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[Illustration: FELIX TIPNIS.]
INDIA AND THE
INDIANS
BY EDWARD F. ELWIN
OF THE SOCIETY OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST, COWLEY
AUTHOR OF "INDIAN JOTTINGS," "THIRTY-FOUR YEARS IN POONA CITY,"
"STORIES OF INDIAN BOYS," ETC.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1913
* * * * *
PREFACE
India is really waking up, but she is doing so in her own Indian way.
For some years past it has been one of my daily duties to arouse an
Indian boy, and I know exactly how an Indian wakes. It is a leisurely
process. He slowly stretches his legs and rubs his eyes, and it is at
least ten minutes before he can be said to be really wide awake. And
every morning I have to say exactly the same thing: "Now remember,
Felix, to say your prayers; then go and wash your hands and face, and
then feed the pony." And if on any particular morning I were to leave
this reminder unsaid, and Felix left any, or all of these duties,
undone, and I were to ask him the reason, he would reply, "You did not
tell me."
With India waking up, there never was a time when she stands more in
need of some kindly person at her side to tell her what to do. She
needs to be taught to say her prayers, because with the old religion
gone and the True Faith dimly understood, India would be in the
appalling condition of a great country without a religion. We need to
tell her to wash her hands and face, because there are certain
elementary matters of sanitation which must be attended to if India is
ever to become a wholesome and prosperous country. And we have got to
teach her how to work, because India wide awake, but idle, might
easily become a source of great mischief.
Every Englishman who takes pleasure in the sense of Empire ought to
realise that it brings with it great responsibilities, and therefore
that every Englishman has a measure of responsibility towards India.
We must be taking care that, if when she is wide awake she fails to
fulfil her great vocation, at any rate she shall have no cause to
utter against us the reproach, You never told me.
A better understanding of what India and the people who live in it are
really like, seems to be the necessary preparation for sympathy and
work of any sort connected with that country; and to help, in however
small a degree, to bring about this end is the object of this book. I
have had unusually favourable and varied opportunities for getting to
know intimately the inner side of Indian life and character during a
somewhat long residence in this country. The contents of the book are
exceedingly miscellaneous because the daily experiences have been
equally so. Everything that is told is the outcome of my own personal
observations amongst a people to whom I am deeply attached, and I have
taken the utmost pains to record nothing of which I was not sure, and
to verify everything concerning which I was doubtful.
The photographs were all taken by Brother Arthur of our Society.
EDWARD F. ELWIN.
YERANDAWANA,
POONA DISTRICT, INDIA.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY 1
II. INDIAN HOSPITALITY 11
III. THE INDIAN VIEW OF NATURE AND ARCHITECTURE 17
IV. INDIAN EMPLOYEES OF LABOUR 24
V. THE INDIAN POSTAL SERVICE 32
VI. INDIANS AND ENGLISH CUSTOMS 40
VII. INDIAN UNPUNCTUALITY 48
VIII. INDIAN POVERTY 54
IX. INDIAN ART 60
X. THE INDIAN VILLAGE 66
XI. INDIAN ENTERTAINMENTS 74
XII. THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 83
XIII. MISSION WORK IN INDIA 89
XIV. INDIAN MUSIC 98
XV. INDIAN MEALS 105
XVI. HINDU PHILOSOPHY 111
XVII. HINDUS AND RELIGION 117
XVIII. RELIGIOUS PHASES IN INDIA 124
XIX. GAMES IN INDIA 130
XX. INDIAN WRESTLERS 137
XXI. BOOKS IN INDIA 143
XXII. INDIAN PAGEANTS 151
XXIII. THE INDIAN CHARACTER 157
XXIV. RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY IN INDIA 164
XXV. WILD BEASTS IN INDIA 170
XXVI. SOME INDIAN ANIMALS 176
XXVII. THE INDIAN WORLD OF NATURE 182
XXVIII. INSECTS IN INDIA 188
XXIX. THE INDIAN ASCETIC 196
