HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
INDIA 
 
 FORTY YEARS OF PROGRESS 
 AND REFORM 
 
 BEING 
 
 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 BEHRAMJI M. MALABARI 
 
 BY 
 
 R. P. KARKARIA 
 
 M 
 
 EDITOR OF 
 
 CARLYLE'S UNPUBLISHED LECTURES ON EUROPEAN LITERATURE 
 AND CULTURE 
 
 JSonfcon 
 HENRY FROWDE 
 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE 
 AMEN CORNER, E.G. 
 
 f 1896 
 
DS47? 
 I 
 
 M3IO 
 
 HENRY MORSE STEPHKH* 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IN the following pages an attempt has been made to 
 present to the reader a slight sketch of an Indian 
 career which deserves to be known more widely. 
 Mr. Malabari is already well known, both in this 
 country and in Europe, by his own literary works as 
 well as, recently, by the excellent life of him, written 
 by his friend and colleague, Mr. Dayaram Gidumal, 
 C. S. ; but above all, by his efforts in the cause of 
 Social Reform. These efforts give him a unique place 
 in contemporary history. The single-minded, straight- 
 forward honesty of purpose, the boldness and perse- 
 verance shown in the good cause, and, more than all, 
 the spirit of self-sacrifice which pervades his crusade 
 against evils that stand in the way of national 
 progress, stamp him as an exemplary character. His 
 intellectual endowments are great, but they are shared 
 by others among his more prominent countrymen. 
 What raises him above most of his contemporaries is 
 that he combines this intellectual eminence with 
 moral greatness, and subordinates it to a high moral 
 purpose. This is what renders him ' the best among 
 the men whom India is producing in the course of her 
 new development' under British rule. He is the type 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 of true culture, and he has striven hard to leave the 
 world the better for his having entered it. He has 
 had fixed ideals in life, which he has pursued steadily 
 through good report and ill report, allowing 
 
 ' Neither evil tongues, 
 
 Rash judgements, nor the sneers of selfish men, nor all 
 The dreary intercourse of daily life V 
 
 to prevail over him and make him swerve from the 
 path of Duty, which, in his case, is the path of active 
 benevolence. The life of such a man will be well 
 worth recounting at length, when it has run its full 
 course. Long may that day be in coming ! Mean- 
 while, I have endeavoured to give this outline sketch, 
 based on known facts, with such reflections as 
 suggested themselves while writing about one whom I 
 am proud to call my countryman and friend, whom 
 I had learnt to admire long before I came to know 
 him personally, and personal contact with whom has 
 not only confirmed and increased my admiration for 
 his character and genius, but has made me, I believe, 
 a wiser and a better man. May these slight pages 
 succeed in introducing readers to a great personality, 
 make Indians appreciate better what a force for good 
 they possess in him, and Englishmen rejoice how 
 fruitful the efforts of their race for the mental and 
 moral improvement of this God-given dependency 
 must prove when they produce men like Mr. 
 
 Malabari. 
 
 R. P. KARKARIA. 
 
 MATHERAN (near BOMBAY), 
 May 9, 1894. 
 
 1 Wordsworth, Lines on Tintern Abbey. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introduction The Idea of self-sacrifice, in the East and in 
 the West England's Work in India The System of Edu- 
 cation, Western as opposed to Oriental .... 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Early life his Mother's Influence Her Death and its effects 
 Struggles and Vicissitudes School Days The Rev. Mr. 
 Dixon Literary Training . . . . . . .20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Early literary efforts Vernacular Literature The Rev. Dr. 
 Wilson The Parsis, their position and influence Special 
 efforts for their conversion to Christianity Niti- Vinod. Hindu 
 Gujarati and Parsi Gujarati 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Marriage Female Education among Parsis and other classes 
 Indian Muse in English Garb Wilson's influence A real 
 missionary Influence of Christianity on modern Indian 
 thought Zoroastrianism Wilson Virah 60 
 
viii Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PACE 
 
 Journalism in India The Indian Spectator New Political 
 Activity, unrest and dissatisfaction Criticism of Government . 83 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Book on Gujarat, a true Picture of life in Town and Village 
 Translations of Max Miiller's Hibbert Lectures dealing with 
 the Religions of India 103 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Social Reform Malabari's life-work The Position of Indian 
 Women The Marriage Question The Age of Consent Act . 114 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Visit to England The Indian Eye on English Life The Indian 
 Problem Latest Gujarati poem Conclusion . . .131 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. Extracts from Letters relating to Malabari . .143 
 INDEX 149 
 
INDIA: 
 
 FORTY YEARS OF PROGRESS AND REFORM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introduction The Idea of Self-sacrifice in the East and in the West 
 England's Work in India The System of Education, Western as opposed 
 to Oriental. 
 
 IT is often said that the East has been deficient in 
 the practice of self-sacrifice, and that instances of lives 
 of pure philanthropy, devoted to doing good to one's 
 fellows, without thought of self, are rare in the annals 
 of Oriental biography. In most books of exemplary 
 biography, it is the lives of European worthies that 
 are taken up to point the moral of heroic self-abnega- 
 tion and the devotion of man to his kind. To a certain 
 extent this may be owing to the general ignorance 
 about the East and its affairs and history prevailing 
 among Europeans. Even when these are inclined to 
 enlighten themselves on what they have now come 
 slowly to recognize as the original home of civilization 
 and the source of light, when they are beginning to 
 realize the truth of the phrase ex Oriente inx, they find 
 the means at hand rather scanty and unsatisfactory. 
 
 B 
 
of Progress and Reform. 
 
 History, one of the most important branches of know- 
 ledge, has been very poorly treated by the Easterns. 
 By the Hindus of ancient and mediaeval India it was 
 almost entirely neglected, and with the exception of 
 two books the whole of Sanskrit literature is barren in 
 works relating explicitly to facts and events in the life 
 of the country. The Mahomedans paid a little more 
 attention to history, and their literature contains many 
 works on the subject. But, unfortunately, they held 
 peculiar views about the dignity of history, con- 
 cerning themselves mostly with kings and kingdoms, 
 recording worldly greatness, but evincing little interest 
 in the ordinary people and their benefactors. Hence 
 their works are full of the details of battles and sieges, 
 and contain minute particulars about the lives of kings 
 and conquerors. Their professed biographies too, 
 which are few in number, are devoted to men who 
 have occupied thrones and led conquering hosts. But 
 it is not among such that we expect self-denial and 
 love of others. On the contrary, from their point of 
 view they often give us a very low and false idea of 
 their times. What a false and mutilated idea should 
 we have of England in the last century if we had the 
 record of no other lives than those of Marlborough 
 and the first two Georges, and nothing to remind us 
 of the career of Wesley and Howard! Such an idea 
 of the East is carried away by those who read the 
 history of Tamarlane and Jenghis Khan, of Mahmud 
 of Ghazni and Aurangzib of Delhi. The redeeming 
 features presented by the silent lives of good men 
 working for the benefit of their fellows, are generally 
 
Self-sacrifice in the East and in the West. 3 
 
 absent in Mahomedan literature, and are apt to be 
 inferred as having not existed at all. 
 
 But in truth, the East has been the home of the 
 doctrine of self-sacrifice since the earliest times. It 
 has been the birthplace of all the great religions which 
 are founded on the subordination or the effacement 
 of self with regard to one's Maker and his kind. 
 Zoroastrianism, probably the oldest of religions, has 
 for its cardinal doctrine that of charity and doing good 
 to mankind without thought of self. The system of 
 Buddha, which has profoundly and permanently af- 
 fected the greater half of the Eastern world, is based 
 on self-effacement and tender consideration, not only 
 for the human race, but the entire living creation. 
 The life of the noble enthusiast himself is one of the 
 most striking instances of careers devoted with an 
 unswerving singleness of purpose to benefit the world. 
 Hinduism, too, though in its later Brahmanic develop- 
 ment it has become a selfish and exclusive cult hedged 
 round by caste, is, in its origin and essence, an in- 
 spiriting faith. Manu's beautiful idea of original debt, 
 implying that every man is born a debtor, and must 
 discharge his original debt by doing good deeds for 
 his fellows, is like the Christian doctrine of original 
 sin, and perhaps more inspiring. And the Christian 
 religion, the noblest, in this respect, of all, having for 
 its central mystery the sacrifice of the second person 
 of the Godhead Himself, for the redemption and final 
 happiness of fallen man, had its birth in the East, in 
 that narrow strip in the corner which unites Europe 
 with Asia, symbolic of the spiritual union of the two 
 
 B 2 
 
4 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 great continents to be effected through its agency. 
 Jesus Himself, the highest type of self-sacrifice, was 
 born an Asiatic; and His life, though lived for the 
 whole world, was spent on Asiatic soil amid Oriental 
 surroundings. Of Islam, the latest of the world 
 religions, the fundamental idea is resignation of one's 
 will and self-surrender, though that ideal has been 
 clouded by many contradictory practices in the course 
 of its development. And it is not merely in the 
 lives of the founders of these world-religions that 
 we find the doctrine of self-sacrifice and its practice. 
 All of them have produced heroic characters, who 
 have lived and died solely for their fellow-beings. 
 But the saying, that the world does not know its 
 greatest men, is true at least of the East, which has 
 kept a very meagre record of the lives and deeds 
 of its really great men. 
 
 It may however be admitted, that the ideal pur- 
 sued by the East in this matter of self-sacrifice has 
 been chiefly a subjective one. With its traditional 
 propensity to metaphysics and contemplation, it has 
 been more or less content with practising self-sacrifice 
 in a passive way, giving itself up to austerity and self- 
 communion, and detaching itself from the world. 
 Thus it has been the chosen cradle and home of 
 Rishis and Fakirs, who have tried to efface self by 
 solitary meditation on spiritual matters. Hence it has 
 also been the birthplace of monasticism, Buddhist and 
 Christian, in which the soul, full too much of self, 
 sought a refuge in surrendering itself passively to 
 a higher ideal. The West has been, on the contrary, 
 
Self-sacrifice in the East and in the West. 5 
 
 practical and active in the matter. Its ideal has been 
 action and movement, while that of the East has been 
 quiet and rest. It has received the doctrine of self- 
 sacrifice from the East, and has modified it according 
 to its bent, and made it practical and active. Hence 
 in modern times in Europe we see men sacrificing 
 themselves, not by detachment and seclusion from the 
 world, but by leading active lives of usefulness in and 
 for the world. The passive Eastern ideal, which was 
 also preferred by Aristotle and mediaeval Europe, has 
 to a great extent given w r ay to the progress of positive 
 science, and has, in modern Europe, become active for 
 bettering man's estate. Instead of monks leading 
 a cloistered life away from the din of the world, we 
 now have monks of a higher order, pursuing an equally 
 noble ideal in the very thick of life, trying to alleviate 
 human misery, and instead .of retiring from the field of 
 action, standing firmly by the side of their weaker 
 fellows and helping them to fight the battle of life more 
 bravely. The Catholic Church, the great stronghold 
 of monasticism in the Middle Ages, has seen and felt 
 this momentous change of ideal that has come upon 
 modern Europe, and has wisely adapted itself to the 
 change. The institution of the historic order of Jesus, 
 whose members lead an active life of self-sacrifice in 
 the very midst of the world, living thus in full touch 
 with it, is no slight proof of the wisdom and elasticity 
 of the Church of Rome. 
 
 The West, having taken this ideal from the East, 
 and having modified it according to its own genius, 
 has tried to return it to the East in this state. The 
 
6 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 highest ideal of active philanthropy has been attempted 
 by the Teutonic nations, whose very genius lies in 
 action and motion. And it has been the great good 
 fortune of the East to come next in contact with one 
 of the two great branches of the sturdy, active Teutonic 
 races which proved the salvation of Europe in freeing 
 it from the effete and moribund rule of the degenerate 
 Roman empire. This branch, the British, has been 
 destined by a singular fate to affect profoundly one 
 of the most important countries of the East, India, 
 and its ideals. The English have become, in this land, 
 the masters of one of the greatest Oriental empires 
 that ever flourished in ancient or modern times. And 
 they have always tried to use this mastery for the 
 benefit of the subject races. Since the early dawn of 
 their rule, when it was hardly yet established in the 
 country, efforts have been made to raise the people to 
 a higher level by conferring upon them the blessings 
 of Western civilization and culture. The generation 
 that elapsed after Plassey was spent mainly in the 
 struggle for establishing themselves. But when, after 
 conquest and diplomacy, more leisure was left for 
 peaceful pursuits, the English were not slow in utilizing 
 their opportunities for doing good. The results, in 
 the direction of material advance, have been glorious 
 indeed. To him who asks for a monument of the 
 British rule in India, an appropriate answer may be 
 made in the celebrated phrase, Circumspice ! He has 
 only to look round about him in the land to find 
 permanent memorials of British beneficence. Her 
 highways and railroads and canals ; her large and 
 
England's Work in India. 
 
 flourishing cities, the centres of her manufactures and 
 trade, developed to proportions hitherto unknown ; her 
 gigantic public works, all these are living monuments 
 of Britain's philanthropic rule of a century, beside 
 which nearly everything done in this line by former 
 dynasties during much longer periods sinks into 
 insignificance. 
 
 But greater even than this triumph of material pro- 
 gress is that of mental and moral advance. (jEngland 
 has had the rare satisfaction of awakening the torpid 
 Hindu intellect from the sleep into which it had been 
 thrown by the fierce foreign rule of the Mahomedans 
 during seven centuries, the real Middle Ages of Indian 
 history. In its far-reaching importance this new period 
 of fat'feclaircissemcrU in modern India may be com- 
 pared to the awakening of the European mind from 
 the inactivity of the Middle Ages at the time of the 
 Renaissance. As the mind of Western Europe, dazzled 
 by the new stores of Greek learning in the fifteenth 
 century revealed to its admiring gaze by Byzantine 
 scholars, refused to proceed any longer on the old 
 beaten track of mediaeval knowledge, and eagerly 
 followed the new light, striking out new paths of 
 science and philosophy; so the Indian intellect, pro- 
 foundly moved in many ways, in our century, by the 
 revelation to it of European culture through the 
 English language and literature, is striving after fresh 
 conquests. The revolution which the young Indian 
 mind is experiencing has stirred it powerfully, and its 
 influence is being felt in many departments of life. 
 Slowly but surely the whole fabric of Indian society is 
 
8 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 changing under this salutary foreign influence brought 
 to bear upon it by the alien rulers. 
 
 Two agencies were, from the first, employed by 
 these rulers to achieve their object of ameliorating 
 the condition of the millions placed under their care 
 by an all-wise Providence. One was that of active 
 missionary effort by which the early enthusiasts among 
 the pioneers of British progress sought to reclaim the 
 Indians from their old faith. The deep hold which 
 this faith had upon the people, however absurd it may 
 have appeared to the followers and inheritors of 
 a nobler religion, was not realized by the first genera- 
 tion of English philanthropists. The efforts at direct 
 conversion to Christianity were vigorously put forth, 
 till it became necessary to acknowledge with bitterness 
 that as direct efforts they had proved on the whole 
 futile. It was found that direct and open proselytism 
 frightened the people and made them averse to 
 European learning altogether, when coupled with the 
 European faith. It was feared that this method would 
 defeat the object of improving the condition of the 
 people, even intellectually and materially, and give 
 rise to a reaction in favour not only of the old faith, 
 but also of the old ways of thinking and living which 
 were beginning to be visibly affected by the Western 
 modes. The tenacity and vitality of the indigenous 
 religions had to be acknowledged and reckoned with. 
 Even as early as the close of the last century it was 
 frankly confessed by one of the best missionaries, who 
 knew the people intimately, and had lived for a long 
 time as one of themselves, namely, Dubois, that Chris- 
 
England's Work in India. 
 
 tianity was not destined to make headway amongst 
 the Indian nations. It could best succeed but in- 
 directly, as we shall have occasion to remark later, 
 by modifying the indigenous creeds. But it did not 
 seem likely ever to win over the subtle Hindu mind 
 to itself, so as to make that mind accept all its dogmas 
 and mysteries implicitly. Even able officers of the 
 Government were, in the earlier days, carried away 
 by their zeal for the spread of the Gospel, impervious 
 to the force of this observation. Many of them urged 
 the East India Company to exert its influence for the 
 spread of its own faith among the people. One of 
 the ablest men among them, who had really the good 
 of the people at heart, a Director of the Company, 
 thought it wise to write as follows, after mature de- 
 liberation and a long and close study of the people. 
 In the Preface to his now very rare Observations on 
 the State of Society among the Asiatic Subjects of Great 
 Britain, addressed in 1797 to his fellow Directors, 
 Charles Grant says, * In earlier periods the Company 
 manifested a laudable zeal for extending, as far as its 
 means then went, the knowledge of the Gospel to the 
 pagan tribes among whom its factories were placed. 
 It has since prospered to become great in a way to 
 which the commercial history of the world affords no 
 ^parallel, and for this it is indebted to the fostering and 
 protecting care of Divine Providence. It owes, there- 
 fore, warmest gratitude for the past, and it equally 
 needs the support of the same beneficent Power in 
 time to come for the " chances and changes " to which 
 human affairs are always liable, and specially the 
 
io India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 emphatic lessons of vicissitude which the present day 
 has supplied may assure us that neither elevation nor 
 safety can be maintained by any of the nations or 
 rulers of the earth, but through Him who governs 
 the whole. The duty, therefore, of the Company, as 
 part of the Christian community, its peculiar super- 
 added obligations, its enlarged means, and its con- 
 tinual dependence on the Divine favour, all call 
 upon it to honour God by diffusing the knowledge 
 of that revelation which He has vouchsafed to 
 mankind V 
 
 But views like these rapidly give way to increased 
 experience and maturer consideration. Proselytizing 
 zeal and effort were given up by the Government as 
 an agency for improving the moral and mental con- 
 dition of the people. Secular education was preferred 
 for the purpose. The mind of the people was sought 
 to be enlightened by literary and scientific information. 
 It was hoped that the old creeds would languish of 
 themselves when the light of reason and knowledge 
 was thrown upon them. The odium of direct attack 
 would thus be averted, and the citadel of superstition 
 would fall by what could be likened to the sapping 
 and mining process. 
 
 But here sprang up an important difference among 
 men entrusted with the task of organizing secular 
 education, which threatened seriously to cripple the 
 power of this agency for raising the masses. Mount- 
 stuart Elphinstone, in his famous minute on education, 
 written in 1824, expressed his confident conviction, 
 
 1 Appendix, G. Smith, Conversion of India^ 1893, p. 99. 
 
The System of Education. n 
 
 while resisting direct missionary effort, that ' the 
 conversion of the natives must infallibly result from 
 the diffusion of knowledge among them ' (Official 
 Writings, ed. Forrest, page 107). Some among these, 
 being themselves well versed in the. Eastern lore, 
 impelled by the desire of fostering indigenous litera- 
 ture and learning; were strongly for imparting 
 knowledge to the Indians in their own classics and 
 vernaculars, and for confining them to their own 
 literatures. These men, who were led by the dis- 
 tinguished Sanskritist, Prof. H. H. Wilson, were very 
 influential, and were once very near carrying their 
 point. Had they succeeded, the result would have 
 been little short of a disaster, throwing back all 
 progress. The Eastern mind would have been thrown 
 upon itself, doomed to tread the narrow range of its 
 indigenous ancient productions. These have un- 
 doubtedly their own great merits, and hold a high 
 rank in universal literature. But they must be 
 admitted by even their warmest admirers to be 
 insufficient for modern times and purposes. An 
 exclusive study of these alone would tend to confirm 
 the bent of the Indian intellect in one direction alone, 
 and prevent its acquiring that breadth of view and 
 liberality which is an essential requisite of true culture. 
 When such a rich body of literature existed in the 
 English language, including the masterpieces of the 
 master minds of all ages and all countries of Europe, 
 it would have argued the height of unwisdom deli- 
 berately to ignore this language and its literature, 
 with all its variety and freshness, in the face of 
 
12 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 a splendid opportunity of utilizing them for the rarest 
 of purposes in the gift of one nation, that of raising 
 another, with an earlier civilization, but now sunk in 
 the scale of humanity. Luckily, a man was on the 
 spot, who, himself thoroughly imbued with the modern 
 spirit, stood up for the spread of modern culture and 
 learning. Macaulay threw the whole weight of his 
 influence and all his great powers of persuasion on the 
 side of imparting an English and European education 
 to the natives of India, and he won the battle. He 
 wrote, in his most persuasive manner, a minute which 
 is in reality an essay, superior in many respects to his 
 professed popular essays, and gained over the 
 Governor-General, Lord Bentinck. 
 
 More than sixty years have elapsed since this 
 momentous decision, and during these a revolution 
 has been working in the country, which is really mar- 
 vellous to witness, and unparalleled in the history 
 of conquests. When Rome, by her material strength, 
 had subdued Greece, the mother of arts and eloquence, 
 she herself fell an easy victim to the mental strength 
 of her captive. Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit. 
 Grecian learning and literature were adopted by 
 Rome. Her great writers imitated the Greeks, and 
 their works are often but an echo of Hellenic 
 literature. But England may be said to hav r e 
 achieved a double triumph over India, of which she 
 has captured both mind and matter. Far from being 
 Asiaticized and Hinduized by this conquest, she has 
 succeeded in Europeanizing and Anglicizing the 
 Indian mind. The seed of Western culture has so 
 
The System of Education. 13 
 
 far fallen on fertile soil, and is already producing 
 a rich harvest. 
 
 Dr. Arnold, in one of his Lectures on Modern 
 History, after the striking observation that the 
 changes which have been wrought in the world have 
 arisen out of the reception of the old elements of 
 progress by new races, despaired of any further 
 advance owing to the absence, in his eyes, of any new 
 race capable of receiving such old elements. * Now, 
 looking anxiously round the world for any new races 
 which may receive the seed (so to speak) of our 
 present history into a kindly yet vigorous soil, and 
 may reproduce it, the same, and yet new, for a future 
 period, we know not where such are to be found. 
 Some appear exhausted, others incapable, and yet the 
 surface of the whole globe is thrown open to us.' 
 Little did Arnold dream while uttering these gloomy 
 words in 1842, that at that very time the seed was 
 being sown on fertile soil in India by his countrymen 
 rightly refusing to believe that the Indians were either 
 exhausted or incapable l . Macaulay and Bentinck 
 were justified in their expectation of the enormous 
 benefits to accrue to the Indian races from English 
 education. During the last two generations India 
 has gone through a new and a unique development, 
 fraught with momentous consequences to itself and to 
 the British Empire. Under Western influences the 
 former traditional moorings are already being 
 gradually left behind, and the educated classes are 
 drifting towards another goal. The new system of 
 
 1 Cp. Hay Cameron, Duties of Britain to India, p. 127. 
 
14 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 education has produced a race of capable and earnest 
 natives of the soil, imbued with the Western spirit and 
 possessed by the zeal to pursue higher ideals in life, 
 more in harmony with the times. It is of one of the 
 ablest and most brilliant men of this new class, which 
 owes its existence to the noble motive and fostering 
 care of the British rule, that this sketch purposes to 
 treat. That man, the best, as Sir John Scott, who 
 knew him well while in Bombay, describes him, whom 
 India in the course of her new development has 
 produced, is Behramji Malabari, poet, publicist, author, 
 but above everything else, philanthropist and social 
 reformer. Or rather, it may be said that he is poet, 
 publicist and other things, solely and almost exclusively 
 for the purpose of being a philanthropist and social 
 reformer. 
 
 Most of these English educated Indians have 
 thought it wise to choose the sphere of politics for 
 the exercise of their newly-acquired strength. Of all 
 the various kinds of activity which they have seen 
 exercised by public men in the West, and especially in 
 England, they have been dazzled by the most brilliant 
 as exhibited in the field of politics. Nurtured on 
 the liberal sentiments and lofty notions which are the 
 distinguishing features of English literature, they have 
 naturally been impelled, in the first instance, to apply 
 these to their own country, though a closer knowledge 
 of its past history and present condition would have 
 advised them better. Their activities have been 
 engrossed by a burning desire for the reform of the 
 State, and to this object they are sacrificing all others. 
 
The System of Education. 15 
 
 This tendency was observed in the newly-educated 
 natives from the very beginning, and there were many 
 who were apprehensive of grave political danger from 
 such a system of education. Lord Ellenborough, for 
 instance, in his evidence before the Committee of the 
 House of Commons, openly and emphatically declared 
 his opinion that if. endeavours were made to impart 
 European education and ideas to the natives, the 
 English must not expect to retain their hold on India. 
 But other high-minded Englishmen were not wanting 
 to come forward and defend the generous course 
 which it had been decided to pursue, of enabling the 
 Indians to develop to the utmost the good qualities 
 with which Providence had endowed them from the 
 earliest times, and of raising them by the lever of 
 a liberal European education from the depths into 
 which they had fallen in the course of prolonged 
 subjugation, especially under Mahomedan rule. Even 
 from a selfish point of view it was pointed out that 
 England should rejoice at this education of the natives. 
 ' The class that we are creating,' wrote Mr. Hay 
 Cameron, one of the most enlightened champions of 
 native progress in these early days, ' as we approach 
 towards this great object, the class imbued with 
 European letters, will be for many generations wholly 
 dependent upon us, much more so than any of the 
 separate and antagonistic classes which we found 
 already existing ; and they will exceed all these other 
 classes in their enlightened perception of their true 
 position, still more than in the degree of dependence 
 which characterizes it. They know that, if we were 
 
16 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 voluntarily to retire from India, they would instantly 
 be subjugated by fierce and unlettered warriors V 
 Two generations have now gone by, and the lettered 
 class, contemplated here, has grown up with the 
 growth and strengthened with the strength of the 
 British Empire in India, as its proudest and most 
 lasting trophy. Whatever may be thought of the 
 exclusive or one-sided activity of certain among our 
 native politicians of the present day, it cannot be 
 denied that they are a powerful factor in their way, 
 who only require to be properly treated and utilized 
 by the rulers, to do all that was expected from them, 
 and be a source of strength, rather than of weakness, 
 to the Government that has made their existence 
 possible. 
 
 Of all the objections that are raised against this 
 new class of politicians, who restrict their energies to 
 a close watching of the acts of the British Government 
 
 o 
 
 and subjecting these to minute, if not sometimes 
 captious criticism, the strongest, because most reason- 
 able, seems to be that they are not utilizing their 
 newly-acquired strength in the direction which requires 
 it most, in trying to remove those crying evils which 
 infest the social side of the body politic, and which 
 stand so much in the way of realizing their new political 
 ideals. The present regime may be bad though it 
 has by no means been proved that it is not immeasur- 
 ably superior to the best under which India has hitherto 
 lived. Its acts now and then deserve censure. But 
 the present social condition of the people, characterized, 
 
 1 Duties of Britain to India, 1853, p. 51. 
 
The System of Education. 17 
 
 as it is, by senseless and inhuman customs, undermining 
 their vitality and debasing their ideals, is admittedly 
 worse. If there be any one task which should absorb 
 the energy of the educated class, and in which they 
 should seek for help from every available quarter, it is 
 this of moral and social reform. The State is based 
 on the family, and before trying to reform the former, 
 attempts must be made to improve the latter. ' The 
 inner life of the people and their homes must be made 
 healthy, morally and physically, before any solid im- 
 provement of the outer life is attempted/ A people 
 with their homes debased, their women ignorant and 
 superstitious, a people trammelled with all the old- 
 world prejudices and subject to the most cruelly 
 one-sided customs and usages, can never hope to enjoy 
 or exercise high political privileges. All endeavours 
 in this direction alone, without fulfilling the preliminary 
 conditions of moral and social reform, must end in 
 disappointment if not in disaster. 
 
 This great need of social reform, though ignored 
 apparently by the body of educated natives, has yet 
 been felt by a few of the most enlightened among 
 them. They know the evil customs that have settled 
 like a blight upon their race, destroying its vitality and 
 arresting its progress, and are conscious of the splendid 
 opportunity, afforded by the British protectorate, of 
 getting rid of these customs. They feel the importance 
 of the advice given by experienced and thoughtful 
 Englishmen, like Sir Alfred Lyall, who work to advance 
 their welfare and to see it really advanced to a certain 
 extent by themselves. ' We may hope that all reflect- 
 
i8 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 ing and far-sighted natives of that class, which we are 
 rapidly training up in large towns in political knowledge 
 and social freedom, will perceive that England's prime 
 function in India is at present this, to superintend the 
 tranquil elevation of the whole moral and intellectual 
 standard. Those who are interested in such a change 
 in the ethics of their country, in broadening the realms 
 of the known and the true, must see how ruinously 
 premature it is to quarrel with the English Govern- 
 ment upon details of administration, or even upon 
 what are called constitutional questions V 
 
 Being convinced of the good intentions of the 
 British Government and its desire to elevate the people, 
 the minority we are speaking of use their strength to 
 help forward its efforts and to extract as much out of 
 the present favourable times as possible for the social 
 and moral advancement of the people. With this 
 conviction always before them, they labour earnestly 
 for their countrymen and women in every province of 
 this vast land. They are a small band, working in 
 harmony, though scattered over the continent, and at 
 a great sacrifice of time and resources. Working 
 incessantly, they have formed a movement within 
 a few years, which, for its far-reaching usefulness, rivals 
 any of the more attractive agencies started by the 
 more popular political party. For their lofty purpose, 
 their disinterested efforts on behalf of the weak and 
 the suffering, and their personal sacrifices, they may 
 well be compared to the famous group of philanthropists 
 whom Sir James Stephen has popularized by the name 
 
 1 Asiatic Studies, p. 305. 
 
The System of Education. 19 
 
 of the Clapham Sect, and who fought so valiantly, 
 persistently, and at last successfully for the emancipa- 
 tion of slaves about the beginning of this century. Of 
 nothing could England be more justly proud than of 
 having been the means of organizing this small band 
 of reformers in India, imbued not only with the 
 literature and learning, but also with the real Christian 
 charity of the West. 
 
 At the head of these stands the subject of our 
 sketch, who has used all his great gifts for the advance- 
 ment of the cause, the vital importance of which he 
 was really the first to recognize, and which, but for 
 him, it is not too much to say, would never have 
 obtained its now universal recognition. How he 
 realized social reform as the one great task of his life, 
 devoting to it everything in his power, and making for 
 it sacrifices which alone stamp him as a rare character 
 in a self-seeking age ; how, from a hopeless and 
 discredited cause, ridiculed as utterly impracticable, he 
 gave to it its proper place as the burning question of 
 the day, involving the happiness of millions, and 
 changed almost entirely in its favour the current of 
 the influential opinion which at first ran against it; 
 and how, when he finally succeeded in rousing the 
 authorities to a due sense of their responsibility in 
 the matter, and in obtaining a legislative measure of 
 relief which, though small at present, may develop later 
 into much larger proportions ; how he met the obloquy 
 and misrepresentation of those very classes whom he 
 had devoted his life to benefit, all this we may now 
 proceed briefly to narrate. 
 
 c 2 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Early life: his Mother's Influence Her Death and its effects- 
 Struggles and Vicissitudes School Days The Rev. Mr. Dixon Literary 
 Training. 
 
 BEHRAMJI MALABARI was born in the year 1853-4, in 
 the city of Baroda, the capital of the Gaikwad, one of 
 the surviving group of rulers who formed in the last 
 century the much-dreaded Mahratta confederacy. His 
 father was Dhanjibhai Mehta, a clerk in the service of 
 the State, who died, leaving his widow and child in 
 a helpless condition. Dhanjibhai Mehta does not 
 seem to have been of much help to the family even 
 when alive, as owing to differences with other members 
 of the 'joint family,' his wife had to leave her husband's 
 house at Baroda and go to settle again in her birth- 
 place, Surat, with her little child of two. This journey, 
 which is now performed in about three hours by rail, 
 was even so lately as forty years ago fraught with 
 peculiar difficulties and danger. The Gaikwad govern- 
 ment has only recently passed into strong hands, able 
 and willing to protect the people from lawlessness. 
 Under former administrations the territories were 
 infested by wild tribes, and travelling was very unsafe. 
 Bhils, Girasias, and Pindaris, who were the terror and 
 
Early Life of Behramji Malabari. 21 
 
 the curse of Western and Central India, even under 
 the British, till eighty years ago, when, by an organized 
 effort, they were run down and their power broken by 
 the Marquis of Hastings, still survived in the native 
 States, that had probably connived at, if not actually 
 encouraged, their rise. Old men in the Gaikwad 
 territories still recall with a shudder the terrible 
 periodic raids of these banditti, made in open defiance 
 of all lawful authority, and sweeping away in their 
 merciless career men, women and children, cattle and 
 crop alike. These raids are not quite unknown even 
 now in some native States, notably Kathiawad, which 
 is perhaps the last resort of the banditti, as its jungles 
 contain the only lions to be found in Western India. 
 It was a party of one of these lawless tribes, the Bhils, 
 that fell in with the poor exile from her husband's home, 
 just out of her teens, and laden with her precious 
 charge, the little boy of two, in a hay-cart. But they 
 who came to plunder, and possibly to kill, remained to 
 caress the child and protect the mother, undertaking 
 to send them safe to their destination with presents 
 for both ! 
 
