intoxicating beverage made of hemp leaves on this particular occasion.
Every one that comes to visit--and there must be a social gathering--or
is present, is treated with this diluted beverage and sweets. Even the
most innocent and simple females for once in a year are tacitly allowed
to use it, but very sparingly. One farthing's worth of hemp leaves, or
about one ounce, suffices for fifty persons or more, so that it becomes
almost harmless when so copiously diluted. But those who have imbibed a
taste for English wines and spirits always indulge freely on this
occasion, giving little heed to temperance rules and lectures. It is
"_Bijoya_" and drinking to excess is justifiable.
It would not be proper to close this subject without saying a few words
about the national excitement which the approach of this festival
produces, and the powerful impetus it gives to trade in general. It has
been roughly estimated that upwards of a crore of Rupees (L10,000,000)
is spent every year in Bengal on account of this festival. Every family,
from the aristocracy to the peasant, must have new clothes, new shoes,
new every thing. Men, women, children, relatives, poor acquaintances and
neighbours, nay beggars must have their holiday dress. Persons in
straitened circumstances, who actually live from hand to mouth, deposit
their hard-earned savings for a twelvemonth to be spent on this grand
festival. Famished beggars who drag a miserable existence all their
lives, and depend on precarious alms to keep their body and soul
together all the year round, hopefully look forward to the return of
this anniversary for at least a temporary change in their rags and
tatters. Hungry Brahmins, whose daily avocation brings them only a
scanty allowance of rice and plantain, cheerfully welcome the advent of
"_Ma Doorga_" and gratefully watch the day when their empty coffer shall
be replenished. Cloth merchants, weavers, braziers, goldsmiths,
embroiderers, lace-makers, mercers, haberdashers, carpenters, potters,
basket-makers, painters, house-builders, English, Chinese and Native
shoemakers, ghee, sugar and corn merchants, grocers, confectioners,
dealers in silver and tinsel ware, songsters, songstresses, musicians,
hackney carriage keepers, Oorya bearers, hawkers, pedlars and such
dealers in miscellaneous wares, all look forward to the busy season when
their whole year's hopes shall be realised by bringing lots of Rupees
into the till. To a man of practical experience in business matters, as
far as the metropolis of British India is concerned, it is perhaps well
known that the "Trades" because of the Doorga Poojah make _more_ in one
month than they can possibly make in the remaining eleven months. From
the first week in September to the middle of October, when the Poojah
preparations are being actually made by the Hindoos, when they, frugal
as they assuredly are, once in a twelvemonth, loosen their purse
strings, when the accumulated interest on Government securities is
drawn, when all the arrears of house rent are peremptorily demanded,
when remittance from the distant parts of the country arrives, when in
short, rupees, annas and pice, are the "Go" of the inhabitants, the
shopkeepers make a display of their goods as best they can. From sunrise
to ten o'clock at night the influx of customers continues unabated,
extra shops are opened and extra assistants employed, the shopkeepers
themselves have scarcely leisure enough to take a hasty meal a day, and
each day's sales swell the heart of the owner. The thrifty and
economical Provincial, who loves money as dearly as the blood that runs
through his veins, leisurely makes his sundry purchases before the
regular rush of customers begins to pour in. He has not only the choice
of a large assortment, and the "pick," of a new investment, but gets
the benefit of a reasonable price, because the shopkeeper is not hard
and tenacious in the early stage of the Poojah sale. As each day passes,
and novelties are exposed for public inspection, the shopkeeper raises
his prices according to increasing demand. The effeminate and
extravagant Baboo of the City, who does not worship Mammon half so
devoutly as his country brother, does not mind paying a little too much
for his "whistle," because he is large hearted and liberal minded. His
more frequent intercourse with Englishmen has taught him to look upon
money as "filthy lucre." He is not calculating, and hence he defers
making his purchases till the eleventh hour, when, to use a native
expression, "the shopkeeper cuts the neck with one stroke."
