about Calcutta, ostensibly for religious but practically for secular
purposes, in imitation of the unrivalled prototype at Kali Ghat, have
acquired unenviable celebrity, and been made subservient as a source of
income to the owner and the officiating priests, who fatten on the
offerings made to the goddess in the shape of money and provisions.
Thus, for instance, the _Sidhassurry_ or Kali of Nimtollah obtains a
few Rupees daily from such Hindoos as are carried to the riverside to
breathe their last, independently of the small presents made at all
hours of the day, especially in the mornings and evenings, when the
crowd assembles. It is amusing to observe the complaisance with which a
Brahmin gives a consecrated _Billaputtra_ or flower to a devotee in
return for a Rupee or so. A shrewd Brahmin, like the ancient Roman
soothsayer, laughs in his sleeves at such stupidity.
A Sanskrit proverb says that a meritorious work endures. It keeps alive
the name of the founder, and this vanity furnishes the strongest
stimulus to the endowment of works of a religious character, and of
public utility. It is, however, a painful fact that the nature and
character of such endowments is, in most cases, lamentably wanting in
the element of stability. Two or three generations after the death of
the founder, the substance of the estate being impaired, the family is
reduced to a state of poverty, the surviving members, often a set of
demoralised idlers, depend for their support on the usufruct of the
_Deybatra_, originally set apart for exclusively religious purposes, and
placed beyond the reach of law. In these days the offshoots of many
families are absolutely dependent on this sacred fund for their
subsistence, and the consequence naturally is that the endowment is
frittered away and the work itself inevitably falls into decay. Thus in
process of time both the fund and the founder's name pass into utter
oblivion.[81]
The following account given by Mr. Ward about the death of a devotee of
this goddess will not be uninteresting. "In the year 1809, Trigonu
Goswamee, a vyuktavudhootu, died at Kali Ghat in the following manner:
Three days before his death, he dug a grave near his hut, in a place
surrounded by three _vilwu_ trees which he himself had planted. In the
evening he placed a lamp in the grave, in which an offering of flesh,
greens, rice, &c., to the shakals was made, repeating it the next
evening. The following day he obtained from a rich native ten rupees
worth of spirituous liquors, and invited a number of mendicants, who sat
drinking with him till twelve at noon, when he asked among the
spectators at what hour it would be full moon; being informed, he went
and sat in his grave, and continued drinking liquors. Just before the
time for the full moon, he turned his head towards the temple of Kali,
and informed the spectators that he had come to Kali Ghat with the hope
of seeing the goddess, not the image in the temple. He had been
frequently urged by different persons to visit the temple, but though he
had not assigned a reason for his omission, he now asked what he was to
go and see there: a temple? He could see that from where he was. A piece
of stone made into a face, or the silver hands? He could see stones and
silver any where else. He wished to see the goddess herself, but he had
not, in this body, obtained the sight. However, he had still a mouth and
a tongue, and he would again call upon her; he then called out aloud
twice, "Kali? Kali?" and almost immediately died;--probably from
excessive intoxication. The spectators, though Hindoos (who in general
despise a drunkard), considered this man as a great saint, who had
foreseen his own death, when in health. He had not less than four
hundred disciples."
The various causes which have hitherto conspired to impart a sanctity to
this famous temple are gradually waning in their influence, but it will
be a very long time before the minds of the mass of the people are
completely purified in the crucible of true Religion, before which
superstition and priestcraft must vanish into air.
FOOTNOTES:
[73] The Hindoos put out their tongues when they are shocked at
anything.
[74] "The image of Minerva, it will be recollected, was that of a
threatening goddess, exciting terror. On her shields she bore the head
of a gorgon. Sir William Jones considers Kali as the Proserpine of the
Greeks."
[75] A _Reck_ is a small round basket, with which Natives measure rice,
the staff of life in Bengal. Every family has its sacred _Reck_ of paddy
which is preserved with religious care and brought out on such special
occasions.
