.'^^^j^usSU^.js'^^lj^. £S. .^ . -if-

-.•i-i5Siu.

^ODERN j-jlNDUISM

f

#'

IV. J WILKINS

l'<>^j|.i.^lW ¦ II mi

a-i.WW I mil ¦!!¦<

MODERN HINDUISM

cv

MODERN HINDUISM
EEINO
AN ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGION AND LIFE
OF THE HINDUS IN NORTHERN
INDIA

ET
W. J. WILKINS
0/ the London Mimonary Society
ABTEOE OF "KIHBT7 MYTHOLOOT— 'VEBIO AND PUEANIO "

T FISHEE UNWIN
6 PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1887

Mbm£3

INTEODUCTION.

In a former work,* I have given, as far as possible in the
language of the sacred books, an account of the deities com
monly worshipped by the Hindus of Northern India. In this
I propose to give an account of the life of the Hindus, which
is largely the result of the worship of those deities. Having
lived for many years in India, and met with all classes of tho
community in the cities and in the villages, and having con
versed with them in their own language, I have learned much
that is not to be found in books written on this most inte
resting subject. I have read much that has been written by
Europeans and Bengalis concerning the faiths and practices
of the people ; and in conversation with priests and pundits
have tested the accuracy of many of the statements made in
these works, so that what is found in these pages may be
received with confidence as a trustworthy account of the re
ligious life of the Hindu community. In this book, as in
my former one, I have abstained from comment on the cha
racter of these practices ; my work here is rather that of a
chronicler than of a preacher. In writing of the mythology
* " Hindu Mythology — Vedic and Puranic." Thaoker and Co., New.
gate Street ; and Thacker, Spink, and Co., Calcutta,

VI INTEODUCTION.
of the Hindus, I felt that the most powerful refutation of
Hinduism was a fair statement of what their books themselves
teach concerning the character and conduct of the beings
whom they worship as divine ; and in describing the every
day life of the Hindus, which is the practical outcome of
such worship, there seems to me to be but little necessity for
comment. It may perhaps appear strange to some readers to see
several subjects treated of in this book which professes to be
an account of the Hindu religion ; but it must ever be borne
in mind that, with the Hindu, religion is not a thing for times
and seasons only, but professes to regulate his life in all its
many relations. It orders ceremonies to be performed on
behalf of a man before he is born, and gives instructions to
his descendants, which they must follow in order that his
happiness may be secured after death. It regulates the
ceremonies attendant on his birth, his early training, his
food and its cooking, his style of dress and its manufacture,
his employment, marriage, amusements — his whole life from
before his birth until generations after his death. EeHgion
seeks to regulate not only the private life of the Hindu, but
also his domestic and national relations, and no contingencies
are possible for which it has not provided laws. To treat,
then, of the ordinary life of the Hindu is to describe the
Hindu religion.
It should also be remembered that descriptions absolutely
true of certain classes or of certain districts may not be
strictly correct of other classes or other districts ; and also
that some classes are grossly ignorant of the customs of other
classes, and the residents of one district, whilst famihar with
the practices common there, are totally ignorant of what pre
vails in other parts of the country. This can scarcely be

INTEODUCTION. yii
wondered at when we consider the number of books which
are believed by the people to be divinely given as authorities
on matters concerning the gods and the rehgious life. The
people of one district are familiar only with perhaps a small
part of one of these books, whilst those of other districts
found their religious faiths on other books or different parts
of the same, the religious teachers of the people as a rule
knowing only a small part of one or other of these large
volumes. In addition to this it must not be forgotten that
until a couple of generations back there was no prose litera
ture, no newspapers or magazines, no novels ; whilst the
theatrical representations which the people so dearly love
were almost entirely confined to mythological representations.
It is no uncommon thing to find some custom in the home,
or some ceremony in worship, supported by quite different
authorities by different people. When, therefore, hearing or
reading of certain things being believed or done by Hindus,
we are inclined to deny the accuracy of these statements, it
is well to inquire whether it is not our limited knowledge that
is at fault rather than the accuracy of the writer or speaker.
The sacred writings are full of contradictions, and naturally
the beliefs and practices of the people differ widely.
Many books have already been written on this subject, but it
is not by any means exhausted. Any one living amongst the
people with the seeing eye and inquiring mind may see and
hear much that has never been described in print. And it is
the duty of the observant to note these things, as it is true
to-day in India as elsewhere that " the old order changeth,
giving place to new ; " and certainly more true now than it
has been in the past. As Hinduism loses its hold upon the
popular heart, and purer faiths are adopted and more reason
able practices followed by the millions of India, many things

Vlil INTEODUCTION.
now patent to the observer will cease to be done, and it will
be only as old men's tales that they can then be known. Men
visiting certain isles of the Pacific search in vain for any
traces of the old idolatries that once prevailed there, and can
learn of the religion of olden time only from the descendants
of those who once followed this faith; men can nowadays
visit the scenes of child murder and sati in India, but are
dependent upon the stories of eye-witnesses, who have passed
away, for descriptions of these obsolete customs ; so wiU it be,
doubtless, with many of the common forms of Hinduism. In
the meantime, that those who cannot visit India may know
what its people believe and do in their religious worship, and
that those who come after us may know what was the form
the religious life of the past assumed, it is the duty of those
who have seen this gigantic system in its full force and
activity faithfully to describe what their " eyes have seen, and
their ears have heard."

CONTENTS.

EARLY LIFE.
CHAP. PAGE
I. BIRTH AND ITS CEREMONIES .... 8
n. THE HINDU HOME ..... 17
ni. THE GUEU, AND INITIATION INTO HINDUISM . 28
HINDU SECTS.
I. GENERAL CHANGES OP HINDUISM . . 37
ir. GENERAL EEMAEKS ON THE HINDU SECTS 41
III. VEDANTISM, OE ORTHODOX HINDUISM . . 48
IV. THE SECTS EXISTING ABOUT THE FOUETEENTH
CENTURY A.D. . ... 52
V. THE VAISHNAVA SECTS . . 59
VI. THE SAIVITE SECTS .... 83
VII. THE SAKTAS, ETC. ... .91
VIII. MISCELLANEOUS SECTS ..... 97
IX. THE MODERN DEISTIC SECTS . . . 106
1*

IV. STEUGGLES FOR SUPREMACY AMONGST THE
CASTES ...... 150
V. CASTE AS IT EXISTS AT THE PEESENT TIME . 158
VI. PBOPOETION OP PEOPLE INCLUDED IN THE OHIEP-
CASTES ...... 173-
VII. KULINISM .... . . 179'

CONTENTS. XI
WOMAN.
CHAP. PAGE
I. POSITION OF WOMAN AS TAUGHT IN THE HINDU
SCRIPIUEES ...... 325
II. PRESENT POSITION  MARRIAGE CEREMONIES, ETC. 337
ni. WIDOWS . ..... 364
IV. SATI . . . 377
MORALS.
I. THE HINDUS GENERALLY 895
II. THE CRIMINAL CLASSES . .419
DEATH, SHRADHA, AND FUTURE JUDGMENT.
I. DEATH AND ITS CEREMONIES . . . 439
II. THE SHEaDHA, OR RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES ON
BEHALF OP THE DEPARTED . . . 459
m. JUDGMENT AFTER DEATH ; REWARDS AND PUNISH
MENTS . . . . 471

THE EARLY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.

CHAPTER I.
BIRIE AND ITS CEBEMONIES.
The well-known lines of Wordsworth —
" Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting ;
The soul that rises with us, our life's star
Hath bad elsewhere its setting.
And cometh from afar ;
Not in entire forgetf ulness.
And not in utter nakedness.
But trailing clouds o£ glory do we come
From God who is our home,"
are in perfect harmony with the spirit of Hinduism; hence
it teaches that even before a child is ushered into the world
certain ceremonies should be performed on its behalf. About
four months before its birth there is the ceremony called
The Uncooked Food (Kacha Sad). The astrologer having
been consulted on this, as on all other important occasions,
and a suitable day having been fixed by him, all restrictions
respecting food, which at other times are most rigorously
observed by the expectant mother, are removed, and she is
permitted to eat all kinds of fruits, preserves, pickles, &c.,
rice and grain of all kinds only being prohibited. Two
months later comes the Cooked Pood (Bhaja Sad) ceremony,
when the lady with a few friends, whose husbands and
children are living, is permitted to eat parched peas, rice, and
cooked sweetmeats. A month later still the Panchamrita fes
tival is held. This name is given because on this occasion the
five delicacies supposed to form the food of the gods, viz..

4 THE EARLY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.
milk, ghi, curds, honey, and cow-dung, are set before her,
though she is permitted to eat only fruits and sweetmeats, a
little of which are put into her mouth by the officiating
priest. She, is gaily dressed in a red-bordered sari, or cloth,
which is afterwards most carefully preserved, lest any unfortu
nate mother who has lost her children from jealousy should
cut it, or take away any part of it, as any injury coming to it
would be ominous of evil to her child. At this time a day is
fixed as near as possible to the expected day of birth for the
final and more elaborate feast.
At the concluding festival before the birth of the child,
all the lady relatives of the family are invited, and a
liberal supply of varied kinds of food provided. In order to
make the day as lively as possible, singing and dancing girls
are engaged. In former years (and in some places even now)
the songs and dances were of a most indecent character,
but nowadays this objectionable element of the feast is
generally absent. When all is ready, the lady on whose
behalf it is given, beautifully dressed, and adorned with her
jewels, walks to her seat, which is painted white, and placed
in the centre of the apartment, whilst her guests sit in rows
on either side of her. A light burns in front of her, the
sacred conch shell is sounded, and a rupee which has touched
her forehead is offered on her behalf to the gods to ensure
her a safe issue from her coming trouble. The guests then
partake of the sumptuous feast, and, as soon as it is over,
hurry away to their homes in order that they may reach
them before darkness sets in. As the giver of the feast is
expected to provide palanquins and other conveyances to
bring her guests and also to take them home, and as there
are not sufficient to take more than a small number of them
at once, there is often a rather lively scene as the ladies try
to get the first use of these conveyances. It is customary
for those who have participated in the feast to send presents
to the lady whom they came to congratulate.
So great is the mortahty of Hindu women at childbirth.

BIRTH AND ITS CEREMONIES. 5
that this event has obtained the name of the Hundredfold-
dreaded (Satasanka) ; and many of the friends, in making
presents to the hostess, give them as farewell gifts. Accord
ing to a Hindu proverb, the ordinary life of a woman being
sedentary, and comparatively idle, is preferable to that of a
man ; the dread of motherhood, however, is regarded as an
equivalent to the cares and toils of manhood, so that men
are content with their lot and willing to remain men.
It may here be mentioned that, excepting on these high
days of festival, the Hindu wife, until her child is born, is
under many restrictions respecting food, dress, movements,
&c., and generally her fear of the dangers of the coming
event is sufficiently great to lead her carefully to observe
them. As a rule, a Hindu wife is not more than thirteen or
fourteen years of age when her first child is born, sometimes
she is even younger, and at such times is attended only by
some ignorant person, who is quite unable to render her
any real assistance when there may be special need. A
skilled doctor- save in the rarest cases, would not be admitted
into a Hindu home ; and when they have been sent for,
attempts have been made to prevent them from seeing more
than the hand and tongue of the patient. It occasions no
surprise, therefore, that there should be great fear experi
enced by the young wife ; the uncertainty whether she
will survive the event being assigned as the reason for
celebrating the festivals referred to. Amongst the many
regulations imposed upon the wife for months before her
child is born, the following may be mentioned. She must
not wear any clothes over which birds have flown. She must
always wear a knot iu her dress (sari) where it is fastened
round her waist. In order to avoid the contact of evil
spirits, she must not walk or sit in the open courtyard of her
house, and must wear a thin reed five inches long tied in the
knot of her hair. As a means of easily getting through her
trouble, she has to wear an amulet (maduli) round her neck,
containing flowers consecrated to Baba Thakur, a deity

6 THE EARLY LIFE OP THE HINDUS.
wor^shipped chiefly by the lower orders of the people; and
she must daily drink a few drops of water that have been
touched by this amulet.
When the hour of birth draws near, as a mother is regarded
ceremonially unclean for three weeks after childbirth if she
have given birth to a son, and for a month if her child be a
girl, and as her touch is defiling for this period, she can
not remain in the house. A shed is therefore provided as
her temporary home. In the homes of the poor the lumber
room is generally emptied ; in other places a mat hut is set
up ; whilst in the larger houses a room is kept for this pur
pose. These rooms are generally quite destitute of furniture,
a little straw only being spread for the woman to lie upon.
In this wretched place she must remain until the day of her
purification, and although it is admitted that under the most
favourable circumstances there is great risk to her life, the
proceedings in this shed seem calculated to largely increase
this danger. Before the lady enters the room the skull of a
cow smeared with red paint is reared up against the wall to
drive away evil spirits. An image of Sasthi, the goddess who
presides over married women and children, is made of cow-
dung, and placed in a conspicuous position and specially
honoured until the time when the mother can rejoin the
family. And during all this time neither husband nor father,
sister nor mother, must enter the shed lest they be defiled, the
poor mother being left entirely to the tender mercies of the
Barber's wife, whose reign is supreme over both mother and
child. When European ladies visiting the homes of the
people have expostulated with them on this cruel treatment,
and tried to induce the friends to show a little more con
sideration to the invalid, all their arguments and entreaties
are met by the assurance that any departure from the custom
of past ages would only anger Sasthi, and lead her to increase
the evils and dangers of any one who was bold enough to dare
to introduce reforms amongst those over whom she reigns.
Sasthi is all-powerful over the superstitious minds of the

BIRTH AND ITS CEREMONIES. 7
Hindu woman. If a child die soon after its birth, it is Sasthi
who has removed it ; if a mother is blessed with many living
sons, it is Sasthi who must be praised.
As so much is said in this chapter about Sasthi, it will not
be out of place to give a brief account of this all-powerful
deity, as many of the Hindus regard her. She is called
" Sasthi, or the Sixth," because she is believed to be the
sixth part of the Divine essence of Pradhcina Praltriti, the
male and female creative principles by whose influence this
universe has been generated. The following legend is re
lated in connection with her worship : " Priyavrata, the son
of Svayambhu Manu, who had spent many years in enthu
siastic and solitary devotion, was at last persuaded by Brahma
to contract the bonds of matrimony. But as his wife did
not for a long time present him with offspring, he desired
the divine sage Kasyapa to celebrate the imtreshti-yUya, on
the completion of which the sage gave her to eat the sacri
ficial charm (rice cooked in clarified butter), on swallowing
which she became enceinte. In due time she brought forth
into the world a son as bright as gold, but unfortunately
still-born. The king with a sad heart took the dead child
and laid it on the funeral pile, with a view to cremation.
On a sudden, however, there appeared overhead in the sky a
goddess of surpassing beauty, radiant in the summer sun.
The king, entranced with her heavenly grace, asked her who
she was. The goddess said, ' I am the wife of Kartikheya, the
chief of mothers, and as I am the sixth part of Prakriti, men
call me Sasthi.' So saying, the bright goddess took hold of
the child, gave it breath and life, and made a gesture as if
she was going to take it away with her to the realms of glory.
The king, petrified with fear, addressed many a fervent
prayer, beseeching her to restore the infant to him. The
goddess, pleased with the incense of praise, said, ' 0 thou son
of Svayambhu Manu, thou art the lord of the three worlds.
If thou promise to celebrate my praise as long as thou livest,
I will give the child to thee.' As a grateful return for her

B THE EAELY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.
favour he celebrated the worship of Sasthi with the utmost
pomp. From that time the worship of Sasthi became one of
the most popular institutions in the land of Bharat (India).
The proper image of Sasthi is a woman of matronly appearance,
painted yellow, riding on a cat, and nursing a child; but
usually she is represented by a rude stone, not bigger than a
man's head, painted 'with red-lead, and placed under a vata
tree in the outskirts of the vUlage ; whilst not unfrequently
she is worshipped in the form of a branch of the vata tree
stuck in the yard of a house." *
If the room sacred to Sasthi, in which the young mother
is placed, is bare and uncomfortable, the means of restoration
of her devotees are most painful too. A drink called jhal
(hot) is made of pepper, chillies, &c., and given her to drink ;
and even in the hottest months of the year a fire is lighted,
near which she is made to lie ; and until the fifth day after
"the birth of the child no attempt is made to clean this place.
'The child, too, has a warm reception ; for from head to foot it
is smeared with hot mustard oil, and for hours daily is
placed in the bright sunshine. In former times, if the
child did not thrive under this treatment, and refused to take
nourishment from its mother, it was a common practice to
hang it in a basket on a tree to die. It is said that the great
Hindu reformer, Chaitanya, was exposed in this manner, and
would most probably have died had he not been seen by a
passing pilgrim, who declared him to be an incarnation of
Vishnu, and prophesied that he would grow up to be a great
leader of men.
There is another mode of treatment coming into fashion
at the present time, though for the most part it is amongst
the worshippers of Vishnu, and as it too can claim authority
from the sacred writings, as well as the approval of common
sense, it is to be hoped it soon will be universal. It is be
lieved that this plan has the special approval of the god
Krishna, and is successful on this account. According to
* "Bengal Peasant Life," p. 44.

BIRTH AND ITS CEBEMONIES. 9
this system no hot and spicy drinks are forced upon the
mother, nor is a fire made to scorch her in her cheerless
room. She is allowed to drink cooling draughts, and but
little restriction is placed upon her diet. A day or two after
the birth of the child, Hari (Krishna) is worshipped by the
grateful mother, and sweetmeats are distributed to the
children of the neighbourhood. It is said that those who
adopt this method come through their troubles without
harm : when this is generally known by the people it will
not be at all surprising if the Krishna method altogether
supplants the Sasthi.
The earnest desire of every Hindu wife is that she may
have a son. According to the popular idea, whilst daughters
are a source of anxiety and expense to their parents, sons
form their strength and support. One of their proverbs ex
presses this idea clearly, " Blind sons support their parents,
but a prince's daughters extort money from them." Perhaps
the deepest root of this desire for sons lies in the fact that
the last religious rites of the Hindus can be most successfully
performed by their male descendants. In the Mahabharata
is a story conveying this lesson most forcibly. A Hindu had
remained unmarried for years after he had attained to man
hood. Passing into the spirit-world, he came upon a num
ber of men hanging by their heels from the branch of a tree,
with their heads overhanging a deep precipice, whilst rats
were gnawing at the ropes which bound them, in momentary
fear of being dashed to pieces. Inquiring whom they were,
he was told that they were his ancestors for several genera
tions, who were doomed thus to suffer because he had not
married, and so failed to procure a son whose proper perform
ance of their funeral ceremonies would have saved them from
this pain, and secured entrance for them into heaven.
Doubtless this, though not the only one, is the strongest
reason which leads all classes of the Hindu community so
earnestly to welcome the advent of a son into the family.
The words of Jesus are true in an extraordinary degree in

10 THE EAELY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.
India, when He said that a mother no more remembers the
anguish for joy that a man is born into the world. A childless
mother is an object of ridicule, whilst a mother of girls only
is regarded as having in some special manner given offence
to the gods; hence it is that the young wife is buoyed up
with the hope that she will soon have a son in her arms ;
and when, instead of this, a girl is born, though for a little
time she may be deceived, very soon the truth comes out ;
for on the birth of a son the conch shell gives forth its
trumpet-like notes to call upon the whole neighbourhood to
rejoice with the happy parents ; whereas when a daughter
is born the shell is silent, and, instead of congratulation,
condolences are offered. Though at first the sense of dis
appointment is very keen, maternal instincts prevail, and
the little daughter is welcomed to the mother's heart, and is
as dear to the father in the Hindu home as in homes in
other lands.
The food to be eaten by the mother whilst occupying the
lying-in room (Sutika ghar) is all arranged by laws, even to
the one grain of boiled rice that she is permitted to have on
the third day after her child's birth ; but nothing of import
ance takes place until the fifth day, when the room is pro
perly cleaned, and its occupant made a little more comfortable
than was possible before. On the following day Sasthi is
worshipped, and praises are presented to her for her goodness
in preserving and giving life. On the night of this day a far
more important event is supposed to take place, viz., the
fixing of the child's destiny, the arranging of its future life. At
this time Vidhata, a form of Brahma, is supposed to visit the
room, and write upon its forehead the main events of its life.
Before the sun goes down various things have to be placed
ready for this important visit. There must be a palm leaf,
pen and ink, a snake's skin, a brick from a temple of Siva,
fruit, wool, money : these are all placed in readiness, and as
some one must remain awake during the night, lest the deity
should feel slighted, and in anger write a long list of calami-

BIETH AND ITS CEBEMONIES. 11
ties upon the forehead of the unconscious babe, it generally
devolves upon the midwife to keep this solemn vigil. If
Vidhata is propitious, a life of prosperity will be arranged ;
if he is angry, suffering and loss will be the characteristic of
the child's experience through life. And it is the belief of the
mass of the people that at this time the whole plan of their life's
history was written in ineradicable lines. " It is written on my
forehead," is a sufficient reason for the greatest calamities
and troubles in after life. This superstitious belief largely
accounts for the stoical endurance of physical pain, disap
pointment, and loss, that is so noticeable in the Hindu.
What Vidhata (Pate) has written must come to pass ; it is
useless, therefore, to attempt to oppose the inevitable.
In his book called " Bengal Peasant Life," Mr. L. B. Dey
gives a typical account that the midwives relate of what takes
place on this eventful night. "I heard the sound of foot
steps at the door, especially on that side where the pen and
ink were. The same sound of footfall was heard all along
the passage from the door to where the baby was sleeping
by his mother. Immediately after, I heard a sound similar
to that which is made by a man when writing, but I saw no
figure. By the light of the fire, however, I saw a smile play
ing on the lips of the baby. Shortly after, I heard the sound
of retreating footsteps, and I rushed towards the door and
said, ' Thakur ! I hope you have written favourably.' The
god knew me well, as he had often seen me, and told me what
he had written on the forehead of the child, but on condition
of the strictest secrecy. I dare not disclose it to you, for if I
disclose it, Vidhata will be angry with me, and will kill me
outright by twisting my neck; but rejoice, for the child's
forehead is good."
When the child is eight days old, the Atkauri ceremony
takes place, so called because eight kinds of peas, rice, &c.,
are distributed. Children from the neighbourhood come
with winnowing fans near the room where the mother and
her child are lying, and, after knocking at the door with the

12 THE EAELY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.
fan, inquire after the child's health ; and on being told that
all is well, they reply, " Let it rest in peace in its mother's
arms." Led on by the elder folk, they indulge in a little
joking at the father's expense, after which they are regaled
with sweetmeats.
When the three weeks (or, in the case of girls, a month)
have passed by, the ceremonies for the purification of the
mother are proceeded with. Sasthi is again worshipped, her
representative being a small branch of the vata (Indian fig)
tree. Miss Leslie, in the "Dawn of Light," gives the
following account of the purification of a Hindu woman :
"Her nails were cut, her hair tied up; she was put in a
palanquin, the bedding having been taken out, and carried
to the river, a distance of six miles. The bearers waded into
the stream with their burden as far as they could go, and the
sacred waters gushed in, around, and upon her, shut up in her
dark box. She was then carried back all those six mdes in
her wet clothes, and such was the efficacy of the bath, that
from that time she was reckoned ceremonially clean. The
neighbours were feasted with sweetmeats, and puja (worship)
was offered to the goddess Sasthi." In addition to the feast
ing at the house as part of this ceremony, twenty-one small
baskets, filled with parched rice, plantains, sugar-cane, &c.,
are sent to as many married women whose husbands are
still living. And also the goddess Subhachini, who is said to
be a form of Durga, is worshipped. The reason of this wor
ship is found in the following legend. In a certain viUage
there lived a poor Brahman boy, who on one occasion, seeing
a fishwoman with some beautiful fish, cried because he could
not purchase them. Tho fishwife, seeing his grief, left some
of the fish at his house, saying she would call for the money
on her way home. In the meantime the mother cooked the
fish, but before it was eaten the woman called for her money,
and, as the mother of the boy could not pay for it, she con
sented to take it back, although it had been cooked. Though
the boy lost the fish, he tasted the water in which it had

BIRTH AND ITS CEREMONIES. 13
been cooked, and was so delighted with its flavour, that he
could not resist the temptation of stealing a lame duck be
longing to the king, and quietly eating it. The duck was
missed, investigation made, and the culprit being discovered,
was tried, condemned, and imprisoned. Upon this the boy's
mother was almost beside herself with grief. W^hen in this
distress Durga, in the form of Subhachini, appeared to her in
a dream, and advised her to worship her under this name.
She did so, and as part of her worship made seventeen ducks
of rice paste, one of which had a lame leg. The worship was
completed, the burnt-offering made, when some of the holy
water that had been brought for the sacrifice falling upon the
feathers of the stolen duck, brought it back to life; and
though its flesh had been eaten by the boy, the living bird was
sent back to the king. He, hearing this wonderful event, sent
for the mother, who told him the whole story ; whereupon,
seeing how great a favourite this family must be of the
powerful goddess, he ordered the release of the boy, and,
acting upon the advice of his ministers, gave him his daughter
in marriage. Subhachini is associated with Sasthi in this
worship, in the hope that she will take the child, on whose
behalf her worship is celebrated, under her especial care, and
rescue him from the difficulties that may beset him in his life.
When a boy is six months old, the ceremony of naming
takes place, and at the same time a festival called Anna
prasan, or rice-eating. On this occasion the child, beauti
fully dressed and decorated with jewels, is brought into the
guest-chamber, and a few grains of cooked rice are put into
his mouth. In some families it is the custom to XDurchase
this rice from the priests of some of the great temples ; when
this is not done, Brahmans are fed, and laden with presents
to purchase their goodwill. As a part of this important feast,
the father performs a sort of thanksgiving service called the
Vridhi Shrad, in which he makes offerings for the benefit of his
ancestors. It will be noticed that these gifts for the good of
their ancestors are frequently given by the Hindus, it being

14 THE EARLY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.
believed by them that it is by this means that those who have
passed away are supported.
The name-giving, however, is the important event on this
occasion. The father proclaims the selected name, though
generally it is the mother who has chosen it. " What's in a
name ? " asks Shakespeare ; but often a history of years of
disappointment and weary waiting, as well as of present
joy, is written in the name a Hindu child bears through life.
As Hannah of old, by calling her son Samuel, proclaimed
that she had spent years of sadness and deferred hope, and
then the gladness with which she welcomed her babe to her
bosom ; so by the name a Hindu mother gives to her boy, a
life's history is often suggested. One story from thousands
of similar ones will illustrate this. A Brahman and his wife
had lived together most happily for many years, but remaiued
childless. Their bliss was very greatly marred by this cir
cumstance. The husband had hinted that the time had
come for him to supersede the wife of his youth by a second,
in the hope that by this means a son might gladden his
home. Many prayers had been offered and gifts bestowed ;
but still no child was given. As a last resource, a long pil
grimage to Kalighat was made, and a vow registered that if
a son were given within a certain time, money should be
given to the shrine. In due course, as they beUeved in
answer to their prayer, and as a reward for their faith, a son
was given; and when the iiaming-day came, in the name
Kali Prasad (given by the favour of Kali), the history of the
many years of sorrowful waiting, and then of the fulfilment
of their desires, is clearly written. There are thousands of
Hindus to-day bearing the name of Siva, Prasad, Durga
Prasad, Tara Prasad, &c., because it is the -belief of the
parents that it was through the bounty of these' deities that
their sons were given to them.
As a rule the names chosen are those of some of the deities
or deified heroes whose deeds of prowess are written in the
Eamayana and Mahabharata. Sometimes the humility of

BIRTH AND ITS CEREMONIES. 15
the parents is seen as they call their children the servants of
some of the gods or goddesses, as, e.cj. , Durga Dass, Kali Dass.
A child never bears the same name as his father. Girls are
named after goddesses, as Lakshmi, Ganga, &c. ; or after
flowers, as Padma (a lotus) and Kamini. A strange practice
prevails where a number of children have been taken away
by death. Instead of calling them by the names of the
deities they are called Dukhi (pain), Tiu Kauri (three cowry
shells), Haran (the lost one), &c., the idea being that when
Yama, the god of Death, stalks along with his noose in his
hand, and asks. Who goes there ? — hearing such names as
these, he will pass them by as unworthy of his notice, and so
their lives are prolonged. In after years sometimes other
names may be added, when it is seen that these have served
the purpose of saving their children from Yama's noose.
In addition to the name chosen by the parents, and given
during infancy, another name is selected by the astrologer
who casts the horoscope of the child, which has as its initial a
letter from the particular star that ruled at the hour of its
birth. A child, e.g., born in the last division of Virgo's rule,
whose ordinary name is Gopal, appears in ceremonial docu-
'ments, say, as Thakur Dass, because Th is the last letter of
the Sanskrit word for Virgo. Whilst speaking of names it
may be stated here that though the Hindus of course bear
the family name in addition to those selected by their parents,
they are not generally known by them. Excepting in places
where European customs prevail, a man named Hari Nara-
yana Banerjea would seldom or never be called so, but Hari
Narayana Babu, the family name being usually dropped in
ordinary conversation. And when a student obtains a title
from the Sanskrit colleges, the title is taken as a surname in
place of the family name.
Perhaps the most important ceremony connected with
the birth of a Hindu child is the preparation of his horo
scope. The precise moment of birth is noted and given to
the astrologer, who, according to the fee paid, prepares a more

16 THE EARLY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.
or less elaborate forecast of the child's fate. The chief real
service that this document serves in after life, where births
are not registered by government officials, is to determine the
exact age of its owner, and in disputes that are carried into
the law courts this document is considered of equal value
with a register of birth as kept in the police registers in
England. Where evils are indicated or good foretold ia this
prophetic scroll, the Hindu seeks to obtain deliverance from
the one, and to obtain the other by liberal donations to the
gods. It seems strange at first, perhaps, that men should
trust to these guesses, but the desire to penetrate into the
darkness of the future seems to be almost universal. Most
important events sometimes hang upon what has been
written by the astrologers ; marriage arrangements that
would have been satisfactorily completed are broken off when,
on the horoscopes of the intended bride and bridegroom
being compared, it is found that they were born under
mutually hostile stars.

CHAPTEE II.
THE HINDU HOME.
Aftee describing the ceremonies attendant upon the birth of
a Hindu we naturally pass on to consider the character of
the dwelling-place in which he will live. In order to under
stand this it will be necessary to dismiss at once and entirely
from the mind all notions that cling round the word home
as the word is used in England, for there is nothing at all
answering to this in the Hindu home. I shall first speak
of the dwellings, and then of those who occupy them.
Amongst the middle and upper classes, no Hindu about to
marry would think, as we do here, of having a home of his
own. It would be quite contrary to his ideas of propriety to
leave his wife alone in a house whilst he went about his
ordinary work ; neither, if his duties called him to a distance,
would he think of taking his wife to live with him there.
When he marries he considers that his father's house is the
safest and best place for his wife to dwell in ; consequently
there is no house to be built or rented ; he simply conducts
his bride to the family house where a room is prepared for
her reception.
The typical Hindu family house is built in the form of a
quadrangle, with an open courtyard in the centre. Opposite
to the entrance gate is a platform built to receive the images
that are made for the periodic religious festivals that are
held in honour of the various deities. On the ground floor
the rooms to right and left of the courtyard are used
3

18 THE EARLY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.
largely as store-rooms, offices, &c. ; whUst over these are
the public reception rooms, well Ughted and generally
well furnished, some of them having chairs, &c., for the
convenience of European visitors. Here also is a room
in which the family idol is kept, before which the priest
performs service generally twice a day. All these apart
ments are used by the male members of the family only.
Excepting at feasts the meals are not taken here, unless
there may happen to be a number of visitors other than
members of the family who are not admitted into the more
private portion of the house. From the back of the court
yard a passage conducts into a second and smaUer yard
which is also surrounded by rooms in which the lady
members of the family live. Here the meals are eaten,
and here the sleeping apartments of the family are to be
found. The guests sleep in the rooms adjoining the outer
courtyard. These inner rooms are generally much smaller
than those in the more public part of the house ; and the
windows are also smaUer and placed high in the waUs, for
Manu distinctly declared that it was not right for a " woman
to look out of the windows." During the day the gentlemen
generaUy occupy the more public rooms, as they may be
transacting business, or amusing themselves in various ways,
whilst the women are engaged in household duties or in
their own'forms of recreation. As it is considered indecorous
for a man to speak to his wife during the day, their only
time for conversation is when they retire to their own apart
ment for the night. And as it is not considered right for a
married woman to look at or address her husband's elder
brothers, it will be clearly realized that anything like the
social home-life of an English house is impossible under
such conditions. It is more like hotel life than that of
a home. As during the day the men usually associate
with the men, and the women with the women, and even
during the meals the husband sits down to his food with
his wife attending on him as a servant, and not eating

THE HINDU HOME. 19
with him as an equal, there is, there can be nothing at all
answering to the pleasant sociality of an English dinner-
table. When further it is remembered that in some of these
immense houses over three hundred people live together it
will be still more clearly seen how vast is the difference be
tween the Hindu and the English home. Pew things in
England seem to please the Hindus who come over here
more than the sociability of an English home.
Of course the bulk of the people do not live in these palatial
dwellings. I shall now give a description of the typical home
of the ryots, the rural classes who answer to our very
smaU farmers in England, and with slight modifications this
would be a true description of the homes of the artizans — of
all, in fact, excepting the very poor, who are unable to keep
their wives in any way secluded, great though their desire is"
to do so. This account is taken from Mr. Dey's book on
" Bengal Peasant Life " (p. 28) : " You enter the house with
your face to the East, through a small door of mango wood
in the street, and you go at once to the utlian, or open yard,
which is indispensable to the house of every peasant in the
country. On the west side of the yard, on the same side as
the gate, . . . stands the bara ghar, or big hut. This is the
biggest, the neatest, and most elaborately finished of all
Badan's huts. Its walls, which are of mud, are of great
thickness ; the thatch, ^which is of the straw of paddy, is
more than a cubit deep ; the bamboo framework, on which
the thatch is laid, is well compacted together, every inter
stice being filled with the long and slender reed called sara,
alternating with another of red colour ; the middle beam,
which supports the thatch, though it is not made of the
costly teak or sal, is made of the palmyra, and the floor is
raised at least five feet from the ground. The hut is about 16
cubits long, and 12 broad, including the verandah, which faces
the yard, and which is supported by props of palmyra. It is
divided into two compartments of unequal size, the bigger one
being Badan's sleeping-room, and the smaUer one being the

20 THE EARLY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.
store-room of the family. . . . The verandah is the parlour
of the family. There friends and acquaintances sit on mats.
In Badan's sleeping-room are kept the brass vessels of the
house and other valuables. There is no bedstead in it, for
Badan sleeps on the mud floor, a mat and a quilt stuffed with
cotton interposing between his body and mother earth.
There is not much light in the room, for the thatch of the
verandah [coming down very near the ground] prevents its
admission, while there is but one small window high up in
the wall towards the street. I need scarcely add that there
is no furniture in the room : . . . there is only, in one corner,
a solitary box. In one side of the room two whole bamboos
are stuck into the waUs, on which clothes are hung, and on
which the bedding is put up in the day.
" On the south side of the yard, and at right angles to the
big hut, is a smaller hut of far inferior construction, which
... is used as a lumber-room, or rather as a tool-room, for
keeping the implements of husbandry. ... In the verandah
of this little hut is placed the dhenki, or rice-husking pedal.
From this circumstance the little hut is called the Dhenki-
salci. " In the south-east corner of the yard, and at right angles
to the Dhenkisala, is another hut of somewhat better con
struction, in which Gayarama (Badan's brother) sleeps, and
a verandah which serves the purpose of a kitchen. . . . The
only other hut on the premises is the cow-house, . . . situ
ated to the north of the yard, nearly parallel to the big hut.
. . . The eastern side of the premises opens on a tank."
As the houses differ in arrangement from our own, the
Hindu family system is even more unlike anything that pre
vails amongst us. It is a patriarchal system pure and
simple, as the head of the family rules supreme in the home,
and aU the money earned by each member of the family, with
some few exceptions, comes into his hands, and is disbursed
according to his commands. How long this style has been
in vogue it is impossible to say, but it was probably brought

