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ESSAYS 
 
 RELATIVE TO 
 
 THE HABITS, CHARACTER, 
 
 AND 
 
 MORAL IMPROVEMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HINDOOS. 
 
 / 
 
LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, DORSET STREET. 
 
ESSAYS 
 
 RELATIVE TO 
 
 THE HABITS, CHARACTER, 
 
 AND 
 
 MORAL IMPROVEMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HINDOOS. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PRINTED FOR KINGSBURY, PARBURY, & ALLEN, 
 LEA DEN II ALL-STREET. 
 
 1823. 
 

B4T 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 The Essays which compose this volume, 
 were originally published in u The Friend 
 of India," a periodical work, conducted by 
 the Serampore Missionaries ; they are now 
 presented to the public of Britain, with the 
 hope of awakening such an interest in the 
 subjects treated of, as may warrant the re- 
 publication of the future numbers of that 
 Journal. 
 
 913 
 

CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 I. On the Burning of Widows 1 
 
 II. The subject continued 13 
 
 III. Review of a Pamphlet on the subject of Burning 
 
 Widows, written in Bengalee by a learned Pundit, 
 
 to which is added an English Translation 32 
 
 IV. On Female Immolation 67 
 
 V. On the Agriculture of India 87 
 
 Dr. Carey's Address respecting an Agricultural 
 
 Society in India 97 
 
 VI. On the Borrowing System of the Natives 124 
 
 VII. On the Effect of the Native Press in India 140 
 
 VIII. On the State of Female Society in India 163 
 
 IX. Review of Strictures on the present System of 
 Hindoo Polytheism, a work in the Bengalee 
 
 Language, by Bruja-Mohun 185 
 
 X. Review of a Treatise in the Bengalee Language on 
 
 Ceremonial Uncleanness 241 
 
 XI. On the Use of a Foreign Language in the Indian 
 
 Courts of Judicature 260 
 
 XII. On the Native Officers of Justice 304 
 
 XIII. Review of Kurma-Lochuna : a Compilation rela- 
 tive to Domestic Duties, translated from the 
 Sungskrita into Bengalee by Kalee Dasa 329 
 

INDIAN ESSAYS 
 
 i. 
 
 ON THE BURNING OF WIDOWS.* 
 
 It is a melancholy reflection that the religion which 
 influences the population of these vast regions is totally 
 unfavourable to the exercise of any principle either of 
 humanity or virtue. Many of its precepts are so afflictive 
 and unnatural, that they seem to have sunk by common 
 consent into complete disuse. If every point of the 
 Hindoo ritual were literally enforced, not only would it 
 be impossible to carry forward the ordinary business of 
 life, but all those social relations, to which we are in- 
 debted for so much of our happiness, would be completely 
 obliterated, and the whole frame of society dissolved. 
 There are still, however, many barbarous usages which 
 have been perpetuated for ages; among which is the 
 burning of widows, a practice, the enormity of which 
 would strike even the Hindoos themselves, did not a blind 
 attachment to the vices of their forefathers overcome 
 every natural feeling. In all the annals of human depra- 
 vity, it will be difficult to discover a custom so horrible in 
 its nature, or so destructive in its consequences. It forms 
 one of the blackest pages in the history of Hindooism; 
 
 Friend of India, vol. 1. p. 30J. 
 
2 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 and were this feature of its character alone to remain on 
 record, it would be of itself sufficient to hand it down 
 to the execration of the latest ages. That a practice 
 which would reflect a stigma on the most barbarous 
 tribes, should have been sanctioned by men of thought 
 and penetration, and perpetuated among a people whose 
 mildness of disposition is proverbial, shews to what a 
 state of degradation the mind may be reduced under the 
 influence of an unnatural superstition. This is not the 
 case of a patriot relinquishing life to establish the free- 
 dom of his country, or a martyr braving the flames to 
 maintain the rights of conscience. On these occasions 
 we feel a melancholy pleasure in applauding a voluntary 
 resignation of life. But it is the helpless and disconso- 
 late widow torn from her family at the very climax of 
 her grief, and hurried to the flames amidst the shouts of 
 an unfeeling multitude. She must stifle every feeling of 
 compassion for the offspring of her womb, she must re- 
 nounce them at a period when they stand most in need 
 of her care ; and when weighed down with sorrow, she 
 must take a last look on all mortal things, and enter the 
 flames. Had this sacrifice been demanded of the stronger 
 part of the community, even then it would have been a 
 demand of singular enormity ; but to demand it of the 
 weaker sex, to urge the unprotected female, while her 
 grief for the loss which her children have recently sus- 
 tained is yet insupportable, to deprive them of their only 
 remaining consolation, and cast them as miserable or- 
 phans on the wide world, is surely a case of unparalleled 
 barbarity. 
 
 If we turn from the wretched victim to the unhappy 
 offspring whom she abandons, we behold only a sight of 
 still deeper woe. Scarcely recovered from the blow in- 
 flicted on them by the death of their father, they are 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 6 
 
 hurried from their once-peaceful home to the funeral pile, 
 to witness the death of their mother ! In other countries 
 the loss of paternal protection is, in some measure, com- 
 pensated by the increased exertion of maternal kindness 
 and solicitude. But under the influence of this system, 
 the children are deprived of both parents in one day. 
 A state of the deepest misery succeeds to a state of 
 domestic happiness with such rapidity as almost to de- 
 prive them of the exercise of their mental faculties. The 
 family compact is destroyed with the suddenness of an 
 earthquake. The corpse of the father is scarcely cold 
 before their only living parent is bound to it, and con- 
 sumed in their presence. To aggravate the enormity of 
 the scene, the funeral pile must be lighted by the eldest 
 son ! If this office had been consigned to some uncon- 
 cerned spectator, to the brahmun who officiates on these 
 occasions with such lively pleasure, or even to some dis- 
 tant and unaffected relative, there might have been some 
 relief to the feelings. But it must be performed by the 
 eldest son ; the extinction of the hopes of his family is 
 consigned to him. He accompanies his mother from his 
 home to the banks of the Ganges, he stands by in all the 
 agony of grief during the performance of those tremen- 
 dous rites by which she devotes herself to destruction, 
 nor does he dare to lift an arm for her relief: he beholds 
 his mother, endeared to him by the recollection of a 
 thousand acts of kindness, thrown on the funeral pile 
 like a beast of sacrifice, and inhumanly bound to the 
 dead body of his father, with all those indications of 
 brutal satisfaction which shed a tenfold horror on the 
 scene ; and surrounded by his weeping brothers and sis- 
 ters, he lights up the pile which consumes the living 
 parent with the dead, and extinguishes all their hopes 
 of future tenderness and protection. 
 
 p2 
 
4 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 If we would form an adequate idea, however, of the 
 effects of this system on social happiness, we must not 
 overlook the state of prospective misery which each 
 family suffers long before the painful moment of separa- 
 tion arrives. The family in which it is known that the 
 mother will, through the tyranny of custom, devote her- 
 self to the flames, is subjected for years to the most 
 painful and afflictive anxiety. The happiness which they 
 enjoy may be suddenly annihilated ; a single day may 
 reduce them from a high state of domestic felicity to the 
 situation of the most wretched orphans. They feel that 
 the death of the father will be only a signal for the more 
 horrid death of their endeared mother. The anguish 
 which such a state of suspense and anxiety must involve, 
 may be more easily conceived than described. The longer 
 they are indulged with the endearments of maternal af- 
 fection, the longer is this state of misery prolonged, and 
 the keener does that stroke become of which they are 
 held in dreadful expectation. The continuance of their 
 social happiness is removed even from the common 
 chance of mortality, and placed at the disposal of a mer- 
 ciless superstition ; their cup of bliss is mixed with the 
 bitterest gall, and the gay season of youth is in many 
 instances consumed in almost insupportable anxiety and 
 distress. 
 
 Viewing, therefore, this horrid system as destructive 
 both to public happiness, and to domestic enjoyment, we 
 hail with lively satisfaction, a pamphlet recently pub- 
 lished by a Hindoo on this subject. A learned native, 
 already well known among our countrymen by his lumi- 
 nous examination of the Hindoo theology and philosophy, 
 has printed and widely circulated a tract in the Bengalee 
 language, the object of which is to dissuade his coun- 
 trymen from the practice of these horrid rites ; and has 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. O 
 
 likewise published a translation of the tract in English. 
 It is too long for insertion in this journal, and too short 
 for considerable extracts ; we will therefore content our- 
 selves with giving a summary view of its contents. The 
 general character of his arguments tends of itself to de- 
 velope the state of feeling among the natives on this 
 subject. There is no appeal made to their national 
 honour, no attempt to kindle their indignation against 
 so disgraceful a custom, no endeavour to arouse their 
 feelings against a practice so repugnant to every prin- 
 ciple of humanity : not that we suspect for a moment 
 that the benevolent individual who composed it, would 
 have hesitated to employ such arguments, had he not 
 been convinced of their complete inutility. The tract is 
 in the form of a dialogue between an Advocate and an 
 Opponent of the system. The advocate cites various 
 passages from (7ngira, Vyas, Hareet, and the Rig-veda, 
 which enjoin or applaud the practice of self-immolation. 
 Against these passages the opponent produces an extract 
 from Mmioo, the great Hindoo legislator, of whom the 
 Veda itself says, that " Whatever Mwnoo has said is 
 wholesome ;" which Vrihusputi corroborates by adding, 
 " Whatever is contrary to the law of Mwnoo is not com- 
 mendable." The extract is as follows : " Let a widow ema- 
 ciate her body, by living voluntarily on pure flowers, roots, 
 and fruits, but let her not, when her Lord is deceased, even 
 pronounce the name of another man. Let her continue 
 till death forgiving all injuries, performing harsh duties, 
 avoiding every sensual pleasure, and cheerfully practising 
 the incomparable rules of virtue which have been fol- 
 lowed by such women as were devoted to one only 
 husband." 
 
 From this passage the opponent infers, that as Mwnoo 
 directs the widow after the death of her husband to pass 
 
6 THE BURNING $f WIDOWS. 
 
 her whole life as an ascetic, he intended she should remain 
 alive for this purpose ; and hence that this direction of 
 Mwnoo is totally opposed to the directions of the other 
 sages ; and that their authority must bend to that of this 
 great legislator. The opponent then adduces as his next 
 argument, the disesteem in which the generality of the 
 Hindoo sages regard works of merit or demerit, or more 
 properly, works done with the interested motive of gain- 
 ing future happiness thereby ; and to shew that these are 
 not necessary to the attainment of what the Hindoos es- 
 teem the highest state of felicity, absorption in Brumhu, 
 he quotes the following passage from the Veda : " By 
 living in the practice of regular and occasional duties the 
 mind may be purified. Thereafter by hearing, reflecting 
 and constantly meditating on the Supreme Being, absorp- 
 tion in Brumhu may be attained. Therefore, from a 
 desire during life of future fruition, life ought not to 
 be destroyed." The immolation of the widow being- 
 urged on her wholly on interested motives, that of en- 
 joying, as its result, numerous ages of happiness with 
 her deceased husband, is therefore opposed to that 
 system, which, disregarding all actions connected with 
 bodily enjoyment, magnifies the value of Divine know- 
 ledge as leading to absorption in Brumhu. 
 
 The advocate for the practice replies to this, that the 
 later authorities in directing a woman to burn herself, 
 do not contradict this law of Mwnoo ; and supports this 
 idea by saying that Mwnoo directs the performance of 
 Sundhya or evening worship, but is silent as to worship- 
 ping Huri, by calling aloud on his name, while Vyas 
 prescribes calling on the name of Huri, and adds that 
 the words of Vyas do not contradict those of Mwnoo. 
 He therefore infers that when Vishnoo and others com- 
 mand the widow to follow her husband through the 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. / 
 
 flames, they do not contradict the command of Mwnoo. 
 This the opponent meets with the utmost ease by shew- 
 ing that there is no analogy in the cases, the perform- 
 ance of Sundhya not preventing any one's invoking the 
 name of Huri during another part of the day, while a 
 woman's burning herself with her husband will infallibly 
 prevent her living the life of an ascetic ; and completely 
 fixes the charge of contradicting the immutable laws of 
 Mwnoo on those who have prescribed this practice, by 
 quoting C/ngira as declaring, that there is no other way 
 known for a virtuous woman except her ascending the 
 funeral pile of her husband ; and Hareet as denouncing 
 her refusal as a crime by declaring, that as long as a 
 woman shall not burn herself alive after the death of her 
 husband, she shall be subject to transmigration in a fe- 
 male form. The advocate for the practice endeavours to 
 justify it farther by quoting the Rig-vedfl, and Hareet as 
 commending it. This the opponent bears down by va- 
 rious passages esteemed sacred by the Hindoos, which 
 reprobate men's performing religious rites merely from 
 interested motives, and amongst the rest the following 
 from the Bhagvut-Geeta, which he terms the essence of 
 all the Smritees, Poorans and Itihases, " All those igno- 
 rant persons who attach themselves to the words of the 
 Ved«s that convey promises of fruition, consider those 
 falsely alluring passages as leading to real happiness, 
 and say that besides them there is no other reality. Agi- 
 tated in their minds by these desires, they believe the 
 abodes of the celestial Gods to be the chief object ; and 
 they devote themselves to those texts which treat of 
 ceremonies and their fruits, and entice by promises of 
 enjoyment. Such people can have no real confidence in 
 the Supreme Being." These passages the advocate at 
 length acknowledges to be indeed consistent with the 
 
8 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 Yedas, with Mwnoo, and with the Bhagvut-Geeta, adding, 
 however, " But from this I fear that the passages of the 
 Vedfls and other Shastras, that prescribe Concremation 
 and Postcremation as the means of obtaining heavenly 
 enjoyments, must be considered as only meant to deceive." 
 This the opponent of the practice very dexterously ob- 
 viates, by urging that these could intend no deception : 
 they only set before mankind two methods of obtaining 
 happiness, the one excellent, the other mean and un- 
 worthy for those who are enveloped in desire, passion 
 and cupidity, who if they had no shastras holding out 
 rewards, would reject all shastras, and follow their own 
 inclinations like an elephant unguided by the hook. To 
 prevent this, the shastra prescribes various ceremonies, 
 among which is one for procuring the destruction of an 
 enemy! and of course this for destroying widows. 
 
 Unable to urge any thing better, its advocate insists, 
 that, after all, a practice handed down to them by Hareet 
 and others ought not to be set aside. This his opponent 
 meets, not only by saying that this argument is incon- 
 sistent with justice, but by urging the violation of their 
 own rule in the very act of burning. The direction is, 
 that " the widow shall voluntarily quit life, ascending 
 the flaming pile of her husband." "Now," says he, "you 
 first bind down the widow along with the corpse of her 
 husband, and then heap over her such a quantity of wood 
 that she cannot rise. At the time too of setting fire to 
 the pile, you press her down with large bamboos. In 
 what passage of Hareet, or the rest, do you find authority 
 for thus binding the woman according to your practice ? 
 This is, in fact, deliberate female murder." The advocate 
 urges as an excuse for this horrid practice, that were 
 the woman to shrink back from the flames, after having: 
 recited the usual incantations, it would be sinful, and be 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. V 
 
 considered disgraceful by others. The sin his opponent 
 treats with due contempt, by saying that according to 
 themselves it could be expiated by bestowing in alms 
 the value of three kahuns of cowries (eighteen pence) ; 
 and justly reprobates the idea of esteeming the prevention 
 of murder a disgrace. The advocate for the practice, 
 driven to his last resort, defends the binding down of the 
 afflicted widow merely on the ground of its being a 
 custom observed throughout Hindoost'han. This his op- 
 ponent first denies, and then justly reprobates, even were 
 it thus universal. On this part of the subject we think 
 it necessary to add a word or two. 
 
 In the burning of widows as practised at present in 
 some parts of Hindoost'han, however voluntary the widow 
 may have been in her determination, force is employed 
 in the act of immolation. After she has circumambu- 
 lated and ascended the pile, several natives leap on it, 
 and pressing her down on the wood, bind her with two 
 or three ropes to the corpse of her husband, and instantly 
 throw over the two bodies thus bound to each other, se- 
 veral large bamboos, which being firmly fixed to the 
 ground on both sides of the pile, prevent the possibility 
 of her extricating herself when the flames reach her. 
 Logs of wood are also thrown on the pile, which is then 
 in flames in an instant : the whole of this process is 
 realized almost with the rapidity of thought. Scarcely 
 a single moment is left to the spectator to contemplate 
 the scene before the unhappy woman is writhing in the 
 agonies of death. The author of the pamphlet under 
 review, states that this practice has been recently intro- 
 duced, and that it is confined almost exclusively to Ben- 
 gal. This information we have reason to believe is per- 
 fectly correct. A few months ago, in one of the largest 
 cities in Hindoost'han, a woman who had devoted her- 
 
10 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 self to death, and had even ascended the funeral pile, 
 leaped out of the flames, and plunged herself into the 
 river. Her relatives seized on her, and dragged her 
 back to the pile ; but she uttered the loudest cries, 
 calling upon the officers of justice who attended, to save 
 her from a forcible death. They instantly interposed 
 their authority, and on finding that she steadfastly resisted 
 the wishes of her relatives, ordered her to return home ; 
 and though this scene occurred in a large city highlv bi- 
 goted to Hindooism, and in the presence of thousands of 
 spectators, there was not the least attempt made to res- 
 cue her from the protection of the officers of government. 
 
 Before the late regulations of Government restricting 
 the practice to the cases permitted in the shastras, many 
 instances occurred of young widows, who, having refused 
 to burn after approaching the flames, were forcibly thrown 
 on the pile by their unfeeling relatives, that they might 
 avoid the disgrace attached to a failure in such cases. 
 
 The use of force by means of bamboos is universal 
 through Bengal ; it is intended to prevent the possibility of 
 the widow's escape from the flames, as such an act would 
 reflect indelible disgrace on the family. The number of 
 widows burnt in Bengal, however, exceeds by nearly 
 three times, the number burnt in all the other provinces 
 of Hindoost'han besides. Thus, in three cases out of 
 four, a degree of force is used which renders all resist- 
 ance on the part of the unhappy sufferer vain. This is 
 totally contrary to the rules even of those shastras which 
 command the practice ; they strictly enjoin that the sa- 
 crifice shall be perfectly voluntary in every stage of its 
 progress. Constraint, indeed, is forbidden by the very 
 nature of the sacrifice. It is called a Sutee, because a 
 woman devotes herself to the flames to prove that she 
 has continued immovably faithful to her husband. Not 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 11 
 
 only, therefore, must the intention be voluntary ; but to 
 evince this, the act of immolation must not include the 
 most distant idea of constraint. The use of bamboos is 
 therefore at variance with the nature of the sacrifice, and 
 with all the rules by which it is supported, and which 
 direct, that she shall not ascend the pile before the 
 flames are kindled. It is the Jiaming pile of her husband, 
 that she is enjoined to ascend : and the immense differ- 
 ence between ascending the Jiaming pile, and being bound 
 firmly down before the flames are kindled, must be obvious 
 to all. 
 
 The Supreme Government has now for several years 
 lessened the sum of misery caused by this system by 
 strictly forbidding the immolation of widows in cases 
 where the Hindoo shastras have forbidden it. The age 
 and circumstances of those who devote themselves to 
 destruction, have thus become matter of examination, 
 and we feel convinced that were government farther to 
 extend its care to the circumstances which attend the act 
 of immolation itself, much would be done by this alone 
 towards the extinction of the practice ; and surely if " a 
 rigour beyond the laws" be ever tolerated, it should not 
 be when the law has originated in the most savage barba- 
 rity, and is held doubtful by the wisest and most virtuous 
 among the Hindoos themselves* — when its operation is 
 levelled against the most' amiable and helpless part of 
 our Indian fellow-subjects. Under the influence of the 
 former regulations, many females of tender age have 
 
 * Mritunjoy, the head pundit of the Supreme Court, has given it 
 as his opinion, that Brumhacharya, or a life of mortification, is the law 
 for a widow ; and that burning with the husband is merely an alter- 
 native. Hence he argues that the alternative can never have the 
 force of law. 
 
12 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 been rescued from destruction, yet not a single murmur 
 has been heard throughout the country ; no one attempt 
 has been made to counteract the wise and benign inten- 
 tions of government, or to employ force in the cause 
 of inhumanity. Were the use of bamboos forbidden 
 also, and the horrid sacrifice made to assume the exact 
 complexion which the shastras direct, we feel assured 
 that the tranquillity of the country would not be disturbed 
 for a single moment. And if the apprehension that the 
 widow, unable to ascend the burning pile, might possibly, 
 by a change of mind, reflect disgrace on the family on the 
 spot destined for immolation, should in any case induce 
 the relatives to dissuade her from incurring the risk, the 
 advantage would be entirely on the side of humanity and 
 justice. The immediate and complete interdiction of 
 force in the act of burning the helpless widow, while it 
 would be in exact unison with that benevolence which 
 distinguishes our sway over these regions, would subject 
 the natives to nothing more than the strict observance of 
 their own rules. 
 
II. 
 
 ON THE BURNING OF WIDOWS.* 
 
 Were we to bear of a nation which, on her husband's 
 death, subjected a widow to the loss of all her property, 
 of which she might probably have brought him part as a 
 dower, and which she had enjoyed with him from the 
 time of their union ; and turned her out on the wide world 
 (her lord and protector being dead) to labour — to beg — to 
 steal — or to perish, with what feelings of indignation 
 should we regard such a law and such a nation ! We should 
 enquire, On what principle is this severity exercised on 
 a helpless woman, precisely at the moment when her 
 heart is torn with anguish through the loss of him on 
 whom was fixed all her hope ? Were imprisonment for 
 life added to this outrage, however ; were the hapless 
 widow deprived of her liberty, as well as of all her pro- 
 perty, the moment death had closed the eyes of her 
 husband ; such a procedure would excite horror and in- 
 dignation in every mind. What then should we say 
 were we to hear for the first time, that in some newly 
 discovered island, the death of the husband sealed the 
 doom of the wife, however virtuous and exemplary in her 
 conduct ; that she was from that moment devoted to 
 death, — and to death in its most dreadful form — to be 
 burnt to ashes ! Such, however, is the case, not in some 
 
 * Friend of India, vol. II. p. 319. 
 
14 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 lately discovered island, hitherto totally cut off from the 
 rest of mankind ; but in India, famed for her literature 
 and civilization ; and above all in Bengal, where Europeans 
 are chiefly found, whose ideas the wise and candid 
 among the natives are imbibing every day. 
 
 How then is it possible that the murder of the amiable 
 and defenceless, attended too with such circumstances 
 of cruelty, should have continued so long ? How is it 
 that common humanity has not overleaped every bound, 
 and constrained superstition to desist from a course so 
 barbarous and inhuman ? Among other reasons which 
 might be mentioned, this certainly has its share. That 
 the whole of the horrible deed is really concealed from view. 
 Had the deed been constantly perpetrated in the sight 
 of all, as was formerly the case in Smithfield ; — had the 
 helpless victim to superstition been bound to the stake 
 in the open view of the multitude, as were formerly the 
 victims to Romish bigotry— had the flames been suffered 
 to kindle on her publicly — had the convulsions and ago- 
 nies of the widow expiring in torments, often in the 
 bloom of youth, been fully witnessed by the aged, the 
 young, the neighbour, the near relative, humanity must 
 have spoken out long ago; reflection must have been 
 awakened in the public mind. At least parents and re- 
 latives must have felt horror while anticipating the agonies 
 which awaited a daughter or a beloved sister, the moment 
 sickness, or even accident, rendered her a widow ; and 
 the voice of nature must have prevailed, and abolished a 
 practice so destructive in its anticipation to the peace of 
 every relative, whose heart was not steeled against all 
 the feelings of humanity. 
 
 But, instead of this, the agonies of the dying victim are 
 completely concealed, while her shrieks are drowned in the 
 noise and shouts of the ignorant multitude and the un- 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 15 
 
 feeling ministers of death ; and thus the whole is as 
 completely hidden from public view, as though the dread- 
 ful deed were perpetrated within the most secluded clois- 
 ter. The concealment indeed is far more effectual ; for 
 in that case, though the shrieks might not assail the lis- 
 tening ear without, the imagination would unavoidably 
 paint to itself the horrors of a daughter, a sister, or even 
 an acquaintance expiring in the flames, in a manner 
 scarcely less vivid than the real view. But the victim's 
 being thus brought before the multitude in a state which 
 scarcely leaves her the power of reflection, her being 
 hastily led through certain ceremonies, and hurried 
 to the pile by those whose countenances wear the ap- 
 pearance of hilarity and cheerfulness, bound to the dead 
 body of her husband, and covered instantly with the fuel, 
 as well as held down by a pressure which renders all 
 resistance totally unavailing, hides all the horrors of 
 death from the sight ; while the shouts of the unthinking 
 crowd which begin to rend the air the moment the torch 
 is applied to the fatal pile, no less effectually conceal 
 from the ear those agonizing shrieks, from which it is 
 scarcely in nature to refrain at the touch of the flames. 
 Thus completely are the multitude deluded : they think 
 they witness all, while they witness nothing ; and the 
 unnatural jocularity, which, originating with the actors 
 in this dreadful scene, generally pervades the whole 
 crowd, removes every feeling of pity, and gives the whole 
 rather the air of a joyous festival than of a funeral scene. 
 The agonies, and shrieks, and dying groans of the un- 
 happy victim, are witnessed by no one, — but by Him who 
 is the Avenger of blood. But are these agonies the less 
 real on this account ? Is the anguish of this tremendous 
 death the less felt? Let reason and humanity judge. 
 Without entering into the origin and cause of this 
 
1G THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 dreadful practice so deeply seated in the system of 
 Hindooism itself, to do full justice to which would re- 
 quire a treatise instead of a short essay, we wish now 
 merely to notice some of the most obvious circumstances 
 which attend it. Among these let us consider for a mo- 
 ment who those are, who are doomed to undergo these 
 agonies, unpitied, because never beheld. They are, the 
 most amiable part of the Hindoo race ! In most cases they 
 are females possessing some degree of wealth, for the 
 very poor seldom thus devote themselves to death : they 
 are not worth the labour requisite to work up their minds 
 to a sufficient pitch of delusion. If the term be applica- 
 ble to any female in the present state of Hindoo society, 
 they are in general persons of education : and whatever 
 be the degree of polish and delicacy which accompany 
 opulence, whatever the ideas included in a superior mode 
 of living ; they are in general possessed by those whom 
 this dreadful custom marks for its victims. It follows, 
 therefore, as a matter of course, that if among the higher 
 ranks of society in this country there be any delicacy of 
 feeling t it is possessed by these who may be said almost 
 from their birth to be devoted to the flames. — And if 
 there be any thing to be found of conjugal fidelity, it 
 resides among these, since an extraordinary degree of 
 conjugal affection, either real or ascribed, is made the 
 lure by which these unhappy victims are betrayed to 
 death, the enjoyment for numerous ages of the highest 
 felicity with their deceased husbands, being held out as 
 the bait to draw them on till they make the irrevocable 
 declaration, that they will commit themselves to the 
 flames. It is probable, therefore, that those who are 
 thus cruelly murdered year by year, are in most instances 
 the best educated, the most amiable, and the most virtu- 
 ous of the Hindoo race. 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 17 
 
 Bu whom this cj-ime is perpetrated, is worthy of the 
 strictest enquiry. With the victims themselves it can 
 scarcely be said to originate, for a few days previously, 
 they are often as void of all desire to destroy themselves, 
 as to destroy others ; and they are generally averse to 
 the deed till their minds are completely deluded by fal- 
 lacious representations, and their heads turned with 
 dreams of future happiness, impossible to be realized. 
 But whatever delusion may reign in their minds, without 
 the concurrence of the Husband's relatives, it would be 
 perfectly harmless. The deed is constantly encouraged by 
 the Relatives of the Husband; those of the wife, on the 
 contrary, being generally on the side for which nature 
 pleads ; although her own son, if old enough, is obliged 
 to kindle the pile prepared for his mother's destruc- 
 tion. It is, therefore, on the Husband's Relatives that 
 the fate of every female of respectability and opulence 
 is suspended, however young she may be, the moment 
 her husband dies : and when it is considered, that they 
 are bound to her by none of the ties of consanguinity, 
 it will not appear strange if some one or all of the fol- 
 lowing reasons should in general so preponderate, as to 
 doom to the flames "one for whom they can have little 
 or no personal feeling. 
 
 The honour of the family. This is supposed to rise in 
 proportion to the number of unhappy victims, who can be 
 mentioned as having devoted themselves to the flames. 
 The husband's relatives of course claim for themselves a 
 certain degree of credit for having surmounted feelings of 
 affection, which they never possessed, as they generally 
 regard the poor unhappy relict with the same apathy with 
 which they view a log of wood intended for fuel ; while 
 the number of widows in their families devoting themselves 
 to the flames apparently from love to their husbands, gives 
 
 c 
 
18 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 rise to the idea that these relatives of theirs, possessed 
 that excellence of character which rendered it impossible 
 to survive their loss. That when the unhappy widow is 
 regarded with the most perfect indifference, this alone 
 should so weigh as to make them prefer her dying to her 
 living, will create no surprise in those who are thoroughly 
 acquainted with the native character. 
 
 The wish to get rid of a burden. A widow, though only 
 twelve years of age, can never marry again. If her own 
 relatives therefore be unwilling to support her, or not suf- 
 ficiently opulent, she must live with the surviving relatives 
 of the husband to the end of life. And although her life 
 is far from being a plenteous or affluent one, yet a certain 
 degree of expense is thus entailed on the family, and this 
 possibly for a considerable number of years when she is 
 left in the bloom of youth. The consideration of an ex- 
 pense therefore, though small, yet scarcely terminable 
 within the space of their own lives, added to the trouble 
 and vexation often arising from female relatives living to- 
 gether who can scarcely be expected to have any affection 
 for each other, may possibly make them wish to rid them- 
 selves at once of a heavy burden, when it can be done in a 
 way which, instead of being esteemed dishonourable, or any 
 proof of the want of affection, on the contrary reflects a 
 high degree of lustre on the character of the family. At 
 least this is a temptation which humanity would not throw 
 in the way of a Hindoo who sets so little value on human 
 life. 
 
 This is heightened by another consideration. It has 
 been just observed, that these widows, however young, 
 can never marry again. Now while in. purity reigns among 
 these very relatives of the husband, perhaps in such a 
 degree as to attach to itself no kind of disgrace, a devia- 
 tion from purity of conduct in a widow, would, in the 
 
THE BlKMNd OF WIDOWS. 19 
 
 public estimation, fix an indelible stain on the family of 
 the deceased husband. When therefore the hazard of 
 this dishonour through perhaps a long life, is present to 
 minds, in which no natural affection towards a brother's 
 widow is supposed to exist, it will excite little surprise 
 that men who, if report may be credited, in some instances 
 make no scruple of hewing in pieces a wife of their own on 
 a mere suspicion of inconstancy, should, on the death of 
 her husband, decide also on the death of his unhappy 
 relict, who, should she live, instead of contributing to 
 the support or the honour of the family, would entail on it 
 a constant burden of expense, and might possibly involve 
 it in disgrace, when her death, while it frees them from all 
 expense and anxiety, tends to heighten in no inconsi- 
 derable degree its general reputation. 
 
 To this may be added another circumstance which hu- 
 manity will still more strongly regret. The death of the 
 mother deprives her children of their natural guardian, 
 their tenderest, most faithful and watchful friend, who can 
 never see them injured with apathy, and who is ready to 
 hazard life itself for the sake of preserving to them what is 
 their own. It sometimes happens that a man who is opu- 
 lent, dies and leaves children in a state of mere infancy. 
 That their wealth should never be desired by the surviving 
 relatives, is what no one will expect who is acquainted 
 with the history of human nature, and much less those 
 who are aware with what earnestness one brother, among 
 the Hindoos, will labour to supplant another even while 
 living. That, in cases of infancy an affectionate mother, 
 whom no cunning can elude, and no sum can bribe, should 
 stand in the way of the surviving relatives of her husband, 
 is only what might be naturally expected. Were she re- 
 moved, there would be no one, at least with her feelings, 
 to call them to account for the expenditure of the yearly 
 
 2 
 
20 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 revenue of these helpless orphans; nor possibly for the 
 dilapidation of their whole property. The history of 
 orphans even in Christian countries sufficiently shews us, 
 how dangerous in the hands of presumptive heirs would 
 be such a power of removing, under a religious pretence, 
 the mother of rich but helpless orphans. All these, there- 
 fore, are so many temptations to the destruction of a 
 widow, which, through this dreadful practice, may be ac- 
 complished without the least suspicion being excited of 
 the real views of those interested in her death ; and were 
 these suspected, still without that public virtue being ex- 
 cited in the country which would urge any one to step 
 forward and save the widow from death, and the orphans 
 from oppression and poverty. Whoever considers all 
 these circumstances, and reflects that a mother may thus 
 abandon to the mercy of those who are presumptive heirs 
 to all his possessions, however great, an Infant Son only 
 two years old, will cease to wonder that so many widows" 
 are encouraged to destroy themselves ; particularly as this 
 dreadful practice is not confined to brahmins, but extends 
 itself to the writer cast, — and even as low as to those who 
 practise the trade of a barber ! 
 
 Whatever be the delusive ideas which may apparently 
 urge a widow to self-destruction, as the hope of her en- 
 joying numerous ages of felicity in company with her hus- 
 band; — of expiating the offences of her late husband and 
 his ancestors, and those of both her father and mother's 
 race, with other things of this nature, there are other con- 
 siderations which cannot but come still nearer to the mind 
 of the unhappy widow. She cannot but be aware, that 
 those who have encouraged her in these fond hopes, are 
 either those in whose power she is completely for the rest 
 of her life, or such as are intimate with them ; for al- 
 though the husband's relatives affect to dissuade her from 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 21 
 
 the deed, it cannot be difficult to discern which way their 
 minds really lean. From these, then, even the slightest 
 hint, that they zvish her to die, must operate on a widow of 
 delicacy and sensibility, like a sentence of death pro- 
 nounced by a judge. With what feelings could she com- 
 mit herself for life to the mercy of those who had disco- 
 vered this wish in the slightest degree, and felt in the 
 least disappointed by her refusing to precipitate herself 
 into the flames, particularly when the laws of the country 
 provide her so little relief against any unkindness or bar- 
 barity she might hereafter experience from them ? The 
 law itself indeed insists, that while she is never to marry 
 again, she is also to lay aside every thing like ornament 
 for the rest of her days, and every sign of cheerfulness; 
 that she is never to make a full meal ; and that one day in 
 every week she is to devote wholly to fasting and grief to 
 the end of life. In these circumstances it is almost im- 
 possible that any degree of ill-treatment which the resent- 
 ment of her husband's disappointed relatives might dispose 
 them to inflict on her, could interest her neighbours in her 
 sufferings so as to procure her redress ; particularly when 
 the interior of a Hindoo habitation, surrounded as it often 
 is with walls, is nearly as impervious as an ancient castle, 
 and the female relatives are scarcely more in the public 
 view, than were formerly the unhappy inmates of its dun- 
 geons. In these circumstances, therefore, it is not strange, 
 if, at the most distant intimation of this nature from those 
 on whose kindness depends every future mitigation of her 
 lot, and this prospect before her in case of a refusal, a 
 widow of sensibility and reflection should feel almost dis- 
 tracted, and prefer a speedy death to the unknown horrors 
 of her future destiny. 
 
 There is also another fact which ought not to be over- 
 looked. Certain brahmwns perform the ceremonies ob- 
 
22 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 served at the funeral pile on which a widow sacrifices her- 
 self. These brahmwns receive even from the most indi- 
 gent families something on a widow's actually devoting 
 herself to the flames ; and from some wealthy families, as 
 much as two hundred Rupees on these occasions. While, 
 then, it is the obvious interest of these brahmwis that the 
 wife should be induced to destroy herself when the hus- 
 band dies, they have access to every family, and are ac- 
 quainted with the age and circumstances of the various 
 inhabitants, especially of those who are wealthy. That 
 they should constantly recommend this dreadful practice, 
 and prepare the female mind for the perpetration of the 
 deed, particularly in cases where the husband is aged or 
 sickly, is the natural effect of their caring for their own 
 support. But these brahmwns, as they are in some cases 
 the family priests, are in habits of familiar acquaintance 
 with the husband's relatives, and have much to expect 
 from them. In what dreadful circumstances then must a 
 helpless female stand, who has for her spiritual adviser on 
 the subject of her living or dying, a man who has every 
 kindness to expect from those who are presumptive heirs 
 to the property of her infant son, or who may merely 
 dread her devolving on them as a burden to the end of life ! 
 Nor is it necessary to suppose that brahmwns in forward- 
 ing the views of an infirm husband's relatives, and pre- 
 paring the mind of the wife for self-destruction, should 
 consider themselves as actual auxiliaries in the murder of 
 a fellow-creature. They of course must be supposed to be 
 as much habituated to the employment, from which they 
 derive their gain, as a Slave Captain formerly was to kid- 
 napping and selling slaves, of whom probably a third 
 died in the middle passage through ill-treatment and want 
 of air. They may possibly regard the act as meritorious, 
 rather than cruel, and admire those relatives who thus 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 23 
 
 wish to raise the reputation of their families, through the 
 death of their brother's widow. And in this case even the 
 distant prospect of a large remuneration, may urge them 
 so to work on the mind of a simple, artless female, whose 
 age is perhaps under twenty, that at the moment of the 
 husband's death, no persuasions shall be needed to induce 
 her to make the fatal declaration — beyond the insidious 
 dissuasions of her husband's relatives, increasing her desire 
 by affectedly doubting her resolution and really inflaming 
 her vanity. Were these relatives, however, sincere in these 
 dissuasions, they have it always in their power to prevent 
 the act, as both the preparation of the funeral pile, and 
 all the cost and expenses of the widow's destruction de- 
 volve wholly on them, without the exception of the fee 
 to the brahmwn who thus assists in the actual murder of 
 the young, the amiable, and the defenceless. 
 
 That other feelings than those of unconquerable affection 
 for a husband, often twice or thrice their own age — or 
 than any inspired by a steady belief in those wonderful 
 tales of conjugal felicity to be enjoyed with him for 
 boundless ages, influence the minds of the greater part of 
 these unhappy victims, might be shewn by numerous in- 
 stances wherein widows have been prevented by accident 
 from burning. — Of this kind is an instance which occurred 
 a few months ago in a village about four miles from Se- 
 ra m pore. 
 
 A man of the writer cast, at Kona-nwgwra, about four 
 miles south of Serampore, between twenty and thirty 
 years of age, died in December last, leaving two wives, 
 one about thirteen years of age, and the other about six- 
 teen. Both of these, in the usual manner, expressed their 
 wish to burn themselves with their deceased husband. 
 The eldest of them being pregnant, however, was advised 
 to delay till after her confinement, and then to burn her- 
 
24 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 self with something belonging to her husband. The 
 youngest not being prevented, was burned with the corpse 
 of her husband. The eldest solemnly engaged to burn 
 herself a month after her confinement ; till which period 
 she was taken home by her own parents. She at first ex- 
 pressed such displeasure at being thus denied the oppor- 
 tunity of burning herself, as to beat herself severely, and 
 possibly accelerate the time of her confinement ; but at 
 the expiration of the month after that period, when called 
 upon to fulfil her engagement, she had considered the 
 subject more at leisure, and being at home in the house of 
 her own parents, she positively refused to destroy herself ; 
 nor could all the appeals made to her feelings — all the 
 threats and reproaches poured upon her, alter her resolu- 
 tion in the least degree. She was in the house of her own 
 parents, and completely independent of her hasband's re- 
 latives ; and as every thing which could be done was of 
 course confined to verbal exertion, she determined to 
 remain with her parents, where she continues till this 
 day. 
 
 As this instance is by no means a solitary one, we have 
 little reason to conclude that the desire to destroy them- 
 selves is more firmly fixed in the minds of multitudes 
 besides, than it was in the mind of this young woman : 
 the apparent wish to die which is thus factitiously pro- 
 duced, is in most instances the mere effect of circum- 
 stances created by others ; and therefore no more excul- 
 patory of the guilt of deliberate murder, than would be a 
 man's intoxicating another with wine, or any deleterious 
 drug, so as to deprive him of the power of resistance, 
 that he might secure his destruction. Such then are the 
 circumstances in which the most amiable and virtuous 
 among the Hindoo women are constantly placed ; circum- 
 stances, as already hinted, by no means confined to the 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 25 
 
 sacred tribe, but extended to the lowest casts among the 
 Hindoos, as often as there is credulity enough to render 
 the delusion sufficiently strong to become fatal. 
 
 If these circumstances be carefully weighed, it will ap- 
 pear that this inhuman practice has not even those pre- 
 tensions to its being a Religious Ceremony, which most 
 people have been ready to imagine. That it has no foun- 
 dation in any peculiar command given in the shastras, we 
 have already had occasion to shew in our strictures on 
 that valuable tract on the subject ascribed to Rama-mo- 
 hwn«-ray«, which was reviewed in a former number. Nor 
 indeed is there in the ceremony itself any thing that marks 
 it as being peculiarly of a religious nature. The woman 
 devotes herself to no deity j her professed object is merely 
 that of rejoining her husband in a state of happiness. It 
 is true that certain brahmins officiate and obtain a sum 
 of money on the occasion. But this is not peculiar to 
 this ceremony : in almost every concern of life, brahmwns 
 are called in, and there are few which are not to them a 
 source of profit. 
 
 Nor is this practice by any means prevalent in other 
 parts of Hindoost'han in the degree in which it now exists 
 in Bengal. Of this the following letter contains a proof, 
 which was sent us on the subject some months ago by a 
 gentleman who has been some years resident in Hin- 
 doost'han. 
 
 " I cannot forbear expressing my pleasure at seeing 
 that the Editors of the ' Friend of India* have taken up 
 the cause of humanity in calling the attention of govern- 
 ment and of the public towards the abolishment of Suttees. 
 People in Bengal are not generally aware how infrequent 
 is this most barbapous custom in the upper provinces of 
 Hindoost'han. In eight years, mostly spent in this quar- 
 ter, no Suttee has come to my knowledge ; and my moon- 
 
26 THE BURNING Of WIDOWS, 
 
 shee (a ksrmtnya), a man of about forty-five, informs me 
 that he never saw but one, and that was at Lucknow ; 
 the victim, a widow of a Cashmerian pundit. — There can 
 be no doubt but a law of prevention would neither create 
 surprise nor resistance in these provinces, and were it 
 enacted for them only, it would lead to its being esta- 
 blished hereafter in Bengal, should the government hesi- 
 tate as to the propriety of making it more general at pre- 
 sent. Feeling you have done little towards a more glorious 
 work until the minds of the natives be prepared by some 
 change from their present insensibility and cruelty, I have 
 written more at length than I intended, and beg your 
 excuse for it." 
 
 This letter furnishes a pretty strong proof, that the 
 cruel practice has in it more of the nature of a civil, than 
 a religious ceremony. It is a well-known fact that in 
 Bengal, at the present time, the Hindoos are far less tena- 
 cious of their religious tenets and ceremonies, than in 
 almost any other part of India ; that they are far less 
 careful respecting caste, and that the brahmwns in nume- 
 rous instances are guilty of actions which according to 
 the strictness of the law respecting caste would degrade 
 them completely. We have heard it mentioned as the 
 opinion of Hindoos well acquainted with the subject, that 
 were the law of caste enforced in all its strictness, there 
 would be few families around who would be wholly safe. 
 Yet the number of widows who are thus put to death 
 scarcely at all decreases. It seems indeed to increase in 
 the vicinity of the metropolis, where the greatest laxness 
 is to be witnessed relative to things wholly religious. 
 How can we account for this vast disparity in the number 
 of these murders perpetrated in Hindoost'han, and in 
 the lower part of Bengal, without having recourse to 
 other motives than those of a religious nature ? But the 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 27 
 
 moment we recur to other reasons for the continuation 
 of this murderous custom, they present themselves on 
 every side. The want of feeling manifested by the 
 natives to their own countrymen when in danger of 
 death by accident, as in a storm, or even when actually 
 drowning, is known to most Europeans. The venality 
 with which they are charged relative to oaths, is not 
 without foundation ; yet these must often involve life 
 itself, as well as character and property. That they 
 should then be peculiarly tender of the life of a brother's 
 widow, who must at the best be a burden on them to the 
 end of life, and who may bring disgrace on the family, is 
 a thing scarcely to be expected And when we consider 
 the circumstances in which the widow is placed, together 
 with that want of regard for human life, which is both the 
 effect of their religious system and the characteristic of 
 the nation, instead of being surprised that so many widows 
 are every year cruelly destroyed, we shall rather wonder 
 that any escape these fatal lures, when the husband's re- 
 latives so evidently encourage the practice. 
 
 Such then is the real state of the case respecting the 
 burning of widows, which so many have been almost 
 ready to tolerate under the idea of its being a most sacred 
 religious ceremony, with which it would be sacrilege to 
 interfere. With almost as much justice might the Slave 
 Trade have been regarded with veneration, as a sacred 
 relic of antiquity handed down from the earliest ages ; — 
 or the practice of killing all prisoners taken in war ; — or 
 that of sacrificing hecatombs of men at the funeral of a 
 favourite chief; — or the conduct of certain banditti in this 
 country, who (from time immemorial no doubt) are said 
 to seize men and immolate them at the shrine of their 
 imagined deity. It has scarcely enough of religious ce- 
 remony connected with it to varnish it over with the name 
 
28 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 of religion. It is generally accompanied with the most 
 unfeeling jocularity. Instead of its being a deed of mere 
 superstition, there is reason to fear that it is too often 
 the offspring of the meanest self-interest. It has not even 
 the features of religion. It is not binding on all. It falls 
 only on one sex, while the deed is perpetrated by the 
 other, whom it can never reach ; and of that sex it affects 
 only one description of persons, and with these it is pro- 
 fessedly optional: were it a religious ceremony however, 
 it would be binding on all. But this class, while generally 
 the most amiable and virtuous, are the most defenceless, 
 — are left as fully in the power of relatives who do not 
 profess any feeling for them, as the kid when in the paw 
 of the tiger. It is never equally the interest of the hus- 
 band's relatives that the widow should live, as that she 
 should be burnt to death. With the former there is con- 
 nected, in every case, a certain loss of reputation, and the 
 expense of maintaining a person to the end of life in whose 
 welfare they feel no kind of interest ; with the latter, the 
 full removal of this burden, and a high degree of reputa- 
 tion to their families. 
 
 So much do these circumstances affect the case, that 
 were second marriages esteemed honourable, and the chil- 
 dren born of them permitted to inherit equally with those 
 of a first marriage, a practice sanctioned not merely by 
 the laws of all Christian nations, but even those of Greece 
 and Rome notwithstanding their idolatry, many think, 
 that this alone would gradually extinguish the practice. 
 But is it right that in a country so richly endowed with 
 the bounties of Providence, the mere question of interest, 
 the loss of a few rupees annually, should be suffered to 
 doom the most amiable, the most virtuous of our Hindoo 
 subjects, almost daily to the most cruel death in nature ; 
 merely because their being uninformed in mind renders 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 29 
 
 them liable to the grossest deceptions, and their being un- 
 able to support themselves, renders them dependent? 
 On the means of its abolishment, however, it is impossible 
 for us to enlarge at present : we would only intreat all 
 our readers to remember, that murder concealed from pub- 
 lie view, is murder still; and that our not actually wit- 
 nessing the dreadful deed, when we are certain that it is 
 committed, will do little towards exonerating us from 
 guilt. 
 
 After these observations were penned, a friend put into 
 our hands, a small work in defence of this practice just 
 published in quarto without name or date ; but a manu- 
 script note on the first blank leaf informs us that it is pub- 
 lished by Cassee-nafh-turku bagish, by the desire of Cala- 
 chund-bhose. It is in the form of a dialogue, written in 
 Bengalee with an English Translation. This work we 
 shall carefully examine in a future Number, 
 
III. 
 
 REVIEW OF A PAMPHLET 
 
 ON THE SUBJECT OF BURNING WIDOWS. WRITTEN 
 
 IN BENGALEE BY A LEARNED PUNDIT; TO WHICH 
 
 IS ADDED AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION. 
 
 Small Quarto, pp. 48.* 
 
 This work, small as it is, is in a high degree interest- 
 ing, merely from the circumstances in which it appears, 
 and the subject it embraces. It is the product of a 
 Native Press, and is among the first attempts yet made 
 for these three thousand years, to appeal to the public 
 respecting the justness and propriety of practices received 
 as sacred by the Hindoos, from their being sanctioned 
 by antiquity. It forms one of the fruits which have arisen 
 from the introduction of printing into India ; and is the 
 result of that wise and benign sway exercised by Britain 
 over her possessions in the east. Under the Mooswlman 
 or the Hindoo governments which formerly existed here, 
 nothing of this kind could have appeared ; as no one 
 durst venture publicly to question the propriety of any 
 practice which professed to derive its sanction from the 
 Koran, or the Hindoo Shastras, its advocates would 
 not have found it necessary to bring any discussion re- 
 specting it before the public, much less to submit those 
 arguments on which it might rest for support to public 
 decision. 
 
 Such, however, have been even the oblique effects of 
 that diffusion of light which the residence of Europeans 
 has produced in India, that the natives themselves begin 
 
 * friencl of India, vol. II. pp. 453. 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 31 
 
 to feel the necessity of recurring to reason as the test 
 of their conduct in things both civil and religious. 
 They cannot but perceive that this is the line of conduct 
 observed by their rulers themselves ; that no length of 
 time, no weight of authority, is thought sufficient to 
 support a practice which may be plainly contrary to 
 justice and humanity, and that the inveteracy of any 
 abuse, so far from forming a reason for its continuance, 
 furnishes only stronger motives for its speedy abolition. 
 It was impossible that this should long be altogether 
 without effect on the minds of the natives : they have 
 already begun in a certain degree to think for themselves ; 
 and the consequence is, that long prescription in cases 
 decidedly opposed to righteousness, begins in some mea- 
 sure to lose its weight ; and while the advocates of hu- 
 manity lay before their countrymen their reasons for 
 doubting the propriety of usages evidently contrary to 
 its dictates, the supporters of them are constrained, 
 however unwillingly, to meet their opponents in the 
 public area, and submit to the judgment of the specta- 
 tors the grounds on which they solicit their continued 
 suffrages. 
 
 The subject which occupies the attention of the natives 
 in the present instance is one in which humanity is deeply 
 interested. It affects, not the colour of a garment or 
 some bodily posture in devotion, but the lives of the most 
 defenceless and the most virtuous class among the natives 
 of India. It involves the fate of all the mothers and 
 daughters in Bengal, who possess any respectability in 
 life ; — and the question is, whether superstition shall in 
 Bengal alone consign to the flames, this and every suc- 
 ceeding year, a greater number of innocent victims than 
 were consumed in the fires of Smithfield during the whole 
 reign of bloody Mary, or than disgraced the annals of 
 
321 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 papal superstition in Britain from its establishment to its 
 downfal, — whether more fatherless orphans shall be de- 
 prived in every succeeding year of their only surviving 
 parent and friend, than were thus bereaved in any year 
 by the most tremendous pestilence which ever raged in 
 Britain, — or whether the voice of humanity shall triumph 
 over superstition, folly, and cruelty. 
 
 The occasion of this pamphlet is as follows : for some 
 years past the burning of such a number of widows 
 annually, has greatly affected the minds of many among 
 the British inhabitants of this Presidency, who have 
 been constrained to witness these melancholy scenes. 
 Previously to the Marquis Wellesley's departure in 1806, 
 Dr. Carey, through the Rev. Dr. Buchanan, submitted 
 to Government three memorials on this subject. The 
 first of these included the practice of exposing infants, 
 which existed chiefly in the north of Bengal ; and that 
 of persons devoting themselves voluntarily to death at 
 Saugur island, and in certain other places. The two 
 last practices were abolished by an order of Government ; 
 but the burning of widows has been suffered to continue 
 to the present day. In consequence of many Europeans 
 having however expressed their surprise and grief at the 
 prevalence of a practice so contrary to humanity, many 
 natives have at length begun to reflect on the subject, and 
 to enquire into the grounds on which it is still continued. 
 In the course of the last year Rama-mohuna-ruya addressed 
 his countrymen on the subject, in a well-written pamphlet, 
 reviewed in our number for December last, in which he 
 insists that the practice has in reality no foundation in 
 the Hindoo Shastras themselves. To this pamphlet, 
 the work under consideration is an answer drawn up by 
 some of the pundits in Calcutta, who feel unwilling that 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 33 
 
 so laudable a practice as that of burning their widows 
 shall fall i-nto disuse. It is sent forth without a name and 
 without a title-page ; but from private information, as 
 well as from the pamphlet itself, we find that it is the 
 work of men by no means deficient in learning. It is 
 written in the form of a Dialogue between an Advo- 
 cate for the system of burning widows, under the term 
 " I'idhaok," and an Opponent, here termed " Nished- 
 hok." In the body of the work every authority supposed 
 to countenance the inhuman custom, and every scrap of 
 Swngsknttf found on its side among Hindoo writers, are 
 given in the original text, as well as translated into Ben- 
 galee. The work is valuable therefore from its contain- 
 ing every thing found in the Hindoo Shastr#s in favour 
 of this barbarous practice : and if all this fall short of an 
 absolute and indispensable injunction, the practice will 
 be found to be as illegal according to the Hindoo Shas- 
 tiY/s, as it is inhuman in itself. This work is evidently 
 intended for the perusal of Europeans also ; as an English 
 translation (if it deserve the name) is prefixed to the 
 original work. This pamphlet not being put into our 
 hands till the piece on this subject given in our number 
 for July was put to press, we were unable to notice it 
 at that time. We now, however, redeem the pledge then 
 given to examine it on the first convenient opportunity ; 
 in doing which, while we study brevity as much as pos- 
 sible, we deem it a duty we owe to humanity to attempt 
 it in a manner sufficiently full to enable our readers to 
 judge of the merits of the question, as well relative to 
 the foundation on which it is said to rest in the Hindoo 
 Shastras, as respecting the answers here given to the 
 objections urged against the practice by the friends of 
 humanity. In our extracts from this pamphlet we prefer 
 quoting its own language for the sake of doing it every 
 
34 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 degree of justice, and shall content ourselves with merely- 
 adding a sentence or a word where the translation is not 
 sufficiently intelligible. The work commences by the 
 Advocate's urging the claims of his cause in the following 
 pompous and sweeping declaration. 
 
 " It is ordained by (the) Srutee, Smritee, Poorancs, 
 and other Sacred Books, that the women, on the death 
 of their husbands, should die in Shuhu-muruna, that is, 
 to burn (should burn) themselves alive with the corpse 
 of their respective husbands; and that, in want of the 
 corpse, (they) should die in Unoo muruna, that is, to burn 
 (should burn) with something belonging to their husbands : 
 which usages the great sages during all the four ages of 
 the world, viz. Swttwa, Treta, Dwapwra and Kz/lee, have 
 regularly maintained in their codes. It is very improper 
 that you throw obstacles to prevent such a matter." To 
 this the Opponent is made to reply, " You say this is 
 improper for want of knowledge of the Shastra or Law ; 
 but when you know the Shastra, you will no more say so." 
 
 This forms the signal for the Advocate's unmasking all 
 his batteries, and pouring forth on the poor Opponent, 
 every sentence and scrap of Sungskrita in support of the 
 practice, which he had been able to muster up. The 
 chief of these authorities is that of Ungeera, who, how- 
 ever, does little more than recommend the practice. We 
 give his opinion in the Advocate's own translation : 
 *' The woman that mounts the funeral pile of her de- 
 ceased husband, equals herself to L/roondhootee the wife 
 of Vwslnsht'ha, and enjoys bliss in heaven with her own 
 husband. She that accompanies her husband to the 
 other world, dwells in heaven for three and a half cotee 
 years, (thirty-five millions,) which is equal to the number 
 of hairs on an human body, and with (by) her own power 
 taking her husband up, in the same manner as a snake- 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 35 
 
 catcher would have taken a snake out of its hole, remains 
 with him in diversion. She that goes with her husband 
 to the other world, purifies three generations, that is, the 
 generations of her mother's side, father's side, and hus- 
 band's side ; and so she being reckoned the purest and 
 the best in fame among women, becomes too dear to her 
 husband, and continues to divert herself with him for a 
 period equal to the reign of fourteen (successive) Indr«s ; 
 and although the husband be guilty of slaying a brahmwn 
 or friend, or be ungrateful of the past deeds, yet the said 
 woman is capable of purifying him from all these sins." 
 Hence, says the Advocate, " l/ngeera affirms, that, after 
 the demise of a husband, there can be no other duty for 
 a chaste wife than to destroy herself in the fire." 
 
 Purasura is then quoted as confirming part of this 
 recommendation by saying, " The woman that goes with 
 her husband to the other world, dwells in heaven for 
 three and half cotee years, which is equal to the number 
 of hairs on an human body." Hareeta is, after this, 
 introduced as enjoining it by consequence in the follow- 
 ing luminous observation : " After the death of a husband, 
 until his wife does not burn (burn) herself in the fire, 
 she cannot get rid of her feminine body." This sen- 
 tence is to be noticed for the inference which will be 
 found drawn from it in the latter part of the work. The 
 Muhabharuta is then adduced as declaring that a woman's 
 burning herself on her husband's funeral pile, atones for 
 her having been a scold or even unfaithful throughout 
 life, and secures her accompanying him in the other 
 world, maugre all unwillingness on his part : and this, 
 although she burn herself from " amours, wrath, fear, 
 or affection." The highest countenance given the prac- 
 tice therefore, by their own writers, (and these appear 
 but four, L/ngeera, Purasura, Hareeta, and Vyasfl,) 
 
 d2 
 
36 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 amounts only to a recommendation of it from certain 
 advantages the widow is deluded with the hope of ob- 
 taining ; that is, the enjoyment of happiness with her 
 husband — by no means to eternity, however, but for as 
 many years as there are hairs on the human body ; after 
 zvfiich, gentle reader, she must descend to the earth again, 
 and undergo all that vicissitude of births, which, in the 
 opinion of the Hindoos, constitutes future punishment. 
 
 The Advocate for this practice then goes on to notice 
 another authority, that of Vishnoo-Risee, who, however, 
 leaves burning perfectly optional, in the following lan- 
 guage : " After the demise of a husband, his wife shall 
 either devote herself to Brwmh«chwry«, (a life of austerity) 
 or mount the funeral pile of her husband." To do away 
 the force of this option, the Advocate adds, that the 
 choice of a life of austerity would involve in it eight 
 faults or crimes, but which he has not mentioned that 
 the reader might judge of their nature or magnitude ; and 
 that even this option is therefore to be rejected, and 
 thus the hapless widow, according to him, must inevi- 
 tably consign herself to the flames, if she would dis- 
 charge her duty to her deceased husband. He then goes 
 on to state the authority for Unoo-muxuna, or a woman's 
 burning herself after her husband's death with some ar- 
 ticle belonging to him ! a practice by no means uncom- 
 mon at the present day. For this he adduces the autho- 
 rity of only a solitary writer, the author of the Mwtsya- 
 Poorana, in these words : " In case of the demise of a 
 husband in a distant country, the chaste wife should pu- 
 rify her person by bathing, and then taking her husband's 
 shoes or another thing, enter into a burning pile to be 
 prepared on purpose." This he justifies by saying, that 
 the Ih'g-vedrt declares such women not to be guilty of 
 self-murder; which plainly indicates, that if this be self- 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 37 
 
 murder, in the opinion of the Hindoos themselves it 
 would be condemned. Such then is the whole of the 
 countenance this Advocate, on whom it was incumbent 
 to bring forward the strongest authorities for a practice 
 so repugnant to humanity, has been able to adduce from 
 the Hindoo writers themselves ; — and this, one quotation 
 from Oosuna condemns in the gross,— it is the voice 
 of nature involuntarily speaking : " Let not Brahmunees 
 or wives of brahmuns suffer death by entering into a se- 
 parate pile ; but for the rest of the women, brahmunees 
 excepted, this lazv is most preferable. " Now, when it is 
 considered that every authority adduced in favour of this 
 practice is that of Brahmwns, for no Shoodra has ever yet 
 become authoritative as a man of learning, this decides 
 the matter at once. If it be meritorious thus to ascend 
 the separate funeral pile, why deny this privilege to the 
 daughters of brahmwns? Why indeed, but because nature 
 spoke in the breast of this writer ? He was a brahmwn, 
 and he shuddered at the idea of consigning his daughter 
 to the flames for the sake of a worthless husband who 
 might, perhaps, have treated her with neglect and cruelty 
 all his life. The brahmtms of the present day are, how- 
 ever, far more devout ; they are unwilling their wives shall 
 be debarred this glorious privilege, — and consign them 
 to the flames precisely as they do others; a plain proof 
 that a regard for the authority of their own shastr^s has 
 little to do in continuing this practice ; the motive for 
 this must be sought elsewhere. 
 
 But to these quotations from L/ngeera, Hareeta, and 
 Pwraswra, the advocates for this practice are w 7 eli aware 
 are opposed authorities of far greater weight, and such as 
 completely nullify them and forbid this inhuman custom. 
 These it is the grand object of this pamphlet to do away. 
 The Opponent is now made to quote these, therefore, 
 
38 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 that the Advocate for the burning system may obtain an 
 opportunity of invalidating them. He first adduces the 
 famous legislator Munoo, whose authority is paramount 
 to that of every succeeding writer, as prescribing an op- 
 posite course for widows in the following language: 
 " Listen to the law which Mwnoo has prescribed for the 
 husbandless women. * After the death of husbands their 
 wives should make themselves lean, by living upon sweet 
 flowers, roots and fruits ; never mind the name of a man, 
 and until the time of their respective death, with resigna- 
 tion and restriction continue to observe the laws prescribed 
 for Ekp/ztnees, (those who have married but one husband) 
 that is, they should, with the desire of obtaining the state 
 of chaste women, devote themselves to the law prescribed 
 for Brumhachurya . As thousands of young brahmwns, 
 who before their arriving to the full age devoted them- 
 selves to ~Bvumbachurya and begot no children, have gone 
 to Swrgtf or Heaven : the chaste women in like manner, 
 who after their husband's death devote themselves to the 
 law of BrMmhachwrytf, may attain bliss in heaven, though 
 issueless/ Hence, says the Opponent, M?moo has or- 
 dained, that women after their husband's death should 
 spend the remaining part of their lives in Brwmh#chwry«." 
 This decision of Mwnoo's the Opponent confirms by ad- 
 ducing the following corroborative declaration from one 
 of the Vedas, " Know that whatever Mwnoo pronounced, is 
 a medicine for the soul ;" and another from Frihuspulee, 
 " A Sreeti inconsistent with that of Mwnoo is not praise- 
 worthy." 
 
 To get rid of this decision of Mwnoo, which completely 
 forbids the practice, is the grand object of this work, and 
 for the sake of this alone is it quoted. This the Advocate, 
 knowing; that no commentator can erect himself into a 
 Law-giver and abolish the law itself, first attempts by 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 39 
 
 affirming, (that which no one denies,) that it is only the 
 Smritee inconsistent with Mwnoo which is unworthy of 
 regard ; but as a woman can live a life of abstinence and 
 chastity after burning herself, these two of course are not 
 inconsistent ! Feeling ashamed of this argument, he quits 
 it, and adducing the following sentence from Juyminee, 
 " where there arises an inconsistency among laws, that 
 maintained by many is preferable/' attempts to infer, that 
 the recommendation of C/ngeera, Pwraswra, and Hareeta, 
 ought to outweigh the law itself, enacted by Mwnoo. De- 
 serting this argument as untenable, however, he quotes a 
 passage from the Rig-vedcr, recommending the practice 
 of burning, and affirms that the law of Mwnoo on the 
 subject means nothing more than that a woman who may 
 by any accident be prevented from burning herself with 
 her husband, or afterwards with one of his old shoes, 
 ought to devote herself to a life of austerity. The author 
 of this pamphlet, while he professes to set the authority 
 of the Rig-veda against that of the great Hindoo legis- 
 lator, is however well aware that the Vedas contradict 
 each other on this very point. That he may in some way 
 or other obviate this discrepancy, so fatal to his argument, 
 he now introduces the Opponent as quoting a well known 
 passage from the Veda which forbids the burning of 
 widows, in the following words : " As by means of living 
 still the duties usual and occasional can be performed to 
 purify the mind, and as by hearing of (and) fixing our 
 mind and devoting our soul to Brumha or the Supreme 
 Spirit, we can attain it (final beatitude or absorption in 
 Brwmha), no woman should therefore spend her life, that 
 is, suffer death, in hopes of attaining Swrga or b?iss in 
 heaven." From this the Opponent infers, that as a widow 
 is forbidden to throw away her life with the hope of ob- 
 taining connubial bliss for a limited time in heaven, the 
 
40 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 authority of those who recommend a widow's burning 
 herself with this hope, is completely nullified ; and that it 
 is clearly the determination of the Ved#, as well as the 
 command of Mwnoo, that a widow ought not to burn her- 
 self, but to embrace a life of abstinence and chastity. 
 
 This is the doctrine which it is the object of the writer 
 of this pamphlet, to overthrow. After the Opponent has 
 thus stated it, therefore, the Advocate for the burning 
 system urges first, that to infer from the authority of Mm- 
 noo and the Veda, that a woman, instead of burning her- 
 self, ought to embrace a life of abstinence and chastity, 
 would strip the writings of those who recommend her 
 burning herself of all authority ! an overwhelming argu- 
 ment truly. He then adduces a sentence from JVlwnoo, 
 to shew that when one Smriti appears to have one mean- 
 ing and another a different one, both are to be held as laze ! 
 The plain inference from this would be, that a widow 
 ought to immolate herself on her husband's funeral pile, 
 and to embrace a life of austerity too ! To confirm this 
 wonderful exposition, and preserve the authority of those 
 who in their zeal for burning have happened to contradict 
 their own celebrated lawgiver, the Advocate quotes the 
 following contradictory sentence by way of illustration : 
 " In the Otz'ratra, or the oblations of clarified butter 
 offered to the consecrated fire, the Shorassee * is to be 
 taken ; and in the Ot/ratr« the Shorassee is not to be 
 taken." The just meaning of which contrary Sutras, says 
 he, is, that if in this sacrifice the Shorassee be taken or 
 received, the sacrifice is superlatively meritorious ; but if 
 it be not, the deed is still complete and advantageous. 
 From this illustration the writer in the person of the Ad- 
 vocate infers, that if a widow wishes to attain connubial 
 
 * Shorassee, the put containing the clarified butter and other ingredients. 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 41 
 
 bliss in heaven, she may burn herself; but if she wishes 
 final beatitude, she may embrace a life of abstinence and 
 self-denial ; and then adds triumphantly, " See therefore 
 that a woman's burning herself for the sake of connubial 
 bliss in heaven, has no way been forbidden." The whole 
 of this, if it have any meaning, only goes to say, that 
 even by these authorities, if a widow desires final bea- 
 titude she is not commanded to burn herself; and that 
 according to them, all is merely matter of option. Thus 
 then the whole hitherto advanced by the Advocate for the 
 burning system is, that by their great legislator it is not 
 commanded, but forbidden ; and by those commentators 
 who abrogate the law they pretend to explain, it is merely 
 recommended, and left perfectly optional. But a further 
 examination of the subject will shew, that this recom- 
 mendation, while viewed by themselves as degrading in 
 the highest decree, is subversive of the whole system of 
 liindooism. To illustrate this part of the subject, how- 
 ever, it will be necessary to recur for a moment to the 
 creed of the Hindoos relative to future happiness. 
 
 The Hindoos throughout India believe the human soul 
 to form an integral part of Brwmha or the Deity, and 
 hence esteem the summit of future bliss to consist in what 
 they deem final beatitude, or absorption into Brwmh«, of 
 whom they believe their souls to be a part. To the attain- 
 ment of this all their endeavours are directed, for the 
 sake of it the most tremendous austerities are performed ; 
 and nothing beyond this is supposed to be within the 
 wish of man. But beside this, there are, according to 
 their ideas, many heavens or inferior stages of bliss, to 
 be obtained by certain meritorious deeds. None of these 
 however is considered as lasting ; but the duration of 
 every state of bliss is, according to them, proportioned to 
 the merit of the deed of which it is esteemed the reward. 
 
42 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 After this period is expired, the person is expected to be 
 born on earth again, and to undergo numerous vicissitudes 
 of births till his mind be so purified as to obtain final 
 beatitude or absorption into the deity, which alone secures 
 a person from the misery of future transmigrations. 
 Their state of misery indeed is esteemed no more lasting 
 than that of happiness ; but every kind of suffering there- 
 in (for there is supposed to be a great variety) is sup- 
 posed to be proportioned in duration to the dements of the 
 sufferers ; after which they also are said to be born again 
 on the earth, and there to undergo all the vicissitudes 
 of transmigration till they become sufficiently pure to ob- 
 tain absorption into the deity. Hence a woman who may 
 burn herself for the sake of living with her husband in 
 heaven for a certain period, on its expiration descends to 
 the earth, and, according to the Hindoos, she may be 
 found in hell in the course of years. For this reason the 
 wise and learned among them treatthese evanescent stages 
 of bliss with contempt, and contend that nothing is wor- 
 thy of pursuit but final beatitude or absorption, which puts 
 an end to all future misery. Hence, a woman's burning 
 herself to obtain connubial bliss in heaven for a certain 
 period, is deemed by them unspeakably inferior to her 
 obtaining final beatitude through a life of abstinence and 
 chastity. The recommendation in which the Advocate 
 triumphs therefore, even upon his own principles, ought to 
 have been precisely the reverse of what he has made it, 
 since that line of conduct ought to be recommended to ail, 
 which is supposed to secure their highest happiness. 
 
 The Opponent however is represented as approving of 
 this decision ; but for the sake of its being answered, he 
 is then made to urge another objection in the following 
 words : " As in various shastras contempt has been poured 
 on actions done from cupidity, a woman's burning herself 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 43 
 
 from such motives is by no means proper." He then 
 quotes the Kuthopunishut, as declaring, that while the 
 pursuit of the system of Sacred Wisdom is considered 
 safe, he who pursues the other system which includes a 
 widow's burning herself, degrades his own nature. This 
 he further corroborates by a long quotation from the 
 Bhaguvut Geeta, which charges such as follow this system 
 with acting only from cupidity and ambition. This is cor- 
 rect ; for these writers who thus recommend the perform- 
 ance of various religious deeds though done from the 
 basest motives, prescribe certain sacrifices for the sake of 
 obtaining wealth ; some to obtain heavenly bliss, — and 
 some to secure the destruction of an enemy ! The whole 
 of this system, therefore, is by their best writers regarded 
 as having in it nothing of the nature of virtue ; but as 
 being in reality the indulgence of cupidity, ambition, and 
 malice ; which dispositions, indicating an impure mind, 
 are the very reverse of that which they deem necessary to 
 final beatitude. Among these the Opponent properly 
 classes a widow's burning herself with her husband's 
 corpse, with the view of enjoying connubial bliss in hea- 
 ven for a certain period ; and intimates, that if actions of 
 this kind are not evil, they are at least unnecessary. This 
 fires the Advocate for the burning system, who to over- 
 whelm his adversary at once, exclaims, " Listen then to 
 a Srutee, (a quotation from the Veda,) i A man wishing 
 heaven for himself shall perform C/shwa-medha-jaugfl,' 
 (the sacrifice of a horse) ; and again, f A man wishing hea- 
 ven for himself shall perform Jotistwmtf-jauga.' These 
 and other Srutees, are they to lose their spirits ? that is, 
 to have no effect ? Say, what is your answer." The Op- 
 ponent humbly bows beneath the weight of this rebuke, 
 and acknowledges that the Srutees which commend 
 selfish actions are not void and useless, but intended for 
 
44 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 those who, previously filled with " amours, wrath, and 
 covetousness," are not inclined to enter disinterestedly 
 into the service of the Supreme God ; and that without 
 these Srutees enjoining them thus to sacrifice from cupi- 
 dity or malice, they, freed from all restriction, would be 
 like an elephant without his guide. To prevent this, says 
 he, certain jaug«s were ordained to be performed by 
 them ; as sena-jauga, by one wishing the death of his 
 enemy ; pootrosti-jauga, by one longing for a son; and 
 jotistwna-jauga, by one wishing bliss in heaven. This 
 appeases the Advocate, who having thus secured the vali- 
 dity of these commands for performing devotional acts 
 from cupidity, ambition, or malice, admits, that while 
 these deeds are good, still actions done from superior mo- 
 tives are somewhat more praiseworthy. This concession, 
 which might seem unguarded, is in reality made with the 
 view of enabling the Opponent to bring out the last ob- 
 jection he has left, that the Advocate may demolish it like 
 a man of straw. This is couched in the following words : 
 
 " Nessedhok, If you maintain that the disinterested ac- 
 tions are better than those self-interested, why do you then 
 instead of permitting husbandless women to adopt the 
 Law of (disinterested) Bnmihachwrya, which gives final 
 beatitude, endeavour to preserve the system of self-inte- 
 rested actions of Shuhu-muruna and Onoo-muruna, which 
 produce (merely) bliss in heaven ?" 
 
