_Country._--I do not mean here to give you a particular
description of the various parts of India through which I have
travelled, but rather attempt a very brief sort of general
representation of it: and I will say that it is, comparatively, sandy
and barren; for water, which is so essential to the fertilizing of the
soil, is in most places very scarce; and no wonder, when it is
generally six or seven months in the year without a shower of rain.
And were it not for a plan adopted by the natives, where there are no
rivers, by far the greater part of the country, now peopled, would be
uninhabitable; but during the monsoon, or rainy season, the
inhabitants, having prepared large tanks for its reception, get these
amply stored during the heavy rains; which I have often seen fall in
such abundance as to inundate the country so that the communication
betwixt villages, (which are always built upon rising ground,) had to
be carried on by boats or canoes. I say, when these tanks are filled,
it secures to them, humanly speaking, the succeeding harvest. The
event is celebrated with great rejoicings; but I shall not waste your
time and my own, in attempting to describe these ostentatious parades,
but desire rather that you would turn over your Bible, and look at
Belshazzar's mob of musicians, described in the 3d chapter of Daniel,
for you will there find the description of a similar band; and it is
very easy to conceive, in your own mind, a number of black people
following them. I will rather give you a sketch of the manner in which
their crops are produced, which will be more entertaining and
instructive.
After, therefore, having these tanks well replenished, and before they
begin to plough their rice-fields[19], (which must be always nearly
level,) they flood them with water for a day or two, to soften the
ground; and, to effect this, they have recourse to the following
expedient: they erect a thick post about twelve feet high, at the top
of which there is a strong lever, somewhat like the handle of our pump
wells, only much longer, and to that end to which you may suppose the
sucker of the pump attached, they fasten a rope or chain, of a
sufficient length to reach the water, and, at the end of this rope or
chain, they have a large iron bucket, and a person ready, at the side
of the tank, to guide and empty it into the furrows or ridges, (Psalm
lxv. 9th verse and downward,) which are formed in the rice-fields for
the reception of the water, and also to conduct it over the surface of
the whole plain that they intend to water. At the other end of the
lever another person is appointed to tread on it, so as to raise up or
let down the bucket to the person, as I said, who stands at the bottom
to guide and empty it; and, to prevent the feet of the drawer from
slipping, there are a number of knobs or blocks of wood nailed upon
that part of the handle which he treads. These water-engines are
frequently erected by the side of a growing tree; but when this is not
to be had, there are two large uprights placed close by the supposed
pump, and spaked across, so that the person may not only ascend and
descend upon this kind of ladder, but also have a security from
falling, while he is following his employment. This is the mode of
watering fields, I may say, universally adopted in India, where I have
travelled; but there is another kind of water-engine, which I
understand is generally used in Egypt, and some other countries, which
is managed by the motion of a wheel. In this wheel there are a number
of steps, and the person treading upon these turns the wheel round
until the rope or chain has elevated the bucket to a level with the
soil intended to be watered; but whether the one or the other plan be
adopted, it is a laborious and scanty manner of watering cultivated
grounds of any extent. If the inhabitants of these parched countries
were obliged to adopt this mode for their gardens only, it would be
comparatively trifling labour; but when a person takes a view of a
very extensive field, which must be kept two or three inches deep all
the time the rice is growing, (and only when they wish the rice to
harden is it taken off,) I say, if we consider this, the reasoning of
the inspired historian, in showing the superiority of the land of
Canaan to that of Egypt, will be very evident.
[19] Rice, in this country, may be called the staff of life.
Deuteronomy xi. 10. "For the land whither thou goest to possess it, is
not like the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou
sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of
herbs: but the land whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills
and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven; a land which
the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always
upon it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year."