THE HINDU HOME. 21
with the Aryan immigrants into India from their home in
Central Asia. It has all the force of a religious institution.
" Keligion shaped itself according to the wishes of the legis
lator, and thus what was intrinsicaUy useful became a legal
and religious institution of the land." And it is interesting
to see how in this, as in so many instances, sacred texts can
be found to support a system which, but for this, would
long ago have passed away. The text of Manu, which is
held to teach authoritatively on this subject, is the following :
" Three persons, a wife, a son, and a slave, are declared hy
law to have in general no wealth of their own ; the wealth
which they may earn is regularly acquired for the man to
whom they belong." And Narada, another authority, de
clares of a son : " He is of age and independent in case his
parents be dead ; during their lifetime he is dependent, even
though he is grown old."
The Hindu family system may be described as a sort of
Joint Stock Company, in which the head of the family is
managing director, with almost unlimited powers ; or as a
little kingdom, in which he is an almost absolute sovereign.
The sons, grandsons, nephews, who form the family, regard
all their earnings as belonging to the common treasury ; and
their expenditure is under the direct control of the karta, or
head. Thus it happens that when several members of the
family are absent from home engaged in various ways, the
balance of their salaries or profits must be remitted to the
karta. This has its advantages and its disadvantages. There
is a home in which a man can leave his wife with confidence
when he is hundreds of miles away engaged in business, or
filling some government appointment. This, to the Hindu
who would not regard it as a safe procedure to have his family
with him in an ordinary house, is a source of immense com
fort. Once a year, if his business is distant from his home,
he takes leave, that he may have a few days with his family.
There is also the certainty of support in case of sickness
or permanent incapacity for work. But it has its drawbacks

22 THE EAELY LIFE OP THE HINDUS.
too. An idle, worthless son has no necessity laid upon him
to work ; he can obtain all the necessaries of life without it ;
and many a family has one or more members who are mere
parasites, doing nothing whatever to increase the income of
the family ; and, according to our ideas of life, it is destruc
tive of the most sacred institution, the home. Often, how
ever, the idle son is not altogether without his place in
society. If he will not or cannot go out to earn money as
the other members of the family do, it is something if he re
main at home to look after the domestic and other affairs,
and to afford protection to the ladies who live there. Where
all are workers, if the head of the family is growing old,
the sons take it in turn to remain at home, perhaps for a
year at a time ; or the one who has the worst prospects of
advancement will resign his appointment at a distance and
devote all his time to the care of the family.
In a description of the members of the Hindu home, the
karta, or head, must first be considered. This will be the
father, or grandfather, of the present generations of workers.
Until recent years all the earnings of the family were under
his absolute control, and without his sanction no important
transaction of any member of the family would be considered
as settled. All sales and purchases of property would be in his
name, and it is he who arranges for the marriage of the
children. The following description of the typical orthodox
Hindu karta is given by a Hindu'gentleman, Mr. B. Mulleck,
in his account of the Hindu family (p. 18, ff.) : "In his
habiliments he is all simplicity. An ordinary cloth of five
yards in length constitutes his usual costume. When he goes
out he takes an additional piece of cloth to wrap his trunk
with. To wear heeled shoes or boots is inconsistent with his
venerable position, and he prefers loose slippers. It is his
habit to shave his head and face clean, leaving only a tuft of
hair about the centre of his head unshaved. This and a bead
necklace mark him as a Hindu, and are prized by him as
Hindu distinctions. The only perfumery he uses is mustard

THE HINDU HOME. 23
oil. . . . His education is not of a high order. He can read
and write. At all times he is a lover of learning, and such
of his children as are mindful of their studies are his especial
favourites. Devoid of a liberal education himself, he is pos
sessed of strong common sense, and his judgments generally
smack of practical wisdom. . . . The authors of the Eama
yana and Mahabharata are his great pets, and the stories
contained in those works delight his imagination.
" For literary and philosophical culture he greatly de
pends on the priest, versed in ancient lore. He accepts the
truths enunciated by him without question or cavil, and
stores them up in his mind. . . . The only science he cares
for is arithmetic, in the knowledge of which he is generally
profound. ... In bookkeeping, too, he has some experience.
" In regard to morals, the karta knows that falsehood is
a sin. Evasion and equivocation sometimes are his practices
when direct falsehood is impossible. To avert loss or injury
he may tell an untruth. His self-love verges on selfishness,
though he is just and fair in his dealings. . . . Servile
obedience is constitutional with him when he has to deal
with superiors in office. Flattery is the oil he uses to soften
their minds. He is possessed of plenty of gratitude to those
who have benefitted him ; but his hatred towards his enemies
is implacable." Of course, it is the Bengali of the old
school whose picture has here been drawn, the young men
of the present generation, when their turn comes to reign in
the Hindu homes, will manifest a very different character.
When the head of the family dies his younger brother may
take his place ; or if he has no brother, his eldest son will
rise to this dignity ; but as a rule it is not until a man
has attained to a good age that he becomes a karta. And
such is the respect shown to the person holding this position
that an elder brother will exercise as much authority over
his brothers, who may be but a year or two younger than
himself, as his father had done before him. In the present
age, where the younger members of the family wiU not

24 THE EAELY LIFE OP THE HINDUS.
submit to the authority of an elder brother, a partition of
the property is made ; but frequently before this is agreed
upon a good part of the estate has been squandered in useless
litigation. Next in authority to the karta is the grihini, or chief wife
in the family. This may be the wife, or it may be the
mother of the karta. In all matters relating to the manage
ment of the house and to the conduct of the female members
of the family, her infiuence is as great as that of the karta
in all that concerns the men. She may occasionaUy con
sult the head of the family ; but this is by no means the
invariable rule with her. And as his power is felt in the
more public concerns of the family, so hers is not without
influence in the domestic arrangements. She superintends
if she does not actually do all the cooking, and it is quite
possible for her to make the home a happy or miserable one
for the younger women. "The grihini leads a life of self-
denial. Her personal comforts are few [when, as frequently
happens, she is a widow] . She lives upon the coarsest of
meals and wears the commonest of raiment. She works
from morn till night. She fasts twice or thrice a month,
and keeps vigils for securing the blessing of the gods to
wards her children, and, to make assurance doubly sure,
commands her daughters and daughters-in-law to do the
same. . . . It is her pride to enforce purity and cleanUness
with the utmost rigour. She bathes and changes her
clothes half-a-dozen times a day. If she is cooking, she
must wear clothes that have been washed and dried in the
sun. When in the store-room she must have another suit to
wear. Should she be preparing the offerings for the house
hold god there is another change of her habiUments. . . . The
house is washed many times a day, and the cooking utensUs
undergo the pangs of constant friction." . . . And other
members of the family must foUow her lead in this respect.
Added to all this is a great number of religious festivals
which she observes, the main object of which is to obtain
the prosperity of the family.

THE HINDU HOME. 25
In cases where the husband is dead it sometimes happens
that the widow has charge to a large extent of the family
property, and all the legal affairs are conducted in her name.
Next to the karta and grihini come the sons and their
wives. It is evident, from what has gone before, that in the
home their position is a subordinate one. The sons may
earn the money by which the family is supported, and their
wives may have a fair share of the daily work of the home,
but in the management of affairs they have little power.
The only resource that is open to a son's wife when her
husband's family make things unpleasant is to complain at
night to her husband, and to go for a longer or shorter visit
to her father's house. And if all one hears of these matters
is correct, when the husband is absent from home for a year
or two at a time the position of some of these women is any
thing but enviable. The bulk of them being totally un
educated cannot even apprise their husbands of what is
troubling them at home ; but many of the present generation
having learned to write are able to get some relief in pouring
out their griefs to their husbands and in receiving their
cheering letters in reply.
In addition to these the ordinary members of the family,
in cases where a girl has married a Kulin Brahman, or
where her father is rich and her husband poor, the girls
remain in their father's house, and their husbands become
members of the family. In these cases, as a rule, they are
drones in the hive, feeding upon the generosity of their
wives' relations. These by swelling the numbers of the family
tend to destroy altogether the privacy of the home.
There is, however, one thing to be said in favour of this
family system : there is no poor law, and there are no poor-
houses in India. The idle and the weaker members of the
family find shelter and maintenance at the expense of
their more industrious and healthy relatives. Occasionally
men are to be found wandering about leading a beggar's
life ; but though the idle are not always treated kindly, it

26 THE EARLY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.
would be considered a disgrace for them to be in actual
want ; and, to avoid this scandal, food and home are given to
many who would doubtless be better were they forced to toil.
A notice of the Hindu family would be incomplete were
no notice taken of some other members.
First of all there is the family priest. Every well-
appointed house has its shrine with its image or some
representation of the family god. The father, unless he be
a Brahman, cannot officiate ; for this purpose he must either
have a priest supported from the common fund, or he must
share his services with some other family. The priest's
work is to bathe and anoint the idol, recite the ritual,
and make the offerings of fruits and flowers that the family
present. Occasionally the head and other members of the
family may be present during the performance of this wor
ship ; but as a rule the priest is there alone, and receives as
his perquisite the offerings that are given to the idol. In
some cases there may also be a piece of land assigned for
this expense which some pious ancestor has bequeathed.
The ]priest is also present at all the important events, such
as birth, marriage, and funeral ceremonies, for which he
obtains additional presents as fees for the service he renders.
Generally a room in the house is assigned for the priest's
use, for, being of a higher caste than the family in whose
house he lives, of course he does not take his food with them.
Next to the priest, though not second in importance, may
be mentioned the guru, or religious guide. Every Hindu
must have his guru, as it is by him that he is initiated into
the privileges of the Hindu religion. The power of these
men over their disciples is almost unparalleled in history. It
is even taught in the Hindu scriptures that it is better for a
man to offend the gods than his guru, because if he offend
the gods his guru can intercede with the gods on his behalf
and win their favour ; but if a man offend the guru, there
is none can appease his wrath ; the curse of a guru wiU
condemn a man to untold miseries iu hell. It should be

THE HINDU HOME. 27
noticed that neither the guru nor the astrologer live in the
famUy houses of those to whom they minister.
Then comes the astrologer, whose work it is to determine
the proper time for the initiation and completion of any
important work of the family. If the season be inopportune,
no skill, no care in its execution, can ensure success. It is
he who fixes the hour for weddings, religious festivals, starting
on a journey, commencing a new business, &c. ; and without
his advice nothing is attempted.
We have now considered the chief persons in the Hindu
home, and shall pass on to consider the ceremony of initi
ation into the Hindu community.

CHAPTEE III.
THE GURU, AND INITIATION INTO HINDUISM.
When a Hindu boy is about eight years of age, in some
castes not until he is about twelve, the important ceremony
of initiation takes place. It is a strange coincidence that as
in the Christian Church there is the Sacrament of Confirma
tion, by which the person is formally received into the
Christian fold, so in Hinduism there is a rite administered
by which the child is supposed to enter the sacred pale. This
rite is performed by the guru, a man altogether distinct from,
and having no connection at all with, the pries.t. In some
sects — and the Hindu community at the present time is just
a conglomeration of sects — the guru need not be a Brahman,
but the office may be assumed by any who desire it. At this
ceremony, in the case of the Brahman, Kihshetriya, and
Vaisya castes, who are regarded as twice born, the sacred
poitra, or thread, is put on for the first time. This is a
simple necklace made of a few strains of thread, which is the
mark of the spiritual aristocracy of India ; and in most cases
an earl is not more proud of his coronet than is the Hindu
of this thread which marks him as a special favourite of
the gods.
On an appointed day the guru of the famUy caUs, and the
youth who is to receive the Seed text (Vij mantra) must fast,
bathe, and appear in the most spotless of garments. The
youth is then left alone with the guru, who selects for him
some special deity, whom he is to regard as his chief object

the guru, and INITIATION INTO HINDUISM. 29
of worship amongst the many thousands that form the Hindu
Pantheon. The teacher then teaches the child a text ; it may
be simply the name of the selected deity, or some few Sanskrit
words that have a similar sound, which must be kept a
profound secret in after life, and which it is the duty of the
disciple to repeat mentally or in whispers an hundred and
eight times every day. The members of many of the Hindu
sects carry a rosary, which they use to count the times they
repeat this mantra; and as a sign of their humihty some
carry this in a bag, that it may not be seen by others ; but,
Pharisee-like, they do not object to this bag being seen, nor
do they hide the movement of their fingers in counting their
beads as they stand in the market and other conspicuous
places muttering this charm. So strong is the superstition
regarding the necessity for secrecy in connection with the
guru's mantra that I have known some Christian converts
shrink from making public the phrase taught to them when
they were initiated, lest the anger of the gods should somehow
vent itself upon them. From those that I have heard it it
is clear that as a rule they are meaningless words strung
together with a rhyming sound.
The person receiving the mantra is regarded ever after as
the disciple of the teacher who gives it. This relationship
continues through life, the son of a guru often taking up his
father's disciples when he dies. In many cases this is a most
lucrative post, as, influenced by superstitious fears, the Hindus
give largely to these men who are believed to wield almost
divine powers. The guru visits his disciples about once a
year, and if he be a really earnest man, as some undoubtedly
are, he avails himself of this opportunity to teach them some
portions of Hindu mythology, or other lessons in religion. I
have often seen the guru with two or three disciples sitting
at his feet listening most earnestly as he read a few lines
from some of their sacred books, and then expounded them
for their benefit. As a rule, however, they are ignorant and
selfish men, their chief object in visiting their disciples being

so THE EAELY LIFE OF THE HINDUS.
to obtain the customary fee. The following account of the
guru from the pen of a Hindu gentleman " will show the
general opinion of these men by the more enlightened of the
community : —
" Akin to the priest is the guru. The guru is the medium
of salvation, and therefore his position is higher than that of
the priest. Woe to the Hindu whose body and soul have not
been purified by the spiritual counsels of . the guru 1 He
lives and dies a veritable beast on earth, with no hope of
immortal bliss. However charitable may be his gifts, how
ever spotless his character, be his faith in the gods ever so
strong, his salvation is impossible without the guru.f Both
the guru and the priest vie with each other in ignorance and
conceit. Both are covetous, unprincipled, and up to every
vice ; but the guru is much more revered than his adversary,
owing to the former being a less frequent visitor, and the specu
lative and mysterious nature of his avocations. The guru's
sway over the family is complete. His visits are generally
annual, unless he be in a fix [for money] on account of an
impending matrimonial or funeral ceremony in his house,
when he certainly comes to you for his ghostly fee." There
are many who simply pass their time in the disciples' houses,
going from one to another and remaining as long as they
wish, imposing on the hospitality and trading on the super
stitious fears of their hosts.
"At one time these visits were regarded as auspicious
events. Paterfamilias would consider the morn to have
auspiciously dawned which brought with it the radiant face
ofhisguru. . . . Dame Naturehas selected himfor his precious
physiological and anatomical gifts. Picture to yourself a fat,
short man having what the doctors call " an apoplectic make,"
of pretty fair complexion, round face, short nose, long ears, and
eyes protruding from their sockets. Picture that face as sleek
* " The Hindu Family in Bengal," p. 156.
t In the chapters on the Hindu sects it will be seen that in many of
them respect for the guru forms a most prominent feature of the religious
life.

THE GURU, AND INITIATION INTO HINDUISM. 31
and soft, shorn of hairy vegetation, and the crown of the head
perpetually kept in artificial baldness save a long tuft of hair
in the centre. . . . His countenance does not show the least
sign of worldly care ; plenty and ease have always been his
environment. . . . He comes with half-a-dozen famished beg
gars, each of whom has an important part to play in his lord's
drama. One prepares his food, another his hemp smoking
and opium pills, a thirdlooks after his treasure, a fourth shaves
him and anoints his body, whilst the sixth helps him in his
amatory transactions. These are not paid servants, but mere
hirelings, who follow him through fire and through water for
anything ' that hath a stomach in it.'
" At the sight of the guru and his crew the whole house is
thrown into commotion, and even the inmates of the Zenana
for the nonce lose their equanimity. ' The lord has come '
is the alarm given by the karta, and it is echoed and re
echoed in the whole household. Preparations for his enter
tainment on an extensive scale are immediately ordered ; all
the while the wily guru laughs in his sleeve with the thought
that so long as there are cunning men in the world there
must be fools. The karta is seen to reach the doorpost of his
house and fall prostrate before the guru, who compliments
him by coolly putting his foot on the devotee's head as if it
was a stepping-stone to the attainment of higher honours in
store for him. It is habitual with the guru to enter the
house with a sorry face and cold demeanour. There is a vein
of pohcy in it — viz., to terrify the karta, and extort from him
a higher fee. This attempt sometimes causes unpleasant
ness. We have seen gurus insulting -their spiritual disciples,
cursing and swearing, and exhibiting conduct as would, under
any other circumstances, justify his immediate expulsion from
the house.
" On entering the house the guru is escorted to a sitting-
chamber, furnished with new carpets (for it is sacrilegious to
make him sit on used ones), and is requested to be seated.
He will not sit at first till the fascination of large promises

32 THE EARLY LIFE OP THE HINDUS.
becomes irresistible, and he yields. Large demands are
sometimes made, which are generally acceded to by the
terrified disciples. After this the members of the family are
inquired after, and are dismissed with the touch of the holy
man's foot. After his bath the guru is regaled with the
choicest food, and the whole family and their neighbours
esteem it a great privilege to partake of what he may
leave." Some of these men are very rich, and make a great show
of wealth as they travel in state from viUage to viUage. It is
rather a surprising thing that, notwithstanding this great
display of wealth and comfort, they should continue to retain
their hold of the Hindu mind ; for, as a rule, it is asceticism
in their religious teachers rather than enjoyment, that seems
to have the greatest influence over them. The sacred writings
abound with stories of the way in which men, by hard and
long- continued penance, have prevailed over the gods even ;
it is seldom that the self-indulgent are described as wielding
superhuman power.
It is in the Tantras, probably the latest of aU the religious
writings of the Hindus, that the powers of the guru are set
forth with the greatest extravagance. According to these
books, as the following quotation shows, his power is almost
infinite : — " Of this word (guru), the g is the cause of friction,
the r destroys sin, the « is Siva himself, the whole word is the
Eternal Brahma excellent and inexplicable. He whose lips
pronounce the sound guru, with what sin is he charge
able. The articulation of g annihilates the sin even of
kdling a Brahman ; the sins of the present birth are removed
by pronouncing u, of ten thousand births by the pronuncia
tion of ru. Parasurama murdered his mother, and Indra
destroyed a Brahman, yet they both obtained absolution by
pronouncing the word guru." Though this is the teaching
of the form of religion which, it is said, Siva sent his son
Ganesa from heaven purposely to teach, the gurus may be
and are guilty of the grossest immorality without any very

THE GUEU, AND INITIATION INTO HINDUISM. 33
great loss of respect amongst the more ignorant classes of the
community. Having spoken of the initiation of a Hindu into the system,
it naturally foUows that we speak of the religious sects into
one of which he must be initiated. Strictly speaking, there is
now no grand division of what may be called orthodox and
heterodox systems ; but the whole community of the Hindus
is divided into a great number of sects, all to a greater or less
degree differing in faith and practice from each other, and
also from the Hinduism of their forefathers before it had been
modified by the teaching of Buddha and his disciples.

HINDU SECTS.

CHAPTEE I.
GENERAL CHANGES OF HINDUISM.
Befoee passing on to notice minutely the peculiarities of
the many sects into which the Hindus are divided, it wiU
not be out of place to give a very brief sketch of the phases
through which Hinduism has passed.
When the Indian branch of the great Aryan family mi
grated to India, the people brought with them the general
religious ideas and mythology common to the whole. The
deities of the Vedic age differ little from those of the older
forms of the Greek and Latin ; whilst the forms of worship
were almost identical. After settling down iii India the
Eishis or Sages developed the ideas they brought with them ;
and the form of this development was largely determined by
the character of the country into which they had come, and
the manifestations of the natural world by which they were
surrounded. The beliefs and practices of the original inhabi
tants of the country also very largely tended to modify the
forms Hinduism assumed after the Hindus had resided for a
lengthened period in India. As this religious system, with its
elaborate ritual, developed, as the restrictions it imposed upon
its adherents increased in severity, as the distinctions of
caste became more marked, and the privileges claimed by
the higher rendered the position of the despised classes more
intolerable, the people became prepared to listen to the teach
ing of Buddha, who rose as a great Eeformer, teaching the
equality and brotherhood of man, and pointing out how the

38 HINDU SECTS.
highest good was attainable by aU. For a long time this
work of preparation must have been going on ; the dissatis
faction with the Hinduism of the day must have been very
general, otherwise Buddha's immense success would not have
been possible. The great teacher commenced his work as
a Eeformer about b.c. 600 ; by b.c. 300 his system had
become almost universal in North India.
Gautama at first did not manifest antagonism to Hinduism ;
he was trained in its tenets and followed its teaching, and the
larger part of his doctrine is to be found in the beliefs of the
ascetics with whom he associated. What he did was to select,
modify, and emphasize certain parts that appeared to him of
supreme importance. He found Hinduism existing, and his
system was in itself a modified form of it.
Before his death Gautama had gained an immense number
of disciples, for from the first his was a proselytizing religion,
and on his death a councd was held for the purpose of
appointing a leader. A century later, a second councU met,
and almost a century later, a third council. These councils
had a two-fold purpose : the revision of the creed, and the
selection of methods by which the teaching of the system could
be spread. Missionaries were sent far and wide, and this
rehgion became " established " in several Hindu States. As a
result of this there is no doubt that from, s&j, the 2nd century
B.C., to, say, the 4th or Sth a.d.. Buddhism was very largely
embraced by the people as well as the accepted religion of
the rulers.
What was there in Buddhism that will at aU account
for its rapid spread throughout India? It exalted kings.
Previously kings had existed, but they were controlled by the
Brahmans. Buddha's teaching undermined the power of
the Brahmans. It repudiated caste. GraduaUy the chains
of this slavery were forged and rivetted on the Hindu mind ;
and when Buddha proclaimed that all were alike free, his
words were sweet to the low caste and down-trodden races.
It taught each man to use his various powers ; that he was an

GENEEAL CHANGES OP HINDUISM. 39
integral part of the great system of the universe, and not a
mere machine.
Great was its popularity we know ; but how its doctrines
gradually spread; how the Hindus, who were partial to the
old system of things, gradually came to see in Buddhism an
enemy and not a friend ; how the two at length came to
an open rupture ; how they carried on mutual warfare, a
struggle to the death — these most important and deeply
interesting questions at present must be left without any
intelligible answer, for the conquering Hinduism has left but
few ruins to mark the places where once its powerful and
most popular rival had gathered its devotees. The first
record of persecution is about a.d. 196. " King Sadraca
destroyed the workers of iniquity." This, however, could be
but a partial persecution, as in the fifth century Buddhism
was stiU supreme in many places. Kumarila Bhatta is said
to have been the chief leader of the persecution, for it was at
his instigation that the decree went forth, "Let those who
slay not be slain, the old men amongst the Buddhists,
and the babe from the Bridge of Eama to the Snowy Moun
tains." And Kumarila worked for the accomplishment of his
great purpose of conquest, not merely by the use of the civil
power, but by presenting Hinduism in a far more attractive
character than it had previously assumed. He appealed to
the Vedas as the divine authority, and employed all his skiU
and learning to controvert the tenets of Buddhism. At the
end of the fifth century the hierarchs of Buddhism found an
asylum in China ; and numbers of the people migrated east
ward to lands where the doctrines, now persecuted in India,
had found a home ; or to countries where as yet its doctrines
had not been promulgated. As late as the twelfth century, it
is known that a few Buddhists remained in certain parts of
the country, but now none are to be seen. A more complete
change of religion in a country the world has seldom seen.'"
* For a fuller account of Buddhism and its history, see Dr. Ehys
Davids' book published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowedge.

40 HINDU SECTS.
But though Buddhism became the fashionable religion of
India, there must have been a large number stiU adhering to
the older forms, who, though suppressed for a time, had been
gradually recovering their strength. After struggles, extend
ing probably over centuries, Saivaism (the worship of Siva)
became common, and it again in its turn had largely to give
way to Vaishnavism. Saivaism was started in Benares by
Paramatma Kalanola ; Vaishnavism at Kanchi by Lakshman
Aoharjya. In the eighth century a great impulse was given to
Saivaism by Sankaracharjya, a great Vedantist. Though him
self a Deist, he encouraged idolatry in the case of the ignorant.
It is recorded that one of his last sayings was this : "0 Lord,
pardon my three sins ; I have in contemplation clothed Thee
who art shapeless with a shape ; I have in praise described
Thee who art indescribable ; and by visiting the Tirthas
(shrines) I have ignored Thine omnipresence."
Prom this brief sketch it will be noticed that the religion of
the Hindus has assumed three distinct forms : the Vedic, the
Buddhistic, and the present Brahmanic ; the transitions
from one to another probably being centuries in duration .

CHAPTEE II.
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE HINDU SECTS.*
To a cursory observer Hinduism appears to be a compact
system, and the people themselves are under the impression
that their present forms of religious worship have existed
from time immemorial. They know of little change, because
their learned pundits have not exceUed in writing history.
And as there is no so-caUed orthodox chm-cli persecuting those
who may differ from them, and at the present time no mutual
jealousies and rival factions fighting against each other, but
a general indifference regarding the beliefs of other than
those of their own sects, any one living amongst them may
imagine that this has been the usual state of affairs in religious
matters. But a closer examination shows that there is as
great (if not even greater) diversity of opinion and practice
amongst the peoples of India as amongst those of Christendom :
the persecuting spirit, however, being absent because of the
general want of ¦ earnestness in matters rehgious. They
cannot proselytize to any large extent because the great
blessings to be enjoyed through the Hindu religion can, ac
cording to a fundamental belief common to all classes, only
be obtained by those who are born in Hindu families. Where
some of the aboriginal tribes have of late years been absorbed
into the Hindu community, they form only the very lowest
caste, and have as their chief hope the possibility of rising
in future births into the higher and more favoured ones. And
* For the materials of this chapter I am largely indebted to the book
on Hindu sects by Dr. H. H. Wilson.

42 HINDU SECTS.
so latitudinarian are the leaders of Hindu society in this
wicked age, the Kali Yuga, that they believe they are only
fulfilling the prophecies of degeneration that have been
made centuries gone by, when they teach that it does not
matter what a man believes so long as he observes the rules
of the particular caste to which he may belong.
So far does the liberality of the Hindu go, that whilst firmly
believing in the divine origin of his own religion, he will freely
admit that Mahometanism may be also given by God for those
who embrace that system, and that Christianity may be given
by the same Being for those who worship Him according to
its teaching. And further, that it is the duty of those who
have received these differing forms to continue in the system
in which they were born. In the bazaars in Calcutta are to
be found pictures which clearly illustrate this phase of
Hindu contemporary thought. There is a figure of a man
with eight arms, each of a different colour, as the represen
tatives of the gods of the universe. These arms indicate
Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Eama, Kali and Durga, the most
popular of the Hindu deities ; the remaining two, each hold
ing a book in hand, are to represent Mahomet with the
Koran, and Jesus with the Bible. The Hindu knows that
ouly birth can admit a man into the privileged classes of
Hindu society, and therefore believes that it would be worse
than casting pearls before swine to preach to and attempt to
proselytize other nations ; he does not seek to interfere with
men of other religions, nor to molest those who as Hindus
may differ in creed from himself He lets other people alone
to walk on in their own way, whilst he asks in like manner
that they would not attempt to disturb him in his rehgious
beliefs. Quite as earnestly as the Christian child snags, " I
thank the goodness and the grace that on my birth have
smUed " in making me a Christian, the Hindu thanks the
gods that he is a Hindu ; and the best wish he can express on
behalf of those not so highly privUeged is that in some future
birth they may appear on the earth as Hindus.

GENEEAL EEMAEKS ON THE HINDU SECTS. 43
There are gods many and lords many recognized by the
Hindus, and though each has his own chosen deity, one whose
name is on his lips many times every day, one to whom the
larger part of his offerings are made, he recognizes the god
head of all the rest, and when the proper day for their worship
comes will generally take a more or less enthusiastic part with
their most earnest devotees. I say generally, for there are
some practices common to the worship of Siva and the various
forms of his consort Kali which the devout worshippers of
Vishnu regard with abhorrence. There can be no doubt
whatever in the minds of those who read the Puranas, which
are largely occupied with the praise of one particular deity,
and to anathematizing those who neglect him, that however
free from sectarian bigotry the present generation of Hindus
may be, this was not always the temper they cherished.
There was as bitter animosity, as burning jealousy, and as
fierce conflicts between the worshippers of the rival deities as
the world has seen. But with the general deterioration of
the people, religious earnestness has given place to indiffer
ence, and the Hindu of to-day will calmly look on, though he
may not actually join in religious rites that he believes his
own particular object of worship regards with detestation.
Nay, many of the priests who officiate at the worship of the
goddess Durga, which worship is celebrated by the offering of
sacrifices of buffaloes and goats, are in private the worshippers
of Vishnu, one great characteristic of whose worship is the
sacredness of life. An old Brahman pundit and priest, with
whom I frequently conversed on these subjects, told me that
in his own daily worship he first made an offering to his own
chosen deity, Narayana (Vishnu), and when this was done, he
threw a handful of rice broadcast for the other deities to
scramble for it, and it was his hope that by thus recognizing
the existence and authority of these, though there were no
clear notion in his mind respecting any one of them, that he
would keep them in good humour towards himself. He
further assured me that the general idea of the Hindu was

44 HINDU SECTS.
this : we must worship our own chosen deity with earnest
ness and devotion ; but in order not to be disrespectful to the
others, and bring upon ourselves their resentment, we must
give a general acknowledgment of their existence and au
thority. Stories are to be found in the Puranas clearly teach
ing that the most earnest devotee of one deity is not at all
safe from evils that others may bring upon him — hence arises
this practice of a general acknowledgment of the other beings
who claim the worship of the people.
In the following sketch of the many sects into which the
Hindu community is divided, we shall see that human nature
is the same in India as elsewhere ; that pride and jealousy
have played their parts in causing rival sects to war against
each other ; and also that some heretical sectarians have
sprung up whose teaching has been distinctly opposed to that
which is found in the older religious writings. Some have
taught that the Vedas themselves were obsolete, and have
tried to lessen the authority of the Brahmans. In the case of
Buddha this effort was most successful for centuries ; and
there is no doubt that it is largely owing to the teaching of
that great reformer and his followers that the worship of
Vishnu in some of his many incarnations, which is, in some
respects, entirely opposed to that of Siva and his wife, is so
very general at the present time. Buddhism was almost
entirely obliterated, and its followers exUed ; but it stiU lives,
with some modffications, under the various forms of Vaishna
vism. One marked distinction of the popular Hinduism of the
present day is the substitution of deities that were entirely
unknown in the Vedic age for those then commonly wor
shipped. The gods of the old Pantheon are almost entirely
forgotten, whilst others to whose praise the Puranas are de
voted have quite taken their place in the popular faith.
Attempts with very partial success have been made, it is true,
to connect these present-day gods with the gods of the olden
time, but it is not difficult to see that this is a mere trick of

GENEEAL EEMAEKS ON THE HINDU SECTS. 45
the writers of the Puranas to catch the faith of the people who
would not willingly have departed from the faiths of their
fathers. So great has been the change in the objects of wor
ship, that the older deities are scarcely known to the common
people, the names even of some being quite forgotten. As a
result of the growth of sectarianism, the exclusive laudation
of particular deities in the Puranas, and the conflicts to which
this rivalry gave rise, " the worship of Brahma has (almost
entirely) disappeared, as that of the whole Pantheon, except
Vishnu, Siva, and Sakti, or their modifications : with respect
to the two former, in fact, the representatives have borne
away the palm from the prototypes, and Krishna, Eama, or
the Linga, are almost the only forms under which Vishnu
and Siva are now adored in most parts of India." As an
illustration of the way in whish the Puranas are devoted to
the special lauding of one deity to the disparagement of the
others, Siva, a god who in some of the other Puranas is made
the supreme, is in the Padma Purana represented as saying that
" those who adore other gods than Vishnu, or who hold that
others are his equals, and all Brahmans who are not Vaish-
navas (worshippers of Vishnu) are not to be looked at, touched,
or spoken to." Siva, in acknowledging that the distinguish
ing marks of his votaries — the skull, tiger's skin, and ashes,
are reprobated by the Vedas — states that he was directed by
Vishnu to inculcate their adoption purposely to lead those who
adopted them into error. Namuchi and other demons had
become so powerful by the purity of their devotions that Indra
and the other gods were unable to oppose them. The gods
in their distress had recourse to Vishnu, who instructed Siva
to introduce the Saiva tenets and practices, by which the
demons were beguiled, and thereby rendered wicked and
weak. Again the Bhagavata says, " Those who worship Siva
(Bhava) and those who follow their doctrines are heretics and
enemies of the sacred Sastras ; " whilst the Padma Purana
declares "from even looking at Vishnu the wrath of Siva is

46 HINDU SECTS.
kindled, and from his wrath we fall assuredly into a horrible
hell: let not, therefore, the name of Vishnu even be pro
nounced.'' As a further illustration of the sectarian character of the
Puranas, in the Padma Purana the eighteen books are
classified as follows : six of them which have a general bias
in favour of Siva, and inculcate his peculiar worship, are said
to be imbued with the spirit of Tamasa, or darkness, and the
study of them condemns a man to hell ; six are imbued with
Sativika, or truth, and are devoted to the praise of Vishnu :
the study of these is said to procure Mukti — i.e., final deliver
ance from the evils of life and absorption into the Deity ; and
six are said to be imbued with Eajasa, or passion : these are
devoted to the praise of Sakti, or the female principle in nature,
and their study will ensure entrance into Swarga, or heaven ;
a less goodly boon than " mukti," because its bliss is but tem
porary ; for when a person has enjoyed all the bliss his good
deeds have procured for him there, he has to be re-born into
the world and again suffer all the ills of life on earth. I
shall never forget the lesson I learned from some Brahmans
on this subject. After preaching in a village the priests of a
neighbouring temple invited me to their home, and in a
confidential manner asked me to tell them in a few words the
essence of the religion I was trying to set up in India. After
speaking of Jesus and His work, and assuring them that His
disciples were by Him made pure and then admitted into
(Swarga) heaven — after a little consideration they said if
that was all I had to offer, Christianity had no attraction
for them ; they wished for mukti, absorption into Deity, not
merely entrance into heaven, the blessedness of which they
believed to be terminable.
It should be noticed here that the more inteUigent and
thoughtful of the Hindus would generaUy repudiate the idea
of being connected with any sect. If asked to describe
themselves they would say they are Hindus and Vedantists.
And there can be hardly any doubt that they come nearer

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE HINDU SECTS. 47
in belief and worship to their old Aryan forefathers. We
may therefore take them as perhaps the most orthodox
section, and the others as more or less heterodox. The
number of these is very small ; and whilst it is true that
they repudiate many of the grosser forms of Hinduism that
prevail amongst their more ignorant neighbours, they do not
attempt to instruct or raise them to their own higher level.
They say that though the more popular forms of Hinduism
are not good for themselves, they are suited to the condition
of the ignorant masses. And further, though an outsider
might be disposed to regard the Vedantist as more in
harmony with the older form of the Hindu faith, the people
would not for a moment be disposed to acknowledge their
superiority in this respect. And certainly authority in the
older or more modern Scriptures is to be found for all, even
the grossest forms of Hinduism that now prevaU.