About one-fifth of the Hindoo population of Calcutta consists of people
that are come from the contiguous villages and pergunnas of the
Presidency Division; these men live in Calcutta solely for employment,
keeping their families in the country where they have generally small
farms of their own which yield them enough produce in the shape of rice,
pulses, cereals, vegetables, &c., to last them throughout the year,
leaving, in some instances, ample surplus stock, with which and a few
milch cows as well as tanks, they husband their resources with the
greatest frugality, and enjoy every domestic comfort and convenience.
They do not care for Davie Wilson's biscuits and sponge-cakes, or a
glass of raspberry ice-cream or Roman Punch on a summer day; their bill
of fare is as short and simple as their taste is primitive. These men
make their Poojah purchases much earlier than their brethren in the
city, simply because they have to start for home as soon as the public
holidays commence on the eve of the fourth day of the increase of the
moon. If the Indian Railways have benefited one class of the people more
than another, it is these men who should be thankful for the boon. If
the East Indian and Eastern Bengal Railway Companies' coaching receipts
are properly examined for two days, _viz._, the fourth and fifth days of
the new moon or the beginning of the Doorga Poojah holidays, they will
certainly exhibit an incredibly large amount of receipts from third
class carriages. Indeed it has been rather facetiously remarked by
town's people that Calcutta becomes much lighter by reason of the exit
of country people during the Doorga Poojah holidays, but then the return
of the former to their home from the Moffussil should be also taken into
the account. On a fair calculation, the outgoing number far exceeds the
incoming proportion. It should also be observed that the list of
purchases of the former embraces a greater variety of items than that of
the latter. Their mothers, wives, daughters and sisters, not to speak of
the male members of the family, being absent in the country-house, the
want of each and every one must be supplied. Articles for domestic
consumption in a Hindoo family are in the greatest requisition.
Looking-glasses, combs, _alta_, _sidoor_ or China vermillion, _ghoomsi_
(string round the loins), scented drugs for ladies' hair, black powder
for the teeth, soap, pomatum, otto of rose, rose water, wax candles,
_sidoorchoobry_ (toilet box made of small shells), silk, thread, wool,
carpets, spices of all sorts both for the betel and the kitchen,
betel-nuts, cocoanut oil for ladies' hair, sugar-candy, almonds,
raisins, Cabul pomegranates, Dacca, Santipore and English made
_dhooties_, _oorunees_ (sheets), _sarees_ (lady's apparel), silk
handkerchiefs, silk cloth, Benares embroidered cloth, satin and velvet
caps, lace, hose, tinsel ornaments for the images, English shoes and
sundries, constitute the catalogue of their purchases. This explains
their going into the Bazar early and accounts for their extra
expenditure on the score of luxuries and superfluities of life, but the
reader should bear in mind that such extravagance is indulged in only
once a year. Generally esteemed as these people are for their saving
qualities, frugal, simple and abstemious habits, an annual departure
from the established rule is not unjustifiable. The rich classes, as
will be evident from what has been said, spend enormous sums in making
their fashionable purchases on this occasion.
From the foregoing details it is easy to infer that the Doorga Poojah
anniversary presses heavily on the limited resources of a Hindoo family.
A rich man experiences little difficulty in meeting his expenses, but
the middling and the humbler classes, who comprise nine-tenths of the
population, are put to their wits' end to make both ends meet. They are
sometimes obliged to solicit the pecuniary aid of their rich friends to
enable them to get over the _Doorga_ difficulty. It is, perhaps, not
generally known that during this popular festival, or rather before it,
when all Bengal is in a state of social and religious ferment, when
money must be had by fair means or foul, not a few unfortunate men,
chiefly libertines and rakes, deliberately commit frauds by forging
cheques, drafts, and notes, which eventually lead them into the greatest
distress and disgrace. Besides the high price of clothes and of all
descriptions of eatables, every family must have a month's provision to
carry them through the period during which no money is forthcoming.