Although I have said that the country is comparatively sandy and
barren, yet I say, that many parts of it also, which are situated on
the banks of rivers, are very fertile. The finest parts of India that
I have seen are near the Kistna and Tamboothera; these rivers supplying
their neighbourhood abundantly, give it a very fresh and delightful
appearance; and, O! how it cheers the spirits, and invigorates the eye
of the "wayfaring man," to come into the view of a considerable tract
of country, covered with woods and various kinds of herbage, after
having travelled days, or even weeks, and scarcely ever seen any
object to relieve the fatigued eye; but, on the contrary, every thing
to offend and hurt it; nothing presenting itself on any side but
glistening sand, scraggy bushes, the shining arms of the soldiery, and
the dazzling exhalations of the morning dews. Surely, "Blessed is the
man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is: for he
shall be as a tree, planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her
roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh; but her leaf
shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought,
neither shall cease from yielding fruit." The analogy of this figure
is simple and beautiful, and the application natural and easy, from
what I have been stating, to the pious and reflective mind.
_Manners, Customs, &c._--The complexion of the Hindoos is black;
their hair is long; their persons in general are straight and
well-formed, and their countenances open and pleasant. The dress of
the men amongst the higher ranks is a white vest of silk, muslin, or
cotton, girt with a sash; the sleeves are very long; and the upper
part of the garment contrived to fit, so that the wearer's shape may
be seen; their trowsers descend so low as to cover their legs; they
wear slippers down in the heel, and peaked at the toes, into which
they put their naked feet. The dress of the women amongst the higher
or middle ranks, is a piece of white calico tied about the waist,
which reaches to their knees; and the vest is thrown across their
shoulders, covering the breasts and part of the back; their hair, like
that of the men, is tied up in a roll, and adorned with jewels, or
toys; they wear pendants in their ears, and several strings of beads
round their necks; they also wear rings upon their fingers and toes,
and bracelets upon their wrists and ankles.
The Hindoos are, in general, very sober, and abstain from all animal
food. The Brahmins, in particular, never eat any thing that has had
the breath of life: _curees_ of vegetables are their common diet;
the chief ingredients of which are turmeric, spices, and the pulp of
the cocoa-nut. They esteem milk the purest food; and venerate the cow
almost as a divinity.
In manners, they are effeminate, luxurious, and taught to affect a
grave deportment. This initiates them early in the arts of
dissimulation; so that they can caress those whom they hate, and even
behave with kindness to those whom they intend to murder[20]. The
common salutation is, by lifting one or both hands to the head,
according to the quality of the person saluted; but no person salutes
with the left hand singly.
[20] We had several of our regiment who attached themselves
to black women, by whom they were poisoned; one, in
particular, suffered under a long lingering illness. This
young man was the Paymaster's clerk, who had taken one of
these women (who had broken her caste) and kept her for a
considerable time, but, happening to have some words with
her one day, he threatened to put her away; and she, taking
it for granted that he would be as good as his word, gave
him a dose of poison; but afterwards lived with him for some
time, with all the apparent affection that a wife should
show for a husband; nor did she leave him until a suspicion
arose that she was the person who had done the wicked deed.
This young man died; and his body having been opened by the
surgeon, he was found to have been poisoned.
On visiting amongst friends, the master of the house never rises to
receive his visitor, but requests him to come and sit down beside him
on the carpet or floor; and the betle-nut-box is presented to him, as
we do our snuff-boxes. This betle-nut is used in the same manner as we
do tobacco; and both the men and the women take it indiscriminately.
Dancing girls are generally engaged at public entertainments to amuse
the company. They adorn their necks with carcanets, their arms with
bracelets, and their ankles with small gold or silver chains. The
dance of these women is a cadenced movement, performed to the sound of
a drum, (called a tum-tum,) which a person beats upon with his
fingers, and accompanies with a song, that, to a person possessed of
any taste, is truly barbarous. The mode of beating time is with a
small bell, or cymbal, which the dancing-master holds in his hand.
This bell, or cymbal, he beats against the edge of another of the same
kind, which produces a brisk vibrating sound, which animates the
dancers, and gives precision to their movements. They, however,
display no elegant attitudes, but are full of gesture; and the motion
of their arms seems to occupy their whole attention.