 This argument, which the Advocate was aware must 
 appear on the face of the subject, and must weigh in 
 favour of a life of abstinence and chastity in preference 
 to burning, as much as eternal beatitude is to be preferred 
 to a continual vicissitude of misery, he now proceeds to 
 obviate. This he first attempts by urging that a woman 
 in embracing a life of abstinence and chastity would still 
 do it with a view to final beatitude, and therefore from 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 45 
 
 self-interested motives : hence, as burning herself would 
 also rescue her husband from the pit he might be driven 
 into for slaying a brahman, or a friend, or being ungrate- 
 ful, together with the three generations before-mentioned, 
 and enable the woman to " get herself rid of her femi- 
 nine sex," he esteems it far more desirable that she should 
 burn. 
 
 To this conclusive argument the Opponent replies, 
 " Now your sayings are consonant with the shastras." 
 Still, however, he suggests the probability of women's 
 attaining the state of final beatitude, were they, after the 
 death of. their husbands, "to be disciplined in sacred 
 wisdom, which by burning themselves they can never 
 attain/' To this the Advocate for the burning system 
 has an unanswerable argument ready, that all instruction 
 would be totally vain ; for, says he, •' it would be attended 
 with no other success than to condemn them for both the 
 one and the other :" in other words, either they would 
 not live the life of chastity recommended, or they would 
 be too dull to do it from proper motives. He concludes 
 the argument with saying, " it is, therefore, very improper 
 that the women who have never been conscious of so 
 much as the meaning of the word Wisdom, shall (should) 
 be desired to follow the system of sacred knowledge. " 
 No other mode remains for the poor creatures, therefore, 
 but that of preventing their going astray, — or of living 
 chastely from wrong motives, by previously burning them 
 alive. The Opponent is now completely silenced, and at 
 once gives up his argument. 
 
 We have now before us the actual grounds on which 
 all those who oppose the abolishment of the practice, 
 still desire to preserve this privilege of burning alive their 
 mothers, their sisters, and their daughters. It is not be- 
 cause it is sanctioned bv the Hindoo law ; for their greatest 
 
46 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 Legislator whose authority is paramount to every other, 
 positively forbids it by enjoining on widows a contrary 
 course. It is not that those few writers who have recom- 
 mended the practice (for none of them have had the auda- 
 city to command it in opposition to their great legislator,) 
 recommend it as a superior course, the dictate of more 
 exalted virtue, for they themselves despise the course they 
 thus recommend to the poor widow, and regard with the 
 utmost contempt the motive and principle of action they 
 endeavour to infuse into her mind. — But this unparalleled 
 course of murder is practised wholly as a preventive! 
 But as a preventive of what? The effects of their dul- 
 ness ! their inability to comprehend M the instructions 
 of Sacred Wisdom!" What then would be these ef- 
 fects ? That they would live a life of abstinence and 
 chastity from improper motives, from a desire after final 
 beatitude ! and thus losing final beatitude, only obtain 
 heaven. Truly their thus forcing their burning system on 
 the poor widow, from principles of such exalted benevo- 
 lence, outdoes all that the Roman Catholics have ever 
 done in the way of burning heretics out of pure pity to 
 their souls. Yet what does this burning system itself 
 profess to hold out to the peor widow? Only a little eva- 
 nescent bliss for a limited time. As for the other pait, 
 the poor widow's dragging her murderous or ungrateful 
 husband out of the hands of Yuma, as a snake-catcher 
 drags a snake out of his hole, it were much better not 
 done. If he has died under the dominion of such barba- 
 rous, or base and ungrateful dispositions, it were better 
 far to leave him in the hands of Yuma for a season, to be 
 taught better principles, than to take him with her to 
 heaven with these feelings of ingratitude, barbarity, and 
 murder remaining within him. A wretched heaven, 
 indeed, she would be likely to experience with such 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 47 
 
 a monster during these thirty-five millions of years. If 
 he did not murder her there, it would be merely because 
 she could not become mortal again till she has worn out 
 this long period of misery. What then is even pretended 
 as the superior advantage of burning ? Nothing: while 
 on their own principles it is optional, the option is quite 
 against the widow's interests. By choosing a life of absti- 
 nence and chastity, she may attain final beatitude, and even 
 according to them she secures a certain degree of bliss, 
 though she should be so dull as to forfeit final beatitude 
 through living with this alone in view ; while they allow 
 that final beatitude can never be attained by her burning 
 herself. But is it to be endured that a poor widow should 
 be burnt merely on account of dulness and stupidity? 
 Is it thus that their mothers and sisters are to be treated ? 
 Would they not shrink at burning alive even a beast on 
 the funeral pile of its master ? Surely it is horrid beyond 
 expression that relatives so dear should be urged to the 
 burning pile, to prevent their living a chaste and virtuous 
 life from a wrong motive merely through dulness, and at 
 the same time be told that it is improper to offer them the 
 least instruction on a subject so important, because they 
 do not as yet know the meaning of the word wisdom. 
 
 But this honest declaration, that their chief motive for 
 supporting this system of burning is furnished by women's 
 dulness and stupidity, brings to light a part of the creed 
 of these advocates for Matricide, which few ever sus- 
 pected to belong to Hindooism. The whole of the sex, every 
 mother, and sister, and daughter, are hereby doomed to in- 
 terminable misery, since they are declared to be such that it 
 would be improper for them even to be desired to follow that 
 system of sacred knowledge universally esteemed by the 
 Hindoo writers the only path to final beatitude. Astonishing ! 
 We have heard that Mooswlmans exclude women from the 
 
48 THE BURNING OK WIDOWS. 
 
 felicity of the blessed, but this is entirely under the idea of 
 their being without a soul. But if Hindoo women have no 
 souls, what part of them is to enjoy this heaven of 
 bliss with their husbands for thirty-five millions of years ? 
 If, in the delicate language of Hareeta, already quoted, 
 " until the wife does not burn (burn) herself in the fire, 
 she cannot get rid of her feminine body," then by that 
 act she does get rid of her body; else, what avails this 
 murderous rite ? But if she then " gets rid of her body," 
 what is left of her ? A soul, a spirit ; of course nothing 
 else. But of what materials is this soul or spirit formed ? 
 Do they suppose it to be formed of matter, or to be a 
 part of the Eternal Spirit? If they say it is formed of 
 matter, they degrade their daughters, and sisters, and 
 mothers, beneath the very beasts around them ; for there 
 is not a dog that passes by, a reptile that crawls on the 
 earth, or a jackal that howls by night around their cottage, 
 which they do not suppose to be animated by a portion of 
 the Eternal Brumha. But if they allow that they have 
 souls, and still cannot obtain final beatitude by burning 
 themselves, then this system, while it devotes their bodies 
 to the most cruel death, dooms their souls to interminable 
 misery. To what absurdity — to what contradiction even 
 of the whole system of Hindooism, have these advo- 
 cates for burning- their mothers and sisters reduced them- 
 selves ! After all their pleading for tenderness to their 
 religious prejudices, it appears evident that this murder- 
 ous practice is not more contrary to humanity, than it is 
 subversive of their own religious dogmas. 
 
 But perhaps these advocates for the burning system 
 will urge, that the fear of the poor widow's mistaking 
 through dulness the way to final beatitude and only reach- 
 ing heaven, is not the only reason which makes them so 
 desirous of sending her through the flames to enjoy con- 
 
T 1 1 E B V K N I N Q O F W I D W § . 
 
 49 
 
 nubial bliss with her deceased husband ; that it is rather 
 the fear of something worse. This indeed is strongly 
 hinted by the Advocate, in his reply to the Opponent on 
 his expressing his hope that were widows after their hus- 
 band's death disciplined in Sacred Wisdom, they might 
 attain final beatitude, which by burning themselves with 
 their husbands they can never attain. In this reply, he 
 declaring that the attempt would be vain, adds, '* as you 
 say (advise us) to discipline them in the Sacred Wisdom, 
 it would be attended with no other success than to con- 
 demn them for both the one and the other" But in what 
 way could their being permitted to live and receive in- 
 struction condemn them for both the one and the other; 
 or, in other words, cause them to lose every hope of bliss ? 
 Their dulness, even in living a life of abstinence and chas- 
 tity from an improper motive, could only make them fall 
 short of final beatitude ; what then should condemn them 
 to the loss of all felicity ? The meaning is self-evident : 
 the writer intends to say, that instead of persevering in a 
 life of chastity, they might possibly go astray, and thus 
 incur the condemnation hinted, which indeed nothing but 
 a deviation of this nature could make them incur, since 
 he has already declared, that deeds done from the mean- 
 est motive, from " amours (or concupiscence), anger, or 
 fear," are still available in the case of a woman's burning 
 herself; and hence the merit of a life of self-denial and 
 chastity cannot of course be destroyed by its motives. 
 He evidently means to say, that as they would not live a 
 life of chastity, their burning themselves is the only pre- 
 ventive of their utter condemnation. And have they then 
 this shocking idea of their own daughters, and sisters, 
 and mothers ? Will nothing preserve them in widowhood 
 from a life of lewdness, but their being burnt alive? Then 
 a Suttee at once loses both its name and its nature. It 
 
 E 
 
50 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 is no longer the effect of chaste affection ; it is the highest 
 dishonour to every family in which it may happen. It pro- 
 claims in the loudest manner, that in the opinion of her 
 own relatives, the sister or the mother who is the victim, 
 is so corrupt in her disposition, so impure in her mind, 
 that they have no method of keeping her from a life of 
 unchastity, but that of burning her alive ; for what person 
 who had not the heart of a tiger, would resort to this 
 dreadful remedy with so near a relative, while any other 
 course held out the least hope ? 
 
 But granting all this, still is it right that this preventive 
 measure should be adopted with any one, much less with 
 such near relatives? Is it agreeable to natural equity 
 that a person should be burnt alive, not for impurity of 
 conduct, but to prevent it ? If it be, ought it to be con- 
 fined to one sex ? ought it not to be extended to the other 
 likewise, or are the mothers and sisters of those who thus 
 uphold the burning system, more depraved than all who 
 dwell around them ? Surely, if this preventive course be 
 allowable at all, it ought not to be confined to the most 
 virtuous, merely because they are the most defenceless ; it 
 ought to be extended further, to the advocates of the 
 measure themselves. If they do not discover an equal 
 disposition to impurity with their mothers and sisters, 
 they may to other vices equally injurious to society, and, 
 according to their own creed, equally punishable in the 
 other world. The same preventive therefore might with 
 equal benevolence be exercised on them at stated periods, 
 or at least on such of them as seem most likely to per- 
 petrate vice ; and if they were less fond of the burning 
 system than they say the poor widow is, they might be 
 permitted to choose any other mode of dying, and thus 
 the city and the country would, in due time, be purified 
 in the most effectual manner : it might, it is true, be some- 
 
THE JiU-itMXG OF WIDOWS. 51 
 
 what thinned of inhabitants ; but the purity of those left 
 behind, and the reflection that all either burnt or hanged 
 on this preventive system, were as assuredly in the enjoy- 
 ment of bliss they would have forfeited by living, as the 
 immolated widow is in the enjoyment of bliss in heaven 
 with her deceased husband, might well reconcile us to 
 the fewness of our neighbours. 
 
 The author of this pamphlet having thus far silenced 
 the Opponent, now attempts to justify their binding the 
 poor widow fast to the corpse of her deceased husband, 
 their heaping wood upon her, and pressing her down 
 with bamboos. For this purpose he makes the Opponent, 
 after acknowledging that the Advocate for the system 
 had given " the just sense of various Silastics," observe, 
 that instead of causing the women to mount the burning 
 pile as the laws direct, they make them first mount the 
 pile, and then, " having strongly tied the said widows to 
 the corpse of their husbands, heap them over and over 
 with wood and large bamboos, and setting fire thereon, 
 burn them to death." " We proclaim," adds he, u that 
 you must not slay women in such a manner." To this 
 the Advocate for the burning system does not reply by 
 denying the truth of this shocking fact, or by urging that 
 it is too strongly stated ; but he defends it by saying, 
 that " in whatever country the practice is to mount the 
 full burning pile, (there) it is indisputable (indisputably 
 right) ;" but that in those countries where this is not the 
 practice, this following of local custom is not inconsistent 
 with the Shastras, quoting several authors to shew that 
 the usages and customs of a country ought to be observed. 
 The Opponent is then made to reply, that, by. this rule, 
 those who, residing in forests and mountains, make it 
 their profession to kill living creatures, are to be held 
 blameless. u By no means," says the Advocate; ''for 
 
 e2 
 
52 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 the actions of these rude foresters are not approved by 
 men of fidelity, and the laws on the head of Shuhu-muruna 
 have been regularly maintained by the holy sages, philo- 
 sophers, and the learned." The plain meaning of this is, 
 that the learned have themselves introduced into Bengal 
 this custom of firmly binding women to the corpse of the 
 deceased husband, heaping wood on them, and pressing 
 them down with large bamboos, from a regard to the cus- 
 tom of the country, when no such custom existed till 
 created by them ! In Bengal there was formerly no cus- 
 tom of this nature existing; and had there been, the cus- 
 toms of the rude and ignorant are here said to be unworthy 
 of regard ; it is the learned alone therefore who have intro- 
 duced this inhuman deviation from their own Shastras, 
 for which they now plead because it does exist ! 
 
 The manner in which the Advocate justifies their vio- 
 lating the woman's promise to mount the burning pile, 
 however, is still more singular. It must here be remarked, 
 that the woman, before she burns, pronounces what is 
 termed the Sztnkulpa, which is couched in the following 
 terms: " I will mount the burning pile." Adverting to 
 this the Opponent says, " How can the Simkwlpa be com- 
 pleted, because (when) it is pronounced with a promise to 
 mount a burning pile ? instead of which they mount it 
 before it touches fire." This difficulty the Advocate re- 
 moves in a moment. Says he, " Whatever you say re- 
 garding the incompletion of the Swnk«lp«, arises from 
 your inattention ; for should a little part of a village or a 
 cloth be consumed by fire, it is then said even by learn- 
 ed men, that the village or the cloth was (is) burnt. In the 
 same manner a little-burning pile is also called a burning 
 pile, and in that case the Stmkulpa was (is) not incom- 
 plete." As much as to say, that if a single twig be set 
 on fire, this constitutes a burning pile ! In this manner 
 do these men, with the most daring effrontery, sport with 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 53 
 
 their violating even their own most sacred formulas for 
 the sake of securing the destruction of a poor defenceless 
 widow, in whom nature might otherwise recoil at the 
 doom awaiting her. 
 
 The next reply, however, is for its levity and falsehood, 
 if possible still more disgusting. The Opponent is made 
 to answer, " I approve of your saying this ; but from 
 what instances the people attending funeral ceremo- 
 nies, (by what authority do the people attending the 
 funeral ceremonies,) tie up the women that are about to 
 mount the burning pile ? and why are they not guilty of 
 the sin of slaying women ?" To this the Advocate replies, 
 " In the aforesaid text of Hareeta it was (is) expressed, 
 that until the women themselves cause their bodies to be 
 wholly consumed in the fire, they cannot finally get rid of 
 their sex. In which case should any part of their bodies 
 while burning asunder in the piles (on the pile) be slipped 
 out thereof, it cannot be wholly consumed." It is difficult to 
 say whether the indelicacy, the shocking levity, or the 
 impudent falsehood of this reply be most to be detested. 
 Granting that the horrid rite requires every particle of the 
 body of the wretched victim to be consumed, does their 
 binding her secure this ? It secures her death, it is true ; 
 it renders all the recoilings of nature unavailing ; but do 
 they bind down every limb of their helpless victim ? and 
 if they did, would not the cords be the first fuel for the 
 flame ? For men thus to sport with decency, humanity, 
 and truth, in a defence of murder offered to a British pub- 
 lic, is of itself sufficient to condemn for ever the inhuman 
 custom. We shall only detain the reader with one instance 
 more of this kind. The Opponent having expressed his 
 approbation of this reason for binding women, has only 
 one scruple left, which is, whether those who assist in 
 burning the widow are not guilty of sin. To this the Ad- 
 vocate for burning replies, that it rather exalts them to 
 
54 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 glory than renders them guilty of sin, which he confirms 
 by reciting the following example from the Mutsya poo- 
 rana, "■ There was a prostitute named Leelavwtee, who 
 having; resolved to make an offering of an artificial salt- 
 hill, one goldsmith named HeemtMra-ghwtwka undertook 
 the work, and perceiving it to be a divine action he took 
 nothing from the girl for his hire, but constructed for her 
 a salt-hill with so much elegance and neatness, that after- 
 wards, in reward thereof, the said poor and theological 
 goldsmith together with his wife was endowed with im- 
 mense riches, and became himself the monarch of the 
 seven-dweep<7 universe, with a shining form equal to the 
 rays of ten thousand suns." Hence he gives the Opponent 
 to understand, that whoever assists in burning a widow, is 
 likely to reap glory, as well as this theological goldsmith 
 for assisting the prostitute in her devout offering. Thus 
 do the supporters of this system, by the most idle fables, 
 as well as the most indecent examples, trifle with the real 
 murder of their nearest female relatives. 
 
 On this subject as the only reason why this murderous 
 custom is still permitted to pollute the land with blood, 
 when the exposure of infants, and men's voluntarily de- 
 voting themselves to death, have been abolished by pub- 
 lic authority, must be sought in the idea entertained that 
 it is indispensably enjoined by the Hindoo laws and system, 
 we intreat permission to subjoin a few extracts from a 
 document in our possession, drawn up in Sungskrita about 
 two years ago by Mntyoonjttya-VidyalwnkMra, the chief 
 pundit successively in the College of Fort William and 
 in the Supreme Court, at the request of the Chief Judge in 
 the Sudder Dewanee Adawlut, who wished him to ascer- 
 tain from a comparison of all the works extant on the 
 subject, the precise point of law relative to burning- 
 widows, according to those who recommend the practice. 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 55 
 
 This document, as the Compiler of it, from his own ex- 
 tensive learning and the assistance of his friends, had an 
 opportunity of consulting more works on the subject than 
 almost any pundit in this presidency, may be regarded as 
 possessing the highest legal authority according to the 
 Hindoos. After having consulted nearly thirty works on 
 the subject current in Bengal, and the northern, western 
 and southern parts of Hindoost'han, among which are all 
 those quoted for the practice by the author of this pam- 
 phlet, he says, " Having examined all these works and 
 weighed their meaning, I thus reply to the questions I 
 have been desired to answer/' He then states that Mwnoo 
 having directed the following formula to be addressed to 
 the bride by the priest at the time of marriage, " Be thou 
 perpetually the companion of thy husband, in life and in 
 death :" Hareeta, a later writer, says that it is the inhe- 
 ritance of every woman belonging to the four casts, not 
 being pregnant or not having a little child, to burn herself 
 with her husband. The Compiler afterwards quotes 
 Vishnoo-moonee as speaking thus : " Let the wife either em- 
 brace a life of abstinence and chastity, or mount the 
 burning pile ;" but he forbids the latter to the unchaste. 
 He then enumerates particularly the various rules laid 
 down by him and others who have followed him on the 
 same side of the question, relative to the time and circum- 
 stances in which a woman is permitted to burn herself, 
 and in what cases she is even by them absolutely for- 
 bidden. These extracts shew that binding the woman, 
 and the other acts of additional cruelty which the author 
 of this pamphlet justifies, are totally forbidden. The 
 Soodkee-koumoodee as quoted by the Compiler says, Let 
 the mother enter the fire after the son has kindled it 
 around his father's corpse ; but to the father's corpse and 
 the mother let him not set fire ; if the son set fire to the 
 
56 T H 1 ; : JHJ R N I N G () F W J D M • S . 
 
 » 
 
 living mother, he lias on him the guilt of murdering both 
 a woman and a mother. Thus the possibility of a 
 woman's being bound to her husband's corpse is taken 
 away : while the act is left perfectly optional, the son is 
 not to be in the least degree accessary to the mother's 
 death ; if she burn herself at all, it must be by throwing 
 herself into the flames already kindled. And the Nimuya- 
 sindhoo forbids the use of any bandage, bamboos, or wood 
 by way of confining the woman on the funeral pile ; nor 
 before she enter it must the least persuasion be used, nor 
 must she be placed on the fire by others Thus the prac- 
 tice as existing in Bengal and defended in this work, is 
 deliberate murder even according to the legal authorities 
 which recommend burning as optional. 
 
 Mrityoonjuya however shews from various authors, that 
 though burning is termed optional, it is still not to be 
 recommended. To this effect he quotes the Fijuyiuitcc, 
 " While Brwmhtfchwrytf and burning are perfectly optional, 
 burning may arise from concupiscence, but Britmhaclvurya 
 cannot; hence they are not equally worthy, how then can 
 they be equally optional ? By Brwmhaclmrytf the widow 
 obtains bliss though she have no son." He then quotes 
 several authors as declaring, that women ought not to 
 burn, because it is merely a work of concupiscence ; the 
 Juhea-mala-vilas and others as declaring, that the practice 
 is merely the effect of cupidity and not the fruit of a vir- 
 tuous and constant mind ; and the Mitakshura as declar- 
 ing, that by embracing a life of abstinence the widow by 
 means of divine wisdom may obtain beatitude ; and hence, 
 that a woman's burning herself is improper : adding, that 
 in former ages nothing was heard of women's burning 
 themselves ; it is found only in this corrupt age. 
 
 The following is the conclusion drawn by this able pun- 
 dit and jurist from the perusal of the whole of these works. 
 
THE BUKXIN'G OF WIDQWS. 57 
 
 " After perusing many works on this subject', tfte following 
 are my deliberate and digested ideas : V?'shnoo-moonee 
 and various others say, that the husband being dead, the 
 wife may either embrace a life of abstinence and chastity, 
 or mount the burning pile ; but on viewing the whole, I 
 esteem a life of abstinence and chastity to accord best 
 with the law : the preference appears evidently to be on 
 that side. Vyasa, Swngkoo, (Jngeera, and Hareeta, speak- 
 ing of a widow's burning, say, that by burning herself 
 with her husband she may obtain connubial bliss in hea- 
 ven ; while by a life of abstinence and chastity, she, at- 
 taining sacred wisdom, may certainly obtain final beati- 
 tude. Hence, to destroy herself for the sake of a little 
 evanescent bliss, cannot be her duty ; burning is for none 
 but for those who despising final beatitude, desire nothing 
 beyond a little short-lived pleasure. Hence I regard a 
 woman's burning herself as an unworthy act, and a life of 
 abstinence and chastity as highly excellent. — In the Silas- 
 tics appear many prohibitions of a woman's dying with 
 her husband, but against a life of abstinence and chastity 
 there is no prohibition. Against her burning herself the 
 following authorities are found. In the Meemangsha- 
 durshuna it is declared, that every kind of self-inflicted 
 injury is sin. The Sankhya says, that a useless death is 
 undoubtedly sinful. The killing for sacrifice commanded 
 by the Shastras has a reasonable cause, and is yet sinful 
 in a certain degree, because it destroys life. And while 
 by the Meemangsha, either of the two may be chosen ; by 
 the Sankhya, a life of abstinence and chastity is alone 
 esteemed lawful. But by the Vedanta, all works spring- 
 ing from concupiscence, are to be abhorred and forsaken ; 
 hence a woman's burning herself from the desire of con- 
 nubial bliss, ought certainly to be rejected with abhor- 
 
58 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 He further adds, " No blame whatever is attached to 
 those who prevent a woman's burning. In the Shastras 
 it is said, that Kwndwrpa being consumed to ashes by the 
 eye of Shzv«, his wife Rwtee determined to burn herself; 
 and commanded her husband's friend Mwdhoo to prepare 
 the funeral pile. Upon this the gods forbad her ; on 
 which account she desisted, but by Kalee-dasrt no blame 
 is attached to them for this conduct. Thus also in the 
 Shree-Bhaguvuta : a woman, Kripee, had a son, a mighty 
 hero, from love to whom she forbore to burn herself with 
 her husband ; yet she was deemed guilty of no sin therein. 
 Now also we hear of sons and other relatives attempting 
 to dissuade a woman from burning ; yet they are esteemed 
 guilty of no crime. It is also evident that a woman, in 
 thus burning herself, dies merely from her own self-will, 
 and from no regard to any shastra ; such the command of 
 a thousand shastras would not induce to die. They 
 merely reason thus : ' By the death of my husband 1 have 
 sustained an irreparable loss ; it is better for me to die 
 than to live ;' hence a woman determines to die ; and her 
 relatives seeing this mind in her, provide the funeral pile, 
 and say, ' if you are determined to die, to die by falling 
 from a precipice would be tedious, die in this manner :' 
 thus a father who has a son determined to go to a distant 
 country, finding all dissuasion vain, at length sends a 
 guide with him who knows all the rivers and the danger- 
 ous places. The various shastras, therefore, describe this 
 action as being merely that of one who having received an 
 incurable wound, is determined to die whether by falling 
 from a precipice, by fire, or by water." 
 
 After this full and accurate investigation by one so able, 
 and possessing such opportunities, the subject as far as 
 relates to the law of the Hindoos, or to the countenance 
 it receives from the Hindoo system, may well be supposed 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 59 
 
 to be fully before the public. All that the author of this 
 pamphlet, assisted by all the pundits who wish for the 
 continuance of the practice, has been able to bring forth 
 as at all countenancing it, is confined to the opinions of 
 five or six authors, amidst that multitude included by the 
 Hindoos under the term of " the learned :" and after the 
 examination of nearly Thirty works written either for or 
 against this practice, the hope of attaining further light 
 respecting it from the Hindoo Shastras, is totally vain. 
 A work, to be ranked as an authority in point of law, must 
 have been known and read for ages : any work therefore 
 on the subject hitherto hidden, and hereafter brought 
 forth to countenance the practice, becomes for that very 
 reason of no authority. The question is now left to be 
 determined wholly on the principles of equity and reason. 
 It is possible that this practice might have originated in 
 the injunction of Mwnoo addressed by the priest to the 
 bride in marriage, " Be thou the companion of thy hus- 
 band in life and in death," although it is evident that Mw- 
 noo thereby intended nothing of this kind, by his pre- 
 scribing for widows a life of abstinence and chastity. 
 From this, however, certain succeeding writers, Hareeta, 
 and some others, may have taken occasion to recommend 
 the widow's burning herself, with the hope of living again 
 with her husband for a limited number of years. But 
 even by these it was enjoined, that this should be a per- 
 fectly voluntary act, voluntary in its origin, and in every 
 stage of it ; and that this should be manifested by her 
 ascending the burning pile without the least force, and by 
 no force being used to detain her there. And should 
 nature recoil at the sight of the flames, the atonement was 
 only three kahwns of cowries, or about twelve annas ; after 
 which it is expressly enjoined that she shall be received 
 and treated by her neighbours precisely as before. Above 
 
60 
 
 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 all, the son is forbidden in the most express manner to be 
 in the least degree accessary to his mother's death. If 
 frantic grief urge her to put an end to her own existence, 
 it must be by her throwing herself on the funeral pile of her 
 deceased lord, in which she must be no more assisted 
 than as though she were precipitating herself from a pre- 
 cipice. While nothing can be more murderous, therefore, 
 than the practice and mode justified by the writer of the 
 pamphlet under consideration, nothing can be more con- 
 trary to the spirit and intention of even those few Hindoo 
 writers who have recommended the burning system. 
 
 While this horrid practice is allowed to have been re- 
 commended by certain writers, it is evident that it was 
 never considered as a law, or as a religious injunction es- 
 sential to the duty of a good Hindoo. If it be a law bind- 
 ing even in point of conscience, the greater part of India 
 must ever have lived in a state of direct disobedience to 
 the laws of their own religion ; for as the recommendation 
 is directed to widows of every cast down even to the low- 
 est, that of a Chundala, it must have been imperative on 
 all, at least as matter of conscience. Yet, not to advert 
 to what MrityoonJMya has advanced, that it was unknown 
 in the first and purest ages of Hindooism, if the number 
 of widows burnt in Bengal annually do not exceed a 
 thousand, it must be disobeyed even in Bengal, where it 
 is most prevalent, by at least ninety-nine out of a hun- 
 dred of the population, and in the western part of Hin- 
 doost'han by a still greater proportion; while in the 
 southern part of the British dominions, it is said to be 
 scarcely regarded at all. If this practice therefore form 
 a part of the Hindoo religious system, with the exception 
 of one in perhaps a thousand this system is by themselves 
 universally discarded and treated with contempt. 
 This barbarous practice however, while recommended by 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. til 
 
 a few among the Hindoo writers, has been found by others to 
 involve principles directly subversive of Hindooism itself. 
 Here it is almost needless to inform the reader, that the 
 learned among the Hindoos have been for numerous ages 
 almost as much divided respecting their religious senti- 
 ments, as were formerly the learned of Greece and Rome. 
 One grand principle of the Hindoo system is, that life must 
 not be destroyed : hence their abstaining from animal 
 food; and hence many have thought it sinful to destroy 
 a noxious or a poisonous reptile. Even sacrifices are sup- 
 posed to involve a certain degree of guilt, as far as they 
 destroy life, although their being done in obedience to a 
 supposed command, causes the merit of the deed to over- 
 balance its demerit. But it is evident from what has been 
 already urged, that a woman's burning herself has never 
 been considered as a deed commanded. Hence, as Mnt- 
 yoonjuya justly observes, no blame has ever been attached 
 by any of their writers to those who have prevented its 
 being; done ; which would have been the case had it been 
 regarded as a religious duty. Instances enough may be 
 found in the Hindoo Shastras of the strong sense they 
 have of the sin of obstructing or preventing a religious 
 act ; many examples are related of men said to be de- 
 stroyed by devotees for interrupting them only in their 
 evening ceremonies. While, therefore, it has been merely 
 recommended by a few, others have beheld it as destroy- 
 ing life without cause, and thus violating one of the fun- 
 damental principles of Hindooism. 
 
 But many have gone farther, and condemned the very 
 principle on which it has been recommended. The ground 
 of this has been already mentioned. The Hindoos main- 
 tain in all its strictness the doctrine of the metempsycho- 
 sis, and believe that the human soul is a part of the 
 Supreme Being, and that while its desires are impure and 
 
62 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 corrupt, it can never be re-united to him and obtain final 
 beatitude. Others among them, however, hold that cer- 
 tain deeds, though done from the most unworthy mo- 
 tives, are in themselves so available as to merit a certain 
 degree of recompense ; never final beatitude indeed, but 
 wealth, a son, long life, the destruction of enemies, or 
 a certain temporary state of bliss in their Swwrgas, or 
 heavens. In this class those rank who contend for the 
 burning of widows, as is sufficiently testified by one of the 
 quotations given in the pamphlet under consideration, 
 which says, that though a woman burn herself from 
 " amours, anger, fear, or affection," she is still certain 
 of obtaining heaven. But all these deeds the more learned 
 treat with the greatest contempt, declaring them to be 
 nothing more than vice in another shape, the indulgence 
 of a corrupt mind. These writers, therefore, view a wo- 
 man's burning herself as perfectly unlawful. Thus, those 
 who form the great support of the Hindoo system, totally 
 condemn the very principle on which the practice is at 
 all recommended, and esteem the whole an indulgence 
 of vicious and corrupt desires, while they insist, on the 
 other hand, that the law commands a widow to live a 
 life of abstinence and chastity. That these compose 
 the greater part of the Hindoos, may be inferred from 
 the proportion of widows thus burnt alive when com- 
 pared with the whole population of Hindoost'han, the 
 horrid practice prevailing chiefly in the lower part of 
 Bengal, and most of all, within about twenty or thirty 
 miles of Calcutta. 
 
 Such then is the real state of things relative to this 
 practice, even when described by its most strenuous ad- 
 vocates ; for the reader will have seen, that in the pam- 
 phlet under consideration, the admissions of the Advo 
 cate for its continuance condemn the practice scarcely 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 63 
 
 less than Mrityoonjuya himself. Asa command it has not 
 the least foundation in the Hindoo system ; for while it is 
 recommended to all, at least ninety-nine out of a hundred 
 of the strictest and most devout Hindoos, have ever lived 
 in complete disregard of it. Had it been otherwise in- 
 deed, as the recommendation is general, the country must 
 have been every year a scene of general massacre. If the 
 number of Hindoos in India be computed at a hundred 
 millions, and few will estimate them lower, the least num- 
 ber who die annually, must in the common course of mor- 
 tality be estimated at three millions ; and as nearly every 
 man is married, and in general to a woman far younger 
 than himself, a million of widows annually is the very lowest 
 number which we ought to reckon. Now, if only one out 
 of a hundred of these are burned, this will exhibit ten 
 thousand widows consigned to the flames every year ; but 
 were the whole million to be thus burnt alive, this coun- 
 try would yearly present such a Gehenna — such a sacri- 
 fice to Moloch, as the world has never beheld. A law, 
 however, regularly disobeyed by ninety-nine out of a hun- 
 dred of those to whom it is given, and this without either 
 punishment or blame, is totally unworthy the name. Such 
 is not the case with the laws of the Hindoo system : by 
 these, widows are forbidden to marry again, — and not one 
 in a thousand ever marries again. As a recommendation, 
 then, it has not been supported by one-fifth of the Hin- 
 doo writers on ethics or jurisprudence — nor practically 
 regarded by a thousandth part of those who profess 
 Hindooism. The recommendation is also in direct op- 
 position to the command of the great Hindoo lawgiver, 
 who enjoins on every widow a life of abstinence and 
 chastity ; and further, it is grounded on principles com- 
 pletely subversive of the Hindoo system, and opposed to 
 that course which the Hindoos believe to be the only 
 
64 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 path to final happiness. — Yet this practice, thus opposed 
 to their great legislator's command — to the very nature 
 of their religious system — and to all their best ideas of 
 virtue, is kept alive in the metropolis and its vicinity, by 
 acts of unfeeling coercion, which are the most direct 
 violations of the rules laid down by those few who have 
 at all recommended the practice, while in the provinces 
 of Hindoost'han, which is held to have been the chief 
 seat of every important transaction detailed in their my- 
 thology, and which contains a brave, noble, courageous 
 race, before whom the natives of Bengal have always 
 trembled, the practice, if formerly prevalent in any great 
 degree, has at this time nearly expired beneath the feelings 
 of common humanity. Yet all these circumstances of 
 additional cruelty are now detailed and justified in an ad- 
 dress to the British public, while not the least shadow of 
 argument is brought forward in support of the system ; 
 but rather principles are tacitly avowed as the grand 
 motive for continuing it, which discover the most complete 
 absence of feeling for the moral welfare of their dearest 
 female relatives, and reflect on their characters the high- 
 est dishonour. 
 
 While the discussion of the subject was confined to the 
 native language, a certain degree of silence might per- 
 haps have been less blameable. But after a justification 
 of the system has appeared in the shape of an appeal to 
 the public both in India and in Britain, in the English 
 language, it would be criminal to remain silent, and a 
 grievous offence against humanity to treat the subject 
 in a light and cursory manner. This must form our 
 apology for having devoted to this article so unusual a 
 portion of room, as well as for the delay in sending forth 
 the Number in which it is contained. And when it is 
 considered, that this practice causes the death of a greater 
 number of persons in one year, who, if they ought not to 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 65 
 
 be thus burnt alive, involve the country in all the guilt of 
 innocent blood, than are publicly executed for their crimes 
 throughout the whole of India in the course of twenty 
 years, it cannot be wrong to call, to this momentous sub- 
 ject, the attention of every friend to his country. How 
 would Britain feel, if within herself a hundred innocent 
 persons suffered death by some mistake of law in the 
 course of a year ! How then ought she to feel when, in 
 only one province of her foreign dominions, nearly a 
 thousand innocent widows are every year burnt to death ! 
 Were this inhuman persecution, which in the number of 
 its annual victims exceeds all that papal superstition ever 
 brought to the stake in Britain in the course of a century, 
 directed by the supporters of this practice against any 
 particular sect, or class of men, they would long ago have 
 appealed to their rulers for redress — or they would have 
 left the spot where they were treated with such cruelty. 
 But how can mothers and sisters make an appeal against 
 their own relatives? How can a wife, a mother, withdraw 
 from her own family ? They may endure continual agony 
 under the apprehension of the dreadful doom which they 
 know awaits them on the first fatal attack of disease on 
 their husbands, — they may feel their anguish renewed at 
 the sight of every female neighbour they behold led forth 
 to the flames — they may tremble at every touch of disease 
 which affects their husbands, and weep at every re- 
 collection of their hapless children ; — but can they leave 
 the scene of suffering ? can they make known their sor- 
 rows? dare they bewray even in the slightest degree 
 the anguish which preys on their vitals ? They lie 
 bound as sheep for the slaughter ; — and thus they must 
 remain, suffering in silence, till British feeling and sym- 
 pathy shall duly realize their hitherto unknown, unpitied 
 misery. 
 
 F 
 
66 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 While we thus feel on this subject, however, we hail 
 with joy that diffusion of light among the natives, which 
 has constrained this defence of cruelty and murder to 
 come forth before the public. Than this circumstance 
 nothing can be more auspicious to the best interests of 
 India. Let examination tnus begin among the natives 
 themselves ; let every part of the Hindoo system, and 
 every practice it is supposed to countenance, be thus 
 brought to the test of reason. From this course truth has 
 nothing to fear ; and why should those practices which are 
 contrary to humanity and righteousness, continue to scat- 
 ter misery through a country enriched with the choicest 
 blessings of Providence, and formed to be the garden 
 Of India ? We are happy to find that Ram-mohwn«-ray«, 
 on whose late excellent pamphlet so humanely addressed 
 to his own countrymen on this subject, this is intended as 
 a most fierce attack, has prepared an answer thereto in 
 his own language, with a view to its being circulated 
 among such of his countrymen as still feel unwilling to 
 give up this horrid custom. With an English translation 
 of his reply to this pamphlet we trust he will soon favour 
 the British public. 
 
IV. 
 ON FEMALE IMMOLATION.* 
 
 In the construction of human society, we perceive a 
 plan of the highest wisdom and benevolence displayed in 
 uniting the various ranks of men by their mutual depend- 
 ence on each other. The same principles regulate the 
 supply both of our natural and our social wants. That 
 which one country fails to produce is abundantly raised in 
 another ; and thus a bond of union is created between 
 different and distant nations. Had every country been 
 furnished with an ample supply of all the productions 
 requisite for its subsistence and comfort, the chain of 
 reciprocal accommodation, with its invaluable relations, 
 would have been broken. The same rule applies equally 
 to our social deficiencies. To have removed every moral 
 and political evil, would have been easy for the Great 
 Parent of mankind ; but he has condescended to share 
 with his creatures the ineffable pleasure of doing good by 
 placing the weak by the side of the powerful — by bringing 
 the ignorant into contact with those who possess know- 
 ledge, and the poor under the view of those who are rich. 
 In tracing the ramifications of this system, we behold not 
 only a remedy for the inseparable evils of humanity, but 
 a foundation for the happiest attachment of one being to 
 another, through the exercise of charity and benevolence. 
 Thus none of the gifts of the Almighty are bestowed in 
 
 * Friend of India, Quarterly Series, No. III. p. 332. 
 f2 
 
68 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 vain ; and it is only through a departure from the funda- 
 mental principles of society, that misery still continues to 
 reign among men. 
 
 Wherever then there exists a power of doing good, 
 there results thence a duty for exercising it. Divine 
 Providence has in no instance bestowed power, or influ- 
 ence, or any other blessing, without a direct intention 
 that it should be employed in supplying some deficiency. 
 To those who controvert this doctrine, and maintain that 
 power is granted, not for the benefit of those who are 
 subject to it, but for the gratification of the holder, we 
 would say, that if power which is as essentially a divine 
 gift as any of the productions of the earth, be created 
 without any view to public utility, then the food we eat 
 and the raiment we wear have been granted with the same 
 absence of beneficial design, and every use we have made 
 of them has been unnatural and presumptuous. But this 
 is a monstrous supposition, repugnant to reason, and op- 
 posed equally to the constant practice of civilized nations* 
 and the general voice of mankind. In what well regulated 
 kingdom is power delegated either to the superior or infe- 
 rior officers of justice for their personal gratification ? 
 
 What has been the general opinion of mankind on this 
 subject, history will abundantly inform us. Among the 
 great and mighty conquerors whose deeds appear on 
 record, have not succeeding ages invariably cherished the 
 memory of those who have improved their power and in- 
 fluence for the good of society, and loaded with obloquy 
 the memory of those who have acted differently ? In the 
 history of Alexander the mind is less gratified in recount- 
 ing the various nations he subdued, than in dwelling on 
 the beneficent employment of his power in promoting the 
 interests of society, and affording facilities for trade and 
 commerce. The conquests of the Romans would have 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 69 
 
 been almost as uninteresting as those of Jenghis-khan or 
 any other barbarian, had not that high-minded people 
 carried into the conquered countries the arts of civilization 
 and refinement, and rendered victory subservient to the 
 improvement of the nations dependent on them. Milton 
 in his history of England says, " with the Roman Empire 
 fell also what was in this western world chiefly Roman ; 
 learning, valour, eloquence, history, civility, and even 
 language itself, all these together as it were with equal 
 pace diminishing and decaying." In the Spanish con- 
 quest of America we perceive a reverse of this picture ; a 
 civilized and Christian nation, neglecting the finest oppor- 
 tunities of doing good, — trampling on the natives of the 
 country, aggravating every natural barbarity, and so far 
 from elevating the inhabitants in intellect, knowledge, 
 and virtue, placing them in a far more degraded situation 
 than as though a Spaniard had never landed on their 
 shores. And has not every historian described these 
 conquests as the foulest blot on the European character 
 since it began to emerge from barbarism, and held them 
 up to the indignation of mankind ? What has been the 
 conduct of the British nation, blessed as it has been with 
 pre-eminent power and influence, and what the general 
 opinion on the subject? To instance only in one act, — 
 that of the abolition of the slave-trade. Did any man 
 consider us in this act of justice as stepping beyond the 
 line of policy and duty ; and when we used our influence 
 to procure its abolition from other nations, was there one 
 individual who regarded the measure as an unwarrantable 
 employment of our power ? We are sure there is not a 
 British heart, which does not glow with animation at the 
 recollection of those glorious struggles, and wish that if 
 our nation should return to its former insignificance and 
 the record of our actions perish, some memorial of this 
 
70 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 splendid act of humanity might outlive the wreck of our 
 fame. The general opinion of mankind has invariably 
 ranged itself on the side of a virtuous employment of 
 power, and loaded with reproach the memory of those 
 who have imparted no benefit to the nations from whose 
 subjugation they have derived fame, wealth, and dominion. 
 When the exultations of victory cease and the recollec- 
 tions of conquest fade, these triumphs of humanity 
 remain in undecaying remembrance, attracting, as they 
 pass down the stream of time, fresh admiration and gra- 
 titude from the successive generations of mankind. And 
 is not this a wise dispensation of Providence ? Is it not for 
 the benefit of mankind that warriors should carry with 
 them the idea, that it is not from their martial achieve- 
 ments, but from the use they make of their power, that 
 they can expect solid renown ? Is it not beneficial for 
 them to be reminded, as often as they review the page of 
 History, that when the sword of conquest is sheathed, 
 their duties have only commenced, and that their obliga- 
 tions to benefit mankind increase with the opportunities 
 they enjoy ? 
 
 These ideas will not be weakened on reviewing the 
 events of the last sixty years in the Eastern hemisphere, 
 in noticing the sudden and almost miraculous extinction 
 of an oppressive system of power, and the rapid elevation 
 of a tribe of distant islanders to the throne of the great 
 Mogul. When we survey the leading features of these 
 two governments, and compare the insecurity and oppres- 
 sion of the one, with the tranquillity, and happiness dif- 
 fused throughout India under the other, we can be at no 
 loss to account for the exchange of political ascendancy 
 which has taken place. That the British Government has 
 in a great degree fulfilled the high trust committed to it 
 by the Almighty Disposer of events, by endeavouring to 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 71 
 
 render its subjects happy, is unquestionable ; — and it 
 is equally unquestionable that while misery continues to 
 exist, the energies of benevolence can never be consist- 
 ently relaxed. It is therefore a legitimate object of en- 
 quiry, whether there do not yet remain evils to be eradi- 
 cated from India. The infelicity of its inhabitants arises 
 not from an ungenerous soil, but from an unnatural 
 system of morals ; and from rites and customs, which 
 though deemed sacred, are inimical to human happiness. 
 Of these observances, some are confined to religion, and, 
 however absurd, must be left to the gradual effect of per- 
 suasion ; but there are others of a more malignant charac- 
 ter : there are customs now existing among the Hindoos 
 which if exhibited in any other country, would subject 
 the perpetrators to the punishment of the secular arm ; 
 among which the burning of widows on the funeral pile 
 stands foremost. The frequent examination of this prac- 
 tice in the former Numbers of this work, may seem to 
 demand an apology for its introduction again ; but it is a 
 question of such importance to the honour of our country, 
 and to the happiness of the most amiable portion of the 
 native community, that we feel confident this renewed 
 examination of it will not be deemed superfluous. The 
 question is not one which can be permitted to slumber ; 
 it ought, on the contrary, to undergo the most rigid scru- 
 tiny in all its bearings, since it is only from repeated ex- 
 amination that its abolition can be ultimately expected. 
 It must yield in time to the voice of humanity : — we can- 
 not persuade ourselves that these unnatural immolations 
 will be permitted to exist for another quarter of a century ; 
 we cannot for a moment permit the idea, that there are 
 twenty-five thousand innocent and helpless females yet 
 destined to the flames under a Christian and a British 
 government. 
 
72 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 In the course of this enquiry, we shall consider female 
 immolation as a practice cognizable by the civil power, 
 though sheltered beneath the mantle of religion. The 
 injury committed in all these instances is such as legis- 
 lators have always considered as subject to the relief 
 which it is the province of civil power to grant. This is 
 not the case with numerous rites of the Hindoo religion, 
 which, however detrimental to individual happiness and 
 unfavourable to the interests of society, as they concern 
 religious prejudice alone, and infringe not on those fun- 
 damental principles which hold society together, cannot 
 be prohibited consistently with the principles of toleration. 
 But no one will contend, that the burning of widows, in 
 which an innocent life is deliberately taken away, is 
 merely a case of this nature. The supreme authority 
 would not destroy the life of any of these females without 
 a regular trial, and a view to the general benefit of society ; 
 can it then come within the province of a few private indi- 
 viduals to sacrifice a life which the civil power ventures 
 not to touch ? If the widow destroys herself voluntarily, 
 she is guilty of an act which our laws have declared infa- 
 mous by branding the memory of the self-murderer. And 
 does not the spirit of this practice declare that self-murder 
 ought to be prevented where the intention is previously 
 known ? But if the act of immolation be not self-murder, 
 it must be an act of murder on the part of all those who 
 assist in it. The moment a purely religious rite infringes 
 on the laws of society, its character is changed, and it is 
 transformed into a civil crime. On this subject we beg 
 leave to quote the opinion of Locke, in his Letter on To- 
 leration, in which he defines clearly the religious obser- 
 vances with which the civil magistrate can, and cannot 
 interfere. " The magistrate ought not to forbid the 
 preaching or professing of any speculative opinions in any 
 
THE BURNING 01- WIDOWS. 73 
 
 church, because they have no manner of relation to the 
 civil rights of the subject." — " For it does not belong 
 unto the magistrate to make use of his sword in punishing 
 every thing indifferently which he takes to be a sin against 
 God. Covetousness, uncharitableness, idleness, and 
 many other things, are sins by the consent of all men, 
 which yet no man ever said were to be punished by the 
 magistrate. The reason is, because they are not prejudi- 
 cial to other men's rights, nor do they break the public 
 peace of societies." — " The post of a magistrate is only to 
 take care that the commonwealth receive no prejudice, 
 and that there be no injury done to any man in life and 
 estate." — " You will say, — if some congregations have a 
 mind to sacrifice infants, or practise any other such heinous 
 enormities, is the magistrate obliged to tolerate them be- 
 cause they are committed in a religious assembly ? I 
 answer, No. These things are not lawful in the ordinary 
 course of life, nor in any private house ; and therefore 
 neither are they so in the worship of God." — Locke's 
 Works, vol. ii. pp. 368, 370. 
 
 If it be advanced that the Hindoos think this a religious 
 rite, we would ask, under what government is the privi- 
 lege of deciding on the nature of crimes delegated to the 
 offender ? If the Hindoo who burns his innocent mother, 
 can bring himself to think it a religious action, are the 
 civil authorities to whom the preservation of her life is 
 committed, over which life he has not even the shadow of 
 a right, obliged to think so ? Are the sacred principles 
 of justice to be abrogated because private individuals are 
 mistaken in their notion of the worship which is accept- 
 able to the Deity ? The admission of this principle would 
 rend asunder the bonds of society ; for if the highest 
 crime, that of murder, may go unpunished when com- 
 mitted under a religious pretext, what crime can we con- 
 
74 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 sistently punish in India ? What crime is there which the 
 Hindoo code does not sanction under some shape orother? 
 " But the Hindoo law commands this murderous prac- 
 tice." This we must beg leave to deny; Munoo, the parent 
 of Indian jurisprudence, for whom the natives entertain 
 such veneration that the Brahmwn who possesses not a 
 shalgrama and a copy of his laws, is said to have forfeited 
 his religious privileges, Munoo, respecting whom it is ac- 
 knowledged that what is contrary to his injunctions, is 
 not law, says nothing of female immolation, but on the 
 contrary prescribes rules for the conduct of widows dur- 
 ing the term of their natural existence. Let her emaciate 
 her body by living voluntarily on pure flowers, roots, 
 and fruit; but let her not, when her lord is deceased, 
 even pronounce the name of another man. Let her conti- 
 nue till death forgiving all injuries, performing harsh du- 
 ties, avoiding every sensual pleasure, and cheerfully prac- 
 tising the incomparable rules of virtue, which have been 
 followed by such women as were devoted to one hus- 
 band." Sir W. Jones's Translation of Munoo, p. 143. If 
 succeeding commentators have partially countenanced it, 
 we would ask, since what period have we taken those ex- 
 cellent authors for our rule and guide, and substituted 
 their precepts instead of the principles of justice? For 
 the honour of the British character we can reply, that we 
 have never done so ; — we have not put to death every shoo- 
 dra who has molested a brahniMn by bringing against him 
 an action for debt, robbery, or adultery, — we have not cut 
 off the hands of every shoodra who has seized a brahm/m 
 by the neck ; — we have not poured melted had into the 
 ears of every plebeian who has listened during the last 
 sixty years to reproaches against these twice-born favour- 
 ites of heaven. Yet these injunctions, however contrary 
 to reason, to humanity, and to the peace of mankind, are 
 positively contained in their code. We have not therefore 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. /O 
 
 listened for one moment to these books, but have de- 
 fended the natives from the bloody rigour of their own 
 laws. If any one be still disposed to object, that we 
 have in general upheld the authority of these books, while 
 we have disannulled those laws which appeared unjust, we 
 really know not what argument can be adduced more fa- 
 vourable to the abolition of female murder; for if we pos- 
 sess a discretionary power over the Hindoo laws, the help- 
 less widow has as strong a claim on our compassion, as 
 the members of the servile tribe, almost every individual 
 of which is daily incurring the penalties decreed in them ; 
 and if we make any exceptions in the execution of the 
 Hindoo code, the unprotected female ought fully to share 
 in them. 
 
 Another question naturally arises out of the subject ; if 
 religious prejudices may be received as a sufficient autho- 
 rity for violating the sanctions of morality, may not the 
 leader of anew sect spring up, and, under a religious pre- 
 text, command his followers to murder all their female re- 
 latives and embrace an ascetic life? If this were prohi- 
 bited, would it not be on the plea, that though circum- 
 stances may render it politic to wink at evils of long 
 standing, they could not be allowed to spring up denovo? 
 We thus arrive at another, and by far the most important 
 division of the subject, namely its expediency. We are con- 
 fident that the continuance of the practice stands on the 
 doctrine of expediency alone. This is its onlv prop ; of 
 which could it once be deprived, it would fall beneath the 
 weight of justice and humanity. And considering the 
 British supremacy in the East as the greatest blessing 
 which the natives enjoy, it does become a duty to look 
 forward to the remote consequences, which may attend 
 any act of benevolence. The government of this country 
 has done much to alleviate the misery of India, and to 
 counteract the mischief of its native depravity; and were 
 
76 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 it practicable with one stroke of the pen to remove every 
 misery and to diffuse happiness through the country, we 
 are sure it would not be withheld for a moment. It 
 cannot therefore be improper to weigh the question of ex- 
 pediency, and to collect into one focus all the light which 
 can be obtained on the subject from our preceding trans- 
 actions in India. And if it should thence appear that we 
 have not hitherto been arrested in our career of justice by 
 the prejudices of the natives; that on the contrary the 
 Hindoos have always gone hand in hand with us, without 
 discovering any hostility to our authority ; there can be no 
 reason to apprehend that in the abolition of female immo- 
 lation, we shall experience the least interruption. To 
 prove that this is the case we will adduce three examples. 
 I. In the province of Guzerat the deluded parents had 
 been for a long series of years in the habit of destroying 
 their female infants as soon as they were born. Whether 
 the custom was sanctioned by the shastras or not, is irre- 
 levant ; it is enough that it was deeply rooted in the prac- 
 tice and prejudices of the natives. These unnatural mur- 
 ders at length attracted the notice of Government, and 
 they were publicly prohibited by an order from the su- 
 preme power. Did Government immediately lose the con- 
 fidence and attachment of the natives ? Did the enraged 
 parent, unsheathing his sword, slaughter the rescued vic- 
 tim, and then turn it on those who had attempted its pre- 
 servation ? Not one symptom of disaffection has been 
 manifested by the natives on this account. By many the 
 practice is probably forgotten ; and it would now appear 
 in their eyes as horrible as it formerly appeared natural 
 and indispensable. The infants have been suffered to grow 
 up to maturity, and to engage the affections of their pa- 
 rents, and who will say that the father breathes desolation 
 and slaughter against those who formerly saved them 
 from destruction? 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 77 
 
 II. Our second example is of the same nature ; but, inas- 
 much as it indicates the feelings of a class of natives at 
 the other extremity of the continent, it may in the 
 opinion of some carry greater weight, as demonstrat- 
 ing that the same security accompanies every assertion 
 of the principles of humanity throughout this vast em- 
 pire. From time immemorial it was the custom for mo- 
 thers to sacrifice their children to the Ganges at the an- 
 nual festival held at Gunga Saugor. The British Govern- 
 ment regarded the practice with those feelings of horror 
 which such unnatural murders are calculated to inspire ; 
 and as persuasion would have been unavailing with 
 those who had parted with every parental feeling, the prac- 
 tice was prohibited by a public decree, and the prohibition 
 enforced by public authority. Let us not forget that this 
 order was promulgated in the presence of thousands as- 
 sembled at a public festival, in the highest excitement of 
 superstitious frenzy. What was the consequence ? not 
 one instance of resistance was attempted by that immense 
 crowd. The mischief vanished from the earth, and no one 
 bewailed it. The mothers who had brought their children 
 to this funeral sacrifice, were constrained to carry them 
 back unhurt ; and many perhaps to whom the heinousness 
 of the crime had never yet appeared, were by this inter- 
 position awakened to a sense of its enormity. Did those 
 women in whose minds we had rekindled the flame of 
 maternal feeling, fill every village on their return with 
 wailing and lamentation ? Did one of the fathers of 
 those devoted children, on their unexpected restoration, 
 give vent to his indignation, and draw down curses on our 
 merciful interference ? We believe there was no one father 
 or mother at that period who did not, on cool reflection, 
 call down blessings on those who, when they themselves 
 were dead to humanity, had interposed so judiciously with 
 
78 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 the arm of the civil power. But even supposing that there 
 might have been some monster in human shape, who, so 
 far from rejoicing at the return of his own offspring, im- 
 precated the divine vengeance on our heads, who, as the 
 faculties of the child expanded, felt his indignation pro- 
 gressively augmented against those who had prevented its 
 premature destruction ; should we have acted consistently 
 had we taken his murderous inclinations as the gage of 
 our conduct ? 
 
 III. The third example will, perhaps, go still farther to 
 shew that we have pursued a course of undeviating jus- 
 tice in India, at the expence of religious injunction and 
 popular prejudice. The brahmmis, as our readers well 
 know, are esteemed sacred throughout India ; the tribe 
 is surrounded with the loftiest prerogatives. " As the first- 
 born of created beings they have a right by their primo- 
 geniture and eminence of birth to whatever exists in the 
 world. The birth of a brahmwn is a constant incarnation 
 of DliMrma, the god of justice ; through the benevolence 
 of the brahmwn other mortals enjoy life. ,,# Hence the 
 Hindoo laws absolutely prohibit the execution of a brah- 
 mwn : they forbid the magistrate even to imagine evil 
 against him. Thus fenced by the laws, and extolled by 
 their sacred books, they are still more powerfully guarded 
 by the respect and veneration of the people. From one 
 corner of India to the other, however religious observances 
 may have fallen into disuse, this sacred tribe enjoys un- 
 diminished homage. When, therefore, our Government 
 commenced in the East, we were reduced to the most se- 
 rious dilemma : to have inflicted punishment on brahmnns, 
 would have been to violate the most awful sanctions of 
 Hindoo law, and the dearest prejudices of the people ; 
 
 * See Munoo, as before quoted. 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 79 
 
 to have exempted them from punishment would have been 
 to deliver over the country to desolation, ravage, and mur- 
 der. The reign of equity, which we were about to intro- 
 duce, was stopped at the very threshold ; the destiny of 
 millions hung in suspense. How did we act on this occa- 
 sion ? Did we lay the laws of justice at the feet of this 
 sacred tribe ? Did we abrogate our code of jurisprudence, 
 and adopt the vedas for our guides ? Did we deprive the 
 country of our protection, because the Hindoo shastnzs 
 forbid the punishment of the aggressors if they happened 
 to be brahmwns? We did not hesitate a single moment, 
 but boldly stepped forward in vindication of the rights of 
 society, and in spite of a formidable phalanx of Hindoo 
 jurisconsults, and of the strongest prejudices, caused these 
 delinquents to pay the forfeit of their lives to the laws of 
 offended justice. In the mode of doing this we admitted 
 no recognition of their pre-eminent birth. We tried them 
 publicly like other criminals, and subjected them to the 
 degradation of a gibbet. We have repeated the punish- 
 ment of brahmwns since that period whenever it has been 
 requisite ; and scarcely a year has since elapsed without 
 the execution of a brahmwn in some one of the provinces 
 of our empire. Have the natives complained of this out- 
 rage on the sanctity of their priesthood ; or considered it 
 as an infringement of our toleration ? Have we lost their 
 confidence ? Have they in any one instance petitioned us 
 to disregard their welfare, and exempt their spiritual 
 guides from death ? — or have they not, on the contrary, 
 tacitly sanctioned every act of punishment, and applauded 
 the inflexible tenor of our proceedings ? Let any man read 
 the account of Nmida-koomara's execution in Calcutta 
 forty years ago, and he will be convinced that Hindoos 
 are not the men to complain of the execution of justice, 
 even though it happen to infringe their laws and preju- 
 
80 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 dices. If there was any one act of Mr. Hastings's govern- 
 ment distinguished for bold decision, it was the execution 
 of this man. Our Indian empire was then in its infancy ; 
 small in extent, unconsolidated, surrounded with restless 
 enemies, who ruled three-fourths of the continent; yet un- 
 der all -these disadvantages, when the law had pronounced 
 him guilty, Mr. Hastings did not restrain the execution 
 of the sentence. Let us not forget that this punishment 
 was inflicted in the rising metropolis of a new power, in 
 the midst of two hundred thousand of his own countrymen, 
 and at a period when it was of the first importance to con- 
 ciliate our new subjects. Mr. Hastings judged that there 
 could be no danger, and his judgment proved correct. If 
 ever it might have been expected that public feeling would 
 have manifested itself against us, it was most assuredly in 
 this instance, when for the first time we were carrying the 
 law into execution against one of this sacred tribe, — where 
 the actors in this unprecedented exhibition of justice, were 
 but a handful compared with the immense crowd which 
 surrounded the scaffold . That vast crowd returned peace- 
 ably to their houses. We are erecting a monument to Mr 
 Hastings's memory, in the country where he founded a 
 new empire ; but the true glory of the dead consists in 
 the example they leave us, and we are most faithful to 
 their renown when we are most anxious to copy their vir- 
 tues. And if Mr. Hastings's intrepid support of the claims 
 of justice in the face of such formidable obstacles, should 
 continue to encourage others, and thereby prove a lasting 
 benefit to the natives of India, more solid glory will en- 
 circle his memory, than as though we covered the plains 
 of India with obelisks. 
 
 Some have attributed the execution of Nwnda-koomara 
 to motives incompatible with equity : our business, how- 
 ever, is only with the intrepidity of the act. Supposing 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. SI 
 
 this to have been the case, and even to the extent urged 
 by the bitterest enemies of Mr. Hastings, the example will 
 still more fully bear on the subject under review. If the 
 natives submitted without a single murmur to the unjust 
 execution of a man of the highest cast, and possessed of 
 such wealth and influence, is there any reason to appre- 
 hend disquietude when we rescue female innocence from 
 the flames ? 
 
 These three examples will, we trust, shew that when- 
 ever we have found it necessary, at the call of justice, 
 to violate the precepts of the Hindoo law or the prejudices 
 of the people, we have done it with perfect safety ; that 
 the natives have in no instance either complained of our 
 conduct, or exhibited the least symptom of discontent. 
 In the last instance we have indisputably departed farther 
 from the spirit of Hindooism than we can do by any fu- 
 ture prohibition of those rites which still disgrace India. 
 We have opened the way for the progressive amelioration 
 of its inhabitants, by violating the sanctity of this sacred 
 tribe at the command of reason. This case bears so pow- 
 erfully on the safety of prohibiting female immolations, 
 that we must beg permission to pursue the analogy a little 
 farther. The inviolability of the priesthood is one of 
 the fundamental principles of the Hindoo law ; the 
 burning of widows is not, — it is a mere excrescence from 
 the putrid soil of polytheism. The integrity of Hindoo 
 jurisprudence was lost the moment the first brahman 
 was executed ; Hindooism is not in the least violated 
 by preventing female sacrifices, since the highest legal 
 authority is in favour of a life of widowhood and abs- 
 tinence, and succeeding commentators have left the 
 question in a state of ambiguity. Brahmwns are univer- 
 sally esteemed and venerated ; every native has bent the 
 knee before a spiritual guide, and received his benedic- 
 
 G 
 
82 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 tion, and is therefore deeply interested in preserving the 
 honour of his earthly divinity. But with respect to the 
 burning of widows, we question whether one-half of the 
 population of India know any thing of it but by report. 
 The number of those who feel interested in supporting it, 
 consists only of those who are personally engaged in pro- 
 moting female immolation — the great and overwhelming 
 majority of our native subjects are as little interested in 
 the question, as in the death of a brahmwn at Cape Co- 
 morin. The execution of brahmmis is still matter of grief 
 even to those who acknowledge the justice of the sentence, 
 and while Hindooism retains a single votary, it must be 
 so ; it is natural for men to feel regret when they behold 
 the objects of their highest veneration led out to execu- 
 tion. But will any man regret the discontinuance of fe- 
 male immolation ? will any individual, when he sees the 
 young and healthful mother engaged in the tender care of 
 her offspring, regret that she was not consumed with her 
 husband on the funeral pile ? This being the state of the 
 case with regard to the execution of brahmwns and the 
 burning of widows, it does not require any great pene- 
 tration to discern, that those who have quietly submitted 
 to the death of their priests when justice has demanded 
 the sacrifice, will manifest no disquietude when, in the spi- 
 rit of equity and humanity, we prevent the murder of their 
 sisters and daughters. A preventive measure is, in all 
 countries, less obnoxious than an aggressive one. 
 
 Were the abolition the first infringement of the preju- 
 dices of the people, some cause for apprehension might 
 possibly arise. But we have during forty years given the 
 natives a practical exposition of the principles on which 
 our Indian government is founded ; and there is no more 
 expectation among the body of the people that any anti- 
 quated law or reigning prejudice will now stand in the 
 
THE BURNIXG OF WIDOWS. 83 
 
 way of equity and justice, than there is in the breast of 
 any single individual that the current of his private wishes 
 will regulate the decision of a judge in any cause in which 
 he may be a party. The question, therefore, is not whe- 
 ther we shall for the first time infringe popular prejudice, 
 and maintain the sovereignty of justice, but whether, 
 having commenced this course, we shall proceed forward 
 and liberate the country from a practice which fills it with 
 innocent blood. Let us never for a moment admit the 
 idea that the natives will regard it as indicating a wish to 
 restrain the exercise of their faith by coercion. They do 
 not so judge of us when their spiritual guides are led 
 forth to execution. Had this groundless anticipation 
 arisen in their minds on the first establishment of our inflex- 
 ible code, we have since so acted as fully to inspire them 
 with confidence. We have protected them in the exercise 
 of their religion ; we have permitted hundreds of temples 
 to rise without enquiry, we have allowed them to squander 
 millions of rupees annually to propitiate their gods. Dur- 
 ing the whole of our administration we have not violated 
 one sanctuary, or mutilated one idol. Is it to be supposed, 
 then, that while they continue to enjoy these, to them un- 
 precedented privileges, they will consider us as having 
 abandoned the principles of toleration, when we prohibit 
 the inhuman slaughter of defenceless women, and abrogate 
 a practice, discountenanced by half the shastras, and con- 
 demned by the great body of the people ? 
 
 The chief support of this odious practice centers in 
 Bengal ; in the western provinces, peopled with a bold and 
 hardy race, female immolation is exceedingly rare. We 
 pass over the aid which this fact brings to the question of 
 its abolition ; for if the inhabitants of the West, the origi- 
 nal recipients of the Hindoo faith, have never considered 
 the rite of vital importance, to abolish it will not be to 
 
 a 2 
 
84 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 depart from the spirit of the Hindoo religion ; and if they 
 did formerly consider it binding, and have since permitted 
 it to drop into disuse, there can be no mischief in our dis- 
 countenancing it elsewhere. We pass over these consi- 
 derations, and beg to call the attention of the reader to 
 this simple fact, that the natives of Bengal are under higher 
 obligations to the British Government than those of any 
 other province in India ; that they have had greater op- 
 portunities of appreciating the value of our protection, 
 inasmuch as they have enjoyed it for a longer period of 
 time. For sixty years they have not seen the smoke of an 
 enemy's camp ; they have known nothing of war, but from 
 the quiet review of our troops. Will history point out to 
 us any preceding period of equal duration when the coun- 
 try enjoyed such uninterrupted peace and tranquillity ? 
 This circumstance undoubtedly gives us a right to expect 
 that when we call on them to discontinue a practice re- 
 volting to humanity, the call will be obeyed without hesi- 
 tation. How glorious to use the advantages we have ac- 
 quired, and the confidence we have so richly earned, in 
 fresh attempts to promote their happiness ! The Musul- 
 mans, who never protected the unhappy natives from fo- 
 reign invasion, or from internal commotion, checked this 
 practice in many cases, and in some provinces abolished 
 it altogether. Will it be too much for us, while we dispense 
 blessings with one hand, with the other to snatch the help- 
 less victim from the flames ? There is no instance on his- 
 toric record in which acts of humanity have ever roused 
 public indignation. Massacre, confiscation, and injustice, 
 are the elements from which revolutions spring, not huma- 
 nity, justice, and equity. 
 
 Admitting, however, for the sake of argument, that the 
 natives are so dead to every noble feeling as to foster hos- 
 tility to us on the suppression of this practice, — the prin- 
 
THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 85 
 
 ciples of self-preservation would quickly recall them to rea- 
 son. The British Government are the only defenders of Ben- 
 gal from anarchy and plunder. Its peaceful inhabitants 
 have never been able to resist their more powerful neigh- 
 bours of Hindoost'han ; and were our protection withdrawn 
 from it for a single year, its fertile plains would be deso- 
 lated, its inhabitants massacred, and the immense wealth 
 accumulated under our government torn from it with un- 
 sparing rapacity. This is an argument which comes home 
 to the feelings of every bosom ; and in this case would be 
 all-powerful. The remembrance of the successive Mah- 
 ratta invasions of Bengal, is still transmitted from father 
 to son ; and though the ravages which were committed 
 have lost much of their atrocity by the lapse of time, the 
 natives still shrink with instinctive terror from the pro- 
 spect of similar invasions, in which, on one occasion, thirty 
 females, to escape violation and death, left their native 
 village and destroyed themselves in a neighbouring stream, 
 on beholding the distant approach of the hostile cavalry. 
 But we need not the aid of threatened vengeance to sub- 
 stantiate the abolition ; the fears we entertain, if any are 
 entertained, are entirely of our own creation. With what 
 feelings of astonishment would a native receive the first 
 intimation, that we apprehended public disquietude from 
 such a measure ! After having overcome his natural dis- 
 belief in the possibility of such a supposition, what a com- 
 plete change must take place in his ideas before he 
 could compress the gigantic power of the British nation 
 into a shape to be affected by a handful of his unwarlike 
 countrymen. 
 
 Let us then freely look at the practicability of its abo- 
 lition, and number both its friends and its foes. We may 
 calculate on the support of all the humane, the wise, and 
 the good throughout India. We may depend on that 
 
86 THE BURNING OF WIDOWS. 
 
 great majority of the people who have prevented every 
 village in India from being lighted up monthly with these 
 infernal fires. Those who have used all their power and 
 influence to liberate their country from the stigma of this 
 guilt by preventing their own mothers and sisters from as- 
 cending the funeral pile, will undoubtedly support us in 
 discountenancing the practice elsewhere. We shall enlist 
 on our side all those tender feelings, which, though now 
 dormant, will then be aroused into new life and vigour. 
 But above all, we shall surround ourselves with the pro- 
 tection of that Almighty Power, whose command is, 
 " Thou shalt do no murder," who defends the weak and 
 succours the injured, who, when the cries of oppressed 
 India had pierced his throne, selected us of all other na- 
 tions to break its chains, and restore it to happiness. With 
 all these advantages in our favour, we may surely despise 
 the wailings of those, who, despicable in numbers, have 
 rendered themselves still more despicable by their inhu- 
 manity, to whom the shrieks of a mother or a sister writh- 
 ing in the flames are as the sweetest music, who have 
 parted with all that distinguishes men from demons, and 
 retain nothing of our nature but its outward form. 
 