CHAPTEE III.
VEDANTISM, OR THE RELIGION OF THE MORE
INTELLIGENT OF THE COMMUNITY.
To speak correctly, this is rather a system of phUosophy
than of religion ; and whUst there are some Vedantists in
philosophy who are really and truly polytheists and idolaters,
still in the case of many it is their form of religion, and,
as said above, may be taken as perhaps the form nearest
to orthodox Hinduism from which the teaching of the sects
has more or less departed.
W^hat polytheism and the popular forms of Hinduism in
their grosser forms are to the mass of the Hindus, Ve-
dantism is to the educated and more intelligent and thought
ful. This system is generally ascribed to Vyasa, the great
compiler of the Hindu scriptures, but was probably put into
form about 500 b.c. The Mahabharata gives an account of
the way in which it was taught by Krishna to his friend
Arjuna. Its main doctrines are as follows : —
1. The nature and attributes of the Divine Being. The
Vedanta teaches the unity of God. It speaks of Him as
light, and declares that He is eternal, self-existent, immutable,
perfect, incomprehensible, omniscient, almighty, formless,
supremely happy, and the sustainer of aU things. It is most
curious to notice how the Hindus can hold these ideas
respecting God, and yet at the same time entertain such
directly opposite views respecting the various incarnations.
Often have I heard men who were worshipping some of the

VEDANTISM. 49
gross representations of Deity declare Him to be formless,
perfect, and pure. This string of the attributes of God is often
on the lips of the Hindus, even the very ignorant, though
their practice shows conclusively that they cannot realize
their true meaning. Vedantism never speaks of God as
possessing power except when united to matter. It teache^'
that He is " within and without everything." The words of
Vyasa are, " The Supreme Being is the material asi
well as the efficient cause of the universe ; " and further,
" an effect is not other than its cause." In showing that
the supreme Brahma is at once cause and effect, he uses the
following amongst other iUustrations: "Hair and nails
which are insensible grow from a sensible animal body."
" The sea and its waters are one, yet waves, foam, froth,
&c., differ from each other.'" "As milk changes to curd,
and water to ice, so is Brahma variously transformed and
diversified." 2. Creation. As the Divine Being is essentially connected
with matter, everything visible and invisible in the universe
is but an emanation from the Supreme. Brahma is the first
cause. He educes from himself the materials of creation, as
the spider draws out the web from its own body. At first
the work is carried on with only partial success by himself ;
afterwards he works through the Prajapatis, or progenitors.
3. Man. Man is said to consist of three parts : spirit,
which is an essential part of the Supreme Being ; and two
bodies, a grosser and a more sublimated or refined one.
When the grosser body dies, the spirit stiU continues to
inhabit the finer one, and by it the consciousness of its
identity is preserved, and the person recognized after death.
When the spirit is re-absorbed into Brahma, or re-born
into the world, this finer body is supposed to vanish.
It should be noticed here that the idea of recognition
after death is not at all commonly received by the Hindus
generally. Their books teach, and the people generaUy
believe, that as they bring no reminiscences of past lives into
5

50 HINDU SECTS.
their present life, so they carry with them no memory of the
present into any future life.
4. The Universe. The universe has three main divisions:
—earth, heaven, and hades. Eegarding the earth as the
centre, the seven parts of heaven are above, the seven of hades
below. Of the seven above the earth , six are to continue for
longer or shorter though definite periods, but the highest of all,
' called Satya Lok (the abode of truth), is eternal, in which there
' are four kinds of blessedness : Salokya, dwelhng with God ;
Sarupya, likeness to God ; Sajugya, union with God ; and
Nirvana, absorption into God. Of the parts under the
earth, the lowest of all is called Patal, or hell, and is divided
by some into twenty-one, by others into twenty-eight parts,
the names of which correspond with the peculiar punishment
inflicted there, or with the vices that there find their peculiar
punishment. In this, as in other systems of Hinduism, a great deal is
made of Maya, or illusion. It is owing to this illusion that
men imagine themselves to be free agents, able to think and
speak and act as they desire ; whereas they are impelled by
the divine forces to act as their Maker desires. All men are
more or less under the influence of this Maya, and fancy
themselves to be free ; whilst in reality they are but parts of
God, and are impelled by His subtle power to act in harmony
with His will. All enjoyment and suffering is simply the
result of illusion. And as a natural consequence it is taught
that the universe will continue only for a limited time, after
which it will be re-absorbed into the great Brahma from
whom it emanated.
Salvation is gained through a recognition of the relation
existing between the soul and God ; when its identity with
God is realized, absorption into the Deity wiU follow. Hence
it is no uncommon thing to see Hindus continuing, through
weeks and months, meditating on nothing ; making the mind
a complete blank under the impression that they are qualify
ing for the highest blessedness man can attain unto. Works

VEDANTISM. 51
of merit are inculcated because a certain amount of hap
piness in heaven is attached to their performance ; whilst
evil deeds will send a man to hell to suffer the penalties an
almighty fiat has attached to them. But in both cases there
wdl be the endurance of other lives on earth until the highest
excellence is attained — viz., realization of oneness with the
Supreme. There is no mo7-al law given in this system. Some acts are
said to be good, others mixed, and others, again, evil ; but
these are not moral distinctions. Its followers are exhorted
to be truthful, continent, careful of all forms of life, and for
bidden to steal ; but inasmuch as the Vedantists of the present
day acknowledge deities worshipped as the incarnations of
God, though they may not take an active part in the ordinary
worship, it is evident that their moral nature cannot be well
trained, for nearly all of these popular deities were guilty of
the very acts that are forbidden by their system.
Having glanced at the tenets of what may, to a certain
extent, be regarded as the ordinary creed of the orthodox
Hindu, before passing on to notice the peculiarities of some
of the more commonly known sects, to one or other of
which the great mass of the Hindus belong, I shall give
a very brief account of the sects that were in existence
before the fourteenth century. It is a most interesting fact
that there have come down to us two works, written about
that time, with the express object of refuting the errors
of these sects, from which we learn their peculiar tenets. It
is interesting to notice how similar the history of religious
faiths in India has been to that of other lands. The sects
that in the fourteenth century were regarded as heterodox,
with the exception of those concerned mainly in the worship
of the female energies, are now regarded by the Hindus
generally as orthodox.

CHAPTEE IV.
THE SECTS EXISTING ABOUT THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY A.D.
These may be divided into three classes : —
1. Vaishnava sects; i.e., sects by whom Vishnu was re
garded as the Supreme.
The Bhakta worshipped Vishnu in the form of Vasudeva,
i.e., the son of Vasudeva, but there were no peculiar sectarial
marks, nor was there anything peculiar in their worship. A
few years later the term Bhakta became common to denote
those who, like the Pharisees, professed to be more earnest in
religion than their neighbours.
The Bhagavatas worshipped their deity under the name of
Bhagavan (the mighty one), and wore the usual distinguish
ing marks of his followers — viz., the discus, club, &c. They
also reverenced the Salgrama, an Ammonite from the rivers
in Nepal, a common representative of Vishnu, and the Tulsi
plant, into which his favourite mistress was transformed.
The name remains, but it is doubtful if any members of the
sect are now to be found.
The Vaislmavas worshipped Vishnu as Narayana (he who
moved upon the waters), and, wearing the common sectarial
marks, looked for a very sensual kind of bliss in the heaven
of their chief deity.
The Chakrinas were the Saktis of the Vaishnava sects,
worshipping almost exclusively the female personifications of
the energy of Vishnu, and their descendants are to be found
in the, worshippers of Krishna and Eama, or of Sakti or Devi.

SECTS EXISTING ABOUT THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 53
The Karmahinas, as their name implies, abstained from all
ritual observances and professed to know Vishnu as the sole
source and sum of the universe. These can hardly be said
to exist as a sect at the present time, though their peculiar
tenets are accepted by many in other sects.
It is worthy of notice that at the time these polemical
works were written no allusion is made to the separate wor
ship of Krishna, or of the infantine forms under which he
is so popular in the North-West Provinces of India ; nor are
the names of Eama and Sita, of Lakshman or Hanuman,
once particularized as enjoying any portion of distinct and
specific adoration.
2. The Saiva sects; i.e., sects amongst whom Siva was wor
shipped as the Supreme Being. These were six in number,
but as they do not appear to have had anything peculiar,
excepting sectarial marks, they do not call for special
mention. 3. The SaUas ; i.e., sects whose chief object of worship
were the Saktis, or female personifications of the Divine-
power. These sects were probably as numerous as they are
at present, and appear to have worshipped some of the same
objects as Bhavani, Lakshmi, and Sarasvati ; but Sita,
Eadha, either alone or in conjunction with Eama and
Krishna, never appear. These were divided then, as now,
into a right hand, or purer, and a left hand, or impurer order.
Probably the more hcentious rites with which these deities
were worshipped have been modified ; at any rate, they are
not openly indulged in at the present time. But Bhairava
(Siva) is stiU worshipped by the Saktas and Jogis, though
the naked mendicant, smeared with funeral ashes, armed
with a trident and sword, carrying a skuU in his hand, and
half-intoxicated with the spirits he has quaffed from that
disgusting wine-cup, is not so frequently met with as he was
in past times. This class of men was called Kapalikas
(skuUmen) at the time of the writers of these works.
Speaking generally of the objects of worship then popular,

54 HINDU SECTS.
it will be seen that whUst most of the deities now wor
shipped were also worshipped then, other deities that are
only addressed in common with some of the great gods
were then exclusively adored by a larger or smaller number
of devotees. Amongst these may be mentioned Brahma,
who, though not publicly worshipped, save in one or two
temples in India, had then some followers who were exclu
sively devoted to him. In like manner, Surjya (the sun)
was far more commonly worshipped as a separate and special
deity than he is at present ; the rising sun representing
Brahma, the sun in mid-heaven being regarded as Siva,
whilst the setting sun was the prototype of Vishnu. Others,
again, worshipped the sun, not as visible in the heavens, but
through a mental image, and they had marks to remind them
of him burned upon their skin. Others, again, regarded
Ganesa as the supreme deity.
In addition to these, several other sects are mentioned,
and their opinions controverted, which do not demand any
notice here. It is interesting, however, to find that the
opinions of the Buddhists and the Jains are condemned as
heretical ; also the evil doings of those are condemned who,
though really more orthodox than their critics, gave exclusive
reverence to some of the old Vedic gods who had at that
time dropped into almost complete oblivion. Of these are
Indra (the king of the gods, the lord of the firmament),
Kuvera (the god of wealth), Yama (the king of the dead),
Varuna (the Neptune of India), Garuda (the being half bird
and half man, who was the devoted servant of Vishnu),
Sesha (the serpent god, representing the end). Soma (the
intoxicating plant whose praises were so constantly sung in
the Vedic hymns), and last, though not least, Kama (the
Indian Cupid). And "it is a feature that singularly cha
racterizes the present state of the Hindu religion, that if in
some instances it is less ferocious, in others it has ceased tp
address itself to the amiable propensities of the human cha
racter, or the spontaneous and comparatively innocent feeUngs

SECTS EXISTING ABOUT THE FOUETEENTH CENTURY A.D. 55
of youthful natures. The buffoonery of the Holi, and the
barbarity of the Charak Puja, but ill express the sympathies
which man in all countries feels with the vernal season, and
which formerly gave rise to the festive Vasantasava of the
Hindus ; and the licentious homage paid to Sakti and
Bhairava has little in common with the worship that might
be supposed acceptable to Kama and his lovely bride Eati,
and which, it would appear, they formerly enjoyed." *
In describing the sects as they exist at the present day
it 'will be seen that in most cases they are but modified
forms of those already mentioned as existing five centuries
back. It is a most interesting fact that Sankara, the great
authority on Hinduism, himself a staunch believer in the
supreme Brahma as distinct from his three-fold manifes
tation as Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, sent forth disciples to
teach the more popular forms of faith. He professed to ex
plain this inconsistency by the fact that the mass of the
people were not qualified to receive the more intellectual and
refined forms of religion. It is said that it was on his
authority that the Saiva faith was promulgated at Benares,
and the Vaishnava at Conjeveram ; that others of his dis
ciples taught men to worship the Sun, the Saktis (female
deities), and also the more dreadful form of Bhairava. The
outward unity of Hinduism is affirmed, as it is declared that
one who had himself no faith in these acknowledged lower
forms, authorized his disciples to teach them because he
considered them better suited to the capacities of the more
ignorant masses. There is of course another explanation of
what appears to be a most glaring inconsistency — viz., that the
teachers of these more objectionable forms of worship bor
rowed the name of this great teacher in order to obtain respect
for their really heretical teaching.
The same general divisions will be retained in describing
the sects of the present day as in speaking of the older ones.
It wiU be evident to the reader, as he notices the practices of
* Wilson's "Hindu Sects," p. 17.

56 HINDU SECTS.
some of them, that they are in direct opposition to what may
be termed orthodox Hinduism, as, e.g., where caste rules are
disregarded at feasts ; men of all classes being encouraged to
eat of food prepared by men of a different caste from them
selves. And it is evident that some of these sects have
arisen through the desire to lower the pretensions and lessen
the influence of the Brahmans. Where, as it has frequently
happened, Brahmans have joined some of these sects, they
have been gladly welcomed, but have had to pay the cost of
this rehnquishment of their privileges by being treated as
outcasts by their stricter brethren. At the same time the
members of these sects are regarded as good Hindus even
by those who themselves have kept aloof from them. And it
often happens that when a man, for some violation of caste
rules, is put out of caste by his old associates, he joins some
one of these heretical sects, where he is sure of a hearty
welcome, and finds companions there to take the place of
those who have driven him from their midst. Even prosti
tutes, who on taking to an immoral life as a profession are
cut off at once from their family and caste, can easily enter
some of these sects, and by their generous gifts purchase the
sympathies of their fellow-sectaries, and hope to possess at
death similar blessings to those whose lives have been more
pure. The more one looks into it the more clearly is it seen
that Hinduism is a most expansive and inclusive system;
those who have most carefully studied the question find it
most difficult to define clearly what Hinduism is — who may
and who may not rightly be classed as Hindus. Thus in the
Bengal Census Eeport of 1881 Mr. Beverley asks, "What is
a Hindu ? is a question which has often been asked with
out eliciting any satisfactory reply. No answer, in fact,
exists, for the term in its modern acceptation denotes neither
a creed nor a race, neither a church nor a people, but a
general expression devoid of precision, and embracing alike
the most punctilious disciples of pure Vedantism, the Agnostic
youth who is the product of Western education, and the semi-

SECTS EXISTING ABOUT THE FOUETEENTH CENTURY A.D.

57

barbarous hill-man who eats without scruple anything he can
procure, and is as ignorant of the Hindu mythology as the
stone he worships in times of sickness and danger." Sir Alfred
Lyall, quoted in the same Eeport, says "that the religion
of the non-Mahommedan population of India is as a tangled
jungle of disorderly superstitions, ghosts and demons, demi
gods and deified saints, household gods, local gods, tribal
gods, universal gods, with their countless shrines and
temples, and the din of their discordant rites ; deities who
abhoj a fly's death ; those who stiU delight in human sacri
fices.'-' In the account of the fifty- three out of the ninety-
six sects into which the Hindus say their co-religionists are
divided, will be given the peculiar forms of worship which
prevail amongst the great majority of the Hindu people.
The authorities on this subject are two works — one by the
Munshi to the Eaja of Benares, the other by the librarian of
the college of that city. These books contain merely a sort
of catalogue of names and drawings of the sectarial marks
which the members wear, the legendary part being taken
from a very popular Hindi work called the Bhakta Mala, or
Garland of the Faithful. This book was originally written
about two and a half centuries ago by a man named Nab-
harji, a Dom, i.e., a member of one of the lowest and
most despised of the Hindu castes, whose occupation con
sists in making baskets and burying the dead. It is said
that he was born blind, but when he was about five years of
age, two worshippers of Vishnu happening to pass by saw
his pitiable condition, and bathing his eyes with water from
their drinking vessel, sight was given to him. They then took
him with them to their monastery and received him into their
fellowship. This work, originally written in prose, Tulsi Dass
has rendered most popular by putting it into a poetic form.
Tulsi Dass, a Brahman by birth, through the influence of his
wife became a most ardent worshipper of Eama. He lived
the greater part of his life at Benares, where he made an im
mortal name by translating the Eamayana into Hindu. He

58 HINDU SECTS.
also built a temple sacred to Sita and Eama, and a monastery
adjoining, both of which continue to this day. Another poet,
named Jayadeva, is described in the Bhakta Mala, concerning
whom the following wonderful legend is recorded. When
Jayadeva was leading the life of an ascetic, a Brahman, on his
way to Puri to dedicate his daughter to Jagannatha, whose
worship is there celebrated, saw that deity and received from
him a command to give his child in marriage to Jayadeva.
At first the sage refused, but on her appealing to his kindness
he consented to take her. He then set up house and became a
poet. Wishing on one occasion to write a poem descrip
tive of Eadha's virtues, as he could not find terms sufficiently
strong, he went down to the river to bathe and find inspira
tion. During his absence Krishna himself came and, taking
up the poet's pen, wrote what the poor man had been unable
to do. On another occasion, when in the forest, he was
attacked by Thugs, who cut off his feet and hands. Some
time afterwards these men came to the king's xDalaee dis
guised as mendicants ; but Jayadeva saw through their dis
guise and treated them most kindly. As they were departing
some of the attendants asked them how it was that the poet
had treated them so kindly; they replying that they had saved
his life from robbers who had thus mutUated him, the earth
opened and swallowed them, whilst the hands and feet of
Jayadeva were restored, and he was enabled to write the
bonk from which the writers of the works on the Hindu sects
have drawn so largely.
We shaU now pass on to notice the sects of the Hindus as
they exist at the present day.

CHAPTEE V.
THE VAISHNAVA SECTS, OR THOSE IN WHICH VISHNU IS
REGARDED AS THE SUPREME DEITY.
Most of these, as also those of the other classes, have dis
tinguishing marks, which it is the duty of those who are
initiated to wear. A most important duty at the great
festivals, when the ceremony of bathing is completed, is to
have these sectarial marks freshly painted on the forehead,
breast, and arms. All the Vaishnavas use for their marks a
white earth called gopichandana, which, to be of the purest
description, must be brought from a pool in Dwaraka, in
which the gopis, or milkmaids, drowned themselves when
Krishna forsook them. A common calcareous clay is, how
ever, often substituted for this.
1. The Sri Sampradayis, or Ramanvjas.
[Marks : Two perpendicular white lines from the roots of
the hair to the eyebrows, and a transverse line connecting
them across the root of the nose. In the centre there is a
transverse streak of red made with roll, i.e., turmeric and
lime ; also patches of gopichandana, with a red central
streak on the breast and on each arm. These marks are
supposed to represent the lotus, conch shell, discus, and
club, which Vishnu bears in his four hands, the central
streak of red representing Sri, or Lakshmi, his wife. The
members of this sect also wear a necklace made of the seeds
of the Tulsi plant, and carry a rosary made of the same
seeds, or from those of the lotus.]
This is the oldest and most respectable of the Vaishnava
sects, having been founded about the middle of the twelfth

60 HINDU SECTS.
century by Eamanuja Achilrjya. This man is said to have
been an incarnation of the great serpent Sesha, whUst his
chief companions and disciples are said to have been the
embodied discus, sheU, lotus, club, &c., the insignia of
Vishnu. He taught the tenets of his creed at Conjeveram
and afterwards visited Sri Eanga and other places, reclaiming
men and recovering temples from the Saiva faith.
On his return to Sri Eanga the dispute between the rival
sects of Vishnu and Siva rose to such a height that the king,
a devout Saivite, ordered aU the Brahmans in his kingdom
to sign an acknowledgment of the superiority of his chosen
deity, and by bribery and fear was successful with the
greater number. Eamanuja refusing to sign this document,
the king sent an armed force to seize him ; but the Brahman
escaped, and took refuge in Mysore. Whilst there he is said
to have expelled an evil spirit from a daughter of the king,
who thereupon embraced the doctrines of his holy guest. On
the death of the king of Sri Banga, after a stay of twelve
years in Mysore, Eamanuja returned to his former home.
The headquarters of this sect are now in the Deccan, and
although the founder is said to have set up seven hundred
monasteries (maths), four only exist at the present time.
The worship of Eamanuja's followers is addressed to
Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi and their incarnations either
singly or conjointly. The teachers are usually Brahmans,
but the disciples may be of any caste. Besides the worship
offered in the temples of either of these gods, or their incar
nations, images of metal and stone are set up in the houses,
and the Salgrama and Tulsi are also generally worshipped.
The name by which the members are most commonly known
is Sri Vaishnavas. The chief ceremony of initiation into
the sect is the communication of the mantra by the guru
to the disciple. The initiatory mantra is said to be " Om
Eamaya namah ; " i.e., Om salutation to Eama ; but there is
always great reluctance on the part of the Hindus to give
any real information respecting the mantras ; the most re-

THE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 61
liable source of information is that of those once initiated
who, having become Cliristians, are fr-ee from the fear of evU
consequences following the betrayal of the secret.
The chief religious tenet of the Eamanuja sect is the asser
tion that Vishnu is Brahma, the Supreme Being. By a mere
wish he created the universe, which is an emanation from
himself. He has manifested himself to men in five forms —
in images, in his incarnations, in certain forms, as Krishna,
Baharaiva, &c., in certain quaUties, and in the human soul.
He is to be worshipped in five ways corresponding to these
forms : by cleaning the images and temples, by providing
flowers and perfumes for religious rites, by the presentation of
these as offerings (bloody sacrifices are hateful to Vishnu),
repeating the name of the deity, and by meditation, the
object of which is to unite the soul with the deity ; the
proper performance of which, it is believed, wUl give entrance
in Vaikuntha, the heaven of Vishnu.
2. Ramanandis, or Ramawats.
[As this is regarded as a branch of the preceding sect, the
marks differ only in this — the red streaks are narrower.]
Eamanand, the founder, is said by some to have been
a disciple of Eamanuja, but more probably he was a dis
ciple of a disciple in the fifth descent from that leader. As
far as can be definitely known, he flourished about the end
of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century.
The worship of this sect is devoted to Eamachandra (one of
the great incarnations of Vishnu), together with Sita his wife,
his half-brother Lakshman, and his faithful friend Hanuman,
the commander-in-chief of the monkey army that was raised
to assist Eama to rescue his wife from the great demon
Eavana, who had carried her to Ceylon. Some of the mem
bers regard Eama as their supreme deity, others prefer Sita ;
whilst others, again, give equal adoration to the two. The
other forms of Vishnu are treated with profound respect by
these people, and the Salgrama, as his special representation,
is worshipped by them.

62 HINDU SECTS.
This sect originated in a very simple manner. Eamanand,
in obedience to his superior, is said to have gone from place
to place inculcating the doctrines of his sect. On his return
to the math, or monastery, of his leader, some of his fellow-
disciples accused him of having violated, in the course of his
travels, one of their vital doctrines — viz., the observance of
the closest privacy in partaking of his food. On the matter
being referred to the head of the math, he agreed with the
disciples. This so incensed Eamanand that he at once left
the monastery and started a sect of his own. He lived
chiefly at Benares, at the Pancha Ganga Ghat, where, it is
believed, his math continued until it was destroyed by the
Mussulmans. At present there is a stone platform, which is
said to retain the impression of his feet. In the vicinity of
Benares are several maths of this order, and it is there the
chief council meets to settle all questions connected with the
order. The members of each of these sects are divided into
two main classes, which answer very nearly to the two
divisions in the Christian church called cleric and lay ; the
clerics, again, are subdivided into monastic and secular. It is
in India that we find the home of the belief of the superior
sanctity of the celibate life which was transferred to the
Christian church. In most cases the celibate is regarded as
of greater sanctity than the married, and the larger part of
these, for a longer or shorter period of their lives, wander
from place to place visiting shrines and collecting offerings,
which, after deducting necessary expenses, are given to the
math to which they belong. In order to provide a home for
the celibates who do not wish to travel, as well as for those
who wander, these monasteries are supported, each with its
own mahant, or superior, who sometimes obtains the position
by inheritance, sometimes is chosen by the members of the
order, and sometimes the appointment is made by royal
patrons, in whose country the math is situated. In fact
in their main features these monasteries and their uses and

THE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 63
government differ very little from similar institutions in the
Christian church of the West. The whole scheme appears to
have been borrowed from the East. There are some mahaiits
who exercise a sort of authority over others, much in the
same way as the archbishop exercises authority over the
bishops under his jurisdiction.
Eamanand, having been driven from his own sect owing to
its many restrictions, laid few burdens on his disciples ; in
fact, he gave them the name Avadhuta, i.e., liberated;
meaning that they were freed from many of the trying
ordinances that prevailed in other classes. With respect to
eating and bathing he left them free to follow their own
inclination. The most important innovation was the virtual
abolition of caste. Amongst his most illustrious disciples were
a Eajput, a weaver, and a chamar (currier), and a barber. He
taught that God and his worshippers are one ; and as Bha
gavan (Vishnu) appeared in inferior forms as a fish, boar, &c., so
his worshippers may be born in the inferior as well as superior
castes. And what is equally remarkable is this, that though
the founder of this system did not write any works himself,
his followers wrote religious works ; not as Eamanuja and
Sankara had done — commentaries on the Vedas for the use
of the Brahmans only — but in the common dialects of the
people, and in a popular style, so that they were suited to
the capacities of all. Further, it is possible for any of the
members, whatever his caste, to rise to the position of a
vairagi (ascetic), a guru (teacher), or mahant (head of a
monastery). Prom the success which attended the efforts of
this teacher there is every encouragement to work for the
spread of Christian truth. Multitudes at his call left their
own particular castes and joined his brotherhood, in which
Brahmans and Chamars associated as brethren.
There are said to be twelve chief disciples of Eamanand,
some of whom, having founded new sects, will be mentioned
separately; but a few facts respecting one of the less con
spicuous will not be uninteresting.

64 HINDU SECTS.
Pipa, the Eajput mentioned above, originally worshipped
Devi (Siva's wife), but wishful to become a worshipper of
Vishnu, he placed himself under Eamanand's instruction at
Benares. Coming at an inopportune moment, the sage
angrily wished that his visitor might fall into a well close
by. Pipa immediately threw himself in, that his teacher's
wish might be fulfilled. This act of submission so pleased
the onlookers that they at once gave him the title of Eaja. On
a visit to Dwaraka with his master, he plunged into the sea
and paid a visit to Vishnu in his submarine shrine, where he
was hospitably received. On a journey his wife was carried
off by some Pathans, but Eama appearing, rescued the wife
and slew the robbers. On another occasion, meeting an angry
lion in the forest, he placed his rosary on its neck, and whisper
ing the mantra of the sect (Sri Eama), made him tranquil in
a moment. 3. Eahir Pantliis.
[Outward signs are regarded by this sect as of little im
portance. Some do not wear any, others have the same as
the Eamanandis, others, again, have a streak of sandal wood
ashes or gopichandana along the ridge of the nose. They
also wear the necklace of Tulsi seed and use the rosary.]
Of all Eamanand's disciples, Kabir is the most celebrated.
With immense boldness he attacked the whole system of
idolatrous worship, ridiculed the, learning of the Pundits and
the teaching of the Sastras, and, what is even more remark
able, addressed his remarks to Mussulmans as weU as Hindus,
making the Koran equally with the Hindu Scriptures an
object of ridicule. It is said that the vreitings of this man
more than any others influenced Nanak, the founder of the
Sikh faith.
There are two legends connected with the bfrth of this
leader. It is said in the Bhakta Mala that his mother, a
Brahman virgin widow, was taken by her father to see his
guru Eamanand, when the great teacher saluted her with
the wish that she might have a son. His words could not

THE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 65
be recaUed ; but as the birth of a son could only be a source
of shame, she was privately delivered of her child, which was
exposed at its birth. Being found by a weaver and his wife,
this child was brought up as their own. The common belief
ignores all this part of the story, and says that a weaver's
vrife named Nima found the child, which was an incarnate
deity, floating on a lotus in a lake near Benares. As soon
as the child was in her arms it asked to be carried to the
holy city. Hearing an infant speak, the woman and her
husband thought it must be a demon, and, casting it down,
ran as fast as they could to the city ; but the child ran faster
than they. At length they agreed to take it and bring it up
as their own.
Kabfr fiourished about the beginning of the fifteenth
century, and a curious story is told of his initiation, which
must have taken place before Eamanand had developed his
system. Kabir was again and again refused admission into
the sects because of his being of low caste. Standing one
day on the- Ghat by which Eamanand went to bathe, he
touched the sage's foot, who, as a sort of expiatory measure,
cried " Eama, Eama," the initiatory mantra : from that
moment Kabir asserted that he was admitted into the frater
nity by the involuntary utterance of the text.
Both Hindus and Mussulmans claimed Kabir as one of
their creed. A story is told to the effect that his mother
(in this case said to be a Mussulmani) complained to the
Emperor Sekandah, who sent for the son and ordered him to
make the usual salam. This young man said, " I know none
but Eama — why should I bow down before a king ? " Upon
this the emperor ordered him to be cast into the river, but
the waters would not drown him. He tried to burn him to
death, but fire had no effect upon him. He next ordered his
elephants to trample him to death, but they dared not ap
proach him. At last the king on his own elephant went to
slay him, but Kabir transformed himself into a lion, and the
king then gave up the attempt. At his death the Hindus
6

66 HINDU SECTS.
wished to burn, and the Mussulmans to bury his body. As
they were quarrelling about this, Kabir himself appeared and
told them to look under the cloth which was supposed to be
covering his dead body. They did so, and found only a heap
of flowers. Part the Eaja of Benares took and burnt, and
the spot where they were burnt is now known as Kabir
Chaura; part the Mussulmans buried at Magar, near
Gorukhpore, where he died.
As Kabir was a disciple of Eamanand, this sect is regarded
as belonging to the Vaishnavas, though the members need
not worship any of the Hindu deities ; and where they are
found doing so it is more out of compliance to the wishes of
others than from any good they expect from it for themselves.
One of their leader's maxims was, " Associate and mix with
all, and take the names of all ; say to every one, ' Yes, sir ;
yes, sir ; ' and abide in your own abode." This certainly is
rather a free rendering of the apostolic resolve to be "aU
things to all men." They do not join much in the outward
worship of the deities ; their chief religious exercise is singing
hymns to the invisible Kabir.
The doctrines of this sect are not very easily learned ; but
as far as can be seen they do not differ very much from what
is taught in the Puranas, though the way of stating them is
somewhat original. They say there is but one God, the
Creator of the world, and the pure man, the Sadhu of the
Kabirs, is His living resemblance, and after death His
associate and equal. All that is has come out from God, is
a part of Him, therefore God and man are not only the same,
but they together form everything that lives and moves.
The Paramapurush (the Supreme Being) was alone for
seventy-two ages. Desiring to renew the world, the female
Maya sprang forth from whom all errors among men have
arisen. Prom her union with the Supreme the three great
gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva have come ; and from union
with them their brides, Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Uma were
born. Life is the same in all beings ; the great object is to

THE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 67
learn the source ; for as long as ignorance of this continues,
new births must be experienced. Heaven and hell do not
actually exist, but are simply some of the delusions of Maya.
The moral code of this sect is rather worthy of praise. It
teaches that aU life is sacred ; humanity is therefore a car
dinal virtue, whether the object be man or animals. Truth
is necessary, and retirement from the world is advantageous
to piety ; absolute obedience and profound reverence for the
guru is especiaUy insisted on. Their abhorrence of violence,
love of truth, and unobtrusiveness of life make them most
inoffensive members of the community. In North India their
numbers are great : those choosing the wandering hfe do not
beg for alms.
There are a few other sects similar to those already described
which require but a brief notice.
The Khakis, founded by Kil, perhaps, in the fourth genera
tion from Eamanand. No mention of this sect is found in the
Bhakta Mala, hence it may be inferred that it is of modern
origin. Most of its members seem to adopt the wandering
ascetic life, and are distinguished by the use of cliy and ashes
on their bodies. They also wear the Jata, or braided hair,
which they appear to have copied from the Saiva sectaries.
They worship Sita, and are especially devoted to Hanuman.
The Maluk Dasis [mark : a shorter streak of red than is
¦common with the other Vaishnavas ; otherwise their sectarial
marks are similar] take their name from Maluk Dass;
their gurus and most of their members remain in their homes,
and do not wander about as do the KhaUs. The principal
estabhshment is situated near a temple of Eama Chandra, at
Kara, Manikpore, the birthplace of the founder, and tho
present mahant is reckoned as the eighth in descent from
him. There are six other maths in different places.
The Dadu Panthis [mark : the members of this sect wear
no peculiar frontal mark, nor do they wear a Mala, or neck
lace ; they carry the rosary and wear a round white cap with
a flap hanging down behind] are an offshoot from Kabir ; their

G8 HINDU SECTS.
worship is also addressed to Eama, but is restricted to what
is caUed Japa, i.e., the mere repetition of his name. The
founder of the sect, Dadu, a cotton cleaner, was born at
Ahmedabad, whence he traveUed to other places. At Narama
it is said he heard a voice from heaven caUing upon him to
live a rehgious life ; accordingly he retired to the Baherana
mountain, and, no traces of him being left, he is believed
to have been absorbed into the deity. His foUowers burn
their dead at early dawn; but the more rehgious among
them order that their bodies be left exposed in the open
country to be devoured by birds and beasts, as in the funeral
pUe insect life is apt to be destroyed.
The Eai Dasis are the followers of Eai Das, a Chamar,
one of the lowest castes of the Hindus, and his foUowers
generally belong to the same caste. He must have been a
man of considerable influence, as the following legend from
the Bhakta Mala will show. It was owing to an imprecation
of Eamanand that a Brahmachari (student) was born in a
Chamar famUy. When born he refused to take nourishment
until Eamanand, recognizing in this infant the young man
he had cursed, breathed the mantra into his ears and thus
admitted him into his sect. From that moment he began
to thrive. When he grew up to manhood he worked at his
trade, and devoted all he could spare to feeding the poor.
One day Vishnu, pleased with his devotion at a time of great
distress, came and offered him the philosopher's stone ; but
Eai Das disregarded the gift, as he was so well satisfied with
the knowledge of Hari (Vishnu). Some months afterwards
Vishnu paid him another visit, and seeing that the stone had
not been used, caused a number of gold pieces to lie all round
him. With these Eai Das erected a temple of which he
became the priest. Again Vishnu caused hisjglory to became
widely known by inciting the Brahmans in the district to
persecute him. But again Vishnu came to the rescue and
wrought a miracle on behalf of his servant iu the presence
of-theking and court.

THE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 6)
Sena Panthis are the followers of Sena, a barber ; but of
the peculiar tenets of this sect little is known. In connection
with him a story is told similar in spirit to that in Miss
Proctor's " Legend of Provence." This barber being intensely
devotional sometimes forgot his professional duties as barber
to the king. Vishnu seeing the sovereign's anger, in order to
save him from punishment, took the poor barber's place, and
did his work so weU that the king recognized the god, and
made his barber his guru.
4. Vallbhacharis, or Rudra Sampradayis.
[Marks : Two red perpendicular lines on the forehead
meeting in a semicircle at the root of the nose, and a round
spot of red between them, with the same as those of the Sri
Vaishnavas on the breast and arms. Some make the central
spot of black. Their necklace and rosary are made of the
stem of the Tulasi.]
Perhaps as numerous as the worshippers of Vishnu under
the forms of Krishna and Eadha, or Eama and Sita, are those
who are devoted to him as the infant Gopal. Krishna, in
order to escape from the anger and jealousy of his uncle
Kansa, immediately after his birth was transferred to the house
of a cowherd named Nanda, who brought him up as his own
child : the name Gopal, or the cowkeeper, attaches to him from
that circumstance. This sect owes its origin to Vallabha
Acharjya, and is commonly known as the religion of the
Gokula Gosains.
The original founder of the sect was a Brahman named
Vishnu Swami, who admitted Brahmans only into his
society, and imposed on all a vow to lead a life of asceticism.
But Vallabha greatly extended the sect by communicating the
mantra(orinitiatorytext)to men of other castes. This man was
a Sanyasi himself, and flourished about the sixteenth century.
Originally he resided at Gokul, near Mathura, then at Vrin-
davana, where he lived under a pipul-tree, which is still
shown to pilgrims. At Mathura, too, there are traces of him
to be found : all these places being connected with various

70 HINDU SECTS.
scenes in the life of Krishna. It was at Vrindfivana that he
is said to have been honoured by a visit from Krishna him
self, who enjoined him to extend his worship under the form
of Bala Gopal (the boy Gopal). VaUabha is said to have
gone to heaven from Benares in a miraculous manner. The
popular story is as follows : Entering the river at Hanuman
Ghat, and stooping down to worship, he suddenly disap
peared : a brilliant flame arose from the spot, and in the
presence of a host of spectators he ascended into heaven, and
was lost to sight in the firmament.
Although some of the other Puranas speak of the chUd
hood of Krishna, it is in Brahma Vaivartha that the fullest
particulars are found ; and though the worship of the infant
Krishna is not distinctly commanded there, yet, as it speaks
of the Creator as a young man, and dwells upon the miracu
lous doings of his youth, its authority is claimed for this
form of worship. According to this authority, Krishna has
a heaven of his own called Goloka, situated high above the
heavens of Vishnu and Siva. In the centre of this beautiful
home lives Krishna in the bloom of youth, in colour hke a
dark cloud, and clad in yellow garments, playing on his
flute. Being alone, he meditated on the world ; then Maya,
a female form arose, from whom and himself aU beings
came. Vishnu sprang from his right side, Siva from his left,
Brahma from his hand, Dharma fe'om his breath, Saraswati
from his mouth, Lakshmi from his mind, Durga from his
understanding, and Eadha from his left side. Three hundred
millions of gopis [female cowherds) exuded from the pores of
her skin, and the same number of gopas (cowherds) from his.
Vallabha introduced one most remarkable innovation for a
Sanyasi, which showed that Epicureanism was not at all
confined to Greece. He taught that as privation formed no
part of sanctity, God should be worshipped, not by nudity
and hunger, but by costly apparel and good food; not in
sohtude and with mortification of the body, but in the
pleasures of society and in the enjoyment of the world.