 The narrative of this lucky escape, says Malabari, 
 ' was repeated to me by my mother whenever I was 
 ill, after which both of us prayed to God.' This is 
 a characteristic trait, early developed and always the 
 strongest, in his character. He is, above everything, 
 prayerful, a ' prayerful poet,' with the religious senti- 
 ment prominent and largely cultivated. His writings 
 show this abundantly. But the trait is still better 
 illustrated by his whole life, which is a beautiful 
 
22 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 instance of religious culture. This he seems to have 
 inherited from his mother, no ordinary woman, but one 
 quite worthy of such an extraordinary character as her 
 son has proved himself to be. Indeed, as the son is 
 never tired of repeating, without such a mother he 
 would not have been what he is. Apart from hereditary 
 influences, which are subtle and elude close analysis, 
 it was his environment during tender years, the close 
 communion in which he lived with such a mother, that 
 probably gave the bent to his life, which he has followed 
 throughout, emerging at last as an active philanthropist, 
 undaunted by dangers and difficulties, or rather seeking 
 these for the sake of overcoming them. The mother, 
 who had the courage to leave home, under persecution, 
 travel through deadly dangers with her little son at 
 her breast in a hay-cart, and set up for herself in 
 a new town, with * the world all before her where to 
 choose, and Providence her guide ' ; the mother that 
 considered all the boys in the street her own sons, and 
 refused to save the life of her own child on a critical 
 occasion by imperilling that of the child of another 
 and a stranger, was surely worthy of a son who has 
 undertaken to champion the cause of women as of his 
 own mother and sisters and daughters, and who has, 
 for this self-imposed task, put up with obloquy and 
 insult, has seen his purest motives questioned and 
 unworthy ones imputed, without ever swerving from 
 the path of duty. 
 
 Bhikhibai was, indeed, a remarkable woman, whom 
 her son resembles physically as well as morally. Her 
 short stature, light complexion, roundish face, and large, 
 
Early Life of Behramji Malabari. 23 
 
 far-looking eyes, may be traced more or less in him. 
 That she was a strong-minded and firm-willed woman, 
 we have already seen. But she had as soft and large 
 a heart, with tender feelings for all, regardless of creed 
 or colour, as she had a strong mind and firm will. 
 She tried to be useful in her humble sphere, with her 
 limited resources, and left her mark on the little circle 
 in which she moved. She had, in common with other 
 women of her class, some knowledge of herbs, which 
 she was ever ready to impart to her neighbours in 
 trouble, who also found in her a willing and ready 
 helpmate and an excellent adviser. Nor was she 
 swayed by any narrow exclusive ideas of her duty. 
 Though a Parsi, she mixed freely with Hindus, 
 without imbibing any of the rigid caste prejudices of 
 the latter. She once took up tenderly a half-dead 
 infant, lying in a basket near her door, and at once 
 put it to her breast without inquiring as to its caste, as 
 nearly every Indian woman would have done. The 
 infant turned out to be of the lowest caste, that of 
 Mahars or sweepers ; and she had, for some time after, 
 to bear the raillery and taunts of her Parsi neighbours. 
 On another occasion, when her beloved son was stricken 
 with small-pox, and on the point of death, she refused 
 to listen to a quack, who advised her, as the only way 
 of saving her son, to cut off the live nails and eye- 
 brows of another boy, and offer them as an appeasing 
 sacrifice to the goddess of small-pox : in India there 
 are gods and goddesses of everything, even of diseases. 
 Though tremblingly anxious for the recovery of her 
 son, who was her all-in-all, Bhikhibai would not employ 
 
24 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 such cruel means as to endanger the life of another's 
 son even to save her own. * All the boys in the street 
 are my own sons,' she generously cried out, even in 
 her extreme anxiety to save her own. And she had 
 the reward of her generosity. Her son recovered, 
 when, as usual with her, she offered a sacrifice of 
 grateful prayers to her living God. 
 
 Such was Bhikhibai. Her son has celebrated her 
 virtues in prose and verse. ' What a mother mine 
 was ! ' he writes in one place, * a picture of self-sacrifice. 
 Some people live to die ; others are prepared to die, 
 so that they may live. My mother was one of these. 
 She died at thirty-three, but still she lives in the 
 memory of many who knew her. To me she has been 
 and will be alive always. How can a mother die ? 
 There is an aroma of immortality about the word 
 Mother and the idea it clothes ... I carry my mother 
 about in the spirit. She is always present to me. In 
 every good woman I see my mother ; I pity every bad 
 or ill-used woman for my mother's sake.' 
 
 A few years after Bhikhibai's arrival at Surat she 
 had to marry again, a relative, Merwanji Malabari by 
 name, who adopted her son, and whose name has now 
 been made a household word throughout India. This 
 marriage was contracted partly that the adoptive 
 father might be of worldly use to her son, and partly 
 to help her parents. But, as might be expected, it 
 turned out unhappy. Merwanji had a druggist's shop, 
 and. dealt in sandalwood and spices imported by him 
 from the Malabar coast, which accounts for his surname 
 of Malabari. At first he appears to have been in easy 
 
Early Life of Behramji Malabari. 25 
 
 circumstances, but owing to the loss of a ship he was 
 reduced to straits. Thus the mother's hope of his 
 being useful to her son was frustrated, and the boy had 
 to undergo a severe apprenticeship of life very early. 
 The stepfather, though he survived his wife long and 
 died about ten years ago, was of very little help to 
 the boy. During the first twelve years of his life 
 Behramji was entirely under the care of his mother, 
 who did her best to mould his genius and to render 
 sober and steady his wandering habits. This maternal 
 influence of Bhikhibai may be likened to that which 
 Goethe's mother, Frau Aja, had on that great man's 
 stormy boyhood and early life. Goethe, too, was a 
 man of strong passions and stubborn will, and having 
 lost his father's control early, had to depend upon the 
 mother's guidance. Bhikhibai, like Frau Aja, was 
 a woman of strong individuality and common sense, 
 and knew, in her own humble way, how to mould the 
 character of her wayward son. 
 
 During these twelve years, the period of his boy- 
 hoodfor, as we shall see, his manhood began soon 
 after he seems to have led a sort of Bohemian life, 
 going from school to school, changing one eccentric 
 teacher for another, and learning little in a methodic 
 way from his books. But he learnt what was of greater 
 importance to him, perhaps, in after life to observe 
 men and their ways, and to take a keen interest in 
 human affairs. The pictures which he has drawn of 
 his early teachers and companions show that even then 
 he had begun to observe and study his fellows, and 
 what is more, to make allowance for their weaknesses 
 
26 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 and shortcomings. A very kindly tone pervades these 
 sketches ; and even when wronged, he guards himself 
 against being unjust. Indeed, the wonder is, that 
 having so early passed through such gloomy and 
 embittering phases of life as he depicts, he has not 
 become a cynic, as would have been the case with 
 most. He has rather become more tolerant, and all 
 the readier to find redeeming features in dark spots. 
 Even of such a wild bully as his first Parsi teacher, 
 and a tyrant like his next Hindu preceptor, he has 
 many kind things to say. Then he had also some 
 objectionable companions, which was but natural in 
 a school where very little discrimination is shown in 
 herding together the scholars. But he had, also, some 
 softening influence in the companionship of a spiritually 
 minded girl who was, he says, the dearest friend he 
 had in his school-days. Another powerful influence 
 exercised on him then was that of the peculiar poetry 
 of the Khialis, itinerant bards, who were well known 
 in Gujarat until within a few years ago. Like the 
 troubadours and trouveurs of France, and the 
 minnesingers of Germany, they travelled about from 
 place to place, leading a semi-ascetic life, and dependent 
 on alms, gaining a precarious livelihood by their voice 
 and instruments. Though much of their language 
 was Hindi, they were singularly liberal in their views, 
 which were eclectic and free from the narrowness of 
 creed and country. Their poetry was originally meta- 
 physical and pure, and some of the best ethical songs 
 in the Gujarati language have been composed by these 
 bards. But in course of time it has degenerated into 
 
Early Life of Behramji Mala ban. 27 
 
 materialism and even sensualism. The later genera- 
 tions of these bards indulged more or less in ribaldry ; 
 and the original philosophical sects among them, which 
 had risen owing to speculative differences, degenerated 
 into parties who often used much more material 
 arguments than figures and syllogisms, and generally 
 ended their discussions in street brawls, in which the 
 hand, and not the head, had a prominent part. Surat 
 was, in Malabari's early days, frequented by these 
 minstrels ; and by his musical tastes, and still more 
 perhaps by his Bohemian habits, he was soon attracted 
 towards them. He was sometimes involved in the 
 vortex of their rowdy tournaments, and enjoyed the 
 music as well as the fun of broken head and lacerated 
 skin. But he had caught the genuine poetic inspira- 
 tion from the songs of the earlier bards, whose master- 
 pieces he studied and imitated. Malabari came out 
 as a poet in Gujarati, his mother-tongue, and the 
 poetical instinct was roused in him by these street 
 bards of Surat. The strong ethical bias in his poetry 
 is chiefly due to his serious nature, which loves to 
 ponder on the realities of life and its complex problems. 
 But it is also partly owing to the study of these older 
 lyrics. There are many such in his first volume of 
 Gujarat verse, whose title shows the preponderance 
 of the ethical element, Niti-Vinod. His latest book of 
 verse, in his mother-tongue, is also ethical and philo- 
 sophical, and shows traces still of his early passion for 
 the vagaries of the itinerant bards. 
 
 Thus gay as well as unconsciously grave, he was 
 passing his early years in apparent ease, as also amid 
 
28 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 some difficulties, under the protection of his mother. 
 She knew the weakness of her son, and tried earnestly 
 to steady him and to wean him from his wandering 
 habits. She grieved at his passion for music, which 
 threatened to outrun all limits and to lead him into 
 keeping objectionable company. Having a very sweet 
 voice, of rare compass, the boy was much in request 
 with the singers, and in this the mother must have 
 discerned a peculiar danger. She, however, brought 
 him round by affectionate reasoning, and made him 
 promise a promise since faithfully kept never to sing 
 in public, nor associate with the bards. She had also 
 detected in him a tendency to drink, borrowed uncon- 
 sciously from some of his thoughtless companions. 
 To break this habit in time she confronted the boy 
 with a ghastly object-lesson, the sight of an unfortunate 
 woman lying on her back near the city gate, dead 
 drunk, towards the evening. The mother, with her 
 usual charity, sent her boy to fetch some curdled milk, 
 a popular antidote for drunkenness, and reluctantly 
 left the woman after having thrust the milk down 
 her throat and turned her into a more decent posture. 
 That sight must have cured the boy on the spot. 
 
 Thus the mother was his good genius during her 
 lifetime. And she continued to be more so after 
 her death. She was stricken down by cholera, dying 
 in her thirty-third year, leaving her son in his twelfth, 
 alone and absolutely friendless. The stroke came 
 swift, sudden, and heavy. It cut his life into twain. 
 With his mother he bade farewell to his boyhood, 
 his frivolities and indiscretion, and became at once 
 
Early Life of Behraniji Malabari. 29 
 
 and for ever a man. As he has himself sung in 
 touching verse, 
 
 'She clasped a child, with sad emotions wan, 
 But when the clasp relaxed, there was left a man.' 
 
 His mother's death, so terrible a blow in itself, had, 
 however, a chastening influence upon him, and settled 
 his wavering mind/ Nothing that she did in life for 
 him and what did she not do ? was so important 
 to his future prospects as her death. It came at a 
 critical moment of his mental and moral development, 
 which henceforward seems to have proceeded in 
 a regular sober order. Malabari is undoubtedly a 
 genius : one has only to come in contact with him 
 to discover this, if indeed it is not patent through his 
 works. But there was a risk, as in most such cases, 
 of this erratic genius failing to find its true sphere of 
 activity, and either becoming perverted, or frittering 
 itself away in obscurity and inanition. Those who 
 know him as he now is can hardly realize that this 
 shy, shrinking, self-denying friend of theirs should 
 ever have been a forward, aggressive, self-asserting 
 street-boy, ringleader in many a frolic, and always to 
 the fore where risk and fun alike were to be faced. 
 But the lives of great men afford many instances of 
 this kind of sudden transformation. Augustine is, 
 perhaps, the most notable instance in point. From 
 a youth, wholly abandoned to the world and its vicious 
 ways, taking life easily and thinking of little beyond 
 the enjoyment of the moment, he suddenly, as if by 
 miraculous interposition, became serious and pious, 
 weighed down heavily by the stern realities of life, 
 
30 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 and after a career of immense usefulness as philan- 
 thropist and philosopher, died the death of the saint, 
 honoured by the entire Christian world as the greatest 
 of the Fathers of the Church. The life of Addison 
 furnishes another such example. He, who was known 
 in after-life as a bashful, taciturn man, whose lips were 
 sealed on the appearance of a single stranger, was, 
 while at school, up to any ' lark,' and was once even 
 a ringleader in a barring out. Boys will be boys, 
 after all, and most men are the better for having been 
 boys at one time of their life. Malabari, as we have 
 said, was a boy in the full sense of the word, and 
 extracted the utmost enjoyment out of this, on the 
 whole, happy period of life. But in his wildest boyish 
 mood we find nothing cruelly wanton ; on the contrary, 
 in several of the stories he has related of his early 
 days in his delightful autobiographic sketches, we 
 already trace his generosity and tenderness of heart, 
 ever ready to befriend a fellow-being, man, woman or 
 child, in trouble ; and even, if need be, to bring trouble 
 upon himself in the act. But the terrible calamity 
 of his mother's death suddenly and for ever dissipated 
 his boyish dreams, and transported him into a totally 
 different and higher sphere. He becomes, as we have 
 seen, ' a man at twelve,' left without means and friends. 
 Hitherto his mother had been to him 'a mighty oak, 
 under whose boughs ' he had rested secure ; but 
 henceforward he had to endure 
 
 1 Sunshine and rain as he might, 
 Bare, unshaded, alone, 
 Lacking the shelter of her.' 
 
 MATTHEW ARNOLD, Rugby Chapel. 
 
Early Life of Behramji Malabari. 31 
 
 This protection, this shadow was gone, leaving the 
 boy behind an orphan at twelve. The playful roisterer, 
 who had hitherto moved in his little paradise of boyish 
 fun and frolic, was rudely awakened to the stern 
 reality of existence which now presented itself to him, 
 an aspect shorn of all the early romance. The 
 necessity of self-support and self-vigilance, which 
 comes to many later, and to some never, pressed 
 itself upon Malabari very prematurely, though, on 
 the whole, also very wholesomely. The circumstances 
 in which he found himself forced him to discover 
 powers hitherto latent in him. The trial was a severe 
 one, but the boy rose to the occasion and emerged 
 from it quite changed, much the wiser and stronger. 
 The next ten years of his life, from twelve to twenty- 
 two, are the formative period of his character, during 
 which were developed the traits which distinguish his 
 latter years, and by chastening self-discipline were 
 repressed those minor defects which human flesh is 
 heir to, and which so often try to drag down a lofty 
 character. It was the experiences gained in this 
 period that made him what he is, the ever-ready, self- 
 sacrificing champion of human wrong and misery, 
 wherever found, and however deeply and strongly 
 rooted. Born of the people and brought up among 
 them, he now lived in their midst and shared their 
 pleasures and their privations in short, took a keen 
 human interest in men and their ways. From the 
 touch which he gained with the people even in 
 the lowest ranks of life during those years sprang 
 up the inspiration of his career as an active philan- 
 
32 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 thropist and a man of letters. Though a man of 
 culture in the best sense of this often misapplied word, 
 he has never allowed his culture to detach him from 
 the mass of humanity around him and to make him 
 1 live in a world apart/ as has been unfortunately the 
 case with most so-called cultured men. Though an 
 ascetic in his habits, having few wants, and these easily 
 supplied, shrinking from contact with the outer world, 
 not from a sense of superiority but from an instinctive 
 dread of publicity, and though in intellect soaring far 
 above his fellows, genius as he is ; yet in feeling he 
 lives on a level with the lowliest, entering into all 
 the miseries and sufferings of human life. In this 
 he is, no doubt, greatly helped by his poetic faculty. 
 The strong and fertile imagination, which creates for 
 the poet an ideal world of his own, can also make him 
 realize much better than ordinary men that hard, 
 matter-of-fact world around him. Imagination is the 
 greatest aid to sympathy. One feels best for sufferings 
 which fall personally under one's own observation and 
 experience. And the strong imagination, acting in 
 harmony with a keen sensibility, makes the sufferings 
 of strangers one's own ; the distant in time and space 
 and relation is made present, and the poet feels for 
 the woes of a bygone age, for the sufferings of his 
 contemporaries in the distant land, or for his country- 
 men with whom he has very little in common, as if 
 he were feeling for himself and for those most near 
 and dear to him. Burke, when he prosecuted Warren 
 Hastings as his bitterest personal enemy, and declaimed 
 on behalf of the Indian peoples who were separated 
 
Struggles and Vicissitudes. 33 
 
 from him by half the circumference of the globe, 
 whom he had never seen and with whom he had 
 nothing whatever in common, is one of the best 
 instances on record of such a strong sympathetic 
 imagination set on fire by the mere reading and 
 hearing of human wrong. And most active philan- 
 thropists derive their first impulse from imagination. 
 Only the imaginative element has been swamped by 
 their active philanthropy, and they have left no separate 
 memorial of their poetic faculty. Malabari has been 
 more fortunate in this matter, as he has made as deep 
 a mark on his generation by his poetic effusions as 
 by his active humane efforts. He has been still more 
 fortunate in making the two interdependent ; he has 
 made his poetry subserve his philanthropic objects, 
 and has infused into the latter a good deal of his 
 poetic genius. His poetry, in fact all his writings, 
 have a strong human interest about them, which is 
 quite characteristic of the writer. 
 
 For most of this he silently laid the foundation 
 during the period of his youth, commencing at twelve, 
 at which tender age, on his mother's death, as we have 
 seen, he found the world was all before him where to 
 choose his place of rest. Some natural tears he shed, 
 but wiped them soon, and manfully set about making 
 his choice. 'Manfully/ for, as he says, he had actually 
 become a ' man ' at twelve ; he began to take views of 
 life, which persons of twice this age rarely learn to 
 take : 
 
 * A man at twelve, in whom my grief confide ? 
 No friend to watch me but the sainted guide. 
 And when this thought upon my reason stole, 
 
 D 
 
34 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 A sudden desolation overspread my soul. 
 Now sober grown, my mind to study turn'd ; 
 And thus impell'd, I fresh to school adjourn'd.' 
 
 He now longed for knowledge, and looked about 
 for means to obtain it in his destitute condition. The 
 pursuit of knowledge under difficulties is always 
 a congenial theme with biographers, who dwell fondly 
 on the efforts of their young heroes in overcoming 
 obstacles in their path to enlightenment and greatness. 
 We cannot afford to pause here to tell at due length 
 the story of our boy scholar's struggle with adversity, 
 however much we might like to dilate on the subject. 
 Suffice it to say that the battle ended victoriously, 
 as every such battle should end, though, unfortu- 
 nately, in many instances it does not. Many a rising 
 genius proves unequal to the hard struggle for 
 existence, and is often repressed or crushed ; or, if it 
 survives, lives on in a mutilated, soured condition. 
 Rare are the instances where we see, as in the case 
 of Malabari, the young man emerging from the 
 conflict, not only triumphant, but all the better for 
 having undergone the baptism of fire. 
 
 This story is as instructive in the annals of self- 
 help as any to be found in the valuable books of 
 Mr. Smiles or Mr. Craik. Malabari had not entirely 
 wasted his boyhood in rowdy fun. Though not 
 systematically, he had learnt much, and his superiority 
 over his fellows was even then discerned by the more 
 observant. He had no difficulty in finding pupils, 
 some of them older than himself, and by teaching 
 these he was enabled to support as well as educate 
 himself. His mornings and evenings were given to 
 
School Days. 35 
 
 making a small income in this way, while during the 
 intervening hours he attended school. He was now 
 seized by a strong desire to obtain knowledge, and in 
 spite of poverty and want he found means to satisfy 
 it. He was fortunate in joining a good school, and 
 still more so in his Head Master. It was the Irish 
 Presbyterian Mission School, then flourishing at Surat 
 under its excellent head, the Rev. William Dixon,M.A. 
 These mission schools are a distinct feature in the 
 educational system of India, which owes a deep 
 debt to them. Nothing probably impresses on the 
 mind of the people the unselfishness of England 
 in holding and governing India so much as the 
 missionary efforts of the ruling race, and the generous 
 spirit in which they are made. The English missionary 
 is required, by the side of the English civilian and 
 soldier, to give a correct and complete idea of all that 
 the paramount power means to do for the people. It 
 cannot but be touching to find people in a distant land 
 caring so much for the spiritual welfare of their fellow- 
 subjects, and trying to do their best to enlighten, after 
 their own lights, their less favoured brethren ; to see 
 the Scotch crofters and Irish peasants, themselves 
 steeped in poverty, contribute voluntarily and cheer- 
 fully their hard-earned pennies for the education and 
 conversion of the Indians. The direct results of these 
 missionary efforts, in which not only does each of 
 the three countries of the United Kingdom take its 
 proper share, but to which also the more distant and 
 disinterested country of New England beyond the 
 Atlantic contributes its mite, may not be encouraging ; 
 
 D 2 
 
36 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 nay, they may be said to be disappointing. But 
 indirectly, by the means which they employ of 
 disseminating knowledge among the masses who 
 would otherwise remain in ignorance and superstition, 
 the missionaries are doing great good to the country. 
 India has attracted the kindly attention of nearly all 
 Churches and all denominations of Christianity, most 
 of which have their schools and colleges, to which the 
 natives flock in even greater number than to similar 
 institutions under the direct care of Government. 
 Though they have not yet succeeded in converting 
 anything like an adequate proportion of their scholars, 
 the missionaries may take legitimate pride in being so 
 largely instrumental in bringing about the remarkable 
 renascence of the Indian intellect, which is now being 
 witnessed all over the land. The whole country is 
 parcelled out among the various rival Churches, and 
 in many of the large towns they are all to be found 
 working side by side, though not always shoulder to 
 shoulder. 
 
 It was one of these schools that young Malabari 
 joined at Surat, and where, under very sound and 
 sympathetic guidance, he began his acquaintance with 
 the English language, which later developed into 
 absolute mastery. The Head Master, William Dixon, 
 was the type of a true missionary, pious and unworldly ; 
 and seeing the work done by his young pupil, he took 
 very kindly to him and encouraged him in various 
 ways. He introduced him into his family, a great 
 privilege for a young man in his position, and brought 
 him under the beneficial influence of Mrs. Dixon, which 
 
The Rev. W. Diocon. 37 
 
 Malabar! still remembers gratefully. The exemplary 
 Christian life led by the little household at Surat 
 impressed him deeply, and must be reckoned as the 
 first formative influence on his character during this 
 period. Two diligent years were spent thus, in learning 
 and teaching, and so rapid was his progress that he 
 was fairly ready now to appear for the University 
 Entrance or Matriculation Examination that is held 
 every year at the Presidency town of Bombay. There 
 was the pecuniary difficulty, however, in the way of 
 a journey to Bombay, and of paying the fees, which 
 \vould have been at once overcome if the shy young 
 man had told Mr. Dixon of it. But he was too shy to 
 ask for anything. Help, however, came from a very 
 unexpected quarter. A Parsi money-lender in the 
 street, who was known to be very close-fisted, hearing 
 of the case, volunteered to help our young genius, and 
 it may be taken for granted that the old gentleman was 
 glad all his life he had done so. 
 
 Thus Malabari left Surat and came to Bombay for 
 his examination, intending to return soon after. But 
 circumstances tending otherwise, he has ever since 
 been domiciled in Bombay. The examination proved 
 too stiff in one branch, and he failed to pass it. The test 
 was a severe one, as it included many heterogeneous 
 subjects, demanding a fair knowledge of the English 
 language, itself a very difficult foreign tongue to the 
 Indian youth, and of another so-called classical language, 
 with the elements of history, ancient and modern, 
 geography, political and physical, natural science, 
 including astronomy and chemistry, and mathematics, 
 
38 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 including arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. This 
 must be a difficult course for any lad of fifteen. But 
 in the case of the Indian the difficulty is enhanced by 
 the fact that knowledge in all these multifarious 
 subjects has to be imparted through the foreign 
 English tongue. The strain thus early put upon the 
 young mind at the threshold of the University is 
 continued in an aggravated form during its career 
 therein ; it is stuffed with a bewildering diversity of 
 subjects at high pressure, to the detriment of originality 
 and sound judgement. This heavy mental strain re-acts 
 on the body, and the naturally weak constitution of the 
 Indian youth, who has to pursue his studies under 
 circumstances widely different from those of his brother 
 in Europe, without physical exercise and healthy social 
 relaxation, is soon undermined, physical and mental 
 decay often prematurely sets in, and many promising 
 careers are cut short in the early prime of life. Many 
 instances of such premature and rapid deaths among 
 young University men have only recently occurred, 
 and have set the public pondering seriously over the 
 causes of this melancholy result. But there are many 
 more such men, who, though alive, have belied the 
 promise of their early youth, owing to the premature 
 decay of mental and physical vitality, brought about 
 by an unnatural and, in some respects, false system of 
 education. 
 
 Malabari fortunately escaped the rigours of this 
 system. Though his aspirations after an academic 
 career were very high and intense at first, he had to 
 yield to circumstances, and give up all hopes of entering 
 
Literary Training. 39 
 
 college. The entrance test, as we have said, was too 
 severe for him in one branch, that of mathematics, 
 though in all other subjects, especially in English, he 
 did very well. The youthful ardour of our aspirant 
 after University honours was thus damped in the 
 very beginning, and he must return to Surat, to his 
 pupils and his school. But a friend to whom he was 
 introduced thought he could as well have pupils in 
 Bombay as at Surat, and introduced him in his turn to 
 the Head Master of a large Parsi High School, who at 
 once saw that there was more in the shy young man 
 than met the eye. Pupils were readily found for him, 
 and an adequate income was assured. He now earned 
 his livelihood in ease and in a congenial manner; he 
 had, moreover, leisure left for satisfying his own thirst 
 for knowledge and for literary pursuits. 
 
 He cultivated his natural bent for literature, 
 especially poetry, and ranged, in a desultory manner, 
 over a wide field of English verse. His mastery over 
 the language was increasing, and it is interesting to 
 find him appreciating rationally and critically, even at 
 that early age, most of the greatest poets of England. 
 * I have ranged aimlessly,' says he, 'over a very wide field 
 of poetry, English as well as Indian ; also Persian and 
 Greek translated. As to English masters, Shakespeare 
 was my daily companion during school days, and a 
 long while after that. Much of my worldly knowledge 
 I owe to this greatest of seers and practical thinkers. 
 Milton filled me with awe. Somehow, I used to feel 
 unhappy when the turn came for Paradise Lost. His 
 torrents of words frightened me as much by their 
 
40 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 stateliness as by monotony. Nor could I sympathize 
 with some of the personal teachings of this grand old 
 singer. (Wordsworth is my philosopher, Tennyson my 
 poet. Amongst my many prizes at school I remember 
 havi'ng received a bulky volume, named Selections 
 from British Poets, carried home for me by an older 
 companion. I used to dip into this unwieldy folio, 
 and got to know a little of Chaucer, Spenser, and 
 other stars, earlier as well as later, through it. At 
 school I had Campbell for another favourite, preferred 
 Dryden to Pope, and Scott to several of his contem- 
 poraries. Cowper and Goldsmith I have always 
 valued as dear old schoolmasters, Byron and Burns 
 are boon companions when in the mood ; Shelley and 
 Keats as explorers of dreamland, who fascinate one by 
 their subtle fancies. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Early literary efforts 'Vernacular Literature The Rev. Dr. Wilson 
 The Parsis, their position and influence Special efforts 'at their conversion 
 to Christianity Niti-Vinod. Hindu Gujarati and Parsi Gujarati. 
 
 FROM reading and admiring poetry to writing it was 
 but one step, and that was soon taken. Indeed, many 
 of his poems were written very early, when a mere 
 schoolboy, and his first appearance before the public 
 was as a poet. But it was not as a poet in the foreign 
 English language just yet. It was his mother-tongue 
 that claimed him first as a poet. And it is his mother- 
 tongue, too, that has welcomed the latest offspring of 
 his muse, as may be seen from his little volume of 
 poems, entitled Experiences of Life, which he has 
 lately published. Born in the very heart of Gujarat, 
 and bred in one of its chief cities amid Gujarati 
 surroundings, Malabari has a great affection for the 
 Gujarati language, in which he lisped out his first 
 thoughts, in which he heard those songs of the 
 minstrels, which, as we have seen, had such a fasci- 
 nation for him in his restless early days, whose poetical 
 literature, such as it was, he cultivated with fond 
 affection, and which was hallowed to him by many 
 grateful associations. 
 
 In this love for his vernacular language, which he 
 has practically shown by enriching its literature with 
 
42 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 several volumes, considered as standard works by 
 competent judges, Malabari stands almost alone among 
 his cultured contemporaries. With the spread of a 
 knowledge of the English language and the splendid 
 literature, not of England alone, but of the whole 
 civilized world, ancient and modern, embodied in it, 
 the old languages of India are naturally losing ground 
 among the newly-educated classes. These, being 
 introduced to the far richer language of their rulers, 
 and perceiving its many great advantages, are ex- 
 hausting their efforts in obtaining a mastery over it. 
 Among its most important advantages, they have 
 found that it can supply the outward uniting bond to 
 the peoples of the various provinces, and thus aid 
 them in giving vent to their present political aspirations. 
 India being a vast continent, and its different 
 provinces being in reality separate countries, like 
 those of Europe, differing from one another in race, 
 religion, and climate, it has no common language, 
 which is the very first, though not the only condition 
 of nationality. It has a score of vernaculars, spoken 
 in its various parts, and quite unintelligible and foreign 
 to one another. The Bengali spoken in the north- 
 east, and the Marathi spoken in the west, differ as 
 much from each other and from the Tamil spoken in 
 the south and the Hindi in the north, as Spanish differs 
 from Russian. The newly-educated classes, with strong 
 political aspirations, observing this drawback to mutual 
 intercourse, are rapidly making the English language 
 their common medium of communication, whereby the 
 barriers created by the vernaculars are thrown down. 
 
Vernacular Literature. 43 
 
 The rulers' tongue is rapidly becoming the uniting 
 bond of thought and speech to the heterogeneous 
 mass of educated youths throughout the continent. 
 This is in itself a proud achievement, and it must be 
 very gratifying to an Englishman to contemplate that 
 his language has gone forth, out of its own small island 
 home, to the far East, and is working there a marvellous 
 revolution. This triumph is the greater, because India 
 is no new country, wanting a language and literature ; 
 but one in reality having languages which were 
 perfected before English began to be uttered by 
 human lips, and it contains poetical and philosophical 
 literature of a very high order. 
 
 But what has been the gain of the foreign language 
 has proved the ruin of the indigenous tongues. Our 
 educated men vie with one another in acquiring a 
 mastery of the former, and neglect the latter as useless. 
 The vernaculars are being everywhere supplanted, 
 even in every-day intercourse, among the younger 
 generation. The best talents being drawn towards the 
 much more attractive language of the rulers, the 
 vernaculars have to languish in the hands of in- 
 competent writers without culture. It might have 
 been expected that when first the native Indian mind 
 was brought into contact with the English language 
 and its literature, it would improve and invigorate its 
 own indigenous languages by this wholesome contact, 
 and infuse into them new strength derived from the 
 foreigner. What happened to the English language 
 itself in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when 
 English scholars were largely introduced to the classical 
 
44 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 languages and literatures of Greece and Rome, might 
 also have fallen to the lot of the Indian vernacu- 
 lars ; and they too would have become more elastic 
 and robust, with a more varied and wealthy literature. 
 Instead of neglecting, almost abandoning their own, 
 the Indian youths might improve them by adapting 
 and ingrafting what they find best in the new. Perhaps 
 a later generation may do that. So far, however, it has 
 not been done, and it may be said that the rising 
 talents of the country are doing very little to cultivate 
 their mother-tongues and so enrich their literatures. 
 This is really crippling their own usefulness. The 
 English educated class must, in the very nature of 
 things, be a very small minority, and it can hope to 
 influence the great mass of its countrymen only 
 through their own indigenous languages. An English 
 speech or an English book by an educated Indian can 
 only be meant for the eyes and ears of the rulers, or 
 for the small band of his educated fellows. It cannot 
 reach the overwhelming majority of the people, whom 
 it should be the chief aim of the educated minority to 
 influence and improve with the aid of the superior 
 light which they have seen. A command over the 
 vernaculars, if wielded by men who have also had 
 access to Western learning, would have the greatest 
 influence over the people in India. 
 