The manner of drinking among the Hindoos is remarkable. They
religiously avoid touching the vessel with their lips, but pour it
into their mouths, holding the vessel at a distance. Their notion is,
that they would be polluted by drinking any stagnant liquid. Thus,
they will drink from a pump, or any clear running stream, but not out
of a standing pool. On a march, when any of the natives made their
appearance with their jimbos, (a small vessel, generally of brass or
earth,) we were driven by thirst sometimes to leave the ranks, and
entreated them to permit us to drink; but it was always in vain; and
if any of us took the vessel by force into our hands, either to
swallow its contents, or to draw water for ourselves, they broke it to
pieces, and raised the hue and cry that they were polluted and ruined;
and any soldier so acting would expose himself to a severe flogging.
But I have known some instances, wherein some of those people,
possessed of more generous minds and liberal sentiments, have given us
to drink, when we held our hands at each side of our mouth, while they
poured the water into them, holding the jimbo about half a yard above
our head; but, in this case, we were more satisfied externally than
internally.
The houses in Hindostan are for the most part very mean; in front of
these houses are sheds on pillars, under which the natives expose
their goods for sale, and entertain their friends. No windows open
towards the streets, and even the palaces of their princes have not
any external elegance. The marriages of the wealthy Hindoos are
conducted with the utmost splendour and extravagance. The little bride
and bridegroom, who are frequently only three or four years of age,
are for several nights carried through the streets, richly dressed,
and adorned with the finest jewels their parents can procure, preceded
by flags, music, and a multitude of lights. The astrologer having
fixed on a fortunate hour, they are taken to the house of the bride's
father, and being seated opposite to each other, with a table between
them, they join their hands across it, and the priest covers both
their heads with a kind of hood, which remains spread over them about
a quarter of an hour, while he prays for their happiness, and gives
them the nuptial benediction; after which, their heads are uncovered,
and all the company are sprinkled with perfumes, and the evening
concludes with a magnificent entertainment for the friends who attend.
The Hindoo women, in general, treat their husbands with great respect;
and very few are ever known to violate the marriage bed. They begin to
bear children at twelve years of age, and sometimes younger; but they
seldom have any after they are thirty; and frequently before that time
they lose their bloom, and begin to fade. With respect to the funerals
of the Hindoos, some of them bury the body, and others burn it. The
ceremony of burning is performed in the following manner:--Having
washed and dressed the corpse, the relations and friends carry it on a
bier to a small distance from the town. This is usually done the next
day; but if a person die in the morning, his body is always burnt the
same evening; for, in this country, a corpse will not keep long. The
funeral pile is usually made near some river or tank; and if he be a
person of rank, great quantities of fragrant wood are mixed with the
fuel. As soon as the corpse is placed upon the pile, and some prayers
muttered by the attending Brahmin, the fire is applied at one of the
corners, when it soon blazes up, and consumes the body to ashes.
The horrid practice of widows burning themselves along with the corpse
of their deceased husbands is losing ground very fast in India; and
there is scarcely ever an instance of it now known in our settlements;
and, as far as I could learn, when performed at all, it is chiefly
confined to the Brahmin cast.
_Religion, &c._--The religion of the Hindoos is all contained in
the sacred books called Vedas. These books are supposed to have been
the work, not of the supreme God himself, but of an inferior deity
called Brimha. They inform us that Brahma, the supreme god, having
created the world by the word of his mouth, formed a female deity,
named Bawaney, who brought forth three male deities, named Brimha,
Vishnu, and Seeva. They say that Brimha was endowed with the power of
creating all things, Vishnu with that of cherishing them, and Seeva
the power of restraining them. They say also, that Brahma himself
endowed mankind with passions and understanding to regulate them;
while Brimha created the inferior beings, and afterwards employed
himself in writing the Vedas, and gave these to the Brahmins to be
explained. These Brahmins are allowed to be the most honourable tribe
amongst the Hindoos, and are alone appointed to officiate in the
priesthood, like the Levites among the Jews. They alone are allowed to
read the Vedas or sacred books; and to them are committed the
instruction of the people. There are several orders of these Brahmins:
those who mix in society are not unfrequently of depraved morals; and
we need not wonder that it should be the case, when they are taught by
their religion that the water of the Ganges will effectually wash away
all their sins. Those Brahmins who live secluded from society, are men
of very weak minds, or enthusiasts, who give themselves up to
indolence and superstition. The Chehteree, or second caste, is next in
rank to the Brahmins; and from this caste their Nabobs, or Princes,
are always chosen.
