castes, secures whatever region he 
 desires. Brrdima, the great parent of creation, gave to the 
 A^aisya the occupation of commerce, and agriculture, and 
 the feeding of flocks and herds, for his means of livelihood ; 
 and sacred stud}', sacrifice, and donation, are also his duties, 
 as is the observance of fixed and occasional rites." 
 
 "Attendance on the three regenerate castes ^ is the province 
 of the Sudra ; and by that he is to subsist, or by the profits 
 of trade, or the earnings of mechanical labour. He is also 
 to make gifts ; and he may offer the sacrifices in which food 
 is presented, as well as obsequial offerings." 
 
 The Bnlhmans, the beings who, " especially endowed 
 with the quality of goodness," sprang from the creator's 
 mouth, are ranged under two divisions ; the one sacred, 
 the other secular. Those of the former class can accept no 
 employment but one strictly religious or literary ; the latter 
 may maintain themselves by any honourable calling not 
 involving commerce or menial duties. The Vaidika, or 
 sacred Bnlhmans, form the Gurus, or religious teachers ; 
 the Puruhitas, or priests, ofiiciating at high solemnities, as 
 also the more ordinary temple Brclhmans, and astrologers. 
 The LauMlia, or secular Brahmans, form accountants, 
 magistrates, and other officers of government ; are employed 
 as munshis by fuiropeans, and even enrol themselves, at 
 least in Bengal, in the British army. I knew one case of a 
 Brilhman being engaged in commerce ; but his brethren did 
 ^ [Called the dwijant, or twice-boin.]
 
 324 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 not hear it mentioned without evident pain.^ They would 
 not, however, consider it improper to have an interest 
 either in agriculture or commerce, which did not require 
 personal services of an undignified kind. All Erahmans, 
 though dishonoured by trade or labour, deem begging no 
 degradation : indeed, being gods of the earth, it is their 
 special right to receive gifts from all men, and in so domg 
 they only receive their own. " Whatever exists in the 
 universe," says Manu, "is all in effect, though not in form, 
 the wealth of the Brahman, since the Brahman is entitled 
 to all by his primogeniture and eminence of birth. The 
 Brahman eats but liis own food, wears but his own apparel, 
 and bestows but his own alms. Through tlie benevolence 
 of the Brilliman, indeed, other mortals enjoy life." 
 
 The dignity claimed for this caste is in keeping with the 
 usual extravagance of Hindu imaginations. " When a 
 Brahman springs to light, he is born above the world, the 
 chief of all creatures." And again : " All the universe is 
 subject to the gods, the gods are subject to the mantras,^ 
 the mantras are under the power of the Brahmans, and the 
 Brahmans are therefore our gods." And right Avondrous 
 are the feats which some of these illustrious terrestrials 
 have performed. One of them, in old time, swallowed the 
 sea at three sips ; another turned the moon into a cinder ; 
 and a third manipulated and reduced the sun. The person 
 of a Brahman is sacred : whatever be his crimes, he must 
 not be put to death. It required some nerve in our 
 authorities, at first, to set aside this exemption ; but they 
 did it firmly, and with success. So far from punishing a 
 Brahman murderer, he who laments the victim of a priestly 
 hand is required, for so doing, to make an atonement. A 
 person of inferior caste who strikes a Bnlhman, with the design 
 of hurting liim, " shall be whirled about for a century in hell." 
 
 ^ [Such instances are luuuh more numerous in these days, though 
 still few.] 
 
 - [Certain forms of prayer.]
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 325 
 
 Beside tlie division of Brrdimans into sacred and secular, 
 they are subdivided into castes. Of these, four are called 
 after the four Vedas ; but that division is refined upon, 
 in consequence of sectarian distinctions : Vishnu Brahmans, 
 of two sects, and several divisions of Shiva Brahmans, 
 contend for the pre-eminence. Most of these sub-castes 
 will not intermarry or eat together. All the other castes 
 are in the same manner split up into sections, each section 
 holding itself in seclusion from all the others. In common 
 parlance, you scarcely ever hear of four, but always of 
 eighteen, castes ; and even that number is far short of the 
 reality. In fact, no one can tell into how many of these 
 unsocial detachments the Hindus, taking all their nations 
 together, have separated themselves.^ 
 
 The Brahman, having sprung from the creator's mouth, 
 is naturally the teacher of all other men. He alone may 
 read the holy Vrda ; for should one of inferior caste dare 
 to scan even the title of those celestial tomes, his head 
 would split in twain. The Brahman, then, is the depositary 
 of knowledge ; to him alone are confided the mysteries of 
 religion, and the deep teachings of astronomy, logic, ethics, 
 and all higher sciences. Every Brahman receives an educa- 
 tion: with some it does not proceed beyond the simplest 
 elements ; and I remember one who had difficulty in reading, 
 but only one. They invariably know more tongues than 
 their own ; and many of them can fluently speak and write 
 three or four languages, and perhaps speak, without writing, 
 two or three more. Of Sanskrit the common order know 
 nothing but a few prayers, or selections from sacred books, 
 which they cannot translate. But every man who makes 
 the least pretension to respectable attainments, knows some- 
 thing of the sacred tongue. Celtd^rated pandits found 
 schools to which students resort, and with wondrous patience 
 
 1 [The Mysore Census of 1891 sliowed tliat the Hindus of that 
 Province were distributed over 75 "recognised main caste divisions," 
 each separated from the other by an inipassalile gulf.]
 
 326 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 commit to memory grammars, lexicons, texts, and treatises. 
 It is positively astounding to hear a Brahman, when asked 
 the meaning of any Sanskrit word, rhyming over synonym 
 after synonym, and counting by his fingers as he goes, till 
 he has reached perhaps twenty, or more ; and this he will 
 do with any important word that occurs. I do not mean 
 that every Brahman who knows Sanskrit can do so ; for tliat 
 is not likely : all heads cannot carry a lexicon through the 
 world ; but it is more frequent than we should imagine 
 possible. The study of language is the one good point in 
 Hindu education ; all the training this gives to the taste, 
 memory, and judgment, the educated Brahmans enjoy ; and 
 it is this, not any studies of logic or metaphysics, which 
 gives them the mental acuteness for which they are remark- 
 able. Of their logic, such as it is, few, very few, know 
 anything ; and their metaphysics are not sufficiently studied 
 to form the general mind. 
 
 Poetry is an essential part of polite education. No man 
 pretends to learning who cannot make verses. Their rules 
 of composition are very complex, and the styles of versifica- 
 tion manifold. Rhyme takes place, not on the last syllable, 
 as with us, but either on the first or second. The poetical 
 genius of the Hindus is, perhaps, generally ranked too high. 
 Their imagination is active, and frequently bold ; but their 
 knowledge of nature, whence alone the imagination can 
 draw her materials, is limited, and, consequently, their 
 similes, metaphors, and allusions are confined to a narrow 
 range. In modifications endless, the arched eyebrow is 
 presented to you as a bow, and the flashing eye as a resist- 
 less arrow. The lotus usurps the place of all flowers ; its 
 hues, its shape, its scent, and its watery dwelling, figure in 
 ways so numerous as to surprise you at the poet's art, but 
 to leave a painful sense of his poverty. In Hindu poetry, 
 as in all others, the sun and moon shine with frequent and 
 glorious appearances ; and old Ocean, enamoured of the 
 lunar beauty, heaves high his breast for joy, when he sees
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 327 
 
 the silver coiintenance turned fully on him, or beginning 
 to reappear after having been averted. The lion, too, 
 though long extinct in India, still appears in every creation 
 of her poets with all his wonted majesty and dread. The 
 groves of India know not the joy of singing-birds ; but the 
 bringa, a musical insect, is made the most of, and his drowsy 
 hum introduced as frequently as if it had all the strings 
 of that sylvan harp on which our summer delights to play. 
 Turgid, grotesque, and sometimes admirably ridiculous 
 images are paraded with great musical display ; but, for a 
 European, harmonious numbers flow in vain to dignify the 
 march of a sun with his head in a blanket, or' a monkey 
 making a pyramid of his tail ! 
 
 One of the finest passages in the Vishnu Purana is that 
 describing the birth of Krishna, where Dcvaki, his mother, 
 is compared to the dawn and he to the sun. Professor 
 Wilson's prose translation is easily cast into the following 
 form : 
 
 From Devaki, a fair and glorious dawn, 
 
 Th' Imperishable, earth's protector, lotus eyed, 
 
 Arose t' expand the petals of Creation's flower. 
 
 The day of that high birth, joy tlie horizon decked, 
 
 As when bright moonbeams gild th' entire sphere. 
 
 When the Birth-Giver near'd our mortal air, 
 
 Strange pleasure glowed in breasts of holy men. 
 
 The strong winds-held their breath, 
 
 And silent lingered the expectant streams. 
 
 Then murnuired the rude sea harmonious strains. 
 
 And to his music new, the spirits bright. 
 
 And nym[)hs celestial danced for joy and sang. 
 
 The gods, walking the radiant sky, poured downward flowers, 
 
 And altar fires had in their scented flame 
 
 A strange and tender mellowness. 
 
 In the deep midnight, when the stay of all 
 
 Was nigli to birth, tlie clouds made music low, 
 
 And rained a rain of flowers. 
 
 Until very lately the Hindus could scarcely be said to 
 have a prose literature ; and consequently they had no
 
 328 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 trustworthy history. The absence of prose has this advantage 
 for missionaries, that in many of the languages they will be 
 the founders of that style of writing which, as knowledge 
 advances, must SAvay the public mind. In Kanarese, a good 
 prose style is already formed ; the Brahmans using just that 
 of polite conversation. Authorship, though principally 
 exercised among the Brahmans, is not confined to them : 
 many works have issued from anti-Brahmanical pens ; and 
 not a few from those of men of the inferior castes. The 
 only books in general circulation are scraps of the Purdnas, 
 and collections of fables. 
 
 But few of the Brahmans profess astronomy. It is 
 confined to the Jotishas ; each town has its wise man, who 
 computes nativities, names the fortunate day for marriages, 
 and the hour when a journey or other enterprise may 
 commence under auspicious stars. The dread of unlucky 
 days, which even among ourselves is sometimes grotesquely 
 combined with general intelligence, reigns in India over all 
 classes, from the highest to the lowest; and perhaps over 
 the highest most firmly. Friday is a very unlucky day. 
 Augury also is associated with astrology : the chief bird of 
 omen being r/arufja, the sacred vulture. The raven is 
 unlucky ; and the house on which an owl lights ought to 
 be forsaken. Lizards and serj)ents are also in the secrets of 
 Fate ; nor are foxes and hares denied a share of her con- 
 fidence. A journey is often postponed, or a day's work 
 aljandoned, because a kite, a snake, or a fox has taken a 
 position that warns of unseen danger. When a man is asked 
 to give his daughter in marriage, he Avaits till he hears a 
 lizard chirp, and when this oracle has pronounced in favour 
 of the proposed alliance, he accepts it. 
 
 In everytliiug that constitutes general information tlie 
 Bnlhman is utterly deficient. He is taught languages, 
 jxietry, metaphysics, mythology, and possibly the elements 
 of astronomy ; but of the world, its people, and every subject 
 in natural science, he remains in the most complete, and the
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 329 
 
 most contented, ignorance. No liistory acquaints him with 
 the past; no travels, with the homes of other people; no 
 maps enable him to carry in his mind a picture of the 
 world ; no geography, to judge of the position, the produc- 
 tions, and the climate of places with outlandish names ; 
 no periodical press informs him of passing events ; and no 
 science unfolds the relations of external nature.^ By his very 
 education he becomes more ignorant ; for ignorance consists 
 not merely in the absence of all ideas on a subject, but also 
 in the presence of false ones. The savage who has no idea 
 at all as to the size of the earth, is less ignorant, and less 
 obstinately so, than the Brahman who thinks he has divine 
 authority for. believing it to be forty thousand times larger 
 than it is. Thus it is with everything he learns. Were he 
 let alone, he might at least form some notion of the size of 
 India : but having once read the Punhias, he is ever after 
 assured that it is twenty-seven thousand miles long, or con- 
 siderably more than the circumference of the whole globe ! 
 So also he learns that the sun travels in a chariot three 
 thousand miles long, with a pole of six thousand ; that 
 mountains are placed on the earth to keep it steady ; that 
 earthquakes result from the yawning of the god-serpent, who 
 upholds the world on his head ; that the Creator " formed 
 birds from his vital vigour ; sheep from his breast : goats 
 fn>m his mouth ; kine from his belly and sides ; and horses, 
 elephants, sarabhas, gayals, deer, canieks, mules, antelopes, 
 and other animals, from his feet ; Avhilst from the hairs of 
 his body sprang herbs, roots, and fruit." Further, that on 
 four mountains, around the grand mount ]\Ieru, grow four 
 trees, each " spreading over one thousand one hundred 
 
 ' [Eilinatioii (HI European hues is cliaiigiiif; all this. In tlic schools 
 of India, luylhology is cxcludeil in favour of history ; the geograjihy 
 of the West lias displaced the eccentric gcograpliy of the Puianas ; 
 sucli sciences as chemistry, physiology, and astronomy are discrediting 
 the traditional science-teaching of India ; and Brahmans have been 
 the first to avail themselves of thr new learning.]
 
 330 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 yojanas (five thousand five hundred miles)/ and towering 
 aloft like banners on the mountains " ; and that one of these 
 " has apples that are as large as elephants; Avhen they are 
 rotten, they fall on the crest of the mountain, and from 
 their juice is formed the Jambu river." Of that pleasant 
 phenomenon, " a sunshiny shower," he learns the following 
 explanation, which he is bound to consider as true, as we 
 will own it is poetical : — " The water that the sun has drawn 
 up from the Ganga of the skies (the Milky Way), he quickly 
 pours doAvn with his rays, and Avithout a cloud : and men 
 who are touched by this pure rain are cleansed from the soil 
 of sin, and never see hell ; this is called celestial ablution. 
 That rain Avhich falls when the sun is shining, and Avithout 
 a cloud, is the Avater of the heavenly Ganges (Milky AVay), 
 shed by the solar rays." iS^or are his thoughts of rain in 
 general much more cleared by Puranic enlightenment. " The 
 sun, with his scorching rays, absorbs the moisture of the 
 earth, and Avith them nourishes the moon. The moon 
 communicates, through tubes of air, its deAvs to the clouds, 
 Avhich being composed of smoke, lire, and Avind, can retain 
 the Avaters Avith which they are charged : they are therefore 
 called ahhras, because their contents are not dispersed. 
 When, hoAvever, they are broken to pieces by the Avind, 
 their Avatery stores descend, bland, and freed from every 
 impurity by the sweetening process of time " ( Vishnu 
 Piirdna). The Ramdyana teaches that Ceylon is not 
 accessible to mortals ; and this is firmly lielieved by thousands 
 Avho arc not five hundred miles from it. ]>eing crowded 
 with such absurdities on every subject, the mind of a 
 r.ri'diman is not so much a dark void chamber, Avhere light 
 and furniture are lacking, as a dark, thronged lumber-room, 
 Avhere a sound idea cannot enter without wounding itself 
 against some store chest, or losing its eye against some 
 splinter of Puranic lore. 
 
 Their ignorance of the actual Avorld is perfect. Of the 
 ^ [A yojana is varioiislj' calculated as = i'onr or five or nine miles.]
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 331 
 
 covintries bordering on Tiidia they have none but the most 
 foggy ideas. Until our late war with China, many of them 
 had scarcely heard its name. Of England their traditions 
 are choice. " When you go from Madras upon the sea, 
 what do you find beyond the sea '? " once asked a respectable 
 banker, in a crowd ; " is it a single town or an extended 
 country 1" " An extended country certainly," "Then you 
 have fields 1 " " Of course." " And who cultivates them ? " 
 " Persons who follow that calling." " Yes ; but wliat kind 
 of people are they? are they black or white 1 " "White, to 
 be sure." " What ! white like yourself ? " " Yes, certainly." 
 " And do they labour in the fields like ryots 1 " " That they 
 do, and far harder, too." " Only think," they all cried out, 
 with laughter and astonishment ; " only think of Englishmen 
 working in the fields like ryots ! " They had never seen 
 an Englishman, but as a soldier or a gentleman. Curiosity 
 was whetted by this discovery, and he proceeded : " Then 
 what grows in your fields'? rice?" " ISTo." "What! no 
 rice?" "Xo." " :N''ot in the whole country?" "Not an 
 ear." They looked at each other with wide eyes, and cried, 
 " Abah / abaJi / how queer ! a country without rice ! " My 
 examiner, returning to the charge, said : " Well, but if you 
 have no rice, you have at least ragi?" "No; we have 
 no ragi." " No ragi ! neither rice nor ragi ! Who ever 
 heard of a country without either rice or ragi?" Had I 
 told them of a country without either soil or sky, they could 
 not have stared more exquisitely. " Ah ! " exclaimed a 
 youth, less able than the rest to conceal his thoughts, "I 
 always knew how it was; originally they were inhabitants 
 of this country, but a curse drove them away ; and now they 
 are trying to return." The men who were taking part in 
 the conversation glanced at me to see if I were offended, but 
 did not seem disposed to difter with their indelicate 
 neighbour. Not wishing to leave our nation in so low 
 esteem, I said, " I will tell you a tale out of one of your 
 own books." They always relish a tale ; and forthwith I
 
 332 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 had every ear. "A wliite crane was one day fisliing by 
 a tank, when, looking up, he saw a swan, and, struck with 
 his phimage, thought he must be a relation of his own. 
 ' Stranger,' he cried, ' whence do you come, and whither are 
 you bound V 'I come,' said the swan, ' from Satyaloka ' 
 (the heaven of Brahma, whose chariot is drawn by swans), 
 'and to Satyaloka am I returning.' 'And, pray, what kind 
 of a place is Satyaloka 1 ' ' Oh, it is the dwelling of the 
 glorious Brahma ; I could not make you understand what 
 kind of a place it is.' ' But you must tell me ; I desire to 
 know.' ' Well, if you will know, it is a gorgeous place : for 
 stones, we have jewels ; for sand, gold dust ; for watet, 
 ambrosia ; and everything equally superb.' ' But,' asked 
 the crane, little excited by such fineries, 'have you any 
 frogs there ? ' ' Frogs there ! ' rejoined the swan ; ' no ; Ave 
 have no frogs there.' 'Then,' observed the crane, 'you may 
 go back to Satyaloka, if you are in the mind ; but I have 
 no notion of a country without frogs.' " Ever apt to catch 
 the moral of a fable, they laughed, pointed to the youth, and 
 said : " He, then, is the crane, for thinking your country 
 was cursed, because you have no rice or ragi." Then 
 followed a crowd of questions, as to what we lived upon. 
 
 On one occasion, a Brrdiman, who had long resided in 
 Bangalore, asked me to give him some account of England. 
 Before doing so, I required him to tell me just what he had 
 hetxrd. He said : " The common belief among us is, that 
 when you get beyond the sea, you find Londonpafna, 
 ' London city ' ; and that one city is the whole of England : 
 it has eighteen streets ; each street is inhabited by one 
 caste ; each caste is distinguished from the other by a 
 peculiar head-dress ; and over all these is the kingw///o/v' ! " 
 Though the word " Company " is constantly on their lips, as 
 designating the power by which they are ruled, scarcely any 
 of them, beyond the limits of the Presidencies, has the least 
 idea of its meaning. Whether it be man, woman, or child, 
 a country, king, or army, they cannot tell ; and very, very
 
 INDIA : ITS PEOPLE 3 3 3 
 
 few of the luillioiis who bow before that potent name, are 
 aware that it denotes a handfiil of peaceable merchants. 
 Many, in the neighbourhood of English settlements, are said 
 to be under the impression that the Company is an old 
 woman, who never dies ; but this is very likely to have 
 originated with some wag among our own countrymen.^ 
 
 Taking, then, the entire mental condition of an educated 
 Hindu, — tliat is, of the better order of Erahmans, — it is 
 very peculiar, lie has mucli mental culture, the culture of 
 early and close study, of consideraljle acquirements in 
 language, of an acquaintance with elaborate productions, 
 and of poetry as studied, as committed to memory, and as 
 attempted, if not actually composed. These qualifications, 
 with some turn for metaphysics, and considerable practice 
 in familiar argument, present a mind far advanced in refine- 
 ment. But in all its movements you see the fatal effects of 
 the instruction it has received. It has studied, and in 
 studying has grown quick and acquisitive ; but the facts it 
 has learned are nonsense and absurdity. It is an eye 
 trained to see in a cavern ; remarkably quick to discover 
 objects in its own dim light, but unable to bear the day. 
 The Hindu mind is slow to receive new facts : leave it 
 among polemics, poesy, speculation, and language, it is at 
 home ; but every fact that bursts upon it from the universe 
 without dazzles and annoys ; and if you place before it the 
 great field of knowledge, it cannot endure the blaze, closes 
 before it, and confidently declares it a wild, meteoric flash. 
 Power of application, vigour of memory, quick discernment, 
 and rich fancy, are the good points of the Brahmanical 
 mind ; its vice is narrowness, — a narrowness the most tight 
 and incurable ; but this is the vice not of natural defect, but 
 
 ^ [Tliese paragraphs may be greatly modified. To say notliing more 
 of the schools, the vernacular ncwspajier is becoming a very influential 
 means of popukiv enliglitenment. Matters toucliing the doings of 
 Ciovernment are eagerly read and discussed ; nor are the people 
 slow to interest themselves in foreign, and especially Britisli, news.]
 
 334 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 of educational perversity. The Brahman has the learning 
 of a scholar, with the ignorance of a child, and the super- 
 stition of a savage.^ 
 
 The second caste in rank, the Kshatriya, or warrior-tribe, 
 sprang from the breast or arrj of Br;lhma, and were, as will 
 be remembered, " pervaded by the quality of foulness ; being 
 thus inferior to the Brahman, who was ' endowed with the 
 quality of goodness.' " From this caste all kings ought to be 
 chosen ; but even the prince is, in birth, second to the 
 meanest Brahman in his realm. The Brahman will fawn 
 upon him with hyperbolical flatteries, and cringe before him 
 with abject servility : but he M'ould not sit down at his 
 board, or drink from a cup offered by his hand. Did he do 
 so, he would lose his caste. It is now matter of doubt 
 whether the Kshatriya caste is not extinct ; but the Rajputs 
 claim to be its representatives, as do also some ancient 
 dynasties. From all the glimpses which the native writings 
 afford of military character as existing in this caste, and from 
 
 ^ [A dilTerent descri[)tioii is required now. Since Mr. Arthur's time 
 the English language and learning have invaded India, and the 
 Brahmans have been the first to avail themselves of the new 
 opportunity. Mathematies, science, history, law — in all these 
 branches of knowledge Brahmans liave proved themselves both 
 eager and competent. University graduates and undergraduates 
 are numerous and are increasing astonisliingly, while "failed 
 matriculates" are a large class by themselves! The vernacular 
 scliools also are now wholly different from those of Mr, Arthur's 
 time. They too, like the High Schools and Colleges, are shaped, 
 7nutaiis mutandis, after Western models, and teach the knowledge of 
 tlie West. I have in my possession now vernacular books on Indian 
 History, Physical Geography, Astronomy, and Chemistry — all written 
 by Brahmans ; and the schools always have a full proportion of 
 Brahmans. Even the members of priestly (Faidika) Brahman house- 
 holds attend school in large numbers and take their jilacc in the 
 various examinations appointed by Government. So this wide-awake 
 class are adding knowledge to natural abtuteness, and are preparing 
 themselves to become, wlien caste will let them, citizens of the world. 
 Needless to add, this new knowledge cannot leave their suiierstitions 
 untouched ; but they die hard.]
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 335 
 
 much still observable among tlie nobler Raji)uts, it is not 
 to be doubted that they were often animated by high 
 martial daring. As a soldier, the Hindu is underrated 
 among us. In their early wars, the chariot and the elephant 
 figured largely. The variety of their weapons is great, and 
 frequently tlie workmansliip exquisite. Among their more 
 ancient arms are the bow ; swords, knives, and spears of the 
 finest steel ; and coats of mail, described as admirably 
 wrought. At present tliey produce every description of 
 firearm, from the finest brass cannon down to the most 
 clumsy matclilock. Tliey also manufacture gunpowder, and 
 are expert at fireworks. 
 
 The success of the English in India has been altogether so 
 marvellous, that, to account for it, the Hindus are repre- 
 sented as having been in all ages despicable poltroons. A 
 diff'erent oi-inion, liowever, is expressed by those who Avrite 
 more recently, and who have better weighed their history. 
 They do not indeed describe them as possessing, in general, 
 that " bull-dog courage," of which our armies boast ; but 
 they acknowledge, that in every war where their sympathies 
 are engaged, tliey entitle themselves to high respect as 
 soldiers. No one can read the narrative of Arrian, Avithout 
 feeling that even Alexander, and his conquering jihalanxes, 
 found the Hindus anything but despicable foes. In the 
 first great battle, after he crossed the Indus, we are told 
 that nearly all the Indian cavalry Avere cut in pieces, on the 
 field ; that the infantry did not retreat till they saw their 
 cavalry destroyed, and the elephants in hopeless confusion ; 
 that two princes, and all the commanders of both hifantry 
 and cavalry, AA'ere among the slain ; and that the defeated 
 king, Porus, retreated Avith a fierce calmness, Avhich the 
 Greek historian contrasts Avith the conduct of the King of 
 Persia, and Avhich so moved Alexander, that he took much 
 pains to save and to conciliate him. Arrian, Avhile he states 
 the fact, that Alexander, Avith all his ability and habitude 
 of conquest, only subdued a country including tAvo thousand
 
 336 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 towns, certainly leaves the impression that in no part of 
 Asia did he meet more formidable enemies, or run greater 
 risks. 
 
 Again, if we take Ferishta, also a liistorian belonging to 
 an invading nation, we find statements that raise Hindu 
 courage to the loftiest points of the heroic. The first Rajah 
 was not defeated till after "an obstinate battle," and then 
 burned himself alive. Another fought desperately for four 
 days, then took refuge in a town, and finally " turned his 
 sword against himself," whereupon "most of his adherents 
 were slaughtered in attempting revenge." In another battle 
 "five thousand IMusalmans in a few minutes drank the wine 
 of martyrdom " ; another Rajah " drew his sword against his 
 own wife and children, and, having despatched them, turned 
 it in despair against himself." Again : " One of the forts 
 called Munge held out for twenty-five days, being full of 
 Rajputs; but when they found the place no longer tenable, 
 some ruslied through the breaches among the enemy, and 
 met that death which they no longer desired to avoid. 
 Some threw themselves headlong from the walls, and were 
 dashed to pieces; while others burned themselves in their 
 houses with their wives and children; so that not one of 
 the garrison survived this fatal catastrophe." At Somnath, 
 the fame of whose gates Lord Ellenborough so gratuitously 
 revived, the Musalmans, who came to destroy the cele- 
 brated idol of the place, commenced their attack while 
 the inhabitants were praying to their god for help, and at 
 once effected an entrance. But they were rushed upon with 
 such fury that "from the time. the king of day expelled the 
 darkness, till the moon, fair bride of the night, illuminateil 
 the heaven with paler rays, the flames of war were not 
 quenched with blood. The Musalmans, wearied out with 
 fatigue, were obliged to abandon all their advantages." 
 The next day was spent in a continuous assault, which 
 proved "more unsuccessful than the first." On the third 
 day the Hindus gave battle in the open field, when Ferishta
 
 INDIA: ITS TEOrLE 337 
 
 adds: "The firos of adverse ra.Lje illuminated the gleaminf,' 
 field, and death stalked with such power and execution 
 around, that Time, trembling for his empire, wept." These 
 records are not those of cheap victory over an imbecile foe. 
 
 Our own career in India has elicited, both in our service 
 and against us, displays of native daring which, had they 
 occurred in Grecian history, would be on the lips of all. 
 Heroism Avas never bolder nor nobler than in Clive's sepoys 
 at Arcot. At Bhartpflr, the Indian liadajos, when the 
 gallant 75th recoiled, a sepoy regiment faced and overbore 
 the danger.^ The native needs the leading of his white 
 officer ; but he very seldom fails to do him honour. Cases 
 of panic have occurred, as in Frazer's memorable charge at 
 Perwunt Durrah ; - but, in all the daring strokes of his 
 Indian career, Lake was never so disgracefully forsaken by 
 sepoys as he had been by British troops at Castlebar. The 
 various nations of India differ much in bravery, as in 
 everything else. The iidiabitants of the low countries on 
 the coast are far inferior to those in the tablelands, the 
 hilly districts, and especially to those of the north-Avest 
 provinces. Had the places chiefly resorted to by Europeans 
 hiin in the Mysore, the Mahratta country, Rohilkhand, or 
 Delhi, they would have brought aAvay a different impression 
 of Hindu courage. 
 
 Were not this view of native character intimately con- 
 nected with important moral considerations it would be to 
 me a matter of comparatively little interest. We shall feel 
 more or less deeply our obligation to benefit India, in 
 proportion as we do or do not see tlie hand of God in 
 bringing it and us into the singular relation we now sustain. 
 When we see Clive at Arcot with eighty English and a 
 hundred and twenty sepoys repulsing ten thousand men ; 
 in Bengal, defeating, with three thousand, the Subadhar 
 at the head of fifty-eight thousand ; acquiring tlie sovereignty 
 
 ^ See Wilson's Xotes to Mill. 
 - BuUer's Peep at Kurdis/haii. 
 
 22
 
 338 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 of thirty millions of souls, when only nine huncbed English- 
 men had yet landed among them ; and, fifteen years after he 
 had been an obscure clerk in Madras, disposing at will of 
 the transcendent empire of the Great ^Mughal : when we see 
 crown after crown fall before us as by enchantment, 
 Tipu vanquished and slain ; the Pindaris annihilated ; the 
 Mahrattas tamed, the Gurkhas humbled, Scindiah sub- 
 jugated, Burmah divided with us, the Panjilb laid at our 
 feet ; and all •within the memory of man, — all, indeed, while 
 one of the leaders in the last assault on Tipu (Wellington) 
 still lives : when we see all this, if we ascribe it only to the 
 dastardly soldiership of the natives, then the review brings 
 no other feeling than national pride. But Avhen we re- 
 member that never before did Asiatic or European win 
 over these nations such miraculous victories ; and that 
 every feat of our countrymen in this race of conquest has 
 been emulated by native auxiliaries ; then the impression is 
 resistless, that the unmatched empire, now reposing under 
 our eye, has been given to us by what Professor Wilson (a 
 historian not addicted either to the marvellous or the 
 spiritual) calls, in reference to the Mahratta war, " an 
 overruling destiny." Yes, never in human afiairs was an 
 overruling destiny more conspicuous. Never, since the 
 world began, was so vast and so civilised a population 
 brought with like speed to be a consolidated and peaceful 
 empire under foreign sway. Of the campaign of the Sutlej, 
 Lord Gough said, that " the hand of God was never more 
 manifest." This may well be applied to our whole Indian 
 career, from the day when a thunderstorm put us in 
 possession of Arcot,^ to the day when the Sutlej swallowed 
 up the strength of the Panjab. God's liand has surely 
 been manifest: whither does it point? 
 
 Whether the military caste be extinct or not, their 
 peculiar glory is lost. Nearly all the modern kings are 
 indis])utably of lower origin ; recent armies liave been 
 ^ See Oruie.
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 339 
 
 composed mainly of Sildras, and in our service the castes 
 are all blended. 
 
 The third caste, tlie Vaisya, or merchant, springing from 
 the Creator's thigh, and being pervaded by the qualities of 
 foulness and darkness, takes rank below the Kshatriya. 
 This caste usually receive an education sufficient for com- 
 mercial purposes ; and some of them push their way into 
 elegant literature. Xone of them is ever found unable to 
 write and keep accounts, except in case of very deep poverty. 
 Their commercial system is far advanced. Shops of all 
 descriptions abound ; weekly markets are as common as 
 among ourselves ; the religious festivals serve for fairs ; and 
 banks exist everywhere. Their rate of interest is usurious, 
 graduating from one to five per cent, per month. Their 
 circulating medium is gold, silver, and copper money, coined 
 in moulds that will bear comparison with those of some of 
 our continental neighbours. Their pieces descend to the 
 fourth of a farthing. In some Indian countries cowries (a 
 species of small shell) circulate. They have a system of 
 making bargains by signs ; so that buyer and seller can put 
 their hands under a cloth, and, without being observed, can 
 debate and conclude the sale by touches of the fingers. This 
 suspicious mode of dealing is not confined to Hindustan, but 
 is known also in Persia. Their commerce is most defective 
 in means of transport. Kxce[)t upon a few of the great 
 rivers, nearly all carriage is efi'cctcd on the backs of bullocks : 
 where the English have made roads, small bullock-carts are 
 in Tise ; but in the greater part of the country they have 
 only native roads, which in the finest weather are scarcely 
 passable for Avheels, and in the rains are utterly impracticable. 
 The ox toils alone in the work of conveyance ; the elephant 
 and camel are for kings ; the horse is used only as a steed ; 
 the ass is resigned to the Lambani and the washerman ; 
 the mule (although, as shown in a preceding extract, the 
 Vishnu Purana gives an account of their creation as a 
 separate species) is little known ; and the day of locomotives
 
 340 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 is to come.^ The commencement of that day -swll mark a 
 new era in the commercial history of India, and will be 
 fertile of results in universal commerce. It will disclose 
 unthought-of resources, and stir drowsy communities to 
 wakeful enterprise. It will tend more than any other 
 material cause to break up the monotony of Hindu life, and 
 to carry all things onward with unheard-of progress. Xor 
 could we easily overrate its tendency to complete the stability 
 and consolidation of the British government, and to aid the 
 diffusion of that light before which superstition hides. 
 
 Marine commerce offends the genius of Hinduism. It is 
 impossible to be long at sea without violating ceremonial 
 laws essential to purity. Hence considerable difficulty has 
 been found in prevailing on some native regiments to 
 embark ; and no Brahman of sound caste feeling would 
 undertake a long voyage. With them, as with the ancient 
 Persians, this prejudice has much checked naval enterprise : 
 yet a large amount of shipping exists ; but its character is 
 far below the ingenuity of the Hindus. That immobility 
 into which the system of hereditary callings freezes the 
 whole stream of art, has held naval architecture in precisely 
 the same place where it stood long centuries ago. But a 
 new spring is now warming their land, and signs of progress 
 appear. Ships built on our models are increasing in number ; 
 and at Bombay, as is well known, they have produced, both 
 for our Indian trade and for the navy, vessels of the highest 
 order, far exceeding those built at home in strength and 
 durability. 
 
 The fourth caste, the Sudra, springing from the foot of 
 the Creator, and pervaded by the quality of darkness, is 
 bum to toil and to contempt. To this class belong all 
 labourers in agriculture, and in arts, either the useful or 
 
 ' [Tlierc are now about 20,000 miles of railway oi)en ; over 30,000 
 miles of irrigation canals liave been constructed ; while in all tlie 
 provinces wide metalled roads liave been and are still being extensively 
 made.]
 
 INDIA : ITS TEOrLE 341 
 
 the fine. Among them ediif!ati<m is at a low ebb. Many 
 of them cannot read ; and comparatively few can write and 
 keep accounts. But indiviiluals arc found who, through 
 prospenms circumstances or bold talent, have gained an 
 education not inferior to the linlhmans. In some languages 
 also, the most noted authors have been of the servile class. 
 The fact that agriculture and art are placed, in rank, belo^V 
 war and commerce, would seem already to indicate that the 
 caste-division was fixed in a state of society, already so far 
 advanced, that priests had the learning, armies tlie power, 
 and merchants the wealth, by which they were all raised 
 above the industrial classes. 
 
 Among the Sudras the most numerous and important 
 class is tlie ryot, or agriculturist. From the earth our frame 
 sprang, and to the earth it mu.st ever bend in search of 
 renewal ; whence it came itself, comes all its strengtli. It 
 receives nourishment only from its mother's breast. To 
 cultivate this nourishment in flocks and in fruits is man's 
 original care. As cultivators, the Hindus are respectable. 
 They are adepts at irrigation, well understand the seasons, 
 know something of a rotation of crops, and rear a great 
 variety of grains, pulse, and fruit. Their toil is softened by 
 their generous climate. The farmer walks out lightly in the 
 morning, with his team before him, and his plough on his 
 shoulder ; or, if it be needful, a plough on each. The 
 furrow required being only a scratch two or three inches 
 deep, the plough has neither coulter nor mould-board ; a 
 piece of wood, tipped with iron, serves for sole and share ; 
 a long stick fastened into this is the beam, and a short one 
 the handle. The team consists of two oxen, or very 
 frequently of an ox and a buffixlo. The latter is invariably 
 yoked opposite the ploughman's right hand, which is armed 
 with a goad ; for they say that the butl'alo is so lazy, and 
 his hide so dull, that even the goad would make no impression 
 were it not applied with the stronger hand. A common 
 proverb, to express bankruptcy of resources is, " I have
 
 342 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 neither an ox for the left hand, nor a buffalo for the right." 
 The harrow is a few prickly branches ; for 80 mild is the 
 climate, that the seed prospers though left almost at the 
 surface. The value and management of manure are very 
 imperfectly understood. As in commerce, so in agriculture, 
 horned cattle alone are employed. One of their duties is 
 to thresh. A pole being fixed in the ground, a circle round 
 it is swept clean, and strewed with grain in the straw. An 
 ox is placed close by the pole, and a rope attached to it 
 passed round his neck ; to him another is yoked, to him 
 another, and so on to eight, ten, or even fifteen. They are 
 then driven round and round, treading upon the grain, and 
 forcing it out of the husks. As the ox in the centre has 
 scarcely to move at all, compared with those on the outside, 
 he is always the oldest and best trained, that he may 
 preserve order. In their rounds they freely help them- 
 selves ; but this is often prevented by " muzzling the ox 
 that traideth out the corn." The carts of the country are 
 very simple. The wheels support a frame consisting only 
 of two long pieces of wood with cross bars. From this 
 frame projects a pole, crossed, at its point, by a bar, so as to 
 form a T. They have no collars, no saddles, no traces, no 
 harness whatever, except a short rope passed round the 
 pole and round the bullock's neck, and a halter fastened in 
 his snout. One is placed on each side of the pole ; the 
 cross-bar, or yoke, is laid upon their necks ; and, instead of 
 drawing, they push with the top of their shoulders. 
 