[76] A superstitious idea prevails among the Hindoos that unless they
illuminate their houses on this particular night, devils would come and
take possession of them. In the Upper and Central Provinces it is
customary with the Hindoo inhabitants not only to illuminate but
whitewash their houses and decorate the doors and walls of shops with
colored China paper so that every thing may look "_smart_" according to
Native taste. In the Jubbulpore District I have seen the poorest laborer
whitewash the mud walls of his tiled-hut with one farthing's worth of
white earth called _Sewmattee_ which is found in great abundance in that
part of the country.
[77] One Joy Ghose, a notorious buffoon, was once asked by his old
mother to perform the above rite. Joy, instead of reciting the motto in
the right way, purposely inverted it just to irritate the old lady, and
repeated the first last and the last first. The joke was too much for
the sensitive mother; she wrung her breast, tore her hair, and refused
to be consoled until the son repeated the song in proper order, _i. e._,
"bad luck out, good luck in." Trifling with _Luckee_, the goddess of
prosperity, is the height of folly. It is punished with misery here and
perdition hereafter.
[78] Young Bengal is no longer satisfied with Kali Ghat meat; his taste
being improved and his mind disabused, he must needs have kid and mutton
from the new Municipal market, which is certainly superior in quality to
that of Kali Ghat.
[79] The writer in his younger days remembers to have been once taken up
on a Kali Poojah night by a gang of infamous drunkards in the very heart
of Calcutta. When he was returning home about midnight in company with
some of his friends after seeing the _tamasha_, he being the youngest of
the lot had necessarily lagged behind, when to his utter dismay he was
suddenly laid hold of by a man who smelt strongly of liquor and carried
him hurriedly into an empty house on the roadside. The first shout at
the very threshold was,--"here we have got a _moori_", _i. e._ a victim;
the ruffians, who had their faces covered with clothes, jumped up at the
announcement, and one of them accosted him in the following
manner--"what money and pice have you got?" The writer replied a few an
his pice only. No Rupees? asked another; whereupon they all fell to
searching his person and stripped him of all his clothes, which
consisted of a _dhooty_, a _chadur_ and a _jama_, and finally bade him
go. As a matter of course he was obliged to return home almost in a
state of nudity, one of his friends lending him a _chadur_ on the
occasion. In these days the introduction of gas light and the posting of
constables on the highway have greatly checked such ruffianism.
[80] This idea is strengthened by the opinion of Native medical
students, many of whom, it is a matter of regret, are not great
advocates of temperance. Natives use liquor not for health but solely
for intoxicating purposes. A very successful Native Practitioner to whom
not only the writer but many of his respectable friends are under great
obligation, not long ago fell a victim to the besetting vice of
intemperance, and confessed his guilt like a penitent sinner in his
dying moments. His reputation was so great at one time that it was said
"patients felt half cured when he entered the room." In the beginning of
his brilliant career, he was one of the most staunch advocates of
temperance. How frail is human nature!
[81] For an account of the _Bamacharee_ Sect, see note D.
X.
THE SARASWATI POOJAH.
Saraswati is the Hindoo goddess of learning. She is represented as
seated in a water lily and playing on a lute. Throughout Bengal her
worship is celebrated with more or less pomp on the fifth day of the
increase of the moon, in the Bengali month of Magha or Falgoon
(February). As the popular Shastras reckon the commencement of spring
from this date, the people, especially the young and gay of both sexes,
put on _basantee_ or yellow garments, and indulge in all sorts of low
merriment, manifesting a depraved and vitiated taste.
Every Hindoo, young or old, who is able to read and write, observes this
ceremony with apparent solemnity, abstaining from the use of fish on
that day as a mark of reverence to the goddess. The worship is performed
either before an image of the goddess, or before a pen, ink-bottle and
_pooti_ (manuscript), which are symbolically regarded as an appropriate
substitute for the image. The officiating priest, after reading the
prescribed formula, and presenting rice, fruits, sweetmeats, flowers,
&c., directs the votaries of the goddess to stand up with flowers in
their hands and repeat the usual service, beseeching her to bestow on
them the blessings of learning, health, wealth, good luck, longevity,
fame, &c. Apart from its idolatrous feature, it is a rather strange
sight to see a number of youths, after going through the process of
ablution and changing their clothes, stand up before the goddess in a
body, and in a devotional spirit address her in prayer for the blessings
above enumerated. Even apart from its superstitious character, it is
decidedly objectionable on the score of its purely secular tendency, as
it makes no allusion whatever to the primary object of all prayer,
_viz._, the atonement and pardon of sin and the salvation of the
soul--an element in which the religious ceremonies of the Hindoos are
singularly deficient.