The Bice, or Banians, who compose the third class, are those people
whose profession is trade and merchandise. They have no particular
religion, unless it be adherence to truth in their words and dealings.
They are the great factors by whom the trade of India is carried on;
and, as they believe in the transmigration of souls, they eat no
living creature, nor kill even noxious animals, but endeavour to
release them from the hands of others who may be intending to destroy
them. I have seen them feeding the mice and bandicauts with grain or
rice in the bazaar.
The Soodera, or fourth class, is the most numerous, and comprehends
all labourers and artists. These are divided into as many orders as
there are followers of different arts; all the children being
invariably brought up to the profession of their forefathers.
The temples of the Hindoos (called by them pagodas) are large, but
disgusting stone buildings, erected in every capital, and are under
the direction of the Brahmins. The pagoda of Seringham, near the place
where we crossed the Cavery, and which we passed on our way to
Trichinopoly, is allowed to be the most stupendous, and is held the
most sacred of any building of the kind in India, that of Chillambraum
excepted. This pagoda is situated about a mile from the western
extremity of the island of Seringham, formed by the division of the
great river Cavery into two channels. It is composed of seven square
inclosures, one within the other, the walls of which are twenty-five
feet high, and four thick. These inclosures have each four large
gates: the outer wall which surrounds this pagoda is between three
and four miles in circumference, and its gateway to the south is
ornamented with pillars, several of which are single stones,
thirty-three feet long, and about four in diameter. The walls of this
building is covered outside with the most hideous figures, likenesses
of which are to be found neither "in heaven above, nor on the earth
beneath, nor in the waters under the earth;" so that persons would not
literally be guilty of a breach of the second command if they were
to fall down and worship them,--such as men with elephants' heads,
serpents with men's heads, bullocks with women's head and breasts, &c.
and monsters which I have never before nor since seen or heard of, and
these painted in the most glaring colours. Here also, as in the other
great pagodas of India, the Brahmins live without subordination, and
slumber in a voluptuousness which knows no wants. This pagoda is about
four miles from Trichinopoly.
There are several sects among the Hindoos, but their differences
consist rather in external forms than religious opinions. They all
believe in the immortality of the soul; a state of future rewards and
punishments; and transmigration of souls. The virtues of charity and
hospitality exist amongst them, both in theory and practice, towards
those of their own caste. They say that hospitality is commanded to be
exercised even towards an enemy; and they use this simile, "the tree
doth not withdraw its shade from the wood-cutter, or water-drawer, nor
doth the moon withhold her light from the chandalah." These pure
doctrines, however, are intermixed with many vile superstitions. The
Hindoos pray thrice in the day, at morning, noon, and evening, turning
their faces towards the east. Fruits, flowers, incense, and money, are
the usual offerings to their idols; but, for the dead, they offer a
particular sort of cake called punda. They all seem to pay an
extraordinary veneration to fire, and always wash before meals.
There is a religious order among the Hindoos, called Fakirs: these
are a kind of begging friars, who make vows of poverty, and seem
insensible both to pleasure and pain. They generally live upon the
bounty of the smaller kind of merchants; and I have seen them often
carrying a small copper jimbo, (vessel,) in the form of a water-melon,
when they were begging through the bazaars. These Fakirs, to obtain
the favour of Brahma as they suppose, suffer the most dreadful
tortures; and the austerities which some of them undergo are
incredible to those who have not been eye-witnesses of them: some of
them stand for months upon one foot, with their arms tied to the beam
of a house, by which means their arms settle in that posture, and ever
after become useless; some sit in the sun, with their faces looking
upwards, until they are incapable of altering the position of their
heads; and I even saw one in Bangalore, who had a large sort of iron
grating fixed upon his neck, that had not stretched himself upon a
bed, or even upon the ground, for two years. But the people, in all
these cases, deem it an act of piety to encourage and support them.