 This power it has been the good fortune of very 
 few to wield. In the west of India Malabari is one of 
 the very few who possess it. He alone may be said 
 to have excelled in both the foreign language as well 
 as his own vernacular, and enriched each with the best 
 
Vernacular Literature. 45 
 
 things, derived from the other. The reproach, to 
 which most of our English educated men are liable, 
 of allowing their mother-tongues to languish, and 
 neglecting so far the interests of their uneducated 
 countrymen, cannot apply to him. He has from the 
 first used his mother-tongue to address himself to his 
 own people. His poetical genius finds congenial vent 
 in Gujarati, and through his poems he has success- 
 fully sought to impart, in a pleasing channel, much 
 that is best in Western culture, combined with the 
 excellences of indigenous thought and language. 
 Malabari is a born poet, and it may be with truth 
 said of him that he ' lisped in numbers, for the num- 
 bers came ' to him. Many of his poems, published 
 later, were jotted down in early boyhood, in happy 
 moments of inspiration, and many more must have 
 perished unwritten and unrecorded. When he took 
 passionately to study and self-culture he polished some 
 of these early effusions, added to them others, and 
 made up the whole into a little volume. This was 
 the sole capital that he brought with him to Bombay 
 from Surat, at the age of fifteen, much as Johnson 
 came to London from his native town of Lichfield 
 with his life of Savage and the tragedy of Irene in 
 his pocket. The manuscript was fated to be neglected 
 for some time yet, ere it could see the light of day. 
 But before that it proved signally useful to him in an 
 unexpected way. It became the means of bringing him 
 out of his obscurity, and of his being introduced to a 
 man who exercised great influence at a critical time on 
 his life and character. 
 
46 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 In a happy moment Malabar! resolved to take his 
 little manuscript of Gujarati verse to the Rev. J. Van 
 Somern Taylor, who was one of his examiners, and 
 well known for his mastery over the Gujarati language. 
 The missionaries have recognized the great importance 
 of learning the vernaculars of the provinces in which 
 they have to work, as they have to deal with the 
 ignorant masses of the population. Hence their 
 attitude towards these languages has been quite the 
 opposite of that of the educated natives. It is a very 
 fortunate thing for the vernaculars that cultured 
 Europeans leave their homes and settle in the country, 
 devoting their best efforts to cultivating these verna- 
 culars assiduously. Some of the best books recently 
 published in the languages are by such scholarly 
 missionaries, who have produced excellent dictionaries, 
 grammars, and other useful works. Mr. Taylor had 
 devoted himself to the Gujarati language, which he 
 laid under lasting obligation by writing its standard 
 grammar, based on principles of philology. His 
 acquaintance with Gujarati literature was accurate and 
 wide, and his scholarship was critical, owing to his 
 knowledge of European methods. 
 
 Mr. Taylor was very agreeably surprised at the high 
 order of merit evinced by the Parsi stranger's verses, 
 and became deeply interested in his discovery. A new 
 genius was before him, he felt sure, and he tried to 
 help him to rise. With this object, he introduced him 
 to one who could help the boy effectively. This was 
 the famous Scotch missionary, Dr. John Wilson, who 
 was then nearing the end of his long career of varied 
 
Dr. John Wilson. 47 
 
 public usefulness and private virtues. He had come 
 out as a young man in the early part of the century 
 to Bombay, and domiciling himself there, and devoting 
 his rare abilities to doing practical good to its peoples, 
 had exercised a most beneficial influence over two 
 generations of its life. As scholar, educationist, con- 
 troversialist, active philanthropist and zealous mis- 
 sionary, and, above all, as a man of rare public and 
 private virtues, he made a mark on his times. For 
 nearly half a century he was the moving spirit and 
 leader of society in Bombay, and during this whole 
 period he enjoyed the respect and esteem of the 
 various rival communities which make up the life of 
 the Western Presidency of India. Though he had 
 come out from his native country only as a missionary, 
 to preach the Gospel according to the lights of his 
 own denomination to the peoples of Western India, 
 he took a wider and more liberal view of his duties, 
 and laboured hard in doing good to the people, spiri- 
 tually and mentally, in every way he could. Every 
 scheme of public beneficence found in him a ready 
 and steady supporter, regardless of creed or colour. 
 His efforts for the suppression of female infanticide in 
 Kathiawad and elsewhere, on which subject he wrote 
 a useful and exhaustive work, attest his practical dis- 
 interested philanthropy, as he could not hope for the 
 conversion of those whom he was instrumental in 
 saving from a cruel death, inflicted by the same 
 parental hands which nature had provided for their 
 protection. He cultivated nearly every language, 
 modern and classical, of the peoples with whom he 
 
48 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 had to deal, and obtained a mastery over them which 
 enabled him to publish several important works, highly 
 valued by Indian scholars themselves. He was one 
 of the earliest English scholars to study the Zend and 
 Pahlavi languages, in which the fragments of the 
 sacred books of the Parsis are preserved, and his 
 book on this religion is the first which shows acquaint- 
 ance with these writings at first hand. His labours 
 on the cave temples of Western India, and his other 
 archaeological studies, showed literary zeal and ability 
 which alone would have sufficed to make him famous. 
 As an educationist, he did probably the greatest good. 
 He presided over the birth of European education in 
 the country, and followed it throughout his career with 
 anxious and watchful care, aiding the Government in 
 its efforts, as well as working independently with his 
 chosen band of devoted followers. He founded schools 
 in various towns, which disseminated primary educa- 
 tion among the poorest, whom he took specially under 
 his charge ; while the college which now bears his 
 honoured name was founded and conducted by him 
 to impart to young Indians the highest secular and 
 religious knowledge of the West. The Bombay Uni- 
 versity, with which he was connected from its very 
 foundation in 1858, and of which he was for a long 
 time the unofficial head as Vice-Chancellor, received 
 the benefit of his wide experience gained in Europe as 
 well as in India, and was guided during the period of 
 its infancy by his wise counsels. 
 
 But amidst his various self-imposed duties, Dr. Wilson 
 never forgot that his principal duty was to disseminate 
 
Position and influence of the Farsis. 49 
 
 the Word of God and to confute what appeared to 
 him to be the pernicious errors of Oriental heathen- 
 dom. His whole life was dominated by this purpose 
 to which all others were subordinated. His learning 
 and scholarship, his dialectical ability, his active philan- 
 thropy were all dedicated to the service of God and 
 furthering the kno'wledge of His Word. He entered 
 into religious controversies with the prevailing Indian 
 sects, doubtless at first with the disinterested object of 
 exposing their errors and the hope of convincing his 
 opponents. But his zeal sometimes outran the bounds 
 of prudence and, it must be added with regret, of 
 charity. Unnecessary personal bitterness was at times 
 created, which, instead of bringing Christianity nearer 
 to the Indian mind, tended to widen the breach and 
 retard the approach of reconciliation. 
 
 An instance of this was his famous controversy with 
 the Parsis, which was carried on with perhaps needless 
 acerbity on both sides, and of which ill-feeling was for 
 some time the chief result. These descendants of the 
 ancient Persians and the inheritors of the noble tradi- 
 tions of Xerxes and Darius, and of the still nobler 
 faith of the Prophet of Bactria, had found, after 
 numerous vicissitudes on the fall of their power in 
 their native country, and the ruin of their religion at 
 the hands of persecuting Islam in the seventh century, 
 a peaceful asylum on the Western coast of India under 
 the Hindus. For centuries, under the Hindu and the 
 Mahomedan rule, they just managed to exist as 
 a separate body, wdth a faith as well as most of the 
 manners and customs of their own, without merging 
 
 E 
 
50 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 into the overwhelmingly large communities surround- 
 ing them. But under the fostering care of the British 
 they soon found opportunities to develop their ancient 
 virtues, and became in a short time the leading com- 
 munity among the natives, owing to their excellent 
 business qualities, enterprising spirit, quickness of per- 
 ception, and ready adaptability. They have been the 
 first to benefit by the English rule in India, and in 
 their turn they try to transmit these benefits to the 
 people around them. By their natural ability and 
 position in the country they were well fitted thus to 
 be the mediators between the rulers and the ruled ; 
 and they are now playing this part to a considerable 
 extent. In political and literary matters the Parsis 
 have led the Hindus and the Mahomedans. At the 
 head of most political associations, at any rate in 
 Bombay, and in the vanguard of those who fight, 
 rightly or wrongly, for the political advancement of 
 educated Indians, are to be found men of this race. 
 It is a Parsi for whom has been reserved the unique 
 position of being the first Oriental to take a seat in 
 the British House of Commons. In physical matters, 
 too, Parsis are rapidly evolving robuster qualities of 
 body, which will in the long run make them the equals 
 of many Western nations, and on which Western 
 supremacy mainly rests. In social matters they easily 
 take the lead of their Hindu countrymen, as they are 
 singularly free from those narrow views of caste which 
 hamper the latter. As we shall see, it is a Parsi, the 
 subject of our theme, who has taken up the cause of 
 social reform among the Hindu population, and tried 
 
Position and influence of the Par sis. 51 
 
 to better the lot of millions of women, mute victims of 
 unequal laws and customs manufactured during the 
 dark ages of Indian history. 
 
 The Parsis have thus been the most prominent 
 community among the natives : it is scarcely possible 
 to conceive of the public life of Western India without 
 them. They have, therefore, attracted the attention 
 of Europeans to an extent commensurate with their 
 abilities and importance. Christian missionaries have 
 sought them specially, and have tried hard to spread 
 the Christian faith among them, with the hope of 
 influencing the other Indian communities through the 
 Parsis. From the early days of proselytizing efforts 
 to our own, Parsis have been the object of great soli- 
 citude to European missions. But the men who had 
 given up all their early possessions, and left their 
 native country itself, to launch on unknown seas in 
 order to seek a new home for their ancient faith men 
 who, though a mere handful, preserved their race and 
 religion intact during twelve stormy centuries in the 
 country of their adoption were scarcely the stuff of 
 which proselytes are made. Those who had resisted 
 the destructive persecuting force of Islam, were not 
 likely to yield to the mild arguments of Christian mis- 
 sionaries. Most efforts to convert them have proved 
 fruitless. Beyond stray individual cases of conversion, 
 Christianity seems to have failed to make way among 
 this intelligent and liberal-minded community. 
 
 Dr. Wilson realized the importance of converting 
 the Parsis at the very beginning of his career in 
 Bombay, and he at once set about the task. He 
 
 E 2 
 
52 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 preached eloquent sermons, wrote learned treatises, 
 held conferences, brought his personal influence to 
 bear on individuals. But most of this to little purpose. 
 His first great campaign against their religion lasted 
 for twelve years, during which he exhausted all his 
 efforts and underwent great sacrifices in order to gain 
 his disinterested object. But the result was disap- 
 pointing. The conversion of a few school-boys was 
 the net gain ; whilst the whole community was made 
 more hostile than ever to the faith which was sought 
 to be thrust upon them, and actively resented the zeal 
 of the missionaries. Even after this failure, Dr. 
 Wilson never lost heart, and availed himself of every 
 opportunity to bring the Parsis to the fold of Christ. 
 But these attempts tended to exasperate the people. 
 To judge from the literature to which these efforts 
 gave rise among the Parsis, their irritation must have 
 been unlimited, as they attacked the foundation of all 
 religions in fighting against Christianity, and employed 
 the arguments of deists like Voltaire and Tom Paine, 
 whose works they translated into their vernacular. 
 Who can tell how much of the atheism and indifference 
 to all religion, which is to be seen among the Parsis at 
 the present day, is due to the reaction caused in the 
 last generation by the undoubtedly well-meant but 
 indiscreet efforts of the missionaries ? 
 
 But whatever may be said of his injudicious zeal, 
 Dr. Wilson's motive was thoroughly disinterested. 
 If he had depended on his personal influence, instead 
 of launching into polemics, he would have been pro- 
 bably more successful. For those who were unmoved 
 
Special efforts for their Conversion. 53 
 
 by his logic, however faultless, would relent as soon 
 as they were brought face to face with his sweet per- 
 sonal life. In his controversies he sometimes did 
 great injustice to his heart which overflowed with 
 charity and goodwill to all. His door was open to 
 every one in distress, and no one sought his help in 
 vain. Many a time he was deceived by designing 
 persons, but he never allowed such untoward occur- 
 rences to stand in the way of relieving distress. There 
 must be many persons, still alive, who owe their start 
 in life and worldly position to the friendly help of this 
 magnanimous Christian missionary. He had come to 
 possess influence in the highest quarters, and he used 
 it all disinterestedly. He took a special interest in 
 rising talent. And many a struggling young man of 
 promise was rescued by him, and put on the path to 
 success. 
 
 It was to such a man that Mr. Taylor introduced 
 young Malabari, at just the time of life to be bene- 
 fited by contact with a strong and righteous person- 
 ality. The aged philanthropist was himself struck 
 by the young Parsi, and took him under his special 
 charge. He soon arranged to have the little volume 
 of verse published, after obtaining for it the support 
 it so richly deserved. He introduced the author to 
 several influential citizens, who helped him not a little 
 in his onward career. It may be here mentioned that 
 Malabari has been fortunate in some of his friends, 
 who took him by the hand at the right time. So far 
 we have seen that on critical occasions friends came 
 forward almost providentially to assist him. Later he 
 
54 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 had much more powerful friends who were willing to 
 ensure his worldly success. But his unselfishness ap- 
 pears nowhere more clear and convincing than in his 
 refusal to aggrandize himself through his friends and 
 connexions. A man in the position which he came to 
 occupy must have possessed self-control of no ordinary 
 kind to have resisted temptations to which most men 
 yield. 
 
 Wilson brought his young scholar to the notice of 
 the munificent Parsi knight, Sir Cawasji Jehangier, 
 whose charities are well known in England as well as 
 India. Sir Cawasji seems to have taken very kindly to 
 his young friend. He introduced him to Mr. Martin 
 Wood, then editor of the Times of India, who, a little 
 later, utilized his talents in the field of journalism, 
 and trained him to that noble profession of which 
 Malabari is now the chief ornament among his country- 
 men, vpr. Wilson, as we have seen, arranged for the 
 printing of the little volume of Gujarati verse, ob- 
 taining for it the support of the Government and of 
 a few wealthy citizens ; and the book appeared in 1875 
 after some delay caused by the author's ignorance of 
 business matters. 
 
 It was named by its patron Niti-Vinod, or the 
 Pleasures of Morality. The title is misleading in 
 one way, as it recalls analogous poems in English 
 with similar titles, like Campbell's Pleasures of Hope, 
 Akenside's Pleasures of the Imagination, and Rogers' 
 Pleasures of Memory. Niti-Vinod is not one con- 
 tinuous poem, like these, with a fixed theme, but 
 a collection of short poems of very unequal merit, the 
 
Niti-Vinod. 55 
 
 best of which are lyrical. The title is justified chiefly 
 by the strong moral tone which pervades the whole, 
 and which, in fact, is the chief characteristic of the 
 writer. Moral earnestness and a strong faith in the 
 eternal and universal law of right and wrong are the 
 characteristics of the poems and the poet. 
 
 The book is divided into five parts, treating of 
 moral and religious subjects, metaphysical and social 
 problems, miscellaneous questions of interest and brief 
 sketches of the lives of local and other celebrities that 
 seem to have fired the writer's enthusiasm. The lines 
 preaching devotion and detachment from the world 
 are specially noteworthy, written as they were by 
 a poet as yet in his teens. In the range of Gujarati 
 literature it would be difficult to find a poet who, at 
 twice or three times Malabari's age, could display his 
 spiritual insight and wisdom. Some of these early 
 efforts are equally noteworthy in that we find in them 
 ('the first signs of the author's intense sympathy with 
 the child-wives and girl-widows of India. The poems 
 dealing with these subjects are very pathetic, pro- 
 ceeding from the depth of his heart. How he trans- 
 lated his thoughts and feelings into action, and 
 materially helped to alleviate the sufferings which 
 he here deplores, we shall see in the proper place. 
 
 The poems were written in his own vernacular, 
 which is the language of Gujarat. But this Gujarati 
 language has split itself almost into two dialects, 
 owing to the two races that use it, the Hindus and 
 the Parsis. It is derived from the parent stock of the 
 Sanskrit, the classical language of ancient India, as 
 
56 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 much as French and the other Romance languages 
 of Southern Europe are derived from the Latin in 
 the middle ages. The Hindus try to preserve and 
 develop this original Sanskrit element, and guard it 
 jealously against any foreign intrusion. In their 
 vocabulary and grammar they try as much as possible 
 to keep close to the classical model. The Parsis, on 
 the other hand, who have by the necessity of the case 
 to use the language of the province in which they 
 have settled for so long, have tried to keep down the 
 Sanskrit element. They have no such fond regard 
 for that ancient language as the Hindus have ; 
 Sanskrit is not hallowed to them by glorious associa- 
 tions of old as in the eyes of these latter. Their 
 ancient language is Persian, connected through 
 Pazand and Pahlavi with the Zend or A vesta, the 
 language in which their oldest sacred books are 
 written. Their study of Persian has led them to 
 introduce largely the Persian element into their 
 Gujarati vernacular, and to eschew as much as possible 
 the Sanskrit. Latterly, the great zest with which they 
 have taken to the English language has also made 
 them introduce an English element into it ; English 
 words are either taken up bodily or slightly modified ; 
 the structure of sentences is modelled after the 
 English ; while English modes of expression and 
 composition are finding almost universal favour among 
 them. The result has been that there are two kinds 
 of Gujarati, the Hindu and the Parsi Gujarati, which, 
 in course of time, may become two distinct dialects 
 almost unintelligible to each other. 
 
Hindu and Parsi Gujarati. 57 
 
 The tendency at present is for the two to separate 
 more widely. Hindu writers are becoming purists, 
 and drawing more and more upon the Sanskrit, even 
 for things which that language is not capable of 
 supplying. With their peculiar notions they look 
 down upon Parsi Gujarati, and blame the Parsis for 
 defiling their language with foreign mixture. It is 
 getting harder every day for the latter to understand 
 works written by Hindu scholars in their highly 
 Sanskritized Gujarati. The Parsis pursue their own 
 course, diluting the language freely with Persian and 
 English words and idioms, introducing foreign words 
 and constructions, which makes the purists stare and 
 gasp. Both communities are equally active in litera- 
 ture. Both conduct journals in their peculiar Gujarati, 
 write pamphlets, plays and poems. The breach is 
 thus widening. Already English missionaries to 
 Gujarat have seen the necessity of having the Bible 
 translated into both Hindu and Parsi Gujarati, in 
 order to appeal to both separately and effectively. 
 
 Malabari's Niti-Vinod was written in Hindu 
 Gujarati. Though a Parsi, he has cultivated Hindu 
 Gujarati and its literature with rare success. Classical 
 Gujarati poets like Parmanand, Akha, Narsi Mehta, 
 Dayaram and others, he seems to have read with 
 some attention ; and the itinerant minstrels, as we 
 have seen, had a sensible influence on him in his early 
 Surat days. The ethical tone of his poetry springs, of 
 course, from his own intense moral earnestness. But 
 no small part of it could be traced to his acquaintance 
 with some of these poets and minstrels. The bards 
 
58 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 and minstrels revelled in a bewildering variety of 
 metres, and their young admirer followed them closely 
 in this respect, as may be seen from numerous pieces 
 in this book, which gives a good idea of the metric 
 resources of the language. 
 
 From its peculiar character the Gujarati language is 
 very well adapted to singing ; better, it is claimed, 
 than English. The various metres, if well handled, 
 have a pleasing lyrical effect. To be appreciated 
 properly, they must be sung. Many pieces in the 
 Niti-Vinod have already become popular songs 
 among Hindus of Gujarat, and the effect of the poet's 
 high moral tone and lofty standard of life on the 
 people, must prove beneficial. Genuine poets among 
 them are very rare in these days. Not a few of their 
 best poets follow a questionable standard of ethics. 
 The advent of a poet, then, who combined the lyrical 
 excellence of the indigenous singers with the lofty 
 moral tone, partly inherited and partly acquired from 
 his intimacy with the best poetical literature of his own 
 people as well as of Europe, could not but be hailed 
 as a blessing. The poems were very favourably 
 received on almost all hands. 
 
 The unusual thing about them was that they were 
 liked by both Hindus and Parsis. The Parsis were 
 proud that one of themselves had successfully shown 
 to the Hindus that they too were able to wield their 
 language. Their newspapers praised the writer's 
 skill in the use of the Sanskrit Gujarati and its various 
 metres. One of the leading papers among these 
 recognized him as ' the first genuine poet among the 
 
Hindu and Parsi Gujarati. 59 
 
 Parsis,' who had expressed his sentiments in pure 
 Gujarati and in sweet and beautiful verse. The 
 Hindus were surprised to find such a mastery over 
 their language as they found in the new volume, and 
 their first living poets hastened to welcome this new- 
 comer to their ranks. One of these expressed his 
 opinion that ' such wide acquaintance with Gujarati, 
 such beauty of versification, and such a delightful 
 combination of sentiment and imagination would do 
 honour to the pen of any accomplished Hindu poet/ 
 Another, who was considered the laureate of Gujarat, 
 and whose poems are the delight of every Hindu 
 household in the province, wrote, ' it is a general belief 
 amongst us that Parsis cannot excel in versification 
 through the medium of correct and idiomatic Gujarati ; 
 but Mr. Malabari's Niti- Vinod effectually dispels that 
 belief.' An English critic regarded the book rightly 
 as an attempt 'to infuse into the Eastern mind some- 
 thing of the lofty tone of thought and feeling which 
 distinguishes the most approved literary productions 
 of the West,' and gave due praise to the author's 
 4 wonderful command over the pure Hindu Gujarati.' 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Marriage Female Education among Parsis and other classes 
 Indian Muse in English Garb Wilson's influence A real missionary 
 Influence of Christianity on modern Indian thought Zoroastrianism 
 Wilson Virah. 
 
 WITH this volume, containing the first-fruits of his 
 poetic genius, unequal and irregular though the verses 
 were, Malabari emerged from obscurity, and began to 
 be known beyond the small circle of his personal 
 friends. His means, too, were increasing. The 
 talented tutor was well spoken of on all sides, and 
 pupils flocked to him. He soon found himself in 
 a position to marry and become a family man. Of 
 his married life this only need be said here, that it has 
 been a happy one as regards mutual affection and 
 esteem, and that in the wife the husband has found 
 exactly what he himself lacks, namely, order and 
 economy. This he often gratefully acknowledges as 
 a gift from Providence. In the matter of marriage 
 the life of the educated Indian of to-day has many and 
 serious drawbacks. If he finds in his wife a loving 
 partner of his worldly fortunes, a good manager of his 
 domestic affairs and trainer of his children, he should 
 consider himself happy. It is all that an Indian wife 
 could be expected to prove herself. But if he seeks 
 for an intelligent companion, on anything like terms 
 
Female Education. 61 
 
 of equality, with intellectual sympathy for his hopes 
 and aspirations, a helpmate in his affairs beyond those 
 of the household, he is in most cases doomed to dis- 
 appointment. His life is in this way seriously handi- 
 capped, as compared with that of the European, next 
 to whom stands the Parsi. As often as not, the Indian 
 wife, instead of being a helpmate in his pursuits, and 
 sympathizing with his aims and aspirations, is a 
 hindrance, a veritable thorn in his side, standing up 
 for obsolete and exploded superstitions, dragging her 
 partner down with her. The utmost that he can pray 
 for, in such a case, is apathy. It is not difficult to 
 explain the cause of this deplorable state of things. 
 Female education has been almost entirely neglected 
 in India up till quite recently. The aims of life and 
 conduct of the younger generation have been revolu- 
 tionized by the new learning to which they have been 
 introduced. Lofty ideals and high hopes, however 
 selfish these may be in some cases, are cherished as 
 a rule by our young men far above the level of former 
 generations. But the female mind has remained 
 almost entirely where it was, moving in the same 
 narrow grooves. Very little effort has been made 
 to get the new light to reach the women. Hence 
 English educated Indians have to rest content with 
 more or less ignorant and unsympathetic partners in 
 life. They are beginning to perceive the mischief; 
 and an honest attempt is now being made to educate 
 Hindu girls to something at least approaching the 
 standard of the education of boys. But deep-rooted 
 prejudices have to be overcome. The dogma of the 
 
62 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 absolute inferiority of woman in every respect to man 
 prevails in the country with irresistible force, and it 
 will take long- to weaken it so far as to allow the 
 
 o 
 
 despised female to have the same share of education 
 and the same sphere of action as the male. 
 
 The Parsis, the community to which Malabari 
 belongs, saw the necessity of educating their girls much 
 earlier than the Hindus and the Mahomedans, to whom 
 they may be said to have shown the way in this, as in 
 most other respects. Still, though the great proportion 
 of their young women are not so illiterate as among 
 others, educated Parsi youths cannot be said to be 
 much better off in married life than their Hindu and 
 Mahomedan fellows. There are instances of what we 
 may call equal marriages, wherein the couples are well 
 mated with regard to intellectual sympathy. But in 
 the generality of cases, even among Parsis, the wife is 
 little more than a physical companion, sharing no more 
 of her husband's aspirations than those of a stranger. 
 The life of the educated Indian is much to be pitied 
 on this account. Foreigners cannot conceive what 
 a drag such unions often are on our public men. 
 Great, therefore, must be the credit given to those who 
 rise superior to the difficulties of the situation, and 
 though not on the same level, compete as if on equal 
 terms with European workers and come so close to 
 them in the race of public usefulness. Malabari, as 
 we have seen, is happy in his married life, with an 
 affectionate wife and loving children. But in his case, 
 too, as in that of most public men of modern India, it 
 must be admitted that his family cannot be of much 
 
Education of Malabari. 63 
 
 direct help to him in his public career by sharing and 
 lightening its burdens. 
 
 After his first failure to pass the matriculation 
 examination, Malabari did not give up hope, but per- 
 severed steadily for three successive years, and at 
 length succeeded in 1871 in passing that difficult test. 
 He overcame his 'aversion to arithmetic, the subject 
 that had stood cruelly in his way and rendered nugatory 
 the excellent results in English and other branches. 
 But he did not continue his studies after passing the 
 entrance test, and never entered college. This was 
 perhaps as well. Though he failed to receive what is 
 called an academic training, and has not the honour to 
 be a graduate of the University, he excels most of his 
 contemporaries with the best collegiate education at 
 their back, in literary ability, grace of diction, and 
 more especially, in originality. This last quality would 
 most likely have suffered if he had been put through 
 the treadmill of the University curriculum at present 
 in vogue. 
 
 The University has been fairly successful in pro- 
 ducing good professional men, lawyers, doctors, 
 engineers ; and above all, in furnishing to Government 
 a useful and reliable body of subordinate officials in 
 the Civil Service, through whom the work of administra- 
 tion is in a great measure carried on. But its success 
 is doubtful as regards rearing up a body of really 
 cultured men, deep thinkers and great writers. Indian 
 Universities have existed for more than a generation, 
 and their roll of graduates is long. But among these will 
 be found very few who have made a deep mark on their 
 
64 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 times as writers, thinkers, or great characters. On the 
 contrary, such great forces are to be found outside 
 their pale : men like Keshub Chunder Sen in Bengal 
 and Malabari in Bombay owe little to academic educa- 
 tion. This failure, so far, of the Universities, upon 
 which high hopes were based by the Government and 
 the people, is now attracting a good deal of attention. 
 Too much thought cannot be given to the subject by 
 those who have the future welfare of the country at 
 heart. 
 
 (The year after the publication of his Gujarati poems, 
 our author appeared in the more ambitious role of 
 a poet in the foreign English language. We have 
 seen how passionately he took to the study of some of 
 the English poets. With his poetical temperament 
 he entered into the very spirit of these masters, dis- 
 covered hidden affinities, and assimilated much that 
 was best in them. Almost with the commencement 
 of his study of the English poets he took to composing 
 verses in English, and some of these he had written 
 already as a boy at Surat. Many of them seem to 
 have suggested themselves to him while reading his 
 favourite pieces on which they are modelled. The 
 command over the language, which they show, is truly 
 astonishing in a youth under twenty. These verses 
 he showed to his friend and benefactor, Dr. Wilson, 
 who thought that they displayed 'an uncommonly 
 intimate knowledge of the English language ' and were 
 ' the outcome of a gifted mind, trained to habits of 
 deep meditation and fresh and felicitous expression/ 
 Meeting with such kindly encouragement, Malabari 
 
'Indian Muse in English Garb/ 65 
 
 polished his early effusions, added new ones, and made 
 up the whole into a thin octavo volume of just 
 a hundred pages. It was given the appropriate title 
 of the Indian Micse in English Garb, and was dedi- 
 cated in a graceful letter to Miss Mary Carpenter, 
 a lady who had been working at great sacrifice, 
 steadily and long, for the cause which the poet was 
 himself soon to take up, that of the helpless women 
 of India. 
 
 Malabari was twenty-three when this thin little 
 volume appeared. It was his first appearance in 
 public in a most difficult foreign language, and argued 
 rare courage in challenging the judgement of the literary 
 world at the commencement of his career. Though 
 some few Indians had attempted English verse before 
 him, yet this volume was perhaps the first of its kind 
 to arrest attention both in India and in England. The 
 newspapers on the whole welcomed our youthful poet 
 heartily. He received still more cordial encourage- 
 ment from some of the leading literary men of the time 
 in England to whom copies had been sent. < Tennyson 
 wrote to him to say ' it is interesting, and more than 
 interesting, to see how well you have managed in the 
 English garb.' He expressed a wish to be able to read 
 the poems Malabari had written in his own vernacular, 
 and signed himself ' Your far-away but sincere friend/ 
 Lord Shaftesbury, John Bright, and other prominent 
 men also praised the sentiments and the style of the 
 verses. 
 
 Professor Max Muller, with whom the poet was 
 to come in closer contact later, and whom he has 
 
 F 
 
66 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 impressed deeply enough to be reckoned among the 
 select circle of half a dozen of his intimate Indian 
 friends, showed great discrimination in the remark 
 that/ ' it is in the verses where you feel and speak 
 like a true Indian that you seem to me to speak 
 most like a true poet.' Being himself a foreigner to 
 the English language, who had succeeded in obtaining 
 a wonderful mastery over it, he could appreciate the 
 difficulties of the Indian aspirant to literary fame as 
 well as give him sound advice. ' To me also/ wrote 
 he, * English is an acquired language, but I have 
 never attempted more than English prose. However, 
 whether we write English verse or English prose, let 
 us never forget that the best service we can render is 
 to express our truest Indian or German thoughts in 
 English, and thus to act as honest interpreters between 
 nations that ought to understand each other much 
 better than they do at present. Depend upon it, the 
 English public, at least the better part of it, like a man 
 who is what he is. The very secret of the excellence 
 of English literature lies in the independence, the 
 originality, and truthfulness of English writers/ Miss 
 Florence Nightingale also welcomed the Indian Muse 
 in an enthusiastic letter to the poet, which ended in 
 these inspiriting words : ' May God bless your labours! 
 May the Eternal Father bless India, bless England, 
 and bring us together as one family, doing each other 
 good ! May the fire of His love, the sunshine of His 
 countenance, inspire us all ! ' 
 
 The contents of the Indian M^l>se are miscellaneous, 
 many of them being occasional pieces suggested by 
 
' Indian Muse in English Garb/ 67 
 
 men and events of the time in Western India, such as 
 the career of the then recently deposed Gaikwad of 
 Baroda, and the visit of the Prince of Wales to Bombay 
 in 1875. \ There are, also, some characteristic poems in 
 the volume ; the autobiographic sketch, from which we 
 have already quoted, belongs to this volume. The 
 death of his friend, Dr. Wilson * the friend of my 
 youth ' forms the subject of a pathetic poem ' To the 
 memory of one of the noblest friends of India.' The 
 miseries of Hindu female life are vividly depicted in 
 the person of an orphan girl-widow who is made to 
 tell her own heartrending story. The lines on the 
 * British character,' and to the * Disloyal Grumbler/ 
 reveal his political views. His deep sympathy with 
 the people of India, his admiration for the work of the 
 English Government and his appreciation of their 
 sterling qualities, as also of the enormous difficulties of 
 the administration of a foreign country views to which 
 he has clung in the main have made him a force in 
 public affairs, an accredited interpreter between the 
 rulers and the ruled. Some lines from the address to 
 the ' Disloyal Grumbler ' are well worth quoting at the 
 present day, as they strike the keynote, thus early, of 
 the politics of our patriot-poet and those who think 
 with him : 
 
 ' O mourn thou not in vain regrets 
 That fancied wrong thy peace alloys; 
 When thy ungrateful heart forgets 
 What bliss thy conquered race enjoys 
 What if thy English brother lords 
 It o'er thee, with contempt implied ? 
 Recall the day when Moslem swords 
 Cut thee and thine in wanton pride ! \ 
 F 2 
 
68 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 Think how a gen'rous nation strives 
 To win thee back thy prestige lost; 
 Of what dear joys herself deprives, 
 To aid thee at a frightful cost.' 
 
 Then, after describing, in eloquent verse, the sacrifice 
 made by Britain for the cause of good government in 
 India, he proceeds : 
 
 * When thoughts of this my senses crowd, 
 Good God ! my nerves are all unstrung ; 
 Hot tears of shame my vision shroud, 
 Hot tears by grateful pity wrung. 
 And none, with common souls with mine, 
 But feels his patriot's sense profaned 
 If, yielding to the morbid whine, 
 One prates of rights and powers restrained. 
 From motives int'rested apart, 
 As guardian of our peace and pride, 
 In every honest British heart, 
 I hail my brother, friend and guide ! 
 And tho' my heart, my head, my hand, 
 My country's welfare holds in pawn, 
 Still more I owe to that brave land, 
 From which alone that welfare's drawn. 
 