THE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 71
With the founding of the sect VaUabha at once gave up his
ascetic life, and marrying, advised aU his disciples to do the
same. The gosains, or gurus, have great influence over then-
disciples, and are weU cared for as they travel from shrine to
shrine, from disciple to disciple. The mass of the adherents
of this sect are merchants, and the gosains themselves are
not above joining in mercantUe transactions. The images
of Gopal that they worship are generaUy made of metal,
and, in the same temple with those of Eadha and Krishna,
Gopal's representations are also to be seen. The most cele
brated temple of Gopal is in Ajmere. It is said that the
image there worshipped transported itself to that place from
Mathura. It is the duty of every member of this sect, at
least once in their life, to visit this shrine, and a certificate
is given to each pilgrim who goes there by the chief gosain.
There are several temples at Vrindavana and other places.
5. MhTc Bais.
This is really a subdivision of the preceding, found almost
exclusively in the west of India; and Mira Bai and Eanachor,
a form of Krishna, are held in great veneration by the fol
lowers of VaUabha.
Mira Bai is the authoress of several poems addressed to
Krishna, which are read, with those of Nanak and Kabir, by
members of other sects. She was the daughter of a petty
Eaja, and became the wife of the Nana of Udaypore. As her
mother-in-law was a devout worshipper of Devi, Siva's consort,
and Mira as devout a worshipper of Krishna, quarrels arose,
the result being that the younger lady had a separate estab
lishment, in which she was free to carry on her religious
practices unmolested. She continued to adore Eanachor,
and, as part of her worship, visited the scenes of Krishna's
exploits, and became the protector of his foUowers through
out her husband's kingdom. During her absence from home,
a persecution of Krishna's worshippers breaking out, a num
ber of Brahmans were despatched to bring her home. Before
leaving Dwaraka she went to visit Eanachor's temple ; the

72 HINDU SECTS.
deity was so pleased with her that the image opened ; she
threw herself into it, and was never seen again. At Uday
pore an image of Mira is to be seen beside one of Krishna;
6. Madhwacharis.
[In dress and general appearance they are like the Dandis.
The Brahmans who join cast off the poitra ; all carry a staff
and water-pot, go bareheaded, and wear a single cloth of a
dirty yellow colour. They also have the symbols of Vishnu
stamped with a hot iron on their shoulders or breast. Their
frontal marks are the same as those of the Sri Vaishnavas,
excepting that in place of the red centre streak they have
one made of sandal-wood charcoal, which has been burned
as incense before an image of Vishnu as Narayana, termi
nating with a patch of turmeric]
This sect forms a sort of connecting link between the
Vaishnavas and Saivas. Their founder, Madhava, who is
said to have been an incarnation of the god Vayu, was born
about the twelfth century. At first he appears to have been
a member of a Saiva sect, but afterwards forsook that for
the Vaishnavas. Unlike most men who change their behefs,
he was no bigot ; hence in the temples frequented by the
members of this sect we find images of Siva, Durga, and
Ganesa, side by side with those of Vishnu. One great pecu
liarity of his teaching was that the human spirit (Jivatma),
though united to and dependent on the Paramatma, or Divine
Spirit, is yet distinct from it ; hence final absorption into the
Godhead is impossible. This is a most marked departure
from the orthodox creed.
7. The Vaishnavas of Bengal.
[Marks : Two white perpendicular lines on the forehead,
made either with sandal-wood or gopichandana, which are
joined together at the root, and extended to near the end of
the nose. They have also the name Eadha-Krishna stamped
on the temples, breast, and arms. They wear a tight-fitting
necklace made of three strings of beads of Tulsi stalk, and
carry a rosary of the sarne.]

THE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 73
By far the greater part of the Vaishnavas of Bengal, about
8,000,000 in number, and forming, according to some autho
rities, at least one-fifth of the Hindu community, belong to
the sect of which Chaitanya, a Brahman of Nadiya, was the
founder. This man developed and proclaimed with singular
earnestness a system which had been partially elaborated by
two men named Adaityananda and Nityananda. Being house
holders, and indisposed to lead an ascetic life, they needed
an active co-labourer to propagate their doctrines throughout
the country. And in selecting Chaitanya they certainly
made a most happy choice ; for a more earnest and self-
denying man than he has not been often seen. WhUst
the success which to this day attends the proclamation of
his peculiar views, affords a notable example of the great
innovations in faith and practice that an earnest-minded
man can produce amongst the religiously conservative people
of India.
According to popular behef, and this wiU partly account
for the immense success that followed his work, he was an
incarnation of Krishna, who appeared in this form for the
special purpose of leading men to worship him. In the temples
of Nadiya, the head-quarters of the sect, the images of Chai
tanya are of large size, whilst those of Krishna, in the same
shrines, being small and insignificant, are regarded as of
secondary importance. But Chaitanya, having left his famUy
and lived the life of an ascetic, whUst Krishna is always
worshipped in conjunction with his favourite mistress Eadha,
it is said that he is the manifestation of both Krishna and
Eadha combined. A few facts connected with the life of this
great reformer will not be without interest. The book of the
sect is the Chaitanya Charitamrita, a work most highly valued
by the members. It is written in a sort of jingling rhyme,
in the Bengali language, with a large number of Sanskrit,
Urdu, and Uriya words interspersed.
Chaitanya was born in the year 1485, just two years after
Luther. It is stated in the book just mentioned that before

74 HINDU SECTS.
and at his birth his parents had many indications that the
child was no ordinary mortal, and that the heavenly deities
came down to earth to visit him who was the incarnation of
the second person of the Hindu Triad. Numerous stories of
his miraculous knowledge and power are told, and others
illustrating the character of his teaching in after life. One
day, when his mother gave him sweetmeats to eat, he took up
clay, which he ate in preference, as he said that there was no
difference between them. When his attention was called to
¦the fact that he was standing in an unclean place, and ordered
to wash in the Bhagirathi river, he refused, because all places
were alike holy.
When a boy he was well taught in the village school, and
himself became a teacher, and, when his father died, performed
the funeral ceremonies according to the ritual. But very soon
after this the lessons of a book he had carefully read, the
Sri Bhagavata, which is largely taken up with the account of
Krishna, were realized by him in an extraordinary degree, so
that for hours together he would meditate on Krishna, and,
becoming ecstatic in his love to him, was impelled by a mighty
enthusiasm to preach to others of the intense joy he found in
the contemplation of and devotion to that deity. It is a
most curious fact that whilst Chaitanya himself was an
ardent worshipper of Krishna, he should now be regarded by
his followers as an incarnation of that deity. At times his
followers declare that he changed his bodily form and appeared
as the four-armed Krishna, to the great delight of his disciples.
The Vaishnavas, with Chaitanya at their head, were in the
habit of meeting at night and spending hours together in talk
ing over the life and singing songs in honour of Krishna,
until earth became as heaven. On one of these occasions
Chaitanya urged his companions to go from house to house
in Nadiya, until all the inhabitants should know the bliss that
was within their reach. This was too hard a task for the
new disciples, so on the following morning a procession was
formed with Chaitanya at the head, and the whole company

THE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 75
marched singing through the streets with their music accom
paniment. AU came out to see and hear, and amongst
others, two noted enemies of the Vaishnava worship. Seeing
them, Chaitanya prayed that the divine weapon Sndarshan
might destroy them ; but on being asked by a foUower to
show love rather than hate, the order was countermanded,
and through heavenly blessings the hearts of these opponents
were melted, and they became followers of the new faith.
The conversion of these two opponents, perhaps as much as
anything, led to greater earnestness on the part of the disciples,
and also to the conviction on the part of the Hindus generaUy
that it was their interest to regard this new movement with
favour rather than opposition.
When he was twenty -four years of age Chaitanya forsook
his family and assumed the position of an ascetic. It was his
duty, he felt, to visit the great shrines of India, and to preach
the tenets of his system to all men. -As he was traveUing
towards Puri, the shrine of Jagannatha, he was so over
powered with a sense of the ignorance and sin of men, that
he was almost ready to drown himself On arriving at the
great temple cf Jagannatha, he sat for hours before the image
and " saw " him and aU his glory — a sure sign that he at
least was pure, as it is only to the eyes of the pure that this
deity is said to manifest himself Whilst at Puri he spent
his time largely in speaking of the glories of Krishna, and
many of the pUgrims who visited that shrine went back to
their homes with their hearts fired with love to Chaitanya's
chosen deity. Prom Puri he went to the extreme south of
India, to the places rendered sacred as the scene of Eama's
labours and exploits. On his way he gained many disciples,
and on some occasions even manifested his divine form to
confirm the faith of his disciples.
On his return to Puri the people were greatly delighted,
and at the next Eath Jatra (the great Car Festival held there
in July) his influence was most marked. He divided his
foUowers into four companies, who sang, danced, and played

76 HINDU SECTS.
their music on the four sides of the great car as it moved
along ; but the leader himself was said to be present in aU
four companies at once, and it is declared that the god
looked down with great delight at the devotion of his servant.
At the close of the day, when the powers of elephants and
men, who had been drawing the car, were exhausted, and it
was found impossible for them to move it further, Chaitanya
touched the back of it with his head, and it then moved easily
along. After remaining some four years at Puri, Chaitanya returned
to Bengal, where he confirmed the faith of his many disciples,
and then started for Vrindavana and Mathura, the scene of
Krishna's life on earth. Most marvellous are the accounts
given of the power the name of Krishna exerted on beasts
and men when uttered by him. " The lord passed through
herds of tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, and wUd boars."
The simple Bala Bhadra (his companion) was astonished to
see those furious beasts keep a respectful distance from the
Mahaprabhu. One day his foot touched a tiger that was
sleeping by the side of the road. The lord said, " Krishna,
Krishna," at the sound of which the tiger, rising up, danced
for joy. On another occasion, as he was bathing in a river,
a number of wild elephants came there to drink. Chaitanya,
throwing water at them, said, "Eepeat the name of Krishna;"
on which, all the elephants shouted " Krishna ! Krishna ! " and,
moved by faith and love, danced and sang. As he sang flocks
of deer attended him on either side to hear the delightful
sound. Some tigers then joined the company, and when the
lord said, " Say Krishna," deer and tigers with this name on
their lips danced with joy. Tigers and deer embraced each
other, and forgot their natural animosity. Peacocks attended
him on his journey, and even plants, vegetables, and minerals
were glad, and showed signs of rejoicing as he sang the
praises of Krishna. At Benares and Allahabad he made
converts ; whUst at Mathura, the home of Krishna, the
animal and vegetable worlds were convulsed with joy, and

THE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 77
manifested their pleasure in a marveUous manner. The writer
of the book declares that " ten miUions of volumes wiU not suf
fice to describe the transports of Mahaprabhu in Vrindavana."
After this journey he returned to Puri, where he remained
for the rest of his Ufe. During the years that followed it is
clear that he had periodic fits of insanity, in which he
fancied himself to be Krishna, and in imagination went
through many of the incidents in that hero's life. Now
he was dancing with the milkmaids, now conversing with
Eadha, and at last, in one of these fits, walked into the sea
under the impression that it was the river Jumna, the scene
of Krishna's amusements, and was drowned.
The two chief co-workers with Chaitanya were Nityananda
and Adaityananda ; the former of whom is sometimes wor
shipped along with his master. The descendants of these
men are now regarded as the leaders of the sect.
The following is an outline of the theology of the Vaish
navas who follow Chaitanya's teaching.
Krishna is the Paramatma, the supreme soul, and he is
the supreme object of worship. There is but one sub
stance in the universe, viz. , Krishna, the earth being only a
modification of him. The peculiarity of the Vaishnavas of
Bengal is their belief that Chaitanya is a manifestation of
deity. The foUowers of this sect say that Siva and Brahma
manifested a part only of the Divine Being, but Krishna is
God Himself. Another peculiarity of the theology lies in the
stress placed upon bhakti, or faith. The Vedantists teach
that knowledge is all, and wiU save; other more popular
systems say, "Perform penance," meditate, "Do good
works;" do something ; but Chaitanya said, "Trust Krishna."
" The efficacy of good works, austerity, and knowledge, is
nothing compared with that of bhakti. Without bhakti
there can be no deliverance." Simple bhakti without know
ledge, whatever be the object of this blind and imphcit faith,
will ensure salvation. The Vaishnavas maintain that any
thing, a log of wood, a plant, &c., believed by the devotee to

78 HINDU SECTS.
be Krishna or Chaitanya, becomes to him such, and ensures
to him happiness in the realms of heaven. Vedantism
supposes knowledge and power of thought ; Puranism pre
scribes a round of difficult and expensive rites and duties ;
but Vaishnavism is simple and inexpensive ; hence we find
that it is fast becoming the prevailing system amongst the
poor. There are five degrees of this bhakti : 1st, Santa, or
peace. This, the lowest form, is the calm, unimpassioned
contemplation of the deity. 2nd, Dasya, or servitude. When
this is attained, the heart is more animated, the mind is more
active, and the affections are warmer. This leads to a vow
of service, and the position of him who offers it is as that of
a slave to his master. 3rd, Sakya, or friendship. When he
attains to this height, the devotee no longer regards Krishna
as his master, but as his personal friend, whom he is impeUed
to please because of the love he bears towards him. 4th,
Biitsalya, or filial affection, is that degree of affection which
is recognized as natural in a child towards its father ; the
childlike trust which leads its possessor to look up to Krishna
and say. Thou art my father. The 5th and last form of
this bhakti is called Madhurya, or sweetness ; and the
illustration given of this is that love which the milkmaids of
Vrindavana bore towards the hero when he was residing in
their midst, the highest type of all being that which Eadha
had for her lord.
Vaikantha is the heaven of the Vaishnavas wherein they
hope to be united to, or rather . identified with, Ki-ishna, and
then reign as divine for ever. Others seem rather to expect
to enjoy a separate existence in heaven.
Amongst the most important duties as taught by the
Vaishnavas is that of " Guru Padasraya," or the taking
refuge under the guru. The gurus in Vaishnava sects are
not necessarily Brahmans, but the adoration claimed by
them is even greater than that demanded by ordinary
Brahmans. The chief work of the guru is giving the mantra,
or text, which it is the duty of the disciple to repeat 108

THE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 79
times before he eats or drinks anything. The following texts
teach the authority of the guru. "The mantra is manifest
in the guru, and the guru is Hari himself." Krishna says,
" The guru is first to be worshipped, and then I am to be
worshipped." " When Hari is angry, the guru is our pro
tector ; when the guru is angry, we have no protector."
The gurus, or, as they are often called, gosains, travel
about with considerable state ; and when they come to a dis
ciple's house expect to be weU treated, and on their departure
well paid. The water in which their feet have been washed is
drunk by the disciples and their family, whilst the food that
has been placed before so sacred a person is greedily devoured
by all the followers of the sect. Already there is rebellion in
the camp ; some of the Vaishnavas are throwing off this
adoration of the gurus.
The next important duty is Ndma Kirton, i.e., the repetition
of the name of the deity. The common formula in Bengal
is this : Hari Krishna, Hari Krishna Krishna, Krishna Hari,
Hari Hari Eama, Hari Eama Eama, Eama Hari Hari. The
rosary of 108 seeds is often to be seen in the hands of the
Vaishnavas, or the hand and rosary are concealed in a bag,
as the process of counting may not be seen by ordinary
onlookers. Next in order is the Sankirtdn. This is a public act, in
which a number join in singing the praises of Krishna. It
is noisy, irreverent, often indecent ; the singing is frequently
accompanied by dancing.
One of the most important duties is the Mahastab (great
joy). This is a feast which is held at the death of some
gosain or mahanta, or any great personage amongst the com
munity. At these feasts no castt regulations are observed.
AU who come to the feast eat together. The gosain takes a
little food from a dish ; what is left is mixed with the other
food that is prepared, and the whole becomes prascid, or
sacred. To eat of this is a work of great merit. But the
most valued food of the whole feast is that which has been

80 HINDU SECTS.
left by the gosain on his plate, a few grains of which is given
to those only who are considered specially holy and devout.
It is a great work of merit to hear the Bhagavata read by
the kathaks, or professional readers, and it is amongst the
Vaishnavas especially that the kathaks find employment.
What Benares is to the ordinary Hindu, Mathura is to the
Vaishnava ; residence there is believed to be productive of
indescribable benefits.
The Vairagis, or ascetic Vaishnavas, can marry at a trifling
cost, and obtain a divorce for as little ; they are generally con
sidered to be most immoral. This class as a rule bury, not
burn their dead.
The chief tendency of Chaitanya's teaching was to break
down caste. Men of all castes can receive the mantra, and
even Mussulmans have been received into the community.
The Vairagis, of whatever caste, eat together, but the secular
members as a rule, except on the festival days, do not eat
with those of other castes.
Prom the main body of Chaitanya's followers are two
classes that may be regarded as seceders from it. 1. The
Spashtha Dyaks. These differ chiefly with respect to the
authority of the gurus. They deny their divinity. Men and
women hve together in convents professedly in the relation
of brothers and sisters. The men act as gurus to each other,
and the women are gurus to the female members of the com
munity. All the members of this branch lead the ascetic
life. 2. The Kartha Bhojas. This is a very modern sect
founded by Eama Taran Pal of Ghoshpara. Its teaching
goes to the other extreme on this question. It teaches that
the gurus are none other than Krishna himself, and he in
the person of the gurus becomes the Ishta Deva, the chosen
deity, of his followers. Its main teaching is summed up in
the following: "Attach yourself to your guru, speak the
truth, follow the counsels of your guru.''
8. We now come to notice a few of the less influential sects
cjnnected with the Vaishnava worship, and shall simply

TEE VAISHNAVA SECTS. 81
notice the particulars in which they differ from the large
masses of the Hindus who are Vishnu's worshippers.
a. Radhn Vallabhis are those who whilst worshipping
Krishna, prefer to give their chief adoration to Eadha, his
chief mistress according to some, or his heavenly bride
according to others. It is said that it was owing to a curse
that Eadha his celestial spouse became a milkmaid upon
earth, and on this ground Krishna's criminal intercourse
with her is defended.
b. Sakhi Bhavas. The teaching of this sect differs little
from that of the preceding ; but the members, in order
to show their great regard for Eadha in preference to her
husband, not only adopt woman's dress, but also the manners
and occupation of women. The members of this sect are few
in number, and not very respectable.
c. Charan Dasis. This sect was founded at Dehli, where
its head-quarters are at the present time, by a merchant
named Charan Das. At first this man taught that no repre
sentative of deity should be worshipped ; he even repudiated
the Salgram and Tulsi. Gradually, however, innovations
have been made, and the objects common to other Vaishnavas
are now freely worshipped. He taught, further, that good
works are of equal value with faith ; that a man's works
determine his final condition. There are a few ascetic mem
bers of this sect who wear yellow garments, and have a
single streak of sandal-wood or gopichandana down the fore
head. They also wear a small pointed cap and a yeUow
turban. d. Sanyasis. This name, though usually employed to
denote ascetics of the Saivya faith, is also used with the
qualifying word Tridandi for a class of Vaishnavas of the
Eamanuja sect who have passed through the first two stages
of the Brahmanical order, and have entered upon the ascetic
life. The word danda signifies a staff, and the Tridandi
Sanyasis are those who have taken up the three-fold staff;
i.e., have exercised a three-fold restraint of speech, body, and

82 HINDU SECTS.
mind, or word, deed, and thought. These men do not touch
metals pr fire, and cannot, therefore, cook their food, but
depend upon the generosity of the pious Brahmans of the
other orders of the Sri Vaishnava sect.
e. Vairagis. These are the ascetics of the Eamanand sect
described above. They have no employment and no fixed
abode, but wander from shrine to shrine, and from one
monastery to another, dependent upon the gifts of the
faithful. /. Ndgas. All the great Hindu sects have a division of
nagas, i.e., those who profess to carry their religious earnest
ness to an extreme length. These men discard aU clothing ;
and though regarded as holy (saints) by the community, are
known to be a most dissolute set of men. At some religious
festivals hundreds of these men walk in procession absolutely
naked," in the presence of thousands of men and women.

CHAPTEE VI.
THE SAIVITE SECTS; OR THOSE WHO REGARD SIVA AS
IHE SUPREME DEITY.
[The distinguishing marks of these sects are horizontal
instead of perpendicular, the differing widths and colours
marking the difference of sect.]
The worship of Siva has little of the popular and attraetive
element that we have noticed in connection vdth the Vaish
nava worship. It is mostly confined to the Brahmans and
those who are immediately influenced by them. In North
India there are no legends of an attractive kind to lead men
to choose him as their Ishta Deva (chosen deity) ; no popular
works written to lead men to direct their worship to him ;
no breaking down of the strict caste rules as an inducement
for those of the more despised classes to, unite themselves
with the Saivite sects. There are many temples sacred to
Siva, in which he is represented by the Linga ; but as a rule
they are not popular shrines, as are those of Krishna, Jagan
natha, &c. It is different, however, with the temples of his
consort Parvati, Durga, Kali, in the many forms under which
she is worshipped. Siva is rather a repulsive, dreadful being,
.and it is certain that it is fear only which impels men to worship
him. It is as the husband of Parvati that men approach him
with their gifts, rather than for anything that is attractive in
his character and conduct. Krishna appeals to the human
instincts of men, and his worship is a bright and joyous
.thing ; whilst Siva is the embodiment of that which is stern,
¦cruel, and powerful only.

84 HINDU SECTS.
There are no great sects, in one sense of the word, similar
to those connected with the worship of Vishnu ; the worship
pers of Siva for the most part agree with each other in faith
and practice. There are, however, classes of ascetics whose
precepts differ somewhat from those of the great mass of
Saivites which call for a brief notice. It is evident that
Vaishnavism is a much more recent form of Hinduism than
that of Saivism ; and having broken away from the older and
more stereotyped forms, there has been greater latitude iu
their creed and ritual than is seen amongst those who adhere
to the older forms.
The great authority in matters connected with Siva-wor
ship is Sankara Acharjya. This man was born at Kerala, or
Malabar, and by some is declared to have been an incarna
tion of Siva. Others, again, say that he was the child of an
adulterous union, for which his mother was outcasted. He
divided the people into seventy-two classes, eighteen of which
he assigned to each of the four great Hindu castes. For
some reason he appears to have been unpopular with the
people of his day ; and when he returned from a pilgrimage,
his mother happening to die, the Brahmans of the neighbour
hood would not attend her funeral ceremonies, or give him
any sacred fire wherewith he might burn her body. Sankara.
obtained fire by simply rubbing his arm, and having burned
the body in the courtyard of the house, declared that Brah
mans should uo longer read the Vedas there, that religious.
mendicants should not obtain alms, and that the dead should
always be burned near to the house where they had lived..
After this he lived an ascetic life, and was engaged in con
troversy with the leaders of other sects. His chief work is.
a commentary on the Bhagavata Gita. He established
several monasteries, lived for some time in Kashmir, and.
died when only thirty-two years of age at Kedarnath, in the
Himalayahs. a. The Dandis, or Staf-bearers. These, and the Tridandtis
mentioned before, are the legitimate representatives of the.

THE SAIVITE SECTS. 85
fourth Asrama, or mendicant life, into which the orthodox
Brahman's life is divided. Each Brahman's life, according
to the Sastras, ought to be divided as follows : — First, the
Student stage; secondly, the Householder stage; thirdly,
the Hermit stage; and fourthly, the Ascetic stage. As a
student, he learned the Vedas ; as a householder, he obtained
sons ; as a hermit, he taught students ; and as an ascetic, he
had opportunity for reflection and thought to prepare him for
¦entering into the next stage of existence. Nowadays this the
¦orthodox way of spending their days is not followed by many,
though it is no uncommon thing for Brahmans, when old age
comes, to leave their home and take up their residence in
Benares and other sacred places, that, being freed from the
cares of a family, their minds may be fitted by contemplation
to pass into the presence of the Judge. It is competent for
any who may be disposed to take up the ascetic life to com
mence this at any period of their lives without going through
the previous stages of student, householder, and hermit.
The Dandi is generally Imown by his staff, with a piece of
ired cloth attached in which his Brahmanical cord is carried.
He wears only a small cloth round his waist, and has his
head and face cleanly shaven ; his food he begs from the
houses of Brahmans, and ought to live alone, near to, though
not inside, a city. They have no particular time for or form
of worship, and their chief employment is meditation. I
have frequently seen these men, and, when trying to converse
with them, have found them to be almost idiotic. Not using
tbeir mind, it seems as though neglect had almost destroyed
it. Some destroy their bodily organs, and certainly the
mental faculties of many of them are impaired, as they pass
their time in idleness, and try not to think ; it is mere exis
tence, not life, that they regard as the perfect state. Siva,
under the name of Bhairava (the terrible), is their chief
deity, and the mantra they receive is the one common to the
Saivites. They are initiated into the worship of this deity
by a small incision being made under the arm, the blood

86 HINDU SECTS.
that flows from the wound being offered to the deity. The
Dandis do not burn, but bury their dead, or throw them into
sacred streams.
Originally the profession of the Dandi was open to men of
the three highest castes only ; now many of the lowest castes
assume the dress, symbols, and life of the ascetic. To an
outsider it seems to be a most idle and miserable life. More
sleepy and dirty specimens of humanity than these holy men
one has never seen. But it is evident that the honours given
to them in this life, and the hopes of heavenly rewards, are
sufficient to allure men from their work and home and fami
lies in order to lead this wandering life. These blessings
have an attraction that the uninitiated cannot understand.
At certain festivals, such as the Charak Puja, many of the
low caste people assume this garb and profession for a few
days only, and wander about the streets begging ; but this is
a part of the fun and frolic of the time.
b. The Dasnami Dandis. The name of this sect is given
because the members are divided into ten classes after the
ten chief disciples of Sankara, and are regarded as the legiti
mate descendants of the fraternities founded by him. The
chief difference between them and the Dandis lies in the fact
that at first they admitted Brahmans only to their fellowship.
Of the ten classes, now four only are regarded as true to their
founder's doctrine. The chief deviation of the other six
classes, who bear the name of atits, or guests, is this : they
have given up the use of the staff ; they wear clothes and
ornaments, prepare their own food, and admit other than
Brahmans to their order.
c. The Yogis. This is another class of religious mendi
cants. The name signifies one who meditates, and meditation
has been always regarded by the Hindus as the most sacred
of religious duties. The Yogis of the present day profess
to be the descendants of men who in olden time possessed
immense influence over the people. The object of the Yogi
was to concentrate his attention until he had come to regard

THE SAIVITE SECTS. 87
himself as one with the supreme spirit. Methods by which
this state of perfection could be attained are carefully taught
in the Hindu Scriptures. The Yogi must breathe in a par
ticular manner, sit in eighty-four different postm-es, fix the
eye on the tip of the nose, and meditate on Siva until he and
they become one. And these Scriptures go on to describe
most marveUous effects which follow this complete mental
abstraction. In this state they declare the Yogis can make
themselves hghter than the hghtest, and heavier than the
heaviest substances ; can magnify or lessen their forms at
will, can instantaneously travel immense distances, reani
mate corpses by breathing their own spirit into them, render
themselves invisible, and know the past, present, and future
at a glance. Such high pretensions are made of this pro
fession in the past. Nowadays these men go about the
country as fortune-tellers and conjurors, and often impose
upon the ignorance and credulity of the people. No doubt
many of them are clever jugglers. The founder of the sect
was named Goraknatha, and his disciples are caUed Kanphati,
because at their initiation they have their ears pierced. Traces
of this sect are to be found at Peshawar, and at Gorakhpore
there is a temple and a math of the order. Tradition says
that the original temple was erected by Siva himself in the
Treta age of the Hindus, which answers to the silver age of
the classics. The present temple is of modern date, and in
the adjacent math the superior or mahant of the order resides.
Besides the regular members, there are many who simply for
gain assume their dress and manners, and practise as con^
jurors without taking any religious vows, or making any pre
tensions to a religious life.
d. Jangam,as. This class of Saivites is distinguished by
the fact that they all wear a representation of the Linga, the
emblem of Siva, on their bodies or in their dress : these are
often made of copper or silver, and either worn round the
neck or in the turban. In North India occasionally the
members of this sect are to be seen leading about a bull to

88 HINDU SECTS.
represent Siva's favourite animal Nandi ; but in South India,
where their numbers are very large, they are known by the
name of Lingayets, and priests of the Siva temples generally
belong to it. The founder of this sect, or the restorer of the
worship of Siva in these parts, was named Basava, who was
said to be an incarnation of Nandi, the bull of Siva. At
Siva's command this faithful servant came to earth to resus
citate the worship of his master. He lived at Kalyan, where
he was Minister of Police.
The Basava Purana, as the book is called in which the
history of this revival of Siva-worship is given, contains some
wonderful legends of the benefits of Linga-worship, and is
very different from the works on this subject in North India.
On one occasion Basava, who had been profuse in his gifts
to other members of his sect, was accused to the king of em
bezzlement ; but when the treasury was opened it was found
that all the minister's gifts had not in any way diminished the
treasures. A fellow-casteman, living with a dancing-girl, sent
to Basava's house for his daily supply of rice. The servant on
his return spoke so strongly of the richness of the dress of the
minister's wife that the cupidity of this dancing-girl was excited.
Her lord, therefore, went to ask Basava for it. The minister
ordered his wife to give it up ; but, as she took it off, another
equally beautiful sprang from her body, which was also given
to the Jangama. It is also taught that Basava was escorted
to heaven by Siva and Parvati themselves, who came from
heaven thus to show their respect. It is supposed, as far as
can be told, that the revival or institution of Siva-worship
occurred in the early part of the eleventh century.
e. Paramhansa. The Sanyasi is of four kinds, the Kuti-
chara, the Bahudaka, the Hansa, and the Paramhansa, the
difference between whom, however, is only one of graduated
intensity of self-mortifioation and abstraction. Of these the
Paramhansa is the most eminent, and denotes the ascetic
who is solely occupied with his meditations on the deity, and
who is indifferent to pleasure or pain, insensible to heat or

THE SAIVITE SECTS. 89
cold, and incapable of satiety or want. Some of those who
profess to have attained to this excellence are to be met with.
In proof of this they go naked, never speak, and never ask
for anything they may want. They have attendants, who
collect what is necessary, and feed them as they would a
child. Of course there are some who make a gain by their
professed sanctity, but some, so far as one can see, have come
to believe that they are right in adopting this mode of life.
/. Aghoris. These differ from the former in this respect :
that whilst the Paramhansa does not parade his virtues, the
Aghoris make their supposed sanctity a reason for liberal alms
giving. The original Aghori-worship seems to have been de
voted to the female powers, or Devi, in one of her many forms,
and to have demanded human victims. The votaries of this
sect carried a staff set with bones, and a human skull for a
drinking pot. Though the regular worship of this kind has
been suppressed a few miserable wretches go about the country
professing to belong to the sect ; and, as a proof of their utter
indifference about worldly objects, eat whatever is given them,
even carrion. In order to extort money they gash their
limbs, that the crime of blood-letting may rest upon those
who refuse to give them alms. Moor in the " Hindu Pantheon "
speaks of the Paramhansas being seen sitting on a corpse
as it floated down the Ganges, and eating the decomposing
body; but he must have been misled; the Paramhansas,
though professedly perfect, would not do this ; it must have
been one of this class of Aghoris that was seen in this dis-
gustmg attitude, probably as a means of extorting money
from the bystanders.
g. In addition to the above are a few less known ascetics
which may just be mentioned, men who practise austerities
of various kinds, from which their names are taken. The
Urddhahahvs (holders up of arms) are those who stand in one
posture for years, holding one or both of their arms above the
head until the muscles become contracted and they cannot
bring them down again to their side. Some also close their

90 HINDU SECTS.
fists, and allow their nails to grow until they completely pass.
through the hands. These men generally travel alone, and
wander from shrine to shrine. The Akasmukhis are those who
turn their faces towards the sky until the muscles of the neck
become fixed, and they cannot alter this most painful position.
The peculiarity of the Nakhis is that they aUow their nails tO'
grow without being cut. The Oudaras travel about with a
small pan of metal, in which they burn sandal and other
scented wood in the houses they may visit collecting alms ;
their method of asking alms being the mere repetition of the
work Alakh, meaning that God's nature is incapable of being
described; He is without any marks or distinctive features. The
Sukharas, Rukharas, and Ukharas have nothing distinctive save'
their dress, excepting the last-named, who drink spirituous
liquors and eat meat. The Nagas are those who go about
naked, allow their hair and beards to grow, use arms, and
seem to be ready to take part in any rows that may arise ; a
sort of professional vagabond life is that which these men
elect ; but when tired of this it is open for them to re-enter
any of the more respectable sects from which they may have
come. It will be noticed that all the Sanyasi or ascetic sects^
of the Saivas are celibates ; it is, in fact, a much harsher and
more repulsive form of religious life than that foUowed hy the
Vaishnavas.

CHAPTEE VIL
THE SAKTAS; OR THOSE SECTS EXCLUSIVELY DEVOTEIf
TO THE WORSHIP OF THE FEMALE DEITIES.
It has been estimated that of the Hindus in Bengal about
three-fourths are devoted to the worship of Sakti; i.e., the
power or energy of the God as represented in some of the
many female forms. Of the remaining quarter, three parts
are Vaishnavas, and the remaining quarter are mostly Saivas.
Each deity has his consort, to whom the worship of the
people is in some cases more freely given than to her
husband. Thus Brahma, the creator, is now almost entirely
neglected ; but Saraswati, his wife, is regularly worshipped
as the patroness of learning. Lakshmi, Eadha, and Sita,
are, to say the least, as popular as their lords ; whilst the
many forms of Parvati, Durga, Kali, are of all deities the
most commonly worshipped by the masses of Bengal. And
as the worshipper of Vishnu, or Siva, declares that his par
ticular object of worship is the supreme from whom all the
other gods derive their origin, the devotees of the goddesses
have no hesitation in saying that they are the cause of all
created things. Thus they are likened to- the active energy
of the soul, and to the power of burning in the fire. These
goddesses are regarded as the divine force or energy of the
god personified. The explanation commonly given is as
foUows : The Supreme Being wishing to create, divided
himself into two parts ; the one became Brahma, the other
Prakriti, or nature ; and as from Brahma all males, so from

92 HINDU SECTS.
Prakriti all females sprung. But as without the female the
male is unproductive, the female is regarded as the real
force in nature, and hence the almost exclusive adoration
that is paid to the female deities by so many of the Hindus.
In some of the Puranas the adoration of Prakriti or Sakti,
the energy of the gods, who is worshipped under the forms of
Saraswati, Lakshmi, Durga, &c., the wives of the gods, is
authorized to some extent ; but it is in the more modern books
called Tantras that this worship is chiefly upheld. It is
probable some of these books were written almost as early as
some of the later Puranas, but most of them are certainly
not older than the eleventh century. There are two main
divisions of this sect, the Dakshinas, or right-hand wor
shippers, and the Vamacharis, or left-hand worshippers.
But perhaps less is known of these sects than of any others,
because as yet the Tantras have been kept in greater secrecy
than most of the other books of the Hindus.
1. The Dakshinas, or right-hand worshippers, are those who
worship the female deities and regard them as the supreme
in an open, public manner, in accordance with the Puranic
ritual, and free from the gross impurities connected with the
Vamachari form of worship. The great difference in this
worship from that which is offered to Vishnu, in any of his
various forms, consists in the offering of Bali, or bloody
sacrifices. On the great festival days at Kali Ghat, near
Calcutta, and other popular shrines, the courtyard literaUy
streams with the blood of the hundred of kids, and the
many buffaloes that have been offered in sacrifice. And
in the courtyards of the Hindu homes it is customary to
offer up in sacrifice kids and buffaloes when the festivals
of Durga in any of her forms are held. One of the Pur-
ranas declares that whilst it is true that animal sacrifices
gratify Durga, it is also true that this act subjects the
sacrificer to the sin which attaches to the destruction of
animal life. This teaching is the result of the Vaishnava
faith, one prominent article of which is the sacredness

THE SAKTAS. 93
of all life ; and to the earnest follower of Vishnu the scenes
commonly witnessed at a Durga or Kali Puja must necessarily
be most repulsive, and the worshippers cannot but be
regarded by him as most guilty. The offerers of sacrifice
can plead the authority of the Vedas and the customs of
their remote ancestors, and it is probably the sanction that
is given in those works to animal sacrifices that has led
many of the Vaishnava sects to regard them with but
little respect. The general worship of the Saktas is similar
to that of the other Hindus, with the addition of the offering
of these bloody sacrifices. The reason assigned for the
presentation of blood to these deities is said to be this.
When the goddess was weary in her great confiict with the-
demons she came on earth to destroy, as there was nothing
else at hand to sustain her strength, she drank of the blood of
her slaughtered foes. By the presentation of blood it is
beheved that the satisfaction she had when refreshed by that
draught is brought to mind, and, being in a benignant mood,
she will bestow blessings upon her worshippers. It should
be noticed that it is only to the consort of Siva in her many
forms that animal sacrifices are offered; Saraswati, Lakshmi,
Eadha, and Sita, &c., the wives of Brahma, and Vishnu in his
incarnations, are never worshipped in this manner.
2. The Vamacharis. [When in public the members of this
sect generally wear the sectarial marks of some other sect,
because it is regarded by the more respectable Hindus as
disgraceful to be connected with it. A few, however, are
met with who glory in their shame, and boldly proclaim
themselves Vamacharis by their marks. These signs are the
following : a semicircular line or lines of vermilion on the
forehead, or a perpendicular line of red in the middle of the
forehead, with a round red spot at the root of the nose.
They use a small rosary of Eudraksha, or coral shells, small
enough to be concealed in the hand, or carried in a purse.
At the time of worship they wear a strip of scarlet sUk round
the loins, and a garland of scarlet flowers round the neck.]