The ordeal trials of melted lead, or boiling oil, as practised in
India, are considered by the Hindoos as a standing miracle. The
ceremony, which is in the following manner, is performed with great
solemnity: The party who has appealed to this form of trial for his
innocence, whether on suspicion of murder, theft, or unfaithfulness to
the marriage bed on the part of women, is publicly brought to the side
of a fire, on which is placed a vessel of boiling water or oil, but
most commonly melted lead; the magistrates of the country or city
being present, his hand is washed clean, and the leaf of a particular
tree, with his accusation written upon it, is tied about his waist;
and then, on a solemn invocation of the deity by the Brahmin, the
person plunges in his hand and scoops up the boiling fluid! and if he
draws it out unhurt, he is absolved; but if otherwise, be receives the
punishment due to the crime charged against him.
The ceremonies of the Hindoos are dictated by the Brahmins and the
sacred books; but to give you a detail of their number and absurdity,
is a task to which I am altogether unequal, and which could neither
instruct nor entertain the reader. I will, therefore, close this
sketch with giving you a few translations from their Vedas or sacred
books, which will give the reader some idea both of the doctrines and
style of the Hindoos, as translated by a very able pen.
"1. By one Supreme Ruler is this universe pervaded, even every world
in the whole circle of nature; enjoy pure delights, O man! by
abandoning all thoughts of this perishable world; and covet not the
wealth of any creature existing.
"2. He who in this life continually performs his religious duties, may
desire to live a hundred years; but, even to the end of this period,
thou shouldst have no other employment here below.
"3. To those regions where evil spirits dwell, and which utter
darkness involve, all such men go surely after death, as destroy the
purity of their own souls.
"4. There is one supreme Spirit, which nothing can shake, more swift
than the thought of man.
"5. That supreme Spirit moves at pleasure, but in itself is immovable;
it is distant from us, yet very near us; it pervades this whole system
of worlds, yet is infinitely beyond it.
"6. The man who considers all beings as existing even in the supreme
Spirits, and the supreme Spirit pervading all beings, henceforth views
no creature with contempt.
"7. In him who knows that all spiritual beings are the same in kind
with the Supreme Spirit, what room can there be for delusion of mind;
or what room for sorrow, when he reflects on the identity of spirit?
"8. The pure enlightened soul assumes a luminous form, with no gross
body, with no perforation, with no veins nor tendons, untainted by
sin, itself being a ray from the infinite Spirit, which knows the past
and the future, which pervades all, which existed with no cause but
itself, which created all things as they are in ages very remote.
"9. They who are ignorantly devoted to the mere ceremonies of
religion, are fallen into thick darkness; but they surely have a
thicker gloom around them who are solely given to speculation.
"10. A distinct reward, they say, is reserved for ceremonies, and a
distinct reward, they say, for divine knowledge; adding, this we have
heard from sages who declared it unto us.
"11. He alone is acquainted with the nature of ceremonies, and with
that of speculative science, who is acquainted with both at once; by
religious ceremonies he passes the gulf of death, and, by divine
knowledge he attains immortality.
"12. They who adore only the appearances and forms of the Deity, are
fallen into thick darkness; but they surely have a thicker gloom
around them, who are solely devoted to the abstract existence of the
divine essence.
"13. A distinct reward, they say, is obtained by adoring the forms and
attributes; and a distinct reward, they say, by adoring the abstract
essence; adding, this we have heard from sages who declared it to us.
"14. He only knows the forms and essence of the Deity who adores both
at once; by adoring the appearance of the Deity, he passes the gulf of
death; and by adoring his abstract essence, he attains immortality.
"15. Unvail, O thou who givest sustenance to the world, the face of
the true sun, which is now hidden by a vase of golden light! so that
we may love the truth, and know our whole duty.
"16. O thou, who givest sustenance to the world; thou sole mover of
all; thou who restrainest sinners; who pervadest yon great luminary;
who appearest as the sun of the creator, hide thy dazzling beams, and
expand thy spiritual brightness, that I may view thy most glorious,
real form!"
The following is translated from a Sanscrit work, entitled, "The
Ignorant Instructed."
"1. Restrain, O ignorant man, thy desire of wealth, and become a hater
of it in body, understanding, and mind; let the riches thou possessest
be acquired by thy own good actions: with this gratify thy soul.