 As many of the Indian crops do not flourish without 
 artificial irrigation, to provide this has been one of the 
 husbandmen's chief cares. They have most skilfully chosen 
 sites for tanks, — a word which conveys a very inadequate 
 idea of the noble lakes they often form. In favourable parts 
 of the country, you see these lakes, after the rains, gleaming 
 in every direction, beautiful to look upon, and each more 
 valua])le than rivers of wine or oil. When the English 
 government in tlie Mysore ordered their engineer to point
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 843 
 
 out sites for new tanks, he found that the natives had 
 already occupied ahnost every eligible spot. Mr. Mill, 
 determined that, right or wrong, the Hindus, shall not bo 
 only " rude " (as he says some thousands of times), but 
 stupid too, observes, "The ingenuity of sinking a hole in 
 the ground to reserve a supply of water, need not be con- 
 siilered great." Had he seen the spacious tank at Kunigal, 
 ton miles in circumference, or had he spent a single day in 
 any part of India where tanks exist, ho would never have 
 called them " holes in the ground." In a former cha])ter, 
 details of the progress of irrigation were given. 
 
 It is hard to say whether grinding corn belongs to tho 
 operations of agriculture or of cookery. With us it is 
 separated from both. But in India it falls decidedly under 
 the latter category ; for every housewife grinds her own 
 corn in a little mill composed of two stones, the size of 
 Cheshire cheeses. They lie one upon the other. The under 
 one has in its centre a peg, on which the upper one revolves, 
 being turned by means of another peg. A woman sits down 
 with a basket of grain, and leisurely turns the mill till 
 enough for her meal is ground. Very often you see " two 
 women grinding at a mill." 
 
 Ever since the Deluge, men in the earliest stage of society 
 have lived chiefly a pastoral life ; herds requiring less toil 
 than crops. The keeping of cattle is necessarily combined 
 with all husliandry ; and in India is so to a far greater 
 extent than would be expected, where the ox is never used 
 for food. The cowherd ranks high among ryots, and tlie 
 licentious gambols of Krishna with members of that caste, 
 serve to give to them in India all the poetic advantages 
 which, in Europe, have been enjoyed T)y the shepherd, from 
 Arcadia to Ettrick. On the other hand, the keepers of 
 sheep are much despised, live generally in detached hamlets 
 on an uncultivated plain, and have no society but their 
 flocks. 
 
 After food comes raiment. The Hindu weaver has sent
 
 344 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 liis fame to every land. Four materials feed the loom, — 
 flax, wool, silk, and cotton. In all these the Hindus work. 
 Flax does not yield a fabric genial to their climate, nor with 
 silk and cotton is it at all desirable. It is therefore (at 
 least in the south) wrought only in the coarsest form, for 
 sacking and such purposes. Wool, again, they need only 
 in small quantities, and in light forms ; but in their Jiamhlis 
 it is admirably adapted to their necessities ; and to their 
 shawls, I believe no rivalry is attempted. Their silk is in 
 every pocket, and their muslin we have tried in vain to 
 equal. The loom is placed in the open air, the Avarp 
 stretched full length, a hole dug for the treadle, and the 
 Aveaver sits on the floor. To see him at work you would 
 expect an article of the rudest kind ; and how he, with 
 such implements, produces such fabrics, is to lis unaccount- 
 able. An interesting description of their instruments, with 
 plates, will be found in Hoole's Madras, Mysore, and South 
 India ; and also in Baines on the Cotton Manufacture. 
 
 Amongst us the weaver would toil in vain, were not his 
 efl"orts supplemented by those of the tailor. But in India 
 millions of men and women live and die, for whose clothing 
 no instrument beyond the loom has ever plied. The man 
 girds one long cloth round his loins, and adjusts another 
 round his shoulders ; the woman girds herself, covering all 
 the lower part of the person, and reserving free a fold for the 
 upper parts. Their attire is then complete, without other 
 aid than the cloth just as it came from the loom. The 
 frock-coat and bodice, however, are growing more general ; 
 and for these the tailor is called in. But he and the weaver 
 accomplish between them the clothing of the whole 
 community. Hosiers ami hatters, button-makers and pin- 
 makers, with trinimiug manufacturers in all varieties, are 
 perfectly unknown ; and a Hindu milliner is ycit unborn. 
 
 Fed and clothed, man feels the weather, and must build 
 him a shade. As architects, the Hindus liave made small 
 progress. For so refined a people, their houses are mean,
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 345 
 
 and their public buildings, when compared with Egyptian, 
 Greek, or Gothic examples, are without grandeur. The 
 only attempt at it is in tall pyramidal towers ; and even here 
 we find no variety. They were unacquainted with the arch, 
 till learned from the Muhammadans. Their tejnples arc 
 nearly all on one model, differing oidy in scale or sculpture. 
 They employ the column in various examples, some graceful, 
 and some grotesque ; here you see Egyptian affinities. Many 
 of the structures most lauded by writers are JNIoorish ; and 
 I have read praises of Hindu architecture, founded on 
 buildings near Calcutta, in which, from Europeans, they 
 have copied snatches of (Jrecian style. The Hindus cut 
 stone well, make bricks well, build admirably, and in 
 plastering are without rivals ; but as architects they rank 
 low. The works which display most talent, such as the 
 vast excavated and above-ground tanks, belong to the 
 department of engineering. 
 
 A house built, it is natural that articles of convenience 
 and ornament should be demanded for its use. We have 
 already seen that in this department the Hindus have 
 required little of art. With us domestic comfort has done 
 much in multiplying and perfecting handicrafts ; but in India 
 cabinet-makers, paper-hangers, glass-blowers, house-painters, 
 glaziers, and upholsterers, are no more heard of than, in 
 England, are hookah-boys and palanrpiin- bearers. The 
 joiner appears only in the door, and perhaps also in the 
 roof, his other duties lying exclusively in preparing agri- 
 cultural implements and vehicles. In fact, no arts an; 
 encouraged by the Indian household, but those connected 
 with culinary preparation ; and here the patronage is scanty. 
 AVhat skill have not our kitchens and tables called forth 
 among founders, braziers, tin-smiths, platers, cutlers, potters, 
 glass-makers, and many a craft beside ? But to the Hindu 
 fireside the brazier and potter alone are called, and they 
 are only required to produce a few pots of beaten (not cast) 
 brass, ami a few of coarse earthenware, Consequently,
 
 346 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 though the art of founding is carried to a high state of 
 perfection for casting guns and gods, it has no domestic 
 appHcation. Cutlery exists almost exclusively for the 
 arsenal ; and porcelain of any kind is unknown. 
 
 The Hindu craftsmen are, however, ready copyists. They 
 soon become good coach-builders, good cabinet-makers, or 
 good artisans in any line in which our models are placed 
 before them. Nor are they slow to adopt new plans, if they 
 offer a prospect of remuneration ; but, on the contrary, 
 eagerly and precisely imitate our furniture, our boots, and 
 our cotton cloths. 
 
 The chief, and (except decorative weaving, embroidery, 
 and dyeing or printing cloth) almost the only, ornamental 
 art of India lies in the hands of the jeweller and goldsmith. 
 The fame of these is old and high. Their chain and filagree- 
 Avork are exquisite, and, considering their tools, perfectly 
 marvellous. 1 The goldsmiths, as a caste, are obnoxious to the 
 Brahmans, whose dress and appearance they closely imitate, 
 claiming for themselves a far higher rank than their lordly 
 priests judge seemly. 
 
 The idea ol fine arts has never had an existence in India. 
 Man's infantine, almost instinctive, art of drawing nutriment 
 from his mother earth ranks beside pursuits that require the 
 finest endowments. All art is servile, and consigned to the 
 servile class. Then it is impossible to adjust the culture of 
 fine arts upon the hereditary system. It would be rather 
 difficult to legislate for lineal generations of musicians, 
 painters, architects, and sculptors. Musicians can never 
 rise above the level of our ale-house fiddlers; painters do 
 not rank so higli as our honest men who make sign-boards ; 
 and architects and sculptors are all confounded in the herd 
 of workers in stone. As a necessary consequence, all these 
 arts are in a contemptible posture. A Hindu youth of 
 
 ^ [Carving in sandalwood has been carried to a high state of per- 
 fection by a few families in two small towns situated in the north- 
 western part of the Mysore State.]
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 347 
 
 respectability who felt he could draw, would be under as 
 little temptation to indulge his taste as the son of an 
 English gentleman who thought he could make nails. The 
 hereditary system shocks nature, and stuns her with the 
 shock. AH men naturally honour two classes of possessions, 
 — the gifts of God, and the fruits of industry. Genius is, 
 of all possessions, the one most immediately the gift of God ; 
 the works of geiuus exhibit both God's gift and man's 
 labour ; and to them universal instinct hastens with a 
 tribute. To fix those arts, for success in which genius is 
 indispensable, in the crowd of drudgeries for which men 
 want anly hands and eyes, is to violate instinct, and to 
 chain nature. 
 
 Their music is wretched, though favoured above the other 
 arts ; for a Brahman may play, though he may never 
 company with the professional musicians. Their instruments 
 are dissonant and harsh. They have a gamut, and know 
 sixteen tunes, some say, thirty-two ; but the natives always 
 told me the former number. Their singing is a low chant, 
 with considerable sweetness, but little feeling or power. 
 Painting has never been taken into the service of religion, 
 and is very backward. They colour incomparably ; but 
 proportion and perspective are out of the question. They 
 paint much on talc, of which the polish and transparency 
 greatly heighten the eflfect of their brilliant colours. 
 Sculpture, though so honoured by religion, is not in an 
 advanced state. I never saw a specimen that would be 
 tolerated in any European collection, except as a curiosity. 
 In carving they have wonderful delicacy of hand ; but with 
 the same faults that vitiate their painting and sculpture. 
 
 The various castes, of which we have thus given a hasty 
 sketch, dwell completely apart. The prohibition to inter- 
 marry is in itself a great gulf between class and class ; and 
 the separation is widened by the inability to eat together ; 
 for, so far are they distant, that a man cannot eat food 
 cooked by a person of a lower caste, or served by him, or
 
 348 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 placed in a vessel he has touched. The peculiar stamp 
 given to each caste by strict continuity in the same pursuit 
 for many generations, parts them wider still. Two men 
 may be born in one street, and may converse every day ; but 
 they are always strangers, beings of different species. In 
 consequence, a man's affections, instead of being free for the 
 whole community, are wrapped up in his caste. With the 
 caste he rises or falls, is praised or blamed. The common- 
 wealth may prove even vital changes, not one of which 
 touches him ; but you cannot place at stake the least interest 
 of his caste, without awaking all his sensibilities. Hence 
 much of what is constantly cited as their reproach, — a want 
 of patriotism. It is not so much that they are destitute of 
 feeling, as that the allegiance which other nations give to 
 the commonwealth they give to the caste. In fact, their 
 commonwealth is the caste, not the nation. " It is not my 
 caste to fight or govern ; and if those whose caste it is fail, 
 why it is a pity ; I am sorry to see the reins of power fall 
 into new hands ; but how can it be helped 1 " Such are the 
 feelings with which a change of government is viewed. 
 But attempt to touch the rights or violate the usages of the 
 caste, and this same man will rush furiously to its defence. 
 In such a case no resistance woiUd be too wild to attempt ; 
 no miseries too hard to endure ; nor would they be quelled 
 till after ruinous overthrows. 
 
 Of all calamities that can befall a Hindu, the sorest is 
 the loss of caste. This generally arises from some offence 
 against ceremonial purity, or caste usage : such as the 
 omission of established rites on occasion of a marriage, birth, 
 or other important event ; neglecting to sacrifice to ancestors ; 
 eating with a person of another caste, or out of vessels that 
 had been used by them ; or abandonment of the caste 
 religion. In the case of a Bvilhrnan, drunkenness ought to 
 be punished with expulsion ; but that vice is rare ; and I 
 did hear of a wealthy Brilliman who in-actised it with 
 impunity. Of the condition to which a man is reduced by
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 349 
 
 expulsion, a competent witness thus speaks : " He is a man 
 as it were dead to the world. He is no longer in the society 
 of men. By losing his caste, the Hindu is bereft of friends 
 and relations, and often of wife and children, who will 
 rather forsake him than share in his miserable lot. No one 
 dares to eat with him, or even to pour him out a drop of 
 water. If he has marriageable daughters, they are shunned ; 
 no other girls can be approached by his sons. Wherever he 
 appears, he is scorned and pointed at as an out-caste. If he 
 sinks under the grievous curse, his body is suffered to rot on 
 the place where he dies. Even if, in losing his caste, he 
 could descend into an inferior one, the evil would be less ; 
 but he has no such resource. A Siidra, little scrupulous as 
 he is about honour or delicacy, would scorn to give his 
 daughter in marriage even to a Brahman thus degraded. If 
 he cannot re-establish himself in his own caste, he must 
 sink into the infamous tribe of the Pariah, or mix with 
 persons whose caste is equivocal." 
 
 Whether " the infamous tribe of the Pariah," the 
 unhappy multitude who lie below the sacred line of caste, 
 are the descendants of those Avho have been expelled from 
 all the castes, or whether they represent an aboriginal race, 
 crushed by a conquest too remote for any existing record, 
 are points we could not determine, and need not discuss. 
 But of whatever origin, they are found all over India, 
 divided into Pariahs and Chaklars ; the latter, who find a 
 wretched living by working in leather, being as much 
 despised by the other out-castes as they are by people of 
 caste. The out-caste may not live in the common street ; 
 and in some parts of the extreme south, he may not even 
 walk the street where the Brillimans reside. He is forbidden 
 the house of all the castes ; but in some districts may enter 
 that part where the cattle are lodged, and may even show 
 his head and one foot inside the door of the family apart- 
 ment. To touch him, to enter his house, to drink water he 
 had drawn, to eat food he had cooked, to use a vessel he
 
 350 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 had touched, to sit down beside him, to ride in the same 
 vehicle, or even to give him a drink of water, would be 
 unlawful for a man of caste. ^ He would take a proposal for 
 anything of the kind as a mortal affront. The condition of 
 an American or West Indian slave is worse than theirs only 
 in one respect, — compulsory labour.- But the slave may 
 
 ^ [All this is true, and yet in one or two curious ways recognition 
 has been accorded to the Pariahs. About 30 miles from Mysore 
 City is a shrine of the highest reputed sanctity and unsurpassed in 
 popularity. To the god of this shrine legend says the Pariahs 
 rendered an important service, in return for which the great religious 
 leader Ranianujacliarya gave them the privilege of ajipearing at it 
 for three days every year during the car festival, and of penetrating 
 to the very holy of holies to pay their worship. In 1799 this privilege 
 was curtailed, and from that time thej' have been allowed to approach 
 only as far as the consecrated flag-staff of the temple, from which 
 point they can see the god and make their offerings ! These Pariahs 
 are known as the Tintkulam, or sacred race. Each year, on the day 
 of tlie car procession, these people, men, women and children, shave 
 their heads and bathe in the large tank side hy side ivith the Brdhmans, 
 and afterwards are allowed the privilege of dragging the ear ! 
 There ia another shrine of equal importance at Belur, about 20 
 miles from Hassan, where similar recognition is granted to the 
 Pariahs. In both cases, as soon as the festival closes {i.e. after 
 ten days) the concession ends for the year and the temple is 
 ceremonially purified. These facts are stated in a Government docu- 
 ment Ijy Mr. V. N. Narasimmiyengar, himself a Brahman.] 
 
 ^ [Some of the Pariahs are practically slaves. Away in the hill 
 country to tlie north-west of Mysore there is a class of people called 
 Huttdlu, i.e. hereditary servants of the family in which they are 
 foiuid, born in servitude to that jjarticular household, as their fore- 
 fathers were. There is another class called Maundlu, hereditary 
 servants of the estate on which they are found. The latter change 
 ownershij) with the estate ; the former go always with the family. 
 In case the women of these classes wish to marry outside, they do 
 so according to a form called Manikattu, which makes it possible, 
 when desired, for the family or estate to recall her, and which makes 
 all her children the servants of her owner. Slavery has been 
 absolutely illegal in British India since 1862, and no estate or 
 family could maintain its hereditary claim on these people in a 
 court of law. But custom is better known than law ; and as these
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 351 
 
 tread the same floor as his master, without poUuting the 
 Avhole house ; he may enter the room where he sits, touch 
 the dish he uses, sleep under the same roof, and prepare the 
 food he eats. He is not made to feel that his step defiles a 
 room ; that his touch infects the purest wares ; and that he 
 carries in his own body, no matter how clean, a cursed 
 incurable filthiness which fills with disgust all who have 
 proper human sentiments. He has at least the privilege of 
 a domestic animal. Above all, he may possibly die free ; 
 his children may be intelligent and respectable. But the 
 out-caste has no hopes ; no manumission can change his 
 birth ; he must bear his curse down to the grave ; he must 
 bequeath it to his children, who Avill bequeath it in turn, 
 and from generation to generation on it must go, nor can 
 any power arrest it, except one, of which he knows not. 
 Nothing can elevate the out-caste, till the gospel has taught 
 his neighbours to own his rights. Every Englishman would 
 ten thousand times prefer being a slave, permitted some 
 semblance of intercourse with the rest of mankind, and 
 having a possibility of ransom, with the glorious prospect of 
 leaving his children free, to being an out-caste, driven to 
 live beyond the village-wall, hunted from every door, 
 scorned by the most base, loathed by the most vile, and 
 knowing that this malediction awaits his little ones. 
 
 The morals and the manners of this hapless race too well 
 answer to the degradation of their lot. But Dubois's pic- 
 ture is overdrawn ; I never saw anything that would warrant 
 such language as, " There is a coarseness about them which 
 excites abhorrence. Their harsh and rugged features betray 
 their inward character." They are necessarily inferior in 
 appearance to the caste people; but when received as 
 servants into European families, and respectably clothed, 
 many of them are well-looking and agreeable. Even in 
 
 servants are sure of their food and necessary clothing, they are content 
 generally to continue the old relationships. See Mysore Census 
 Report for 1891.]
 
 352 A MISSION TO Tilt MYSORE 
 
 their most wretched villages tliey excite, not so much 
 abhorrence, as pity. They are very miserable and very 
 immoral. Their living is precarious ; ^ sometimes employed 
 as scavengers (for whicli the same writer holds them up to 
 disgust), sometimes as horse-keepers, porters, or messengers ; 
 for the most part labouring in the fields for three-halfpence 
 or twopence a day ; often selling themselves for a term to a 
 farmer, or reduced to a kind of slavery as payment of debt, 
 they never venture to hope for aught but poverty and 
 shame. When labour fails, charity lends no substitute ; for, 
 though I find, in the sacred books, directions for alms to 
 out-castes, I never heard of such a thing taking place. The 
 out-caste sees costly entertainments for beggars ; bi;t not one 
 of these beggars would admit him to the honour of washing 
 his dish, or dine in a room that his presence stained. Thus 
 they are driven to eat all disgusting things ; no sooner does 
 a beast die, be the disease what it may, than a crowd of 
 these hungry beings surround the carrion — and even for 
 carrion they have generally to pay. Crows, rats, snakes, 
 reptiles, almost everything, is pressed into tlie service of 
 destitute nature, and drunkeiniess follows to crown their 
 shame and woe. 
 
 It is said that, on one part of the Malabar coast, a section 
 of out-castes is so abhorred that tlicy are not allowed to 
 erect houses, only an open shed supported on four bam- 
 boos ; and that they may not approach a caste person nearer 
 than a hundred yards, but must give notice of their ap- 
 proach by a loud cry. To prevent the danger of contact, 
 they are forbidden the highway. 
 
 ^ [III the Mysore tlie Pariah classes seem to he hetter ofi' than they 
 are in some other parts of South India. They are allowed to liold 
 land in their own right, and as sub-tenants they are everywhere. 
 It has been stated that these classes contribute not less than three 
 lakhs of rupees to the land revenue of the State, and that some have 
 reached sufficient atiiuencc to become money-lenders. The neighbour- 
 hood of coffee estates has been a material advantage to many of 
 them. ]
 
 INDIA: ITS TEOPLE 65 6 
 
 It is difficult to estimate the number of out-castes ; poss- 
 ibly tliey may be a tenth of tlie whole population.^ If so, 
 we have here twenty millions of human beings felled to 
 the dust, and stamped upon by tyrannies almost incredible. 
 Twenty millions, under the mild sceptre of England, who, 
 though their neighbour be as pure, as ignorant, as vicious 
 as they, dare not touch his hand, or enter his door ! Twenty 
 millions, who are held to be by nature filthy, and who, as 
 the snail may not bound nor the jackal fly, so may not 
 aspire to the society of man ! It is sad. Christianity, her 
 heart touched to see a twentieth of this number bound in 
 the West, drew their chain around herself, and, by the 
 heaving of her breast, rent it in twain. But the chain of 
 this Eastern bondage cannot be rent; it must be gently 
 melted. A whole people must be taught before the out- 
 caste may even venture to use the plea, by which the negro 
 thrilled every Christian heart, " Am I not a man and a 
 brother 1 " Oh, what scorn and wrath would that plea, did 
 he dare to use it, bring on the head of the out-caste ! It 
 would sound at present as a treason against all order and 
 all nature. It would shock and revolt the whole com- 
 munity. He a brother ! No, no ; the frog may as well 
 announce himself a lion, or the beetle claim kindred with 
 the dove. England did a great and a kind deed when she 
 lifted out of the dust a million of men, and built them a 
 home on the rock of her own constitution ; but she will do 
 a greater and a kinder when, by the gracious help of God, 
 she restores, to the frame of human society, those many 
 millions who have been amputated and cast away, like a 
 mortified limb. 
 
 European influence has already done much for the out- 
 castes. They have been universally employed as domestic 
 servants, a privilege never conceded to thom by their own 
 
 ^ Dubois says a fifth. [The exact proportion last census was 1073 
 to every 10,000 of the population, so that the total number is not less 
 tlian thirty-one millions.] 
 
 23
 
 354 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 countrymen ; liave been admitted to the army ; have in 
 many cases obtained lucrative situations ; while in mission- 
 schools not a few have received the forbidden blessing of 
 education. In large English settlements they are now raised 
 above oppression on the part of the castes, though, of 
 course, still subject to their exclusion. Lord Hardinge's 
 ordinance, opening public employment to all who have 
 qualified themselves by education, will in time much 
 ameliorate their lot. And as the character of the English 
 becomes more known, their servants will be raised in general 
 esteem. At first the castes, seeing that Europeans ad- 
 mitted Pariahs to their houses, and ate food of their pre- 
 paring, regarded them with contempt, as belonging to the 
 Pariah class. On this account, some writers strongly cen- 
 sured the English for so outraging the prejudices of the 
 people. But English common sense does not honour preju- 
 dices that rob multitudes of their rights. The consequence 
 will be, that the natives generally will learn to respect them 
 more for acting on principles which their religion hallows ; 
 and at the same time the position of the out-castes will be 
 insensibly elevated. But the influence of English life acts 
 only Avithin a narrow pale. All the British in India, soldiers 
 included, are scarcely fifty thousand ; ^ if each of these im- 
 prove on an average the condition of four out-castes, that is 
 but one in a hundred of the twenty millions. That hapless 
 mass have no hope but in the general spread of our Saviour's 
 blessed rule ; and, alas ! as yet their Christian fellow-sub- 
 jects are little informed of their numbers or their wrongs. 
 
 Roaming the country, and inhabiting the jungles, are 
 several tribes, who have no more relation with society in 
 general than our gipsies. Among these the most notable 
 are the Lambdni, who stroll about with trooi)s of asses 
 laden with grain, the sale of which is their ostensible voca- 
 tion. Times of war are their harvest-days ; for they sell 
 
 ^ [They are more thau three times that number now : in fact, there 
 are G Europrans to every 10,000 of the population.]
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 355 
 
 their services dearly us foragers, and reap loads of plunder. 
 The -whole family travels ; they live in small tents, and 
 enjoy a reputation perfectly unenvied. All forests are 
 tenanted by inoffensive but miserable races who precariously 
 subsist on roots and game. Some of them are so wild as to 
 have no hut ; taking shelter in hollow trees and clefts, and 
 even their women wearing only a few leaves. 
 
 The following touching sketch is from the pen of 
 Dubois : — 
 
 " The day after lying-in, the woman is obliged to scour 
 the woods for food. Before setting out, she suckles the 
 new-born infant, digs a little trench in the ground for a 
 cradle, where she deposits the naked babe upon the bare 
 earth ; and, trusting to the care of Providence, goes with 
 her husband and the rest of the family to find wherewitlial 
 to supply the wants of the day. This is not quickly 
 obtained ; and it is evening before tliey return. From three 
 days old tliey accustom the child to solid food, and, in order 
 to inure it betimes to the rigour of the seasons, they wash it 
 every day in dew collected from the plants ; and until the 
 infant is able to accompany or follow the mother, it remains 
 in this manner, from morning to night, in the recesses of the 
 wood, exposed to the rain, the sun, and all the inclemency 
 of the weather, stretched out in the little tomb that is its 
 only cradle." 
 
 In the various mountain districts, are tribes who differ in 
 manners, religion, and language, from the people of the 
 adjacent plains. The clans inhabiting the central woods and 
 mountains are black and dwarfish, with features after the 
 African type. But the aborigines of the southern hills are 
 fine and robust men, of lighter complexion than those of the 
 lowlands. The Vishnu Purdna gives this satisfactory 
 account of the origin of the dwarfish central tribes : — King 
 Yena had been slain for his impiety, when, his country 
 being without a king, disorders arose, whereupon " the 
 sages consulted, and together rubbed the thigh of the king,
 
 356 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 who had left no offspring, to produce a son. From the 
 thigh thus rubbed, came forth a being with the complexion 
 of a charred stake, with flattened features, and of dwarfish 
 stature. ' What am I to do ? ' cried he eagerly to the 
 munis (sages?). 'Sit down,' said they; and thence his 
 name was Nishada. His descendants, the inhabitants of 
 the Vindhya Mountains, are still called Nishadas, and are 
 characterised by the exterior tokens of depravity. By this 
 means the wickedness of Vena was expelled, these Nishadas 
 being born of his sins, and carrying them away. The 
 Brahmans then proceeded to rub the right arm of the king, 
 from which friction was engendered the illustrious son of 
 Vena, Prithu, resplendent in person, as if the blazing deity 
 of fire had been manifested," This is one specimen of the 
 way in which every disadvantage of person or circumstances 
 is ascribed to a defiled nature, and therefore made a reason 
 for abhorrence. 
 
 The mountain and forest clans are now generally regarded 
 as the descendants of an aboriginal race, antecedent to the 
 Brahmans, who, rather than submit to the latter, took 
 refuge in the natural strongholds of the country. It is, how- 
 ever, impossible for mountainous and woody retreats to exist 
 without gradually receiving a thin population driven into 
 them l)y war, the chase, and crime : and such a population 
 must soon widely differ from their settled neighbours. A 
 resemblance, however, is traceable in the language and 
 usages of some of these wild tribes, inhabiting mountains 
 very far apart, which countenances the opinion of a common 
 origin. The number of these savages is estimated by a well- 
 informed writer, in the North British Revietv, at eight or 
 nine millions ! ^ India has so many nations, that even the 
 
 1 [The last census showed that the forest tribes — here called 
 "savages" quite mistakenly — numbered close ujion sixteen millions. 
 They are very various, numbering not less than forty-four distinct 
 tribes, but they are all grouped under the term Kolarian, as the 
 language of all but two belongs to that family.]
 
 INDIA: ITS PKOPLE 357 
 
 chaff of their population is, in the eye of Christian philan- 
 thropy, of immense value. Here, in tribes of which many an 
 Englishman residing in India never sees an individual, we 
 have a population equal to that of Sweden, Denmark, and 
 Holland. Adding those who roam in woods and hills to 
 those who pine under the out-caste anathema, we have most 
 probably a number of human souls as great as that in the 
 British Isles. What a field for philanthropy ! 
 
 It is now necessary that we should shortly glance at the 
 morality of the Hindus. Here, Professor Wilson much 
 objects to the evidence of missionaries ; on this subject they 
 ought not to be heard, because as a class they are of keen 
 "moral sensitiveness," and are, moreover, "on the look-out 
 for vice." This is as reasonable as to refuse, on warlike 
 matters, the evidence of military men ; that of civilians, on 
 native jurisprudence ; of engineers, on their public works ; 
 or of merchants on their commerce. It seems to us proliable 
 that the class who "are on the look-out " for facts on a given 
 subject will be, on that subject, the best informed. And as 
 to the value of promiscuous evidence on the morality of the 
 Hindus, I, as a very humble missionary, and though favoured 
 with but a comparatively short time to study the natives, 
 declare, without fear, that several of the opinions quoted by 
 Professor Wilson, from the Parliamentary Report of 1813, 
 would never have come from Hindus, unless they Avere the 
 wary inhabitants of a Presidency, or were previously informed 
 of the importance that would be attached to their testimony. 
 That I am not disposed to exaggerate Hindu faults, the fore- 
 going pages testify ; but it is useless to deny that many of 
 the opinions quoted by the learned Professor must pass, and 
 in India will pass, simply as generous eulogies. That truth, 
 as declared by Sir John Malcolm, distinguishes the Hindus, 
 is a statement which every Hindu I ever asked plumply denied. 
 Nor did I ever meet with a European in the country who 
 hesitated to pronounce the natives universal and accomplished 
 liars; but iMu-upcans in the country arc not, on such puiuls.
 
 358 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 good judges ; for, except their own servants, many know 
 nothing of the natives. The people themselves, if interrogated 
 upon their own veracity, or honesty, or chastity, as compared 
 with those of other nations, might from vanity give a 
 favourable reply ; but if simply questioned as to the state of 
 society, without any national references, they say to a man, 
 that no one can be trusted in any case where falsehood 
 would be of the least advantage. Nor is it necessary to 
 repeat what every native talks of as a matter of course, and 
 what every magistrate in India knows too well, that it is 
 impossible to judge of a case in a court of justice by the 
 evidence ; for scarcely a witness can be found who will not 
 swear according to his wishes ; and any suitor may, for 
 paltry bribes, procure whatever evidence he pleases — a 
 facility which they seldom neglect. Kam ]\Iohun Roy 
 touches this point Avith much address, in saying, that the 
 inhabitants of towns where courts are held fall in virtue far 
 below the rustic population, and " are often made tools of in 
 the nefarious work of perjury and forgery." The fact is, 
 they constantly seek employers for this nefarious work, and 
 not one suitor in a thousand leaves the " innocent, temperate, 
 and moral " villages, of which Ram Mohun Roy speaks, 
 Avithout being predetermined to spend every pice he can 
 scrape in "making tools" for "nefarious work." 
 
 Intimately connected with lying is duplicity. In this they 
 are adepts : their power of dissimulation passes all praise. 
 Sully's portrait of our first James would not be too finished 
 for even a common village Brahman. They can sound forth 
 compliments as absurd as to introduce Punch with a royal 
 salute ; and all the while look perfectly earnest and sincere. 
 With this is coupled much servility ; and even the Brahmans, 
 though lofty toward all their inferiors, will cringe and flatter 
 distressingly, when they have any point to gain with a 
 superior. At the same time, those who pronounce all 
 flindtis incapable of frankness must eitlier have maintained 
 a boarinu' tliat diil not cncourauc it, or must have been
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOrLE 359 
 
 restricted to intercourse with tlic more feeble and timid 
 nations of the low countries. The Mysoreans have much 
 independency, and, treated with suitable respect and 
 confidence, are capable of very great frankness, and even 
 boldness. The same is said to be the case with the nations 
 of the north-west. 
 
 Honesty is not in the main a Hindu virtue. Commercial 
 honour must, of course, exist in some cases ; but the mutual 
 distrust shown in all transactions manifests a conviction that 
 integrity is rare. As to the uprightness of persons in 
 official situations' I never met with a native who would 
 hear of it. They have solemnly assured me, that, if the 
 most honest man on earth accepted public employment, with 
 the utmost resolution to maintain his rectitude, such is their 
 skill in bribery, that before a twelvemonth he must be 
 corrupt. How far this is true, I cannot say ; all I can vouch 
 for is that the natives firmly believe it. Yet you scarcely 
 ever meet with a Hindu but is capable of professional 
 honesty. If caste or personal interests are at stake, he can 
 generally manage to keep his fingers pure. You may leave 
 any article in your palanquin, even to your watch, and not 
 one of the bearers will touch it ; but if they are tempted by 
 the fruits or vegetables of persons residing on their route, 
 they use no such abstinence. Their dishonesty results not 
 from a mer(> itch to steal, but from a want of moral principle. 
 This is singularly illustrated by the fact, that at Trichinopoly 
 no English family can keep their property safe without 
 taking into pay a professed thief ; but from the moment he 
 enters their service, all they have is tabooed ; he is not only 
 honest (as to his patron) himself, but he is guarantee for his 
 brethren, prociiring again any article they may pilfer. At 
 housebreaking they are most adroit, ^^^ithout any noise 
 they bore through the mud-wall of a native house, and carry 
 off ever}' article from the very apartment where the family 
 are asleep. " In the dark they dig through houses, which 
 they had markeil for themselves in the daytime" (Job).
 
 360 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Perhaps no country lias furnished such powerful troops 
 of brigands as India. The Pindaris, a band of robbers, 
 who lived without wives, and recruited their ranks by 
 capturing boys and training them, once mounted thirty 
 thousand men. The Mahrattas, too, were only nations of 
 organised and magnificent robbers. It is also a familiar 
 fact, that, in many, if not all, native states, bands of 
 ruffians had license from the authorities to plunder, on 
 condition that they observed certain limits, and paid a tax 
 upon their booty ! The horrors of daliaiti or gang robbery 
 arc portrayed by jMill, with a minuteness which shows that 
 no savages on earth can perpetrate more cold or violent 
 cruelties than the mild Hindu. Even to the present day 
 our OAvn government has much difficulty to suppress, in the 
 northern countries, this cherished remnant of former times. 
 
 But of all the organisations to which Hindu brigandism 
 gave birth, the most startling is that of the Thugs. These 
 are a fraternity, composed both of Hindus and Musalmans 
 who agree to worship the goddess Kali, and to spend their 
 lives in presenting to her the greatest possible number of 
 human sacrifices. They usually travel in gangs under the 
 guise of merchants. In their noviciate they practise first 
 as grave-diggers, disposing of the corpses of victims, and 
 afterwards as entrappers, leading parties into the company of 
 the gang. After due time they are initiated into the more 
 honourable order of strarigJers, who at a given signal cast 
 over the head of the victim a noose formed on a handkerchief 
 and dispatch him in an instant. Higher than the strangler 
 ranks the guru, who instructs novices in the art of strangling ; 
 and each gang has its sirdar, or captain. They proceed in 
 all things by religious laws ; never start on an expedition 
 without favoi;rable omens ; and every murder is followed 
 by a sacrifice to their goddess. The c'ntrapi)ors having led 
 victims into the snare, a favourable place is chosen for a 
 halt; the grave-diggers prepare the holes ; the stranglers in 
 the meantime take their stations; at the signal the noose
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE .''Ol 
 
 is thrown, and in a few minutes the bodies are so neatly 
 buried that only a practised eye would suspect a grave. 
 The existence of this fearful confederacy, which spread 
 over all India, can be traced as far back as the eiglith 
 century. The confessions of some ca])tur('d Thugs have 
 been most astounding ; not only as regards the number 
 and address of their murders, but also for the firm con- 
 viction that their calling was religious, and that their trouble 
 came only because they had neglected some rules of their 
 sacred ritual. ^ 
 
 Benevolence is little understood by the Hindus, except 
 in the form of hospitality to members of the same caste, and 
 in that of aid to poor relatives ; two points in whicli they are 
 worthy of imitation, " A guest," says the VL'^Jmu Purdna, 
 " disappointed by a housekeeper, who turns away from his 
 door, transfers to the latter all his own misdeeds, and bears 
 away all his religious merits." So that the worse the 
 character of the person refused hospitality, the worse for 
 him who refuses. And again : " He who feeds himself, 
 and neglects the poor and friendless stranger in want of 
 hospitality, goes to hell." Throughout India a man travel- 
 ling may count on a reception in the house of those of his 
 own caste. Almsgiving also is strongly recommended in 
 the Shastras, and luuch ])ractised. But it is always for the 
 benefit of the Bnihmans, or those wandering monks Avho 
 " subsist upon alms, and lead an erratic life of self-denial. 
 They wander over the world to see the earth, and perform 
 their ablutions, according to rules prescribed by theVedas.'' 
 All alms are reserved for those gentlemen who choose the 
 pleasures, or, as the Shastra has it, the "self-denial," of a 
 
 ^ A clear and interesting account of Thuggee will be foniul in the 
 Edinburgh lievietv, Number cxxx. : as also in the works of its 
 tlistingnislied enemy, Colonel Sleenian. [The Tiuig organisation is 
 finally dispersed, and the s]iecial doiiartiuent of the criminal 
 administration created to deal witii that and IkikaiH ceased its 
 operations many years ago.]
 
 362 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 life at once vagrant and sacred. But to those who are 
 poor by birth or by misfortune— to the widow, the orphan, 
 the infirm, or the blind, charity is rarely extended. If 
 the parties be of the same caste, they may have a claim ; 
 but within that limit sympathy is bound up ; and to all 
 suffering beyond it, the Hindu heart is deathly callous. 
 A Brahman would, without moving a muscle, pass an out- 
 caste dying by the roadside, nor would he give him a drink 
 of water to save his life. He would rather let the filthy 
 wretch die, than pollute himself with his touch. The fact 
 is stale, that while you find Bnthmans supporting hospitals 
 for animals and reptiles, you find nothing of the kind for 
 men. 
 