XXX. THE INDIAN WIDOW 204
XXXI. WRONGDOING IN INDIA 212
XXXII. PROPERTY IN INDIA 221
XXXIII. EAST AND WEST TRAVELLING 228
XXXIV. CUSTOMS OF EAST AND WEST 234
XXXV. SERVANTS IN INDIA 241
XXXVI. THE EDUCATED HINDU 247
XXXVII. UNFINISHED PLANS IN INDIA 256
XXXVIII. GIFTS IN INDIA 263
XXXIX. PROVERBIAL SAYINGS ABOUT INDIA 270
XL. INDIAN UNREST 278
XLI. THE ENGLISH IN INDIA 288
XLII. DISHONESTY IN INDIA 295
XLIII. INDIAN MOHAMMEDANS 302
XLIV. NIGHT ALARMS IN INDIA 309
XLV. THE INDIAN WASHERMAN 317
XLVI. AGRICULTURE IN INDIA 328
XLVII. EAST AND WEST ON BOARD SHIP 337
INDEX 347
* * * * *
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FELIX TIPNIS _Frontispiece_
SWITHUN'S NEW HOME IN THE VILLAGE _To face page 16_
YERANDAWANA CHURCH FROM A DISTANCE " 20
THE INDIAN VILLAGE POSTMAN " 38
NARAYEN KHILARI, A FARMER'S SON " 42
THE KINDLY HINDU NEIGHBOUR AND HIS FAMILY " 48
A MODERN HOUSE IN POONA CITY " 60
MRS SALOME ZADHAW " 66
RAGU, THE NIGHT-WATCHMAN " 72
THE YERANDAWANA VILLAGE WRESTLERS " 138
NIRARI BHOSLE, THE MISCHIEVOUS VILLAGE BOY " 168
MILKING THE BUFFALO " 180
DOWD PHERIDE, THE EGG-MERCHANT'S SON " 198
SARLA KALU, THE YERANDAWANA WIDOW " 206
THE INDIAN BUTLER " 242
THE CEMETERY CROSS " 268
* * * * *
INDIA AND THE INDIANS
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
Misconceptions about India. Hinduism. An "infernal
religion." Hindu mythology. Ascetics. Translations of Hindu
sacred books. Modern and ancient ways of teaching
Christianity. Danger of the incorporation of a false Christ
into Hinduism. Hindu India as it really is. Definitions of
"What is Hinduism?" from representative Hindus.
India is not really quite so mysterious a country as it appears to be
on first acquaintance. But you have to live there a long time before
things begin to reveal their real shape. It is only on the ground of
long residence, and frequent and often close intercourse with a great
variety of Indians, that I venture now and then to give some of my
experiences to others. India remains almost an unknown land to a large
number of people in spite of all that has been written or spoken about
it, and it is hard to dissipate the many misconceptions which exist
concerning the country. Some of these misconceptions came into being
years ago, but they have become stereotyped. They were presumably the
outcome of hasty conclusions drawn from superficial knowledge. But
even visitors to India often view the country in the light of
preconceived ideas which they have either heard or read of, and they
therefore fail to see things as they really are.
It is inevitable in dealing with Indian things that the defects of the
people of the country should occupy rather a prominent place. The
cause is their misfortune and not their fault. They have many
delightful natural characteristics, and the years that I have lived
amongst them have only served to increase my deep affection for the
people of India, and the real pleasure that I find in their society.
The defects of Hindus come from their religion, which is deeply
steeped in idolatry, and neither gives them a code of morality, nor
grace to keep one if it had been given. The strongest denunciations of
Hinduism come from the people themselves. I often repeat what the old
Brahmin, who lived and died a Hindu, said when he roared out to me,
"It is a most infernal religion." And he proceeded to give instances
of its infernal nature which it is impossible to print, but which
justified the expression.
A Hindu admits the beauty of a moral life, but puts it aside as
impossible of fulfilment. He has no creed, and cannot tell you what he
believes. He is in doubt and uncertainty both as regards where man
came from, and whither he is going. Nearly every Hindu is an idolater
at some time or other, if only to please his wife, or to oblige a
friend. Some, nowadays, try to explain away the custom as being merely
an ancient tradition, but on that account to be respected; or as
edifying for the ignorant, who cannot find God in any other way.