"2. The boy so long delights in his play; the youth so long pursues
his beloved; the old so long broods over melancholy thoughts, that no
man meditates on the supreme Being.
"3. Who is thy wife, and who is thy son? How great and wonderful is
this world! Whose thou art, and whence thou comest? Meditate on this,
my brother; and again on this.
"4. Be not proud of wealth, and thy attendants, and youth; since time
destroys them all, in the twinkling of an eye: check thy attachment to
all these illusions, like Moyra; fix thy heart on the foot of Brahma,
and thou wilt soon know him.
"5. As a drop of water on the leaf of the lotus, thus, or more
slippery, is human life: the company of the virtuous endures here but
for a moment; that is the vehicle to bear thee over land and ocean.
"6. To dwell in the mansions of God, at the foot of a tree; to have
the ground for a bed, and a hide for a vesture; to renounce all ties
of family or connections: who would not receive delight from this
abhorrence of the world?
"7. Set not thy affections on foe or friend; on a son or a relation;
in war or in peace, bear an equal mind towards all: if thou desiredst
it, thou wilt soon be like Vishnu.
"8. Day and night, evening and morn, winter and spring, depart and
return: time sports, age passes on; desire and the wind continue
unrestrained.
"9. When the body is tottering, the head grey, and the mouth
toothless; when the smooth stick trembles in the hand it supports,
yet the vessel of covetousness is unemptied.
"10. So soon born, so soon dead; so long lying in thy mother's womb,
so great crimes are committed in the world. How then, O man! canst
thou live here below with complacency?
"11. There are eight original mountains, and seven seas:--Brahma,
Indra, the Sun, and Kudra,--these are permanent; not thou, not I, not
this or that people; what, therefore, should occasion our sorrow?
"12. In thee, in me, in every other, Vishnu resides; in vain art thou
angry with me, not bearing my reproach: this is perfectly true, all
must be esteemed equal; be not proud of a magnificent palace."
When the reader takes a cursory view of the principal doctrines and
precepts of the Hindoo Vedas, he may be very apt to imagine that the
writer, or writers, have received their information from some other
source than the fragments of a broken law, which are still imprinted
upon the mind of man, even in a state of nature; and he may not
unlikely suppose, that these men had this knowledge--although remote
and much corrupted, from our sacred volume; particularly as that part,
entitled "The Ignorant Instructed," seems to partake of the style of
Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. But if you make a more minute
investigation, you will see much wanting, and much wrong; and no
marvel, for they who are deprived of the great blessing of revelation,
or they who despise it, or wish to be wise above what is written, are
like people groping in the dark; and will certainly either fall short
of the truth, or stumble over it altogether. Those sages of antiquity,
to whom the writers seem to refer, were perhaps distinguished for
their wisdom; yet by that very wisdom they knew not God in his saving
characters. Man may know, to a certain extent, that there is a God;
because "the heavens declare his glory, and the firmament sheweth his
handy-works." And the apostle says, in his epistle to the Romans, that
"the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto
themselves: which shew the work of the law written in their hearts;
their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one another." I say, therefore,
that by the external and internal aid which man is possessed of, even
in a state of nature, he may know by natural religion that there is a
God; yet it is impossible that he should come to the knowledge of God
in reference to man, as a guilty, depraved, miserable captive, and yet
a condemned slave, redeemed by a price of infinite value. No; it never
has, it never will, "enter into the heart of man," unassisted by
revelation, to come to a saving knowledge of God, "even that knowledge
which is eternal life." Let us, therefore, bless God for our Bibles,
and willingly give our prayers, and our purses also, "according as God
hath prospered us," to send the Gospel to that country "where there is
no vision, and where the people are perishing for lack of this
knowledge;" for, "How can they believe in him of whom they have not
heard? and how can they hear without preachers? and how can they
preach except they be sent?" And, when we consider that there are
computed to be no less than sixty millions even in India in that
lamentable condition, of "being without the knowledge of the true God,
and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent," how ought it to stir up our minds
to sympathise with their condition, and to give, cheerfully and
liberally, "not grudgingly, or of necessity; for the Lord loveth a
cheerful giver: and the liberal soul shall be made fat?"