94 HINDU SECTS.
This sect worships the goddesses not in accordance with the
teaching of the Puranas, but follow the instructions of the
Tantras. Their services are carried on in secret, only the
initiated being admitted to them. They worship Devi, the
Sakti of Siva, Lakshmi, Saraswati, the Matris (i.e., the
mothers), Yoginis, and Dakinis (a sort of ghost, or demon),
Siva himself, under the form of Bhairava, being sometimes
joined with his consort at their feasts. The aim of the
worshippers is, by the reverence paid to Sakti, to obtain super
natural powers in this life, and to obtain a reunion with the
deity after death. Their worship varies, of course, with the
object to whom it is directed, but it generally includes one or
all of the following : the offering of flesh, fish, wine, union
with women, and mystical gesticulation.
When the object desired is to interview a spirit, a corpse is
necessary. The inquirer must visit a cemetery or burning
,ghat alone at midnight, and, seated upon the corpse, make
the necessary offerings. If he can do this without fear, the
Bhutas (spirits), Yoginis, and other imaginary goblins, both
male and female, become his slaves.
The principal ceremonies connected with this worship are
not, however, performed in solitude, but by the members of the
rsect together, a naked woman being worshipped by them as
the representative of Sakti. The men present regard them
selves as the representation of Bhairava (Siva), and the
women as Bhairavis (Devis). The ceremony is followed by
drunken and sensual orgies. The members are numerous,
«specially amongst the Brahmans. The foUowing is one
form of the ritual as far as it can be pubhshed. The
object of worship at the ceremony must be a dancing-girl,
& female devotee, a harlot, a washerwoman, a barber's wife, a
female of the Brahmanical or Sudra caste, a flower girl, or
a milkmaid. The worship is to commence at midnight with
a. party of eight, nine, or eleven couples of men and women.
According to the person selected for the Sakti, appropriate
mantras, or texts, are fixed by the ritual. She must be di8-

THE SAKTAS. 95
robed, but richly adorned with jewels, &o., and then is
rendered pure by the repetition of certain mantras. After
this, with its appropriate formula, she is sprinkled with wine,
and, if not previously initiated, now receives the initiatory
text. The rites then proceed, but if the reports given of
them are at all correct, they are quite unfit for publication.
It is only right, however, to say that the Hindus generally
repudiate the doings of this sect, and regard them as evil ; at
the same time it is beyond dispute that it exists, and in
certain parts of the country has a considerable nuniber of
members. A great deal of the teaching is not written, its
precepts being taught verbally to the initiated, who in their
turn become the instructors of the new members.
3. The Kiratis. These are the worshippers of Devi in her
most terrible form as Kapalika, who in former times was pro
pitiated by human victims. As these cannot now be offered to
her, her votaries seek to please her by making offerings of their
own blood. They pierce their flesh with hooks, cut themselves
with knives, lance their tongues and cheeks, and, as long as
the law permitted, swung from bamboos with hooks fastened
into their bodies, and threw themselves from platforms upon
knives fixed upright upon the ground. At the present time
these practices are resorted to after a fashion ; cords are tied
round the waist in which the hooks are caught, and the
knives are so arranged that as the man falls upon them, they
lie flat upon the ground. Before the Government interfered,
these cruel rites were freely practised, and many were
seriously injured by them. Whenever I have seen these men
thus lacerating themselves it has appeared to me that it was
more from the hope of gain than from devotion that they
did it. In every case they were quite intoxicated with a
preparation of hemp that is common in India, which has the
effect of exciting the brain, and at the same time lessening
the pain they would otherwise suffer. But whatever the
motive, it is certain that at these festivals there are plenty
of men to be found who are ready to suffer, and, were it per-

96 HINDU SECTS.
mitted, would gladly run the risk of permanent injury to
themselves from these frightful modes of worship. The true
Kirati is thus described : His body is smeared with ashes
from a funeral pile, around his neck is a garland of human
skulls, his hair is matted, his forehead streaked with a black
line, his loins are covered with a tiger's skin, in his left hand
he carries a skull, and in his right a bell, which he rings as
he walks, shouting, " Ho ! Sambha Bhairava " ; " Ho ! Lord of
Kali." It will be noticed from this description that, as the
name implies, the members of this sect try to imitate the
dress and general appearance of Siva.

CHAPTEE VIIL
MISCELLANEOUS SECTS.
1. Saurapatas. These are Hindus who regard Surya (the
sun) as the supreme deity. Nowadays there are few of them
to be met with, though at one time they were more numerous.
On Sundays, and also on the days when the sun passes from
one zodiacal sign to another, they eat but one meal, and that
without salt. They must never eat untU they have seen the
sun. 2. Ganapatyas are those who regard Ganesa as the
supreme. All the Hindus worship Ganesa, along with the
other deities ; but there are a few who place him as head
over aU, and- direct their worship almost exclusively to him.
It is difficult to see why this should be done ; for although
Ganesa is regarded as the god of wisdom, he is not credited
with many very marvellous works in the Hindu scriptures.
3. Sikhs. The religion of the Sikhs is an offshoot from
Hinduism, and as such calls for a brief notice. The word
Sikh is simply a corruption of the word Sishya, meaning a
disciple. The founder of the religion was Nanak, who was
born at Lahore, in the year 1469. To him succeeded nine
Pontiffs, of whom Govinda was the most influential. The
aim of Nanak was to lead Hindus and Mussulmans to
recognize what was essential in the religion of each, and to
reject or treat with indifference non-essentials. In order to
this, whilst he recognized the divinity of the Hindu deities, he
also acknowledged the inspiration of Mahomet. The chief
8

98 HINDU SECTS.
tenets of the system as taught by Govinda were these : To
worship one supreme being, to eschew superstition, to
practise strict morality, and to live by the sword. This last
doctrine greatly influenced his followers, and moulded them
into one of the bravest people of the East, enabling them to
form themselves into a nation and fight until they gained their
freedom. The gurus claimed to be true Kshetriyas. There
are seven classes of Sikhs, each with some slight modifica
tion of creed and ritual ; the foUowing only need special
mention : —
a. The Ududs (solitary), as their name implies, profess to
be indifferent to worldly vicissitudes, and dwell apart from
the world in sangats, or colleges. They regard themselves
as the true and genuine followers of Nanak. They do not,
however, think it incumbent upon them to despise good food
and clothing ; nor is celibacy a necessary ordinance, though
many of them are unmarried. Their office consists largely
in reading and expounding the works of Nanak and Govinda,
as collected in the Adi Grantha and Das Padshali Ki Grantha ;
they also read the works of Kabir, Sur Dass, and others that
have been previously mentioned in the description of the
Vaishnava sects. The books of their religion are worshipped,
and at the close of the services in which they have been read
the presiding Udasi gives a feast from the prasad, i.e., food
offered to the idols which were worshipped along with the
books. The main object to be effected by this worship is
benevolence and self-denial, and, in common with most of the
Hindus, they look for deliverance from the delusions of Maya,
through whose influence it is that they regard themselves as
distinct from the Godhead. Generally speaking, the creed of
the Sikhs is very similar to that of the disciples of Kabir.
h. The Ramrayis take their name from their leader, Eama
Eaya, who disputed with Hari Krishna for the position of
Pontiff. He was unsuccessful in his attempt, but, as many
thought him entitled to the office, they and their descendants
are known as his adherents.

MISCELLANEOUS SECTS. 99
c. The Suthrc'h Shahis are -a, wandering set, who carry two
¦sticks in their hands, which they strike together as a means
of asking alms. Generally they are a dissolute set of men,
and are regarded as a disgrace to the community by the
genuine Sikhs.
d. Govinda Singhas. It was the leader of this sect who
entirely changed the Sikh religion and made it a strong
political institution. He welcomed Hindus and Mussulmans
«,like who discarded their faith in the Hindu deities and
Mahomet, and took up the sword in his cause. He profes
sedly ignored the distinctions of the Hindu castes, though
great reverence was paid to Brahmans, and they continued
to worship the Hindu deities. His followers, however,
declare that they have given up their faith in the Hindu
Scriptures, and regard the work of their] leader, the Das
Padshali Ki Grantha as their authority in religious matters.
e. The Nirmalas are an ascetic, contemplative class, who
live alone generally, but who are to be found at the great
Hindu shrines. They will give part of their prasad to Chris
tians even, as several writers speak of having partaken of it.
f. The Nagas differ little from the preceding class, except
ing in the fact that they wander about the country naked.
g. There are a few followers of a Kshetriya named Pran
Nath who tried to form a religious system on the same lines as
Nanak, but his followers are now nearly all merged into the
¦other sects of the Sikhs.
4. The Jains. The leading tenets of the Jains, and those
which distinguish them from the main body of the Hindus,
are the following: They deny the divine origin and infaUible
authority of the Vedas ; they hold that certain saints have, by
a life of purity and self-mortification, attained not only to an
equality with, but even superiority over, the deities commonly
worshipped by the Hindus ; and they show excessive regard
for all forms of animal life. It will be noticed that in the
.first two articles of their creed they agree with the Buddhists,
though the calendar of saints who have attained to this

100 HINDU SECTS.
exalted position differs in the two great sects. The disregard
which both the Jains and Buddhists manifest for the Vedas
leads to the neglect of the rites they prescribe. The chief
reason assigned for this is the fact that the Vedas sanctioned
animal sacrifices; and the Homa, or burnt-offering of ghi,
is repugnant to their feelings, because it is possible that
by it animal life is destroyed, as insects may be crawling on
the ground where the offering is made, or may exist in the
ghi itself.
The Jains {i.e. the worshippers of the Jinas) profess to
reverence twenty-four Tirthankaras, or deified mortals of a
past age, twenty-four of the present, and twenty-four who
have as yet to attain this honour. These they declare to be
greater than even the chief deities of the Hindu Pantheon.
Statues of these beings in black and white marble are to be
seen in their temples. They are all of the same style of
feature, quietness and calmness being their chief charac
teristic ; nothing at all approaching to the grotesque, as ap
pears in many of the ordinary Hindu objects of worship ; and
the Jain temples for beauty and cleanliness are in every way
superior to those of the orthodox Hindus. The saints most
generally worshipped by the Jains of North India are Paris-
natha and Mahavir, the twenty-third and twenty-fourth of
the present race of saints. The following epithets applied to
the saints will show the profound reverence that is paid to
them. They are caUed Jagatprabhus (lords of the world),
Kshina-karma (free from ceremonial acts), Sarvagna (omnis
cient), Adiswara (supreme lord), Devadideva (god of gods),
Tirthankaras (those who have passed over the sea of life), and
Jina (victors over all human passions and infirmities).
The previous jinas, or saints, are said to have been of
colossal height, and to have lived for mUlions of years ; but
as the two last mentioned alone are believed to have been of
ordinary size, and to have lived for the ordinary term of life,
it is generally admitted that they were historical personages,
the others being the offspring of a fertile imagination, employed

MISCELLANEOUS SECTS. 101
to carry back the origin of the sect into a remote antiquity. It
is taught that these deified saints lived on earth as ordinary
mortals through several lives until they finally attained to
union with the supreme. It is uncertain when the sect was
formed originally, but there are many reasons for believing
that it is of later origin than Buddhism.
The Jains hold that all existences are divisible into two
classes, Jiva and Ajiva; i.e., life and not-life. Their forms
may change, but they remain imperishable. They continue
for a time in a certain form, undergo some change, and then
return eventually to their previous state.
1. Jivalliie). AUbeingspossessedof jiva are of two kinds :
those that can move and those which cannot. In the first
class are included men, animals, demons, and gods ; in the
second are the four elements, earth, water, fire, air, and the
whole of the vegetable kingdom. According to the actions of
each living thing during the continuance of its present life
will the next be higher or lower. A man, e.g., through his
sins in his present life, in his next life is born as an animal.
If his life be made up of virtue and vice, he will be born again
as a man ; if his life is virtuous only, and unmixed with vice,
he ascends to heaven, and passing through various stages of
probation, finally obtains emancipation from future separate
existence. This is in accord generally with the teaching of
the Hindu system.
2. Ajiva. In this class we find time, religion, &c., enu
merated. Eehgion, again, is composed of many elements, the
chief of which are the following ; — Punya, religious merit —
whatever is of benefit to human beings. As the nearest ap
proach to this may be mentioned the works of supererogation
of the Eomish Church ; i.e., works not essential to salvation,
but the performance of which will greatly conduce to the
spiritual advancement of the doer of them. Pfip (sin), the
opposite of Punya. Of these there are 1,082 ; but it is notice
able that generally these are not moral offences, but the
violation of some arbitrary caste rules. For although in some

102 HINDU SECTS.
parts of India caste rules are partially disregarded by them^
in other parts, the Jains are as scrupulous in caste matters
as are the orthodox Hindus. Asrava. This signifies the
organs of sense, passion, &e., the source whence evil in man
proceeds. Samvara; i.e., the power by which acts are aided
or hindered, as attention, secrecy, patience, asceticism, con
viction of truth, &c. Nirjara; i.e., penance, such as fasting,
repentance, study, &c. Banda (union) ; i.e., the union of life
with acts, as milk with water. Moksha, or liberation of the
vital spirit from the bonds of action ; exemption from the
necessity of being again born into the world. It is not at all
clear in what state the liberated spirit will continue to hve.
It is, however, not incompatible, in the opinion of the Jains,
with the enjoyment of Nirvana, which means " gone out," as
a fire ; " set," as a sun ; " defunct," as a saint who has
passed away enjoys repose. " It is not annUiUation, but
unceasing apathy, which they regard as supreme felicity,
worthy to be sought by the practice of mortification as well
as by the acquisition of knowledge."
The Jains are divided into two classes : Yatis, the clerical,
and Sravakas, or lay members. Implicit belief in the teach
ing and life of the Tirthankaras is considered a necessary
part of their religious system. Their moral code is summed
up in five laws : refraining from injury to life, truth, honesty,
chastity, and freedom from worldly desires. There are four
dharmas, or works of merit : liberality, gentleness, piety, and
penance ; and three kinds of restraint, viz., that of the mind,
tongue, and person. It is a clear evidence of the lack of
power of the system over the conduct of its members that
some of the most religious of the Jains are amongst the most
immoral of men. Some minor instructions are somewhat
ludicrous. At certain seasons of the year abstinence from
salt, flowers, green fruit, roots, honey, grapes, and tobacco
must be observed. Water must be twice strained before it is
drunk, lest any living creature should be in it ; and no liquid
must be left uncovered, lest an insect should faU into it and

MISCELLAXEOUS SECTS. 103
be drowned. And that they may not happen to swallow a fly,
they must never eat in the dark. The very religious mem
bers of the sect generally wear a piece of gauze over their lips,
lest in breathing they should kill any insect ; and for the
same reason a brush is used to sweep a seat before sitting
down upon it. It is a system of quietism, which renders its
followers harmless members of the community; but gene
rally it produces indifference respecting the world to come.
The ritual of the Jains is very simple. The Yatis, or
devotees, can worship in the temples or not ; but the laymen
must visit a temple at least once a day, and walk three times
round the building ; they then bow to the image, and offer a
flower, and repeat a short mantra, or text. In ordinary life
they certainly are not purer than their Hindu neighbours.
The builder of one of their most beautiful temples, which is
situated in a splendid garden, has his own house decorated
in a most indecent manner. This house is most expensively
furnished, but its ornamental parts are of the worst conceiv
able form. The officiating priests at the temples are generally
Brahmans, and whilst acknowledging the deity of the Hindu
gods, they devote their chief worship to the deified saints.
Sometimes the images of Bhairavas and Bhairavis, the
attendants of Siva and Kali, are found in these temples, and
the ritual differs but little from that of the Saiva and Sakta
worship. The mythology of the Jains is generally wilder even than
that of the Hindus ; and from this it seems pretty clear that
their books are of later date. It is possible that the Jains
were a sect of the Buddhists, but it seems more hkely that
they are a remnant of that sect, whose leaders at a time of
religious toleration formulated their creed and gathered a few
disciples long after the Buddhists had been banished from
the country. The effect of Hinduism upon the Jains, is seen
in the fact that in the South, where caste prejudices are
stronger, the Jains carefully observe the caste regulations ;
but in North India, where the regulations of caste are

104 HINDU SECTS.
not so stringently observed, they generally regard themselves
as all belonging to the Vaishyas, the third of the great
castes. The main body of the Jains is divided into two great
classes, the Swetambaras, or white-robed; and the Digam-
baras, or air-clad, i.e., naked. Between these the most bitter
animosity prevails. Probably the Digambaras went about
naked, or nearly so ; now they simply divest themselves of
their upper garment, a many-coloured one, during meals;
the Swetambaras, on the other hand, retain their clothes
during their meals. This, however, does not constitute the
only or main difference between them. The Swetambaras
decorate their images with jewels ; their opponents consider
this action to be wrong. The gurus of the Swetambaras eat
their food from vessels ; those of the Digambaras must take
it from the hands of their disciples. The Swetambaras
assert that the angas (Scriptures) were the work of the imme
diate disciples of the Tirthankaras ; the Digambaras affirm a
much later origin for them. The Swetambaras assert that
women can obtain nirvana ; the Digambaras deny this.
In addition to these two main divisions, there are a few
insignificant sects, some of which discard the use of images
altogether. 5. Sddluis. The term Sadhu (saint) is commonly applied
to any Hindu ascetic, but there is a sect who accept it
as their own proper name, which was founded by a man
named Birbhan, who was born iu the neighbourhood of
Dehli, in the year 1658. This man declared that he received
his teaching in a miraculous manner from the Satguru (the
true teacher), Udaya Das. The doctrine held by these
people does not materially differ from that of Kabir and
Nanak. Their great hope is final emancipation from living.
They have no temples, but declare that the true shrine is
the meeting of the faithful. At certain times the members
meet together, read the writings of thoir leaders, sing songs,
and partake of a common meal. They speak of God as the

MISCELLANEOUS SECTS. 105
Satnama (the true name), and differ but little from the
following sect.
6. The Satnfcmis. This sect was originated by a man
named Eohidas, a disciple and developer of the system of
Eamananda. Eamananda taught that any of the three
highest castes could enter the ascetic order; his followers
freely admitted men of lower castes; whilst at the present
time nearly all the members of the sect are Chamars, one
of the lowest and most despised of all the Hindu castes. It
is possible, however, that those joining the sect from other
castes have been regarded as Chamars, because they asso
ciated with such people. It is a noticeable fact that whilst,
as their name implies, they profess to be worshippers of the
one true God, many of the people worship the many Hindu
deities just as their neighbours do. As a rule, however, the
members differ from the rest of the Chamars in this : they
are a quiet, industrious, sober people, who regard it to be a
duty to abstain from meat of all kinds, intoxicating drinks,
and tobacco. Thefr necklaces having been touched by the
guru are regarded with especial reverence. They hate the
orthodox Hindus ; Brahmans most of all.
7. The Siva Narayanas are the foUowers of a Eajput
named Siva Narayana, who lived in the eighteenth century.
His teaching was pure theism. All classes of Hindus, and
Mussulmans too, are welcomed to join the sect. Truth,
temperance, and mercy form its main tenets, and its mem
bers are enjoined to observe the outward social observance
of the community from wliich they came, though they
repudiate the religious rites and faiths.

CHAPTEE IX.
THE DEISTIC SECTS FORMED DURING THE PRESENT
CENTURY.
Any account of the Hindu sects would be very incomplete if
those were omitted that have arisen during the present
century, and which are receiving accessions from the edu
cated classes every year. The aim of the leaders of these sects
has professedly been to lead back the Hindus to the primitive
worship of their Aryan forefathers, although it is evident to
all unprejudiced students of their doctrines that it is in
many respects the teaching of the Vedas, very largely modi
fied bj' that of the Christian Scriptures, that is prevailing
amongst them. This will become more clear as we consider
the development of these sects from their commencement.
There is no doubt, as Augustine declared, that if Stephen
had not prayed, the church would not have had Paul ; if
Christian missions had not been established in India, the
various deistic Samajes would not have sprung up in her
midst. 1. The Brahma Samaj, founded by Eama Mohun Eai.'''
Eaja Eama Mohun Eai, the founder of the Brahma Samaj,
or Divine Society, was born in the year 1774. His father
and grandfather being attached to the Mohamedan princes
at Moorshedabad, he early learned Arabic and Persian, and
* For a fuller account of the rise aud development of the modem
Theistlc sects, see " Life of Babu Keshub Chundra Sen," by Bev. T. E.
Slater, Bangalore.

THE DEISTIC SECTS. 107
thus gained some knowledge of the teachings of the Koran
and the Persian poets. As a Brahman he was educated
in the mythology of Hinduism ; but at the early age of six
teen his mind revolted against the heathen practices of
his household, and as a result of his persistent opposition to
the rehgious worshixJ of his family he was persecuted, and left
his home. When about twenty years old his father invited
him to return ; he did so, and, in order to qualify himself for
employment under the East India Company, studied English,
and was successful in obtaining a position of influence for
several years under the East India Company. In 1814.
he settled down in Calcutta, where he purchased a house,
and, again speaking freely of the evils of the Hindu religious
and social customs, was openly repudiated by his father. On
the death of his father he became still more bold, and,
purchasing a printing-press, published a number of pamphlets
in various languages against prevailing errors. " This raised
such a feeling against me," he says in an autobiographical
sketch, " that I was at last deserted by every person except
two or three Scotch friends, to whom, and to the nation to
which they belong, I always feel grateful. The ground
which I took in all my controversies was not that of oppo
sition to Brahmanism, but to a perversion of it; and I
endeavoured to show that their idolatry was contrary to the
practice of their ancestors and the principles of the ancient
books and authorities which they profess to revere and
obey." In 1819, after publishing several pamphlets con
taining religious lessons as taught by some of the Hindu
scriptures, he published a tract called " The Precepts of
Jesus, the Guide to Peace and Happiness." It is interesting
to see how the modern reformer availed himself of the im
proved methods of communicating truth. In the case of the
leaders of the sects previously considered, it was by a life of
penance that they gained attention, and by Avandering from
city to city that they spread their views; but Eaja Eama
Mohun Eai could live in his own house, and by the use of

108 HINDU SECTS.
his press speak to far greater numbers by means of the
pamphlets his loving heart and fertUe brain prepared.
In the year 1828 the Sabha was founded. A few friends
had been in the habit of meeting with their leader since 1815,
but as the numbers increased it was agreed to hire a room in
the Chitpore Eoad, Calcutta, where this monotheistic Church
was founded under the name of the Brahma Samaj. In
1830 the numbers had so increased, and money having
been given, a new house suitable for the purpose was built ;
and the following extract from the trust deed wUl show the
purpose of this building : it was " for a place of public meeting
¦of all sorts and descriptions of people as shaU behave and
conduct themselves in an orderly, sober, religious, and devout
manner, for the worship and adoration of the Eternal, Un
searchable, and Immutable Being who is the Author and
Preserver of the Universe." His object in founding the
church was declared to be this — " to persuade my countrymen
to forsake idolatry and to become monotheists."
Eama Mohun Eai did not himself give up caste observances,
neither did he teach others to do so ; and though he was him
self largely indebted to the Bible for his religious knowledge
and impulse, he did not have it introduced into the meetings
of this Theistic Church. The Hindu scriptures were read
and expounded. Soon after the opening of this building the
Eaja visited Europe, and died in Bristol. Though he never
openly avowed himself a Christian, those who were most inti
mate with him speak most strongly of his belief in the
divine authority of Jesus Christ, in His miracles, and in His
resurrection. The next great step in advance was made by Devendra Nath
Tagore, who was born in 1818. When twenty years of age
this gentleman was brought under deep religious impressions.
At this time he spent days in silent meditation, seeking light
from heaven. At length " the Friend of the sinner, the
Protector of the helpless, destitute, and castaway, vouchsafedin
His infinite mercy to appear in my corrupt heart to heal me

THE DEISTIC SECTS. 109
and chasten me." The result of this was that after a long
struggle "the world lost its attractions, and God became my
only comfort and delight in this world of sorrow and sin."
Unlike Eaja Eama Mohun Eai, his successor does not appear
to have gone farther than the Hindu scriptures for light. In
1839 he formed a society called the Tattvabodini Sabha, a
society for the knowledge of truth, which in 1848 united
with the Brahma Samaj, and soon afterwards developments
appear. Up to this time the profession of Brahmist doctrine did not
necessarily involve the giving up of all share in idolatrous
worship. Many who in the meetings of the Samaj and!
elsewhere were most eloquent in denouncing the idola
trous worship of the people were themselves found, when the
idols were worshipped in the home, joining openly in their
worship. To prevent this a covenant was drawn up, which
the members of the Samaj were expected to sign, containing-
a promise to abstain from idolatry, and cultivate the habit of
prayer. About twenty signed this covenant at the first, and
by doing so brought upon themselves considerable persecu
tion. Still their doctrine spread, and in 1847 the number
of " covenanted " Brahmas was 767, whilst many more, who
verbaUy professed to hold the same views, were not bold enough
to sign the covenant.
Very soon another onward movement is seen. Up to this
time the members of the Samaj had regarded the Vedas as
divinely inspired, and therefore as a supreme authority in re
ligious matters. But as doubts had arisen in the minds of some
of the members, learned Pundits were sent to Benares to copy
and study these books. On their return the matter was most
carefully considered by the members, and at last it was de
cided that the teaching of the Vedas was not in accordance
with their religious views, and though regarded as valuable
guides, their infallibility was denied. Soon after this decision
had been arrived at, the society was re-organized, and a clearer
and fuller form of covenant drawn up, the substance of which

110 HINDU SECTS.
was as follows : " That there is but one God ; that He is
the Creator of all things, that love to Him, and the doing of
what He loves, is worship ; and that such worship alone
¦ensures all present and future bliss."
This theistic movement was not confined to Bengal. In
NIorth India a sect called the Arya Samaj was founded by
Pundit Dayananda Sarasvati. He, however, continued to
repose an implicit faith in the divine authority of the Vedas ;
at the same time he " opposed idol worship, repudiated caste,
advocated female education, and the re-marriage of widows,
and secured hundreds of followers, and a much larger num-
iber of sympathisers." '¦'
The next important event in the history of religious activity
lamongst the Hindus was the accession to the ranks of the
Brahma Samaj of Babu Keshub Chundra Sen. It will have
.been noticed that the history of this movement is largely the
history of its leaders. As they advanced, their followers
advanced too ; when they remained stationary, or took a
retrograde step, they were not left alone. Eaja Eama
3Iohun Eai groped' after the light, and the members of the
Samaj in his day moved slowly on. Eaja Devendra Nath
¦Tagore went a little farther in giving up impUcit faith in the
Tedas. And now it will be seen that, led on by Babu Keshub
Chundra Sen, a further advance was made. In 1858, when
he was twenty years of age, Keshub Babu joined the Samaj, and
very soon made himself leader of the community. For three
years he continued as a clerk in the Bank of Bengal, but
afterwards, wishing to be free from secular employment, he
resigned his post and devoted his whole time to the work of
the Samaj . In 1862 he was chosen Minister, and soon after this,
because he took his wife to dine with his friend, Devendra Nath
Tagore, who was regarded as an excommunicated Brahman,
mainly because he had the marriage of his daughter celebrated
without the usual idolatrous ceremonies, he was cut off from
intercourse with his family for six months.
¦* "Keshub Chundra Sen," by Eev T. E. Slater, p. 29,

THE DEISTIC SECTS. Ill
For a time all went on well, but soon it became evident
that the new Minister was progressing in thought too rapidly
for many of the older members. He was thoroughly
opposed to the restrictions of caste, and was wishful
that all who took part in the services of the Samaj should
hold similar views. He advocated a still further violation of
Hindu customs, viz., the intermarriage of people of differing
castes. When such a marriage took place a great outcry
was raised, and the more progressive separated from the
Samaj. The older and more conservative of the members
held that the Samaj should concern itself only with religious
reforms, and continue to respect the social customs of
Hinduism, Keshub Babu and his party protesting that the
two could not be separated. Before the separation took place
the progressive party put their views into the following
shape :—
1. That the external signs of caste distinctions such as
the Brahmanical thread should be no longer used.
2. That none but Brahmas of sufficient ability and good
moral character, who lived consistently with their profession,
should be allowed to conduct the services of the Samaj.
3. That nothing should be said in the Samaj expressive of
hatred or contempt for other religions.
These simple regulations not being accepted, the progres
sive party left the Samaj, and established what was after
wards called the Brahma Samaj of India ; the Society they
left afterwards took the name of the Adi, or original, Samaj.
Since this separation the Adi Samaj has not made any
advance in theistic faith, but has rather gone back towards
Hinduism. From this time the history of the Brahma Samaj of India
is really the history of the phases of faith of Keshub Chundra
Sen. At the anniversary meetings of the Society he generally
gave an address in English to an immense audience in the
Town Hall of Calcutta, from which the theological position
of the Society can be learned.

112 HINDU SECTS.
Before passing on to notice the progress ofthe Brahma
Samaj of India, I will give the covenant of the Adi Samaj : —
1. God alone existed in the beginning, and He created
this universe.
2. He is intelligent, infinite, benevolent, eternal, governor
of the universe, all-knowing, omnipresent, refuge of all,
devoid of limbs, immutable, alone, without a second, all-
powerful, self-existent, and beyond comparison.
3. By worshipping Him, and Him alone, we can attain
the highest good in this life and in the next.
4. To love Him and to do the works He loves constitute
His worship.
By declaring my belief in the above-mentioned four fun
damental principles of Brahmanism, I accept it as my faith.
2. The Brahma Samaj of India.
The most conspicuous feature of this Samaj in its earlier
days was the reverence shown to Jesus Christ, and the unique
position assigned to Him by the leader in his public utter
ances as well as in his own private faith. In almost the first
public lecture that he delivered he claimed Jesus as belong
ing to India and the East more than to Europe, and there
can be no doubt that it was largely owing to Keshub Babu's
teaching that the educated Hindus generally regarded Jesus
with very different feelings from those which had generally
been common to that class. At the public services of the
Samaj, which were held soon after the secession in a mandir,
or church, that was built for this purpose, selections from
the Bible were read along with parts of the Vedas, Koran,
and other sacred writings. That fact is the key to under
stand this sect. It professes to draw its religious light from
aU quarters, whilst it gives exclusive reverence to none.
Whilst admitting the inspiration of all great writers and the
benefit of all good books, it teaches that there is a present
inspiration for those who will receive it ; and that this divine
light being available to each, its teaching is the test of truth.
The individual conscience is regarded as the final test of
truth, from whatever source it may come.

THE DEISTIC SECTS. 113
In the history of this Samaj under Keshub's leadership,
there are two main chapters — viz., the earlier efforts to
adapt the older forms of Hindu faith and practice, and the
attempt to introduce, in a Hindu form, some of the dis
tinctive rites of Christianity. Amongst the Hindu forms of
worship are yoga, or meditation, i.e., the study of the divine
nature, as taught in the writings of the old Vedic sages. In
Hinduism this was carried to great extremes ; in the public
services of the Brahmas silent meditation finds a prominent
place. Then bhakti, the loving trust of the Vaishnavas, is
most earnestly commended, and Chaitanya, as the apostle of
this doctrine, is held in high esteem by the members of this
sect. The great peculiarity of the religious life of this Samaj
hes in the fact that it seeks to awaken the emotional as well
as appeals to the inteUectual side of human nature. And
many in its religious exercises profess to have found the
truest bhss.
Annual festivals called Brahmatsavas were also instituted.
For days together religious meetings with music and other
festivities were arranged for, and by this means, as by the
Hindu festivals, the faith of the members was strengthened
and their zeal fired. Added to this were rehgious pro
cessions with music and singing, and later on a tendency set
in favourable to Vairagya, i.e., the practice of asceticism.
This, it will be seen, is in perfect harmony with the genius
of Hinduism, as nearly all the other sects have had their
vairagis, or religious ascetics, who were regarded by the rest
of the community as the perfected members of the com
munity. This teaching of the benefits of asceticism as much
as anything else shows the close affinity of Brahmaism
with Hinduism.
But Brahmaism, whUst holding out one hand to Hin
duism, holds out another to Christianity. Keshub Babu
never failed to express his love to Jesus Christ and his
loyalty to His commands ; and the spirit of Jesus is seen in
nearly all his teaching. He began by claiming Him as an
9

114 HINDU SECTS.
Asiatic, and offers India to Him as a people. He next pro
fesses to show in the " Future Church " that whilst the
dogmatic teaching of the Christian Church is not acceptable
to India, the true Church is one which will embrace Chris-
iians and Hindus, and a few years later proclaims the fact
that a new " dispensation " has been inaugurated by God
through him and his apostles. As God appointed the Jewish,
then the Christian, now He has also appointed this newer
all-comprehensive Church, and the whole world is invited to
¦enter. Long before this, efforts of a missionary character
had been made by the leader and his more eminent fol
lowers, and by men solemnly set apart for this special work.
Addresses were given in various parts of India commending
their doctrine to others, and, as a result, branch Samajes
have been formed in many places ; but with the formation of
the " New Dispensation " the offer went beyond India to
men of all nations, and the blessings of this newly-given light
were offered freely unto all men. It is interesting to note,
too, that the distinctive rites of the Christian Church were
adopted by Keshub Babu. Baptism was administered in the
tank in the grounds of his house ; the Lord's Supper was
observed, rice and water being used instead of bread and
wine ; and later on a religious dance was inaugurated. The
foUowing is the proclamation of the New Dispensation to
the world : —
" THE NEW DISPENSATION.
" Extraordinary.
" New Year's Day.
" 1st January, 1883.
"Keshub Chunder Sen, a servant of God, called to be an
npostle of the Church of the New Dispensation which is in
the holy city of Calcutta, the metropolis of Aryavarta.
" To aU the great nations in the world, and to the chief
religious sects in the East and the West.

THE DEISTIC SECTS. 115
"To the foUowers of Moses, of Jesus, of Buddha, of Con-
feicius, of Zoroaster, of Mahomet, of Nanac, and to the various
branches of the Hindu Church.
" To the saints and the sages, the bishops and the elders,
the ministers and the missionaries of all these religious
bodies :
" Grace be unto you and peace everlasting.
"Whereas sectarian discord and strife, schisms and enmi
ties, prevail in our Father's family, causing much bitterness
and unhappiness, impurity and unrighteousness, and even
war, carnage, and bloodshed.
" Whereas this setting of brother against brother and sister
against sister, in the name of religion, has proved a fruitful
source of evils, and is itself a sin against God and man.
" It has pleased the Holy God to send unto the world a
message of peace and love, of harmony and reconciliation.
"This New Dispensation hath He, in boundless mercy,
vouchsafed to us in the East, and we have been commanded
to bear witness unto it among the nations of the earth.
" Thus said the Lord : Sectarianism is an abomination
unto me, and unbrotherliness I will not tolerate.
"I desire love and unity, and my children shall be of one
heart, even as I am one.
" At sundry times have I spoken through my prophets,
and though many and various my dispensations, there is
unity in them.
"But the followers of these, my prophets, have quarrelled
and fought, and they hate and exclude each other.
" The unity of Heaven's messages have they denied, and
the science that binds and harmonizes them their eyes see
not and their hearts ignore.
" Hear, ye men, there is one music, but many instruments ;
¦one body, but many limbs ; one spirit, but diverse gifts ; one
blood, yet many nations ; one church, yet many churches.
"Blessed are the peace-makers who reconcile differences
and establish peace, goodwill, and brotherhood in the name
of the Father.

116 HINDU SECTS.
" These words hath the Lord our God spoken unto us,
and His new gospel that He hath revealed unto us, is a
gospel of exceeding joy.
" The Church Universal hath He already planted in this
land, and therein are aU prophets and aU scriptures har
monized in beautiful synthesis.
" And these blessed tidings the Loving Father hath
charged me and my brother apostles to declare unto all the
nations of the world, that being of one blood they may also
be of one faith and rejoice in one Lord.
"Thus shall all discord be over, saith the Lord, and
peace shall reign on earth.
" Humbly, therefore, I exhort you, brethren, to accept this
new message of universal love.
"Hate not, but love ye one another, and be ye one in
spirit and in truth, even as the Father is one.
" All errors and impurities ye shall eschew, in whatever
church or nation they may be found, but ye shall hate no
Scripture, no prophet, no church.
" Eenounce all manner of superstition and error, infidelity
and scepticism, vice and sensuality, and be ye pure and
perfect. "Every saint, every prophet, and every martyr ye shall
honour and love as a man of God.
" Gather ye the wisdom of the East and the West, and
accept and assimilate the examples of the saints of all ages,
" So that the most fervent devotion, the deepest com
munion, the most self-denying asceticism, the warmest
philanthropy, the strictest justice and veracity, and the
highest purity of the best men in the world may be yours.
" Above all love one another, and merge all difference in
universal brotherhood.
" Beloved brethren, accept our love and give us yours, and
let the East and the West with one heart celebrate the jubUee
of the New Dispensation.
" Let Asia, Europe, Africa, and America, with diverse

THE DEISTIC SECTS. 117
instruments, praise the New Dispensation, and sing the
Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man."
The later years of Keshub Babu's life were given rather to
the development of the religious than the social improvement
of his followers ; for, owing to a departure in practice from
his previous teaching, there was a split in his community,
and the more progressive part left and formed another
Samaj called the Sadharan Samaj. The ground of offence
was the marriage of Keshub Babu's daughter to the young
Eaja of Cooch Behar when she was below the age at which
he had taught that marriages should be celebrated ; and,
further, that idolatrous practices were permitted in con
nection with the marriage ceremony.
Keshub Babu died in Calcutta in January, 1884, and
great was the lamentation made over him. He was a noble
man, and one who was greatly beloved by all classes of the
community. After his death his family and the Apostolic
Durbar, as the council of the apostles of the New Dispen
sation was called, refused to aUow the platform from which
he had taught to be used, it being declared that Keshub,
though absent in body, was stUl the leader of the society
This may be the first step towards the deification of their
great leader. And when this Durbar declares that their
conscience authorizes them to take this position, it is diffi
cult to set aside their decision. In the matter of Keshub's
daughter's marriage, it was the result of a supposed inspira
tion that led him to go against his own teaching. His
disciples, in making conscience the test of truth, are but
following their great leader's example.
The covenant of this New Dispensation, which is far fuUer
and more comprehensive than that of the Adi Samaj, is as
follows : —
" One God, one Scripture, one Church.
Eternal progress of the soul.
Communion of prophets and saints.