 The Hindu has little active cruelty. He would seldom 
 inflict pain for the sake of inflicting it : he would not, like 
 Domitian, take the trouble of catching the fly for the 
 pleasure of killing it. But he has an apathy which enables 
 him to look on the most harrowing miseries without a pang. 
 This natural apathy is increased by the joint influence of 
 the caste system, the doctrine of transmigration, and their 
 barbarous penances. Caste severs the cord of brotherhood, 
 by which every suffering man can draw the Christian heart 
 to himself. " Who is that dying in the to^ie of cholera'?" 
 *' Oh, it's a Siidra." This is quite enough : to say it was 
 an eagle or a dolphin would not more ettectually disengage 
 the sympathies. Transmigration again shuts the heart 
 against all sufferings from natural defects or heavy mis- 
 fortunes : these occur only as judgments for the vices of a 
 former birth : if i)eople are crippled, or blind, or bereaved, 
 or left penniless, it is because they deserve so to be. These 
 are just the infamous marks branded, by Providence, on 
 those who ought to be abhorred. Their penances also often 
 exhibit voluntary torments to us all but incredible, familiarity 
 with which, and admiration of them, deaden the com- 
 passion for less severe, though involuntary, pains. Then 
 the Hindu is remarkably impassive. Scarcely any other
 
 INDIA : ITS PEOPLE 363 
 
 human being can bear fatigue, hunger, and pain as he can. 
 Bearers will carry a heavy traveller, in a heavy palanquin, 
 forty miles in one night, and commence afresh the next 
 evening. All these causes make the Hindu remarkably 
 cold of heart. He will not go out of his way to torture 
 human beings ; but, if revenge or the hope of gain stimulate 
 him, he will do so to the utmost pitch, and as unmoved as 
 if he were cutting sticks. His revenge once roused is 
 unsparing and unquenchable. Coolly and yet furiously he 
 pursues his victim : he will spend his last farthing at law 
 rather than fail to ruin him ; and many cases have occurred 
 in which, to bring upon him public odium, he has starved 
 himself to death. 
 
 On their matrimonial morality it is neither necessary nor 
 desirable to enlarge. It is such as might be expected from 
 those Avhose sacred books are feculent, whose divinities are 
 patterns of license, some of whose rites are Bacchanalian, 
 and some of whose idols are "a shame even to mention." 
 The pictures of society usually given by the natives them- 
 selves are truly deplorable. Honour and purity, in any such 
 sense as we understand them, they regard, if existing at all, 
 as only the attributes of rare and transcendent characters.^ 
 Actual blamelessness they know to be frequent, but ascribe 
 it not at all to principle, but wholly to surveillance. With 
 the settled axiom, that evil is prevented only by lack of 
 opportunity, society is so framed that one cannot but wonder 
 
 ^ [This was written more tluDi fifty years ago by a missionary. 
 Last year (1901) Mr. Meredith Townsend, not a missionary, wrote as 
 follows in an article on India: — "Asiatics care . . . nothing about 
 purity . . . holding that lust, like hunger, is neither evil nor good, 
 but a mere appetite, the gratification of whicli, under regulation, is 
 entirely legitimate. They are, therefore, tolerant of lustful sugges- 
 tions even in their religious books, care nothing about keeping them 
 out of their literature and art. . . . But as regards the actual inter- 
 course of the sexes Asiatics are not lax. Tiie incontinence of the 
 young is prevented by a careful systcTU of 1)etrothals and early 
 marriages."]
 
 364 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 how the icy peace left by such a system can ever be broken. 
 But a few hours' familiar talk M'ith the people of any 
 country town will painfully demonstrate that the prevalent 
 disorder full often overleaps those Avails within Avhich 
 conscious guilt seeks to preserve, for its own pride, com- 
 pulsory innocence. 
 
 The temper of the Hindu is generally even. He lacks 
 vivacity and fire. He is seldom giddy, seldom gloomy ; for 
 the most part, sedate and mild ; but it is the mildness of 
 apathy, not of benignity. He is avaricious of money ; greedy 
 to seize it, firm to hold : but little given to care. His apathy 
 protects him from anticipatory troubles. With Europeans 
 the warmth of domestic anxieties, and the changes in their 
 social standing made by prosperity or reverses, are the 
 springs of many cares. But as to the Hindu, his social 
 position was immutably fixed at birth, and his family 
 affections are moderate. Care therefore loses its sting. An 
 eccentric prodigality chequers their habitual avarice. They 
 will sometimes give amazing sums to erect or adorn a temple, 
 to feast the Brahmans, or to reward the address of an expert 
 flatterer. They have also a passion for fame, and are there- 
 fore sensitive to praise, and captivated with any project that 
 Avill make men " mention their name." 
 
 The good points of Hindu character are mildness, temper- 
 ance, hospitality, and submissiveness ; the bad points are 
 falsehood, duplicity, apathy, selfishness, avarice, sensuality, 
 and dishonesty. In point of gratitude, and a capability of 
 becoming attached to their masters, the Hindus have been 
 much belied. Considering their religious and moral instruc- 
 tion they are not below other nations in these particulars. 
 
 The Hindu mind is patient, fertile, and astute ; close in 
 application, prolific in fancy, and keen in discernment. It 
 lacks breadth and fire. Its c<luration narrows while it 
 refines; its religion holds uj) In the lirnrt no grand pure 
 object; and its domestic afrcctinns mc, like the feet of a 
 Chinese lady, cased in iron from chilclhood, and ever retain
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 365 
 
 a fixed and feeble stiffness. As a result, fervour and tender- 
 ness arc not tlicre. lint give the Hindu an education large 
 as known truth, a religion calling up his emotions to a 
 stainless blessed God, a home where mutual love wants no 
 chill protections, and tlien that mind of his will spread a 
 broad wing, and take a bold flight in the upper ways of 
 intellect. It is not likely that in any material enterprise 
 they will ever display the rough energy of our hardier clime ; 
 but, in works of the mind, they will toil as hard, and build 
 as high, as we. 
 
 Mr. Mill learnedly and elaborately argues that the Hindus 
 are " a rude people." Professor Wilson repels the accusation. 
 Bishop Heber pronounces them civilised. And Sir Thomas 
 Munro avers that, " If civilisation is to become an article of 
 trade between the two countries, I am persuaded that this 
 country will gain by the import cargo." Nothing can be 
 plainer than this, that, if M. Guizot's principle be correct, 
 that the main element of civilisation is progress, then for 
 many ages the Hindus have been barbarians. But the 
 Eomans were more civilised under Nero than under Numa, 
 though making far less progress ; and the New Zealanders 
 are not so civilised as the Austrians, though at this moment 
 advancing much faster. And though the Hindus, for several 
 generations, have been either stationary or retrograding, 
 they have not lost their civilisation. Civilisation supposes 
 the order, the arts, and the enlightenment necessary to the 
 maintenance of civil life ; of life in large and settled com- 
 munities, as distinguished from wandering tribes, or ill- 
 regulated clans. ^ These have from time immemorial been 
 enjoyed by the Hindus, and produced their natural fruits, — 
 elegance of appearance, polish of manners, and respect for 
 learning. So far as perfect municipal order, regular agri- 
 culture, well-conducted commerce, ingenious manufactures, 
 general arts, refined address, literary taste, high attainments 
 
 ^ "Civilised, polite, urbane," all, from theii derivation, convey the 
 idea of city life.
 
 366 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 in poetrj'', and respectable progress in science, constitute 
 civilisation, the people of India claim a place among the 
 civilised. But in one essential they fail. Civilisation is 
 the art of social life. At the basis of all social organisation 
 lies the family. Civilisation ought to begin by justly fixing 
 family relations, and wisely forming family manners. Here 
 Hinduism is at fault, but at fault only in common with 
 every system on earth, except one. The Hindu is a civilised 
 man in the street, the market, the shop, the office, the 
 court of law ; but the moment he enters his own door he 
 is a barbarian. 
 
 We ought not to study even a stone merely for the sake 
 of knowing what sort of a stone it is. We ought to make 
 its composition and its uses disclose to us somewhat of its 
 Maker's wisdom, and teach us, like Him, to do our works 
 that they may be useful. But to study men, merely for 
 the sake of knowing Avhat sort of men they are, is " a grand 
 impertinence." It is heartless to inform ourselves of the 
 customs of other races just with the view that, when they 
 are spoken of by the travelled, or the well-read, we may be 
 able to join in the conversation, instead of looking out of 
 the window. Some labour much, as they say, for " a know- 
 ledge of human nature." To gain this, what jungles of 
 fiction do they explore ! But of the " knowledge of human 
 nature " so won, we find small fruit, either in the increased 
 wisdom or the increased philanthropy of those who, for the 
 sake of this precious light, have endured such worlds of 
 nonsense. All your knowledge of human nature is not 
 worth a straw, unless it prompt you to benefit human nature. 
 You may as well study bats as men, unless your knowledge 
 lead you to do them good. To read of such a people as the 
 Hindus, to be interested in their history, to admire their 
 polish, to be entertained with their customs, to laugh at 
 their absurdities, is all perfectly right. To wish, when they 
 are spoken of, to be able to take an intelligent part in the 
 conversation, is natural and wise. Do this : but do not stop
 
 INDIA: ITS PEOPLE 367 
 
 there. Human homes and human hearts are not mere 
 curiosities. They are sacred things. From tlie moment 
 you become acquainted with them, a new duty opens before 
 you, — the duty of doing all your circumstances permit to 
 bless those homes and to cheer those hearts. 
 
 Regarding Indian society, think not the selfish thought, 
 What can I remember that is most interesting 1 Think the 
 Christian thought. What can I remember that most 
 needs amelioration 1 Think of the eight millions of 
 wild men who haunt the woods and hills ; ^ think of the 
 twenty millions of out-castes whose lot is vile and bitter ; ^ 
 think of the two, or three, or four millions of widows, 
 browbeaten and friendless ; think of the homes of thirty 
 nations where no common board is spread, and no fond circle 
 twined. 
 
 * [Sixteen millions.] - fThirty-one millions.]
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 INDIA : ITS RELIGION 
 
 No one, acquainted with the religion of India, will attempt 
 to reduce it to a harmonious system. Its sacred books 
 advocate many conflicting doctrines ; and its current 
 opinions are varied by the local superstitions of ten thousand 
 neighljourhoods. All, therefore, we shall attempt, is, to give 
 a general idea of religion as actually existing, particularly on 
 the points most prominent in every religion that has any 
 pretension to be called a system, namely, its standards, its 
 doctrines, its morals, its ministry, and its ritual. 
 
 The kStandards of Hinduism are popularly stated to 
 consist in four Vedas, six Shastras, and eighteen Puranas ; 
 but the term " Shastra " is also employed to denote all the 
 sacred books taken collectively. This division differs from 
 that of the Vishnu Purana, and also from that generally 
 furnished by the most learned. They speak of four Vedas, 
 four Upavedas or sub- Vedas, six Angas, and the Upangas 
 or sub-Angas, including theology, logic, law, and the 
 Puranas. But in our remarks the popular division will be 
 followed as the more simple. Of all these writings, the Vedas 
 are the most ancient and sacred. To elucidate the sublime 
 mysteries taught in these, the Shastras have been written by 
 a second inspiration, and, by a third, the Puranas, further to 
 unfold the revelation. All these books have never been 
 collected, nor is it probable that such a collection can now be 
 made. If it could, we have every reason to believe that no 
 lifetime, however protracted, would suflice to read all the
 
 INDIA: Its RELtGION 36D 
 
 tomes. They are written in Sanskrit, a tongue gram- 
 matically perfect beyond every other, and held by the 
 natives to be the vernacular of heaven, never spoken oh 
 earth, nor permitted to descend, but to give mortals celestial 
 teaching. The Vedas, and, I believe, also the Shastras, 
 remain covered from vulgar eyes in the sftcred tongufe ; but 
 the PUranas are translated into the Various Hindu languages 
 and circulated freely; 
 
 The names of the four Vedas are the Rig Veda, tlie Yajui* 
 Veda, the Silma Veda, and the Atharva Veda. The Vishnti 
 Purilna states that, " originally there was but one, Yajur 
 Veda," and that now " the branches of the great tree of the 
 Vedas are so numerous, that it is impossible to describe them 
 at length." The Vedas are considered not merely as a 
 revelation from God, but are mystically identified with the 
 Supreme Being Himself. " He, composed of the Rig, S^ma, 
 and Yajur Vedas, is at the same time their essence, as he is 
 soul of all embodied spirits. He, distinguished as consisting 
 of the Vedas, creates the Vedas, and divides them by many 
 subdivisions into branches. He is the author of those 
 A'^edas : he is those aggregated branches : for he, the 
 eternal Lord, is the essence of true knowledge " (Vishnu 
 Purana). With such a theory, none but the most extravagant 
 veneration would comport ; accordingly, the Vedas are 
 extolled above the gods, and the pen;sal of them is strictly 
 forbidden to all mortals, but a priest in the line of direct 
 succession from the creator's mouth. Those of the Rajah 
 caste are permitted to hear them read ; but the P)rahman 
 who would utter a syllable of them in the hearing of a 
 Sudra or of a European, or who would allow a line of theui 
 to fall into such hands, would commit a heinous sin. I shall 
 never forget the horror of some Brahmans, upon seeing in 
 our impure hands the transcendental syllables of the Gayatri, 
 a prayer from the Vedas. But, in the present degenerate 
 condition of Brahmanism, most, if not all, of these 
 immaculate texts have come into the hands of our scholars. 
 
 24
 
 370 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Only the Sama Yeda, translated by Dr. Stevenson of B(3m- 
 bay, has yet appeared in oxir language.^ It will, no doubt, 
 be eventually followed by the others ; and, in the mean- 
 time, affords much insight into the character of these 
 books. 
 
 The antiquity of the Vedas is a point of much interest. 
 Placed by the natives at a date antecedent to Adam, they 
 Avere held, by our own earlier writers, to be at least five 
 thousand years old. The Sama Yeda was evidently 
 Written by persons knowing something of literature and arts, 
 but leading a pastoral life. Frequent reference is made in 
 the work to war and to chariots, showing the previous 
 establishment of separate states, as also the cultivation of 
 military art. The mention of poets as a class, of a golden 
 cup, of habitual bathing, and of the preparation of intoxica- 
 ting drinks, are all evidence of some degree of advancement. 
 It is also evident that a sacrificial ritual had already been 
 fixed, that mythological legends abounded, and that 
 Brahmans were known ] but the use of that appellation does 
 not warrant the inference that it referred to persons closely 
 resembling the hierarchy whom it now designates. The 
 composition of the book being in several kinds of verse, 
 further indicates a state of society somewhat cultivated. At 
 the same time all the allusions to actual life are those of a 
 pastoral people. The book never was Avritten by persons 
 who had been born in a city ; for cows, milk, butter, horses, 
 calves, and the like, are the ordinary materials for similes. 
 Pure rusticity and some refinenient arc strangely combined. 
 
 ^ [This is no longer the case. Men like Wilson, MitUer, Muir, 
 Whitney, Giilhth, and Peterson have made many of the sacred 
 writings of India available to the English reader. Readers interested 
 in the Vedas may considt the Snard Books of the Ead, vols, xxxii., 
 xlii., xlvi. ; Muir's Orir/inal Sanskrit Texts, five vols. ; also The 
 Mig Veda metrically translated into Enijlish, two vols., liy E. H. T. 
 Griifith, published at Benares. Stevenson's is still, I believe, the 
 only English translation of the Sama Yeda that has yet been 
 published.]
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 371 
 
 " Oil, worthy of all praise ! " (Indra) " let our cucbaristic 
 songs fix thee as firmly as the charioteer is fixed in his seat, 
 and let their symphony sound before thee like the lowing 
 of newly-calvod cows for their calves." The chariot and the 
 symphony relish of civilisation ; but a keeper of cattle was 
 he, who for music found a likeness in the " lowing of 
 herds." Dr. Stevenson draws attention to one jDassage, in 
 which wealth is made to consist in " horses, cows, and 
 barley," remarking that buffaloes, rice, and wheat, now so 
 common in India, are not mentioned ; and leading us to the 
 inference that the Vedas were not composed in India, but in 
 some more northern country, whence the Brahmans migrated 
 at a period so remote as to lie beyond all discovered records. 
 But the possession of rice and wheat Avould suppose an 
 agricultural rather than a pastoral life ; and in another 
 passage, to express eminence, it is said, " As the buffalo is 
 among horned cattle," so that the proper inference from the 
 omission of that animal in an enumeration of treasures is, 
 n<;)t tliat the enumerator wrote in a country where the 
 buffalo was unknown, but that he wrote before it had been 
 domesticated. Throughout the volume we find no reference 
 to the sheep. Now, in all temperate countries, the wool of 
 that animal makes it invalualile ; and pastoral life never 
 exists without it. Its absence from the Sama Veda affords, 
 therefore, a strong presumption that the book was produced 
 in India. The ocean also is referred to and invoked, clearly 
 proving the writer to have inhabited a maritime country. 
 Excei)t the shores of the Caspian, none of the various regions 
 to which scholars have pointed, as the probable birth- 
 place of the Brahmans, would account for the maritime 
 characteristics of the Sama Yeda. 'Nor is it very probable 
 that phenomena less grand than those of the Indian Ocean 
 would lead to the exaltation of the sea into the same divine 
 rank as the sun and the winds. The Rig Veda has an expres- 
 sion which proves not only a maritime country, but marine 
 commerce, " as merchants greedy of wealth approach the sea
 
 372 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 to embark." ^ Nothing is more evident than that, to the 
 mind of the authors, rain was the chief want. Indra, " the 
 personified clouds," is worshipped with copious devotions, as 
 are also the other agents in regulating the supply of rain, — 
 the sun, wind, and sea. This is rather in favour of an 
 Indian origin, especially taken in connexion with the 
 deification and worship of rivers. In this latter respect the 
 Rig Veda is more explicit than the Sama, having the words, 
 " I invoke the goddess, the waters, whence our cows drink : 
 sacrifice is due to rivers."- Frost and snow are not alluded 
 to ; a circumstance strongly against any of the temperate 
 countries north of India. Perhaps, also, a feather is cast 
 into the scale in favour of the latter, by the mention of 
 peacocks. 
 
 But whether composed in India, or in some trans-Indian 
 country, the Yedas are plainly the production of an early 
 age, in which life was pastoral, with scarcely any arts but 
 poetry and war. Professor "Wilson gives his high authority 
 to the supposition, that they may date about thirteen 
 centuries before the Christian era ; a term which further 
 investigation will more probably abridge than extend.-"^ 
 
 ^ Occanum veluti, irroJiciscencU canssa, mcrcafores (Uvitiarmii ciipkli 
 acleunt. — Rosen's Latin translation of tlie Kig Yeda. 
 
 - Agnas deas invoco, unde vaccce hihunt nodnt : fluminihxis 
 faciendum est sacrificium. — Rosex. Tlie Avords wliicli follow show 
 that the present notions of the natives on the medieal value of water are 
 not of recent origin : In "Aquis nectar, in Aqnis medicawen : Aqmirum 
 ctiam ad landcm, saccrdotes! estate i77ipi(jn." 
 
 ^ [The latest authority on this subject, Professor Macdonell, in his 
 History of Sanskrit Literature, gives it as his opinion that "the 
 kernel of Vedic tradition, as represented by the Eig Veda, lias come 
 down to us, with a liigh degree of fixity and remarkable care for verbal 
 integrity, from a jieriod which can hardly be less remote than 1000 
 r..c." Still, there is no direct evidence as to the age of tlie Yedas, 
 and oiiinions aliout it vaiy considerably. All authorities agree that 
 the Vedic hymns " vary greatly in age and spread over a very con- 
 siderable period," and most tliink they were written between 1500 
 and 1000 B.C.]
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 373 
 
 But, if it be nearly accurate, the antiquity of the Vedas is 
 brought within rational bounds ; and yet they remain the 
 most ancient poems in existence, except the Book of Job, 
 which now appears to be proved with tolerable certainty to 
 date higher. 
 
 The translation of the Sania Veda is a happy circuuistance. 
 Not only apocryphal authorities, like jNIaurico, but many 
 trustworthy writers, have ascribed to the Vedas much 
 purity, sublimity, and wisdom. From this and other 
 reasons, I took up the Sama Veda in strong hope of finding 
 that those distant generations enjoyed, at least, the fading 
 beams of patriarchal light. But that hope soon passed 
 away, and I laid down the volume with sorrow. It is only 
 a heap of hymns without coherency or sense, and woefully 
 devoid of pure theology or morals. In fact, it is not con- 
 ceivable that its authors ever intended it to assume the 
 place of a revelation from God. It makes no such claim, 
 nor does it declare the virtue to attend its perusal ascribed 
 by the Puranas to that of their legends. Comparing it 
 with the Vishnu Purana, you find that the latter has the 
 air and the claims of a revelation, while the former has 
 nothing of the kind. At the same time, no notice is found 
 in the Veda of image-worship ; but nearly all the myths 
 which are elaborated in the Puranas, respecting the gods, 
 are here referred to as accepted facts in religion. 
 
 The book, we have said, consists of hymns, which are 
 those chanted at the moon-i)lant sacrifice. This plant 
 {Asdepias acida) is full of acrid, milky juice, which, 
 when expressed and allowed to ferment, becomes strongly 
 intoxicating. This liquor is offered in libation to the gods ; 
 and such offering is the occasion on which these far-famed 
 anthems are chanted. Dr. Stevenson states that the 
 sacrifice is accompanied with the death of a ram ; but the 
 Veda itself declares, " ye gods ! we slaughter no victim, 
 we use no sacrificial stake, we worship by the repetition of 
 sacred verse"; and Dubois, in his very detailed account of
 
 374 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the sacrifice of the ram, makes no mention whatever of the 
 moon-plant. It may therefore admit of donbt whether the 
 Erahmans who communicated witli Dr. Stevenson did not 
 confound two distinct sacrifices. 
 
 Were the Sama Veda discovered by a European who 
 knew notliing of its pretensions, he would take it for the 
 effusion of some jovial bard, who, to honour his cups, had 
 formed nature into a bacchanalian pantheon, and had sung 
 his wassails on oriental plains covered with herds of kine. 
 "Thou, Soma!" addressing his potion, "art the embroiler 
 of all things in thy drunken frolics. moon-plant ! those 
 drenched with thy sparkling juice, in their inebriating 
 cups slew the Rakshasa band." Again: " The supporter of 
 the heavens about to become a liquid ! the strengthener of 
 the mighty gods, the intoxicator, the green, fugacious herb 
 is not prepared in vain by holy men." Again : " priests ! 
 we praise all day long that renowned foe destroying Indra 
 of yours, who gets muzzy on the sacrificial beverage placed 
 in the sacred vessels." Again : " When in his cups, Indra 
 seizes his adorable, easily-handled bow." And finally : " O 
 Soma ! purify for Indra the most sweet and richly-prepared 
 spirituous liquors, the mighty, light-diffusing liquor. O 
 lord of food, increase our provisions and our mighty re- 
 nown ! god, mix the midday bowl beloved by the gods ! 
 praise and sprinkle on all sides, as you would do to a horse, 
 the sacrificial moon-plant juice, which procures salvation, 
 runs through the world, is diffused through water, and 
 purified by mixture with other liquids." Poets, no doubt, 
 have often loved and honoured their cups ; but neither 
 Ijurns nor Horace extolled the potions yielded by his native 
 hills, as does the author of these verses the "most in- 
 ebriating juice," which " performs its frolics like the waves 
 of the sea." 
 
 Besides its bacchanalian character, the Sama Veda has a 
 fair amount of absurdities. We are told that " the ancient 
 sages once trod the soil on which men now walk, and
 
 INDIA: ITS KELIGION 375 
 
 produced the .sun for the purpose of giving light," Also, 
 that Agni (Ih'e) has " green luustachios " ; and that the 
 " heavenly coavs, beloved of Indra, hurl the destructive 
 thunderbolt." Then : " It is Soma (moon-plant wine), 
 that yokes the horses of the sun, when he is about to move 
 tlirough the heavens over the abode of men." " Soma is 
 my master," says the sun, "and yokes his gold coloured 
 horses to the chariot, for the pur[)Ose of departing." Xor 
 does the following specimen of philosophy stand alone : — 
 " This all-moving radiance proceeds from the east, and takes 
 its seat in mother earth. Afterwards, the ever-moving body 
 proceeds to father heaven. Its rays move within man, and 
 from the higher vital air, extract and carry down the lower 
 vital air, and the same mighty God enlightens the firma- 
 ment. The manifestations of the sun in day and night, by 
 their radiance, enlighten the thirty horal mansions, and the 
 voice (of our chanters) sustains the solar manifestations." 
 
 On laying down the Sama Veda, instead of feeling, as 
 I had hoped, assured that the truth Noah taught had 
 survived amongst the wiser and better portion of men at 
 least to the date of the Yedas, I felt bitterly, that, were I 
 to teach a Dyak or a Fijian to read, and put that book 
 into his hand, I could not assure myself that it would give 
 him one truth of theology, or one principle of virtue. But 
 it would not be fair to judge the other three Yedas by the 
 Sama : they may contain the wisdom and the sublimit)'' of 
 which we have heard ; yet after such a disappointment, our 
 expectation is naturally low. A considerable part of the 
 Rig Veda has been translated into Latin by the late Dr. 
 Rosen. It is also a series of hymns to the sun, fire, the 
 soma-juice, the clouds, and the sea ; the dawn also has more 
 worship than she receives in the Sama ; while the same 
 references to cows and horses, with the same prayers for 
 wealth and victory, abound. In some respects it is superior 
 to the Sama ; but in others it is more gross ; and, on the 
 whole, does not alter our estimate of the Yedas, The
 
 376 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Atharva Veda is, on all hands, acknowledged to contain 
 much that is of a magical character, intended to teach the 
 method of destroying foes by incantation. The Brahmans 
 who follow this Veda often conceal their knowledge of it, 
 from dread of the universal hatred against the "art that 
 none may name." It then remains alone for the Yajur 
 Veda to display the cliaracteristics so confidently ascribed 
 to these ancient writings, by authors of all schools. Await- 
 ing its translation, I must confess, that the following 
 testimony has now great weight, though before reading the 
 two Vedas translated it seemed unaccountable :■ — " They 
 have nothing but their antiquity to recommend them. 
 They include all the absurdities of Hindu paganism, not 
 only such as it has originally been, but also the pitiful 
 details of fables which are at present current in the 
 country, relating to tlie fantastical austerities of the hermits, 
 to the metamorplioses of Vishnu, or the abominations of 
 the Lingam, I could easily prove my assertion by many 
 passages extracted from these books, if my limits allowed 
 me. The fourth of them, called Atharva Veda, is the 
 most dangerous of all for a people so entirely sunk in 
 superstition, because it teaclies the art of magic, or the 
 method of injuring men by the use of witchcraft, and 
 incantation " (Dubois). It is a matter of much importance, 
 that every missionary going to India should possess and 
 read the two published Vedas, They will, at a small 
 expense of time, put hini in possession of the real character 
 of Hindu theology, and completely emancipate him from 
 all impression that some bright deposit of truth may, after 
 all, lie hidden in those much-venerated tomes.^ 
 
 ' [When Mr. Arthur wrote tliis l)Ook Vedic research liad barely 
 begun. Tlie Si'inia Veda, which is here the most fully described, is 
 the least inii)ortant. It is simply the chant-book of the sacrilicing 
 jtriests. All its verses, except about seventy-five, liavo been taken 
 directly from the Rig Veda and have lost much in being divorced from 
 their original setting. It is necessary, therefore, to add to the infer-
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 377 
 
 The six Aiigas, or Sliastras, are thus described in the 
 Vishnu Parana : — " Shikslia, the rules of reciting the prayers ; 
 
 mation given in the text a brief summary of the results attained in 
 recent years by Sanskrit scliolars. 
 
 1. The Ri(j Veda. All study of the Vedas must concern itself first 
 of all and most of all with the Rig Veda. Alike in the history of 
 religion and of civilisation it is of the fust importance. Nowhere else 
 is so complete a picture of early religious thought to be found. It is 
 interesting in its omissions : idolatry has no place there, tliough polj'- 
 theism is to be found ; there is only one mention of caste, and that in 
 one of the very latest hymns, the purnaha-nnkta ; and it has no 
 doctrine of transnngration. On the positive side, its gods, if fairly 
 numerous, are generally great, beneficent, and, according to the 
 morality of early civilisation, moral. There is a steady develop- 
 ment of religious thought. Beginning with the conception of gods 
 many, each i)o.ssessed of distinctive attributes and exercising distinc- 
 tive functions (as Indra, Varuna, Agni, SArya), we come presently to 
 the stage in which distinctions between certain related gods are 
 emphasised less and similarities more, and the custom arises of invok- 
 ing them in pairs. This tendency to mininuse distinctions increases 
 until by and bye we find the hymns ascribing "every power to every 
 god." Thus the idea of the diciiie develops, while the importance of 
 the individual god diminishes ; the notion emerges of a godhead, one, 
 that comiu'chenils all the gods. "The one being priests speak of in 
 many ways ; they call it Agni, Yama, Matarishwan." That "One" 
 is sometimes a mere abstraction (and in the conception lies the germ 
 of the later and still prevalent ]iantheism of India) ; sometimes a 
 jiersonal Creator, distinct from all other deities and superior to all. 
 Thus the polytheism of the Rig Veda frequently runs away from 
 itself — now into henothoism, when the worshipper endows the god he 
 is worshipping at the time with c()ini)letc supremacy without denying 
 the claims of any other ; now in the direction of pantheism ; and again 
 in the direction of monotheism. The relation of the worshippers to 
 the gods is described as one of entire dependence, and men are exhorted 
 to otter prayers, sacrifices, and thanksgivings, and in all these to mingle 
 faith. The Rig Veda contains explicit acknowledgment of sin, and 
 petitions for forgiveness. It requires of those who would be good men : 
 piety, liberality (to the priests), courage, and truthfulness ; it con- 
 demns adultery and rajie. Without emphasising the doctrine of 
 immortality, it nevertheless assumes it, and includes it in the category 
 of blessings to be prayed for. 
 
 2. Thi' Vajiir l\'(la. Tiiis is later than tlie Rig Veda, and portrnys
 
 .■)7<S A MISSION TO THE MYSOliE 
 
 the accents and tunes to be observed ; Kalpa, ritual ; Vi/'ilia- 
 rana, grammar ; NiraJda, glossarial comment ; Chhandas, 
 metre ; and Jyotisha, astronomy." The same authority 
 sul:)joins theology, logic, law, the art of government, medical 
 science, archery, and the use of arms, with the arts of music, 
 dancing, and the drama. These works, though some of 
 them on subjects so little religious, are all invested with the 
 authority of inspiration. . 
 
 The eighteen Puranas, which alone are in general circula- 
 tion, more fully express the actual faitli of the Hindu than 
 
 a very ditferent religious system and social life. Here the centre of 
 gravity is shifted from the gods to the sacrifice. Not devotion to 
 thrm, but the punctilious performance of it is regarded as the one thing 
 needful. In this atmosphere of sacerdotalism religion does not thrive. 
 Reverence, adoration, self-surrender ; contrition for sin, confession of 
 it and prayer for forgiveness — these are absent. The gods are the 
 source of material gifts ; prayer and ritual are the joint means of cajol- 
 ing or compelling them into bestowal. Prayer is chiefly the recital of 
 unmeaning collocations of unintelligiltle interjections and of dismal 
 variations of the sacred syllable Om ; while by means of sacrifice 
 ' ' the Brahmaus may be said to hold the gods in their hands." Seeing, 
 then, that the gods cannot resist the sacrifice, and that the sacrifice is 
 controlled b}' the priests, this Veda is the practical apotheosis of the 
 jiriestly Brahman. Needless to say, therefore, that the simple social 
 conditions of the Rig Veda are in the Yajur left behind, and caste, 
 wliicli makes the Brahman first in society as well as in religion, lias 
 become a recognised and sanctioned institution. 
 
 3. The Siiina Veda. This has been sufficiently described in the 
 text. 
 
 4. The Athurva Veda. "Here," says Professor Hopkins, "magic 
 eclipses Soma and reigns supreme. The wizard is greater than the 
 gods." Professor Macdonell describes this ^'eda as " a heterogeneous 
 collection of spells. Its most salient teaching is sorcery, for it is 
 mainly directed against hostile agencies, such as diseases, noxious 
 animals, demons, wizards, foes, oppressors of Brahmans. But it also 
 contains many spells of an auspicious character, such as charms to 
 secure harmony in family and village, reconciliation of enemies, long 
 life, health, and prosperity, besides prayers for ]irotection on journeys 
 and for luck in gambling. Thus it has a dc>uble character, lieing meant 
 to Mppease and bless, as well as to curse."]
 
 INDIA: ITS i;i<:ligiox 370 
 
 either the Vedas or Shrustnus. They eon.sist of cosmogony, 
 mythology, and specuUition, with attempts at history, whicli, 
 however, are no more than genealogies and legends. Xo 
 harmony of doctrine is pretended; for they openly advocate 
 the rival clauus of the gods Vishnu and Shiva, and on many 
 other questions differ, yet all have a oneness in leading points 
 of faith. 
 
 Professor Wilson is of opinion, that none of the Puranas 
 " assumed their present state earlier than the time of Sankara 
 Acharya, the great Saiva reformer, who flourished, in all 
 likelihood, in the eighth or ninth century." From that 
 period he traces the dates of several Puranas to the twelfth, 
 fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, saying that no portion 
 of the Padma Purana is probably older than the twelfth 
 century, and that the last parts may be as recent as the 
 fifteenth or sixteenth. Of the Vamana Purana he says : — 
 " It has not the air of antiquity, and its composition may 
 have amused the leisure of some Brahmans at Benares, three 
 or four centuries ago." Taking all the sacred writings to- 
 gether, the quantity is prodigious. The Puranas alone are 
 stated to contain one million, six hundred thousand lines, 
 antl some statements raise the amount to ten, or even to a 
 thousand, millions. 
 
 Of Doctrines, all systems of religion have three great 
 sections : those respecting God, those respecting man, and 
 those which, treating of the relations of the two, describe 
 the Avay of salvation. 
 
 Respecting God, it is plain, from the Hindu scriptures, 
 that the primeval doctrine of the divine unity has never 
 been wholly lost. It is, however, equally plain, that even 
 as early as the epoch of the Vedas, that truth had ceased to 
 possess the slightest value. With God's unity is coupled 
 His infinity. These truths blend, and suggest each the 
 other. Infinity, again, involves omnipresence, and omni- 
 presence forbids the idea of any place where God is not. 
 He cannot, therefore, be excludcil from the space occupied
 
 380 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 by material bodies ; but is as much in that which a mountain 
 occupies, as in that above its head. To be omnipresent, then, 
 he must be " all-pervasive." This word appears to be that 
 by Avhicli the Hindu, from the earliest times, designated 
 omnipresence. To persons untaught in physical science, it 
 is hard to conceive of two things or two agents occupying 
 the same space at the same time. Many a good man in 
 England thinks he accepts a great mysterj^ Avhen he believes 
 that the space occupied by creatures should at the same time 
 be filled by the Creator, l>ut he forgets that even of sensible 
 objects or agents, such as light, sound, odour, heat, and 
 magnetism, four or five may pervade tlie same space, and 
 each act, withoiit in any Avay disturbing one another. 
 Forgetfulness of this fact appears to have been the jjoint 
 whence the fathers of Hinduism commenced their fatal 
 wanderings from the one true God. They believed Him to 
 be everywhere ; if ever^^where, He must be in everything ; if 
 in everything, how could He and the thing in which He was 
 be distinct? they must be regarded as one. Thus God 
 became everything, and everything became God. This is 
 the very process of reasoning by which the Hindus now 
 support their pantheism, and is probably that from which it 
 originated. Once admit the doctrine that God is everything, 
 and you may select any object whatever, and call it God. 
 Such a selection would, at first, naturally fall on objects 
 presenting in themselves forcible displays of God's power and 
 glory. Thus we find in the Yedas that the sun, moon, wind, 
 clouds, ocean, and fire, are all identified with the Supreme 
 Spirit, and all adored. And though the principle had not 
 then, so far as we can learn from these books, received its 
 last degradation by being applied to images ; yet it had 
 already descended far, when it coidd deify the intoxicating 
 moon-plant juice. 
 
 We could not make so fully understood the views of the 
 Divine Being contained in the Yedas, by any description, 
 as by the following extracts. We first give a series of
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 381 
 
 passages, addressed to, or referring to, Indra, that is, " the 
 clouds " :— 
 
 " ludra ! there is no god thy superior, none more 
 powerful than thou art : nor, indeed, slayer of Uritra, 
 is there one that can be put on a level with thee ! " 
 
 " thunderbolt-wielding Indra ! were there a hundred 
 heavens, and a hundred earths, and in addition to them a 
 thousand suns, and any other supposable creatures, they 
 coidd not contain thee ; for thou encirclest heaven and 
 earth." 
 
 " Come close to us, Indra ! bringing with thee the aids 
 resulting from sacrifices to the spirits of the departed. 
 Come, most felicitous divinity, with those most happy 
 beings to whom we, in a special manner, offer oblations ! 
 Come, great Father, along with the spirits of our fathers ! " 
 
 " "We worship Indra, who ever slays his foes, and ever 
 subdues them like a mighty hero, (Indra) the great, the 
 unequalled, the supreme." 
 
 " This I am determined to execute through thy aid." 
 
 " Indra the supreme, Avho is but one, and whom no one 
 dares speak against, bestows wealth on the man who offers 
 sacrifice." 
 
 " 0, my friends ! praise no other being than Indra ; why 
 would you draw on yourselves destruction ? " 
 
 "Thy internal vigour is great, thy prowess is all-powerful, 
 and thy intellect sharpens thy illustrious Vajra. Heaven, 
 Indra, extols thy heroism, the earth publishes thy 
 fame ! thee the waters and mountains serve as their Lord. 
 The mighty, all-preserving Vishnu, and Mitra, and Varuna, 
 praise thee ; thee also the powerful bands of Maruts delight." 
 
 Did this stand alone we should deem it to contain a clear 
 proof of the knowledge and worship of one only God ; but 
 how far this is the case we shall presently see. The reader 
 will observe that Vishnu is here made inferior to Indra ; 
 a position directly contradictory to the now prevailing 
 doctrine.
 
 382 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 The next series of quotations is addressed to the sun, whose 
 names are Mitra, Aditya, Savitri, and Surya. 
 
 "Truly thou art mighty, Sun: truly thou art mighty, 
 descendant of Aditi ; we adore the splendour of thy essence, 
 thy majesty, and thy glory : for mighty art thou, divine 
 (sun) ! " 
 
 " I Avorship the god Savitri, parent of heaven and earth, 
 Avho superintends the sacrifices of the wise, who makes 
 sacred rites to prosper, who bestows gifts, is altogether lovely 
 by the possession of intelligence, and Avhose radiance from on 
 high, through the words of the Avise, shines around the 
 place of sacrifice, whilst the golden-handed performer of 
 merit-conferring deeds proceeds to the heaven of mercy." 
 