 The admirable good sense of these lines strikes one 
 more forcibly when he remembers that they were 
 penned by an Indian poet, hardly out of his teens. 
 Let us not forget, also, that the career of the full-grown 
 man has faithfully followed the note struck here in his 
 boyish days. Love and admiration of all that is best 
 in English life and character is, indeed, the pervading 
 characteristic of the poetry as of the author's mind and 
 heart. It is not indiscriminate rhapsody in which he 
 indulges. He has entered into the very spirit of 
 English thought and action, having penetrated the 
 outer crust which repels most Indian thinkers from 
 
'Indian Muse in English Garb' 69 
 
 them. His lines to the ' Genius of the Bard of Rydal' 
 show that Malabari could take a correct measure, even 
 at this early age, of the influence on England of one 
 of her greatest masters. The East is ever present to 
 his mind, and the West is drawn upon, as it were, to 
 make him understand the East the better. Words- 
 worth reminds him of the venerated founder of his 
 own religion : -^ . 
 
 ' To me, sweet Bard, thy page rare light dictates, 
 As on my soul thy magic verse vibrates. 
 Thy power seems, in every subtle shade, 
 A later offspring of sage Zoroaster's head. 
 'Tween him and thee a common soul I trace 
 The same vast genius, but in time and place. 
 The same wise judgement in a modest word, 
 In one like line the same deep truth unheard. 
 The same life's views, the same Heav'n-seeking aim, 
 The same your taste, your work and worth the same ; 
 Of each, with equal awe, I trembling sing 
 Each mighty mind as Nature's heir and king/N 
 
 By the time this first volume of English verse 
 appeared, Malabari's guide, philosopher, and friend 
 was no more. Dr. Wilson closed his long career at 
 the end of 1875 amid unfeigned and universal sorrow. 
 He had dedicated his life to India, and spent it to the 
 very end in its service. To the last his interest in 
 public affairs, and still more in talented individuals 
 among the natives, remained most active. A very 
 short time before his death he was looking forward to 
 introducing the Prince of Wales, who was coming to 
 Bombay, to the antiquities and archaeological curiosities 
 of Western India, of which he was the most zealous 
 and laborious student then alive. But before that 
 opportunity, though so near, could come, Dr. Wilson 
 
70 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 was laid in his grave. The royal visitor felt his loss 
 as much as any of his personal friends. But the best 
 proof of the sterling worth of this man of God was 
 that the native communities vied with the European 
 in honouring his memory. During his career as an 
 ardent missionary he had come into collision with 
 all the native religions, and the controversies were 
 sometimes, as we have said was the case with the 
 Parsis, personal and bitter. Yet even the Parsis 
 had long before his death forgotten the animosities 
 into which that very zeal, which they certainly admired 
 and imitated, had betrayed their well-wisher, and joined 
 with their native fellow-citizens in mourning the loss 
 of one who had been emphatically the friend of them 
 all, and who, even at the risk of alienating them, had 
 striven for their spiritual welfare according to his own 
 best lights. 
 
 Dr. Wilson's loss was keenly felt by those who had 
 come in personal contact with him. Malabari, we 
 have seen, came to know him only during the last few 
 years of his life. But during this period he had seen 
 enough of him to love, trust, and honour him entirely. 
 Dr. Wilson's influence on him must have been very 
 great indeed. To a large extent the two were kindred 
 spirits, though at the opposite poles of life. The old 
 man had run his career of private and public virtues, 
 based on heroic self-sacrifice, and died a martyr to his 
 cause. The young man, too, was of the stuff of which 
 martyrs are made ; but it was probably his intercourse 
 with Wilson that helped him first to discover this for 
 himself. He saw before him a living example of pure 
 
Wilson's Influence. 71 
 
 and saintly life, such as most of us know of only in the 
 pages of biography. This helped to determine his 
 character and the channel into which his life should 
 run. To him was vouchsafed the grace to rise above 
 mere worldly considerations and to choose the better 
 part. It is not the privilege of many young men to 
 know in the flesh great moving forces like Dr. Wilson. 
 This was Malabari's good fortune, and he made the 
 most of it while it lasted. His own life presents a 
 close resemblance, in many respects, to the life that 
 may be considered his exemplar. Both show the 
 literary instinct very strong in them, and both have 
 shone as authors. In both of them the moral sense 
 predominates over everything else ; and prompts them 
 to feats of self-sacrifice. Their life has a fixed purpose, 
 the load-star of their course, and that is to do good to 
 their fellows. If Wilson was what is called a missionary, 
 Malabari is no less a missionary, though without that 
 name. He has a most definite mission, and pursues it 
 vigorously and without flinching. Even in his methods, 
 he is an enthusiastic missionary. He employs all the 
 means available in the present advanced age to further 
 his object, and combines them with other methods 
 prevalent in a former age. Like the enthusiastic 
 preachers of the Middle Ages in Europe, and of many 
 a later day in India and the East generally, he moves 
 about from place to place, leading his campaign, stirring 
 up his followers, organizing committees, winning over 
 opponents by personal example in forbearance and 
 self-sacrifice, and remonstrating with over- zealous 
 friends who would hurry on at too eager a pace and 
 
72 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 thus endanger the cause. His peripatetic exertions on 
 behalf of social reform may well be compared to the 
 more famous and disastrously active efforts of that 
 fiery hermit who flitted from court to court and nation 
 to nation, with his stirring story of the woes of his 
 fellow-Christians in the home and land of the Bible, 
 and never rested from fanning the animosities he had 
 created into a fierce flame which drew the whole of 
 Europe into its vortex and burned for several centuries. 
 This old peripatetic method Malabari has improved 
 upon by the facilities afforded by railways and other 
 means of locomotion. He added to it, moreover, a 
 method that was unknown in former ages. The 
 newspaper press is a growth of recent years in India, 
 and this our c pilgrim reformer ' has utilized with 
 unique success to aid his unique campaign. His own 
 journal, pamphlets, leaflets, books, with every other 
 form of publicity, have also been laid under contribution 
 by himself and his followers. Everything, in short, 
 that could help in the cause has been utilized. All 
 this argues zeal such as comes only to those who have 
 a definite mission in life and are entirely possessed by 
 it. The principle of self-effacement, on which Mala- 
 bari's efforts are based, is something which even 
 Christian missionaries may envy. 
 
 As we have said, he possessed the qualities which 
 have helped him to do all this, and become what he is. 
 Wilson's example had great influence upon him for the 
 exercise of these qualities for philanthropic purposes. 
 It is scarcely profitable to speculate on possibilities, 
 but this much could be asserted, that without the 
 
Wilson's Influence. 73 
 
 direct, though brief, contact he had with that noble 
 character, Malabari would not have been what he has 
 become. 
 
 In one respect only Wilson's influence failed of its 
 purpose, at least directly, and in the way he wanted 
 it to act. ^That was in respect of the young Parsi's 
 conversion to Christianity.^ Wilson was, above every- 
 thing, an apostle of the Gospel, and subordinated all 
 purposes to the main one of spreading it wherever 
 and whenever he could. It may, then, be asked, what 
 was the effect on Malabari of his efforts at conversion ? 
 So far as outward appearances of Christianity go, he 
 has not been converted. He has not been baptized. 
 He could not be prevailed upon, in spite of every 
 earnest effort, to accept the central dogmas of that 
 faith. The theological, dogmatic part of Christianity 
 he could not honestly accept. And it must have 
 called forth all his strength of mind to resist the effort, 
 so earnest and so persistent, of one who, he was con- 
 vinced, was working solely for his highest welfare. 
 Malabari's main difficulty was the doctrine of media- 
 tion. He believed in salvation by faith and by work, 
 but did not think the mediation of another absolutely 
 necessary. In a note in the Indian Muse we learn 
 his views on the subject at this critical time, just after 
 Dr. Wilson's death. ^It hardly seems to be in the 
 nature of things,' says he, ' that Christianity can gain 
 on the subtle Indian intellect. As a race, we have 
 little impulse or emotion in a matter like this ; and 
 thus what is readily accepted by the exquisitely-nerved 
 European, as the direct instance of revelation, with us 
 
74 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 sinks into a burst of pure fanaticism.^ Faith, which 
 precedes and supersedes thought with the devout 
 Christian, and which has been, from time to time, 
 working magically on the most sublime intellects of 
 the West, seldom actuates the heart of the proud 
 Asiatic, who strives to purchase salvation with work, 
 and never stoops to accept it as alms, as it assuredly 
 would be if faith were to be his only merit. Still it 
 must be borne in mind, that all human work falls short 
 in this as in every other case.' This shows that at 
 a very early age Malabari had pondered over the deep 
 metaphysical problems, not of Christianity alone, but 
 of other religions likewise. 
 
 But though he could not accept the dogmas of 
 Christianity, he had imbibed all its true spirit, especially 
 as this was in full harmony with his own nature. If 
 true Christianity is to be found in the life led on this 
 earth by its Founder, and recorded by His loving 
 disciples, and if its dogmas are embodied in His great 
 Sermon on the Mount, then Malabari is a Christian ; 
 indeed, all truly good men are Christians. The spirit 
 of charity, which prompted Him to advise His fol- 
 lowers to turn the left cheek to be kissed by him who 
 smites the right, and which He himself showed by 
 blessing His persecutors and murderers; the spirit of 
 self-sacrifice and self-denial, of which His whole life 
 and every part of it was the most illustrious example ; 
 these Malabari imbibed naturally and without the 
 least hesitation, often with the greatest alacrity. If 
 Christianity imbues people with this its true spirit, 
 and makes them better men, charitable and self-for- 
 
A Real Missionary. 75 
 
 getful, it must be said to have achieved its highest 
 practical aim. 
 
 This could hardly be done by wrangling over dis- 
 puted points in metaphysics and theology, by dialectical 
 ability shown in scoring a victory over our opponents, 
 or by mere theoretic preaching of charity and the 
 other virtues, and denouncing not only all the other 
 religions, but all other denominations than one's own. 
 If that noble faith were to triumph by such methods, 
 the triumph would more than defeat its own purpose. 
 Christianity must triumph, not by taking its stand on 
 metaphysics and miracles, for Indian religions have 
 more subtle of the former and much more startling 
 and staggering of the latter, but by the example of 
 practical benevolence which it should inspire, by the 
 pure self-sacrificing lives of its votaries and mission- 
 aries. A single true Christian life, lived in the midst 
 of the Indian peoples, would have greater influence, 
 would incline them much more favourably towards the 
 faith, than any amount of preaching or controversy. 
 It may be added that even the small way which 
 Christianity has made in India has been chiefly owing 
 to the saintly lives led by some of its missionaries, 
 their institutions and their everyday work on behalf 
 of the people. The silent example of the life of Ward 
 or Carey, Martyn or Duff, George Bowen or John 
 Wilson, is more eloquent than the best pulpit elo- 
 quence, and has had greater influence than the most 
 convincing logic. On the other hand, nothing tends to 
 lower that noble faith in the eyes of the Indians so 
 much as the wranglings and bickerings among the 
 
76 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 various sects and churches, the lives of ease and 
 worldliness led by some of the ministers, who make 
 of their noble calling a mere profession and do little 
 to exalt it above the other professions. 
 
 Christianity has a bright future in India, though 
 the difficulties in its way are enormous. But a faith 
 that started from such humble beginnings, in an ob- 
 scure corner of Asia, underwent the most terrible 
 persecutions at the hands of one of the mightiest 
 empires in the world, and succeeded at last in con- 
 quering its oppressors, in exterminating ancient faiths, 
 and in overspreading the whole of Europe ; a faith 
 that has overcome such difficulties and flourished for 
 nineteen centuries, triumphing over the extremes of 
 ignorance and science alike, need not find the obstacles 
 in its path in India insuperable. What we require are 
 the right methods and the right men. There is no 
 reason to doubt that men who stormed the stronghold 
 of ancient Paganism, like the early apostles and their 
 successors, and the martyrs of the primitive Church, 
 will succeed in evangelizing the East. 
 
 However, even carried on as at present, the efforts 
 of the missionaries are not fruitless. If they fail to 
 win over the educated classes to the new faith, they 
 certainly succeed in shaking the foundations of the old 
 faiths of the country. The work of destruction is 
 being done effectually; belief in the old religions is 
 giving way among the men who receive a European 
 training. This may not be, perhaps, quite desirable, 
 as it is better to be, in the phrase of Wordsworth, 
 ' a Pagan suckled in a creed outworn/ than to have no 
 
Influence of Christianity in Modern India. 77 
 
 creed at all. The old creeds are found to be outworn 
 by them, but they have taken definitely to no new 
 creed. The ground for such a one, however, is being 
 cleared. What that creed is to be, is a matter for 
 speculation. That it will be Christianity in any dog- 
 matic form, one cannot hope. The present agnostic 
 tendency of European thought seems to have a fasci- 
 nation for the Indian intellect, and there are signs 
 here and there to show that atheism is spreading and 
 taking the place of the old superstitions. The writings 
 of agnostics and atheists are growing in favour with 
 our academic youths, who seem to consider all religion 
 as superstition, and every creed to be an anachronism. 
 This is the attitude, we fear, of a majority of 
 'young India.' But some of the best among them 
 are endeavouring to profit by their acquaintance with 
 the learning and the faith of the West in quite a 
 different way. Knowing the real value of Christianity, 
 and regretting their inability to accept it in its entirety, 
 some of them have tried to engraft it on their own 
 religions, and bring about a fusion of the two. 
 The Brahmo Samaj of Keshub Chunder Sen is an 
 instance of this, and it is a pity that experiment has 
 not met with the support it deserves from the rising 
 generation. Others try to purge their ancient faiths 
 of all superstitious elements, which have settled upon 
 them like a hard crust in the course of ages, and to 
 hold fast to the simple original elements of truth and 
 virtue which they contain. The influence of Western 
 education and faith on Malabari seems to have been 
 of this latter kind. Born and bred a Zoroastrian, he 
 
78 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 has become, owing to his having come so very close 
 to Christianity, a better and purer Zoroastrian. The 
 new faith enabled him to see many of its noble 
 qualities reflected in his own ancient religion. Chris- 
 tianity must have the credit of this, and Malabari 
 allows it in a liberal measure. 
 
 Zoroastrianism, the religion of the Parsis, is one of 
 the most ancient and venerable faiths of the world, 
 and has played a very useful part in the history of 
 Oriental civilization. Founded in a remote age, the 
 antiquity of which is variously placed between the 
 sixth and sixteenth centuries before Christ, by a sage 
 whose insight and foresight were the wonder of the 
 ancient world, that faith influenced an important 
 branch of the great Aryan race, and became the 
 State religion of four great Oriental monarchies. On 
 one occasion it stepped beyond Asia, under Xerxes, 
 and had the battle of Marathon been otherwise 
 decided, it would have overspread the continent of 
 Europe. In its primitive form it was a very simple 
 and pure creed, based on the celebrated formula of good 
 thoughts, good words, and good deeds on the moral 
 side, and on the metaphysical, on the eternal strife 
 waging throughout the Universe between good and 
 evil. But this pure essence has been defiled in its 
 march through the ages by popular ignorance and priest- 
 craft. The sacred writings of Zoroaster were mostly 
 lost, and their place was taken by the inferior writings 
 of later priests, who reduced the primitive faith more 
 or less to a sacerdotal system, with dogmas and rites 
 designed to give importance to their own class. These 
 
Zoroastrianism. 79 
 
 later books have come to be called sacred, and are 
 followed by the ignorant masses. Whilst the very few 
 original texts that survive, that is, the Gathas, point 
 to a sublime nature-worship, and inculcate morality 
 without any complex theological system whatever, the 
 later Avesta books, and still later Pahlavi writings and 
 commentaries, have introduced precepts and notions 
 foreign to the essence of the religion, and have thus 
 helped it to degenerate. 
 
 Malabari very early saw this degeneration, and his 
 education and Christian influences sent him back to 
 the primitive Zoroastrianism of which he saw around 
 him only a travesty. ^ That primitive faith, he found, 
 could satisfy the aspirations of his soul as far as these 
 could ever be satisfied in this life, and he has cherished 
 it as his most precious possession. This, as we have 
 said, he owes to Christianity, and is grateful for it. 
 In characteristic terms he acknowledges his debt to 
 the religion of Christ : ' At a time when doubt and 
 distrust are taking the place of reason and inquiry 
 among the younger generation of India, I feel bound 
 to acknowledge in my own person the benefits I have 
 derived from a contact with the spirit of Christianity. 
 But for that holy contact I could scarcely have grown 
 into the staunch and sincere Zoroastrian that I am, 
 with a keen appreciation of all that appeals readily to 
 the intelligence, and a reverent curiosity for what 
 appeals to the heart, that much of what is mysterious 
 to man is not beneath, but beyond, the comprehension 
 of a finite being.' This has been his attitude towards 
 Christianity throughout his career, and his remarks in 
 
8o India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 his latest work on English life and character in its 
 own home, are inspired by the same lively sense of 
 gratitude and admiration, and the same openness to 
 conviction. 
 
 Dr. Wilson, then, failed to make him a Christian, 
 but he succeeded in making him a better man, inspired 
 by all that is good and true in the Christian faith 
 superadded to that in his own. And if the venerable 
 missionary had lived longer, he would certainly have 
 been proud of the moral and religious development 
 of his protege. Malabari is himself surprised how 
 he resisted Wilson's attempts at conversion. His 
 bosom friend, Dr. Bhabha, yielded, became a staunch 
 Christian, and persevered in his new faith in spite of 
 bitter persecution by relatives and friends, and has 
 given himself up to Christian work. Malabari says, 
 in one place, ' If anything could have made me a 
 Christian, it was this friend's example.' Perhaps it 
 was better, his countrymen might reply, that he could 
 not profess Christianity. In that case he would 
 naturally have failed to command the influence he 
 now wields whilst remaining in his community as one 
 of them. 
 
 It may be added here that Malabari himself partly 
 agrees with and partly differs from our views as to 
 the effect of Dr. Wilson's proselytizing zeal. Talking 
 to the present writer in the course of a quiet evening 
 stroll, he once observed that Dr. Wilson appeared to 
 him to have opened his campaign too early. The Parsis, 
 as a community, were not prepared to receive his 
 message. This preparedness, what is called Tauskdr 
 
Wilson Virah.' 8r 
 
 by philosophers, is essential. The soil of the soul must 
 be prepared for the reception of the seed of spiritual 
 life, he continued. But a soldier of God, like Wilson, 
 burning with zeal, could not wait. Natures like his 
 cannot brook delay, cannot sit down to calculate. As 
 regards religion, Malabari went on to say, it is more 
 or less a matter of .heredity, temperament, surrounding, 
 and of experience. It works differently in different ages, 
 and on different men. Even on the same man it works 
 differently at different stages of his life. ' I know not,' 
 he wound up, with that far-off gaze of his pathetic 
 eyes, in which faith seems to be constantly struggling 
 for mastery over doubt, 'if India will become Chris- 
 tian, and when. But this much I know, that the life 
 and work of Christ must tell in the end. After all, 
 He is no stranger to us Easterns. How much of our 
 own He brings back to us, refined and modernized ! 
 His European followers seek Him most for His divine 
 attributes. To me Jesus is most divine in His human 
 element. He is so human, so like ourselves, that it 
 will not be difficult to understand Him, though it is 
 doubtful if the dogmas preached in His name will 
 acquire a firm hold on the East.' 
 
 Malabari deplored the loss of his friend in a volume 
 unique in the annals of vernacular literature. He wrote 
 a series of elegiac lyrics in the same Gujarati as his 
 first volume, in which he gave vent to his grief. He 
 recounted, in beautiful verse, the main events in the 
 life of the great philanthropist, and held up for the 
 first time before his countrymen the portrait of a 
 devout Christian who had given up his country and 
 
 G 
 
82 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 sacrificed brilliant worldly prospects for the good of 
 the people in a distant land, inspired by no other 
 motive but that of serving God. The influence of 
 such a book cannot fail to be wide and lasting. Wilson 
 Virah, as it was named, was recognized by critics as 
 a remarkable work, likely to take a permanent place 
 in literature. It is a collection of lyrics, skilfully 
 pieced together something like the In Memoriam of 
 Tennyson, but neither so sustained in interest nor so 
 philosophical. It comes nearer to the two greatest 
 purely elegiac poems in English literature, the Lycidas 
 of Milton and the Thyrsis of Matthew Arnold, though 
 it is not pastoral in form like these. But the love and 
 admiration for their friends, and the keen sense of loss 
 which breathe through them, are present in the same 
 intense degree, and find vent, in equally poetic terms, 
 in the Indian poem. As a literary effort, Wilson 
 Virah marks a distinct improvement on the Niti- 
 Vinod, with fewer indications of immaturity and 
 straining after effect. This poem was published three 
 years after the death of its hero, in 1878, and the 
 author's position was by that time fairly well assured. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Journalism in India The Indian Spectator New Political Activity, 
 unrest and dissatisfaction Criticism of Government. 
 
 BEFORE this elegy was published, and a little after 
 Dr. Wilson's death, an important event occurred, which 
 finally determined Malabari's worldly career. He 
 entered the ranks of journalism, which he has never 
 since left, though often longing to do so. With 
 English education and ideas, it was natural that this 
 most characteristic of English institutions should be 
 introduced into India among the natives. The first 
 newspaper in the country was started more than a 
 century ago in Calcutta, by an Englishman, and for 
 a long time the press was in the hands of English 
 writers alone, who were unconnected with the official 
 class, and who distinguished themselves by freely 
 criticizing the policy of the Government. The latter, 
 however, rightly thought that the country was not yet 
 ripe for a free and unlicensed press, which would be a 
 source of serious anxiety and trouble to the rulers. Some 
 journalists, like the famous Silk Buckingham, who had 
 come from England with notions of liberty unsuited 
 to the country, and who persisted in subjecting the 
 British administration in India to unsparing criticisms 
 
 G 2 
 
84 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 of all its acts, had to be severely dealt with, and to 
 be sent back to the country better fitted for the 
 reception of liberal ideas. Experienced Anglo-Indian 
 officials, like Elphinstone and Malcolm, who had spent 
 their lives in India, were strongly opposed to allowing 
 the press to criticize the Government at all. 
 
 After a time, however, when the British Govern- 
 ment seemed to be firmly established and well able 
 to bear, without serious damage, the light of searching 
 hostile criticism, the press was made free at the 
 instance of that enthusiastic lover of liberty, Lord 
 Macaulay, to whom India, and especially the English- 
 educated Indians, owe lasting gratitude. Even before 
 the liberty of the press was granted, by which a great 
 stimulus was given to public journalism in this country, 
 vernacular papers were started by educated natives, 
 who conducted them, of course, in a tentative, timid 
 manner. The first vernacular paper came into existence, 
 nearly eighty years ago, in Bombay, which has thus 
 had the honour of showing the way to the rest of 
 India. It was edited and printed by a Parsi, and this 
 race has ever since been prominently connected with 
 Indian journalism. With the progress of education 
 among the natives, newspapers began to multiply. 
 The greatest impetus to the press has, however, been 
 given to it only of late, by the manifestation of political 
 activity among the English-educated Indians, which is 
 the most notable feature of public life to-day. _ 
 
 The vernacular press has been the growth of English 
 education in India, and is the main channel of its 
 political activity, the outcome of this education. This 
 
Journalism in India. 85 
 
 newly-educated class give vent to their political 
 aspirations through their journals, which are now to be 
 found in every city and town of the various provinces. 
 The newspaper press has a strong fascination for 
 young men in every country. The youth of India 
 found in it the charm of novelty, as no such thing 
 formerly existed among them. It was almost inevit- 
 able, then, that a young man of the ability and literary 
 talents of Malabari should turn to journalism for a 
 >rofession, and an opportunity soon offered itself. 
 Some enterprising friends, hardly having finished their 
 school career, had the pluck to start a weekly paper, 
 partly political and partly literary and social. They 
 had very simple notions about financing the venture. 
 Confident of their ability to supply good reading, they 
 felt equally sanguine about having plenty of sub- 
 scribers. One of them seems to have been a sort of 
 business man, as he was a clerk in the service of the 
 municipality. He undertook to find a fair supply of 
 advertisements. Thus, with a very small capital, and 
 with very large expectations, they began to publish, 
 every Sunday morning, a paper somewhat the size of 
 the London Spectator, and named after it. This was 
 the beginning of the now famous Indian Spectator, 
 which, from such a humble origin, rose to occupy a 
 prominent place in Indian journalism and to become 
 a force in public affairs. 
 
 The new paper, like its analogue of London, did 
 not record the events of the week so much as comment 
 on them. And like it, too, it made a distinct feature 
 of essays oh social and literary subjects. Malabari 
 
86 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 was, some time after the start, invited to contribute by 
 the enthusiasts, one of whom, Mr. Ferozesha Pestonji 
 Taleyarkhan, was his intimate school friend, and of 
 whose literary talents he still cherishes a high opinion. 
 This friend, who was the editor in charge, contributed 
 the political notes and articles. Malabari took up the 
 lighter section, and sent in essays on social topics, 
 conceived in his peculiar vein. 
 
 The paper was conducted on thoroughly inde- 
 pendent lines, free from all party obligations. Its 
 criticisms of all parties alike were trenchant, as 
 coming from young men with great daring and little 
 experience. With characteristic boldness it attacked 
 some of the older heads of the native community, who 
 had rendered good service in the past, but who had, 
 in course of time, grown dogmatic and were losing 
 touch with the new generation. Some of these veteran 
 leaders were known for their unflinching opposition 
 to Government, and constant and uncompromising 
 criticism of all its acts. The Indian Spectator would 
 have little to do with such public critics and their line 
 of conduct. But these were gentlemen of established 
 position and influence, who could not be either easily 
 or safely opposed. The young men lacked prudence, 
 though they possessed enough, perhaps more than 
 enough, of courage and dash. Their little weekly was 
 sought to be discredited by its influential opponents, 
 and a dead set was made against it in some quarters. 
 The subscription list, never long, dwindled away. The 
 advertisements, so sanguinely expected, and which, 
 even more than subscriptions, are the outcome of 
 
The 'Indian Spectator.' 87 
 
 influence and connexions, the very thing our young 
 enthusiasts not only lacked but had arrayed against 
 them, never came. Prospects became gloomier still 
 after a few months. A more serious mishap threatened, 
 and finally wrecked, the spirited venture. The partner, 
 who had put in his small capital in the concern, was by 
 this time disenchanted. He grew importunate in his 
 demands. But the money could not be found. The 
 partners quarrelled and separated. The whole concern 
 was sold off for a nominal sum to a Borah, and the 
 Indian Spectator was thus found breathing its last, 
 after a more or less stormy existence^ 
 
 But though doomed to death, it was fated not to die. 
 The Borah bethought himself that with other things 
 he had also bought the name and goodwill of the 
 paper that had, to all intents and purposes, ended so 
 disastrously; and, with the shrewd business instincts of 
 his race, he wanted to turn this to account. From 
 some source he had heard of the juvenile contributor 
 with literary tendencies, whom he now sought out and 
 made an offer of the goodwill for the trifling sum of 
 Rs. 25. Malabari had no thought whatever of owning 
 a paper, much less of conducting it. But when an old 
 friend like the Spectator came seeking him in such 
 a stress, he could not help yielding. Possibly, too, 
 his mind conjured up vistas of public usefulness and 
 importance as editor. Anyhow, he bought the Spec- 
 tator in a singularly auspicious moment. He had 
 known, however, of its struggles under his friends who 
 had zeal and ability, but very little of funds, and 
 endeavoured, if possible, to avoid a repetition of such 
 
88 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 hardships to himself. He thought himself lucky, 
 therefore, in having secured a capitalist partner, who 
 was ready to advance the money requisite for pub- 
 lishing the new paper, and who is believed to have 
 sent the Borah to the guileless Parsi publicist. This 
 acute Hindu gentleman seized the opportunity of 
 utilizing the paper and the editor's talents, partly for 
 his own purposes and partly in the interests of the 
 public. He advanced the printing charges for a month, 
 promising further a regular supply, in the hope that the 
 paper would become practically his own organ. But 
 he had mistaken his man. The moment our green 
 young journalist saw that he was expected to write at 
 the instance of his capitalist partner, he resolved he 
 would have nothing to do with him. He paid off the 
 debt incurred, with the help of his devoted wife, and 
 became independent again. 
 
 Before he thus took up the new paper, Malabari 
 had already served his apprenticeship as journalist 
 under a veteran of the craft, Mr. Martin Wood. We 
 have seen that he had been introduced to this gentle- 
 man by Sir Cowasji Jehangier, and was soon utilized 
 by him. ^Mr. Wood, who had been for a long time 
 editor of the Times of India, was then starting a paper 
 of his own, named the Bombay Review, in which he 
 wanted to advocate specially the cause of the Native 
 States and the native population of Bombay.l He 
 made the young Parsi his coadjutor, who continue^ for 
 nearly two years to write for the Review. But the new 
 weekly, in spite of its editor's ability and influence, 
 could not get on financially. It had to be discontinued 
 
The ' Indian Spectator.* 89 
 
 after a brief but eminently useful career. This con- 
 nexion, however brief, was beneficial to Malabari, as it 
 gave him the first training under an experienced hand. 
 It, moreover, enabled him to knock off many of those 
 charming sketches of life and character in Gujarat, 
 which were later collected and published in London. 
 This volume, Gujurat and the Gujaratis, was the first 
 to raise Malabari to the ranks of English authorship. 
 
 The Bombay Review came to a premature end 
 soon after the Spectator was revived by Malabari. 
 Mr. Martin Wood spoke of the new editor in very 
 favourable terms, which show that he had already 
 discerned the rare qualities which have made both the 
 journal and its conductor so deservedly famous. The 
 retiring veteran wrote : * The editor is peculiarly 
 fitted for being a trustworthy interpreter between 
 rulers and ruled, between the indigenous and immi- 
 grant branches of the great Aryan race. It is easy to 
 see that he thoroughly understands the mental and 
 moral characteristics of these two great divisions of the 
 Indian community, not only as presented in Bombay, 
 but in other provinces in India. We have always felt 
 confidence in the sincerity and independence of its 
 editor. His knowledge of the various castes and 
 classes of society in Western India is full and exact, 
 while in aptitude for discussion of social questions he 
 displays a discrimination and aptness in picturesque 
 description, and a genuine humour, sufficiently rare.' 
 
 After this separation from his respected guide and 
 friend, Malabari had to undergo a severe trial. Of 
 money he had little, and a wife and children had to be 
 
go India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 supported. His earnings were fair enough for his 
 purposes, but he was careless in money matters, and 
 much of his income was lost to the family owing to 
 his easy good-nature and want of business capacity. 
 Unworthy friends took advantage of this weakness in 
 his character. He helped these men recklessly ; and 
 even stood security for some of their debts, which he 
 had ultimately to make good. Thus he became twice 
 involved in pecuniary difficulties, which were intensified 
 by the struggles of the Indian Spectator. The strain 
 of the new venture was severe indeed : * I struggled 
 on,' says he, * writing, editing, correcting proofs, at 
 times folding and posting copies, and even distributing 
 them in town, going the round in a cab, with the 
 driver delivering the copies as instructed by me.' 
 Such were the struggles through which he has worked 
 his way up to success. 
 
 Through all his bitter experiences Malabari has 
 come to believe in the wise saying of Burke, that 
 difficulty is good for man. He is truly himself in the 
 face of difficulties whose magnitude draws out his very 
 best qualities. He is not born to be daunted by 
 obstacles a fact which he has proved abundantly, and 
 more than once, during his career. In his early 
 struggles with poverty, in this commencement of his 
 journalistic career, and later in his campaign against 
 infant marriages and enforced widowhood which may 
 well be considered the crowning piece of his life-work 
 he has shown that he possesses unflinching courage, 
 resolution, and perseverance. This trait of character 
 it may surprise many to find combined with the poetic 
 
New Political Activity. 91 
 
 temperament and a nature so intensely sensitive as 
 his. It is rare, indeed, to find a genuine poet like 
 Malabari engage in active public work, so varied and 
 exacting in its nature. But his poetry seems to have 
 inspired him to do practical good to his fellows by 
 every means in his power ; Duty and Action are its 
 key-notes. In his' latest volume of Gujarati verse he 
 has a beautiful poem on Duty, which reveals his own 
 springs of inspiration and embodies his gospel of work. 
 4 Duty is devotion : duty is salvation : duty is our final 
 rest in heaven.' This is the burden of his song, which, 
 for moral earnestness and lofty sentiment, comes well 
 up to Wordsworth's famous ode. 
 