118 HINDU SECTS.
Fatherhood and motherhood of God.
Brotherhood of man and sisterhood of woman.
Harmony of knowledge and holiness, love and work.
Yoga and asceticism in their highest development.
Loyalty to sovereign." '¦=
Among the numerous objects in view are the following : —
To reduce the truths of aU Scriptures to one eternal and
unwritten Scripture. To preach Christ's kingdom of heaven.
To kiU idolatry by taking its hfe and spirit out of it. To
explain the mystery of the Trinity, and to show Unity in
Trinity. To reconcile ancient faith and modem science.
To reconcile pure Christianity and pure Hinduism. To turn
men's hearts from physical to moral miracles. To make
science supersede supernaturalism. To preach Christ as the
Son of God, as the Logos in aU prophets before and after
Him. To put down aU manner of sin, and promote aU
manner of purity by the power of prayer.
3. The Sadharan (Universal) Samaj.
This, the most active and socially powerful of the three,
originated in 1878. The occasion of the secession, as noticed
above, was the marriage of Keshub Babu's daughter at an
earlier age than he had taught was right ; the cause, however,
lay a little deeper. It was a growing dissatisfaction with the
autocratic rule of the leader and the claim to an almost infal
lible inspiration. The greater number of the Calcutta mem
bers of the Brahma Samaj forsook their old leader, and
their action was approved by twenty-nine of the country
branches, altogether 425 of the recognized Brahmas and
Brahmicas, i.e., lady members of the Samaj, condemning
his conduct.
The covenant of this sect, which largely agrees with that
of the New Dispensation, is as foUows : —
1. There is only one God, who is the Creator, Preserver,
and Saviour of the world. He is a Spirit, infinite in wisdom,
love, justice, and holiness ; omnipotent, eternal, and blissful
• "Keshub Chundra Sen," p. 107.

THE DEISTIC SECTS. 11^
2. The human soul is immortal, and capable of infinite
progress, and is responsible to God for its doings.
3. God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Divine
worship is necessary for attaining true felicity and salvation.
4. Love to God, and carrying out His will in aU the con
cerns of life, constitute true worship.
5. Prayer, and dependence on God, and a constant realiza
tion of His presence, are the means of attaining spiritual
strength. 6. No created object is to be worshipped as God, nor any
person or book to be considered as infallible and the sole
means of salvation.
7. The Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
8. God rewards virtue and punishes sin. His punishments
are remedial, and not eternal.
9. Cessation from sin, accompanied by sincere repentance,
is the only atonement for it ; and union with God in wisdom,
goodness, and holiness, is true salvation.
In order to prevent the undue influence of any one man in
this Samaj, a form of government somewhat of Presbyterian
form has been adopted. The society is ruled by officers
elected for this purpose by the members. " These officers
are four in number, and are elected annually ; they act in
conjunction with a general committee of forty, members, also
elected annually, and a certain number of representatives of
branch Samajes in the country towns ; and this committee in
its turn appoints an executive of twelve persons for the year." *
This latest sect has built for itself a meeting-house that
will seat 1,200 people, at a cost of Es. 40,000, and is most
active in its efforts in Calcutta and Bengal. There are more
" covenanted " Brahmas in connection with it than with the
other two, and its organs in the press are always on the
side ' of social progress. It has its prayer-meetings and
Philanthropic Society, a first-class college, and a night school,
for the benefit of working men. It is part of the con-
* "Keshub Chundra Sen," p. 87.

120 HINDU SECTS.
stitution of the society that "only those who have dis
carded idolatry and caste in their private lives as well as in
public can be office-bearers, ministers, missionaries, or mem
bers of the Executive Committee of the Samaj." In 1880
there were 514 full members of this sect in India, and from
the earnestness of those who have joined, and the self-sacri
ficing character of the missionaries they employ, there appears
to be reason to believe that their numbers will quickly and
largely increase. Taking all these sects together, in 1884
there were 173 Samajes, 1,500 enrolled members, and about
8,000 adherents.
The census returns of 1882, however, do not give quite so
large a number, as the following extract from the Census
Eeport will show ; but at the same time it suggests the ex
planation of the apparent discrepancy :— " In 1872 the Brah
mas were included among Hindus, and the figures seem to
indicate that a large proportion of them have again been
shown in the same manner. The adherents of the sect are
almost entirely educated Bengalis, with, sometimes, their
wives and families ; and they are therefore chiefly found in
large towns, and at the headquarters of districts, at few
of which are they unrepresented. The census tables, how
ever, only show 788 in the whole of Bengal, out of whom
763 are in Bengal proper, and from thirty-six districts none
at all have been returned. It is beyond doubt that they have
described themselves, or been described, in many cases as
Hindus — a course which is not remarkable when we consider
that many persons rank them as a puritanical monotheistic
sect of the Hindus ; while the fact that the sect is in many
places looked on with disfavour would be enough to induce
many to shrink from avowing the principles which they really
ontertain. Two-thirds of the whole number returned are to
be found in Calcutta."

CASTE.

CHAPTEE I.
GENERAL REMARKS ON CASTE.*
Pride of birth is not by any means confined to the Hindus.
'Wherever there has been the belief that the gods have been
incarnated, and dwelt on earth amongst mortals, there has
been an endeavour to show that some of the residents in
those lands are their direct descendants, and consequently
entitled to greater honour and privilege than the masses of
their fellow-countrymen. In order to secure reverence for
their ancestry, their origin is ascribed, with more or less
consistency, to one or other of these deities. A man who
could trace his descent from a god naturaUy expected and
generally received a greater share of the reverence and riches
of his feUows than ordinary mortals who were fashioned by
his hands. In modern times, great though the privileges
of the nobiUty have been as compared with those of the com
mons, the privUeges claimed and generally conceded to them,
compared with those of the caste families of India, are as
nothing. " The existence of a common brotherhood in the
human family and the practice of a common sympathy and
succour have, by the majority of men, been grievously over
looked. Tyranny, mischief, and cruelty have been most
extensively the consequence of anti-social presumption and
pretension. The constant experience of the general observer
of human nature has been not unlike that of the Hebrew
sage Agur, the son of Jakeh : —
* For this book I am largely indebted to Dr. Muir's " Original Sanskrit
Texts " and Dr. Wilson's " Caste."

124 CASTE.
" ' There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes.
And yet is not washed from their filthiness.
There is a generation, 0 how lofty are their eyes !
And their eyelids are lifted up.
There is a generation whose teeth are as swords,
Aud their jaw-teeth as knives.
To devour the poor from oft the earth.
And the needy from among men. ' *
" It is among the Hindus, however, that the imagination
of natural and positive distinction in humanity has been
brought to the most fearful and pernicious development ever
exhibited on the face of the globe. The doctrine and practice
of what is called caste, as held and observed by this people,
has been only dimly shadowed by the worst social arrange
ments which were of old to be witnessed amongst the proudest
nations, and among the proudest orders of men in those
nations. The Egyptians, who, according to Herodotus, con
sidered themselves ' the most ancient of aU nations,' and who
are described by him as excessively religious beyond any
other people,' and 'too much addicted to their ancestorial
customs to adopt any other,' most nearly approached them
in their national and family pretensions, and the privilege
and customs of priests and people viewed in reference to
descent and occupation ; but in the multitude, diversity,
complication, and burdensomeness of their religious and
social distinction, the Hindus have left the Egyptians far
behind. Indian caste is the condensation of aU the pride,
jealousy, and tyranny of an ancient and predominant people
dealing with the tribes which they have subjected, and over
which they have ruled, often without the sympathies of a
recognized common humanity." t According to native testi
mony, " it is by means of these caste distinctions that the
Hindu religion has been so' well preserved ; they are its chief
support ; and when this support is removed there can be no
doubt that it will sink to destruction."
Caste is a Portuguese word " signifying cast, mould, race,
* Prov. XXX. 12-14. f Wilson, p. 11.

GENEEAL REMARKS ON CASTE. 125
kind, and quality. It was applied originally by the Portuguese,
when they arrived in the East, to designate the pecuhar
system of religious and social distinctions which they observed
among the Hindu people, particularly as founded on race. The
Indian word which partiaUy corresponds with caste is
Jati = gens, and yhog, ' race or nation ' ; while Jati-bheda, the
representative of the foundations of the caste system,
means the distinctions of race. Varna, another word used
for it by the Hindus, originally meant a difference in 'colour.'
GraduaUy these Indian words, conveniently rendered by
caste, have come to represent not only varieties of race ani
colour, but every original, hereditary, rehgious, instituted,
and conventional distinction which it is possible to conceive."
To give some idea of the minute regulations of this system
of caste, and how its laws are framed to regulate the life of
its slaves, it may be mentioned that "it has for infancy,
pupilage, and manhood its ordained methods of sucking,
sipping, drinking, and eating ; of washing, anointing ; of
clothing and ornamenting the body ; of sitting, rising, re
clining ; of moving, visiting, travelling; of speaking, reading,
hstening, and reciting ; and of meditating, singing, working,
and fighting. It has its laws for social and religious rights,
privUeges and occupations ; for education, duty, religious ser
vice; for errors, sms, transgressions ; for intercommunion,
avoidance, and excommunication ; for defilement and purifi
cation ; for fines and other punishments. It unfolds the
ways of committing what it caUs sins, accumulating sin,
and of putting away sin ; of acquiring, dispensing, and losing
merit. It treats of inheritance, conveyance, possession, and
dispossession of property ; and of bargains, gains, loss, and^
rum. It deals with death, burial, and burning; and with
commemoration, assistance, and injury after death. It inter
feres, m short, with aU the relations and events of Ufe, and
with what precedes and foUows, or what is supposed to pre
cede and follow, life. It reigns supreme in the innumerable
classes and divisions of the Hindus, whether they originate

126 CASTE.
in family descent, in rehgious opinions, in civil or sacred
occupations, or in local residence ; and it professes to regulate
all their interests, affairs, and relationships. Caste is the guid
ing principle of each of the classes and divisions of the Hindus
viewed in their distinct and associated capacity. A caste is
any of the classes or divisions of Hindu society. The au
thority of caste rests partly on written laws, partly on
legendary fables and narratives, partly on the injunctions of
instructors and priests, party on custom and usage, and partly
on the caprice and convenience of its votaries. ' The roots
of the law,' says Manu, ' are the whole Veda, the ordinances
and obsei;vances of such as perfectly understand it, the im
memorial customs of good men, and self-satisfaction.' No
doubt that man who shall follow the rules prescribed in the
Sliruti (what was heard from the Veda) and in the Smriti
1 what was remembered from the laws) will acquire fame in
this life, and in the next inexpressible happiness."
Most of the castes have peculiar marks which those initi
ated have to wear, but there is one common to all. " The
great index of Hinduism is the tuft of hair on the crovm
of the head" (by which, according to the popular notion,
the wearer is to be raised to heaven), " which is left there
on the performance of the sacrament of tonsure, on the
first or third year after birth in the case of the three
great classes of the Hindus ; and in the eighth year after the
conception of a Brahman, in the eleventh from that of a
Kshatriya, and in the twelfth from that of a Vaishya, the
investiture with the sacred cord should occur."

CHAPTEE II.
CASTE DISTINCTIONS AS TAUGHT IN THE SACRED BOOKS.
I SHALL now proceed to give a general account of the four
principal castes, their duties and privileges, as taught in the
sacred writings of the Hindus.
The foUowing account from Manu's Dharma Sastra of the
creation of man may be taken as the commonly received law
on the subject of the duties of each caste : " For the sake
of preserving the universe, the Being supremely glorious
allotted separate duties to those who sprang respectively from
his mouth, his arm, his thigh, and his foot. To Brahmans
he assigned the duties of reading (the Veda) and teaching, of
sacrificing, of assisting others to sacrifice, of giving alms,
and of receiving gifts. To defend the people, to give alms,
to sacrifice, to read (the Veda), to shun the allurements of
sexual gratification, are in a few words the duties of a
Kshatriya. To keep herds of cattle, to bestow largesses, to
sacrifice, to read the Scriptures, to carry on trade, to lend at
interest, are the duties of a Vaishya One principal duty
the Supreme Euler assigns to a Sudra, viz., to serve the
before-mentioned classes, without depreciating their worth."
This may be taken as the typical teaching on the subject,
and it is that which is generally received at the present time ;
and though the phraseology of other books is in some re
jects opposed to it, it is twisted, and made, as far as it is
possible, to harmonize with it.
The position of the Brahman as taught by the Sastras.

128 CASTE. ,
The Brahman being the first-born, having sprung from the
mouth of the Supreme, and being the rightful possessor of
the Veda, is the chief of the whole creation. The birth
of a Brahman is said to be a constant incarnation of
Dharma (religion) ; for a Brahman is born to promote re
ligion, and to procure ultimate happiness. Whatever exists
in the universe is all in effect the wealth of the Brahman,
since he is entitled to all by his primogeniture and pre-emi
nence; and it is through his benevolence that other mortals
enjoy life. His ideal inherent qualities are quiescence, self-
control, devotion, purity, patience, rectitude, secular and
sacred knowledge, the recognition of spiritual existence and
the inborn disposition to serve Brahma. Power and glory
reside in every part of his body : the Ganges is in his right
ear ; his mouth is that of God Himself ; the tirthas, or sacred
places of pilgrimage, are in his right foot ; the cow of plenty
(kamdhenu), from whom all desires may be satisfied, are the
hairs of his body. The Brahman is the first-born by nature,
the twice-born by the sacrament of investiture with the sacred
thread, the deity on earth by his divine status, and the inteUi
gent one by his innate comprehension.
According to the same scripture, the Brahman is superior
to law, even to moral law, when it clashes with his worldly
interests ; and though it is disgraceful for him to live as
a hired servant, he may without hesitation take the property
of a Sudra. The gradations of punishment for offences
according to the caste of the offender is most startling to one
trained under just and equitable laws; e.g., a priest shaU be
fined five hundred (panas) if he slander a Kshatriya, twenty-
five if he slander a Vaishya, twelve only if he slander a
Sudra. In like manner a crime against a man of his own
caste by a Sudra is a venial offence ; but a similar offence
committed against a man of a higher caste is proportionally
greater. And should a Sudra through pride venture to
give instructions to priests concerning their duty, let
the king order some hot oil to be dropped into his

CASTE DISTINCTIONS. 129
mouth and ears. An adulterer of the Brahman class might
suffer the loss of his hair ; but a similar offender, if a Sudra,
might be made to forfeit his life. Whatever a Brahman's
offence, the king must on no account put him to death ; he
may, at the most, banish him, allowing him to take his
property with him. And it will be remembered how great was
the astonishment of all India, owing to the general idea
of the sacredness of life of the Brahmans, when it was
known that by order of the Governor- General a Brahman
was executed in Calcutta. Further, in case of wrong-doing
against him, a Brahman need not have recourse to the civil
power, but is free to take vengeance upon the offender.
It will be borne in mind that the books in which their own
order is so exalted were written by the Brahmans themselves,
in which stories most marvellous are to be found to lead
the people to believe in the superhuman, and in some cases
super-divine, power of some of their number. One of them
is declared to be the father of the sun, and another the
father of the moon. Brihaspati is said to have reduced the
moon to a cinder ; Visvakarma cut off the hands and feet of
the sun ; and Manu seems to acknowledge their truthfulness, as
he says, " Who without perishing could provoke those holy
men by whom the all-devouring fire was created, the sea with
waters not drinkable, and the moon with its wane and in
crease ? What prince could gain wealth by opposing those,
who, if angry, could frame other worlds, and regents of worlds,
and could give being to new gods and mortals ? What man,
desirous of Ufe, would injure those by the aid of whom
worlds and gods perpetually exist ? " The following lines sum
up in a few words the popular idea of the power of the
Brahman : —
" The whole world is under the power of the gods.
The gods are under the power of the mantras (charms used
by Brahmans) ;
The mantras are under the power of the Brahmans.
The Brahman is therefore our god."
10

130 CASTE.
As a deterrent from injuring a Brahman, and as an in
ducement to bestow gifts upon him, the following texts are
inserted in Manu : " A man who basely assaults a Brahman,
with an intention to hurt him, shall be whirled about for a
century in a hell called Tamisri; but having smitten him in
anger and by design, even with a blade of grass, he shall be
bom in one-and-twenty transmigrations from the wombs of
impure animals." " If a man sell his cow he wiU go to hell;
if he give her to a Brahman he will go to heaven." " If on
Ganga's (the river Ganges) anniversary whole vUlages be
given to Brahmans, the person presenting them will acquire
all the merit that can be obtained ; his body will be a million
times more glorious than the sun, he will have a miUion
virgins, many carriages, and palanquins with jewels, and he
will live in heaven with his father as many years as there
are particles in the land given to Brahmans." A proper
gift to a Brahman on a deathbed will secure heaven to a
malefactor. The Brahmans confer a favour on the people of
other castes when they receive their presents.
The authority for the almost divine honours, which are
even now paid by the more superstitious of the lower orders
of the people, is found in such passages as the following, from
the more recent Puranas: "Whatever good man bows to a
Brahman, reverencing him as Vishnu, is blessed with long Ufe,
sons, renown, and prosperity. But whatever foolish man does
not bow down to a Brahman on earth, Kesava (Vishnu) desires
to strike off his head with his discus. Whosoever bears but
a drop of water which has been in contact with a Brah
man's foot, all the sins of his body are immediately
destroyed. Whosoever carries on his head the holy things
touched by a Brahman's foot is freed from all sins. What
ever good man worships a Brahman by walking round him
obtains the merit of going round the world with its seven
continents." The Brahmans, though thus highly favoured amongst
mortals, had not a position of ease and idleness. Accord-

CASTE DISTINCTIONS. 131
ing to the Laws of Manu, their life was divided into four
parts, in each of which there were special duties"for them to
discharge ; and it is no doubt partly owing to the idea of
their superior goodness, and to the supposed hoUness of their
life, that they were held in almost divine reverence. I shall
briefiy state the duties peculiar to these states through
which it is taught that they ought to pass. It will be borne in
mind that it was by their efforts that the sacred scriptures
were written and then transmitted to posterity.
1. The first order is that of Brahmachari, or pupil. In
this order the Brahman boy is to render the greatest reverence
and pay the greatest attention to his instructor. His reli
gious exercises must commence with the early dawn, and, ex
cepting during the times appointed for eating and study, must
be continued throughout the day. He is ordered to collect wood
for the holy fire, beg food from his relations, sleep on a low
bed, and perform such offices as may please his preceptor.
He must carefully study the Veda, abstain from honey,
flesh, perfumes, garlands, women, unguents for his limbs,
sandals; must not use an umbrella, indulge in sensual
desires, wrath, covetousness, dancing, singing, dice, disputes,
detraction, falsehood. He is ordered to sleep alone, and to
perform the duties of a religious mendicant.
2. The second order is that of the Ghrihastha, or house
holder. He enters this when he has chosen, or has had
chosen for him, a wife, whose quahties are carefully described.
She must have an agreeable name, but no bodUy defect ; she
must walk like a goose or a young elephant; her hair
moderate in quantity ; her body soft, and who, in the first
marriage at least, must be of a Brahman famUy. He must
live with her in the strictest fidelity, give her elegant
attire, seek to raise up a family, or, at any rate, to have a
son, without whom, natural or adopted, the salvation of the
father cannot be effected. He has to practise unceasingly
various minute and burdensome rites and ceremonies, such
as study, the offering of oblations to fire, the presentation of

132 CASTE.
food to spirits through living beings, particularly the " twice-
born," the entertainmeat of guests, and the offering of water
and rice to the manes of his ancestors. At the Shraddhas, or
ceremonies performed for the benefit of the departed, he has
to avoid inviting and holding intercourse with any who may
be diseased, or ceremonially unclean, or who may be follow
ing pursuits forbidden to Brahmans. During the feasting his
mind must be kept in perfect composure, for the shedding of
a tear would send the food to restless spirits ; anger would send
it to foes ; falsehood to dogs ; touching it with his foot to Eak-
shasas ; and agitation of mind to scoundrels. At the same-
time he must read for the edification of the guests from
various Hindu scriptures. At these feasts, in the earlier
writings, it is stated .that animal food avails more in the
work of propitiation than vegetable — a passage that the Brah
mans of the present day utterly ignore. His ordinary mode
of life is most carefully marked out for him. He must not
have long nails or beard ; he must neither eat with his wife,
nor see her eat ; he must keep his passions under control.
He must not sing, dance, or play with dice. He must care
fully observe all religious festivals. Moral duties, too, are
carefully ordered. If he sin, either himself or his descendants
will suffer for it ; by falsehood, sacrifice becomes vain, pride
nullifies the effect of austerities ; by the dishonour of priests
life is diminished, by the display of charity its fruit is
destroyed. Strange as it may appear to those who know the
strbng objection the orthodox Brahmans of the present day
have to eating flesh, it is distinctly stated that "no sin is
committed by him who, having honoured the deities and
manes, eats flesh meat which he has bought, himself ac
quired, or had presented to him by another." The touch of
a person ceremoniaUy unclean, or of a low caste man, is
pollution ; so that, in addition to the positive duties of his
calling, which are many, he has ever to be on his guard lest
pollution come to him through others.
3. The third order isthat of the Vanaprastha, i.e., the hermit.

CASTE DISTINCTIONS. 133
in the wilderness. When the Brahman enters this order his
self-denial must be far greater than in that of either the student
or householder. At the approach of old age he must leave
his famUy and worldly affairs, feed on herbs, fruits, and
roots only. He must wear a black antelope's hide, or the
bark of a tree, and suffer his nails and beard to grow. He
must be constantly engaged in the reading of the Vedas, or
engaged in acts of penance, of which the following are to
form part : Let him slide backwards and forwards on the
ground, stand a whole day on tip-toe, continue in motion,
rising and sitting alternately ; but at sunrise, noon, and sun
set, he must bathe. In the hot season let him expose him
self to five fires ; in the rains let him stand uncovered where
the clouds pour the heaviest showers ; in the cold season
(when the evaporation caused by the dry air is excessive)
let him wear damp clothes ; and let him increase by degrees
the severity of his austerities. Abandoning the use of all
means of gratification, he must engage in meditation, for he is
assured that if he is attacked by disease through the use of
these means, ^lis soul will unite with the Divine Spirit, and
aU his troubles be over for ever.
4. The fourth order is that of the Sanyasi, or anchorite.
For those in this class also austerities are enjoined, but
their chief employment is meditation. Delighted with
meditating on the Supreme Spirit, free from aU sensual
desires, let him live in this world, seeking bliss in the
next by absorption into the Deity. He is ordered to
wander from place to place, asking but one meal a day,
giving pain to no living being. Meditating on the identity
of his spirit with that of the Supreme, he is ready cheerfuUy
to leave the cumbersome and miserable body.
Dr. WUson wisely adds here, " The profession of the
Brahmans, that with certain non-essential modifications they
have stiU this sacred character, and that they foUow these
injunctions esteemed divine, gives them a powerful hold
upon the mind of India, quite independently of their

134 CASTE.
pretensions to pre-eminence through their origin from
Brahma's mouth. With Brahmanical discipline and pur
suits there is real sympathy even on the part of those large
portions of the community who are legally debarred from
participating in them. There is an admiration and approval
of the Brahman among the people, as well as much dread
and distrust of him, and contempt for his extravagant
claims. Hence the attempt, in late centuries especially, of
multitudes precluded from all priestly service, to become
wandering saints, and devotees of various orders and grades.
There is very great deference shown to the Brahman even in
view of the fact that he is now left without a legal remedy
for enforcing on his own behalf the unjust laws which he has
made connected with his own life, honour, and support. I
add another observation. I have a strong impression that a
great deal of the Brahmanical legislation was from the first
intended only for effect, and that it was never designed to
be carried into execution as far as the priestly practice
itself was concerned." In harmony with this last suggestion
is the opinion of a native writer in the Calcutta Pieview : *
" Those who arrogate to themselves great honours must at
least profess to be guided by a more elevated standard of
duty than their neighbours. A man who prides himself on
the greatness of his origin must admit that it behoveth him to
observe higher principles of morality than those over whom
he affects superiority. The Brahmans have accordingly
laid down severe rules for the government of their order.
Whether the authors of the Sastras intended that thefr
austere rules should be followed out in practice, or whether
they merely proposed to exhibit their idea of priestly dignity
without intending to realize it, it is not easy to determine.
One thing, however, is certain, that as the Brahman acknow
ledged no earthly superior, he had little apprehension of his
delinquencies being severely visited. He could not be called
to account for departing from his maxims, because no one
* Calcutta Reiiew, 1S51, p. 53.

CASTE DISTINCTIONS. 135
was at liberty to judge him. An austere rule of life could
therefore prove no greater restraint on his inclinations than
he himself chose to allow."
Having given at some length the teaching of the Scriptures
respecting the status and employment of the Brahman, I
shall now in a few words describe the position of the second
great caste of Hindus, viz., the Kshatriya, or warrior.
The Kshatriya is generally held to have been produced
from the arms of Brahma, and is described as the great
dispenser of justice, particularly as the one whose duty it is to
punish offenders, the civil power to whose tender mercies the
Brahmans could hand over law-breakers. He it is who has
to see that the various castes attend to their prescribed
duties ; but in doing this work he must abide by the
decisions of the learned Brahmans. He must cultivate
humility, and is warned by the example of kings, who,
through the absence of this virtue, have been ruined. He
is enjoined to seek sacred and secular knowledge from the
Brahmans, and to avoid various kinds of immorality and
sensuality. Of his eight ministers, some are to be versed in
the art of war, some in the doctrines of religion. He should
have for a wife a woman of his own caste, and appoint a
domestic purahit, or priest, and be liberal in his gifts to the
Brahmans, for " an offering in the mouth of a Brahman is
far better than offerings to holy fires ; it never drops, or
dries, or is consumed." In battle he must be brave, resolute,
and generous ; but at the same time self-preservation is care
fully taught. " Against misfortune let him preserve his
wealth, at the expense of his wealth let him preserve his
wife, but at aU events let him preserve himself, even at the
hazard of his wife and riches." This latter instruction ha
been embodied by Brahmans in the foUowing proverb :
" Preserve your wife, preserve your pelf,
But give them both to save yourself ;
There's other wealth, another wife.
But where is there another hfe? "

136 CASTE.
His duties for morn, noon, and night are most carefully
prescribed for him, as are those of the Brahman ; nothing
that a man can have to do but he will find some definite
instruction given concerning it : the men to form his army;
the time and manner of march ; how to attack and how to
defend, and the method of dealing with a conquered foe.
When unable to attend to his state duties himself, he is advised
to appoint a Brahman substitute ; and if at any time he is in
need of advice, it is to the Brahman, and not to the Sudra,
that he must turn. The king is the guardian of all property;
all treasure trove is to be divided equally between him and
the Brahmans; and whilst all wealth that may be left by any
of the other castes dying intestate, goes to the king, the Brah
mans claim what was so left by Brahmans. Sir W. Jones
says of this legislation, by which the inembers of the several
castes are to be guided, that it is " a system of despotism and
priestcraft, both indeed limited by law, but artfully conspiring
to give mutual support, though with mutual checks." And
we shall see, later on, how these two highest castes came to
entertain the bitterest hatred towards each other, and tried
their best to wrest from each other the privileges each had
«njoyed in harmony with these laws. There is one important
statement respecting the effect of punishment by a king.
¦"Men who have committed crimes, and have received from
kings the punishment due to them, go to heaven pure, and
become as clean as those who have done well." " This
dictum," says Dr. Wilson, " which removes man from his
responsibility to God, has taken a great hold of the popular
mind of India. Native musicians attend the capital execu
tions of the vilest criminals throughout the country, seeking
to introduce them into the other world with joy and
rejoicing, simply because they view their death by the public
¦sentence of the law as an atonement for all their trans
gressions." It is also the duty of the Kshatriya to keep the
castes below him to the works prescribed for them, to
regulate all market prices with a due regard to the interests

CASTE DISTINCTIONS. 137
of buyer and seller, and to aid the male community in
maintaining its lordship over the female.
3. We now come to note the third of the chief castes,
the Vaishya. This comprises the merchant, agriculturahst,
and keeper of cattle. This caste, springing from the thigh
of Brahma, ia naturally inferior both to the Brahman and
Kshatriya. After performing the initiatory sacraments,
ending with that of the sacrificial thread, and marrying a
wife of his own caste, he should be attentive to his own
proper work, which is chiefly that of keeping cattle ; for God
has committed cattle to Vaishya's care, as He has committed
men to the care of the Brahman and Kshatriya. He must
acquaint himself with the prices of goods, learn to sow and
reap, be able to distinguish good land from bad — in fact, he
has to study the various branches of the subjects which
tend to make him a good farmer or merchant.
4. The fourth class is the Sudra, or servants' caste, which
is said to have sprung from the feet of Brahma. As the
Sudra has been created especially to minister to the comfort
of the three higher castes, of course his duty lies in doing
anything and everything that will in any way tend to their
well-being. He is spoken of as a slave, his property, as well
as his person, being at the disposal of his master. His
religious degradation, too, is complete. According to Manu,
a Brahman is forbidden to give advice or food to a Sudra,
the ghi portion of which, having been offered to the gods, must
not therefore be eaten by him. Further, the Brahman must
not give " spiritual counsel to him," nor inform him of the
legal expiation of his sin. He who declares the law to a
servile man, and he who instructs him in the mode of ex
piating sin, sinks with that very man into the hell named
Asamvrita. A Brahman should never be the preceptor of a
Sudra. "While the first part of a Brahman's name should
indicate holiness, that of a Kshatriya's power, and that of a
Vaishya's wealth, that of a Sudra should indicate contempt.
The Veda is never to be read in the presence of a Sudra, and

138 CASTE.
for him no sacrifice is to be performed. He has no business
with solemn rites."
The privileges of a Sudra are very limited. He must not.
marry a woman of the higher castes, or their offspring will
sink into a class even lower than his own. He must not aid
in carrying the corpse of a Brahman, even of his own master,
that obstructions to the dead man's entrance into heaven may
not result. He is allowed to carry his dead only through the
southern gate of the city where he may live. His morals,
are not to be strictly looked after. The murder of a Sudra
by a Brahman is equal only to killing a cat, or a frog, or a,
crow. " Servile attendance on the Brahmans learned in the
Vedas, chiefly on such as keep house, and are famed for
virtue, is of itself the highest duty of a Sudra, and leads him
to future beatitude. Pure, humbly serving the higher classes,
sweet in speech, never arrogant, ever seeking refuge in the
Brahmans, he may attain the highest class " in another bfrth.

CHAPTEE III.
HISTORY OF THE GROWTH OF CASTE.
Having sketched the peculiarities of the four chief castes as
they are described in the Law Books, and considered their
ideal characteristics, I shall now give a few quotations from
other Hindu sacred books, as far as possible in chronological
order, so that some idea may be formed respecting the origin
and growth of this most elaborate system. Dr. Muir,* re
viewing the texts which he had cited on this subject, says,
" First, we have the set of accounts in which the four castes
are said to have sprung from progenitors who were separately
created ; but in regard to the manner of their creation we
find the greatest diversity of statement. The most common
story is that the castes issued from the mouth, arms, thighs,
and feet of Purusha, or Brahma. The oldest extant passage
in which this idea occurs, and from which all the later myths
of a similar tenor have no doubt been borrowed, is to be found
in the Purusha Sukta ; but it is doubtful whether, in the
form in which it is there represented, this representation is
anything more than an allegory. In some of the texts from
the Bhagavata Purana traces of the same allegorical character
may be perceived ; but in Manu and the Puranas the mys
tical import of the Vedic text disappears, and the figurative
narration is hardened into a literal statement of fact. In the
chapters of the Vishnu, Vayu, and Markandeya Puranas,
where castes are described as coeval with creation, and as
* "Old Sanskrit Texts," vol. i. p. 159.

140 CASTE.
having been naturally distinguished by different gunas, or
qualities, involving varieties of moral character, we are never
theless allowed to infer that those qualities exerted no
influence on the classes in which they were inherent, as the
condition of the whole race during the Krita age is described
as one of uniform perfection and happiness ; while the actual
separation into castes did not take place, according to the
Vayu Purana, until men had become deteriorated in the
Treta age.
" Second, in various passages from the Brahmanas, epic
poems, and Puranas, the creation of mankind is described
without the least allusion to any separate production of the
progenitors of the four castes. And whilst in the chapters
where they relate the distinct formations of the castes, the
Puranas assign different natural dispositions to each class,
they elsewhere represent all mankind as being at the creation
uniformly distinguished by the quality of passion. In one
text men are said to be the offspring of Vivasat ; in another
his son Manu is said to be their progenitor, whilst in a third
they are said to be descended from a female of the same
name. The passage which declares Manu to have been the
father of the human race explicitly affirms that men of all
the four castes were descended from him. In another re
markable text the Mahabharata categorically asserts that
originally there was no distinction of classes, the existing
distribution having arisen out of differences of character and
occupation. " In these circumstances we may fairly conclude
that the separate origination of the four castes was far from
being an article of belief universally received by Indian
antiquity." The first quotation is from the Purusha Sukta, one of the
latest additions to the Eig Veda. This is believed to be the
" oldest extant passage which makes mention of the fourfold
origin of the Hindu race," and this, as noticed above, has
evidently more the character of poetry than intended to
describe a literal fact. " When (the gods) divided Purusha,

HISTORY OF THE GROWTH OP CASTE. 141
into how many parts did they cut him up ? What was his
mouth ? What (his) arms ? What (two objects) are said
(to have been) his thighs and feet ? The Brahman was his
mouth, the Eajanya (Kshatriya) was made his arms, the
being (called) the Vaisya, h.e.was his thighs; the Sudra
sprang from his feet, the moon sprang from his soul, the
sun from his eye," &o. There is great interest attaching to
this hymn, as it is found among the formulas referring to
human sacrifice, and in all probability has been used at
them. " That at the earliest period of the Vedic time human
sacrifices were quite common with the Brahmans, can be
proved beyond any doubt. But the more eminent and dis
tinguished amongst their leaders soon abandoned the practice
as revolting to human feelings. The form of the sacrifice,
however, seems to have been kept for a long time, for the
ritual required on that occasion is actually in the Yajur Veda;
but they simply tied men of different castes and classes to
the sacrificial posts, and released them afterwards, sacrificing
animals instead of them." *
In the Satapata Brahmana another poetical account is
given of the origin of the three castes — ^viz., that they sprang
from the four Vedas. " This entire (universe) has been
created by Brahma. Men say that the Vaishya class was
produced from the Eich-Verses. They say that the Yajur
Veda is the womb from which the Kshatriyas were born.
The Sama Veda is the source from which the Brahmans
sprang. This word the ancients declared to the ancients." In
the same book is another poetical account. "Brahma (in
the form of Agni, and representing the Brahman race) was
formerly this (universe) one only. ... It energetically created
an excellent form, the Kshatriya, viz., those amongst the gods
who are powers, viz., Indra, Varuna, &c. ; hence nothing is
superior to the Kshatriya. Therefore the Brahman sits
below the Kshatriya at the Eajasuga sacrifice ; he confers
that glory on the Kshatriya. This Brahma is the source of
* Dr. Haug, quoted in Muir's " Old Sanskrit Texts." vol. i. p. 11.

