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[Illustration: A HOLY MAN OF INDIA]
INDIA
ITS LIFE AND THOUGHT
BY
JOHN P. JONES, D.D.
SOUTH INDIA
AUTHOR OF "INDIA'S PROBLEM, KRISHNA OR CHRIST,"
ETC., ETC.
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1908
COPYRIGHT, 1908,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
* * * * *
Dedicated
TO MY DEAR CHILDREN
WHO HAVE
BRAVELY AND CHEERFULLY ENDURED
THE SEPARATION AND THE LOSS OF HOME
FOR THE SAKE OF INDIA
* * * * *
PREFACE
To the people of the West, the inhabitants of India are the least
understood and the most easily misunderstood of all men.
It is partly because they are antipodal to the West--the farthest
removed in thought and life. They are also the most secretive, and
find perennial delight in concealment and evasion.
According to Hindu teaching, the Supreme Spirit forever sports in
illusion. It continuously manifests itself through unreal and false
forms, which delude and lead astray ignorant man. In harmony with this
philosophy of the Divine--and may it not be as a result of it?--the
people of India too often delight in unreal and deceptive exhibitions
of themselves. At any rate, it is exceedingly difficult for a man of
the West, especially he of the Anglo-Saxon type, to apprehend the full
significance and the correct drift of life and thought of this land.
It is amusing, when not discouraging, to witness travellers, who have
rushed through India in a winter tour, publish volumes of their
misconceptions and ill-digested theories about the people with an
oracular emphasis which is equalled only by their ignorance.
The author of this book makes no claim to a right to speak _ex
cathedra_ upon this subject. Nevertheless, thirty years of matured
experience in this land, living in constant touch with the people and
studying with eagerness their life and thought, gives him an humble
claim to speak once more upon the subject.
Even now, however, his pride of knowledge is chastened by the
oft-recurring surprises which the Oriental nature and life still bring
to him. And he does not cease to pray, with a western saint, who, at
the end of a half century of work for the people of India, daily cried
out,--
"O Lord, help me to know these people and to come into intimate
relations of life with them!"
If, in these pages, he can help others of the West to come face to
face with the immense and intricate problems which confront all who
desire to know, to help, and to bless India, and shall enable them to
understand better the conditions and characteristics of life in the
Land of the Vedas, he will feel amply repaid for his labours.
I express my deep gratitude to the Rev. J. L. Barton, D.D., for his
kind encouragement in the publishing of this book; and also to the
Rev. W. W. Wallace, M.A., for his generous aid in the proof-reading.
J. P. JONES.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. INDIA'S UNREST
i. Extent of the Movement
ii. Causes of Unrest
iii. Conditions of Unrest
iv. Results
v. How shall the Unrest be Removed
II. THE HOME OF MANY FAITHS
Hinduism--Madura and Benares
Demonolatry--Madura
Christianity--Travancore and Cochin
Judaism--Cochin
Parseeism--Bombay
Jainism--Bombay
Mohammedanism--Agra and Delhi
Buddhism--Delhi, Sarnath
Sikhism--Amritsar
III. BURMA, THE BEAUTIFUL
The Extent of the British Empire
Burma's Triple Produce
The Land of Pagodas
Mandalay
A Land where Woman is Honoured
A Land where Caste is Unknown
The American Baptist Mission
The Karens and their Conversion
Ko San Ye
IV. THE HINDU CASTE SYSTEM
What is Caste
i. Origin of Caste
(_a_) Religious Theory
(_b_) Tribal Theory
(_c_) Social Theory
(_d_) Occupational Theory
(_e_) Crossing Theory
ii. Characteristics of Caste
Intermarriage
Inter-dining
Contact
Occupation
iii. Penalties of Caste
Boycott
Caste Servants Interdicted
Domestic Isolation
Prayaschitta. (Travelling)
V. THE HINDU CASTE SYSTEM (_Continued_)
iv. Occasions of Punishment
Change of Faith
Marrying a Widow
Beef-eating
Officiating as Priest to Outcasts
Marrying outside of One's Caste
v. The Results of the Caste System
Possibilities of Good
It arrays Caste against Caste
It narrows the Sympathies
It degrades Manual Labour
It opposes Commerce
A Foe to Nationality
A Foe to Individualism
It is Unethical
vi. The Dominance of Caste
Seen even among Christians
Roman Catholicism and Protestantism
Signs of its Decadence
Opposed by Western Progress
Government Opposition
Christianity its Foe
VI. THE BHAGAVAD GITA--THE HINDU BIBLE
i. What is this Song
ii. What are its Purposes and Contents
1. Its Teaching concerning God
Incarnation
2. The Doctrine of the Living Soul
3. The Doctrine of Liberation
(1) Through Knowledge
(2) Through Asceticism
(3) Through Works
Caste
Detachment
Bhakti
(4) Altruism.