 " Let the glorious (solar) luminary drink the powerful 
 spirit of the moon-plant liquor, and bestow upon the 
 institutor of this sacrifice a life free from adversity. The 
 luminary that is moved round by the aerial vortex, that 
 preserves the Avorld by its own might, and that nourishes all 
 its inhabitants, and pours forth floods of light ; the glorious, 
 mighty, all-embracing, food-producing, unfading luminary, 
 placed on the ground of the heaven-sustaining circle, the 
 destroyer of the unfriendly slayer of foes, the exterminator 
 of the injurious, the destroyer of the Asuras, and the slayer 
 of our envious kindred, has been manifested. The all- 
 surpassing, most excellent light of lights, all-conquering, and 
 wealth-producing, is termed the mighty radiance. The 
 glorious, radiant, mighty sun, sheds abroad his attendant, 
 mighty, indestructible influence, to give light to the world." 
 
 " Truly, Surya, thou art mighty ! Truly, Aditya, thou 
 art mighty ! And the might of thee, the mighty (God), is 
 above all praise. glorious divinity, thou art mighty 
 through thy inherent might. Truly thou art mighty, () 
 Surya, through thy fame ! Thou art indeed mighty, 
 brilliant god ! Thou, by thy might art the destroyer of 
 Asuras, and the instructor of the gods, whose radiance is all- 
 expansive and indestructible."
 
 INDIA: ITS KELTGION 383 
 
 The honours of the ocean, under the name Yaruna,^ are 
 represented in the following extracts : — 
 
 ""We, desirous of wives, and desirous of sons, ever first 
 to move the sacrifice, the givers of distinguished gifts, invoke 
 (Sarasvan) the god Oceanus. Also let (Sarasvati) the river 
 goddess, beloved above beloveds by the sevenfold sisterhood, 
 the much-extolled goddess, be praised by us." 
 
 " A^aruna ! hear this my invitation and have mercy on 
 me : for I, desirous of thy aid, especially address thee. 
 rainor of felicity ! what is thy persevering march with 
 whicli thou comest to make us joyful ? and what is that with 
 which thou comest, bringing gifts to him Avho chants thy 
 praise 1 " 
 
 "0 ye waters, be to us promoters of happiness, and stand 
 on our side to procure for us provisions and highly felicitous 
 foresight. Let your most prospering juices be ministered to 
 us in this world with the readiness that aff"ectionate mothers 
 supply their infants. We cast you on (our bodies) with 
 celerity, you who delight us by the destruction of our sins. 
 Ye waters, also procure for us an (illustrious) progeny." 
 
 'Now follow the more exalted adorations of fire, Agni : ^ — 
 
 " Agni, thou art to us the chief of the gods, our 
 saviour, the conferrer of bliss, the subject of our higher 
 praises." 
 
 " divine Agni, we light up thee, the shining, indestruct- 
 ible divinity. In whatever part of the heavens thy flame, 
 
 ^ [Varuna as a kind of Neptune is the latest conception oi' him, and 
 the abiding one. But in the Rig Veda the portrayal of Varuna, who 
 personifies the all-conijiassing heavens, is exceedingly noble. ^He is 
 strong in moral character, attractive in spiritual grace ; ready to 
 punish, willing to forgive.] 
 
 ^ [" If Indra is the type of the hero and warrior, Agni is tlie high 
 priest, uniting in liimself the functions of all inferior and human 
 priests, and making acceptable the worship and service of men to tlie 
 gods." — Geden, in whose volume. Studies in Eastern Beliriions, will 
 be found a short but sufficient and interesting account of the various 
 Vedic deities mentioned in these pages.]
 
 384 A MISSION TO tHE MYSOEfi 
 
 Avorthy of all praise, emits its radiance, from thence do thou 
 bring food for those that celebrate thy praise. Agni, lord 
 of light ! the sacrifice, accompanied with sacred hymns, is 
 being offered up to thee, the radiant god. possessor of all 
 joy, destroyer (of foes), lord of men, bearer away of the 
 oblation, it is being offered to thee ! bring food to those who 
 celebrate thy praise. possessor of all joy, lord of men, 
 thou receivest the oblation-presenting spoon ahd its cover 
 both into thy mouth ! lord of strength, during the 
 singing of the hymns, grant our desire, and bring food to 
 those who celebrate thy praise ! " 
 
 " Agni ! I, Vatsa, wish to bring down thy spirit from 
 the lofty, shining heavens. I wish to bring thee hither by 
 a soul-delighting song. Thy eye is steadily fixed on many 
 regions, and thou art the lol'd of all those regions ; therefore 
 we call on thee in all our conflicts. Desirous of food, we in 
 all our conflicts call to our aid Agni, who possesses treasures 
 accumulated in his wars." 
 
 " ye gods ! cause your brilliant Agni, who is served by 
 all the other fires, and is worthy of oblations, to assume his 
 form of messenger in this faultless sacrifice : for he takes up 
 his abode among men, is the receiver of oblations; whose 
 brilliance is scorching, Avho is fed with clarified butter, and 
 is our purifier. Uttering a noise like a horse Avhen satisfied 
 with grass, the mighty divinity, breaking over his bonds, 
 fixes himself in some suitable place ; and thou, Agni, thy 
 brilliance, following the course of the wind, moves along, 
 and the road thou followest is darkness." 
 
 " We worship the deity who, even among the gods, is 
 Avorthy of admiration, the inviter of the gods, the immortal, 
 the carrier on of the sacrifice to jjerfection ; the preserver of 
 liquids, possessor of brilliant treasures, the all-resplendent 
 Agni, encompassed with surpassing radiance." 
 
 " Agni, thou art the head of the gods, overtopjjing 
 the heavens, resembling the eminence on a bullock's 
 shoulders ; the lord of earth, the inspirer of delight into all
 
 INDIA: ITS IIELIGION 385 
 
 animate and inanimate beings. O Agni, lord, of heaven ! 
 thou art the lord of wealth, worthy of being praised and of 
 being bestowed. It is thou that bestowest happiness ; let 
 me, then, be the celebrator of thy praise. Agni ! thy 
 pure, white, shining rays urge onwards thy brilliant flames." 
 
 Possibly it may interest geologists to learn that Agni is, 
 according to the Rig Veda, caput cwli, innbilicus terrce, — 
 " the head of heaven, and navel of earth." Can this be an 
 allusion to central fires 1 
 
 The next strange deity is Soma, the moon-plant wine. 
 
 " 0, mighty Soma, father of the gods, all-diffusive as the 
 sea, do thou come to this holy place ! " 
 
 " That saving moon-plant, by its stream of pressed 
 sacrificial viands, makes us piire. That saving moon-plant 
 makes us pure." 
 
 " Soma is being purified : he is the father of intelligences, 
 the father of heaven, the father of fire, the father of the 
 sun, the father of Indra, the father even of Vishnu." 
 
 " Soma, rainer of blessings, thou art glorious ! rainer 
 of blessings, brilliant deity, thou art the producer of rain, 
 thou art the supporter of religious rites ! rainer of bless> 
 ings, thy might causes rain, thy juice causes rain ! and, 
 rainer of blessings, thy person causes rain ! Thou, rainer 
 of blessings, makest a noise like that of a horse ! O Soma, 
 send us cows, send us horses ; open to us the door of 
 wealth." 
 
 " (0 Soma), lord of incantations, thy holy essence is 
 everywhere shed abroad ! (_) author of being, thou encom- 
 passest every member all around ! It was through his 
 wisdom that the wisdom-possessing gods performed the act 
 of creation, and the men-surveying patriarchs established 
 the race of men." 
 
 " Soma is flowing down pure ; he is the creator of intellect, 
 the creator of heaven, the creator of earth, the creator of 
 the sun, the creator of fire, the creator of Indra. Soma, 
 when he goes sounding to the holy place, is Brahma among 
 
 25
 
 386 A Mission to the mysore 
 
 the gods, the fixer of their respective merits among the 
 poets, the Rishi among the Brahmans, the buffalo among 
 the horned animals, the hawk among the vulture tribe, the 
 sword among cutting instruments. Soma, the pacifier, with 
 vibratory motion, inspires us with songs and soul-moving 
 hymns, sending forth as rivers a flood of sound. Soma, 
 who was the inward soul, and is the rainer of felicity, sits 
 down among us, with his unmatched strength, and is well 
 skilled in the matter of cows." 
 
 Here we perceive, that though both Indra and Agni had 
 been honoured with the assurance of their being supreme 
 among the gods, the same distinction is conferred on " the 
 juicy god," as the poet calls his beloved Soma. The wind 
 also, under the name Vayu and Maruts, has his praises and 
 his prayers. 
 
 " Confer on us, for our preservation, an intellect for 
 obtaining cows, horses, food, and heroes." 
 
 " (Maruts), heroes possessed of substantial might, grant 
 his desire to the hymning, sweating, moving chanter." 
 
 " Vayu ! I, rendered glorious by the performance of 
 sacred rites, and desirous of heaven, come to thee the first 
 with the sweet moon-plant juice. god ! worthy of all 
 regard, come to our moon-plant banquet, drawn by thy 
 million of horses ! Indra and Vayu ! ye are worthy to 
 drink of that expressed moon-plant juice ; for the streams 
 of liquid flow together naturally unto you as waters into a 
 pit. Vayu and Indra ! mighty, and the lords of might, 
 do ye come to the moon-plant banquet for our protection, in 
 your chariot drawn by a million of horses." 
 
 " wind, let thy soothing, delicious medicine enter our 
 breasts, and do thou greatly extend our term of life ! O 
 wind, thou art to us even as a father, even as a brother, to 
 us even as an intimate friend. Do thou Avork with us for 
 the preservation of the life-preserving sacrifice. wind ! 
 bestow on us, to afford us a living, a portion of that un- 
 failing (wealth) which is in thy house carefully stored up.""
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 387 
 
 Not is the dawn overlooked in tlie general lavishing of 
 worship. 
 
 " The goddess Aurora, in the form of the dawn, comes 
 from the distant regions of the moon to this nether world, 
 and diffuses her splendour all around." 
 
 " brilliant Aurora ! enlighten our minds as thou hast 
 enlightened us in times past, that this day we may obtain 
 much wealth. thou of glorious origin, by whose aid we 
 obtain horses, (favour me) Satyasvaras, son of Vajya ! 
 recipient of praise, bringer of brilliant desires, destroyer of 
 darkness, daughter of heaven, powerful goddess ! give us a 
 place of abode." 
 
 " These intelligence-giving rays of morn spread light over 
 the eastern aiirial region ; and the morning — creative, genera- 
 tive, warming — rays march forth like strong men arrayed 
 in armour. The resplendent rays proceed forward with 
 freedom, and, self-yoked, the glorious beams unite themselves 
 (to the chariot). All intelligences awake with the morning, 
 and the before-mentioned rays of the brilliant (goddess) pay 
 their respects to the radiant sun. The sacrihce-receiving 
 Aurora is worshipped by one effort, even from afar, and 
 brings food without fail to the pioiis, bountiful master of 
 the moon-plant banquet." 
 
 After these quotations it will be obvious that, at the 
 time when this book was composed, the doctrine of God's 
 unity, with the cognate truths of his infinity, omniscience, 
 and omnipresence, had become so corrupted as to have lost 
 their identity. A source of being is mistily conceived ; but 
 the personality of that source is so completely lost, that 
 any object may be honoured with the supreme name. We 
 have here no clear idea of a Being whose nature so differs 
 from that of all created things, as to forbid the thought of 
 his fusion or identification with any, — a Being who, in his 
 essential personality, pervades all, sustains all, directs all, 
 yet remains distinct, as the vital air from the animal frame, 
 or as the magnetic principle from the metal where it could
 
 388 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 not be discovered a day ago, but wliicli it is pervading 
 now. 
 
 On the surface of these quotations, it would seem as if 
 several supreme beings were recognised ; but the meaning 
 probably is, that each adorable object is declared supreme, 
 because identified with the First Cause, and therefore with 
 the other objects of worship ; as, for example, " Agni is 
 radiance, and radiance is Agni ; Indra is radiance, and 
 radiance is Indra ; the sun is radiance, and radiance is the 
 sun." The deities are also invoked by couples or trios : — 
 
 " Let me have all the glorious, irresistible aids of the 
 mighty trio, — Mitra, Aryaman, and Varuna." 
 
 " ye priests, celebrate Mitra and Varuna in songs at 
 the height of your voice, and do you both, possessed of 
 great strength, come to the long-continuing sacrifice; ye 
 who are the universal lords, the womb of the waters, 
 yourselves divinities, and mighty among the gods." 
 
 Even in these extracts proofs appear, which are 
 abundantly increased on reading the entire volume, that 
 those by whom it was composed received a system of 
 mythology comprising gods and goddesses, celestial broils, 
 and celestial excesses. Nor is even pantheism consistently 
 preserved, for some of the divinities are less distinctly 
 pronounced supreme than others ; whereas were each one 
 equally the Eternal, no gradations could exist. Though 
 image-worship is not sanctioned, animal-worship is so very 
 clearly, in this })rayer to Garuda, the sacred vulture : — 
 
 "0 Garuda, the men whose breasts are filled with 
 devotional feeling see thee while moving thy wings grace- 
 fully in the heavens, as thou art radiant like gold and the 
 messenger of Varuna, art the bird that producest in the 
 womb of Yama the all-enthralling (Agni), and art the 
 nourisher (of men). The water -preserving, aloft- going 
 (laruda takes his station before us in the heavens, lays 
 hold of his variegated armour, and covering himself with 
 his own glorious plumage, like the sun, to await our
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGIOX I) 8 9 
 
 reverential view, he gives to tlie adorable, belove<l (showers 
 of rain). Covered with watery drops in the heavens, and 
 shining with the light of the water-collecting sun, he goes 
 to the fluid-receiving (cloud) ; and the sun, shining with 
 his white radiance, produces through the three worlds the 
 delightful (rain)." 
 
 Upon the subject of the Divine nature the Puranas do 
 not materially diverge from the Vedas ; except that 
 according to the sect of the authors, now Vishnu and now 
 Shiva is declared to be supreme. In the Vishnu Parana, the 
 one lesson inculcated is, that in all the universe is not one 
 existence save Vishnu alone. " Thou art sacrifice, thou art 
 oblation, thou art the mystic Omkara, thou art the sacrificial 
 fires ; thou art the Vedas, and their dependent sciences ; 
 thou art Hari, the object of all worship. The sun, the 
 stars, the planets, the whole world ; all that is formless or 
 that has form ; all that is visible or invisible ; all, Purush- 
 ottama, that I have said, or left unsaid : all this, supreme, 
 thou art." (Page 29.) In another page we read, " Gods, 
 men, animals, birds, reptiles — all are but forms of one 
 eternal Vishnu, existing, as it were, apart from himself." 
 In another passage Brahma addresses Vishnu thus : " thou 
 who art distinct from holy writ, whose double nature is 
 twofold wisdom, superior and inferior, and Avho art the 
 essential end of both ; who, alike devoid and possessed of 
 form, art the twofold Brahma, smallest of the least, and 
 largest of the large ; all, and knowing all things ; that 
 spirit which is language ; that spirit which is supreme ; that 
 which is Brahma, and of which Brahma is composed ! 
 Thou art the Rig, the Yajur, the Sama, and the Atharva 
 Vedas. Thou art acceleration, ritual, signification, metre, 
 and astronomy; history, tradition, grammar, theology, logic, 
 and law. Thou art inscrutable. Thou art the doctrine that 
 investigates the distinction between soul and life and body, 
 and matter endowed with qualities ; and that doctrine is 
 nothing but thy nature inherent in and presiding over it.
 
 890 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 Thou art imperceptible, indescribable, inconceivable, without 
 name, or colour, or hands, or feet ; pure, eternal, and 
 infinite. Thou hearest without ears, and seest without eyes. 
 Thou art one and multiform. Thou movest Avithout feet, 
 and seizest without hands. Thou knowest all, but art not 
 by all to be known. He who beholds thee as the most 
 subtle of atoms, not substantially existent, puts an end to 
 ignorance ; and final emancipation is the reward of that 
 wise man whose understanding cherishes nothing other than 
 thee in the form of supreme delight." It is here manifest 
 how consistently the doctrine of pantheism is pushed to all 
 its consequences, however revolting or absurd ; and even 
 among the most ignorant of the people, similar views prevail, 
 though vaguely conceived, and held with a thousand incon- 
 sistencies. 
 
 The common statement, that the Hindus have neither 
 temple nor worship for Para-Brahma, the great First Cause, 
 is correct; and yet it conveys an impression beyond the 
 truth. Para-Brahma is a virtual nonentity, existing for 
 ever in profound sleep, unaware even of his own existence. 
 The expression of the last-quoted passage, " the most subtle 
 of all atoms, not substantially existent," hints at this view of 
 his nature ; a view not well consisting with pantheism. To 
 this inconceivable abstraction it is impossible that worship 
 should be rendered. But the Shiva worshipper holds Shiva 
 to be supreme, and the Vishnu worshipper holds Vishnu to 
 be supreme, each regarding the homage paid to these gods 
 as paid to Him who ie all and all.^ The pantheistic 
 principle, first employed to deify the great agents of nature, 
 is thus secondly applied to imaginary celestial beings, and 
 
 ' Voltaire, with his usual acuteuess and spite, replies to the 
 accusation of not worshipping' the Sui^reme, which had been made 
 against the Hindus hy Romish priests: "What could Chinese, 
 Tartars, Arabs, Persians, Turks, think, if they saw so many cliurches 
 dedicated to St. January, St. Anthony, St. Francis, St. Fiacre, etc., 
 and not one to the lord of nature, the supreme essence by wliom we 
 live ? " — FrcKjm. siir I'lndc.
 
 INDIA: IT.S KFJJGION 391 
 
 tinally subserves tlie vilest idolatry. He who believes that 
 birds and reptiles are only forms of the Supreme, may 
 readily adore the vulture or the snake. 
 
 With all their folly, it will be observed that some of the 
 passages cited nobly express the divine glory. In what 
 follows this is still more conspicuous. " We bow to him 
 whose glory is the perpetual theme of every speech ; him 
 first, him last ; the supreme Lord of the boundless world ; 
 who is primeval light ; who is without his like ; indivisible 
 and infinite ; the origin of all existent things moveable or 
 stationary." How readily and happily should we conclude 
 that the writer of this really knew the truth of one glorious 
 eternal Spirit ! But the very next sentence is to this 
 effect : — " To that supreme Being who is one with time, 
 whose first forms, though he be without form, are day and 
 evening, and nigiit, be adoration." This (and countless 
 citations more humbling still might be made) shows that 
 terms which to us convey large and glorious conceptions of 
 what God is, are used by the Hindu without any corre- 
 spending idea. Perhaps JNIr, Mill errs in ascribing the origin 
 of such terms to the love of flattery; and certainly his 
 opponents err in arguing that the use of the terms implies 
 the existence of their appropriate ideas. The terms are 
 proof that at one time true ideas of God sought and 
 received true expression ; biU the use of those terms now 
 does not prove that the primitive ideas are preserved ; it 
 only proves that those who employ the terms have an 
 impression that they are laudatory and acceptable. My 
 own observation would lead me to say, that among the 
 people (and even the few passages of the sacred books cited, 
 will show that in them also) these lofty appellations much 
 resemble the title " Maha Rajah," on a letter to a Mahratta 
 accountant or tailor. The correspondent has no idea of 
 asserting that the accountant or the tailor is a great king ; 
 but he wishes to be polite, and therefore uses the royal title, 
 without for one moment thinking what it means. So, in
 
 392 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 sounding epithets in praise of Vishnu or Shiva, the Hindu 
 means to be as laudatory as possible ; but as to the words, 
 they are Trords of air. 
 
 One of the many points in which Hinduism is inconsistent 
 with the fundamental dogma of Pantheism, is the recogni- 
 tion of a triad — Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, 
 and Shiva the destroyer — who rule heaven and earth, men 
 and gods. Respecting this triad many theories exist. One 
 declares them to be only Para-Brahma manifesting himself 
 now in creation, now in preservation, and now in destruction. 
 Another proclaims Shiva head and source of the triad and of 
 all things, Brahma and Vishnu being only his subordinates. 
 A third claims the reversal of this order in favour of Vishnu ; 
 and a fourth declares that the whole triad are only the first 
 created and highest of creature-gods, who are charged with 
 the care of the universe while the First Cause enjoys his 
 sleep. 
 
 Brahma, the creator, has a vile and disastrous history. 
 The only references to him which I remember in the Sama 
 Veda are the following, in which the epithet " First-born " 
 seems to designate him, rather than Para-Brahma : — " The 
 first-born glorious Brahma has, from of old, shed abroad his 
 brilliant rays to the utmost bounds of space, and now sheds 
 them abroad to the regents of all the different points in the 
 heavens, which are the reducers to form of this world, and 
 everywhere residing in the wombs of truth and falsehood " 
 (Pages 60, 61). 
 
 In another place, " Jh-ahma among the gods" is a mark 
 of eminence. His office is not only creative but also rectoral ; 
 he guards the holy Vedas, without which neither heaven nor 
 earth could stand ; and, as each child is born, he predestinates 
 all its acts of piety or crime, with its portion of sorrow or 
 happiness, writing the whole upon its forehead. For an 
 unpardonable domestic offence against Shiva, one of his heads 
 was cut off, and for another still viler he was cursed so 
 lieavily that he has not been since honoured with the temples
 
 INDIA: ITS IIELIGION 39o 
 
 or the worship accorded to the other j^'ods. Yet on certain 
 occasions sacrifices are offered to him ; and in some neigh- 
 bourhoods lie has temples. 
 
 Vishnu is honoured even in the Sama Veda, with the 
 title "All-preserving," and in one passage is referred to in a 
 way that places him above Indra. Yet the latter receives, 
 throughout the work, a thousandfold more honour than 
 Vishnu, who is declared worthy of respect, because he is 
 "the intimate friend and companion of Indra." Eut in 
 Hinduism, as now existing, Indra is a second-rate god, while 
 Vishnu shines in the Triad. As preserver, it has frequently 
 become his duty to suffer incarnation. The first was the 
 Matsija (fish) Avatdra, or incarnation. In a drowsy fit 
 Brahma had let the Vedas escape. On their flight they 
 were seized by a giant, wdio, to retain his prize, dived to the 
 bottom of the sea. To repair the fatal loss, Vishnu became 
 a fish, hasted to the depths where the giant lay, penetrated 
 into his body, and thence bore away the celestial treasure.^ 
 The second was the Karma, (turtle) Avatdra. The gods, 
 desirous of maritime discoveries, embarked on a craft such 
 as Lloyd's never registered, namely, Mandara Parvata, a 
 huge mountain. Their bark began to sink ; they, at the 
 point of drowning, cried to the great Preserver, and he, to 
 rescue the immortals, became a turtle, dived into the sea, 
 
 ' [This is substantially the legend as foiuid in the Bhagavata 
 Purana. In the Satapatha Bn'ihmana the story is different and very 
 interesting. It is there stated that "the object of the incarnation 
 was to save Vaivaswata, the seventh Mann, progenitor of the human 
 race, froin destniction l)y a deluge. A suiall fish came into the hands 
 of Mann and besought liis protection. He carefully guarded it, and it 
 grew rajddl}' until nothing but the ocean would contain it. Mann 
 then recognised its divinity, and woishipped the deity Vishnu, thus 
 incarnate. The god ajiprised Mann of the approaching catacl3'sm, and 
 bade him [irepare for it. When it came, Manu embarked in a ship 
 with the Rishis, and with the seeds of all existing things. Vishnu 
 then a})peared as the fish, with a most stupendous horn. The ship 
 was lionnd to this horn with tlie great serpent as with a rope, and was 
 secured in safety until the waters had subsided," — Dowson.j
 
 394 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 placed himself under the mountain, and heaved it up with 
 his back. 
 
 The Vardlia (boar) Avafdra, followed. A giant had 
 become so dangerous that his destruction was necessary. 
 But he was ensconced in the lowest of the seven lower 
 worlds. Vishnu, to reach him, became a boar, and with his 
 snout scooped a passage through the earth, and right down 
 to the infernal regions, where he slew the giant. The 
 Vishnu Punxna differently relates this Avatdra, saying that 
 its object was to raise the earth out of the waters. "The 
 mighty boar, whose eyes were like the lotus, and whose body, 
 vast as the Nila Mountains, was of the dark colour of the lotus 
 leaves, uplifted upon his ample tusks the earth from the 
 lowest regions." We are further informed that the sages 
 " sought for shelter among the bristles on the scriptural body 
 of the boar, trembling as he rose up supporting the earth, and 
 dripping with moisture." This boar was not made in good 
 proportion, for we are told in another Purana, that he was 
 ten yojanas in breadth, and a thousand thousand high ; that 
 is fifty miles by five thousand. 
 
 The fourth was the Narasimlia or man-lion Avatdra. A 
 devout servant of Vishnu had a father opposed to his worship, 
 and who, one day contending with his son, denied the omni- 
 presence of Vishnu, and striking a pillar declared he was 
 not there. The preserver issued from the pillar as half a 
 man, half a lion, tore open the infidel's body, sucked his 
 blood, and made necklaces of his intestines. Then came the 
 dwarf-Brahman, or Vdmana, Avatdra. Bali, a giant to whose 
 depredations the Rig Veda often refers, had reduced the 
 gods to great straits. Vishnu appeared before him as a 
 pigmy Brfdiman, soliciting as much ground as he could 
 cover with three prints of his tiny foot. The giant, amused 
 at the request, granted it. Vishnu instantly dilated to vast 
 proportions ; with the first step covered all the earth ; with 
 the second all the space between earth and heaven; and, 
 having no place for the third, he laid it on the head of Bali,
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 395 
 
 crushing him through the earth to hell. Tlii« Avatdra is 
 plainly referred to in the Saraa Veda. " This Vishnu, when 
 he made his tour of the world, put down his feet but three 
 times, and covered all the earth with the dusty sole of his 
 foot. Vishnu, the preserver, the indefatigable, made the 
 journey in three steps, ami thus upheld the performance of 
 sacred rites." 
 
 The sixth Avatdra was Parai^hu-Iiama,^ a heroic man, 
 victor in dreadful wars. The seventh was Rama-cliandra,'^ 
 whose conquest of Ceylon, by an army of monkeys, was 
 sketched in a former chapter. These two Avatdras were 
 contemporary, and being mutually ignorant that each was 
 the great Vishnu, went to war the one with the other. The 
 eighth Avatdra was Bala-Bama, who Avith a mighty snake 
 destroyed hosts of giants. The ninth Avatdra ^ was into the 
 Arali tree, and was assumed for the same purpose as the 
 golden shower. The tenth, which has not yet occurred, is 
 to be in the form of a white horse. 
 
 Besides these nine Avatdras, that of Krishna is celebrated 
 at great length in some of the Puranas ; and all India 
 resounds with ballads commemorating his mirth, his might, 
 and his licentiousness. I have remarked, at least, three 
 instances, in which the Rig Veda mentions Krishna ; but 
 they are obscure, leaving it very doubtful whether the same 
 personage is intended. At page 205, ludra is commended 
 for having " killed the women pregnant by Krishna, the 
 Asura, or giant."'* This looks very like an allusion to the 
 husband of sixteen thousand wives. But this being placed 
 among the giants somewhat obscures it ; though at pages 
 246 and 248, the Aswins are praised for having restoreil a 
 
 * ["Rama with the axe."] 
 
 - ["The moon-like or gentle Rama," hero of the Ramayana.] 
 
 ^ [The ninth is the Buddlia Avatara. The Biahnians, seeing 
 
 Buddha's success, adopted him as their own. They represented Vishnu 
 
 appearing as Buddha to encourage demons and wicked men to despise 
 
 the Vedas and deny the gods, and thus to work their own destruction.] 
 
 * Mulieres, a Krishna, Asura graridas, necavit. — Rosex.
 
 396 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 lost son, Vishnapvan, to his father, a son of Krishna. Thus, 
 while in the one case merit attended the destruction of liis 
 offspring, on the other it attended their preservation. 
 
 One trait in the character of the Preserver is very remark- 
 able, Hinduism carries the doctrine of supererogation to 
 such length, that ascetics may gain merit, not only sufficient 
 to cover their own sins, and to benefit other mortals ; but 
 sufficient also to give them fearful powers, which, at 
 discretion, may be turned against the gods. When one of 
 these holy men threatens the celestials, nothing can rescue 
 them, but to deprive him of his merit by leading hira into 
 sin. Thus, in order to seduce men of transcendent piety, 
 the Preserver has several times become a teacher of error. 
 Of these abominable missions, the Puruna wholly devoted 
 to the praise of Vishnu supplies the following example. The 
 gods after a severe defeat piteously appealed to Vishnu, 
 saying : " Have compassion on us, Lord, and protect us 
 who have come to thee for succour, from the Daityas, 
 They have seized upon the three worlds, and appropriated 
 to themselves the offerings which are our portion, taking 
 care not to transgress the precepts of the Vedas, , . , 
 Engaged in the duties of their respective orders, and follow- 
 ing the paths prescribed by holy writ, practising also 
 religious penance, it is impossible for us to destroy them. 
 Do thou instruct us in some device whereby we may 
 exterminate the enemies of the gods." When the mighty 
 Vishnu heard their request he emitted from his body an 
 illusory form which he gave to the gods, and thus spake : 
 " This deceptive vision shall wholly beguile the Daityas, so 
 that, being led astray from the path of the Vedas, they may 
 be put to death ; for all gods, demons, or others who shall 
 be opposed to the Veda, shall perish by my might, whilst 
 exercised for the preservation of the world. Go then, and 
 fear not : let this delusive vision precede you ; it shall this 
 day be of great service to you, gods ! " In the case of 
 Divodasa, given by Dr, Wilson, of JJombay, Vishnu is at
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 397 
 
 much pains to corrupt the holiest of mortals ; and at length 
 succeeds. 
 
 Of vShiva, the Destroyer, it is not possible to say much 
 without citing impurities better avoided. Wrath, lust, and 
 filth, are the sum of his character. In one of his Avars, 
 Mandara Parvata (the mountain on which the gods embarked) 
 was his bow, a vast serpent the string, Vishnu his arrow, 
 and for a shield, having split the earth asunder, he took one 
 half. His repeated crimes brought upon him curses manifold, 
 and, some of them, unmentionable. His dwelling was 
 among the ashes of the dead, his avocation begging, his 
 robe a tiger's skin, his alms-box a human skull, and his 
 rosary a string of skulls. Among his names are the 
 "Furious," the "Hide-clad," the "Ugly-eyed," and the 
 " Devil - king." Upon his character all the vices have 
 exhausted their imagination ; and yet, overflowing with 
 impurities as that character is, his worship is the most 
 ancient of the sectarian divisions in India, and perhaps even 
 yet, the most numerous. His office is to destroy all things ; 
 an event frequently occurring, according to Hinduism ; 
 occurring, indeed, whenever Brahma takes a sleep. ^ He 
 seems to be fully recognised in his character of Destroyer in 
 the Rig Yeda. " Slay not, Rudra (Shiva), our old, nor 
 our young, our unborn (generans), nor our newly-born, our 
 father, nor our mother ; nor afflict the bodies Ave love ! In 
 son, in grandson, in kinsman, in coavs, or in horses, chastise 
 us not ; nor in anger smite our men, Rudra ! . . . Far 
 from us be thy Aveapon Avhich slays cows," and slays men, 
 Destroyer of men ! Be felicity accorded to us of thee ; 
 favour us, and undertake our cause, god ! give us 
 salvation ! " 
 
 ^ I do not attempt to give a view of Hindu cosmogony, as it would 
 require much space, and is not a necessary part of their religion ; 
 though necessarily involving the credit of the Shastras. 
 
 - " Vaccam neccms" ; this I take to he a misprint for vtcccas, and 
 render it accordingly.
 
 398 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Each of the Triad has a heaven of his own ; Indra too, 
 has a heaven, and several heavens beside are mentioned. 
 These abodes are thronged by three hundred and thirty 
 millions of gods, in whose character is neither grandeur nor 
 worth. They luxuriate in crime, and are frequently worsted 
 in battle. Krishna called them " the vile and contemptible 
 denizens of heaven," and also "the evil-minded and un- 
 principled gods " ; terms admirably characteristic. These 
 gods are considered immortal, but not properly divine, 
 except, indeed, as any object may be identified with the 
 supreme Spirit, and so be called divine. In the Kanarese, 
 and some other Indian tongues, though not in all, they are 
 not called Dcva, the name " God " as applied to the Triad 
 and a few others ; but Dcvategalu, " little gods," (Hi minores. 
 You cannot, however, find two Brahmans who agree as to 
 the number of celestials entitled to be called Dt'va. Of 
 course it is not attempted to give a catalogue of the Devate- 
 galu ; and only a few, comparatively, receive separate worship. 
 At certain ceremonies, and in urgent distress, they are 
 invoked in mass. 
 
 Perhaps it may admit of doubt whether any of the gods 
 receiving separate worship belong properly to the class of 
 Devategalu, and whether they are not all of other orders ; 
 being either deified natural agents, deified men, deified animals, 
 or else imaginary regents governing certain provinces, as 
 Kumfira, " God of war," and Vighncshwara, " God of 
 difficulties." If this be correct, then the three hundred and 
 thirty millions come from a corruption of the patriarchal 
 doctrine of angels ; and to furnish the pantheon of divinities 
 separately adored, three processes have been employed : — 
 Personification, applied at will to any inanimate object, even 
 so low as moon-plant wine, but especially to the nobler ones, 
 as the sun, moon, ocean, etc. ; Ajjotheosis, exercised not only 
 on men, but also on beasts, birds, and reptiles ; and In- 
 vention, resorted to when any class of facts had been 
 observed, and it was deemed necessary to assign them a
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 399 
 
 director. Such conceptions as Virgil's Fame, or Ovid's 
 Envy, if put forth, in India, by good authority, Avould be 
 generahy accepted as models of goddesses. From conceptions 
 similar, if not in poetry, at least in principle, have sprung 
 the host of official gods ; a class which includes even the 
 Triad. 
 
 The debased and polluting idolatry to which these 
 doctrines naturally lead, has been illustrated at length 
 in former pages. It is now, therefore, only necessary 
 to recall the fact, that the fair and spacious continent of 
 Hindustan is inundated Avith idols — idols of from the size 
 of an elephant to that of a bee; of every material, from 
 gold to clay ; and of every form, from monster to reptile — 
 idols in which all decency is outraged, and all modesty 
 decried — idols Avhich meet you at every turn, until you are 
 ready to repeat the old satire on Athens, that it is more 
 easy to iind a god than a man. Then, with these loathsome 
 claimants of divine honours are associated trees, hills, 
 waters, kings, husbands, priests, and patrons, cows, birds, 
 snakes, and monkeys, and even implements of handicraft. 
 I^or are these debasements confined to the ignorant and low. 
 In the Vishnu Purana we are told that Krishna utters the 
 following sentiments : — " Practical science is agriculture, 
 commerce, and tending of cattle. . . . Thus the knowledge 
 of the means of support is threefold. The object that is 
 cultivated by any one should be to him as his chief divinity 
 that should be venerated and worshipped as it is his bene- 
 factor. . . . We then " (he was a cowherd) " are bound 
 to worship the mountains and to oiler sacrifices to cattle. 
 What have we to do with Indra? Cattle and mountains 
 are our gods. Brahmans offer worship with prayer ; culti- 
 vators of the earth adore their landmarks ; but we, who 
 tend our herds in the forests and mountains, should worship 
 them and our kine." (Page 524.) 
 
 Painful as is the darkness of the Hindu on the natural 
 attributes of God, it is more painful still respecting His
 
 400 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 moral glories. Whether we take one god or another, 
 celestial life or terrestrial incarnations, the primitive Yeda or 
 the modern Parana, in all Ave find the revolting alliance of 
 divinity and pollution. It is safe to say that in the Purana 
 legends of the amours, envies, and errors of the gods, we 
 have, from the creator down, a record of turpitude far 
 exceeding that of any prison in existence. Deeds we should 
 blush to name are sung in lofty verse, and as the per- 
 formance of glorious godhead. To excuse these monstrosities 
 we are told that as to God " no actions affect him." Were 
 it not that our eyes have light from above, this answer might 
 blind us, as it does the astute Hindu, and like him we might 
 forget that it is not the action which affects the agent, but 
 the agent who affects the action, displaying his own character 
 in the character he gives to his deeds. Laboriously and 
 painfully does the Hindu set himself to prove that actions 
 which in himself would be culpable, are, in his god, wise 
 and pure. This one fact forcibly illustrates two Scriptural 
 declarations, namely, that the heathen know not God ; and 
 that they have a laAV written on their heart. In their 
 ignorance of God, they forget that principles too vile for 
 man cannot be those of the Eternal ; and by the law written 
 on their hearts, they feel that to copy the supposed divine 
 example would involve guilt. The truth that a clean thing 
 cannot be brought out of an unclean, has a sorrowful 
 evidence in the fact that every effort of the human soul 
 to evolve, independent of revelation, an idea of God, 
 has only produced a huge being of eccentric power, and 
 blemished morals. 
 