V. 
 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA.* 
 
 There are few things in their own nature so congenial 
 with the human mind as our interesting ourselves in the 
 happiness of others. Hitherto, indeed, this has been exem- 
 plified in human life but in a small degree. In every age 
 the children of renown have been those who have been 
 inimical to the happiness of mankind : so completely, 
 though imperceptibly, has their enemy blinded men, that 
 honour and estimation have been almost exclusively 
 awarded to those who have been its greatest destroyers; 
 and those instances in which happiness has been sought 
 in other pursuits, have often involved a complete dis- 
 regard of the welfare of all besides. That while pursuing 
 happiness in ways so opposite to the great law of our na- 
 ture, " thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself? men 
 should so frequently become a prey to the most poignant 
 misery, can furnish little cause of surprise. It is only in 
 seeking the happiness of others that a mind rightly in- 
 formed can taste the least degree of solid enjoyment. 
 
 While the general law of our nature, however, creates 
 every man our neighbour to whom we have opportunity of 
 doing good, certain circumstances seem to lay us under 
 peculiar obligations to consult the welfare of others. 
 
 * Friend of India, Quarterly Series, No. I. p. 40. 
 
88 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 Misery itself often constitutes this claim, particularly 
 when the power of removing it is evidently confided to us. 
 Hence the amazing extent and force of that declaration, 
 " To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not, to him 
 it is sin." But when to this is added a tacit dependance 
 on us, or at least such a concurrence of circumstances as 
 enables us to impart benefits to an individual or a nation 
 which none beside can impart, the obligation is increased 
 almost to the highest possible degree. It is this which 
 adds such a weight to parental duty. We are not called 
 upon to seek the welfare of our own offspring from their 
 being more deserving than others, and still less from an 
 idea that they are more the favourites of heaven than those 
 of the most abject or ignorant ; but the connection in 
 which we stand to them is such, that, were we not to secure 
 their welfare by training them up in the paths of virtue and 
 happiness, no one else could discharge this duty. If 
 robbed by our neglect of their natural guardians, they 
 must be delivered over to misery and ruin, because others,, 
 if they possessed the affection, would still be without the 
 opportunities which the discharge of parental duty re- 
 quires. 
 
 Such is in a great degree the nature of the connection 
 subsisting between Britain and India. Britain possesses 
 the means of improvement and instruction beyond most 
 other nations in Europe. India, on the contrary, is igno- 
 rant and wretched, while a bounteous Providence is pour- 
 ing forth upon her almost every blessing which can render 
 a country happy. But it is to Britain alone that she can 
 look for instruction and relief. Did other nations possess 
 the means of imparting them in the fullest manner, the 
 opportunity is denied them. How could any other nation 
 interfere so as to gain the confidence of India ? It is to 
 Britain alone that Providence has committed this pleasing 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 89 
 
 task, and in a more full and ample manner than has ever 
 been done to any nation at any former period. 
 
 Hence arises the peculiar obligation under which Bri- 
 tain lies to seek the welfare of India in every possible 
 way. This obligation by no means rests on the superior 
 capacity of our Indian fellow- subjects, and still less on 
 their superior moral worth. Were these alone regarded 
 indeed, benevolence itself might almost turn away in 
 despair ; few countries have ever presented more of a 
 repulsive aspect, both as to morals and the exercise of 
 the understanding; the absence of almost every virtue 
 that can adorn life, and of every effort to remove the na- 
 tural evils of life, was perhaps never more evident in any 
 country. But these circumstances, so far from discou- 
 raging the mind, ought to urge it on to greater exertion. 
 What parent ceases to seek a child's welfare because he is 
 wayward and perverse, or even immoral ? And is it not 
 to this parental perseverance that thousands are indebted 
 for blessings never sought or valued by themselves, which, 
 however, have constituted their happiness through life, 
 and who but for this perseverance would have been wholly 
 lost to society ? 
 
 This may suggest to us the proper line of conduct 
 amidst the difficulties we may experience in attempting 
 to promote the welfare of our Indian fellow-subjects, from 
 their perverseness, or their ingratitude. The mind even 
 of a child must be first awakened to the value of the be- 
 nefits intended him, before its finer feelings can be 
 brought into full operation ; and many an instance may 
 be adduced of the most grateful sense being retained 
 through life of benefits received with insensibility and 
 perhaps with dislike, at the time they were imparted, al- 
 though that was the only period in which they could 
 have been communicated with any effect. Both reason 
 
90 ON THE .AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 and analogy may therefore convince us, that the effici- 
 ency of an attempt to communicate benefits to our Indian 
 fellow-subjects is not to be estimated by the earnestness 
 with which these may be sought by them, or even 
 the readiness with which they may be received after 
 the fullest explanation of their nature and value. It rather 
 becomes us to examine their circumstances, and to con- 
 sider with parental solicitude in what way their present 
 miseries can be removed or mitigated, and their future 
 welfare and happiness be secured. 
 
 To do this, an ample degree of penetration is by no 
 means necessary ; the most cursory survey of their cir- 
 cumstances will be sufficient to discover, that while 
 nature pours forth her bounties on them almost without 
 exertion on their part, the ignorance, vice, oppression, 
 and abjectness of mind in which they have been sunk for 
 so many generations, have annihilated the happiness they 
 might be expected to enjoy, and reduced them to a state 
 of poverty and misery, which to an enlightened European 
 would be perfectly insupportable. 
 
 Nor is it to their religion alone that the sources of their 
 misery are to be immediately traced. That, like a poisoned 
 fountain, has diffused disease and death through every 
 walk of life ; but injustice and oppression on the one hand, 
 and improbity, indolence, and abjectness of mind on the 
 other, have unnerved every exertion, particularly in Agri- 
 culture, and rendered that pursuit which might have been 
 a healthful stream, diffusing plenty and affluence in every 
 direction, a stagnant marsh sending forth its pestilential 
 vapours on every side. The Agricultural classes in India, 
 with scarcely a single instance of an overgrown farmer's 
 ruining his neighbours by engrossing their little farms, 
 are sunk into a state of penury and wretchedness of which 
 the same classes in Britain can scarcely form an idea. 
 
OX THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 91 
 
 The degree of improvement of which the Agriculture of 
 any country is susceptible, does not appear to have been 
 fully realized in Britain till within these last thirty years. 
 It was in 1790 that Sir John Sinclair laid before the pub- 
 lic the second volume of his History of the Public Reve- 
 nues of the British Empire, which suggested to him the 
 utility, in a public point of view, of an inquiry into the 
 state of British Agriculture. His praiseworthy efforts 
 engaged the attention of many who felt interested in the 
 welfare of Britain, and he was encouraged to go forward. 
 He particularly laboured to impress the public mind with 
 the idea, that nothing effectual could be done towards 
 improving the agriculture of Britain, or even towards 
 making due inquiries into its state, unless the business 
 were taken up by some public body ; and he insisted, 
 with equal wisdom and disinterestedness, that no public 
 body would make any efficient efforts of this nature, unless 
 its labours were wholly gratuitous. 
 
 The importance of this subject at length attracted the 
 notice of that enlightened statesman Mr. Pitt, whose ca- 
 pacious mind at once discerned its bearings both on the 
 public welfare and the private happiness of Britain. He 
 therefore, overlooking all petty differences of a political 
 nature, assured Sir John Sinclair, that if he would bring 
 forward the subject in Parliament, he would by no means 
 oppose it ; and on this being done, he promoted an Address 
 to His late Majesty, praying that a gratuitous Board of 
 Agriculture might be instituted, and that the sum of 
 3000/. annually might be granted to defray the incidental 
 expenses of surveying the different parts of the kingdom, 
 postage, stationery, and printing. 
 
 The effects of this wise measure are too well known to 
 need mention. Since that period agriculture has been so 
 
92 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 improved in Britain, that in many instances double the 
 quantity of produce is now obtained from the same spot 
 of ground; the interests of the husbandman have been 
 more fully regarded, and in numerous instances estates 
 have since been doubled or tripled in their value. With- 
 out these improvements in agriculture, indeed, as well as 
 those in manufactures, it is not easy to say how Britain 
 could have carried on for so many years a war against the 
 united force of almost all Europe ; nor how she could 
 since have supported that immense load of debt which 
 this tremendous contest has entailed upon her. We may 
 safely say with Sir John Sinclair himself, that ft it has 
 materially contributed to preserve the nation from the 
 horrors of famine, and been the means of rapidly increas- 
 ing its agricultural industry and treasures." 
 
 Improvements in agriculture, however, unlike those in 
 certain manufactures, " can create no rivalship ;" the agri- 
 cultural prosperity of one nation can do no injury to ano- 
 ther, and in times of scarcity, from which the most fertile 
 countries cannot be always exempted, it may be of the 
 utmost service. This being the fact, what can be more 
 reasonable than that Britain should impart something of 
 her agricultural science, in which she confessedly stands 
 first among the nations, to India, whose prosperity is iden- 
 tified with her own ; and who is so evidently confided to 
 her guardian care by an all-wise Providence ? 
 
 The propriety of thus attempting to promote the agri- 
 cultural interests of India must at once strike the mind, 
 from a view of the state in which India was previously to 
 her being placed under the care of Britain, and of the im- 
 portance of her agriculture both to herself and to sur- 
 rounding nations. Its state previously to her connection 
 with Britain, and indeed up to the present time, may be 
 easily inferred from circumstances. If the agriculture of 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 93 
 
 Britain, who had for centuries enjoyed the blessings of li- 
 berty and of Christianity, was at the end of the last, in such 
 a state, as to admit of improvement capable in many in- 
 stances of doubling the produce of her soil ; in what a 
 state must that of India be, where the rays of liberty have 
 never shone, where for continued ages no man was certain 
 of reaping what he might sow ;— where the farmer never 
 knew what he should have to pay for the land he occupied, 
 a fine crop invariably awakening the rapacity of his land- 
 lord ; — and where his own interest therefore seemed at war 
 with every thing like improvement, since to bestow due la- 
 bour on his field was the sure way to a state of deeper po- 
 verty and distress. When to this system, which invariably 
 reigned even in times of the profoundest peace, we add 
 the numerous wars with which the great and the petty 
 competitors for power have alike desolated whole pro- 
 vinces for these last two centuries, nothing can be con- 
 ceived more wretched than the state of agriculture in India. 
 Instead of wondering at the frequency of famines, we 
 shall feel convinced that nothing prevented their more 
 frequent recurrence and to a more fatal extent, but the 
 exuberant bounty of nature triumphing over the indolence 
 and folly of man. 
 
 The importance of agriculture to India is, if possible, far 
 greater than to Britain. So extensive are the Manufac- 
 tures of Britain, that they render it unnecessary for her to 
 raise sufficient grain for her own support. She finds it 
 more profitable for her to expend millions annually in the 
 purchase of foreign grain, than to employ her capital and 
 her population in raising a sufficient quantity from infe- 
 rior soils. The case is widely different with India, how- 
 ever. Her manufactures are by no means sufficient to 
 furnish a surplus for the purchase of foreign grain, in case 
 of scarcity. About a third of the population of Britain 
 
y4 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 is employed in agriculture, but in India the culture of 
 the soil employs by far the greater part of the inhabitants. 
 The happiness and even the existence of the greater part 
 of our Indian fellow-subjects, then, is suspended on its 
 agriculture. This attaches an importance to this object 
 in India, which it does not possess even in Britain. On 
 the manner in which it is conducted, must be suspended 
 the comfort and happiness of the larger part of its nume- 
 rous millions. 
 
 But there are other circumstances which attach an in- 
 creased value to the agriculture of India. If one object, 
 which those who have promoted the improvement of agri- 
 culture in Britain had in view, was, " to ward off the hor- 
 rors of famine," how important must this object appear 
 in India ! Britain is surrounded by countries from which 
 grain can be procured on the shortest notice. Bat to what 
 neighbouring country can India look for supplies in a case 
 of this nature, when so many of them derive so great a 
 part of their supplies from her ? While this renders a 
 failure of crops more dreadful to herself, it involves the 
 surrounding countries in the same misery. When the 
 staff of life is broken on the continent of India, millions 
 in its various islands must necessarily share in the tremen- 
 dous calamity. Hence a due attention to the agriculture 
 of India provides for the support of a great part of Eastern 
 Asia, while it increases the comfort and the opulence of 
 that country confided more immediately to the guardian 
 care of Britain. 
 
 Nor would a care of this nature, wisely exercised, extend 
 merely to the wealth of the inhabitants of India. Their 
 virtuous habits and conduct are of far greater importance ; 
 and how much these depend on the circumstances in 
 which they are placed, it is needless to say. While agri- 
 culture is acknowledged, however, to be more friendly to 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 95 
 
 integrity of conduct and peaceful habits, than most other 
 employments, the present state of the agricultural classes 
 in India is such as to foster every thing that is unjust and 
 oppressive on the part of the landholder, and every thing 
 mean, evasive, and dishonest in those who cultivate the 
 soil. An independent husbandman, free from debt, and 
 looking forward with delight to the whole of his little crop 
 as his own, is almost a phenomenon in the country. Most 
 of them, through the wretched system which now prevails 
 among them, are in debt perhaps for the seed they sow, 
 are supplied with food by their creditors during all the 
 labours of the field, and look forward to the end of the 
 harvest for the payment of a debt, to which at least forty 
 per cent, are added, and which, through the way in which 
 it is exacted, is often increased to fifty per cent. Thus an 
 abundant crop seldom leaves him any thing but the pro- 
 spect of incurring a new debt for the next year ; while a 
 failure consigns him to a state of bondage, which, if his 
 creditor for his own sake suffer him to remain at large, is 
 little better than a state of absolute slavery. To inquire 
 into the present state of agriculture, therefore, and to en- 
 deavour in any degree to remove the misery and increase 
 the comforts of those whom it employs, including as they 
 do the greater part of the population, cannot be unworthy 
 of those who feel an interest in the welfare of their Indian 
 fellow-subjects. 
 
 The effect of a due attention to this object in India, 
 where human labour has done so little towards extracting 
 from the earth what it is capable of yielding, must be be- 
 neficial in a high degree. If in Britain the effect within 
 three years after the subject had been taken up, was de- 
 clared by Sir John Sinclair to be, that " obstacles to im- 
 provement being removed, the farmer was enabled to raise, 
 at less expense, a much greater quantity of provisions, and 
 
96 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 consequently had it in his power, without injury to him- 
 self, to sell them at a lower rate to the public," how much 
 more may we ultimately hope for the most salutary effects 
 in India through a due perseverance in a course of this 
 nature. In the present increasing state of the price of 
 most of the indigenous articles of food, this cannot be a 
 matter of small import to the happiness of the lower 
 classes throughout India. And that increase of the popu- 
 lation occasioned by the freedom from intestine wars and 
 commotions which the country has enjoyed under the fos- 
 tering care of Britain, can by no means render it unim- 
 portant to provide an increase of healthful employment, 
 which the agriculture of India is capable of furnishing to 
 more than double the number of those now engaged therein. 
 And as on the honest employment of those who embrace 
 it, even Christianity rests its highest honours, it being its 
 unalterable law, that " he who will not zvork shall not eat," 
 it becomes those who wish for the extension of its bless- 
 ings, to turn their thoughts to the virtuous employment 
 of mankind, as indispensably necessary to public and pri- 
 vate happiness. Even Brainerd, foreign as were those 
 cares to the general tenor of his life, was constrained to 
 assist his Indian converts with his counsels in sowing 
 their maize, and arranging their secular concerns ; and 
 few who are extensively acquainted with human life, will 
 esteem these cares either unworthy of religion or incon- 
 gruous with its highest enjoyments. It was from a view 
 of the importance of this object to the welfare and happi- 
 ness of our Indian fellow-subjects, that Dr. Carey, having 
 some acquaintance with the agriculture of this country, 
 attempted lately to call the attention of the public to this 
 object by the following Address on the importance of 
 forming a Society for the sake of making inquiries into 
 the present state of Indian Agriculture. 
 
im^NBB anac i 
 
98 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 already arisen from them are almost incalculable, and the 
 prospects opened by their present labours are of the most 
 encouraging nature. The capabilities of the soil to enrich 
 a nation to an almost indefinite extent, have been clearly 
 demonstrated by their reports, and the present value of 
 landed property in England compared with its former va- 
 lue, must convince any reasonable person, that among 
 those objects for the promotion of which associations can 
 be formed, there are few more important than the agricul- 
 ture of a country. 
 
 The practical part of agriculture in all countries is con- 
 ducted by men whose habits and circumstances, as well as 
 their circumscribed means, dispose them to pursue the 
 same routine of operations, whether right or wrong, to 
 which their predecessors were accustomed. They must 
 necessarily be, to a great degree, ignorant of the methods 
 practised in distant provinces, and on soils differing from 
 those on which they reside, and are therefore found to be 
 strongly prejudiced against every innovation, whatever 
 advantages it may promise. An Agricultural Society, by 
 collecting information relative to the actual practice in 
 different countries, or in different provinces of the same 
 country, could not fail of discovering many errors in the 
 management of land and stock, which it would endeavour 
 to correct ; while, on the other hand, modes of cultivation 
 practised in particular districts would be recognized as 
 superior and worthy of adoption elsewhere ; the nature of 
 different soils, and the advantages or disadvantages of par- 
 ticular crops, as well as of particular modes of manage- 
 ment, would be better understood, the nature and value 
 of stock, and the most obvious means of improving it, be 
 gradually developed, and, in short, innumerable improve- 
 ments in every department would thereby be gradually 
 introduced. 
 
dr. carey's address. 99 
 
 An Agricultural Society in India, therefore, which it is 
 the object of this Prospectus to recommend, could not 
 fail of producing the most beneficial results, both as it 
 respects the Peasantry, the Landholders, the Europeans 
 who engage in its promotion, and the Country at large. 
 It would tend to enlarge the ideas of the Peasantry, to 
 dissipate their prejudices, to call forth their latent ener- 
 gies, to encourage their industry, and to promote their re- 
 spectability and usefulness in society. It will be scarcely 
 denied that the peasantry of India are in a condition much 
 below that in which the great body of English Farmers 
 were previously to the forming of Agricultural Societies 
 there ; and yet these farmers have in many instances 
 learned the art of raising upon the same land more than 
 four times the produce they formerly raised, and to main- 
 tain themselves and their families in a much more reputa- 
 ble manner than they formerly did, notwithstanding the 
 value of the land, and consequently its rent, have been 
 quadrupled. The Landholders would soon feel the benefits 
 arising from the labours of an Agricultural Society in the 
 increasing value of their estates, the greater comfort and 
 happiness of their tenants, and the gradual cessation of 
 those mean arts too frequently practised, in order to evade 
 the payments of their rents. And every European who 
 engages in promoting the interests of his fellow-creatures 
 in India must feel a copious return of pleasure when he 
 witnesses the success of his endeavours : indeed there are 
 few who would not realize a continual source of enjoy- 
 ment in viewing the improvement of this country, the in- 
 creasing respectability and happiness of its inhabitants, 
 and the advancement of pursuits which are inevery coun- 
 try the most friendly to human happiness. 
 
 By associating Native Gentlemen of landed estates with 
 Europeans who have studied this subject, and have made 
 
 h 2 
 
100 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 observations upon the practice of Agriculture in different 
 countries, we should gradually impart to them more cor- 
 rect ideas of the value of landed property, of the possi- 
 bility of improving it, and of the best methods of accom- 
 plishing so desirable an end, and should at the same time 
 convince them of the importance of studying the true 
 interest of their tenantry, and introducing improvements 
 on their estates. The draining of marshes, the cultivation 
 of large tracts of country now not only useless, but the 
 resort of savage beasts and the source of severe diseases 
 — the improvement of stock — the creation of a larger 
 quantity of the necessaries and conveniencies of life, and 
 of raw materials for manufactures — the gradual conquest 
 of that indolence which in Asiatics is almost become a 
 second nature, — and the introduction of habits of clean- 
 liness, and a neat arrangement of domestic conveniencies, 
 in the place of squalid wretchedness, neglect, and con- 
 fusion, in a word, of industry and virtue in the room of 
 idleness and vice, might all by an association of this 
 nature in time become obviously important even to the 
 natives themselves. These are some of the benefits upon 
 which we may reasonably calculate as the consequences 
 of an Agricultural Society in India ; and every lover of 
 mankind will undoubtedly acknowledge them to be such 
 methods of doing good to his fellow-creatures as are wor- 
 thy of his closest attention. 
 
 Were an Agricultural Society formed in India, its first 
 endeavours would be directed to the obtaining of informa- 
 tion upon the almost innumerable subjects which present 
 themselves; it would thereby gradually accumulate a 
 stock of knowledge upon every subject connected with 
 those enquiries, which when embodied would comprise 
 the total of the present ideas, the experiments, the general 
 practice, and the proposed plans of a great number of in- 
 
dr. carey's address. 101 
 
 dividuals, combined indeed with a history of erors, mis- 
 takes, and failures, which, however, though injurious to 
 the individuals who make them, would be of the utmost 
 advantage to society. 
 
 Agriculture being of the first importance to all coun- 
 tries, the methods employed to raise crops, and conduct 
 the other parts of rural economy, must so vary with soil, 
 climate, and other local circumstances, as to make it im- 
 possible for any individual to be practically acquainted 
 with them all. Too much praise can scarcely be given to 
 local establishments whether public or private. They are 
 of the greatest value in ascertaining the capability of pa- 
 ticular districts to produce certain crops, and in making 
 important trials of particular modes of culture ; but it 
 would be impossible to form establishments of this nature 
 sufficiently extensive to admit those numerous experiments 
 which must be applied to even a few of those diversified 
 circumstances connected with the agriculture of a large 
 empire, which comprises every variety of situation and 
 climate. For though Divine Providence has so ordered 
 it that most of the culmiferous plants which are of the 
 first importance as articles of food, are able to bear almost 
 equally the severe winters of the north, and the burning 
 heat of the torrid zone, yet the mode of cultivation must 
 be greatly varied to insure success in these different 
 climates. It is also obvious that many plants which 
 furnish useful and valuable crops in one climate, cannot 
 be cultivated in another except as articles of curiosity ; 
 hence that variety of plants and trees capable of being 
 cultivated in different parts of India, and of forming rich 
 fields, luxuriant gardens and orchards, and valuable forests 
 of timber, of clothing the highest mountains and the deep- 
 est valleys, and overspreading the most extensive plains 
 though composed of every variety of soil, renders neces- 
 
102 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 sary some plan which may stimulate and direct agricul- 
 tural operations far more extensive than those which any 
 local establishment can possibly embrace. By collecting 
 the result of actual experiments and established practice 
 in all situations, the members of an Agricultural Society 
 would so embody and employ their accumulated infor- 
 mation, as to make it contribute materially to the general 
 good. 
 
 An Agricultural Society, among other things naturally 
 presenting themselves, would pay close attention to the 
 Improvement of Land, by encouraging a superior mode of 
 cultivation, by ascertaining the best kinds of manure, and 
 the best method of applying them, by encouraging neat 
 workmanship, by draining, embankment, a proper rotation 
 of crops, and a prudent management of stock, and by 
 other methods which their united experience might sug- 
 gest. It would be presumptuous to say that the mode of 
 agriculture used in any country is brought to such perfec- 
 tion as to make all attempts to advance it unnecessary. 
 There is nothing human which does not admit of improve- 
 ment; how much, then, must remain to be done in a coun- 
 try where the same system, with scarcely a single variation, 
 has been persisted in for many centuries ! Indeed we 
 may safely aver, that so far as regards improvement, 
 almost every thing remains yet to be done. 
 
 It is only a few years since any tolerable information 
 upon the best method of properly cropping Land, and of the 
 best rotations of crops in particular situations, was ob 
 tained in Europe ; and it would be unfair therefore to sup- 
 pose that any thing respecting it is known to the natives 
 of India. In many parts of this country the same crop 
 is invariably raised on the same ground year after year ; 
 and if ever an alteration is made, it depends more upon 
 the kind of seed the farmer happens to have by him, thaii 
 
dr. carey's address. 103 
 
 upon the nature of the land, or upon his wish to improve 
 it. It is probable that the distinction between those crops 
 which improve, and those which deteriorate the soil, is 
 totally unknown in India, and that a scientific rotation of 
 crops is a subject to which all cultivators are strangers. 
 The same may be said of manure, the greatest part of 
 which is generally consumed for fuel, without any idea of 
 its value to enrich the soil, or of the quantity which ought 
 to be used to produce the greatest effect. 
 
 Another object to be pursued by an Agricultural So- 
 ciety is, the introduction of new and useful Plants. That 
 there are great numbers of plants suited to the soil and 
 climate of India besides those already cultivated, no one 
 will deny. The great and increasing demand made by 
 the arts and manufactures upon the produce of the soil 
 for particular productions, is such as to require a variety 
 of plants suited to every soil and calculated to furnish 
 crops for all sorts of land; and it only requires the united 
 efforts of public-spirited men to bring these articles to 
 notice and encourage their cultivation. 
 
 The improvement of Implements of Husbandry has occu- 
 pied the attention of some of the first mechanics in Eu- 
 rope, in countries where, previously to these improve- 
 ments, the meanest implement far surpassed the best 
 which is to be found in India. This would naturally be 
 an additional object of the Society now proposed. The 
 Europe Plough and the Harrow, the Scythe and the 
 Sickle, the Fork and the Rake, with the Cart to carry 
 the produce of the soil to the Farmer's yard ; and a great 
 number of other desirable implements, must, it is true, be 
 introduced by slow degrees, and their utility clearly 
 proved, so as to induce the indigent farmers of Hin- 
 doost'han to discern their usefulness and ultimately adopt 
 them in practice. But that they might thus be introduced, 
 there can remain little doubt. 
 
104 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 No attempt to improve Stock appears ever to have taken 
 place in India, but every thing has been left to nature ; 
 there is, however, every reason to think that the breed of 
 Horses, Cows, Sheep, Goats, Swine, and of every other 
 useful animal, might be improved as effectually as it has 
 been in other countries, were proper means employed to 
 accomplish the end. The quantity of milk in cows might 
 undoubtedly be increased, the quality of wool might be 
 improved, a stronger and more useful race of cattle both 
 for draught and burden might be gradually introduced, and 
 in short every thing might be expected from persevering 
 attempts to improve those animals which come under the 
 denomination of stock, whether intended for Labour, the 
 Dairy, or Food. This then would form a proper object to 
 call forth the exertions of an Agricultural Society. 
 
 But another object which it is exceedingly desirable to 
 encourage, is, the bringing of Waste Lands into a state of 
 Cultivation. The quantity of land in India now lying un- 
 cultivated, is so large as almost to exceed belief : exten- 
 sive tracts on the banks of the numerous rivers, are annu- 
 ally overflowed, and produce little except long and coarse 
 grass, scarcely eaten by cattle when young and tender, 
 and never attempted to be made into hay, or to be turned 
 to any useful account, that very small part excepted which 
 is employed in thatching the houses of the natives. Dur- 
 ing the rains, these tracts are the haunt of wild buffaloes, 
 which in the night come up from them, and devour the 
 crops of rice on the higher lands ; and in the cold season, 
 wild hogs, tigers, and other noxious animals, unite with 
 the buffaloes in occupying these pernicious wastes. The 
 securing of these from inundation by embankments or by 
 other methods, is an object of prime importance as it re- 
 spects the security and healthfulness of the country; and 
 the increase of good meadows, or valuable arable laud, 
 
dr. carey's address. 105 
 
 would add greatly to its prosperity. The same observa- 
 tions will apply to the vast tracts which are now wholly 
 overrun with wood, and which being entirely neglected, 
 and neither valuable as forest, pasture, nor arable land, 
 subtract from the salubrity of the country, and prove a 
 nuisance to the surrounding districts by affording shelter 
 to great numbers of noxious animals. 
 
 In a country like India, where, even in those parts which 
 have been longest under the British dominion, though 
 ample security is given to the property of all, the oppres- 
 sions of land-owners and petty officers are with difficulty 
 restrained, where the cultivators of the soil are considered 
 as mean and beneath the notice of the higher parts of the 
 community, where indolence so pervades all ranks as to 
 reduce the whole to an inert mass, and where, in all the 
 districts not subject to Britain, the whole population has 
 been constantly exposed to such flagrant injustice and 
 oppression, that no one could reasonably promise him- 
 self security for a single night ; it is natural to suppose 
 that Agriculture should be in many parts entirely 
 neglected, and in others partially followed, and that 
 under great disadvantages. Thus, one of the finest 
 countries in the world, comprising almost every variety 
 of climate and situation, diversified by hills and val- 
 leys, intersected in every part by streams, most of which, 
 navigable six months in the year and many of them through 
 the whole year, afford every facility for carrying manure to 
 the land and every part of the produce to market, as far as 
 it respects its Agricultural interests, is in the most abject 
 and degraded state. 
 
 It is also known and lamented that the state of Horticul- 
 ture in this country is almost as low as that of Agriculture ; 
 so that except in the gardens of certain Europeans who at a 
 great expense procure a few articles for the table, there is no- 
 
106 ON THE AGRICULTUttE OF INDIA. 
 
 thine; to be met with besides a few wild herbs, or warden 
 productions of the most inferior kind. All that is seen of 
 orchards amounts to no more than clumps of mango trees 
 crowded together without judgment, and in which the 
 quality of the fruit is but little consulted. The improve- 
 ment of fruits is almost neglected, and every thing which 
 can contribute to the furnishing of our tables with whole- 
 some and agreeable vegetables, and fine fruits, is yet to 
 be commenced ; not to mention that Ornamental Garden- 
 ing is scarcely known. We depend upon Europe for seeds, 
 of which, when we have obtained them at a great price, 
 scarcely one in five hundred vegetates, and even after it 
 has sprung up, seldom comes to perfection through the 
 ignorance or negligence of the native gardeners. It is not- 
 withstanding well known, that one part or other of India 
 would suit every production, and bring every kind of seed 
 to maturity, so that, by a free communication, those parts of 
 the country in which the seeds of particular plants do not 
 come to perfection, might be easily supplied with them 
 from others, and useful plants and fruits might be gradu- 
 ally acclimated so as to be plentiful in every part of India. 
 The introduction of the potatoe, and more recently of the 
 strawberry, are sufficient to shew that the attempts of in- 
 sulated individuals have not been in vain. How much 
 more then might be accomplished by the joint efforts of 
 a number of persons arduously engaged in the same 
 pursuit! 
 
 The giving of premiums for successful cultivation, for 
 neat and well managed work, for the improvement of waste 
 lands, for the successful cultivation of a crop of any new 
 and useful plant, the improvement of stock, and the inven- 
 tion or improvement of any implement of husbandry, 
 would, in all probability, contribute much to call forth the 
 talents of the inhabitants of this country, and stimulate 
 
dr.- carey's address. 107 
 
 them to exertions, which would be necessarily followed by 
 the desired improvements in a greater or less degree. By an 
 Agricultural Society, premiums could be given to deserving 
 individuals as a reward for such operations as might be laid 
 down in its rules. And as the only way by which improve- 
 ments may be communicated, and modes of culture made 
 known, is, by publishing Reports of the proceedings of 
 Societies, and communications from individuals describing 
 either successful or unsuccessful practice, it would be de- 
 sirable that such a Society publish its Reports at stated 
 periods in the English language, and in at least two of the 
 languages of the country. 
 
 It seems highly desirable, therefore, that a Society 
 should be formed in India, for the encouragement of both 
 Agriculture and Horticulture, under any name which may 
 be agreed on by gentlemen who may engage in its forma- 
 tion. The Funds requisite for carrying on its operations, 
 might easily.be furnished by each member's subscribing 
 Eight Rupees quarterly ; and any gentleman subscribing 
 Four Hundred Rupees might be a member for life. The 
 business of the Society might be conducted by a Presi- 
 dent, two Vice-Presidents, and a Committee to be chosen 
 annually. Each member might pay on his admission a 
 sum of not less than a Gold Mohur. It is peculiarly de- 
 sirable that Native Gentlemen should be eligible as mem- 
 bers of the Society, because one of its chief objects will be 
 the improvement of their estates, and of the peasantry 
 which reside thereon. They should, therefore, not only be 
 eligible as members, but also as officers of the Society, in 
 precisely the same manner as Europeans. 
 
 It is from a sense of the importance of this subject to 
 the future welfare of India, that the Writer of this Letter 
 has thus taken the liberty to recommend it to the consi- 
 deration of Gentlemen who reside in various parts of the 
 
108 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 country, without whose cordial co-operation nothing of 
 this nature can ever be attempted, and from any of 
 whom he will feel honoured by a letter on the subject. 
 And both in forming such a Society, and in subsequently 
 promoting its objects, important to the happiness of the 
 country as they regard them, the Writer and his Col- 
 leagues will feel happy in doing all their other avocations 
 will permit. 
 
 W. CAREY. 
 
 If the ideas contained in this Address be correct, it 
 must be evident that few things will tend more immedi- 
 ately to lessen the misery, and increase the comforts of 
 the bulk of our Indian fellow-subjects, than a due atten- 
 tion to the improvement of agriculture. If it has been so 
 entirely neglected in some parts of India, and so partially 
 followed in others, that one of the finest countries in the 
 world, blessed with almost every variety of climate, diver- 
 sified by hills and valleys, and intersected throughout by 
 streams most of them navigable the whole year round, 
 is still, as to its agricultural interests, in the most abject 
 and degraded state, few things can be of greater import- 
 ance to its temporal welfare and prosperity, than that at- 
 tention to this subject which has effected so much for 
 Britain herself. And if this attention were extended to 
 the waste lands annually overflowed, and through their 
 luxuriant vegetation become the haunt of noxious ani- 
 mals, together with those vast tracts now wholly covered 
 with woods, and serving only to shelter the most destruc- 
 tive beasts, and to injure the natural salubrity of the coun- 
 try, it is not easy to say what the effect might be in a 
 course of years. It should be considered that agriculture 
 is the chief employment of the inhabitants of India, and 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 109 
 
 that this employment tends to nourish the most virtuous 
 habits, while the plenty created by perhaps double the 
 present produce being drawn from the ground, would dif- 
 fuse satisfaction among all ranks, and increase their at- 
 tachment to the government through which these bless- 
 ings were enjoyed. 
 
 In addition also to the abundance which would be thus 
 diffused throughout the country, the surplus of grain ex- 
 ported to the various countries of Eastern Asia must 
 greatly tend to enrich India, which indeed the raw com- 
 modities yielded by her soil are of themselves almost suf- 
 ficient to do, of which it is enough to mention her opium, 
 her indigo, her silk, and her cotton. The effect of this 
 must be, that Britain would be endeared to her in a high 
 degree, to whose guardian care she must feel indebted for 
 these blessings, which would vanish, as by enchantment, 
 the moment her fostering hand was withdrawn. Thus 
 the domestic enjoyments of the peasant and the affluence 
 of the merchant would alike inculcate in the strongest 
 terms that the friendship of Britain was to India the 
 choicest earthly blessing. 
 
 But it is freely acknowledged that to that degree of at- 
 tention being given to Agriculture in India, which it has 
 obtained in Britain, there are obstacles which do not exist 
 at home. In our own country, as Sir John Sinclair pro- 
 perly observes, gentlemen of large landed property natu- 
 rally take a deep interest in agriculture, because it tends 
 so immediately to the improvement of their estates. The 
 value of the landed property possessed by the Forty-six 
 Noblemen and Gentlemen who composed the gratuitous 
 Board of Agriculture, must have exceeded Twenty Mil- 
 lions sterling, when its rental annually could scarcely have 
 fallen short of a Million. But among those of our coun- 
 trymen in India upon whom must devolve the burden of 
 
110 OX THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 care in this instance, not one of them ozvns a single foot of 
 that soil the improvement of which must be the object of their 
 cares ! This is a singular fact in the history of nations, 
 and on various accounts deserves the most serious con- 
 sideration. It demonstrates at once the disinterestedness 
 of that benevolent concern which so many of our coun- 
 trymen take in the future welfare of India. The grand 
 stimulus to public spirit in other countries, is in India 
 completely wanting. If a Roman could formerly say 
 " our country includes our parents, our children, our 
 relatives, and all who are dear to us," this no Briton can 
 say respecting India, the country whose welfare he makes 
 the chief object of his concern. The great stimulus so 
 often felt respecting plans which look forward to the 
 future benefit of a country, is here entirely absent, the 
 idea that, if we ourselves reap no advantage from our 
 anxiety and labours, our posterity will fully enjoy the fruit 
 of them after our decease. It is a fact that by far the 
 greater part of those engaged even in legislating for India 
 to remote ages, may with truth look forward and say, 
 " whatever be the effect of the measure now before us, 
 we may be certain that in ten years' time, if not sooner, 
 we and our children shall be for ever removed from all the 
 effects of its immediate operation." The natural tendency 
 of this system may well form matter of deep reflection. 
 While it exalts that benevolence which in these circum- 
 stances can care for India as for its natal soil, it may ren- 
 der measures and plans intended for her benefit rather 
 palliative than thorough ; rather suited to the present 
 moment, than such as, applying a radical cure to evils, 
 are necessarily slow in their operation, and likely to effect 
 little before those who have originated them have bid 
 adieu to India for ever. 
 
 The system of excluding every British born subject 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. Ill 
 
 from any property or interest in the soil of the country, is 
 so serious a bar to the future improvement of India, both 
 in a natural and moral point of view, that it is worth the 
 labour to examine it in its most important bearings. It 
 doubtless originated in a laudable care to preserve our 
 Indian fellow-subjects from insult and violence, which it 
 was feared could scarcely be done, if natives of Britain, 
 wholly unacquainted with the laws and customs of the 
 people, were permitted to settle indiscriminately in India. 
 While the wisdom of this regulation at that time is not 
 impugned, however, it may not be improper to enquire 
 whether at the present time a permission to hold landed 
 property, to be granted by Government to British sub- 
 jects in India, according to their own discretion, might 
 not be of the highest benefit to the country, and in some 
 degree advantageous to the Government itself. 
 
 The objections which have been urged against any 
 measure of this nature, are chiefly, that the indiscriminate 
 admission of Europeans into the country might tend to 
 alienate the minds of the inhabitants from Britain, or 
 possibly lead to its disruption from Britain in a way simi- 
 lar to that of America. Respecting this latter circum- 
 stance, it is certain that, in the common course of events, 
 a greater evil could scarcely befall India. On the conti- 
 nuance of her connection with Britain is suspended her 
 every hope relative to improvement, security, and happi- 
 ness. The moment India falls again under the dominion 
 of any one or any number of Native princes, all hope of 
 mental improvement, or even of security for person or 
 property, will at once vanish. Nothing could be then 
 expected but scenes of rapine, plunder, bloodshed, and 
 violence, till its inhabitants were sealed over to irremedi- 
 able wretchedness, without the most distant ray of hope 
 respecting the future. And were it severed from Britain 
 
112 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 in any other way, the reverse felt in India would be un- 
 speakably great. At present all the learning, the intel- 
 ligence, the probity, the philanthropy, the weight of cha- 
 racter existing in Britain, are brought to bear on India. 
 There is scarcely an individual sustaining a part in the 
 administration of affairs, who does not feel the weight of 
 that tribunal formed by the suffrages of the wise and the 
 good in Britain, thoughhe be stationed in the remotest parts 
 of India. Through the medium of a free press, the wis- 
 dom, probity, and philanthropy which pervade Britain, 
 exercise an almost unbounded sway over every part of 
 India, to the incalculable advantage of its inhabitants ; 
 constituting a triumph of virtue and wisdom this, unknown 
 to the ancients, and which will increase in its effects in 
 exact proportion to the increase in Britain of justice, 
 generosity, and love to mankind. Let India, however, be 
 severed from Britain, and the weight of these is felt no 
 more. Though it should remain in the hands of Eu- 
 ropeans, these, disjoined from Britain, where their name 
 would probably be devoted to infamy, would from that 
 time forward have little or no regard to public opinion 
 there ; and when once dead to a country they never ex- 
 pected to revisit, what would deter them from the most 
 wanton exercise of power, and the indulgence of every ap- 
 petite the growth of Asiatic climes ? These feelings and 
 habits, which would grow stronger in every succeeding 
 generation, would leave every thing to be feared from Eu- 
 ropeans dead to Britain, and imbued with Asiatic ideas. 
 Under Divine Providence, therefore, the happiness of 
 India is wholly suspended on her connection with Britain 
 being preserved inviolate. 
 
 Happily, however, there is nothing of this nature to be 
 feared from any thing which now appears in view ; and 
 least of all from the exercise of a wise and discreet per- 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 113 
 
 mission in Government to British-born subjects to hold 
 lands in India. The class of those who would avail 
 themselves of this permission would necessarily be select. 
 Without being in some degree monied men, they could 
 not purchase land. They would in general be persons of 
 education therefore; and what would be scarcely less 
 important, they would possess property that could not be 
 quickly removed, which would detain them under the 
 absolute power of the laws of the country. Moreover the 
 number of these British settlers would not be great, which 
 indeed the permission of Government could easily secure. 
 While none could apply with propriety but monied men, 
 only those even of this class would be likely to vest their 
 property in land, who felt unable to purchase a competent 
 estate in Britain; as the feelings of Britons must be 
 greatly altered before any man capable of obtaining a 
 competence in Britain, would forego the physical and 
 intellectual enjoyments she affords, for any gain which 
 might arise from speculations in land amidst the burning 
 climes of India. To any man, what is gain after he has 
 secured a competence for the enjoyment of life, if it must 
 be purchased at the expense of dragging out the remainder 
 of his existence in a foreign climate inimical to his health 
 and constitution? Are not employments the most lucra- 
 tive, which could be held to the end of life, constantly 
 given up for the joys of home, when only a moderate 
 competence has been secured? 
 
 While this class, however, few as they would be, would 
 be more completely under the power of those laws by 
 which the peace of the country is secured, than before 
 they possessed landed property, it is a fact, that in case 
 of outrage or injury, it is in most cases easier for a native 
 to obtain justice against a European, than for a European 
 to obtain redress if insulted or wronged by a native* 
 
114 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 This circumstance, attended as it may be with some in- 
 convenience, reflects the highest honour on the British 
 name; it is a fact of which India affords almost the first 
 instance on record in the annals of history. Britain is 
 nearly the first nation in whose foreign Courts of Justice 
 a tenderness for the native inhabitants habitually prevails 
 over all the partialities arising from country and educa- 
 tion. If there ever existed a period, therefore, in which 
 a European could oppress a native of India with impunity, 
 that time is passed away — we trust for ever. 
 
 That a permission of this nature might tend to sever 
 India from Britain after the example of America, is of all 
 things the most improbable. Those who in any country 
 wish for changes and revolutions, are seldom such as pos- 
 sess a great portion of landed property therein : and in 
 India a European possessed of landed property, must be 
 almost insane not to discern the circumstances in which 
 this property would be placed, were any thing ever to 
 withdraw 7 from India the guardian care of Britain. What 
 in that case should prevent the native powers of India 
 from over-running the country ? or those who might wish 
 to govern it, from falling out among themselves, and thus 
 rendering the country a prey to anarchy, rapine, and 
 plunder? 
 
 Nothing, however, can be more unfounded than the 
 idea that a number of Europeans in India would be able 
 to imitate the example of America, were they insane 
 enough to make the attempt. Such as admit it for a 
 moment, have never weighed the circumstances of either 
 country, than which nothing can be more dissimilar. India 
 is not a Colony of Britain, filled with its descendants, and 
 with those alone. It contains a multitude of nations 
 separated from each other by a variety of languages, all 
 accustomed to revere and obey the power of Britain. 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 115 
 
 What could America have done, if, instead of containing 
 two millions of Europeans, she had contained only forty 
 or fifty thousand, scattered among as many millions of 
 the indigenous inhabitants of the country, devoted to 
 the British government, and accustomed to obey it from 
 their earliest years? To have drawn so many nations, 
 differing in their languages, from their attachment to 
 Britain, would have been impracticable; the very attempt 
 must have been discovered in the bud. For forty or fifty 
 thousand European inhabitants even to have collected 
 themselves into a body from all parts of a country ex- 
 tending two thousand miles, would have been impossible, 
 without such a previous knowledge being obtained of 
 their movements as must have rendered them vain, and 
 secured the loss of their estates and of all their influence. 
 No attempt of this nature has ever yet succeeded in a 
 country where the landholders and the peasantry were of 
 different nations. 
 
 Moreover the circumstance of India's being surrounded 
 with other possessions of Britain, must render every at- 
 tempt of this nature improbable. Long before the num- 
 ber of British landholders in India shall have become 
 considerable, Penang and the Eastern Isles, Ceylon, the 
 Cape, and even the Isles of New South Wales, may in 
 European population far exceed them in number; and 
 unitedly, if not singly, render the most distant step of this 
 nature as impracticable, as it would be ruinous to the 
 welfare and happiness of India. Nothing, therefore, can 
 be more silly than to compare America, wholly a British 
 Colony, animated by one general feeling, where the indi- 
 genous inhabitants, had they been all in the interest of 
 Britain, were not a tenth as numerous as the colonists 
 themselves, who held in their hands the militia, the reve- 
 nues, and the government of the country, with a few 
 
 i 2 
 
116 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 British landholders, without any share in the govern- 
 ment, or the collecting of the revenues, and surrounded 
 by so many millions of natives accustomed to the most 
 regular and prompt obedience to a government from 
 which they have derived blessings before unknown to 
 India. 
 
 But while nothing can be more absurd than the idea of 
 any disturbance ever arising to Government from a few 
 British landholders, the value of whose property would 
 depend on the preservation of tranquillity throughout the 
 country, there are few things more improbable than that 
 any occasion would ever be given them for discontent. 
 Although they might not be precisely identified by the 
 Government with the natives of India, they would not be 
 heavily oppressed, while the utmost tenderness was mani- 
 fested to their Indian fellow-subjects. If their behaviour 
 were what might be naturally expected, they would be far 
 more likely to share the confidence of Government in a 
 superior degree. And of that oppression being exercised 
 which shall affect the zvhole of India, never was there a 
 greater improbability in any country, as long as it shall 
 remain under the guardianship of Britain, and Britain 
 possess the smallest particle of sound wisdom. That 
 regard which Britain has hitherto so humanely and so 
 wisely manifested for the comfort and welfare of its 
 Indian subjects, is not likely to be diminished by their 
 being increased, as they now are, to fifty or sixty millions, 
 nor by their constantly improving in knowledge and in- 
 telligence, and in ability to appreciate that conduct which 
 is equitable and good. The weight of no popular part of 
 any constitution affords a better security against oppres- 
 sion, than do these circumstances. A people in Europe 
 may be cajoled, or their legal representatives may be 
 biassed for a season; but nothing can cajole fifty or sixty 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 117 
 
 millions of men in a foreign land. Nothing can bias their 
 minds and persuade them that they are governed with 
 equity and kindness — but the comfort and happiness 
 which they enjoy. For this no substitute whatever can 
 be accepted. They will ever judge of the administration 
 of government precisely as they feel it to be. That which 
 promotes their happiness will be certain of possessing 
 their confidence ; while one precisely the reverse must 
 gradually forfeit their esteem. But happily the reign of 
 giddy favourites, or of court minions, has in Britain given 
 place to that of reason and equity, as far as relates to hei 
 Indian provinces. Whatever may be thought of the go- 
 vernment of Mr. Hastings and those who immediately pre- 
 ceded him ; for these last forty years India has certainly 
 enjoyed such a government as none of the provinces of the 
 Persian or the Roman empire ever enjoyed for so great a 
 length of time in succession ; and, indeed, one almost 
 as new in the annals of modern Europe, as in those of 
 India. 
 
 When all circumstances are coolly examined, therefore, 
 it may scarcely appear wise to deny longer to India the 
 solid advantages she would derive from a select body of 
 men possessing an interest in the soil in different parts 
 of India, whose object it would be to improve the coun- 
 try, and contribute in every possible way to its general 
 tranquillity and the welfare of its native inhabitants. 
 Among the advantages which might result from this step 
 would be the following. 
 
 These would feel the deepest interest in improving the Agri- 
 culture of the country. This would be the natural result of 
 their holding landed property therein. To all the motives 
 which so strongly urge our countrymen at present to exert 
 themselves for its improvement, they would feel added the 
 most powerful of all, that of increasing the value of their 
 
118 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 own property, which must ever be suspended on the flou- 
 rishing state of Indian agriculture and commerce. This, 
 however, would promote the benefit of the whole country, 
 which must naturally share the advantage arising from the 
 exertions and public spirit of European landholders, how- 
 ever few, as the native landholders would be almost con- 
 strained to imitate their example. And comparatively 
 speaking, a few on the spot, where they would over- 
 see every thing, and constantly judge of things from 
 their own observation, if encouraged and patronized by 
 their countrymen around them, would be able to do more 
 for India in improving her agriculture and furnishing at a 
 low rate raw materials of various kinds for foreign com- 
 merce, than might otherwise be done in a long series of 
 years. 
 
 But these would by no means confine themselves to the 
 improvement of the soil. It is impossible that Europeans 
 residing in these circumstances amidst them, should not feel 
 interested in the improvement and welfare of their Indian fellow- 
 subjects. To this, indeed, they would have the most powerful 
 of all inducements. Land is of little value without tenants 
 and cultivators ; but these can only be procured by manifest- 
 ing kindness and tenderness to the natives. At the present 
 time many estates may be seen almost deserted through 
 the unfeeling rapacity of their native owners. So little 
 property does a native tenant possess, that to remove costs 
 him nothing ; indeed many of those who cultivate the soil 
 literally possess nothing ; after the labour of a whole life 
 they are in debt, and have no way of delivering themselves 
 from perpetual bondage, but that of flying to some other 
 part of the country ; which is often done, as pursuit, where 
 there is nothing to be gained, would be only a loss to the 
 creditor and landlord ; and a return would be unavailing 
 to compel residence, a Hindoo naturally finding his way 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 119 
 
 where he can experience the least wretchedness. Harsh- 
 ness and unkindness to the natives, therefore, would be in- 
 stantly visited on a European with that loss relative to the 
 property he held, which nothing could remedy. On the 
 other hand, a man's interesting himself in their comfort 
 and improvement, would cause them to flock around him, 
 increase the value of his estate, and promote both the 
 wealth and the happiness of the man who delighted in do- 
 ing good to his fellow-creatures. Thus, with scarcely any 
 expense, improvement might be so extended among the 
 natives of the country, as to impart to them that freedom 
 from oppression, want, and misery, which has not fallen 
 to the lot of the wretched peasantry of India for many 
 ages. 
 
 Another advantage, however, which would accrue to the 
 country, would be almost incalculable in its operation. 
 This select class of British landholders zvould gradually form 
 a kind of Local Magistracy, thoroughly acquainted with 
 the affairs of the country, and deeply interested in the 
 happiness of the people. This in India is quite a deside- 
 ratum. The whole of the inferior administration of jus- 
 tice is in the hands of natives, whose venality and corrup- 
 tion are notorious to a proverb, and who often elude the 
 utmost vigilance of European Judges. Indeed, when the 
 judicial concerns of half a million of persons by no means 
 averse to litigation, lie on one individual, without his being 
 assisted by the probity and virtue of those below him, how 
 is it possible for the ablest man always to penetrate the 
 maze of fraud and injustice which often involves a cause, so 
 as to deliver the poor and the needy from the hand of the 
 oppressor. Besides his European Assistant, however, he has 
 not the least help on which he can depend. That com- 
 plete absence of principle which once pervaded the high- 
 est as well as the lowest seats of justice in India, still reigns 
 
ir^n 
 
 120 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 
 
 among the native officers of justice in a degree that often 
 frustrates the wise and humane views of their rulers. Nor is 
 there any means of removing this evil, but that of infusing 
 principles of probity and uprightness into all ranks, or of 
 placing among them men who shall disinterestedly watch 
 over the inferior ministration of justice, and bring to the 
 view of the Judges and Magistrates in the various districts 
 of India, cases of oppression and fraud which they would 
 gladly redress if laid before them. Europeans placed in 
 sufficient number with small salaries in different parts of 
 the country, would by no means meet the evil. While the 
 expense would be great, their having no immediate con- 
 nection with the natives would prevent their acquiring a 
 knowledge of the real state of things ; and as they are 
 not by nature exempt from corruption, their having 
 a bare support might prove in some degree a tempta- 
 tion to injustice ; but European landholders possessing 
 an estate of their own, the value of which depends in so 
 great a degree on the comfort of the natives around them, 
 would be far removed from every temptation to injustice, 
 while their local knowledge and influence would enable 
 them to be a check to all the native officers of justice who 
 might be stationed near them. 
 
 It is needless to add of what value British landholders 
 thus situated in different parts of the country, would be in 
 various other ways. While they could without any ex- 
 pense to Government assist in realizing all its benevolent 
 intentions respecting their Indian fellow-subjects, like 
 gentlemen in the commission of the peace in England, 
 they would be ready to administer justice to those who 
 were near them; and although their influence would be 
 nothing, opposed to that of Government, yet, when ex- 
 erted in support of the common cause of virtue, justice, 
 order, and tranquillity, they might render essential service 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 121 
 
 to the country, while they were perfectly inexpensive to 
 Government. 
 
 But while such a class of landholders would thus gra- 
 dually form a kind of local magistracy deeply interested 
 in the happiness of the people, rendering essential service 
 to the country, and yet perfectly inexpensive, they might 
 ultimately lead to a great saving of expense to Government 
 relative to Military Establishments. The vast expense of a 
 military establishment, extended throughout India, is too 
 well known to need mention. Nothing, however, would 
 so much tend to lessen the necessity of an establishment 
 so extensive, as a number of British proprietors of land 
 settled in various parts of India, whom both interest and 
 inclination would urge to secure the affections of their 
 Indian fellow-subjects around them, by continually seek 
 ing their welfare and acting as their judicious friends. 
 From their situation they would of course be thoroughly 
 acquainted with everything that passed around them; 
 from their acting in some degree as their judicial guar- 
 dians by shielding them from the oppressions to which 
 they have been subject for so many ages, they must pos- 
 sess sufficient influence among the natives within their 
 own circle to enable them to maintain order and tranquil- 
 lity around them. This would gradually supersede the 
 necessity of a widely extended military establishment for 
 this purpose ; which might then be devoted almost wholly 
 to the object of defending the country from invaders. 
 On the effect of this in ultimately reducing expense to the 
 Government, while it really added to the general happi- 
 ness of the country, it is needless to enlarge. A single 
 glance of the mind will be sufficient to discover how ad- 
 vantageous this would be to India in almost every point 
 of view. 
 
122 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA 
 
 British-born landholders would also naturally maintain 
 all their national attachments, for what Briton can lose 
 them ? and derive their happiness from corresponding 
 with the wise and good at home. If sufficiently wealthy, 
 they would no doubt occasionally visit Britain, where in- 
 deed it might be expected that some of them would reside 
 for years together, as do the owners of estates in the 
 West Indies. While Britain shall remain what she now 
 is, it will be impossible for those who have once felt the 
 force of British attachments, ever to forego them. Those 
 feelings would animate their minds, occupy their conver- 
 sation, and regulate the education and studies of their 
 children, who would be in general sent home that they 
 might there imbibe all those ideas of a moral and intel- 
 lectual nature, for which our beloved country is so emi- 
 nent. Thus a new intercourse would be established be- 
 tween Britain and the proprietors of land in India, highly 
 to the advantage of both countries. While they derived 
 their highest happiness from the religion, the literature, 
 the philanthropy and public spirit of Britain, they would, 
 on the other hand, be able to furnish Britain with the* 
 most accurate and ample information relative to the state 
 of things in a country in which the property they held 
 there constrained them to feel so deep an interest. The 
 fear of all oppression being out of the question, while it 
 would be so evidently the interest, not only of every 
 Briton, but of every Christian, whether British or Native, 
 to secure the protecting aid of Britain, at least as long as 
 two-thirds of the inhabitants of India retained the Hindoo 
 or Musulman system of religion, few things would be 
 more likely to cement and preserve the connection be- 
 tween both countries, than the existence of such a class 
 of British-born landholders in India. 
 
ON THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 123 
 
 The importance of this measure to the Agricultural 
 interests and the general welfare of India, has led us far- 
 ther into this subject than was at first expected. But we 
 would by no means wish our countrymen to suspend their 
 attempts to promote these interests on any adventitious 
 circumstances. While little doubt can be entertained of 
 the happy effects of the measure recommended, much can 
 be done towards alleviating the miseries of our Indian 
 fellow-subjects with the opportunities we now possess. 
 Much has been already done ; and a steady perseverance 
 in the present course, will doubtless be crowned with the 
 happiest results. In promoting the Agricultural interests 
 of India, interwoven as they are with the happiness of the 
 bulk of our Indian fellow-subjects, we may be assured 
 that no effort will be wholly without its effect, however 
 inadequate it may appear to the great object in view ; 
 and that from a continuance of them will ultimately flow 
 effects, of which the most sanguine had little previous 
 idea. 
 
VI. 
 
 ON THE BORROWING SYSTEM OF THE 
 NATIVES*. 
 
 The happiness or misery of any nation is affected in a 
 far greater degree by the habits and principles which pre- 
 vail in it, than by the texture of its government or the 
 bounty of nature. To the influence of the most benign 
 government there is a limit, beyond which the search for 
 happiness devolves on each individual. Hence there may 
 exist circumstances in the habits of a people, sufficiently 
 powerful to defeat the most benevolent views of its rulers, 
 and to entail misery where there is every preparation for the 
 enjoyment of happiness. Of this we have a striking instance 
 in this country. India is blessed with more natural and po- 
 litical advantages than commonly fall to the lot of nations — 
 it enjoys a mild and paternal government, ever on the watch 
 to promote its welfare, — a government of which the pre- 
 sent race of Hindoos are scarcely able to appreciate the 
 advantages, from the absence of all record of the grinding 
 oppression under which their ancestors laboured for seven 
 centuries, — a soil fertile beyond example, and to the very 
 luxuriance of which all its calamities have been ascribed — 
 a freedom from oppressive taxation, and a degree of lei- 
 sure for the improvement of the mind, denied to the har- 
 dier sons of Europe. With all these splendid advantages, 
 we will venture to affirm that there is less solid happiness 
 
 * Friend of India, Quarterly Series, No. I. p. 74. 
 
BORROWING SYSTEM OF THE NATIVES. 125 
 
 in India than in some other countries where the soil is less 
 favourable and the government less propitious. The cause 
 lies deep in the prevailing habits of the people, beyond 
 the reach of the most salutary laws. It is an internal, 
 radical distemper, which poisons all those sources of hap- 
 piness which the bounty of Providence and the wisdom 
 of man have created — a disease which will yield only to a 
 great moral revolution in the system, to be effected by the 
 persevering efforts of benevolence aided by the silent 
 progress of time. 
 
 Among the numerous causes which contribute to ex- 
 clude happiness from the natives of India, it is our inten- 
 tion at present to dwell only on the universal tendency to 
 borrow which pervades the country. In many nations 
 there exists in the great body of the people, a pride of 
 independence, and a deep-rooted aversion to pecuniary 
 obligations. The fruit of this disposition is manifest in 
 the cleanliness and order of the domestic mansion, the 
 nice adjustment of the annual expenditure to the annual 
 income, the gradual accumulation of a resource for old 
 age, and the general cheerfulness of the family circle. 
 How many bright examples of this description can our 
 native country boast even in its present state of commer- 
 cial embarrassment! In Bengal the picture is reversed. 
 There is no desire of independence, no horror of debt; 
 and it is scarcely possible to assume a greater contrast 
 than between the honest, upright, industrious English 
 peasant, and the Hindoo, dragging out an inglorious ex- 
 istence amidst debt and disgrace, borrowing in one quarter 
 to pay in another, and reluctant to pay in all cases, mak- 
 ing no provision for old age, and sitting down in content 
 beneath the burden of an endless prospect of embarrass- 
 ment to the last hour of life. 
 
 This disposition to borrow is not confined to one pro- 
 
126 ON THE BORROWING SYSTEM 
 
 vince, to one town, or to one class of individuals. It per- 
 vades the whole country with all the inveteracy of a se- 
 cond nature. It originates probably in a natural debility 
 of mind, and an entire aversion to labour, and is power- 
 fully aided by the apathy and indifference produced by the 
 doctrines of fate and irrevocable destiny. The man who 
 can contrive to exist on borrowing for twenty years at an 
 exorbitant rate of interest, might by one vigorous effort 
 deliver himself from embarrassment, and open a prospect 
 of comfort to his family for the remainder of life. This 
 reasoning is lost on a Hindoo ; while he admits its truth, 
 he wants vigour of mind to put it in practice. Debt is to 
 him a complete circle from which there is no egress, after 
 he has once ventured within its inclosure. A Hindoo is 
 no sooner free from one debt than he contracts another ; 
 and generally incurs a second debt long before he is libe- 
 rated from the first. He stretches his credit to its utmost 
 limit, and is frequently under obligations in ten places at 
 once. There is reason to believe that nearly three-fourths 
 of the inhabitants in Bengal are indebted to the remaining 
 fourth. A Briton, educated in the virtuous habits of his 
 own country, can scarcely conceive the avidity with which 
 the natives of Bengal plunge into debt, without a minute 
 examination of their internal economy. One who is not 
 embarrassed, is generally a money-lender, which in India 
 invariably implies an usurer ; but of this we shall speak in 
 the sequel. To obtain money a native will pledge every 
 thing he possesses. When in circumstances of ease, he 
 lays in a provision of gold and silver jewels, which serve 
 to adorn his family in prosperity and to propitiate the 
 usurer on the approach of adversity. These are generally 
 the first articles through which he contracts a friendship 
 with his banker, and it is frequently with a view to the 
 probable reverse of his fortunes that he provides himself 
 
OF THE NATIVES. 127 
 
 with these articles in the hour of plenty. Every other ar- 
 ticle of value follows the jewels in due process of time, till 
 nothing is left of his household wealth, but the brazen 
 dishes of his humble board. With these he dispenses last 
 of all — and a native is considered in circumstances rather 
 desperate, when he is obliged to substitute a plantain leaf 
 for his brass plate. 
 
 There is scarcely any occasion on which a native will 
 not resort to the money-lender, even when he has little 
 prospect of being able to repay him. Though the circum- 
 stances which plunge him into debt are as numerous as 
 his wants, we wish to particularize two grand sources of 
 expense which contribute more than any other to his 
 embarrassment, — Marriages, and the Entertainment of 
 Strangers. 
 
 Those who have been accustomed to the economy of 
 Christian families, can form but an inadequate idea of the 
 difficulties which attend a Hindoo wedding. In Europe, 
 the trouble and expense generally fall on the son, who 
 marries among his equals, after having secured a provi- 
 sion for the expenses of his new connection. In India this 
 care devolves wholly on the parent. It is the duty of the 
 father to secure the comfortable settlement of his chil- 
 dren ; since upon this event, depends his most valuable 
 earthly possession — his family dignity. To elucidate the 
 subject it may be necessary to mention, that in Bengal 
 every cast is subdivided into a vast number of classes, 
 each of which comprises the descendants of some one in- 
 dividual, who, in the original distribution of family ho- 
 nours, obtained a certain rank which is enjoyed by his 
 posterity to this day. Hence the station of every individual 
 in Bengal is settled with nearly as much precision as that 
 of the nobility of Europe, and the distinction of ranks is 
 preserved with as much tenacity as though they were under 
 
128 ON THE BORROWING SYSTEM 
 
 the direction of the College of Heralds. No family is lost 
 in the crowd ; there are always some beneath it, who view 
 its rights and dignity with feelings of respect ; every indi- 
 vidual, therefore, possesses an acknowledged and defined 
 rank in this mighty aristocracy. These family distinctions 
 may be tarnished by ignoble alliances, but they may be 
 regained by a series of advantageous marriages. It would 
 be foreign to our subject to enter at present into this wide 
 and interesting field of research, — suffice it to say, that 
 these honours are incommunicable, but by marriage. No 
 new candidate for fame, however powerful his pretensions, 
 can be admitted to participate in them. But what cannot 
 be obtained by merit may be acquired by marriage, and a 
 family whose son or daughter may have been affianced to 
 one of a nobler rank, rises by this circumstance in the 
 scale of distinction, and its superiority is acknowledged 
 by every member of the same cast. It is, therefore, the 
 manifest and natural wish of every parent to marry his 
 children into a family nobler than his own. This may be 
 effected for money, as every thing has its price in India. 
 There are instances of some who with a noble generosity 
 have condescended to exalt the family of a friend by grant- 
 ing him a daughter or a son in marriage without fee or re- 
 ward ; but the most certain and current mode of managing 
 this transaction is, by the regular channel of a bargain. The 
 marriage of his children, therefore, forms the chief object 
 of a parent's solicitude, the grand aera of life, the critical 
 event which is either to continue his family in its original 
 humility, or to elevate it to distinction and renown. In 
 negotiating alliances, he spares neither expense nor trou- 
 ble. The hard-earned savings of years are resigned with 
 the utmost promptitude, and where no provision has been 
 made, debts are incurred which hang like a dead weight on 
 the family for years to come. The dreary prospects of 
 
OF THE NATIVES. 3 29 
 
 embarrassment are balanced by the solid advantages which 
 have been gained ; and the elevated rank to which his fa- 
 mily may thus have been raised, overcomes every unplea- 
 sant feeling. 
 
 It is not, however, in the acquisition of a more noble 
 alliance only that his purse is lightened. This grand sera 
 in his existence must not pass into oblivion without some 
 demonstration of splendour ; and however empty his 
 purse, the applause of the rabble must be gained, and the 
 appetites of an endless host of friends and relations re- 
 galed with a solid feast. To a man whose life is bound 
 up in show, the plaudits of the giddy multitude, and the 
 congratulation of his own connections present an object 
 worthy of his ambition. The triumph of the moment 
 outweighs every other consideration, and he spends with 
 a profuse liberality, what it will require years to replace. 
 Under these circumstances, it is by no means matter of 
 surprise, that the expenses of a wedding should bear no 
 proportion to the means of the contracting parties, and 
 that where a man expends the aggregate of his income 
 for years on a single event, he should involve himself in 
 debt. 
 
 Another grand source of debt is, the system of Hospi- 
 table Entertainment which prevails in the country. In 
 India there are few or no inns for the accommodation of 
 travellers, the support of whom falls on the purses of 
 friends and relatives. As there is little delicacy on the 
 subject of intrusion where a lodging may be obtained, a 
 native in circumstances above penury, is incessantly bur- 
 dened with a series of unwelcome guests. Nothing 
 can exceed the disgrace which a Hindoo attaches to the 
 slightest violation of the rules of hospitality ; and the 
 privations and embarrassments to which he submits 
 in order to shun odium on this subject, would astonish 
 
130 ON THE BORROWING SYSTEM 
 
 the inhabitants of Europe. To be represented in his 
 own village as one who has denied a refuge to strangers, 
 would fix on him an indelible stigma. Under the impulse 
 of this feeling, he submits to every inconvenience with 
 cheerful resignation, and though incumbered with debts, 
 never permits his guest to entertain the slightest idea of 
 the embarrassment which his arrival occasions. The con- 
 stant influx of these guests is very great, and constitutes 
 one of the heaviest taxes on the labour of the industrious. 
 On their arrival, the master of the house transforms him- 
 self into a servant, lays before them the richest provisions 
 his store will allow, and when he has no money in the 
 house, borrows on the spur of the occasion, at a rate of 
 interest highly disadvantageous. But this is not all ; — the 
 custom of the country constrains him to offer them a sum 
 of money at their departure for the prosecution of their 
 journey ; and though, perhaps, already overwhelmed with 
 debt, he is obliged to submit to fresh difficulties with 
 every appearance of cheerfulness. By thus moving from 
 one house of entertainment to another, travellers are en- 
 abled to perform distant journies with scarcely any ex- 
 pense to themselves ; and it is reported that many con- 
 trive to subsist altogether on this migratory system, by 
 residing in succession at the houses of their friends or 
 relatives. 
 
 The natives have likewise no inconsiderable number of 
 relatives and friends to provide for constantly. A man 
 who is without employ, lives on his friend for six or eight 
 months without the least scruple. While he can obtain 
 the simple necessaries of life without labour, he is not 
 anxious to exert himself in his own behalf : with persons 
 of this description the country is burdened. The board 
 of the industrious is also surrounded with a numerous 
 company of relatives whom the prevailing custom of the 
 
OF THE NATIVES. 131 
 
 country constrains him to support. There is scarcely a 
 married man in the country who has not some of his own 
 or his wife's kindred dependent on his bounty. These he 
 cannot shake off; and they will seldom drop off them- 
 selves, but will continue to draw nourishment from his 
 labour while a single meal of rice remains in the house. 
 In the support of these indolent drones his substance is 
 wasted, and his debts increased. 
 
 This pernicious system, though common throughout the 
 country, is rather more prevalent among the higher than 
 the lower orders. The nobility of the country, the Brah- 
 muns, Kaystas, and Vydees, are exempt from manual la- 
 bour, and must subsist in idleness until situations can be 
 procured which do not involve exertions forbidden by the 
 Shastras. Hence they continue to depend on the bounty 
 of their hospitable kinsman, until by along and tedious 
 process of importunity and flattery, they can obtain situa- 
 tions suited to the dignity of their rank or caste. This forms 
 a tremendous load : the husbandman burdened with a train 
 of relatives, may take the active and robust among them 
 into the field, and turn their time to account; but the more 
 elevated ranks possess no such advantages, and, as the 
 shastras permit them to lodge only among their own caste, 
 a thraldom from which the inferior ranks are exempt, they 
 constantly swarm about the table of some fortunate rela- 
 tive who has been so happy as to obtain an employ- 
 ment. It is a common saying in Bengal, that brahmuns 
 may always be found, even where labourers are scarce. 
 This drawback on the welfare and industry of the country, 
 the Hindoos owe to the Institutions of the Vedas ; and 
 unhappily it is not the only error in political economy 
 which these sacred writings have promulgated. 
 
 The number of Widows who are every year created by 
 the singular custom of the country, creates another tax on 
 
 k2 
 
132 ON THE BORROWING SYSTEM 
 
 its industry. However young they may be, they cannot 
 marry again ; they are seldom left in affluent circum- 
 stances, and at the age of twenty they are not unfre- 
 quently burdened with a numerous infant offspring; it is 
 therefore on their industrious relatives, that the weight of 
 supporting them falls. This, conjoined with the number 
 of other relatives who till the house of a native, drains 
 his substance, and leads him involuntarily to contract 
 debts, from which he is scarcely ever wholly liberated. 
 We are greatly mistaken if a very considerable proportion 
 of the misery which bursts on the sight at every corner 
 of this fertile land, be not chargeable on the immense 
 number of idle persons with which it abounds. For one 
 man who earns a subsistence, there are perhaps two who 
 live without work ; and the industry of one third of the 
 country has to support the indolence of the remaining 
 two-thirds. That this is as great a national as it is an 
 individual calamity, must be apparent to every one ; but 
 it is unhappily a calamity for which there is little prospect 
 of relief under the reign of the present system of idolatry ; 
 no auspicious alteration can be expected but by the gen- 
 tle and gradual introduction of another economy, under 
 the influence of which the industry of the country shall 
 be relieved from the burdens with which it is now weighed 
 down, the country itself assume a more dignified charac- 
 ter among the nations of the east, and individual happi- 
 ness be as greatly augmented as its natioual prosperity. 
 