4. The Doctrine of Salvation
Reincarnation
iii. Conclusion
VII. POPULAR HINDUISM
i. The Higher Faith
The Evolution of Faith
ii. Popular Hinduism
1. Caste
2. Polytheism
3. Idolatry
4. Devil-worship
5. Fetichism
6. Immorality
7. Treatment of Woman
8. The Hindu Ascetic
9. Hindu Pessimism
10. Astrology
VIII. HINDU RELIGIOUS IDEALS
i. The Ideal of God
ii. Ideal of Incarnation
iii. Ideals of Life
Asceticism
Ceremonialism
Quietism
iv. Ultimate Salvation
Transmigration
Absorption
IX. THE HOME LIFE OF HINDUS
The Home Sanctuary
The Building of the House
The Joint Family System
Priest and Astrologer
Place of Woman in the Home
The Devotion of Woman
The Influence of Woman
Marriage in the Home
The Hindu Widow
Mother-in-law and Daughter-in-law
Love of Jewellery
Clothing and Cuisine
Sickness and Death
Funeral Obsequies
Shradda
X. KALI YUGA--INDIA'S PESSIMISM
i. The Astounding Length of the Chronological System
History and Legend in India
ii. The Cyclic Character of Hindu Chronology
No Progress in Time
The Source of Pessimism
iii. The Moral Characteristics of the Time System
Every Yuga has its Own Character
The Evil Character of Kali
_Cui Bono_
Astrology
Lucky Days
XI. ISLAM IN INDIA
i. The History of Islam in India
ii. The Present Condition of this Faith in India
Ill-adapted to India
Its Conception of Deity
Intolerance and Tolerance
Contact with Hinduism
Compromise
Islam's Attempt at Reform
Islam's Redeeming Qualities
Muslim Sects
iii. The Mohammedan Population
iv. Christian Effort for the Mussulman
XII. THE CHRIST AND THE BUDDHA
i. The Conditions of their Lives
ii. The Common Principles which controlled Them
Sincerity
Ethics
Universal Charity
iii. The Teachings which differentiate Them
1. Teaching concerning God
2. Their Conceptions of Human Life
3. Their Ideals of Life
Character and Wisdom
Final Consummation
XIII. MODERN RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
Hindu Reformers
i. Hindu Sects
ii. Modern Movements
Ram Mohan Roy
Brahmo Somaj
Chunder Sen
Athi Somaj
Sadharna Somaj
New Dispensation
iii. Progress of the Movement
Weak in Numbers
Indian Spirit
Christian Basis
"The Oriental Christ"
Chunder Sen's Words.
Other Testimony
The New Dispensation
iv. The Arya Somaj
Its Progress
Its Principles
Its Antagonism to Christianity
v. The Theosophical Society
Its Reactionary Spirit
Mrs. Besant
The "Masters"
XIV. THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA
i. Early History of Christianity
Converts
The Character of the Christian Community
Influence of Christianity
"Swadesha"
Protestant Effort
ii. Ultimate Triumph of Christianity
Not the Western Type
The Kingdom of God
iii. A Conquest of the Spirit
1. Conquest of Principles
2. Conquest of the Christ Ideal
3. Conquest of the Incarnation of Christ
4. Conquest of the Cross of Christ
5. Conquest of the Christian Conception of Sin
INDEX
* * * * *
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A HOLY MAN OF INDIA _Frontispiece_
THE GOLDEN LILY TANK IN THE MADURA TEMPLE
TAJ MAHAL, AGRA
MARBLE SCREEN IN TAJ MAHAL
SHAH JEHAN'S FORT, AGRA
AKBAR'S TOMB
KUTAB-MINAR, DELHI
CASHMERE GATE, DELHI
SCHWEY DAGON PAGODA, RANGOON
THEEBAW'S PALACE, MANDALAY
JUNGLE PEOPLE OF INDIA
A DRAVIDIAN SHRINE, SOUTH INDIA
TWO HINDU IDOLS, SOUTH INDIA
HUMAYAN'S TOMB, DELHI
THE GREATEST IMAGE OF BUDDHA
A CHRISTIAN VILLAGE SCHOOL IN SOUTH INDIA
* * * * *
INDIA: ITS LIFE AND THOUGHT
CHAPTER I
INDIA'S UNREST
India has been called the land of quiet repose, content to remain
anchored to the hoary past, and proud of her immobility. Invasion
after invasion has swept over her; but--
"The East bowed low before the blast,
In patient, deep disdain;
She let the legions thunder past,
And plunged in thought again."
