Foster finds fault with the conduct of Sir William Jones: he writes, "I
could not help feeling a degree of regret, in reading lately the Memoirs
of the admirable and estimable Sir William Jones. Some of his researches
in Asia have no doubt incidentally served the cause of religion; but did
he think the least possible direct service had been rendered to
Christianity, that his accomplished mind was left at leisure for hymns
to the Hindoo gods? Was not this a violation even of neutrality, and an
offence, not only against the gospel, but against theism itself? I know
what may be said about personification, license of poetry, and so on,
but should not a worshipper of God hold himself under a solemn
obligation to abjure all tolerance of even poetical figures that can
seriously seem, in any way whatever, to recognise the pagan divinities
or abominations, as the prophets of Jehovah would have called them? What
would Elijah have said to such an employment of talents? It would have
availed little to have told him, that these divinities were only
personifications (with their appropriate representative idols) of
objects in nature, of elements, or of abstractions. He would have
sternly replied--'And was not Baal, whose prophets I destroyed, the
same?'"
Dr. Stiles, President of Yale College in North America, was so highly
impressed with the amazing antiquity of the Hindoo Shastras that he
wrote to Sir William Jones, asking him to make a search among the
Hindoos for the Adamic books. Had he not been a sincere Christian, he
would have asked Sir William to send him a translation of a book written
some two or three millions of years ago.
General Stewart, who lived in Wood Street, Calcutta, was said to have
made a large collection of Hindoo idols, which he arranged in the
portico of his house. He was so fond of them that, it was said, a
Brahmin was engaged to perform the daily worship, while he himself led
the life of a Hindoo _rishi_ or saint, inasmuch as he totally abstained
from the use of either wine or meat.
Such instances of partiality on the part of enlightened Christians
towards heathenism, we do not see in the present day. In the early times
of the British settlement in India, there was a strong mania for
exploring the untrodden field of Braminical learning, and the
unfathomable antiquity in which it was imbedded. The philosophical
theories of the _Munees_ and _Rishis_, their sublime conceptions
concerning the origin of the world and the unity of God, their utter
indifference to worldly concerns and sensual gratifications, their
living in sequestered _ashrums_, the practice of religious austerities,
the subjugation of passions, and above all, their pure, devotional
spirit, lent an enchantment to their teachings, which was, in the
highest degree, fascinating. It was not an ordinary phenomenon in the
annals of the human intellect that Europeans, possessing all the
advantages of modern civilization, should go so far as to entertain a
sort of religious veneration for a system of polytheism, which even the
natives of the country now-a-days denounce as puerile and absurd. Deeper
researches have, however, subsequently dissipated the delusion, and
thrown on the subject a great body of light, which the progress of
Western knowledge is daily increasing.
FOOTNOTES:
[135] Such as _Bore_, _Komurpatta_, _Nimfull_, _Neyboofull_, _Ghoomur_
round the waist, _Tabeej_, _Bajoo_, _Balla_, _Jasum_, _Taga_, &c. on the
hands, pearl and gold necklaces of various sorts and gold mohurs or
sovereigns strung together in the shape of a necklace.
NOTE D.
THE BAMACHAREE FOLLOWERS OF KALI.
In some parts of Bengal and Assam, there still exists a sect of Hindoos,
known by the name of _Bamacharees_, or the followers of the female
energy, who practise a series of _Poornabishaka_ orgies in the name of
this celestial goddess which are nothing less than abominable. The
following is a rough programme of the rite. The Brahmin who is to
perform the ceremony sits upon a sham image of the goddess in a private
room, having beside him at the same time a quantity of flowers, red
sandal paste, holy water, copper pans, plantain and other fruits, green
plantain leaves, parched peas, cooked fish and flesh, and a certain
quantity of spirituous liquor. When night approaches he takes the
disciple who is to be initiated into the room, with nine females and
nine males of different castes, with one female for himself and another
for the disciple, and makes them all sit down on the floor. Taking up a
small copper pan and a little of the holy water, he sprinkles it on all
present and then proceeds with closed eyes to repeat a solemn
incantation to the following effect: "O goddess, descend and vouchsafe
thy blessings to Horomohun (the name of the devotee) who has hitherto
groped in the dark, not knowing what thou art; these offerings are all
at thy service"; saying this, he whispers in his ear the root of the
_mantra_. From that time the goddess becomes his guardian deity. The
Brahmin Gooroo then goes through divers other formulas, pausing for a
while to serve and distribute liquor in a human skull or cocoanut shell
to all the devotees, himself setting the example first. He next desires
the females to lay aside their clothes, and bids his new disciple adore
them as the living personifications of the goddess. Eating and drinking
now go on freely, the males taking what is left by the females. Towards
the close of the ceremony, the disciple, baptised in liquor, makes
presents of clothes and money to the priest and all the men and women
present. It is easy to conceive what sort of devotional spirit is evoked
by the performance of these abominable orgies. Happily for the interests
of morality in this country, the sect is nearly extinct, except in the
most obscure parts of Assam and Bengal.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes: Obvious printer errors have been corrected.
Many words are not consistently accented, as in "charpoy" and "charpoy",
"Basarghur" and "Basurghur", Shrad and Shrad. They have been left as is.
Both "labour" and "labor" appear.
Page 300 right double quote supplied: Even so far back as the
Mahratta dynasty, it was said of Dowlut Rao Sindhia that "his necklaces
were gorgeous, consisting of many rows of Pearls, as large as small
marbles, strung alternately with emeralds.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Hindoos as they Are, by Shib Chunder Bose