U42 CASTE.
the Kshatriya. Hence, although the king attains supremacy,
he at the end resorts to the Brahma as his source. Whoever
•destroys him (the Brahman) destroys his own source. . . . He
created Vis, viz., those classes of gods who are designated
bytroops, Vasus, Eudras, &c. . . . He created the Sudra class,
Puslian. This earth is Pushan : for she nourishes all that
exists." In yet another text it is declared that Prajapati
"(Brahma) formed ' ' animals from his breath, a man from his
¦¦soul," &C.'''
The Vishnu Purana makes the distinction of castes to be
the result of the character of those forming them. In answer
to a question as to how these distinctions arose, the sage
Parasara replied, " When, true to his design, Brahma be
came desirous to create the world, creatures in whom good
ness prevailed sprang from his mouth ; others, in whom
passion predominated, came from his breast ; others, in whom
both passion and darkness were strong, proceeded from his
thighs ; others he created from his feet, whose chief charac
teristic was darkness."
The Vayu Purana teaches that a thousand pairs of these
different castes were formed at once. " As Brahma was
desfrous to create, and, fixed in his design, was meditat
ing upon offspring, he created from his mouth a thousand
couples of living beings who were born with an abundance of
goodness, and fuU of intelligence. He then created another
thousand from his breast ; they all abounded in passion, and
were both vigorous and destitute of vigour. After creating
from his thighs another thousand pafrs, in whom both pas
sion and darkness prevailed, and who- are described as active,
he formed from his feet yet another thousand couples, who
were all frill of darkness, inglorious, and of little vigour ; "
and further on this Purana declares that in the Krita age,
which answers to the golden age of the Greeks, when all men
were good, " there were no distinctions of castes or orders,
and no mixture of castes ! " " These perfect beings, who
• Muir, " Old Sanskrit Texts," vol. i. p. 20.

HISTOEY OF THE GEOWTH OF CASTE. 148
were described by me as existing formerly in the Krita age,
the mind-born children of Brahma, who had been produced
in this world when they came from the Janaloka, who were
tranquil, fiery, active, or distressed, were born again in the
Treta age as Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras, and in
jurious men governed by good and bad actions (performed
in former births)." A few verses afterwards we find that
Svayambhu (the self-existent) " established divisions amongst
(men) according to their tendencies. Those of them who
-were rapacious he ordained to be Kshatriyas, protectors of
the others. As many men attended on these, fearless,
speaking the truth, and propounding sacred knowledge with
¦exactness (were made) Brahmans. Those who had previously
been feeble, engaged in slaughter, and cultivators who were
active with the ground, he made Vaisyas ; and he designated
as Sudras those who grieved, and were addicted to menial
tasks, inglorious and feeble." From this it would appear
that the writer believed that at first there was no distinction
of caste ; but that owing to the character and conduct of
men, in thefr later births they were thus subdivided by
Brahma. These various and apparently contradictory state
ments of the origin of the castes are explained as referring to
the commencement of things in different kalpas, or ages ; for
at the end of each kalpa all created things are destroyed,
.and with the commencement of each a new creation takes
place. Professor Wilson suggests that a better reason is
that they have been borrowed from different original autho
rities. The Eamayana teaches that the four castes were the off
spring of a woman named Manu, the wife of Kasyapa, a son
of Brahma. The Mahabharata contains various and self-
contradictory statements on this subject. In some places
the prerogatives of the Brahmans are described in the style,
and almost in the identical language, found in Manu. In
another place, Mahadeva, addressing his spouse, says, "A
man, whether he be a Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya, or Sudra,

144

CASTE.

is such by nature;" and goes on to say that "if a higher caste
man acts as a lower, he will be born again as the lower ;
whilst one who, in the lower, acts as those in the higher, he
will be born into the higher, i.e., that in life no real change
of caste can be effected." In another passage it declares that
" until a man is born into the Veda {i.e., until he is initiated
by the investiture of the Brahmanical thread) he is on the
level with a Sudra ; " hence the removal of the thread by a
Christian reduces a man at once in the estimation of the
Hindus from his high position as a Brahman. And in yet
another passage the sage Bhrigu says, " There is no differ
ence of castes : this world, having been at first created by
Brahma entirely Brahmanic, became (afterwards) separated
into castes in consequence of works." Once all were Brah
mans, but some, owing to their evil deeds, in succeeding
births were reduced to the position they now occupy.
Dr. Muir,''' having given a number of texts from the parts
of the Eig Veda and other Sastras, which are generally
admitted to be more ancient than the Purusha Sukta,
from which a quotation has been made, draws the following
conclusion : " In general the authors of the hymns of the
Eig Veda regarded the whole of the Aryan people, embra
cing not only the priests and chiefs, but the middle classes of
the population, as descended from a common father, or an
cestor, whom they designate by the name of Manu. This
reference to a common progenitor excludes, of course, the
supposition that the writers by whom it is made could have
had any belief of the myth which became afterwards current
among their countrymen — that their nation consisted of four
castes, differing naturally in dignity, and separately made by
Brahma. ... It will, I think, be found on investigation that
not only the older hymns, but the great bulk of the hymns,
supply no distinct evidence of the existence of a well-defined
and developed caste system at the time when they were
composed." * " Old Sanskrit Texts," v,ol. i. p. 239,

mSTOEY OP THE GEOWTH OF CASTE. 145
The origin and progress of the caste system is of course
difficult to trace with anything approaching certainty ; never
theless a tolerably accurate idea may be formed by the care
ful study of the Hindu literature as far as it can be done in
chronological order. The root Brahma signifies hymn or
prayer ; " the term Brahman must therefore, as we conclude,
have been ordinarily applied (1) to the same persons who are
spoken of elsewhere in the hymns as Eishi, Kavi, &c., and
have denoted devout worshippers and contemplative sages
who composed prayers and hymns, which they themselves
recited in praise of the gods. Afterwards, when the cere
monial gradually became more complicated, and a division
of sacred functions took place, the word was more ordinarily
employed (2) for a minister of public worship, and at length
came to signify (3) one particular kind of priest with special
duties." "' Dr. Muir cites a number of texts in which the
word Brahman is employed in the three senses indicated
above, and a number of others in which gifts to the Brah
mans are encouraged ; whilst the niggardly are blamed in
strong language for their want of liberality. It seems
ovident from these texts that the irrehgious man was by no
means a rare character amongst the Aryans of the Vedic
age, and that the priests often found no little difficulty in
¦drawing forth the liberaUty of their contemporaries towards
themselves, and in enforcing a due regard to the ceremonials
of devotion. StiU, "it wiU remain certain that the Brah
man, whether we look upon him as a sage or poet, or as an
officiating priest, or in both capacities, was regarded with
respect and reverence, and even that his presence had begun
to be considered as an important condition of the efficacy of
the ceremonial." "While, however, there thus appears to
be every reason for supposing that towards the close of the
Vedic period the priesthood had become a profession, the
texts quoted (excepting that from the Purusha Sukta) do not
contain anything which necessarily implies that the priests
* " Old Sanskrit Texts," p. 243.
11

146 CASTE.
formed an exclusive caste, or at least a caste separated from
all others by insurmountable barriers, as in later times."
StiU further, to prove that in the Vedic age the caste system
had nothing approaching to the exclusiveness it assumed
later on, there are texts which show that some who were not
Brahmans were authors of Vedic hymns and exercised priestly
functions. When in later ages it was found that this fact
might encourage others to attempt to perform the work and
obtain the emoluments of the ' Brahmans, legends were in
vented to show that these priests had, by miraculous means,
been first made Brahmans, and then allowed to perform the
duties peculiar to that privileged caste. Again, from other
hymns it is evident that the Brahmans intermarried with
women of the other classes, taking the widows and, it may
be, in some cases the wives, of men still living ; whilst at the
same time the terms in which the evils of interference with
the Brahman's rights and privileges are described show a
decided tendency to growth in strength and bitterness.
Dr. Eoth's opinion on the subject, as quoted by Dr. Muir, is
as foUows : " The religious development of India is attached
through the course of three thousand years to the word
brahma. This conception might be taken as the standard
for estimating the progress of thought directed to divine
things, as at every step taken by the latter it has gained a
new form ; whUe at the same time it has always embraced in
itself the highest spiritual acquisition of the nation. The
original signification of the word brahma, as we easily discover
it in the Vedic hymns, is that of prayer ; not praise or thanks
giving, but that invocation which, with the force of the will
directed to God, seeks to draw Him to itself, and to receive
satisfaction from Him. From this oldest sense and form of
brahma was formed the masculine noun Brahma, which was
the designation of those who pronounced the prayers, or
performed the sacred ceremonies ; and in nearly all the pas
sages of the Eig Veda, in which it was thought that this word
must refer to the Brahmanical caste, this more extended

mSTOEY OF THE GEOWTH OF CASTE. 147
sense must be substituted for the other more limited one.
From this sense of the word brahma nothing was more
natural than to convert this offerer of prayer into a particular
description of the sacrificial priest : so soon as the ritual
began to be fixed, the functions which before were united in
a single person, who both prayed to the gods and sacrificed
to them, became separated, and a priesthood interposed itself
between man and God." '¦'
" In many places of the liturgical and legal books, the
promise of every blessing is attached to the maintenance of a
priest by the king. Inasmuch as he supports and honours
the priest, the latter ensures to him the favour of the gods.
So it was that the caste of the Brahmans arose and attained
to power and consideration : first, they were only the single
domestic priests of the kings ; then, the dignity became here
ditary in certain families ; finally, a union, occasioned by
similarity of interests of these families in one larger com
munity, was effected ; and all this in reciprocal action with
the progress made in other respects by theological doctrine
and religious worship. Still the extension of the power
which fell into the hands of this priestly caste would not be
perfectly comprehensible from this explanation alone. The
relation of spiritual superiority in which the priests came to
stand to the kings was aided by other historical movements.
When at a period more recent than the majority of the
hymns of the Eig Veda, as the Vedic people, driven by some
political shock, advanced from their abode in the Panjab,
further and further to the south, drove the aborigines into the
hills, and took possession of the broad tract of country lying
between the Ganges, the Jumna, and the Vindhya range,
the time had arrived when the distribution of power, the
relation of king and priest, could become transformed in the
most rapid and comprehensive manner. Principalities sepa
rated in such various ways, such a division into tribes as had
existed in the Panjab were no longer possible here where
* " Old Sanskrit Texts," vol. i. p. 289.

148 CASTE.
nature had created a wide and continuous tract, with scarcely
any natural boundaries to dissever one part from another.
Most of these petty princes who had descended from the
north with their tribes must of necessity disappear, thefr
tribes become dissolved, and contests arise for the supreme
dominion. This era is perhaps portrayed to us in the prin
cipal subject of the Mahabharata, the contest between the
descendants of Pandu and Kuru. In this stage of disturb
ance and complication, power naturaUy feU into the hands of
those who did not directly possess any authority ; the priestly
races and their leaders, who had hitherto stood rather in the
position of followers of the kings, now rose to a higher rank.
It may easily be supposed that they and their famiUes, afready
honoured as the confidential followers of the princes, would
frequently be able to strike a decisive stroke to which the
king would owe his success. If we take further into account
the intellectual and moral influence which this class pos
sessed in virtue of the prerogative conceded to or usurped by
them, and the religious feelings of the people, it is not dif
ficult to comprehend how, in such a period of transition, power
ful communities should arise amongst the domestic priests of
petty kings and their families, should attain to the highest
importance in every department of life, and should grow into
a caste, which, like the ecclesiastical orders of the middle ages
of Christianity, began to look upon secular authority as an
effluence from the fulness of their power to be conferred at
their will ; and how, on the other hand, the numerous royal
families should sink down into a nobility which possessed,
indeed, the sole right to the kingly dignity, but at the same
time, when elected by the people, required inauguration in
order to their recognition by the priesthood, and were en
joined above all things to employ only Brahmans as their
counsellors." Dr. Both goes on to speak of the three highest
castes as being altogether different from the fourth, in that
the latter were not permitted to sacrifice or to know the Vedas :
the supposition being well founded that the Sudras were not

HISTORY OP THE GEOWTH OF CASTE. 149
originally part of the Hindu system, but were engrafted
into it, and were originally composed either of the descen
dant of a previous migration, or were the aborigines of the
country.

CHAPTEE IV.
STRUGGLES FOR SUPREMACY AMONGST THE CASTES.
It is of some interest to see that the position assumed and
generally held by the Brahmans was not obtained and held
without some severe struggles on their part against the
Kshatriyas whom they sought to make subordinate. In
Manu ''' is the following verse which forms the text concern
ing which legends are found in more recent works showing
the evils that those suffered who attempted to subvert the
power of the Brahmans. " Let the king constantly reverence
ancient Brahmans skilled in the Vedas and pure in conduct ;
for he who always respects the aged is honoured even by
Eakshasas. Let him, even though humble-minded, be con
tinually learning submissiveness from them : for a submissive
monarch never perishes. Through want of this character
many kings have been destroyed with all their possessions.
Vena perished through want of submissiveness, and King
Nahusha, and Sudas the son of Pijavana, and Samukha, and
Nimi. But through submissiveness Prithu and Manu at
tained kingly power, Varuna the lordship of wealth, and the
son of Gadhi Brahmanhood." In the later books the legends
of these men's doings and their results are fully told ; and
the time of their existence is put back hundreds of thousands
of years in order that it may be believed that they are those
referred to by the great legislator. I shall now give an out
line of some of these stories.
Vena was the grandson of Mrithu (death), and was, like him,
" Old Sanskrit Texts," vol. i. p. 296.

STRUGGLES FOE SUPREMACY AMONGST THE CASTES. 151
of a corrupt nature. When he was inaugurated he forbade
men to sacrifice to the gods, declaring that he was the right
ful lord of offerings. The Eishis came and entreated him to
recall this dreadful order, promising that if he would do so
he should have a share of the offerings, but that men must
sacrifice to the gods. Vena, waxing more arrogant by all this,
asked, " Who are the gods ? They are all present in a king's
person ; he is composed of all the gods." As the king
would not hearken, the Munis took each a blade of the sacred
grass which had been consecrated with a sacred text and
smote him with them. After this they rubbed his thigh and
produced from it a hideous black being who became the pro
genitor of the Nishadas ; and by this means the evil of the
king was extracted. The Munis then rubbed his right hand,
and a glorious son named Prithu was the result, who by his
many virtues delivered his father from hell and himself
showed great respect to the Brahmans.
Nahusha is said to have been a powerful king, who, intoxi
cated with pride, made the Brahmans carry him from place
to place upon their shoulders. At length his arrogance be
coming unbearable, a sage named Agastya was at his own
request placed amongst the bearers. As the holy men were
proceeding with their load, the monarch touched him with
his foot, whereupon the sage cried out, " FaU, thou serpent."
Immediately the proud monarch, who had raised himself to the
position of Indra, or king of the gods, by his austerities, fell to
the earth in the form of a serpent, and continued in that form
until he was released by Yudhisthira, the righteous king. A
variation of the story is that a sage named Bhrigu was con
cealed in Agastya's hair ; this sage had the power to bring
any one to submission on whom his eye feU ; but Nahusha
had also the power to prevent any one he saw from injuring
him. Bhrigu having assumed a diminutive size, and being
hidden in Agastya's hair, was able to see Nahusha without
being seen by him, and in this disguise effected the arrogant
king's destruction.

152 CASTE.
The King Nimi, referred to above, had requested a Brah
man Eishi to celebrate for him a sacrifice which was to last a
thousand years ; but the Brahman being engaged for the next
five hundred years, said he would be glad to come at the ex-
pfration of that period. Without saying anything in reply
to this offer, Nimi engaged another priest to do his work.
For a time all was proceeding satisfactorily, but at the
expiration of the five hundred years the Brahman to whom the
king had first spoken , coming when his work elsewhere was com
pleted, and being incensed at the slight that had been shown
to him by the engaging of another priest without consulting
him, said, " Let Nimi be deprived of his body." Nimi, on
awaking, learned what had been done, and because the
Brahman had cursed him without any previous notice, ordered
that the vigour of the Brahman should be given to Mitra and
Varuna. When Nimi's sacrifice was complete, the gods, on
the intercession of the priests, were willing to restore his
form to Nimi ; but he, being unwilling to take it, asked that
he might live in the eyes of all living creatures. It is in
consequence of this that they are always opening and shutting
them, " Nimisha " meaning " the twinkling of an eye."
The story of the quarrel between Visishtha, a Brahman
sage, and Visvamitra, figures very largely in Hindu legend.
Briefly, it is as follows : " One day the Kshatriya king,
Visvamitra, visited the hermitage of Visishtha, by whom he
was entertained in a right royal manner, and was surprised
to find that the wonderful provision, of which he and his
followers had partaken, had been giyen by a wonder-working
cow which belonged to the hermit. King-like, Visvamitra
wished for this cow, offered a million other cows for it, or
even his kingdom, but the Brahman steadily refused to yield
his treasure. The king then tried to drive her away, but she
would not move. The cow, addressing her master, asked if it
was his wish for her to go, otherwise no power could possibly
move her. The Brahman, intimating that he had no wish
to part with her, her appearance suddenly changed, and the

STRUGGLES FOE SUPEEMACY AMONGST THE CASTES. 153
calm and quiet cow became the source of an immense and
powerful army, which put to flight the king's troops in a
moment. The king, witnessing this miracle, which he
believed to have been wrought through the Brahman's in
fluence, immediately gave up his opposition, and betook himself
to prayer, meditation, and asceticism, by virtue of which, in
process of time, he obtained the coveted position of Brah
manhood." Some marvellous stories are told of the wonderful
fervour of Visvamitra's austerity. On one occasion Dharma
(religion), assuming the form of Visishtha, visited the ascetic
and asked him for food. The man came with it freshly
cooked and hot, upon which Dharma asked him to remain as
he was for a little time. At the close of a hundred years,
returning to the same spot, and finding him still standing
tbere as he had commanded, he was so pleased, that at once
he said, " I am pleased with thee, 0 Brahman rishi ; " by which
word the desired effect was accomplished, and the Kshatriya
king became a Brahman.
Visvamitra, thus raised to the position of a Brahman, is
regarded as the author of many Vedic hymns, and, chief of
all, the mysterious, awe-inspiring Gayatri. Perhaps a more
correct view of the facts would be the following. In the
early Vedic days the rules which prescribed the duties of each
caste were not so carefully drawn as in later times. Probably
at that time the Brahman and the kingly Kshatriya alike
performed priestly functions ; but in after years, when the
Brahmans claimed an exclusive right to perform the duties
of priest and teacher, it was found inconvenient to have one
so prominent as the Kshatriya Visvamitra in their religious
history, and to be acknowledged as the author of their most
sacred hymns. Hence the idea was started, and numerous
legends invented to substantiate it, that this man, though
born in another caste, by means of protracted and intense
rehgious fervour had gained admission into the privUeged
class. For in a work later than the Vedas, but older than the
Puranas, it is stated that a Brahman must officiate at sacri-

154 CASTE.
fices that only a Kshatriya can offer. In the Markandeya
Purana is a most interesting story of Harischandra, a king
who offended a great Eishi, and of the sufferings he had to
endure in consequence. The story was evidently written to
show that Brahman though he had become in spirit and in
conduct, he was still inferior to the Brahman born. It may
also have been inserted with the intention of showing the
great benefits that kings obtain when they bow submissively
to Brahmans, even though the demands of the spfritual
man be most unreasonable. The king when hunting, hearing,
as he thought, the cry of a woman in distress, and being
bound as a Kshatriya, like the knight-errants of the West,
to redress human wrongs, inspired by Ganesa, uttered an
imprecation which aroused the anger of the sage. It appears
this sage was attempting to master the sciences by his
religious fervour, and they in their distress cried out, and
their cry reached the ears of the king. The sage, bursting
forth into a rage at this interruption of his religious occupation,
destroyed the very spirits he was trying to overcome. Haris
chandra, grieved and terrified at what he had done, offered
most costly gifts — gold, his son, his wife, his body, his life, his
kingdom. The sage's first demand was the empire of the world ;
everything, in fact, but the king's person, his son, his wife, and
his virtue. All this being freely given, the king and queen
having cast off their jewels and royal robes, and having put
on the ascetic dress, the sage now demanded a fee for offering
the sacrifice thus presented. As the king had only his son
and wife left to him, he asks for a month's delay. The king
set off to Benares, hoping to find a " city of refuge " in that
holy place, but is mistaken ; his relentless creditor is there to
meet him. There being no other course open to him, the
king has to sell his wife as a slave, who takes her little boy
with her to her master's house. But alas ! the money he re
ceived for his wife is regarded as altogether too small a gift
by the savage priest. Then Harischandra sold himself to a
Ohandala (one of the most degraded and despised castes),

STEUGGLES FOR SUPEEMACY AMONGST THE CASTES. 155
who sent him into graveyards to steal the clothes from the
dead who were buried there. For a whole year the king
followed this dreadful occupation, at which time his wife
came there to burn her son, who had just died. At first
the husband and wife did not recognize each other ; but
when recognition was made, they talked over their miseries,
and determined to end them by burning themselves with the
corpse of their child. As they are just about to carry their
purpose into effect, Dharma (religion) appears, and tells the
king that he has assumed the form of the cruel Chandala to
try the faith of his servant, and that, being pleased with his
readiness to suffer and die rather than fail to fulfil his vow,
husband and wife ascend to heaven with a divine escort, and
are richly rewarded for all their painful service.
In the legends of Parasurama we have the story told of
Vishnu becoming incarnate in that hero in order that he
might destroy the Kshatriya race, and how he again and
again almost succeeded in the attempt. All these legends
show most clearly, as might reasonably have been expected,
that the Brahmans were not suffered to attain to almost
divine superiority without a contest. In the story of Parasu
rama we read of the final struggle in which the Brahmans
gained the supremacy.
The few instances just given are of men of other (twice-
born, i.e. , the three highest castes) castes being raised into
the position of Brahmans. The foUowing story from the
Mahabharata wiU show the impossibility of any of the fourth,
or lowest caste, attaining this privUege. A man named
Matanga, the reputed son of a Brahman, was one day riding
in a car drawn by asses. As he was urging on one of the
asses by pricking its nose, the mother tried to comfort her
suffering son with the remark, " Be not distressed, my son;
it is a Chandala who is in the car. There is nothing dread
ful in a Brahman ; he is kind, a teacher who instructs aU
creatures— how can he smite any one? The wicked man shows
no pity to a tender colt, and thereby indicates his origin, for

156 CASTE.
it is birth which determines the character." Hearing these
words of the mother-ass, Matanga descended from the car
and asked what she meant by casting reflections on his bfrth.
The ass then assured him that he was no Brahman's son ;
but that his mother, when in a state of intoxication, had
received the embraces of a barber, and that he was really
the barber's son. Speedily returning home, he commenced
a life of such severe penance as to alarm the gods, who in
their fright extracted from Indra the promise of a boon for
the devotee. He asked to be made a Brahman, but this
Indra refused, as he assured him that such a gift would
mean his death. For a hundred years more Matanga con
tinued his austerity, when Indra again refused to grant the
gift he asked, and told him that a " Chandala can only
become a Sudra in a thousand births, a Sudra a Vaisya
after a period thirty times as long, a Vaisya a Eajanya
(Kshatriya) after a period sixty times the length, a Eajanya
a Brahman after a further period of sixty thousand lives.''
Dissatisfled with the answer, Matanga performed the severest
penance for a thousand years, but again Indra assured him
it was impossible for him to give the boon desfred.
Having considered the teaching of the Hindu Scriptures
respecting the Hindus, let us now see what is their teaching
respecting those outside of the four castes, the people, i.e.,
whom they found in India when they migrated there, and
the people of other lands who had no connection whatever
with the Hindu system. Manu is very explicit on this
subject. He says : " Three castes, the Brahman, Kshatriya,
Vaisya, are twice-born ; the fourth, the Siidra, once-born ;
there is no fifth." And in harmony with this teaching he
declares them all to be outcastes, as we should now term
them, such as the Chandalas, the descendants of mixed
marriages of those who were included in one or other of the
four castes ; the descendants of such mixed marriages being
regarded by him as the offscouring of the earth. And he
enumerates a large number of outcaste tribes, and gives their

STEUGGLES FOE SUPEEMACY AMONGST THE CASTES. 157
pedigree, showing that in all cases they are the descendants
of some who were once within the bounds of the Hindu
castes. The common name Dasyas (slaves) is applied to
all these outcaste peoples. In the same book it is taught
that all these classes ought to respect the Brahmanical
institutions ; and certain general moral lessons are given for
their guidance. " Such duties as these, which have been
ordained of old, ought to be observed by all people." In the
Vishnu Purana is a story which accounts for their origin in
harmony with Manu's teaching. A child named Sagara, who
was born in a forest where his father and mother had escaped
after being deprived of their kingdom, hearing his family
history from his mother, when he was grown up raised an
army and recovered his paternal estate. When he was about
to exterminate his conquered foes, they applied to Vasishtha,
his family priest, for protection. On their behalf this priest
interceded with the king, saying, "You have done enough,
my son, in the way of pursuing these men who are as good
as dead. I have compelled them to abandon the duties of
caste and all association with the twice-born." Acting on
the advice of his spiritual guide, Sagara compelled these
tribes to alter their costume. He made the Yavans shave
their heads, the Sakas shave half their heads, the Paradas
to wear long hair, and the Pahlavas beards. These and
other Kshatriyas he deprived of the study of the Vedas,
in consequence of which, and of their desertion by the
Brahmans, they became Mlechhas, or outcastes. Prom these
and simUar stories it seems clear that the writers imagined
that the people inhabiting the countries bordering on their
own were once part of their own nation, who through their
wickedness lost their position as the members of one or other
of the four great castes. Of other nations beyond the Hindu
writers betray the grossest ignorance.

CHAPTEE V.
CASTE AS IT NOW EXISTS.
Having considered caste as far as it is referred to in the
sacred books, I shall now describe it as it is seen in the present
day. It is true there are those who declare that it never
actually existed in the precise form there indicated; that
the whole scheme is purely imaginary. This may to some
extent be true ; but that there was an approximate realiza
tion of it, there can be little doubt. Nowadays it is very
different from what it once was ; but that we have a fairly
faithful account of caste as it once existed, there seems to
be no reasonable ground for doubt.
In Bengal there are virtually but two of the original
four castes, viz., Brahmans and Sudras. The Brahmans
are subdivided into an immense number of classes, some
of whom will not eat or intermarry with some others. The
pure Kshatriyas are almost extinct, though there are in
other parts of India many who profess to be such, as are
also the Vaisyas ; whilst those who are known as Sudras,
in the large majority of cases, are really the descendants of
some of the mixed classes. It was a peculiarity of this
system, the object of which was, as far as possible, to
prevent the intermarriage of the classes, that the children of
such mesalliances did not enjoy the position even of the
lower-caste parent, whether father or mother, but sank into
a class far below either. In civilized countries the wife.

CASTE AS IT NOW EXISTS. 159
whether nobler or baser, takes the rank of her husband;
but this was not the case in India. The heaviest penalties
had to be paid by the children when a woman married a
man of a lower caste.
But this has been changed. In the present day those who
contract these forbidden marriages themselves suffer. Perhaps
one fruitful cause of these mixed marriages in former times
lies in the fact that in addition to the proper marriage form
there were others that were recognized amongst the Hindus,
the one called the Gandharva rite, where man and woman
meeting, and being mutually willing, might live as man and
wife without any rite or ceremony ; the other, the Rakshasa
rite, by which the victors in war were at perfect liberty to
appropriate to themselves- the women of the vanquished.
At the present time the most numerous of the well-to-do
Hindus of Bengal are the Vaidya and Kayastha castes.
These are reckoned as Sudras, though, according to Manu,
the former was originally the offspring of a Brahman father
and Vaishya mother ; the latter, the offspring of a Vaishya
father with a Siidra mother ; whilst almost the lowest caste
of all, the Chandala, was the offspring of a Siidra father
with a Brahman mother.
In theory the supremacy of the Brahman remains. There
can be little doubt that in many places the people generally
regard the Brahman as little less than divine. It should,
however, be clearly understood that all the Brahmans never
were, nor are they now, engaged as priests. Some Brahman
families have for generations been acting as priests in the
various temples, and others have so officiated in the palaces
of the kings and in the homes of those who were able to pay
them for their services; but these, styled Pujari Brahmans,
i.e., those who perform religious services for payment, are
regarded by their fellow-Brahmans with considerable con
tempt. It is not because of his office as priest, but by reason
of his birth as a Brahman, that he obtains the adoration of
the people. The guru, who in many sects is not necessarily

160 CASTE.
a Brahman, is also reverenced as a god by his own disciples.
But when the office of guru is superadded to the birthright
of Brahmanhood, no class of men on earth have greater
reverence shown to them by their fellow-men. Some Brah
mans are priests ; all priests are Brahmans ; it is not their
employment but their birth that secures them respect. And
this respect is most profound. As he walks through the
streets low-caste people account it an honour to take the
dust from his feet and place it upon their head; and in
extreme cases to drink the water in which his feet have been
washed. This is done partly through fear of the holy man's
curse, partly through reverence for his imagined sanctity and
power to influence the gods.
In some exceptional cases the four stages of a Brahman's
ideal life, as prescribed in the Law Books, are regarded. He
passes through the student, householder, meditative, and
ascetic periods ; but this is by no means general. A modifi
cation of the scheme is more commonly seen. Brahmans,
when growing old and infirm, will hand over their property
to their heirs, and go away to Benares, Gaya, or some other
place on the banks of the sacred streams, there to await their
end in peace. This is the wish of multitudes, who have not
the means of its gratification. The old idea that it is
derogatory to the dignity of a Brahman to sell his services
has quite given way to the pressure of circumstances, and
men glorying in the poitra and in the possession of most
honourable names are to be found engaged as clerks, school
masters, physicians, engineers, and shopkeepers. The old
pundits admit that the proper position and work of the Brah
man does not pay in this degenerate age, as the Vishnu
Purana predicted would be the case in the Kali Yuga. In
the towns, at any rate, they can with impunity violate almost
every law laid down for their guidance by Manu ; though in
some of the country places, where superstition is stronger, it
is necessary for them to be a little more careful. Each caste
in a district has its dal, or committee, presided over by its

CASTE AS IT NOW EXISTS. 161
dalapati, or president, to whose judgment the members are
bound to submit ; and when any violation of the rules of the
caste are reported against a member, the dal considers tho
matter, and, if it is proved, sentence is pronounced ; and this
punishment must either be endured, or the delinquent is put
out of caste, i.e., the members "boycott" him. They wiU
neither visit nor eat with him ; nor wiU they allow their
sons to intermarry with his family. The punishment of this
social ostracism is most severe.
Some of these dais are very strict in their observance of
the rules of their caste, some are just as lax. In cities Uke
Calcutta, some of them allow their members openly to violate
rules that at no distant age were most rigorously observed.
and which to this hour are binding amongst sections of the
Hindus who are not so much influenced by European ideas.
Nowadays a man may eat beef, drink wine, wear shoes
made of cowhide, sit down to table with Europeans, without
losing his position in society. I know gentlemen, who are
regarded as orthodox— at any rate are not expelled from
their dal — who frequently visit houses of Europeans, eat
ing and drinking quite freely with them. In country districts
I have partaken of roast meat in Hindu gentlemen's houses
where a Mahomedan cook was kept ; and this quite openly ;
the Brahman host sitting down with me at the table. Pubhc
dinners are given in European hotels where Hindu gentlemen
of various castes publicly partake of food together. The
young men who ventured to cross the sea were, on their
return to India, subjected to most severe penance as a method
of purifying them from contact with the despised Mlechhas ;
but as many resented this, the process of purification has
been very considerably modified. The Hindu community
found that by outcasteing those who had been bold enough
to go to England to qualify for good positions in their own
country, they were casting off the men who were throwing the
brightest lustre upon their nation, and therefore a way was
soon made by which they could be retained. With the ex-
12

1G2 O.iSTE.
ception of a very few of the more orthodox dais, Hindus may
do almost anything they wish except receive Christian bap
tism. That stUl remains as a recognized separation from the
community, although certain pundits in Calcutta have openly
declared that they could find no word against baptism in
their Scriptures. However, the feeling of the community at
present is in favour of the expulsion from caste of those who
thus openly assert their faith in Jesus Christ.
Dais exist in connection with all the various castes,
and the members are subject to their authority, in some
cases the power of the dais being superior to law; e.g., it
has been enacted that it is lawful for a Hindu widow to re
marry ; but though this law has been in existence for years,
the number who have availed themselves of it is exceedingly
small ; the power of Hindu prejudice has proved itself so
strong, that those have been excommunicated who have trans
gressed what they consider the Hindu sacred law on this
question. Some of these communities are much more strict
than others. Some years ago a Hindu gentleman, who had
by his mode of living (he was a frequenter of European hotels,
and freely partook of forbidden food) made himself obnoxious
to the members of his own set, for a time got on very
well indeed without being admitted into their strict society.
He had friends like-minded with himself, who afforded him
the society he needed. But as years rolled by, and his
daughters were old enough to be married, he found his isola
tion prevented him from obtaining husbands for them. He
therefore applied for admission in vain to several sets of his
own caste, and was refused. At last he found one liberal
enough to admit him as a member, and so he died " in the
odour of sanctity, " though he scarcely changed his mode of
life. In addition to these smaUer communities, there are
what might be almost termed Hindu General Assemblies;
/.e.,- societies formed for the express purpose of explaining
and enforcing Hindu law and custom, to whom important
social questions are referred for decision, the members

CASTE AS IT NOW EXISTS. 163
of which are mostly learned pundits, with a sprinkling of
well-to-do men engaged in secular employment. As a speci
men of the subjects taken before them for discussion and
settlement, and also as an example of the subtlety with
which they harmonize common sense with the teaching of
the Scriptures, may be mentioned that connected with the
introduction of the water supply into Calcutta. Hinduism
forbids its followers from drinking water from a vessel that
has been touched by people of another caste. The water that
flows, through the pipes in the city is obtained by the mass
of the people from stand-posts with taps, to which low-caste
Hindus, Mussulmans, Christians, &c., have free access. At
first an attempt was made to have taps set apart for the
different castes, but when this was found to be impracticable,
the Hindu Dharma Eakshini Sabha {i.e., the Society for the
Preservation of the Eternal Eeligion), determined that
although it was contrary to the teaching of Hinduism for
men of different castes to drink water which came from the
same vessel, yet, as the people had to pay taxes to meet the
•expenses of bringing this water, this. money payment should be
considered a sufficient atonement for violating the ordinances
of the Hindu religion. This certainly is a great concession,
when it is remembered that in many places in India there
are tanks set apart for the high-caste people, which the low-
caste people are not permitted to approach. The idea of an
indulgence being granted for an open violation of a religious
ordinance is certainly a clever mode of obtaining a desfred
though forbidden boon. That there are degrees of strictness
amongst Brahmans, and that some esteem themselves of a
very superior stamp, the following story will show. A few
months ago, when travelling on the East India Eailway, I met
with two Brahmans from Mysore. They were educated men ;
one of them was expecting to appear in the following B.A.
Examination of the Madras University. When we were
leaving Benares, it occurred to me to ask if they had any
friends in that holy city. They said, "No, but we soon

164 CASTE.
found some Brahmans from our part of the country." I said,
" Oh, then you were well received and hospitably entertained
by them, of course ? " I shall never forget the look of infinite
disdain with which one of them replied : " Do you think we
would eat with men who live in such a city as Benares, and
associate with the Brahmans of this district ? No, we con
tented ourselves whilst there with one meal a day, which we
cooked for ourselves." My question appeared to them about as
reasonable as if I had asked a nobleman in England if he had
dined with scavengers.
Even Christianity is not sufficiently strong in every case
to obliterate this caste prejudice. In some churches in the
South of India at the communion service two cups are used^
one for those who have come from the higher castes, and one
for those from the outcastes, and it is believed that if this
custom were not permitted, many of the caste Christians-
would absent themselves from the Lord's table rather than
drink from a cup that was used by those who were formerly
outcastes. In some parts of Bengal a similar spirit was
aUowed to manifest itself for a time ; but a few years of
severe discipline was successful in restoring the people to
conformity with what seems to be the Spfrit of Jesus Christ in
this matter. In cases of church discipline the system of caste
is occasionally imitated in the Christian Church. When for
any misconduct a man is put out of fellowship with his
church, the members refuse to visit him, or to give him their
hookah (pipe). And it is said that frequently this exclusion
from the friendly offices of his brethren leads to penitence,.
and restoration to the fraternity follows.
The position of the mixed castes is considerably im
proved. Next to the Brahmans, in Bengal, at any rate, the-
most respectable castes are the Vaidyas and Kayasthas. These
classes are regarded as gentlemen, and a Brahman will asso
ciate with them on almost equal terms, though of course he
will not eat, nor will his family intermarry with them. He will
drink water that they may have brought as water-carriers, &c..