Yet this same India is now throbbing with discontent, and is
breathing, in all departments of her life, a deep spirit of unrest.
This spirit has recently become acute and seemed, for a while, in
danger of bursting into open rebellion, not unlike the Mutiny of half
a century ago.
I
This movement is but a part of the new awakening of the East. The
world has seen its marvellously rapid development and fruitage in
Japan. It is witnessing the same process in China and Korea. The
people of India, likewise, have been touched by its power and are no
longer willing to rest contentedly as a subject people or a stagnant
race.
This movement is not only political, it permeates every department of
life; and it partakes of the general unrest which has taken possession
of all the civilized nations of the earth. It is really the dawning of
India's consciousness of strength and of a purpose to take her place,
and to play a worthy part, in the great world drama.
This spirit found its incarnation and warmest expression in the
opposition to the government scheme, two years ago, under Lord Curzon,
for the partition of Bengal. The Bengalees keenly resented the
division of their Province; for it robbed the clever Babu of many of
the plums of office. He petitioned, and fomented agitation and
opposition to the scheme. Then, in his spite against the government,
he organized a boycott against all forms of foreign industry and
commerce. This has been conducted with mad disregard to the people's
own economic interest, and has, moreover, developed into bitter racial
animosity.
The Bengalee has striven hard to carry into other Provinces also his
spirit of antagonism to the State. Though he has not succeeded in
convincing many others of the wisdom of his method, he has spread the
spirit of discontent and of dissatisfaction far beyond his own
boundary. Even sections of the land which denounce the boycott as
folly, if not suicide, have taken up the political slogan of the Babu
(_Bande Mataram_--Hail, Mother!) and are demanding, mostly in
inarticulate speech, such rights and privileges as they imagine
themselves to be deprived of.
The movement is, in some respects, a reactionary one; and race hatred
is one of its most manifest results. It is not merely a rising of the
East against the West; it is also a conflict between Mohammedans and
Hindus. In Eastern Bengal, where the Mussulmans are in a large
majority, and where the Hindus have become the most embittered, the
former have stood aloof from the latter and have opposed the boycott.
This has led to increasing hatred between the members of these two
faiths,--a feeling which has spread all over the country, and which
has carried them into opposing camps. This is, in one way, fortunate
for the government, since it has given rise to definite and warm
expressions of loyalty by the whole Mohammedan community.
Disgruntled graduates of the University and school-boys take the most
prominent place in this movement. The Universities annually send forth
an army of men supplied with degrees--last year it was 1570 B.A.'s;
and it is the conviction of nine-tenths of them that it is the duty of
the government to give them employment as soon as they graduate. As
this is impossible, many of them nurse their disappointment into
discontent and opposition to the powers that be. Many of them become
dangerous demagogues and fomenters of sedition. Not a few such are
found in every Province of the country. And they find in the High
School and College students the best material to work upon. These boys
have been the most numerous and excited advocates of this movement. As
in Russia, so in India the educational institutions are becoming the
hotbeds of dissatisfaction and opposition to the State. But there is
this difference. In Russia the University student is much more truly
an exponent of public sentiment, and more ready to suffer for that
sentiment, than are the dependent youth of colleges in India.
This movement has not, to any considerable extent, reached the
masses. Nine-tenths of the population of India are satisfied with the
government and have no desire to change the present order of things.
Indeed, they are deeply ignorant of the grievances which the higher
classes nurse into bitterness. And yet it should not be forgotten that
the ignorance of the people, coupled with their narrow superstition
and lively imagination, make them very inflammable material under the
influence of eloquent demagogues.
II
One of the most marked causes of this activity and discontent is the
recent victory of Japan over Russia. It is hard for the West to
realize how much that event has stirred the imagination and quickened
the ambition of all the people of the East. They regard that war as
the great conflict of the East and the West. India had not the
slightest idea that Japan would come triumphant out of that conflict.
But the victory of Japan instantly suggested to all men of culture in
India the question, "Why should our land be subject to a far-off, and
a small, western country? Why should we be content with our dependence
and not reveal our manhood and our prowess, as Japan did?" These are
inquiries which have opened up new visions of power and greatness to
the people of India. Japan and its people have been immensely popular
in India since their recent victory. And Hindus believe that the peace
perfected at Portsmouth was the harbinger of a new era of liberty and
independence for all the East.