 The idea of God, as taught in the Shastras, is lamentably 
 entangled and obscure ; but as existing in the popular mind 
 is even more so. They say, " God is one " ; but when 
 asked Who ? or, Of what character 1 some will reply, " The 
 god at Shivaganga " ; some, " Hanumanta " ; some, 
 " Gubbi Appa " ; some, " Kanga," and so on. With the 
 more intelligent the proposition, "God is one," is only the
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 401 
 
 first of a series of propositions of wliicla the last is, "There 
 are gods many and lords many." One class, if they could 
 analyse their reasoning, would state it thus : " God is one : 
 this one Being is supreme ; the Supreme must be perfectly 
 happy ; to be perfectly happy, he must be free from all care ; 
 to be free from all care, he must be unconscious : therefore 
 Clod is free from consciousness, that is, he is for ever asleep. 
 A being who is asleep does not govern the universe; but 
 the universe is governed ; and must be governed by some 
 divine being ; thus there must be some divine being who is 
 not asleep, and consequently who is not the supreme." 
 And then it is easy to prove from the Shastras that the 
 government of the universe is not in one hand, but in many, 
 therefore the gods are many. Another class arrives at the 
 same conclusion, thus : " God is one ; from Him sprang all 
 things ; He is in all things ; so that on whatever we look we 
 look on God. It is false to say of anything it is not God, 
 for nothing exists without God ; therefore God is every- 
 thing, and everything is God." Their views of God's omni- 
 presence, though thus adequate as to extent, are wretchedly 
 gross. Of omniscience they have scarce a thought ; Para- 
 Brahma being ignorant that he is even asleep, and all the 
 Shastras describing the highest gods as often in difficulties 
 from ignorance, it is not wonderful that the people insist on 
 the necessity of several gods ; because, say they, no king 
 could attend to a whole kingdom without provincial officers ; 
 so God cannot attend to all affairs without assistant deities. 
 They sometimes worthily express omnipotence; but a 
 moment after show that they have not any true conception 
 on the subject ; and indeed, even in the Shastras, halts, 
 obstacles, and embarrassments retard every movement of 
 alleged omnipotence, and impede even the work of creation. 
 When, even in the Shastras, the acts of deity constantly 
 flow from, or are mingled with what they themselves term, 
 " foulness, passion, and darkness," we could only expect, 
 what we find sadly realised, that in the thoughts of the 
 
 26
 
 402 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 people the deity stands apart from all idea of justice, 
 fidelity, and truth. Yet they have universally the con- 
 viction that sin will be punished ; a conviction, however, 
 taught chiefly by a voice quoting the sanctions of a law 
 written on their heart. I never could discover in a Hindu 
 mind, the idea of one great Eeing, holy and good, who is 
 distinct from all He upholds as His own light from all it 
 beautifies. Others, beside theological observers, have been 
 struck with the absence in Hindu piety of any sentiment 
 like the love of God. Colonel Kennedy has said respecting 
 the Shastras, that, " It is singular that such expressions 
 as the love and fear of God, never occur in those sacred 
 books." 1 
 
 The doctrines concerning man are next in importance to 
 those concerning God. It is affirmed on all hands that the 
 Hindus have always taught the immortality of the soul. But 
 in this statement immortality is confounded with future 
 existence. The Hindus hold that the soul exists after death ; 
 but, in our sense, or in any true sense, they do not hold it 
 to be immortal. To the idea of life, .especially of spiritual 
 life, both personality and consciousness are essential. By 
 the immortality of the soul, we understand, that to all 
 eternity the soul will exist as a real being ; and therefore 
 will for ever think, feel, and act. This the Hindus do not 
 hold. Their doctrine is not the immortality, but the 
 divinity, of the soul. The soul, according to them, is not a 
 creature of God, which it is not His will ever to annihilate ; 
 but it is a part of God, which He has deluded into the belief 
 that it is a separate being. In consequence of this delusion 
 it suffers ; on quitting the present body it will enter another ; 
 there it will suff'er also, and so on until, recovering from its 
 error, it will recognise itself as God, whereupon its suffering 
 and its consciousness will terminate, by reabsorption into the 
 Supreme. To a soul, the termination of conscious existence 
 is not only death, but annihilation ; it would, therefore, be 
 J guutud l.y Dr. Wilson,
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 403 
 
 more correct to say that the Hindus believe in the divinity 
 of the soul, than that they believe in its immortality. 
 
 The soul is, according to Hinduism, ever and only a part 
 of God ; and yet its condition after death depends on its 
 merit in life. If virtuous it may be born a goat or even a 
 cow ; if pious, a man ; if saintly, a Brahman ; if immoral, a 
 cat, a tiger, a crow, or a bug. Its progress in holiness is 
 followed by a progressive elevation of birth, till absorption 
 crowns its reward. Thus, upon the whole earth, only one 
 kind of living being exists; "all life is one." "A man, 
 a woman, a cow, a goat, a horse, an elephant, a bird, a tree " 
 (for some include vegetables with animals), " are names," says 
 the Vishnu Purana, " assigned to various bodies which are 
 the consequences of acts. Man is neither a god, nor a man, 
 nor a brute, nor a tree : these are mere varieties of shape, the 
 effects of acts." This occurs in a passage often quoted by 
 Brahmans in conversation with myself. The same Purana 
 recites the history of a prince, who after death was born a 
 dog, then a jackal, then a wolf, then a vulture, then a crow, 
 then a peacock, and finally a prince again. 
 
 It will be observed that in this doctrine heaven and hell 
 have no place. Sin is punished by repeated gifts of existence 
 and piety rewarded by privation of existence for ever. Had 
 these views prevailed from the beginning, no such idea as 
 that of heaven or hell would have existed. Yet allusions to 
 those places of punishment and reward are of constant 
 occurrence, nor do the sacred writers preserve their grand 
 theory of transmigrations free from intrusions of the older 
 truth. For instance, the lot of the prince, whose migrations 
 we have just noticed, is described in terms wholly inconsistent 
 with the dogma of absorption. " The king then, along with 
 his princess, ascended beyond the sphere of Indra, to the 
 region where all desires are for ever gratified, obtaining ever- 
 during and unequalled happiness in heaven." The same 
 inconsistency pervades all their moral sanctions ; for 
 instance, the Vishnu Parana, in one sentence, declares the
 
 404 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 punishment of an adulterer to be hell, and in the next to be 
 birth as a reptile. To accommodate the theory of heaven 
 and hell, with that of metempsychosis, they are sometimes 
 represented as only temporary abodes, whence, eventually, 
 the soul issues for a new round of births. But the existence 
 of the names and ideas of these worlds, with such expressions 
 as those just quoted, " ever-during," and " for ever gratified," 
 strongly indicate a theology which had formed language 
 before the doctrine of transmigration was invented. 
 
 So definitely does the idea of heaven and hell exist among 
 the Hindus, that a heaven is assigned to each caste, and 
 terrible descriptions are given of hell. " The heaven of the 
 Pitris," says Parasara, " is the region of the devout Brahmans. 
 The sphere of Indra, of Kshatriyas who fly not from the field. 
 The region of the winds is assigned to the Vaisyas, who are 
 diligent in their occupation and submissive. Sudras are 
 elevated to the sphere of the Gandharvas. Those Brahmans 
 who lead religious lives, go to the world of the eighty-eight 
 thousand saints : and that of the seven Rishis, is the seat of 
 pious anchorets and hermits. The world of ancestors is that 
 of respectable householders : and the region of Brahma is 
 the asylum of religious mendicants. The imperishable region 
 of the Yogis (ascetic hermits) is the highest seat of Vishnu, 
 where they perpetually meditate on the supreme Being, with 
 minds intent on him alone : the sphere where they reside 
 the gods themselves cannot behold. The sun, the moon, the 
 planets shall repeatedly be and cease to be ; but those who 
 internally repeat the mystic adoration of the divinity shall 
 never know decay." This last sentence is a bold and express 
 declaration of inimortality ; but it is not the doctrine of the 
 writer by whom it was penned, as might be shown from 
 numerous passages in his work, in which it is declared that 
 no state is " imperishable," and that the Yogis, so far from 
 enjoying or desiring an existence that "shall never know 
 decay," pant only to lose all existence by becoming a particle 
 of God. The doctrine of these two sentences is plainly a
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 405 
 
 ray of earlier light still flitting among the shades that had 
 fallen so thickly. 
 
 Besides this truly Hindu division of heaven into caste 
 asylums, they enumerate popularly four heavens, one for each 
 member of the Triad and one for Indra, Brahma's heaven 
 is SatyaloJca, the Realm of Truth, where the creator dwells 
 royally with his swan-drawn chariot, and where only 
 Brahmans are received. Vishnu reigns in Vaikuntlia, a 
 sublime mountain in the north, into which all the excellent 
 are admitted irrespective of sect or caste. Shiva too, the 
 destroyer, has his heaven, Kailcisa, a glorious mount of silver, 
 which like that of Vishnu is free for all the good. But the 
 favourite heaven of all, is Sivarga, where in the region of 
 the air Indra reigns over the three hundred and thirty 
 millions of gods, and wherein abound the dance, the song, 
 and all sensual joy. 
 
 The same authority from whom we quoted the above 
 account of heaven, says : — " For those who neglect their 
 duties, who revile the Vedas and obstruct religious rites, 
 the i^laces assigned after death are the terrific regions of 
 darkness, of deep gloom, of fear, and of great terror ; the 
 fearful hell of sharp swords, the hell of scourges, and of a 
 waveless sea." This is a much loftier view of the punish- 
 ment than is given in other parts of the sacred writings, 
 where the torments are particularised, and nearly all 
 ridiculous — filth and feculence bearing the principal part. 
 They also name punishments not unlike those of Milton. 
 Over hell (pdtdla) presides Yama, the child of the Sun. 
 The suft'erings of hell are not eternal ; but in themselves 
 expiate the offences for which they are inflicted, and purify 
 the suS'erer, who is eventually emancipated. 
 
 Probably from this latter belief sprang the sacrifice to 
 departed souls, evidently as ancient as the Vedas, and still 
 so much insisted upon. This rite also is incompatible with 
 metempsychosis ; for the manes are declared to receive 
 pleasure from the oftering, which could not be the case were
 
 406 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 they tenanting new bodies and perfectly unconscious of 
 their previous history. We conclude that the sacrifice is 
 more ancient than the doctrine of transmigration, because 
 it is very improbable that it sliould originate after that 
 doctrine had been received ; and also because its counter- 
 part is discoverable amongst nearly all heathen people. In 
 China, as in India, food is presented for the benefit of the 
 dead ; in West Africa, slaves ; in Kafiirland, cows ; and in 
 North America, a rifle. 
 
 In the Vedas nothing is distinctly said on the nature or 
 destiny of the soul ; but from such expressions as " the 
 next world," and "immortality," it is plain that a future 
 life was part of the faith of the writers. And it seems 
 doubtful whether even they had not a confused mixture of 
 the notions of transmigration and immortality. For we 
 find moon-plant wine thus addressed : "0 divine Soma, 
 the bestower of holy future births, thou art most heavenly 
 and art praised for the procuring of immortality." Here 
 the two doctrines seem unconsciously blended. But the 
 phrase, "this world and the next," belongs palpably to the 
 true doctrine of a future life ; as does also " by means of 
 these purifying verses a man readies paradise, enjoyingly 
 obtaining food, the reward of merit, and then goes to the 
 abode of immortality." 
 
 It is generally assumed that metempsychosis was invented 
 to promote humanity to animals. But perhaps it was only 
 one of the most natural consequences of confounding visible 
 agents with the invisible God. ( )nee suppose fire, air, and 
 the like to be God manifesting Himself in different forms, 
 and when you come to pronounce what living beings are, 
 yoiT cannot easily escape the same conclusion. The doctrine 
 invented, it would be deemed apt to promote all virtue, by 
 exhibiting to men })alpable retributions, and especially to 
 promote tenderness to brutes, by teaching the identity of 
 all life. On these two grounds some have, naturally 
 enough, considered the doctrine useful and humane. But
 
 INDIA: ITS HELIGION 407 
 
 truth is sacred ; and lie that, like Jeroboam, lifts a hand 
 against her,- no matter how Avise the pretence, will, like 
 Jeroboam, suffer. Man, in mutilating truth, by metemp- 
 sychosis, has grievously wounded himself. He learns not 
 to kill cows ; but he learns at the same time not to pity 
 afflicted men. His new doctrine protects the monkey, but 
 curses the widow ; saves the crow, but execrates the 
 cripple. You must not kill a scorpion, for it may be your 
 father : and you must not pity a leper, for his disease only 
 tells what a miscreant he has been. Thus, while animal 
 life is saved, human hearts are hardened, and human woes 
 made doubly bitter. 
 
 It will be remembered, that from the Hindu account of 
 our origin, the race was created of four different natures. 
 The Brahman, pervaded by the quality of goodness ; the 
 Kshatriya, by that of foulness ; the Vaishya, by foulness 
 and darkness ; and the Sudra, by darkness alone. Thus 
 the chief part of men were at first replete with evil qualities, 
 and no fall or apostacy was necessary to account for the 
 vices that inundated the earth. They would be only the 
 natural development of the qualities of foulness and darkness 
 so largely bestowed upon ns by the Creator. But in every 
 section of Hindu doctrine, we catch gleams of a theology 
 antecedent to the Brahmanical system, and inconsistent 
 Avith it. Just after recording the four distinct creations, 
 the Vishnu Purana proceeds : — " The beings who were 
 created by Brahma, of these four castes, at first were 
 endowed with righteousness and perfect faith ; they abode 
 wherever they pleased, unchecked by any impediment ; 
 their hearts wore free from guile ; they were pure, made 
 free from soil by observance of sacred institutes. In their 
 sanctified minds Hari dwelt : and they were filled with 
 perfect wisdom, by which they contemplated the glory of 
 Vishnu. After a while that portion of Hari (Vishnu) 
 which has been described as one with time, infused into 
 created beings sin, as yet feeble, though formidable, or
 
 408 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 passion and the like : the impediment of tlie soul's liberation, 
 the seed of iniquity, sprang from darkness and desire. The 
 innate perfectness of human nature was then no more 
 evolved ; the eight kinds of perfection were impaired ; and 
 these being enfeebled, and sin gaining strengfcli, mortals 
 were afflicted with pain, arising from susceptibility to con- 
 trasts, as heat and cold and the like." Here we have a 
 doctrine clearly opposed to that which brmgs us from the 
 hand of the Creator, full of " darkness and foulness," and 
 yet even here our corruption is made the immediate act of 
 deity, and that too of the Preserver ! 
 
 The sinfulness of man once acknowledged, it is necessary 
 to put before the sinner a Avay to pardon. To do this 
 Hinduism elaborately toils. Among the meajis of salvation 
 proposed by it, Meditation appears to stand first. This 
 consists in fixing the mind steadily on the Supreme, 
 abstracting it from any other object. To promote such 
 abstraction suppression of the breath is enjoined. The 
 nostrils being closed with the finger and thumb, the mouth 
 is to be firmly shut. Mental philosophers may doubt, if 
 they please, whether much aid will be rendered by this 
 specific to clear and close thought ; but of its moral 
 efficacy the Hindu has authoritative assurance. " For," 
 says Manu, "as the dross and impurities of metallic ores 
 are consumed by fire, thus are the sinful acts of the human 
 organs consumed by suppression of the breath." Should 
 this saintly exercise be continued for such a length of time, 
 that the soul can no longer abide in the body, it will escape 
 through the crown of the head, and instantly be rewarded 
 for its pie-ty by union with Para-Brahma ! Alas, how long 
 must a conscience have vainly asked, " What must I do to 
 be saved ? " before it could accept such an answer as this ! 
 The Vishnu Purana mingles with many puerilities on the sub- 
 ject of meditation some high and beautiful touches, clearly 
 l)()inting to patriarchal theology. A contemplatist, in order 
 to perfection, must forget all attachments — wife, children.
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 409 
 
 parents, friends ; must abjure every passion, lose every 
 remembrance, and even every perception but that of God ; 
 must see in food, raiment, friends, foes, Aveapons, nought 
 but God alone, and finally must recognise himself as God. 
 Prahlada, a most perfect contemplatist, thus terminates one 
 of his meditations : " Glory, again and again, to that being 
 to whom all returns, and from whom all proceeds ; who is 
 all, and in whom all things are ; to him whom I also am ; 
 for he is everywhere ; and through whom all things are 
 from me, who am everlasting. I am undecayable, ever 
 enduring, the receptacle of the spirit of the Supreme. 
 Brahma is my name : the supreme soul, that is before all 
 things, that is after the end of all." 
 
 Their methods of attaining to this transcendental elevation 
 are such as we should deem little adapted to the end. On 
 one solemn occasion the worshipper is to conceive that 
 " Brahma, with five faces and a red complexion, resides in 
 his navel ; Vishnu with four arms and a black complexion, 
 in his heart ; and Shiva, with five faces and a white com- 
 plexion, in his forehead." Dubois was told by one, that his 
 guru prescribed, as essential to contemplation, gazing upon 
 the sky without a wink ; an exercise by which the guru 
 himself had lost one eye. This sage further instructed his 
 disciple that "the hinge on which spirituality turns, is to 
 keep all the orifices of the body so closely shut that none of 
 the winds from within shall escape." 
 
 Perhaps, among the means of salvation, Penance ranks 
 next to meditation. The most popular form of penance is 
 pilgrimage. To a shrine of local reputation persons con- 
 gregated, from a distance of fifty or sixty miles ; but to one of 
 wide fame they flock from the extremes of Hindustan. 
 Every day in the year numerous companies are wandering 
 over some of the plains of India, in search of rest for their 
 souls. To Benares, Rameswarani, Jagannath, Tirupati, and 
 other places of noted sanctity, every year brings pilgrims 
 from a distance of eight, ten, or even fifteen hundred miles.
 
 410 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Tliroiigh fatigue, accident, and infection, many lives are lost, 
 and voluntary immolations swell the record of mortality. 
 When we consider the gigantic scale on which this popular 
 penance exists ; could all those who perish during pilgrimage, 
 the weakly, the aged, those who, being attacked by sickness, 
 die of neglect, children brought forth on the journey, 
 mothers hurried on before recovery, and sinking through 
 fatigue ; with the victims of contagion which seldom misses 
 the wandering bands [be counted] — perhaps it would be 
 found that the middle passage has a rival in destructiveness. 
 But pilgrimage is not the only penance ; solitude and 
 torture are emphatically enjoined. The highest state of 
 piety is that in which home, family, and all things are 
 forsaken, the body stripped naked, and a desert place chosen 
 where the life may be wholly passed in austerities. Here 
 the ascetic is to bear with equal pleasure, or rather without 
 acknowledging either pleasure or pain, light and darkness, 
 sun and rain, heat and cold. He must completely eschew 
 all caste and family prejudices, with all desire for comforts 
 or pleasures ; he must eat all things promiscuously, no 
 matter how revolting. Sa?m>/dsis, or monks, sometimes 
 traverse the country in a state of nudity ; ^ and a few of 
 them boast of being able to eat faeces. jNEonstrous as this is, 
 it is not all, for incredible tortures are often added. One 
 wears round his neck for years a broad iron plate with a 
 hole in the centre, which renders it impossible ever to rest the 
 head. Another forces spikes through his lips or cheeks. 
 Another stands upright, in the forest, till his legs swell, 
 suppurate, and refuse to bear his weight; yet he retains his 
 upright posture by leaning on a pillow swung from a tree. 
 One holds up his hand till it still'ens and cannot be brought 
 down again ; another looks dvcr his shoulder till his head, 
 becoming fixed, refuses to turn, and he must be fed with 
 liquids ; another walks on spiked sandals ; another buries 
 himself up to the neck ; another carries on his head a 
 ' [Tlii.s is now jnohiljited.]
 
 INDIA: ITS KELIGION 411 
 
 copper vessel containing fire; and one more lioly than all 
 tortures himself thus: — A Yogi seen by Fryer/ "after 
 having seated himself on a quadrangular stage, fell prostrate, 
 and continued fervent in his devotions till the sun began to 
 have considerable power." (It was the hot season.) " He 
 then rose and stood on one leg gazing steadfa.stly at the sun, 
 while fires, each large enough, says the traveller, to roast an 
 ox, were kindled at the four corners of the stage ; the peni- 
 tent counting his beads, and occasionally, with his pot of 
 incense, throwing combustible materials into the fire to 
 increase the flames. He next bowed himself down in the 
 centre of the four fires, keeping his eyes still fixed upon the 
 sun. Afterwards, placing himself upright on his head, he 
 stood for the extraordinary space of three hours uiu'ight, in 
 that position ; he then seated himself with his legs across, 
 and thus remained sustaining the raging heat of the sun and 
 of the fires till the end of the day." To us it is incompre- 
 hensible how such torments can be endured, nor could we 
 even credit it, but on evidence painfully conclusive. It is 
 not surprising that when, at a missionary meeting in an 
 English county, an oflicor from India stated that he had 
 seen a Yogi who had held his hand closed until the nails 
 had grown through it and come out at the back, a good man 
 quietly rose and making his way to the door, observed, " If 
 he says that, he'll say aught." 
 
 After meditation and penance, perhaps the means of 
 salvation deemed most efl'ectual is A1)lution. " He who, 
 after having offered sacrifice to the Pitris, Ijathcs in the 
 Ganges, Sutlcj, r>eyah, Saraswati, or in the (lomati at Nai- 
 misha, expiates all his sins." A single bath in the sea is of 
 similar efficacy. Of the virtue of the Ganges, we have the 
 following assuran(!e in the Vishnu Purana : — " Such is the 
 elficacy of the stream that flows from the toe of Vishnu, 
 that it confers heaven upon all who bathe in it designedly, or 
 who even become accidentally immersed in it : those even 
 ' See Wilson's Mill, i. 480.
 
 412 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 shall obtain Swarga (Indra's heaven), whose bones, skin, 
 fibres, hair, or any other part shall be left after death upon 
 the earth which is contiguous to the Ganges." The conflu- 
 ence of two rivers is always effectual to save those who there 
 bathe. Lakes, though not so potent as seas or streams, are 
 not wholly powerless ; some of their number, as those at 
 Kumbakam and Tirthamale, are of excellent virtue. At 
 stated periods the saving properties of such lakes, as also of 
 the confluence of rivers, rise to a wondrous potency. When 
 such a time approaches, multitudes are assembled on the 
 holy spot awaiting the moment of destiny. This is ascer- 
 tained by the Jotisha, who no sooner proclaims it, than a 
 frantic rush is made ; all are bruised, the feeble are trodden 
 under foot, multitudes are maimed, while between trampling 
 and drowning many lose their lives. A gentleman high in 
 the Bengal service has informed me, that, on one such 
 occasion, the crowd was so dense, and (on the signal being 
 given) the rush so furious, that one or two hundred persons 
 were actually killed in an upright position b}'' mere pressure. 
 Such victims are envied as martyrs, whose better zeal called 
 down upon their heads a crown denied to others. Waters 
 assume a double virtue at every eclipse, on which occasion, 
 a bath, no matter where performed, surely purifies from sin. 
 Nor are these the only cheap methods of salvation : the 
 repetition of the mantras (forms of prayer) infallibly purges 
 every stain. Scarcely a legend of the Puranas closes without 
 the assurance that whoever reads or hears it read, thereby 
 expiates all offences, aud in some cases it is added that he 
 shall no more commit evil actions. The bare sight of some 
 mountains takes away sin ! Then, if the panchagavija, or 
 five products of the cow, be mixed together, a draught of 
 the compound is not more distasteful to the palate than it 
 is advantageous to the soul ; and many a thoughtful, sensible 
 man, devoutly takes that filthy mixture, deeming it his 
 salvation. In ancient times purification was consummated 
 by the penitent being purged by fire, in order to which he
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 413 
 
 offered himself up a whole burnt-offering. The appearance 
 of this strange fanaticism in Russia, since the introduction 
 of Christianity, and under a Christian guise, increases the 
 curious proofs abounding in history of our proneness to 
 delusion. 
 
 When the Hindus speak of purification, it must not be 
 supposed that they mean any change by which sin shall 
 disappear, and truth and goodness spring up in a soul where 
 they were not. Their purification is an occult nothing, 
 whereby a superstition coquets with conscience, assuring it 
 of health while the sore rankles as of old. In some passages 
 of the Shastras, faint streaks of older and better doctrine 
 glimmer, or seem to glimmer, through the shade ; but they 
 are seen faintly and uncertainly as a new moon in a night of 
 clouds.^ But you find not even this glimmer in the mind 
 of the living Hindu. Alas, no ! Not once, in long and 
 earnest conversations with that most interesting people, did 
 I discover in any soul a ray of hope that he would become 
 on earth a new and holy man. Once, wishing to lead a 
 Brahman to the essential question, " What must I do to be 
 saved," I said, " You know that you are a sinner." " No," 
 replied he, with some displeasure, " I am a Brahman." 
 Resolved not to concede this point, I said earnestly, " You 
 know that you are a sinner ; your conscience tells you so ; 
 you must admit it." Confused, and apparently fearing 
 additional humiliation before those present, he said, " Well, 
 then, for the sake of argument I will admit it." " Ad- 
 mitting, then, that you are a sinner, you must also admit 
 that one of two things follow — either you must be pardoned 
 or you must be punished." He paused, reflected for 
 a moment, and said, " That is plain ; if a sinner do not 
 expiate his sin, he must suffer for it." " Then finding 
 yourself in a position in which you must bear punishment 
 unless you obtain pardon, you will name the means wliereby 
 
 ^ Obsciirain, qualem primo qui surge re mense 
 Aut videt, aut vidisse piitat, per uubila, luuam.
 
 414 A MISSION TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 you may certainly escape the one and secure the other," 
 The persons present gazed at hun : his countenance fell ; he 
 said hesitatingly, swalpa iru, swalpa irti, " wait a moment, 
 wait a moment," and after a second or two of thought he 
 replied with vivacitj'^, " This is it : if I steal, that is a sin : 
 the way to obtain pardon for that sin is to take refuge at 
 the feet of the god who has been celebrated for theft. If I 
 lie, that is a sin : the way to obtain pardon for that sin is 
 to take refuge at the feet of the god who has been noted 
 for falsehood." And thus he ran through a dark list of 
 transgressions, proposing to expiate each by adoring a 
 celestial who, having shared his Aveakness, might pity his 
 danger. This man was past middle age ; he was a priest ; 
 his son was sitting by, and some of the inferior people were 
 there to hear his answer to the grand question. He gave 
 the hopeless, humbling answer just recorded, with an air of 
 good faith and complacency. And how many of our fellow- 
 subjects, when their conscience forces upon them the question, 
 What can I do to be saved 1 can give no better reply ! 
 
 On minor points of doctrine, hoAvever interesting, we 
 cannot pause. On the Morals of Hinduism we need not 
 speak at large. In the Shastras are found dispersed many 
 precepts of admirable morality ; but, taking those books as 
 a whole, no works of our most shameless authors are so 
 unblushing or so deleterious. The Sama Yeda treats 
 drunkenness as a celestial pastime ; and yet of all vices this 
 is the most repugnant to the genius of modern Hinduism. 
 Again, all the gods are represented as })laying at will with 
 truth, honour, chastity, natural affection, and every virtue ; 
 running, for sport, into the vilest excess, and consecrating 
 by their example all hateful deeds. Falsehood, if with 
 a pious motive, has direct sanction. Manu declares that, 
 " A giver of false evidence from a pious motive, even though 
 he know the truth, shall not lose a seat in heaven : such 
 evidence men call divine speech." Shortly after he supplies 
 us with a list of the occasions in which such pious motive
 
 INDIA : ITS llELIGION 415 
 
 may be claimed : "In tlie case of courtesans, of marriages, 
 of food eaten by cows, of fuel for a sacrifice, or a benefit or 
 protection accruing to a Braliman, there is no sin in an 
 oath." Yishnu has often preserved the gods, by the most 
 wicked impostures. Lies flow familiarly from divine lips, 
 and thus lose all disrepute in mortal eyes. The amours of 
 the gods are so detailed as inevitably to corrupt all who 
 read and admire them ; while they argue, on the part of the 
 writers, a horrible familiarity with every variety of debauch. 
 In the lofty poetry of the sacred books are musically sung 
 expressions of a coarseness that would be spurned from the 
 vilest ballad.^ Part of the retinue of every temple consists 
 of priestesses, who are the only educated women in the 
 country,- and whose profession it is to corrupt the public 
 morals. Of the secret Avorship of the Shaktis, or procreative 
 energies, which takes place under Brahmanical sanction, it 
 would be wrong to say a word beyond this, that on such 
 occasions tlie prejudices of caste are equally disregarded 
 with the laws of God. In some of the temples excesses 
 are, at certain times, openly committed, which Avould be 
 concealed even in our lowest dens of vice. It is very easy 
 for those who are not too sensitive on such points, to say 
 that missionaries are ; but it is not so easy to answer the 
 question of Ward : " Is there such a strong bias in human 
 nature to virtue, that a man will be pure in spite of the 
 example of his gods, . . . and Avhen the very services of 
 his temple present the most fascinating temptations to 
 impurity 1 " No i)arent watchful of the morality of his 
 children would allow them to read the tomes, to which 
 our brethren in the East devoutly resort for heavenly 
 instruction. 
 
 ^ It may bu judged what will \w the character of the histories, wlieii, 
 even in a liynni of the eonii)aratively pure Rig Veda, we have such 
 language as this: Mulier obtinct marilum, excitant geuitale semen; 
 covcipiendo virilcm liumorcm iixor exirahtt. — RosKN. 
 
 ■^ [This reproach is finally removed.]
 
 41 G A MISSION TO THE MYSOI^E 
 
 We may give an illustration of the fact, that it is 
 impossible to judge of the real sentiments of the Hindus, 
 merely by detached sentences of the sacred books. That 
 the true character of an action is hxed, not by its outward 
 appearance, but by the heart of him who performs it, is a 
 principle lying deep at the basis of all morality. We find 
 that principle announced by the Hindus. Carrying to the 
 words our own ideas, we should hail them as proof of clear 
 light on morals. But should we meet with a little book of 
 popular tales, we find one designed to illustrate this principle : 
 it runs thus : — In a certain town lived two merchants, bosom 
 friends, who met daily, after business, to enjoy each other's 
 society. On parting, one of the friends, being devout, went 
 to the temple : the other, being licentious, went to the home 
 of the priestesses. Thus matters proceeded till they both 
 died, when the devotee was sent to hell, and the libertine 
 was received to heaven. A sage, surprised at this, went to 
 Brahma and demanded the reason why a devout man was 
 consigned to torment, and a wicked man exalted to bliss. 
 Brahma replied, " When they daily parted, he who went 
 among the priestesses often thought of his devout friend, 
 and reflected how much better it would have been, had he 
 gone with him to worship in the temple. Thus, though 
 outwardly committing sin, his heart was occupied with 
 pious thoughts. The other, while in the temple, often 
 thought of his voluptuous friend, and of the manner in 
 which he was engaged. Thus, though actually performing 
 a holy work, his heart was revolving impure subjects : and 
 you are aware," added Brahma, " that the character of 
 actions depends on the state of the heart ; therefore I 
 have received to heaven him whose heart was piously 
 disposed, and sent to hell him whose heart was licentious." 
 We should have deemed it impossible so exactly to pervert 
 a good principle, or at least impossible that any man should 
 accept the perversion. But this story, with its hateful 
 moral, has been zealously defended, against my censures, by
 
 INDIA : ITS RELIGION 417 
 
 learned and sincere Brrdimans. There is a fearful art in 
 error, to transmute into noxious vapour truths the most 
 luminous and solid. 
 
 Perhaps the most natural place in which to consider the 
 INlinistry of a religious system is after its doctrines and its 
 morals, but before its ritual. The ministry of Hinduism is 
 well defined. It is a priesthood holding the functions of 
 teachers in addition to those which are purely sacerdotal. 
 This office can be held only in a line of inviolable suc- 
 cession. Xo power can introduce to it one whom the gods 
 did not predestinate to its honours, by giving him a 
 Brahman birth. But birth alone does not constitute the 
 priest. "By birth," says the Shastras, "his caste is that of 
 a Sudra ; by the initiatory sacrament, his caste is that 
 of the twice-born." Tliis initiatory sacrament is performed 
 when the boy has reached the age of seven or nine years. 
 An assembly of the Brahmans being convoked, and solemn 
 sacrifices offered, the boy is shaved, washed, and girded ; 
 when the father, placing him with his face to the east, 
 repeats in his ear some portion of the holy Veda, of which, 
 up to that hour, he has not been permitted to hear a word. 
 Three fine cords, in the shape of a skein of thread, are 
 then passed under one arm, and over the opposite shoulder, 
 so as to hang across the chest ; and this triple cord is the 
 sign of his actual admission to the priestly office. It is 
 made of cotton which Brahmanical hands alone have 
 plucked from the bush, prepared, spun, and twisted ; for 
 no mortal of lower birth is worthy to touch the sacred 
 fibre destined to form the badge of a terrestrial god. From 
 the moment of this investiture, the Brahman is declared 
 dvi-ja,^ " born again " ; so that the doctrine of regeneration 
 by an initial rite is not confined to Europe. 
 
 The priesthood, thus conferred, cannot be lost, except by 
 some infamy that drives the Brilhman from his caste. His 
 ignorance may be great, his calling secular, and his 
 ^ [Literally "twice-born.''] 
 
 27
 
 418 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 character disreputable ; but the sacerdotium abides intact. 
 From the day of investiture he possesses six rights : that 
 of reading the Vedas, and that of getting them read ; that 
 of making the sacrifice of yajna, and that of causing it to 
 be made ; that of receiving ahns, and that of giving ahus to 
 the Brahmans. Of these privileges, reading the Vedas, and 
 making or causing the yajna, are exclusively confined to 
 the sacred caste. The king caste are permitted to hear the 
 Vedas, though not to read them ; and in the privilege of 
 giving alms to the Erahmans, they graciously permit even a 
 Sudra to participate ; but I believe no out-caste dare aspire 
 to that honour. Among the civil immunities accorded to 
 the priestly office are, exemption from house-tax, from local 
 duties on goods, and from corporal punishment. 
 
 They divide sacerdotal life into four stages ; on the first 
 of which, that of Brahmachdri, or " student," the youth 
 enters at his initiation. He must now daily bathe, and 
 twice a day offer the sacrifice of the homam. He at once 
 begins to study, first learning to read and write, then pro- 
 ceeding to the sacred books, and adding languages and 
 sciences according to his talents or his funds. The number 
 of Brahmans who understand the Vedas is very limited. 
 They will repeat mantras all their lives without under- 
 standing a word of them. A Romish missionary has aptly 
 said, " They may be compared to the peasantry in the 
 Catholic countries of Europe, who learn to read Latin, that 
 they may be able to chant the psalms on Sundays at 
 church." A friend of mine once, hearing schoolboys reciting 
 Sanskrit verses, demanded to know the meaning. The poor 
 urchins referred him to their master, and the master frankly 
 owned he did not know. 
 
 Even the Brahman least addicted to study is careful to 
 maintain that ceremonial purity, by which they hold them- 
 selves above all other mortals. Tliey bathe at least once a 
 day, generally twice, and if rigid thrice : this is persevered in 
 through the coldest weather, and is matter of much spiritual
 
 INDIA : ITS RELIGION 4 1 9 
 
 pride. Never did Pharisee more complacently regard his 
 superiority to other men, than does a Brahman the un- 
 matched sanctity of his ablutions. When he returns from 
 intercourse with the world, to his own house, the clothes 
 he wore are left in an outer room, and the stains which the 
 touch or the breath of less holy beings may have left on his 
 person are carefully washed away. Some physicians, when 
 feeling the pulse of a Sudra, will place their silk between 
 their finger and his skin. In walking or sitting, he must 
 carefully avoid the touch of bones, rags, saliva, and count- 
 less things beside ; to avoid that of a dog he would run far ; 
 that of a Pariah would set him frantic. Nor is that of a 
 European much more M'elcome ; but interest checks the 
 expression of disgust. Upon the vessels he uses in cooking 
 no eye may fall but one of the sacred caste ; should any less 
 holy glance, by misfortune, meet one of these illustrious 
 pots, it is for ever polluted and must be destroyed. In 
 drawing water, should his vessel touch one belonging to a 
 man of different caste, his, if earthenware, must be broken ; 
 if brass, long and laboriously scoured. Whenever it is 
 possible, they have wells reserved for their own use; and 
 hard indeed is their lot, when necessity compels them to 
 draw from a well where even an out-caste may come.^ Once, 
 in showing a Brahman a simple experiment, I accidentally 
 threw water upon him from a g.lass. Had it been aquafortis, 
 he could not liave more vigorously leaped and screamed. It 
 was a severe misfortune ; he soberly declared that he almost 
 doubted whether he were any longer a Bi;1hman ; and many 
 a bathing, at least, that stain from clear water would cost him. 
 Fasting is among the essential duties of a Brahman. 
 From all animal food he constantly abstains, as also from 
 
 ^ [But in cities where a water system has been introduced the 
 convenience of the public taps is too obtrusive to be neglected even 
 by Brahmans. On any day one may see members of this caste 
 drawing water from places which just liefore had been used by men 
 of lower caste or no caste.]
 
 420 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 all intoxicating drinks, and all bulbous roots.^ In addition 
 to which, he is obliged to keep a fast day at the change and 
 full of the moon, on the eleventh day of each moon, and at 
 the solstices, equinoxes, and eclipses. Their fast is not 
 absolute, for though they do not take any meal till after 
 sunset, they may freely use milk and fruit, which are at 
 all times chief articles of their diet. The Abbe Dubois 
 thus estimates the religious value of their abstinence : — 
 " These fasts have for their objects two purposes, which 
 would do credit to a religion more pure than that of the 
 Brahmans. The first is to obtain by this act of penitence 
 the forgiveness of their sins ; and the second, to avert the 
 malign influence of the stars." It woidd seem, then, that 
 the worthy priest concurred in the view of God's govern- 
 ment, which supposes that off'ences against law are com- 
 pensated by bodily pain ; and that our lot is affected for 
 good or ill by the mute stars ! 
 
 Upon marriage, the Brahman becomes a householder, or 
 Grihastha ; thus entering upon the second stage of his 
 priestly career. His conduct is now regulated by multi- 
 farious rules referring to ablution, recitation of prayers, 
 giving alms to the Brahmans, the practising hospitality, and 
 the study of sacred books ; but many of these points will 
 be more naturally reviewed, when we examine Hindu ritual. 
 
 The third stage of priestly life is that of Vcmaprastha, or 
 ascetic, in which the Brahman abandons all society but that 
 of his wife, and with her resides in a forest, wholly given up 
 to devotions. In ancient times, many Brahmans practised 
 this mode of life ; but now it is chiefly left to men of 
 inferior caste, who, as Orme remarks, " seek to obtain, by 
 severities, the religious veneration accorded to the Brahmans 
 on account of birth alone." It would appear that, even in 
 the days of Alexander, the Brahmans did not monopolise 
 
 1 On these points the northern Brahmans have grown very lax. 
 [The laxity has sinne extended to certain classes of Brahmans in the 
 south — not least among English-educated Bruhmau officials.]
 
 INDIA! ITS RELIGION 421 
 
 ascetic life ; for Arrian, in noting the fact that the Indians 
 were " not allowed to exercise two vocations, nor to change 
 from one to another," adds, " except to that of the Gymno- 
 sophists, which is of all professions the most austere." The 
 Gymnosophists he had previously described as being the 
 highest class of Hindus, and as tlie priests, adding, that not 
 even a private sacrifice was considered " pleasing to the gods " 
 unless presented by them. He states, also, that "they 
 practised divination, went naked, and lived on fruits." 
 