 He rose superior to all obstacles, and by dint of 
 patient hard work, and with such help as he could 
 obtain, succeeded in firmly establishing his paper. 
 The time when he started on his career as a journalist 
 was favourable for success to rising talent in India. 
 It was the commencement of the viceroyalty of Lord 
 Ripon, who was sent by Mr. Gladstone, on his coming 
 to power in 1880, to reverse the imperialist policy 
 which Lord Lytton had launched upon, and which had 
 proved so disastrous both to the prestige and finances 
 of India. This aggressive policy on the north-west 
 frontier, which partly gave rise to a repressive policy 
 within the country, could not be approved by Indian 
 journalists, who denounced it in terms not always well 
 measured nor sober. The Conservative Government, 
 not relishing the persistent criticism to which its policy 
 was subjected, and being alarmed at the tone of the 
 native press, which it found ' seditious/ curtailed the 
 
92 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 liberty of the press by a legislative measure passed in 
 hot haste, and thus aimed a blow at public criticism. 
 The political discontent caused by the military and 
 financial disasters in Afghanistan, and the coercion of 
 the native press, were further aggravated by the physical 
 calamity of a famine which raged over the country and 
 carried off several millions of the population. Thus it 
 was with feelings of intense relief that the end of the 
 Beaconsfield Ministry was hailed by the Indians. 
 Mr. Gladstone had shown his distrust of his brilliant 
 predecessor's way of managing the affairs of the 
 Empire in Europe and Asia, and had sent out to 
 India a man totally different from Lord Lytton in 
 opinion and temperament. 
 
 Lord Ripon, the new Viceroy, set about the task of 
 repairing the mischief done by his predecessor in 
 foreign as well as domestic affairs. The policy of 
 aggression and interference on the north-west frontier 
 was abandoned. Afghanistan was evacuated. Collision 
 with Russia was shunned, and a conciliatory attitude 
 was assumed towards that country. The finances of 
 India, left in a deranged condition, with a heavy deficit, 
 and burdened by thirty millions of additional debt by 
 the late administration, were rapidly put on a sound 
 basis again, under the guidance of an able and skilful 
 minister, Sir Evelyn Baring, now Lord Cromer, who 
 has since done similar service to the finances of Egypt. 
 
 But the most marked departure from the former 
 policy was the attitude of the new Government, and 
 especially its head, towards the natives. Instead of 
 repression and coercion, the latter met with encourage- 
 
New Political Activity. 93 
 
 ment and help. Public criticism was invited ; public 
 opinion welcomed. Public leaders were recognized 
 and consulted. The native press was given back its 
 recently lost liberty ; and its opinions, however crude, 
 were carefully considered. The educated natives in 
 every province, struck with the sympathetic tendency 
 of the new Government, began to take a considerably 
 enhanced interest in public affairs. They received an 
 unprecedented impetus in politics, and were almost 
 entirely engrossed by them. Political activity, never 
 before heard of in the country as a whole, manifested 
 itself everywhere in an unmistakable manner. New 
 associations were formed, old ones revived, and the 
 art of agitation introduced with almost all its Western 
 machinery. Monster meetings and monster petitions 
 became common. The platform became an institution. 
 The pamphlet and the placard were put to novel uses. 
 High hopes and aspirations were thus raised among 
 the small band of educated Indians, who forthwith 
 prepared to put into practice the liberal notions they 
 had imbibed in their schools and colleges under 
 English professors. Whether these hopes will ever 
 be fully realized, whether the educated minority could 
 safely be given all that they want from their rulers ; 
 whether they represent really the whole of the various 
 nations of the Indian continent; and whether these 
 have yet arrived at the point where they could be 
 given a measure of active self-government which is 
 demanded for them and in their names these questions 
 need hardly be discussed here. But that such hopes 
 have been created ; that the educated classes are 
 
94 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 becoming dissatisfied with the present state of things ; 
 that there is a strong and a strange ferment working 
 in certain ranks of Indian society, making for unrest 
 and change ; that instead of looking upon the English 
 rulers as their real benefactors, they are beginning to 
 view their actions suspiciously, seizing every oppor- 
 tunity of criticizing and censuring, and, in some cases, 
 of lowering the prestige of their rulers ; that the race- 
 feeling between the rulers and the ruled, instead of 
 diminishing, has increased with the increase, and 
 spread, so to say, with the spread of literary education 
 among our young men ; that all this is more or less true 
 at present, cannot be denied by an impartial political 
 observer. On the contrary, it must be mournfully ad- 
 mitted by every person who has the good of the Empire 
 at heart, that the signs are getting worse, that needless 
 acerbity is shown on both sides, and that influential 
 mediators are sadly wanting to heal wounds which 
 are not allowed to close. Si monumentum quaeris, 
 circumspice. Everywhere and all around proofs of this 
 abound. In schools and colleges and universities, in 
 debating clubs and associations ; in literature, spoken 
 and written ; in newspapers and pamphlets, plays and 
 novels ; in public life, in municipalities and legislative 
 councils; in private life, in after dinner talk and 
 friendly converse ; in short, in all departments of life, 
 this new tendency, this mental unrest and dissatisfaction 
 with the present order, is the one thing conspicuous, 
 almost aggressive. Why this should be so, why the 
 class which owes its very existence to the British rule, 
 and from which additional stability was expected to be 
 
New Political Activity. 95 
 
 given to it, should seem to be uncompromisingly 
 opposed to it, should seem to try to belittle the good 
 done by it ; why the official class of Englishmen should 
 be treated, not as friends of the country and the people, 
 whom they serve amid great difficulties and at great 
 sacrifice ; why the official class appear to be less in 
 touch with the people than before, and less able to 
 distinguish between opponents and enemies, between 
 critics of their own acts and detractors of the Govern- 
 ment, is an inquiry of the most vital importance for 
 one competent enough to enter upon it. 
 
 The Indian press received its greatest stimulus from 
 this rush of political activity. In fact, from the vice- 
 royalty of Lord Ripon may be dated its second birth. 
 As we have seen, it existed long before this period; 
 but its voice was feeble, and its influence but small 
 owing to its limited constituency. In the new state 
 of things the press was the first instrument to be 
 handled by the political party. New papers were 
 started, both in the vernaculars and in the English 
 language ; old papers that were drooping had new 
 spirit infused into them. The spirit of organization 
 was abroad, for the first time, and pervaded the native 
 press. Its voice became stronger, because united, and 
 spoke out in no faltering tone. Its circulation in- 
 creased rapidly, and its influence spread over a much 
 wider circle than before. Enjoying the fullest amount 
 of liberty, the papers wrote with a straightforwardness 
 which was surprising, and at times alarming, when 
 compared with their former mode. Viewing every 
 question that arose for discussion from their own point 
 
g6 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 of view, they criticized the action of the Government 
 freely and boldly. Still more they criticized the action 
 of the officials of the Government, over whom they 
 kept a strict watch. This liberty, newly acquired, and 
 the possession of power and influence, suddenly felt, 
 have led to their abuse in many cases. Interested 
 opposition to Government, and captious and unfair 
 criticism of the whole official class, have become the 
 distinguishing marks of a certain section of the native 
 press, which is mainly responsible for the breach be- 
 tween the races now widening. 
 
 Such, then, was the time when the Indian Spectator 
 entered upon a new lease of life. It could not but be 
 favourable to both the journal and the journalist. Men 
 of talent saw a career opening for them in politics, 
 either in the press or on the platform. And many of 
 the leading native politicians of to-day came to the 
 front in the early eighties, borne on the new wave of 
 political activity. Malabari participated in this activity 
 and this enthusiasm ; but he guided himself by prin- 
 ciples of his own, occupying a unique position among 
 his fellow-workers in the same field. From the very 
 first he took a higher view of his profession than most 
 native journalists. He determined not to be an ad- 
 vocate of any one party or cause in politics, but to be 
 a judge. He conducted his paper in an eminently 
 judicial spirit, bearing in mind what is due to all sides 
 of a question. He was firmly impressed with the fact 
 that Truth is many-sided, and he tried to see as many 
 sides of it as possible. In short, he has throughout 
 been a firm supporter of the just and lawful claims of 
 
The ' Indian Spectator/ 97 
 
 the people, and the educated classes, wielding his pen 
 mainly towards the redress of their grievances. With 
 the people especially he has shown the warmest 
 sympathy, ever using his opportunities to better their 
 condition. Their actual condition at present under 
 the British rule, whether they have really benefited by 
 it, and how the beiaefit can best be made to reach the 
 lowest classes these questions have been his special 
 study, for which his intimate knowledge of the country, 
 and his natural inclination for espousing the cause of 
 the weak, have well fitted him. This line of inquiry 
 has taken him to the very root of the problem of the 
 British rule in India and how it affects the people. 
 He has studied the dark side of the rule as well as the 
 bright, and judiciously endeavoured to throw light on 
 the former, as well as to hold up the latter to the ap- 
 preciation of his less discerning countrymen. This is 
 not difficult for one to whom 'journalism is not a trade, 
 not a business, not even a mere profession, but an 
 avocation, a call, a holy mission.' It is in this spirit 
 that Malabari has worked his Spectator, and it is for 
 this reason, mainly, that he has come to be recognized 
 as the prince of Indian publicists. We shall quote 
 one authority here to bear us out an Englishman 
 whom the advanced politicians of India are proud to 
 reckon as their leader. This gentleman, writing to 
 a friend about the Indian Spectator and its editor, 
 observes : ' Lord Ripon did not hesitate to number 
 him amongst his friends, and considered his paper the 
 best and wisest of all the papers edited by natives. 
 Moderation and good sense have been the leading 
 
 H 
 
98 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 characteristics of the Spectator, which, though it has 
 ever consistently supported native interests, has never 
 laid itself out for popular applause, or played the dema- 
 gogic game ... It plays a most important part in the 
 national development/ 
 
 As a journalist, he has rendered invaluable service 
 to India by his championship of her cause. He has 
 never stooped to conciliate popular whims and preju- 
 dices, as many others have done, to the detriment of 
 public morality and independence. Nor has he had 
 anything to do with that carping criticism of the 
 official class, and rank abuse of Englishmen, which 
 have been the characteristics of the majority of irre- 
 sponsible writers during the last decade. Malabari's 
 innate sense of justice and charity has always guided 
 him in his journalistic career, and made it the con- 
 spicuous success that it has been. During times of 
 wild excitement and heated controversy he has kept 
 his head cool, often trying successfully to calm the 
 public mind and lead it to wise conclusions. Perhaps 
 the most notable instance of this was Malabari's 
 service on a critical occasion, during the agitation 
 which is known as the Ilbert Bill Controversy. The 
 compromise, by which the bitter differences that had 
 arisen between the native and the European com- 
 munities in India were sought to be made up, was, 
 as first imperfectly announced, on the point of being 
 violently criticized and rejected by the native press 
 and the public on this side, as it had already been 
 condemned in Bengal and elsewhere ; and the Govern- 
 ment was on the point of being placed in an unenviable 
 
New Political Activity. 99 
 
 position. But Malabari, besought by the authorities 
 to suspend judgement till further information was sup- 
 plied, exerted his influence with the Press and the 
 representatives of public opinion generally to think 
 better of it. 
 
 On such critical occasions the Indian Spectator has 
 filled a distinct place in contemporary politics. The 
 foremost public men in India and England have recog- 
 nized its services, speaking in high terms of its policy 
 and methods. What Lord Cromer wrote, when 
 Finance Minister in India, strikes the keynote of its 
 excellence. ' I always read your paper with interest 
 for two reasons, first, because it represents the interests 
 of the poorer classes ; secondly, because it is opposed 
 to class and race antagonism. The last point is 
 especially important in this country.' Yes, this last 
 point is really of exceptional importance in India, where 
 class and race antagonism is becoming more intense, 
 where some of the various races which inhabit our 
 continent hate one another with a hatred that is made 
 explicable only by their antecedents, and which of late 
 years has occasionally shown itself in violent outbursts. 
 The hatred, for instance, between the two great 
 races, the Hindu and the Mahomedan, has affected 
 the impartiality of a portion of the native press, which 
 deals in mutual recriminations and aspersions. Many 
 of the papers being in the hands of the landed and 
 moneyed classes, the interests of the poor ryots are 
 but scantily looked after by them, and on occasions 
 when they collide directly with their own, no scruple 
 is felt in sacrificing them. This was clearly seen at 
 
 H 2 
 
ioo India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 the passing of the Bengal Tenancy Bill, which, though 
 it tried to remove the causes of misunderstanding 
 between the tenant and the landlord, was bitterly 
 opposed by the native papers in the interests of the 
 zamindars or landlords. The same papers, which had 
 only a little while before praised Lord Ripon to ' the 
 skies, decried him for this his last and perhaps justest 
 piece of legislation. Such inconsistency is not to be 
 wondered at. 
 
 Of the Indian Spectator, however, it may be honestly 
 said that it has never viewed any public question from 
 the point of view of class or race. If ever it has been 
 compelled to do so, it has taken the side of the poorer 
 class and the weaker race. Justice and moderation 
 have been the cardinal points of its policy and the 
 secret of its success and influence. When occasion 
 required, it has never feared to speak out and condemn 
 injustice, from whatever quarter proceeding. It has 
 been the staunchest supporter of the ruling race. But 
 when the rulers have been found to err, in its opinion, 
 it has always exposed the error and raised its voice in 
 favour of amending it. The British Government, like 
 all Governments, must have its faults faults of policy 
 and faults of individual officers. And the Spectator 
 has always been on the alert to bring these to the 
 notice of the Government, who acknowledge the great 
 utility of such criticism. An official, here and there, 
 who has been exposed for bullying or harassing the 
 people under his charge, may have become a personal 
 enemy of the critic. But, on the whole, the ruling class 
 appreciates the immense importance of the kind of 
 
Criticism of Government. 101 
 
 criticism of its policy and acts which papers like the 
 Spectator, and men like Malabari, offer to its notice. 
 The British Government is a foreign government in 
 India, and apt, like all such, to be unsympathetic, 
 owing to the unsympathetic nature of the British, but 
 much more to want of touch with the masses and lack 
 of knowledge of 'their ways and wants. Legislative 
 measures, initiated with the best intentions by the 
 rulers, are likely to be misunderstood, and in the end 
 generally miscarry, to their great surprise. Many a 
 benevolent act of the English has been misconstrued 
 by the ignorant masses, and felt by them as quite the 
 reverse, simply because the rulers cannot enter into 
 the state of feelings and ideas of the ruled. They 
 thus need, in a peculiar manner, the aid of well-trained 
 and well-meaning native critics, to act as mediators and 
 interpreters, who, while they try to convince the ruled 
 of the good intentions of the rulers, also bring to the 
 notice of these latter the prejudices and peculiar 
 notions of the former, which it would be unstatesman- 
 like to ignore. The class of such natural mediators is, 
 unfortunately, very small, and Malabari, with his 
 Spectator, may be said to be its best type and repre- 
 sentative. Being an Indian of the Indians, and know- 
 ing the ways and habits of his countrymen intimately, 
 and feeling for their welfare as few others could feel, 
 he employs his advantages chiefly in helping the 
 foreign Government in their task of governing them. 
 
 Perhaps the most valuable of Malabari's services to 
 India, as journalist, may be traced to his private 
 correspondence with the higher officials of Government 
 
io2 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 and the authorities in England. Many are the men 
 whose Conservative prejudice he has overcome by 
 gentle remonstrance ; whom he has sometimes won 
 over to the fold of Liberalism so far as Indian politics 
 are concerned. The effect of one such conversion 
 could hardly be over-estimated. But it is too early 
 yet to estimate the value of this side of Malabari's 
 political activity. 
 
 It was somewhere about this period, or a little earlier, that he came 
 in contact with Mr. D. E. Wacha, whose good offices he never tires of 
 acknowledging, publicly and in private. Mr. Wacha seems to have 
 written largely at the time for the Indian Spectator ; and, what was more 
 useful, helped to keep its finances going. The Spectator was too in- 
 dependent to make two ends meet a merit or a misfortune that has 
 clung to it all through its career. And Mr. Wacha, with his quick 
 sympathy and knowledge of men and affairs, seems to have determined 
 that such an organ of genuine public opinion should not die. He induced 
 two Parsi friends, Messrs. J. R. Mody and J. N. Tata, to indemnify the 
 proprietor against his losses for a year each. Mr. Mody further accom- 
 modated the struggling journalist with a loan to pay off the arrears. 
 ' This marked,' says Malabari, ' a turning-point in my career as a 
 journalist.' Among other friends Malabari speaks enthusiastically of 
 Mr. Hume, Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji,Mr. Ardasir Framji,and Sir W. Wedder- 
 burn. * I could write a volume,' he adds, ' about each of my friends about 
 his friendly, brotherly, fatherly interest in one who differs from him as 
 strongly on some questions as on others he agrees with him. Sir W. Wedder- 
 burn is the only Englishman from whom I have accepted money aid for 
 the Spectator (many others have offered to help me in this and other 
 directions). I was never so touched as when Sir William pressed his offer, 
 arguing, when all other arguments had failed, that unless I accepted his 
 brotherly offer, he would not believe I treated him really as a brother. 
 And a brother, indeed, he has been.' With good times coming he paid 
 off the liabilities incurred by the paper ; and in the case of friends who 
 refused to be repaid, he spent the money on deserving public objects, in 
 the names of the original donors ! 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Book on Gujarat, a true Picture of life in Town and Village Trans- 
 lations of Max Miiller's Hibbert Lectures dealing with the Religions of 
 India. 
 
 THE immense and intimate knowledge of the land 
 and its people, thus acquired, he obtains and keeps up 
 by prolonged tours. His is not the ordinary journalist's 
 information, picked up at third hand from books. He 
 has always delighted to be in living touch with the 
 people, to observe all aspects of their life, from the 
 highest to the lowest, from the Rajah's court to 
 the ryot's hut, to see with his own eyes their condition 
 under the present rule, and to hear with his own ears 
 their views about the rulers, and their grievances, real 
 and imaginary, against the Government. Born among 
 the people, and mixing with them from his earliest 
 years, he has always been careful to keep himself in 
 the closest touch with them. The objection, usually 
 brought against the newly created class of natives, that 
 they do not know the real condition of their poorer 
 countrymen, from whom they are alienated by their 
 European training, cannot be urged against Malabari. 
 Few men know the real people of India, and especially 
 the people of his own province of Gujarat, so intimately. 
 Fewer still have favoured either their own countrymen 
 
104 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 or the rulers with the results of their knowledge. 
 Malabari gave the result of his first tours in a series of 
 sketches of men and manners contributed to the 
 Bombay Review and the Indian Spectator. They were 
 much appreciated at the time of publication, and 
 helped to bring their writer into greater notice. Later, 
 at the suggestion of competent critics, they were 
 rescued from the oblivion of a newspaper file, to be 
 published in a volume, entitled Gujarat and the Giija- 
 ratis, by Messrs. Allen, of London. This book first 
 revealed the extraordinary command of the writer 
 over English, all the more surprising in one who 
 had received but a poor education and had read but 
 little of its literature. The ease and vigour with which 
 many educated Indians of to-day wield the language of 
 their rulers is really remarkable, and is a matter of won- 
 der to Englishmen themselves, as well as to the other 
 Europeans who despair of attaining perfection in the 
 highly idiomatic and irregular speech of England. 
 This is chiefly owing to the assiduous attention the 
 Indians pay to English ; and mastery over the foreign 
 tongue is often obtained at the sacrifice of their mother 
 tongue. But Malabari is not an assiduous student, 
 nor a learned scholar. His reading has been con- 
 fessedly very limited and desultory. With literature 
 in its wider sense he is practically unacquainted. The 
 great masterpieces, to which students give their days 
 and nights, have been skipped by him. His study of 
 Gujarati literature must have taken up not a little of 
 his scanty leisure. He has cultivated that literature to 
 some extent, and, as we have seen, written works in it 
 
' Gujarat and the Gujaratis' 105 
 
 which will live as long as that simple dialect lasts. 
 Under these circumstances his power over the English 
 language appears phenomenal. It can only be explained 
 by his genius. The language comes to him naturally, 
 and his strength of expression and felicity of phrase 
 are instinctive. It is the privilege of genius to seize 
 at once, and by a short cut, what ordinary understand- 
 ings grasp only after laborious efforts, and even then 
 imperfectly. Malabari has such genius, and it shines 
 forth not only in his exquisite style, but also in his 
 thoughts, which are always more or less original. He 
 also possesses what is the usual concomitant of genius, 
 what a great teacher of our days, Carlyle, calls the 
 essence of all real greatness, the unconsciousness of 
 possessing it. A friend, who is himself a shrewd 
 observer and a cultured critic, and who has watched 
 Malabari's career from the beginning, calls him an 
 unconscious genius, if ever there was one. Some of 
 the larger problems of metaphysics, which he had him- 
 self pondered over long and intently, and at whose 
 partial solution he had arrived after deep reading and 
 still deeper thinking, Malabari, he says, innocent of 
 any philosophical reading, saw at a glance, going to 
 their very, heart, and offering explanations which coin- 
 cided with the theories of some of the greatest thinkers. 
 This genius has not had full opportunity to show itself 
 in literature. For Malabari has always tried to be 
 a man of action, rather than a man of letters or of 
 speculation. Still, it can be seen plainly in the little 
 that he has published. Nearly every book of his 
 bears the traces of an original and vigorous mind. 
 
io6 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 The volume on Gujarat and the Gujaratis is also 
 stamped with the genius of the author. He has ob- 
 served and seized all the real and essential traits of 
 Gujarati character. It is the real living men and 
 women that he portrays, in their strength as well as 
 weakness, and not the mere outward husk of dress and 
 manners with which most writers regale us when writing 
 on such a subject. He presents his observations in 
 a style which is genuine and eminently readable. This 
 comes out of truth to nature, both in the matter and 
 the manner ; there is little that is artificial or unnatural 
 about the book. He looked upon human nature round 
 about him with his own natural eyes, without the aid 
 of the spectacles of books, and depicted it in simple, 
 natural terms that came to him spontaneously. The 
 book is a reflex of the author in a high degree. 
 Humour of a rich vein pervades it. And in humour 
 the man also abounds. Those who know him but 
 slightly may not credit Malabari with this rare gift. 
 But closer contact reveals the predominant element of 
 the humorous in his character. * The writer/ says 
 a critic of this book, ' is truly a humorist in the best 
 sense of the word. He proposes, to quote Thackeray, 
 " to awaken and direct your love, your pity, your 
 kindness, your scorn for untruth, pretension, and 
 imposture. Your tenderness for the weak, the poor, 
 the oppressed, the unhappy." To the best of his 
 means and ability, he comments on almost all the 
 ordinary actions and passions of life. He takes 
 upon himself to be the week-day preacher, so to 
 speak. Accordingly, as he finds, and speaks, and 
 
' Gujarat and the Gujaratis' 107 
 
 feels the truth best, we regard him, esteem him, 
 sometimes love him.' 
 
 Gujarat and the Gujaratis is replete with human 
 interest, full of pictures drawn from the life with rare 
 fidelity and tact. In this respect Malabari comes up 
 to another great writer of our day, Mr. Rudyard Kip- 
 ling, who excels in describing many phases of life and 
 character, as they are actually to be found in this 
 work-a-day world, in the language of the persons 
 themselves, with all its irregularity and uncouthness. 
 Malabari has had a harder task before him. Kipling 
 has described Englishmen in the English language, for 
 the nervous speech of Mulvaney, with its eccentricities 
 and peculiarities, is, after all, English. Malabari had 
 to depict his countrymen in foreign colours, to trans- 
 late the thoughts and words of simple Indians in 
 the language of their rulers. Much of the innate 
 force and humour must necessarily evaporate in this 
 process. But our author has succeeded in retaining 
 enough of both while conveying them through a 
 foreign medium. 
 
 It seems to have been his object to paint the 
 character of the people in almost all phases and rela- 
 tions. He has selected his typical subjects from all 
 ranks and walks of life, and presented each in his own 
 sphere, with his natural environment. Quidquid agunt 
 homines, votum, timor, ira, voluptas, gaudia, discursus 
 all that the Gujaratis do and are, their ideas, super- 
 stitions, fashions, foibles, and frivolities these form 
 the staple of his book. It requires gifts of a very high 
 order to understand human character aright and to 
 
io8 India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 depict it as it is. Even persons with whom we come 
 in close contact, whose actions we observe, and whom 
 we can interrogate personally, are as a rule but par- 
 tially known to us. Each of us must, in many points, 
 be a puzzle to his neighbour. Nay, each is a puzzle to 
 himself. * Know thyself was the first command of the 
 ancient philosopher to man, and this knowledge is 
 attained by most of us the latest. Thus, if it be so 
 hard to know ourselves and our neighbours as we 
 really are, how much more difficult must it be to know 
 peoples who are separated from us by the barriers of 
 race, religion, and language ? 
 
 The English feel this difficulty in India at every 
 turn. They cannot, with all their patience and sagacity, 
 understand the character of the peoples whom they 
 have to govern. There is a wide gulf yawning between 
 the two. Then the opportunities of fathoming the 
 Indian character are also few. That character is to 
 be seen at its best in the villages which remain now 
 what they were hundreds of years ago, untouched by 
 the civilization of the Western rulers. The Indian, as 
 he is seen in the towns and cities, where alone the 
 Englishman generally sees him, is not the true Indian, 
 but a mixture of Eastern and Western influences. 
 Malabari knows this difficulty of the rulers, and traces 
 to their ignorance many of the errors which shallow 
 and prejudiced Indian critics attribute to their selfish- 
 ness and want of principle. In his Giijarat he offers 
 his own intimate knowledge of the people to the rulers, 
 who can glean from its pages much that they want but 
 can rarely get from their personal experience. Not 
 
' Gujarat and the Gujaratis/ 109 
 
 only are the home life, and views, and habits of the 
 people minutely and accurately described, but the 
 foreigner is warned against being misled by those self- 
 seeking subordinates and others who hang about the 
 official camp, and give out just those views and facts 
 which they know would be pleasing to the masters. 
 These are very humorously exposed in Gujarat, and 
 it will be the fault of the young Civilian alone if he 
 allows himself to be imposed upon by such parasites. 
 The book, indeed, should be invaluable to those new- 
 comers whose lot has been cast in the province of 
 Gujarat, and who have to govern its mild but very 
 peculiar population. Copies of it should be found in 
 every Civilian's kit; he would be wise to study it as 
 he studies his Regulations and Codes. 
 
 Gujarat and the Gujaratis was, of course, a success. 
 It has gone through several editions, and brought the 
 writer money as well as fame. Competent Anglo- 
 Indian statesmen acknowledge its high merits, especially 
 its usefulness to the rulers. They urge the writer to 
 do for the other provinces of India what he has done 
 for his own Gujarat. It would be well if such books 
 were published. It is no exaggeration to say that the 
 task of governing the country would be to a large 
 extent simplified thereby. As it is, Gujarat stands 
 alone, and Malabari has not followed it up with the 
 desired volumes. Perhaps he has shrunk from the 
 task, because he does not know the other parts of 
 India so intimately as his mother province. But still, 
 his knowledge of the whole country is almost unrivalled, 
 obtained mostly at first hand during his prolonged 
 
no India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 and well-planned tours, or ' campaigns,' as he half- 
 humorously calls them. 
 
 Tours have been with him one of the chief means 
 of achieving his objects. He undertakes them, not 
 for pleasure, but as a matter of duty. He rightly 
 thinks that public opinion should be stirred, formulated, 
 and organized by the leaders personally visiting the 
 centres of thought and activity, guiding, encouraging, 
 checking, and controlling. With the spirit of the true 
 missionary in him, he goes about the country regardless 
 of personal comfort, thinking only of his cause. Not 
 of a robust constitution, he has been struck down many 
 a time on his tours, and saved with difficulty, sometimes 
 after prolonged suffering. His first tour was, as we 
 have seen, over Kathiawad, for the journal started by 
 his friend, Mr. Martin Wood. His next two tours 
 were planned on a much larger scale, and were under- 
 taken for a higher purpose. 
 
 This purpose was his project of translating into 
 the vernaculars Prof. Max Muller's Hibbert Lectures 
 on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated 
 by the Religions of India. It has been Malabari's aim 
 throughout his life to try to bring the East and the 
 West closer, to unite them by the bonds of knowledge 
 and sympathy. He has pursued this aim steadily in 
 his own works. In Prof. Max Muller's works he 
 found the same aim predominating. And he therefore 
 resolved to bring them to the notice of his countrymen 
 in their own languages. * Prof. Max M tiller/ says he, 
 * has laboured all his life to bring about a union 
 amongst nations. That union has long been aimed at. 
 
Max Muller' s Hibbert Lectures. in 
 
 A marriage between East and West was arranged 
 even before the days of the illustrious William Jones. 
 In that work of union you trace the hand of a higher 
 Power than that of man. Modern Indian history 
 teaches you that. But I may say that Max Muller 
 and his contemporaries have contributed largely to 
 bringing to the surface the practical results of that 
 process of, let us hope, progressive union. By his 
 works he has given new birth, so to say, to Sanskrit ; 
 he has resuscitated, I say, he has helped to regenerate, 
 the language and literature of our land/ In a spirit 
 of enlightened sympathy, Prof. Max Muller has pointed 
 out to Europeans all that is good in the religions of 
 India. On the other hand, he candidly shows to the 
 Indians the defects and errors of their creeds, and 
 warns them against overvaluing them and interpreting 
 them as they were never meant to be interpreted. 
 The Hibbert Lectures embody the substance, so to 
 say, of all that Max Muller had to say on Indian reli- 
 gions, based on his life-long study of these as well as 
 of the religions and philosophic thought of the West. 
 Even independently of this, they are an important 
 contribution to metaphysical speculation, inasmuch as 
 the author discusses in them the possibility of religion 
 in the light of modern science, and takes the history 
 of religion in India merely to illustrate this central 
 problem. ' I might define,' he writes, * my object by 
 saying that it was a reconsideration of a problem, left 
 unsolved by Kant in his Critique of Piire Reason, 
 after a full analysis of the powers of our knowledge 
 and the limits of their application. Can we have 
 
ii2 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 any knowledge of the transcendent or supernatural ? 
 . . . My object was to show that we have a perfect 
 right to make one step beyond Kant, namely, to 
 show that our senses bring us into actual contact with 
 the Infinite, and that in that sensation of the Infinite 
 lies the living germ of all religion V 
 
 It was Malabari's plan to publish translations, in the 
 principal vernaculars, of a series of European works, 
 which would help to give shape to his idea of the 
 union of East and West. Prof. Max Mliller's work 
 was chosen to commence the series, both on account 
 of its intrinsic merit and of the high reputation of 
 the author among Indians. Malabari visited various 
 towns and native states to interest influential people 
 in his project, and to obtain the necessary funds. 
 Men like Keshub Chunder Sen, Rajendralala Mitra, 
 and others, favoured the idea. They believed, with 
 the enthusiastic projector, that these translations 
 would bring about a gradual religious revival such 
 as the country sadly requires. ' India wants nothing 
 so much as a religious revival, or rather a restoration. 
 There is no real unity for the nation except through 
 one faith ; political unity is uncertain. The struggle 
 lies in future between a new religion for the people 
 and revival of the old. And to a consummation of 
 the latter, which will be through a natural process, 
 I believe that the labours of Max Mtlller will con- 
 tribute more than of any other living authority/ 
 Malabari laboured strenuously for his object. He 
 travelled far and wide ; wrote, spoke, addressed the 
 
 1 Biographical Essay S) pp. 160-162. 
 
Max Mutter's Hibbert Lectures. 113 
 
 people, interviewed Rajahs and nobles. ' But little 
 practical good has resulted from his efforts. He has 
 succeeded in publishing the Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, 
 and Hindi versions. The Sanskrit was condemned 
 as unreliable, and the Tamil has not yet been pub- 
 lished. It argues very little for the real advancement 
 of the Indians when schemes like this, which required 
 but a moderate sum of money and only average 
 literary talents, have to languish for want of adequate 
 support from them, though the highest names were 
 enlisted on its side. 
 
 Sir William Hunter was amongst the first, in India, 
 to appreciate the value of these translations ; and he 
 did much, as President of the Education Commission, 
 to popularize the scheme. Sir William has, indeed, 
 been Malabari's staunch friend and supporter almost 
 from the beginning of his career. He has cheered 
 our hero in moments of despondency, and used his 
 pen in the public press, and his voice in the Council 
 of the Empire, to further his political no less than 
 his social and literary gospels. * Once or twice/ says 
 Malabari, ' I would have broken down but for the 
 sympathy of this gifted civilian.' 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Social Reform, Malabari's life-work The Position of Indian Women 
 The Marriage Question The Age of Consent Act. 
 
 EVEN the slight achievement in the field of literary 
 and religious revival described above is mainly due 
 to Malabari's perseverance. For what we may call 
 dogged persistence is the most striking trait in his 
 character. What he has once resolved upon he will 
 anyhow carry through. Difficulties, however great, 
 he minds but little. If man can overcome them, he 
 will. He is baffled only by superhuman obstacles. 
 * Opposition,' he once said to the present writer, * only 
 serves to rouse me, and makes me strive the harder.' 
 Tenax propositi may very justly be said of him. It is 
 this tenacity that has enabled him to overcome almost 
 superhuman obstacles, and do what good he has done 
 to his country during his brief lifetime. The work 
 which he now undertook was one which called forth 
 all his best powers. It was a work which only his 
 unwillingness to accept defeat could have carried 
 through. The question, when he took it up, was not 
 at all within the range of practical politics, and his 
 advocacy of it was set down as quixotic. But within 
 a few years he made it the burning topic of the day, 
 moved the Government that was at first immovable, 
 
Social Reform. 115 
 
 and succeeded in obtaining a practical, though, unfor- 
 tunately, but a partial solution of it. 
 