The growing influence of western education in India has had much to do
with the present state of things. It is true that India is still a
land of ignorance. It is a lamentable fact that only 1 in 10 of the
males and 1 in 144 of the females can read. Only 22.6 per cent of the
boys of school-going age attend school, and only 2.6 per cent of the
girls. And yet the enrolment of more than five million scholars in the
public schools is a significantly hopeful fact as compared with the
past history of India.
This education is distinctly on _western_ lines. And connected with
the five Universities of India there are many thousands of young men
and women who are devoting themselves to a deep study of western
thought and of western ideas of liberty. The Calcutta University alone
has, in its affiliated colleges, more students registered than
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Toronto combined. In that city, which is
the centre of the present unrest, there are 12,000 young men in the
Colleges, and 30,000 pupils in the High Schools. This host of young
men and women are imbibing modern ideas of manliness, independence,
and liberty such as India never knew in the past; and they go out into
the world with new ambitions for their country and inspired with not a
little "divine unrest."
In close connection with this educational influence is that of western
civilization and Christian ideals. The government of this land is
built upon Christian principles and is animated by that spirit of
civilization which dominates the West. And we know that these make for
manhood and independence everywhere. It would be a sad thing for Great
Britain, as it would be for the Christian missionary in India, if
these lofty principles, which they inculcate, did not acquire
increasing power over these youth.
And it should not be forgotten that an increasing number of the elect
youth of India go to England for the completion of their training, and
return well equipped with Anglo-Saxon ideas of human rights and of
manhood's claims.
Nor is this merely a movement of the people of India. There is a
strong body of Englishmen, several of whom are members of Parliament,
banded together in England, for the purpose of promoting the political
influence of the people of India in the conduct of the affairs of
their own country. These men believe that India has a right to a much
larger meed of self-government than she now enjoys. And they seize
upon every opportunity to urge upon the Home Government the duty of
granting added power to the people, and also to advise the leaders of
Indian thought as to their wisest methods of procedure. There are not
a few radicals in Britain who believe that India should govern herself
as an independent colony. And they rouse within Hindu youth who go to
England a radical spirit of discontent and disloyalty. It was only the
other day that Lord Ampthill warned these men, because of the
insidious influence which they were exercising for the overthrow of
the British power in the East.
The National Congress, which has just reached its majority, has a
profound influence in the development of a national consciousness, and
in the furtherance of the cause of independence and political power in
the land. The very existence of this institution is one of the highest
compliments to British rule in India. It would be impossible for one
to imagine the Russian government permitting such a body of men to
gather every year in solemn conclave to devote several days to a
vehement criticism of all the principal acts of the State, to give
vent to disloyal sentiments, and to promote the spirit of disaffection
throughout the country. This Congress has devoted nearly all its time
to a denunciation of the powers that be; and during these twenty-one
years the writer has not seen one word of commendation or one vote of
appreciation of the State in the reports of the proceedings of the
Congress. And the demands of the Congress, inspired as they are by
Anglo-Saxon friends in Great Britain, are becoming annually more
definite and urgent.
Until the meeting of 1906 there was no divergence of sentiment among
Congress-wallahs. No dissentient voice or conflicting opinions were
allowed. It is to the honour and highest interest of the Congress that
this stage has now been passed and the healthy rivalry of parties is
felt and heard in Congress councils. It is to be regretted that at the
last Congress meeting, in Surat, these two parties--the Moderates and
the Extremists--came into bitter conflict. It was largely due to the
past supineness of the Moderates who permitted the other party (which
is a small but noisy minority) to resort to bluster in order to force
their pet and bitter schemes of disorder upon the Congress. When,
ultimately, the Moderates determined to exercise the rights of the
majority, the others resorted to force and caused the Congress to be
suspended in disorder, thus revealing the sad spectacle of the present
incapacity of the leaders of the people to govern themselves and the
country.
This is, however, perhaps the best thing that could have happened for
the highest interest of the Congress itself. The two parties are now
clearly defined--the one seeking, through constitutional agitation,
self-government on colonial lines, like Canada; the other determined
to overthrow the government of the foreigner and to establish its own
upon the ruins. And agitation in this behalf is to be conducted in
every possible way, constitutional or otherwise.