 This borrowing system weighs down those on whom it 
 falls by the enormous Interest which it entails. The prevail- 
 ing rate of interest throughout the greater part of the 
 country is Thirty-six per cent, or half an anna monthly 
 on the rupee. In some districts it is double that sum, or 
 Seventy-two per cent. Even in Calcutta, where from the 
 
OF THE NATIVES. 133 
 
 extension of commerce we might naturally expect a more 
 lenient and reasonable system, the poor are seldom able 
 to borrow under Eighteen per cent. Twelve per cent, 
 being the legal interest of the country, the written obli- 
 gation never expresses a higher sum, but the premium 
 which is deducted from the sum advanced, makes up the 
 deficiency. This exorbitant usury falls chiefly on the 
 needy; — the poorer the wretch, the higher the rate of 
 interest which he is obliged to pay. The commercial 
 portion of the community, whose credit is firmer and 
 whose transactions are more extensive, can generally bor- 
 row on such terms as the fair profits of trade will fully 
 sustain; it is the industrious and laborious who possess 
 no means of rescue from famine but by the contraction of 
 debts, whom this usury devours. This exorbitant interest 
 is deducted from a small monthly pittance shared with 
 rigid parsimony among a numerous train of relatives, — a 
 pittance barely sufficient to procure the common neces- 
 saries of life. Who would imagine on beholding the 
 wretched hut of the Hindoo, which hardly excludes the 
 elements of heaven, and into which are crowded, in this 
 burning climate, the young and the old, and their every 
 article of furniture, that its miserable inmates are con- 
 strained perhaps for years to pay Thirty-six per cent, for 
 every farthing they borrow. Even when health smiles on 
 them, their existence cannot but be miserable; but when 
 overtaken with disease, or oppressed with unforeseen cala- 
 mity, then it is that they may be said to drink deep of the 
 cup of human woe. The inexorable money-lender, whom 
 they cannot avoid, enforces his claim, heaping interest 
 on interest; and though perhaps he never receives the 
 full payment of his money, yet the distress occasioned 
 by his incessant demands is by no means the less poig- 
 
134 ON THK BORROWING SYSTEM 
 
 nant.* In these circumstances every consolation is with- 
 drawn from the wretched family. The principal they can- 
 not discharge, and the payment of the exorbitant interest 
 preys on the very vitals of their happiness, and reduces 
 them to the last stage of poverty and wretchedness. 
 There is indeed scarcely any cause of distress which 
 operates so extensively and so powerfully as this inclina- 
 tion to debt, and the exorbitant interest which is exacted. 
 
 The country is hereby separated into two classes, the 
 borrower and the usurer; the industrious though exhausted 
 poor, and the fat and flourishing money-lender. One 
 who by parsimony or extortion can scrape together Four 
 or Five Hundred Rupees, immediately takes his station 
 in this latter class, and sits down to the enjoyment of an 
 income, bedewed with the tears of the oppressed. The 
 interest of his money will not only enable him to live 
 without labour, but open the way for the accumulation of 
 more wealth. The country abounds with instances of 
 individuals who by mere dint of avarice and exorbitant 
 interest, have created fortunes, and left their families in 
 circumstances of the greatest opulence. There are few 
 middle characters in the country ; he who has not money 
 enough to lend, is generally in debt, and he who is above 
 the necessity of borrowing, has invariably a considerable 
 number of his fellow-creatures within the grasp of his 
 usury. 
 
 The withering influence of this system is perhaps more 
 deeply felt by the agriculturist than by the other members 
 of the community. As far as our observations extend, 
 
 * The laws of the Hindoos declare, that when the interest amounts 
 to double the principal and remains unpaid, the principal cannot be 
 recovered by law. A debt double to the original one, however, lies 
 at interest. 
 
OF THE NATIVES. 
 
 135 
 
 there is scarcely one in five of this useful class who guides 
 his plough and reaps his corn on his own independent 
 little capital. Four out of five are in circumstances 
 which constrain them to resort to the money-lender, a 
 being who haunts the footsteps of the farmer with unde- 
 viating regularity, and reaps abundantly in that harvest of 
 gain. The ploughman borrows corn for the support of 
 his family during the season, till his own crop be ripe, 
 when he repays his debt in kind at Fifty per cent, ad- 
 vance. To compute his loss with accuracy, however, we 
 must remember that the husbandman is poor and defence- 
 less, and his banker rich and powerful ; that the next year 
 will bring a fresh array of wants, and present again the 
 view of his starving family, which will render it unwise 
 to break with his rich friend ; and that he is completely in 
 the power of his superior — a species of obligation of which 
 the one never forgets the advantages, nor can the other 
 the oppression. The corn is therefore lent out at a high 
 price, and repaid at a low r er rate, partly because the price 
 falls on the gathering of the harvest, and partly because 
 the lender takes it on his own terms. In the weight 
 there is as little equity as in the price, so that, turn which- 
 ever way he will, the husbandman is the loser. He more- 
 over requires grain for seed, to obtain which he generally 
 agrees to repay in kind at a Hundred per cent, advance at 
 the time of harvest. There are also times when he is 
 pushed for money for the various occurrences of life, and 
 especially when his landlord demands his rents. On 
 these occasions he must obtain a supply ; and his usual 
 resort is to his generous friend, who with well-dissembled 
 reluctance steps forward and prevents any catastrophe, on 
 the security of the crop. In every instance the return 
 made enriches the lender far beyond his legal profits, 
 although the debt may remain, and leaves the husband- 
 
136 ON THE BORROWING SYSTEM 
 
 man nothing in return for the sweat of his brow, but the 
 anticipation of another year of equal labour and equal 
 disappointment. We have known many instances in 
 which the crops of two succeeding years have been 
 pledged, before a single clod of earth has been turned up, 
 — and this not in the case of a solitary farmer, but of the 
 greater part of a district. 
 
 This system prevails over the greater part of Bengal, 
 and applies to the great majority of farmers. There may 
 be individuals who reap their corn for the benefit of their 
 own family, and sit down to the enjoyment of it without 
 fear of the usurer : those who are in such happy circum- 
 stances, however, generally oppress their neighbours by 
 lending to them at a very exorbitant interest. The great 
 bulk of farmers work upon a borrowed capital, and con- 
 sider themselves happy if they can glean a scanty subsist- 
 ence from the product of their luxuriant soil. The ani- 
 mation of hope gilds not their morning and evening 
 labours ; and they accompany the plough with as much 
 listlessness as the meagre animals which draw it. The 
 crop on which they labour will not go to enrich their 
 families, but that of the usurer, who beholds the growth 
 of the corn with feelings of anticipated enjoyment. We 
 pass over all consideration of the impossibility of agricul- 
 tural improvement under such a system ; our intention is to 
 shew, that it ruins the comforts and destroys the hopes of 
 the farmer. In these circumstances he enjoys no hope of 
 final ease. If after a long series of years he is not left jo. 
 debt, he is happy. Strenuous exertion might lift him into 
 independence; but he wants vigour of mind to pursue a 
 plan of steady economy ; and the contentment which he 
 feels from the reflection that his father was in no better 
 circumstances than himself, tends powerfully to detain 
 him in this state of dependence. lie has no prospect of 
 
OF THE NATIVES. 137 
 
 support when age shall have prostrated his strength, but 
 from the compassion of his friends, or the gratitude of his 
 family. 
 
 The evils of this system do not stop with the personal 
 inconvenience it occasions. It taints the whole current 
 of morals, if it be not a libel on the term to apply it to the 
 inefficient system which in India serves only to keep 
 society from complete anarchy. He who is the last to 
 borrow, is generally the first to pay ; and the foremost in 
 the rank of borrowers is generally the last in the list of 
 prompt payers. — The man who borrows in India has no 
 prospect of being able to repay his debt at the stipulated 
 period; in general he never intends it, but leaves the 
 matter to chance, or to the more powerful operation of 
 chicane and falsehood. When the time for payment 
 arrives, there is no expedient too disgraceful, no subter- 
 fuge or deceit too infamous for him to practise, in order 
 to evade his creditor. If the moment of payment can be 
 postponed, he retires in triumph without casting a single 
 glance of regret at the inglorious price for which this 
 relaxation has been purchased. How can morality, of 
 which truth is the basis, flourish in such a soil? 
 
 Connected with this vicious practice, is that of making 
 advances, so destructive of all security and confidence in 
 the management of business. In England when a man 
 undertakes a job, he expects to be paid on its completion; 
 in India it is quite the reverse. The artificer must receive 
 an advance of money before he will lift a tool. In great 
 and magnificent undertakings, where a very ponderous 
 outlay is required, this might be deemed reasonable ; but 
 in India, it applies to the most insignificant jobs. Do- 
 mestics, it is true, do not come under this arrangement; 
 considering themselves as regular and established ser- 
 vants, they are content to wait the expiration of the 
 
138 ON THE BORROWING SYSTEM 
 
 month for their wages ; though, unless powerfully re- 
 sisted, they will frequently contrive by some tale of woe 
 to anticipate the period ; and with them, as with all other 
 natives, precedent follows practice with an unerring step. 
 But in the case of all labourers and artificers, not a man 
 can be obtained before he has touched the silver. If he 
 receives an advance for a certain number of days, how- 
 ever, he is sure to absent himself some one day at 
 least, and as he approaches the term of his agreement, 
 he frequently refuses to work without a farther advance. 
 This does not arise from any distrust of his employer; 
 where a man has been paid with the utmost punctuality 
 for twenty years, he will in the twenty-first refuse to work 
 without being previously paid. — In many instances, he 
 will receive advances in two or three places at the same 
 time, which occasions endless litigation among those who 
 have engaged him, creates an opportunity for the indul- 
 gence of indolence, and enables him to make his own 
 terms for fresh advances with those to whom he is in- 
 debted. The disadvantages of this vicious system fall 
 wholly on the employer, who must obtain a return for 
 the money as he is able, since the workman has no mo- 
 tive for exertion, having nothing to lose, and on the con- 
 trary every thing to gain by indolence, because he has 
 already anticipated his remuneration. He consequently 
 embraces every opportunity of defrauding his master ; — 
 and by contracting the hours of labour, both in the morn- 
 ing and the evening, and by his heartless indifference 
 during the time he professes to labour, which seldom 
 exceeds six or seven hours in the day, he contrives to 
 reduce the value of his exertions within a very small 
 compass indeed. 
 
 Such then is the effect on the morals and happiness of 
 our Hindoo fellow- subjects, which arises from this trait in 
 
OF THE NATIVES. 130 
 
 their character, this prostration of spirit, evidently the 
 offspring of the system in which the Sudra is degraded in 
 the estimation of all the other classes, and what is far 
 more injurious, even in his own. Thus, all the advantages 
 of the climate and the soil, which render Bengal empha- 
 tically the Garden of India, are annihilated as to all the 
 purposes of enjoyment. To look for a change under the 
 present religious system, were entirely hopeless. If ever 
 the Hindoos enjoy the blessings with which Heaven has 
 endued them, it must be through a system benign as 
 Heaven itself, which, while it ascribes glory to God in the 
 highest, breathes peace on earth and good will towards 
 men. 
 

 VII. 
 ON THE EFFECT OF 
 THE NATIVE PRESS IN INDIA.* 
 
 The great benefit which the nations of Europe have 
 derived from the press, must render every philanthropic 
 mind desirous that it should be introduced to the same 
 extent among those nations who are yet held in the 
 fetters of ignorance and superstition. The astonishing 
 improvement which it has produced on the European con- 
 tinent, during the short period of three centuries, will war- 
 rant our anticipating the most favourable results, could 
 other nations be indulged with the same advantages. In 
 these anticipations, the bright eminence which our own 
 country has attained, bounds our view, and our fondest 
 hopes terminate in the prospect of raising others to the 
 same scale of virtue and knowledge. For the realizing of 
 these hopes, the past history even of Britain will furnish 
 abundant encouragement, since before the introduction of 
 printing into our native land, it was, perhaps, little more 
 advanced in civilization than India is at present. The 
 gloom of superstition which pervaded Europe during the 
 middle centuries, was as profound in its nature, as exten- 
 sive in its operation, and as withering in its effects, as the 
 present superstition of the East. The same lethargy of 
 intellect, the same dread of innovation with which we have 
 to combat in India, prevailed to an equal extent in Eu- 
 
 * Friend of India, Quarterly Series, No. I. p. 119. 
 
THE NATIVE PRESS. 141 
 
 rope; — there is, therefore, no reason for supposing that 
 the same means of improvement, applied with corre- 
 sponding vigour, may not, in the lapse of time, effect as 
 mighty and as beneficial a change in this part of the world 
 as in any other. There is, indeed, one difference in the 
 comparison altogether in favour of this country. When 
 the press was established in Europe, the mental energy of 
 the European character had not been developed by any 
 preceding exertions in literature, and there existed no 
 works of transcendent merit, which might have induced 
 an attentive spectator to anticipate that wonderful pro- 
 gress which has since been made under the agency of the 
 press. In India the case is different ; — the energies of 
 the human mind have been already called into action ; 
 and the acuteness, penetration, and literary skill, which 
 distinguish the eastern productions of the last twenty 
 centuries, have astonished even the enlightened scholars 
 of Europe. The question, therefore, respecting the actual 
 possession of such a portion of intellect, as shall impel the 
 nation forward in the paths of science, when the facilities 
 of the press are afforded, is not problematical ; — it has been 
 already decided. If Europe, without any of these early 
 promises, has been found susceptible of such vast improve- 
 ment, we have no legitimate reason for despair with re- 
 gard to India, where the blossoms have been so rich and 
 so various. 
 
 The present dearth of superior minds in this country is 
 no argument against this assumption, Though learning 
 has been for many years in the wane, there is probably as 
 great a stock of intellect in the country now, as there has 
 been at any former period ; and if due opportunities were 
 afforded, there is a probability that the progress of know- 
 ledge and science would be as gratifying in the East as it 
 has been in the West. From various circumstances the 
 
142 THE NATIVE PRESS. 
 
 intellectual faculties of the Hindoos have for centuries 
 lain dormant ; no improvement has been made ; no pro- 
 gress in the arts of civilization ; and the country has, to 
 all beneficial purposes, stood still. This wretched lethargy 
 we must attribute to the long absence of any excitement 
 to excellence. The Musulmans, had they even possessed 
 superior attainments, were not forward in encouraging 
 the improvement of those who professed a different re- 
 ligion. They treated the Hindoos with contempt; they 
 never attempted to raise them, but, acting on a narrow and 
 selfish policy, contemplated the country during the inglo- 
 rious period of their domination, merely as affording the 
 means of accumulating wealth, or gratifying a desire for 
 political aggrandisement. Another reign has commenced 
 in the East ; and amidst the numerous blessings which 
 have flowed from it, one of the most important is, the in- 
 troduction of that mighty engine of improvement to which 
 Europe is itself so highly indebted — the Press — which bids 
 the slumbering powers of the human mind sleep no more, 
 which arouses every energy into increased vigour, and 
 which, in its mighty progress, subdues the inveterate pre- 
 judices of ages, annihilates error, and not only elicits truth, 
 but disposes the mind to welcome it in all its brightness. 
 These are not the idle dreams of a fervid imagination, 
 calling up unreal phantasies, and anticipating blessings 
 which can never be realized. The era of improvement and 
 of civilization has already dawned on this country. The 
 Natives possess a Press of their own, and its operations 
 have commenced with that vigour and effect which war 
 rant the most sanguine expectations. Within the last ten 
 years, native works have been printed by Natives them- 
 selves, and sold among the Hindoo population with asto- 
 nishing rapidity. An unprecedented impulse has been 
 communicated to the inhabitants of Bengal, and the avi- 
 
THE NATIVE PRESS. 143 
 
 dity for reading has increased beyond all former example. 
 Before this period, the press had been confined to Euro- 
 peans, and the only works in the native languages were 
 printed at their expense, and circulated gratis. The na- 
 tives have now taken the work into their own hands, and 
 the commencement is commensurate with the avarice of 
 native editors, and the rich fund of wealth enjoyed by the 
 higher class of Hindoos. 
 
 We need scarcely remark that Wilkins was the father 
 of printing in Bengal, that the first fount of types was pre- 
 pared with his own hands, and that the natives who have 
 since executed founts in more than twenty distinct Indian 
 characters, owe all theip knowledge of the art to his ex- 
 ertions. The ardour and perseverance with which he pro- 
 secuted his undertaking amidst much discouragement, en- 
 title him to the best thanks of India ; and future ages, 
 when they recur to the interesting period which ushered 
 in the dawn of improvement, will turn to him a reveren- 
 tial eye, and recognize in him one of those beings who, 
 by the benefits they have conferred on their species, have 
 obtained a name which tne progress of time and the deve- 
 lopement of the energy they have put into motion, will 
 adorn with increasing lustre. 
 
 The first Hindoo who established a press in Calcutta 
 was Baboo-ram, a native of Hindoost'han. He was most 
 liberally patronized by H. T. Colebrooke, Esq. and under 
 his auspices, brought through the press various editions 
 of the Sttngsknta classics, which have proved of the high- 
 est advantage to those who cultivate that ancient tongue. 
 He is said to have accumulated a fortune of four lacs of 
 rupees, with which he has retired to Benares ; but we shall 
 probably be nearer the truth if we reduce this sum three- 
 fourths, a general criterion for ascertaining the intrinsic 
 value of native reports of this nature. He was followed 
 
144 THE NATIVE PRESS. 
 
 by Gunga-Kishore, formerly employed in the Serampore 
 press, who appears to have been the first who conceived 
 the idea of printing works in the current language as a 
 means of acquiring wealth. To ascertain the pulse of the 
 Hindoo public, he printed several works at the press of a 
 European, for which having obtained a ready sale, he es- 
 tablished an office of his own, and opened a book-shop. 
 For more than six years, he continued to print in Calcutta 
 various works in the Bengalee language; but, having dis- 
 agreed with his coadjutor, he has now removed his press 
 to his native village. He appointed agents in the chief 
 towns and villages in Bengal, from whom his books were 
 purchased with great avidity ; and within a fortnight after 
 the publication from the Serampore press of the Somachar 
 Dwrpwn, the first Native Weekly Journal printed in India, 
 he published another, which has since, we hear, failed. The 
 success which followed his literary speculations, and the 
 wealth he has acquired, have induced others to embark in 
 the same scheme ; and there are now no less than Four 
 Presses in constant employ, conducted by natives, and 
 supported by the native population. 
 
 This multiplication of printed works has excited a taste 
 for reading, hitherto unknown in India, which promises 
 to become gradually more extensive and more refined. 
 Compared with preceding years, when manuscripts alone 
 existed, books are now exceedingly common : men of 
 wealth and influence begin already to value themselves on 
 the possession of a library, and on obtaining the earliest 
 intelligence of the operations of the press. Even among 
 the inferior gentry, there are few who do not possess some 
 of the works which the press has created. The country 
 partakes of the same spirit with the metropolis, though in 
 an inferior degree. The encouragement afforded to this 
 incipient plan, has likewise called forth a race of editors, 
 
THE NATIVE PRESS. 145 
 
 whom we hope to see increased, and from whom the most 
 important benefits may be expected. The flame which 
 has been kindled, will probably through their exertions 
 be kept alive, and there is reason to hope, that in the 
 course of a few years, there will arise among the lead- 
 ing characters of the country, a body of enlightened 
 natives animated with an unconquerable thirst for know- 
 ledge. 
 
 Of the works which have already issued from the press 
 we annex a list, that our readers may be enabled to per- 
 ceive their extent, and form an estimate of their value. 
 
 1 Gunga-bhuktee turunginee, History of the descent of 
 
 Gunga. 
 
 2 Joy-deva, History of Krishnu. 
 
 3 Urmuda-mungul, Exploits of several of the gods. 
 
 4 Rosa-mwyuree, Description of the three kinds of 
 
 men and women in the world. 
 
 5 Rutee-munjuree, On the same subject. 
 
 6 Koroona-nidhan-bilas, Account of a new god recently 
 
 created by an opulent native. 
 
 7 Vilwu-munguly Exploits of Krishnu. 
 
 8 Daya-bhag, A treatise on law. 
 
 9 Jyotish, An astronomical treatise. 
 
 10 Chanukhyu, A work containing instructions for 
 
 youth. 
 
 1 1 Subda-sindoo, A Dictionary, 
 
 12 Ubeedhan, Ditto. 
 
 13 — , A treatise on the materia medica of 
 
 India. 
 
 14 Rag-mala, A treatise on music. 
 
 15 Battrish-singhason, The thirty-two-imaged throne. 
 
 16 Betal Pucheesee, Account of Raja Vikrumaditya. 
 
 17 Vidya ninda, A treatise ridiculing physicians. 
 
 h 
 
146 
 
 THE NATIVE PRESS. 
 
 18 Bhuguvut-geeta, A translation in Bengalee of the 
 
 work formerly translated into English by 
 Wilkins. 
 
 19 Mukeemunee sluva, The praises of Shiva. 
 
 20 Gunga-stuva, The praises of Gunga. 
 
 21 Sukhee-churitra, The duties of men. 
 
 22 Santee-sutuk, On contempt of the world. 
 
 23 Shringar-teelok, A treatise on women. 
 
 24 Usochu-panchalee, A treatise on the days termed 
 
 impure by the Shastras. 
 
 25 Adee-ross, A treatise on women. 
 
 26 Chundee, The praises of Doorga, Sic. 
 
 27 Choitunyu-chureetamrita, Account of Chitunya. 
 
 If we admit that four hundred copies have been printed 
 of each of these works, including the second and third 
 editions of some, and this will be considerably within the 
 mark, we shall have fifteen thousand volumes printed and 
 sold among the natives within the last ten years, a pheno- 
 menon, to which the country has been a stranger since the 
 formation of the first letters of the incommunicable Vedas. 
 Many of these works have been accompanied with plates, 
 which add an amazing value to them in the opinion of the 
 majority of native readers and purchasers. Both the de- 
 sign and execution of the plates have been exclusively the 
 effort of native genius ; and had they been printed on less 
 perishable materials than Patna paper, the future Wests, 
 and Laurences, and Wilkies of India, might feel some 
 pride in comparing their productions with the rude deline- 
 ations of their barbaric predecessors. The figures are stiff 
 and uncouth, without the slightest expression of mind in 
 the countenance, or the least approach to symmetry of 
 form. They are in general intended to represent some 
 powerful action of the story ; and happy is it for the 
 
THE NATIVE PRESS. 147 
 
 reader that this action of the hero or heroine is mentioned 
 at the foot of the plate ; for without it the design would be 
 unintelligible. The plates cost in general a gold mohur, 
 designing, engraving, and all ; for in the infancy of this 
 art, as of many others, one man is obliged to act many 
 parts. Thus, Mr. Huree Hur Banerjee, who lives at Jora- 
 sankfl, performs all the requisite offices from the original 
 outline to the full completion ; but though, with true East- 
 ern modesty, he stiles himself in one corner of his plates, 
 the best engraver in Calcutta, we doubt his ability when 
 left to his own resources. The plates which he and others 
 have executed from European designs, have been tolerably 
 accurate, and not discreditable for neatness; — but when left 
 to their native unassisted taste, their productions are mi- 
 serable in the extreme ; and however delightful in the eyes 
 of a native, we cannot help thinking that the true and ve- 
 ritable effigies of those ancient and renowned pedagogues, 
 Dyche, Dilworth, and Fenning, and to ascend to more 
 remote antiquity, of Cocker, prefixed to the thirty-third 
 or the fifty-sixth edition of their valuable works, are full 
 fifty per cent, before the native ladies and gentlemen, — or 
 gods and goddesses, which grace the frontispiece of these 
 works. 
 
 The productions of the press serve as a just index to the 
 literary taste of the people, and manifest with unerring ac- 
 curacy the progress already made in knowledge and re- 
 finement. Judging from this criterion, however, we shall 
 be inclined to rate the present taste of the Hindoos very 
 low. It is indeed low ; and, if we attend only to the works 
 which the press is at present employed in multiplying, we 
 shall discover but a slender prospect of improvement. 
 Many will say, and with some appearance of reason, that 
 the increase of the legendary tales mentioned in the list, 
 will tend only to strengthen immorality. There are, how» 
 
 l2 
 
148 THE NATIVE PRESS. 
 
 ever, circumstances both in the state of India and in the 
 early history of printing, which may mitigate the gloom of 
 these reflections. We ought not to forget that the great 
 body of the people, have had nothing to feed on for ages, 
 but the tales of lewd gods and goddesses. The absence 
 of all foreign importation of genuine science, — the in- 
 timate connection of these fictions with all that a Hindoo 
 holds sacred in this world and inviting in the next, — their 
 peculiar adaptation to the indolence and luxury of Eastern 
 imaginations — all these circumstances have combined to 
 naturalize this vicious taste, and to throw a charm around 
 these tinsel productions which it is not easy at once to 
 dissolve. Generation after generation has grown up with 
 a fond attachment to them, till they have been interwoven 
 in a great measure into the habits of the people. It was 
 not to be expected then that a taste for them should dis- 
 appear on the immediate rise of a native press ; the inve- 
 terate impression of ages was not to be removed in a day ; 
 and though they contain no principle of perpetuity, time 
 must be allowed for the attraction to be broken, and for 
 the taste to be glutted with satiety, before we can expect 
 much amelioration. The productions of the press on its 
 introduction into Europe may confirm this idea. It was 
 at first employed in multiplying copies of the old and fa- 
 vourite romances of Amadis of Gaul, Palmerin of England, 
 Tirante the White, and other tales equally favourable to 
 morals. The taste for works of this description was then 
 in its maturity, and successive editions were printed, till a 
 superior taste, produced by the operations of that very 
 press, transferred them from the libraries of the people to 
 the shelves of the antiquary. We may fairly expect a simi- 
 lar regeneration in India; more especially when we consider 
 the approximation of that great body of scientific and 
 philosophical knowledge possessed by the European com- 
 
THE NATIVE PRESS. 
 
 149 
 
 munity, and their anxiety to bring it fully to bear on the 
 natives. 
 
 Nothing tends more rapidly to abolish a vicious taste 
 than the steady operation of the press. The very increase 
 of mythological tales has a tendency to stifle the avidity 
 for them. Being now placed within reach of the great 
 body of the people, they lose much of that veneration, 
 with which they were invested by their being scarce ; and 
 though the flame may for a time burn with increasing ar- 
 dour, this very circumstance naturally leads to its final 
 extinction. Printed works will gradually constitute a 
 powerful source of influence ; and works of real utility will 
 be brought into the lists to combat with those of vain 
 amusement, — and the issue cannot be doubtful. Even in 
 the infancy of the Indian press, it has not been exclusively 
 occupied with works of trifling value ; two dictionaries of 
 the Bengalee language, a treatise on the law of inherit- 
 ance, another on the materia medica of Bengal, one on 
 music, two or three almanacks, and a treatise in Swngs- 
 knta on astronomy, which have all issued from the press 
 within the last ten years, are indications of improvement 
 not to be despised, if we consider the darkness and igno- 
 rance of the community among whom they have found 
 patrons. This is the mere dawn of light in the East, but 
 it is a pledge of the most animating nature ; and if these 
 exertions be followed up with the same spirit with which 
 they have been commenced, the task of those who study 
 the welfare of India will be greatly facilitated, and little 
 will be required of them beside giving a steady and pro- 
 pitious direction to the mighty engine which has been 
 already put in motion. One work of real utility purchased 
 by the natives, will produce a greater change than five dis- 
 tributed gratis. What a native purchases, he wishes to 
 read ; and thus his very avarice is turned to the account of 
 
150 THE NATIVE PRESS* 
 
 general improvement. A work obtained without any pe- 
 cuniary sacrifice, he is disposed to underrate and neglect; 
 but such is the reluctance with which he parts with his 
 money, that he is anxious to draw an equivalent value 
 from every book it procures him. 
 
 It would be unfair in this slight sketch to omit men- 
 tioning the great Swngskn'ta dictionary now printing at 
 the expense of Radha-kantu Deb. This liberal-minded 
 native has spared no expense or exertion to render it com- 
 plete, and the industry with which he superintends the 
 labours of his learned assistants, combined with his own 
 critical acumen, which leaves no word till he has traced it 
 to its origin, and discovered authorities to sanction its sig- 
 nification, will render it a work of the highest value. To 
 elevated rank and large possessions, he adds a wide and 
 extensive acquaintance with science, a liberality of senti- 
 ment, and an ardent attachment to European knowledge. 
 And if others among his countrymen were actuated by a 
 disposition to follow his example, we might indulge strong 
 expectations of improvement. 
 
 One immediate consequence of the native press has 
 been, a greater attention to the Bengalee language. As 
 the purification of the channel for communicating ideas 
 must precede any progress in knowledge and refinement, 
 this is an advantage of no inferior magnitude. Much of the 
 ignorance which pervades the country, must be laid to 
 the account of a general neglect of the popular dialect. 
 All the influence of the country has, till within a few years, 
 been directed against any improvement of it, and every 
 impediment has been thrown in its way. By their posses- 
 sion of Smigskntfl, the pundits held the key of the Benga- 
 lee language ; and instead of using this privilege for the be- 
 nefit of the country, they strained every nerve to close the 
 door of knowledge on the great bulk of the population. 
 
THE NATIVE PRESS. 151 
 
 For this exclusion the Shastras laid the foundation. As 
 all knowledge was said to be contained in them, and as no 
 branch of knowledge was allowed to exist independently 
 of them, the people were effectually excluded from any 
 participation in the treasures of Hindoo learning, prima- 
 rily by the prohibition annexed to these bookstand second- 
 arily, but not less powerfully, by the anxiety of the sacred 
 order to retain all the influence of literature in their own 
 exclusive possession. Though their sacred writings neither 
 countenance nor seem to have contemplated the existence 
 of any work in the vernacular dialect, the common people 
 have heretofore made various attempts to create a species 
 of literary amusement for themselves, by the composition 
 of works in Bengalee. But their attempts were impotent ; 
 the language they employed not being under the guidance 
 of the great parent, was contemptible and vulgar, and the 
 orthography invariably incorrect ; and the learned treated 
 their every effort with scorn and contempt. The extension 
 of the press is gradually demolishing this odious prejudice, 
 and the common people are almost imperceptibly acquir- 
 ing that rank and importance in the republic of letters, 
 which the founders of their religion and institutions denied 
 them. No pundit in the last or in any preceding age, 
 dreamed of writing to please the people, or to acquire a 
 reputation among them ; but many of the most learned 
 pundits of the present day, impelled by a love of gain, and 
 carried irresistibly down the stream of improvement, have 
 composed works in Bengalee to which they have imparted 
 all that delicacy and refinement they derive from the study 
 of the learned tongue. The language is thus assuming a 
 more fixed and determinate character ; and is daily making 
 rapid strides towards vigour and excellence. 
 
 This previous improvement of the language was neces- 
 sary ; — it had lain dormant for ages ; and a population 
 
152 THE NATIVE fRESS, 
 
 equal in number to that of Great Britain, had been deprived 
 of the means of improvement through the neglect into 
 which their language had fallen, when its rich and copious 
 original might have carried it forward in a steady course 
 to perfection, had not the unnatural jealousy of the au- 
 thors and supporters of the national creed, found it ad- 
 vantageous to leave the great body of the people in such 
 a state of ignorance as might fit them for a blind submis- 
 sion to their superiors. There is every reason to hope 
 that the present efforts will rescue the language from con- 
 tempt, and, by rendering it the channel of communication 
 to the common people, and the means of gain to the 
 learned, bring all the talent of the country to aid in its 
 improvement, to supply its deficiencies, and to qualify it 
 for expressing all those scientific and philosophical ideas 
 which the progress of refinement will render indispensable. 
 The correction of its orthography, for which the present 
 exertions have laid the foundation, though among the in- 
 ferior advantages, is not the least the country will receive. 
 Almost every province has a separate jargon, which from 
 the absence of a chaste and unalterable standard, has been 
 introduced into writing to such a degree that a letter writ- 
 ten in one province, according to the prevailing scheme of 
 pronunciation, is almost unintelligible in another. This 
 negligence the press will very speedily remedy, though 
 some of its productions have not been altogether free from 
 errors of this nature. Many of the opulent traders in the 
 native community now adopt in their letters a more cor- 
 rect orthography, and begin to regard it as another mode 
 of distinguishing themselves from the illiterate and vulgar. 
 Whether the discouragement of the popular dialect on 
 the part of the priesthood, originated in any apprehension 
 for their privileges} cannot be easily ascertained. That 
 
THE NATIVE PRESS. 153 
 
 these must be endangered in the course of time, there can 
 be no doubt. The press cannot continue to throw light 
 and knowledge abroad in the country, and to transform 
 the natives into a reading people, without affecting their 
 influence and curtailing their emoluments. Even suppos- 
 ing the Hindoo system to continue in vigorous existence, 
 the publication of all its rites and mysteries, and of all 
 those acts which propitiate the gods, must render brah- 
 muns of less consequence than they were in times of 
 greater ignorance. For many centuries they have mono- 
 polized every information respecting the numerous pre- 
 scriptions of the Hindoo ritual ; all the laws, religion, and 
 religious ceremonies, have been confined to them exclu- 
 sively, by means of which they have rendered themselves 
 as essential to the spiritual interests of their fellow-coun- 
 trymen, as the ploughman to the supply of their temporal 
 wants. Works have now been printed in Bengalee, which 
 detail with great exactness all the ceremonies prescribed 
 for the general occurrences of life ; — and the people begin 
 already to feel a degree of independence which they never 
 enjoyed before, while the importance of the priesthood is 
 diminished in a corresponding degree. The numerous oc- 
 casions on which the presence of a brahmun is indispen- 
 sable, will long secure to them the emoluments which their 
 sacred writings have bequeathed to them ; but by the press 
 the fabric of their gains has been assailed, and may in time 
 be demolished. 
 
 Of the remote consequences of the press on the charac- 
 ter and habits of the people, it is difficult in this early 
 stage of its progress to speak with any degree of cer- 
 tainty; more especially as this is the first instance in 
 which a press has ever been introduced into a Heathen 
 country. The absence of a more direct analogy may, 
 
1£4 THE NATIVE PRESS. 
 
 however, be supplied in some measure from the history of 
 Europe; for the triumphs of the press must in all coun- 
 tries bear a very great affinity. If we admit that Europe, 
 three centuries ago, was as debased in its morals, as de- 
 graded in its understanding, and as inveterate in its su- 
 perstition, as India is at present, we can be at no loss to 
 estimate the effects of the press in this country. If we 
 consider the elevation to which it has raised England in 
 this short period of time — an eminence from which she 
 may look down not only on all other nations now in ex- 
 istence who are without the press, but cast her observa- 
 tions back on all the efforts of the human race since the 
 flood, and discover through the lengthened vista of ages, 
 nothing which can maintain a distant resemblance with 
 her present acquisitions; if we moreover call to mind, 
 that three centuries ago, this fair and beautiful creation 
 had no existence; if we compare her former degradation 
 with her present supremacy in all the pursuits which add 
 dignity to our nature, and recognize in the press one of 
 the chief instruments of this mighty transformation, we 
 shall not be deemed chimerical if we indulge the most 
 fervent hopes for the people of India, now put in posses- 
 sion of the key to all this glory. Whatever obstacles are 
 to be overcome in the diffusion of knowledge, the press 
 has already conquered in other countries ; and unless we 
 admit the peculiar nature of this climate with reference 
 to the mental lassitude which it produces, as a new and 
 untried opponent,* there is no hostile feature in India, 
 which may not be subdued by its persevering efforts. 
 Whatever changes may be wrought in the transition from 
 darkness to light, there is, however, the highest consola- 
 
 * This, however, will far more affect their political strength, than 
 their progress in science and literature. 
 
THE NATIVE PKESS. 155 
 
 tion in reflecting, that they will be ushered into the coun- 
 try without any political commotions, and without suspen- 
 ding even for a single day the peaceful occupations of life. 
 The only avenue from whence opposition might have been 
 dreaded, was from the irritation excited in the minds of 
 the guardians of the Hindoo religion, on discovering the 
 departure of their influence. This, however, is so far 
 from being the case, that brahmuns have had the greatest 
 hand in erecting the native press, and bringing it into 
 operation. Besides, the changes must necessarily be too 
 gradual to create any sudden and dangerous collision 
 with their interests. Nor ought we to forget that no 
 inconsiderable proportion of Bengal is at present sepa- 
 rated from the circle of their influence. The reign of the 
 Vedas has not continued in an unbroken series ; nume- 
 rous sects have arisen, each deviating more or less from 
 the prescribed observances of the Hindoo religion. 
 These sects, however, which have effectually withdrawn 
 their allegiance from the standard of the Shastras, and 
 curtailed the influence and the profits of the priesthood, 
 having sprung up without the slightest convulsion, and 
 continue to make converts without exciting tumult. It is 
 not therefore in the nature of things, that the operations 
 of the press guided by the natives themselves, and sepa- 
 rated from all political influence, should occasion any 
 disturbance ; the press will perform its grand operations in 
 an imperceptible manner; the improvements it promotes 
 will steal on the country with silent energy ; and at the 
 close of the scene, should there be any irritation pro- 
 duced, the advocates for truth will be found to outnumber 
 their enemies, as well as to surpass them in respectability 
 and influence. 
 
 How long the mythological system of the Hindoos will 
 be able to bear up under the operations of the native 
 
156 THE NATIVE PRESS. 
 
 press, it must remain for time to disclose. The steps which 
 have been taken to secure the arcana of Hindooism from 
 the rude examination of the vulgar, and the anxiety which 
 has been constantly manifested to lock up knowledge in 
 the hands of a privileged sect, are omens of ill augury 
 under the new complexion of affairs. The framers of the 
 popular superstition could not have foreseen, that in the 
 lapse of years, there would be introduced into their 
 country and nourished by their countrymen, an engine of 
 improvement, which had dispelled delusion in every 
 country which has enjoyed it — an engine which would ne- 
 cessarily unfold to the view of all India, the grounds on 
 which their spiritual belief rests. Their system was not 
 contrived with a view to this future contingency, and we 
 strongly suspect that it will not long hold out against the 
 increase of light and knowledge. The rapid circulation 
 of ideas will within a few years bring all the inconsisten- 
 cies of these sacred books under a course of rigid ex- 
 amination. Their mutual discrepancies will then create 
 suspicion ; the geographical and astronomical absurdities, 
 a belief in which, they enforce with as awful a sanction as 
 a belief in the being of the gods, will strengthen these 
 suspicions. Through these weak points the hostility of 
 public opinion will probably enter first; and as the whole 
 citadel is built with materials equally frail, there is every 
 reason to expect its eventual demolition. The Hindoo 
 system of belief cannot stand when separated into parts 
 of which some may be credited and others rejected. It 
 must stand as a whole, or fall as a whole. It is public 
 opinion which now gives it weight and currency ; but 
 public opinion is not stationary, and it may be turned into 
 an opposite channel. It is from the difference of public 
 opinion occasioned by the presence of superior know- 
 ledge, that those dogmas are ridiculed in England, which 
 
THE NATIVE PRESS. 157 
 
 are believed in India as truths of holy writ;— and public 
 opinion in India is susceptible of as great changes as in 
 any other part of the world. Though the present age 
 may bring much prejudice to that examination of Hin- 
 dooism which the press will necessarily induce, and 
 though the Hindoos of the present day may sit down for 
 a season in quiet acquiescence with the decision and 
 practice of their forefathers, every succeeding age, as the 
 progress of knowledge is accelerated, will be farther and 
 farther removed from these hereditary prejudices; the 
 articles of belief will be gradually compared with a higher 
 scale of attainments, till it will be found eventually that 
 public opinion and general knowledge have advanced a 
 full century beyond the acknowledged articles of the 
 Hindoo faith. When society has arrived at this stage of 
 refinement, it requires little penetration to see that these 
 books of sacred literature will drop into contempt and 
 disuse. 
 
 Idolatry has more of the nature of a charm than of a 
 fixed and vigorous principle; when once the spell is 
 broken, its disjointed and disorganized fragments can 
 never be re-assembled into the same uniform and power- 
 ful system. As it is grounded on delusive ideas of moral- 
 ity; and in India, on the most absurd views of nature, 
 every degree of general improvement is hostile to its con- 
 tinuance ; the ground it loses, can never be regained ; 
 and after passing the meridian of its glory, it must sink 
 in the moral horizon, never to rise again. There was a 
 time when the mythology of Greece exercised an almost 
 omnipotent sway over the most polished nation in the 
 world; — it has now passed away, and exists only in the 
 fervid lines of the poet or the pages of the pantheon. 
 Let any man endeavour, even in one of the least enlight- 
 ened nations of Europe, to restore to it only a hundredth 
 
158 THE NATIVE PRESS. 
 
 part of its ancient influence ; will not his efforts fail, and 
 himself be covered with ridicule ? That Hindooism has 
 lost ground in India, is too evident to need proof. Let 
 any Hindoo endowed with the enthusiasm even of Peter 
 the hermit, endeavour to recall those times when ascetics 
 passed their whole lives in distant and solitary hermitages 
 in company with the inhabitants of the desert, — when 
 they refused the common necessaries of life that the 
 ethereal spark within, liberated from all terrestrial wants 
 and propensities, might be purified and fitted for ascending 
 to its great original, for absorption in the ocean of spirit 
 — when kings trembled at the frown of a brahmun, and 
 princes bent the knee to a spiritual guide; and will he 
 meet with success ? The lapse of time has done much 
 toward weakening the spirit of eastern superstition; and 
 the press will do more. Already has it begun to feel the 
 power of this wonderful engine, and even in the very 
 infancy of its establishment, has the press shaken the 
 firm faith of many a zealous idolater. The attacks of 
 Kam-mohun Roy on the polytheism of India, and the 
 system of burning widows, have produced rejoinders and 
 explanations, every multiplication of which tends only to 
 exhibit the weakness of the system ; and many who here- 
 tofore reposed the firmest belief in the dogmas of that 
 faith which their ancestors have credited for ages, have 
 now begun to waver. The meritorious exertions of this 
 enlightened Native, are, we trust, only the commence- 
 ment of an uninterrupted series of discussions which 
 will issue in the final establishment of truth, and the con- 
 fusion of error. He has done much ; — he has led the way 
 in bringing to the crucible of public investigation, doc- 
 trines which have received the implicit credence of his 
 countrymen from the remotest antiquity. Thus aided by 
 a division among its internal and natural defenders, the 
 
THE NATIVE PRESS. 159 
 
 attacks on the citadel from without will afford a speedier 
 prospect of capitulation. 
 
 The circumstances in which India is now placed are 
 likewise highly favourable to the successful operation of 
 this powerful instrument. India is not involved in com- 
 plete barbarism like many nations on the American, or 
 the African continent ; — many years of anxious toil and 
 persevering industry must roll over those savages before 
 they can be brought to that degree of civilization in which 
 the press finds the natives of India. This then is so much 
 time saved to the exertions of benevolence. India has 
 already made so considerable a progress in refinement, 
 that we may rank it among the foremost of the nations 
 likely to profit by the press ; — and as we cannot expect 
 that all the nations of the earth will reach the heights of 
 civilization at the same period of time, we may, on a 
 review of the state of this country and the exertions now 
 in progress, confidently predict that it will outstrip many 
 of its competitors and reach the goal before some of them 
 can have made much advance in their career. The coun- 
 try is full of intellect — the powers of the mind have been 
 to a considerable extent unbound, and though at present 
 its faculties are restrained by a blind attachment to what- 
 ever bears the impress of antiquity, it can boast of many 
 advantages to which other nations are strangers. Where 
 among the other nations of the world without the pale of 
 Christendom, shall we discover such proofs of vigorous 
 intellect — such strength and reach of thought, — such re- 
 fined speculations regarding spirit and matter, — such 
 deep and daring researches into the nature of man and 
 even of deity itself? 
 
 The magnitude of the task of enlightening India, is 
 such as to bear us out fully in the idea, that without the 
 aid of a native press, there would have been little hope 
 
160 THE NATIVE PRESS. 
 
 of its being speedily accomplished. Under any plan of 
 improvement which did not include the agency of an in- 
 digenous press, how inadequate would have been even 
 the most liberal subscriptions ! The native press will, 
 however, proceed without foreign aid ; and diffuse light and 
 knowledge without any external support. If the circula- 
 tion of printed works, with the view of creating a love for 
 reading, might be considered of sufficient value to form a 
 component part of any plan for the ameliorating of India, 
 we might esteem the fifty or sixty thousand Rupees which 
 the natives have already expended in the purchase of 
 these indigenous productions, as their subscription to the 
 object of their own civilization. The sum may at present 
 appear small, since a greater may be raised in a year 
 among Europeans ; but should native works increase ten- 
 fold in a few years, (and why should they not?) the con- 
 tributions of the natives will speedily outweigh those of 
 Europeans, and gradually attain so great a magnitude as 
 to leave far behind all the sums which Europeans can 
 possibly expend in endeavouring to improve the country ; 
 and the facility of reading the printed character, with the 
 increased love of reading produced by the circulation of a 
 Hundred Thousand volumes, will undoubtedly be equal in 
 value to any other means of improvement which should 
 involve an expenditure equal to the purchase of these 
 books. It is not moreover to be supposed that Europeans 
 will be inactive while natives are active ; on the contrary 
 it may be expected that the exertions of the natives, com- 
 bined with the additional facility of a native press, will 
 animate the depositaries of European knowledge and 
 science to increasing vigour and activity; and induce 
 them to use every exertion to regulate the public taste, 
 and raise it to the true standard of excellence. Hence, if 
 the natives print a hundred thousand volumes of fables at 
 
THE NATIVE PRESS. 161 
 
 first, the next hundred thousand volumes will assuredly 
 be of a higher cast : and if they cloy the taste for fiction, 
 it will be done at their own expense ; and thus the first, 
 the most arduous, and the most expensive task — that of 
 refining the original mass and bringing it into some kind 
 of shape and consistency, will be accomplished without 
 any disbursement of funds subscribed directly towards 
 the improvement of the country. 
 
 Should any object to these ideas, the slow progress 
 already made in printing, and the slender prospect of in- 
 creasing speed, we would beg leave to remind them that 
 we do not consider these ten or fifteen thousand volumes 
 in any other light than as an anticipation of what may, 
 and doubtless will, be accomplished in the lapse of years 
 — or contend that these works will regenerate the country 
 with the rapidity of an electric shock. The press has a 
 natural tendency to multiply its productions; when it has 
 not been violently restrained by public authority, it has 
 gradually done this in every country. If we need an ex- 
 ample to substantiate the position, it is afforded by our 
 own country. We had the press a hundred years before 
 we possessed a Newspaper; and a newspaper nearly a 
 hundred and fifty years before we had a Magazine. The 
 circulation of books in the reign of Charles the First was 
 but limited and scanty, compared with the present demand 
 for them ; and there are many now living who may re- 
 member, that within the last fifty years, the number of 
 books printed and sold has at least been doubled. The 
 increase of population in England, however, will not fully 
 account for this increase, as the number of works has in- 
 creased in a much greater proportion. The fact is, that 
 the reading population has increased ; — it has been on the 
 increase ever since the first printing-office was set up in 
 Europe, and it will increase in every country into which a 
 
 M 
 
162 THE NATIVE PRESS. 
 
 press is introduced. Compared with the present diffusion 
 of works in England, we acknowledge that our Indian one 
 per cent, is but as a drop to the ocean. But this is not a 
 fair criterion ; we should compare the progress made in 
 this country with the progress made in England in the 
 days of Edward the Fourth, within twenty years after 
 Caxton set the first types in England. We must compare 
 the present circulation of works, the present number of 
 readers in India, with the state of things twenty years 
 ago. We shall then find that the commencement which 
 has been made is highly promising, and that if works in 
 India multiply in the same proportion in which they have 
 multiplied in other countries, there is a certain prospect of 
 a speedy and sensible amelioration of its inhabitants. — 
 And can any thing be conceived grander than the gra- 
 dual liberation of the human mind from prejudice and 
 error throughout these extensive regions ? or any thing 
 more exhilarating to the benevolent mind than the gra- 
 dual abandonment, through free discussion, of those 
 erroneous principles which have for ages entailed moral 
 degradation on so large a portion of our fellow-creatures ? 
 Had no other event followed from our arrival in the East 
 than the introduction of a Press among the Natives, we 
 should have conferred a boon on India for which gene- 
 rations yet unborn must bless the British name. 
 
 % 
 
VIII. 
 
 ON THE STATE OF FEMALE SOCIETY 
 IN INDIA.* 
 
 Of the superior advantages which have raised the na- 
 tions of Christendom to so high a pre-eminence above all 
 others, there is none of greater prominence and greater 
 importance than the cultivation of the female mind, and the 
 elevation of woman to her just rank and dignity in society. 
 Among all other nations, whether Pagan or Mahometan, 
 the female sex is held in a state of degradation, and in no 
 instance allowed to share in those privileges which the 
 men reserve exclusively for themselves. A considerable 
 difference of practice, however, prevails among these na- 
 tions ; and, though in them all, the same leading features 
 mark the condition of the fair sex, there are countries 
 where they enjoy greater freedom than in others. To the 
 East of Hindoost'han, women are not excluded from the 
 general intercourse of society to the same degree as among 
 those who adhere to Hindoo polytheism. A wide survey 
 of the various tribes of India, would probably occasion 
 another subdivision, and lead to the discovery of a more 
 magnanimous conduct towards the fair sex in some of its 
 provinces ; — the result of this survey would however place 
 the natives of Bengal the lowest in the scale of generosity 
 in their treatment of the female sex. We propose in the 
 
 * Friend of India, Quarterly Series, No. II. p. 182. 
 
 M 2 
 
 
I 
 
 
 164 FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 
 
 following pages to take up this subject, and to examine 
 the state of female education and employment, the treat- 
 ment they receive, and the estimation in which they are 
 held, in the lower provinces, as far as our opportunities of 
 observation have extended. 
 
 In order to form a just idea of the state of female so- 
 ciety in Bengal, it will be necessary to trace the character 
 of Hindoo women in its original formation, and to exa- 
 mine the nature and extent of the care bestowed on them 
 in the season of early youth. The importance which the 
 inhabitants of Europe attach to a sound and judicious 
 education, especially with regard to the female sex, is 
 founded on the unerring deductions of reason and expe- 
 rience. Without it, the whole frame of modern society, 
 so superior to any thing the world has previously witness- 
 ed, would quickly lose its dignity and refinement. What 
 idea are we to form, then, of the state of society in India, 
 where the education of females is invariably and systema- 
 tically neglected — where not one female in twenty thou- 
 sand, among the rich or the poor, the honourable or the 
 ignoble, is ever permitted to acquire the smallest idea of 
 letters — where the book of knowledge is as effectually 
 closed upon them as though the alphabet were unknown 
 in the country ? As there are no circumstances to mollify 
 the effects of this absence of education, we may leave it 
 with our readers to estimate, from a retrospect of the inva- 
 luable blessings which the cultivation of the female mind 
 in England has conferred on us, what must be the baneful 
 effects of an opposite system in this country. 
 
 The excuse with which the natives attempt to palliate 
 this ruinous omission is, primarily, the prohibition of their 
 sacred books. A still stronger reason exists, however, in 
 their own licentious character. Even the present system 
 of excluding females from a knowledge of books and men, 
 
FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 165 
 
 is found scarcely sufficient to restrain them within the 
 bounds of propriety. To what extent would not immo- 
 rality be carried, then, if greater facility for secret intrigue 
 were afforded them, by a knowledge of reading and writ- 
 ing! Such is, in reality, their reasoning; and it is upon 
 this foundation, rather than upon a veneration for the books 
 esteemed sacred, that the exclusive system leans for sup- 
 port. Ignorance is by them considered as the only safe- 
 guard of virtue, and women must not read, lest they should 
 become more vicious. 
 
 The natives contemplate the birth of a daughter with 
 far less satisfaction than the birth of a son, more care and 
 attention being requisite to secure her early settlement in 
 life, and more disgrace being attached to delay. Hence 
 her parents are occupied with solicitude on this subject 
 from the moment of her birth; and at the time when in ci- 
 vilized countries her education would commence, arrange- 
 ments are in progress in India for her marriage. The 
 young female is therefore not only deprived of every op- 
 portunity for mental cultivation, but is snatched at an 
 early period from all the benefit of paternal instruction. 
 Long before her intellectual faculties are matured, she is 
 buried in domestic avocations, to the loss of all future 
 hope of improvement. Subjected to no course of rigid 
 discipline, and, except in the unimportant vagaries of 
 childhood, to no parental direction, she is dismissed into 
 life, and becomes mistress of her own actions with all 
 those evil propensities in full vigour which inevitably 
 entail misery ; for though she continues at home for some 
 time after her marriage, her parents have parted with the 
 power, and perhaps with the wish, of correcting her fol- 
 lies. Thus she takes her station in life years before she 
 is fitted for it, and is elevated to the state of a wife amidst 
 the follies of infancy. 
 
I 
 
 166 FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 
 
 It is melancholy to reflect on the early extinction of 
 happiness which this system occasions. In the life of a 
 female, what season is more calculated for enjoyment than 
 that which elapses between the period when her mind 
 begins to expand, and that of her entering upon the 
 severer duties of life? At this season every thing wears 
 an aspect of gaiety and loveliness ; the absence of care 
 induces the highest cheerfulness, and gives free scope for 
 the enjoyment of that unalloyed felicity, which comes 
 but at one season of life. The pleasure which a married 
 state affords from a conscientious performance of its 
 duties, however serene in its nature, is still tempered with 
 the burden of its cares. In India, this season of youthful 
 enjoyment comes not for the female: scarcely has she 
 time to look abroad, and inhale the sweetness of life, ere 
 she is plunged into the rigid duties and severities con- 
 nected with Indian wedlock. At the early age of six or 
 seven, her happiness is often sacrificed at the shrine of 
 family honour, while she herself is an unconscious spec- 
 tator of the transaction. 
 
 The effect of the ignorance to which they are aban- 
 doned, is such as might be expected. Hindoo women 
 are far more superstitious than the men, and greatly ex- 
 ceed them in attachment to the popular idolatry. Se- 
 cluded from society except on high festivals, when they 
 view only a large and tumultuous assembly, they are de- 
 prived of all that relief from the rigidity of the Hindoo 
 Institutions, which the men derive from mingling in 
 society and becoming familiar with that scepticism which, 
 in idolatrous countries, modifies the observance of reli- 
 gious injunctions. Of those who attend the great festi- 
 vals, the majority are women; of those who visit the 
 idols when they hold their annual levee, the majority of 
 devotees are women ; women too form the great body of 
 
FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 167 
 
 those who leave their domestic avocations, and undertake 
 distant journeys for religious purposes. Their belief in 
 spirits, ghosts, omens, and the like, is much stronger 
 than that of the other sex, and forms a source of per- 
 petual distraction. The precautions they adopt for the 
 preservation of their offspring from supernatural influence 
 are endless, any enumeration of which would only create 
 a smile tempered with pity for the folly of human nature, 
 which, not content with the inevitable evils of life, is 
 perpetually seeking new sources of disquietude, in the 
 boundless regions of imagination. 
 
 No consideration enters into the negotiation of mar- 
 riages, but the convenience of the high contracting 
 powers ; and with them the increase of family distinction, 
 of wealth, or of importance in society, balances the scale. 
 Instead of endeavouring to detain his daughter under his 
 roof that he may enjoy the solace of her society, the chief 
 solicitude of the parent is, to get rid of her as speedily as 
 possible; for as she can marry but once, his duty towards 
 her, as well as all further anxiety on her account, termi- 
 nates when she is once fairly off his hands. Her welfare 
 and happiness form but a secondary consideration in his 
 calculation. If the proposed match be likely to augment 
 the joint stock of family honour, little enquiry is made 
 relative to the disposition of the destined bridegroom, 
 and scarcely any examination of the state of the 
 circle into which the damsel is to be introduced, to 
 ascertain whether the connection is likely to ensure hap- 
 piness or misery. She has no voice in the transaction, 
 no veto on the bargain, but is delivered over like an irra- 
 tional creature into the hands of her future master, who, 
 for aught she can divine, may prove an inexorable tyrant. 
 Thus the most important sera in life passes by, and her 
 destiny is unalterably fixed, before she is of an age to form 
 
168 FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 
 
 any idea on the subject. Before the nuptial bond is 
 fixed, she is denied the privilege of seeing her future 
 partner, or of conversing with him for a single moment, 
 that she may discover the tendency of his habits and 
 propensities ; she enters on life with her eyes closed, 
 and with all the chances of happiness against her. 
 
 Hindoo matches are generally unhappy ; indeed it is 
 impossible they should be otherwise, when two individuals 
 are united in marriage without the slightest reference to 
 a congeniality of disposition. That which among the 
 nations of Europe forms the strongest bond of the nuptial 
 union— that uniformity of taste, and feeling, and dispo- 
 sition, which blends the affections of the wedded pair — 
 those moral feelings which sanctify the connection, and 
 impart to the connubial state a dignity suited to the high 
 destinies of man, — all this is unknown in these eastern 
 climes. With us the most tender and amiable feelings 
 precede the union ; with the Hindoos, the union is ac- 
 companied only with that giddy pleasure with which 
 children behold a raree-show. With us women are im- 
 mediately elevated to an equal participation of privileges 
 with the husband ; — with the Hindoos every action of life 
 tends to teach the female, how vast, how completely 
 insurmountable, is the distance between the wife and her 
 husband ; a distance which no affection however tender, 
 no devotion however entire, can completely remove. In 
 these circumstances the female has little prospect of a 
 suitable return for the kindest and most generous affec- 
 tion. Instances of solid union and unalloyed happiness 
 are rare indeed. Where their mutual dispositions might 
 render this probable, the haughty superiority of the men 
 extinguishes that delicate sensibility which must form an 
 ingredient in every happy union. 
 
 We will now follow the female into the family circle, 
 
FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 1C9 
 
 where she is to spend the remainder of her days ; in which 
 the very first act is calculated to strike the imagination 
 like the bolt of the first door on the unfortunate victim 
 of the Inquisition. The elder members assemble to view 
 her face for the first — and for the last time, till it has lost 
 its mortal hue. The new-married female is conducted 
 into the room, where she sits like a statue, with her face 
 concealed beneath a veil, till it be lifted up by one of her 
 own sex. She then closes her eyes, and stretches forth 
 her hands to receive the presents of the elder male 
 branches of the family, together with their benedictions. 
 After this ceremony, she retires to her own apartment, 
 and commences a life of seclusion and inanity. Though 
 living under the same roof with her father-in-law and her 
 husband's brethren, she is never permitted to converse 
 with any of them for a moment ; and if by any accident 
 they happen to cross her path, she veils her countenance 
 as if in the presence of a stranger. With the junior 
 branches of the family she may converse while they re- 
 main children ; but all intercourse ceases when they 
 attain a mature age. Her father-in-law never mentions 
 her name in the family, and enquires after her welfare 
 only by stealth. There is no general family intercourse; 
 — the two sexes are as effectually separated as they would 
 be by stone walls. The life of social intercourse is absent 
 in these comfortless abodes ; there are no affectionate 
 greetings in the morning, no tender valedictions at the 
 close of the day. Their meals are partaken separately; 
 the men and the women, each by themselves ; with this 
 difference, that the women wait on the men during their 
 repast, though with their cloth drawn over their faces. 
 During these hours there is no notice taken of the females 
 who wait so assiduously on their lords, except when food 
 or water is required. Even then, they are never ad- 
 
170 FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 
 
 dressed in that affectionate language which might soften 
 the asperity of their employment; but in an indirect man- 
 ner, with a simple notice that more food is required, or 
 that such an one is idle, or that it would be advantageous 
 to replenish his dish. No entreaties can prevail on a 
 woman among the higher classes to eat in the presence of 
 her husband, even when alone with him. How different 
 this state of society to that which our immortal bard has 
 described in the bowers of Paradise! how wide a contrast 
 between European social enjoyment even in affliction, 
 and the coldness of Hindoo manners at the most festive 
 hour of the day ! 
 
 In her own house the wife is seldom treated with unre- 
 served confidence, while every thing which meets her 
 eyes, the lofty walls surrounding the house, the small 
 windows, grated to prevent her thrusting her head through 
 them, the evident separation of her apartment so as to 
 exclude the possibility of intercourse, — all these things, 
 however natural to her mind from her having been accus- 
 tomed to nothing else from her childhood, cannot fail to 
 remind her of the suspicion which pursues her conduct. 
 Among the higher classes, where we might expect more 
 liberality, we find less. Women are not permitted to pay 
 or to receive visits, and never leave home except for the 
 house of a relative, and even these journeys are rare, and 
 attended with much anxiety. In European society we 
 esteem unlimited confidence between the husband and the 
 wife one of the greatest enjoyments of the connubial 
 state, yea essential to the welfare of the family and the 
 education of the children. But with the symbols and the 
 practice of this suspicious system constantly before his 
 eyes, how is it possible for a son to grow up with that 
 reverential regard to his mother which ought to consti- 
 tute the leading emotions of the youthful mind ? How 
 
FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 171 
 
 can be liberate his mind from those undutiful feelings 
 which this jealousy must create ? Is he not hereby early 
 initiated into the rudiments of domestic tyranny, and by 
 his familiarity with the restraints under which his mother 
 labours, prepared to practise the same rigour towards the 
 defenceless female who will be placed at a premature 
 a^e under his own domination ? 
 
 o 
 
 Of the employment of females at home, it is more diffi- 
 cult to speak; it is, however, easy to imagine, that with- 
 out books, without any useful employment, and without 
 any relief from visits, time must hang heavy on their 
 hands. Those in the lower walks of life prepare cow- 
 dung for fuel, fetch water for all domestic purposes, 
 make purchases in the market, and, in short, attend to all 
 the drudgery of the family. In the higher circles, where 
 these cares devolve on menials, women pass a listless, 
 uninteresting life, without diversity and without enjoy- 
 ment. According to the best information we can obtain 
 on the subject, a wife devotes one portion of the day to 
 the combing of her hair, and to the adorning of her per- 
 son with jewels and splendid attire which excite the envy 
 of the less favoured female relatives inhabiting the same 
 inclosure. Listening to slander serves to fill up the in- 
 terstices of her time. This is the highest species of hap- 
 piness which Hindoo women enjoy ; it is the balm which 
 relieves life of its tedium. The faults, the follies, the 
 singularities of neighbouring families, are all re-echoed 
 through these secluded chambers in a ceaseless round. 
 There is no judicious disposition of time, no attempt to 
 occupy the hours of the day with elegant amusements. 
 Even the sphere of their benevolence is contracted. In 
 the absence of every other occupation, one might fancy 
 the most agreeable employment of their ample leisure in 
 relieving the wants of others. But where the women are 
 
172 FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 
 
 secluded from all society, and may not look through the 
 window, how can these feelings find utterance ? In the 
 narrow limits of their own dwelling, there are individuals 
 whose couch they must not attend in sickness, — whose 
 sorrows they must not alleviate, however valuable their 
 skill, assistance, or sympathy might prove. When with 
 their husbands, the conversation never turns on subjects 
 calculated to elevate the mind, or to elicit dignified S en- 
 timents. After his marriage, it never enters into the 
 mind of a native to instruct his almost infant wife, to 
 improve her understanding, to raise the tone of her ideas, 
 and to render her a fit companion for his social hours. 
 Her ignorance of every thing beyond the circle of her 
 own village or neighbourhood, prevents her advising him 
 on the concerns of life, or her supporting his mind when 
 burdened with a weight of cares, or sunk beneath the 
 influence of adversity. Thus whichever way we turn, we 
 behold the Hindoo female placed in the most degrading 
 circumstances. Deprived of the society of the wise and 
 the experienced, her judgment is stationary for life, and 
 her ideas inevitably low and grovelling. In her family 
 circle she is deprived of the enlivening conversation of 
 her own relatives, who might mingle with the wisdom of 
 age all that suavity which her youth and cheerfulness 
 would inspire, — and cut off from engaging in those sweet 
 charities, whether of a pecuniary or a mental nature, 
 which bless both the receiver and the giver. 
 
 Native families are fond of living together, and will 
 submit to many privations before they relinquish the seat 
 of their ancestors. In addition to the natural attachment 
 which endears the spot on which they have grown from 
 iufancy to manhood, the shastras sanction the highest 
 regard of it, by declaring the place of one's nativity equal 
 to a seat in heaven, and by directing the religious devo- 
 
FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 173 
 
 tee, after he has forsaken the world, and renounced the 
 remembrance of his relatives, to visit this spot once after 
 taking his religious vows. A considerable share of influ- 
 ence and respect likewise falls to the lot of families who 
 thus continue together. Influenced by these ideas, thou- 
 sands who annually quit their families in search of dis- 
 tant employments, prefer the prospect of visiting their 
 homes once a year, to the disadvantages of breaking up 
 the family compact by the removal of their wives and 
 children to the scene of their employment. This system, 
 however, occasions endless feuds and jealousies among 
 the women, and frequently leads to a family separation. 
 Hindoo women are habitually quarrelsome, for which the 
 absence of all employment will furnish a sufficient reason. 
 When thus locked up together, their husbands being in 
 general absent, the causes of contention are numberless, 
 and the contentions themselves bitter. 
 
 To what extent native women are affectionate to their 
 husbands, it is not easy to ascertain, as there is scarcely 
 any avenue through which a foreigner can obtain this 
 knowledge ; but there must assuredly be less ardent 
 affection, and more solid misery among the majority of 
 Hindoo families, than in any European community. The 
 original contract is defective, as the parties are plighted 
 before any affection can have grown up between them. 
 The degradation in which they are afterward retained, 
 and the contempt which they cannot avoid perceiving, are 
 against the supposition of any elevated attachment. 
 Their seclusion from society must likewise tend to pre- 
 vent that affectionate respect which a wide survey of life 
 might create, by the appreciation of any excellence in 
 which their husbands might appear to surpass many of 
 their fellow-countrymen. In proportion to the presence 
 or the absence of civilization, the attachment of the sexes 
 
174 FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 
 
 seems to partake of a refined character, or the reverse. 
 Now as it would be difficult to conceive of a being more 
 debased in her understanding or contracted in her views 
 than are Hindoo women in general, except perhaps among 
 the naked savages of the isles of the Pacific, we may 
 without hazard determine in which class to rank the 
 nature of her attachment. The peculiar circumstances 
 in which a Hindoo woman is placed, must indeed secure 
 her affections in some degree. Her husband is her sole 
 refuge in this world: his death is only the commence- 
 ment of severer afflictions ; since, if she does not extinguish 
 life to follow him to the regions of fancied enjoyment, she 
 cannot marry again, but must return to her dwelling be- 
 reft of her only shield against the contempt of her rela- 
 tives and friends, to drag out a miserable existence amidst 
 abstinence, disgrace, and misery. His life must therefore 
 appear to her of inestimable value ; though we cannot 
 pretend to say how far these circumstances may induce a 
 firm attachment. 
 
 The affection of the men towards their wives, is more 
 easily ascertained. Among the innumerable adventitious 
 marriages of the country it is possible that in some few 
 cases a congeniality of disposition may happen to subsist 
 between the two parties, and that a consequent degree of 
 happiness may fall to their share. Where this is the case, 
 however, the attachment is not of the same refined castas 
 in Europe; but is greatly diminished by those latent 
 feelings of superiority which nothing can completely 
 eradicate. In Bengal a man marries for his own conve- 
 nience, without any view to his wife's happiness. With 
 us the wife shares the unbounded affection of her hus- 
 band, enjoys his highest esteem, and is a co-partner in all 
 domestic affairs; — with a Hindoo his wife is only a part 
 of his household furniture. As strangers are not permit- 
 
FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 175 
 
 ted to enter into the families of the natives, we must judge 
 of the affection of the hushand chiefly from those outward 
 actions which indicate the feelings of the mind. Weighed 
 in this balance, the Hindoo will be found wanting. 
 Where the most ardent attachment has been outwardly 
 professed, the husband, on the death of his wife, hastens 
 in search of another, frequently the very day after the 
 performance of her funeral rites, making no scruple to 
 employ the articles which have been saved from the feast 
 of woe, in furnishing the bridal entertainment. The wait- 
 ings of grief have scarcely subsided, before the same walls 
 resound with the songs of merriment. No time is de- 
 voted to those reflections which the loss of so tender a 
 connection ought, to inspire ; no time is allowed for those 
 considerations of the vanity of mortal pursuits, and the 
 slender texture of mortal relations, which, in these me- 
 lancholy moments, tend to lift the soul above earthly 
 concerns. The wife of his bosom is burnt to ashes and 
 forgotten, and the husband hastens with cold insensibility 
 to supply the gap created in his family. Where second 
 and succeeding marriages are delayed, the delay does not 
 originate in the absence of inclination, but in the want of 
 means. How can we suppose, on beholding such a 
 scene, that any powerful attachment exists between the 
 parties ? Could any man of sensibility hasten with such 
 rapidity to forget one whom he tenderly loved? And are 
 we not sanctioned in supposing, that, in general, the cha- 
 racter of Hindoo attachments is any thing rather than 
 ardent and elevated ? The terms of condolence employed 
 by friends and relatives on these occasions serve to con- 
 firm these suspicions. Instead of bewailing the loss of 
 the widower, and recountinsf the virtues of his deceased 
 wife, instead of attempting to assuage his grief by every 
 variety of consolation, the discourse even in his presence 
 
176 FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 
 
 turns on the nature of his next choice, the pecuniary em- 
 barrassments it may occasion, and other considerations of 
 a similar nature, uttered in such a tone of careless gaiety, 
 as would, among those who really felt the loss of the 
 object, render the affliction ten times more poignant. 
 
 In general society, women enjoy no consideration, but 
 are invariably spoken of in terms of levity. Except in 
 the article of marriage, where they are considered import- 
 ant, the whole business of life is conducted by the men, 
 as though the other sex formed no component part of 
 society. Nothing can be considered more contemptuous 
 than to hint that a man is influenced by the advice of his 
 wife ; and to characterize any opinion as coming from the 
 fair sex, is to consign it to ridicule. To such a pitch of 
 refinement have the natives carried their habitual dises- 
 teem for women, that the names which designate the re- 
 latives of a wife have grown up into terms of reproach. 
 The exclusion of females from the society of men, removes 
 every restraint, and enables them to indulge in the most 
 contemptuous epithets without the fear of reproof. The 
 whole current of conversation, therefore, not only mani- 
 fests the complete degradation of the fair sex, but the 
 satisfaction which the men enjoy in its continuance. It 
 is easy to conceive how unhappy must be the effect of this 
 system on females ; as it effectually precludes them from 
 all chance of elevation, the least attempt at which would 
 draw down on them the indignation of the stronger party. 
 Equally pernicious are its effects on the character and 
 morals of the other sex ; and if any proof were needed to 
 demonstrate how much the refinement and dignity of 
 Europe is to be attributed to the free admission of women 
 into society, we should find one of the most convincing 
 nature in this country where we have all the inconveni- 
 
FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 177 
 
 ences and evils which their exclusion inflicts, brought be- 
 fore our eyes. 
 
