The Secret Traffic
"Sir, to leave things out of a book because they
will not be believed, is meanness."--DR. JOHNSON.
WHEN first, upon March 7, 1901, we heard from the lips of a little child
the story of her life in a Temple house, we were startled and
distressed, and penetrated with the conviction that such a story ought
to be impossible in a land ruled by a Christian Power. The subject was
new to us; we knew nothing of the magnitude of what may be called "The
Secret Traffic of India"--a traffic in little children, mere infants
oftentimes, for wrong purposes; and we did not appreciate, as we do now,
the delicacy and difficulty of the position from a Government point of
view, or the quiet might of the forces upon the other side. And though
with added knowledge comes an added sense of responsibility, and a fear
of all careless appeal to those whose burden is already so heavy, yet
with every fresh discovery the conviction deepens that something should
be done--and done, if possible, soon--to save at least this generation
of children, or some of them, from destruction.
"It is useless to move without a body of evidence at your back," said a
friend in the Civil Service to us at the close of a long conversation.
"If you can get the children, of course they themselves will furnish the
best evidence; but, anyhow, collect facts." And this was the beginning
of a Note-book, into which we entered whatever we could learn about the
Temple children, and in which we kept letters relating to them.
By Temple children throughout this book we mean children dedicated to
gods, or in danger of being so dedicated. Dedication to gods implies a
form of marriage which makes ordinary marriage impossible. The child is
regarded as belonging to the gods. In Southern India, where religious
feeling runs strong, and the great Temples are the centres of Hindu
influence, this that I have called "The Traffic" is worked upon
religious lines; and so in trying to save the children we have to
contend with the perverted religious sense. Something of the same kind
exists in other parts of India, and the traffic under another name is
common in provinces where Temple service as we have it in the South is
unknown. Again, in areas where, owing to the action of the native
Government, Temple service, as such, is not recognised, so that children
in danger of wrong cannot, strictly speaking, be called Temple children,
there is yet need of legislation which shall touch all houses where
little children are being brought up for the same purpose; so that the
subject is immense and involved, and the thought of it suggests a net
thrown over millions of square miles of territory, so finely woven as to
be almost invisible, but so strong in its mesh that in no place yet has
it ever given way. And the net is alive: it can feel and it can hold.
But all through this book we have kept to the South--to the area where
the evil is distinctly and recognisably religious. Others elsewhere have
told their own story; ours, though in touch with theirs (in that its
whole motive is to save the little children), is yet different in
manner, in that it is avowedly Christian. India is a land where
generalisations are deceptive. So we have kept to the South.
We ourselves became only very gradually aware of what was happening
about us. As fact after fact came to light, we were forced to certain
conclusions which we could not doubt were correct. But at first we were
almost alone in these conclusions, because it was impossible to take
others with us in our tedious underground hunt after facts. So the
question was often asked: "But do the children really exist?"
I have said we were almost alone, not quite. Members of the Indian Civil
Service, who are much among the people, knew something of the custom of
child-dedication, but found themselves unable to touch it. Hindu
Reformers, of course, knew; and two or three veteran missionaries had
come into contact with it and had grieved over their helplessness to do
anything. One of these had written a pamphlet on the subject twenty
years before our Nursery work began. He sent it to me with a sorrowful
word written across it, "Result? Nil." But we do not often meet our
civilian friends, for they are busy, and so are we; and the few
missionaries whose inspiring sympathy helped us through those earlier
years were in places far from us, and so were all the Reformers. So
perhaps it was not wonderful that, beset by doubting letters from home
and a certain amount of not unnatural incredulity in India, we sometimes
almost wondered if we ourselves were dreaming. "Well, if they do exist,
I hope you will be able to find them!"--varied by, "Well, if you do find
them, they will be a proof of their own existence!"--were two of the
most encouraging remarks of those early days.
