A SNAKY SPECTACLE IN BOMBAY
On the way to the temple the carriages stopped at a horse bazaar, in which
Mr. Woolridge was especially interested, for some very fine animals were to
be seen, including some choice Arabians. They were looked over and admired
by the party. The best of them were valued at from six hundred to twelve
hundred dollars; and the cheapest were hardly less than two hundred
dollars. None but the wealthiest people of the city could afford to ride
after these animals.
Around these stables were numerous cafés, and a collection of people of
various nationalities were gathered in front and within them. Arabs,
negroes, Bedouins, and others were consuming spicy drinks; a group of
Persians in picturesque costumes were regaling themselves with great
dough-balls, made of flour, sugar, and milk; and dirty visitors from Cabul
were feeding themselves on dates.
Still in the Black Town, the carriages stopped at the Chinese Bazaar,
though the tourists did not alight. It extended to the shore of the bay,
and was crowded with all sorts of people. On the quays were no end of
Asiatic goods, mostly of the coarser kind,--the horns of cattle, tortoise
shells, elephants' tusks, and bags of pepper, spices, and coffee.
"This looks like Constantinople," said Miss Blanche, as four big coolies,
bearing a large box of goods suspended from a pole resting on their
shoulders, passed them, struggling under the burden they bore.
"Oriental customs are much the same wherever you find them," replied Sir
Modava.
"But if they had a hand-truck, such as they use in the stores of our
country, they could do their work with far less labor," suggested Scott.
"Those coolies would not use them," added the Hindu gentleman. "I have seen
them in London, and these laborers would regard them as an invention of the
Evil One to lead them away from their religion."
Parsees and other merchants were circulating in the crowd, making notes of
the prices; and the great variety of representatives of different countries
was surprising to the visitors. Not far from this bazaar is the great
mosque of the Mohammedans. After all the magnificent buildings of this kind
the party had visited in Turkey, Egypt, and Algeria, it was not a great
attraction. It was not to be compared with many mosques they had seen. As
usual, the party were invited to remove their shoes, though the sight
hardly paid for the trouble. The scene was the same as in others of the
kind. A venerable Moollah was expounding the Koran to a group of true
believers.
His audience were all seated on the pavement, and they seemed to be giving
excellent attention to the discourse. Sir Modava explained that the
Mohammedans of Bombay were more orthodox, or strict, in the observance of
the requirements of their religion than in Bengal; for a considerable
proportion are direct descendants from the original stock who had emigrated
to India from Persia. They are bitterly opposed to the Hindus, and a
serious riot had occurred not long before.
There are many Hindu temples in Bombay, though not many of them are
accessible to strangers; but the party drove to one in the Black Town. It
had a low dome and a pyramidal spire. Both of them were of the Indian style
of architecture, very elaborate in ornamentation. It looked like a huge
mass of filigree work.
The visitors next found themselves at Girgaum, which is a forest of
cocoanut-trees extending from the Bazaars to Chowpatti, at the head of the
Back Bay. Among the trees, as the carriages proceeded along the Queen's
Road, they found a great number of Hindu huts, half hidden in the dense
foliage. They paused to look at one of them.
The walls were of bamboo and other tropical woods, and the roof was
thatched with cocoanut leaves, which required poles to keep them in place.
It had several doors, and cross-latticed windows. There was no particular
shape to the structure, and certainly nothing of neatness or comeliness
about it. A large banana tree grew near it; a woman stood at one of the
doors, staring with wonder at the strangers, and a couple of half-naked
coolies were at work farther away. The morality of the residents of this
section could not be commended.
"In the evening this grove is lighted up with colored lamps," said the
viscount. "Taverns and small cafés are in full blast, the sounds of music
are heard, and a grand revel is in progress. Europeans, Malays, Arabs,
Chinese, and Hindus frequent the grove. Far into the night this debauchery
continues, and I trust the authorities will soon clean it out."
The carriages continued on their way to Malabar Hill, and made a thorough
survey of the locality. At the southerly point they came to the village of
Walkeshwar, whose pagoda-like towers they had seen from the ship, filled
with residences, though not of the magnates of the city. Most of the
buildings here were very plain. The hill is not a high one, but along its
sides the elaborate bungalows of the merchants and others were erected, all
of them with fine gardens surrounding them.
Breach Candy, on the seashore, in front of Cumballa Hill, is the most
aristocratic neighborhood, and contains the finest mansions. Tramways,
which is the English name for horse-cars, extend to this locality, as well
as to most other important parts of the city; and there is a station on the
steam railroad near it, though most of the wealthy residents ride back and
forth in their own carriages.
The Tower of Silence, in which the Parsees expose their dead to be devoured
by birds of prey, was pointed out to them. No one but the priests are
allowed to enter it; and the relatives leave the body at the door, from
which they take it into the building. It is placed between two grates,
which allow the vultures to tear off the flesh, but not to carry off the
limbs. It made the Americans shudder when their guides told them about it
more in detail than when it was described in the lecture.
Passing by the cemeteries of the English and the Mussulmans on their return
to the city, they halted at the Hindu Burning-Ground, on the shore of the
Back Bay. Here the natives are burned to ashes. For some distance they had
noticed funeral processions on their way to this place. The remains are
borne on open litters. A granite platform is the base of the funeral pyre,
and the bodies wait their turn to be reduced to ashes; and the cremation is
far more repulsive than that in our own country.
Dealers in wood for the combustion sell the article to the relatives. Some
of them are cutting up fuel and arranging the pyre, while others seated on
the walls play a lugubrious strain on the native instruments. The disposal
of the body of an old man was in process while the tourists looked on; and
the corpse was placed on the pile, the friends covering it with bits of
wood till it was no longer in sight.