 The Hindoos are extremely fond of social meetings. 
 Debarred in a great measure from communication with 
 the female branches of their family, they are obliged to 
 consort together for amusement after the business of the 
 day has terminated. But women never attend these par- 
 ties ; indeed they could not with any regard to decency 
 be present, as the conversation is in general so grossly 
 indecent, that no female could listen to it for a moment 
 without a sacrifice of her dignity. General conversation 
 among the Hindoos is so immoral, that no native of re- 
 spectability would permit his wife or his daughter to con- 
 tinue within the sound of that discourse which he himself 
 sanctions with his approbation, and frequently with his 
 personal assistance. If we follow the man who assumes 
 the highest sanctity of character in our presence, into the 
 social parties of the evening, we shall find him joining in 
 conversation which he ought to overawe with a frown. 
 Instances of a stern and inflexible discountenance of 
 impurity, are exceedingly rare : so deep indeed does this 
 national defilement descend, that no meeting seems to 
 possess any zest, from which indecorous allusions are ex- 
 cluded. The man venerable for age, though his presence 
 may sometimes confound the youthful debauchee, seldom 
 corrects his impure sallies, and not unfrequently joins in 
 the general laugh, long after the phrenzy of his passions 
 has ceased. Now we cannot conceive that in any state 
 of society, however degraded, such conversation would be 
 tolerated in the presence of females. Their admission 
 into social meetings would immediately exclude every 
 degree of indecency during their continuance ; and would 
 tend to render conversation more pure during their ab- 
 
 N 
 
178 FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 
 
 sence ; — and their exclusion has perhaps contributed to 
 demoralize the country as much as any other single cir- 
 cumstance. These social meetings, which one may see in 
 every village, at present only nourish immorality, and in- 
 vigorate all the vicious propensities of the mind. The 
 ingenuity displayed on these occasions is astonishing. 
 Independently of the broad indelicacy in which the lan- 
 guage is so peculiarly fruitful, there is scarcely a single 
 expression, in its own nature innocent, which is not dis- 
 torted to some licentious allusion. The interests of 
 youth and the gravity of age are equally unavailing to 
 restrain this corruption of language. The father reproves 
 not his guest for indulging in expressions which tend to 
 ruin the morals of his children who are present ; the elder 
 brother interposes no check to the corruption of his 
 younger relatives. Thus the youth of the country are 
 surrounded, from their earliest years, with all that is im- 
 pure in conduct, and immoral in conversation, and are 
 ripe in iniquity long before they are ripe in reason and 
 judgment. In these circumstances, when religion itself, 
 the source of all superior influence, is the very hot-bed 
 of vice, — when the tongue of the aged is silent, — the 
 restraint of female society effectually removed, — and 
 when youth imbibes its earliest ideas amidst the con- 
 tamination of brutal obscenity, is it matter of surprise 
 that the flood-gates of iniquity should be opened on 
 this land ; and that the strong current of immorality 
 should overwhelm the feeble barriers of conscience 
 and reason? 
 
 Equally injurious is this exclusive and degrading sys- 
 tem to the interests of the rising generation. It may be 
 easily supposed from the preceding observations that the 
 husband is not likely to consult his wife respecting the 
 education of his children. There is between them no 
 
FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 179 
 
 association of each other's services in this pleasing em- 
 ploy ; no regular plan digested with care and pursued 
 with diligence, and no mutual support of each other's 
 authority. The children, previously to being sent to 
 school, are permitted to wander into every youthful vice ; 
 and the profligacy of their language, before they under- 
 stand the precise meaning of the terms they employ, is 
 sufficient to shock the feelings. This pliant age, when 
 the first seeds of vice might be eradicated with ease, is 
 passed over in total neglect on the part of the mother. 
 Her ignorance is a disadvantage for which nothing can 
 compensate. She is disqualified from undertaking the 
 agreeable duty of initiating her offspring into the first 
 rudiments of knowledge ; — nothing indeed can be farther 
 from her imagination than the idea of devoting her time 
 to their education. She knows nothing of books, and as 
 little of mankind ; how then can she impart to her son 
 that instruction which may form his mind, or those les- 
 sons of conduct which shall shield him from danger 
 amidst the busy scenes of a treacherous world ? Of the 
 effect of this maternal counsel and solicitude let those 
 judge who have really enjoyed them. They follow us 
 through life with the efficacy of a second conscience; 
 in times of temptation, they exert over us the influence 
 of a guardian angel ; and frequently, when dead to every 
 other feeling, one tender recollection of maternal advice 
 shall dart across the mind, and arrest the impetuous 
 progress of impiety and iniquity. But how can a Hin- 
 doo mother, who has never been admitted into society 
 — who has never heard the conversation of men, — who 
 has never seen the face of one foreign to her family but 
 by accident or stealth, fulfil all these duties ? How 
 shall she, who knows nothing of the ways of men, 
 impart to her son rules for his guidance in society? 
 
 n2 
 
180 FEMALE SOCIETY IX INDIA. 
 
 That the Hindoo female possesses natural affection no 
 one will question; but it resembles too strongly the affec- 
 tion of an irrational being towards its young, and con- 
 centrates all anxiety, not so much in the welfare of her 
 offspring, as in the desire of seeing, and feeling, and 
 handling them. In the spirit of this disposition she con- 
 siders every chastisement as excessively severe, and 
 interposes her authority between her son and the whole- 
 some discipline which her husband may judge expedient. 
 Two parties are thus formed in the house, amidst whose 
 contentions the youth grows up in a disrespect of all 
 restraint ; and that authority which, if united, might have 
 produced the most salutary effects, by its disunion occa- 
 sions the most serious disadvantages, and inspires the 
 son with a dislike of his father, and an inordinate attach- 
 ment to his mother who shields him from deserved pu- 
 nishment. 
 
 From the early records of Hindoost'han there is strong 
 reason to conclude that in ancient times many of the 
 odious peculiarities in the present system of educating 
 and marrying females had no existence ; that women, at 
 least the daughters of kings and the wives of heroes, 
 were taught to read ; and that their own inclination, not 
 that of their parents, influenced the selection of husbands. 
 In the historical records of the Rainayuna, the Mwhab- 
 harata, and the Pooranos, we meet with no heroine in 
 the disgraceful situation of modern females. They are 
 generally represented as deeply skilled in learning, often 
 willing to display their attainments, and not averse to 
 a combat of skill with the other sex. Nay, in many 
 cases, they enjoin a literary victory over themselves, as 
 the only price at which the suitor can expect success. 
 The spirit of that age must have been much more liberal 
 than that of modern times; since few writers who courted 
 
FEMALE SOCIETY/ IN INDIA. 181 
 
 the attention of their fellow-countrymen, would have 
 ventured on so bold a departure from popular practice. 
 And though the heroines of the song were the daughters 
 and relatives of monarchs, no one who estimates the 
 power of influence which irresistibly draws the lower 
 orders into a servile imitation of their superiors, will 
 conclude that a knowledge of letters was then confined 
 to palaces, or that a practice which received the praise of 
 poets and the sanction of princes, was not in some de- 
 gree of general application. A different spirit must have 
 animated the ancestors of the Hindoos, to have produced 
 such splendid results of the cultivation of female intel- 
 lect as exist on record. The contempt with which they 
 are at present treated, could scarcely have existed in an 
 age which owed some of its literary splendour to their 
 compositions. Nor can we suppose, that the female 
 authors of that period were the only individuals of their 
 sex to whom a knowledge of letters was communicated ; 
 the beneficial result of granting them an education, 
 must have contributed to render the practice more 
 general. 
 
 These ancient historians also permit their heroines te 
 select their own husbands. The father is generally re- 
 presented as proclaiming a Suyumhura, for the sake of 
 his daughter's obtaining a self-selected consort. To the 
 assembly which was held for this purpose, kings and 
 heroes resort from the adjacent countries to prefer their 
 claims to her hand. We deduce from this practice that 
 females were not married during their infancy, but were 
 permitted to grow up to maturity under the care of their 
 parents and the instructions of their preceptors. Ad- 
 mitting that a splendid Suyumbura was too expensive for 
 the cottage, we may conclude that the example of the 
 higher ranks exerted the same influence over the lower 
 
182 FEMALE SOCIETY IK INDIA. 
 
 orders in those ancient times which it does at present. 
 Though the farmer, therefore, might have been unable 
 to attract the notice of sovereigns, and of valorous men, 
 he might still, in imitation of the practice of his su- 
 periors, have permitted his daughter to exercise her own 
 choice. The ancient manners were undoubtedly less 
 odious than the present, and far more favourable to the 
 peace, welfare, and comfort of the inhabitants. What 
 Hindoo in this iron age, however distinguished by wealth, 
 birth, or influence, would venture to depart from the per- 
 nicious practice now in use, or attempt to revive the more 
 generous mode of ancient times by bestowing his daughter, 
 as Alexander did his empire, on the most worthy ? 
 
 One innovation which has probably led to the desue- 
 tude of the ancient practice, may be found in the almost 
 endless subdivisions of the native population into family 
 tribes ; which in the article of marriages occasions nearly 
 as much trouble and perplexity, as the contraction of mar- 
 riages among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. Tn 
 the days of Hindoo prosperity a much greater latitude pre- 
 vailed : a brahmwn married his daughter to any brahman ; 
 a kshetiTyfl, a vishnwva, and a shoodra, selected a bride 
 from among any of the numberless families of his own di- 
 vision. But times are altered in Bengal, since Bullal- 
 shena, the sovereign of Gour, whom every unmarried brah- 
 mwn vilifies, subdivided eash caste into families, which in 
 the lapse of time have grown up into distinct tribes. A 
 brahmwn, in affiancing his daughter, has now to search for 
 a bridegroom only among the members of his own section 
 of the brahmanic tribe ; among whom, some are too con- 
 temptible for his alliance, and some too elevated in ances- 
 tral dignity. It is therefore among only a very small num- 
 ber of families that he can expect to find a suitable match 
 for his son or daughter. This difficulty is not confined to 
 
FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 183 
 
 the priesthood ; all the divisions of the people have their 
 subdivisions, among whom, in their turn, the families are 
 distinctly ranked in popular estimation, as among the 
 higher, middling, or lower ranks. Under this economy, 
 to what purpose should a rich and respectable native be- 
 stow the highest accomplishments on his daughter, when- 
 she will be married, in all probability, to some ignorant and 
 indigent youth, without one virtue to recommend him, 
 simply because his family may happen to possess higher 
 claims of birth, and who, issuing from the dregs of vulgarity, 
 is brought forward to elevate the family of his father-in-law, 
 and to live during the remainder of his life a pensioner on 
 his bounty ? For this ignoble alliance, what accomplish- 
 ments are needed ? To shine in the obscure chronicle of 
 an insignificant tribe, what need of those endowments, 
 which would be necessary if a desire to perpetuate the 
 natural aristocracy of wealth formed the basis of marriage 
 contracts, among those who have raised themselves into 
 opulence and respectability ? On the present system, the 
 daughter of a rich native is buried in almost equal obscu- 
 rity with the daughter of one of his servants : the only in- 
 dividuals whom his alliance interests, being the members 
 of his own family section, who are generally indigent, and 
 possibly scattered among a dozen villages. To raise the 
 scale of female accomplishments without altering the plan 
 of matrimonial alliances, would be a mere waste of labour. 
 There is, perhaps, no youth in the country, however splen- 
 did his prospective inheritance, for whom his father would 
 not prefer the daughter of a poor villager, if accidentally 
 distinguished in the quality of birth, to the daughter of a 
 rich neighbour, though endowed with the most attractive 
 qualifications, if only a few degrees lower in the genealogy 
 of the tribe. We cannot affirm that these considerations 
 strongly influence the treatment of daughters ; but it is dif- 
 
184 FEMALE SOCIETY IN INDIA. 
 
 ficult to suppose, that, with this material alteration in the 
 practice of negotiating marriages, a considerable alteration 
 in the mode of educating females should not have crept 
 on the country. Indeed it would be strange if no differ- 
 ence of treatment should exist when a bridegroom might 
 be sought among one-third of the most worthy youth in 
 the country, instead of the selection being limited, as at 
 present, to one hundredth part of the population, and de- 
 cided, not by the presence or absence of wealth, honour, 
 and respectability, but by the adventitious circumstances 
 of a higher or lower descent. It is not probable that the 
 principle of improvement should continue in favour of the 
 softer sex, when no one advantage could be obtained by 
 it ; nor is it strange that among this lethargic people, fe- 
 male education should gradually have dwindled in im- 
 portance, and finally have disappeared, when every advan- 
 tage could be secured without it. 
 
IX. 
 REVIEW OF STRICTURES 
 
 ON THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF HINDOO POLYTHEISM, 
 
 A WORK IN THE BENGALEE LANGUAGE, 
 
 BY BRUJA-MOHUN. 
 
 8vo. pp. 84. without titlepagc, printer's name, or date affixed.* 
 
 In our last Quarterly Number we had occasion to notice 
 the commencement and progress of the Native Press in 
 India, in doing which we expressed a strong hope, that 
 though its first efforts might be confined to the multipli- 
 cation of idle fictions, it would in time work itself pure, 
 and fulfil the expectations which might be formed from a 
 view of the productions of the early literati of India, and 
 the acknowledged keenness of Hindoo intellect ; and that 
 the period would certainly arrive when " works of real 
 utility would be brought into the lists to combat with 
 those of vain amusement." We then had not the most 
 distant idea that we should so soon be called to review a 
 native original work of this description. Such, however, 
 we believe most of our readers, as well as ourselves, will 
 allow the present work to be, though presented to them 
 under all the disadvantages of a translation. It is a mas- 
 terly exposure, by a Native, of the absurdities of the pre- 
 sent Hindoo system. Of its author we have been able to 
 discover no trace beyond his name, with which he has 
 modestly furnished us in the last line of the book. The 
 work, however, bears internal marks of being purely 
 
 * Friend of India, Quarterly Series, No. II. p. 249. 
 
186 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 native, and evidently owes its origin to that flood of light 
 which has been shed abroad in the country within the last 
 few years, although the whole current of reasoning strongly 
 indicates that the writer has scarcely a distant acquaint- 
 ance with the doctrines of Christianity, of which in the 
 present instance he might have made a powerful applica- 
 tion. The arguments with which he combats the present 
 Hindoo system, however, taken in connection with the 
 facts and circumstances by which he supports them, are 
 of so peculiar a stamp, that while many of them are such 
 as a Christian would not have used, there is, perhaps, no 
 European in India who could have thought of them all 
 even after a residence of thirty years. Whether the co- 
 gency of the author's reasoning be considered, or his ex- 
 tensive acquaintance with the popular worship of the Hin- 
 doos, and the original authorities for the dogmas of their 
 faith, it will, we imagine, be esteemed an interesting pub- 
 lication ; but in the whole of the work there is, perhaps, 
 nothing more cheering than his frequent appeals to reason. 
 It is long before mankind bring the errors of their ances- 
 tors to the test of reason ; but when they can once be 
 brought to submit them to this test, to which respecting 
 idolatry the Divine penmen themselves appeal, we may 
 consider the work of amelioration as fairly begun. It was 
 with the errors of tradition, sheltered by the authority of 
 so many ages, that the Reformers had to combat in every 
 argument with their opponents ; and till they succeeded 
 in dragging these forth into the open day of reason and 
 revelation, they accomplished but little. They, however, 
 possessed advantages not yet enjoyed in this field of con- 
 troversy, since both they and their opponents acknow- 
 ledged the Holy Scriptures to be an unerring standard. 
 In Hindoost'han the case is different ; there is no one 
 written standard acknowledged to be unerring by both 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 187 
 
 parties. The appeal to his shastms, with which a native 
 invariably covers himself, must however be set aside 
 before conviction can enter his mind ; as there is no error 
 in doctrine, no abomination in practice, for which some 
 authority may not be quoted from his sacred books ; and 
 till he bow to the authority of the Sacred Scriptures, the 
 appeal must be made to reason alone. 
 
 Our author endeavours throughout this work to shew, 
 that the present practice of the Hindoos is a departure 
 from that of their most ancient sages, whose authority the 
 prevalence of idol worship has been unable to shake*; and 
 in this he succeeds. If, indeed, we needed any thing to 
 demonstrate the invariable tendency of idolatry to plunge 
 every succeeding age deeper in immorality, and with what 
 ease the most offensive rites and the most degrading prac- 
 tices may be engrafted on its corrupt stock, we might find 
 it in this work. The original system of Hindoo metaphy- 
 sics was certainly less degrading than the more modern 
 system of idol worship ; and in appealing to these ancient 
 authorities, our author stands on high vantage-ground. 
 While, however, we rejoice to see the evil of idolatry ex- 
 posed, and its authority invalidated, in any way, unhap- 
 pily these very shastras which hold it up to ridicule incul- 
 cate a system which, amidst all its apparent sublimity, is 
 still unfriendly to the sanctions of morality and the welfare 
 and happiness of mankind. We therefore remark with 
 peculiar satisfaction, that our author's appeals to reason 
 sometimes carry him almost completely off from the an- 
 cient system likewise. If the present system of idolatry 
 may be discomfited by means of these ancient works, no 
 weapon but reason, enlightened by Divine revelation, will 
 reach their doctrines, scarcely less pernicious ; and those 
 which he has wielded against the present system of his 
 countrymen, are even in his- hands almost equally power- 
 
188 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 fill against the doctrine of matter and spirit, the identity 
 of the eternal and incommunicable Deity with the most 
 unworthy of his creatures. As we intend to give very 
 large extracts from this production, we hasten to the 
 work itself, in which we shall do little more than inter- 
 sperse a few occasional observations for the sake of eluci- 
 dating what might otherwise appear obscure. Our author 
 begins thus : 
 
 " Addressing ourselves to those pundits and their 
 friends who, forsaking the worship of the Supreme Being, 
 have adopted the worship of images, we ask them, Why, 
 by regarding inanimate images which possess neither 
 perception, speech, nor motion, as the omniscient, the 
 omnipresent, and omnipotent God, do you expose your- 
 selves to the ridicule of all sensible men ? why do you 
 expose yourselves to derision by regarding extraordinary 
 motions of the mouth, the arms, and fingers, the striking 
 of the feet on the earth, the clapping of hands, songs the 
 most licentious and infamous, and gestures the most abo- 
 minable, as conducive to salvation? 
 
 " If you say that you worship images because the 
 Shastras say ; * He will inevitably be punished in hell who 
 considers the image of the deity as a simple stone ;' and, 
 ' if the image be prepared with skill and beauty, the deity 
 undoubtedly enters it;' we reply, that the very same 
 Pooranas which furnish these authorities, in the follow- 
 ing passages altogether contemn images ; — * All those 
 ignorant persons who regard as God, an image of earth, 
 metal, stone, or wood, subject themselves to bodily 
 misery, and can never obtain final deliverance.' — * He 
 who through ignorance, forsaking me the spirit who per- 
 vades all being, worships an image, is like one who pours 
 the sacrificial fire on ashes.' Here we have a complete 
 contradiction in the Shastras; and to settle the discre- 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 189 
 
 pancy we must adopt one of two modes. The first is, 
 that of recognizing the individuals to whom these opposite 
 modes of worship apply ; those who are permitted to 
 adore an image as God are the ignorant, to the wise it is 
 forbidden ; — here then we have a determinate rule for the 
 worship of God. The shastras and other works have 
 likewise adopted this mode of decision : 'The ignorant 
 adore the deity in wood and earth ; the wise recognize 
 him in the universal spirit.' But the second mode of deci- 
 sion where the shastras are contradictory, is, to receive 
 that opinion which most evidently accords with reason. 
 Thus, if in one place the shastras say, that the image 
 when endowed with divinity is deprived of its material 
 qualities, and in another, that it possesses no divinity at 
 all, we are to enquire which of these opinions appears 
 most reasonable ; and this may be speedily decided by 
 ascertaining whether or not the stone possesses any of 
 the attributes of deity. If by the act of invocation, its 
 qualities of earth or stone have disappeared, and it be 
 endowed with the divine perfections, it certainly possesses 
 divinity ; but if the image may be broken by the hand, 
 or consumed in the fire, those shastras which deny it any 
 thing of divinity, are sound and canonical. 
 
 " If apprehensive lest the image you hold in such vene- 
 ration should break or burn, you reject our second mode 
 of decision which appeals to reason, and admit the first 
 mode, that of classifying the individuals who may, and 
 those who may not worship it, and say that, unable to 
 comprehend the omnipresent deity with your minds, you 
 worship him under the form of an idol, and cheerfully 
 submit to the obloquy which the shastras or men may 
 cast on you; we say, the image must be exceedingly dear 
 to you, when you, knowing with what contempt the 
 shastras treat the ignorant, submit to all this obloquy in 
 
190 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 order to establish your right to worship images. Thus 
 the shastras : f Those who do not the works commanded 
 by the Ved«s, the ignorant, those afflicted with the 
 leprosy, and those who act according to their own incli- 
 nations, are unclean till death.' While, then, you possess 
 the ability of comprehending the Supreme Being, why 
 will you, through a fondness for idols, acknowledge your- 
 selves ignorant? Is it not remarkable that if any one 
 charge you with ignorance respecting the shastras, the 
 affairs of government, or any other matter, you are ready 
 to deprive him of life, since each esteems himself wiser 
 than his neighbours in all these respects ; but that when 
 we touch on the worship of the Supreme Being, you say 
 that your understanding is weak and limited, and you are 
 incompetent to the worship of the Supreme Being on 
 account of its difficulty? Yet, if you weigh the subject, 
 you will fiad that there is nothing attended with more 
 difficulty than the worship of images, which you daily 
 practise. You deem an inanimate image possessed of 
 perception ; you offer food to one who has not the power 
 of eating ; you endeavour, by offering odoriferous flowers, 
 to gratify one who has not the power of smelling. You 
 consider an image of earth or stone as possessed of divi- 
 nity ; hence in winter you clothe it with warm garments 
 to prevent the cold from affecting it, in summer you fan 
 it, and through fear of musquitoes place it beneath cur- 
 tains at night. What can be more difficult than to regard 
 a being as possessed of divinity and at the same time as 
 devoid of divinity ? Yet, owing to constant practice from 
 your childhood, the difficulty does not strike you : just as 
 jugglers by constant practice are able to perform the 
 most difficult exploits with the utmost ease." 
 
 The doctrine which the author here combats, isuniver- 
 sally current among the Hindoos. They believe that 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 191 
 
 while the carpenter is fashioning it, the image is indeed a 
 block of wood ; but that as soon as the brahmwn, whose 
 office it is, repeats certain formulas inviting the deity to 
 enter it, the image ceases to be wood ; the divinity has 
 now made it his residence, and all its former qualities 
 have at once disappeared. This our author terms, the 
 act of invocation ; and combats it with much force in the 
 following paragraphs. 
 
 " If you say you possess evidence, that after inviting 
 the deity to reside in the idol, the deity does actually 
 enter it, hence this evidence ought not to be despised ; 
 we reply, that you and we enjoy the same means of ascer- 
 taining this fact. After the idol has been endowed with 
 divinity, does it not retain precisely the same qualities 
 (of earth, or wood, or stone,) which it possessed before ? 
 Flies and musquitoes annoy it from head to foot, before it 
 receives the divine spirit, and continue to do so after that 
 event ; before the deity's entrance, it would have been 
 broken in pieces had it fallen on the ground, and the 
 same fate would attend it after that event ; it has not the 
 power of eating, or sleeping, or of locomotion either 
 before or afterwards : how then can we affirm that the 
 deity has entered it? — You are accustomed from your 
 infancy, in conformity with popular opinion, to say, that 
 the image smiles, and at other times appears melancholy. 
 Thus, the Garrows, in conformity with popular opinion, 
 are accustomed from their infancy to regard a cat as a 
 deity, and to believe that they perceive various remark- 
 able circumstances attending it. This submission to 
 popular opinion weakens the understanding, and leads 
 mankind into numerous errors. It is astonishing that 
 though you and we can equally perceive evidence on other 
 matters, we cannot agree to believe that the image ever 
 smiles. How can any man of understanding intreat an 
 
192 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 image which has not the power of sight, or motion, or 
 perception, for a son, or for wealth, or for deliverance 
 from disease, and attempt to bribe this dead mass of mat- 
 ter into a compliance with his wishes? — What can be 
 more ridiculous than this ? and yet, though you perceive 
 how many who offer these bribes never obtain the fulfil- 
 ment of their wishes, you continue this system of bribery 
 and worship in spite of the expense and the labour. 
 
 " Should you urge, that many who have petitioned the 
 image, have obtained their desires, and that many who 
 have despised celebrated images, have been visited with 
 the severest afflictions ; we reply, that though many who 
 have prayed to the image have been successful in their 
 pursuits, yet many have been equally successful who 
 never petitioned an image. Our success or failure depends 
 upon the will of the Almighty. Success, moreover, can 
 never be separated from endeavours, which excludes the 
 interposition of the images. We daily see into what a 
 state of anxiety the worshippers of images are plunged, 
 lest its hands or feet should at any time break ! Now if 
 they were convinced that the divinity had actually entered 
 the idol, its worshippers would not be so incessantly 
 anxious on this account. If images of great celebrity 
 had power to destroy those who injured them, — if the idol 
 punished the rats who undermine it or the cockroaches 
 who destroy its colour, or if it drove off and punished 
 the flies, who, after wading through slime and filth, walk 
 over it, we should be the first to believe in its divinity." 
 
 The author next encounters one of the most popular 
 doctrines in the Hindoo system, that the worship of 
 images is permitted to the ignorant ; and although he 
 does not meet it on the ground which a person would 
 have done who was well acquainted with the Sacred 
 Scriptures, that there is one law for the ignorant and the 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 193 
 
 wise, and that if any man lack wisdom, he has only to ask 
 it of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth 
 not, he still applies the scourge of ridicule so powerfully 
 on his own principles, that it must be felt by those who 
 perhaps would have turned with fastidious contempt from 
 the volume of Divine Revelation. 
 
 " If you ask, If the image possess no divinity or power, 
 upon what principle have the shastras permitted even the 
 ignorant to worship it? We reply, that the ignorant who, 
 on beholding the regular order of the creation, the extra- 
 ordinary appearances of nature, or the exquisite formation 
 of the human body, cannot conceive that the omniscient 
 and omnipresent God is the origin of all and the creator 
 of the world, are unable to worship him and to perform 
 the duties of life. Lest these men, plunged in atheism, 
 should fill the world with wickedness, the shastras, to 
 retain them in the simplicity of children, have ordained 
 that, according to their several inclinations, they should, 
 with the hope of reward, worship images, beasts, birds, 
 trees, rivers, &c. w r hich are evident to the senses, and may 
 be easily grasped by the understanding. * For those who 
 are thus ignorant, who can be moved only by sordid re- 
 wards, and who are unable to form an idea of deity, the 
 shastras have appointed rewards.' In the days of child- 
 hood they amuse themselves with little images, with offer- 
 ings of dust, and with little playthings ; in the same 
 spirit, at a mature age and when old, they delight them- 
 selves with larger images, with larger offerings of rice, 
 and with larger stones, and like children are constantly- 
 engaged in such employments, and in the numerous festi- 
 vals of the ritual. Like children, they present sweet- 
 scented flowers to a stone image which has not the power 
 of smelling, they play on musical instruments before an 
 image that cannot hear, and presenting excellent food to 
 
194 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 au image that has not the power of tasting, shew it the 
 way to eat ! Like little children they put the food to its 
 mouth ; they hold up a light in the evening to its eyes, 
 incapable of seeing; and at stated festivals throwing them- 
 selves upon the ground, make gambols for its gratifica- 
 tion. On some occasions the father, sons, brothers, and 
 elder relatives, assembling themselves before it, indulge 
 in the most indecent language, and disgrace themselves 
 by the most licentious gestures, unrestrained by the pre- 
 sence of their own or their neighbours' female relatives. 
 On other occasions, placing the image on a boat, they in- 
 dulge themselves in licentiousness without restraint." 
 
 The author in his next attack, evidently, though per- 
 haps unintentionally, undermines the doctrine that Spirit 
 equally pervades all things, while he is exposing the ab- 
 surdity of there being 'many gods. If the Hindoo sys- 
 tem of idolatry did not originate in the doctrine that all 
 things are equally pervaded by Spirit or deity, this 
 doctrine cannot long exist after idolatry is exploded. — 
 The idea so current among the Hindoos that all sins are 
 merely the diversion of the gods, a doctrine fraught with 
 every immorality, is also exposed with much ability in 
 the following paragraphs. 
 
 " If the defenders of images say, ' we worship not the 
 image, the images are only the representations of differ- 
 ent gods, — those gods are without birth and death, and 
 are the eternal and omniscient Brwmh« ;' we ask whether 
 all these gods be the almighty ~Bmmha ? or only one of 
 them? for both these positions are not tenable, [f you 
 regard them all as omnipotent Brwmhas, you overturn the 
 Vedtfs, which constantly maintain that there is only one 
 Brwmha. If you say, that there are many separate 
 Brwmhas, this is contrary to reason, since whether there 
 be five or ten Brwmhas, they must all have the power of 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 195 
 
 creating, preserving, and destroying, as we cannot call 
 those Brwinhfls, who are not omnipotent. Wherefore, if 
 the creation and government of the world can be ma- 
 naged by one Brwmha of omnipotent power, there is no 
 need of any other ; hence you cannot call each of those, 
 separate Brumhas. And to allow divinity to only one of 
 them, would be equally contrary to the Shastras and to 
 reason ; since the same divine attributes which in one 
 Poorana are attributed to one, are in another Poorana at- 
 tributed to others ; but to consider the same being in one 
 place as God, and in another as not God, is unreasonable. 
 If you say, that they are not separate beings, but one 
 being under different forms, we reply, that if those gods 
 with different bodies, different residences, different fami- 
 lies, different objects of pursuit, influenced by love, and 
 by hatred, now quarrelling with each other, and now 
 making peace, are all one and the same being, why may 
 not a brass utensil, a mat, beasts, men, and every- 
 thing else in the world, be esteemed one and the same 
 thing ? Before we acknowledge that those beings are 
 the same which have different forms, colours, situations, 
 desires, and actions, we must extinguish our eyes, ears, 
 and all our faculties. These gods are subject to birth 
 and death ; and in common with ourselves, animals, 
 birds, &c. are subject to change, with this difference, that 
 we are born and die somewhat sooner. Thus, Brwmha, 
 Vi'shnoo, Shzvfl, and all beings, are subject to dissolution: 
 wherefore, do that which is excellent. — Like men and 
 beasts these gods are affected with lust, anger, desire, 
 and ignorance, and quarrel and fight among each other: 
 some of the gods of this advocate of images are on their 
 birth deprived of a head [Gwneshtf], others are deprived 
 of their teeth in war, nay some of these gods actually lost 
 blood and became insensible in battle, and others gave up 
 
 o2 
 
196 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 the ghost under the weapons of hunters [Krishna]; one 
 of them lost his teeth by a slap [Soorya], and is to this 
 day toothless, and as such receives sacrifices of soft and 
 delicate provisions ; some have died by a curse, and 
 others of grief, for proofs of which, search the Mwhab- 
 harwta and the Pooranas. We see that we men are sub- 
 ject to similar calamities. As the Eternal Spirit resides 
 in these gods, so he resides also in men. Thus • all the 
 world is Brwmha/ and in reality all creation is one. Ac- 
 cording to this testimony, Bramha resides in men as well 
 as in gods ; why then do you call the gods Brwmha, and 
 refuse that title to men and all other creatures ? 
 
 " If you say, that birth, death, the passions, anger, 
 desire, jealousy, insensibility, ignorance, are the mere 
 diversion of the gods, who are originally free from these 
 things ; we reply, that the Spirit of both men and gods 
 is separate from passion, but by its assuming a body sub- 
 ject to birth, death, and actions, these attributes are 
 erroneously ascribed to Spirit ; the gods then, like other 
 beings, have bodies and all the contingencies of bodies. 
 Now if the undisputed birth, death, decapitation, anger, 
 jealousy, lust, &c. of the gods be mere diversion, why 
 may we not view these accidents in the same light with 
 regard to men ? for if we judge rightly, the whole world is 
 but delusion and diversion. To regard the desires, and 
 sorrows, and griefs, of one body as mere diversion, and 
 the desires, griefs, and sorrows of another as real, is ma- 
 nifestly inconsistent 
 
 * l If you urge, that the gods have performed actions 
 which men could not perform, hence their being subject 
 to birth and death is undoubtedly mere diversion; we 
 reply, we learn from Jumudugnee, that as the shastras 
 have given the gods a suppositious name and form, so 
 with the idea of inculcating duties and works, they have, 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 197 
 
 under the semblance of history, affixed to them those 
 deeds which are equally suppositious ; l gods with forms 
 are suppositiously represented as men or women.' But 
 if their form is suppositious, the actions they perform are 
 equally suppositious ! Further, as the gods are said to 
 have performed miraculous actions, so also have men, as 
 t/gastya, Janhoo, Vwshisht'ha, Jwnaka, &c. performed 
 deeds equally miraculous, as the Pooranas record. Is 
 the subjection of these men to birth and death, then, mere 
 diversion, and are they also Brwmhas ? If you support 
 your worshipping idols by the great advantages which 
 you say kings and sages have obtained from them ; we 
 reply, that gods, and sages, and kings, in former times, 
 worshipped and meditated on the Supreme Being, and 
 that the gods and sages were upon an equality. They 
 assisted the gods in their sacrifices, and the gods returned 
 the favour ; they were sometimes on terms of peace and 
 sometimes at war with the gods, as proofs of which take 
 the loss of Gfmesha's tooth, — /ndra's being forsaken of 
 Lukshmee, — Vishnoo's being kicked by Bhngoo, — the de- 
 struction of the race of Jwdoo, — the death of Krishna by 
 an arrow, — and Shiva's being rendered insensible ; all 
 which is related in the Pooranas. If the sages had re- 
 garded them as the Eternal Deity, they would not, on 
 such trifling occasions, have broken the teeth of one, 
 kicked another, and destroyed the race of a third. Again, 
 while one Poorana has described some idol or being as 
 God, and has conferred on him all the attributes of deity 
 by giving him the power of creating, preserving, and de- 
 stroying, and representing him as worthy of regard from 
 gods, kings, and sages ; in another Poorana, this very 
 being, thus endowed, is described as serving and worship- 
 ping another of the gods, who is, in his turn, invested 
 with all the attributes of deity. — In real fact, the sages 
 
198 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 in common with the gods, worshipped one Supreme 
 Being; they were upon an equality with the gods, and 
 in relation to them, were consecutively the worshippers 
 and the worshipped. If the gods pleased them, they be- 
 stowed gifts on them ; if the gods displeased them, they 
 cursed them. This is fully laid open in your books." 
 
 The writer next advances an argument which militates 
 in the strongest manner against the antiquity of the pre- 
 sent Pouranic system of idolatry, — that the ancient sages 
 bore no names formed from those of the Hindoo gods 
 now worshipped, while there is now scarcely a name 
 given to a child which has not a reference to some one of 
 these gods. This complete alteration of names through- 
 out this vast empire, may suggest a hint, which, if duly 
 pursued, may lead to a knowledge of the period when 
 the system of idol worship was introduced. None of 
 Krishna's contemporaries, in the war of the Pandwvas (the 
 subject of the Mwhabharata), seem to have borne the 
 names of any Hindoo god ; and in the reign of Vikrama- 
 ditya, not eighteen hundred years ago, — of the nine most 
 celebrated writers in his court, often termed the nine 
 jewels, not one bore any of the names now in use. At 
 present every native in Bengal is called after some god ; 
 and so far does he carry this folly, that if possible, in 
 naming his child, he invariably introduces the name of 
 some god who had before no existence in the family 
 nomenclature. In a native's opinion, the oftener he re- 
 peats or hears the name of a god the better ; hence he 
 calls his son after his deities, and also teaches his parrot 
 to pronounce their names. 
 
 " Further, if those sages had, like you, been in the habit 
 of worshipping gods invested with bodies subject to birth 
 and death, they would have been named after the gods 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM, 
 
 199 
 
 they worshipped, in the same manner as you are. But 
 none of them were called Hf/ree-chwrwna, Knshna- 
 chwrwna, Netaee-dasa, ChoitMny«-chwrMn«, &c. according 
 to the names now in use ; though in the Mwhabhan/ta 
 and other books we have numerous names of ancient 
 sages and kings, such as Pwraswrfl, Vyasa, Sooka, Gwb- 
 heela, Doorvasa, Sandilya, Kwshywpa, Ugusta, Poulwstycr, 
 Kooroo, Pooroo, Bhwrwttf, Rwghoo, Pandoo, Yoodist'hira, 
 &c. &c. all of which have not the slightest reference to 
 the names of idols. 
 
 " If you say, that by worshipping these idols and the 
 gods they represent, many have obtained power to de- 
 stroy and annihilate, — to influence others, — to revive the 
 dead, — to give children to the barren and wealth to the 
 indigent, and that these miracles have not ceased even 
 at the present day, hence their divinity is unquestionable ; 
 we reply, if an impostor with long locks of hair, a long 
 mark across his forehead, his eyes turned upward like the 
 gods, and making gestures of the hand and feet to re- 
 semble them, should visit a person so ignorant as to 
 esteem a stone, a lump of earth, or a tree of the forest, 
 a god, it would not be astonishing if such an impostor 
 should be considered as supernaturally endowed. These 
 palm themselves on the ignorant as endowed with 
 divinity, and acquainted both with the past and with the 
 future ; but the victims of their delusion see not what 
 passes in the houses and neighbourhood of these hypo- 
 crites ! Are they able by a word or a charm to remove 
 the diseases or the poverty with which they themselves 
 are afflicted, with their followers and friends ? When 
 these impostors appear before men of sense and judgment, 
 their villainy is detected, and meets with due chastise- 
 ment. Do you not perceive that in Calcutta and its 
 
200 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 vicinity, where there are more sensible men than else- 
 where, the villainy of these impostors finds little or no 
 encouragement ? For the same reason, reputed deliver- 
 ances from the power of wizards and spirits, are fewer in 
 Calcutta, than in Vishnoo-poorcr, the eastern parts of Ben- 
 gal, and Assam, where the ignorant abound. There, the 
 power of spirits and wizards is acknowledged in every 
 house. A proof may be easily made of these characters 
 reputed holy by the image-worshipper. Let one of them 
 try his power in our presence, and we will quickly settle 
 this matter. You yourselves acknowledge that neither 
 Brwmha, Veshrioo, nor Shiva, can disturb the established 
 order of things ; and yet you believe that these reputed 
 saints can destroy the living, and prevent the sun from 
 rising! God has given you a human form, why will you 
 not reason and act like men ? It is difficult for any man 
 to believe that a mere mortal can reverse the order of 
 things established by God. Can you not perceive, that 
 those who are more ignorant than yourselves worship, 
 and on every occasion pray for assistance to, various 
 images which even you despise ? Thus women and the 
 lower orders, in addition to worshipping those acknow- 
 ledged images which you adore, worship Shwshtee, 
 Makala, Kaloo-raya, Diekshma-raya, 01a-bebee # , and 
 others. Now on the same principle that you despise 
 many of the images which they worship, would you also, 
 if you judged aright, despise the images you now hold in 
 the highest repute. 
 
 " If you say that in the shastras Gtmesha and four other 
 
 * " Ola-beebee," this goddess has been created within these four 
 years ; she is indebted for her origin to the prevalence of the Cholera 
 morbus. 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 201 
 
 gods are pronounced to be "Brumha, them we therefore 
 worship ; we reply, that in the shastras not only are these 
 five, but many others considered as "Brumha, and in fact 
 so is the whole world. Thus the wind is called Brumha 
 in the Vedas, f Thou also art Bramha himself/ The mind 
 is also considered as Brumha, and directed to be wor- 
 shipped as such : ' Worship the mind as Brumha.' Food 
 is also Brumha : 'food is Brumha.' Even a servant, and 
 the wicked are Brumha : ' a servant is Brumha, the 
 wicked are Brumha.'' In another place Guroora is con- 
 sidered as Brumha, ' Thou art the Lord of all things 
 moveable and immoveable.' "Why then do you esteem 
 the omnipresent Brumha as residing alone in Gunesha 
 and the other four gods, and not in five hundred, or in 
 the whole creation ?" 
 
 The author now attacks the current maxim, that they 
 ought ever to follow their fathers, and evidently shews 
 that this is a mere pretence, as they in reality do this no 
 farther than they think it attended with profit or honour. 
 It is no less amusing than ingenious for him to impress 
 our own countrymen into his service here, by shewing 
 that Mlechas, alias Europeans, while attending these 
 idolatrous festivals, are really undermining the whole 
 system. This is a work of supererogation few of those 
 dream of performing who attend them. 
 
 " If you say, whether the worship of idols be conso- 
 nant with reason and the shastras or not, we must fol- 
 low the practice of our forefathers ; we reply, that it is 
 singular you should adduce the authority of your ances- 
 tors when desirous of diverting yourselves with your idols, 
 while with regard to the things of this world, or the next, 
 you scarcely ever act in conformity with their example. 
 We see thousands whose ancestors were virtuous and 
 
202 HINDOO POLYTHEISM, 
 
 learned, but whose posterity, disregarding the practice of 
 their forefathers, are become secnlar and the servants of 
 MIeclias If among these any acquire great wealth, he is 
 considered as the ornament of h,s race. When did ever 
 your ancestors procure dancing girls in the time of the 
 Uoorga^pooja, or invite Mlechas and feed them, which 
 many of you now consider honourable ? At the time of 
 other festivals many have Hindoosfhanee dancing girls- 
 when d.d your ancestors thus ? The forefathers of some 
 of you served the images in various families on a monthly 
 salary; the.r sons now will scarcely receive a ShoodrJ. 
 Many of your ancestors were Shaktas, and even Bama- 
 charees,* the.r children are now the followers of Visbnoo, 
 and of Cho.t«ny« | many of your ancestors were Voish- 
 nuvas, and their children are now Shaktas ; many of them 
 never worshiped Doorga, yet their children omit neither 
 the worslup of Doorga, nor of any other deity. Many of 
 your ancestors sold their daughters; but their children 
 having now become wealthy, have affianced their 
 daughters to Koolimzs, and are become pre-eminently 
 noble. Hence it appears that you are constantly acting 
 .« oppos.fon to the practice of your forefathers, a „d 
 hat you cover yourselves with the shield of their au- 
 thority, only on the subject of idol worship.-If you 
 say that the son who, instead of selling his daughter like 
 his forefathers, marries her into a respectable family, or 
 who instead of omitting the worship of Doonja like his 
 forefathers worships that goddess, is worthy of honour, 
 since he follows the shastras, and that his practice is not 
 
 « The Shakes are the followers of Doorga ; the Ba m acharee S are 
 a dv, sl0 of that sec(> but carry (he grat . ficat . on 
 
 unhm.ted extent, under the hope, ra.her under the pretence, of e.xti 
 guishing them by satiety. 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 203 
 
 the worse for not having the sanction of his forefathers ; 
 we ask how you can acknowledge that son worthy of honour 
 who discontinues such practices of his ancestors as were 
 opposed to the shastras, and at the same time affirm that 
 whatever your ancestors have done ought to be perpetu- 
 ated and not discontinued ? If the commands of the 
 shastr«s ought to be fulfilled although your ancestors 
 neglected them, it remains for you to say, why you neg- 
 lect the worship of the Supreme Deity, which all the 
 shastras have universally commanded, because your an- 
 cestors neglected it ; — you have to give a reason why, 
 forsaking the worship of the Supreme God, which is com- 
 manded in the Ved«s, the Pooranos, the Smritees, and 
 the Tf/ntras, you foolishly spend your time in worship- 
 ping idols. 1 ' 
 
 The next argument adduced, is wholly of a native com- 
 plexion. No Christian can allow that those deceived by 
 false teachers are themselves guiltless. If the spiritual 
 watchman blow not the trumpet to warn men of the 
 approaching enemy, these perish in their iniquity, al- 
 though their blood is required at the watchman's hand. 
 The manner in which he ridicules their blind attachment 
 to the follies of their ancestors, however, is highly 
 ingenious, and such as would scarcely have occurred to a 
 European. 
 
 " If you say that your neglecting to worship the Su- 
 preme Spirit according to the rules of the shastras, does 
 not entail future misery, and urge, Have not our ancestors, 
 who neglected this worship, obtained beatitude after death? 
 We reply, that their worshipping idols did not subject them 
 to punishment, because they were led into that error by 
 pundits who sought their own advantage, and expected 
 superior profit from extolling the worship of idols, and 
 hence concealing from them the opinions of the Oop/mi- 
 
204 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 shwds and the chief Shastras, led them to believe that 
 every thing was to be secured by worshipping images. — 
 Why will you not perceive, that if Vyasa and other sages 
 had really worshipped any gods with hands and feet, they 
 would not have represented them in the Pooranas and other 
 works in so contemptible a light, nor have described them 
 as subject to the will of others ? They worshipped the 
 Supreme Being ; the Supreme Being therefore is alone 
 worthy of worship. Were a sheep to fall into the stream 
 of a river, or into a well, all the other sheep would follow 
 the same course and perish. Now, if we asked these sheep 
 the cause of their disaster, and they possessed the power 
 of reason and speech, they would say, that God had not 
 bestowed on them the power of judging between good and 
 evil ; hence when they perceived the leading sheep fall into 
 the stream, they naturally followed him, though to the loss 
 of their lives. In the same manner, if a young camel who 
 by eating thorns had made its mouth bloody, were asked 
 the reason of his conduct, and he possessed capacity and 
 speech, he would reply, that he had seen his ancestors eat 
 thorns and bleed, and that he followed their example, be- 
 cause God had not given him the power to judge respect- 
 ing good or evil. But when a human being, to whom God 
 has given the faculty of discerning right and wrong, vo- 
 luntarily enters on the performance of actions which are 
 ridiculous in this world, and punishable in the next ; that 
 is to say, when he snaps his fingers, dances, swells his 
 cheeks, slaps his arms, and in the midst of his devotion 
 practises pugilism and sings indecent songs which ought 
 never to be heard, and considers all these actions as con- 
 ducive to his salvation, — when he dishonours the Deity 
 by representing him as adulterous, thievish, deceitful, las- 
 civious, passionate, and avaricious, and, unable to give a 
 reason on the subject, contents himself with the reasoning 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 205 
 
 of the sheep and the camel, that he follows the practice of 
 his forefathers, what can be more distressing ? Does not 
 this reduce men to a level with beasts ? 
 
 " Should you insist on acting according to your own 
 wills, and say, Why do you trouble yourselves on the sub- 
 ject, and repeat your admonitions ? — we reply, that it is 
 natural for men to feel sorrow when they behold the 
 miseries of others. When, therefore, we see the distress 
 which you voluntarily inflict on yourselves, we feel sor- 
 row ; and under the impression of these feelings think it 
 right to warn you. We sometimes see you both young 
 and old acting like children: children offer food and a 
 couch to a little plaything, — you both young and old offer 
 food to an idol, and delight yourselves with the idea of 
 eating what you pretend he has left. When we, more- 
 over, see you marry a male to a female idol, ought we not 
 to feel sorrow ? Before the goddess whom you esteem 
 your mother you indulge in the most licentious conversa- 
 tion, — in the most licentious dances, — dances which you 
 would feel ashamed to practise in the presence even of 
 the most abandoned. You hire others to sing the most 
 disgusting songs in presence of the object of religious 
 veneration and of the female members of your own 
 family, and cause the singers to perform dances before 
 them which excite all the evil passions of the mind ; 
 would these unworthy actions ever receive the sanction 
 of a man of true sense ? and ought we not to feel pity 
 when we see them sanctioned by men otherwise respect- 
 able ? You at your various festivals anoint the feet, the 
 hands, and the whole body, with dirt and red paint, or 
 with blood, and wrestle and combat with the fist, and 
 jump about in the very presence of your deities, with a 
 view of securing salvation ; actions which are scarcely 
 decent in the presence of men. When therefore we see 
 
206 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 these unmanly actions, ought we not to feel shame ? You 
 dress out another person in the form of that very god 
 whom you regard as infinitely superior to your father, 
 and cause him to dance before you, and introduce other 
 characters for your pastime. Whether this worship par- 
 takes of the nature of faith, or of ridicule, judge for your- 
 selves. When in matters relative to religion we see such 
 burlesque and falsehood, ought we not to feel pity ? — 
 Again, with the view of their obtaining Gwnga*, you at 
 midnight, in the month of January, dip your aged and 
 afflicted parents in the river, and thereby murder them. 
 The weather is then so cold and the wind so bleak, that 
 were you to submerge a healthful youth in the river, his 
 death would be no matter of surprise. Promising heaven 
 to your elder or younger sister, to your mother, or grand- 
 mother, or daughter, or friend, you bind them down with 
 ropes and bamboos, and burn them on the funeral pile. 
 When we witness the perpetration of these murders, does 
 not nature itself move us to forbid them ? Considering 
 the Ganges as washing away sins, women visit it both at 
 night and by day under circumstances of the highest 
 indelicacy. Many of the images whose power is cele- 
 brated and whose abode in the house is considered a 
 protection from evil, are stolen by thieves, and either 
 sold, or, if composed of metal, melted down for the sake 
 of the gold and silver. Now the worshippers of these 
 idols must feel shame, when the stealing or melting 
 down of their gods is known : yet when unable to detect 
 the robbers, they subject the innocent brahmwns in at- 
 tendance to insult and punishment, thereby injuring 
 
 * " Obtaining Gwnga," a phrase used by the natives to express a 
 man's obtaining those benefits in a future state which they imagine 
 GoMtea can bestow. 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 207 
 
 themselves both in this world and the next : from all 
 which it appears that the worshippers of images are ex- 
 posed to ridicule in this world, as well as to punishment 
 in the world to come. If you say, * The Christians wor- 
 ship the deity, without forming images, and your system 
 resembles theirs ; we are Hindoos, we therefore natu- 
 rally worship the deity through an image;* we reply, that 
 there are two kinds of Christians ; the English and others 
 who never admit images into their churches, and the 
 Feringhees who exceed them in numbers and whose 
 churches are crowded with images. If then, by forsaking 
 idols, we assimilate our system to that of the English 
 Christians, you must acknowledge that by your wor- 
 shipping images your system resembles that of the 
 Feringhee Christians. Can you esteem this honourable? 
 ¥ If you demand proof that Brwmha created the world, 
 we say, that both you and we unite in acknowledging that 
 God is the Creator of the world. All the Shastras ac- 
 knowledge this, and, with the exception of atheists, no 
 one questions the fact. What need then of proof for a 
 position which we all acknowledge ? Should any one 
 ask what biped is endowed with reason, the reply would 
 immediately be, man; and no proof would be necessary. 
 In addition to this you say, that Krishna, Shiva, and 
 other idol gods, are God, the Creator of the world ; this 
 you must prove either from the shastras, or from reason. 
 Now it is contrary to reason, that any being invested with 
 hands and feet, should be the Creator of the world, since 
 it is evident that every being thus constituted, must be 
 subject to destruction ; and a being subject to destruc- 
 tion cannot be God. If you attempt to bring proof from 
 the shastras, and say, that in the Shree-bhagwvata 
 Krishna is called God; to this we reply, that as the 
 Shree-bhagavata calls Krishna, God, so the Kalee- 
 
208 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 poorantf calls Kalee, God ; the Stuva-poorana says the 
 same of Shzva ; the Shama-poorana the same of Soorytf, 
 and the Twntr«s the same of the ten wise men ! And as 
 the Shree-bhagMvwta attributes almighty power to Vzsh- 
 noo, the other Pooranas equally attribute omnipotent 
 power to their heroes. How then can we avoid the con- 
 clusion, that Vishnoo is God and all the others no gods? 
 That all these should be separate and independent deities, 
 is contrary both to the shastras and to reason, for there 
 can be but one Creator. And to the idea that they are 
 all one, we have replied in a former page, that if those 
 who have different situations, colours, forms, &c. are one, 
 why may not the whole creation be one ? If you say, 
 that since the Shastras have called Huree-hura one, # we 
 regard them as one ; we reply, that the Shastras regard 
 the whole world as one and the same ; ' He views the 
 whole creation as one.' The reason of thus esteeming all 
 things as one, is this, that all the world exists by depend- 
 ence on the one Being, just as by the reflection of one 
 sun a thousand images are produced. By establishing 
 the unity of God, the whole world therefore, as presenting 
 reflected images of him, is thus esteemed one. If you 
 say, that unless the gods were all one, the various Shas- 
 tras would not have exhibited the various gods as 
 Brwmha ; we have before particularly replied to this 
 question in saying, that it is not the gods alone who are 
 called Bn/mha, but food, the mind, beasts, birds, &c. yea 
 even the whole world. But we are to receive this as a 
 proof that Bramha is omnipresent, not that each one of 
 these things is really Brwmha himself. If you say, that 
 
 * " Huree-hura one." Hwree is Vishnoo, and Hura, Shiva : com- 
 mon decency forbids the insertion of the story given in the shastras 
 as the occasion of their being thus termed one. 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 209 
 
 the books relating to Krishna are to be regarded as true; 
 we reply, that as in the books relating to Shiva their own 
 excellency is maintained, so in the books which extol 
 Wshnoo, those very books are extolled. In the Pooranas, 
 the Pooranas are extolled ; in the Tantras, the Tantras ; 
 and in fact it is said at the end of each Poorana, that it is 
 superior to all the other Pooranas. But this is mere 
 flattery : one writer composed all the Pooranas, hence all 
 the Pooranas are authorities. If his opinions are false in 
 one place, what proof is there that they are true in another? 
 Wherefore to extol one Poorana, and to depress another, 
 is contrary to righteousness." 
 
 The following reply to the common objection, that God, 
 from being incomprehensible, cannot be worshipped with- 
 out some intervening object, carries with it considerable 
 weight, if it be not perfectly satisfactory. 
 
 " If you say, how can those who worship Brahma, worship 
 him without some specific object of worship? — We reply, 
 when we see this earth and our bodies formed so ration- 
 ally, that man alone could never have accomplished it, we 
 acknowledge the work of an omnipotent and omniscient 
 God ; and by attending to, and meditating on, and re- 
 garding him, we obtain our desires. Since the world and 
 our bodies are so curiously and admirably formed, of 
 which each part and member has its separate use and em- 
 ployment, they could not have been formed but by an 
 Almighty Being. A proof of this you may find in com- 
 mon life ; an astonishing production of art, such as a 
 watch, could not have been formed suddenly without an 
 intelligent cause : whenever we therefore see a work of 
 great magnitude and skill, we conclude that its creator 
 must have possessed proportionable power and skill, but 
 we do not, like you, form in our minds or by our hands 
 a suppositious image with hands and feet, and like chil- 
 
 p 
 
210 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 dren spend our time in foolishly endeavouring to please 
 this imaginary being. 
 
 " If you say, that although from the form of the world 
 and of our bodies it is manifest that there is one universal 
 Creator, yet as you know not his form, you cannot come 
 to a determination of the subject; we reply, that as it 
 appears evident from the motions and desires of the body 
 that there is a spirit pervading the whole frame, by which 
 / and mine are known, and by which a knowledge of 
 things is produced — and yet we know not the form of 
 this spirit; so, from the formation and regular motion of 
 the earth, it is certain that there is one great universal om- 
 nipotent Cause, but we know not how it exists. In the 
 same manner, there are many other things, such as time, 
 the atmosphere, &c. which you yourselves acknowledge 
 to exist, and yet no one can tell how they exist. The 
 same reasoning will apply in the present instance. There 
 can be no doubt of the existence of a God ; it is also cer- 
 tain, that if we search for his form by ascertaining what 
 He is not, the deity will be found to be incomprehensible 
 by language or by the mind. 
 
 " Should you add, 'we also acknowledge that the deity 
 is incomprehensible by language or by the mind, hence a 
 being who is thus incomprehensible, cannot be wor- 
 shipped ; we therefore recognize the deity under different 
 forms.' — We reply that if any one in infancy had been 
 taken away by another nation, and, unable to discover his 
 father, was yet desirous of performing a Shraddha in 
 honour of him, he would not, with the view of com- 
 pleting his Shraddhcr, invoke beasts, birds, &c. as the 
 representatives of his father ; he would invoke man the 
 author of his being. Let the same rule be applied to 
 the Deity: it is impossible to discover how the deity 
 exists ; but we ought to worship him by meditating on 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 211 
 
 him as the Creator of the world and the Regulator 
 of human affairs. This hearing and meditating is the 
 worship of the Supreme Being. But to say, i Come, sit 
 down, receive vestments and this ring, smell this flower, 
 partake of this food, depart;' this amusement, which 
 you call worship, is indeed the worship of idols, but 
 not the worship of the Supreme Being." 
 
 The following arguments, tending to shew_that religion 
 does indeed belong to householders and men in secular 
 callings, are quite appropriate. The contrary idea, from 
 which every Christian country is not quite free, reigns 
 throughout Hindoost'han, and is, to the brahmans and re- 
 ligious mendicants, a never-failing source of profit. 
 
 " If you say, that the worship of the omnipresent deity 
 is commanded by the Vedas, but that it does not come 
 within the province of us householders ; we reply, that 
 this objection is contrary both to the Shastras and to 
 reason, since in the Vedas and in the Smritees of Mwnoo, 
 Yagyavwlkya, &c and in the Tantras and other Shastras, 
 the worship of the Supreme Being is expressly com- 
 manded to all householders. In the Vnhadaranya- 
 Oopanishad it is said that both Indra and Virochima ob- 
 tained divine knowledge from Brahma. In the Mwndok- 
 Oopanishad you see that Sunuka, though incumbered 
 with a family, acquired divine knowledge from l/ngeera. 
 In the Chandagya you find that Jwnashrotee a king, and 
 Setoo, Ketoo, Goutarna, Junuka and others, though im- 
 mersed in worldly affairs, constantly worshipped the 
 Supreme Being. It is also contrary to reason, since in 
 this as in other divisions of men, there are both wise and 
 ignorant. In order to prevent ignorant householders from 
 falling into sin, they have been instructed to worship 
 idols; but for the wise the worship of the Supreme Being 
 is appointed. Thus we see that householders are not 
 
 p2 
 
■ 
 
 212 HINDOO POLYTHEISM, 
 
 excluded from the worship of the Supreme Being. It is 
 evident that those who seek our wealth, encourage the 
 idea that householders have nothing to do with the wor- 
 ship of the Supreme Being, the reason of which advice is 
 evident ; householders are in general rich, and spiritual 
 guides derive more pecuniary advantage from leading 
 them to the worship of idols than to that of the Supreme 
 Being. For the gifts of ornaments and vestments to the 
 idol, of the sacrificial food and the morning and evening 
 sacrifice, are perquisites exclusively enjoyed by them. 
 On specific days of worship additional food is offered to 
 the idol, — on the fulfilling of vows, — on charming away 
 disease, — when repeating Jupa, and on various other oc- 
 casions, much is expended for the idol; the whole of 
 which passes into the hands of these wealth-seeking 
 priests. Hence the more householders are buried in the 
 worship of the idols, the more the gains of the pundit are 
 increased. Men for the sake of gain will even murder on 
 the highway, and these wealth-seeking brahmwns deceive 
 householders for their own advantage. What difference is 
 there between these two characters?" 
 
 There is some reason to suppose that in this 1 ;gument 
 our writer has been led beyond his depth, o&tierwise we 
 must acknowledge that the practice of the various kings 
 and sages he has enumerated, must have been at variance 
 with the doctrines they professed. After reading the fol- 
 lowing description of a true BrwrnhMgyanee or a worship- 
 per of the Supreme Being, it is difficult to imagine how 
 any man engaged in secular affairs, and surrounded with 
 his family and friends, could attain this divine knowledge, 
 which is the last stage in this nether world, and the vesti- 
 bule to final beatitude. " He who in the body has ob- 
 tained emancipation, is of no cast, of no sect, of no order, 
 attends to no duty, adheres to no Shastr«s, to no formulas, 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 213 
 
 to no works of merit ; he leaves the net of secular affairs 
 as the lion his toils ; he is beyond the reach of speech ; 
 he remains at a distance from all secular concerns ; he 
 has renounced the love and the knowledge of sensible 
 objects; he is glorious as the autumnal sky; he flatters 
 none ; he honours none ; he is not worshipped ; he wor- 
 ships not. — Sankhya-Sara" This widely differs from the 
 doctrine of our writer, who allows his worshipper of 
 Bruhinit a sceptre, and a crown, a wife and children, and 
 a long train of friends. This discrepancy in the Shastras 
 may however easily be settled by our author's second rule 
 in these matters, that of receiving the doctrine most 
 agreeable to reason, on which subject there can be no he- 
 sitation. 
 
 " If you say that without purity of mind it is impossi- 
 ble to find out the deity ; have all of you obtained purity 
 or integrity of mind that you seek to find out the deity ?" 
 We reply, that without possessing integrity of mind, no 
 man would be induced to worship the deity, since the 
 Shastras have said, that this is necessary to lead men to 
 the worship of the deity. When therefore we see any one 
 worshipping the deity, we are to conclude that he has at- 
 tained integrity of mind. Indeed, integrity of mind is 
 obtained in the very act of adoration ; we therefore have 
 adopted the worship of the Supreme Being. 
 
 " But is it not astonishing to hear you object that with- 
 out integrity of mind it is vain to perform divine worship, 
 when the Twntras have thus spoken respecting even the 
 worship of idols, *. He who has conquered his passions, 
 and is constantly humble, undefiled, faithful, of strong 
 memory, strong in resolution, performing the duties of 
 his station, of excellent wisdom, of good actions, and not 
 partaking of improper food, let him who possesses these 
 and other qualities, receive mwntras. This is irreversi- 
 
214 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 ble. ? Now we ask which of the worshippers of idols is 
 possessed of these qualities? Should you say, that as we 
 possess none of the holiness which appertains to the wor- 
 shippers of the deity, it is vain to call ourselves the 
 followers of Brahma ; we reply, that it is one of our princi- 
 ples to consider the deity as omnipresent and as witnessing 
 all our actions, and that we endeavour as much as possible 
 to adhere to this principle, and avoid injuring ourselves or 
 others : and that we hope by degrees, through experience 
 and exertion, to attain perfection in these observances. 
 But you do not perform one millionth part of what is com- 
 manded for the worship of idols. You are commanded to 
 preserve a perpetual fire. Who does this ? Brahmzms are 
 commanded to perform a daily sacrifice — to bathe every 
 morning — daily to perform a Shraddha — to perform Swnd- 
 hya, — to pronounce the Gaywtree with the meaning — to 
 perform perpetual Jupa — to perform \xita — to fast — to be 
 particular in food, and not to have the least connection with 
 Mlechas and the lower casts. To which of these rules do 
 you adhere? Beside these, there are endless regulations 
 for the Shaktas, the Shoivyas, and the Voishnwvas, which 
 none of you perform. While therefore you yourselves do 
 not adhere in the smallest degree to your own regulations, 
 how can you ridicule others who may neglect some por- 
 tion of their duty ? 
 
 The * perpetual fire" alludes to the following rule ; 
 every brahman is directed to keep alive to the day of his 
 death, the fire used in sacrifice on his investiture with the 
 poita, that it may be employed it reducing him to ashes. 
 This is rather an expensive ordinance, it is true, — but still 
 it is commanded in the Shastras, which have not, how- 
 ever, told us how the man who is too poor to keep a ser- 
 vant, is to attend to the fire and his secular employment 
 at the same time. Some in the higher walks of life have 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 215 
 
 done this. In the family of Rajah Knshna-Chwndra-raya 
 one fire has now been burning for seventy years, and we 
 hear it has not yet been suffered to go out. It has served 
 three generations in the manner above described. It is 
 however kept in a distinct house, and has a regular esta- 
 blishment of priests to keep it perpetually alive. 
 
 " If you say, ' that although you worship the deity in 
 one form, and we worship him in another, both modes of 
 worship are right, and we shall therefore both obtain our 
 wishes : what proof then is there that one is right and the 
 other wrong?' — We reply, that we worship the Deity as 
 the Creator of the world, and whoever may possess this 
 power and wisdom, Him we worship ; we shall therefore 
 of course be successful. Even according to your own 
 opinion, we run no risk ; since if Kalee, or Vishnoo, or 
 Shiva, or any one else, be the Creator of the world, our 
 worship will not be fruitless. Just as though we should 
 send a letter by post to the King of Kaskee (Benares), 
 our letter will reach him whoever he may be ; but if the 
 name of any individual be mentioned who should not 
 happen to be the king of Kashee, the letter will be re- 
 turned. This simile will apply on the present occasion : 
 in different systems, different individuals are called the 
 Creator of the world ; the matter being thus doubtful, you 
 mention the name of one specific individual as the Creator 
 of the world, and worship him ; now if he should not 
 happen to be the Creator of the world, your worship will 
 be fruitless ; — but ours will not be so. 
 
 " Should you further urge, that whether idols with 
 hands and feet be the Creator of the world or not, if we 
 worship them in faith, our worship will not be fruitless, 
 since faith is the root of all worship ; we reply, that this 
 reasoning is vain, since the efficacy of faith cannot alter 
 the power of any thing. Thus if we partake of milk 
 
216 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 mixed with poison under the idea of its being milk, it 
 will not produce the effect of milk, but of poison, and 
 will destroy him who partakes of it. If a child or a fly 
 should take a liking to fire and touch it, the fire, contrary 
 to this belief, will certainly burn them. We might pro- 
 duce a thousand similar instances to prove that faith can- 
 not alter the qualities of things. Hence to believe that 
 any unstable thing is the origin of the world, and to wor- 
 ship it as such, will not render it the Creator of the world, 
 nor will the worship thereby be rendered efficacious." 
 
 Our author now touches, but with a delicate hand, on 
 that blind obedience to Gooroos or teachers, for which 
 his countrymen are so famous, and which, while an inex- 
 haustible source of wealth to the brahmanic tribe, forms 
 one of the strongest links of that chain by which the mul- 
 titude are held in delusion. 
 
 " If you say, that the advice of a spiritual guide is 
 binding, and that the efforts made in pursuance of his ad- 
 vice will be effectual ; we reply, that he only is a true 
 guide who gives advice according to the Shastr#s, since, 
 with regard to the qualities of a guide, it is said that l he 
 who by means of the medicinal drug knowledge destroys 
 the darkness of ignorance, and restores the faculty of 
 sight, he is the true gooroo/ Wherefore let us first ob- 
 tain a guide according to the Shastr«s, and we shall then 
 see corresponding fruit from his advice. He who is ig- 
 norant of the meaning of knowledge, and instructs his 
 disciples merely for the sake of gifts and of a quilt for the 
 cold weather, leads them to sorrow and destruction. 
 Hear the words of Mwha-devc [Shzva], ' There are many 
 guides who despoil their disciples of their wealth ; but to 
 find a guide who removes thegrief of his disciple, is ex- 
 ceedingly difficult.' If we believe the advice of a guide 
 who, according to the Shastrcrs, leads us to faith in the 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 217 
 
 Supreme Being, ourdesires will doubtless be fulfilled; but 
 if one blind man instruct another blind man, they will 
 both fall into destruction.* Hear the Mwndook Oopw- 
 nishwd : ' when an ignorant gooroo instructs his disciple, 
 they both become blind.' The Shastras direct, that a 
 gooroo shall receive a gift from his disciple once after 
 giving him instruction ; but to our astonishment we see 
 gifts bestowed frequently during the year, sometimes to 
 perform pooj a, sometimes for the investiture of a son, and 
 sometimes for marriages. The guide tells the disciple 
 for his comfort, that a disciple and a son are equally 
 dear ; but we never see the wealth of the guide's son be- 
 stowed on the disciple; we see the wealth of the disciple 
 frequently given to the son. 
 
 " If you still urge, that since by worshipping the deity, 
 as existing in a particular spot, sin is destroyed and purity 
 of mind attained, it is not useless, we therefore practise 
 it ; we reply, that purity of mind is indeed obtained by 
 this mode of worship, as it is by worshipping the deity by 
 recognizing him in the mind, — or through the solar orb, 
 — or through the moving of the eyes, — or through the 
 triliteral particle. All these modes of worship destroy 
 sin, and create purity of mind. But what is the com- 
 plexion of your worship?" — The examples adduced here, 
 are too indelicate for translation ; we must therefore leave 
 the reader to gather an opinion of them, from the conclu- 
 ding sentence of the writer, that" so far from their producing 
 purity of mind, the mind is thereby filled with impurity." 
 " Ycu sayhat sin committed either knowingly or ig- 
 norantly is removed by repeating the name of the gods 
 and visiting sacred places; and reposing belief in this flat- 
 
 * Must not this author have seen that passage, " If the blind lead 
 the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch together" ? 
 
2 IB HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 tering supposition, you commit sin without fear, depend- 
 ing on the efficacy of your devotion ; and yet you confess, 
 that Yoodhist'lura having once uttered a falsehood* 
 though he afterwards bathed constantly in the Ganges, 
 pronounced the names of the gods, and performed the 
 sacrifice of the horse, was yet obliged to undergo the tor- 
 ments of hell to destroy that sin. By this worship of 
 beings with forms, the mind is constantly defiled and sin 
 committed. If you adduce the authority of the Poorantfs 
 for these forms of worship, we reply, that though they 
 are commanded in the Pooran«s, yet they are in those 
 very books said to be delusive. By esteeming falsehood 
 as truth, why then do you destroy yourselves both in this 
 world and the next? We have spoken more at large on 
 this subject in the first chapter." 
 
 In the following paragraphs, an objection is met which 
 greatly weighs with the Hindoos, that the renunciation 
 of idol worship would abolish those distinctions as to 
 food, &c. which distinguish one cast from another. The 
 proper answer to this is, that these distinctions are worse 
 than useless ; and that no moral defilement is caused by 
 that which entereth the mouth, since it is that alone 
 which cometh forth from the heart, which defileth the 
 man. To this extent, however, our author does not yet 
 seem prepared to go. Still, his answer is ingenious; and 
 he justly reproves his countrymen for their unworthy 
 treatment of Ram-mohun-roy. 
 
 " Should you say, that we, who are seeking divine 
 knowledge, ought not to make any distinction with 
 regard to food or outward actions ; we reply, that there 
 is indeed one omnipresent Bruhma, and that upon his 
 existence depends the existence of the world. But 
 while we retain an existence among any of the ranks of 
 creatures ; that is to say, while we recognize a brass 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 219 
 
 water-pot as a water-pot, and a mat as a mat, while we 
 are unable to perform the functions of one of the senses 
 by means of another, we must use a water-pot as a water- 
 pot, a mat as a mat, we must see with our eyes, and hear 
 with our ears, and make a distinction according to the 
 Shastr«s in our food and actions, and act in conformity 
 with our national customs. Just as any five servants of 
 one Lord, when diverting themselves, support different 
 characters, one assuming the part of a king, another that 
 of a counsellor, a third that of an officer of justice, a 
 fourth that of a subject, and a fifth sustaining the cha- 
 racter of a priest. While the diversion lasts, they receive 
 the respect attached to their respective characters, though 
 at the same time they know themselves to be servants of 
 one Lord. In the same manner are we all situated, and, 
 though we live in one Supreme Being, we yet comply 
 with the innocent customs of our fellow-countrymen. 
 Throughout the four yogas all those who worshipped 
 Brahma acted in this manner ; of which we see examples 
 in Manoo, Yttgyo-vwlkya, Vyasa, Vwshisht'ha, Puraswra, 
 Ut'hurva, C/ngeera, and other great sages. Jwnwka also, 
 and Stmwka, and Roikya and others, all worshipped 
 Brahma, and were yet engaged in similar concerns and 
 governed their respective kingdoms. — It is matter of 
 great grief, that having determined not to acknowledge 
 God as the Creator of the world, you are bent on ac- 
 knowledging earth, stone, water, trees, kites*, and jackals 
 as God, and to worship them as such and constantly en- 
 courage others to the same course ; but if any one, be- 
 holding this your extreme ignorance, endeavours by rea- 
 
 * Bhwgwvwtee on one occasion became a kite ; and on another oc- 
 casion a jackal, to lick up the blood of a giant whom she was anxious 
 to destroy, and whose every drop of blood on reaching the ground 
 produced fresh monsters. 
 
220 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 son or by the Shastras to admonish you to worship God 
 as God, instead of being grateful for his exertions, you 
 become his enemy, and vilify him. Thus in a recent in- 
 stance, when one translated the Vedanta into the popular 
 dialect, that it might be better understood, you said of 
 those who recognized the Vedant« as the true way, that 
 they were the followers of such a person, that you might 
 exclude them from your society, when you know that 
 their system is sanctioned by the Veda, the Vedanttf, the 
 Durshwiifls, and Smritees, and all the shastras. The de- 
 sign of this was, by charging them with following a mo- 
 dern system, to induce them to discountenance it. But 
 those who are wise, will certainly judge, that if any one 
 were to translate the Mwhabharwtcr, or the Ramaywna, 
 into the Bengalee language, those books do not become 
 his system." 
 