I had almost forgotten to say anything about the annual gratuity which
the Brahmins of Bengal obtain on the occasion of this festival. From
time immemorial, when orthodox Hindooism was in the ascendant, the
Brahmins not only advanced their claims, as now, to all the offerings
made to gods or goddesses, small or great, but established a rule that
every Hindoo, whose circumstances would permit it, should give them
individually, one, two, four, or five Rupees at the return of this
festival. Every respectable Hindoo family, even now-a-days when
heterodoxy is rampant in all the great centres of education, has to give
ten, fifteen, twenty-five, or fifty Rupees to Brahmins. Rich families
give much more. So very tenacious are the Brahmins of this privilege
that even if they earn one hundred Rupees a month by employment they
will not forego a single Rupee once a year on this occasion, seeing they
claim it as a birthright.
These men have studied human nature, but they have built their hopes of
permanent gain on the baseless fabric of a hollow superstition, which is
destined, through the progress of improvement, inevitably to fall into
decay. It is too late to retrieve the huge blunder of laying a false
foundation for their gains.
FOOTNOTES:
[51] Doorga is also worshipped in the month of April, in the time of the
vernal equinox, but very few then offer her their devotion, though this
celebration claims priority of origin.
[52] For some general remarks on the religion of the Hindoos, see Note
c.
[53] "In this ancient story" says Tod, "we are made acquainted with the
distant maritime wars which the princes of India carried on. Even
supposing Ravana's abode to be the insular Ceylon, he must have been a
very powerful prince to equip an armament sufficiently numerous to carry
off from the remote kingdom of _Kousula_ the wife of the great king of
the Suryas. It is most improbable that a petty king of Ceylon could wage
equal war with a potentate who held the chief dominion of India; whose
father, _Dosaratha_ drove his victorious car (_ratha_) over every region
(_desa_) and whose intercourse with the countries beyond the Bramaputra
is distinctly to be traced in the _Ramayana_."
[54] This is also the day which is vulgarly called the _Kala kata
amabashay_ when unripe plantain fruits are cut in immense quantities for
offerings to Doorga.
[55] This sacred jar is marked with two combined triangles, denoting the
union of the two deities, Siva and Doorga,--the worshippers of the
_Sakti_, female energy, mark the jar with another triangle.
[56] The day before the _Kalpa_ begins, these priests receive new
clothes, comprising a _dhootie_ and _dubja_, and some money for
_habishay_, or food destitute of fish. Very few, however, abide by the
rules enjoined in the holy writings.
[57] Even in the observance of this religious preliminary, the Brahmins
take advantage of their superior caste, and curtail five days out of six
in order to save expense. Every thing is allowable in their case,
because they assume to be the oracles between the god and man.
[58] The vermilion is used by a Hindoo female whose husband is _alive_,
the privilege of putting it on the forehead is considered a sign of
great merit and virtue.
[59] There is a singular coincidence between the Hindoos and the ancient
heathen nations in regard to music. In both it is used as an
indispensable accompaniment to religious worship.
[60] It is no less strange than surprising that ornamental articles
prepared by the hands of European artisans who are accustomed to eat
beef and pork, the very mention, and much more, the touch of which
contaminates the purity of religion, are put on the bodies and heads of
Hindoo gods without the least religious scruple, simply for the
gratification of vanity. So much for the consistent and immaculate
character of the Hindoo creed!
[61] These scented oils are mostly prepared by Mussulmans, whose very
touch is enough to desecrate a thing; the Brahmins knowing this fact
unhesitatingly use them for religious purposes. Thus we see in almost
every sphere of social and domestic life the fundamental rules of
religious purity are shamefully violated.