"Life is real, life is earnest,
And the grave is not its goal;
'Dust thou art, to dust returnest,'
Was not spoken of the soul."
It was reported of Sir William Jones that when he studied Sanskrit, he
used to place on the table a metal image of this goddess, evidently to
please his Pundit. Let it not be inferred from this that he advocated
the continuance of idolatry; far from it, but even in appearance to
acquiesce in homage to an idol made of clay and straw is to withhold
from the Most High the reverence, gratitude and obedience due to Him
alone. The early formation of a prayerful habit divested of any
idolatrous feature will always exercise a healthy religious influence on
the mind in maturer years.
In every _chatoospati_ or school, the Brahmin Pundit and his pupils
worship this goddess with religious strictness. The Pundit setting up an
image, invites all his patrons, neighbouring friends and acquaintances
on this occasion. Every one who attends must make a present of one or a
half Rupee to the goddess, and returns home with the hollow benediction
of the Brahmin. To so miserable a strait have the learned Pundits been
reduced of late years, that they anxiously look forward to the
anniversary of this festival as a small harvest of gain to them, as the
authoritative ministers of the goddess. They make from fifty to one
hundred Rupees a year by the celebration of this Poojah, which keeps
them for six months; should any of their friends fail to make the usual
present to the goddess, they are sure to come and demand it as a
right.[82]
Females are not allowed to take a part in the worship of this goddess,
simply because the great lawgiver of the country has denied them this
privilege. They, however, now-a-days read and write in spite of the
traditional prohibition, but are religiously forbidden to say their
prayer before the goddess, though she is herself an embodiment of their
sex. It is quite obvious that feelings of lamentable debasement arise in
their hearts at the annual recurrence of this festival, strongly
reminding them of the unhealthy, unnatural ordinance of their great
lawgiver.
The day following the Poojah, the women are not permitted to eat any
_fresh_ prepared article of food, but must be satisfied with stale, cold
things, such as boiled rice and boiled pease with a few vegetables,
totally abstaining from fish, which they cannot do without on any other
day. Taking place on the sixth day of the increase of the moon, this
part of the festival is called _Situl Shasthi_ as enjoining the use of
cold food.
As a mark of homage to the goddess, the Hindoos do not read or write on
that day. Hence the day is observed as a holiday in public and
mercantile offices where the clerks are mostly Hindoos. Should any
necessity arise they write in red ink, as all the inkstands in the
household are washed out and placed before the goddess for annual
consecration. They are, however, not prevented from attending to secular
business on this occasion. Unlike the sanguinary character of the
Poojahs of Doorga and Kali, no bloody sacrifices are offered to this
gentle goddess, but as regards rude merriment, the one in question does
not form an exception to the others. Revelry and unbecoming mirth are
the grand characteristics of this as indeed of almost every other Hindoo
festival. It is sickening to reflect how indecency and immorality are
thus unblushingly countenanced under the sacred name of religion.
Loose women celebrate this festival, and keep up dancing and singing all
night in a bestial state of intoxication to the utter disgust of all
sober-minded men. The Moharajah of Burdwan used to expend large sums of
money on this occasion, engaging the best dancing girls of the
metropolis and illuminating and ornamenting his palace in a splendid
style, besides giving entertainment to his English and Native friends.
Vast multitudes of people from Calcutta still resort to his palace and
admire the profuse festoons of flowers and the yellow appearance of
everything, indicative of the advent of spring,--a season which,
according to popular notion, invites the mind to indulge in licentious
mirth. It is needless to enumerate farther the many obscenities
practised in songs and actions on this occasion.