 The following arguments are peculiarly happy. Men 
 never remain on the steps of a building ; their design in 
 ascending them is to enter the edifice. Those, however, 
 who worship idols or images, never intend to leave them; 
 the whole is mere pretence. — The doctrine of " the 
 porter," which he afterwards combats, is sufficiently sin- 
 gular, and his argument against it is an overwhelming 
 one. While it prostrates the Hindoo gods, it mows down 
 all the Musulman peeras, with Mahomet at their head — 
 and all the host of mediators set up by the Romish 
 church. 
 
 " Should you say, that works [the ceremonies of idol 
 worship] are the first step to the worship of Brwlimtf, just 
 as a knowledge of the alphabet is necessary for the ac- 
 quisition of the grammar; we reply, that he who applies 
 to the alphabet intends, when he has finished it, to apply 
 to the grammar, and ceases to bend his attention to the 
 alphabet, after he has entered on the grammar. Men, 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 221 
 
 indeed, ascend the house by means of steps ; but no one 
 remains on the steps. You, however, act contrary to 
 this, since you begin this elementary worship, which you 
 compare to steps and the alphabet, at the age of ten, and 
 continue it to the age of eighty, and forsake it not even 
 in death. And though you have strength to seek out the 
 Supreme Being, you will not exert it, and will dislike 
 those who attempt to draw you to it. You pass your 
 time in making various straight and crooked marks on 
 your forehead, in imprinting various marks on your 
 body, in carrying a load of wood on your neck [a mala or 
 necklace], and believe that all these things will save you 
 from death. This is a most useless mode of passing 
 time ; we therefore again entreat you earnestly to fix 
 your belief on the omnipresent God, the creator of the 
 world, and considering him as ever present with you, to 
 refrain from all iniquity, and reject the opinion of those 
 who for their own advantage would lead you to the wor- 
 ship of idols, and render you ridiculous in this world and 
 miserable in the next. 
 
 " If you say, that you do not worship the gods as the 
 Supreme Being, but as enabling you to approach the 
 deity, just as we conciliate the porter when we wish to 
 approach a king ; we reply, that those who conciliate the 
 porter for an introduction to a king, do not consider the 
 porter as the king himself; yet you act thus ; since you 
 consider those whom you worship as God himself. Again, 
 it is doubtless right to conciliate the porter when you 
 wish to approach a king, because the porter is near the 
 king and can give you access to him. But this simile 
 will not apply in the present case ; since the deitv is a 
 spirit universally existent, and is acquainted with all our 
 thoughts ; who therefore can be said to stand in so near 
 a relation to the deity, that by conciliating him you may 
 
222 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 obtain easier access to the Almighty ? If you say, that 
 the one God may be obtained by all, hence some have 
 found him by knowledge, some by works, others by wor- 
 shipping the gods, just as there are many ways by which 
 one may approach a king ; we reply, that to suppose the 
 deity may be found in different ways, is contrary to the 
 Shastras; since the deity cannot be found but through 
 divine knowledge, a point which is universally maintained 
 in the most direct manner in the Vedos and Vedantw. 
 Thus, ' men can obtain deliverance only by a knowledge 
 of the divine essence ; for final deliverance there is no 
 other path.' The works and the worship which the Shas- 
 tras have recommended, are requisite only till the mind 
 be capable of worshipping according to knowledge, with 
 integrity of heart. But how can purity of heart be ob- 
 tained by your mode of worship, which denies the mind, 
 and thereby prevents your finding the deity? Were the 
 house of a king in the south, you might wander a million 
 of years to the east without finding it? 
 
 r< If you say, that both a knowledge of the deity and 
 meditation on the gods are operations of the mind, both 
 will therefore lead to the fulfilment of our wishes ; we 
 reply, the idea that God is the Author and Creator of the 
 world, does not even wait for the meditation of our mind ; 
 thus, that a rope is a rope does not wait for confirmation 
 till we have reflected on it, since those things that are cer- 
 tain require not the sanction of our meditation. In the 
 same way, to suppose that any part of the destructible 
 creation is the Creator of the world, is mere delusion ; by 
 recognizing the true Creator of the universe, men obtain 
 their wishes. The way in which you meditate on the gods 
 is, however, mere delusion, since you form in your minds 
 first the head of the god, then you endow him with a mouth 
 and nose, then you give him hands and feet, then garments, 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 223 
 
 a necklace and ornaments ; you then form in your minds 
 the idea of various offerings for him, — but the day you are 
 busily employed, this imaginary deity has some of the 
 members of his body wanting. Now, should any one 
 speak, or should a thought of any other affair cross your 
 mind while thus mentally engaged, the whole imaginary 
 being is destroyed, and you have all the work to begin 
 afresh. How often is this ideal image broken ! and how 
 often are you thus constrained to begin it anew, just as 
 your conception of the idea of an absent individual or ob- 
 ject is broken by your attention being diverted ! What 
 difference is there between this ideal creation of the god 
 and of the man? You create the image in your mind, 
 and in your mind you break it : you form the image with 
 your hands and feet, and with your hands and feet you 
 break it. This worship of an ideal being is a mere play 
 of the imagination ; you form it in your mind in any way 
 you please, and yet solicit deliverance and the fulfilment 
 of your wishes from a work of the destructible imagina- 
 tion ! Hear the Mwhanirbana, ' If a being created by the 
 imagination can give deliverance ; then the man who 
 dreams that he is a king, is indeed a king.' There is no 
 end to this delusion. Who can awaken men so deeply 
 buried in darkness ? Even the brute creation regard a fixed 
 object as stable ; they recognize a stone as a stone, water 
 as water, and a beast as a beast. But how can any one 
 pretend to despise the brute creation, and pride himself on 
 his existence as a rational being, who regards a tree as 
 God, and a stone as the Supreme Being, and water as de- 
 serving worship in lieu of the deity, — and, considering a 
 jackal, a monkey, and other beasts as the representatives 
 of the gods, as such worships them ?" 
 
 This argument may need explanation. The shastms 
 command that a Hindoo shall daily perform the worship of 
 
224 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 his guardian deity, which is accomplished by shutting the 
 eyes, and conceiving of the form of the deity, and then by 
 an act of the mind offering to it flowers, food, or whatever 
 else may strike his imagination. This easy and inexpen- 
 sive mode of propitiating the deity, is perhaps the least 
 disregarded of all the directions of the shastras. 
 
 " If you say, that all beings with forms are destructible, 
 and that the deity is without form, how then can he create 
 beings with forms, since a being without form can do no- 
 thing? we reply, that the wind, though imperceptible, is 
 yet able to make progress, to raise various articles, and to 
 do many things. The mind is universally acknowledged 
 to be without form, and yet in a dream how many forms 
 of elephants, &c. can it create ! Can it, therefore, be mat- 
 ter of astonishment, that the immaculate deity should 
 create the world ? In the Veda, also, it is said, ' We see 
 the power of creation residing in beings that have no 
 form ;' how then can it be matter of astonishment, that the 
 almighty and immaculate God should by his will create 
 the world ? If you say, that as the Almighty Brahma is 
 able of his will to do all things, it is not matter of asto- 
 nishment that he should voluntarily have assumed a form 
 for a specific work ; we reply, that Brahma is indeed al- 
 mighty to create the world, that is, the Deity is able to 
 perform what others cannot ; but he can never communi- 
 cate to others the essential attributes of deity, his eter- 
 nity, omniscience, creative power, freedom from change, 
 immaculate purity, his equal government, together with 
 the absence of all increase or diminution, &c. Were he 
 to assume a form, he would lose these attributes; because, 
 however great a being with form may be, he must be infe- 
 rior to the quarters of the universe, to time, and to space; 
 he would then lose his omnipresence. Moreover, as every 
 being who can be seen is destructible, the Deity would 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 225 
 
 thus lose his eternity, and his state of perpetual tranquil- 
 lity. Nor can a temporary and inferior being be omni- 
 scient. You yourselves allow that the deity can do all 
 things by a volition of the mind ; if so, he can destroy 
 Usooras, and sustain the world at will, why then should it 
 be necessary for him to assume a form for these purposes ? 
 Should you further urge, that the Voishnavas of the sect 
 of Choitmiya maintain, that the splendour of Brwhraa was 
 manifest in the body of Kn'shna and Gouranga ; we reply, 
 that from Brahma to the lowest reptile all are full of the 
 deity ; nor is a worm, or the splendour of the body of a 
 worm, or Kn'shna, or the splendour of his body, different 
 from the eternal spirit. But your position overturns itself, 
 since you say, that Kn'shna was the splendour of Brahma. 
 Kn'shna, then, was not Brahma; to w r orship him therefore 
 would be useless. As the Shastras command us to wor- 
 ship God, it would be useless to worship a being who is 
 not God. 
 
 11 Ifyou say, ' the Shastras command us daily to perform 
 Swndhya* and all other enjoined ceremonies, none of 
 which you perform;' we reply, that we worship God either 
 by repeating the triliteral particle and the Gaywtree, or by 
 hearing and reflecting on the Oopwnishads, &c. in the per- 
 formance of which all other ceremonies are included. 
 Thus the Mwndook : 'Know only that one universal soul, 
 and reject all other works.' Thus Manoo : ' Forsaking 
 all works commanded by the Shastra, labour to wor- 
 ship Brahma, to restrain your passions, and to remember 
 the triliteral particle and the Oopanisht^ds.' And in se- 
 curing purity of mind, we are not forbidden to regulate 
 our passions, or to do those things required by our sta- 
 
 * Worship performed in the morning, at mid-day, and in the 
 evening. 
 
 Q 
 
226 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 tions, or the perpetual ceremonies commanded by the 
 Shastras. But we ask you, Why do you neglect the wor- 
 ship of the Supreme Being which is commanded in so 
 many Shastr«s ? If you say, that in the worship of Bruhma 
 there is no recognition of the six acts # , how then can men 
 trust to it ? — We reply, that it would be ridiculous to unite 
 the six injurious acts with the worship of Biwhrncr; it is, 
 therefore, natural to suppose, that the worship of the deity 
 has nothing to do with them. But all those deceivers who 
 advise you to worship idols, rob you of your wealth, and 
 destroy you both in this world and the next. Being 
 anxious for your wealth, they sometimes lead you to fulfil 
 your unlawful desires, and under this guise induce you to 
 perform sustyayuna\ ; sometimes also, when you have fallen 
 under misfortune, those remorseless deceivers deprive you 
 of your wealth by feeding you with hopes of deliverance 
 from misfortune. When your son is at the point of death, 
 far from feeling commiseration, those deceivers, embracing 
 this opportunity for the accumulation of gain, under the 
 idea of charming away the disease, lessen your wealth and 
 destroy your soul. Should the son die, they say, that there 
 must have been some defect in the work, lest the parents 
 should discredit the charms. Others say, that the act will 
 not yet be found unfruitful, and that the son has reached a 
 
 * The six acts are, propitiation, influencing others, rendering ene- 
 mies insensible, enraging others, occasioning death by means of the 
 bite of noxious reptiles or beasts, and destroying life. All uVse acts 
 are supposed to be accomplished by means of sacrifices. The book 
 from which we have quoted these diabolical acts is an 8vo volume of 
 80 pages ; which details how these effects may be produced, — and ex- 
 plains the nature of the various sacrifices ; and the names of the gods 
 whose aid is necessary. 
 
 f Sustyayuna, various actions performed to remove disease, and to 
 obtain one's desires. 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 227 
 
 fortunate place. When the wife or child of a poor man 
 who cannot expend a rupee on medicine, is ill, he sells his 
 water-pot and brass plate, and performs the worship of the 
 heavenly bodies which is not expensive, that he may 
 charm away the disease. It is matter of sincere regret, 
 that the worshippers of images believe, that he who is a 
 solicitor for two rupees, is yet able by means of incanta- 
 tions to bestow lacks of rupees on another, and that 
 though unable to preserve his own son or his friends, he 
 can yet preserve the son or the friends of others. Death 
 does not always follow disease, since some are healed. If 
 perchance the patient should live, the assurance of these 
 deceivers is increased ; but if the patient should die, 
 they still by various deceptions endeavour to support their 
 credit." 
 
 It is customary while a cause is pending in court, for 
 both parties through a priest to perform certain religious 
 acts, to secure a favourable decision. How little do our 
 judges in this country, while hearing the cause, realize the 
 numerous rites which have been performed to secure their 
 leaning to opposite sides of the question, — or when pro- 
 nouncing a decree, imagine that it will be attributed, not 
 to their justice, but to the influence of some of the Hindoo 
 gods! In the succeeding paragraph the writer holds up 
 this practice to ridicule. 
 
 " You likewise see that both the Plaintiff and the De- 
 fendant perform sacrifices for success. In this case he who 
 is successful has his belief in the deceiver increased, and he 
 who is unsuccessful has still his belief supported by various 
 artifices. The ignorant idolater judges neither according 
 to the Shastras, nor according to reason, since it is writ- 
 ten in the Shastrws, that men are induced to the perform- 
 ance of these works by the fruit promised in the Shastras, 
 that they may thereby be drawn off from improper con- 
 Q2 
 
228 
 
 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 duct. It is also naturally impossible for any person, by 
 sitting in a certain spot and moving his tongue, his hands, 
 or his feet, to deliver one at a distance, from a fever, or 
 from misfortune, or to secure the success of a cause in 
 court, since no effect can be produced without an ade- 
 quate cause. Should any one, to support his credit, utter 
 a thousand falsehoods under the guise of religion, the 
 idolater is strengthened rather than staggered in his be- 
 lief—and even an act of adultery, which is forbidden both 
 by the Shastras and by common consent, if committed 
 under the cloak of religion, is not considered disgraceful. 
 Drunkenness, which creates so many disputes, if covered 
 with the same pretence, rather raises the man in popular 
 estimation. Thus the idolater makes no distinction be- 
 tween virtue and vice, since a truly virtuous character is 
 never guilty of falsehood, uncleanness, or excess." 
 
 In mentioning adultery and drunkenness the author al- 
 ludes to the Vamacharees, who indulge in every species 
 of iniquity, under the pretence of religion. The former 
 crime refers to their infamous indulgences under the pre- 
 tence of making an experiment on the success they have 
 attained in restraining their desires ! 
 
 " If you ask why the worshippers of Brahma violate 
 the Shastras by refusing food and flowers offered to idols ; 
 we reply, as we have before told you, that the judgment 
 of food according to the Smritees, Twntras, and other 
 Shastras, is a matter of temporal necessity, and that as 
 such we practise it. There is moreover little distinction 
 on this point, since, whether it be food offered to idols, 
 or any thing else which you esteem most holy or most 
 unholy, after it has been some time in the system, it is 
 cast out on the dunghill. If the sacrificial food did not 
 after a time become impure, and were not expelled, it 
 might be esteemed more holy than other food. Hear 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 229 
 
 what Muha-deva says on the subject: ' Water is filled with 
 frogs and insects, milk is produced from the flesh of the 
 cow, and the fruits of the earth are produced from the 
 dead body of Mimdhoo-koitwba. Every thing is there- 
 fore unholy.' " 
 
 Mwndhoo-koitwba was a monster produced from Vz'sh- 
 noo's ear. He was afterwards slaughtered by his creator ; 
 aud of his dead body was the world created. This speech 
 of Shzva proves that amidst all the pretended discrimina- 
 tion of the Hindoos with regard to food, there is in reality 
 nothing holy ; since water is filled with insects, milk is 
 a part of the body of the cow, and the fruits of the earth 
 spring from a carcase. 
 
 "If you say, that we who seek divine knowledge are 
 still involved like others in worldly cares, and are sub- 
 ject to desire, passion, and the like, that we are anxious 
 for excellent food, excellent equipages, and are engaged 
 in disputes, whereas had we really attained divine know- 
 ledge, we should regard mud and Sandal wood with the 
 same feelings ; we reply, that while encumbered with 
 bodies, both the wise and the ignorant, both beasts and 
 birds, must act according to the principles which govern 
 their nature, and the movements of their natural desires. 
 But the difference between a wise and an ignorant man is, 
 that the ignorant, considering these actions as belonging 
 to the ethereal spark within, is always bound up in them ; 
 the wise, knowing that they belong only to our passions, 
 regards the soul as independent of them. — To consider 
 mud and Sandal wood, a drinking vessel and a mat, as the 
 same, and earth and stones as the deity, belong to foolish 
 idolaters, not to wise men. Yet a wise man will consider 
 both mud and Sandal wood, and all beings, from Brwhma 
 to the reptile, as equally the work of the great Creator, 
 and, acknowledging them as subject to him, will subscribe 
 
230 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 to the omnipresence of the deity. You who call an image 
 God are desirous of excellent food, and excellent equi- 
 pages, and are only anxious that we who acknowledge the 
 deity as God, should renounce all food, and pass through 
 life with insensibility ! But be assured that the true wor- 
 shippers of the deity will certainly enjoy more happiness 
 in both worlds than the worshippers of idols. To endea- 
 vour by all means to restrain the passions, is certainly the 
 duty of a wise man ; but to do this effectually requires 
 much practice : and if among those who seek the know- 
 ledge of the deity you find some who make no attempts 
 to restrain their passions, no blame can be attached to the 
 instructors or to the precepts. Thus Indra and Vzrochwna 
 both sought instruction of Br/dima; India acted up to 
 the knowledge he had received, and obtained the fulfil- 
 ment of his wishes, but Vzrochwna, not following the path 
 of true knowledge, remained an Usoora. Thus also 
 among ten students who receive instruction, three may 
 follow up their knowledge, while seven lose the string of 
 their meditation. Though the instruction therefore may 
 be the same, there may be a difference in the exertions of 
 those who receive it. This difference of practice is not 
 confined to those who seek divine knowledge ; among 
 those devoted to works and to idol worship, some who 
 receive the same instruction, act according thereto, and 
 others do not. 
 
 " If you ask, why we do not regard the auspiciousness 
 of the stars and attend to the proper seasons for journey- 
 ing ; we reply, that we fear only the Supreme Being; we 
 regard him only as able to fulfil our wishes and no one 
 else. Thus the Veda, 'when you are acquainted with the 
 Supreme Brahma, who is happiness itself, fear none else/ 
 To speak more particularly, the sun and other planets 
 have a specific station ; but that they are the occasion of 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 231 
 
 good and evil in this world, and of the success or failure 
 of journeys, can be believed only by those who have lost 
 their reason. Were any one to say, that a mountain in 
 Koorookshetra, or the motion of the leaf of a tree on it, 
 was the cause of good or evil, he would be esteemed 
 insane." 
 
 In his concluding paragraphs our author attempts to 
 bring what he esteems the miseries of idol worshippers 
 into one view ; but while these even in his view are highly 
 affecting, how meagre, how wretched is the system he has 
 to offer them instead of idolatry !— No forgiving mercy 
 for past trangressions — no acceptance through a Me- 
 diator — no Divine aid in seeking to please God — no en- 
 joyment of his favour and almighty protection amidst the 
 evils of life and the hatred and malice of men; — nothing 
 of an eternal weight of glory to follow a life of suffering 
 and conflict. Yet the picture is* interesting; imperfect as 
 it may be, it has truth for its basis, and, as far as it goes, 
 it will serve as a platform on which the advocates of 
 revealed truth may build to high advantage. 
 
 " Should you further ask, why we are at such variance 
 with the worshippers of images; we reply, that we cannot 
 cordially unite with those from whom we differ, both with 
 regard to the concerns of this world and the next, as widely 
 as the distance between the rising and the setting sun. 
 Him whom we regard as the immaculate, omnipresent, 
 indestructible God, you dishonour by subjecting him to 
 the disgrace of birth and death, by representing him some- 
 times as given to adultery, sometimes to robbery, to war, 
 to evil desire, and anger : how then can any friendship exist 
 between us? On this subject a chief sage has said, 
 that *■ in the Kzzlee yooga hypocrites will ascribe to the 
 immaculate spirit, birth, injury, falsehood, passions, 
 theft, rage, adultery, death, and discomfiture.' We cer- 
 
232 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 tainly pity you when we see your various miseries ; thus, 
 when you have food, you refrain from eating it under the 
 idea that the deity will be pleased with your starving 
 yourselves. When you enjoy time, you deceive your- 
 selves by various devices, and refrain from work, and pass 
 through life without advantage. The virtuous poor, who 
 are the real objects of charity, you pass by, and give 
 to the proud and wealthy deceiver. Instead of offering 
 sweet-smelling flowers to those who can smell them, you 
 give them either to a brass plate, to an inanimate image, 
 or to a river. In the cold weather you voluntarily suffer 
 from the cold water of the river, in the summer from the 
 heat of fire # ; night and day you are filled with imaginary 
 terrors from spirits and the like. Deceived by the idea 
 that God is in one place and not in another, you wander 
 through various countries, suffering divers miseries, and 
 sometimes even death itself. Though you have sweet 
 water, you prefer drinking and bathing in the muddy 
 and brackish waters of the Ganges. Some of you by 
 marrying many wives entail misery and disgrace on them, 
 and on yourselves grief and sorrow. With twenty or 
 thirty rupees, which is not even the value of a horse, you 
 buy an image of stone or wood, and call it your God. 
 You take for your spiritual guides men filled with false- 
 hood, hypocrisy, and pride, the greatest of all mortal 
 enemies. The Soorya Siddhanta and other astronomical 
 works say, that the earth is round, suspended in space, 
 that its shadow occasions the eclipses of the moon, that 
 the heat of the sun draws up water and occasions rain ; — 
 disregarding all these truths, you teach your children the 
 Pooranas, which have regulated the form of the world 
 
 * Hindoos are commanded in summer to sit near a fire, that the 
 inconvenience they feel may be grateful to the deity. 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 233 
 
 merely with the view of inculcating ceremonies. These 
 things you teach your children like parrots, telling them 
 that the world is three-cornered, and rests on the head of 
 a snake ; that Rahoo, the enemy of the sun and moon, at- 
 tempts to seize them ; that the male and female clouds 
 produce rain; — and when by the friction of two clouds 
 thunder is produced, that the gods are making a noise,— 
 and that sneezing, or the sound of the lizard, renders it 
 auspicious to perform any work. These and a thousand 
 other follies we see you constantly practise and teach to 
 others. When we see men thus acting like irrational 
 beings, we naturally feel sorrow. We cannot agree in 
 opinion with you, since that which you esteem holiness, 
 and those actions which you introduce into worship, we 
 esteem unholy. Thus you regard earth, stone, trees? 
 beasts, birds, &c. as God ;— we do not. You deem motions 
 of the hands and feet — and dancing — and diversion — and 
 the wearing of a necklace and marks on the forehead, 
 deeds of holiness ; — we do not. You drink the water of 
 a peculiar spot, and anoint your body with dirt and mud 
 brought from particular places, and esteem these acts 
 holy; — we do not. Some of you consider the drinking of 
 wine, and the extinction of life, and the shedding of 
 blood, as conducive to salvation ; — we do not. To burn 
 defenceless women, to murder an aged father and mother 
 by immersing them in water, you esteem holy; — we esteem 
 these deeds unholy. To call a large assembly and give 
 away money, you esteem holy ; — we do not. You esteem 
 it holy to sound shells, bells, and musical instruments, 
 and dance ;— we do not. You refrain from food at parti- 
 cular seasons, and oblige others to do the same, and 
 esteem this an act of holiness ; — we do not. You esteem 
 adultery committed in the act of worship a holy act;— we 
 do not. We therefore again intreat you to believe in God 
 
234 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 as omnipresent, and as the witness of all our thoughts, 
 words, and actions, and by following his commands, 
 which are advantageous both to yourselves and to others, 
 to obtain the fulfilment of all your wishes. If, instead of 
 receiving benefit from our instructions, you despise and 
 vilify us, we shall treat you with contempt. Since those 
 who have the misfortune to consider earth, wood, stone, 
 and metals as God, and to worship monkies, bears, kites, 
 and jackals, can neither benefit nor injure us, they are 
 rather objects of pity than of abuse. We therefore again 
 intreat you to forsake the worship of idols, and to give 
 yourselves to the worship of the Supreme Being." 
 
 We here close our extracts from this work ; and when 
 we look back on the space they have occupied, we feel 
 that nothing but the importance of the subject as thus 
 handled by a native, can apologize for their extreme 
 length. While the work is argumentative in a high de- 
 gree, it is interspersed with observations, which for keen- 
 ness of satire would scarcely have disgraced the pen of 
 Lucian. How far the natives of India may be disposed 
 to sacrifice the absurdities of their practice at the shrine 
 of ridicule, we are not prepared to say ; but it is not dif- 
 ficult to foresee, that a succession of works similar to the 
 present, must in time raise the tone of public sentiment. 
 If we may judge from the remarks we have heard respect- 
 ing the present publication, it has not been altogether in- 
 efficacious. Were it proper to quote Bengalee, we might 
 here insert the popular adage which has been applied with 
 such aptness to the present publication ; but these pithy 
 sayings lose so much of their spirit in another language, 
 that we should not venture it, if it did not apply with 
 equal force to all the efforts necessary for the improve- 
 ment of India. The ten-headed Ravano, the sovereign of 
 Ceylon, had displeased his brother Vibheeshmitf, who 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 235 
 
 deserted to the besieging army under Rama, and contri- 
 buted powerfully to the fall of the monster by assisting 
 Rama with his local knowledge of the situation of the 
 country. This circumstance has given rise to the follow- 
 ing aphorism, " Ghor-sundhane Ravuna nusta" which im- 
 ports, that Ravuna was ruined through the knowledge of 
 his situation possessed by the enemy ; this we have fre- 
 quently heard applied to the present publication. So in- 
 timate a knowledge of the recondite rites and mysteries 
 of Hindooism can scarcely ever be acquired in an equal 
 degree by a foreigner, however extensive his acquaintance 
 with the popular manners. After residing twenty years 
 in the bosom of the people, with the most anxious spirit 
 of enquiry, there are innumerable circumstances con- 
 nected with their worship, their habits, their feelings, 
 which will elude his observation. Yet how important a 
 knowledge of these is to a due exposure of the errors of 
 the Hindoo system, the present work fully demonstrates. 
 What European could have written a work equally deli- 
 cate and equally severe in its application? What Eu- 
 ropean can ever possess those peculiar advantages which a 
 native acquires even without effort? If in the improvement 
 of India, European science be requisite for the inculca- 
 tion of superior ideas, the assistance of natives is equally 
 desirable on the ground of their intimate knowledge of 
 the habits and feelings of their countrymen. But the 
 latter is incommunicable to a European; while superior 
 ideas may be acquired by a native, indulged with equal 
 opportunities for attaining them. And who that has 
 read these extracts will say that our author, though unas- 
 sisted by the advantages we possess, has not exhibited 
 such force of reasoning, such strength of intellect, as with 
 them would have placed him in the foremost rank of the 
 defenders of truth ? We appeal to those who have 
 
236 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 accompanied us through this work, whether a native equal 
 to such a production, would find himself unequal to the 
 comprehension of Bacon, or Locke, or Butler, or Howe ? 
 Should any object to this, the inconsistency of some of 
 his arguments, and his occasional departure from sound 
 reason, we would beg them to consider his limited educa- 
 tion and the errors and defects of the system which he at- 
 tempts to rebuild on the ruins of polytheism. If a native 
 of India has been capable of producing so masterly a trea- 
 tise by the pure force of unassisted genius, what may not 
 be expected from natives when favoured with opportuni- 
 ties of cultivating the rich and varied stores of European 
 knowledge ? Who, on reading these extracts, has not re- 
 joiced to find so much native talent in the country, and 
 felt a latent wish that men so largely gifted by nature, had 
 enjoyed opportunities of becoming acquainted with the 
 learning of Europe ? That Hindoos who have raised 
 themselves above the absurdities of polytheism, should 
 have sought out and embraced that which was most noble 
 and dignified in their own literature, to which alone they 
 had access, — and ehould have taken refuge from the pue- 
 rilities of idolatry in the philosophical doctrine of matter 
 and spirit, which has been sanctioned by all the talent and 
 all the learning of Tndia for a succession of ages, is not 
 matter of astonishment ; — and what benevolent mind, per- 
 ceiving the diligence with which our author has brought 
 forward in this controversy every particle of truth he could 
 glean from his own books, would deny him that light, that 
 superior knowledge, which might enable him to detect 
 and renounce the errors of the Ved«s themselves ? These 
 are our natural allies in the propagation of truth, and we 
 cannot stand acquitted of folly if we deny them those ad- 
 vantages which would render their aid completely efficient. 
 The rich vein of oriental intellect is no longer hidden from 
 
HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 237 
 
 our view ; and while we may think it necessary to import 
 our own treasures, it will argue a total absence of reason, 
 if we neglect to cultivate the original mine with which 
 Providence has blessed the country, or to give its ore that 
 exquisite polish of which it is so susceptible. Divine 
 goodness has not been wanting to India ; it possesses in 
 rich abundance all those natural advantages which may 
 enable it to emerge from the thick cloud of error by which 
 it has been so long covered : and to crown these advan- 
 tages, Divine Providence has now taken its sceptre out of 
 the hands of a bigoted race, under whose withering sway 
 nations dwindled into complete insignificance, and placed 
 it in the hands of Britain — not at a time when she had 
 nothing to communicate, — or was contending with other 
 nations for existence ; but when, in the security of undis- 
 turbed sovereignty, she is at leisure to impart to the na- 
 tions under her influence those rich treasures of know- 
 ledge she has herself accumulated. 
 
 The publication of this work enables us also to per- 
 ceive the advantages which may result from free discussion 
 conducted by private individuals among the natives, as 
 well as the complete safety which attends it. It may be 
 within the recollection of some of our readers, that about 
 twelve years ago an unfounded suspicion of danger 
 from attempts to enlighten India found its way into 
 the minds of some persons in England, and that certain 
 pamphlets in the Bengalee language were translated into 
 our tongue, to demonstrate how closely their circulation 
 was connected with the instability of our eastern posses- 
 sions. Time has now refuted those suspicions, and alarm 
 has now subsided : it is, however, a happy circumstance 
 that the present publication has appeared so late, for, had 
 it been sent into circulation at that season, we cannot say 
 that it would not have contributed to invigorate suspicion, 
 
238 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 and excite greater alarm. That such prognostics of dan- 
 ger would have been unfounded, however, will appear from 
 the fact that this publication, containing so close an exa- 
 mination of the doctrines and practice of polytheism, in- 
 terspersed with incontestably more poignant ridicule,more 
 keenness of satire, than was to be found in all the works 
 which twelve years ago excited such alarm, has now been 
 in circulation more than eight months, and been read by 
 the main supporters of the system it attempts to invali- 
 date, without exciting the most distant suspicion that 
 idolatry is to be chased from India by the arm of coercion. 
 But on what principle has it proved so innoxious? Be- 
 cause it bears not the stamp of public authority, — because 
 every man who reads it, will instantly recognize it as the 
 work of a private individual, — because the writer has not 
 been raised from a cottage to a palace, decorated with ho- 
 nours or loaded with wealth, — because not one ray of fa- 
 vour has visited his humble dwelling, from those who have 
 the power of dispensing riches and honour. Had it ap- 
 peared with any single appendage which could have iden- 
 tified it with government, — were the author, or his oppo- 
 nent who should furnish the best reply, to be raised in 
 consequence to some office of profit and honour, the case 
 would be altered, and many who have never read it, might 
 feel an involuntary alarm for the continuance of those 
 rites, which it is in human nature to surrender to reason — 
 never to authority. But the wise moderation of the ruling 
 power on this subject has spread unbounded confidence 
 among all classes of the natives, and relieved them from 
 all anxiety. Nothing can be more harmless than free dis- 
 cussion among the natives themselves, while it stands on 
 its own basis, and leans not for support on the ruling au- 
 thority. Those who would represent the Hindoos as 
 averse to free enquiry, strangely misrepresent them, and 
 
HINDOO POLYTHI.ISM. 239 
 
 cast a libel on their character for which they can expect 
 no gratitude. The fact is, that the natives are exceedingly 
 fond of discussion. For one classic work on History, or 
 Geography, or Astronomy, we have ten argumentative 
 works on the subject of the Divine essence. The work 
 under review is not, therefore, the first of its kind. Had 
 it been so, — had it been the first examination of the claims 
 of their Three Hundred ard Thirty Millions of gods to the 
 title and attributes of deity, the novelty of the subject 
 might have occasioned disquietude, and some might have 
 felt a degree of fear at this first movement of the mass of 
 superstition which had slumbered quietly for ages. But 
 the Hindoos have been discussing the doctrines of their 
 own faith for twenty centuries ; for twenty centuries have 
 the superior minds of the East bent their earnest enquiries 
 to this subject, — on this field have they reaped all their 
 laurels, and in the ardour of these speculations, they have 
 left the history and geography of India to find its own 
 way to posterity. Is it conceivable, then, that under the 
 mild and benign sway of Britain, when religious discussion 
 has been separated from every political consideration, 
 more danger will attend it than under the intolerant sway 
 of our immediate predecessors, or the bigoted government 
 of the ancient Hindoo sovereigns ? 
 
 If it be necessary, however, that works of this descrip- 
 tion should challenge assent on their own intrinsic merits, 
 receiving neither the support nor the discountenance of 
 the supreme authority, this can only be secured by the 
 perfect freedom of the native press. Had the present 
 work been submitted to a previous revision, it must either 
 have been suppressed, or have gone forth with the sanction 
 of Government. Had it been suppressed, there would have 
 been an end to free enquiry. But while the liberality of 
 our countrymen removes every apprehension of this na- 
 
240 HINDOO POLYTHEISM. 
 
 ture, scarcely any European gentleman, with the most per- 
 fect command of the language, while encumbered with 
 other duties could have found leisure to peruse and weigh 
 all the arguments of this production, which he must have 
 done previously to granting it his sanction. It must in 
 that case have been delivered over to some native assist- 
 ant, who, unless he possessed a liberality of sentiment as 
 yet scarcely to be expected, would have made an unfavour- 
 able representation of the contents — and this work might 
 never have seen the light. But if, on the contrary, it had 
 received the imprimatur of Government, it must have gone 
 forth as containing the approved sentiments of the su- 
 preme authority. The natives of the East have, been ac- 
 customed to consider the wish of Government as law, — 
 and we should then have had to combat the idea that the 
 civil power felt an interest either in the preservation or the 
 suppression of idolatry — an idea which, by taking the sub- 
 ject out of the sphere of free discussion, would inevitably 
 be detrimental to the progress of truth. 
 
X. 
 REVIEW OF A TREATISE 
 
 IN THE BENGALEE LANGUAGE 
 
 ON CEREMONIAL UNCLEANNESS. 
 Calcutta, pp. 140.* 
 
 We have sometimes felt a degree of anxiety lest the 
 subjects treated of in the progress of this work, should 
 have wearied the patience of our readers by their uniform 
 reference to Asia, and more particularly to India. This, 
 however, was the original design of the publication; and the 
 encouragement with which it has been favoured warrants a 
 belief, that the investigation of subjects of this nature is 
 in unison with the spirit of the present age. In the early 
 period of our Indian empire, the domestic economy of the 
 natives was in a great measure overlooked, not so much 
 through a careless indifference to the welfare of the 
 people, as through the peculiar circumstances of the 
 times. Our countrymen were then occupied in laying the 
 foundation of this empire, and their attention was neces- 
 sarily absorbed by the political struggles in which they 
 were engaged. That season of turbulence, and war, and 
 confusion, has now terminated, and left us in undisturbed 
 possession of the country, under circumstances highly fa- 
 vourable for a close examination of the feelings, habits, 
 and manners of the people. These opportunities have 
 not been neglected, and the growing anxiety now mani- 
 
 * Friend of India, Quarterly Series, No. III. p. 352. 
 R 
 
242 CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 
 
 fested to survey in detail the separate divisions of the 
 native character and institutions, is what might have been 
 expected from the habits of our countrymen and the ex- 
 tensive field opened to their view. If to this spirit of en- 
 quiry we add the magnitude of our conquest, its great 
 importance to the interests of our native land, and the 
 vast multitude whose weal or woe depends on our con- 
 duct, we think a case may be made out to justify the ap- 
 pearance of a work devoted chiefly to subjects connected 
 with this country, the centre of all European influence in 
 Asia. If the improvement of the people be among the 
 objects of our Indian pilgrimage, if we feel anxious to 
 leave them any return for the wealth by which we are 
 enabled to revisit our native land in circumstances of ease 
 and prosperity, it cannot be matter of indifference that the 
 true state of the country, in all its varied shades of misery, 
 should be laid open to view. To found any plan of moral 
 or political improvement on any other basis, would be to 
 defeat our own expectations ; and hence every report of 
 the situation of the country which wears the appearance 
 of fidelity, is of real value. It is not in great and over- 
 whelming calamities that the mass of human misery con- 
 sists. Famine and pestilence are of rare occurrence ; 
 ages roll over without producing those mighty conquerors 
 who desolate the earth; it is from the daily events of life, 
 from minute observances, from the silent operation of 
 mischievous principles which, from their apparent in- 
 significance, awaken no vigilance, from vicious habits in- 
 terwoven into the constitution of nations, that distress 
 and misery arise. More particularly is this the case in 
 India; and hence institutions which possess little intrinsic 
 importance, assume a formidable magnitude when their 
 baneful effects extend to every dwelling, and destroy the 
 happiness of every family. In proportion therefore to the 
 
CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 243 
 
 diversity and extent of the burdens under which the 
 people labour, does it become necessary that information 
 should be given, not in general and vague observations, 
 but with such minuteness as to enable those who would 
 fain remove them, to take their exact gage and dimen- 
 sions. Moral maladies require as much of keen and per- 
 severing investigation, as the diseases of the body ; and 
 if in the latter, no remedy can be judiciously applied 
 without an intimate acquaintance with every bearing of 
 the subject, those diseases which imperceptibly taint the 
 current of social happiness, and are visible only by their 
 effects, must necessarily demand equal keenness of research. 
 Happily the publications of the Native Press are likely, 
 in the course of time, to afford ample information on alt 
 the branches of Hindoo economy, and to supply those de- 
 ficiencies in the scale of our knowledge, which are inse- 
 parable from the limited nature of our opportunities. 
 Those works which are composed for the information of 
 the natives, will at the same time serve to enlarge our 
 knowledge of the subject, more especially as the native 
 editors in many cases combine in one treatise the regula- 
 tions dispersed through a number of volumes. By the 
 aid of these works, therefore, a European will be able, in 
 the space of a few hours, to comprehend a subject which 
 would otherwise have required months of application. 
 
 On this occasion we have selected a small work On 
 Ceremonial Impurity, which has recently issued from the 
 native press. The subject is by no means inviting; but 
 as it forms a prominent feature in the institutions of the 
 Vedfls, and entails an almost intolerable burden on so 
 many millions, we have thought it would not be devoid of 
 interest. Like most Hindoo productions, it is composed 
 in metrical stanzas. It occupies one hundred and forty 
 pages, of which the first fifty are in the Bengalee kn- 
 it 2 
 
244 
 
 CEREMONIAL IMPURITY, 
 
 guage, and contain a summary of the law on this subject, 
 together with a short treatise on penance ; the Appendix 
 consists of authorities from the original S//ngsknt« works. 
 It has the benefit of an index, an improvement which has 
 originated in an imitation of our books, and which we 
 hope will never be omitted in any future native publica- 
 tion. The first eight pages of the book may be consi- 
 dered as the introduction : dedications are as yet 
 unknown among Hindoo editors, except to the gods ; as 
 were titlepages before our arrival. In this introduction 
 there is a long string of compliments to Raja Kro'shna- 
 Chwndra Raya, the late sovereign of Krfshna-nwgwra, and 
 the great patron of the literati, in which he is compared to 
 the gods and heroes of antiquity with as little regard to 
 truth as to good taste. This is succeeded by an account 
 of the author and of his ancestry, embellished with no 
 little modesty. He ingenuously describes himself as 
 having been reduced to poverty, as having sought a live- 
 lihood in the metropolis, the resort of needy scholars ; 
 and on the failure of all his schemes, as having been in- 
 duced to publish the present volume. The introduction 
 is in the worst style of punning affectation; every line 
 consists of four monosyllabic words, all terminating in the 
 same sounds and producing a jingling rhyme, which is any 
 thing but harmonious. The sense and the ideas are equally 
 sacrificed to this corrupt taste, which, strange to say, is 
 now so popular in India, that the most profound scholars 
 esteem the introduction of a miserable pun an ornament 
 to their works. 
 
 We have room for only a brief analysis of the work. 
 Some of the rules are however so puerile, that we beg to 
 give them at full length, as they will serve to shew into 
 what depths of absurdity and childishness the most 
 
CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 245 
 
 esteemed native authors have fallen in their attempts to 
 support a fallacious system of religion. 
 
 Ceremonial impurity among the Hindoos is totally dif- 
 ferent from ceremonial uncleanness among the Jews. A 
 chief object of the latter was evidently the comfort and 
 health of the people. Among the Hindoos, health is 
 scarcely affected thereby ; its chief effect is to incapa- 
 citate for the performance of religious duties. Ceremo- 
 nial impurity is defined to be, that which invisibly occasions 
 a suspension of the duties commanded in the Vedas. While 
 a person is unclean, he can neither perform his religious 
 duties, nor partake of food with those of his own cast, nor 
 receive or bestow either presents or instruction. Certain 
 acts, however, are so necessary in the business of life, that 
 to have prohibited them, would have endangered the re- 
 ception, or the continuance of the system. Their impor- 
 tance therefore was considered as overcoming the taint 
 communicated by ceremonial impurity. Such are the 
 ceremonies connected with the birth of a son ; those daily 
 funeral offerings to a deceased relative which are incum- 
 bent during the first ten days after death, as well as the 
 rites immediately preceding death. Above all a man 
 may bestow gifts on brahmwns, if he have previously 
 vowed them. Kings may perform their regal functions, 
 and their subjects may attend to their respective profes- 
 sions, and beggars may pursue their vocation without re- 
 ference to uncleanness. Impurity commences as soon as 
 the event which causes it is known. If a man, after hearing 
 of the event, swallow the morsel then in his mouth, he must 
 fast one day j but if he conclude his meal, he must continue 
 without food for three days. Hence friends invariably 
 delay the announcing of either afflictive or gratifying in- 
 telligence till after the completion of a meal ; for we shall 
 
246 CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 
 
 perceive in the sequel, that intelligence of both kinds is 
 equally inimical to the pleasures of the table. 
 
 The degree and continuance of ceremonial impurity 
 are varied not only by the nature of the event, but by cast, 
 in which, as usual, the heaviest burden falls on the poor 
 shoodras. In a case of total impurity a brahimm is un- 
 clean ten days, a kshetr/ya twelve, a voishya fifteen, 
 and a shoodr« thirty days. Uncleanness is moreover not 
 confined to the nearest relatives, but extends to all with- 
 in the sixth degree of consanguinity, which evidently 
 shews that a care for health is quite out of the question. 
 What could have given rise to this absurd law, it is diffi- 
 cult to imagine. If we reckon all the kindred within 
 these degrees at one thousand, and calculate thirty births 
 and thirty deaths annually in this little family, we shall 
 have sixty occasions in a year on which a brahmwn be- 
 comes unclean for ten days. Happily the inevitable mi- 
 gration of families nullifies this law, which in fact could 
 never have been fully observed ; and which, had it been 
 possible to honour in its full extent, would have prevented 
 every brahmwn's performing the duties of religion from 
 the time of his investiture to the period of his death ; nay, 
 it would have tended to annihilate the whole of this 
 sacred tribe, and left the world for ever without the 
 blessings of brahmanic instruction, since no investiture 
 of the poita is permitted while there is any known un- 
 cleanness in the family. 
 
 But to return to our author : the death of any relative 
 within the eighth, ninth, and tenth, degrees of affinity 
 occasions an impurity of three days ; from the eleventh to 
 the fourteenth degree, of two days and a night. Beyond 
 this, the shastr«s do not seem to contemplate the disco- 
 very of any natural relationship, and merely direct, that 
 any individual who can trace himself up to one common 
 
CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 247 
 
 ancestor with a deceased friend, becomes unclean till he 
 has bathed. 
 
 In some cases relatives die in a distant village ; some- 
 times they are lost in rivers, or consumed in a conflagra- 
 tion. On these occasions, as the funeral obsequies are 
 indispensable, the shastras have prescribed an injunction, 
 which some may be disposed to think ludicrous. We 
 will extract it from the work : " When the father dies in 
 a distant village, and his body is not burnt, and none of 
 his bones can be recovered, let the son form an image of 
 leaves, and by the power of incantations, transform it into 
 his deceased parent, and burn it with the same rites which 
 would have accompanied the consumption of his father's 
 corpse. Should he find a bone of the deceased after the 
 conclusion of this ceremony, let him burn it and remain 
 unclean for three days. Let this image be made of 
 leaves of the s?zr tree, to be bound together with wool, and 
 covered over with a paste of barley. — The head must con- 
 tain forty leaves, the neck ten, the stomach thirty, the 
 belly twenty; fifty are allowed for each hand and foot, 
 one for each finger and toe, and thirty for the thighs." 
 There are several other injunctions which refer to rela- 
 tives dying at a distance, with which we will close this 
 branch of the subject. The son is to regard the father as 
 dead, of whom he hears no tidings for twelve years ; after 
 that period he is unclean for three days, and is to prepare 
 and consume the image of leaves just mentioned. Much 
 discrepancy prevails in the shastras relative to the period 
 when these funeral rites are to be performed. Should the 
 father return after they have been performed, he may be 
 restored to his family after sundry expensive propitiations. 
 If intelligence of the death of a relative be received with- 
 in one year after the event, the family is unclean three 
 days ; if after the expiration of a year, a father, a mother, 
 
248 CEREMONIAL UIPUHIIT. 
 
 and a husband are unclean only one day, and the rela- 
 tives till they have bathed. 
 
 The laws relative to women cannot fail to strike the 
 reader of this work as excessively severe. We pass over 
 the various minute and absurd laws relative to abortion. 
 The mother among the sacred tribe, immediately on the 
 birth of a son, is unclean twenty days, and thirty on the 
 birth of a daughter; shoodra women are unclean in both 
 cases thirty days. During the first ten days whoever 
 happens to touch the mother or the infant, is subject to 
 temporary uncleanness, removable by ablution. Impu- 
 rity occasioned by a birth, extends to all the relatives 
 within the sixth degree ; but should the father or his other 
 wives touch the mother during the first ten days, they in- 
 cur the same impurity, and may not be touched. But 
 should the mother be so unhappy as to touch any indivi- 
 dual of low cast, she must fast three days ; some shas- 
 tras apply this law to the months preceding her accouche- 
 ment. 
 
 In order to understand the law of uncleanness as it 
 relates to the death of children, it will be necessary to 
 premise, that, according to the Hindoo religion, the soul 
 of every being on its departure from this world enters on 
 a state called preta, (literally a ghost,) and is endowed 
 with an invisible, but filthy and disgusting body ; in this 
 state it remains for one year, until all the funeral rites 
 commanded by the shastras have been performed, when it 
 is permitted to return to the earth and assume a corpo- 
 real existence in that form to which its previous prepon- 
 derance of merit or demerit has entitled it. Hence the 
 anxiety of the Hindoo for male offspring, that he may 
 secure the performance of those funeral rites on the part 
 of his son, which will, at an early period, liberate his de- 
 parted soul from its unpleasant confinement ; for if these 
 
CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 
 
 249 
 
 rites be not performed, the soul continues in that filthy 
 habitation, till it has expiated the amount of its former 
 trangressions by suffering. 
 
 Children who die under the age of two, are to be buried 
 instead of being burnt; and for those who are buried no 
 funeral obsequies can be performed. If the corpse of the 
 child be burnt through affection, the parents, if brahmuns, 
 are unclean three days, if shoodras, twenty. The child 
 is to be shaven as soon as possible after its birth ; great 
 importance being attached to tonsure, as it is strongly 
 decisive of his future happiness or misery. If a child be 
 shaven, and die at the termination of two years, the full 
 rites for the dead are to be performed on its behalf, — 
 under that age, no rites are admitted. Hence, when 
 children dfe before that auspicious event, it is supposed 
 that in the preceding birth their sins preponderated over 
 their merits, and that this untimely death, which deprives 
 them of the rites of the dead, is the punishment inflicted 
 on them.* The degree of uncleanness which attaches 
 to the relatives, is regulated by the age at which the child 
 dies, the appearance of teeth, and the application or omis- 
 sion of the razor. Thus if it die within six months, 
 unshaven and without teeth, the relatives recover .their 
 purity by merely bathing, — the parents are however un- 
 clean twenty-four hours. If teeth appear within six 
 months, and the child die, the relatives are unclean 
 twenty-four hours, the parents and brothers three days ; 
 if the child has been shaven and die within six months, 
 all the relatives are unclean three days. If it have not 
 
 * It is, however, customary for relatives to perform a shraddha for 
 them at Guy a, which is esteemed sufficiently efficacious to liberate 
 their spirits from their intermediate preta state. 
 
250 CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 
 
 been shaven and die within twelve months, the relatives 
 are unclean one day, the parents three. A daughter is, 
 however, less troublesome ; for if she die within two 
 years and before she have been shaven, the relatives be- 
 come pure by ^bathing ; if afterwards, the uncleanness 
 extends to one day. If she die after having been be- 
 trothed, both families are unclean three days ; but if 
 no matrimonial contract have been ratified, the family of 
 her parents alone are unclean for three days. 
 
 Hindoo women are never married to any who bear the 
 most distant affinity to their own family. We know not 
 how this distinction is preserved in the other provinces 
 of the empire; but in Bengal, almost every brahmwn be- 
 longs to one of the five families into which the tribe is 
 divided ; and is descended from one of the five brahmmis 
 who came into Bengal from Kwnnojtf.* No woman there- 
 fore is ever married to a youth of the same division with 
 her father's family, but is given to some brahmwn of one 
 of the other four divisions ; and all connection with her 
 paternal or maternal relatives ceases on her entering the 
 married state. The only relatives through whom she be- 
 comes unclean are her parents. Her brother does not 
 become impure on her decease, nor on the death of her 
 children, though this point is left rather ambiguous. 
 She is no longer a mpinda, a partaker of the funeral 
 cake in her father's family ; the burden of impurity which 
 her accouchement or death may occasion, is transferred to 
 the kindred of her husband. Some of her paternal and 
 
 * There are, however, many of the descendants of the ancient brah- 
 mims of Bengal, but they are held in little esteem, and have no inter- 
 course with the regular brahmwns, though many of them have con- 
 trived through the absence of family registers to mingle with their 
 families. 
 
CEUEMOJSiIAL IMPURITY. 251 
 
 maternal relatives are rendered unclean, but only for a 
 limited time, complete uncleanness being out of the 
 question. 
 
 Instances are constantly occurring of Double Unclean- 
 ness, that is, when a man is rendered impure by some 
 new event, before he is free from the impurity of a pre- 
 ceding occurrence ; and this is by far the most intricate 
 and difficult branch of the subject. The first section of 
 the chapter on this head treats of the strength of the 
 various occasions of impurity. A greater uncleanness 
 swallows up the less. That occasioned by death in a 
 family is greater than that occasioned by birth. The 
 death of a father, a mother, or a husband, is of more con- 
 sequence than the death of any other relative. Should a 
 child be born, and the father die at the same time, the 
 latter is of the highest importance ; but if a distant relative 
 die, the birth of the child is esteemed of greater magnitude. 
 That occasion on which the impurity extends to the 
 greatest length of time, exceeds in importance one of a 
 more limited period ; and of two inferior degrees of un- 
 cleanness, that occasioned by the death of the nearest re- 
 lative preponderates over the other. 
 
 The author then proceeds to narrate the law in these 
 cases. If on the ninth or penultimate day of uncleanness, 
 a new occasion of impurity arise, it is lost in the preced- 
 ing days of uncleanness ; but if it arise on the last day, 
 the impurity is extended for two days longer ; and if be- 
 tween the morning and evening twilight of the day of 
 purification, for three additional days. This is jthe 
 general spirit of the regulations on this point; to descend 
 to more minute particulars would only be to exhaust the 
 patience of the reader, on which we will urge no farther 
 claim than while we quote certain miscellaneous injunc- 
 tions, scattered up and down in the volume. 
 
252 CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 
 
 If both he who offers and he who receives food, be ig- 
 norant of an event which occasions impurity, they are not 
 culpable ; but should one receive food of another, or sleep 
 on the same couch, or sit with him, knowing that he is 
 unclean, he incurs the same degree of impurity. 
 
 If a woman be accouched or die in the house of her 
 parents, the parents are unclean for three days, and the 
 brother for one. And if such an event occur in the three 
 principal rooms of the dwelling, the dormitory, the tem- 
 ple, or the dining-room, the father must be unclean ten 
 days, and the brother three. 
 
 On the death of a near relative, the unclean are for- 
 bidden for three days to partake of prepared food. During 
 the whole period of their impurity they are exceedingly 
 limited in the articles of food. 
 
 If a mother bear twins, a boy and a girl, she is unclean 
 for the daughter alone, that is, for thirty days ; the un- 
 cleanness for a son in similar circumstances, being twenty 
 days, is absorbed in that for the daughter. 
 
 The injunctions which we have hitherto detailed relate 
 to ordinary death. In the case of decease out of the 
 course of nature, however, the term of impurity is 
 shortened. If one die from abstinence, or by fire, or by 
 water, through lightning, by a fall from a precipice, or in 
 battle, by the horns or the tusks of a beast, or by the bite of 
 a serpent, or through thieves, or by the hands of a ch*m- 
 dal«, (a man of the lowest cast,) his kindred are unclean 
 only three nights. But if death follow any one of these 
 accidents after an interval of three days, they are un- 
 clean to the fullest extent. 
 
 If a man die in battle who has never turned his back 
 on the enemy, his kindred are purified by bathing. If he 
 perish in defence of a cow or a brahmwn, they continue 
 impure one day. If he fall in battle where his sovereign 
 
CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 253 
 
 is not present, or die by the weapons of his foes, or suffer 
 execution, his kindred are unclean for one day. If he die 
 in his flight from the field of combat, or by a club, his re- 
 latives are unclean three days. 
 
 The following individuals being esteemed infamous, 
 occasion no uncleanness among their kindred ; they exhibit 
 a strange mixture of vice and misfortune grouped together: 
 he who deliberately terminates his existence, or willingly 
 exposes himself to wild beasts ; he who is executed for 
 theft or adultery ; he who having quarrelled with a chun- 
 dal«, falls in combat with him ; he who takes medicine 
 which he is conscious will augment his complaint; who 
 seeks the injury of others ; he who is envious or hypocri- 
 tical ; a eunuch whether born such or not ; he on whose 
 ground any individual has been put to death ; one who 
 dies of ulcers in his throat, he who destroys himself by 
 abstinence in a fit of passion, or who dies by the curse of 
 a brahman, these are not to be burnt, but thrown into a 
 river, and none of their kindred to become unclean. A 
 muha-patok, (he who knowingly destroys a brahman, a 
 brahmf/n who drinks wine, he who steals gold from a 
 brahmzoi to the amount of a gold mohur, or who violates 
 the wife of his father, or one who partakes of food with 
 any of these,) a leper, and one who in consequence of ine- 
 briety in a former birth, has a small black tooth growing 
 between his two front teeth, may not even be touched after 
 death. 
 
 The following rule is not favourable to morals : if a wo- 
 man forsaking her husband, attach herself to another man 
 of high cast, on her death both her husband and her para- 
 mour will become unclean. If her paramour be of the 
 servile tribe, however, her husband is relieved from impu- 
 rity on her death ; but the female cannot be burnt. 
 
 A woman during the first six months of pregnancy may 
 
254 CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 
 
 perform all the ordinances of the Vedas ; but after the 
 eighth month she is incompetent to the performance of any 
 religious act ; and no one is allowed to touch her. On 
 the death of a woman before her accouchement, the infant 
 is to be extracted and buried, and the woman burnt. 
 
 When a brahmwn follows the corpse of another brahim/n 
 of different kindred, he must purify himself by bathing, 
 touching fire, and eating clarified butter. If the corpse 
 belong to the military tribe, the brahmwn who follows it, 
 is unclean one day; if to the commercial class, he is un- 
 clean two days ; but if the deceased be of the servile 
 class, for three days, after which he must perform one 
 hundred Pranayamas. A Pranayam« is performed by 
 closing each nostril successively, and exhaling breath, 
 and is to be accompanied with internal meditation. If 
 a brahmwn follow the corpse of a shoodra even by mis- 
 take, he must bathe, touch fire, and partake of clarified 
 butter. 
 
 If one touch the bones of a brahmwn, he must bathe, and 
 put water into his mouth three times from the palm of his 
 hand ; if the bone be covered with flesh, he must stroke a 
 cow, look at the sun, and then bathe ; if he touch it 
 knowing to whom it belonged, the uncleanness is aug- 
 mented. 
 
 If a brahmwn perform the funeral offices for another un- 
 known brahman who had no friends, he must bathe and 
 eat clarified butter; if he assist at his funeral with the 
 hope of obtaining his wealth, he is fully unclean ; if in 
 this case the corpse belonged to one of the servile class, 
 he is unclean thirty days. If the smoke of a funeral pile 
 blow on any one, he must purify himself by bathing. He 
 who weeps for another becomes unclean ; if a brahman go 
 to the house of a shoodivz, and mourn for him within ten 
 days after his death, he is impure three days ; if after ten 
 
CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 255 
 
 days, he is unclean only for one day ; if a brahman mourn 
 with the friends of a deceased shoodra without shedding 
 tears, he is still unclean one day. 
 
 The day on which the finger is cut, or a drop of blood 
 shed, the individual becomes unclean, and can perform no 
 religious duty ; if blood drop from the tooth, the most es- 
 sential services of religion are to be suspended ; in this 
 case, however, a person may offer the funeral cake, or per- 
 form the duties consequent on an eclipse, or if he arrive at 
 a place of great sanctity, he may avail himself of the occa- 
 sion. After tonsure, weeping, touching what is forbidden, 
 or vomiting, a man must purify himself by bathing. 
 
 He who has lost cast, a chandala, a fool, one not per- 
 fectly sane, a midwife, a woman for a month after her ac- 
 couchement, or during her courses, a village hog, a fowl, 
 a dog, or an undertaker, are not to be touched. 
 
 There are certain who are considered unclean even till 
 death: those who neglect the duties of their tribe, a 
 brahman who knows not his gaywtree, he who has never 
 made gifts to a brahman, or who is always subject to 
 others, he who is always ill, or perpetually involved in 
 debt, who is perpetually melancholy, one without faith, 
 he who is always subject to his wife, or who is generally 
 despicable. As to these all acts of worship are forbidden, 
 they are worse than excommunicated, being cut off from 
 all means of obtaining the blessings of a future life, as well 
 as from all society in this ; nothing, therefore, can exceed 
 in cruelty this classification .* 
 
 The following is the mode of purification to be ob- 
 served on the departure of uncleanness. The impure in- 
 dividual is to wash his vestments in his own dwelling, 
 
 * In another shastra it is said that the childless can never reach 
 heaven. 
 
25C CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 
 
 besmear the house with earth and cow-dung, destroy all 
 his earthen cooking utensils, anoint his body with a pecu- 
 liar species of oil, bathe, clothe himself in clean apparel, 
 stroke a cow, and touch gold. 
 
 We here close our extracts from this code of impurity, 
 which, for puerility and yet for severity, has perhaps no 
 equal among the laws of any other nation. Many of its 
 prescriptions have necessarily fallen into disuse in this 
 iron ao;e: but those which continue to be regarded are 
 sufficiently numerous to render the life of a Hindoo a 
 grievous burden. It is singular, that ki laying the foun- 
 dation of a religion which surpasses all others for its 
 minute and endless religious observances, the interests of 
 a future state should have been placed so much beneath 
 the concerns of this world. Ceremonial uncleanness im- 
 pedes in few instances the performance of secular duties ; 
 but the ceremonies on which a Hindoo depends for eter- 
 nal bliss are subject to endless interruptions. Even the 
 birth of a child suspends all the duties of religion, because 
 the deity cannot accept of any servces from one who is 
 ceremonially unclean. 
 
 The reader will naturally ask, On what principle is this 
 vast superstructure raised, and for what purpose should 
 the poor Hindoo be subjected to such constant distress? 
 He will find an answer to his enquiry, if he will consider 
 whom it benefits. It benefits the brahmins, the only in- 
 dividuals to whom the whole current of Hindoo observ- 
 ances is propitious. After having created this sacred 
 tribe, it was necessary to provide for their support in the 
 credulity of the people; and that they have been most 
 amply provided for, is unquestionable, when they descend 
 so low as to glean support from the mire and slime of 
 ceremonial impurity. Moreover this code is a part of the 
 Vedtfs, which none but brahnwns may study ; the secret 
 
CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 257 
 
 of uncleanness is therefore in their possession, and forms 
 by no means an inconsiderable branch of their trade, as it 
 is requisite for the inhabitants, on every emergency, to 
 apply to some expounder of the Ved«s. The brahmanic 
 expounder of the laws of impurity is therefore a person of 
 no little consequence in the commonwealth, his aid being 
 required much more frequently than that of a physician. 
 Every cluster of villages throughout the country has some 
 legal instructor, to whom the native resorts in every sea- 
 son of difficulty with a present in his hand. 
 
 On a review of this system, we cannot but deplore its 
 tendency to destroy all sense of moral impurity. The 
 grand object of this code is evidently to interrupt those 
 acts of worship and devotion on which a Hindoo is taught 
 to believe that his future happiness is suspended. These 
 become unacceptable to the object they worship, not 
 through any evil dispositions, nor even through any out- 
 ward act of wickedness; but through certain accidents 
 over which the worshipper has not the least controul, and 
 which may possibly happen at a distance from him. This 
 must tend exceedingly to weaken his sense of moral evil, 
 and to destroy his veneration for the object of worship. 
 Are his religious exercises rendered equally unacceptable 
 by moral pollution? If they be, this only places moral 
 impurity on the same level with ceremonial. But if 
 moral pollution has not the same effect with ceremonial 
 uncleanness, (and we have abundant proof that it has 
 not,) this sinks it far beneath ceremonial impurity as an 
 object of dread. Hence if a Hindoo retain in any degree 
 that sense of moral evil imperfectly impressed by nature 
 on the hearts of all, he must necessarily despise the object 
 of his worship for disregarding the service offered him 
 even by the most sincere mind, on account of that cere- 
 monial impurity which he himself views as nothing, while 
 
258 CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 
 
 he regards it through custom. This system then leads 
 either to the utter extinction of all moral feeling on the 
 one hand — or to atheism and the secret but real contempt 
 of every object of worship on the other. Such is the 
 system under which possibly a hundred millions of our 
 fellow-creatures are both living and dying. 
 
 It is also cause for deep regret that men of the largest 
 intellect in India should stoop to such puerile and unpro- 
 fitable discussions ; that those who apply to study with 
 ardour, should lose so much of their valuable time on a 
 subject, which, when completely acquired, does not ad- 
 vance them one step in solid knowledge. The volume 
 under review, though written with the view of bringing 
 the subject within the comprehension of common minds, 
 and composed in the Bengalee language, is scarcely in- 
 telligible to any but those who have already studied the 
 subject in the Hindoo Colleges. After proceeding through 
 a few of the introductory pages, we found our native as- 
 sistant, though a man of great learning and well versed 
 in the Swngsknta, unable to explain it, and were obliged 
 to call in the aid of a man to whom the subject was fami- 
 liar. Eighteen months of the most valuable season of 
 life are thrown away by law students on this unprofitable 
 study. All this time is utterly lost for all beneficial pur- 
 poses ;— nay, it is worse than lost, since it contributes to 
 bind down the only men who devote themselves to study, 
 to admire and support the most burdensome system of 
 ceremonies ever invented by man. Thus the intellect of 
 a learned Hindoo is fettered, the march of improvement 
 effectually checked ; and in lieu of a gradual approxima- 
 tion to the noblest truths of science, we behold among 
 the native literati a blind attachment to ancient doctrines, 
 remarkable chiefly for their absurdity. Hence those 
 minds which, under a different course of study, might 
 
CEREMONIAL IMPURITY. 259 
 
 have grasped whatever is noble in the intellectual pursuits 
 of man, are debased by studying the most childish follies, 
 by devoting their valuable time to the task of ascertaining 
 when a Hindoo may and when he may not partake of the 
 bounty of his Creator, when he may or may not be 
 touched by his relatives ! Nothing more effectually 
 retards the progress of improvement than such a devotion 
 of the faculties of the mind. The ignorance of the dark 
 ages was accompanied with similar discussions; and 
 wherever such studies become the order of the day, im- 
 provement is at a stand, the intellect is buried beneath 
 an overwhelming mass of unprofitable speculations, the 
 more dangerous as they assume the appearance of learn- 
 ing, and monopolize all that respect and admiration, 
 which in a more auspicious age is bestowed on the sub- 
 stantial triumphs of genius. When astronomy is sepa- 
 rated from the disgraceful appendage of astrology, — when 
 such doctrines as those of ceremonial uncleanness, diet, 
 purification, penance, expiation, are banished from the 
 studies of Hindoo jurisconsults, and in their stead, are 
 substituted the Sacred Scriptures, the law of nature and 
 of nations, and the knowledge of the west ; then, and not 
 till then, can we expect a general ardour for science and 
 literature to awake in the minds of the native literati. 
 
 S 2 
 
XI. 
 
 ON THE USE OF A 
 
 FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN THE INDIAN COURTS 
 OF JUDICATURE * 
 
 There is something in the human mind which renders 
 it partial to ancient errors, however absurd in their nature, 
 or injurious in their effects. From whatever principle it 
 may proceed, that which our predecessors did, comes re- 
 commended to us with a force almost irresistible. Nor 
 is this the case merely when a custom or practice has 
 been evidently the dictate of wisdom. It may have ori- 
 ginated in accident, — in the idleness of those who pre- 
 ceded us — or even in their vices. Still it is ancient; it 
 was the practice of others before us. What! are we 
 wiser than they ? more capable of entering into their cir- 
 cumstances, who are so far remote from the period of 
 action, and so little acquainted with the reasons which 
 originated the practice in question ? It cannot be ; our 
 predecessors were surely wiser than we are, or at least 
 they possessed opportunities of judging which far exceed 
 ours. They must therefore have been right ; and for us 
 to examine customs they have left us, the principles of 
 which are now lost in oblivion, what arrogance ! what 
 folly ! On grounds equally solid with these, did our an- 
 cestors plead for the superior advantages of performing 
 their devotions in Latin, of which they understood nothing, 
 
 * Friend of India, Quarterly Series, No. III. p. 369. 
 
JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS, 
 
 261 
 
 against all that modern innovators could urge ; and in 
 that age of humility, when a prelate meekly accepted the 
 aid of a friend in signing a deed, nor forbad the record, 
 " as my Lord Bishop cannot write I have signed this in- 
 strument for him," if in the formula of devotion the ra- 
 dical part of a verb were by some accident changed, still 
 in expressing to the deity the idea " we have taken," the 
 new, the innovating sumpsimus* was in value incompara- 
 bly below the venerable mumpsimus. Thus, too, the inno- 
 vation of the fantastic Galileo in presuming to maintain 
 that this firm and stable earth whirls itself round like a 
 child's plaything, was, in the opinion of the grave and 
 the learned of that age, deservedly rewarded with a 
 lodging in the holy office : and thus the Hindoos now 
 insist, that in deeming a river, a stone, a log, the Author 
 of their being and of all their blessings — in regarding a 
 tribe, generally the most immoral, as capable of oblite- 
 rating the crimes of all the other tribes — in burning; alive 
 their widowed mothers and sisters, they are certainly 
 right ; these things were practised by their forefathers, 
 and to question their propriety, or even to attempt to ex- 
 amine them, would in them be egregious arrogance. 
 
 The sources of this conduct it is not very difficult to 
 trace. When this professed veneration for ancient folly 
 is not a mere cloak to enable one class of society to de- 
 ceive and fleece the rest, it often springs from that mis- 
 taken regard for ancestors, which, regulated by reason, 
 becomes filial veneration ; but without it, tends to make 
 our ancestors all and our Creator nothing, to make us 
 forget that we also are intrusted with reasoning powers, 
 of the application of which we must give account to the 
 Great Parent of mankind, and that each generation (and 
 
 * From Sumo, sumpsi, sumere, to take, to receive. 
 
262 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 even each individual) has a responsibility attached to it- 
 self from which no human authority can absolve it, and 
 which no reliance on antiquity can lessen ; inasmuch as 
 former generations, even from the beginning, have been 
 liable to be led astray by self-love, or blinded by interest, 
 or hurried away by the impetuosity of the passions, or 
 lulled asleep by the power of indolence. To act thus and 
 thus, therefore, because our forefathers did the same, who 
 were equally corrupt and fallible with ourselves, with less 
 of experience to guide them, is in reality to renounce our 
 own reason and to disobey our Creator and Sovereign, 
 who has directed his commands equally to every genera- 
 tion, and who will judge every man according as his work 
 shall be. 
 
 It is not always from this blind veneration for our pre- 
 decessors, however, that we continue to perpetuate cus- 
 toms in themselves highly preposterous. Many possessed 
 of the clearest understanding and the soundest judgment, 
 continue to do this merely from irresolution of mind. 
 They are convinced that the practice is wrong, they feel 
 its absurdity, they lament its effects ; but to change it 
 requires mental labour, the greatest dread of the human 
 mind. To express their ideas of the evils with which it is 
 fraught, requires thought ; these evils must be examined 
 so as to be demonstrated to others, that we may justify 
 our own conduct to them if we are able to act singly, and 
 carry conviction to their minds if we need their concur- 
 rence. This is labour of which few minds are capable ; and 
 hence a thousand excuses are formed within. We hope 
 the practice in question is not so injurious in reality as it 
 appears ; we at least did not originate it ; wiser men than 
 ourselves have trodden in the same path. Besides, we 
 are not alone ; in the guilt or the folly, if it be such, mul- 
 titudes share as deeply as ourselves ;— and we may have 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 263 
 
 comparatively but a small time longer to remain con- 
 nected therewith ; and what have we to do with futurity ? 
 ft Let us leave the whole," says one, " to Divine Providence, 
 which never will be remiss in watching over human af- 
 fairs ;" or says another less devoutly inclined, " to that 
 chance which governs all terrene objects." Thus the 
 mind is often quieted, the conscience lulled to sleep, and 
 the man of probity, judgment, and penetration, brought 
 to persist in customs, which, if he could separate from him- 
 self and view only in connection with others, he would 
 despise for their absurdity, and abhor for their injurious 
 effect on mankind. 
 
 The use of a foreign language in the judicial affairs of 
 British India has long occupied our attention. Its sin- 
 gular nature forced it on our minds many years ago, and 
 induced us, from time to time, to converse on the subject 
 with the well-informed among the Natives, as well as with 
 various European gentlemen who, from their long resi- 
 dence in India, their practical knowledge, their probity of 
 character, and their concern for the welfare of our Indian 
 fellow-subjects, have deservedly stood high in the ranks 
 of British India. A view of the growing importance of 
 our Indian empire, and a consideration of the indulgent 
 manner in which the public have received discussions on 
 various subjects relating to the happiness of our Indian 
 fellow-subjects, have induced us at length to submit to 
 our readers the following thoughts, in the hope that, if 
 they produce no other efFect, they may at least draw the 
 attention of abler minds to this important subject. 
 
