INDIAN ENTERTAINMENTS
Indian titles. The Inamdar. The _pan supari_ party.
Mohammedan saints. The _nautch_; why objectionable. The
Inamdar's house; its decorations; furniture. Mohammedan
full-dress. The guests; nature of the entertainment. The
guests garlanded; no hostess. General conclusions; not an
occasion for a missionary.
The titles belonging to Indians of real or imaginary importance take
up an astonishing amount of space on paper. I received an invitation
to what is called on the card, a _pan supari_ party. The person who
issues the invitation is, so the card informs me, "Sardar Khanbahadur
Kazi Sayed Azimodin Gulamodin Pirzade Inamdar." His real name is
Azimodin. The rest could be dispensed with. He is the Mohammedan chief
of Yerandawana. Part of the revenue of that village was, at some
distant date, allotted to a mosque in Poona City. It is therefore
called an _Inam_ village, and the holder of the grant is called the
_Inamdar_, the word "inam" meaning "grant." A small percentage of the
Government land tax is paid over to the Inamdar, and he has other
small perquisites, such as the fruit of certain trees. He also has
some privileges connected with the river which flows past Yerandawana;
as, for instance, gravel cannot be taken from it without paying him a
royalty. He also has certain rights over the stone quarries and the
pasturage on some of the hills.
_Pan supari_ is the betel nut wrapped up in a leaf, which is
distributed to guests on festal occasions, and chewed by those who
like it. It is one of the few things which can be accepted and eaten
without prejudice to caste. Just as in England you might be asked to a
"tea" party, so here in India we were asked to a _pan supari_ party;
only, unfortunately, there is nothing very satisfying in the betel
nut, although all Indians are fond of it.
Mohammedans have a great respect for the memory of those of their
number whom they regard as "saints"; whether they are technically or
actually such does not seem to matter much. Many of their tombs may be
noticed in cities and villages, or by the roadside under some
spreading tree. The festival of each local saint is kept by the
Mohammedans of that locality with prayers and feasting and merrymaking
for several days. The occasion of the _pan supari_ party was the
festival of the local saint of the mosque which adjoined the Inamdar's
house in the city. The saint's names and titles were also of
formidable dimensions--"Peer Sayed Hisamodin Kattal Junjani Chishte."
I consulted another friendly Mohammedan as to whether I could safely
accept the invitation without running the risk of finding myself a
sharer in festivities of a doubtful character. He said that these sort
of festivals always commenced with great propriety, but often
degenerated as they proceeded. But that the _pan supari_ party to
which English were invited was sure to be eminently respectable, while
the concluding days would probably be devoted to singing and dancing
of the usual dubious kind.
Unfortunately, parties to which English are invited by both Hindus and
Mohammedans are not always free from objectionable features. Not
unfrequently part of the entertainment is dancing, and sometimes
singing, by professional performers. English people sometimes plead
that there is nothing particularly objectionable in the nature of the
dance, and that the singing is in a language which they do not
understand. But it is the character of the women who dance and sing
which some English people are not aware of. They are invariably
professional women of bad character, because no other kind of Indian
woman ever takes part in public performances of this nature in the
presence of men. And it is on this ground that Christians ought always
to refuse invitations to any festivity in which a _nautch_, or dance,
is put down as one of the events, stating politely the reason of
refusal. Indians often arrange for entertainments of this kind
because they imagine that it is the sort of thing which Europeans
enjoy. A few officials of high rank have done good service by
intimating that they do not wish to be entertained in this manner.
I accepted the Inamdar's invitation. I thought it might be useful
experience. The hour was from five to six. The address was nearly as
long as the host's name--"Badi Darga, Riverside, Zuni Mandai, in front
of Shanwar Wada, Kasba Peth, Poona City." But, in spite of these
precise directions, it would have been a difficult place for anyone to
find who was not pretty well acquainted with the labyrinths of the old
city.
Sometimes one is tempted to smile as one thinks of the splendour of
Eastern entertainments, or of the "gorgeous East," as it exists in the
imagination of many English people, or in the mind of the newspaper
correspondent of an Eastern tour. The triumphal arch at the entrance
of the narrow lane leading to the Inamdar's house might have made an
effective Indian photograph for home consumption. But the poles,
draped with pink muslin, were a grateful sight only because they told
us that we were on the right track. Also, a coat of gravel newly
spread along the lane was a welcome indication that there was no need
to walk with the caution which is expedient in most of the streets of
Poona City.
The Inamdar's house is by the river side, and the river being at that
time in flood and full from bank to bank, it would have been a
picturesque sight, if it had not been for the colour of the water,
which gave the impression of a river of rolling mud. This is the case
with most Indian rivers, and detracts a good deal from their beauty.
The buildings forming the Inamdar's establishment enclosed an
irregular sort of courtyard. On one side of this was the mosque and
the tomb of the saint. The residential part of the premises formed
another side, into which the mixed assembly of a _pan supari_ party
would not be allowed to penetrate. A third side of the courtyard was
occupied by a long, low, whitewashed shed, open in front, and with a
few small windows at the back looking on to the river, and this was
arranged for the reception of the guests. It was elaborately festooned
with paper flowers and other adornments, something after the fashion
of Christmas-tree decorations. The effect was more gay than artistic.