The Moderates are now thoroughly roused and have driven out from their
councils the irreconcilables and fire-eaters, and can now work with
more harmony and success for the attainment of their wiser plans and
more reasonable aims.
A few years ago, the State ignored, when it did not ridicule, the
National Congress. To-day none recognizes its power more than does the
government.
And it is most suggestive and instructive to see this body, of fully
three thousand men, gathered together from all parts of this great
peninsula--men who represent peoples that speak more than four
hundred languages and dialects! They conduct their sessions in
English, which is the only universal tongue of the country. And a
purer English is hardly spoken in any deliberative or legislative body
in any other land; and some of the addresses are delivered with a
force, and are adorned with a logic and a rhetoric, which are truly
eloquent. Verily, the weapon of popular power, though largely used
against the government, is the best compliment possible to the State
which has created it.
The Press also has marvellously grown in power and in dignity during
the last quarter of a century. At the present time there are scores of
dailies, and many more weeklies and monthlies, published in the
English tongue by the natives of the land. And they discuss, with
intelligence and discrimination, if not with moderation, all matters
of State and of political interest. Recently some of these papers have
become thoroughly radical and oppose the government at all points.
But it is the vernacular Press, representing, as it does, hundreds of
newspapers in all the tongues of India, that carries its influence
into the villages and homes of the uneducated millions. The present
condition of discontent with the government has been disseminated
among the common people more by these vernacular papers than by any
other agency. Many of these are thoroughly disloyal and seditious.
Very occasionally they are prosecuted for their inflammatory
editorials, and their editors are imprisoned.
As a matter of fact, there is hardly any country where the Press has
greater liberties than in India; and there is no land on earth where
that liberty is more abused. The very toleration of the government is
turned as a keen weapon against it.
The same thing is true of the freedom of public speech. There is not
another land, save perhaps America, whose citizens have greater
privileges in this matter. The seditious speeches which have been made
in many parts of India during the last two years, by Bengalees
specially, and by a few other radicals, have been such as would in
Europe lead to imprisonment if not to deportation. Bepin Chandra Pal,
of Calcutta, has just closed a tour during which he has made many
addresses, attended, in all cases, by thousands of students and
disaffected members of the community, and has not only denounced the
government as the very incarnation of unrighteousness and cruelty, but
has also urged the people to do all they can, both constitutionally
and otherwise, to defeat and overthrow it and to establish a native
rule upon its ruin. Any government, in order to ignore such language
uttered in immense public assemblies, must feel very secure in its
power. Mr. Pal is only one of many who have thus far been granted
absolute freedom to sow broadcast the seed of revolution.
III
What is there in the recent condition of the country and of the
people, which warrants this unrest and discontent?
Disinterested persons will not say that the State is unprogressive or
is administering its affairs unwisely. In its recent Annual Financial
Statement we discover evidences of prosperity in all departments of
State. There is no extensive famine to distress the people and harass
the government. The revenue of the year exceeds, by nearly 30 million
rupees, the estimates; there was a surplus at the end of the year of
20 million rupees. Owing to this the government has reduced the opium
cultivation, which has wrought, for many years, so much injustice to
China. It has also increased postal facilities, which renders them
cheaper and more convenient than in any other land. Moreover, the
obnoxious salt tax has been reduced by 50 per cent; and it is hoped
that the whole tax will be remitted shortly. The grant for education
is also much enhanced beyond any former year, and the State is even
planning for the introduction of a Free Primary Education, which will
be an unspeakable boon to the people.
And when it is said that taxation in India has been reduced, we should
also remember that in this land "the taxation per head is lighter than
in any other civilized country in the world. In Russia, it is eight
times as great; in England, twenty times; in Italy, nineteen; in
France, twenty-five; in the United States and Germany, thirteen
times." In other words, taxation in India comes to only one dollar, or
three rupees, per head.
But it is claimed that India is a land of deepest poverty. This is
perfectly true. But it is not true that her poverty is increasing. The
Parsee Chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange, in his last annual
address, said that "it was the conviction of merchants, bankers,
tradesmen, and captains of industry that India is slowly but steadily
advancing along paths of material prosperity, and for the last few
years it has taken an accelerated pace." The poverty of the people is
a very convenient slogan of the political party; but there is
everything to prove that the condition of the people, deplorable
though it be, is, nevertheless, slowly improving.
The State is, moreover, constantly yielding to the growing demand of
the people for a larger share in the conduct of public business and in
the emoluments of office. Even at the present time the Secretary of
State for India has introduced a scheme, at the instance of the
government, which will add materially to the power of India in the
conduct of its own affairs.