FOOTNOTES:
[82] A gift once made to a Brahmin must be continued from year to year
till the donor dies; in some cases it is tenable from one generation to
another.
XI.
THE FESTIVAL OF CAKES.
On the annual commemoration of this popular festival in Bengal, which is
analogous to the English "Harvest home," the people in general, and the
agricultural classes in particular, manifest a gleeful appearance,
indicative of national demonstrations of joy and mirth. It takes place
in the Bengalee month of _Pous_ or January, following immediately in the
wake of the English Christmas and New year's day. With the exception of
the upper ten thousand, almost all men, women and children alike
participate in the festivities of the season, and for three succeeding
days are occupied in rural pastimes and gastronomical enjoyment. The
popular cry on this occasion, is--"_Awoynee_, _Bownee_, _teen deen_,
_pittaey_, _bhat_, _khawnee_," "the _Pous_ or _Makar Sankranti_ is come,
let three days be passed in eating cakes and rice," accompanied by a
supplementary invocation to the goddess of Prosperity (Lukshmee) that
she may afford her votaries ample stores so that they may never know
want. As the outward manifestation of this internal wish, they tie all
their chests, boxes, beddings, the earthen cooking pots in the kitchen,
as well as those in the store-house containing their food grains, and in
fact every movable article in the house, with shreds of straw that they
may always remain intact. The origin of this festival is involved in
obscurity, but tradition says that it sprung from the general desire of
the people engaged in agricultural pursuits to celebrate the last day of
_Pous_, and two succeeding days, in eating what they most relish, cakes
of all sorts, to their hearts' content, after having harvested and
gathered their corn and other food grains, which form the main staff of
their life. Whatever may have been the origin of this festival, it is
evident that it does not owe its existence, like most other Hindoo
festivals, to priestcraft. The idea is good and the tendency excellent.
After harvesting and gathering the fruits of their labour, on which
depend not only their individual subsistence throughout the year, but
the general prosperity of the country by the development of its
resources, the husbandmen are well entitled to lay aside, for a short
while, the ploughshare, and taking three days' rest, spend them in rural
amusements and festivities amid their domestic circle. All this tends,
in no small degree, to awaken and revive dormant feelings of love and
friendliness by mutual exchange of invitations as well as of good
fellowship. Their incessant toil in the field during the seven previous
months, their intense anxiety on the score of weather, carefully noting,
though not with the scientific precision of the meteorological reporter,
deficient and plenteous rainfall, and apprehending the destructive
October gale, when the ears of corn are almost fully developed, their
constant watchfulness for the prevention of theft and the destruction of
the crops by cattle, their unceasing weeding out of troublesome and
useless plants and _cassay_ grass, sometimes wading in marshy swamp or
mire knee deep, and their incessant anxiety for the due payment of rent
to the zemindar, or perhaps of interest to the relentless money lender,
are sources of uneasiness that do not allow them a moment's peace of
mind. Should they, by way of relaxation, cease to work for three days in
the year, they are not to be blamed for laziness or supineness. The
question of a good harvest is of such immense importance to an
agricultural country like India, that when the god, Ram Chunder, the
model king, visited his subjects in Oude, the first thing he asked them
was about the state of the crops, and when the enquiry was favorably
answered, his mind was set at rest, and he cheerfully unfolded to them
the scheme of his future Government.[83] Physically and practically
considered, temporary cessation from labor is indispensable to recruit
the energy of the exhausted frame of body, and promote the normal vigor
of mind. So in whatever light this national jubilee is regarded,
socially, morally or scientifically, it is productive of beneficial
results, ultimately contributing to the augmentation of the material
prosperity of the land.
Some of my countrymen of a fastidious taste look upon this festival as a
puerile and foolish entertainment, because it possesses no dignified
feature to commend it to their attention, but they should consider that
it is free from the idolatrous abominations and rank obscenity by which
most of the Hindoo festivals are characterised, independently of its
having a tendency to promote the innocent mirth and general hilarity of
the masses, whose contentment is the best test of a good government and
of a generous landed aristocracy.