[62] It is deserving of notice that the slaughter of oxen, cows or
calves is most religiously forbidden in the Hindoo Shaster. Divine
honors are paid to the species. The cow is regarded as a form of Doorga
and called Bhuggobutty. The husband of Doorga, Shiva, rides naked on an
ox. The very _dung_ of a cow purifies all unclean things in a Hindoo
household, and possesses the property of a disinfectant. The milk of a
cow assuredly affords the best nourishment to the young and the old,
hence the species was deified by the Hindoo sages. Even after the advent
of the English into this country for above two centuries, an orthodox
Hindoo is apt to exclaim "what impious times!" whenever he happens to
see a Mussulman butcher carry a cow or calf in the street for
slaughtering purposes. Not a few wonder how the English power continues
to prosper amidst the daily perpetration of such irreligious acts. By
way of derision, the English are called _gokhaduk_ or beef-eaters and
the _goylas_ (milkmen) _Kasays_ or butchers. If such Hindoos had power
enough they would certainly have delivered their country from the grasp
of these beef-eaters and placed it above the reach of sacrilligious
hands. But alas! in the present _Kaliyaga_ or iron age, both they and
their gods are alike impotent.
[63] It is generally known that except the Brahmins, who are
proverbially noted for their eating propensities, scarcely any
respectable Hindoo condescends to sit down to a regular _jalpan_ dinner
at this popular festival. He comes, gives his usual _pranamy_ of one
Rupee to the goddess in the _thacoordallan_, talks with the owner of the
house for a few minutes, is presented by way of compliment with otto of
roses and pan, and then goes away, making the stereotyped plea that he
has many other places to go to. Besides this, every man is expected to
provide himself at home with a good stock of choice eatables on this
festive occasion. The prices of sweetmeats, already too high, are nearly
doubled at this time, because of the large demand and small supply. From
32 Rupees a maund (82 lbs) the normal price of _sundesh_ in ordinary
times, it rises to 60 or 70 Rupees in the Poojah time. Milk sells at
four annas a pound, and without milk no _sundesh_ could be made. It is
the most expensive article of food among the Hindoos of Bengal, when
well made with fresh _channa_ (curded milk) it has a fine taste, but is
entirely destitute of nutritive property. The Hindoos of the Upper
Provinces, however, do not regard the preparation as _pure_, and
consequently do not use it, because of its admixture with curded milk.
[64] Rich men are in the habit of firing guns for the guidance of the
people.
[65] The flesh of buffaloes is used only by sweepers, shoemakers, &c.,
who sometimes quarrel for the possession of the slaughtered animals. The
meat with country liquor ends in drunken feasts.
[66] The late Rajah Rajkissen Bahadoor, Baboos Santiram Sing, Ramdoolal
Dey, Shibnarain Ghose, Prankissen Holdar, the Mullick family, the Ghosal
family of Bhookoylash and others, spent large sums of money from year to
year in giving clothes, food and money to a very large number of poor
men, and liberating prisoners from jail on payment of their debts. Any
relief to suffering humanity is certainly an act of great merit for
which the donors deserve well of the community. In our days there are
several Baboos who do the same on a limited scale, but the name of Baboo
Tarucknauth Puramanick of Kassiriparrah deserves a special notice.
Naturally unassuming and unambitious, his character is as irreproachable
as his large-heartedness is conspicuous. On every anniversary of the
Doorga Poojah, and on almost every religious celebration, he gives alms
to hundreds and thousands of poor people without distinction of caste or
creed. On the occasion of the Doorga Poojah festival he would not break
his fast until midnight, when he is assured that all the poor people who
came to his door have been duly provided with food and coppers. For
three nights this distribution of alms continues. The public road before
his house is closed by order of the police for the accommodation of
beggars. Five or six times in a month he feeds all the poor people that
come to his house, hence the fame of his generosity is spread far and
wide, and he is surnamed Taruck Baboo, "the _datta_" or charitable--a
distinction which the more opulent of his countrymen (and there are not
a few) should seek to covet.
[67] An _Urghy_ is a bunch of doorva grass tied up at the last, either
with red cotton or a slip of plantain leaf. Two or three of such bundles
are made, one is placed on the crown of the goddess and two on her two
feet. It is usually stuffed with paddy and besmeared with sandal wood
water and vermillion. It is a sacred offering and consequently preserved
for solemn occassions.