 The fourth, and highest stage of priestly life is that of 
 Sannyasi, or hermit, in which the Lnihman renounces wife, 
 family, caste, goods, and all earthly things, devoting him- 
 self wholly to contemplation, and to such voluntary torments 
 as we have already described. 
 
 This division of the I5rahmans into four stages is now 
 little more than nominal ; for the Vdnaprastha and Sannydsi 
 are very rare, and the Bralimachdri are only boys. The 
 Grihastha, or householder Er.thmans may, therefore, be said 
 to include nearly all the adults of the caste. Their real 
 divisions are into the two classes, sacred and secular ; into 
 the four classes, each of whom follows one of the four Vedas ; 
 and into Vishnuite, Shivite, or Neutrals, according to their 
 sectarian creed. Each sect has, among the Brahmans of its 
 sacred class, two different orders of Priests. Of these the 
 lower is the Purohita, who ranks above the ordinary 
 Brahman ; and the higher is the Guru, who ranks above 
 Brahman, Purohita, and all beings not divine. 
 
 The duties of the Purohita are ceremonial. He is not a 
 teacher, unless one choose to consider as teaching the annual 
 publication of the almanac, which devolves upon him, as 
 does, also, the duty of announcing, on the first day of the 
 year, who is to be, for the year, king of the gods, which star 
 is to be lord of the stars, Avhat deity will have charge of the 
 crops, how much rain will fall, how the harvest will turn out, 
 what amount of vermin will disturb good people in their 
 slumbers, and other matters erpially important to be known,
 
 422 A MISSION TO THE MYSOKE 
 
 and equally in his power to reveal. His substantial duties 
 are to calculate nativities, to choose names for children, to 
 bless, by his mantras, houses, tanks, and wells, at their 
 opening ; to consecrate new temples, and to transubstantiate 
 new idols. He also celebrates all marriages and funerals ; 
 no other Brahman being instructed in all the motions, 
 flexions, repetitions, and particularities necessarj^ to the due 
 performance of these rites. The Purohita is looked up to by 
 all classes, even including the Brahmans. Every prince 
 keeps one at court, without whose sanction he will not set 
 out to hunt, undertake a war, or embark in any concern 
 of moment. All Purohitas must be married, and, if left 
 widowers, must remarry before they can again perform their 
 most important duties. They are careful to train only their 
 own sons in the ceremonial minutiae, by which caution the 
 honours and gains of office are preserved in the family. 
 
 The Guru is more a teacher and ruler than an officiating 
 priest. Did I give a faithful account of this hierarchy, it 
 would be impossible to escape the suspicion of designedly 
 insinuating resemblances betAveen them and their European 
 brethren. All, therefore, which I say respecting them shall 
 be in the words of a Koman Catholic priest, altering, for 
 sake of clearness, the arrangement : — " Each caste has its 
 particular Guru ; but all of them are not invested with an 
 equal degree of authority. There is a gradation among the 
 Gurus themselves, according to the dignity of the castes they 
 belong to ; and a kind of hierarchy has grown up among 
 them, which preserves the subordination of one to another. 
 In short, there is an inferior clergy, very numerous in every 
 quarter ; while every sect has its particular high priests, who 
 are but few in number. The place of residence of the Hindu 
 pontiffs is commonly called SimMsana, which signifies ' a 
 throne.' . . . Those who arc elevated to this great dignity, 
 receive in most cases marks of reverence, or rather of adora- 
 tion, which are not rendered even to the gods themselves. 
 . . . tSome of the Gurus are married ; but in general they
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 423 
 
 live in celibacy. . . . Exce[)t during their visitations, the 
 Gurus live in retirement. They commonly reside in a kind 
 of monasteries, or insulated hermitages. The Gurus gener- 
 ally make a tour, from time to time, among their disciples, 
 j)erhap3 in a circle of two hundred miles from their place of 
 residence. During this visitation, their principal, and, I may 
 say, their only object, is to amass money. Besides the fines 
 Avhich they levy from persons guilty of offences, or any 
 breach of the ceremonies of the caste or sect, they often 
 exact from their adherents a tribute to the utmost extent of 
 their means. . . . The great Gurus never appear in public 
 without the utmost degree of pomp; but it is when they 
 proceed to a visitation of their district that they are sur- 
 rounded with their whole splendour. They commonly make 
 the procession on the back of an elephant, or seated in a 
 rich palanquin. Home of them have a guard of horse, and 
 are surrounded with numerous troops, both cavalry and 
 infantry. Several bands of musicians precede them. Flags, 
 in all the varieties of colour, wave round them, adorned 
 with the pictures of their gods. Some of their officers take 
 the lead, singing odes in their praise, or admonishing the 
 spectators to be prepared to pay the mighty Guru, as he 
 comes up, the honour and reverence which are due to him. 
 Incense and other perfumes are burnt in profusion ; new 
 clothes are sprea<l before him on the road; boughs of trees, 
 forming triumphal arches, are expanded in many places on 
 the way through which he passes. Bands of young women, 
 or the dancing-girls of the temples, relieve each other, and 
 keep up with the procession, enlivening it with lewd songs 
 and lascivious dances. ^ This pompous show attracts a crowd 
 of people, who throng to prostrate themselves before the 
 Guru." 
 
 The Guru is by this author stated to have temporal power, 
 " which consists chiefly in a superintendence over the 
 
 ^ [It i3 not often, if ever, the case that temple girls take part in 
 the processions in honour of Gurus.]
 
 424 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 different castes, by enforcing the due observance of their 
 general and particuLar customs, and punishing the refractory. 
 They liave also the power of expelling from the tribe, and of 
 restoring those who had been expelled. . . . They possess 
 an equal extent of spiritual jurisdiction. The Sihlitdngam, 
 or prostration of the eight members, is made before them ; 
 and when followed by their benediction, or dsirvddam, is 
 effectual for the remission of all sins. The look, even, of a 
 Guru has the same efficacy. . . . But if the benediction 
 of the Gurus and the other little tokens of their favour, 
 which they bestow on their disciples, have so wonderful an 
 influence in attracting the respect and reverence of the silly 
 populace, their curse, which is not less powerful, fills them 
 Avith terror and awe. The Hindu is persuaded that it never 
 fails to take effect, whether justly or unjustly incurred. . . . 
 Sometimes they tell of a person struck dead on the spot by 
 the curse of the Guru ; sometimes of one suddenly seized 
 with a shivering through every joint, which goes on, and 
 will never cease until the malediction is stayed. At other 
 times, it is a pregnant woman whom they describe as 
 miscarrying by it ; or a labourer, perhaps, who was doomed 
 to see all his cattle perish in a moment. Nay, I have heard 
 from these men stories still more ridiculous, and given with 
 the utmost gravity : of a man, for example, being changed 
 into a stone, and of another converted into a hog by their 
 Guru's malediction." ^ 
 
 ^ Description of the People of India, etc., pp. 64, et scq. [In these 
 days the influence of the ordinary domestic Guru is nuieli less than 
 formerly. He is usually an unprogressive, self-indulgent sort of 
 person, relying greatly on the hereditary authority of his office, and 
 nsing it as far as he can for his own enrichment and that of his 
 family ; but doing little to justify that authority in his own 
 character. His people are developing faster than himself; and 
 though there arc multitudes of women and wholly illiterate men who 
 still court his Ijlessing and dread his curse, yet the number of those 
 who discredit and disregard him steadily increases. But the ascetic 
 Guru still has Inge influence in foiniing popular oiiiuion, A few
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 425 
 
 The ministry of HinJnisiTi, then, includes all the best- 
 educated men of the country,^ whom honours, rights, and 
 education enlist to defend it manfully. Large numbers of 
 them carry their influence into the various walks of secular 
 life. Many, also, are supported in leisure, partly by presents, 
 partly by temple revenues, and partly by landed endowments 
 given by the devout of other times, who thereby earned the 
 reputation of piety, and hoped to make peace for their souls. 
 The peculiar honours of this numerous caste depend on 
 their religion ; by it, also, the pecuniary interests of all are 
 advanced, and upon it the livelihood of many wholly 
 de})ends. These considerations, added to natural preposses- 
 sions, make them almost imiversally zealous defenders of 
 their system. It is an error, incident to those who judge 
 others by their own light, to deem it impossible that men of 
 keen intellect, like the Brahmans, can believe the absurdities 
 of the Shastras. The human mind has not a more difficult 
 work than to emancipate itself from views inculcated in 
 childhood, identified with every interest, and sweetened by 
 gifting ourselves with flattering distinctions.- From detached 
 
 3'ears ago the Spectator iiKjuiied, very properly, Mliy Govenmient does 
 not pay more attention to tins kind of public teacher, and traced to 
 liini the opposition to the introduction of a water system in Benares, 
 the agitation against cow - killing, the solid resistance to infant- 
 marriage reform, and the famous and alarming tree-daubing.] 
 
 ^ [This is certainly not the case now.] 
 
 " Voltaire, in liis zeal to prove heatlicnism immaculate, rejects, as 
 impossible, superstitions that, had he lived a little lunger, he must 
 have recognised as existing. Respecting the alleged Avorship of the 
 devil, he says : " One must have nmch hardihood, and little reason, 
 in order to believe it possible to take for a god a being supposed to be 
 condemned of God to punishment and shame eternal, an abominable 
 and ridiculous phantom, occupied in throwing us into the abyss of his 
 torments." Alas for human nature ! Many a n)an, of natural intellect 
 perhaps not behind that of Voltaire himself, is this day the melancholy 
 proof that "one must have much hardihood and little reason" to 
 assert, LHdicd' adorer Ic diahle n'' est jamais tomhee dans la tcte d'aucun 
 homme. Had Voltaire been born in a Ceylonese village instead of 
 in Christendom, he might himself have "adored the devil."
 
 426 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 portions of the Shastras a few Brahmans have extracted a 
 philosophical system, holding which they despise the grosser 
 superstitions as only for the mass. Perhaps an equal number 
 believe all religion to be a grand imposture. But the great 
 bulk of them sincerely believe and uphold the reigning system. 
 On points of religion, their clear intellects are completely and 
 woefully benighted. 
 
 Of the morals of the Brahmans, and indeed of the people 
 in general, it may be said that, though deplorably low, they 
 are not near so bad as the gods they serve. Had their 
 system of religion been suffered by Providence to produce all 
 its legitimate effects, Hindustan would have been a Sodom, 
 in which even an angel might dread to pass a day. But 
 while man's bad heart has been allowed to exhibit its own 
 shame, by the abominations it has brought forth under 
 guise of religion. Divine Mercy has restrained the practical 
 workings of its corruption Avithin limits which permitted the 
 existence of society. Perhaps, in general morality, the 
 Brahmans are rather above than below the rest of the people. 
 Their avarice, however, and excessive eating are proverbial, 
 their pride excessive ; and in all public offices they oppress 
 and exact without mercy. They are consequently more 
 dreaded than venerated. In their absence, the lower classes 
 bitingly express hatred ; but no sooner does one appear, than 
 his influence is manifest. At all grand ceremonies their 
 presence is essential ; and this, with their fasts, their ablutions, 
 the power ascribed to their mantras, and, perhaps more than 
 all, their great superiority in education and manners, gives 
 them a high command over the whole people. Their bearing 
 is always proud, sometimes really noble. Many carry all the 
 marks of high intellectualism. To our eye, the brown 
 complexion is less favourable to the expression of mind than 
 the white ; but I have seen some Brahmans on whom it was 
 impossible to look without an impression of the kind received 
 from those elite faces among ourselves, where, at a glance, 
 you see history, classics, and poetry, researches, arguments.
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 427 
 
 and meditations, all bound in the clear vellum of the brow, 
 and lettered in lines of thought. It may be fairly doubted, 
 whether this remarkable priesthood would not present as 
 large a proportion of persons capable of high mental effort, 
 as any other class of men in the world ; and sure it is that, 
 when the day of India's regeneration has come, it will yield 
 choice examples of those rare and lovely mortals in whom 
 the gentleman, the genius, and the Christian combine. 
 
 The Kitual of Hinduism is hyper-redundant. Taking the 
 Brahman at the moment of rising, it directs him in the most 
 private acts, with a minuteness we may not copy. The 
 method of cleaning his teeth follows, Avith the tree off which 
 he must break a twig for a brush, the prayer he must offer 
 to the tree for leave, and the kind of place where he may 
 throw away his twig-brush when he has done. Then 
 follows the rubric of the bath, how he is to perform it, what 
 prayers he is to say while in it, and what on emerging out 
 of it. Dubois says : " It would be tedious to describe the 
 variety of gestures and movements which the Bnthman 
 exhibits in such cases. But we may select one in particular, 
 namely, the sign of the cross, which he distinctly makes as a 
 salutation to his head, his belly, his right and left shoulders." 
 He is also instructed how to sacrifice to the sun, to adorn his 
 forehead, to hold his breath, and to pray to the ashivattha 
 tree.^ Then are carefully prescribed his acts on return- 
 ing home, his preparatory sacrifice before meals, his ottering 
 of part of the food to the dead, and his mode of eating. 
 But, as necessary to give even the faintest idea of the over- 
 load of ceremony laid on the poor Brahman, we give Cole- 
 brooke's description of the rites by which those who have an 
 earthly calling are permitted to escape the more cumbrous 
 duties binding on a Brahman not so limited for time. When 
 about to partake of his morning meal, " sitting down in a 
 place free from all impurities, and setting a vessel containing 
 fire on his right hand, the worshipper hallows the ground by 
 ^ [Ashwatlha — iha «acred fig-tree {Ficus rcli'jiosa).]
 
 428 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 throwing away a lighted piece of kusha-grass, while he recites 
 the appropriate text, and then places his fire on the conse- 
 crated spot, repeating the prayer which is nsed, when the 
 household and sacrificial fires are kindled by the attrition of 
 Avood. He next lays kusha-grass on the eastern side of the 
 fire, with its tips pointed towards the north, exclaiming, ' I 
 praise divine fire, primevally consecrated, the efficient per- 
 fornaer of a solemn ceremony, the chief agent of a sacrifice, 
 the most liberal giver of gems.' He spreads it on the 
 southern side, with its points towards the east, repeating the 
 commencement of the Yajur Yeda. 1. 'I gather thee for 
 the sake of rain.' 2. 'I pluck thee ' (at this he is supposed 
 to break off the branch of a tree) ' for the sake of strength.' 
 3. ' Ye are ' (he touches calves with the branch he has 
 pulled ofi") 'like unto air. May the liberal generator of 
 worlds make you ' (here he touches, or is supposed to touch, 
 milch cows with the same branch) ' happily reach this most 
 excellent sacrifice.' In like manner he lays grass on the two 
 other sides of the fire, on the western side with the tips to 
 the north, crying, ' Fire ! aj^proach to taste my ofiering ; 
 thou who art praised for the gift of oblations ; sit down on 
 this grass, thou who art the complete performer of the 
 solemn sacrifices.' And on the northern side, with the tips 
 pointed to the east, saying, ' May divine waters be auspicious 
 to us,' etc. When all these ceremonies are completed, he 
 stirs the firo, and sprinkles water upon it ; after which, 
 having his hands smeared with clarified butter, he offers 
 food three several times, repeating, ' Kai'th ! sky ! heaven ! ' 
 Five similar oblations are then performed ; one to the regent 
 of fire ; one to the god of medicine ; one to the assembled 
 deities ; one to the lord of created beings ; and one to the 
 creator of the universe. Six more oblations are then offered 
 with six prayers, each oblation having its separate prayer. 
 1. 'Fire! thou dost exj)iate a sin against the gods; may 
 this oblation be efficacious!' 2. 'Thou dost expiate a sin 
 against man.' 3. 'Thou dost exjjiate a sin against the
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 429 
 
 manes.' 4. ' Thou dost ex})iate repeated sins.' 5, ' Thou 
 dost expiate every sin I have committed, whether wilKngly 
 or unintentionally : may this ohlation be efficacious ! ' He 
 next worships the fire, making an oblation with the following 
 prayer : — * Fire ! seven are thy fuels ; seven thy tongues ; 
 seven thy holy sages ; seven thy beloved abodes ; seven 
 ways do seven sacrifices worship thee ; thy sources are seven ; 
 be content with this clarified butter ; may this oblation be 
 efficacious ! ' As the sacred lamp was lighted for the 
 repulsion of evil spirits, before the oblations to the gods and 
 manes were presented, it is now extinguished, while recita- 
 tion is made of the following text : — ' In solemn acts of 
 religion, whatever fails through the negligence of those who 
 perform the ceremony, may be perfected solely through 
 meditation on Vishnu.' The oblations to spirits are next 
 offered ; the performer dei)0siting portions of food in the 
 several places prescribed for it, having previously swe})t 
 each place with his hand, and sprinkled it with water. 
 Xear the spot where the vessel of water stands, he makes 
 three olferings, saying, ' Salutation to rain ! to water ! to 
 the earth ! ' He makes them at both doors of his house to 
 Dhatri and Vidhatri, or Brahma, the protector and creator. 
 He presents them to the eight points of the compass, adding 
 a salutation to them and to the regents of them. To Brahma, 
 to the sky, and to the sun, he makes oblations with saluta- 
 tion, in the middle of the house. He then ofters similar 
 oblations to all the gods, to all beings. After the sacrament 
 of spirits, thus performed, the worshipper, shifting the 
 sacramental cord, and looking towards the south, drops upon 
 one knee, and presents a sacrifice to the manes of ancestors, 
 saying, ' Salutation to progenitors ! may this ancestral food 
 be acceptable ! ' "' After all this, he may take his meal. 
 But, as we before remarked, these are only the abridged 
 forms prescribed for those whose circumstances debar them 
 from performing the full service, which is of five-fold 
 tediousness. Did any P>r;lhman seriously undertake to
 
 430 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 observe every direction of his rubric, not a single moment of 
 his life would remain for any useful purpose. 
 
 The sacrifices clothed in such voluminous ceremony are, 
 in themselves, very simple. The A rati consists only in 
 holding on a copper plate a lighted lamp of rice paste, and 
 in making several circles ; and the more august Homam, in 
 kindling the sacred fire, pouring upon it oil or liquid butter, 
 and throwing into it some grains of rice. It will be 
 observed, that both fire and water are made holy by the 
 mantras of the Puruhita, and are important in every 
 sacrifice, and to keep up a perpetual fire was a privilege of 
 the highest order. ^ 
 
 Of the prayers used on various occasions, many specimens 
 have been already furnished. Mere repetition of the 
 different names of a god is a form of prayer much approved. 
 To show its virtue, the natives often referred me to a case 
 narrated in the Vishnu Purana, where a hater of Vishnu 
 was so full of animosity, that he never ceased abusing him, 
 and thus necessarily repeated his appellations, the conse- 
 quence of which was, that though killed by Krishna, for 
 his wickedness, he obtained instantly the highest of all 
 rewards — absorption. You often hear the mendicant friars 
 rhyming at great length the names of their favourite deity. 
 Of all prayers, the Gayatiu has the most marvellous powers. 
 It is addressed to the sun, and is thus rendered by Dr. 
 Wilson of Bombay : " Oh earth ! sky ! heavens ! we medi- 
 tate on that adorable light of the resplendent sun, may it 
 direct our intellects ! " This prayer is from the Rig Veda, 
 and is a holiness altogether transcendental in Brahmanical 
 esteem. From the Yajur Veda, Dubois quotes the following 
 morning prayer: "May the sun, may sovereign will, may 
 the gods who preside over our Avill, and chiefly thou, O 
 moon ! pardon the sins I have this night committed by my 
 will, by my memory, by my speech, by my hands, by my 
 
 ' It is suid tliat tlic last i)eipetual the wliicli was kept uji in l^cii^'al, 
 by the Rajah of Buvdwan, is now extinct.
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 431 
 
 feet, by my belly." He gives also the following prayer to the 
 ashtoattha tree, after one of similar import to the sun : " Thou 
 art the king of the trees ; thy root resembles Brahma, thy 
 branches are like Shiva ; thou grantest the remission of sins, 
 and a blessed world after death, to those who have 
 honoured thee in their lives by the ceremonies of the cord 
 and of marriage, to those who have offered thee sacrifices, 
 have gone round about thee, have saluted and honoured 
 thee. Destroy my sins, and grant me a happy world after 
 I die." Of the prayers contained in the Sama Veda, 
 several have been given under different heads ; but we add 
 one or two more : — 
 
 " Indra ! wherever, whether in some strong chest, or 
 in some hill or well, treasure worthy of regard is laid up, 
 thence do thou bring it to us." 
 
 " most powerful Indra, we desire that joyous sensation, 
 wliich, arising from plenteous potations of the moon-plant 
 juice, delights the mind, and under the influence of which 
 thou slewest the cannibal Atrina." 
 
 " Confer on us for our preservation an intellect for obtain- 
 ing cows, horses, and heroes." 
 
 " Grant, ye gods that receive sacrifice, that we may 
 hear only what is auspicious with our ears, and see only 
 what is auspicious with our eyes ! and may we who pro- 
 pitiate the gods arrive at the age laid down by the divinity 
 with undiminished mental and bodily vigour. May Indra, 
 served with many sacrificial viands, grant us prosperity ! 
 ]\fay the nourishing sun, who knows all things, grant us 
 l)rosperity ! j\Iay Parushya Rishi, the ring of whose chariot- 
 wheel could not be cut, grant us prosperity. (0 triune 
 divinity !) may Yrihaspati grant us prosperity. (Triune 
 divinity ! grant us prosperity.") (Page 283.) 
 
 This last is the conclusion of the Sama Veda. The 
 expression which Dr. Stevenson has judged it right to 
 translate by " triune divinity " is the syllable Om, composed 
 of the letters A, U, j\1, which are the symbols of Brahma,
 
 432 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 Vislmu, and Shiva. All sacred prayers are preceded by 
 inaudible repetition of this syllable ; and all pauses are 
 filled up in the same way. It is the highest and holiest of 
 all sanctities. Its powers to cleanse and to ennoble are 
 boundless ; and it is pronounced with a reverence analogous 
 to that of the Rabbis for the name Jehovah. Every man 
 professing devotion is furnished with a long rosary, by 
 which he helps his memory as to the number of prayers 
 said ; for Hinduism is fully imbued with the strange, but 
 widespread error, that salvation is sold for syllables, and 
 that, consequently, in proportion to the prayers recited, is 
 the advance made in the favour of God. 
 
 So completely does Hindu ritual embrace all stages of 
 life, that ceremonies are prescribed for the time at which 
 hope first arises, that a human being is about to receive 
 existence, while each month before the birth has its appro- 
 priate observances. On the eleventh day after the birth 
 comes the purification of the mother, who, holding hor 
 infant in her arms, sits down with her husband by her side. 
 The Purohita consecrates some water ; " part of Avhich," 
 to quote Dubois, " he pours into the hands of the husband 
 and wife, who drop part on their heads, and drink the rest ; 
 after which the house is sprinkled with holy water, of 
 which the remainder is thrown into the well." On the 
 next day comes the ceremony of naming the child, described 
 in the last chapter. At the age of six months he first re- 
 ceives solid food, on wdiich occasion the Brahmans are 
 feasted, the sacrifice of Homam and Arati performed, and 
 to a dish, " turned into a god by the power of the mantras 
 of the PuruhUa,^^ all the married women present ^ bow with 
 clasped hands, and, praying that the child may thrive, rub 
 his lips with boiled rice. As nearly all Hindus shave the 
 head, the first occurrence of that operation is marked with 
 similar rites. The same is the case when the ears are 
 
 ^ It must alwcays be remenibeicd that widows are not included in the 
 term " mavried women." Their presence is not allowed.
 
 INDIA: ITS ItELlGlON 433 
 
 pierced. After this, in the Brahman, Rajah, and Merchant 
 castes, follows the ceremony of the triple cord ; and then 
 comes the marriage, of the ceremonies attendant on which 
 Our rather lengthy account was but an imperfect outline; 
 
 When death approaches, the PUrohita is again called. 
 The dying man is laid upon the ground,^ that his soul may 
 not have to carry into its next body the incumbrance of 
 either bed or mat. He then gives leave to perform the 
 ceremony of expiation. The Purdliita pours into his mouth 
 some of the panchagai'ya, or five products of the Cow, by 
 which nauseous draught all corporal defilement is purged; 
 The patient is then required to say Certain mantras, whereby 
 all his sins are expiated. A cow, with hei- calf, is noAv 
 introduced, having her horns graced with ringSj and her 
 neck with garlands. The dying man takes hold of her tailj 
 while the Purohita and others chant mantras, praying that 
 she may conduct him safely to the other world. He then 
 presents the cow to a Ih-rdiman, by that offering procuring his 
 soul a safe passage across the river of fire which forms the 
 frontier of the lower sphere. Here, as everywhere in Hindu 
 usages, we see that, though transmigration is universally 
 received, it is not the original doctrine that shapes their 
 ceremonies. 
 
 After death, the body being borne to the place of burial, 
 the spot of ground selected for the pyre is slightly hollowed, 
 and consecrated by the Purohita. The body being stretched 
 on the wood, the .sacrifice of Homam is offered on its chest, 
 the fuel being dried cow-dung. Then comes the extreme 
 unction, in which certain mantras are addressed to every 
 aperture in the frame, and each then anointed with ghee. 
 Finally, before ignition, the corpse and pile are sprinkled 
 with the panchagavya, and with water. Those who would 
 wish a fuller detail of these ceremonies will find it in 
 Dubois. 
 
 Besides the direction of personal and family religion, the 
 ' [Often outside the house.] 
 
 28
 
 434 A Mlssio^r to the Mysore 
 
 ritual provides also for public worship. Amongst the rites 
 coming under this class, perhaps the most remarkable is that 
 for producing gods ; for these are not so much the creation 
 of the artihcer as of the Purohita. A\"hen the sculptor, 
 founder, goldsmith, or carver, has completed an image, a 
 Hindu would no more worship it than would a Eoman 
 Catholic worship the wafer before consecration. On the 
 contrary, he lets the most impure handle it, sells it for value, 
 and calls it not a god, but an image; To become a god, 
 it must have pronounced over it, by the Purohita, the 
 mantra oi prdnapatislitha, " giving of life." As these potent 
 Avords pass the sacerdotal lips, the Jiah, " glory," of the god 
 in question enters the image, and there takes up its abode : 
 henceforth, therefore, that Avhich was only an image is a god 
 — is, in fact, transubstantiated. That in using this word, I 
 do not insinuate a resemblance gratuitously, is very plain 
 from the language of Mora Bhatta, of Bombay. In defend- 
 ing idolatry, he says :^" If, then, it is admitted that there 
 is power in human words, it cannot be doubted that there is 
 l)ower in those which are divine, and altogether true and 
 faithful. In these circumstances, by means of the mantras, 
 the Deity is, according to the rules of the sacred books, 
 called into the image ; and thus the immaterial god obtains 
 an imperceptible imagined body. When he is thus en- 
 dowed with a body, he is, according to the rules laid 
 down in the sacred books, treated as one having a body, and 
 from the experience of this treatment he derives pleasure." 
 It is also plain, that though the Abbe Dubois abstains from 
 noting the agreement of the Hindu doctrine with his own, 
 he did not fail to perceive it. At page 73, among the duties 
 of the Purohita, he classes " to give life to the statues and 
 other objects of an idolatrous worship, and to imbue them 
 with the divine essence." At page 87: "This dish has 
 already been turned into a god- by virtue of the mantras of 
 the Purohita." Page 94 : "They are often contented with 
 setting up a cone made of mud or cow-dung, to represent
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 435 
 
 that deity (Vighneshvara), which, by virtue of the Puro- 
 hita's mantram, becomes a god." Page 96 : "The Puroliita 
 enters, carrying fire in an earthen vessel, which he places 
 upon the pile, and by means of the mantram he makes 
 this fire a god." 
 
 A god, once made, is well honoured. A holy light burns 
 in his presence ; he is often anointed ; fragrant garlands 
 deck his person ; and daily are gifts presented to please him 
 and benefit his priest. Each temple has one or more priests, 
 and all of any extent have priestesses, Avho, besides dancing 
 and singing at procession, often do so in the temple, thus 
 making it the theatre where to display their venal charms. 
 I have been told that this shameless part of the temple 
 retinue is not near so common in Bengal as in the south, and 
 yet it appears very familiar to writers whose observation has 
 been confined to that Presidency. Ko public instruction is 
 given in the temple, nor does anything occur that can 
 properly be called united worship. Morning and evening the 
 devotees repair to the shrine, many of them every day in the 
 year ; and each independently performs his devotions. The 
 whole service consists in anointing the idols with liquid 
 butter, or sometimes with milk, or even curds or honey, or, 
 to make up their favourite number of five, sugar is added to 
 the anointing substances ; clothes, sandal- wood, and garlands, 
 are presented ; the lamp kindled, and incense burnt ; 
 eatables and money offered ; then they walk round the idol 
 a greater or less number of times according to the fervour of 
 their devotion, and strew it over with flowers. All these 
 acts, however, are seldom performed except by the priest ; 
 the ordinary worshipper only presentmg an offering of 
 eatables or flowers, performing an obeisance, or a prostration, 
 and perhaps also walking round the idol. Sometimes they 
 add vociferous invocation, rapidly rhyming over all the 
 names of their deity. New moons, eclipses, and such times 
 are marked by special temple services ; any public 
 calamity increases the number of worshippers, and the value
 
 436 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 of offerings ; and annually every god has his fete or parishe, 
 which calls forth offerings, processions, amusements, and 
 immoralities. 
 
 In addition to the simple sacrifices already noticed, blood 
 is often shed, though not by the Brahmans except in the 
 case of human victims, such as the sati. The earth is 
 worshipped according to the usage of different tribes, with 
 sacrifices of goats, children, or men ; the first being by far 
 the most numerous. To the goddess of disease, sheep and 
 buffaloes are freely offered. To Kali, nothing seems 
 acceptable but blood ; he alone is devout who perpetrates at 
 her altar some outrage either on himself or others. 'Not 
 many years ago a priest of hers at Calcutta, shoAved his piety 
 by averting the sacrificial knife from a sheep, and plunging 
 it in his own vitals. Tlie only sacrifice at which the 
 Bnihmans take the life of an animal is that of the Yajiia ; 
 but even here they do not shed blood, for the victim, a 
 ram, is smothered and beaten to death. At this sacrifice, 
 Brahmans of at least three Vedas (according to some, 
 of the four Vedas) must be present, all being sumptuously 
 entertained, and honoured with costly presents. These 
 expenses cause this most august of sacrifices to be very rare. 
 Human sacrifices, if in the form of voluntary immolation, 
 are no way repugnant to Hinduism. By fire, by tortures, 
 by drowning in sacred streams, by excessive restraint of the 
 breath, or by the wheels of the holy car, the worshipper 
 may devote his life, and thereby certainly earns paradise. 
 Xor was the sacrifice of sati always in the proper sense 
 voluntary, though it was submitted to by the victim. Dubois 
 asserts that the sacrifice of a girl was common among the 
 Brahmans of the Atharva Veda, and he believes that " this 
 horrible ceremony " is recognised by that book. 
 
 Of what may be (tailed Supplementary Ritual, it would 
 be impossible for us to speak. All the appliances of 
 superstition abound — holy water, holy stones, holy earth,, 
 relics, rosaries, wayside oratories, and amulets. The amulet
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 437 
 
 is generally a piece of silk thread, or a circle of some precious 
 metal, placed on the arm with a prayer ; and this protects 
 from an evil eye, and from witches. 
 
 The great religious system of which we have now 
 furnished a very imperfect review, has suffered both by dissen- 
 sions and assaults. India has had its Lucians, who, in bold 
 satire, have laughed at the Brahmans, Hhastras, gods, and 
 all their sacred things. It has also had its sectaries, who, 
 disowning the Brahmans, have established rival priesthoods, 
 and rival shrines. Of these the Buddhists have, long ago, 
 been expelled from the Intra-Gangetic continent ; but the 
 Jains, the Linga worshippers, and several minor sects 
 hold their ground. Were the sectaries of all Indian nations 
 assembled together, the anti-Brahmanical host would appear 
 formidable ; but taking those nations as a whole, Brahmanism 
 is their religion. It, however, varies much in its aspect, 
 freely accommodating itself to local superstitions, provided 
 that sacerdotal eminence is not impugned. 
 
 The first system, coming from without, that challenged 
 Brahmanism was Christianity. It does not, however, appear 
 to have made a powerful impression on any Indian country 
 except Travancore, into which it was originally introduced. 
 There it existed, and to some extent throve, up to the era 
 of European discovery. About eight centuries and a half ago 
 Muhammadanism first formally reared its banner in India, 
 Since then its votaries have won in the sacred land of the 
 Brahman magnificent triumphs and resplendent empire. 
 Consequently, scarce a village exists without some followers 
 of the prophet ; and in such countries as are still under a 
 Musalman prince, they form a considerable proportion of 
 the people. But their numbers and their influence are on 
 the wane ; ^ their own faith is corrupted by Hindu supersti- 
 
 ' [There are now about seventy millions of Mulianunadans. They 
 increase steadily among themselves, and there are additions from 
 without — "for social and economic reasons" chiefly. But the 
 religious propaganda of Islam is neither very active nor very effective.
 
 4o8 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 tions, and, though an unportant section of the population, 
 they still leave Brahmanism the religion of India. One 
 important effect of their power is the diminished lustre of 
 the native hierarchy. In the nortli, where their dominion 
 was first established, and where it always held its centre, 
 Brahraanical pride and caste scruples are much abated. 
 In the south, also, the same effects are visible but in a 
 less degree, for there the foreign yoke was imposed much 
 later and less completely. In some districts of the extreme 
 south where the Brahmans were never fairly humbled by 
 ^Nlusalman rule, they bear themselves with a loftiness now 
 unknown in the other parts of India. 
 
 The arrival of the Portuguese brought a fresh rival to 
 the pretensions of the Brahmans. The new teachers had 
 claims of a divine mission more distinct than the native 
 sectaries, and more ancient than the Musalmans. They 
 had also, with the people, the advantage of demanding but 
 very inconsiderable changes. They called themselves 
 Brahmans from the north, thus accounting for a lighter 
 complexion and foreign tongue. They left caste untouched, 
 image worship they slightly modified ; but monastieism, 
 penance, and processions were fully confirmed. Then the 
 most nominal adhesion constituted discipleship ; and all, 
 of whatever character, who would submit to baptism were 
 numbered with the flock. For a time their success was 
 great ; their numbers and their power became considerable. 
 But bitter internal dissensions, the proverbial bad character 
 of their converts, and the rigours of their inquisition, 
 combined to check their advance; and political influences 
 becoming adverse, large defections resulted. 
 
 When the Romish missions were in their decadence, 
 a new agency entered the field. This was at first re- 
 presented by a few Germans and Danes, men of simple 
 
 Indeed Sir Win. Hunter recorded it as the opinion of experts tliat 
 there is now "no such thing as a religious conversion from the Hindu 
 
 to tlie Musahniui niilh."]
 
 INDIA: ITS liRUGIOX 439 
 
 mind aud fervent zeal. "When they had ah'eady begun to 
 reap encouraging fruits in the south, fellow - labourers 
 appeared in Bengal. A poor and humble man in England 
 had become inspired with the sublime resolution to attem})t 
 to confer on India the boon of Christianity. His work and 
 his weapon were truth. He sought not to reconcile native 
 superstitions and Christian laws, or to raise a host of 
 untaught proselytes. He believed, in good faith, that 
 truth existed under the sun ; that to mix it with error, was 
 to destroy its identity ; and that God who gave it would 
 make it prevail by its own mild light. Simply to spread 
 that light was his task. In this he and his brethren in the 
 south were one. They, each in his own sphere, brought 
 into action three agencies hitherto little known in India as 
 the instruments of Christianity, namely, the sermon, the 
 book, and the school. 
 
 The surrender of a foreign flag to that of England flatters 
 our pride, and when that surrender is made without blood- 
 shed a Briton's heart is warmed. But one flag has, not 
 long ago, been peacefully struck in favour of our own, 
 which I would fain have had to wave while the world 
 stands. There was a day when an English nobleman 
 formed the resolution to drive our bright Christianity from 
 the shores of India, because she disturbed native priestcraft 
 and exposed English crimes. The apostolic Carey, disowned 
 by the standard of Britain, took shelter under that of 
 Denmark, at Serampore. Our governor-general demanded 
 that he should be delivered up ! The noble Dane refused, 
 and added that should the missionary be taken by force, he 
 would strike the flag of his nation. That flag was re- 
 spected ; Carey pursued his work ; helpers came to his 
 side ; the sermon, the book, the school multiplied them- 
 selves ; an invisible hand passed over the thrones of India 
 and levelled every barrier that shut out these three agents ; 
 until at this day they speak and spread wherever the 
 churches will. I say again, that I should have loved
 
 440 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 that Danish flag to wave over Serampore to the world's 
 end. 
 