The histories of the gods, like all heathen mythology, consist of
tales, some picturesque, some foolish, some dull and childish, some
obscene. How far the educated Hindu believes them it is difficult to
know. Those that are obviously absurd he will say are allegorical, and
in spite of their diversity he will maintain that they are all
manifestations of one god. The uneducated rustic, so far as he is
familiar with these stories, believes them.
The ascetic life, at any rate as represented by the professional
ascetics of India, is not held in admiration by the people of the
country. The real character of most of the wandering ascetics is
perfectly well known. But the people fear their curse; hence they give
them alms, and a measure of outward respect. That their profession and
their conduct are so often in contradiction does not apparently excite
surprise.
Some English translations of Hindu sacred books must be taken with a
certain amount of caution. Enthusiastic and poetically inclined minds
have produced translations which can only be said to remotely
represent the originals (if we are to accept the opinion of some who
are competent to know), into which they have read much more than is
really to be found there. Also, terms taken from Christian theology
have, of necessity, a much fuller meaning to the minds of Christian
people who read them than is to be found in the vernacular expression
which they represent. Short extracts, given without the context, are
proverbially misleading, according to the individual bias of the
extractor, either favourable or the reverse.
Kindly advisers have been urging lately that missionaries should try
and discover what is good in Hinduism, and on that foundation
gradually build up the truths of Christianity. It would be just as
reasonable to expect to draw sweet water from a bitter spring. The old
teachers of Christianity in India preached it as a matter of life and
death, as indeed it is, and they made converts from amongst the
educated men. A Brahmin convert has told me that what impelled him to
carry his convictions to their proper conclusion was the belief that
if he held back he would be lost.
The apologetic way in which Christianity is sometimes preached at the
present day in India, in response to these well-meant but dangerous
promptings, may possibly lead to the disastrous result of the
incorporation of a kind of false Christ into Hinduism. Our Lord is
greatly admired by a large number of intelligent Hindus. The Bible is
often quoted by public speakers to illustrate some point in their
speech; not always, of course, with accuracy or appropriateness. Now
and then a Hindu will say that he is a Christian in heart; and that
being so, he pleads to be dispensed from the inconvenient ceremonial
of baptism, which would separate him from his own people. The laxity
of many Nonconformists, and some others, concerning baptism, gives him
some ground for making this petition.
To take a measure of Christian morality into Hinduism, to place the
Bible alongside their other sacred books, and to worship Christ along
with Krishna, would satisfy modern Hindu aspirations without entailing
much practical inconvenience.
In trying to describe everyday life in India, we shall at every turn
meet with instances of the effect that Hinduism has in warping and
marring natures which otherwise have so much which is attractive. But
the sole purpose of this book is to try and depict Hindu India as it
really is. People will only be stimulated to pray and work for the
country with the energy and fullness of purpose which the case
demands, when they have realised that the matter is vital and urgent.
People will understand how greatly Christian Indians need the prayers
of others when they realise that they have to lead their lives in the
midst of evil, inconceivably great, and with the weight of inherited
tendencies of wrong hindering their efforts to do right. Nor will
charitable persons be forgetful to pray for those who have to try and
shepherd these sheep and lambs, whilst they themselves have to live in
the midst of an atmosphere of evil influences, such as those who live
in Christian countries know little of.
It is satisfactory and significant to note that one of the most
pronounced of the agitators in favour of teaching Christianity through
Hinduism has become one of the most determined and persuasive
preachers of pure Christianity, with a corresponding increase of
far-reaching and productive influence.
The following definitions of what is Hinduism from certain leading and
representative Hindus will be of interest as showing that what has been
said of its nebulous nature is not an exaggeration. The editor of an
Indian paper called the _Leader_, asked the following question:--"What
are the beliefs and practices indispensable in one professing the Hindu
faith, as distinguished from what may be called non-essentials, which it
is left to one's option to believe and to adopt?"
Some of the answers were quoted in the _Delhi Mission News_, vol. iv.,
p. 108, from which the following extracts are taken. They are slightly
abridged, but the original sense has been carefully preserved.