Then the eldest son came to the scene, howling his grief and beating his
breast. Grasping a torch prepared for him, he set fire to the corners of
the pile that covered the remains. The flames rose high in the air, and the
attendants fed the fire by throwing on oil. Soon the body reappears, a
blazing mass, which is soon reduced to ashes. Water is then thrown on the
pyre, and a portion of the ashes cast into the sea.
There is nothing very repulsive in the rite of burning the dead; though the
visitors had some difficulty in keeping out of the reach of the foul smoke,
which brought with it a disagreeable odor. The carriages continued on their
way to the city; and when they entered a street, Lord Tremlyn called the
attention of those with him to a couple of native women who had stopped to
look at them, for the party excited no little curiosity wherever they went.
It had become known by this time that a dozen American ladies and gentlemen
were circulating through the place, engaged in sight-seeing.
They had comely features of a brownish hue, and were dressed in the loose
robes of the country, reaching to the ground; one of the garments extended
to cover the head, though not the face. Both of them wore heavy gold
bangles on their arms, but both were barefoot.
"They are not Mohammedans," suggested Mrs. Woolridge.
"They may be for aught I know," replied his lordship. "The women of this
sect here do not veil their faces as a rule."
"They are quite good-looking," added the New York magnate. "What caste or
class do they belong to?"
"I should say they were in the Vaisya caste, agriculture and trade. They
are well dressed, and therefore not Sudra. Probably they are the wife and
daughter of a shopkeeper.
"What is this crowd in the square?" asked Morris, who had been looking
about him.
"We will drive over there and see," replied the viscount as he directed the
coachman.
"Festival of Serpents," said the driver through the window.
"You have an opportunity to see one of the sights of Bombay; but we shall
be obliged to leave the carriages, for it is a great performance, and there
will be a large crowd." They alighted at a convenient place, and moved
towards the square. The ladies were in doubt as to whether or not they
cared to see such an exhibition; but the three gentlemen who were
accustomed to them declared that there was no danger.
"This affair is in the nature of a religious festival," said Sir Modava.
"There are scores of snakes brought before you; but they have had their
poison fangs extracted, and they could not harm you much more than a
playful kitten. This is a day appointed to make prayers and offerings to
the snakes, in order to conciliate them and to insure immunity from their
bites. Though these occasions occur all over India, I don't believe there
is a single bite the less for them."
"It is the anniversary of the killing of the great serpent Bindrabund,
which was creating terrible havoc on the shores of the river Jumna, an
event in Hindu mythology, which is as true as any mythology," added Lord
Tremlyn. "You observe that it calls together a great crowd of people of all
classes, and you see fat Brahmin ladies here in palanquins, very richly
dressed, and looking as sweet as sugar. You notice the rich standards and
the torches, the trumpeters, and the girls playing on tom-toms and cymbals.
But we must get nearer to the centre of the show."
"Not too near," pleaded Mrs. Woolridge.
The crowd opened for the sahibs and the ladies, treating them with the
utmost deference, as though they were superior beings; and they obtained a
position where they could see the entire performance. A group of
_sapwallahs_, or serpent-charmers, each bearing a basket about fifteen
inches in diameter at the bottom, but not more than ten at the top, each
containing several cobras, marched into the centre of the crowd. Pious
Hindus brought forward bowls of the milk of buffaloes, of which the
serpents are very fond, and placed them on the ground. The snakes were
released from their confinement, and they made for the bowls of milk
without any delay.
Some of the tourists had never seen a cobra, though they are found in
Egypt. The ladies shrank back when they appeared, and some of them
shuddered at the sight of the reptiles. The body was somewhat enlarged near
the head, and the spectacles could be distinctly seen in this part. The
instruments played, the standards and the torches were waved; but the
snakes continued their milk feast undisturbed.
The principal _sapwallah_ had a wand in his hand, which he flourished
while he repeated a volume of gibberish which none of the party but Sir
Modava could understand. When Mrs. Belgrave asked what he said; he replied
that he was uttering invocations to the serpents, and entreating the whole
tribe of snakes not to bite the people.
One of the _sapwallahs_, who wore nothing but a turban on his head and
a fringed cloth about his loins, went to one of the bowls from which half a
dozen cobras were feeding, and taking hold of one of them, pulled him away
from the milk. The serpent thus treated was furious with anger, and
instantly opened out his hood, showing the spectacles in full. Another
cobra was put in his place at the bowl, and his persecutor sat down on the
ground with him, fooling with him as though he had been a kitten or a pet
dog.
In turn the snakes remaining in the baskets were released, and allowed to
feast on the milk as others were removed. There was a great crowd of
_sapwallahs_ in charge of them, and none of them were permitted to
escape. The reptiles showed their temper as they were taken from the milk
by spreading their hoods; but they were so skilfully manipulated that they
had no chance to bite.
"I think I have had enough of this thing," said Mr. Woolridge, with a look
of disgust on his face. "There is no fun at all in it, and I should like to
make them a target for my revolver."
"It is about time for tiffin, and we had better return to the hotel," added
Lord Tremlyn. "I shall keep you busy this afternoon; and while you are
resting you shall take in a Nautch dance, which is one of the institutions
of this country. After that we shall go to the island of Elephanta."
The live boys of the party were rather pleased with the spectacle, though
they had had enough of it; while the ladies, whose flesh had been
"crawling" at the uncanny sight, were glad to escape. They all reached the
hotel, and were hungry enough after the long jaunt of the forenoon to
appreciate the "tiffin."