 It is a well known fact, that while in the Supreme 
 Court instituted for British subjects, all causes are con- 
 ducted in the English language ; in the Courts instituted 
 for Natives, judicial proceedings are in general conducted 
 in a language equally foreign to the parties, the advo- 
 
264 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 cates, and tiie judges, — in the language of Persia, a king- 
 dom distant from the seat of the British Government above 
 two thousand miles, from which India has derived none of 
 its laws, and with which it has scarcely a remote communi- 
 cation. That such an anomaly in the history of nations 
 should exist under the British Government at the begin- 
 ning of the nineteenth century, may justly furnish matter 
 of surprise. To an examination of the reasonableness of 
 this course and the probable effect of its being disconti- 
 nued, the following pages are devoted : and, in judging of 
 its nature, we shall be much assisted by taking a view of 
 judicial proceedings as they have been conducted among 
 those nations most celebrated for jurisprudence in different 
 ages of the world. 
 
 The protection of the weak from the violence of the 
 strong, was evidently a grand object in the original forma- 
 tion of society. Hence judicial proceedings have in every 
 age constituted the chief means of diffusing satisfaction and 
 tranquillity through the various ranks of society. The 
 formation of just laws which should be alike coercive on 
 the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor, the high 
 and the low, is among the chief benefits which men receive 
 in return for surrendering to society a portion of those 
 rights which all possess by nature. As long as men per- 
 ceive themselves surrounded by those who are restrained 
 from injuring the property, the person, the life of their 
 neighbour, neither by motives of feeling, nor by the fear 
 of their common Judge, the certain persuasion that they 
 shall not be deprived of their property because it may be 
 the object of desire to others, or of their liberty and repu- 
 tation because others may hate them, can alone furnish 
 solid ground for individual quiet of mind and for general 
 tranquillity. To secure this, however, the most equitable 
 laws are not in themselves sufficient. It can be realized 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 205 
 
 by such an administration of them alone as shall create in 
 every mind the assurance, that guilt will not be imputed 
 on mere suspicion, that every accusation will be duly 
 weighed, the truth or falsehood of every testimony tho- 
 roughly sifted, and such vigilance and impartiality exer- 
 cised in administering laws, as will ascertain precisely the 
 degree of guilt where it does exist, and completely defeat 
 every malicious attempt against property or life. To se- 
 cure these, every wise nation has deemed two things es- 
 sential to the administration of justice, that judicial pro- 
 ceedings be conducted in the most public manner, and 
 that they be in the common language of the people. In 
 examining the judicial affairs of those nations most emi- 
 nent for the equitable administration of justice, we shall 
 find this to have been invariably the case. 
 
 If we refer to the Hebrew nation, who in jurisprudence 
 are not only our most ancient authority, but an authority 
 which excludes all doubt, since both their code of laws 
 and the mode of administering them, were of Divine ap- 
 pointment, we have sufficient data in their records to con- 
 clude, that among them all judicial proceedings were con- 
 ducted with the strictest regard to publicity. In these 
 the gate of the city is constantly mentioned as the seat of 
 judicial proceedings. Indeed, ages previously, Job speaks 
 of " the gate" as the place where he put on righteousness 
 and it clothed him, where his judgment, or judicial deci- 
 sions, were to him as a robe and a diadem, because he de- 
 livered the poor that cried for justice, and the fatherless, 
 and him that had none to help him, — while the cause that 
 he knew not he searched out. The chief crime alleged 
 against the Ten Tribes was, that they " turned aside the 
 poor in the gate ;" and, as a proof of their forsaking it, they 
 are exhorted " to establish judgment in the gate," which 
 expressions sufficiently shew, that judicial proceedings 
 
266 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 were conducted in the place of public resort. That they 
 were conducted in the language of the nation, is so clear, 
 that an attempt to prove it would be an insult to the un- 
 derstanding. Before the Captivity there was indeed no 
 other language in which judicial proceedings had the 
 least chance of being conducted ; and after that event* 
 although the Jews were subject for centuries to the very 
 nation whose language is adopted in our Native Judicial 
 Courts, we have no reason to think that the Persian 
 language was ever adopted in their courts of justice. 
 
 If we revert to the Greeks, and particularly to the Athe- 
 nians, from whom the Romans, according to Livy, were 
 not ashamed to borrow the Twelve Tables which formed 
 the basis of their laws, we shall find these two circum- 
 stances interwoven with the whole of their administration 
 of justice. T'he Court of the Areopagus, so famed 
 throughout Greece for the justness and accuracy of its 
 decisions, even sat in the open air, and heard causes not 
 only in the vernacular tongue, but in the plainest possible 
 form, I* constraining whoever spoke before them/' says 
 Potter, " to represent the bare and naked truth, without 
 any preface or epilogue, without any ornament or fi- 
 gures of rhetoric, or other insinuating means to win the 
 favour or move the passions of the judges."" The effect 
 of thus eliciting judicial facts in language so perfectly 
 intelligible to all, was, that the common citizens of 
 Athens were found capable of sitting in the courts of 
 justice without any previous legal instruction. The 
 judges were chosen out of the citizens without any dis- 
 tinction of quality, the lowest being admitted by Solon to 
 determine causes, if above thirty and of unblameable cha- 
 racter. Hence such of the citizens as were at leisure to 
 hear and determine causes, delivered in their names for 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 267 
 
 admission into all the courts, with the exception of the 
 Areopagus. 
 
 The case with the Persian nation under Cyrus and his 
 successors was nearly the same. The same care to bring 
 judicial proceedings within the knowledge of all, was 
 visible both in promulgating and administering the laws ; 
 every thing was conducted with the strictest regard to 
 publicity, and to the people's having justice administered 
 in the language they best understood. 
 
 If we come to Rome, which in point of jurisprudence has 
 given the tone to nearly the whole of the European world, 
 we shall find precisely the same care to give to their judi- 
 cial proceedings the utmost publicity. It was in the audi- 
 ence of the common people that those Praetors sat and 
 determined causes, whose decisions are to this day 
 treasured up as part of the Civil Law ; and if Cicero de- 
 livered his orations for Muraena, Cornelius, and Milo, 
 those admirable compositions, before a select number of 
 judges, it was still in the language understood by every 
 Roman. 
 
 If we trace Roman jurisprudence down to the sixth 
 century, the sera of Justinian, who, collecting all the laws 
 of his predecessors, formed the Code, the Institutions, 
 and the Pandects which bear his name, we shall find these 
 promulgated in the vernacular tongue of the Romans. 
 Whatever translation of the Code, the Pandects, or the 
 Institutions of Justinian might have been made into 
 Greek for the use of the Eastern part of the empire, in the 
 existence of these works in the Latin language to this day, 
 and in the numerous maxims of the Civil Law constantly 
 quoted in that language, we have full proof that they were 
 promulgated throughout the Western part of the empire 
 in its own vernacular language. That the judicial pro- 
 ceedings themselves, therefore, were in the language of the 
 
268 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 people, follows so much of course, that to attempt the 
 proof of this fact would be a complete waste of time. 
 
 We have thus traced the history of jurisprudence 
 through the most celebrated nations of antiquity, and 
 even as low as the sixth century, without discovering a 
 vestige of the practice which forms the subject of this 
 essay. If we recur to our own Saxon ancestors, to whom 
 Britain is indebted for the most valuable part of her laws, 
 as well as for her inestimable constitution, we shall find 
 the same principle of good sense uniformly prevailing. To 
 Alfred so justly termed the Great, the institutor of the 
 trial by jury, it seemed absolutely necessary that the code 
 of laws which he compiled should be in the common 
 language of the kingdom, as well as the administration of 
 these laws. The same feeling governed his successors 
 Athelstan, Edmund the Elder, and Edgar, by whom this 
 code was enlarged. Nor did Canute venture to alter 
 either the language in which the laws were promulgated, 
 or that in which they were administered. Yet he might 
 have furnished himself with a strong plea for such an in- 
 novation. He had obtained the kingdom by conquest; 
 and not only was the Danish language the vernacular 
 tongue of himself and his followers, with whom he natu- 
 rally filled his court and the chief places of trust in the 
 kingdom, but that of various colonies of Danes who in 
 the course of nearly two hundred years had settled tn 
 different parts of England. Up to the eleventh century 
 of the Christian asra, then, we have no reason to believe 
 that in any kingdom, either of Europe or Western Asia, 
 and we may add, of Eastern Asia, was a foreign language 
 used injudicial proceedings. 
 
 We now come within view of the only two innovations 
 of this nature that we recollect having been ever made ; 
 one in Europe, the other in India. That in Europe oc- 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 2G9 
 
 curred in the year J 081, when William the Conqueror 
 commanded all judicial proceedings throughout England 
 to be conducted in Norman French, instead of the Anglo- 
 Saxon or English language, in which they had been hither- 
 to conducted even in his reign. It is proper to add, how- 
 ever, that this was not attempted till fifteen years after 
 the battle which conferred on him the title of Conqueror. 
 Nor was this a solitary act of tyranny : the despotic 
 prince did not venture on this step till after he had for- 
 bidden his English subjects, throughout the kingdom, the 
 light even of a taper after eight in the evening ; — till to 
 satiate his resentment he had rendered the country be- 
 tween York and Durham a perfect desert for sixty miles 
 round, by which act thousands of houseless wanderers 
 perished through hunger and cold, and to gratify his love 
 of hunting had depopulated thirty-six parishes in Hamp- 
 shire, to the destruction of thousands more ; nor till 
 
 he had previously dispossessed the greater part of the 
 English nobility and gentry of their estates, and bestowed 
 them on his Norman followers in such profusion, that to 
 one of them, Robert Fitzgibbon, were given no less than 
 three hundred and sixty manors. That such a monarch 
 should make a change in the administration of justice 
 which filled all England with disaffection, is certainly no 
 wonder, particularly when it gratified the vanity of him- 
 self and his followers. But relative to this change, there 
 are two things which ought to be mentioned. 
 
 This foreign language, in which the English were thus 
 compelled to seek justice from their Norman masters, was 
 the vernacular tongue of the king and his followers, who, 
 while they filled all offices of trust and profit, and of course 
 those in the various courts of justice, held the chief 
 landed estates in the kingdom, the barons having par- 
 celled out their lands in knight's fees to their followers, 
 
270 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 and these again to their vassals, who thus pervaded every 
 part of the kingdom. This, however, was not the first 
 appearance of the Norman language in England. Ethel- 
 red had married Emma, the sister of Richmond Duke of 
 Normandy, nearly eighty years before this period, who 
 with her attendants introduced the Norman language into 
 Ethelred's court : and her son, afterwards Edward the 
 Confessor, took refuge in the Norman court during the 
 continuance of the Danish dynasty, which gave him such 
 a taste both for the language and the habits of the Nor- 
 mans, as caused much uneasiness to his own subjects, and 
 ended in the introduction of the Norman dynasty. 
 
 The other circumstance is, that when William con- 
 strained his English subjects to conduct all judicial pro- 
 ceedings in his own tongue, he at the same time took 
 measures to secure its being taught throughout the 
 kingdom. Some historians say that he instituted schools 
 for this purpose throughout England ; but all agree that 
 he ordered it to be taught in those which then existed. 
 His object evidently was, to make it the current language 
 of the kingdom ; and the failure of this scheme with all 
 the advantages for carrying it into execution which arose 
 from its being for above two centuries the language of the 
 court, — of all public transactions, — of judicial proceed- 
 ings, — of nearly all the landed proprietors and a great 
 part of the common people, sufficiently evinces the futi- 
 lity of any attempt to change the language spoken by the 
 great bulk of a people. The event proved, that, notwith- 
 standing all these advantages for carrying the plan into 
 execution, two centuries and a half, while they introduced 
 a multitude of Norman words into the English language 
 which it retains to this day, did so little towards render- 
 ing universally current the language itself, that. Edward 
 the Third, one of the best monarchs who ever sat on 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 271 
 
 the British throne, thought he could not gratify the 
 wishes of his people more fully than by ordaining, as he 
 did in the year 1362, that for the future, in the courts of 
 justice and in all public acts, the English language should 
 be used instead of the French or Norman introduced by 
 William the Conqueror. 
 
 This wise measure, which filled the whole kingdom with 
 satisfaction, seems to have communicated a new impulse 
 to the cultivation of the English language. Within a few 
 years after this act had passed, Wickliffe, then in his 
 thirty-eighth year, began the translation of the Scriptures 
 into English, and Chaucer, the father of English poetry, 
 who lived till the reign of Henry the Fourth, with Sir 
 John Gower, began to try the powers of the language in 
 various kinds of verse. How far this measure actually 
 encouraged these our earliest English authors, we will 
 not take on ourselves to say ; but that the restoration of 
 our language to its due place in the courts of justice and 
 in all public acts had this tendency, will be disputed, we 
 believe, by few. Such a step invariably tends to refine a 
 language, by bringing it into continual use among the 
 best educated men of the age, while it imparts to it that 
 anticipation of stability which a language can never ob- 
 tain while excluded from all judicial proceedings and 
 public acts of government : and these circumstances, in 
 the eye of an author, render it eligible as a vehicle for 
 the circulation of his choicest thoughts and their preser- 
 vation to future ages. Whatever influence these ideas 
 had on the minds of the literati of that age, it is certain 
 that the cultivation of the English tongue, which has now 
 rendered it equal to the expression of every idea, and 
 constituted it the depository of all knowledge both human 
 and divine, commenced with this memorable sera. We 
 have scarcely an English work which deserves the name 
 
272 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 before the reign of Edward the Third ; and whether the 
 language would have attained its present richness and 
 high cultivation, had it to this day been excluded from 
 every polite circle, from the courts of judicature, ^fhd all 
 public proceedings, any one can judge who is acquainted 
 with the nature of language and of the human mind. 
 
 The Asiatic instance we have of this nature, is that fur- 
 nished by the Mussulman dynasty in India. At what 
 period the Mussulmans constrained the inhabitants of 
 Bengal and Hindoost'han to conduct all their judicial pro- 
 ceedings in a foreign language, it is not easy to say ; but 
 the first invasion of India by Mahmood the Great, which 
 led to this result, happened a few years before the period 
 when the English were thus constrained to admit a 
 foreign tongue into their judicial proceedings. Thus the 
 only innovations of this nature which have ever happened 
 among the nations of Europe or Asia, originated within a 
 century of each other, and precisely from the same cause, 
 the unfeeling folly of their lawless conquerors. The vast 
 empire of China has been subjugated by various powers, 
 and among others by that very dynasty which fixed this 
 galling yoke on the neck of India ; but neither its Mus- 
 sulman nor Tartar conquerors ever ventured to introduce 
 a foreign language into its judicial proceedings, or even 
 to promulgate its laws in any other language than 
 Chinese, although there are few languages less inviting 
 to a foreign conqueror, or which involve a greater degree 
 of labour in the acquisition. This tribute of labour, these 
 conquerors have however been constrained to yield, as the 
 price of their quiet and secure occupation of the empire ; 
 nor has the present Tartar dynasty, in particular, refused 
 it to the genius of the country ; — and nearly two cen- 
 turies of quiet enjoyment have evinced the wisdom of the 
 measure. 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 273 
 
 If India, however, was constrained to receive this mark 
 of vassalage at the same time with England, she never, 
 like England, enjoyed a paternal sovereign, who, entering 
 into her circumstances, restored her language and litera- 
 ture to their natural course. This glory seems reserved 
 for the British nation, whom four centuries have rendered 
 well able to appreciate the value of this blessing from the 
 high privileges it has conferred on themselves. That 
 after having once imposed this mark of foreign servitude, 
 the Mussulman dynasty should ever be inclined to re- 
 move it, was by no means to be expected. After having 
 shewn an utter disregard to the feelings of the conquered 
 in violating and pillaging so many of their richest tem- 
 ples, and cruelly slaughtering so many of the brahmanic 
 tribe, it will excite little surprise that they should render 
 perpetual this new mark of subjection, too evident to be 
 concealed, and too deep in its effects not to be continually 
 felt, particularly when it gratified their own feelings in 
 proportion as it distressed the conquered nation. And 
 that this measure constantly nourished the indolence, 
 vanity, and oppression of their conquerors, a slight view 
 of its operation will be sufficient to convince us. This 
 language was their vernacular tongue; to transact judicial 
 business therein cost them no study, no labour, while it 
 gratified their natural fondness for their own language. 
 The pains and labour it cost the vanquished to acquire it, 
 naturally fed their vanity: every degree of embarrassment 
 felt, every sigh uttered in consequence, was a fresh acknow- 
 ledgement of the conqueror's power, which could constrain 
 them to suffer all this almost without daring to murmur. 
 It also tended to feed a spirit of oppression. To the man 
 capable of injuring his neighbour, courts of justice are by 
 no means desirable ; they are altogether a remora in his 
 way. It is natural for him to wish- them annihilated, or, 
 
 T 
 
274 OX A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 what is nearly the same thing, rendered inaccessible. It 
 is to the oppressed that courts of justice are interesting; 
 and these, in India, were not very likely to be found 
 among their Mussulman conquerors. That a Hindoo 
 might never oppress a Mussulman, even in these circum- 
 stances, we will not affirm ; but we think that for one case 
 wherein the conquerors were oppressed by the conquered, 
 a multitude would occur wherein the Hindoo would be 
 the sufferer. The advantage which this introduction of 
 their own language into the courts of justice would give 
 the Mussulman defendant over the Hindoo plaintiff, are 
 sufficiently obvious. If the latter found no difficulty in 
 getting his case accurately represented in this foreign 
 language, if his Mussulman translator narrated every par- 
 ticular with perfect exactness, and so entered into his 
 case as to delineate even its very spirit, which however 
 could scarcely be expected from every mercenary trans- 
 lator, still what an advantage must the aggressor enjoy 
 in speaking the same language with his judge, and strik- 
 ing terror into the trembling plaintiff by appearing one 
 with him ! What advantage must he derive from being 
 able to represent his case to his countrymen with the 
 living voice, and so to observe the air, the feeling, the 
 spirit of his judge, as to turn it to the utmost advantage 
 by enforcing one fact, discolouring another, and extenua- 
 ting a third, while the poor plaintiff's written case re- 
 mained susceptible of no addition, whatever the circum- 
 stances of the trial might demand ! Surely, in a multi- 
 tude of instances, these circumstance must have deterred 
 an oppressed Hindoo from bringing his complaint before 
 a judge with whom his oppressor could converse familiarly 
 in his own language. And when it did not wholly sup- 
 press all complaint, the meagre and inadequate manner in 
 which it must appear in a foreign language, of which the 
 
TV JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 275 
 
 oppressed knew so little, and in which he could neither 
 check the partial dealing of his hired advocate, nor detect 
 an inadequate or a wrong representation, would render it 
 almost impossible for his cause to come in its full force 
 before his foreign judge. All these circumstances would 
 be so much clear gain to those who wished to oppress ; 
 and that in these circumstances the conquering nation 
 should feel no wish to remove this yoke from the con- 
 quered whom they affected to detest as unbelievers, will 
 excite no surprise. 
 
 That this practice, however, which so evidently owed 
 its origin to the caprice of the Mussulman conquerors of 
 India, and its continuance to their disregard of its happi- 
 ness, should have been continued by x a Government, who, 
 instead of disregarding the feelings of the people, delight 
 in promoting their happiness, is perhaps one of the most 
 extraordinary facts recorded in the annals of history, par- 
 ticularly when the English had formerly been in the same 
 circumstances themselves, and had found them intolerable. 
 It can be accounted for only on the principle that while 
 the human mind shrinks as long as possible from the for- 
 midable task of investigation, the circumstances in which 
 the British Government have hitherto been placed, have 
 been such as scarcely to bring the subject fully before 
 them. It is little more than sixty years since judicial 
 duties relative to the natives began first to devolve upon 
 them. They were by no means called at once to the 
 awful trust of administering justice to Sixty Millions of 
 Indian subjects ; had they, no doubt all circumstances 
 would have been weighed in the most careful manner. But 
 instead of this, the important duty has devolved upon them 
 by almost imperceptible degrees, and they can scarcely have 
 been said to have entered fully thereon till within the 
 last two or three years. It was the successful termina- 
 ls 
 
276 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE; 
 
 lion of the late war which invested them with the full ex- 
 tent of judicial duty, and laid it on them as a sacred 
 charge to administer justice to nearly the whole of the 
 nations formerly subject to the family of Timur. But to 
 accomplish at once all that may appear desirable, is sel- 
 dom within the power of the best of men. It was not 
 till we had possessed Bengal and Bahar for twenty years, 
 that the Supreme Court was established in India for 
 British subjects, a court which, while it has established 
 on the firmest basis the reputation of British jurispru- 
 dence throughout India, has so interwoven itself with all 
 our ideas, that we are now scarcely able to picture to our- 
 selves the former state of things when no court of this 
 nature existed in India. Nor, when the custom we have 
 been describing shall be abolished, and sixty millions of 
 men shall be restored to the privilege (if it be not rather 
 the natural right) of having the claims preferred against 
 their property, and the accusations levelled at their lives, 
 investigated in the language spoken by themselves, (an 
 event which reason forbids our contemplating as very far 
 distant,) will it be scarcely believed that the contrary 
 practice was ever suffered to exist under a British Govern- 
 ment. When that period shall have arrived, our past con- 
 duct in this instance will be contemplated with wonder. 
 We shall appear to have been the most singular and the 
 most disinterested of all conquerors. " Had they," will 
 by-standers say, " conducted judicial proceedings in a 
 foreign tongue, why was not their ozvn introduced ? If 
 the language of judicial proceedings were foreign to the 
 people, why should it have been equally foreign to the 
 judges? We can easily appreciate the motives of the 
 Mussulman dynasty for depriving the people of this im- 
 portant privilege; the introduction of their own language 
 flattered their national vanity, gratified their love of ease, 
 
TN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 277 
 
 and perhaps furnished a harvest for cupidity and oppres- 
 sion. But the British Government can have been actu- 
 ated by none of these motives ; they have gratified no 
 national vanity by the introduction of their own language; 
 they have no desire to oppress ; and instead of consulting 
 their own ease, they have laid on themselves a burden 
 more ponderous than that lying on the natives ; for their 
 love of justice constrains them to cultivate the language 
 of a kingdom with which they have scarcely any connec- 
 tion, to such a degree as not only to enter minutely into 
 every complaint and accusation brought before them, but 
 to watch therein over a body of native law-officers on 
 whose incorruptibility they can have little reliance." 
 
 Had the conduct of the Mussulman conquerors of India 
 been deemed a proper subject for imitation, we are our- 
 selves decidedly of opinion, that the imitation ought to 
 have been in favour of our own language. For thus act- 
 ing we should have had reasons equally valid with those 
 of the Mussulman dynasty. English was our language, 
 and we, as well as they, wished to see things with our 
 own eyes without the trouble of learning another language 
 at the age of maturity ; and as the Hindoos had been ac- 
 customed to the yoke, what greater injustice in their re- 
 ceiving a language from their European than from their 
 Asiatic conquerors ? Moreover, the advantage to us would 
 have been great : had every accusation, every deposition, 
 every judicial fact and document, been brought into plain 
 English, the judicial affairs of India would have appeared 
 transparent to every British judge, whatever labour this 
 might have cost the natives. And when it would have 
 enabled those who dispense justice to the country, to un- 
 derstand every thing with the glance of the eye, there 
 would have been at least one evident reason for the mea- 
 sure ; the comfort and information of the rulers would 
 
278 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 have been secured, if the great bulk of the people would 
 have remained, as they now are, perfectly ignorant of the 
 process by which truth had been elicited. For the equity 
 of their decisions, they must ever be constrained to con- 
 fide implicitly in the judge as long as judicial proceedings 
 are conducted in a foreign language : and indeed, while 
 the language is foreign to him, as well as themselves, a far 
 greater degree of confidence is requisite. Too much 
 praise cannot be given to those who from the beginning 
 of our empire in India have so applied to this language as 
 to render it almost their own ; — every hour's labour given 
 to it is a monument of their love of justice, and of their 
 humane feeling toward those who repose in them alone 
 for protection from that judicial tyranny to which they 
 were subject under the Mussulman dynasty. Still this 
 language can never have that attraction for a Briton 
 which he finds in his mother tongue. Application thereto 
 is still a duty to be performed, not an amusement to be 
 enjoyed : to this language a man applies at the call of 
 conscience and honour ; in his mother tongue he indulges 
 when completely wearied with official duties. The con- 
 sequence is, therefore, with the most vigorous minds, that 
 ten times the matter will be examined in our native tongue 
 with scarcely a consciousness of labour. This would 
 enable a man to understand what comes before him in his 
 vernacular tongue equally well with a tenth of the fatigue, 
 — or with the same labour, ten times as well, from the 
 ease and pleasure with which his eye ran through details 
 in his vernacular tongue. 
 
 Nor would the introduction of our own tongue have 
 been without its advantages to the Hindoos themselves. 
 Among others would have been, that of delivering them 
 wholly from the haughty domination of their Mussul- 
 man conquerors, under which they had groaned for so 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 270 
 
 many centuries. These the introduction of our tongue 
 would have reduced precisely to a level with the nation 
 they had so long oppressed. If the English had so far 
 sanctioned their system as to conduct judicial business in 
 a foreign language, still it would not have been theirs. 
 But when the British, in addition to sanctioning their 
 conduct, adopted the very language which the Mussulman 
 dynasty had made the means of oppression for so many 
 ages, it requires but little knowledge of human nature to 
 see that this furnishes them with constant matter for ex- 
 ultation. To say that while the Hindoos were still the 
 conquered nation, the Mussulmans, by apparently retain- 
 ing the judicial proceedings in their own hands, seemed 
 to retain all their former ground, is saying little ; they 
 now appeared to be exalted; they became the Teachers 
 and Preceptors of their rulers, on whose proficiency in the 
 language of their dynasty it was theirs constantly to 
 pronounce ; nor would a Mussulman feel it a circumstance 
 of trifling import to be able to say to those among whom 
 he wished to magnify his own consequence, that " Saheb 
 spoke almost as zeell as himself." Whoever considers the 
 effect of this on minds of a diminutive size, can easily 
 realize the immense weight it must throw into the scale 
 of Mussulmans, surrounded by Hindoos accustomed for 
 ages to crouch beneath their yoke and tremble at the 
 sound of their language. If it was said of the Romans 
 after they had conquered Greece, that the introduction 
 of its language and literature made Rome almost appear 
 the conquered country : our retaining in all judicial pro- 
 ceedings the language introduced into them by the Mus- 
 sulman dynasty, must suggest nearly the same idea to the 
 minds of the poor Hindoos. While their real conquerors 
 are only known to them by their solid weight of charac- 
 ter, and the restraint they quietly exercise over their former 
 
280 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 oppressors, the judicial language and legal apparatus of 
 the Mussulman dynasty still fill the eye of the Hindoo, 
 and still give to the Mahomedans and their religion a de- 
 gree of factitious importance, of which both would have 
 been stripped long ago, had our language in all judicial 
 and public acts been substituted for theirs. This indeed 
 hath hitherto kept both the language and the religion of 
 their Rulers so completely out of view, that even now, 
 with the greater part of our Indian fellow-subjects, it is 
 perhaps matter of doubt whether v.e have either of our 
 own. 
 
 But the substitution of our language for that of the 
 Mussulman dynasty would have been to the real advan- 
 tage of India. The introduction of that language has 
 done for India literally nothing; it has improved neither 
 its morals, its philosophy, nor its literature. For Europe 
 the introduction of a foreign language as an object of 
 study, has done every thing ; the cultivation of Latin and 
 Greek has refined its taste, raised its literature, and ele- 
 vated its mental habits to a height before unknown in 
 the North, and scarcely in Greece itself. But after the 
 cultivation of Persian literature for so many ages, the 
 mental darkness of India is as dense and as palpable as 
 ever. We cannot bring ourselves to believe that this 
 would have been the case had the language of the Mus- 
 sulman dynasty been exchanged for that of the English, 
 though only for the short space of half a century. Many 
 natives would have attempted to study it, and some would 
 have succeeded to a considerable extent. They would 
 have read some of our best authors, and have imbibed 
 almost insensibly a certain portion of our ideas on a mul- 
 titude of subjects, — and some would no doubt have made 
 themselves acquainted with the Sacred Scriptures. Thus 
 English, although it would never have become the Ian- 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 28 J 
 
 guage of possibly a single village, would have been read 
 in Bengal to a considerable degree ; the consequence of 
 which, fraught as it is with the treasures of knowledge 
 both human and divine, the reflecting mind may easily 
 realize. 
 
 Should any one ask, Would it have been just to impose 
 such a load on the poor Hindoos, as to constrain them to 
 clothe all those ideas on which their property and even 
 their lives may depend, in an English dress, merely for the 
 ease of their European judges? — we should reply, that on 
 this head, we ourselves have our doubts — and for this 
 reason we deem it still worse to impose, or even to con- 
 tinue that load on them, when it neither brings ease to 
 ourselves, nor mental profit to them. Every argument 
 against making English the language of the courts of jus- 
 tice and of all public acts, militates with ten-fold force 
 against the use of any other foreign language ; and that 
 Persian is still and ever will be a foreign language to at 
 least ninety-nine out of a hundred among the sixty mil- 
 lions of our native subjects, few, we apprehend, will con- 
 trovert. And we think still fewer will hold up the con- 
 duct of a Mussulman dynasty, now overthrown by the God 
 of providence, as a pattern for imitation to a Christian and 
 a British Government, to whom is consigned the guardian 
 care of India in its stead. 
 
 The evil of this system is by no mean* to be measured 
 by the degree of complaint made by the natives who suf- 
 fer beneath it. They indeed seldom complain ; and how 
 much less likely are they then to complain of that which 
 they have endured for so many ages ! Besides, those who 
 suffer from this system are not the persons likely to bring 
 their complaints forward. To those from whom complaints 
 would first come, it is no svil, but a source of profit. To 
 the native officers of the courts ofjustice,to those employed 
 
282 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 in them, and to all who hope to succeed to these employ- 
 ments, the introduction of a language foreign to the peo- 
 ple at large can be no matter of complaint ; it must on the 
 contrary increase their profits and their importance in 
 proportion as it renders them necessary for the translation 
 of the smallest document. It is rather to be expected that 
 this state of things should be to them the constant subject 
 of panegyric; as well as that every enquiry which bears 
 the most distant aspect towards a change, should be com- 
 pletely discouraged. But these are not the men for whose 
 relief courts of justice are designed. These are seldom 
 oppressed by their countrymen ; and were they, for them 
 to bring their action would be a high gratification, as it 
 would be done in the language familiar to them, though 
 not to the bulk of their countrymen. To these the courts 
 of justice are precisely what they would be to all, were ju- 
 dicial proceedings conducted in the common tongue. It 
 is for the protection of the great bulk of the people, how- 
 ever, that judicial courts are instituted; and from their 
 feelings we ought to form our judgment of any judicial sys- 
 tem. It is when we see them recoil at the idea of apply- 
 ing to a court of justice, because they faint under the diffi- 
 culty and expense of bringing a cause forward in what is 
 to them a foreign tongue, — when we see them submit to 
 innumerable injuries rather than prefer their complaint, 
 that we see something of the evils attending such a sys- 
 tem. Should it be said, This at least represses a litigious 
 spirit ; we are deprived even of this mitigating circum- 
 stance. The litigious are precisely those who ztill not be 
 deterred by these difficulties ; and thus the hardships of 
 the system fall on the peaceable and the industrious, — on 
 those whom it is the wish of the laws to protect from 
 injury. 
 
 How injurious in its effects this system has ever been, 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 283 
 
 and continues to be at the present moment, we may easily 
 realize by picturing to ourselves the state of things as they 
 would be in Britain, were all its judicial proceedings to be 
 henceforth conducted in the French tongue. Who would 
 not start back with horror at the prospect ? Who would 
 not tremble for justice, were every witness to have his de- 
 position received by the judge in French, and through the 
 medium of officers to whom this was not the vernacular 
 tongue? Who would not recoil at the idea that all the com- 
 ments and pleadings on this evidence were to be compre- 
 hended in all their force by the judge in French alone, to 
 him also a foreign language ? In this case, even if the 
 judge could comprehend the whole with a glance, the bulk 
 of the spectators would know little or nothing of the 
 cause ; nor even the poor prisoner, till the sentence of the 
 judge given in French and explained, announced to him as 
 the issue of the trial, which he had seen but not heard, the 
 loss of his liberty — or even his life ! How would every 
 feeling in a British heart revolt at such a mode of con- 
 ducting judicial proceedings! Even the hardship of de- 
 priving a poor prisoner of any knowledge how his cause 
 was going on till the irrevocable decision was announced, 
 would shock every humane mind. 
 
 Dreadful as this would be in England, however, there 
 are circumstances in this country which augment its hor- 
 rors. In the first instance, French at the present moment 
 is understood far better in England than Persian is in 
 Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, whatever it may be in the up- 
 per provinces. In England almost every girl at a school 
 of any respectability can read French. But if we except 
 those employed in the courts of justice, whose business it 
 is to make it their study, but whom we do not expect to 
 furnish a very great crop of prisoners guilty of felony, or 
 even of plaintiffs dispossessed of their rights ; who among 
 
284 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 the poor natives studies Persian so as to comprehend it 
 when spoken, or even to understand it if read by them- 
 selves ? Yet, as has been already intimated, these form the 
 great mass to whom courts of justice are interesting, as 
 their grand defence against oppression and fraud. Exclu- 
 sive of judicial and public men, for one person who under- 
 stands Persian among the natives, there are probably 
 twenty in England who understand French. Yet who in 
 Britain could reconcile himself to the thought that no 
 trial respecting property or life should ever be again held 
 in the English tongue ? 
 
 But this might be done in Britain with unspeakably 
 greater safety, than judicial proceedings can be conducted 
 in a foreign tongue in British India. In probity and in- 
 corruptness will any one presume to compare the native 
 law-officers of India with the English Bar, which at the 
 present moment exhibits such bright examples of courage, 
 generosity, and incorruptible integrity? What are the 
 officers of the native courts, from the highest to the lowest? 
 Does not every hope of obtaining justice centre wholly in 
 the presiding European Magistrates? Were these taken 
 away, does any one suppose that the native law-officers 
 would be found changed in principle from what they were 
 under the Mussulman dynasty ? What should have cre- 
 ated this change? from whence can it have arisen ? We 
 cannot suppose such a mighty effect to have been pro- 
 duced without some adequate cause ; but what cause can 
 be at all named ? — and we may ask, what native ever 
 reckons on the incorruptibility of native judicial officers ? 
 Surely, in impartiality, in the diligent investigation of 
 truth, in faithfulness to their clients, these native lawyers 
 are not to be named with the members of the English bar. 
 Yet with all this faithfulness to a client's interest, this di- 
 ligence, this incorruptness of principle, would the con- 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 285 
 
 ducting of judicial proceedings in French, the language of 
 a kingdom parted from Britain only by a channel of seven 
 leagues, and with which she has daily intercourse, be sa- 
 tisfactory to the people at large? To settle this point for 
 ever respecting India, we have only to recollect this fact, 
 and to combine therewith that golden rule which is the 
 glory of our religion : " Do unto others as ye would men 
 should do unto you." 
 
 In the present state of things, when by the happv ter- 
 mination of the late war, the British empire in India has, 
 it may be presumed, attained to its fall size, an opportu- 
 nity seems afforded for its judicial affairs to assume that 
 form which shall most fully provide for the happiness of 
 the millions now confided to the care of Britain. It may 
 now, therefore, become a proper subject for consideration, 
 whether reason and justice sanction the continuance of 
 judicial proceedings in a foreign language ? and even if 
 this be the case, whether sound policy and the best inte- 
 rests of the country plead for the continuance of them in 
 a language equally foreign to the rulers themselves and 
 the people whose judicial concerns are transacted? 
 
 On this last question we do not hesitate to say, that if 
 it be right to retain a foreign language in judicial proceed- 
 ings and all public business, that language ought to be 
 our own vernacular tongue, rather than that of the former 
 dynasty. With the exception of those employed in the 
 native courts, Persian is as much a foreign language to 
 the people of India as it was a century ago ; and we have 
 already shown that courts of justice are not instituted for 
 the sake of the officers retained in them, but for the people 
 at large. If it be reasonable, therefore, to employ any 
 foreign language, it is more reasonable that we employ 
 our own, than one foreign to us as well as to the people. 
 If the Mussulman dynasty acted rightly in employing 
 
286 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 the Persian language, it is not equally right that we 
 should retain it. It was the language in which they con- 
 versed with each other, and in which all their literature 
 was contained. But this is not the case with us ; 
 Persian is not the language in which we converse with 
 each other, nor is it the depository of our literature. To 
 employ it, therefore, instead of our own is a peculiar hard- 
 ship on the nation confided to our care. It has been 
 already urged, that it does not place them on a level ; it 
 gives the Mussulman a very great superiority over the 
 Hindoo by continuing the language of his dynasty in all 
 judicial proceedings; but surely under a paternal govern- 
 ment, if they are not placed perfectly on a level, the op- 
 pressed are the nation to be exalted, rather than their 
 fcrmer oppressors. 
 
 But to conduct judicial proceedings in a foreign lan- 
 guage, and that not our own, is an act of injustice to the 
 natives. If they are subjected to the labour and disadvan- 
 tage of a foreign tongue, this, when acquired, ought to 
 afford them the most unrestrained intercourse with their 
 *ulers, and to lay open to them all their literary treasures. 
 These advantages the study of Persian did confer on 
 them under the Mussulman dynasty. As it was the ver- 
 nacular tongue of their conquerors, a knowledge of it, when 
 acquired, enabled them to enjoy an unrestrained commu- 
 nication of feelings and ideas with the whole body of 
 their rulers ; and although the Persian language has done 
 so little towards dispelling the darkness of India, yet 
 whatever it did possess of amusement, or of elegance, the 
 conquered, on gaining it, participated with the conquer- 
 ors : it furnished them with one common subject of con- 
 versation, and enabled them to interchange ideas when- 
 ever circumstances brought them into contact. But of 
 all this the natives are now deprived. After having ac- 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 287 
 
 quired Persian, a native may, it is true, converse therein 
 with those gentlemen whose official situation constrains 
 them constantly to speak that language ; yet even then, 
 as it is not the vernacular tongue of either, there cannot 
 be that spontaneous flow of idea which is inseparable 
 from our own tongue. With those English gentlemen 
 who are not accustomed to converse in that language, his 
 labour and pains in acquiring it are useless ; he cannot 
 hold the least conversation with them, unless through 
 some other medium. 
 
 But in making them acquainted with the Literature 
 of their rulers, Persian does nothing whatever. After 
 having acquired by hard study the language in which all 
 judicial proceedings and public business are conducted, 
 the poor native does not thereby gain the knowledge of 
 one historical fact, or one idea, in common with his rulers. 
 This system thus imposes on them the labour of a whole 
 life, without the prospect of acquiring a single new idea 
 to enlarge their minds or cheer the mental gloom in which 
 they are enveloped. This is the more to be regretted, 
 because of the vast difference between the literature of 
 the two dynasties. In the English language are now em- 
 bodied the classic treasures of the ancients, the rich in- 
 ventions of the moderns, the soundest ideas respecting 
 human life, and the glories of the unseen world. To all 
 this, on the present system, the natives have a full right. 
 If they are debarred the privilege of having the most in- 
 teresting concerns of human life conducted in their own 
 language, that foreign tongue which they are constrained 
 to learn for this purpose, ought to lay open to them in 
 return all the knowledge possessed by the ruling dynasty. 
 To continue the language of the former dynasty as the 
 medium for public business, foreign as it still is to the 
 natives, and as it will be when ages more have passed 
 
288 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 away, exceedingly increases the severity of the system ; 
 they have to endure all its hardships, without reaping any 
 of its advantages. If it be right, therefore, to constrain 
 sixty millions of people to seek justice in a language 
 which the great bulk of them will never understand, while 
 wisdom requires that the present vestige of Mahometan 
 tyranny should be no longer suffered to remain, equity 
 demands that the foreign system retained, should at once 
 lay open to the natives all those treasures of knowledge 
 which are contained in the language of their rulers. — 
 But while we are of opinion that if any foreign language 
 be employed in judicial proceedings, it ought to be our 
 own, the following reasons seem to require that judicial 
 business be conducted in the common language of the 
 people. 
 
 1 . This is the dictate of justice and equity, against which 
 all other things ought to weigh nothing. To conduct judi- 
 cial affairs which may affect the property or even the life 
 of any one individual among sixty millions in a language 
 foreign to them, is an unnatural state of things, never 
 realized but by monarchs who sacrifice the happiness of 
 their people to their own gratification. The Norman 
 dynasty in England and the Mussulman in India, furnish 
 almost the only examples found of this practice in the 
 annals of history ; but ill the former instance the yoke 
 was found intolerable, and was taken off by a monarch of 
 the same dynasty, to the unspeakable advantage of our 
 native land. India, then, is the only nation on earth now 
 left in these circumstances. Even to publish laws in a 
 language not understood by the great bulk of the people, 
 is esteemed iniquitous : Caligula, for writing his edicts 
 which he was constrained to expose to public view, in a 
 character so small that they could scarcely be read, in- 
 curred the imputation of inhumanity. This imputation, 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 289 
 
 groundless as it may have been, sufficiently furnishes us 
 "with the general opinion on the subject of promulgating 
 iaws. But to publish laws in a language foreign to the 
 people, is unspeakably less injurious than to conduct 
 judicial proceedings therein. The true sense of the 
 statute will soon be known in some way or other ; 
 and once known, it will serve for a thousand cases. 
 Not so with judicial proceedings in a foreign language : 
 if the - truth has been exactly ascertained in ten thou- 
 sand instances, the very next case will involve quite as 
 much of doubt and uncertainty, as though it were the 
 first ever examined. It is not the meaning of a law which 
 is to be ascertained ; but dubious facts, of which some 
 affirm and others deny the existence. Surely, to detect 
 falsehood and put malice to shame in any country, all 
 that aid is needed which can be afforded by public inves- 
 tigation in the common language. How much more, 
 then, in India, where the character of the natives is by 
 no means high for probity. — Nor can the natives avoid 
 observing, that in the Supreme Court the English them- 
 selves enjoy this privilege. They see that when an 
 Englishman is tried, the evidence is delivered, the coun- 
 sel plead, and the judges declare their opinion of his 
 guilt or innocence, in his vernacular tongue. The natives, 
 on witnessing this, may naturally ask : " Why may not 
 we enjoy the same privilege when we need it so much 
 more? What! are the English law-officers more susceptible 
 of corruption than ours, that they are constrained to give 
 all their ideas and views of a case in the plainest English? 
 But even if they were, the English possess an advantage we 
 have not ; they have twelve men whom they are obliged 
 to make acquainted with their every idea on a case, and 
 then leave them to decide whether the charge against the 
 prisoner be true or false. If with all these advantages, 
 • u 
 
290 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE- 
 
 and their high character for incorruptness, they are still 
 constrained to bring every thing into the language of the 
 British prisoner, — how can our judicial proceedings be 
 conducted safely in a foreign language, when the cha- 
 racter of our native law-officers is so different ?" 
 
 2. We are convinced that granting them this favour would 
 rivet the British Government in the affections of their Indian 
 subjects. Our restoring to them this important privilege 
 of which the Mussulman dynasty deprived them, must 
 secure their affection : it would remove from them a most 
 grievous badge of slavery; and in the most interesting 
 concerns of life, confer on them a degree of happiness 
 not enjoyed by their ancestors for many generations. 
 The effect of this privilege on their minds could not be 
 speedily lost: its continual recurrence would constrain 
 them to reflect, that they owe it to the humane considera- 
 tion of their British Rulers, and that the continuance of 
 this and a multitude of other blessings must depend on 
 the stability of the British Government. This, therefore, 
 would attach them to their present rulers in a degree 
 scarcely to be described. Nothing is so gratifying to a 
 people as the employment of their own language by their 
 conquerors. Of this the Chinese afford a striking proof. 
 They have undergone various revolutions, and different 
 dynasties have filled the throne ; but no attempt has ever 
 been made to change the language of their judicial or 
 public proceedings, nor that in which their laws are pro- 
 mulgated. The present Tartar dynasty have so far 
 adopted the Chinese language as their own, as to pro- 
 mulgate all their edicts therein ; and the most magnifi- 
 cent dictionary of its language which China has ever seen, 
 was compiled by order of the third Emperor of this 
 family. This attention to their language has imparted a 
 stability to the throne, which their being Tartars, of a dif- 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 291 
 
 ferent religion, and some of them sufficiently weak, have 
 not been able to shake ; while an attempt to introduce a 
 foreign language would have made their throne totter to 
 its very base. 
 
 3. The conducting of judicial proceedings in the common 
 language zmll be a clear gain annually to the cause of jus- 
 tice. If the study of Persian have so completely coun- 
 teracted the native disposition, as to eradicate from the 
 minds of those officers who have to bring the cause there- 
 in before the judge, all that propensity to take advantage 
 of circumstances, and render them a source of profit, which 
 is known to exist throughout the country; still, when evi- 
 dence taken from the mouth of witnesses must be laid 
 before the judge in another language, the omission of a 
 single word, or the use of a word either too strong or too 
 weak, may give a complexion to a cause which shall make 
 it appear totally different : it may constrain the most up- 
 right judge, as he can only judge according to the evi- 
 dence before him, from a sense of justice to decide on the 
 cause differently from its real merits. Cases of this 
 nature may occur where there is no want of probity in the 
 translator. A degree of carelessness in selecting the 
 words to express this evidence in another language, is 
 quite sufficient; and who that knows the carelessness 
 and apathy of the native character, will wonder if this 
 should be often the case where there is no intention to 
 misrepresent? But in this case the most upright judge 
 is constrained to give a wrong sentence even from princi- 
 ple.- If we consider this, and sum up the aggregate of the 
 causes which may be thus mistaken in the Fifty-two 
 Native Courts of this Presidency in one year only, can we 
 deny that for judicial proceedings to be conducted in the 
 language common to all parties, will be a clear gain to 
 the cause of justice, even supposing all the native law- 
 
 o 2 
 
292 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 officers to be as pure as the driven snow ? But if they 
 are like their countrymen with whom we have to transact 
 business daily, and on whose representations w T e can 
 never depend where a rupee is to be gained by misrepre- 
 sentation, what must be the gain to justice throughout 
 India, of conducting judicial business in the common lan- 
 guage, as in England, which places detection within the 
 power of all, and holds forth falsehood to public execra- 
 tion ! 
 
 In addition to these, certain collateral advantages 
 would follow by no means to be despised. The conduct- 
 ing of judicial proceedings in the common language 
 would exceedingly increase the esteem of the natives for 
 those gentlemen who preside in the Native Courts 
 throughout India. That this is now great, follows of 
 course, from the character they so justly sustain. But 
 at present they are far from reaping all those advantages 
 to which their knowledge, their probity, and their high 
 sense of character entitle them. If they are now esteem- 
 ed, they would then be revered ; and the confidence re- 
 posed in them by the natives would be almost unbounded. 
 On the present system they are deprived of the most 
 valuable opportunities of making themselves intimately 
 acquainted with the concerns of the natives. They trans- 
 act business officially with them several hours daily; 
 but it is in a language understood by not one in twenty 
 in their district, and, often through a circle who have a 
 kind of interest in monopolizing their attention, — or in 
 persuading the natives of the district that such is the 
 case. Hence, justly as they esteem the British judge, 
 the bulk of the natives seldom see him but at a distance, 
 nor converse with him but through those around him. 
 The effect of this in keeping him from an intimate know- 
 ledge of their concerns, must be sufficiently obvious. 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 293 
 
 Although the College of Fort William has appointed that 
 every gentleman shall be proficient in two languages, one 
 beside Persian, yet as this is the language of business in 
 which five or six hours daily must be employed, though 
 little known beyond the official circle except by a few 
 rich Mussulmans who pride themselves in the language 
 as theirs, the time thus spent is almost so much clear loss 
 to the common language of the people, particularly in 
 Bengal. The strength and spirits being exhausted every 
 day in the official language, it cannot be expected that in 
 this ungenial clime, European gentlemen, fatigued with 
 their daily duties, should as an amusement turn to a 
 tongue neither necessary as an official nor respectable as 
 a learned language. In these circumstances that a man 
 should make himself thoroughly ready in reading and 
 conversing therein, merely that he may talk freely with 
 natives, is certainly too much to be expected, tt is much 
 more reasonable to suppose, that the rudiments of it 
 which were acquired at College, will for want of use be 
 gradually effaced from the memory. 
 
 Let the case be reversed : let the common language be- 
 come official, and every thing assumes a new aspect. 
 Five or six hours' converse daily therein cannot fail to 
 render it familiar, while the varieties of it which come be- 
 fore the court, will make an English judge acquainted 
 with its every idiom ; and the neatness with which he 
 hears it spoken by the law-officers, with his superior 
 knowledge of grammar and style, will enable him to 
 speak it with perfect accuracy. The effect of this on them 
 would be astonishing. As the evidence, the pleadings, 
 and the final sentence would be in the language under- 
 stood by all, (as in the courts of justice at home,) the na- 
 tives, who in things involving life and property possess 
 more than Attic curiosity, would crowd the courts of jus- 
 
294 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 tice, watch with anxious eye every step of the cause, and 
 hang on the lips of the judge, while he, in accents familiar 
 to them, poured forth those dictates of equity, those 
 views of justice, and that sound knowledge of things, in 
 which he would be necessarily so much their superior. 
 This would so raise him in the esteem of the people, that 
 they would almost regard him as something beyond a 
 man. There is scarcely any thing more fascinating to 
 the natives than the equitable and wise administration of 
 justice: of this they feel the value far beyond Europeans, 
 possibly from the weakness of their own minds, and the 
 consciousness of what it would cost them thus to act. 
 The British judge, therefore, in whose every judicial ob- 
 servation a love of equity so evidently shone, would be 
 revered by them. Other circumstances would increase 
 this feeling : the knowledge that he could and would 
 converse with a native in his own dialect without any in- 
 tervening medium, would encourage respectable natives 
 to bring to him their distresses, perhaps important for 
 him to know, and would make him regarded as the 
 parental friend of all around ; indeed the mere knowledge 
 of this fact in a district where a multitude of inferior na- 
 tive magistrates must be employed, would operate in the 
 most salutary manner. Further, his hearing daily the 
 common language spoken in court by such a variety of 
 persons, would so familiarize it to him, that he could 
 scarcely go out, either for business or pleasure, without 
 understanding every thing he heard around him; and the 
 insight this would give him, without effort, into all the 
 concerns of the people whose legal guardian he stood 
 forth, could not fail to be very great. The value of a 
 hundred European gentlemen stationed throughout the 
 country, possessing such an intimate acquaintance with 
 the concerns of the natives and enjoying their confidence 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 295 
 
 in so peculiar a degree, can scarcely be calculated, parti- 
 cularly in seasons of distress and calamity. 
 
 The other collateral advantage is, that this would tend 
 to improve and enlighten the country in a superior degree. 
 Of every advance of this nature the common language 
 must be the medium ; but how this can be when it is cul- 
 tivated neither in the services of religion, at the bar, nor 
 in the public business of government, it is difficult to say. 
 Yet this at present is the case with the Bengalee language 
 in particular. In their religious services the brahmwns 
 affect to despise it, although the greater part of them are 
 quite unable to understand the Swngskntfl sentences they 
 daily repeat in their religious formulas; and when it is 
 excluded also from the courts of justice, what inducement 
 can there be to cultivate it? Yet it begins to be culti- 
 vated notwithstanding every disadvantage, and the native 
 press is daily becoming more and more interesting. But 
 what an impulse would be given to its cultivation were it 
 made the language of all the native courts in Bengal, may 
 be inferred from the cultivation given the English lan- 
 guage since it has been made the only vehicle for the ad- 
 ministration of justice. Let it only be known, that instead 
 of Persian, a thorough and classic knowledge of Ben- 
 galee is the indispensable qualification for every judicial 
 situation in the native courts throughout Bengal, and that 
 learning and probity alone will avail, whether found in a 
 Hindoo, a Mahometan, or a Christian, and a new scene 
 will instantly appear. Not only will all who obtain judi- 
 cial situations be thus qualified ; but a multitude more 
 will qualify themselves, from a distant hope of obtaining 
 them. If we estimate the various courts of justice as em- 
 ploying a thousand persons, we may be assured that five 
 thousand will study with the hope of being employed. 
 Nor will the unsuccessful candidates be at liberty to in- 
 
296 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 termit the classic study of the language ; their being 
 always in expectation of vacancies will constantly stir 
 them up to exertion. Thus, in addition to those formed 
 by other means, will five thousand accurate Bengalee 
 scholars be created by this step alone. This would also 
 refine the language : its being brought into the judicial 
 courts and made the language of record, must secure its 
 superior cultivation, and European gentlemen would 
 bring thereto all their taste and grammatical knowledge, 
 which must have its re-action on the natives, the conse- 
 quence of which would be, that the language would be 
 rendered a luminous medium of communicating ideas to 
 nearly twenty millions of people. Important works con- 
 stantly translated into this language, would enlighten the 
 minds of the people beyond any other course. While we 
 acknowledge that the introduction of English would do 
 much, the cultivation of their own tongue would do un- 
 speakably more. Compared with the bulk of the popu- 
 lation, only a few would so learn the language as to read 
 an English author with profit, and, when they died, their 
 knowledge would die with them ; others must go over the 
 same ground to understand English equally well. The 
 greatest portion of good must ever be done through the 
 medium of the native language. But while its being still 
 neglected would naturally leave it in its present rude 
 state, the introduction of English would so deteriorate it 
 as to render it almost unintelligible. 
 
 Tndeed, were English understood by the natives as well 
 as Bengalee, as a means of imbibing ideas this would, at 
 present, be scarcely desirable. While the English lan- 
 guage is fraught with every thing excellent, it also con- 
 tains much that would be of little service to the native 
 mind in its present uninformed state. There are many 
 things, even in the English papers of the day, which a 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 297 
 
 Hindoo in his present state of mind could not read with 
 profit. That knowledge of English, therefore, which 
 would throw open to a native every thing printed in Eng~ 
 land from week to week and from month to month, could 
 it by miracle be imparted to a million within a month, we 
 should hesitate to pronounce a real advantage to the 
 country. Some previous cultivation of mind seems quite 
 necessary to enable a Hindoo to form a just idea of the 
 various writings which might come before him. In cul- 
 tivating the native language, their present circumstances 
 might be met. No real friend to India would translate a 
 work for general perusal which he thought might mislead 
 or misinform their minds ; and a judicious selection 
 would put them in possession of the works best suited to 
 their state. These, when once printed, must become 
 accessible to millions; and such valuable information 
 would lead to solid mental improvement, which must na- 
 turally increase the desire for information ; and thus the 
 country might be gradually filled with light. While this 
 could never impart to them either the physical strength 
 or the vigour of mind possessed by Europeans, it would 
 rescue them from ten thousand destructive errors, and 
 place them among the happiest of mankind. 
 
 To this course a host of objections may possibly arise. 
 We imagine, however, that the chief will be found to be 
 these three. "It would discourage the study of the 
 Persian language, — impede the despatch of judicial busi- 
 ness, — and subject a British judge to the labour of ac- 
 quiring two or three languages on his removal from one 
 part of the country to another." The first of these ob- 
 jections, we presume, has little foundation. For diplo- 
 matic purposes, in all those native courts where Persian is 
 the grand medium of intercourse, this language will still 
 be cultivated, as French is in Europe ; and, as an elegant 
 
298 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 language, it will be cultivated by the man of taste. Should 
 any one object that this would do little towards keeping 
 up the study of Persian ; we should reply, that if the cul- 
 tivation of a language for taste and usefulness be not suf- 
 ficient to keep it alive, it ought to die. To us it does 
 seem a little hard to subject the lives or the property of 
 sixty millions of men to perpetual danger, as a kind of 
 school exercise to keep up the knowledge of a foreign 
 language. If judicial business must be perverted from 
 its original design to serve mere philological purposes, 
 the Persian does not seem the best language which could 
 be chosen. The introduction of Chinese as the language 
 of judicial business would much more effectually promote 
 activity of mind, while it possesses advantages of which 
 Persian is destitute : it is far more ancient; it contains a 
 number of the most ancient writings in the world, and a 
 most admirable code of laws, which forms the medium of 
 administering justice to at least a hundred and fifty mil- 
 lions of people. Besides, it is not the language of a very 
 distant nation. Sir William Jones remarked long ago 
 that the Chinese were little more than two hundred 
 leagues distant from the capital of our Eastern empire ; 
 and, in some future time, circumstances may possibly 
 bring us and them much more nearly into contact. But 
 if this be thought objectionable, and jurisprudence must 
 still be transformed into a means of encouraging Oriental 
 philology, no step would realize this object more effec- 
 tually than the introduction of Swngsknta as the judicial 
 language of India. This, indeed, seems to come recom- 
 mended with peculiar force: while it would effectually 
 secure philological exertion in the native law-officers, as 
 well as in the British judges, it is the learned language 
 of India, understood and venerated in every province, the 
 origin of all its dialects, and the language of the greater 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 290 
 
 part of its laws; and surely * the language of the gods" 
 must be acceptable to their votaries. If, then, the native 
 administration of justice must be rendered subservient to 
 philology, it may certainly be applied to nobler objects 
 than the cultivation of the Persian language. But if it 
 appear absurd to sacrifice the judicial affairs of sixty mil- 
 lions to the cultivation of any language, as it would cer- 
 tainly be deemed absurd at home to make French or Latin 
 the language of our courts of justice with this view, we 
 must satisfy ourselves with securing one object at once, 
 content, like the courts in England, with securing the best 
 administration of justice, though, in doing it, no language 
 should be cultivated beside the common tongue. It is 
 seldom that more than one important object can be 
 secured by one operation. That course which aims at 
 two, seldom effectually promotes either. 
 
 " But," say others, " to conduct judicial proceedings 
 in the common language instead of Persian, would im- 
 pede business in a very high degree." Were this the case 
 to a certain extent, still, as in judicial matters there is a 
 possibility of making greater haste than good speed, this 
 might not be a real evil. " Once well done is twice 
 done," is not wholly inapplicable to judicial affairs. We 
 cannot but think, however, that in this there must be 
 some mistake. Can the examination of a cause in two lan- 
 guages be ultimately done more quickly than in one of them 1 
 The facts must be obtained from the witnesses in their 
 own language, before they can be given in Persian ; and 
 surely their being understood at once by the judge and 
 the court, without an intervening translation, could not 
 in its own nature delay business. " But/' say some, " it 
 actually does : for we have tried both ways, and we have 
 despatched three causes in Persian in the time occupied 
 by only two in Bengalee/' That is, you employed Ben- 
 
300 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 galee scholars perfectly new to judicial proceedings, and 
 these men occupied one-third more of time, than those 
 who in Persian had been accustomed to legal details pos- 
 sibly for thirty years. " Nay," .says another; "you are 
 quite mistaken ; we employed these very men who had 
 been accustomed to law proceedings in Persian, to make 
 the experiment in Bengalee." If this were the case, the 
 matter explains itself. These men occupied one-third 
 more of time in reading documents in Bengalee, to 
 which they had been so little accustomed, and in which 
 they perhaps felt no wish to expedite business, than in 
 Persian, to which they had been accustomed all their lives. 
 We cannot think that in either case this could be a fair 
 trial. Let men be equally well instructed in Bengalee, 
 and accustomed to legal details an equal length of time ; 
 and we cannot but believe, that the conducting of causes 
 in one language must ultimately expedite business, and 
 that in no unimportant degree. 
 
 We come to a more serious objection. " Different 
 languages are spoken in different parts of the British do- 
 minions in India ; hence a gentleman in the judicial line, 
 removed from one part to another, might in the course of 
 twenty years possibly have two or even three dialects to 
 learn." That there are different languages spoken in the 
 British dominions, is matter for sincere satisfaction, not 
 merely because it marks the goodness of Divine Provi- 
 dence to the British nation, which we regard as an exten- 
 sion of blessing to the country ; — but because it contri- 
 butes to the stability and tranquillity of the British 
 empire in India. These languages are so many walls of 
 brass to insulate these various nations from each other. 
 This was formerly the case in the British Isles long after 
 they became subject to the same monarch : an inhabitant 
 of the north side of the Tweed had no national feelings in 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 301 
 
 common with a southron ; nor was an inhabitant of Ire- 
 land capable of being affected with the same feelings 
 which inflamed the breast of a north or a south Briton. 
 In the affair of Runnymede we know not that a single 
 Irish baron was engaged, although this was the third 
 reign since Ireland had become subject to England. 
 This argued no want of patriotism ; it only demonstrated 
 that a separate province and language completely insu- 
 late national feelings. In the same manner a native of 
 Bengal has few feelings in common with a native of 
 Orissa ; nor a native of Hindoost'han with a native of 
 Bengal. By a different language feelings are stopped in 
 the midway, and completely quenched. This insures 
 public peace beyond what many would conceive : in the 
 hands of a wise and paternal government, the preservation 
 of tranquillity throughout the British empire in India, in 
 its present extended state, is thus rendered far more easy 
 than as though it included Bengal alone. In the latter 
 case fourteen or sixteen millions speaking one language 
 might haply receive one impulse, however foolish and 
 misguided, without a counterpoise being any where pos- 
 sessed. But, in the present state, were Orissa to become 
 a prey to anarchy, Bengal on the one side, and the Decan 
 on the other, speaking different languages, would form 
 an instant counterpoise ; were Bengal, there would be the 
 Decan on the one side, and the provinces of Hindoost'han 
 on the other ; and thus with the rest of the British em- 
 pire in India. We may, therefore, cheerfully submit to 
 the labour of acquiring these separate languages, in con- 
 sideration of the advantage it affords for the preservation 
 of peace and public tranquillity. Till the minds of the 
 natives shall have become more enlightened and hu- 
 manized, no wise man would wish to see these useful bar- 
 riers abolished. 
 
302 ON A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
 
 The difficulty of learning two or even three of these 
 dialects, however, is far less than is generally imagined. 
 Let two of these languages be appointed in College as the 
 term of qualification, of which let one be the Bengalee, or 
 the Orissa if the person's views be toward that country. 
 These two languages, through the length and variety of 
 their grammatical terminations, are the hardest of acquisi- 
 tion ; but when one of these is acquired, as they contain 
 at least nine out of ten of the words used in the other 
 dialects spoken in this Presidency, there would be no 
 difficulty in acquiring any other : a little application to 
 its peculiar grammatical terminations, and the daily prac- 
 tice of the court, would render it familiar, and, acquainted 
 previously with nine-tenths of the words, a gentleman 
 would then be in possession of the language. As Bengal 
 contains the greatest number of judicial situations, a 
 greater number of gentlemen probably begin their judicial 
 career in Bengal than in Hindoost'han : and to any man 
 thoroughly versed in Bengalee, a little study, combined 
 with the practice daily afforded by his official duties, 
 would enable him to understand every thing he heard in 
 Hindee, as well as to deliver his own ideas therein. But 
 if he studied Hindee in the College as well as Bengalee, 
 he would find little difficulty in that language ; his profi- 
 ciency in the one would be a real proficiency in the other. 
 
 To conclude, if the restoring of this privilege to the 
 Natives of India would be productive of the advantages 
 already mentioned, of which we think the wise and candid 
 will be convinced in proportion as they reflect on the sub- 
 ject, we feel assured that there are very few of our coun- 
 trymen thoroughly conversant with anyone of the common 
 languages of the country, who would in this case regret 
 the labour of acquiring a kindred dialect, when their offi- 
 cial duties would so materially assist them therein. Nor 
 
IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 303 
 
 would it be necessary that any sudden alteration should 
 be made. The language of judicial proceedings might at 
 first be rendered optional to the British judge ; and we 
 are mistaken if even this would not so powerfully operate 
 on the good sense of our countrymen, as to secure the ul- 
 timate abolition of the present system. When such an 
 extensive benefit, then, can be conferred on our Indian 
 fellow-subjects, in such an inexpensive way, a benefit 
 which comes home to every bosom, we trust that this 
 subject will no longer be suffered to sleep; but that minds 
 far more powerful will come forth and examine it in the 
 fullest manner. 
 
XII. 
 ON THE NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE.* 
 
 When Solon was asked whether he had given the best 
 possible laws to the Athenians, he replied, that he had 
 given them the best of which their circumstances would 
 admit. Were any individual to enquire whether the Hin- 
 doos are at present governed in the best possible manner, 
 it might be said with equal propriety, that they are go- 
 verned as well as their circumstances will permit. As 
 the execution of laws is necessarily shared among the 
 body of the people, while the enactment of them is gene- 
 rally confided to the ablest and wisest members of a com- 
 munity, their influence on the happiness of society must 
 depend chiefly on the degree of integrity among the for- 
 mer class. An ancient sage said, that the best adminis- 
 tered laws were the best ; — not that the character of laws 
 was a matter of no moment, but that the infirmities of 
 human nature rendered an equitable administration of 
 laws more rare, and therefore more an object of desire : 
 for of what value are the best laws, if they remain ineffi- 
 cient? And inefficient they must be, if every recipient 
 of power down to the village watchman, be not in some 
 measure governed by equity. It is not enough for the 
 happiness of a country that the principles of equity pre- 
 ponderate in the breasts of its legislators, or even regu- 
 late the conduct of those to whom the general superin- 
 
 * Friend of India, Quarterly Series, No. IV. p. 457. 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 305 
 
 tendence of justice is committed ; — they must form the 
 guide and rule Of the lowest officers of justice. It is not 
 enough that they are brought into exercise in those im- 
 portant cases which come before the highest courts of 
 law; — they must predominate in the examination of village 
 disputes ; for the prevalence of injustice in the minds 
 of those who superintend the daily and local administra- 
 tion of justice, will be sufficient to destroy the influence 
 of the noblest laws, and to paralyze the efforts of the most 
 vigilant judges. Where this is the case, as in India, we 
 may frame the best laws, and to our disappointment find 
 the subject but little relieved by them. 
 
 Indian society, combining under that term the governors 
 and the governed, presents a most singular contrast in the 
 wide difference which exists between these two orders of 
 the state, not merely in science and civilization, but in the 
 prevalence of those virtues which render society happy. 
 On the one side, we perceive a strict regard for equity, 
 combined with a spirit of liberality and magnanimity ; 
 on the other, unbounded chicanery, a total disregard of 
 truth and equity, united sometimes with servility, some- 
 times with insolence, and a degree of corruption unpa- 
 ralleled perhaps in any other nation. The high sense of 
 equity which prevails among the rulers of India is mani- 
 fested by the code of just laws which they have framed . 
 Some have attributed the misery of India to a redundance 
 of legislation. This, however, is disproved by the cir- 
 cumstance, that England with a code ten times more 
 cumbrous, is far happier than India. But have not these 
 numerous laws originated in a redundance, rather than a 
 deficiency, of good will to the natives— in an anxiety to 
 preserve our Indian legislation from all ambiguity, and to 
 secure the greatest possible good to the community? 
 Had one half of these regulations been carried into full 
 x 
 
306 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 effect by the inferior officers of the law, the country 
 would have been rendered comfortable ; but unhappily 
 the laws are a full century before the principles which 
 govern the people for whom they are intended, and by a 
 portion of whom they must in a great measure be exe- 
 cuted. In India, as far as relates to the native officers of 
 justice, we are much in the same state in which Mr. Fox 
 described the people of England under Charles the Second, 
 having the best laws and the worst administration of 
 justice. Though European judges preside in the native 
 Courts, the minute execution of the laws necessarily de- 
 volves on native agents ; and though their authority is 
 limited, their opportunities for distressing their country- 
 men are unbounded. They have ten times greater scope 
 for oppressing than the European has for relieving the 
 native population. The native officers are to their foreign 
 masters as five hundred to one, which of itself throws the 
 preponderance of power into their hands. But when we 
 consider that the European can never be completely at 
 home with the natives, that he cannot enter so minutely 
 into their habits and feelings as their own officers; and 
 that the native officer is perfectly acquainted with the 
 elements of Hindoo character, and possesses pre-emi- 
 nent advantages for working on the hopes and fears of his 
 countrymen, the preponderance of power necessarily resi- 
 ding with them will greatly exceed even the numerical 
 difference. If these officers were of the same mind with 
 their superiors, nothing could exceed the felicity of the 
 country ; but this, alas ! is not the case. The deepest 
 profligacy and corruption pervade every class of native 
 officers ; from the highest functionary of government to 
 the meanest watchman, there is scarcely an individual 
 who does not embrace every opportunity for illegal gain 
 and extortion. To this general depravity there is perhaps 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 307 
 
 no exception. Lord Teignmouth observed many years 
 ago, that among a thousand native officers he had only 
 met with one in whom he could repose confidence. No 
 native ever undertakes a public office with the intention 
 of confining himself to his stated salary; his leading 
 motive is the hope of amassing wealth by the abuse of 
 his power. Should any be startled at this sweeping de- 
 claration, we would beg leave to say, that after a residence 
 of more than twenty years in the country, after repeated 
 conversations with natives of every degree, and with 
 European gentlemen in every variety of situation, we have 
 never been able to hear of a native officer whom power 
 had not contaminated. We do not mean to aver that 
 there is no species of honesty in the country. The man 
 whose conscience is dormant when touching a large 
 bribe, would scorn to pilfer his superior merely of a rupee. 
 A regard for his own dignity would restrain him from so 
 ignominious a theft ; but respecting official corruption 
 and extortion he has no scruple. It involves no loss of 
 reputation, and no disgrace in the opinion of his country- 
 men ; these exactions, on the contrary, are considered as 
 the legal perquisites of office, and constitute the grand 
 allurement of the public service. In England, public in- 
 dignation would pursue the man who had fattened in the 
 soil of corruption. In India, no such sentiments are ever 
 awakened in the native mind; a fortune created by bribery 
 is rather a subject for applause and admiration. It invigo- 
 rates the hope of the aspirant for office, and redoubles 
 his attempts to enter on this lucrative trade. With the 
 native the constant enquiry is, not the amount of the 
 monthly salary attached to any office, but its illegal per- 
 quisites. For the truth of these statements we appeal 
 with confidence to every European who has enjoyed op- 
 portunities for examining the native character, and more 
 
 x 2 
 
308 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 especially to those employed under government. This is 
 no partial delinquency, confined to particular spots ; the 
 system of illegal exaction is at this moment in fatal ope- 
 ration in every corner of Bengal. The European officers 
 of the Court are the only individuals who set justice be- 
 fore them ; beyond the limit of their immediate influence, 
 all is injustice, fraud, and profligacy. 
 