 This was the question of Social Reform aptly 
 described by Miss Nightingale as ' perhaps the greatest 
 reform the world has yet seen ' with which Malabari 
 has wholly identified himself, for which he may be 
 said to have lived, and for which he is ready to die, 
 if need be. People in England cannot easily under- 
 stand this question of Indian social reform, or the 
 extremely arduous nature of the efforts made to bring 
 it about. The social reform of which we have to 
 speak is of a very elementary character. On account 
 of the complex nature of the social organization, and 
 the long duration of the abuses it has given rise to, 
 the task of reform of even the simplest kind becomes 
 very hard and unpopular. India is rigidly conservative 
 in this respect. Nothing is so popular as the doctrine 
 of laissez faire. Social abuses, which nowhere else 
 would have been allowed to exist for any length of 
 time, have been tolerated here for ages with charac- 
 teristic indifference. Customs with a ruinous tendency, 
 once introduced, take root in India, and are surrounded 
 by a halo of authority. If left to themselves, these 
 customs flourish with all the sanctity of religion. In 
 India every custom, however unintelligible or inde- 
 fensible, is sheltered under the name of religion ; and 
 the attempt to reform it is taken as an attempt against 
 religion, and denounced as impious. The priestly 
 class, which wields an authority in social matters that 
 is unknown even in the most priest-ridden countries of 
 the West, stands up for these abuses and objectionable 
 
 I 2 
 
n6 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 customs, and brings its enormous influence to bear, 
 directly as well as indirectly, upon those who would 
 try to reform them. The hold which the priests 
 have upon the female members of the family is used 
 against the reformers, who are thus confronted with 
 bitter opposition in their own homes. The complex 
 machinery of caste, which unites Hindus and holds 
 them as in a dead man's embrace, is set against them. 
 The horrors of excommunication hang constantly over 
 their heads. The social reformer's task is thus of 
 a most trying nature. Many a stout heart has been 
 broken under the strain of persecution. A man may 
 not care for himself; he may, in his own person, defy 
 any persecution, however bitter : but when his whole 
 family is condemned along with him, and severed from 
 all intercourse with the society around them when, 
 for his zeal, his near and dear ones are made to suffer 
 with him nothing short of heroism can bear him up. 
 It is unreasonable to expect such heroism from many. 
 Karsandas Mulji, a Hindu of Gujarat, showed such 
 courage in the last generation, and for a long time 
 defied caste and superstition. But he, too, had to 
 yield at last. His last days were embittered by the 
 helpless state to which his family had been reduced. 
 He died in grief and solitude. Caste had proved too 
 strong for his individual efforts. His family could 
 not defy it. They retracted, and underwent a humi- 
 liating penance in order to be taken back into the 
 fold of their caste. Superstition and bigotry thus 
 triumphed. A terrible lesson was taught to all recu- 
 sants and reformers in Gujarat. Few dared to follow 
 
The Position of Indian Women. 117 
 
 in the steps of Karsandas. Yet, what was the offence 
 for which he and his family suffered ? The head and 
 front of it was a voyage across the seas to England. 
 A man may cross the Indian Ocean and go to Africa, 
 and still remain an orthodox Hindu. The sanctity 
 of caste is not affected by this. But let him go to 
 Europe and his caste as well as creed is lost in the 
 sea. His caste, that most sacred thing about him, 
 the one thing needful to be saved, is lost, and he is 
 unfit to be a Hindu. Nay, if Hinduism had its own 
 way, he would be unfit even to live. The man, then, 
 who dared to cross the water and visit England, 
 became that incurable sinner, the social reformer. 
 This might sound strange to English ears : yet this 
 easy and elementary reform, as it must appear to 
 foreigners, was fraught with grave danger to the rash 
 one who ventured upon it. 
 
 The caste prohibition against going to Europe 
 seems puerile, and not very harmful in itself. But 
 the task of social reform, which Malabari undertook, 
 was by no means harmless. It touched the position 
 of women in India. This question has been acknow- 
 ledged to be the most pressing of the Indian social 
 questions of our day, and is at the root of them all. 
 The future of society is based mainly on woman, and 
 according as she occupies an exalted or degraded 
 position in it, its stability and moral worth are esti- 
 mated. Malabari's great object is the regeneration 
 of his country under the peaceful sway of Britain. 
 Education is spreading wide, chiefly among the men. 
 But he rightly holds that the status of the women is 
 
n8 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 the key of the whole situation. Unless the women 
 are educated and emancipated from the bonds of 
 ignoble customs, there can be little hope for the future. 
 The family is the unit of the State, and the family is 
 based on the mother and the wife. Within their 
 sphere, and this is a very important one, women in 
 India are supreme and all-powerful, in spite of their 
 ignorance. In their present state this power which 
 they wield is wrongly applied, sometimes even to 
 thwart the efforts of their own benefactors. If they 
 become enlightened they will employ their influence 
 in the right channels and for a worthy purpose. The 
 influence of women in India is well illustrated by the 
 saying of an educated leader of Hindu society, that it 
 is easier to defy Her Majesty's Secretary of State than 
 to defy one's own mother-in-law. * In their own house- 
 holds,' remarks Miss Florence Nightingale with true 
 insight, 'be it in hut or palace, even though never 
 seen, they hold the most important moral strongholds 
 of any women on earth. Supported by custom, Indian 
 women are absolute within their sphere.' The influ- 
 ence of women being so strong and far-reaching, it is 
 all the more essential that they should be educated 
 and enlightened, and thus be made to share, so far as 
 may be, in the blessings of British civilization. But 
 the Oriental's ideas on the subject of educating women 
 are peculiarly narrow. Although in practice woman 
 holds a very influential and important position in the 
 household, yet in theory her status is very degraded. 
 She is not the mate and companion of man, but his 
 servant and slave. She must be in a subordinate 
 
The Marriage Question. 119 
 
 position, therefore she must be kept in ignorance. 
 To educate her is considered almost a sin. There 
 are current among the people many absurd super- 
 stitions about the spread of knowledge among women ; 
 what dire calamities to the race, physical and moral, 
 will follow such an impious attempt ! Still, in spite 
 of opposition, female education has made some pro- 
 gress in the country, especially in the large cities, 
 during the present generation. A fair percentage of 
 girls have been returned as school-going in the last 
 census, and there are signs that the percentage will 
 be higher at the end of the present decade. 
 
 Education is a good agency for raising the status 
 of women. But the women of India are not merely 
 in a state of ignorance. They are also, as we have 
 explained, in a state of servility, a sort of bondage. 
 Emancipation from this servile state must, then, pre- 
 cede their education. The social evils and disabilities 
 under which they suffer must be first removed if they 
 are sought to be enlightened and educated. Prominent 
 among these social evils of Indian society are infant 
 marriages and enforced widowhood. These two, which 
 follow one from the other and are closely connected, 
 have taken deep root and done infinite harm to the 
 race. Marriage is considered by the Hindus the most 
 sacred and essential act in a woman's life. Every 
 other consideration must give way to this. It is the 
 most solemn duty of the parents to have their daughter 
 married. An unmarried daughter is the greatest curse 
 of the family. She is unhappy herself, and the cause 
 of daily misery to her relatives. The Hindu believes 
 
120 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 that there is no salvation for him without marriage 
 and male issue. The gates of the other world can be 
 entered only through marriage. This institution being 
 thus of such a vast importance, it is easy to imagine 
 the haste with which parents want to dispose of their 
 daughters in marriage. The haste is not limited even 
 to the age when the girl is fairly grown up and becomes 
 fit to undergo the cares of maternity. Owing to the 
 prevalence of certain absurd customs, there is a scarcity 
 of husbands, an evil which is intensified by the restric- 
 tion of marriage within a very limited circle. Parents, 
 therefore, have often to find husbands for their 
 daughters as soon as these are born. The result 
 is the system of infant marriages, which, as the 
 late Mr. Justice Telang admitted, is all but universal 
 in India. 
 
 These marriages in infancy are harmful in them- 
 selves in many ways ; they prove disastrous to the 
 race, owing to several other customs existing side by 
 side. Marriage is a sacrament, and therefore indis- 
 soluble. But the husband may marry another wife, or 
 more than one, in the lifetime of his first wife. This 
 is one cause of unhappiness. Then there is the dis- 
 parity of age, temperament, education ; there is also 
 the risk of disease and death. Altogether, the marriage 
 is about as foolish and precarious an arrangement as 
 it is possible for superstition to devise. As regards 
 age, a child of seven, even less, is sometimes married 
 to a man of fifty or sixty. What a future the poor 
 child-wife has before her! Before she comes to the 
 age of discretion the old husband may die ; and she is 
 
The Marriage Question. 121 
 
 a wife no longer, but a widow ! Infant marriages thus 
 lead to infant widowhood, and widowhood, painful for 
 all women, is much more painful to the Hindu woman, 
 considering the age at which she generally becomes 
 a widow, and the pains and penalties attaching to the 
 state of widowhood. 
 
 According to modern Hindu custom and usage 
 a widow is not allowed to marry again. Though 
 a man may marry several wives at one and the same 
 time, a woman is allowed to marry but once, and if 
 she loses her husband she has to pass the rest of her 
 life, however young, in a state of enforced celibacy. 
 A widow is considered as scarcely to belong to society. 
 She is held a sinner, and her presence is shunned 
 as inauspicious. Her misfortune is often taken for 
 a crime. She is made to bear all the outward marks 
 of widowhood, not only as regards dress, but further 
 by being deprived of her beauty. Her hair, the chief 
 ornament of a woman, the essential element in her 
 beauty, is removed by force, and she is made to pass 
 the rest of her days in this unnatural condition. She 
 also suffers under several legal disabilities. She has 
 no real control over her husband's property, very little 
 actual 'share in it. She depends for bare maintenance 
 on the family, by whom she is looked down upon as 
 a burden and a nuisance. 
 
 Thus, infant marriage and enforced widowhood are 
 connected evils. The girl is married in infancy. If 
 the husband dies, she is compelled to remain a widow 
 to the end of her days, and to sacrifice life and all life's 
 happiness at the shrine of superstition. This double 
 
122 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 curse undermines society, both physically and morally. 
 Infant marriage leads to early maternity. The wife 
 becomes a mother before she has herself hardly ceased 
 to be a child. The growth of mind as well as body is 
 arrested by this forced and unnatural process. The 
 mother having had no time to develop in a natural 
 way, the child also must be a weakling, even if it 
 survives its birth. The race has thus deteriorated in 
 the course of generations. The physical deterioration 
 of a large portion of the Hindu community is chiefly 
 due to this custom of infant marriages. Enforced 
 widowhood, again, is the cause of moral degradation 
 in not a few cases. A glance at the census will suffice 
 to show how enormous is the extent covered by infant 
 marriage and enforced widowhood, especially among 
 what are called the higher classes. 
 
 Such being the great evils of Hindu society, it 
 would be surprising if no attempt were made by the 
 newly educated class to remedy them. Several Hindu 
 gentlemen have endeavoured to paint the evils for the 
 community in all their ghastly forms. Others have 
 proved conclusively that the ancient scriptures do not 
 enjoin infant marriages and do not force perpetual 
 widowhood on girls, but permit of remarriage.' The 
 most notable among these was Pandit Ishwar Chunder 
 Vidyasagar of Bengal, a liberal-minded scholar and 
 philanthropist. Many stray attempts were made by 
 him and other heroic souls to break the force of 
 ignorance and superstition. But nothing substantial 
 came of them. Hindu society seemed incapable of 
 reform from within. A strong impetus from outside 
 
The Marriage Question. 123 
 
 was needed. And this came now from a neighbouring 
 quarter. 
 
 Malabari had from his early days felt the deepest 
 sympathy with Hindu society. Though born a Parsi, 
 he had inherited from his mother an almost incredible 
 attachment for Hindus. She had come in close contact 
 with her Hindu friends and neighbours, and treated 
 them as her kith and kin. The boy had seen his 
 mother tending Hindu children, visiting Hindu widows, 
 and making herself generally useful to all, of whatever 
 caste or creed. This had left an indelible impression 
 on his mind and heart, and he followed the noble 
 example, if not with greater intensity, at least over 
 a wider sphere of usefulness. The woes of the Hindu 
 widow were known to him well enough. In his earliest 
 volume of verse he has sung pathetically of them, and 
 sworn, like a knight-errant of old, to eradicate them 
 some day. In his boyhood he had witnessed some 
 heartrending results of premature marriage and com- 
 pulsory widowhood. These haunted him during day, 
 and startled him from sleep at night. * The sights 
 burnt themselves into my brains,' he explained to 
 a friend just before undertaking his crusade. * It is 
 not merely that I know the miseries of widowhood,' 
 he protested to another friend, 'not merely that I feel 
 them, feel for and with the widow ; I am the widow 
 for the time being.' \ This may well be believed of one 
 with his intense feeling, who throws his whole heart 
 and mind into the cause he has espoused. It is this 
 eagerness to work and suffer for others that, above 
 everything else, makes him out to be a hero. If this 
 
124 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 is the essence of chivalry, Malabari is indeed the most 
 chivalrous of India's sons. Anyhow, it is true chanty 
 that prompts him, charity of a higher order than that 
 which enables the rich or the powerful to give a fraction 
 of their superfluity to others. In the words of a distant 
 and therefore disinterested observer, Malabari 'has 
 given his life and fortune away to the cause of the 
 weak.' In undertaking the cause of the Hindu child- 
 wife and child-widow, he did not for a moment think 
 that it was the cause of an alien race he was to 
 champion. He considered himself bound to the 
 suffering race by closer ties than those of blood or 
 creed. True charity knows of no creed and no blood. 
 Its object is to alleviate human suffering wherever 
 found. Precedence is given by it, not to a kinsman 
 and co-religionist, but, to quote our reformer, * to 
 him whose need is the sorest.' Natures like his do 
 not pause to inquire whether the sufferer is Hindu, 
 Parsi, Mahomedan, or Christian. It is enough for 
 them to know the misfortune to be able to feel the 
 need of removing it. Besides, his own community had 
 suffered from the same evils, and was partly suffering 
 from them still. But he rightly thought that Hindu 
 society, with whom the evils arose, and among whom 
 they flourished, needed immediate help. The Parsis, 
 being a compact and energetic body, were able to look 
 after their own affairs, and had, with little extraneous 
 aid, removed several social abuses. Malabari saw the 
 lack of this spirit of self-help among his Hindu neigh- 
 bours, as he also saw the causes of it, and resolved to 
 bring them what brotherly help he could. 
 
The Marriage Question. 125 
 
 He therefore stepped back from the line of literary 
 and political ambition, to give himself up to the 
 humbler role of social reformer. This involved immense 
 self-sacrifice. There is little that he could not have 
 achieved as politician and man of letters. As it is, his 
 literary talents, hampered though they are by practical 
 work, have shone brightly whenever he has cared to 
 disclose them. In politics, too, he would have risen to 
 a prominent position, though he is meant by nature 
 to be a statesman rather than a politician. He would 
 have obtained honours and emoluments without stint. 
 But for the success of his cause he preferred to pass 
 them by. 
 
 He has given up the last ten years of his life to his 
 self-imposed task of duty. ('After silent sympathy and 
 careful watching, he came before the public in 1894 
 with his now famous ' Notes' on Infant Marriage and 
 Enforced Widowhood. His object was not to ask for 
 Government interference in these matters, for he knew 
 such a demand would be premature and vexatious. 
 He submitted the notes for consideration to high 
 officials and influential representatives of the people, 
 and desired to ascertain the drift of opinion on the 
 subjects, and on the advisability or otherwise of inter- 
 ference. Persons in the position of the Viceroy and 
 his Councillors, Governors, Lieutenant-Governors, and 
 others warmly approved of his zeal in this cause, 
 acknowledged the two questions to be of first impor- 
 tance, and sympathized with his efforts to remove the 
 evils of society. But they were not in favour of 
 Government interference at that stage. Until the 
 
i26 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 people, or their representatives, first moved in the 
 matter and asked Government to intervene, they could 
 do little. They advised Malabari to sound non-official 
 public opinion more widely, and to induce it to bring 
 the subject before the rulers of its own accord. He 
 took this advice, and forthwith opened his crusade. 
 He undertook extensive tours through the country, to 
 organize opinion on the questions and to arrange for 
 a general appeal to the Government. His labours 
 were incessant. Associations were started and com- 
 mittees formed in the principal centres of thought. 
 Deputations and petitions were got up. In short, 
 a band of kindred spirits were gathered around him, 
 who worked loyally and enthusiastically for this 
 national object. Nearly every province, from the 
 Punjaub to Mysore, was visited, and enlisted on his 
 side. The spirit of the true missionary w r as stirred in 
 him. Malabari, as a public man, appears at his best 
 during this crusade. 
 
 The result of all these exertions was that within 
 a few years the question of social reform, which was 
 formerly dismissed with an expression of conventional 
 sympathy, came up before the Government for prac- 
 tical solution. The Indian Government obtained 
 what it had wanted. Strong memorials and petitions 
 went up to it, asking for some sort of action on its 
 part. But still, the British Indian Government, with 
 its traditional caution and circumspection, hesitated 
 to act. Meanwhile, also, the reactionary elements of 
 Hindu society had made a stir. The orthodox party 
 shielded the objectionable custom of infant marriage 
 
The Marriage Question. 127 
 
 under the name of religion, and raised the cry of 
 ' religion in danger ' to excite and mislead the igno- 
 rant. Thus Malabari and his lieutenants had, not 
 only the apathy of an alien government to overcome, 
 but also the active antipathy and opposition of his 
 reactionary countrymen themselves. These latter 
 tried to frighten Government by conjuring up pictures 
 of another mutiny, which would follow its interference 
 in social matters. For months were rebellions and 
 civil wars wildly talked about, as the inevitable result 
 of this social reform movement. But Malabari an- 
 ticipated every move of that kind, and foiled its tactics 
 at every turn. 
 
 After six years' preparation and organization in 
 India itself, he thought of enlisting directly the 
 sympathy of the people, and especially the women, of 
 England, on his side. His question being a women's 
 question, he judged rightly that it would be helped 
 forward by English women. He knew the immense 
 power that English women have learnt to wield. He 
 determined to utilize this power in putting the ma- 
 chinery of the State in motion. Personal interviews 
 were his chief instruments here. He went to England 
 thrice on this mission. He addressed an eloquent 
 and pathetic 'Appeal' to the 'women of England,' 
 on behalf of their Indian sisters. He interested the 
 whole English press in the subject in a manner 
 unknown before. He also tackled opponents in high 
 position and won them over to his side. Mr. Herbert 
 Spencer may be said to be one of these converts to 
 Malabari's theory of the necessity of State aid in 
 
128 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 dealing with what he calls 'certain outer aspects of 
 social reform.' Finally, a committee, consisting of the 
 most influential and representative persons, including 
 prominent English as well as Anglo-Indian statesmen, 
 men of letters and philanthropists, was established in 
 London, to urge the necessity of legislative action on 
 the Indian Government. The chief recommendation, 
 formally submitted by this committee, was to raise by 
 law the minimum of the girl's age when a marriage 
 can be consummated from ten to twelve years. This 
 was embodied in the famous Age of Consent Bill of 
 1891, passed by the Government of Lord Lansdowne. 
 The English friends who co-operated with Malabari 
 were very zealous in the cause ; in fact, they were too 
 zealous for him in some respects. They were not 
 content with his mild proposals. If they had their 
 own way, they would have forced the Indian Govern- 
 ment to go much further in this matter of social reform 
 than it would have liked to go. But Malabari im- 
 pressed upon them the prime necessity of hastening 
 slowly. He sometimes found it more difficult to con- 
 trol his war-horses than to rouse them to action. 
 Thus the man who was denounced by the reaction- 
 aries in India as a firebrand, was the very man who 
 saved the reform movement from proceeding at too 
 rapid and headlong a rate. It is well known that 
 throughout his crusade Malabari has refused to act 
 as a professional agitator, to embarrass or stultify 
 Government, even when smarting under their slow- 
 ness to move. 
 (The Age of Consent Act, which raised the age from 
 
The Age of Consent Act. 129 
 
 ten to twelve, may appear to the English to be a trivial 
 advance. Even twelve, they may contend, is not at 
 all adequate for the purpose, and must be raised at 
 least to fourteen. But for India the advance must be 
 considered a great and beneficent achievement^ Here- 
 after the age will doubtless be raised to fourteen, and 
 probably to sixteen. The people themselves, after 
 experiencing the benefits of the present Act, may 
 desire such a rise. The Act will thus have an educa- 
 tive influence. But even as it is, it will do immense 
 good.. The years between ten and twelve constitute 
 the most critical period in the development of an 
 Indian girl ; and her protection during this period is 
 an inestimable gain. The years between twelve and 
 fourteen are considered less critical for the Indian wife 
 than between ten and twelve. This was one reason 
 why a comparatively low limit was accepted. The 
 measure is also recognized as a vindication of a grand 
 principle, namely, that nothing, not even custom or 
 religion itself, shall be allowed to militate against the 
 interests of humanity. The Age of Consent Act is 
 the result of Malabari's advocacy of social reform in 
 England as well as India, during nearly ten years, 
 supported by the patriotic zeal and learning of his 
 friend, Mr. Dayaram Gidumal ; and he may well be 
 proud of it. If true greatness is to be measured, not 
 so much by the greatness of the result achieved as by 
 the magnitude of the difficulties overcome, and of the 
 obstacles removed during the effort, then the leader of 
 Indian Social Reform must be said to be really a great 
 man. His efforts show what could be achieved by 
 
 K 
 
130 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 single-minded zeal and perseverance. Even after the 
 passing of this Act he has not been idle. He is busy 
 urging the Government to take up the second pro- 
 posal of the committee in London, that about abolish- 
 ing the English-imported law regarding the ' restitution 
 of conjugal rights.' His work, moreover, is not limited 
 to public exertions like those we have recorded. His 
 private efforts for social reform are indefatigable. He 
 has working committees in almost every part of the 
 country, which help, personally, with money and in- 
 fluence, those who are in need of support. Malabari 
 and his committees are not content with talking and 
 passing resolutions as to the desirableness of the re- 
 marriage of widows and other such questions. They 
 try actually to bring about these improvements by 
 means of persuasion and pecuniary aid. They also 
 employ social reform preachers, whose business is to 
 travel about and show the better way to the people. 
 Malabari is in regular correspondence with his agents, 
 as to every little act of benevolence, and opens his 
 purse as freely as he wields his pen. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Visit to England The Indian Eye on English Life The Indian 
 Problem Latest Gujarati poem Conclusion. 
 
 WITH the passing of the Age of Consent Act his 
 active career seems to have closed, for the present at 
 least. His all-engrossing, self-imposed task is over. 
 And like most active men, he repines at this loss of 
 occupation.' He seems never to be at his ease but 
 when engrossed with some work for the good of his 
 fellow-men. He is young, being barely forty-one, 
 though in these forty-one years he has done more 
 than a single life's work. He may still undertake 
 another great cause of reform, and devote his maturer 
 energies to it. 
 
 Malabari visited England thrice, though for a short 
 while only each time. His visits were connected with 
 the question of social reform, and he was really en- 
 grossed in his work of conversion. But still he was 
 never so busy as to allow his powers of observing and 
 studying human nature and character to lie idle. 
 And in England he had a very wide and novel field. 
 He utilized his unusual opportunities of observing 
 English life in several grades, and made notes of the 
 more striking features. These he has worked out in 
 his recently published book, entitled The Indian Eye 
 
 t K2 
 
132 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 on English Life. In this volume he does for his own 
 countrymen, as regards England, what he has already 
 done for Englishmen about Gujarat. The work is 
 almost entirely critical, though there are also some 
 extremely vivid and lifelike descriptions of men and 
 things. The criticism is not always favourable to 
 the people observed and criticized ; in some places 
 it is severely adverse. Yet the whole book is 
 conceived in such a candid spirit, the critic is so 
 generous, so anxious to give credit for everything 
 that he could honestly praise, and so singularly free 
 is he from prejudices, that few will be inclined to find 
 fault with him even when differing from his views. 
 In this book we see English life at home and in public 
 analyzed with rare tact and judgement. The English- 
 man may see himself in it as an acute foreigner of 
 wide sympathies and true culture sees him, and may 
 profit by this very kindly light vouchsafed to him. 
 As might be expected, the book has run through 
 three editions in a year. The first edition was 
 received with warm applause by the leading journals 
 in England, India, and even in France. In this last 
 country, too, the book is likely to become popular, if 
 translated by a sympathetic hand. The French are 
 very curious to know all about English character, and 
 their literature contains two excellent works on it. 
 Voltaire's Lettres depict, with the cynicism of that 
 scoffer, the lighter aspects which the people of Eng- 
 land present to an intelligent and observant foreigner. 
 M. Taine's estimate is based on wider and more 
 accurate observation, and therefore goes deeper. But 
 
'The Indian Eye on English Life.' 133 
 
 both these French critics lack the wide sympathy and 
 keen insight of the Indian, which have made his 
 criticisms juster as well as more profound, and yet 
 more palatable. As a literary work, the book is 
 allowed to possess merits of a very high order. It 
 is replete with humour of that gentle, delicate kind 
 which never hurts. The style is simple, lucid, and 
 forcible, while here and there may be found passages 
 of rare power and beauty, as the one, for instance, on 
 Faith and Doubt. But with all its merits, the work 
 is not comprehensive enough, omitting some important 
 sides of English life. It also suffers, like much of his 
 literary work, from want of method and of leisure. 
 These blemishes, in fact, characterize the artist as 
 well as his work. He seems to be always in a hurry, 
 and his work bears distinct traces of this. He sug- 
 gests more than he explains. This is due partly to 
 defects of early training, and more so to the literary 
 artist having merged himself in the practical philan- 
 thropist. Be this what it may, the Indian Eye is 
 remarkably free from the crudities of some of his 
 earlier writings. A Saturday Reviewer compares the 
 author of the Indian Eye with Mr. Rudyard Kipling 
 at his best, whilst other critics have welcomed the 
 book in terms of high praise, expecting from it nothing 
 but good both to England and to India. This is 
 really the tendency of almost everything that Malabari 
 has written. His Indian Muse and Gujarat and the 
 Gujaratis are instances in point. If some enterprising 
 publisher were to bring out a handy reprint of these 
 writings, with some of those autobiographical sketches 
 
134 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 scattered over the columns of the Indian Spectator, we 
 believe he would confer a lasting benefit on the public, 
 while at the same time making a good investment for 
 himself. A volume or two of Malabariana would be 
 appreciated all over the world where the English 
 language is spoken. His English and vernacular 
 works might also be placed with advantage within 
 the reach of the student class. Not a few of them 
 deserve to be used as text-books at school and college. 
 
 Malabari's latest literary work is a small volume of 
 verse, put forth under the title of Anubhavika, that is, 
 ' Experiences in Life/ In it he returns to mother 
 Gujarati, as in his earliest poetical effort, and gives 
 a series of sonnets, moralizing on some of the strange 
 and almost dramatic experiences he has obtained in 
 life. A high ethical tone predominates here, as in all 
 his poetical works. The poem on Active Duty is one 
 of the best in the volume. The volume contains an 
 introductory ode to his native Gujarat, which shows 
 the deep love he still cherishes for the country of his 
 birth and early training. He has seen, over and over 
 again, the whole continent of India ; indeed, there are 
 very few who know it so well as he. He has seen 
 England and English life. He has seen Europe. 
 Yet his heart, like a true patriot's, yearns for his 
 beloved province of Gujarat, where were laid the 
 scenes of his childhood. This is characteristic of him. 
 Though he has imbibed the true spirit of Western 
 civilization and culture, he does not despise the East, 
 and loves the land of his birth with an undying love. 
 
 We must not omit some mention here of The Indian 
 
'The Indian Problem.' 135 
 
 Problem, published in the shape of a memorandum 
 during his third visit to England. In this Malabari 
 gave, in his own forcible and felicitous language, the 
 gist of a conversation he had had with certain leading 
 statesmen. The leaflet takes an all-round view of the 
 present political situation in India ; explains how the 
 difficulties of governing it will increase with the in- 
 crease of English education and the spread of Western 
 ideas ; to what extent the difference in ideals is 
 responsible for the growing tension between natives 
 and Europeans ; and what are the real dangers ahead, 
 as distinct from the imaginary. With charming frank- 
 ness he ' preaches at ' the official class, on the one 
 hand, and at their critics in the press, on the other. 
 All this he does without indulging in one offensive 
 remark in the course of his discussion of some of the 
 most bitterly controverted topics of the day. He 
 must be a true friend of India and England alike who 
 dares so much for each of them. Owing to its own 
 merits, no less than the position of the writer, The 
 Indian Problem is looked upon as a sort of vade 
 mecum for statesmen and publicists. It has had the 
 general approval of responsible officers of the Crown 
 and leaders of opinion. 
 
 We have now rapidly glanced at Malabari's work, 
 literary and philanthropic. Within our narrow limits 
 we have not had enough space for personal details. 
 To describe the work, rather than the personality of 
 the hero, has been our object, and consistently with it 
 we have hitherto spoken almost entirely of Malabari's 
 work. This is also in keeping with his own aim in 
 
136 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 life. He has sunk his personality in his work and his 
 cause. Complete effacement of self has been his 
 ideal ; and he has steadily pursued it throughout 
 his later life. This is not because he is without 
 ambition. Naturally, he says, he is very ambitious, 
 fully sharing that last failing of noble minds. But, by 
 a course of severe self-discipline, he has crushed all 
 personal ambition and love of self out of himself. In 
 this alone, if not in other respects, his life is a great 
 lesson to those who would do good to their country. 
 Public life is affected chiefly from ambitious motives 
 and love of fame. Popular applause, the admiration 
 of gazing multitudes, is as the very breath of the 
 nostrils to most public men. Malabari has steadily 
 avoided such popularity. Nor has he ever cared for 
 a life of ease and comfort. For a man of his oppor- 
 tunities, he has preferred to live in poverty and 
 obscurity, without noise or show of any kind, except 
 such as the nature of his work rendered unavoidable. 
 It is an open secret that he has spent the larger half 
 of his income on public objects ever since he began to 
 earn. Talking to him one day on the subject, the 
 present writer asked how he could give so much and 
 so often from his little, and yet manage to live so well. 
 What could this mean ? His answer was character- 
 istic : ' Shall I tell you what it means ? It means the 
 same coat to your back for years, the same everything 
 else so long as you could pull on with it. It means 
 no carriage, no living in style, no going out into 
 society. It sometimes means being very nearly run 
 over by an upstart's carriage, said upstart cracking 
 
Conclusion. 137 
 
 his whip behind you. In some matters, it means 
 daily, hourly self-denial But I do not repine. What 
 was perhaps a trial, at first, has now become something 
 like a triumph.' 
 
 We have seen how in the prime of manhood, at 
 the very height of popularity, with the applause of the 
 multitude as if ringing in his ears, he bethought him- 
 self of the dreams of duty that had haunted him in 
 his boyhood's day: how he descended, as it were, from 
 the crest of the wave, to wander barefooted over the 
 thorny path of poverty and obloquy ; how he declined 
 all honours and profits, shutting his eyes, not only to 
 his own future, but even to that of his children, arguing, 
 ' if they share the privileges of my life, they must share 
 its privations too.' Henceforth he has lived only for 
 others. Many have profited by his advice and help 
 from the Raja or Rani in trouble to the school-girl in 
 Europe struggling with religious doubt, or the Indian 
 school-boy at home or abroad struggling with poverty. 
 Many have been helped by him to official or social 
 position. And some of these have abused his kind- 
 ness, betrayed his confidence, traded upon his name, 
 even personated the unsuspecting recluse for their 
 own evil purposes. But no abuse or ill-requital has 
 turned him against his fellows. His 'enthusiasm of 
 humanity' has remained unabated in spite of all 
 difficulties and disappointments. It was probably this 
 trait in his character that once reminded a distinguished 
 civilian of the career of that prince of enthusiasts, 
 Gautama Buddha. 
 