The British were never more firmly entrenched and possessed of more
power in India than at the present time. The lesson of the Mutiny, of
a half-a-century ago, was not lost upon the administrators of India.
Since then, no Indian regiment can be stationed within a thousand
miles of its own home, and thus be able to enter into collusion with
the people. And the artillery branch of the army is entirely in the
hands of the British force. Moreover, as we have seen, the Mohammedans
and the Sikhs are loyal to the government, and would stand with the
British against the Hindus in any conflict of arms.
The Hindus themselves realize this situation perfectly well. One of
the best-known Hindu gentlemen recently wrote as follows: "The truth
is in a nutshell and may be described in a few words. The British
cannot be driven out of India by the Indians, nor by any foreign
Power. This fact is known to more than 90 per cent of the people. Of
all the foreigners, the British are the best. We, as we are now, are
the least able to govern India, being not equal to the worst and
weakest foreign Power."
The best class of Hindus are not only sensible of their own weakness,
from a military standpoint; they are also dissatisfied with the action
of extremists and believe that the present unrest is evil. A
well-known Hindu writer describes the situation in the following
words: "The class of people the Indian Extremists appeal to, consists
of irresponsible and impressionable students and the ignorant
populace; and the agitator, who is thoroughly cognizant of this fact,
uses it for his purposes. He appeals to their feelings, and succeeds
in making them believe in the soundness of his fallacies and
mischievous preachings. The authorities have therefore to see that
this class of people is protected from the insidious appeals of
mischievous pseudo-patriots. After over a century of beneficent
British rule in India, it is scarcely necessary to attempt to justify
its existence or continuance. At the same time, it has to be
recognized that discontent prevails among the people; though, speaking
generally, it does not by any means partake of the character of
disaffection or disloyalty. Discontent is by no means inconsistent
with loyalty to government. On the other hand, it may even be said,
with a certain degree of truth, that the deep-rooted and abiding sense
of loyalty in the people has engendered the spirit of discontent, the
healthy discontent with their lot."
It should also be remembered that the Hindu caste system is an
insuperable barrier to the progress of the people toward independence.
The unity of the Mohammedans of India, who are only one-fifth of the
population, is in healthful contrast to the myriad caste divisions and
social barriers which separate Hindus one from another. One must be
compelled to deny the sincerity of many who claim that this people is
a nation which prides itself upon its patriotism, so long as the caste
system dominates them and their ideas. The only tie which binds
together these people is the spirit of opposition to this foreign
government. Among the classes and the masses there is absolutely no
coherence or unity of sentiment in any line of constructive activity.
So that in the matter of self-government they would prove themselves
to be sadly incompetent.
IV
The action of the Indian government, in view of the present situation,
has been the subject of criticism. Anglo-Indians feel that the Viceroy
and his Council have, for some reason or other, been too deliberate in
their action. For two years things have been going from bad to worse.
When, recently, Sir Bampfylde Fuller, the Lieutenant-Governor of East
Bengal, took prompt and vigorous action to suppress the uprising in
his Province, which was the centre of trouble, the Indian government
declined to support him. He therefore resigned, and India lost one of
the men who are the most competent to deal wisely and well with
sedition-mongers. The State may have thought, and was probably right
in thinking, that while the Bengal Babu is capable of unlimited noise,
he has a mortal aversion to converting his noise into action. So the
government preferred patiently to endure odium rather than suppress
the movement.
It was different in the Panjaub, whose people are less talkative, but
are more given to action. These warrior tribes were being rapidly
disaffected by political agitators; and they doubtless had definite
grievances of their own to agitate them. The time came when government
was compelled to do something to suppress the rising tide of feeling.
It decided to act upon a law of nearly a century ago, and deported two
of the leaders of the movement. They were at once sent to Burma, where
they were held in surveillance for six months and then released. This
action of the State was effective; for it quieted the people and
nipped what promised to be a rebellion, in the bud. But it raised a
storm of denunciation from all the Hindu papers, which spoke of it as
a violation of the Queen's Proclamation and an act subversive of the
most sacred rights of the people of the country and of the most
elementary form of justice! One writer claims that "the meanest
British subject is entitled to a writ of _Habeas Corpus_, and thus
secure an effective protection against arbitrary imprisonment and
arrest by the government." This is certainly true in ordinary times of
peace; but the government had every reason to believe that the state
of things in the Panjaub was anything but peaceable, and that it must
act in view of the extraordinary condition of the Province. And its
method of procedure has proved itself to be the most bloodless and
inexpensive possible. It has been claimed that the chief deported man,
Mr. Lala Rajpat Rai, is not an extremist; but this has to be proved,
and it may be presumed that the government was more conversant with
his acts and their influence upon the people, and the native army,
than some of his defenders are. All must regret the necessity of so
unconstitutional a method of dealing with this great evil; but when
such a man as the Hon. Mr. Morley, the Secretary of State for India,
agrees with the Indian government in this matter, it may be presumed
to have been necessary.