 Brilhmanism might still laugh at the Protestant mission- 
 aries, if it regarded only their numbers. Two or three 
 hundred strangers attacking a system that has stood for 
 three thousand years, and is defended by millions of 
 hereditary priests, would not, ordinarily, cause alarm, But 
 alarmed and disheartened the Bruhmans are. The new 
 teachers have met them in a way before unknown, They 
 have published in nearly all their tongues another Shastra, 
 of which the strange purity casts the very gods into dis- 
 repute. They con^mand unheard-of lights of science, 
 whereby they give dazzling proof that on every possible 
 subject the Shastras abound in lies. They circulate, far 
 and wide, books and paniphlets of immaculate ethics, and 
 high doctrine ; they carefully teach the young, and power- 
 fully address the populace. Though so contemptible in 
 numbers, they have about them a deep faith that they are 
 sent of God, which in itself makes them terrible ; and in 
 ardent prayers they appeal to Almighty power to work in 
 Bome wondrous ways the overthrow of all the Brahmans 
 venerate. Already their zeal has made impression ; and 
 unlikely answers to their prayers have seemed to fall from 
 above. The sacrifice of sati, which appeared secure be- 
 yond any daring, is offered up no more ; and the worthiest 
 compatriots of the Brahmans join in the gratulation of their 
 foes. The British government gave to idolatry a powerful 
 support, which being at once flattering to the crowd, 
 advantageous to hierarchy, and gainful to the executive, 
 seemed to be, as both governors and Brahmans wished it to 
 be, perpetual. As though an invisible hand had moved at 
 the prayers of the strangers, this support has sunk away. 
 A law was administered by the tribunals, disinheriting 
 every man who forsook the creed of his fathers. That law 
 alone was a wall of fire around the altar of the Brahman ; 
 but it has disappeared, and the most timid now may desert
 
 INDIA : ITS RELIGION 441 
 
 the ancient fanes, nor fear to be consumed. ^ Caste itself, 
 old, they thought, as creation, and immutable as the hills, 
 has begun to waver. The schools of the Christian teachers 
 confer on base-born out-castes lights by which, in some 
 
 ^ Since this was sent to press I liave learned tliat, witli a 
 pusillanimity the most humbling, tlie law of religious freedom 
 though promuhjcd is still suspended ; and we continue to make it a 
 civil crime for a Hindu to become a Christian ! [This is no longer 
 true. Act xxi. of 1850 is in full force thronghont British India, and 
 a man may change his faith without exposing liimself to any civil 
 disabilities. But in the Native States it is otherwise. A Travancore 
 judge recently expressed the opinion that " a convert from Hinduism 
 to Christianity loses ipm facto all rights to tlie property of the family 
 to which he was entitled before his conversion." Similarly, in the 
 Mysore State, judges upheld the Hindu law that "an apostate from 
 the Hindu religion who has been expelled fiom caste loses his civil 
 rights." On this subject a strong memorial was sent to the Viceroy 
 in 1898, praying that he would use the influence of his Government 
 with the Governments of Mysore, Travancore, and Cochin with a view 
 to the introduction into those States of an Act analogous to Act xxi. 
 of 1850. Lord Elgin, the then Viceroy, declined to accede to the 
 l^rayer, on the grounds that such legislation would be unpopular and 
 might become a source of trouble in those States ; that the majority 
 of converts were drawn from classes destitute of property, and would 
 not benefit by such legislation ; and that Roman Catholics, who were 
 most interested, had not joined in the Memorial. Just when this 
 Order of the Government of India was issued, the Mysore Government 
 was engaged in drafting an Act which would have secured to Native 
 Christian converts rights of property of whatever kind, but on receii)t 
 of the Order it felt compelled to abandon its proposed legislation. 
 There was thus presented " the humiliating spectacle of a Christian 
 Government discouraging a Native State in its efforts to remove the 
 unjust penalties imposed upon those who embrace the Christian faith, 
 and using its powerful influence to maintain a law which makes the 
 acceptance of Christianity more disastrous in its consequence than the 
 committal of a criminal ofl'ence." A further representation has been 
 made to the present Viceroy, Lord Curzon, backed very earnestly by 
 the Roman Catholics. It has, however, been set aside, with the 
 remark that ''in the passage of time even such inequalities . . . 
 will disappear. But the change is more likely to come voluntarily 
 than as the result of pressure " ! The latest news is, that the Mysore 
 State is likely to act almost immediately in the direction desired.]
 
 442 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 respects, even the Brahman is outshone ; and now offices 
 and honours are laid open to all who can make good the 
 vulgar claim of ability. In many places, too, the sacred 
 rites of other times are openly laughed to scorn, the dread 
 of the priest is gone ; and that of the gods, passing away. 
 Cases, too, ever and anon occur in which the foreign creed is 
 deliberately embraced, all persecutions being unheeded by 
 the apostate, and all argument foiled. Again and again 
 the world hears of even a son of the sacerdotal line resign- 
 ing the pride of his birthright, and meekly accepting from 
 a foreign guru, the sign of discipleship in another faith. 
 "It is foretold," does many a Brahman say, "that in the 
 degenerate Kali Yuga,^ a time will come when all power 
 will pass from the hands of the Brahmans : and, alas, the 
 time is come ! " " It is foretold," will others say, " that in 
 the degenerate Kali Yuga, a religion will come from the 
 West, before which all others will disappear : and, alas, the 
 time is come ! " 
 
 In speaking of the decay of Hinduism it is undesirable to 
 use expressions that may be misinterpreted. To say that its 
 foundations crumble ; that its sun has set ; that its citadels 
 capitulate ; that it is feeble with age ; that it lies on its 
 deathbed, and similar metaphors, may, with the writer or 
 speaker, have a clear and a just meaning. But a reader or 
 hearer does not interpret language by previous information ; 
 he looks for information to language, and nine out of every 
 ten will take from such expressions a meaning far beyond 
 the truth ; while not a few will expect to hear forthwith of 
 the abolition of idolatry all over Hindustan. Now all that 
 
 ^ [The fouitli age of the world, now in progress. The fiivst age was 
 called Krita Yuga, when righteousness was supreme. Then came the 
 second age, the Trcta Yuga, when righteousness decreased by one- 
 fourth. In tlie next, the DwAjjara Yuga, it had decreased by one- 
 half. In the present age, the Kali Yuga, only a quarter of the original 
 goodness remains. Worship is neglected, caste discredited, and 
 calamities — famine, pestilence, war — abound. The doctrine of the 
 Yugas is the doctrine of progressive deterioration,]
 
 INDIA: ITS RELIGION 443 
 
 can truly be said is sometliing to this purport : veneration 
 for the Shastras, fear of the priests and belief in the divinity 
 of caste have much declined, and are rapidly declining ; 
 around all the older mission stations great numbers despise 
 the prevalent superstition ; this feeling is fast extending ; 
 just views of Christianity and prepossessions in its favour 
 are daily spreading ; numbers of natives have embraced the 
 Christian faith, and not a few are intelligent labourers in 
 its cause ; the building of a temple or other sign of vigour 
 in Hinduism is rare ; the Brahmans are generally alarmed ; 
 and all close observers find in their system marked symptoms 
 of decadence. This much may, thank God, be safely 
 stated of India as a whole. But it must be remembered that 
 many Hindu nations have not, as yet, received from 
 Christianity the least impulse, except in an indirect way. 
 Perhaps it could not be affirmed that, in any one country of 
 Hindustan, Brahmanism and caste hold at present ground 
 equally high with that which they occupied fifty years ago. 
 But in several of those countries tlie change is very slight, 
 and not the result of direct Christian labours, for these have 
 not been given ; but the result of political changes, of such 
 public measures as Christian influence has won, and of the 
 insensible spread of new feelings. That Brahmanism is 
 declining cannot be denied, nor do any admit it more fully 
 than the Bnilimans themselves. 
 
 ]>ut we could not fairly estimate the extent to which 
 Hinduism has been impaired, or is likely to be impaired, by 
 Christianity, without noting the proofs of growth exhibited 
 by the latter. The appearance of that excellent compen- 
 dium, the Year-Book of j\Iissions, puts the public in a 
 condition to do this such as it has not enjoyed before. 
 Within the last ten years the number of missionaries has 
 rapidly increased, so that ]iow nearly three hundred are in 
 the field. This number includes many Germans and 
 Americans, who nobly join with us in the effort to 
 Christianise the nations committed by Providence to our
 
 44 -i A MISSION TO THE MYSOliE 
 
 more special responsibility'. Under these three hundred 
 missionaries a large number of natives are employed in 
 dilfusing the gospel. Some of them are fully invested with 
 the Christian ministry, which they worthily sustain ; many 
 act as catechists, and still more as schoolmasters.^ Taken 
 altogether, they would number about a thousand ; but of 
 the schoolmasters several are not Christians, but only 
 employed to give secular instruction in establishments con- 
 ducted for the purpose of inculcating Christian doctrine. 
 The statistical returns of some missionary societies are so 
 defective as to leave it impossible, even with such aid as the 
 Year-Book of ^Missions, to state precisely the amount of 
 agency ; or to state even proximately, the number of actual 
 converts. With regard to the latter, all Avho have attentively 
 observed Indian missions are aware that, taking them in all, 
 the last seven years have been fruitful alcove all that went 
 before. In various parts of the north, though no general 
 movement has occurred, gratifying numbers have been added 
 to tlie churches by individual conversion. But the scene of 
 chief success has been in the extreme south, in the province 
 of Tinnevelly. This province, though having only a popula- 
 tion under a million, has received special care from the two 
 so(;ieties connected with the Church of England; which, 
 
 ' [In these figures Mr. Arthur is speaking of the whole of India. 
 Now, for South India alone (by which is meant only the Madras 
 Presidenc}', with such Native States as Hyderaliad, Mysore, and 
 Travancore). the figures are as follows : — 
 
 Male Missionaries ...... 406 
 
 Women Missionaries ...... 39G 
 
 Native Ministers 407 
 
 Evangelists and Catechists ..... 2776 
 Colporteurs . . . . . . . 71 
 
 Teachers 6633 
 
 Bihle Women 786 
 
 That is to say, there are 802 Kiiropean woikei's, and as.sociatcd with 
 them 10,673 native workers. The Protestant Christian eomniunifv 
 for the same area numbers 524,000. These figures were published by 
 the South Indian Missionary Conference of 1900.]
 
 INDIA: ITS UELIGION 445 
 
 taken titgether, have tlicre at present about tliirty mission- 
 nries. On one station ^e find a missionary, nine native 
 catechists, and twenty-eiglit native teachers ; on anotlier, a 
 missionary, sixteen native catechists, and twenty-four 
 native teacliers ; and otliers in similar strength. One 
 missionary gives returns " showing an increase of seven 
 hundred and ninety-seven (hiring the year " ; anotlier says, 
 " no fewer than one thousand four hnn<lred and two souls 
 have embraced the Christian religion during the last six 
 months." Another shows " an increase of six thousand tive 
 hundred and eighty souls brought, in one year, out of the 
 darkness of heathenism to the light of the gospel." Another 
 states, "by comparing the returns for 1844, with those of 
 the past year, there is an increase of a thousand converts." 
 The Bishop of Madras says, " In four years and a half the 
 Christian community of Tinnevelly has doubled itself, the 
 increase during that period being equal to the total increase 
 of fifty-four years that preceded it." The converts are of 
 two classes — the baptized ; and those under instruction, that 
 is, who have renounced heathenism, but have not yet been 
 admitted to baptism. After an extraordinary movement, by 
 which, in four years, eighteen thousand persons had renounced 
 idolatry, the heathen became enraged, and violently perse- 
 cuted the ci.>nverts. During these severities many who had 
 been baptized drew back ; but even then the number of the 
 baptized steadily increased ; and now the prospects are 
 brighter than ever. One missionary makes a statement very 
 remarkable for India: — "There are comparatively few 
 heathen in the eight villages forming the Atisayapuram 
 district." Again, " At the morning service all the inhabi- 
 tants of Panneivilei joined the congregation, at the head of 
 them an old Pandaram," pilgrim monl\ Though these 
 converts are poor, — not as poverty is understood in England, 
 but as it is understood in India, where the -wages of one of 
 our mechanics would be a gentleman's revenue, they have 
 liberally raised subscriptions for '' Poor Funds, Tract and
 
 446 A MISSION TO THE ]MYSORE 
 
 Book Societies," and " other charitable and religious objects." 
 Several substantial churches have been built by their own 
 money, some villages raisijig as much as four hundred and 
 fifty or five hundred and fifty rupees (forty-five, or fifty-five 
 pounds), sums, I will venture to say, that no one would 
 have imagined it possible to raise for any disinterested 
 object. It is to be regretted that the returns do not enable 
 us to specify exactly the number of baptized converts ; but 
 so far as I can gather they must be nearly thirty thousand, 
 or about one thousand, on the average, under the care of 
 each missionary. The Bishop of Madras has such a view of 
 the present opening in Tinnevelly, that he does not doubt 
 that any additional missionaries sent thither would each 
 " collect around him a congregation of one thousand or one 
 thousand five hundred souls in a few months." It is to be 
 hoped that the two societies whose labours have been so 
 blessed of the Lord, may be enabled to prosecute, with still 
 greater strength, the glorious beginnings already made.^ 
 
 In the adjacent province of Travancore, the missions of 
 the London Society have a molt encouraging position. 
 Seventeen thousand persons are returned as regularly under 
 instruction, with a hopeful array of schools, congregations, 
 church-members, and bible-classes. In one village " twelve 
 families have, in a year, openly declared themselves 
 Christians " ; in another district " there has been an addition 
 of one hundred and forty-seven families, to those who have 
 assumed the profession of Christianity ; while the church 
 and schools have been proportionably augmented." Those 
 who know the Hindus will regard as a strong proof of the 
 reality of their convictions the fact, that on one station they 
 
 ^ [The Church Missionary Society has been working in Tinnevelly 
 since 1820. Its European staff of missionaiies, men and women, but 
 not including missionaries' wives, is only 17. There are, however, 49 
 ordained native clergymen and 942 Christian teachers of both sexes. 
 Tlie number of baptized Christians and catecliumens is 53,640, of 
 whom more than 17,000 are connnuuicants.]
 
 INDIA: ITS KELIGTON 447 
 
 have contributed two hundred and seventy pounds "for tlie 
 support and spread of the gospel." In this province, also, 
 the Church Missionary Society is labouring with great elfeet.^ 
 " Do you seriously believe that India will be converted 
 to Christianity ? " is a very natural question. If put by a 
 man of the world, I sliould reply to it by asking, Do you 
 seriously believe that a people so rational and inquiring 
 as the Hindus will for ever worship stocks, cows, birds, 
 monkeys, and snakes? Do you seriously believe that they 
 can long continue to do so after the light of Christianity 
 has reached them 1 But if that question come from a 
 Christian, I reply. Yes : and, Do you seriously doubt that 
 the power which converted your soul is unequal to the 
 conversion of the Hindus? I do seriously and joyfully 
 believe that the rapid conquest gained over India by British 
 arms, is the preparation and will prove the type of the 
 conquest to be gained over it by the glorious gospel. " If," 
 said the venerable lUshop of Calcutta, preaching before the 
 Church Missionary Society, " the succeeding ten years 
 should be blessed at the same ratio as the last ten, half a 
 million of souls would be brought under Christian instruction 
 in India alone, and at the end of a period equal to the 
 length of the Society's past labours (say forty years) the 
 whole population of British Hindustan would be the Lord's." - 
 
 ^ [In Travancore and Cochin the Church Missionary Society returns 
 41,175 Native Christians, of whom nearly 12,000 are communicants. 
 In the same area the London Missionary Society numbers 7900 church 
 members and 63,000 "other native adherents."] 
 
 - [Yet more than fifty years have passed since the Bishop spoke, and 
 there are still not more than a million Protestant Christians in India ! 
 Enthusiasm is always apt to -work out its figures on the scale of 
 geometrical progression. But this kind of calculation is quite mis- 
 leading, and is apt to produce discouragement, if not scepticism, in 
 later generations. Think how tremendous are the implications of 
 such an arithmetical forecast. It implies, cj., that tiie Church will 
 always interpret opportunity as duty, and will always set itself to 
 fulfil it promptly and adequately. It implies that the Church, having 
 found its duty, has no new lessons in method to learn, but may proceed
 
 448 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 'Nov can this chapter be more impressively closed than ill 
 the sage and moving words of that same apostolic discourse I 
 — " And 3^et we are inert. The immense number of families 
 enriched by India are asleep. The spiritual church shrinks 
 back. Selfishness lays its icy hand on the warm seat of 
 life. The mother starts at the thought of parting with her 
 beloved son. The kindred interpose between Christ and 
 the testimony of His blood before the nations. Our uni- 
 versities and colleges refuse the flower of their students. 
 . . . An outburst of inquiry is beginning. India is in a 
 state of transition from a prostrate, timid, slavish apathyj 
 to thought, activity, and enterprise. . . . God is at work. 
 I firmly believe that, from the first promulgation of 
 the gospel, a crisis of such importance as the present, for 
 the salvation of such a population as India, has not occurred. 
 Occupy it then. Not a moment is to be lost. Eternity 
 presses on. Souls are perishing." 
 
 without apprenticesliip to its successful fulfihnent. It implies that, 
 the Church being absohitely faithful, unifonnly rapid success is 
 assured, quite irrespective of tlie varying conditions — social, in- 
 tellectual, and moral — under which the work has to be done. It 
 implies — but why continue ? The conversion of a land like India is, 
 in the present stage of things, never less acciu'ately measured than by 
 figures. If the religious impulse of the people is being stimulated ; if 
 their moral sense is being iiuickened ; if men are seriously striving to 
 find, if may be, in their own sacred Ijooks, the meaning they have 
 learnt from Christ ; if they are turning away witli distaste and 
 apology from that which is gross and degrading in their national 
 religion (and these things are actually taking place), then the con- 
 version of the land is in progress, whatever statistics may sa}'. But 
 the statistics issued by the Census Commissioner just as these pages 
 go to the press are almost startling. They reveal the fact that there 
 are 650,000 more native Christians in India than there were ten years 
 ago — an increase of 28 per cent. That is to say — while the general 
 population of India has increased only 3 per cent, the native Christ- 
 ians liave increased proportionately ten times as fast. The increase in 
 the Romanist Church has been only 10 per cent., but the Protestant 
 increase has been 70 per cent. The total number of Christians in 
 India now is 2,923,347 as against 2,284,380 ten years ago.]
 
 CHAPTEE X 
 
 THE RETURN 
 
 The work of our mission was proceeding peacefully, when 
 one Saturday night, the eldest child of my excellent colleague, 
 Mr. Male, was seized with croup. Medical aid there was 
 none within two days' journey. During the Sabbath night 
 the child died, and we buried him the day following. On 
 the next morning my eyes were slightly inflamed, and in- 
 capable of reading. In a few days the inflammation dis- 
 appeared ; but the weakness continued. After a month 
 had passed, hoping for advantage from a change, I joined 
 Mr. Squarebridge at Kunigal. We spent a happy week in 
 brotherly intercourse, in preaching to the heathen, and in 
 praying for their conversion. On the day fixed for my 
 return, we came to Hebbur, a large town lying between 
 Gubbi and Kunigal, where we spent the morning in 
 preaching, and intended that in the evening each should 
 return to his station. In the afternoon a messenger brought 
 the painful news that Mr. Male's only remaining child, a 
 little girl a few months old, was alarmingly ill with the 
 same disease that had carried off her brother. We started 
 instantly, and rode fast, praying that the Lord would spare 
 this second blow to hearts already wounded. On nearing 
 the mission-house, we passed the grave of the little boy : 
 beside it two men were digging another. 
 
 A few months afterwards, a breathless messenger pre- 
 sented a note from Kunigal. It informed us that the 
 cholera, then raging in the place, had seized Mr. Square- 
 
 29
 
 450 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 bridge. Mr. Male instantly hastened to join liim. The 
 next morning we learned that a brother most dearly beloved 
 had passed from the fellowship of our toils to that of the 
 Kedeemer's glory. 
 
 The affection of my eyes continued to resist all efforts for 
 its removal. Perfect rest from study, the best advice in 
 Bangalore and ]\Iadras/ and the salubrious air of the 
 Xilgiri Hills, all failed to make the least impression. 
 The medical men unanimously declared that I must leave 
 the country, predicting a certain recovery in England ; but 
 also insisting that a return to the tropics would be followed 
 by a relapse. On April 20tli, 1841, I embarked at Madras, 
 bidding farewell to the land where I had hoped " to spend 
 and be spent " preaching Christ. My feelings at the time 
 I find thus expressed in a letter to a relative, written on 
 board : — " You may think that it savours little of affection 
 to say, that I left the shores of India, and turned my face 
 toward home, with the deepest regret. This, however, did 
 not arise from any want of attachment to home or friends ; 
 but the people of my mission had become inexpressibly 
 dear to me : I saw their woeful need of the gospel, and 
 longed to spend my life in making it known to them. 
 Gladly Avould I have resigned every hope of seeing in this 
 life a single relation, had the Lord only counted me worthy 
 to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ. But His will was otherwise." 
 
 Our ship formed a strong contrast with the one in which 
 I had gone out. Small, old, and of unpromising appear- 
 ance, she obtained passengers only because it happened that 
 there was no other vessel for England at the time. My 
 cabin measured five feet eleven by four feet six, with an 
 aperture of about six inches in diameter for light and air. 
 
 ^ Missionaries owe a debt to the medical officers of tlie Indian army, 
 wlio, in tlie most generous way, give them tlieir best attentions with- 
 out fee. I shall ever remember the kindness of Mr. Smith, Mr. Hay, . 
 and the late lamented Dr. Lane.
 
 OUlt RETURN 451 
 
 Here were accommodated bed, toilet and clothes for a voyage 
 of (it was expected) four months. The straitness of the 
 dimensions ensured this advantage, that you always put a 
 thing in its own place, because there was no other. In 
 temperate weather one was very comfortable ; but in tlie 
 tropics it was otherwise, and to remain long with a closed 
 door was impossible, especially at first, when the place was 
 scented by a rich coat of fresh white paint. 
 
 Our party consisted of Mr. Beauchamp, a civilian proceed- 
 ing to the Cape for his health ; Mr. M'Dowall, a fine young 
 officer of cavalry, suffering from diseased liver ; Dr. Boeke, 
 of the Danish garrison of Tranquebar, returning to Europe 
 with a constitution shattered by cholera ; and two orphan 
 children of an officer lately deceased. A young man of 
 highly respectable connexions was a steerage passenger. 
 The captain also had on board his wife and a little daughter ; 
 the former of whom was suffering from dysentery, which had 
 attacked her at jNIadras. 
 
 For the first week the air was almost still, with a cloudless 
 sky, and vertical sun ; the heat was extreme ; but the sea 
 appeared to revive us all, while the captain's wife and Mr. 
 M'Dowall observably improved. At length a good breeze 
 relieved ns from the intense heat, and the discomfort of 
 inaction ; but, at the same time, made the disclosure, that 
 our ship was a most wretched sailer, and, moreover, leaky. 
 "With regard to the former, the captain assured us that, 
 "though she was slow, she was sure"; and, with regard 
 to the latter, that we need apprehend no danger, for the 
 leak was "all in the upper seams." We were very soon led 
 to suspect that we should have no more reason to congratulate 
 ourselves on the commissariat of our good ship than on her 
 speed and tightness. 
 
 One day, while seated at dinner, we heard " Xed " 
 repeatedly called with such emphasis, that it seemed im- 
 possible that any one on board should fail to hear, whetlier 
 asleep or awake. "IS^ed" did not answer. During the
 
 452 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 morning the second mate and several of the men had been 
 in the after-hold stowing the ship's stores. The chief mate, 
 apparently suspecting that " IS^ed " was among the stores, 
 suddenly started from the table, and dashing down a hatch, 
 soon emerged, dragging with him a tall, lumbering young 
 sailor, Avho was evidently inti3xieated, and Avhom he was 
 greeting in the terms of the least imaginable suavity. " K^ed " 
 had scarcely gained the deck before we heard a violent struggle. 
 To exonerate himself, he had declared that the second mate 
 had given him the spirits, whereupon that officer struck 
 him, and, in return, received a very unhandsome black 
 eye. It proved that he had intoxicated himself and every 
 man on board but two or three. He was degraded on the 
 spot, and ordered to go before the mast,^ which order he 
 peremptorily refused to obey. In tlie evening we had a 
 second disturbance, between the captain and a quiet, in- 
 offensive sailor, Avho had fallen into the same snare as the 
 others. The captain upbraided " Jim " for being drunk ; 
 " Jim " retorted by a remark not complimentary to the 
 captain's abstinence ; and immediately ensued a hand-to- 
 hand contest. " Jim " tore the captain's shirt off his back ; 
 but the captain hurled him bodily doAvn the after-hatch. A 
 man was sent down after him to put him in irons, who, 
 during the operation, moralised for our comfort, by saying, 
 "A pretty mess we shall be in if a squall takes us, and not 
 a hand to furl a sail." Mercifully, we had no squall. In 
 the morning the men were " called aft " : ^ in the presence 
 of ]\Ir. Beauchamp and myself, the captain explained the 
 aggravated character of their offence ; at his request, Mr. 
 Beauchamp read the ship's articles, in which they had 
 promised good conduct. We then said a Avord or tAvo, 
 urging them to observe the articles in future ; after Avhich 
 " Jim " was removed from irons, and they Avere all pardoned 
 but the mate, against Avhom the sentence of degradation 
 
 ^ To take the ])lace of a common sailor. 
 "^ Summoned to the ij^uartei-deck.
 
 OUn EETUR^ 453 
 
 was confirmed. He persisted in refusing to go before the 
 mast, and consequently remained idle. The ship's articles 
 apprised us that her registered tonnage, instead of four 
 hundred, as had been advertised, Avas two hundred and 
 sixty ; that the crew shipped in London, mates, men, and 
 all except an apprentice, had deserted at A^an Diemen's 
 Land ; and that of our present hands only three were able 
 seamen. The others were various : one was a joiner, another 
 a barber, another a butcher. The Avliole voyage had been 
 disastrous. Sailing from London for Launceston (Y. D.), 
 with a full complement of passengers, the passage had been 
 spent in wretched disputes, and terminated by being driven 
 ashore near their port. The vessel was saved, but none of 
 tlie crew waited to take their homeward passage in her. 
 >She was ordered to the Burmese coast for a cargo of timber ; 
 but, after several adventures among the Nicobar Islands, 
 found herself on the west side of the Bay of Bengal instead 
 of the east, at jNIadras instead of Moulmein,— two ports as 
 far apart as Plymouth and Lisbon. A carpenter had been 
 shipped at Launceston, who was accompanied by his wife : 
 while they lay at Madras intrigues and disputes arose, 
 during which she leaped overboard at midnight, and was 
 seen no more. Her husband left the ship, Avhich, leaky 
 as she was, thivs remained without a carpenter. 
 
 From the first, we had two services every Sabbath. The 
 state of ]ny eyes disabled me from reading ; but my excellent 
 fellow-passenger, Mr. Beauchamp, admirably performed that 
 part of the service. The men usually heard witlv attention ; 
 but their ignorance and thoughtlessness were lamentable. 
 The first Monday evening of the voyage, seeing them at tea, 
 I went and entered into conversation. "Xed," who has 
 already been introduced, said, "We was just a-talkin' about 
 your sermon, sir ; and Tom P." (for we had three Toms) 
 " says as how you said it was never too late to repent; and 
 so he says we needn't troiible our heads aliout it ; it'll be 
 time enough any day. Now, I says, that what you meant
 
 454 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 was, that the sooner we do it the better for us." " Yes," 
 replied Tom, smiling incredulously, " j^ed says he does it 
 every day." Turning to Ned for his explanation, he said, 
 with unusual gravity, " Well, sir, the last time I was at 
 home, my mother took me to the Methodist chapel, and ever 
 since then, every night when I turns in, I says a prayer ; 
 and so, you see, sir, I clears off as I goes on." Poor Ned 
 evidently thought that he thus obeyed the call received at 
 the Methodist chapel, and took all needful steps for his 
 salvation. They paid much attention to my remarks, and 
 at all times were willing to be instructed. 
 
 The convalescence of the captain's wife soon proved to be 
 deceptive : her disease made rapid progress ; and Dr. Eoeke, 
 who paid all possible attention, found such deficiency in both 
 tlie medicine-chest and the steward's pantry, that he had 
 neither the remedies nor the cordials necessary. She died ; 
 and a melancholy deathbed it was ; by it I watched, and 
 prayed, and mourned. We committed her to the deep with 
 heavy hearts, fearing that we should soon have other burials. 
 Shortly before her death, the captain had fallen seriously 
 ill ; and about the same time Mr. M'Dowall had a frightful 
 relapse. The illness of the latter gradually assumed a fatal 
 aspect ; that of the former exhibited unaccountable fluctiia- 
 tions. Mr. M'Dowall was " the only son of his mother, and she 
 a widow." Almost to the very last, he anticipated recovery : 
 only a few days before his end, he said to me, " I do not feel 
 like a dying man." This very expectation of life made more 
 striking the evidences which he gave of sincere repentance. 
 From the first he showed tenderness of heart, and readily 
 heard of the things of God. Mr. Beauchamp Avas unremitting 
 in his attentions, and most happy in his influence. He lent 
 him Legh Richmond's Annals of ihe Poor, which he 
 eagerly read, and said, with much simplicity, " I feel just as 
 that young cottager felt." I can see him now, as he lay on 
 his couch pale and feeble, tTirning on me a look of timid 
 anxiety, and asking, " Do you think there is any hope for
 
 OUn EETURN 465 
 
 me 1 " Gradually his conviction of sin, his sorrow for the 
 past, his thirst for mercy, became stronger; and at length 
 gave place to a eober, but most cheerful, reliance on the 
 Saviour's blood. Still anticipating life, he spoke with dread 
 of its temptations ; and, with a pleasing distrust of his own 
 strength, expressed his earnest hope that God would give 
 him grace to resist the world, and follow only Christ. When 
 convinced that all prospect of recovery was past, he peacefully 
 accepted the alternative, and continued to rest upon Christ, 
 cherishing sweet hopes of heaven. I watched by him the 
 last night : he lay still as death, and from moment to 
 moment I waited to see the end. There was no sound but 
 the ripple of the Avaters as the ship glided through : the 
 lamp, agitated by the motion of the vessel, cast a wavy light 
 on his wan features, which, in every interval of consciousness, 
 quietly beamed with hope, and even in those slumbers, so 
 like death, and so near it, were sweetly peaceful. Separated 
 only by a thin partition, and watched over by a sailor, was 
 the captain at the point of death. I occasionally went in 
 during the night : there lay he who had lately been so strong, 
 incapable of life's least action, utterly insensible, and 
 occasionally emitting a childish whine. In the one cabin 
 and in the other the sufferer was at the very brink, and 
 none could tell which would first be launched upon the 
 viewless ocean. Just as I was alternately watching the 
 dying looks of the young soldier, and the morning light 
 coming in at the cabin window, my fellow-watcher came to 
 say the captain was no more. About noon we committed 
 him to the wide grave, in which a fortnight before we had 
 laid his wife : his little girl was with us to see her father 
 disappear in the same waters Avhere her mother had so lately 
 gone. We had but just returned from this mournful scene 
 when poor M'Dowall passed away, to use the words of his 
 final message to his mother, "in hope of everlasting life." 
 " In sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection," 
 we watched him into the peaceful wave ; and felt that the
 
 456 A MISSION TO THE MYSOHE 
 
 joy of tliat sure hope gratefully lightened a dark and cloudy 
 day. 
 
 Such a state of feeling had unhappily existed between the 
 captain and his officers, that when he became ill he would 
 not permit the mate to use his chronometers, which he kept 
 in his own cabin. We soon discovered that they had run 
 down. All who know anything of navigation are well aware 
 that, without a chronometer, it is impo?sible to ascertain 
 your longitude at sea. However certain of your latitude, 
 the chronometer alone can enable you to determine whether 
 you are nearer the Cape of Good Hope or Swan River, St. 
 Helena or Bahia, the Cape Verds or the Antilles.^ We 
 were thrown into no little trepidation. Providentially, Mr. 
 Beatichamp had set his watch by the best chronometer a few 
 days before ; and the mate using it, decided that the nearest 
 land was the island of Rodriguez, for which Ave accordingly 
 shaped our course. To our great surprise, we fell in with the 
 island the next morning ; for we had not expected to do so 
 until after at least another day's sail. Now, knowing 
 exactly our position, we resumed our course. The next day 
 we rejoiced to see a sail ; for, though in so early a stage of 
 the voyage, our provisions were already short. We had 
 killed the last sheep the day we crossed the Line ; the few 
 remaining fowls had for some time been in reserve for the 
 sick ; and bread, and many other articles, were either 
 wanting, or of a quality utterly unfit for persons in delicate 
 health. It was at once resolved to apply to the stranger. 
 The captain was dying, the second mate was off duty, and 
 the first mate had to abide by the ship : it fell upon me to 
 take charge of a boat, though little accustomed to command 
 'The metliod is very sim}ile. Tlie chronometer keeps Greenwich 
 time. Yoii observe tlie sun at noon, and for every minute that lie 
 reaches the meridian before your chronometer jioints to twelve, you 
 are oue-fourtli of a degree to the east, for every minute after, one- 
 fourth of a degree to the west, of Greenwich. Every four minutes of 
 difference between the sun and the cluxmometer is a degree ; every 
 hour, fifteen degrees.
 
 OUR RETURN 457 
 
 on the high seas. Mr. Beauchamp, judging that our " owner " 
 would be as well pleased that our comforts should cost him 
 nothing, put me in a condition to pay for whatever we might 
 obtain, by giving me a blank cheque on his agents. The 
 doctor accompanied me, in hope of finding some medicines. 
 The stranger proved to be a Scotch barque, without 
 passengers, and bound for the Mauritius. Being so near her 
 port, the stores were low : one solitary fowl was the only 
 live stock ; this the captain offered, but we declined it. We 
 obtained two bags of yams, and one of bread ; while the 
 doctor, besides some drugs, found one bottle of port wine, 
 and one of brandy, — both of which articles were desiderata 
 in our ship. The bread, though common sailors' biscuit, 
 was free from vermin, and therefore a most welcome addition 
 to our luxuries. 
 
 By this time our regular leakage, when we had anything 
 of a breeze, was seven inches per hour. The pumps were 
 of the old up-and-down model, and drew off the water slowly ; 
 so that every hour the men had a long " spell," against the 
 labour of which they murmured sorely ; sometimes express- 
 ing their fears that the " old basket " (a term applied to a 
 leaky, as " tub " is to a slow, vessel) was bound for the 
 bottom ; and often wishing that they had the " owner " at 
 the pump, promising him such entertainment as would teach 
 him not to deal in leaky ships. So long as the poor captain 
 was about, he firmly defended the character of his vessel ; 
 averring that she was the best craft his " owner " had ever 
 possessed ; that he had brought home three leaky ships for 
 him, and he would bring her home ; and that she would 
 make a good passage of it yet. To console us for the scanti- 
 ness of provisions, he assured us that, on the voyage to 
 Van Diemen's Land, they had lived Avith even lavish 
 profusion. 
 
 It was the most stormy season of the year \\\\e\\ we 
 neared tlie Cape ; and there was every reason to fear that 
 one severe gale would increase the leak to a fatal amount.
 
 458 A MISSION TO THE MYSOllE 
 
 When approaching the land, a fine stiff breeze, lasting for 
 three successive days, sorely tried our pumps, and made the 
 men more than once exclaim, " If we get her into port, it 
 will be the greatest mercy that ever was ! " but it also sped 
 us forward ; and, after bringing us close upon the land, fell 
 into a mild breeze. Our navigation was not remarkably 
 accurate ; Avide discrepancies frequently occurred between 
 the reckoning of two successive days; but it was all laid 
 upon the currents. To-day the current would set us half a 
 degree to the east ; to-morrow, two degrees to the west ! 
 This made an approach to land rather anxious ; for though, 
 in the wide sea, one can very well afford to blunder a few 
 degrees, it will not do for a dangerous coast. No one on 
 board had been into the Cape ; nor had we Horshurgh, 
 that faithful guide to eastern navigation ; but, instead, we 
 had the remains of a Directory, venerable, if not for authority, 
 at least for age. One day the mate confidently predicted 
 that we should " sight the land " before sunset : two or 
 three times the men thought they saw it ; but soon reported 
 that it had been " Cape Fly-away " ; and sunset came without 
 any land. We stood on, Avith a brilliant moon. About one 
 o'clock in the morning, the mate called me to see the ship 
 " hove-to close under the land." There lay the little barque 
 riding the waves, with her sails glistening in the moon : 
 close by, against the deep blue heaven, was reared a pile of 
 black cliffs, skirted at the base by a Avaving line of white, 
 where the breakers Avere loudly sounding. The mate said 
 Ave Avere off the mouth of False Bay, and only waiting for 
 the morning, to enter. We presently saw a sail just to the 
 eastward ; and a trim schooner, sAveeping along, in the 
 moonlight, Avith exquisite grace, passed close by us. I 
 advised the mate to speak her; but we had no trumpet! 
 and though she came so close, that he might have put a 
 question Avithout it, he felt so confident of his position, that 
 he did not think it worth while. Not being equally con- 
 fident, T watched the direction of the schooner ; and left the
 
 OUU RETURN 459 
 
 deck with an impression, that if we were in the mouth of 
 P"'alse J>ay, she was standing riglit for the rocks, and tliis I 
 deemed the less probable alternative of the two. 
 
 On the western coast of Africa, about thirty miles from its 
 southern extremity, is Table Bay ; immediately to the east 
 of that extremity is False Bay : Cape Town is situated on 
 the former, Simon's Town on the latter. The neck of land 
 between the two bays is about twenty miles wide ; and the 
 strip of land, which they form into a little peninsula, is an 
 elevated ridge running for about thirty miles from north to 
 south, and terminating on the north in Table Mountain, on 
 the south in the Cape of Good Hope. Table Bay is exposed 
 to the gales which prevail in winter, and is then unsafe ; 
 False Bay, being sheltered from those gales, is at that season 
 the preferable harbour. Arriving in the depth of the southern 
 winter (July), we made for False Bay. 
 
 In the morning I found that a thick fog concealed the 
 whole coast, except a low headland to the east, and a flat- 
 headed eminence, for which we appeared to be steering, A 
 curvature was observable ; but it at once struck me as being 
 far too slight to answer to an opening so spacious as False 
 Bay. The more I looked, the stronger this doubt became ; 
 till at length I ventured to express it. The mate assured 
 me we were entering the bay. " That," pointing to the low 
 headland, "is Cape Lagullas; and that," pointing to the 
 eminence, "is Table Mountain." "Why," I replied, "Cape 
 Lagullas and Table Moiuitain are ninety miles apart : it is 
 impossible we should sec them both at the same time." 
 Rather embarrassed, he went below ; and, on returning, 
 said, " I have examined the chart, and no other part of the 
 coast ansAvers to the bearings." I presently consulted the 
 chart and Directory, which convinced me that our " Table 
 INIountain " was the Gunner's Quoin, situated seventy miles 
 from that celebrated elevation. Returning on deck, I found 
 we were rapidly nearing the coast ; on our larboard, the land 
 was seen very distinctly ; we could hear the surf rolling ;
 
 460 A MISSION TO TIIE MYSORE 
 
 but before us the mist covered all, except " Table Mountain." 
 The oldest of the sailors happened to pass me, and grumbled, 
 " I wonder where Ave're a-goin' to : there's no bay there, I 
 know." Tiius confirmed in the impression already made by 
 the coast and the chart, I asked whether the high land 
 might not be the Gunner's Quoin. The mate was piqued, 
 asserted that he was right, and added, " You may depend 
 that you will dine in Simon's ToAvn." Most willing to 
 believe what was so desirable, though unable to reconcile 
 appearances, I went below to. arrange matters for landing. 
 In a few minutes, jNIr. Beauchamp came down, smiling, and 
 said, " The fog has cleared away : there is no bay, and 
 ' Table Mountain ' is the Gunner's Quoin." We were now 
 inside a long reef of rocks ; and had the wind either in- 
 creased or changed, should have been placed in circumstances 
 the least desirable. But Providence favoured us ; the wind 
 blew steadily from the safest quarter, presently the heavy 
 old ship was clear of the breakers : and we began to run 
 along the coast towards the west. 
 