I have never been able to ascertain where the particular sort of
furniture originally came from which adorns the reception-rooms of
Indians who are in a position to occasionally entertain distinguished
guests. It is a little like what is sometimes seen on the stage. The
sofas and chairs are very ornate, and equally uncomfortable. The
carpets are often really handsome, because their design and
manufacture is an art which is thoroughly understood in the East, and
in more primitive days they would have formed almost the only
furniture of a reception-hall.
Out in the compound were flowers in pots, after the manner of an
Indian garden, and a few trees, as well as one or two tombs of
Mohammedan saints of a somewhat lower rank than Peer Sayed Hisamodin.
A strip of red cloth from the place where carriages were to set down,
indicated that visitors were to make their way into the shed. I was
amongst the earliest arrivals, and was received by the Inamdar and his
son with all that graceful courtesy which no one knows better how to
show than an Indian. The full dress of a Mohammedan is striking and
effective. They never of course wear the _dhota_, which is the garment
of Hindus, but they wear instead trousers, fitting very close at the
foot, but of great width in the upper part.
I thought it prudent to ask what the order of proceedings would be.
They told me that there would be a little music, and distribution of
garlands and _pan supari_, and finally dancing. I replied that I could
not witness the last item in the programme. The Inamdar's son
intimated that this item would not come off till later on in the
evening, when the Europeans would have left. I asked him how they
could be willing to receive into their house women of the character of
the dancers. He looked sheepish, and was no doubt relieved that
another arrival called him away.
We presented a curious medley when all were assembled. A Hindu
Collector drove up in his motor car, faultlessly dressed in English
clothes, and so like a courteous European in his general bearing that,
except for his white and gold turban, it might have been difficult to
suppose that he was not one. Many Indians are, comparatively speaking,
very fair, and if you are living habitually in the country you become
almost oblivious to shades of complexion. The English Collector also
arrived, with his wife. Collectors are, of course, magistrates and
officials of importance. The Commissioner of the division followed,
who is senior to a Collector. Mohammedans, Hindus, and a few Parsees
arrived, some in smart carriages, a few in hired conveyances, and
others on foot. Another motor car with an Indian owner drove up. At
present the dash, and go, and smartness of a motor-car seem strangely
out of keeping with the spirit of leisure, and delay, and general
shabbiness so marked in things Indian.
When the party might be said to be in full swing I do not know that it
was much duller, or more pointless, than receptions in England.
Certainly a cup of tea is more refreshing than the fragment of betel
nut wrapped up in a leaf and enclosed in a piece of gold paper. Few
Europeans have courage to eat it, but it should always be accepted,
and after your departure you can gladden the heart of any native by
giving it to him. A few Indians provide spirituous drinks for their
English visitors, under the idea that they cannot exist without a
whisky peg. And, indeed, it is said that some young English guests
confirm this belief by the use they make of the drinks provided.
A couple of Mohammedan men came forward, and seating themselves on a
carpet gave a brief musical performance, after which a man sung a song
with an air of such comical affectation that it was difficult to
maintain the serious gravity with which the Indian part of the
audience listened to him. Preparations for a photograph of the
assembled company commencing, it was an indication that it was time
for me to depart. All the more distinguished guests had been
previously decorated with garlands of pink roses and white jasmine,
and in addition they were given a kind of sceptre, made of the same
sort of flowers tied to a short stick. The less remarkable people
received an inferior garland and a single rose with a few leaves, made
up like a button-hole; and a certain unimportant residuum did not
receive any decoration at all.
Perhaps what, to English eyes, appeared the most obvious blot in the
proceedings was the absence of any hostess. Both the old Inamdar and
his son had several wives, but except the English ladies who came as
guests, there were no females of any sort visible. One of these ladies
asked me whether the Inamdar would be displeased if she suggested a
visit to his wife, because she had once met her at one of those
parties which some kindly English people have tried to organise for
the benefit of the more exclusive women who live behind the _purdah_,
or curtain. So I told the Inamdar that the Madam Sahib would be
pleased to visit _his_ Madam Sahib. He smiled, and bowed, and made a
little bustle as if he was going to make arrangements for it, but I do
not think that anything came of it.
The point that I was anxious to learn from my attendance at the
Inamdar's party was whether, on the whole, it is advantageous for
English people to accept such invitations or not. The conclusion that
I came to was that, since it helps to some extent to bring about a
mutual understanding, it is a good thing for kindly Government
officials and their ladies to do, but that it is not the sort of
occasion when there is scope for a missionary. As a guest he is bound
to be courteous to his host, and if any practice is indulged in which
may call for rebuke, it is not easy to administer it without the
appearance of rudeness. Already some modern-minded Hindus urge that
all religions are alike, and that Christianity being suited to
Europeans and the Eastern religions to the people of the East, there
is no need to change. If the teachers of Christianity share in the
social gatherings of educated Indians with the politeness and
cordiality which such occasions demand, it may foster the impression
that unbelief and idolatry are no real barriers to mutual unity of
heart, and that one religion is as good as another.