The government has also proclaimed and prohibited the assembling
together of the people for political purposes in the most disaffected
parts of the country, and more especially where the Hindus and
Mohammedans are fighting each other. None can question the wisdom of
thus saving the people from bitter feuds and the power of agitators.
Another very important action of the State has been to warn the
students of the Universities against participating in political
agitation, and to threaten the withdrawal of affiliation from
institutions of learning in which political agitation is encouraged.
Nobody will dispute the wisdom of this action; for the school-boys of
India seem as disloyal as they are irresponsible, and are the most
pliant tools of radical demagogues.
The Press also is receiving the attention of the government. The
vernacular Press is in special need of being taught the lesson of its
responsibility to the people and to the State. And the best elements
of the community, both Anglo-Indian and Indian, believe heartily that
editors and proprietors of papers should be brought to account for
their seditious utterances.
V
Many are now asking, "How shall this trouble be removed and peace and
good-will be restored to the land?"
Nothing is more necessary than the cultivation of mutual understanding
between the two races. It is very unfortunate that, in this matter,
the situation has not improved during the last quarter of a century.
Indeed, the racial problem is more acute now, as it is in America,
than it was ever before. All seem too ready to accept, as conclusive,
the statement of Kipling,--
"O! the East is East and the West is West,
And never the twain shall meet,
Till earth and sky stand presently
Before God's great judgment seat."
And they too easily ignore the other part which conveys his lesson,--
"But there is neither East nor West,
Nor border, nor breed, nor birth,
Where two strong men stand face to face,
Though they come from the ends of the earth."
The parties concerned in India to-day must learn the lesson of mutual
forbearance and study to understand each other's peculiarities and
enter more fully into each other's thoughts, sentiments, and
idiosyncrasies.
The Anglo-Indian stands most in need of this lesson of aptitude. The
Anglo-Saxon is notoriously conceited and given to thinking that he has
nothing to learn from other people, especially those who are
politically subject to him. He looks with contempt upon the "mild
Hindu," and maintains that it is the business of Brahman and Sudra
alike meekly to submit to, and obey, his lordship. He tramples upon
their sensibilities and declines to learn any lessons of wisdom from
them. On the other hand, Brahman and Sudra have ineradicable
prejudices, which they nurse with extraordinary fondness and cherish
with unyielding tenacity. The leader of this people, the Brahman, is,
in his way, even more haughty than the Anglo-Indian.
This situation is full of difficulty. Here we have two races, the
Aryan of the East and the Aryan of the West, standing face to face.
Each in its way claims dominance. The Westerner claims superiority by
right of conquest and of advanced civilization and general progress.
And he is not backward in presenting his vaunted claims! The
Easterner, on the other hand, has ruled India by right of intelligence
and by every claim of social and religious distinction, for at least
thirty centuries. He stands to-day a match for any individual, East or
West, in intellectual prowess. But, more than this, socially and
religiously he regards himself as the first son of heaven. Contact
with an Englishman, even with the King-Emperor himself, is for him
pollution, which must be removed by elaborate and exacting religious
ceremonies. To eat with any such would be a sin of the deepest dye.
How can one expect such a man to meet with a foreigner on even terms,
or to treat him with equality and true friendship? Before India loves
its conquerors, and sympathy and good understanding are established
between them, both parties need to be born again. At least they must
endeavour to lay aside their prejudices and to cultivate the kinship
of their united destiny. The writer recently listened to an eloquent
address delivered by a cultured Hindu gentleman, in which he implored
Anglo-Indians to cultivate their friendship and to forget the
different shades of their complexion. The prejudice of colour is, he
maintains, as strong in India as it is in America, and is perhaps more
bitter than ever. A man, said he truly, should not be condemned by his
brother because of his slightly different shade of colour, which is
only skin deep.