 It required no ordinary self-denial in a man of his 
 
138 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 talents and inclinations to keep himself out of the 
 sphere of active politics wherein, chiefly, educated 
 Indians are assured of public applause. He has kept 
 out of the reach of all such applause. He chose his 
 own quiet way of public usefulness, and has persevered 
 in his choice through good report and evil. The name 
 and fame he has achieved have come rather in spite 
 of his efforts than owing to them. Had he chosen to 
 become a political force, there is no saying how high 
 this 'born leader of men,' as Colonel Olcott has 
 described him, might have risen. Had he chosen to 
 shine as a literary star, he could have occupied perhaps 
 the largest space in the galaxy of letters. But early 
 in life he realized the urgent need of championing the 
 cause of social reform, that is the cause of the weak 
 and the neglected, and he determined to do this 
 himself. How well he has done it we have seen in 
 the preceding pages. He has given up a brilliant 
 career, given up all ambition, as has been observed by 
 Professor Max Mliller, many cherished friendships, nay, 
 health itself and peace of mind, in order to serve his 
 cause. He has had to fight against long-established 
 usage and prejudice, not only in his own province, but 
 all over the continent. But he has succeeded in carry- 
 ing out a considerable part of his programme in spite 
 of staggering obstacles and opposition at almost every 
 step. Naturally, he has made enemies on many sides, 
 though he has never acted like a firebrand, nor acted, 
 Ishmael-like, with his hand against every one and 
 every one's hand against him. His prudence and 
 moderation have led him always to proceed on the 
 
Conclusion. 139 
 
 lines of least resistance, and to make as few opponents 
 as possible. But still, his efforts to reform Hindu 
 society have shocked conservative minds, and all these 
 have not yet had the generosity to forgive him. But 
 if they could not find it in their hearts to forgive 
 Malabari, he has forgiven them all. Few know what 
 wrongs he has forgiven, in his private as well as public 
 dealings. If he is great in his power of giving, he is 
 even greater in his power of forgiving. His opponents 
 have sometimes gone out of their way to question his 
 motives, charging him with selfishness and love of 
 notoriety. That a man, who resolutely set his face 
 against self-aggrandizement, who declined offer after 
 offer of friendly aid, who has avoided every form of 
 recognition from the State and from society ; that a 
 man who leads the simple ascetic life that Malabari 
 leads, shunning the world, despising all its pleasures, 
 and owning nothing beyond a bare competence, earned 
 by the sweat of his brow and the force of his pen ; 
 that such a man should be charged with interested 
 motives, shows the straits to which his opponents must 
 have been reduced, for want of facts and arguments. 
 Whatever may be his faults and he has never sought 
 to conceal these selfishness and love of the world are 
 certainly not among them. If he had looked to self, 
 and had swerved from the path of rectitude but a 
 little, he would not have remained to-day the poor 
 man that he is. He is sometimes stigmatized as 
 a friend of the official class, whom he is supposed to 
 keep in good humour. But if the truth were known, 
 the relations between Malabari and his official friends 
 
140 India : Forty Years of Progress and Reform. 
 
 would be found to be entirely to his credit. As we 
 have observed, he is beholden to none of them. If 
 anything, the balance lies in his favour, so far as good 
 offices and friendly counsel go, in the interest of the 
 public and the Government, which he has always held 
 to be identical. On the other hand, the officials find 
 in him, when they are in the wrong, an unsparing 
 critic. By means of his paper, and still more by 
 means of private correspondence with the authorities, 
 he has tried hard to expose the irregularities of 
 individual officials, some of whom have thus come to 
 hate him and discredit his public movements. 
 
 But it is always the fate of such characters to be 
 misunderstood or underrated in their lifetime. They 
 themselves, however, care little for it. They find 
 sufficient consolation in the consciousness of doing 
 good. The consciousness of having a high ideal, and 
 of their efforts to attain that, cheers up such noble 
 natures. It is conducive to the good of the world 
 around them to know and appreciate them. It is 
 always refreshing and edifying to find, in the midst 
 of thousands pursuing commonplace worldly objects, 
 a few soaring above them, following a lofty ideal and 
 giving up all that the rest consider so vitally important 
 in this pursuit. The world is not so ignorant nor 
 perverse as to refuse to appreciate a great character 
 when it is shown one. Still his contemporaries are 
 too near and know too little of him to understand 
 Malabari thoroughly. For that the due perspective 
 of time is required. Posterity can do better justice 
 to great men. So when the present generation shall 
 
Conclusion. 141 
 
 have passed away, and the succeeding ones shall come 
 to cast up a proper account of its deeds and to estimate 
 the men who did them, who shall reap the harvest of 
 the laborious lives now spent for their benefit; when 
 many of the names that now loom so large or figure 
 so often before the public shall shrink to their due 
 significance ; when', in short, every deed and every 
 man shall appear in their true proportions ; it may 
 confidently be predicted that the name of Behramji 
 Malabari poet, philosopher and publicist, the true 
 national reformer, the champion of the rights of child- 
 wives and child-widows shall be remembered as that 
 of the greatest benefactor of India in his day, and the 
 warmest friend of England. Then shall it be time 
 to realize that it is possible for one to discard all 
 personal ambition, and to make one's life sublime by 
 the exercise of incessant and uncomplaining self- 
 sacrifice. 
 
SUPPLEMENT 
 
 THE writer of this sketch is indebted to several 
 of Mr. Malabari's friends, who have been good enough 
 to help him with their impressions of the man and his 
 work. Of these, the following extracts from the 
 letters of the Countess of Jersey, Sir John Scott, Sir 
 William Wedderburn, and last, but not least, Mr. 
 Ardasir Framji, perhaps the most cultured Parsi 
 gentleman, and father of our first lady graduates, will 
 be read with special interest : 
 
 FROM THE COUNTESS OF JERSEY. 
 
 . . . What most impressed me was the singular absence of desire 
 on his part to acquire for himself any advantage or notoriety in the 
 course of his efforts for his country's good. Many prominent people 
 in London society would gladly have received Mr. Malabari as an 
 honoured guest; others would willingly have raised subscriptions for 
 the furtherance of his work. Mr. Malabari, however, declined both 
 personal recognition and pecuniary aid. All that he desired was 
 sympathy and assistance in forcing certain social evils on the notice 
 of those who might influence public opinion. I do not know when 
 I have met with a man so single and devoted in his aim. I hope 
 that your account of this philanthropist will prove useful and stimulat- 
 ing to your readers. 
 
 FROM SIR JOHN SCOTT. 
 
 . . . Mr. Malabari is, in the truest sense, a reformer, not a mere 
 innovator. His keen interest in politics has not blinded him to the 
 
144 Supplement. 
 
 fact that social reform must precede political reform, or, at any rate, is 
 of greater importance. The homes and inner life of the people must 
 be made healthy, morally and physically, before any solid improvement 
 of the outer life is attempted. Infant marriages and enforced widow- 
 hood of infant wives are far greater blocks to the political develop- 
 ment of India than any of her Congressmen imagine. Indeed, the 
 whole treatment of women as inferiors, needing no genuine education 
 and having no real equality, is fatal to progress. This was realized 
 by Mr. Malabari, and he set himself to social reform as the one big 
 task of his life ; and his earnest, eloquent crusade has had the success 
 it deserved. He is, too, a writer of a rare kind, for he has originality 
 and earnestness, whether he writes on Gujarat or London. His 
 grasp of political problems is noteworthy, and his power of seeing all 
 sides gives him that moderation which convinces. 
 
 FROM SIR WILLIAM WEDDERBURN. 
 
 ... I am glad that you are intending to write an account of 
 Mr. Malabari's career, as an example to his countrymen of philan- 
 thropic self-sacrifice. I have had Mr. Malabari's friendship for many 
 years, and have watched with admiration his great and untiring energy 
 in the cause of suffering humanity, his sympathy being strongest for 
 those who are most helpless. In ancient times, those who desired to 
 convert the people had to depend upon oral teaching. Such oral 
 teaching Mr. Malabari has carried on systematically, travelling about 
 as a social missionary. But modern times have, in addition, given 
 him the power of the press ; and by means of his journal and other 
 publications he has preached his doctrines over the length and breadth 
 of India. I shall rejoice if you can stimulate the younger generation 
 to follow him in his self-denying labours for the social welfare of the 
 whole Indian community. 
 
 FROM MR. ARDASIR FRAMJI. 
 
 ... I have known Mr. Malabari for the last twenty years, and 
 have watched the growth of his mind and of his work. He is such an 
 intimate friend of mine, and has filled such a large place in my 
 thoughts and in my respect, that it would be difficult, when speaking 
 of him, to prevent myself from falling into exaggeration. His life has 
 been to me a subject of speculation as to the possibility of develop- 
 ment of the highest order, apart from educational influences. 
 
Supplement. 145 
 
 The main features of his character are a high emotion and a keen 
 intellect ; but such is the predominance of the former that the latter 
 is content to be entirely in its service. No one, not intimate with him, 
 can know to what a multitude of interests he is always prepared to 
 devote himself, provided they concern the relief of human misery or 
 wrong ; and his capacity in this respect, when he took up the cause 
 of nearly the entire womanhood of this country, has been known to 
 all. He is happiest when thus engaged. The energy which he then 
 exhibits, the journeys across country he undertakes, the pecuniary 
 sacrifices he makes, the voluminous correspondence he engages in, 
 and the writings he pours out, are a matter of wonder. On the other 
 hand, any lull in such work makes him restless, moody, and melan- 
 choly. It is this which has led him to look upon such work as his 
 destined vocation, for Mr. Malabari is a firm believer, in a broad way, 
 in Divine providence actively though inscrutably at work in this world. 
 
 As to the keenness of his intellect, the proof lies broadcast in his 
 writings. His unique mastery, from the moment he entered upon 
 public life, over the English language, such as few, if any, natives of 
 this country have attained, is all the more inexplicable, remembering 
 that he is not an alumnus of any of our colleges, and is not at all 
 a man of books. His mastery of pure Gujarati is equally remarkable, 
 and I have been often set a-thinking, with the example of our friend 
 before me, whether it may not be possible to find out the secret of 
 mental constitution which enables a person to arrive, by an infinitely 
 shorter route than the educational machinery in vogue supplies, to 
 some of the highest mental attainments. It is not simply the facility 
 of expression that I am referring to, but also what I have come to 
 consider as the intuitive grasp of the most salient points of the ques- 
 tions which come before him. He goes straight to the heart of 
 a subject. It is, I am sure, mainly to the effective service of his 
 intellect, through the medium of the English language, that he owes 
 the success he has obtained as out and out the foremost of our social 
 reformers. To that success a combination of other qualities has also 
 helped, namely, a strong common sense, enabling him to arrange and 
 manage his modus operandi\ self-humility, which makes him keep 
 himself in the background and put forth no claim to recognition ; 
 a happy vein of humour, which, in union with a sympathetic nature, 
 prevents his efforts from degenerating into mere censoriousness, and 
 which, at times, is only next door to pathos, the incongruity pro- 
 
 L 
 
146 Supplement. 
 
 yoking the humour leading him straight to a pathetic estimate of the 
 situation, never to scorn ; a spirit of self-sacrifice, which confines his 
 personal expenses within rigorous bounds, only the better to enable 
 him to relieve distress and further any good cause ; and a simplicity 
 which scorns self-indulgence or self-pampering of every kind, and 
 confines him to the most simple fare, the most simple, not to say 
 coarse dress, and the most simple house conveniences, his bedding 
 being but a thin mattress stretched upon a rudimentary bedstead 
 devised by himself, or upon the bare floor. 
 
 And now for the highest trait in the character of our friend. It is 
 the habitual, though by no means painless, suppression of the lower 
 before the higher nature, the enforced subjection of selfish desires to 
 the rule of right conduct from a sense of duty. It was from the date 
 of a crisis in his life, which resulted in the victory of his higher nature, 
 that I have watched the steady growth of his spiritual and intellectual 
 nature, the maturity of which is now apparent to all who have the 
 benefit of his intimacy. He gives bountifully from his slender store ; 
 has declined a fortune, honours, titles, and worldly position. He has 
 been for years the trusted referee of men of the highest positions, in 
 and out of the country, on questions of moment and delicacy; and 
 his mediation has been sought for or accepted in emergencies of 
 grave misunderstanding or difference between the rulers and the ruled. 
 Dreading all ceremony and the pomp and circumstance of riches, he 
 loves to associate with the poor and the lowly-minded, and would 
 sooner be at the bedside of the sick and the dying than at a wedding 
 or a pleasure party. Our friend is tenderhearted and humble- 
 minded, though by no means careless of the esteem of others. I have 
 seen him take home a forsaken dog from the street and adopt him, 
 pay the ancestral debts of a poor honest servant, and rise from his seat 
 and reach out a stool to a clumsy servant to stand on when lighting 
 a lamp. People, high and low, call upon him on affairs public and 
 private. He never spares himself, but when unable to stand the 
 strain retires to a suburban place, to which, of course, he is soon 
 tracked. You should see what he amusingly calls his office. It is 
 a dingy little place, an otla (veranda), ten by six, with two old 
 chairs, a narrow old writing-desk and bare floor. Here people come 
 to see him, from the helpless widow, the bearer of a begging-letter, to 
 the High Court Judge or Member of Council, the Indian Raja or the 
 British Peer. 
 
Supplement. 147 
 
 It would be no disparagement of such a character to say, as the 
 fact is, that he is not a man of society or of sociable habits. He is 
 reserved and sometimes moody, and is preoccupied before strangers. 
 He is so shy that he will not get into a carriage of any pretension 
 unless the hood is up or it is dark. At times he is sorely puzzled 
 with a world not moving to his mind. All this is but the penalty of 
 an excessive sensibility. He is conscious of these defects, and 
 blames himself for being unable to get the better of them. For all 
 this, Mr. Malabari has. the grip of a Howard or a Wilberforce, his 
 literary performances apart. 
 
 I must not omit one more peculiarity. My friend sometimes goes 
 out with his family for a change. He then takes with him a colony 
 of connexions, not omitting an acquaintance or two into the bargain. 
 He wants to be alone and recruit himself, you see I But, then, what 
 right has he to prefer himself to others ? He pays a tremendous bill, 
 caring not to look into it. Such is the man ! 
 
 L 2 
 
INDEX 
 
 A. 
 
 'Active Duty/ poem on, 134. 
 Addison, 30. 
 
 Age of Consent Bill, 128, 129. 
 Aja, Frau, mother of Goethe, 25. 
 Anubhamka (Experiences in Life), 
 
 134- 
 
 Arnold, Dr., quoted, 13. 
 Augustine, St., 29. 
 
 B. 
 
 Baring, Sir Evelyn (afterwards 
 
 Lord Cromer), 92, 99. 
 Bentinck, Lord, 12, 13. 
 Bhabha, Dr., 80. 
 Bhikhibai, mother of Malabari, 22 ; 
 
 married to Merwanji Malabari, 
 
 24; her death, 28. 
 Bhils, the, 20, 21. 
 Bombay Review, the, 89, 104. 
 Bombay University, Matriculation 
 
 Examination, 37,38; its successes 
 
 and failures, 63, 64. 
 Bright, John, praises Malabari 's 
 
 verses, 65. 
 
 British government of India, criti- 
 cism of, 100-102 ; hesitancy of, 126. 
 Buckingham, Silk, 83. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cameron, Hay, Duties of Britain 
 to India, 13, 15. 
 
 Caste in India, 117. 
 
 Christianity in India, influence of, 
 
 73-78, 81. 
 Clapham Sect, the, 19. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dhanjibhai Mehta, 20. 
 
 'Disloyal Grumbler,' verses to, 67. 
 
 Dixon, Rev. William, 35, 36, 37. 
 
 E. 
 
 Eastern affairs, general ignorance 
 of, amongst Europeans, I. 
 
 Education, system of, in India, 
 10-19; effects of, 14-16 ; spread 
 of, 117. 
 
 Ellenborough, Lord, unfavourable 
 to European education, 15. 
 
 Elphinstone, Mountstuart, minute 
 on Education, 10 ; opposed to 
 freedom of the press, 84. 
 
 English language, rapid progress of, 
 in India, 42, 43. 
 
 English rule in India, results of, 
 6-19; reforms under, 92; dis- 
 trust of, and opposition to, 94- 
 95 ; press criticism of, 98-102. 
 
 Experiences of Life, 41. 
 
 F. 
 
 Framji, Mr. Ardasir, extract from 
 letter, 144-147. 
 
Index. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gdthds, the, 79. 
 
 Gidumal, Mr. Dayaram, 129. 
 
 Girasias, the, 20. 
 
 Gladstone, Mr., appoints Lord 
 Ripon Viceroy, 91, 92. 
 
 Grant, Charles, quoted, 9. 
 
 Gujarat and the Gujaratis, 89, 
 103-109, 133. 
 
 Gujarati language, 41, 46; its two 
 dialects, 56-59 ; adapted to sing- 
 ing, 58. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hastings, Marquis of, 21. 
 History, Indian literature barren 
 
 of, 2. 
 Hunter, Sir William, 113. 
 
 I. 
 
 Ilbert Bill Controversy, 98. 
 
 India, religions of, 3 ; England's 
 rule in, beneficent, 5-10 ; system 
 of education in, 10-19; ver- 
 nacular literature, 42 ; influence 
 of Christianity in, 76-78; jour- 
 nalism in, 83-85 ; Lord Ripon 
 succeeds Lord Lytton as Vice- 
 roy, 91 ; political activity in, 91- 
 96; criticism of British govern- 
 ment of, 100-102; social reform 
 in, 114-118; position of women 
 in, 118-120; marriage customs 
 of, 120-128; the Age of Consent 
 Act, 128-130. 
 
 Indian Eye on English Life, 131- 
 133- 
 
 Indian Muse in English Garb, 65, 
 133. 
 
 Indian Problem, The, 134, 135. 
 
 Indian Spectator, the, 85-89, 96, 97, 
 104. 
 
 Infant-marriages, 90, 120-126. 
 
 Islam, religions of, 4. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jehangier, Sir Cawasji, 54, 88. 
 Jersey, Countess of, extract from 
 
 letter, 143. 
 Journalism in India, 83-85. 
 
 K. 
 
 Karsandas Mulji, strives against 
 
 caste, 1 1 6. 
 
 Khialis, itinerant bards, 26. 
 Kipling, Mr. Rudyard, 107. 
 Keshub Chunder Sen, 77, 112. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lansdowne, Lord, passes the Age 
 
 of Consent Bill, 128. 
 Lyall, Sir Alfred, Asiatic Studies 
 
 quoted, 17. 
 Lytton, Lord, Viceroy, disastrous 
 
 policy of, 91. 
 
 M. 
 
 Macaulay, minute on Education, 
 12, 13; favours freedom of the 
 press, 84. 
 
 Malabari, Behramji, early life of, 20- 
 23 ; his mother, 22-25 I death of, 
 28; school-days, 34-38 ; literary 
 training, 39, 40; early literary 
 efforts, 41-46; introduction to 
 Dr. John Wilson, 46 ; to Sir 
 Cawasji Jehangier and Mr. Mar- 
 tin Wood, 54; publication of 
 Niti- Vinod, 54 ; account of the 
 book, 55-59; marriage, 60; fails 
 to matriculate, 63 ; writes verses 
 in English, 64 ; Indian Muse in 
 English Garb, 65-69, 133 ; Wil- 
 son's influence, 70-74; religious 
 views, 74-80 ; Wilson Virah, 81 ; 
 begins his career as journalist, 
 83 ; the Indian Spectator, 85-88, 
 90, 96-102 ; the Bombay Review, 
 88, 89 ; Gujarat and the Guja- 
 
Index. 
 
 ratis, 89, 103-109, 133 ; poem on 
 * Duty,' 91 ; Ilbert Bill Contro- 
 versy, 98 ; proposal to translate 
 Max Miiller's Hibbert Lectures 
 into Indian vernaculars, 110-113 ; 
 approved by Sir William Hunter, 
 113; efforts for social reform, 
 114-119; for raising the status 
 of women, 117; sympathy with 
 Hindu society, 123," Notes on 
 Infant Marriage, 125 ; Appeal to 
 the Women of England, 127 ; 
 the Age of Consent Act, 128; 
 visits to England, 131 ; The 
 Indian Eye on English Life^ 
 I3i~ 1 33 5 Anubhavika, 134 ; The 
 Indian Problem, 135 ; his work 
 and character, 135-141 ; testi- 
 monies to these, 143-147. 
 
 Malabari, Merwanji, 24. 
 
 Marriage in India, 60-62, 119-123; 
 customs of, 120-128. 
 
 Mehta, Dhanjibhai, 20. 
 
 Missionary efforts in India, 8-10, 
 36 ; among the Parsis, 51. 
 
 Miiller, Prof. Max, on the Indian 
 Muse, 65 ; his Hibbert Lectures, 
 110-113. 
 
 N. 
 
 Newspaper, the first in India, 83. 
 
 Nightingale, Miss Florence, wel- 
 comes the Indian Muse, 66 ; on 
 social reform in India, 115; on 
 influence of women, 118. 
 
 Niti- Vinod, publication of, 54 ; 
 criticism of, 55-59. 
 
 P. 
 
 Parsis, position and influence of, 
 49-52 ; female education, 60-62. 
 Pindaris, the, 20. 
 
 R. 
 
 Rajendralala Mitra, 112. 
 
 Religions of India, 3; compared 
 with Western, 4, 5. 
 
 Religions of Islam, fundamental 
 ideas of, 4. 
 
 Ripon, Lord, Viceroy of India, 91, 
 92, 95 ; friendship with Mala- 
 bari, 97. 
 
 S. 
 Scott, Sir John, on Malabari, 14, 
 
 143- 
 Self-sacrifice, idea of, in East and 
 
 West, 1-5. 
 Shaftesbury, Lord, praises Mala- 
 
 bari's verses, 65. 
 Smith, G., Conversion of India, 
 
 extract from, 9. 
 
 T. 
 
 Taleyarkhan, Mr. Ferozesha Pes- 
 
 tonji, 85. 
 
 Taylor, Rev. J. van S., 46. 
 Telang, Mr. Justice, 120. 
 Tennyson, compliments Malabari, 
 
 65. 
 
 W. 
 Wedderburn, Sir William, extract 
 
 from letter, 144. 
 Wilson, Dr. John, 46-54 ; death of, 
 
 69; his influence on Malabari, 
 
 70-74. 
 
 Wilson, Prof. H. H., II. 
 Wilson Virah, 81. 
 Women, education and position of, 
 
 in India, 119-130. 
 Wordsworth, William, Malabari's 
 
 verses to, 69. 
 Wood, Mr. Martin, 54, 88, 89, no. 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zoroastrianism, 3, 78, 79. 
 
OXFORD : HORACE HART, 
 PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
CARLYLE'S UNPUBLISHED LECTURES 
 
 ON 
 
 EUROPEAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE, 
 
 Edited by Mr. R. P. KARKARIA, B.A. 
 
 ' Mr. Karkaria's extremely able Introduction brings before us with 
 admirable lucidity the two opinions which are the guiding lines of these 
 lectures, the necessity of belief for true progress and culture, and the 
 "well-known view that all great things are unconscious".' Guardian, 
 London, 1892. 
 
 * In the last lecture there is much true Carlyle. When he writes of 
 Goethe, one feels at once that the main subject is his own, and that he 
 instructs out of the fulness of knowledge. Two theories distinctly run 
 and connect the course of lectures, and we cannot do better than quote 
 these lines from the Introduction of Mr. Karkaria.' Spectator, London, 
 1892. 
 
 'But for Mr. Karkaria's industry these lectures would still be lying 
 submerged among the dingy records of the Bombay Asiatic Society. . . 
 It is a notable mark of Mr. Karkaria's triumph over the characteristic 
 touches, not of mere idiom but of literary instinct which they reveal, and 
 of the intrinsic soul of sympathy with which he edits his work, that it 
 would puzzle the wariest critic to discern wherein his style and the 
 direction of his thought are distinguishable from British standards.' 
 Catholic Examiner, Bombay, 1892. 
 
 * Of the two simultaneous first publications of what Mr. R. P. Karkaria 
 calls Carlyle's posthumous work, we prefer that which this gentleman has 
 himself edited. . . It is also to Mr. Karkaria's credit as an editor that 
 he leaves his reader in no doubt as to the real character and authenticity 
 of those lectures.' St. James's Gazette. 
 
 'We now come to Mr. Karkaria's Introduction, which is admirably 
 written in a modest, sympathetic and scholarly fashion. . . As a rule 
 the editorial work is most carefully done.' Times of India, 1892. 
 
 * Mr. Karkaria has done his work as editor with an ability and good 
 taste which prove that he thoroughly deserved his good fortune in making 
 
Carlyle s Unpublished Lectures. 
 
 the find. The lectures in themselves are well worth reading, not only for 
 their clearness and the wonderful way in which the perspective is pre- 
 served, but also for their interest in giving, in a more or less colloquial 
 form, the first rough hewings of some opinions which afterwards shaped 
 into inimitable Carlylese, roused controversies not yet stilled.' Bombay 
 Educational Record. 
 
 ' When Carlyle gets upon ground with which he is more familiar that 
 of the literary history of the modern world his native genius reappears 
 here and there. In what he says about Dante and his age, about Luther 
 and the Reformation, about Cervantes and chivalry, about the literature 
 of the Aufklarung, about Swift, Johnson, Hume, and Gibbon, and finally 
 about Goethe and his influence, we seem once more to catch vivid glimpses 
 of Carlyle whom we know and admire. . . The notes of Mr. Karkaria 
 are less pretentious and often more to the point than those of Professor 
 Greene.' Times, London. 
 
 'The Bombay book has the advantage of much more elaborate editing 
 than has been vouchsafed to the London one. Mr. Karkaria has taken 
 the trouble to add a number of notes, interesting in themselves, and 
 calculated to elucidate the text. So much is there of racy insight and 
 imaginative language in these lectures, and so magical is the general 
 charm of Carlyle's genius, that we read them to the last word, and then 
 regretted that they were at an end.' Literary World. 
 
 'They serve to give us as much insight into Carlyle's own culture, and 
 his wide acquaintance with literature at the middle period of his life. His 
 observations are fresher, and these are particularly interesting. Mr. 
 Karkaria's text is taken from Anstey's original MS. The editor has been 
 so painstaking in identifying Carlyle's references and in quoting parallel 
 or similar passages from his own or others writings, that it would be 
 ungracious to find fault with the naive criticisms on which he occasionally 
 ventures.' Athenaeum, London. 
 
 'The most important point is that Mr. Karkaria has verified the countless 
 references made by Carlyle, and gives in footnotes valuable parallel 
 passages and quotations, sometimes cited by Carlyle and sometimes 
 supplied by himself. The Introduction is careful and scholarly.' Bookseller, 
 London. 
 
MR. MALABARI'S LITERARY WORKS 
 
 To be had at the Voice of India Office, Bombay. 
 
 Proceeds to be devoted to Social Reform, 
 
 NITI - VINOD. GU J AR ATI. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 (Extracts from some Press opinions?) 
 
 ' To infuse into the Eastern mind something of the lofty tone of thought 
 and feeling which distinguishes the most approved literary productions of 
 the West, is what the clever young author has attempted in these pages. . 
 They evince considerable originality and reflect a lofty tone of moral 
 teaching.' Times of India, 1875 and 1876. 
 
 ' Evidence of the mastery which even Parsis can acquire over a language, 
 which they have either been too idle or too unfitted by nature to adopt, 
 after vainly striving to do so for twelve centuries.' Indian Statesman, 1875. 
 
 ' The plan and execution of the work are original and bold.' Bombay 
 Gazette, 1876. 
 
 ' There has been no genuine poet amongst the Parsis up to this time. 
 . . A number of small but sweet and beautiful verses on various interesting 
 subjects.'/?^/ Goftar, 1875. 
 
 ' The different metres seem to us to be faultless in their construction ; 
 and most of the lines smooth and graceful. . . Some passages are really 
 of the highest order. . . In other lines the author displays the powers of 
 a painter.' Vidya Mitra, 1875. 
 
 THE INDIAN MUSE IN ENGLISH GARB, AND OTHER 
 ENGLISH VERSES. 
 
 *Mv DEAR SIR, 
 
 I return my best thanks for your Indian Muse in English Garb. 
 It is interesting, and more than interesting, to see how well you have 
 managed in your English garb. 
 
 I wish I could read the poems which you have written in your own 
 vernacular ; for, I doubt not they deserve all the praise bestowed upon 
 them by the papers. 
 
 Believe me, your far-away but sincere friend, 
 
 1878. A. TENNYSON. 3 
 
Mr. Malabar? s Literary Works. 
 
 'Depend upon it, the English public, at least the better part of it, 
 likes a man who is what he is. The very secret of the excellence of 
 English literature lies in the independence, the originality and truth- 
 fulness of English writers. . . In the verses where you feel and speak 
 like a true Indian you seem to me to speak most like a true poet. Accept 
 my best thanks and good wishes, and believe me, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 1878. F. MAX MULLER.' 
 
 ' " To the Missionaries of Faith," with its appended note, the note on 
 Zoroaster, p. 94 I have read with the greatest interest. . . The 
 "Sketch" or Memoir is very striking ; so are the "Stages of a Hindu 
 Female Life." . . May God bless your labours! May the Eternal 
 Father bless India, bless England, and bring us together as one family, 
 doing each other good. May the fire of His love, the sunshine of His 
 countenance, inspire us all ! 
 
 1878. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.' 
 
 ' You have such a cloud of witnesses to the excellence of the work, 
 the high character of its poetry and its sentiments, and to the proof 
 of singular ability, in such a mastery by a Foreigner, of the English 
 language, that any favourable opinion of mine would be but a drop in the 
 ocean. 
 
 1879. SHAFTESBURY.' 
 
 'Your lines to Wordsworth prove that you have found your way 
 into the secret of perhaps the deepest poetic influence of this century, 
 and I rejoice to learn that his profound teachings thus make their 
 way into wholly new modes of thought and feeling with penetrating 
 sympathy. 
 
 1878. J. ESTLIN CARPENTER.' 
 
 ' It is a gratification to myself, which I cannot forego, to hail the appear- 
 ance of a true poet and master-mind in India. 
 
 1880. EDWARD B. EASTWICK.' 
 
 ' A gifted young Parsee. The sonnets were written in memory of the 
 late Princess Alice, and breathe a pathos and sympathy very warm and 
 deep. There are, we think, some indications in it of the immaturity of 
 the writer's powers ; but we cannot but admire the noble picture he has 
 drawn of what seems to be his ideal of womanly excellence.' Bombay 
 Gazette, 1879. 
 
 ' Mr. Malabari appears to be a man of great individuality of character and 
 talent, and endowed with keen poetical instincts.' Madras Athenaeum 
 and Daily News, 1879. 
 
Mr. Malabar? s Literary Works. 
 
 1 The letter Mr. Malabari received from the Princess Alice in acknowledge- 
 ment of his work had such an effect on him, that on the recent death of 
 that amiable and accomplished lady, he embalmed her memory in a 
 trinity of beautiful English sonnets. A copy of the sonnets forwarded to 
 H.M. the Queen has elicited two warm messages of thanks and apprecia- 
 tion. . . This is a great compliment to the poet's genius and character.' 
 Calcutta Statesman, 1879. 
 
 ' Possesses considerable original power. It would be hard to over- 
 estimate the difficulties which throng around the native writer who 
 endeavours to adapt his thoughts to the rigid and circumscribed require- 
 ments of English prosody, with its poverty in rhymes, and all the refined 
 niceties of its metrical forms, which, while they help real genius, are 
 stumbling-stones in the path of the ungifted. In his poetical tribute to 
 the memory of the Princess Alice, our poet has poured his thoughts into 
 the daintiest, as it is the most artificial, of all our lyrical moulds.' 
 Madras Mail, 1879. 
 
 'The writer has succeeded in drawing, in eloquent English verse, a very 
 fine picture of England's popular Princess. Mr. Malabari seems to be 
 a born poet. . . He also takes keen interest in the moral and social 
 progress of his countrymen ; and his earnest and manly endeavours in 
 that direction, as also in faithfully interpreting the relations of India to 
 England, ought to be appreciated by both countries. Such men are all 
 too few in this country.' Englishman, 1879. 
 
 4 His poems prove that he is animated by noble aspirations, and that 
 he has a desire to discriminate truly between what is worthy and un- 
 worthy in life, and a power of enthusiastic admiration and friendship. . . 
 What he writes has a genuine character. His command of the language 
 is wonderful, and there are probably few poems written by an Indian 
 equal to those before us.' Journal of the National Indian Association, 
 1878. 
 
 ' His command over the English language is simply incredible, and we 
 can personally testify to his high intelligence, disinterested patriotism and 
 unselfish devotion.' Amrita Bazar Patrika, 1878. 
 
 WILSON- VIRAH. GUJARAT!. 
 
 ' The language of Wilson- Virah is simpler and more racy than of Niti- 
 Vinod ; and its original thoughts, descriptive power and genuine poetic 
 expression reflect credit on the author's gzrnus.'Jam-e-Jamshed, 1878. 
 
 ' His readers are not only loving Parsis, but admiring Hindus. And 
 no wonder. For Mr. Malabari's language is not only pure, it is the 
 purest of the pure. . . But when we read his noble sentiments and his 
 keen appreciation of Nature, it certainly makes us think very highly of 
 him. Even his prose partakes of the nature of poetry.' Gujarat Mitra, 
 1878. 
 
Mr. Malabar? s Literary Works. 
 
 * As a divine, savant, and philanthropist, the poet describes his hero in 
 eulogistic terms, but in artistic style. The lines evince great mastery of 
 language. . . The language is melodious, and the narrative is enriched 
 with similes, metaphors, and other poetic characteristics.' Indian Daily 
 News, 1878. 
 
 SAROD-I-ETTEFAK.-GUJARATI. 
 