Sir Guru Das Banerjee, an orthodox Hindu of Bengal, of great ability
and eminence, says:--"Owing to the highly tolerant character of
Hinduism and to the great diversity of opinion on the point, it is not
easy to answer the question with any great degree of definiteness. I
think that the beliefs that are generally considered indispensable in
a Hindu are: Belief in God, in a future state, and in the authority of
the Vedas. The practices that are generally considered indispensable
are: The rules prohibiting marriage in a different caste; forbidding
dining with a person of an inferior caste; and the rule relating to
forbidden food, especially beef. But courts of justice have gone much
further, and held dissenting sects which have sprung out of the Hindu
community, such as the Sikhs, to be Hindus, although they do not
believe in the authority of the Vedas and do not observe any
distinction of caste. And Hindu society now practically admits within
its pale all persons who are Hindu by birth, whatever their beliefs
and practices may be, provided they have not openly abjured Hinduism
or married outside of Hindu society."
Mr Satyendra Nath Tagore, another Bengali Hindu, whose family is among
the most distinguished in India, writes:--"There are no dogmas in
Hinduism. You may believe in any doctrine you choose, even in atheism,
without ceasing to be a Hindu. You, as a Hindu, must in theory accept
the Vedas as the revealed religion, but you may put your own
interpretation on the Vedic texts. This leaves a loophole for you to
escape from the thraldom of dogmatism. It is the adherence to certain
practices--rites and ceremonies--that Hinduism imperatively demands.
Chief of these is the system of caste as at present constituted, the
slightest deviation from which cuts one off from the community. In
determining the question proposed, the text is, What is it that
entails excommunication of a Hindu? Surely not any specific article of
belief, but a deviation from established usages and customs--such, for
instance, as the remarriage of widows, etc. Again, non-observance of
the prevailing modes of worship, non-observance of idol worship,
especially on ceremonial occasions, might entail serious consequences.
It is true that certain articles of belief obtain among the large body
of Hindus, but they are by no means universal or essential to
Hinduism. You may renounce the belief, provided you conform to the
ceremony which is the outcome of such belief. For instance, it will
not do to discountenance the practice of making funeral offerings to
deceased ancestors, although you have no faith in the immortality of
the soul."
Mr P. T. Srinivas Iyengar is principal of a college in Vizagapatam. He
writes:--"The evolution of religion in India has not provided the
Hindus with any belief or practice common to all who now go by that
name. The pre-Aryan tribes had their own religious beliefs and
practices, on which were superimposed those of the Aryans. The Vedic
age, the post-Vedic times, the Buddhist age, and the age of the
Paranas, have each contributed innumerable ideas and customs. The
religion of each one of us contains relics of all these strata, but
not one of these can be called essential to the Hindu religion,
because every belief or practice that is considered absolutely
necessary by Hindus of one corner of India is unknown or ignored by
some other corner. It is true that the various schools of Hindu
philosophy agree in regarding a few fundamental ideas as axiomatic,
but philosophy is not religion. The Mohammedans are one because they
have a common religion and a common law. The Christians are one,
because at least one point of faith is common. But the Hindus have
neither faith, nor practice, nor law to distinguish them from others.
I should therefore define a Hindu to be one born in India, whose
parents so far as people can remember were not foreigners, or did not
profess a foreign religion like Mohammedanism or Christianity, and who
himself has not embraced such religions."
The last answer, which reads the vaguest of any, is from Mr T.
Sadasivier, who is a Sessions Judge of Ganjam. He writes as
follows:--"One professing the Hindu faith has only to have the
following belief, namely, that the four Vedas contain moral and
spiritual truth, which are not less valid than any other spoken or
written words. He might believe in other spoken or written words (like
the Bhagavad-gita) as of equal authority with the Vedas, but he ought
not, if he is a Hindu, to believe such to be _superior_, so far as
moral and religious truth is concerned. Out-castes are Hindus so long
as they believe the Vedas to contain the highest moral and religious
truths. As regards practices, a Hindu ought to follow those he
believes to be in conformity with and not opposed to, the Vedas. He
can follow his own conscience and desires in ordinary matters, so long
as he believes that they are not opposed to the Vedas. Human nature
being liable to sin, even if he contravenes the practices believed by
him to be Vedic, if he admits he _ought_ to follow only practices
enjoined by the Vedas, he is a Hindu, even if he cannot study and read
the Vedas. If he believes that the Vedas inculcate certain practices
for him and that he ought to follow them, he is and remains a Hindu."