 Every village of note in India has one or more Chowke- 
 dars or watchmen.* They are but remotely connected with 
 the judge of the district, and seldom come under his imme- 
 diate cognizance ; this opens to them a wide field for 
 fraud and injustice, and augments in no small degree the 
 value of their appointment. The natives have a strong 
 dread of appearing before a court, or before any officer of 
 justice : a disposition which the chowkedar or watchman 
 never fails to improve, to the injury of the natives under 
 his jurisdiction. Village broils cannot be avoided ; the 
 watchman is bound to report every circumstance to his 
 superior, and a dread of the consequences to which an un- 
 favourable report may lead, will invariably induce those 
 likely to be implicated, to quash enquiry by a suitable 
 bribe. The magnitude of the gift is of course propor- 
 tioned to the importance of the transaction : should the 
 question be likely to require much investigation, or a re- 
 ference to the principal court in the district, an unlimited 
 opportunity is created for oppressive exactions, as it is 
 within the province of the watchman to name the indivi- 
 duals who are to appear as witnesses, an office which, from 
 the inconvenience it occasions, is always an object of 
 aversion. The natives, therefore, who thus stand in jeo- 
 pardy, seldom fail to conciliate the watchman with a 
 
 * These also do the work of petty constables in England, and form 
 the lower rank among the Native Officers of Justice. 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 309 
 
 small douceur. The Hindoos have likewise an inherent 
 awe of power in all its gradations. A European will rear 
 his front when unjustly accused, and, standing on the 
 ground of his own innocence, demand a fair and equitable 
 examination. A Hindoo crouches before the minions of 
 power, and, however just his cause, cannot refrain from 
 employing the artifices of corruption, even where they are 
 not required. Thus encouraged by the pusillanimity of 
 their countrymen, these petty oppressors pervade the 
 country, spreading terror and dismay in every direction. 
 If a native be justly seized by them, he has before him 
 the prospect of punishment ; if unjustly, of annoyance ; 
 in both cases, he cannot escape without a loss of time 
 and money, and it is therefore his interest to soften the 
 messenger of the law by a present, which, in India, if 
 duly applied, never fails to produce the desired ef- 
 fect. An instance of oppression occurred about twelve 
 months since under our own observation in a neighbour- 
 ing zillah. A watchman had been sent from the station 
 to summon a native of some respectability as a witness : 
 the native slipping half a rupee into his hand, begged him 
 to report that he, the witness, could not be found. The 
 watchman accepted the bribe with great complacency. 
 About this time a corn-factor happened to meet a boat 
 proceeding to the Presidency with rice, the proprietor of 
 which, ignorant of the augmented price of that article, 
 bargained with him for his corn at a rate much below the 
 average of the market. The next day the proprietor dis- 
 covering his mistake refused to ratify the purchase. The 
 corn-factor meeting the aforesaid watchman, offered him 
 a similar bribe if he would go to the boat, report that he 
 had arrived from the seat of justice to enforce the nego- 
 tiation, and, in case of hesitation, to proceed with the 
 boat to the judge. The owner of the boat, alarmed at the 
 
310 NATJVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 intelligence, instantly agreed to deliver the corn at the 
 stipulated price, and rewarded the forbearance of the 
 watchman. The dispute was thus amicably adjusted, and 
 the native officer returned home richer by a rupee and a 
 half than he had left it. Cases of similar fraud occur 
 daily ; were we to mention only a tenth of the instances 
 which have come under our knowledge during one year, 
 or specify the various ways in which the power of this 
 lowest officer is abused, we should occupy the whole of 
 this number. This abuse of power will not appear strange 
 to one who considers that every chowkedar enters on the 
 functions of his office with the express design of making 
 the most of his situation, that he is invested with suffi- 
 cient power to overawe his weak countrymen, and is so 
 far removed from the eye of his European judge as to 
 render the prospect of discovery and dismissal exceed- 
 ingly remote. 
 
 The chowkedar, however, though he sometimes extorts 
 for himself, is only an inferior agent in this work of pecu- 
 lation. He looks up for protection to his superior the 
 Daroga,* with whom he shares the amount of his exac- 
 tions. The Daroga is too wise to quarrel with his tools, 
 and the only use he would make of the complaint against 
 a watchman would be, to ascertain the sum extorted, that 
 he might call the man to account for excluding him from 
 a share in the plunder. He is as corrupt and unjust as 
 any of the underlings of his department. He undertakes 
 his office with the same intention of realizing a far greater 
 amount than his stated salary; and to this object he 
 bends his attention, sacrificing with equal indifference the 
 welfare of his countrymen and the claims of justice. 
 
 * The Daroga has jurisdiction over a circle of villages ; and an- 
 swers in some measure to a Justice of the Peace in England. 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 311 
 
 There is no depth of profligacy to which he is not equal. 
 His whole career from the moment of his entering on 
 office is one unvaried scene of iniquity. The larger share 
 of power with which he is invested, he abuses in propor- 
 tion as he can evade the scrutiny of the European judge* 
 No crime is ever detected zvithin the circle of his authority 
 which does not contribute to his own pecuniary advantage. 
 We make this assertion with the fullest confidence that it 
 will admit of no contradiction. Let us suppose that a 
 case of robbery reaches him : his first enquiry is, not in 
 what manner the crime may be detected and punished, 
 but how this fortunate event may be improved to the 
 highest personal advantage. Animated with the hope of 
 plunder, he proceeds to the village accompanied with a 
 dozen of his official servants. From the moment the 
 crime became public, the inhabitants, feeling assured that 
 this golden opportunity would not be lost, had prepared 
 themselves to avert the pending storm by a series of false- 
 hoods. But experience has taught them that even false- 
 hood will be unavailing unless strengthened by a substan- 
 tial bribe. The Daroga with all the pomp of power at 
 length reaches the village, and quarters himself and his 
 train on the richest inhabitant. The arrival of the Euro- 
 pean judge would not occasion half the bustle and conster- 
 nation which his arrival occasions. He immediately 
 assumes an air of the sternest inflexibility, and opens his 
 court of enquiry assisted by his satellites, whose chief 
 business is to fish out the names of the most wealthy in- 
 habitants. These are summoned as implicated in the 
 alleged crime or as witnesses, and are threatened with 
 confinement, vexation, and transportation to the station, 
 and all under the colour of justice. During this pretended 
 investigation, it is perfectly understood between the par- 
 ties that the only obstacle to a happy adjustment of the 
 
312 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 matter, is the settlement of that sum which shall har- 
 monize with the rapacity of the Daroga and the conces- 
 sion of the men under examination. The sum is at length 
 fixed, and the individuals are successively discharged 
 without farther question. The Daroga having thus gone 
 through the village and collected every rupee which can 
 be extorted, closes the enquiry. The report made to the 
 judge in many cases is such as to bury all future investi- 
 gation, and in other cases the most needy, or those who 
 resisted his exactions, are summoned as evidence. Find- 
 ing the field completely reaped, he departs, to the great 
 joy of the inhabitants, in whose mind this representative 
 of justice has left the most determined resolution to con- 
 ceal crime and palliate every iniquity, rather than draw on 
 themselves the recurrence of a similar investigation. Is 
 this picture exaggerated ? We say, ask the natives them- 
 selves, who groan beneath the intolerable burden of these 
 inquisitorial visits. They are the best judges, and can give 
 the most impartial evidence. Ask every man of respec- 
 tability throughout the country, whether there be any 
 thing he or his countrymen dread more than a visit from 
 the Daroga ; whether that hated name does not at once 
 body forth the image of fraud, tyranny, and oppression. 
 Ask him whether there be any circumstance, except 
 family disgrace, or the loss of kindred, which he dreads 
 more than to hear of the commission of a robbery or a 
 murder in the vicinity of his residence ; and we feel as- 
 sured that the free expression of his sentiments will fully 
 bear us out in these statements. An instance occurred, a 
 year or two ago, of the discovery of a dead body in a vil- 
 lage. Towards evening the rumour ran from house to 
 house, and the inhabitants, assembling together, carried 
 it to the next village. The unhappy villagers, on whom 
 the body was thrown, roused by a similar dread, carried 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 313 
 
 it to the next village, where, on the discovery of the trans- 
 action, a similar transportation was made, and on the ap- 
 proach of morning it was thrown into a neighbouring 
 marsh. These extraordinary precautions were adopted 
 to avoid the domiciliary visit of the Daroga, with all its 
 concomitant vexations. Should any enquire whether 
 these daring oppressions remain unpunished, we answer 
 that they are visited with the severest retribution when 
 they are detected. But in how many instances are they 
 not committed with impunity ? Who is to drag the de- 
 linquent to the bar? Not those who at so high a price 
 have purchased exoneration from trouble. If any spark 
 of manly feeling existed in their minds, the evil would not 
 require even a reference to the judge ; the extortion of the 
 officer would be resisted at the beginning, — since it is 
 contrary to law and equity. Is it to be believed that any 
 man would thus patiently submit to illegal oppression 
 and then claim the interference of the civil power ? It is 
 on the weakness of the native character, that the Native 
 Officer works, and on which he depends for final impu- 
 nity. The natives, of Bengal at least, are by turns pusil- 
 lanimous or insolent ; pusillanimous when any decided 
 measure is required, and insolent when invested with 
 power. In every investigation of this nature these con- 
 tending ingredients of character are fully developed ; and 
 the insolent tone of the Daroga may be traced, both in its 
 origin and in its gradual increase, to the servile submis- 
 sion of his countrymen. No lofty sentiments of freedom 
 burn in the mind of a Hindoo ; whether from some im- 
 becility in his constitutional formation, or from a subjec- 
 tion of many centuries to foreign conquerors, every spark 
 of manliness seems extinct. The indignation which op- 
 pression excites is soon quenched ; it seldom creates a 
 determination to pursue the tyrant to justice at whatever 
 
314 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 hazard of personal inconvenience. The Hindoo never 
 opens his mind to the conviction that one bold assertion 
 of his rights, one public exposition of the injuries he suf- 
 fers, would arrest the progress of extortion, and liberate 
 him and his neighbours from that endless series of op- 
 pression which lies before him for the future. Such 
 reasoning would be lost on him ; his first emotion is that 
 of averting present danger. Instead therefore of carrying 
 his complaint to the seat of justice, where redress may be 
 obtained for present wrongs and security against future 
 evils> he prefers the expeditious palliative of a bribe, and 
 submits without hesitation to injuries which in England 
 would rouse the spirit of the lowest peasant. While this 
 disposition reigns among the people, it will not be matter 
 of surprise that for one case redressed, ten remain un- 
 punished. 
 
 It is not however on great occasions only that the rapa- 
 city of the Native officer of justice is developed. He 
 scorns not the simplest trifle ; no occasion for exaction 
 escapes his vigilance, and the lightest trespasses serve to 
 augment his purse equally with the deepest crimes. But 
 it is chiefly in little occurrences, and in trifling disputes, 
 that his interference is vexatious, as they are of more 
 frequent recurrence. Nor is this fraudulent disposition 
 confined to the officers of the judicial service ; it pervades 
 every department of public business, and meets the 
 natives in every direction. Were this not the case, how 
 does it happen that every man, however poor when enter- 
 ing on a public situation, invariably quits it in such a 
 state of opulence as his salary alone could not have 
 created ? How does it happen that men whose sala- 
 ries never exceed thirty rupees monthly, are able to 
 ride about in palanqueens, rear sumptuous edifices in 
 their native villages, and occasionally entertain with 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 315 
 
 splendid liberality a numerous train of guests? These 
 public situations, however small the salary attached to 
 them, are at present the chief avenues to wealth ; and on 
 the distant prospect of these rich prizes will many a 
 native live from year to year, practising every species 
 of servility. For one native who obtains wealth through 
 trade and commerce, there are at least two who acquire 
 it through the emoluments of office. Were we to scruti- 
 nize the great families who now support the splendour of 
 the national faith, we should find that two-thirds of them 
 have risen to distinction through the channel of official 
 situations. The ancient nobility of the country is extinct. 
 Their habits of profusion were incompatible with the 
 vigorous and steady collection of the public revenues es- 
 tablished under our own government, and their estates 
 have consequently fallen beneath the hammer. By whom 
 have these estates been purchased, but by those who have 
 enjoyed public offices — by men whose stated monthly sa- 
 laries never exceeded two hundred rupees, and who ex- 
 pended the whole of that sum, and perhaps twice its 
 amount, in splendid shows or in profuse hospitality? 
 These men have not all been chowkedars or darogas, but 
 they have been engaged in the public service, and have ac- 
 cumulated their wealth with such silence and secrecy as 
 to elude the observation even of their immediate masters. 
 But to return to the Daroga. In addition to the weak- 
 ness of the native character, there are other obstacles in 
 the way of his detection. The officers of the court are 
 equally corrupt with the oppressive Daroga, and with them 
 he is linked in the strongest bonds, and is supported with 
 the full weight of their influence. To these men the 
 detection and punishment of crime form no object of 
 solicitude. Their aid is purchased by the Daroga with a 
 share of the plunder ; and as he may frequently stand in 
 
316 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 need of their assistance, the connection is of mutual 
 benefit to both parties, though highly detrimental to the 
 interests of justice. Should a complaint be carried to 
 court, there are numerous ways of intimidating the 
 plaintiff of impeding the progress of his suit, of interpo- 
 sing delays and dilapidating his property, the dread of 
 which is a bar to the institution of complaints, and ope- 
 rates powerfully on the native plaintiff, who has before him 
 the certainty of expense and the uncertainty of redress. 
 Not six months ago, a native who had gained some ascend- 
 ency in one of the courts, requested a gentleman who has 
 several causes in court, to dispense with future suits, and 
 allow him a monthly salary, for which he engaged to see 
 his wishes invariably complied with. Such is the address, 
 the boldness, and the smooth-faced chicanery of these 
 native Amlas, through whom the cause is to be managed, 
 that the most penetrating judge must .in many cases 
 despair of discovering the truth through the thick web 
 of falsehood with which it is artfully covered. A 
 European judge, standing alone as the representative of 
 justice and equity, and thus surrounded with men to 
 whom falsehood is perfectly natural, whose disposition 
 and interest irresistibly impel them into the paths of un- 
 righteousness, must possess more penetration and vigi- 
 lance than falls to the lot of humanity to render justice to 
 every complainant. 
 
 To these obstacles to justice must be added, that which 
 arises from the facility with which perjured witnesses 
 may be obtained. From this pest of Indian society no 
 province is exempt. False witnesses may be obtained in 
 every place, on the slightest notice and for a mere trifle. 
 Their price varies in different zillahs: in some sixteen 
 may be had for a rupee, in others ten, but four annas 
 each is what no true son of the trade was ever known to 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 317 
 
 refuse in the interior ; and at this rate any number may 
 be collected to testify to facts they never witnessed. A 
 Daroga, therefore, who meets with impediments in his 
 nefarious extortions, has only to summon a few of these 
 profligate wretches to his aid, and his end is accomplished. 
 The native whom he oppresses knows that they would 
 follow the cause to court, and occasion him difficulties, at 
 the thought of which his mind sinks within him. He is 
 therefore completely at the mercy of the officer. Perhaps 
 there is no single circumstance which occasions more 
 difficulty in the decision of causes, than the great preva- 
 lence of perjury. Between true and false evidence in 
 India it is almost impossible to distinguish, and the mere 
 suspicion that the majority of the witnesses is perjured, 
 tends to cover the whole evidence with doubt, and ope- 
 rates to the manifest disadvantage of even true witnesses-. 
 Where perjured evidence is employed by one party, there 
 is a very strong temptation in the other party to employ 
 the same means, while the conscience is lulled by a per- 
 suasion that they are indispensable. An individual who 
 has frequent occasion of appealing to the native courts, 
 informed us on a recent occasion, that it was impossible 
 to carry a cause without resorting to the means employed 
 by the opposite party, and that his success was owing to 
 the superior body of witnesses which he held always in 
 readiness to swear to any thing, after having received 
 about two hours' training from his legal agent. 
 
 Such is the system of bold oppression which pervades 
 every corner of Bengal. The scenes we have been de- 
 scribing are not of rare occurrence; scarcely a day passes 
 without witnessing some scene of peculation or fraud in 
 some part of Bengal. These profligate principles have 
 been in operation ever since we held the country, though 
 with diminished vigour ; and indeed long before, for the 
 
318 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Mussulman government never imposed so steady and 
 systematic a check on public delinquency as we have. 
 Yet in spite of legislation and punishment, these evils 
 continue to disturb the repose of the community ; and 
 they will continue to darken the prospects of India, 
 whenever they are not checked by the principles of 
 virtue and equity which reign in the breasts of European 
 magistrates, or till some great moral change shall infuse 
 into the character of this people the boldness of truth 
 and the firmness of equity. The disease is radical, and 
 demands a radical cure. Detection, instead of removing 
 the disposition, only serves to invest it with greater cir- 
 cumspection. The punishment of one delinquent strikes 
 but a temporary dismay into the breast of neighbouring 
 delinquents ; the terror quickly subsides, leaving the 
 appetite for plunder only sharpened by abstinence. The 
 man who succeeds an officer dismissed for this crime, 
 proceeds deliberately in the same career, as soon as he is 
 firmly seated in his place, and can calculate on the fidelity 
 of his inferior associates. Nay, the very men who groan 
 beneath the burden of these exactions, if lifted to the 
 same official situation, would without remorse practise 
 the same oppression the next day. Every man being 
 equally corrupt, there is no prospect of amelioration from 
 a change of officers. 
 
 This system, which under the sacred name of justice, 
 plants disquietude and misery in every village throughout 
 the country, cannot fail to deteriorate the morals of the 
 country. By establishing a dependence on falsehood 
 rather than on truth, on chicanery rather than on justice 
 or innocence, it annihilates a spirit of virtuous indepen- 
 dence. The man who receives a bribe, sells — not justice, 
 but a miserable partiality ; and the man who offers it, in- 
 variably expects permission to transgress the limits of 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 319 
 
 equity. The man who employs perjured evidence to 
 gain his object, is as corrupt as the witness he engages ; 
 and he who depends on venality for success, can never 
 confine himself to the truth. The bonds of social morality 
 are thus relaxed, confidence is annihilated, while false- 
 hood and duplicity, meeting with no impediment from 
 public execration, pervade every hamlet, and taint even 
 the sanctuary of justice. Let those who represent the 
 Hindoo character as innocent and moral, bring forward 
 their proofs of this disposition; let them accompany us 
 through every inferior native court, and every little con- 
 temptible village, and shew us the spot in this extensive 
 land which does not exhibit, during a single week, scenes 
 of profligate corruption and daring oppression, from which 
 any man, educated in a Christian land, would shrink with 
 horror. Let them station themselves only for a single 
 day on the public road, and after witnessing the numer- 
 ous exactions levied on the innocent traveller by men 
 armed with a little brief authority, describe any single 
 spot where the principles of justice and equity predomi- 
 nate. There is, perhaps, no country on earth where 
 morals are so completely relaxed, where those vices 
 which degrade human nature and destroy the peace of 
 society, are in such fatal operation as in India. That a 
 man should employ every art of corruption to evade de- 
 served punishment is not matter for surprise ; but in what 
 country, where the sanctions of morality are held sacred, 
 does a plaintiff think of employing corruption in a just 
 cause ? Yet such is daily the case in India. No man 
 ever dreams of standing on the high ground of his own 
 innocence ; and we will venture to affirm that scarcely a 
 cause is ever decided in which the officers of justice do 
 not receive bribes from both parties. As far as the natives 
 are concerned in the administration of law, the whole is 
 
320 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 one scene of unvaried profligacy, into which no virtuous 
 principles, and no compunctions of conscience, are ever 
 permitted to enter. 
 
 This disposition on the part of the natives, paralyses 
 every attempt to establish a vigilant police ; for how 
 can an effective police be established when it is contrary 
 to the wishes and against the interest of the people to 
 lend it their aid ? Under the present system of exaction, 
 to assist in the detection of crimes involves too great a 
 sacrifice of money, comfort, and time. The whole country 
 is thus leagued, not so much against the punishment, as 
 the discovery of offences. Every precaution is used to 
 quash enquiry, and defeat the objects of a vigilant go- 
 vernment. The aim of every native officer, however con- 
 cealed, is known to be his own pecuniary advantage 
 rather than to promote the interests of society ; and thus 
 a compromise is established between those who ought to 
 search out the haunts of villainy and those whose infor- 
 mation is necessary to the discovery, the consequence of 
 which is an awful impunity for guilt. The dread of the 
 domiciliary visit of the Daroga and his officers is so 
 great as in many cases to overcome all concern for a 
 personal injury. Hundreds of cases occur annually in 
 which the master of a family after having been robbed 
 to a considerable extent, has imposed a vow of silence on 
 every member of his household, lest a whisper of the 
 event should reach the officer of his division. If this be 
 the case with regard to personal injury, and numerous 
 instances could be adduced to substantiate our position, 
 it is not to be supposed that the natives will voluntarily 
 come forward to aid in the detection of crimes, which do 
 not affect their own peace. We have, alas! in India no 
 unpaid magistracy, whose efforts have proved so valuable 
 in our own country. The native gentry of the country 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 321 
 
 are alive to nothing but that which concerns their private 
 interest; the officers of the court are worse than indiffer- 
 ent to the detection of crime ; and the European superin- 
 tendents of the police are thus left to pursue their course 
 unaided and alone. 
 
 This indisposition to promote the detection of heinous 
 crimes is greatly augmented by the insensibility of the 
 natives to the atrocity of vice. In Christian countries, 
 and more especially in our native land, every man is in 
 his own sphere a guardian of the peace of society. On 
 the report of a murder the whole neighbourhood is arous- 
 ed, and every man is animated with a desire to lend all the 
 aid in his power to bring the assassin to punishment. 
 The feelings which create this disposition are not to be 
 found in India. A native will shudder at the idea of 
 bloodshed, he will dread the approach of an assassin, and 
 if he be a devotee of Vashnoo, will exhibit every native 
 indication of horror, when even a buffalo is sacrificed ; 
 but he will lend no assistance to discover the men who 
 may have murdered his next-door neighbour ; and though 
 in possession of the most important intelligence respec- 
 ting the transaction, will rather see the legal agent return 
 unsuccessful, than proffer his information. Well was it 
 observed by one of the brightest ornaments of the Eng- 
 lish senate, that humanity did not consist in a squeamish 
 ear; that it did not consist in shrinking and starting at 
 tales of blood, but in the disposition of the heart to 
 remedy the evils unfolded. 
 
 But we must hasten to a close, and shall only trespass 
 on the reader's patience with one or two more observa- 
 tions. While these feelings so fully pervade the body of 
 the people, and the native officers are so corrupt, it is 
 difficult to imagine a more ponderous task than that which 
 devolves on the European functionaries of Government. 
 
 Y 
 
322 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Educated in the most virtuous principles, and anxious to 
 bring them into operation for the benefit of those com- 
 mitted to their charge, it is a bitter reflection that their 
 efforts are in so many instances defeated by the profligacy 
 of the native character. If wise laws, a vigilant super- 
 intendence of justice, and a paternal anxiety for the wel- 
 , fare of the country, could have relieved it from misery, 
 India would long since have been among the happiest of 
 nations. But sound laws alone are incompetent to be- 
 stow universal happiness, because they cannot implant 
 sound morality in every bosom. It is not to its venerable 
 code of jurisprudence, or to its political institutions, to 
 its parliaments, or even to its juries, that the happiness of 
 England is owing, so much as to that fine tone of moral 
 feeling which the benign influence of religion has created. 
 A country may possess as good a constitution as England, 
 and be miserable still. If the best constitution ever de- 
 vised by man were bestowed on India in its present con- 
 dition, we question whether its happiness would be aug- 
 mented in the smallest degree. Of what value would a 
 parliament or a jury be in a country where both these 
 institutions would be employed for purposes of the most 
 shameful corruption? 
 
 In other conquests, oppression proceeds from the con- 
 querors, while the wretched natives combine together to 
 assuage their grief by mutual condolence, and to obtain 
 some relief against oppression by mutual support. In 
 India this is not the case. It is the conquerors who have 
 to defend their subjects from the injustice of their fellow- 
 countrymen, and from the operation of their own vicious 
 principles. From the public servants of their own nation 
 they have nothing to expect but inexorable extortion; it 
 is from British vigilance and firmness alone, that the 
 smallest ray of comfort can shine on them. But it may 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 323 
 
 naturally be asked, Can no dependence be placed on the 
 native officers ? cannot the European judge, without 
 danger, elevate any to some participation of confidence ? 
 Experience says, No — all are equally corrupt. Power has 
 performed on them its most baneful transformation ; the 
 authority, however small, with which they are vested is 
 too strong for their virtue ; and to augment that power by 
 a confidence in their probity, would only carry them still 
 farther from the centre of truth and righteousness. Were 
 a European officer to repose confidence in any native 
 servant, that confidence would be most shamefully 
 abused, and its advantages immediately sold to the 
 highest bidder. Nothing can exceed the keenness with 
 which the slightest mark of partiality or kindness to any 
 particular individual is discovered, or the scenes of bribery 
 which follow the discovery. Any man thus distinguished 
 above his fellows, or who can boast of such a distinction, 
 is instantly assailed by the agents of corruption. His 
 evening levee is crowded with anxious suitors for the ex- 
 ertion of his influence with his superior on their behalf. 
 Wealth pours in upon him from every direction; his name 
 is wafted to the most distant villages of the district ; a 
 letter of introduction to him is considered the surest 
 pledge of success in any cause, his favour is sought by 
 all the native gentry, and he becomes in effect a person- 
 age of far greater importance than his European master, 
 who is invariably represented in every circle as a mere 
 cypher in his own court. The whole is, doubtless, a de- 
 lusion ; and like all other delusions is sustained by an 
 endless variety of manoeuvres. This influence of the 
 favourite retains its credit even when it fails, since the 
 general impression is that it had been purchased by the 
 opposite party with a higher bribe. So valuable is this 
 confidence esteemed, that a native a few years since 
 
 y 2 
 
324 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 offered a European judge five hundred rupees a month for 
 the privilege of whispering to him occasionally in court. 
 The proposal was rejected with scorn; but had it been 
 admitted, the native who enjoyed so rich a prize would 
 in two or three years have accumulated a fortune, greater 
 than the whole of his master's salary could have created 
 in ten years. It is no eastern metaphor, but a melan- 
 choly fact, that one ray of favour from the judge, if duly 
 improved, is worth more than an immense salary to any 
 native officer. 
 
 The judge has therefore to maintain the sovereignty of 
 justice not only alone, but in opposition to the wishes 
 and efforts of his whole court. However difficult the task 
 to an ingenuous and upright mind, he must guard every 
 look, and word, and action, lest by appearing to bestow 
 the smallest degree of confidence on any man, he should 
 take into his bark those who would turn the vessel alto- 
 gether out of the course of justice. In the land from 
 which it is his glory to have sprung, he has been accus- 
 tomed to that beautiful maxim, that every man is to be 
 deemed innocent till he be proved guilty. He must re- 
 verse this maxim, and deem every man venal, till he has 
 proved himself impervious to corruption ; for native dis- 
 simulation is of so profound a character as to elude the 
 severest vigilance. Few nations surpass the Hindoos in 
 the knowledge of character. It is their perpetual study, 
 the source of their influence, the origin of their ill-gotten 
 wealth. Their course of action is adjusted in the finest 
 proportion to the temperament of those with whom they 
 have to deal ; and their knowledge of the exact moment 
 when either by concession, submission, or audacity, their 
 object may be accomplished, appears almost incredible. 
 The deep divan which sits on the arrival of every new 
 judge or collector, to put together the several observa- 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 325 
 
 tions of its members, and to ascertain his disposition, and 
 decide on the best mode of influencing him, is described 
 with great accuracy by the late Mr. Tytler. With these 
 obstacles on every side, is not the task of the European 
 functionary most arduous, and is not the discovery of 
 truth in any case next to a miracle ? 
 
 If then, during the period of our administration, we 
 have been unable to confer domestic peace, happiness, 
 and security on our native subjects to the full extent of 
 our wishes, let no man lay the failure at the door of Go- 
 vernment. The disappointment has not arisen from ar- 
 bitrary laws, or oppression on the part of the conquerors, 
 or even from a culpable indifference to the welfare of the 
 native population, but from the prevalence of those evil 
 principles which oppose alike the efforts of missionary 
 zeal and the views of the wisest legislators. We have 
 protected the country from external violence, but who 
 shall protect it from the effect of its indigenous corrup- 
 tion ? It is not the Government which has been wanting; 
 but the people who have been wanting to their own best 
 interests. Had they seconded the wishes of Government, 
 we should now have beheld a totally different aspect of 
 things. The vigilance of Government has been of incal- 
 culable benefit ; for the smallest deficiency in the seat of 
 authority would have aggravated these evils in a tenfold 
 degree. The steady operation of our laws has produced 
 some amelioration, and steady perseverance cannot fail 
 of producing a still greater improvement in the condition 
 of the natives. There is far less violence, fraud, and 
 peculation, now, than when we were new to the govern- 
 ment; the field for rapacity has been narrowed, and will, 
 we trust, diminish, till the same probity and integrity 
 shall pervade the lowest, which now pervade the higher 
 departments of Government. 
 
326 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 It is neither our province nor our desire to interfere 
 with the public administration of this land ; and we trust 
 the severest criticism will not discover in the preceding 
 observations any wish but that of exhibiting a correct 
 view of the native character under a new aspect. We 
 trust, therefore, we shall not exceed the limits of our pro- 
 vince by remarking, that as every improvement in the 
 happiness of the people of these realms has hitherto 
 arisen from the exercise of European integrity, the more 
 this integrity is brought to bear on the country, the 
 brighter will be its prospects. Every increase of Euro- 
 pean functionaries is a real blessing, and every extension 
 of the power and influence of native officers a decided 
 curse. Should circumstances at any future period permit, 
 through the increase of European judges, the establish- 
 ment of a closer check on native depravity, the country 
 would reap the highest advantages from such an arrange- 
 ment. If to this we add the gradual extension of 
 Christianity, and the admission of its divine influence on 
 the hearts and conduct of the natives, we think that in 
 time great progress will be made towards a change simi- 
 lar to that which has rendered our own country, once 
 rude and barbarous, the envy of the civilized world. 
 
 We know that there are many in this country, who, 
 suffering from the depravity of the natives, entertain feel- 
 ings of great hostility towards them, and discourage all 
 attempts at their improvement. They consider them as 
 irrecoverably depraved, incapable and unworthy of any 
 amelioration, and doomed by Divine Providence to last- 
 ing inferiority and misery. But they are mistaken : Pro- 
 vidence has consigned no nation to irrevocable misery. 
 The improvement which is in store for the family of man 
 has begun already to develope itself. Even the wild and 
 uncivilized inhabitants of Otaheite, infinitely below the 
 
NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 327 
 
 natives of India in intellectual vigour and the arts of civil- 
 ized life, have begun already to partake of the cheering 
 ray of civilization and Christianity. In the glorious 
 career of improvement, India will not, we are convinced, 
 be found behindhand. Great allowance is to be made 
 for the enervating influence of an eastern climate; much 
 for a long series of despotic rulers, and still more for the 
 influence of a degrading superstition, which has been for 
 two thousand years propelling its roots and extending 
 its shade, like the mighty Banian tree, till it has covered 
 the whole surface of the land and tainted all the springs 
 of happiness. Happy, if as these evils gradually disappear, 
 India has not to encounter fresh obstacles to improve- 
 ment in the insensibility, or opposition of those who, 
 though blest with superior knowledge, shew by their 
 abuse of it, that it has originated in the adventitious cir- 
 cumstances of their birth, rather than any mental pre- 
 eminence. We cannot close this essay more appro- 
 priately than by referring them to the opinion of an 
 illustrious statesman now no more, and entreating them 
 to apply to India, his remarks on the civilization of 
 Africa. '? We were once as obscure among the nations 
 of the earth, as savage in our manners, as debased in our 
 morals, as degraded in our understandings, as these 
 unhappy Africans. But in the lapse of a long series 
 of years, by a progression slow, and for a time almost 
 imperceptible, we have become rich in a variety of 
 acquirements. We are favoured above measure in the 
 gifts of Providence, we are unrivalled in commerce, 
 pre-eminent in arts, foremost in the pursuits of philo- 
 sophy and science, and established in all the blessings 
 of civil society : we are in the possession of peace, of 
 liberty, and of happiness : we are under the guidance of 
 a mild and a beneficent religion : and we are protected 
 
328 NATIVE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 by impartial laws, and the purest administration of jus- 
 tice : we are living under a system of government, which 
 our own happy experience has led us to pronounce the 
 best and wisest, and which has become the admiration of 
 the world. From all these blessings we must for ever 
 have been excluded, had there been any truth in those 
 principles, which some have not hesitated to lay down as 
 applicable to the case of Africa ; and we should have 
 been at this moment little superior, either in morals, 
 knowledge, or refinement, to the rude inhabitants of that 
 continent." — Pitt's Speech on the Slave Trade. 
 
XIII. 
 REVIEW 
 
 ; OF 
 
 KURMA LOCHUNA: 
 
 A COMPILATION RELATIVE TO DOMESTIC DUTIES, 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM SUNGSKR1TA INTO 
 
 BENGALEE BY KALEE DASA.* 
 
 Serarapore, 1821, 24mo. pp. 28. 
 
 Perhaps we cannot better occupy the space between 
 the graver essays which precede and follow this article 
 than by an examination of this little work. It is a com- 
 pilation from the shastras, of a number of rules relative to 
 domestic duties, translated into the popular dialect by 
 Kalee-dasa, one of the Serampore pandits. The original 
 Sungskrita is given first, and then a metrical translation 
 in Bengalee. The rules refer to various offices of life, for 
 which the Hindoo sages have thought fit to prescribe ; 
 such as cleansing the teeth, eating, sleeping, sneezing, 
 anointing the body. Some of them are puerile and ridi- 
 culous ; others very indelicate, which we have omitted ; 
 and a few are of a moral character — these we have 
 reserved for the last. The arrangement, which is very 
 defective, we have endeavoured to rectify by classing 
 them according to the nature of their subjects. 
 
 With whatever pleasantry a European may be disposed 
 to regard these maxims, to a Hindoo they appear invalua- 
 ble. If he believes one half the punishments denounced 
 
 * Friend of India, Quarterly Series, No. IV. p. 481. 
 
330 DOMESTIC DUTIES. 
 
 in this little duodecimo of twenty-eight pages, he ought 
 to commit it to memory, and enjoin the same duty on his 
 children. The necessity which existed for such a work 
 enhances its value; for, in this last age of the world, every 
 thing had been going wrong : men did not sleep in the 
 right position ; they cleansed not their teeth with the 
 branches of those trees which the gods selected for them 
 some hundred thousand years ago ; they called in the 
 barber on an improper day ; nay, to such an extent had 
 the degeneracy of this age reached, that some ventured to 
 put on new apparel as soon as it was purchased, without 
 waiting for two or three revolutions of the earth. These and 
 similar enormities, which were daily increasing, imperi- 
 ously called for the publication of some work, which 
 should remind the Hindoos of that glorious period when 
 such irregularities were unknown, and when the gods 
 came down to earth and talked Swngskrittf familiarly 
 with the great sages of the East. The Translator has in- 
 deed experienced a mortifying proof of the further dege- 
 neracy of his countrymen, in his attempt to obtain sub- 
 scriptions, many having actually refused to purchase the 
 work, lest they should incur the penalties it denounces 
 with their eyes open. To these men ignorance is 
 assuredly bliss ; for as he who unintentionally performs a 
 good action, loses half its merit ; by parity of reason he 
 who unwittingly does a bad action, incurs only half its 
 penalty. 
 
 It will be a natural enquiry, on what principle these 
 regulations are founded. Law derives its value from 
 being founded in reason, and perhaps there are few studies 
 more attractive than that of tracing up the precepts of 
 law to the great fountain of reason and equity. But 
 these laws of domestic economy are arbitrary, and must 
 be received without examination ; since it is a sin for a 
 
DOMESTIC DUTIES. 331 
 
 Hindoo at least, to carry his enquiries into the reasonable- 
 ness or the occasion of the prescriptions of his shastras. 
 The shastras are like the commands of a king, of which 
 it is treasonable to enquire the reason. The Hindoo 
 pandit therefore believes implicitly, and the Hindoo sub- 
 ject obeys without enquiring. For these acts of passive 
 obedience they are consoled with the assurance, that both 
 their shastr«s and their kings are infallible. So says the 
 Hetopttdesha, or book of Moral Instruction, in that cele- 
 brated dialogue between the two jackals, wherein the 
 principles of passive obedience are laid down with great 
 precision. We have ventured to violate this prohibition 
 for the benefit of our readers, and have prevailed on our 
 pandit to give us, as far as they admit of it, an explanation 
 of the occasions from which these regulations sprang: 
 which he has done in many cases by reasoning from ana- 
 
 lo gy- 
 
 The first two pages are occupied with directions for 
 Cleaning the Teeth. The Hindoos, without tooth brushes 
 and tooth powder, exhibit as fine teeth as any nation on 
 earth ; — and at the smallest expense, for a Hindoo plucks 
 a little twig from a tree, strips it of its leaves, and rubs 
 his teeth with the bruised end of it till they are bright. 
 This must however be done before the rising of the sun, 
 " He who cleans his teeth after the sun has risen, why 
 does he worship Vishnoo ?" " Cleanse the teeth with the 
 thumb and the second and third finger, never with the 
 first." Of this ordinance it is difficult to assign the rea- 
 son. Our pandit conjectures that it may have originated 
 in the following circumstance. Before the creation, when 
 the element of water prevailed, one of the gods having 
 occasion to burn the body of a deceased friend, was con- 
 strained for want of a few feet of solid ground to consume 
 it on his left hand, stirring up the fire with the fore-finger 
 
332 DOMESTIC DUTIES. 
 
 of his right hand. Hence, he supposes, this finger has 
 been doomed to inferiority. " Use not the Ushwutt'ha*, 
 the Vutaf, the Vilxva J, or the Amwlwkee§ ; for the use of 
 these involves eternal punishment." In the Ushwutt'ha 
 the three principal gods reside : Brahma at the top ; 
 Shzva in the trunk and branches, and Wshnoo in the root. 
 The v/lwais Shz'va's favourite, for one of his friends in the 
 Tret« Yoga, threw a \ilwa fruit at his temples, which so 
 delighted him that he immediately consecrated it. At 
 the periodical destruction of the world Veshnoo floats on 
 the ocean on a vuta leaf. " When no twig can be ob- 
 tained, or on forbidden days, cleanse the teeth with 
 water poured twelve times from the palm of the hand into 
 the mouth." " If a person cleanse his teeth on the day 
 of a shraddha, or of fasting, those two actions lose their 
 reward." Early rising is enjoined on the Hindoos, as 
 much as sleeping in the day is forbidden. " He who 
 cleans his teeth at the middle or close of the day, the 
 gods receive not his flowers, nor his ancestors the water 
 he offers them." " He who cleans his teeth at the time 
 of bathing, (which must be done after the sun has risen,) 
 the gods receive not his sacrifice." 
 
 On the subject of Bathing and Washing, we have the 
 following regulations. " Let not the face be washed look- 
 ing towards the south or west, for fear of eternal punish- 
 ment." " He who anoints before bathing, or on particular 
 occasions, such as the day of the funeral obsequies, or 
 the 12th of the moon, is as though he anointed his body 
 with wine." In the use of oil there is no merit ; as it is 
 an unconsecrated liquid, it ought not to precede bathing, 
 
 * Ficus religiosa. f Ficus indica. J iEgle Marrnelos. 
 
 § Phyllanthus Emblica. 
 
DOMESTIC DUTIES. 333 
 
 which is an act of holiness. But this ordinance is in 
 little repute at present. The Hindoos find it more con- 
 venient first to anoint their bodies with oil and then to 
 cleanse themselves from its inconveniences by bathing. 
 The spirit of the shastras with regard to bathing is daily 
 defeated. It is simply an act of holiness; the Hindoo is 
 to dip his body in the sacred stream and retire. He is 
 not so much as permitted to talk while in the water ; yet 
 few Hindoos, except those aspiring after the honour of 
 sanctity, refrain from conversing with their neighbours, 
 or from occasionally casting a glance at the females, while 
 standing amidst the Ganges. In the cold climate of 
 Russia, promiscuous bathing maybe innocent ; but in the 
 warm climate of the east, to have permitted it, and at the 
 same time to have enjoined and expected purity of mind, 
 manifests a wretched deficiency in the knowledge of 
 human nature. "Bathing in the morning and Hwvishya*, 
 in the months Magna, Voishakha, and Kartika, destroy 
 the greatest sins." 
 
 " He who at the time of bathing rubs his body with his 
 hands or with any thing beside his napkin, is as though 
 he touched a dog. Let him bathe again." Every portion 
 of the body of a Hindoo is the residence of some god ; 
 perhaps this may have occasioned the injunction which 
 forbids the interruption of their repose during the per- 
 formance of an act esteemed holy. ¥ At the time of 
 bathing, at the \rutaf, at the worship of the gods, or the 
 performance of a shraddha, let the hair be bound up in a 
 knot, and let the individual be clothed with two gar- 
 ments." To perform any religious ceremony in a state 
 of uncleanness, is against the canon of Hindoo law. A 
 
 * Ghee, or clarified butter. f Voluntary religious observances. 
 
334 DOMESTIC DUTIES. 
 
 state of nudity is a state of uncleanness; and of this 
 there are three kinds — natural nudity ; having the hair 
 loose ; and having only one garment on the body. ** He 
 who in sacrifices, when bestowing gifts, at the funeral ce- 
 remony, the morning and evening devotions, when medi- 
 tating or offering water to deceased ancestors, does not 
 make a mark from the tip of his nose to the top of his 
 forehead, loses all the fruit of those actions." H If any 
 one makes obeisance, or gives a benediction when carry- 
 ing the sacrificial flowers, or a water-pot, when bathing, 
 or in the water, or when anointing his body with oil, both 
 he who receives and he who returns the salutation, will 
 receive eternal punishment." " He who after bathing 
 neglects to wash his feet, loses one year's merit." Pro- 
 bably this is prescribed in order to preserve the feet 
 clean. Shoes, as being made of cow hides, are unclean, 
 and defile the feet, and a native never wears them when 
 returning from his morning ablutions ; he either walks 
 home barefooted, or uses wooden sandals. Neither are 
 shoes ever used at home or within the enclosure of the 
 mansion ; and a native invariably washes his feet after 
 putting them off. There are still some individuals in the 
 country, renowned for sanctity, who never suffer their feet 
 to be contaminated with the hide of BhwgwvMtee. " He 
 who bathes at the steps used by a washerman, is as though 
 he killed a brahmwn." Washermen are considered as 
 among the meanest citizens of the Hindoo commonwealth, 
 and in the country are never permitted to use the steps 
 appropriated for public bathing. In crowded cities, dis- 
 tinction with regard to bathing is necessarily laid aside; 
 but in country villages the pre-eminence of the brahmanic 
 tribe is held inviolable. Citizens of a lower degree always 
 bathe at a respectful distance from the brahmwn ; and 
 
DOMESTIC DUTIES. 335 
 
 those from whom he cannot receive water, never venture 
 to bathe at the same steps with him. The last injunction 
 on the subject of bahhing, outweighs all others in import- 
 ance. " He who at the conjunction called Naraywnee, 
 bathes in silence in the Koorootaya river, raises thirty 
 millions of his ancestors to eternal bliss." 
 
 Twenty-six of the rules refer to the culinary art and 
 the article of Eating. " If while a brahman is cook- 
 ing, he give fire to a shoodra, the whole of his food is pol- 
 luted, as though it had been prepared by a shoodra ; if 
 he partake of the food thus tainted, he becomes in effect 
 a shoodrtf." " Eating with the face to the east ensures 
 long life; with it to the south, celebrity; to the west, 
 wealth; to the north, pecuniary embarrassment/' Eat- 
 ing towards the south, though it procures celebrity, oc- 
 casions the speedy death of parents ; while they are alive, 
 therefore, the Hindoo refrains from a practice which, 
 though it may augment his fame, hastens their disso- 
 lution. " If before partaking of food, you do not with 
 your finger make a circular water-mark on the ground to 
 contain your dish, the Ywkshws and Raksh?/s«s will de- 
 vour all the food." This injunction, as long as it continues 
 to be honoured, effectually precludes the natives from the 
 enjoyment of a table. " If at the time of eating, the 
 water pot be placed on the left hand, the water becomes 
 blood." The Hindoo idea on the subject of the hands is 
 somewhat singular. The right hand is holy, the left is 
 esteemed unholy ; each has its distinct functions ; the 
 body from the navel upwards being holy, is the province 
 of the right hand ; the rest of the body being unholy, is 
 abandoned to the left. Except in cases of unquestion- 
 able necessity, no interchange of services between them 
 is permitted. In the Mt/ha-nntttka, the left hand of 
 
33b DOMESTIC DUTIES. 
 
 Rama is represented as saying to its fellow, " You are 
 employed in the honourable office of inviting guests # ; 
 through you nourishment is conveyed to your lord ; why 
 then, when Rama draws his bow, do you retire behind 
 me ?" The right hand replies, " I do not flinch from the 
 combat; but I retire to his ear to enquire whether the 
 shaft will be successful or not.' , " He who drinks water 
 after the first two or three mouthfuls, avoids disease ; 
 if he drink in the midst of the meal, he becomes strong 
 and powerful ; but water taken after the meal, contributes 
 to digest the food." " If he who deals out food, touch 
 any individual while eating, that man is not permitted to 
 eat." There are two rules relative to panat> the Hindoo 
 dessert. " He who eats the lip of the leaf, brings on him- 
 self disease ; sin resides at the root of the leaf ; a decayed 
 leaf occasions speedy death, and the veins of the leaf 
 destroy knowledge." " He who eats beetle-nut before 
 pana, becomes a chwndala till he has bathed ;" and ac- 
 cording to another authority, is unable to remember 
 Vxshnoo at the hour of death, and in the next transmigra- 
 tion is doomed to poverty. " If a woman open a pump- 
 kin with a knife, she becomes childless." She may, 
 however, prepare it for food, after it has been dissected 
 by a man. " On her first entry into the house of her 
 lord, if a woman partake of food after having already 
 eaten at the house of her father-in-law, she becomes un- 
 fortunate ;" that is, she has female children, for the 
 native pmidits do not conceal the fact that this injunc- 
 tion is calculated to bless her with a male progeny. 
 
 The following are the restrictions on Food, respecting 
 which we offer no comment, as the reasons which gave 
 
 * A native puts out his right hand, when inviting and welcoming 
 any one. 
 
 f The leaf of Piper Betel. 
 
DOMESTIC DUTIES. 337 
 
 them birth are buried in the same oblivion to which im- 
 perious necessity has happily consigned many of the rules 
 themselves. " He who eats butter, prepared with the 
 hand and not with a churn, or the leaves of hemp, or 
 flesh not offered in sacrifice, or partakes of clarified but- 
 ter from the same dish which contains his food, or places 
 milk in a copper vessel, or takes salt with milk, is as 
 though he eat cow's flesh." " He who on Sunday eats 
 Masha kwlaya*, or meat, or mosoorf, or neemj, fish, 
 honey, rice gruel, wood-apple §, or ginger, will be child- 
 less through seven transmigrations, and wretched through 
 every succeeding birth. On the 11th of the moon all 
 food is prohibited, as on that day every sin, from the 
 murder of a brahmwn to the smallest peccadillo, enters 
 into the food. But if any part of the 10th lunar day 
 happens to trespass on the solar day, fasting is forbidden, 
 since on such an occasion Gandharee fasted, and lost a 
 hundred children. On the day after fasting it is not per- 
 mitted to play at dice, or to eat twice, to sleep in the day, 
 or to eat vegetables, honey, or food prepared by another. 
 He who on the day of the sun's entering a new sign, on 
 the eighth and fourteenth of the moon, on the new or full 
 moon, anoints himself with oil, or eats flesh, goes to the hell 
 where transgressors are fed with dung and urine ; he who 
 eats laoo ## in the month Bhadr#, or radishes in the month 
 Maghtf, or ola ft in the month KarU'ka, is as though he 
 eat cow's flesh. In the months Shravwna, Bhadra, Ash- 
 wina, Karta'ka, you may not eat kulumee %%, radishes, or 
 
 * Phaseolus radiatus. The same name is also given to Dolichos 
 pilosus. 
 
 f Ervum hirsutum. % Melia azadarachta. § iEgle Marmelos. 
 
 ** Cucurbita lagenaria. ft Arum campanulatum. |+ Con- 
 
 volvolus repens. 
 
 z 
 
338 DOMESTIC DUTIES. 
 
 vrthtttee*. If a brahmwn eat on the invitation of a 
 shoodra, he loses all his merit, and is as though he drank 
 wine. To eat at the house of a strumpet, is equal to the 
 murder of a brahmwn. There is no sin in a brahm/m's 
 using sugar-cane, unhusked rice, lime in pan#, milk, 
 turmeric, masha-kwlaya, medicine, salt, or water." 
 
 To crown these restrictions, we are presented with a 
 general table of prohibited dishes throughout the month : 
 " On the first of the moon he who eats of a pumpkin, 
 becomes indigent. On the second, he who eats bnhw- 
 tecj-, will fail in his attempts to remember Vsshnoo. 
 Eating pMtidfirJ, on the third, increases one's enemies. 
 The eating of radishes on the fourth insures indigence; 
 calumny pursues the man who partakes of the \i\wa § 
 on the fifth ; a man becomes a bird in the next transmi- 
 gration by eating mma|| leaves on the sixth; on the 
 seventh, he who eats the fruit of the tal«^[ tree, destroys 
 his own body. Ignorance follows on eating the cocoa- 
 nut on the eighth. He who eats laoo ## on the ninth is as 
 though he had eaten cow's flesh ; but eating kwlmeeft 
 on the tenth is equal to the murder of a cow. It is 
 sinful to eat beans on the eleventh ; pooi shak« JJ eaten 
 on the twelfth is equal to the murder of brahniMn. To 
 eat brinjals§§ on the thirteenth insures the death of your 
 children. He who on the fourteenth eats masha-kwlaya 
 becomes perpetually diseased ; and he who eats flesh on 
 the fifteenth incurs the greatest guilt." 
 
 " Clothes washed in a shallow pool, or by a woman, or 
 by a washerman, or hung up to dry with the two ends 
 
 * Solatium Jacquini. f Phaseolus Catjang. J Trichosanthes 
 dioica. § iEgle Marmelos. || Melia Azadarachta. f Borassus 
 flabelliformis. ** Cucurbita lagenaria. ft Convolvolus reptans. 
 IX Basella rubra et alba. §§ Solanum Melongena. 
 
DOMESTIC DUTIKS. 3oP 
 
 pointing to the south and west, are unholy. He who 
 puts on new apparel on Sunday becomes poor ; he who 
 does it on Monday is afflicted with boils ; on Tuesday, is 
 subject to much trouble ; on Wednesday, will possess 
 the means of purchasing more clothes ; on Thursday, 
 will become learned and wealthy ; on Friday, will be 
 happy; but he who does it on Saturday, will be involved 
 in trouble and disputes. He who delivers his clothes to 
 the washermen on the 6th or the 21st of the moon, on 
 the 12th or the 27th, on Saturday, Tuesday, or on the 
 day of a shraddha, destroys seven of his ancestral gener- 
 ations." The clothes in which the Hindoo has appeared 
 in public, being unholy, are always changed on his 
 return home. This apparel is washed abroad ; but the 
 vesture in which he eats or performs his daily ablutions 
 is either washed by himself, or if sent for convenience to 
 a washerman, is invariably re-washed before it is used. 
 Mending clothes, that first duty of a British housewife, 
 is scarcely known in India. With our ideas of the con- 
 nection between rags and poverty, we are led involunta- 
 rily to pity a Hindoo clothed in ragged apparel, but per- 
 haps we may be disposed to reserve our compassion for 
 his mental poverty, when we hear that a Hindoo wife, 
 however ardent her conjugal affection, would as much 
 scorn to ply the needle in her husband's service, as he 
 himself would disdain clothes which had been thus 
 mended. When a Hindoo therefore appears in rags, we 
 behold in him the victim not of poverty, but of supersti- 
 tion. As there are no paper mills in India, and no rag mer- 
 chants except the undertakers, the Hindoo lays up the 
 relics of his apparel, sometimes encrusted with the dirt 
 and oil of more than one generation, to constitute in 
 process of time a quilt for winter. 
 
 As a Hindoo woman, though she descends to the 
 z2 
 
340 DOMESTIC DUTIES. 
 
 kneading of cow dung for fuel, scorns to mend her 
 husband's clothes : so a Hindoo never shaves himself. 
 This unimportant act comes in for its share of restriction, 
 since among the Hindoos nothing must be left to choice, 
 necessity, or convenience. Let us hear what the great 
 sages of India have enjoined on this subject: "He who 
 shaves on Sunday becomes miserable ; he who shaves on 
 Monday, happy ; on Tuesday, he hastens his own death; 
 on Wednesday, accumulates wealth ; on Thursday, 
 becomes dishonourable ; on Friday, childless ; and he 
 who shaves on Saturday, brings on his head every mis- 
 fortune, while he who is shorn at the house of a barber, 
 becomes always unfortunate." The beard is the Hindoo 
 mourning apparel ; an Englishman attires himself in 
 black ; but the Hindoo encumbers himself with a long 
 beard, which the poor shoodra is to keep for thirty days, 
 as having sprung from the feet of the Hindoo creator. 
 
 Success and misfortune are attached as much to the 
 position in which a man sleeps, as to the day on which 
 he is shaved. " He who sleeps looking towards the 
 east, will acquire wealth ; if he sleeps towards the south, 
 he will prolong his existence ; if to the north, he will 
 be troubled with evil thoughts." To the west a person 
 is never to sleep ; and " to sleep with the feet towards 
 the east is equal to the murder of a brahman." 
 
 On the subject of Religious Worship we have the fol- 
 lowing rules: " In an act of worship circumambulate 
 Doorga once, the Sun seven times, Ganesha thrice, 
 Krishna four times, and Shiva (the genius of destruction) 
 half a time. From the Sun ask freedom from disease ; 
 from Vwnhee, wealth ; knowledge from Maha-deva, and 
 deliverance from Wshnoo." " He who worships a Sheva 
 or a Vishnoo established by a shoodra, cannot obtain for- 
 giveness by ten thousand acts of penance." This rigid 
 
DOMESTIC DUTIES. 341 
 
 precept evidently belongs to the austere ages of Hindoo- 
 ism. In this age of wealth, when the richest temples in 
 Bengal owe their establishment and opulence to shoodras> 
 we shall not wonder that a great proportion of the sacred 
 tribe have found it more convenient to forget it. Nine- 
 tenths of the natives in Calcutta who are distinguished 
 for opulence, are shoodras, and not brahmims. From 
 what this depression of the brahmims has arisen we can- 
 not tell, but we can say that it originates in no disposition 
 on their part to adhere to the rules of the shastras. The 
 brahmwns have usurped the functions of all the other 
 three orders without scruple ; they fight our battles, and 
 wear our medals of honour ; they freight ships, and 
 vend merchandize ; and many enter on the pleasing em- 
 ployment of cooks and scullions in opulent shoodr« 
 families. With what feelings might we suppose Mwnoo 
 would be affected, could his spirit revisit earth, and 
 enter the shop of a modern brahmwn, where, instead of a 
 copy of his own laws, which he vainly thought would be 
 held in ever-during remembrance, he would behold 
 1 Claret from Bourdeaux,' * genuine Hodgson's pale Ale/ 
 and * London particular Madeira.' Time, commerce, and 
 our superior civilization, are unitedly urging the Hindoo 
 shastras and their observances into the gulf of oblivion. 
 What havoc has not a few^ centuries made in the vast 
 fabric which so many gods, and sages, and hermits 
 toiled to erect ! Of the grammar which Shz'va composed 
 for the benefit of mankind, not a line exists in the country 
 which still owns his deity. The very language of the 
 vedas is obsolete in Bengal: thirty years ago not a copy 
 of it existed in the lower provinces, and that office for 
 which Vzshnoo became incarnate, (the recovery of the 
 vedas,) in the lapse of years has been performed by 
 foreigners, the offals of creation. '* Bind the Vedas in 
 
342 DOMESTIC DUTIES. 
 
 calf-skin!" said a great Indian philologist as he visited 
 the College Library. " What sacrilege !" Yet so it is ; 
 these sacred books which prohibit the murder of the cow, 
 have themselves been wrapped in the skin of many a 
 sacred bull. 
 
 "He who performs the morning and evening ceremo- 
 nies on the day of the full and new moon, or of a shraddba, 
 or on the sun's entering a new sign, or on the twelfth of 
 the moon, is as though he murdered his parents. On 
 the days of the shraddrm, the following actions are for- 
 bidden — to play at dice, to go anywhere, to cross a river, 
 to be familiar with any one, to sleep in the day, to eat 
 twice, or to fight. If a shoodra while sitting salute a 
 brahman, and he return it, they will both be eternally 
 punished. He who takes up a toolwsee leaf on the 12th 
 day of the moon, on the full or the new moon, or in the 
 morning or evening, or at night, cuts off Vishnoo's head. 
 He who presents a single toolwsee leaf to Wshnoo in the 
 month Kartzka, is as though he presented ten thousand cows. 
 It is improper to salute a paternal uncle if younger than 
 yourself; but your mother-in-law, or elder brother's or 
 gooroo's wife, if younger, may be saluted. He who sees a 
 d?mdee, or the residence of a deity, without bowing, must 
 offer an atonement." Superstition indulges more in fear 
 than in hope. The credulity of the Hindoo commonalty 
 has stretched this precept to its utmost limit, and en- 
 dowed the Mahommedan saints with the same attributes 
 of fear and reverence as their own gods. A little above 
 Serampore there are landing-stairs dedicated to a Mahom- 
 medan saint, and a Mussulman mendicant who lodges 
 there, navigates the river in a little boat with a red flag, 
 begging alms from the devout crews of vessels ; a few 
 cowries, ^r a few grains of rice thrown into his boat, are 
 supposed to secure a propitious voyage. While we were 
 
DOMESTIC DUTIES. 343 
 
 penning this article, a fishing-boat manned by Hindoos 
 was upset, and as the men passed by in search of their 
 vessel, the boatman was heard to say to the helmsman, 
 " Did I not request you to give a few small fish to the 
 Mussulman mendicant? You rejected my advice, and 
 you see the consequence ; we have lost our boat." This 
 credulity is not confined to the ignorant rabble; many 
 respectable Hindoos would shudder to injure a Mahom- 
 medan mosque. Nay, to such an extent is this supersti- 
 tious veneration carried, that we have seen well-dressed 
 natives, as they passed a Christian church, put their 
 joined hands to their forehead, in token of respect. — " He 
 who puts a necklace of flowers on his own neck, or a 
 flower in his own hair, or prepares sandal wood to beau- 
 tify his person, or is shaved at the house of a barber, 
 would become unfortunate, even were he Indra himself. 
 He who stops a cow when proceeding to drink water, is 
 as though he killed a brahimm." " He who on the first 
 sight of a star does not exclaim Narwda, Narwda, be- 
 comes a chwndala till he sees the next star. If a man 
 blow out a light, his family will be unfortunate." This 
 duty is performed by women. When there is no female 
 in the house, the oil is proportioned to the length of time 
 for which the light is required. " Let no man touch one 
 eye with both hands, or one eye with one hand." 
 
 " When any one stumbles, let him who sees him ex- 
 claim, * rise, rise ;' when one sneezes, let the spectators 
 say, i live, live. 1 When a man yawns, let him and those 
 around him snap their fingers." In a large assembly it 
 is amusing to hear the uproar occasioned by the universal 
 and loud snapping of the fingers when its most dignified 
 member yawns. (i To sneeze when one is about to sit 
 down or lie down, or about to eat, or is dressing or be- 
 stowing giftsj or is engaged in h dispute or in a wedding, 
 
344 DOMESTIC DUTIES. 
 
 is highly inauspicious." **. It is unadvisable to touch the 
 clothes, seat, bed, water-pot, wife, or children of ano- 
 ther." * The earth trembles if it be ploughed on the day 
 of the new moon, or full moon, or on the day of a 
 shraddh«, and during five particular days in Assar." You 
 are not permitted, except under the greatest necessity, to 
 pronounce your own name or that of your gooroo, wife, 
 children, or that of a stranger. To pass between two 
 brahmwns, or between fire and a brahmwn, or between a 
 gooroo and his disciple, or between a man and a woman, 
 or to walk before a plough, is equal to the sin of killing 
 a brahmwn. He who places a lamp in a temple, or sus- 
 pends one in the air in the month Kartika, to his merit 
 there is no end. He who rides to a place of sanctity, 
 loses one half his merit ; he who carries an umbrella 
 over his head, or uses shoes, loses one quarter of his 
 merit; he who during his journey uses oil or flesh, one 
 eighth; and he who has intercourse with a woman, loses 
 the whole of the merit he would acquire. It is forbidden 
 to place one leg astride on the other ; or to leap over the 
 remains of food, or to scratch the head with both hands. 
 These things are not unclean — a fly, a cat, rain-water, the 
 small drops of spittle emitted when speaking, and the 
 mouth of your own wife and children. On touching 
 wood for the funeral pile, or the funeral pile, or a chim- 
 daltf, or the sign-post of a shraddha, or a brahmwn paid 
 for his religious services, let the man bathe, as well as 
 wash his apparel. Past acts of merit are lost by receiv- 
 ing the shadow arising from a light, or from the human 
 body, or from a bedstead, or by touching the parings of 
 nails, the cuttings of hair, or receiving dust thrown by a 
 goat or a cat." 
 
 The following are the Moral maxims contained in this 
 compilation, " He who injures another man's wife or pro- 
 
DOMESTIC DUTIES. 345 
 
 perty, goes to hell. He who bears all things and injures 
 none, and is beloved by all, goes to heaven. He who 
 performs any good action without intending it, loses half 
 its merit. A court of justice is like Kashee (Benares), 
 the judge like ShaVfl, and the officers of justice like the ten 
 millions of lingas; let there then be no false evidence. 
 When a man enters a court of justice, his ancestors await 
 their doom from his truth or falsehood." The most 
 beautiful maxim in the book, we have reserved to the 
 last: "The earth feels not half so much oppression 
 from all its seas and mountains, as from the injurious and 
 ungrate ful." 
 
 Our readers have now before them the substance of 
 this vade-mecum of Hindoo domestic economy. How 
 far a perusal of it is calculated to produce a favourable 
 impression on the subject of Hindoo observances, we 
 must leave to their judgment or benevolence. In 
 other countries the superstitious creed which forms the 
 substance of this work, obtains currency only with the 
 ignorant and vulgar, and is the offspring, not of instruc- 
 tion, but of oral tradition. It was reserved for the Hindoo 
 sages to give it a substantial form, and invest it with the 
 sanctions of religion. Thus to interfere with the domes- 
 tic avocations of life, and to establish an imaginary 
 scale of innocence and guilt for actions in their nature 
 perfectly indifferent, must on every consideration appear 
 strange; least of all should we have expected it from 
 philosophers and legislators. How would it have 
 tarnished the fame of Bacon and Locke, men who occupy 
 the same station in the western as the authors of these 
 axioms do in the eastern world, had they given the stamp 
 of their authority to such childish absurdities. The 
 sages of India seem to have thought that they could 
 never carry legislation too far, and that to leave their 
 
346 DOMESTIC DUTIES. 
 
 disciples free, even in the most trivial actions, would 
 have been an irreparable injury. And how does a Hin- 
 doo appear as he comes forth from their hands ? Have 
 they moulded him into anything- that is dignified, manly, 
 and noble, or have they not given us as the highest effort of 
 their creative genius, a poor, crippled, credulous, super- 
 stitious being, without freedom either of soul or body? 
 How contemptible in the eyes of the civilized world must 
 the follower of the vedas appear ! To ascertain when he 
 may be shaved, or when he may clothe himself with new 
 apparel, he must open his sacred code, — on the return of 
 morning, he must turn to his culinary almanack to learn 
 the order of the day for purchasing or rejecting \ege- 
 tables,— -on retiring to rest, he must again resort to his 
 shastras to learn in what position his legs must be placed ; 
 and woe be to him if, in the restlessness of a sultry night, 
 he turn his feet to the west : he consigns his soul to ever- 
 lasting damnation. How different is man thus fettered, 
 and man as described by the bard of nature. " How noble 
 in reason! How infinite in faculties ! In form and mov- 
 ing, how express and admirable ! In action, how like an 
 angel ! In apprehension, how like a god !" 
 
 It has been alleged with something of a triumphant air, 
 that the simple manners of the Hindoos have undergone 
 no alteration for twenty centuries. This has arisen per- 
 haps in a considerable degree from the extraordinary im- 
 portance which has been attached to actions beneath the 
 dignity of legislation. But what praise is it for any 
 nation to have stood still for two thousand years, without 
 making any progress in civilization and refinement? The 
 great mass of the Hindoo population is at this moment 
 in no better situation with regard to comfort and con • 
 venience, than were the English during the period « f the 
 Holy Wars. The native hut is far inferior to thit of the 
 
DOMESTIC DUTIES. 347 
 
 Aracanese, who inhabit the borders of Bengal. In their 
 apparel the middling and lower classes reconcile them- 
 selves -to a degree of filth and dirt, which incalculably 
 augments the inconveniences of this sultry climate. In 
 a country where the free circulation of air is a luxury, 
 every village is enveloped in a forest of trees ; even the 
 underwood, which in the east is so detrimental to health, 
 is suffered to taint the atmosphere with the most noxious 
 exhalations. Scarcely a village in Bengal has a road 
 which is passable during the rains. Almost every house 
 has a little pool filled with stagnant water attached to it, 
 that the female branches of the family may obtain water 
 secure from observation. In this land, of which poets 
 have peopled every hill, and valley, and river, with the 
 beings of their fancy, in which philosophers have been 
 busied from time immemorial with the nature of God 
 and the human soul, and how it may obtain liberation 
 from its loathsome tenement without the fear of returning 
 thither, every thing relative to comfort and convenience 
 betokens the very infancy of society. What praise, then> 
 is it that the axioms of the shastras have perpetuated this 
 state of things for so many ages ? Could they have given 
 equal perpetuity to a refined system of morals, we might 
 have awarded to them that meed of praise which no sys- 
 tem of polytheism has ever yet earned. But while man- 
 ners have been standing still, morals have been degene- 
 rating, and even the foundations of the Hindoo faith have 
 been silently wearing away, and it now leans for support 
 on the unsteady basis of vulgar applause, rather than on 
 the deep-rooted affections of the heart. 
 
 It would be some consolation to the mind could we 
 view this collection of precepts simply as ridiculous and 
 indiscreet. But this unhappily is not the case ; they are 
 pernicious in the highest degree. In them the hopes and 
 
348 DOMESTIC DUTIES. 
 
 fears of the eternal world, bandied about like a plaything, 
 lose all their weight. They seem to have been introduced 
 without the least discrimination, to round a period, or to 
 create a kind of poetical diversity of sound. Eternal 
 punishment is awarded to the breach of ceremonial 
 observances, and eternal happiness held forth as a reward 
 for actions which have not the smallest tendency to im- 
 prove society. Of the idea of a future state scarcely any 
 of the family of man is devoid. The wild savage of Ame- 
 rica is not without his anticipation of future rest ; and in 
 proportion to his knowledge, his ideas are far more dig- 
 nified and noble than the absurd fictions of the Hindoo. 
 His untutored mind peoples heaven with valiant warriors, 
 whose martial achievements and patriotic fidelity shine 
 forth in the traditionary recollections of the tribe. The 
 Hindoos people heaven with men who have signalized 
 themselves by an uninterrupted attention to ceremonies 
 which only detract from the dignity of our nature. In 
 the code under review the same punishment is denounced 
 for falsehood, and for innocently mistaking the branch 
 with which the teeth are to be cleansed, — adultery is 
 prohibited under no higher sanctions than those which 
 prohibit the sleeping to the west, — the judge of quick 
 and dead is represented as regarding with equal indigna- 
 tion the most dreadful sins against the peace of society, 
 and the indifferent action of returning a salutation while 
 sitting. We are told by the highest Hindoo authority 
 that man is a mere machine ; but this code makes him a 
 demon. Is it not tantamount to the annihilation of all 
 morality, to say that all the toils of a virtuous life will be 
 blasted by washing the face looking to the south ; that 
 every aspiration after immortal happiness will be blown 
 to the winds by making obeisance while anointing the 
 body with oil ? No matter with what assiduity a Hindoo 
 
DOMESTIC DUTTES. 349 
 
 may have walked in the paths of virtue, no matter with 
 what anxiety he may have laboured to subdue his pas- 
 sions, or to promote the welfare of his fellow-creatures, if 
 in the last hour of his existence, he slumber with his feet 
 to the west, — all his merits will be rendered useless, he 
 will be consigned to one common doom with the assassin 
 and the adulterer, and associated in eternal punishment 
 with the vilest of mankind. Is the Hindoo to believe all 
 this, and believing it, are we to expect from him the small- 
 est attention to the duties of life ? 
 
 The doctrine of future rewards and punishments im- 
 poses so effectual a check on immorality, that any 
 system of religion from which it is excluded, is necessa- 
 rily hostile to the best interests of society. It is one of 
 those fundamental articles of faith without which human 
 existence would be an idle dream. A false system of 
 religion, in which the glory of the Creator forms no 
 stimulus to exertion, has little else to hold forth as a 
 check on the passions than the terrors of futurity. What 
 shall we say then of these Hindoo legislators, who have 
 laboured, in the passages quoted, to eradicate this salu- 
 tary principle from the minds of their votaries? Can 
 future happiness be esteemed an object of desire, when it 
 is the reward of attention to the most unmeaning cere- 
 monies ? or future punishment an object of dread, when it 
 is awarded equally to the adulterer and to the man who 
 gives a benediction with his water-pot in his hand ? The 
 effect of this indiscriminate association is, not to bestow 
 dignity on what is originally ignoble, but to deprive the 
 blackest crimes of their malignity. If the Hindoo re- 
 volts from the idea of attaching eternal damnation to the 
 innocent occurrences denounced in our text, he has no 
 creed left; for he cannot revere a religion which incul- 
 cates doctrines revolting to the meanest understanding. 
 
350 DOM EST re DUTIES. 
 
 If he believes them, what family is secure from violation? 
 It is for the highest interests of mankind that the final 
 Judgment should be regarded with awe as the court in 
 which all those crimes which have escaped human vigi- 
 lance, shali be exposed and punished. The omniscience 
 of the Deity, viewed in connection with the terrors of 
 judgment, ceases to be an object of idle speculation, and 
 creates the most salutary restraint on human profligacy. 
 Every step, therefore, taken to invalidate in the human 
 breast the sanctions of eternity, is an act of treason 
 against the peace of mankind. But is it not obvious that 
 to represent the Deity in that investigation, as examining, 
 not the secrets of all hearts, but whether a benediction 
 has been granted with the sacrificial flowers in the hand, 
 or whether any of his creatures had slept to the west, is 
 virtually to abrogate the doctrine of future rewards and 
 punishments ? What human court would possess any 
 weight or influence, if this were its code of laws, or these 
 the functions of its judges ? Setting aside, therefore, 
 eternal happiness, what irreparable injury is this code 
 calculated to produce on the affairs of time ! How poor 
 a substitute is the vigilance of weak, short-sighted human 
 magistrates, for the ever-wakeful vigilance of the Al- 
 mighty. But Divine Providence has not resigned its 
 sceptre to these miserable philosophers, nor permitted 
 them wholly to eradicate the hopes and fears of a future 
 world. The fear of future punishment still haunts the 
 conscience of a Hindoo, though' with diminished vigour. 
 The Hindoo still consoles himself with the hope that God 
 will in a future state punish those personal injuries for 
 which he obtained no redress in this world ; he cannot 
 bring himself to believe that his Creator will visit with 
 equal doom the destroyer of his domestic peace, and the 
 man who bathes with his face to the west, — from the tri- 
 
DOMESTIC DUTIES. 351 
 
 bunal of his earthly judge he still appeals to Heaven, in 
 attestation of his innocence. If then there be any virtue 
 left in India, or any dread of vice, let us not attribute it to 
 the labours of the Hindoo sages, but to the voice of con- 
 science which they have toiled in vain to subdue. The 
 influence of their writings on the affairs of this nation has 
 been in the highest degree pernicious, and the comple- 
 tion of their exertions would be equivalent to the destruc- 
 tion of every virtuous principle. While, therefore, we 
 bestow on thein that praise which they have richly 
 earned in the paths of literature, we must deny them all 
 credit in the work of religious legislation, and maintain 
 that India would have been more prosperous and happy 
 had they never taken this task in hand. Neither as a 
 nation, nor as individuals, do the Hindoos owe them any 
 gratitude ; and it is only from the oblivion into which 
 their labours are hastening, and from the restoration of 
 conscience to its original supremacy in the heart, that we 
 can expect that tone of moral feeling, which gives birth 
 to individual excellence of character and to national 
 prosperity. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 
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