So popular is this festival amongst the people that the Mussulmans have
a common saying to the effect, that their _Eed_, _Bakrid_ and
_Shub-i-Barat_--three of their greatest national festivals--are no match
for the Hindoo _Pous Sakrad_.
Our children and women in the city, whose minds are so largely tinctured
with an instinctive regard for all festivities, share in the general
excitement. On this occasion, exchanges of presents of sweetmeats,
cloths, jaggery, ghee, flour, oranges, cereals, cocoanuts, balls of
concentrated milk, vegetables, spices, sugar, almonds, raisins, etc, are
made between relatives in order that they may be enabled to solemnise
the cake festival with the greatest _eclat_. In respectable families,
the women cheerfully take the trouble of making these preparations,
instead of trusting them to their female cooks, because male cooks are
no adepts in the art. So nicely are these cakes made and in such
variety, that the late Mr. Cockerell, a highly respected merchant of
this City, used every year to get an assortment from his Baboo and
invite his friends to partake of them; and notwithstanding the
proverbial differences of taste, there are few who would not relish
them.
The boys in the many patshalas or primary schools around Calcutta,
annually keep up this festival in a splendid style. The more advanced
form themselves into a band of songsters, and, attended by bands of
musicians with all the usual accompaniments of flags, staves, etc.,
proceed in procession from their respective schools to the bank of the
river Bhagiruttee, singing rhythmically in a chorus all the way in
praise of the holy stream, and of her powers of salvation in the present
_Kali Yuga_, or iron age. When they reach their destination they pour
forth their songs most vociferously. They afterwards perform the usual
ablutions and return home in the same manner as they set out from the
Patshala, regarding the performance as an act of great merit.
FOOTNOTES:
[83] Indeed, it has become a byword among the Natives in general that
the compound word, "_Ram-Rajya_," or the empire of Ram is synonymous
with a happy dynasty. There existed peace, union and harmony among the
people in the infancy of society. Almost every family had its assigned
plot of land which they cultivated, and the fruits of which they enjoyed
without the incubus of a rack-renting system, because the virgin soil
always afforded an abundant harvest. The wants of the people were few
and those were easily supplied. In fact there was a complete identity of
interests between the rulers and the ruled. The result was universal
contentment and happiness. But unhappily the present advanced stage of
social organisation has considerably impaired the relation.
XII.
The Holi Festival.
The annual return of this festival in honor of the god Krishna, excites
the religious feelings and superstitious frenzy of the Hindoos not only
in Bengal but also in Orissa, Bombay, and in the Upper Provinces of
India. From time immemorial, it has continued to exercise a very great
influence over the minds of the people at large, so much so that what
the Holi festival is in the Upper Provinces, the Doorga Poojah is in the
Lower Provinces of Bengal, being by far the most popular and
demonstrative in all their leading features. Though originally and
essentially a Hindoo festival of a religious character, dedicated to the
worship of a Hindoo god, it has subsequently assumed a jubilant phase,
drawing the followers of a different creed to its ranks; hence not a few
Mussulmans in Upper India observe it in a secular sense, quite distinct
from its religious aspect or requirements.
In Bengal it is called _Dole Jattra_, or the rocking of the image of
Krishna on its throne. It occurs on the day of the full moon in the
Bengallee month of Falgoon or March, at the vernal equinox,--a season of
the year when all the appetites, passions and desires of the people are
supposed to be more or less inflamed, and they naturally seek outlets of
gratification. In the Upper Provinces it is known by the name of _Holi_,
or festival of scattering _fhag_ or red powder among friends and others.
On the previous night the people both here and in the Upper Provinces
burn amidst music the effigy of an uncouth straw image of a giant named
Maydhasoor, who caused great disturbance among the gods and goddesses in
their hours of meditation and prayer. To put a stop to this unholy
molestation the god Narayan or Krishna destroyed the giant by means of
his matchless valor and skill, and thus restored peace in heaven as well
as on earth. To commemorate this glorious achievement, the image of the
above giant is annually burnt on the night previous to the _Holi_
festival.