[68] Home made things are, in the long run, cheaper and more preferable
to the questionable products of the market, which are not only inferior
in quality but are more or less subject to defilement, being exposed for
sale to people of all castes. This detracts from the absolute purity of
the preparation.
[69] It would not be out of place to observe here that liberal Hindoos
as a body are not beef-eaters as is vulgarly supposed. They are content
with fowls, goat, sheep and fish. About forty years ago before the
Calcutta University was founded, the late Baboo Isser Chunder Goopto,
the editor of _Pravakur_, a vernacular news paper, very cleverly hit off
and satirised in popular ballads the then growing desire of the young
Hindoo reformers to adopt a European style of eating. He commenced with
Rammohun Roy--the pioneer of Hindoo reformation--and thus sarcastically
described his public career. Addressing _Saraswattee_ the Hindoo goddess
of learning, he thus laments: "Oh goddess! in vain have you established
schools in Calcutta, look at the end of that Roy (Rammohun Roy);
profound learning had wafted him over the waters to a distant region
(England), and never brought him back again." As regards the young
alumni, he makes a wife thus accost her husband: "_Pran, Pran_, my
heart, my heart, you go to society and lectures every day, and when the
Examination is held at the Town Hall you get prizes, heaps and heaps of
books you read and always remain outside. Is it written in the books
that you should never touch the body of a female? What sort of a
_gooroo_ (master) is your Sahib? he is a regular _garu_ (bull) if he
give you such lessons. You dislike _loochee_ and _munda_ (Hindoo
sweetmeats) but you get _gunda_ and _gunda_ of fowl eggs and satisfy
your hunger, and for you all there is an end of cows and calves." But
this is an exaggeration about the eating of beef by the educated
Hindoos. Except a few medical students, who have, in a great measure,
overcome their prejudices by the constant handling of dead bodies, the
rest still feel a sort of natural repugnance to eating beef. This is,
perhaps, the effect of early impressions produced by the religious
veneration in which a cow is held among the Hindoos. "The superstitious
reverence," says an eminent writer, "for the ox, points doubtless to a
period when that useful animal was first naturalized in India and
protected by a law for its preservation and encouragement, which, now
that the original intention is lost sight of in the lapse of ages, has
invested the cattle with a religious character, and, indeed, it is not
200 years since the Emperor Jehangir was obliged once to prohibit the
slaughter of kine for a term of years, as a measure absolutely required
to prevent the ruin of agriculture." It is a striking fact that that
loathsome disease, leprosy, is very common among the lower orders of
Mussulmans who use this meat freely. Perhaps it is more suited to the
inhabitants of milder regions than those of a tropical climate.
[70] So great was the mania for extravagant, ostentations show, that
instances were not wanting in which a lakh of Rupees was freely spent on
this grand occasion. The late Prankissen Holdar, of Chinsurah, in the
neighbourhood of Calcutta, expended annually for three or four years the
above sum in furnishing his house without stint of cost in truly
oriental style, giving rich entertainments to Europeans and Natives, and
distributing alms among the poor. There was no Railway then, and
consequently the boat hire alone from Calcutta to Chinsurah for English
and Native grandees might have cost four to five thousand Rupees. The
very invitation cards written in golden letters with gold fringes cost
eight to ten Rupees each. For the entertainment of his English friends
he used to give ten thousand Rupees to Messrs. Gunter and Hooper, the
then public Purveyors of Calcutta. First class wines and provisions were
procured in abundance, and arranged in the corridor under European and
Mahomedan stewards, while one hundred Brahmins were engaged in prayers,
reciting _Chundee_ and repeating the name of the god, Modosoodun, for
the propitiation of the goddess and the interests of the family. It
sometimes so happened that the clang of knives, forks and spoons was
simultaneous with the sound of the holy bell and conch, the one
neutralising what the other was supposed to produce in a religious point
of view.
[71] "The reader will recollect that the festivals of Bacchus and Cybele
were equally noted for the indecencies practised by the worshippers both
in their words and actions."