 'The best harmony and the best poetical spirit. . . When it is seen 
 that many of these verses were written some fifteen years ago, it will be 
 granted that Mr. Malabari was born with all the powers of a first-rate 
 poet. The fire of Religion, the aspirations of Love, the strengthening 
 of Virtue, the yearning after Friendship, and contempt of this false 
 World . . . these subjects have been treated in spontaneous language 
 and in metres that could be rendered into music. . . What heart will 
 not overflow with enthusiasm and delight by a perusal of the dramatic 
 romance, "Pdkddman" (Lady Chastity) and " Shah Nargesh" (Prince Nar- 
 cissus) ? . . . The lines on Fortune may adorn the musician's art and 
 may breathe hope into those who are discontended with their lot. " Bioga 
 Bilap" and " Prabbu Prarthna" will prove refreshing to two intoxicated 
 souls the love-intoxicated and the faith-intoxicated. . . . These noble 
 lines will work powerfully upon the singer as well as the hearer. . . In 
 short, the highest forms of poetry abound in these verses, and they are 
 sure to fascinate the student of Nature with their deep meditative spirit 
 like that of Wordsworth or Milton.' The Gujardti, 1882. 
 
 * Some of the poems are as finished as a beautiful picture. . . Many 
 of them, being songs, will be a cherished treasure to the lover of music. 
 . . . The description beginning with page n is so life-like, that it 
 excites terror; but the writer seems to have used consummate art in 
 managing his language. . . The portrait of beauty is very pure and 
 vivid. Almost all the pieces evince deep love of Nature and her Maker ; 
 whilst some of the verses hide such a depth of meaning as could be 
 fathomed only by a reader gifted with poetic instincts. . . Manly 
 dignity, grace and melody, these are the peculiar merits of our young 
 poet. He writes with reckless freedom ; but like a true poet, keeps 
 within bounds. In the treatment of religious subjects he evinces an 
 intensely devout and meditative spirit. There are faults too in the work 
 immaturity, haste and abrupt terminations.' Bombay Chronicle, 1882. 
 
 ' Though composed some fifteen years ago, and though " the dim 
 pictures of my childhood's experiences," these verses display a poet's 
 powers. . . We observe evidences of the writer's high powers at every 
 step. . . Pleasing, appropriate and affecting. . . The delicacy of 
 feeling essential to a poet is not hard to find in Mr. Malabari.' Dnyan 
 Vardhak. 
 
Mr. Malabari's Literary Works. 
 
 GUJARAT AND THE GUJARATIS. 
 
 Third Edition. 
 
 1 Many bright descriptions of native home life and customs. The 
 author writes English with remarkable ease. . . Mr. Malabari 
 sketches boldly, and has a satirical pen. . . Apart from the entertain- 
 ment which it furnishes, there is much to be learnt from his book 
 regarding both the merits and demerits of our rule in Hindustan as 
 seen from the native point of view.' Daily News, London, 1883. 
 
 ' Sparkling series of sketches of Indian men and manners. . . The 
 different castes and races are described with a skill and a humour that 
 never fail. The author unlifts the veil from several ugly spots in our 
 Indian Empire, but without even a dash of ill-humour or race antagonism. 
 . . . Out of his own moral consciousness he evolves a fund of humour 
 and of fun ; he points out abuses by no means attributable to the English, 
 and now and then shows up things which the rulers would do well to con- 
 sider and take to heart. But the most striking thing about the book is 
 the completeness with which Mr. Malabari sees through the English. 
 The Marwari, the Bora, the Hajam, the Vaqil, he describes from the 
 outside ; but the Englishman, whom he does not set to work to describe, 
 he seems to enter into as if he had been born within the sound of Bow 
 Bells.' Vanity Fair, London, 1883. 
 
 ' The remarks which he makes upon the relations of the two races are 
 few but outspoken, and whether the reader agrees with them or not, he 
 cannot disallow the complete honesty and ingenuousness of the author. 
 . . . The book gives original ideas and vivid pictures of Indian native 
 life, worthy of consideration. . . That Mr. Malabari expresses the 
 genuine native opinion on certain questions there is no reason to doubt. 
 His words might be read with advantage by Government officials, high 
 and low, engaged in the immense work of administering the affairs of 
 Hindustan.' Morning Post, London, 1883. 
 
 'After the production of this book no one need say that Indians are 
 reticent as to their social and domestic affairs, or in the least shy in 
 expressing their opinion on their European governors. There is a 
 charming frankness throughout the whole book which cannot fail to win 
 the approbation of every reader ; and this is happily accompanied by 
 a pleasing witticism which precludes all suspicion of ill-natured carping.' 
 Overland Mail, London, 1883. 
 
 * Mr. Malabari's English style is remarkably good, and seldom exhibits 
 any want of ease. His book is of special interest as throwing some light 
 on the real feeling of the natives with regard to their British rulers.' 
 Daily Telegraph, London, 1883. 
 
Mr. Malabari's Literary Works. 
 
 1 A Parsi writer, honourably known as a journalist of the advanced 
 sort, publishes a collection of bright and readable sketches, whose notable 
 point is their genuine humour. . . The sincerity which seems inseparable 
 from the gift of humour is the best feature of the sketches. . . He 
 possesses, already, an intimate knowledge of native life, and a keen 
 insight which is not to be deceived by appearances.' 
 
 1 It is from the light thrown on modern native life, by such writers as 
 Mr. Behramji Malabari, that the vast gulf, which separates the sordid 
 and degraded Hinduism of the present day from the antique type, can be 
 justly appreciated. The author has no wish to exaggerate the gloomy 
 shadows that fall over this part of his subject ; but he is too honest and 
 sound a literary artist to entirely omit them, and he deserves great credit 
 for a moderate and yet unflinching tone of veracity.' Civil and Military 
 Gazette, Lahore, 1883. 
 
 ' Evidently the production of a conscientious writer, who reproduces 
 with charming simplicity and naivete such thoughts and ideas as suggest 
 themselves to his mind.' Westminster Review, London, 1 883. 
 
 'With singular tact, and a ready flow of wit, he passes in review the 
 chief people in the country, and analyses their actions and characters 
 with considerable freedom. . . A vein of irony runs through the book, 
 which is especially apparent when discussing modern improvements.' 
 Army and Navy Magazine, London, 1883. 
 
 * Mr. Malabari's pictures of men and manners in Gujarat have that 
 greatest of all merits the merit of being drawn from the point of view of 
 a candid native. . . Altogether, the volume has somewhat the effect of an 
 album of photographs, not always very pleasing, but, without exception, 
 extremely real.' British Quarterly Review, London, 1883. 
 
 *A carter speaks sweetly to his bullock, and we have no idea that the 
 persuasive tones say, " Go on, bullock of my heart, go on, thy mother-in- 
 law's darling ; " he takes to objurgations, and we cannot guess that he 
 is shouting out, " Will you go on or not, you lazy widower, you son of 
 a widow." . . The writer has powers of graphic description and a 
 strong vein of humour. . . The life depicted is no high ideal, but one 
 composed of many sordid materials, exposed in the book before us with 
 an unsparing "photographic fidelity" which often reminds us of " Pandu- 
 rang Hari".' Bombay Gazette, 1883. 
 
 ' " From grave to gay, from lively to severe : " there is scarcely any 
 faculty of the mind which the writer of this work does not possess in 
 a more or less eminent degree. . . The sketches of men and things 
 Gujarati, which form the bulk of the volume, are vivid life-pictures, full of 
 humour and animation, as fresh as could be. . . Displays an extent of 
 political insight and social and literary aptitude which no other single 
 writer in India has yet displayed. . . His love of truth burns strong 
 
Mr. Malabar? s Literary Works. 
 
 in almost every page, the feeling becomes almost a passion when the 
 writer is " intense," to use his own word. Few English readers will be 
 able to understand how the heart is being torn asunder by its intense 
 suffering while the hand is busy mercilessly tearing up the veil from the 
 face of vice, hypocrisy, and superstition, as exemplified by caste and its 
 concomitant evils.' Indian Mirror ; Calcutta, 1883. 
 
 ' The sufferings incident to child-marriage, the girl being older than the 
 husband, are indicated in what is at once the most skilfully-drawn and 
 curious episode in the work, entitled " An Aryan Idyll." . . The con- 
 cluding passages of the u Aryan Idyll" are instinct with the truest pathos.' 
 Allen's Indian Mail, London, 1883. 
 
 ' The same facility of word-painting, sly humour, and genuine liberality 
 of view that characterised the book in its original form.' The Scotsman, 
 1884. 
 
 ' On the subject of these relations, Mr. Malabari discourses with notable 
 penetration, candour, and impartiality. He acknowledges the great 
 superiority of the British method of government over the preceding 
 native regimes in respect of security and educational opportunities.' New 
 York Sun, 1884. 
 
 ' While thus bantering in the tone he adopts when speaking of the 
 tendency of some natives to earn cheap honours by toadying to their 
 European superiors, Mr. Malabari is pitilessly stern in describing the 
 shortcomings of native princes, especially if they happen to be of the 
 type of Mulharao Guickowar. The spirit of the Indian reformer runs 
 through the whole work.' Catholic Examiner, 1884. 
 
 ' As we read his descriptions of these characters, they seem to start into 
 life and to walk before us. The barber particularly makes our flesh creep 
 on our bones.' The Liberal, 1884. 
 
 * A book in the pages of which we trace the master hand of a loving son 
 of India. . . Gujarat and the Gujardtis is the very first book of its 
 kind. It has the advantage of having a native for its author. . . There 
 is scarcely a phase of the mind which is not exhibited in its pages, but 
 the author throughout shows that he is the master, and never the slave, of 
 his emotions.' The Hindu, Madras, 1884. 
 
 ' Written in a light and graceful manner and is replete with humorous 
 touches. . . His views on public matters appear to be singularly 
 enlightened.' Madras Mail, 1884. 
 
 * The sketches given are vivid and picturesque, and are suffused with 
 a vein of delicate humour which, set off in a clear, forcible style, clothes 
 them with a peculiar interest. . . Another trait which characterizes the 
 book is a spirit of benevolence and patriotism which runs through its 
 pages.' Lahore Tribune, 1884. 
 
8 Mr. Malabar? s Literary Works. 
 
 ' It is written in a sprightly vein, and one is sometimes not certain if the 
 author wishes to be taken seriously or not. . . This book is quite 
 a gallery of pictures of the men in Western India who have any marked 
 individuality.' Bombay Guardian, 1884. 
 
 'A thousand times more valuable than those dry dissertations on the 
 habits, character, and manners of the natives, with which the English 
 reading public has been so long satisfied. The style of the book is lively, 
 rollicking, and flexible, and reminds us in many places of Sir AH Baba's 
 happiest veins. The writter is truly a humorist in the best sense of the 
 word. . . All these are graphic portraits with the unmistakable linea- 
 ments of truth, and tell us much more of native life than your bulky 
 gazetteers and heavy books of travel. As for "week-day preaching," the 
 volume before us contains many original observations, many incisive 
 sayings, and many stirring exhortations.' Sindh Times, 1884. 
 
 1 Mr. Malabari's book is unique of his kind. It presents a picture of the 
 different peoples of Gujarat, and of their different customs and habits ; 
 and the tact and the literary skill used in describing them are such that 
 they not only embellish the original subjects, but also serve, to a great 
 extent, the purpose of a novel. His pictures are effective and humorous. 
 . . . It is a century now since the British have been ruling over this 
 country ; but they have not as yet acquired an adequate knowledge of the 
 social customs and usages of the natives. Books like the one under 
 review are, therefore, a help and a guide to Europeans in order to 
 familiarize them with those customs and usages, and also to encourage 
 social intercourse between them and the natives.' Bombay Samachar, 
 1884. 
 
 'Mr. Malabar! writes English not only well, but with humour, and 
 picturesquely. . . The book is pleasant, spirited, and readable, with 
 successful comic effects, introduced naturally and judiciously.' Cincinnati 
 Gazette, 1884. 
 
 ' Its language is remarkable for its brilliant strokes, its vigour and 
 pungency of style, and is very idiomatic a little too much sometimes. . . 
 Mr. Malabari is, above all, a poet.' Revue Critique, 1884. 
 
 ' In spite of Oriental solecisms, Mr. Malabari's English is, on the whole, 
 powerful and easy, and has a quaintness which in many cases gives it 
 a peculiar charm. . . It is obvious that Mr. Malabari has a real sense 
 of humour, and some of his descriptions and incidents are laughable in 
 the extreme. . . The refreshing candour of this account indicates one 
 of the charms of the book. The same candour is displayed in all Mr. 
 Malabari's sketches of Indian social and religious life.' Calcutta Review, 
 1884. 
 
 ' A writer of originality and power on the vital Indian questions of our 
 day.' SIR WILLIAM HUNTER, 1889. 
 
Mr. Malabari's Literary Works. 
 
 ' Through all the fearlessness of his denunciation of vices, his intense 
 sympathy with the Hindu and Mahomedan population, no less than with 
 his co-religionists, is never out of sight. His perception of the defects of 
 the rulers of the country does not blind him to their good qualities. . . 
 The book teems with lessons for the European and the native, the ruler 
 and the ruled, for the orthodox and conservative native, and the native 
 reformer, sham or true, for the missionary, the statesman, the judge, the 
 merchant, the British elector, and the Indian tax-payer. It is a book 
 that none but a native could have written, and no native but one with the 
 special qualifications and great command of English possessed by the 
 author. His solecism's are few and far between, and tend only to add 
 a picturesque ruggedness to his otherwise smoothly- rounded periods.' 
 Madras Mail, 1889. 
 
 ' Mr. Malabari has much keen graphic power, and a strong sense of 
 humour, sometimes amounting to sarcasm ; but the kindliness of his 
 nature helps to qualify the occasional bitterness of his descriptions. Few 
 books on India throw such light, in a few words, on the ways and customs 
 of the people.' Indian Magazine, 1889. 
 
 THE INDIAN EYE ON ENGLISH LIFE. 
 
 Third Edition. 
 
 1 Has a keenly observant eye and the gift of humour, and he gives his 
 readers many vivid sketches of what he saw in the streets and houses of 
 England. . . The author not only cleverly sketches the characters of 
 others, but also reveals his own with the open-hearted candour of a 
 Rousseau or a Cicero.' Bombay Gazette, 1893. 
 
 ' Intense originality and human interest. . . Every one remembers 
 M. Taine's striking inference as to the respect felt for the English father 
 from the fact that the young Englishman invariably speaks of him as " the 
 Governor." Mr. Malabari, who might have been forgiven half a dozen 
 flights of genius of this sort, has in that respect been happier than the 
 illustrious author of Letters from England, so secure is he in a thoroughly 
 idiomatic English, and is no stranger even to the English that is heard 
 within sound of Bow Bells. The book is, as we have said, decidedly 
 original, and is strongly impressed with the personality of its author. He 
 manages though it must have been a great effort to him to keep his 
 work as a social reformer in the background ; but, as in India he has 
 been accustomed to see the State mainly in the home, so in England the 
 home life of the people claims much more of his attention than our 
 politics, our literature, or our intellectual life. His observations are as 
 a rule singularly correct. . . 
 
 1 Like the Athenaeum, the Saturday Review has a long and highly 
 appreciative notice of Mr. Malabari's new book. The former thinks Mr. 
 Malabari's account of English home life to be beautiful, and that Rudyard 
 
io Mr. Malabari's Literary Works. 
 
 Kipling himself has never done anything better than the narrative of the 
 cheap-jack fleecing his customers outside the Crystal Palace. According 
 to the Saturday Review, Mr. Malabari studies every branch of English 
 life with the calm, modest, discriminating attention of one anxious to get 
 at the truth on every occasion, and appreciate its bearings on the prob- 
 lems of Indian society. As regards the relations of Englishmen and 
 Indians, Mr. Malabari, according to the Review, speaks with excellent 
 good sense, good taste and dignity, and that such work could not fail to 
 be of inestimable value, showing that on the gravest and most important 
 topics the author is in close sympathy with all that is best among English- 
 men. . . 
 
 ' It is a hopeful sign of the times that the principal native papers of 
 India appreciate the scope and object of Mr. Malabari's book on English 
 life and manners. The Hindu of Madras, for example, has read the 
 book with the greatest delight, and considers the author to be not only 
 a philosopher, but also a true poet, albeit he writes in prose. The Indian 
 Mirror of Calcutta, on the other hand, observes the same bright in- 
 telligence, penetration, sincerity of purpose, and independence, observable 
 in this volume, which were so much admired in Guzerat, and which 
 secured a European reputation for its author. Mr. Malabari's loyalty 
 to truth is truly refreshing. . . But so kindly is his spirit of criticism 
 that his victims, however much they may wince at first, will end by joining 
 in the laugh against themselves. Looking at its varied contents, says 
 the Mirror, this is a book for the reformer, the statesman, and the 
 philanthropist. Times of India, 1893. 
 
 ' The London Times welcomes Mr. Malabari's Indian Eye on English 
 Life as a remarkable volume of travels and experiences in England. It 
 adds that Mr. Malabari understands our language perfectly, and writes it 
 with a force and skill which many a native (English) writer might envy. 
 He observes with a friendly, but not uncritical eye. . . In conclusion, 
 the Times says that the book is in reality what Montesquieu's Lettres 
 Persanes and other literary apologues only pretended to be. Mr. Malabari 
 does not spare us, and sometimes his criticisms are, perhaps, a little 
 captious. But he writes, on the whole, with a kindly pen, and gives us 
 a rare opportunity of seeing ourselves as others see us.' Bombay Gazette, 
 1893- 
 
 'Judged from his book, he seems to be a kindly philosopher; a man 
 whose views have been mellowed, a man who thinks for himself, and is 
 a keen observer of human nature. He combines the gentleness of " le 
 philosophe sous les toits " of Emile Souvestre with the acute observation 
 of Max O'Rell.' Indian Daily News, 1894. 
 
 * The book is both shrewd and sympathetic in fact, it does equal credit 
 to the author's head and heart and the tone of its comments and 
 criticisms is happily neither ecstatic nor fulsome, but on the contrary, 
 manly and frank.' The Speaker, 1893. 
 
Mr. Malabar? s Literary Works. n 
 
 ' It will be seen that the author possesses no ordinary degree of 
 susceptibility. He caught, as it were, the key of Venice, and unlocked 
 the poetry of her canals in the course of a single evening ! It is only, 
 however, when he reaches London that we get the full benefit of all that 
 Mr. Malabari's eye recorded and his imagination painted. On the whole 
 he enjoyed himself, and thinks not unkindly of the land which has adopted 
 him; but that does not prevent him from giving forth a great deal of 
 interesting criticism.' The Englishman, 1893. 
 
 ' So much genuine perception of the strong points of European char- 
 acter, combined with such clear-sightedness in dealing with what we 
 ourselves must admit to be very dark blots on English life. For European 
 energy and organization the writer has unmixed praise, and he speaks 
 with refreshing honesty. . . This abundance of life and energy, and yet 
 withal of orderliness also, is, of course, the leading impression left on 
 an Asiatic by a first sight of the streets of London. Another, which will 
 also be familiar to many an Anglo-Indian on hard-earned furlough, is the 
 number of women in those streets ; indeed the sex seems to have arrested 
 the Indian eye from the first and (small wonder) to have claimed an 
 almost unduly large share of attention. Observations on English women 
 abound throughout the book, and those of us who are apt to resent any 
 alien criticism on the fairer half of the people of England should be dis- 
 armed by the admiring sincerity with which it is expressed. . . Mr. Malabari 
 is, as we all know, the most prominent leader in the cause of prevention 
 of infant marriage, which he rightly regards as one of the most deleterious 
 that can be named. But, he says, if he were asked to choose between 
 drunkenness and that, he would keep to his own national custom. . . The 
 parts of the book which deal with English home life and marriage are 
 perhaps the best, and nowhere is the author's moderation and insight 
 alike more apparent.' The Pioneer, 1894. 
 
 4 Mr. Malabari's book is drawing to itself much attention on the 
 Continent. In a review in the Journal des Debats M. Augustin Filon 
 attempts a very ingenious, and, upon the whole, accurate appreciation of 
 the book, while at the same time he throws an interesting side-light on the 
 personality of the author, whom he introduces as "A Grandson of 
 Zoroaster." M. Filon may be himself recognised as guide, philosopher 
 and friend to the late Prince Imperial, since whose death in Zululand he 
 has preferred, like the Empress Eugenie, to live beyond the Channel, 
 mixing with the best elements in English life. He may, therefore, be 
 presumed to combine the critical appreciation of the English with the 
 mother-wit of the French reviewer in estimating a book that has made no 
 little stir in literary circles. . . " Gently but invincibly stubborn, at the 
 same time pacific and combative, as behoves an apostle, Mr. Malabari 
 has two languages, two countries, one of which conflicts with the other. 
 Quite naturally, he loves that which suffers. He reasons and talks like 
 an Englishman, but he feels like an Indian. He is one of those exceptional 
 
12 Mr. Malabar? s Literary Works. 
 
 beings, in whom the conquered races become conscious of their defeat, by 
 whom their decadence is arrested, by whom they are reinstated and put 
 again on the path of progress. Very beautiful is the life of these men, 
 but very bitter, very painful to live. Theirs are voices crying in the 
 wilderness. They expiate every moment of their existence the fault of 
 being born a century too soon ; and yet without them, this century to 
 come, this century so much desired and so necessary, would not be born. 
 Athens asked herself why she should obey Rome, and Rome, too, 
 wondered at it herself, as she yielded to the conquered city the palm for 
 superiority in art, beauty, and intellect. Verily, the relative situations of 
 England and India are quite different. But it will be admitted that 
 Mr. Malabari cherishes and venerates the Indian race, noble, refined and 
 shrewd above all, the veritable aristocracy of nations, the mother and 
 nurse of all civilizations. What are her weaknesses? Whereby has she 
 merited her servitude ? He knows it but too well. But this heavy and 
 strong conqueror, who holds her in his claws ; how could he be known, 
 how could the secret of his strength be found out except by going to and 
 surprising him in his own country, in the midst of his own people, in that 
 home of which he talks so much, and wherein he lives so little ? " Here 
 we have the origin of the volume, which strikes its French reviewer as 
 being "really the book of a writer." To the English, its sentences may 
 appear at times to be irregular and somewhat ill-balanced, "oscillating 
 from the familiar, brutal, popular word to the most refined symbolism, at 
 one time descending below prose, at another time rising to the height of 
 true poetry." As for M. Filon, he admires the energy of thought, always 
 at work, which creates for itself expression in a foreign and hostile tongue. 
 " I admire it when it scoops, chisels, gives shape, and softens this rugged 
 language, and expresses, in their shades and half-shades, its warmths and 
 sorrows, its thousand and one delicate disquietudes, to which the English 
 soul is an utter stranger. He forces the words to say that which they 
 would not say, what they have never said, and besides, he invests them 
 with that splendid imagery and colour which characterize the gorgeous 
 East "'Times of India, 1894. 
 
 'A French critic has undertaken to wrestle with some of Mr. Malabari's 
 " Reflections on English Civilization." This is M. G. Valbert, who devotes 
 no fewer than thirteen pages of the Revue des Deux Mondes to a critical 
 examination of the volume. . . Mr. Malabari, says his reviewer, loves 
 his country passionately, but his love is clear-sighted. He is not blind to 
 the weaknesses and miseries of a once noble race which has merited its 
 present misfortunes ; and he has sworn to devote himself to its regenera- 
 tion. He has too religious a soul to protest against the decree of fate that 
 has handed India over to England. He is not prejudiced against the 
 English, nor does he contest their superiority. He only criticises their 
 methods of government, and blames them for being clumsy masters. He 
 has no liking for the indulgent patrons who will neither force nor 
 
Mr. Malabar? s Literary Works. 13 
 
 constrain, and whose smiles expresses good-will mixed with pity. 
 Mr. Malabari believes he sees in this pity a little of contempt. . . 
 M. Valbert sees "The Asiatic philosopher" surprised into a state of panic 
 at sight of the mad rush of life in England at the way in which the 
 people eat, drink, talk, work, and amuse themselves. He pities their 
 restlessness from the bottom of his heart, even as he admires their 
 freedom and their independence. "Your life is a mad saraband," cries 
 this wisest and most ironical of Parsis. But has the East found the real 
 secret of human existence ? asks the West. Unrest is a mark of noble 
 and progressive races it is that which has made room for all inventions 
 and discoveries, all beneficent reforms and innovations. We think it 
 rather hard on Mr. Malabari to have to go to a French school to learn 
 the philosophy of effort. Keen idealist as he is, he has shown a very 
 European activity in some matters, at which even the more progressive of 
 his countrymen stand aghast. But the reviewer has decidedly the better 
 of his author when he sets him right in the course of his religious specula- 
 tions. For instance, Mr. Malabari doubts if it is possible for the 
 Englishman to be a Christian in the sense of " Christ's Christianity." 
 M. Valbert retorts that it is scarcely necessary for him to be so, sur- 
 rounded as he is. In the affairs of this life, religion, after all, is a matter 
 of adaptation and accommodation. If the Christian ideal does not 
 always fit in with the rule of conduct in the West, it does not necessarily 
 imply the state of contradiction too readily assumed by the Eastern 
 observer. Mr. Malabari has evidently missed this phase of the question. 
 . . . " The Englishman has for his country the proud attachment which 
 one has for a lawful wife that makes a great figure in the world. 
 Mr. Malabari has for his country the tenderness that an adored mistress 
 inspires, to whom light or morose critics deny justice, and whose weak- 
 nesses appear to the smitten heart more attractive and more lovable than 
 the virtues of other women".' Bombay Gazette, 1894. 
 
 'A book which has the good fortune to include amongst its admirers 
 exponents of such diverse contemporary thought as Mr. Herbert Spencer, 
 Lord Rosebery, and Sir Alfred Lyall. We notice a new chapter on Sex. 
 . . The marked originality, which raises incidents and details of every- 
 day life into subjects of permanent human interest, is seldom to be 
 mistaken, whilst the keen observation and wise counsel which abound 
 in its pages testify to the earnestness of the social reformer. This 
 insight into spiritual problems and the intuitive perception of religious 
 phenomena are perhaps the chief attractions of the book for thoughtful 
 Englishmen. . . It is only when the writer comes down to the details 
 of domestic and social life in England that we find his grasp of the 
 peculiarities of our robuster civilization relax, and his conclusions become 
 sweeping. This is a serious defect in a guide usually so safe and trust- 
 worthy. But Mr. Malabari is far from dogmatic in his generalizations. 
 Open, ingenuous, and, as a rule, careful in handling subjects with which 
 he is not familiar, he makes allowances for what does not suit his Asiatic 
 
14 Mr. Malabar? s Literary Works. 
 
 predilections. Even in the worst of hypercritical moods he amuses the 
 reader rather than offends him, the amusement sometimes being at his 
 own expense. The gift of humour, which singles him out for special 
 recognition as a literary artist, never fails him in situations of difficulty 
 that would wreck some reputations.' The Times of India, 1896. 
 
 ANUBHAVIKA. GUJARATI. 
 
 * Recognized as one of the greatest Gujardti poets of modern times. His 
 latest collection of verses reveals a soul under the spell of the deep 
 religious sense which gave birth to what was best in the Indian life and 
 philosophy of the past, yet constrained by some power stronger than 
 himself to break away from the past and to fix wistful eyes on the future. 
 Under the title of Anubhavikd, which may not unaptly be rendered 
 " Perceptions " or " Experiences," his poems disclose a phase of feeling 
 through which the noblest minds in India are now passing. . . 
 
 1 Mr. Malabari knows that his own faith is older than Hinduism, 
 Christianity, or Mahommadanism, and he believes that it embodies 
 a profounder view of the ways of God to man. But he also realizes that 
 whatever is to reach the Indian heart must come in an Indian guise. 
 "After doing all that they can, the gods sit helpless in their places," runs 
 one of his verses, which might have been written by a Hindu philosopher ; 
 u Like a horrible shadow, thy action will follow thee always," says another, 
 condensing the whole Buddhist doctrine of Karma into a line. The only 
 solutions which Mr. Malabari has to offer for the problems of existence 
 are Duty and Work. Throughout his poetry rings the knell of a departing 
 world. In it also are heard the birth-cries of a new order of things.' The 
 Times, f Indian Affairs,' London, 1894. 
 
 THE INDIAN PROBLEM. 
 
 ' Mr. Malabari has closed his present visit to England by a declaration 
 of what he regards as the true principles of Indian progress. . . A remark- 
 able document intended for English statesmen and public writers. . . In 
 addition to a certain tone of unworldliness which runs through it, it is full 
 of a gentle and conciliatory good sense which reminds one of the best 
 examples of the Annual Epistles of the Society of Friends. It shows that 
 the actual facts of the India of our day are too strong alike for the 
 political projects of the small body of Indians nurtured on Western ideals 
 of public life, and for the disdainful attitude which some of our country- 
 men in India adopt towards that small educated class. . . If Mr. Malabari 
 can help to bridge over the gulf of animosity and misunderstanding 
 which separates these classes, he will have done an important service.' 
 The Times ) ' Indian Affairs,' London, 1894. 
 
Mr. Malabari's Literary Works. 15 
 
 4 It is refreshing to come across a document which grasps the main 
 situation and proceeds to point out the remedy in a statesmanlike spirit. 
 ... If native publicists had a tithe of the statesmanship, sobriety, and 
 foresight shown here, the task of governing the country would be much 
 easier than it is now.' The Times of India, 1894. 
 
 1 The Indian eye that saw such fascinating and good-humoured things 
 about English life turned itself to look within India, and the result is 
 a concise and yet graphic summary of the forces that are at work in India 
 of to-day. A sympathetic observer, mild but keen-sighted, with firm 
 opinions expressed in inoffensive language.' Indu Prakash, 1894. 
 
 ' A valuable Note on the British Administration of India ; a presentation, 
 such as would become a true statesman, of the larger questions affecting 
 our country. . . Mr. Malabari holds the first rank among our select 
 native writers of English. . . In short, this Minute of Mr. Malabari's 
 is such as to do credit to any distinguished statesman.' The Rast Go/tar ', 
 Bombay, 1894. 
 
 *A comprehensive survey of the various forces at work in India. Mr. 
 Malabari writes with a candour and vigour of judgement about which 
 there can be no mistake. His description of the situation is as felicitous 
 as it is generally accurate.' The Panjab Patriot, Lahore, 1894. 
 
 ' If all our Indian reformers were actuated by the principles to which 
 expression is given in Mr. Malabari's Memorandum, it would be a 
 pleasure to the Anglo-Indian to encourage the movement of which he 
 now usually entertains suspicions.' The Madras Times, Madras, 1894. 
 
 ' It is animated throughout with all the spirit and earnestness of a patriot 
 and the moderation, skill, and sagacity of a statesman.' The Gujardt 
 Mitra and Gujardt Darfian, Surat, 1894. 
 
 'We are by no means sorry that Mr. Malabari's Memorandum has been 
 hailed with pleasure by Anglo- Indians. The Memorandum can be read 
 with greater profit by Anglo-Indians than Indians ; and we hope the 
 respect and regard the former have for Mr. Malabari will induce them 
 to treat the political reformers of this country, the educated natives, in 
 a far kindlier spirit. . . These are noble truths clothed in unmistakable 
 language. Are they to bear no fruit ?' The Madras Standard, Madras, 
 1894. 
 
 ' It is but natural that this wide comprehension of facts, his keen insight 
 into character and events, his close study of the community about which 
 he writes, and above all, the critical and impartial spirit of his remarks, 
 should make his Memorandum acceptable, not only in the highest circles 
 in England, but also to the Anglo-Indian community and Press in India, 
 which do not seem to have been much respected in it. In this memorable 
 document, Mr. Malabari approaches some of the most momentous questions 
 
1 6 Mr. Malabar i's- Literary Works. 
 
 in a masterly fashion ; and, though the conclusions he arrives at are not 
 new, they are certainly well argued and clearly demonstrated.' The 
 Mahratta, Poona, 1894. 
 
 ' It is most gratifying to see that, true to his convictions and to the vow 
 he has taken to serve India most faithfully, Mr. Malabari has given us 
 the benefit of his keen insight, shrewd observation, faithful sympathy, 
 and his very elegant and sober style, by writing a Memorandum giving 
 a succinct account of the political and economical situation of our country 
 to-day; and has also stated what, in his opinion, the duty of English 
 statesmen at present is. The Memorandum is evidently written to 
 enlighten the upper ten of the English politicians of the day on the 
 various vexing Indian questions. . . We heartily wish this most 
 statesmanlike document of Mr. Malabari will be translated into every 
 vernacular language and read by all the Indians.' Dnyan Prakash, 1894. 
 
 1 Owing to these reasons, also to abstaining from party squabbles, and 
 his forbearance and impartiality, Mr. Malabari commands an amount of 
 attention, which it is the good fortune of no other Indian publicist to 
 obtain.' Bombay Gazette, 1894. 
 
 ' He has the ear of the philanthropic section of the British public. He 
 would earn the heart-felt gratitude of the teeming and voiceless millions 
 of this country if he could obtain financial justice for India from England.' 
 Advocate, 1894. 
 
 ' All that he writes commands attention. . . There are Englishmen who 
 know India only through Mr. Malabari and his Spectator. Let none 
 complain, however. It is something to have one of us who can interpret 
 the national will to persons in authority and can manage to be listened 
 to. Mr. Malabari exercises a charm by his very name.' The Indian 
 Nation, 1895. 
 
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