From the beginning of this work, as stated before, we have tried to
collect facts about the traffic and the customs connected with it. Notes
were kept of conversations with Hindus and others, and these notes were
compared with what evidence we were able to gather from trustworthy
sources. These brief notes of various kinds we offer in their
simplicity. We have made no attempt to tabulate or put into shape the
information thus acquired, believing that the notes of conversations
taken down at the time, and the quotations from letters copied as they
stand, will do their work more directly than anything more elaborate
would. Where there is a difference of detail it is because the customs
differ slightly in different places. No names are given, for obvious
reasons; but the letters were written by men of standing, living in
widely scattered districts in the South. The evidence contained in them
was carefully sifted, and in many cases corroborated by personal
investigation, before being considered evidence: so that we believe
these chapters may be accepted as fact. Dated quotations from the
_Madras Mail_ are sufficient to prove that we are not writing ancient
history:--
_January 2, 1909._--"The following resolution was put from the chair and
carried unanimously: 'The Conference (consisting of Hindu Social
Reformers) cordially supports the movement started to better the
condition of unprotected children in general, and appreciates
particularly the agitation started to protect girls and young women from
being dedicated to Temples.'"
_May 8, 1909._--"Once more we have an illustration from Mysore of the
fact that the Government of a Native State are able to tread boldly on
ground which the British Government in India are unable to approach. At
various times, in these columns and elsewhere, has the cry raised
against the employment of servants of the gods in Hindu Temples been
uttered; but, as far as the Government are concerned, it has fallen, if
not on deaf ears, on ears stopped to appeals of this kind, which demand
action that can be interpreted as a breach of that religious neutrality
which is one of the cardinal principles of British rule in India. The
agitation against it is not the agitation of the European whose
susceptibility is offended at a state of things that he finds hard to
reconcile with the reverence and purity of Divine worship; but it is the
outcry of the reverent Hindu against one of the corrupt and degrading
practices that, in the course of centuries, have crept into his
religion. In this particular instance the Mysore Government cannot be
accused of acting hastily. As long ago as February, 1892, they issued a
circular order describing the legitimate services to be performed in
Temples by Temple women. In 1899, the Muzrai Superintendent, Rai Bahadur
A. Sreenivasa Charlu, directed that the Temple women borne on the
Nanjangud Temple establishment should not be allowed to perform _tafe_
(or dancing) service in the Temple; but that the allowances payable to
them should be continued for their lifetime, and that at their death the
vacancies should not be filled up. Against this order the Temple women
concerned memorialised H.H. the Maharajah as long ago as 1905, and the
order disposing of it has only just been issued. In the course of the
latter the Government say:--
"'From the Shastraic authorities quoted by the two Agamiks employed in
the Muzrai Secretariat, it is observed that the services to be performed
by Temple women form part and parcel of the worship of the god in Hindu
Temples, and that singing and dancing in the presence of the deity are
also prescribed. It is, however, observed that in the case of Temple
women personal purity and rectitude of conduct and a vow of celibacy
were considered essential. But the high ideals entertained in ancient
days have now degenerated. . . . The Government now observe that whatever
may have been the original object of the institution of Temple women in
Temples, the state in which these Temple servants are now found fully
justifies the action taken by them in excluding the Temple women from
every kind of service in sacred institutions like Temples. Further, the
absence of the services of these women in certain important Temples in
the State has become established for nearly fifteen years past, and the
public have become accustomed to the idea of doing without such
services.'
"The exclusion of Temple women from Temple services obtains in Mysore in
the case of a few large Temples whose _Tasdik Pattis_ have been revised.
But the time has come, the Government think, for its general
application, and they therefore direct that the policy enunciated in the
abstract given above should be extended to all Muzrai Temples in the
State. It is to be hoped that the good example thus set will bear fruit
elsewhere, where the Temple women evil is more notorious than it was in
Temples of Mysore."
A copy of the Government document to which this cutting relates lies
before me. It is bravely and clearly worded, and its intention is
evident. The high-minded Hindu--and there are such, let it not be
forgotten--revolts from the degradation and pollution of this travesty
of religion, and will abolish it where he can. _But let it be remembered
that, good as this law is, it does not and it cannot touch the great
Secret Traffic itself. That will go on behind the law, and behind the
next that is made, and the next, unless measures are devised to ensure
its being thoroughly enforced._
Cuttings from newspapers, quotations, evidence--it is not interesting
reading, and yet we look to our friends to go through to the end with
us. Let us pause for a moment here and remember the purpose of it all;
and may the thought of some little, loved child make an atmosphere for
these chapters!