It is also certain that Great Britain should and must give to the
inhabitants of this land more influence and higher position in the
direction of the affairs of the State. After a training of more than a
century by England herself, India is prepared for a larger place in
the direction of her own political destiny. Western civilization,
western education, and the Christian religion have wrought wonders in
India in the development of a new life and a new consciousness among
many of the people. There are thousands of men, to-day, who are in
every way competent to occupy high positions in government. And it is
impossible that they should be kept loyal and contented under a regime
which constantly reminds them of their subjection and their lack of
worthiness to fill any but subordinate positions. It is true, as we
have seen, that government is extending the privileges and multiplying
the opportunities of such men. But it is not doing this with the
pace, the grace, and the heartiness that circumstances demand.
On the other hand, Indians must seek, increasingly, to cultivate
social and moral aptitude, rather than to be forever claiming and
demanding rights. The best friends of India believe that she has just
as many political rights as she is able wisely to exercise.
Representative Institutions have already been established here both in
the conduct of Municipalities, District Boards, and of the Provincial
and the Imperial Governments. The people are being trained for the
wisest exercise of political rights. But many who have carefully
observed the political corruption which they reveal in the exercise of
already acquired rights, think that no greater evil could befall India
than that of a sudden bestowal, by the State, of a great extension of
these privileges.
The root of India's present incapacity for self-government is not
intellectual, but social and moral. No one doubts that there is
ability enough; but many believe that India must develop much upon the
lower ranges of domestic sanity and social ethics before it is
prepared for enhanced political privileges. The ignorance and the
disabilities of women in India are a crying injustice, whose influence
penetrates every department of Indian life, and for the removal of
which educated Indians will hardly raise a finger.
The caste system, with its numberless stereotyped divisions, its
myriad insurmountable barriers between class and class, and its
countless petty jealousies and mutual antagonisms, is well known to
all. And so long as Hindus continue to worship this demon, caste, it
is impossible for them to become a united body to which, with any
courtesy, the name Nation can be applied. Nor can they blend into such
action as can in any sense be called National or patriotic. India is
wofully lacking in the first essential of self-government--public
spirit.
In other words, the most urgent need of India at present is social
reform, which depends entirely upon the people, and not political
reform, which must come from the State. And yet the social reform
movement in India is less rapid to-day than at any time during the
last quarter of a century. And those who cry loudest for political
rights are the ones who cast a sinister eye upon the social reform
movement.
And it must be remembered that the people who cry most loudly for
national independence to-day are the very ones whose antecedents and
whose fundamental conceptions of life and of society would forbid
them to grant even the most elementary social, not to say political,
rights to one-half of the population of the land. The way the Brahman
and the higher Sudras, who are clamouring for what they regard
God-given rights from the British government, deny in principle and
practice, to their fellow-citizens, the so-called outcasts and other
members of the community, the most elementary principles of liberty
and privilege which they themselves now enjoy, is a significant
comment upon their political sanity and sense of congruity.
In connection with this same problem, Indians should not forget that
in the multiplicity of antipathies which exist between the many races
of India, and in the religious conflicts, which too often arise, there
is need, and there will be need for many years, of one supreme power
which has the ability to hold the balance of justice evenly between
race and race, and to command social and religious liberty to the
three hundred millions of the land. And this is what Great Britain has
done and is doing for India. _Pax Britannica_ has been one of the
greatest boons that the West has conferred upon the East.
It may also be well to add that Indians should have regard to the
limits of the rights of a subject people. It is useless to talk of
self-government, until they are able to exercise the same; and even
the most rabid Hindu cannot dream that India is ripe for
self-government and could maintain it for a month if the British were
to leave the country. And if the British must remain here at all, it
must be as the dominant power. Canada and Australia, in their
independence, may be ideals for India to pattern after; but India
cannot enjoy the rights of those two independent colonies until her
character becomes as steady, her ideas of liberty and her practice of
social equality and her conception of human rights become as
clarified, as they are in those two countries.
The recent proposal of the Government of India to enlarge the
Legislative Councils and to create an Imperial Advisory Council
reveals the purpose of the State to grant to the people all that is
consistent with the paramountcy of the British in India. But it is
this very paramountcy which the extremists deny to Great Britain.
Herein lies the gist of the trouble. It will erelong create a serious
_impasse_.
Great Britain cannot remain in this land and efface herself. At the
same time, when India is prepared for absolute self-government, she
will receive the blessing, and Great Britain will leave the land with
a blessed consciousness that she has wrought for India the greatest
blessing and the noblest achievement that any people has wrought for
another and a foreign people in all the history of the world. And
until that time comes, both India and Great Britain need to thank God
that He has so strangely blended together their destinies for the
highest elevation of both races.