This word Hindostan means "black place," for in the Persian language
"hind" is "black," and "stan" is "place." You may guess, therefore, that
the people in Hindostan are very dark; yet they are not quite black, and
some of the ladies are only of a light brown complexion.
What a large country Hindostan is! Has it an emperor of its own, as China
has? No: large as it is, it belongs to the little country called England.
How did the English get it?
They conquered it by little and little. When first they came there, they
found there a Mahomedan people, called the Moguls. These Moguls had
conquered Hindostan: but by degrees the English conquered them, and
became masters of all the land.
There is only one small country among the mountains which has not been
conquered by the English, and that place is Nepaul. It is near the
Himalaya mountains. See that great chain of mountains in the north: they
are the Himalaya--the highest mountains in the world. The word "him," or
"hem," means snow--and snowy indeed are those mountains.
There is a great river that flows from the Himalaya called the Ganges. It
flows by many mouths into the ocean; yet of all these mouths only one is
deep enough for large ships to sail in; the other mouths are all choked
up with sand. The deep mouth of the Ganges is called the Hoogley.
It was on the banks of the Hoogley that the first English city was built.
It was built by some English merchants, and is called Calcutta. That name
comes from the name of a horrible idol called Kalee, of which more will
be said hereafter.
Calcutta is now a very grand city; there is the governor's palace, and
there are the mansions of many rich Englishmen. It has been called "the
city of palaces."
There is another great river on the other side of Hindostan called the
Indus. It was from that river that Hindostan got the name of India, or
the East Indies.
VILLAGES.--Calcutta is built on a large plain called Bengal. Dotted about
this plain are many villages. At a distance they look prettier than
English villages, for they are overshadowed with thick trees; but they
are wretched places to live in. The huts are scarcely big enough to hold
human creatures, nor strong enough to bear the pelting of the storm. When
you enter them you will find neither floor nor window, and very little
furniture; neither chair, nor table, nor bed--nothing but a large earthen
bottle for fetching water, a smaller one for drinking, a basket for
clothes, a few earthen pans, a few brass plates, and a mat.
A Hindoo is counted very rich who has procured a wooden bedstead to place
his mat upon, and a wooden trunk, with a lock and key, to contain his
clothes; such a man is considered to have a well-furnished house.
As you pass through the villages, you may see groups of men sitting under
the trees smoking their pipes, while children, without clothes, are
rolling in the dust, and sporting with the kids. Prowling about the
villages are hungry dogs and whining jackalls, seeking for bones and
offal; but the children are too much used to these creatures to be afraid
of them. Hovering in the air are crows and kites, ready to secure any
morsel they can see, or even to snatch the food, if they can, out of the
children's little hands.
What a confused noise do you hear as you pass along! barking, whining,
and squalling, loud laughing, and incessant chattering. It is a heathen
village, and the sweet notes of praise to God are never sung there.
Yet in every village there is a little temple with an idol, and a priest
to take the idol, to lay it down to sleep, and to offer it food, which he
eats himself.
The poor people bring the food for the idol with flowers, and place it at
the door of the temple.
APPEARANCE.--The Hindoos are pleasing in their appearance, for their
features are well-formed, their teeth are white, and their eyes have a
soft expression. The women take much pains to dress their long black
hair, which is soft as silk: they gather it up in a knot at their heads,
and crown it with flowers. They have no occasion for a needle to make
their dresses, as they are all in one piece. They wind a long strip of
white muslin (called a saree) round their bodies, and fold it over their
heads like a veil, and then they are full dressed, except their
ornaments, and with these they load themselves; glass rings of different
colors on their arms, silver rings on their fingers and toes, and gold
rings in their ears, and a gold ring in their nose.
The men wear a long strip of calico twisted closely round their bodies,
and another thrown loosely over their shoulders; but this last they cast
off when they are at work: it is their upper garment. On their heads they
wear turbans, and on their feet sandals. The clothes of both men and
women are generally white or pink, or white bordered with red.
FOOD.--The most common food is rice; and with this curry is often mixed
to give it a relish. What is curry? It is a mixture of herbs, spices, and
oil.
Very poor people cannot afford to eat either rice or curry; and they eat
some coarse grain instead. A lady who made a feast for the poor provided
nothing but rice, and she found that it was thought as good as roast
beef and plum pudding are thought in England. The day after the feast
some of the poor creatures came to pick up the grains of rice that were
fallen upon the ground.
The rich Hindoos eat mutton and venison, but not beef; this they think it
wicked to eat, because they worship bulls and cows.
A favorite food is clarified butter, called "ghee," white rancid stuff,
kept in skin bottles to mix with curry.
Water is the general drink, and there could not be a better. Yet there
are intoxicating drinks, and some of the Hindoos have learned to love
them, from seeing the English drink too much. What a sad thing that
Christians should set a bad example to heathens!
PRODUCTIONS.--There are many beautiful trees in India never seen in
England, and many nice fruits never tasted here.
The palm-tree, with its immense leaves, is the glory of India. These
leaves are very useful; they form the roof, the umbrella, the bed, the
plate, and the writing-paper of the Hindoo.
The most curious tree in India is the banyan, because one tree grows into
a hundred. How is that? The branches hang down, touch the ground, strike
root there, and spring up into new trees--joined to the old. Under an
aged banyan there is shade for a large congregation. Seventy thousand men
might sit beneath its boughs.
There is a sort of grass which grows a hundred feet high, and becomes
hard like wood. It is called the bamboo. The stem is hollow like a pipe,
and is often used as a water-pipe. It serves also for posts for houses,
and for poles for carriages.
There are abundance of nice fruits in India; and of these the mangoe is
the best. You might mistake it for a pear when you saw it, but not when
you tasted it. Pears cannot grow in India; the sun is too hot for grapes
and oranges, excepting on the hills.
The chief productions of India are rice and cotton; rice is the food, and
cotton is the clothing of the Hindoo: and quantities of these are sent to
England, for though we have wheat for food, we want rice too; and though
we have wool for clothing, we want cotton too.
RELIGION.--There is no nation that has so many gods as the Hindoos. What
do you think of three hundred and thirty millions! There are not so many
people in Hindostan as that. No one person can know the names of all
these gods; and who would wish to know them? Some of them are snakes, and
some are monkeys!
The chief god of all is called Brahm. But, strange to say, no one
worships him. There is not an image of him in all India.
And why not? Because he is too great, the Hindoos say, to think of men on
earth. He is always in a kind of sleep. What would be the use of
worshipping him?
Next to him are three gods, and they are part of Brahm.