 The day and the scene were charming : the bluff, blue 
 headlands stood up boldly between sea and sky, thti wind 
 swept along with equable vigour, the sea rolled in full round 
 waves, and the sky glowed as on a bright jNIay-day in 
 England. P>er and anon, in the west, we observed a blue 
 s})eck in the sea, cut oil' by the waves from the line of coast ; 
 but, as Ave approached, it rose and spread, till at length it stood 
 out in full vieAv, not an island, but a seaside hill. ToAvards 
 evening, one of these appeared far beyond the most distant 
 point in the continuous range of coast, and evidently not 
 in the same line. Its insular character ajipeared unquestion- 
 able ; and yet the chart did not indicate an island there. 
 Presently a second island appeared by its side : the chart 
 was still at fault. The sun Avas hasting doAvn ; it Avas the 
 very season for those terril)le " south-Avesters," Avhicli lay so 
 many gallant ships on that hard coast ; and this unex- 
 pected island perplexed us as to our position. "We eagerly
 
 OUR RETURN 461 
 
 resorted to the old Directory : a hint was discovered, 
 that, in coming from the east, the Cape itself first appears 
 Hke an ishiiid ; the rapid rise out of the sea of a line of coast 
 running north and south, and terminating in the supposed 
 island, satisfied us that this solution of the difficulty, Avhich 
 was so welcome, was also true. We no longer doubted 
 that we were in the mouth of our " desired haven " ; and, 
 fearful to risk a gale in the bay during the night, we 
 hove-to. 
 
 The following morning was foggy, with scarcely any wind : 
 we crept slowly u}) the bay, straining our eyes, and teasing 
 our glasses, to distinguish Table Mountain ; but in vain. 
 That celebrated landmark was not to be found ; and though 
 all other appearances accredited False Bay, we felt a slight 
 misgiving. " AVhere is Table Mountain 1 " asked every one ; 
 and no one could answer. Could it be possible that we were 
 wrong again ■? Most narrowly we scanned every lineament 
 of the hilltops ; but could find no table. As we approached 
 nearer and nearer to the north-west corner of the bay, where 
 we ought to find Simon's Town, our anxiety to discover the 
 decisive landmark increased ; but no trace of it api^eared. 
 At length, on the bleak side of the mountain, we observed a 
 solitary patch of white, like a cottage ; and, examined b}^ the 
 glass, it proved to be a neat little house, commanduig the 
 entrance of the bay, and apparently of European mould : but 
 no other habitation of man was visible. About the same 
 moment, some one declared he fancied that he saw the masts 
 of a ship : this was denied, corroborated, denied again, and 
 finally confirmed by the glass. Presently some one announced 
 a buoy : the mate, turning his glass on the spot, declared it 
 a buoy with a flag ; but it proved to ])e a boat, bearing the 
 owner of the cottage on the mountain-side, who sailed under 
 the welcome colours of the British pilot-flag. One of the 
 first questions asked him was, " Where is Table Mountain 1" 
 " What ! " said he, Avitli an air of surprise, " did you expect 
 to see Table ^Mountain from False Bay? You must get to
 
 462 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the other side of the Cape, first." The fault was chargeable 
 partly on our own ignorance, partly on a miserable Directory. 
 Just as twilight was falling on the hills which all along the 
 bay rise precipitously from the water's edge, they broke off into 
 an equally precipitous crescent, within the arms of which 
 lay a smooth basin, where rode two large Indiamen, and a 
 man-of-war brig. Simon's Town ran for a considerable 
 distance round the foot of the concave hill, and at some 
 points stretched up its sides; one building stood above all 
 the rest, and from it the Sabbath-bell was chiming. Those 
 were the very tones that, at the close of an anxious voyage, 
 one wauld have wished to hear first from the land. 1 
 little thought that they were calling a congregation to the 
 funeral sermon of one whom I had seen depart from England 
 in the full vigour of youth ; but so it was. That building 
 was the Wesleyan chapel ; and that night the people were 
 admonished to profit by the early removal of Mr. Goodrick, 
 one of their pastors, who had just closed a career bright 
 with unusual piety and zeal. The sound of the bell made 
 me long to be there ; but the necessity of waiting till the 
 ship had been visited by a medical officer, prevented our 
 landing that night. 
 
 The two large Indiamen had just arrived, and both of 
 them had suffered heavily in storms off the Cape. The 
 larger of the two, a noble ship of one thousand four hundred 
 tons, had lost her fore and mizen top-masts, and her main top- 
 gallant-mast, besides having one of her officers carried over- 
 board. As it was almost certain that our crazy barque 
 would have perished in such a storm, we saw more and 
 more our debt to that Providence which had sheltered us 
 from it, though coming from the same direction as the vessels 
 that encountered it, and nearly at the same time. 
 
 Simon's Town is a neat, quiet, little place ; but we 
 remained there only long enough to procure a conveyance 
 to Cape Town. Our driver was a Malay — insinuating, 
 talkative, and sinister ; greatly in love with the English, and
 
 OUR RETUEN 463 
 
 no admirer of the Dutch ; how he would have found his 
 taste had his passengers been of the latter nation, I cannot 
 answer. His countrymen exist in considerable numbers at 
 the Cape ; the Dutch having drafted into that colony, as 
 into Ceylon, Malay regiments from Java. They preserve 
 their costume, their language, and their Muhammadanism. 
 Wynberg, lying between Simon's Town and Cape Town, is 
 a lovely village ; a charming medium between England and 
 India, with many of the beauties of the one and of the other, 
 and yet presenting a whole different from both. Near it lies 
 Constantia, celebrated for its luscious wine. Wynberg 
 offers a delightful residence to the convalescent " Indians," 
 who resort in great numbers to the Cape. I stopped here to 
 see Captain Dobbs, who had been compelled by ill health to 
 leave India, about a year and a half before ; and was 
 delighted to find him with looks far different from those 
 with which I had seen him start from Tumkiir. It w^as 
 just the hour for a religious meeting at the house of one of 
 his friends : I joined with lively delight a numerous company 
 composed chiefly of gentlemen from India, with their ladies, 
 and heard the excellent captain give them a faithful exhorta- 
 tion to holiness of life. 
 
 The locomotive genius of the age is displayed even at 
 "Wynberg : I travelled thence to Cape Town in an omnibus ! 
 an omnibus, it is true, that would look primitive beside its 
 London prototypes ; but, at the same time, travelling with 
 creditable celerity. I met with a reception truly brotherly 
 from the excellent Mr. Hodgson. Cape Town is well built 
 and clean, with streets of tolerable width, in some cases 
 shaded by rows of oak and elm. The grouping in the streets 
 is singularly varied : Europe, Asia, and America meet upon 
 the soil of Africa. Perhaps in the very same street, 
 and blended in picturestpie relations, you see the free, 
 familiar air of the Englishman ; the conical cap and eastern 
 countenance of the Malay ; the lusty Dutch burgher ; the 
 British soldier ] the turbaned Hindu, who has followed his
 
 464 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 master from India ; the elegant European carriage ; the semi- 
 savage air of the Brazilian slave-dealer, apparently cursing 
 the English for having robbed him of his prey : the comfort- 
 able, well-clad Dutch housewife ; the waggon drawn heavily 
 b}' twelve, fourteen, or sixteen giant bullocks, with wide, 
 rambling horns, and driven by a Hottentot whom English 
 generosity has lifted out of slavery ; the wiry frame and 
 swarthy visage of the Anglo-American ; the tall cap and 
 flowing robe of a Persian horse-dealer ; the dark, meanly 
 clad African woman ; and the light waggon drawn by eight 
 horses, a farmer driving the eight-in-hand at a smart trot, 
 while an assistant by his side has charge of the whip. To 
 the east of the toAvn, and commanding the bay, stands the 
 castle, an extensive pentagonal fortress, having a deep fosse, 
 regular outworks, and a rampart connecting it with two forts 
 which lie farther to the east. On the other side of the town, 
 Table Mountain rises to the height of three thousand five 
 hundred and sixty-seven feet, having the first nine hundred 
 feet of vertical schistus, the next nine hundred of granite, 
 then two hundred of horiztrntal red sandstone, and from 
 that to the top an indurated sandstone, white, and embed- 
 ding numerous pieces of quartz. Upon it are said to be 
 found nearly thirty different varieties of heath. Table Bay, 
 spacious, and flanked on either side by bold rugged hills, 
 has at its mouth an island of considerable size, which serves 
 as a penal station ; and beyond it spread the waters of the 
 wide Atlantic, From that bay, forty years ago,^ the peaceful 
 and saintly Henry Martyn watched the British forces drive, 
 from height to height, the Dutch, defending in vain, for the 
 second and last time, this possession which they had held 
 for a century and a half. The English, Scotch, and Dutch 
 churches in the town are supported by government. The 
 only religious service which I had the opportunity of attend- 
 ing was a Dutch prayer meeting conducted by Mr. Hodgson. 
 The language was unknown to me, and the faces nearly all 
 1 In IHOO.
 
 OUk RETURN 46 S 
 
 black ; but the attendance was good, and seemed to be 
 pervaded by a spirit of fervent devotion. 
 
 After a stay of only two days, we were recalled td Simon's 
 Town; The mate (henceforth to be called the captain) 
 assured us that the faulty seams had been discovered and 
 caulked, and that he had laid in ample stores; The wind 
 detained us for some days, during which I received the 
 utmost hospitality from a Dutch family, and preached twice 
 in our neat chapel to congregations composed of English, 
 Irish, Scotch, Dutch, Hottentot, Bushmen, and Mosam- 
 biques. One day entering the shop of Lloyd's agent, I 
 heard the captain in high debate with the man he had 
 employed to caulk the ship : " You will have a pretty sight 
 of leakage on the way home, I know," said the shipwright; 
 " We have got some pumps aboard," replied the captain; 
 "You will have need of them," rejoined the other. This 
 was not encouraging. The second mate had been restored 
 to his office on the captain's death ; but at the Cape he and 
 the other quarrelled, and he took leave, as did also the 
 invalid sailor. Glad to secure any aid, we shipped in their 
 place a policeman, who said he was a sailor, and really proved 
 to be the best hand on board. After a few days one of the 
 other men was made first, and he second, mate. When the 
 order to weigh anchor was given, the men refused, alleging 
 that the crew was "short," the stores insufficient, and the 
 caulking eti'ected little worth. The captain Avas by far the 
 most powerful man on board, with a fierce look, a thundering 
 voice, little delicacy, aiul abundant resolution. He soon 
 terrified the men into " duty " ; but we had not been long 
 under weigh before we found that the leak was nearly as 
 bad as ever : long before the pilot left, we had copious 
 pumpings. The men looked disheartened ; some said, " I 
 told you how it 'ud be, but ye would up anchor " ; and the 
 new man called himself " a fool " for having engaged with- 
 out first coming on board ; " for," said he (alluding to the 
 brightness acquired by the ii^ons of a hard- worked pump),
 
 4G6 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 "one ■wink at the pump gear -would have cured me." All 
 this made me seriously doubt -whether to put to sea in such 
 a sliip were not tempting Providence ; and for some time 
 I felt strongly disposed to return with the pilot, but at last 
 yielded to the fear of seeming afraid. For some days we 
 loitered along with light Avinds, but in about a Aveek were 
 met by a strong breeze from the north j the ship laboured 
 hard, leaking in proportion, and we pumped every hour. I 
 was exceedingly sea-sick, for that affliction followed me 
 to the very last day of the voyage ; and, lying on my berth, 
 I heard the long and frequent pumpings. Some time after 
 night, amidst the whistling of the wind, the dashing of the 
 waves, and the creaking of the ship, the clink, clink, clink 
 of the pump sounded long and drearily. At length the 
 second mate came down, and said to the captain, who was 
 in the cabin, " We can't get her to suck, sir." " Pump till 
 you can." Up he went, but soon returned, " "We can't get 
 her to suck, sir." "How long have you been jnnnping?" 
 " More than twenty minutes." " When did you pump 
 last 1 " " At eight bells " ^ (an hour before). They went 
 up together, and the pumping continued. I soon rose : it 
 was solemn to kneel down on that dark night amid the 
 groaning of the unquiet ship, and the cheerless sound of the 
 pump, which some despairing exclamations coming from the 
 deck made to sound like a knell. To commit myself, for 
 life or death, into my Kedeemer's hand, Avas the Avork of a 
 moment ; then the sonls of those who were Avith me in the 
 ship called for anxious prayer ; but one feeling, concern for 
 the perishing Hindus, rose above every other, and expressed 
 itself Avith a force, the effect of which, I pray, may never 
 be lost, in a resolution, that, if my moments on earth, should 
 1)6 but few, I Avould devote them to jjrayer, and, if lengthened, 
 no matter in Avhat laud, to labour, for their regeneration. 
 
 ' Eight o'clock. A liell i.s struck one stroke for every half hour: 
 "eight bells " always aiiiiouuces the close of a watch, each of which is 
 four liours long.
 
 OUR RETURN 467 
 
 On deck the niglit was dark, the wind boisterous, and the 
 sailors uttering broken uiurmurs of despondency. Presently, 
 they cried joyfully, " She sucks ! " An inquiry ensued, on 
 M'hich it appeared that they had been thirty-six minutes 
 pumping out the leakage of a single hour. The men de- 
 manded with one voice that we should put back ; but the 
 captain informed them, in no meek terms, that he would 
 do nothing of the kind. "But we cannot keep her afloat." 
 " "We have got some boats to take to." " Little chance here 
 in such boats as them." " Well, we shan't put back, I can 
 tell you : my life is no more than another dog's." Wo could 
 not account for it ; but the next hour the leak fell back to 
 six or seven inches • the wind became fair soon after, and 
 for six weeks from that night we had not a foul breeze nor 
 a rough one. 
 
 The provisioning effected at the Cape was of a piece with 
 the caulking : for the cabin-table, including five adults and 
 three children, the whole store of bread, for a voyage of ten 
 weeks, was a hundred pounds of biscuits ; we consoled our- 
 selves liy the hope of a supply at St. Helena. One day, 
 when all above and below was glowing with the utmost 
 beauty, the captain announced that about three o'clock we 
 should sight the island. Three o'clock came, a man went to 
 tlie mast-head, the captain paced the deck and watched ; 
 we all did the same ; but the sun set on a bright circle of 
 unbroken water. We then made for Ascension : in a few 
 days our observations indicated the Isle of Turtles as right 
 a-head : we waited patiently for its appearance ; but it came 
 not. Those naughty currents, which had i)layed us so many 
 strange tricks in making land before, were at work again ! 
 
 The men were now eating, for bread, the residue of what 
 had been on board when the ship was stranded, which had 
 been then damaged with the salt water, had afterwards been 
 carried in bags about the tropics for several months, and 
 was now nothing more than a mass of animated powder, 
 with occasional bits of indurated biscuit too hard even for
 
 468 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 the vermin. How they managed to eat it, and how they 
 lived after eating it, was a mystery. For our part, we had 
 old ship-biscuit of the common kind, abounding in maggots, 
 and in monstrous brown insects called " weevils," a kind of 
 younger black-beetle. On the Line we were becalmed for 
 several days within two or three miles of another vessel, 
 and the poor men repeatedly craved permission to go and 
 ask for bread. The captain, without positively refusing, 
 displayed much reluctance to beg, so soon after leaving 
 port. One evening we saw a well-manned boat sweeping 
 over the glassy sea towards our ship ; and forthwith a tall 
 sinewy, middle-aged sailor, in his shirt-sleeves announced 
 himself, in an accent richly American, as captain of the 
 whaler Sophie, of Bremen in Germany. He proved a 
 shrewd observant man, and was returning from a successful 
 voyage to the South Seas. Our captain could not avoid 
 asking him if he had any bread to spare ; he said it was 
 not good, but he had plenty of it, and would be happy to 
 give us as much as we might want. Our captain promised 
 to send for it. No sooner were the strangers gone than the 
 men, doubtless informed by the steward of what had passed 
 in the cabin, asked if they might lower the boat. " ^o." 
 They remonstrated ; but in vain. 
 
 On gaining the north-east trade-wind, we daily sighted 
 ships ; but the captain would not hear of begging, and soon 
 became wary even of speaking them ; for one morning the 
 captain of a trim barque, bound from Liverpool to Valparaiso, 
 
 on hearing the name of our ship, cried, " What, the old , 
 
 formerly of Whitby ? " " Yes," replied our captain, little 
 complimented. " Oh," rejoined the other, in a tone not 
 to be mistaken, " I know her well ! " We all (except 
 perhaps the captain) echoed the words, " I know her well ! " 
 This daily refusal to obtain help Avhen it was at hand made 
 the men furious ; they had no sugar, no pork, no grog, the 
 little flour they got was damaged, and the stuff in the old 
 bread-bags (for bread it was no longer) positively loathsome.
 
 OUR RETURN 469 
 
 Had " the owner " heard their remarks on his conduct, he 
 would have shivered in his bech It is gross iniquity, when 
 men employing servants in duties sufficiently hazardous at 
 the best, wantonly increast^ their danger by sending out 
 worn-out ships on voyages for which only the strongest are 
 fit; and add to the injury by starving them, when their 
 complaints can reach only the ear of some man who has but 
 one consideration, and that to he in favour with " his 
 owner"; for such owners can obtain only such captains. 
 Unquestionably among English sliip-owners the cases are 
 rare ; but there are individuals who make a fortune by 
 buying superannuated vessels, sending them on long voyages, 
 employing captains of little character, and making them save 
 from the just provisions of men and passengers every 
 farthing that brazen dishonesty can screw. Day after day, 
 as the men looked on the ships passing, they would say, 
 " They are not pumping and fasting there " ; and add their 
 opinion of their owner, suggesting a motto to be place<l over 
 his door.^ The condition of the rigging was deplorable, and 
 we had no sail-maker ; neither had we any more canvas : a 
 bad sail was mended by cutting up a worse one ; twine to 
 sew them was obtained by ripping up the sleeping cot of 
 the late captain's daughter ; and in default of pitch to make 
 the twine Avork, I melted my candles, which produced 
 tolerable wax.^ The leeward pump became useless : we had 
 no carpenter to repair it, and neither leather nor pump-nails, 
 should the valves of the other fail. One day the captain 
 told me that he had found two feet of water in the fore-hold. 
 Soon afterwards a brisk gale openetl on us suddenly, one 
 night after sunset : our masts were in little danger, for the 
 sails split before the halyards could be let go. As the men 
 
 ^ Whether original or not, I cannot say ; Imt it was so often 
 repeated tliat I renienilier it well : — 
 
 " Hard work and sore abuse, 
 Kei)t here for sailor's use." 
 - We never set a royal during the voyage !
 
 470 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 had just double-reefed tlie topsail, it split again under the 
 reef : they were few, the wind gusty, the rain violent, and 
 the pitching heavy ; consequently they were long in making 
 " all snug." In the meantime it was necessary to look to 
 the pump, a duty which was undertaken by the steerage 
 passenger and myself, occasionally assisted by the cook and 
 steward. We worked hard, in short, but frequent, "spells," 
 the pump-water gushing on our feet, the rain pouring from 
 above, and a wave every now and then adding a copious 
 spray : overhead, the impatient shouts of the sailors strug- 
 olinfj against the wind and rain sounded wildly in the 
 storm. The next day the captain looked very grave, and, 
 observing that she was making more water, hinted that he 
 thought of putting into the Western Isles. We proceeded 
 for a day or two : the pumping became almost ceaseless, and 
 at length the captain said she was making twelve inches per 
 hour, while the first mate said twenty. The men clamoured 
 to lighten the ship : the captain threw overboard two or 
 three casks of water ! I asked him if he still intended to 
 put into the islands. " Xo, sir." At length they discovered 
 in the forecastle an aperture through which a large quantity 
 of water was entering, and by cutting away one of the 
 timbers, succeeded in so caulking it, that the leakage was 
 considerably reduced. The next day the men learned that 
 there was flour only for another day ; and they firmly 
 demanded that the ship should be carried into some port in 
 the Isles, the second mate joining them. The captain 
 refused : they insisted that they were not able to work the 
 pump. "I can't help it." They urged him: he became 
 furious, raised his hand, and shouted, " You may let her go 
 to the bottom if you like ; but as to putting back, I won't put 
 back ; no, not if God Almighty were to come out of the grave 
 and order me ! " The men were cowed, they slunk back one 
 by one, scowling and muttering ; and the captain, intimidated 
 in his turn by their appearance, softened his tone, and 
 solemnly promised that he would apply for provisions to the
 
 OUn RETUltN 471 
 
 first ship with which he should meet. On the afternoon of 
 the following day, two vessels cauae in sight at the same 
 instant, the one ahead and the other astern, The one ahead 
 was bearing down upon us, and we were soon very near ; 
 but just as we were getting the boat ready to lower, the 
 stranger " hauled his wind," and took a course we could not 
 follow, " Ah ! " they cried, " he sees Ave're parish-rigged, 
 and he doesn't want to have anything to do with us : he's a 
 Yankee " ; adding, what I hope is not true, that American 
 ships are in the habit of avoiding vessels in distress. The 
 wind was so slight, that they thought we could overtake the 
 fugitive in the boat ; but no sooner had we started than the 
 boat proved more leaky than the ship : I was furnished 
 with a large pot, and baled hard, but could not keep her 
 from filling. The men insisted on proceeding, the captain 
 would not ; and with sorrowful countenances we were 
 received again on board. It was now too late to hope that 
 the other ship Avould come up before night ; and we knew 
 that if there were any wind she would be far beyond our 
 reach in the morning, for nothing sailed so slowly as our 
 own craft; but it became a perfect calm, and the men said, 
 exultingly, " We can sail as fast in a calm as she can." 
 
 The state of Dr. Boeke's health was now much worse than 
 on leaving India ; and, between sea-sickness, hard fare, and 
 pumping, I was ill and weak. We both resolved, that if we 
 coidd obtain places in the stranger, Ave Avould change ships. 
 The captain had all along treated me Avith much personal 
 civility, and I thought it only right to inform him of my 
 design, though the doctor, Avho had been difterently treated, 
 feared to do so. jNIy communication Avas received Avith 
 manifest chagrin ; but he acknoAvledged that he Avas not 
 surprised, and promised to interpose no difficulty. The 
 Avhole night and part of the morning being calm, our 
 neighbour did not approach till after breakfast. The day 
 before, the steward had announced, at the top of his voice, 
 that he had found "another shot in the locker"; this
 
 472 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 consisted in a small bag of paddy wliioh had been shipped 
 to feed fowls, but which (failing fowls to be fed) had 
 remained unused. This " paddy " was light, bad rice in the 
 husks ; not very dainty, it is true ; but we were in 
 no case to be dainty ; and, therefore, I breakfasted on 
 the paddy. The captain soon displayed a disposition to 
 evade his promise : after looking at the stranger through his 
 glass, he said, " That's a Frenchman : there's no use in board- 
 ing him," After a while he said, " He is outward bound : 
 we could not reach him." I had heard expressions among 
 the men that satisfied me they were prepared for some very 
 resolute step, if they found themselves deceived; and 
 therefore I reasoned with the captain, urging him to board. 
 He doggedly refused : the men were leaning on the 1)ulwarks, 
 casting alternate looks at the strange ship and at their master ; 
 one of them came aft, and asked if he were going to board. 
 He replied, " She is outward bound." " We have been too 
 long at sea for that, sir," said the man, with a look that 
 reminded me that I had heard them say the day before, 
 " So-and-so knows enough of navigation to find a port." I 
 again urged upon the captain to board ; but he was in- 
 exorable, It was an anxious moment : before another hour 
 we might have mutiny an<l bloodshed :-^I went into my 
 cabin, and closed my door, On returning to the deck, the 
 ship was still to windward of us, the nien with the same 
 looks, and the captain pacing the decks ill at ease. I at 
 once joined him, and besought hinj to board : he persisted in 
 the absurd subterfuge that she was outward bound, I had 
 been careful not to let the men hear my conversation with the 
 captain ; but seeing their eyes fixed on us, and fearing that 
 they would take the matter into their own hands, I reiterated 
 my request. The doctor, Avho M'as within hearing, finding 
 that I did not prevail, lost the patience he had kept so long, 
 and striking the poop-rail with his hand, said, in the hearing 
 of all, " I declare, as a medical man, there is not food in this 
 ship lit for a human being to eat ; the stulJ' the men are
 
 OUR RETURN 473 
 
 using would not be wholesome for pigs ; and I will not 
 answer for our lives, if we do not get pro})er food." The 
 captain flew into a rage ; further restraint was useless ; and, 
 adding my protest to the doctor's, I said, that my health 
 and life were in danger, and that, as a passenger, I demanded 
 that food be obtained if it could. The captain refused, 
 stormed, paced the decks, went below, returned, and said to 
 the man at the wheel, " Bear away," and to another, " Bring 
 the ensign." These Avords changed the looks of all : in a 
 moment the helm was hard-up, the sails trimmed close upon 
 the wind, and we were bearing down to intercept the stranger. 
 " Shall we hoist the ensign with the union down ? " (the 
 signal of distress) asked some of the men ; but this was not 
 allowed. We had not been long in our altered course, when 
 the boat, which had been well seasoned by the soaking 
 of the preceding night, was ordered to be lowered. Before 
 we started, the doctor charged me to secure him a place, at 
 all risks, saying, " If she is going to Algiers, I'll go in her ; 
 and if they have no place but the deck, I'll take it." Just 
 as I got into the boat, a sailor said, " This is a trick, sir; that 
 ship is three miles off, he thinks we can never make her; 
 but we'll try." After a long pull, the captain said, " Now 
 you see that ship is gaining on us : you can never make her." 
 " Ay, ay, sir," replied the men, " we understand that ; but 
 anything for life, and anything for grub, sir : we'll try." ■ 
 They stretched to the oar with desperate energj-^, the boat 
 shot over the long round waves, ami the captain succumbed 
 to the resolution of hungry men. The pull was long, and 
 the success doubtful ; for we could not but see that both 
 ships were going ahead of us. The red English ensign was 
 waving over the stranger : this gave the men new strength ; 
 they pulled, perspired, and panted. At length she hove-to ; 
 we soon read on her stern, " British Isles, London," and 
 in another moment were on the deck, where we were 
 received by the captain and a group of passengers. " Well," 
 said the captain, with good-tempered displeasure, " you juay
 
 47'4 A MISSION TO THE MYSORE 
 
 thank my 1)lack boy that you were not left in the sea ; for I 
 never dreamed of people putting out a boat at that distance : 
 the boy went aloft about something, and cried out that he 
 saw a large black hsh ; I went up with my glass, and was 
 astounded to find it was a boat ; you were out of sight of 
 your own ship " (this, we afterwards learned, was correct) ; 
 "and had it not been for that boy, you would have been left 
 behind." Our commander evidently felt little llattered by 
 this speech. " Well," continued the other, " I see you are in 
 distress : do you want water V " No." That was true. " Do 
 you want pork 1 " "No." There had not been a morsel on 
 board for some time. " Do you want beef?" " No." The 
 last cask had been serving all hands for ten days. "Then 
 what do you want 1 Do you want bread ? " " Yes, a little 
 bread." " Much ? " " No ; only a few pounds." This was 
 immediately ordered, and I asked to speak with the captain. 
 " Have you got a cabin to spare 1 " " No, my cabins are all 
 engaged." " Can you make no arrangement to receive two 
 passengers 1 " " Why, I never knew such a thing as 
 passengers changing ships on the high seas " ; and, looking 
 very suspicious, " Why do you want to change 1" "I assure 
 you we have sufficient reason ; but there is not time to 
 explain now : if you fear that we should prove troublesome, 
 we willingly refer you to the captain, whom we wish to 
 leave." Still he declined. I again assiu'ed him that our 
 reasons for changing were solely on the score of health and 
 safety, adding, "I am a Wesleyan missionary." "Oh," he 
 replied, " that's enough, I know what kind of gentlemen they 
 are ; I have no fear of trouble from you : there is a cabin 
 which the steward has been using." He showed me a very 
 neat cabin Avith double berth, with which I was abundantly 
 satisfied : he then inquired as to my companion ; and on 
 learning that he was a gentleman, and of unexceptionable 
 character, he said, "Well, I will just name the matter to 
 the passengers." They readily agreed to increase their party; 
 and the good captain, on being requested to state terms,
 
 OUR RETURN 475 
 
 named a ver^' moderate sum. I stayed below to write a letter, 
 in case the old ship should first come to land. On reach- 
 ing the deck I found the two ships clo.se together. " Wliy, 
 bless you," said Captain MuMiead, of the British Isles 
 to his neighbour, " those sails Avill never carry you to 
 England." " I have got a better suit below ! " With a 
 large bag of bread, some pump-nails and leather, we returned 
 to the wretched-looking old ship. The men were glad to see 
 the bread, and the doctor overjoyed to lind that, instead of a 
 
 deck-passage to Algiers, or longer imprisonment in the , 
 
 he had a place secured for London in a good ship. We 
 hastily \)\\i a few articles into the boat, the captain was 
 egregiously civil, the men surrounded us, and I took leave 
 of them with blessings and prayers, Avhich they heartily 
 returned. I was most grieved to leave the poor children 
 and the steerage passenger on board ; but I could not 
 interfere to remove them, and there was one comfort, that 
 they would have so much the better fare for our absence ; 
 for the captain did not know that the doctor was going to 
 leave till after he had ordered his " few pounds " of bread. 
 No sooner were we on board our new ship, which was from 
 Denierara, than the passengers surrounded us to hear our 
 tale : whilst we were reciting it, the steward came iip and 
 cried, "Lunch." That was a strange word to us, but not at 
 all unwelcome. I shall not easily forget the doctor's joy on 
 seeing upon the cabin-table a bread-basket filled with nice 
 white bread ; nor is it to be denied, that, after my breakfast 
 of paddy, I thought it a very pleasant sight. Captain 
 Muirhead' proved a kind and able commander, the 
 passengers agreeable, the table all that could be desired, and 
 the Britisli Isles a right good ship. The doctor's health 
 immediately began to improve, and our convalescence was 
 mutual. 
 
 In less than a fortnight, on the morning of September 
 26th, from the cabin window, I saw a high cliff crowned by 
 Dover Castle, We were lying-to for a pilot : and before
 
 476 ■ A MTSSIOX TO THE MYSOEE 
 
 midnight we moored abreast the entrance to the West India 
 Docks. The care of God had been conspicuous throughout 
 the voyage ; its close was crowned with mercies ; and as, 
 looking round on the flashing lights of London, I felt that all 
 its dangers were past, and the desired harbour gained, my 
 whole soul was moved to thanksgiving. Kneeling down to 
 utter those thanksgivings, the recollection came, that the 
 separation from my mission was now consummated : even in 
 the joy of that moment the reflection brought a pang, which 
 led to a solemn renewal of the resolution, that, live where 
 I might, the best of my strength should be devoted to the 
 interests of India,
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 The Mysore District of the "Wesleyan Missionary Society is 
 almost conterminous with the jMysore Province. By an 
 arrangement made in 1882, the Loudon Missionary Society 
 holds itself responsible for the portion of the province lying 
 ■east of Bangalore, the Kolar (rold Fields only being 
 "excepted. In addition, a sub-district in the south-east of 
 the province is being worked by a small undenominational 
 jNFission. The remaining portion of the country, about four- 
 fifths in all, is in the hands of the Wesleyan ^fission. 
 
 When Mr. Arthur went to India in 1839, Mysore was 
 being worked as a part of the Madras District ; but in 
 1848 it became a separate "District," and was placed 
 under the chairmanship of the Rev. Thomas Hodson. He 
 held it for thirty years. On his retirement in 1878 the 
 Rev. Josiah Hudson, B.A., became chairman, and ad- 
 ministered affairs until his death in 1896. His successor, 
 the Rev. J. A. Vanes, B.A., is still in command. The 
 Mission has thus had the great advantage of continuity in 
 administration. Under jNIr. Hodson's regime the central 
 stations of the province were gradually occupied, and an 
 important work was done in providing everywhere the first 
 necessary plant — churches, school-houses, houses for mission- 
 aries and native evangelists — free of debt. In ]\Ir. Hudson's 
 time a steadily grooving supply of native preachers made it 
 possible for the Mission to occupy the principal sub-stations 
 in the province, thus delimiting for each worker the area of 
 
 477
 
 478 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 responsibility, and proportionately enlarging the oppor- 
 tunity of effective service. An analogous policy has been 
 pursued under ^Nlr. Vanes' leadership, the delimitation in 
 this case having reference rather to departments than to 
 territorial areas. 
 
 The growth of the "Wesleyan Mission in Mysore since it 
 became a separate District is shown in the following table : — 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 M 3 . 
 t- ^ ^ 
 
 1 
 
 d 
 
 ^ x 
 
 T3^ 
 
 1«, 
 
 C8 C . 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^e 
 
 Year. 
 
 III 
 
 10 
 
 s 
 3 
 
 
 -■2 
 
 
 5'"' 
 (?) 
 
 02 
 =5 
 
 ^.2 
 
 1848 . . 
 
 38 
 
 (?) 
 
 691 
 
 (?) 
 
 1856. . 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 200 
 
 CO 
 
 9 
 
 1296 
 
 140 
 
 1876. . 
 
 14 
 
 17 
 
 s 
 
 443 
 
 (?) 
 
 31 
 
 4353 
 
 203 
 
 1901 . . 
 
 24 
 
 45 
 
 62 
 
 1778 
 
 4635 
 
 81 
 
 9307 
 
 2230 
 
 Figures like the above are not, by themselves, sufficient. 
 They do not reveal all the manifold activities of the Mission, 
 and still less do they indicate the character and extent of 
 its influence. For example, the schedule reports 9307 day 
 scholars. It does not set forth, what is the fact, that the 
 Wesleyan Mission was the pioneer of that form of educa- 
 tion which now prevails throughout the province : which 
 substitutes history for mythology, and science for the puerile 
 physical teaching of the Purauas. Xearly one-half of the 
 scholars are girls ! That, again, is due to the initiative of 
 the missionaries, who persisted in face of much opposition 
 and more inertness. Nov: the people are establishing girls' 
 schools of their own, and one of them in Mysore City has 
 attracted attention all over India. 
 
 The schedule reports 4635 " baptized adherents." It 
 cannot set forth how much is being done for the moral 
 and material well-being of these converts. In one case, e.g., 
 a considerable number of them, whose lot it had been to
 
 APPENDIX 479 
 
 be born and live all their lives in narrow, tortuous, and 
 poisonously malodorous slums, amid sights and sounds 
 unwholesome beyond all telling, have been lifted clean out 
 of their surroundings, and set where the sunshine can reach 
 them anil sweet air blow upon them, where the streets are 
 clean and the water pure. Yet the new " City of Mercy " 
 is near enough to the old City of Destruction to keep the 
 Christians in influential touch with their former neighbours. 
 Nor can this schedule say, what is nevertheless the fact, 
 that to every native Christian child is being given oppor- 
 tunity according to capacity, and that some of the lowliest 
 born have so developed intelligence and character as to win 
 acceptance and influence among the highest. There are 
 industrial schools for some (and girls are taught suitable 
 industries as well as boys) ; there is technical, normal, or 
 theological training for others, a college course for the few, 
 and regular Christian instruction and discipline for all. 
 
 Of the multiplied activities outside the Church the 
 schedule says nothing — except that it shows " forty-five 
 evangelists." These are Indian preachers, whose work lies 
 almost entirely among non-Christians. They are much 
 scattered, and in many instances far too lonely : the 
 solitary witnesses, indeed, in wide areas, to the truth of a 
 spiritual God, a moral religion, and emancipation through 
 Christ. In addition to these, there is a small company of 
 Bible-women, led by English ladies, Avho in city homes and 
 surrounding villages do among the women what the 
 evangelists are trying to do among the men. The number 
 of these women-workers is forty-eight. 
 
 Finally, the schedule says nothing about the Press, which 
 is now one of the most influential agencies employed by the 
 Mission. From that Press in JNIysore City goes forth a 
 steadily increasing volume of Christian literature. Every 
 week is issued the Vrittanta Patrike, a newspaper with a 
 regular circulation of about 4500. Its readers are five 
 times that number. It goes to numerous villages where
 
 480 APPENDIX 
 
 the living messenger is never seen, and it touches classes 
 which the missionary has been able in no other way to 
 reach. Similarly, there is issued every month a magazine 
 for Hindu women, intended to follow with all healthy 
 influences the girls who have passed through the Mission 
 schools and have settled in the homes of their husbands. 
 These are only items in an output from the Mission Press, 
 which in 1901 aggregated 1,400,355 copies. 
 
 All classes of the people have been appealed to in the 
 Mysore, and responses have come from nearly all classes. 
 Brahmans, Lingayats, goldsmiths, farmers — all have their 
 representatives in the Church that is growing there. The 
 Aveaver caste has made some valuable contributions, and 
 from the pariah and gipsy classes have come many whose 
 presence in the Church is both a strength and an adorn- 
 ment. There has been no large simultaneous movement 
 towards Christianity in any one section of society — as has 
 been the case in some other parts of India ; but every year 
 supplies its record of advance unfailingly, and in some 
 neighbourhoods small communities have now come to the 
 very threshold of Christianity. They receive its instruction, 
 join in its worship, consent to its moral requirements, and 
 apparently await only the decisive impulse from on high to 
 bring them into open communion Avith Christ and His 
 Church. H. H. 
 
 PRINTED BV Morrison and gibe limited, Edinburgh
 
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 
 
 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library from which It was borrowed. 
 
 Form Li9-Se
 
 CS 485. Ma^A79 
 
 3 1158 00880 7272 
 
 W 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 001 131 560 3
 
 M