CASTE AS IT NOW EXISTS. 165
These classes tread hard upon the heels of the Brahmans in
the coUeges and schools, and secure some of the highest
honours in the universities. It is very difficult to say how
this change has been effected. Certainly at one time these
were despised classes ; noiv their position is almost equal to
that of the Brahmans ; whilst the mechanics, who probably
were the Sudras in ancient times, have sunk much below
them in modern times. A good story was told me by an eye
witness of the way in which European training acts in destroy
ing these caste prejudices. On one occasion, at the Medical
College, Calcutta, a professor, in illustration of his lecture on
Hygiene, brought samples of different kinds of cooked food.
There was beef roast and boiled, and ham — all, of course,
obnoxious to the strict Hindu. No sooner was the lecture
concluded, and the lecturer's back turned, than the students
rushed from their seats and boldly ate up the various kinds of
food in the presence of each other — an act that a generation
before would certainly have been followed by the excommuni
cation of every member of the class.
The lines have been far more tightly drawn around the
different classes with respect to intermarriage and to the
taking of food together. It is evident that in Manu's time
it was a most common thing for men of one caste to have a
wife belonging to another ; and that the punishment for such
offences did not fall upon the guilty parties, but on their chil
dren. Nowadays, those who commit the fault are made to
suffer; hence it very rarely occurs. To an outsider it is difficult
to understand the minute distinctions that are made between
the classes of the same caste. For example, the Brahmans of
Bengal are divided into several Srenies, or classes, as Eauries,
Barenders, Vaidiks, and Saptasatis. The Srenies are again
subdivided into Kulins, Srotiyas, and Vangsajas. Those
belonging to the subdivisions wiU interchange hospitalities,
but will not freely intermarry; the Srenies, however, will
neither exchange hospitalities nor intermarry with each other.
Though it is a most common thing in India for a man to

166 CASTE.
follow the same profession and calling as his father — so com
mon, in fact, that Europeans have come to speak of different
trades and callings as castes ; as, e.g. , they speak of a man
belonging to the weaver caste, the blacksmith caste, the car
penter caste, &c. ; yet this is a mistake ; the caste of the people
is really different from the trade or calling ; though it is
very common indeed, almost universal, for men of the same
trade to be of the same caste. Custom rules with an iron
hand throughout India, and generally a father trains his
son to work at the same trade as himself. It is not at all
common for a boy to be apprenticed to strangers as in England;
as soon as he can be of any assistance to his father, he goes
with him to his work, and continues in the same walk of
life. In our schools are found, side by side with Brahmans,
boys whose fathers are mechanics or small farmers, and
though they may not have the same influence to obtain em
ployment as the Brahmans, it is not their religion that prevents
them from engaging in office or scholastic work. In the army
are to be found men from all castes, and it has been used as
an argument against the men of lower castes obtaining pro
motion, that though, when on duty, the higher caste man
would be under the authority of the lower, when relief from
duty came, the low-caste officer would bow before the high-
caste private. The spread of education has done much to
level up the masses of India, and to lessen the profound
veneration for the Brahman that he has received as his birth
right for many generations.
Another interesting fact is the ease with which a man.
who has been excommunicated can regain admission to his
caste. In most cases it is by the mere payment of a sum
of money to provide a feast for the members of his dal,
after which the offender is as pure in their eyes as he ever
was. A man may be brought up before the tribunal, and if
the penalty be promptly paid, it fully atones for his misdeeds;
e.g., a servant is seen to touch an egg, or food in which there
are eggs ; on this being reported, he must spend about a

CASTE AS IT NOW EXISTS. 167
month's wages on a feast, and is then absolved ! A man openly
joins in a dinner with men of other castes, or goes to England
to study ; he has to pay a fine and go through certain puri
fying ceremonies more or less difficult, according to the
character of his society, and all is well with him. It is cer
tain that the great majority of educated men of the present
day do not care for the benefit of being retained in caste, so
far as they are concerned ; but they do not like to be passed
by when birth, marriage, and funeral ceremonies of their friend s
are held ; neither do they like a father to object to allow his
son to marry their daughters. Hence multitudes, purely on
social grounds, continue under the restraints of caste. In
former times it was the greatest disgrace that could happen
to a man for a son to embrace Christianity : not only was the
son lost to his family, but the whole family was shunned as
contaminated. Now some fathers say to their sons, " You
can become a Christian if you wish, and, were I alone to be
consulted, you should remain at home as before ; but for the
sake of my caste connections, and the disgrace ostracism would
inflict on the family, you must go elsewhere." As most of
the large families now have lost at least one member of their
family, through the efforts of missionaries, the disgrace that
was felt on this score has largely diminished. It is perfectly
true that there are many still who regard caste as a divine
institution, and dread the divine penalties that follow any
infringements of its rules ; more especially is this the case
with the vast majority of the lower orders. They would pre
fer death to partaking of forbidden food, or doing anything
that they thought was contrary to the teaching of theii
peculiar sect. And there can be no doubt whatever that
it was largely owing to a widespread report that the Govern
ment was about to abolish caste that led to the Indian Mutiny
of 1867. Lies on this subject were circulated, and men to
whom caste purity was dearer than life listened to the advice
of the seditious, who cared little for caste themselves, but
who hoped out of the general commotion to gain something.

168 CASTE.
Sometimes in" a European household in India these caste
distinction present themselves in a ludicrous light. If a
Hindu servant is sent for anything, from a child to a letter,
that is in the hands of a low- caste servant, the article cannot
be taken direct from the hand of the one who has it ; it must
be laid down on the ground, or whatever is near, and taken up
by the other. There must be no personal contact ; nor must
they touch the same article whilst the hand of the low-caste
person is upon it, or they are defiled. Hindu servants will
not object to assist in removing a piece of furniture with
Christians, but if a sweeper or other low-caste man attempts
to touch it, they wiU at once turn away. Of course it often
happens that when a man does not wish to do anything, or is
ordered to do what he regards as the work of another ser
vant, he pleads caste difficulties where those rules do not at
all apply.
There is one thing more that should be mentioned here,
and that is the widespread notion that the prohibition of
flesh meat for food is one of the most general restrictions of
caste. As a rule it is doubtless true : Hindus are vege
tarians and abstainers from intoxicating drink ; but there are
many who are not so, and yet are good Hindus. What is
forbidden as ordinary food becomes lawful when it is eaten as
part of the worship that is rendered to a deity. There are
some classes who will never partake of fish even, but these
are few ; as a rule fish is freely eaten by Hindus of all
castes, venison is generally allowed, and goat's flesh may be
¦eaten under certain conditions. The goats that are sacri
ficed to Kali in some of her many forms are by that act
sanctified, and may be freely eaten. Hence, if a man wish
to eat meat, he has simply to send his goat to the shrine
of Kali, pay his fee to the priest, bring home the body, and
he can then partake of it. Flesh, though distinctly ordered to
be eaten at the Shradhas, or funeral feasts, is not often pro
vided. For men too poor to purchase a whole kid or goat,
there are butchers' shops in the cities in which an image of

CASTE AS IT NOW EXISTS. 169
Kali stands, before which the goat is slain where he can
purchase as much as he may require of this sanctified meat.
In like manner, when a man wishes to indulge in bhang, or
any other intoxicant, he has simply to engage in the worship
of Siva, who, when incarnate, was particularly addicted to the
iise of intoxicants. In fact, though, looked at in some aspects,
Hinduism is a most rigid system of rules for the guidance of
men iu all the relationships of life, m other aspects it is a
most accommodating system, as it provides a way by which
men may indulge in pleasures which by some of their Scrip
tures are forbidden.
It would necessitate far more space than I can spare, and
be most tedious to the reader, were I to enumerate, with the
briefest notice of their peculiarities, all, or nearly all, of the
many castes that now exist. Dr. Wilson describes no less
than twenty-five classes of Brahmans alone, and these again
are subdivided into numerous subdivisions. These divisions
are largely geographical ; but yet each class has marked
peculiarities, and in many cases there is no real intercourse
permitted between them. The following is a brief account
of the Brahmans in Bengal. "Formerly only one order,
called the Satsati Brahmans, were found there, all of whom
were equal in honour. Matters stood thus till the time of
Adishura, a Bengal Eaja, who, offended with their ignorance
when wishing to offer a sacrifice to obtain rain, solicited from
Vira Singha, the king of Kanyakuvja, five Brahmans to
officiate at this sacrifice. The first Brahmans sent were
rejected because they wore stockings, and rode on horses ;
those afterwards sent were approved ; they performed the
sacrifice to the great satisfaction of the monarch, who gave
them grants of land in what the Hindus call the province
of Earha ; and from these five Brahmans are descended
almost all the Brahmans now in the province. They still
retain the family names of their original ancestors — Kasyapas
from Kasyapa the sage, Bharadwajas from the sage Bharad-
waja, Sandilyas from Sandilya, Savarnas from Savarna,

170 CASTE.
Batsyas from the sage Batsya. Some of the descendants of
these Brahmans, in consequence of removing into the pro
vince of Varendra, are called Varendra Brahmans, and those
who remained at Earha are known as Earhis. These com
prise all the Brahmans in Bengal, except the Vaidikas, and
about 1,500 or 2,000 families of the Satsati, or original
Bengal Brahmans, of whom there were about 700 families
in the time of Adhisura. The Vaidikas are said to have fled
from Orissa from the fear of being made Vamacharis ; and
because they were better students of the Vedas than the
other Brahmans they were called Vaidikas.
" From these ancestors have branched no fewer than 15&
families, of which the precedence was fixed by Ballala Sen,
who reigned in the twelfth century of the Christian era. One
hundred of these families settled in Viirendra, and fifty-six in
Earha, or Northern Bengal. These, though now dispersed
through the province, retain the family distinctions fised by
Ballala Sen. They are denominated from the families to
which their five progenitors belonged, and are still considered
Kanyakuvja Brahmans." '*'
The principal classes amongst them are the following : —
1. Rarha Kulina Brahmans. These form the highest class
as fixed by Ballala Sen, because of their possessing the fol
lowing nine good qualities : Observance of Brahmanical
customs, meekness, learning, good report, a disposition to
visit holy places, devoutness, observance of marriage amongst
equals only, asceticism, and liberality. And, because possessed
of these high qualities, special privileges were given to them,
particulars of which will be given in another chapter.
2. Bhanga Kidinas ; i.e., those whose kul, or honour, is
broken: this has resulted from their marrying beneath them.
Of these there are no less than thfrty-six classes.
3. The Vonshaja class is formed of those who are born in
the fifth generation after the first act by which a Kulina of
the first class fell into the second, or became a Bhanga
* Wilson, p. 205.

CASTE AS IT NOW EXISTS. 171
Kulina. The Ghattaka, or marriage-brokers for the Brah
mans, generally belong to this class.
4-8. The Eadiya Shrotiya Brahmans, or Vaidikas. These
are said to possess only eight of the nine excellent Brahmanical
qualities. Those are generally themost learned in the Sastras
of the Brahmans of Bengal ; the Varendras are similar to the
Eadiya Srotiyas ; the Saptashatis are the descendants of tho
original Brahmans who were passed over by king Adhishava
because of their ignorance. They earn their living by
attending at Shradhas, &c. The Vaidikas were originally
the priests of the five tribes of Brahmans who came to
Bengal. These are said to have been excluded bj' Ballala
Sen from the higher classes because of their want of learning ;
they said it was because they questioned the right of the king
to make arbitrary divisions of their order.
9. The Agraddnis. These have sunk in caste, and can only
intermarry amongst their own class, because they do not
scruple to take presents of gold, &c., at the Preta Shradha;
i.e., the first ceremonies for the dead. 10. The Maraiporaa
are those who repeat the mantras over the dead, by which
act their honour is lost, a fee of ten rupees being taken by
them as compensation. 11. The Rapali Brahmans are those
who perform religious ceremonies for the Eapalis who work
in jute : in like manner, those who do similar acts for gold
smiths, fishermen, &c., bear the name of the class for whom
their services are available. Generally the doing of duty in
this manner for low-caste Hindus greatly lowers them in the
esteem of their caste fellows, who will not eat with them on
this account. After doing this work they have to find their
associates in those who are ready to sell their services in a
similar manner. 12. The Pir AU Brdhmans. To this class
some of the most respectable families of Calcutta belong.
Years ago one of their ancestors went to the house of a
Mussulman law officer, where a trick was played upon him.
The Mussulman had heard it said to " smell food was half
eating it ; " and in the wish to convert some of the Brahmans

172 CASTE.
in his neighbourhood he invited them to his house, and
whilst they were seated there he ordered his dinner to be
served. They smelt the food, and their caste was gone —
so it was decided. Some of them became Mussulmans ; but
one who preferred to remain a Hindu, though his caste was
injured, became the founder of another class, called the Pir
Ali, after the man who had played the trick upon him.
Though many of the Brahmans have taken to other employ
ment, a large number are supported by lands that were given
for this purpose by kings and rich men. At the religious
festivals they are well paid for their presence and work,
though they complain bitterly of the evil times in which their
lot is cast. Ward says, " I have been informed that in the
district of Burdwan, the property applied to the support of
idolatry amounts to the annual rent of fifteen to twenty lacs
of rupees. It has been lately ascertained that in the Zillah
of Nadiya the lands amount to above 600,000 acres. When
all these things are considered it will appear that the clergy
in Catholic countries devour little of national wealth com
pared with the Brahmans."

CHAPTEE VL
PROPORTION OF PEOPLE IN THE CHIEF CASTES.
Peom the last census (1881) a few interesting facts can be-
gathered respecting the numbers included in several of the
most important castes. The divisions adopted by the Govern
ment were as follows :— -1. Brahmans ; 2. Kshetriyas ; 3.
Other Hindu castes ; 4. Aboriginal classes ; 5. Hindus not
recognizing caste distinctions ; 6. Castes not stated. I shall
give a general idea of the distribution of the Hindus in
Bengal, which may be taken as a fair example of the con
dition of the people in India generally. The Hindu popu
lation of this province being reckoned at about 45|- millions,
we find them classified as follows : —
I. Asiatics other than natives of the Indian Empire 7,02G
II. Natives of the Indian Empire : — ¦
a. Aboriginal tribes  1,365,215
h. Semi-Hinduized aborigines  10,618,415
t-. Hindus proper : —
1. Superiorcastes(Brahmans, Kshetriyas, &o.) 4,897,426
2. Intermediate (Vaidyas, 84,990 ; Kayasthas,
1,450,848, &c.)  2,777,124
3. Trading classes (Vaisyas, 9,320)  963,159
4. Pastoral classes, chiefly G-wallas  4,115,877
5. Classes engaged in preparing (cooked) food 924,984
6. Agricultural classes  6,875,197
7. Classes engaged in personal service [i.e.,
barbers, washermen, palanquin-bearers,
&c.)  2,804,003
8. Artizans  4,482,471
9. Weavers  1,619,844

174 CASTE.
10. Labourers  516,839
11. Fish and vegetable salesmen  142,417
12. Fishermen and boatmen  2,131,433
13. Dancers, musicians, beggars, and vagabond
classes  43,255
¦d. Persons enumerated by nationality only .... 48,114
e. Persons of Hindu origin not recognizing caste,
such as Vaishnavas, Gosains, &o  683,227
/. Hindus, castes not stated  376,451
In this enumeration about 100 different castes are men
tioned ; of these the Gwalla, or cow-herds, are the most
numerous, numbering nearly 4,000,000 ; the Brahmans
number about 2J millions. The proportion of the classes
mentioned above are as follows : —
1. Superior castes  10.77
2. Intermediate  6. 10
3. Traders  2.11
4. Pastoral classes  9.05
5. Food sellers  2.03
6. Agriculturalists  15. 12
7. Servants  6.16
8. Artizans  9.86
9. Weavers  3.56
10. Labourers  1.20
11. Greengrocers  0.31
12. Boatmen and fishermen  4.68
13. Musicians, &c  .09
14. Uncertain, and those not recognizing caste  1.50
" Thirty castes have representatives in every division of
the province, and a reference to their names in the margin
will show that they are all castes of general utility, whose
services are indispensable to that microcosm, the Bengal
village. Brahman, Kandu, "The Brahman has a home in
Eajput, Kayastha, every hamlet as family or temple
Baniya, Kumhar, priest, or in secular employ as
Barhi, Kurmi, teacher, orderly, or other superior
Barni, Madak, service. The Eajput plays a simi-

PEOPORTION OF PEOPLE IN THE CHIEF CASTES.

175

Chamar,

MaU,

Dhobi,

Mallah,

Dom,

Napit,

Gwalla,

Sunri,

Hari,

TamoU,

Jaliya,

Tanti,

Jugi,

TeU,

Kahar,

Tevi,

Kaibartha,

Bhuinya,

Karmakar,

Khawar.

lar secular part. Where half a
dozen huts cluster together, there
the Baniya sets up his petty shop
and opens his loan business. No
village is complete without its oil
man (TeU) , or its carpenter (Barhi),
who mends its ploughs, builds its
houses, and supplies the wood for
the cremation of its dead. Not less
necessary is the cobbler (Chamar),
who skins the carcases of the village cattle, makes the cart-
man's whips, and keeps in repair the shoes of the community ;
while his wife has the monopoly of obstretric practice. The
washerman (Dhobi) and the barber (Napit) are as indis
pensable to a people hedged around by ceremonial obser
vances as the scavengers (Dom, Hari) are to remove unclean
substances and to maintain an affectation of sanitation. The
services of the blacksmith (Karmakar, or Lobar) are in daily
requisition, and the potter (Kumhar) makes the earthern
plates and bowls which nine-tenths of the people use for
cooking and eating from. The confectioner (Madak and
Kandu) is a necessity among a people whose food is almost
whoUy farinaceous, and who are often obliged to have it ui a
jportable form, and to eat it under the shadow of a tree, or
by the roadside, whenever they find leisure to do so. The
petty luxuries of village life are provided by the Sunri, who
sells wine, and the Barni and TamoU, who grow and vend
the aromatic pan- leaf and the astringent betel-nut so dear
to native palates. The Tanti and the Jugi weave the coarse
clothes which the villaga folk wear, and the Mali grows the
flowers for the local shrine, or the frequent domestic festival,
as well as the better kind of vegetables with which the villager
mends his coarse fare. All these artizans work for a com
munity whose main ingredients are cultivators and herdsmen.
The agricultural element, from which few castes are altogether
dissociated, is mainly supplied by the Kaibarthas in Bengal,

176 CASTE.
Kurmis in Behar, and Chassas in Orissa. The Gwalla
(cow-keeper) is a familiar and frequent figure in every corner
of the land. The cow is to the Hindu much more than the
camel to the Arab, and it fills a large place in every phase of
his daily life. . . . The great rivers of Bengal support a
numerous race of boatmen (Mallah), and the craving for
fish among a people to most of whom other animal food
is interdicted, either by necessity or prejudice, employs as
large a number of fishermen (Tevi). The Kahar is ubi
quitous, sometimes as a carrier of palkies, and therefore
indispensable at all weddings, or as a domestic servant. The
Kayastha, who once shared with the Brahman the monopoly
of learning, still thrives in every hamlet, from Patna to
Cuttack, as the schoolmaster, the village accountant, or the
landlord's confidential secretary. Lastly, the shifting popu
lation of the community, the daily labourers and field hands,
are supplied by two castes, the Bhuinyas and the Khawars,
the former of whom Mr. Magrath thought were once the
autochthones of Behar ; while the latter name, being that of
a large separate tribe, is an alternative epithet for one sub
division of the Santhals." '¦=
There is one very important and interesting fact brought
out by these returns as compared with those of the census of
1872, respecting the semi-Hinduized aboriginal tribes, as
they are called, showing how very rapidly those who only
nine years ago were regarded as aboriginals are now
reckoned as Hindus. Census of 1872. 1881.
Aboriginal tribes  2,738,813  1,305,215
Semi-Hinduized tribes  9,474,248  10,618,451
The Census report says : " Looking first at the figures for
1881, the most obvious point to the observer is the large pro
portion of the class of semi-Hinduized aborigines. Accepting
the distribution of 1872, they now appear to number nearly
one-fourth of the Hindu population. They are for the most
* Bengal Census Eeport, vol. i. p. 138.

PROPORTION OF PEOPLE IN THE CHIEF CASTES. 177
part hewers of wood and drawers of water, and are beyond
cavil the remnants of the nations whom successive invaders,
culminating with the Aryans, found in possession of the
country, and absorbed more or less into their system of poUty.
Those of the aboriginal tribes which were most remote from
the scene of the invasion, or were so situated as to be able to
withstand it, have retained to this day their primeval lan
guage and customs, and their tribal faiths. Those, on the
other hand, who were most exposed to the wave of conquest,
who were least able to resist, or who were most ready to
amalgamate with the new-comers, were absorbed into their
community, but relegated to its lowest grades^ and employed
in its most menial offices. Such was the treatment which
the inhabitants of the country received at the hands of the
Hindu invaders. The question of absorption is only one of
time and opportunity. Many of the castes shown as low-
caste Hindus, and now universally accepted as such, have
peculiarities which give rise to the suspicion that they are not
pure Hindus of the Aryan type ; but they are to all intents
and purposes low-caste Hindus, and are treated as such with
out question. The class of semi-Hinduized aborigines are
only a stage behind them in their progress towards Hinduism.
What many of the low-caste Hindus once were, the semi-
Hinduized aboriginals are now ; and in the lapse of time
they, too, wUl recruit the ranks of the Hindus, as inter
marriage and social intercourse gradually obUterate more
and more thefr distinctive characteristics.''
It is interesting to see how the embracing of Hinduism in
past ages has dignified their descendants in the present day.
It is probable that Brahmanism did not spread through
Nepal until the fifteenth century. Driven there by the Mus
sulman invasion, the Hindu exiles readily received converts,
making them, and also their own descendants by the hUl
women, Kshatriyas. From these two sources spring the Khas,
originally the name of a small clan of creedless barbarians,
now the proud title of the Kshatriya order of the kingdom of
13

178 CASTE.
Nepal, who also bear the family names of the Brahmanical
orders. And, strange to say, the Brahmans there who officiate
in temples and at festivals not only eat goats and sheep, but
also fowls, and rear pigs for thefr own tables. Both the strict
Brahmans and the so-called Kshatriyas may also drink water
that is brought by the Kachar Bhutiyas, men who kill cows
and eat beef without scruple; yet in some other respects
caste is most rigorously observed. In the matter of marriage
and adultery the strictest rules prevail. A Brahman, if
a soldier, and the Kshatriyas are bound in honour, if their
wife prove unfaithful, themselves to slay the offender and
cut off the wife's nose and drive her from their home.
The history of the conversion of the Manipuris to
Hinduism is most interesting, and shows clearly how the
propagation of the faith is carried on. About a hundred
years ago Ghorit Nawaj, the founder of the family of the
present Eaja, was converted to Hinduism by a wandering
Sanyasi, who then declared that the Manipuris were all
Hindus, but had forgotten thefr privileges and duties. He
ordered the people to bathe and make expiation for thefr
long neglect, and then declared them to be good Hindus
of the Kshatriya caste. A similar story is told of the Hindus
of Cachar.

CHAPTEE VII.
KULINISM AND POLYGAMY.*
I HAVE reserved aU notice of Kulinism for a separate chapter,
as it is one of the worst excrescences of Hinduism, and affords
a notable instance of the way in which the bestowal of honour
npon those originally regarded as worthy has come to carry
with it a license to indulge to an almost unUmited extent the
worst passions of human nature.
As a rule the Hindus are not polygamists. It is true that
under special cfrcumstances it is permitted to them to take
a second wife whilst the first is stiU living. In cases where
seven years after marriage no son is born, the Law Books
authorize a man to take a second wife, because a son is
regarded as necessary to perform the funeral rites of his
father, and not for his father only — ^for three previous
generations the happiness of his ancestors is imperilled
by the neglect of these ceremonies. In these cases the new
bride comes to her husband's home, and though the super
seded wife remains the nominal head of the household, it
foUows that the presence of the new and favoured wife,
especially when she has a son in her arms, renders the posi
tion of the older woman most painful. One has only to read
the domestic Ufe of Jacob to see what must inevitably follow
where the younger and more fortunate wife resides in the
same house with the older and despised one. Sometimes,
it is true, the older wife receives the younger with kindness,
* See Calcutta Review, vol. ii.. Article " Kulinism."

180 CASTE.
but if the home life as depicted in tales by native wiiters be
correct, generally there is jealousy and misery. Many of
the well-to-do men do not scruple to keep concubines, but
these have a separate establishment ; it is, however, not
uncommon for the children of these separate homes to meet
together, fuUy aware of their common fatherhood. But though
concubinage is by no means peculiar to India, in the privileges
of the Kulin Brahman, however, who may marry as many
wives as they wish, there is something peculiar to Hinduism.
In order to make the origin of this system clear it wUl be
necessary to repeat a little of the history of the Brahmans in
Bengal. In the reign of King Adisur, himself a member of the Sen,
or medical caste, the number of Brahmans in his kingdom
of Gour was considerably reduced, and those who remained
were for the most part ignorant men who were unable to
read the Vedas in the original Sanskrit ; whilst of the Sagnie
Brahmans, i.e., those versed in the ritual of certain sacrifices,
not one was to be found. A drought of unusual duration
threatening his country, the king, wishing to make a sacri
fice at which only Sagnie priests could officiate, sent to the
king of Kanouj, the capital of Hindustan proper, for a
number of these learned men. When this request was read
five priests who happened to be present, tempted by the
liberal offers made by the king of Gour, consented to migrate
to his kingdom to perform his sacrifice.
These five men were Brahmans of the highest order, who-
could trace their origin to the divine sages, the sons of
Brahma himself. They belonged to the Sandilya, Kasyapa,
Bharadwaj, Savarna, and Batsya gotras, or tribes. Im
mediately on their arrival at Gour they commenced their
sacrificial work, and the names of the officiants are still
remembered — ' ' Vedagarva, Sriharsa, and Chandra chanted
the Eich, Yajus, and Saman Vedas, while Daksha and
Narayan officiated at the sacrifice." Neighbouring princes
who were present at this important celebration returned to

KULINISJI AND POLYGAMY.

181

their homes delighted and amazed at the superior piety and
knowledge of these newly-arrived priests who had come from
what they regarded as their ancestral home.
When the work for which these men had been brought
was completed they settled down in their new home to enjoy
the honours and emoluments the king showered upon them.
But despising the native Brahmans on account of their
ignorance and mode of life, they would not associate with
them in their feasts, nor would they intermarry into their
famihes, but continued to form an entirely separate sect.
After a time, however, their descendants becoming numerous,
were not so scrupulous; many of them fraternized to a
greater or less extent with the Brahmans of the country.
At length a king named Ballala Sen coming to the throne,
a king who in the stories of the country is said to have been
a son of the river Brahmaputra, and whose doings the poets
have never ceased to praise, dissatisfied with the ecclesias
tical condition of his kingdom, determined to arrange the
priests into classes. He saw that many of the Kanouj fami
lies were not as pure, nor were their priests as learned, as they
ought to be. He selected some from their number whom he
believed to be possessed of certain excellences* to whom he
gave the title of Krd, or Honourable ; whilst to others, as he con
ceived them proportionately less worthy, he gave less honour
able titles. These men, styled Kidins, were intended to be
the founders of a spiritual aristocracy ; their children, if born
as the result of marriages into families equally honourable,
were to inherit all the honours and privileges granted to their
fathers. In fact, the privUege of a Kulin cannot be taken
away from him for any personal transgression, even though
he marry a woman other than of a KuUn family ; it is his
children, not himself, who is called upon to suffer.
At the present time, however, we find that this Kulinism
is the cause of unnumbered ills, many of those regarded
as Kulins esteeming it quite beneath their dignity to work,
* These qualities are mentioned in the previous chapter.

182 CASTE.
though they do not object to be supported by the parents
of those whom they have condescended to ennoble by
marriage; in most of them the virtues for which the title
of " honourable " was given being conspicuously absent.
" The Kulins, who were ennobled by Ballala Sen, and after
wards enlarged by Lakshman Sen, were of divers mels, or
orders, of which four were, and are still, considered primary.
They take their designation from the places where, at their own
request, they were allowed to settle, and they are to this day
distinguished by the names of Pule, Khardah, Sarvanandi,
and Ballavi. In these orders were comprehended the most
meritorious of the descendants of the five colonists from
Kanouj ; that is, the most virtuous of the Banerjeas, Moo-
kerjeas, Chatterjeas, Ghosals, and Ganjulies.'' It ¦will of
course be understood that not all bearing these very common
names are Kulins, nor are all the immediate descendants
of these regarded as honourable at the present time. Some
of the Banerjeas, for instance, were never admitted into the
honourable brotherhood, and some once honoured have,
through intermarriage with other than Kulins, caused thefr
descendants to pass into lower grades. It is a noticeable
fact that the honours of Kulinism continue to a man through
hfe ; born a Kulin always a Kulin was the rule ; and further,
that a mesalliance is the only means of depriving their off
spring of the same honour. " Of the Banerjea family two
persons were raised, Maheshwar and Makarand ; of the sons
of Daksha, i.e., the Chatterjeas, Bahurup and Arabind were
honoured ; Utsava was the only member of the Mookerjea
family descended from Sriharsa that was distinguished ;
three of the Ghosals, or sons of Chandra, viz., Jagat,
Govardhan, and Kami ; and two of the GanjuUes, or descen
dants of Vedagarva, viz., Sisho and Eodhaker, were likewise
exalted. These were all the principal Kulins raised to dignity
by King Ballala, and they were designated either after one
or other of the four mels already named, or from the family
to which they were respectively attached.

KULINISM AND POLYGAMY.

183

"Lakshman Sen, the son and successor of Ballala Sen,
followed up and improved the heraldry instituted by his
father, and enlarged the names and orders of the Kuls to
an enormous length. The primary orders were left un
touched ; the inferior or secondary orders were spun out into
nearly thirty subdivisions.
"Besides these Kulins another order of Brahmans was
honoured in BaUala's time who were called the Srotriyas.
The descendants of the five Kanouj Brahmans, though at
first they avoided all intercourse with the Saptasati or abori
ginal Brahmans of Bengal, were subsequently induced to
accept their daughters as wives. The offspring of these
marriages were considered inferior to their fathers, but
superior to their mothers and maternal grandfathers. They
had half the blood of Kanouj, and were therefore esteemed
superior to the aboriginal priests, and they had half the
blood of the Saptasatis, and so were held inferior to their
fathers. The most meritorious of these persons the king
honoured with the title of Srotriyas. They had this privilege
amongst others, that the Kulins might marry their daughters
without prejudice to their ranks. They have accordingly
proved a connecting link between the Kulins and the
Saptasatis. Their houses are the authorized nurseries for
breeding wives for the exalted Brahmans, and they take no
small pride in reflecting on the importance which this honour
imparts to the class. What enhances their privilege is the
fact that the Kulins cannot marry women from any other
families, not even from the subordinate Kulins themselves,
without degrading their offspring.
" The Kulins are strictly forbidden, on pain of forfeiting
their title, to receive wives from families which are inferior
to themselves, with the exception of the Srotriyas just men
tioned. When this rule is transgressed, although the delin
quent himself does not suffer personally, his kul is said to be
broken. He himself dies, as he was born, in the enjoyment of
his honour ; but his offspring forfeit the title, and the glory

184 CASTE.
of the family becomes tarnished." "Although an unequal
marriage breaks a person's kul, his immediate descendants
are not classed with the common (Vansaj) Brahmans; for
four or five generations the recollections of their ancestral
dignity secures for the sons of a broken Kulin great honour
and distinction. The descendants of a Kulin, even after the
disruption of his kul, are for several generations considered
superior in rank and dignity. The brightness and lustre of
a noble family are supposed to be incapable of being tarnished
at once and by a single act, though the days of its glory are
numbered, and nothing will restore it to its primitive great
ness. The immediate offspring of such a family are designated
the sons of a Swakrita bhanga, or self-broken Kulin, and
esteemed as a second grade, or inferior by one step only to
the untainted orders. The next generation is esteemed the
third in rank. This gradual deterioration continues to the
fourth and fifth generations, after which the glory of the
family is obscured, and it sinks to the level of the common
alty." It is said that it is now difficult to find Brahmans of
unbroken kul. Many of the highest rank are once or twice
removed from those who had this honour.
The law prohibiting under these severe penalties the
marriage of Kulins with those of less honourable rank was
made to secure the family purity of this high class, and in
order to become united to this aristocracy it is considered
desfrable for a Brahman to marry his daughter to a Kulin
husband. Not the Srotriyas only, but the Brahmans of the
inferior orders, are most anxious to obtain a Kulin son-in-law.
Hence these men are eagerly sought after, and immense
sums of money paid to purchase their consent to wed their
daughters ; and hence has arisen the great evil of the system
— viz., polygamy to an almost unlimited extent.
" The laws which regulate the marriage of Kulin females are
cruelly stringent ; these must not on any account be given
to any unless they are of an equal or superior grade. Neither
the Srotriyas nor any inferior order can aspire to the hand of

KULINISM AND POLYGAMY. 185
a Kulin's daughter. An indelible disgrace would be affixed
upon such a prostitution of a girl of birth and family. Thus
her hereditary honour becomes her heaviest misfortune.
The greatest difficulty is experienced in settling her in life.
The only circles from which a husband can be selected are
in request everywhere and by everybody. To outbid the
Srotriyas and others in the purchase of a noble bridegroom
requires larger funds than many a Kulin can command. The
greatest misery and distress are accordingly occasioned. . . .
No parent dares to risk his daughter's virtue by allowing her
to live a single life. The institutions of Hinduism, too, denounce
the fiercest anathemas against such conduct. The severest
condemnation is passed on a Brahman who neglects to get
his daughter married before her tenth year. The most
meritorious way of disposing of her is to present her at the
hymeneal altar when she is eight years old, the next before
her ninth year is terminated. At all events her wedding
must not be delayed beyond her tenth year. Longer delay
cntaUs upon the delinquent the guilt and infamy of infan
ticide." Under these cfrcumstances the poor Kulin father
is in the greatest difficulty. He cannot allow her to marry
any one belonging to a lower caste ; he cannot afford to pur
chase a husband in his own. His only resource is to appeal
to some decrepit old Kulin Brahman, who already has a
multitude of wives, to save the honoiu- of his famUy by adding
_ one more to his list. Parents have been known, when a man
ias evidently been at the point of death, to go through the
marriage ceremony of their daughter with him rather than
incur the disgrace of having her remain unmarried.
Kulinism, then, is the root cause of polygamy. Sometimes
from cupidity, sometimes from pity, sometimes from mere
animalism, a man is led to marry a multitude of wives. Of
course he cannot live with them all, nor does he attempt to
take them to his father's house as the ordinary Hindu bride
groom would do. He chooses the house of one of his fathers-
in-law as his home, and pays an occasional visit to his

186 CASTE.
other wives when their fathers offer inducement sufficient
to lead him to honour them with his presence. It is true
some Kulins are content with one wife, and work hard to
maintain a comfortable home ; but many are simply the
husbands of their many wives, and expect to be supported
by the men whom they have honoured by becoming their
sons-in-law. Some weU-to-do Srotriyas and other Brahmans
make the home so comfortable for their sons-in-law that they
are content to be the husband of one wife only. A system
more calculated to lead to immorality and misery it would
hardly be possible to imagine. And this is the outcome of
an arrangement that was ordained for the special purpose
of doing honour to some who were considered by the king
more worthy than the rest of their caste-fellows.
The kuls hitherto spoken of are those of the Eareya Brah
mans, so called from the neighbourhood in w^hich they settled.
But the neighbouring princes, seeing the glory of the five
Brahmans who came at Adisur's invitation, wished to have
their country also illumined by the presence of these wise and
holy men. Birmallah, king of Barender, father-in-law to
Adisur, preferred a similar request to the king of Kanouj,
in answer to which five Brahmans were sent to him also.
These two classes, although they came from the same place,
and might have been considered equal in their own country,
now form two great classes — the Barenders and the Eareyas
— ^between whom intermarriage is prohibited, as are also
the rites of hospitality. The patron of the Barender Brah
mans arranged their descendants into classes, as Ballala
Sen arranged those in his dominions. Of the Barenders,
eight families are reckoned as Kulins: viz., the Maitras,
Bhims, Eudras, Sandels, Lahurys, Sadhobs, Bhaders, and the
Bhaduris; whilst the Karanjans, Nandabasis, Nauris, Atars,
Bhandashalis, Kamdebs, Champatis, and the Jhampatis,
were reckoned as Srotriyas.
Ballala Sen did not only establish kills amongst the Brah
mans, but gave titles of honour also to the Kayasthas who

KULINISM AND POLYGAMY. 187
came as their attendants, although, according to the strict
teaching of Hinduism, they were sankers, or half-castes;
viz., descendants of the Vaisya fathers and Sudra mothers.
Sriharsa was attended by Makaranda Ghose, Chandra by Da-
saratha Bose, Daksha by Kali Dass Mitter, Narayan by Pu-
rushottama Datta, and Vedagarva by Dasaratha Guha. These
five men were the progenitors of the most respectable Kayasthas
in Bengal. Of these five, three only, viz., Ghose, Bose, and
Mitter, acknowledged themselves to be the slaves of the
Brahmans, and were rewarded for their servility by being
made Kulin Kayasthas. Datta made the same admission,
.though with some reserve, and was not thus honoured, though
intermarriage between his family and that of the Kulins was
permitted ; but Guha, refusing to give up his freedom, was
regarded as a Kulin only as compared with the Kayasthas he
found already settled in Bengal.
Such, then, is the origin of Kulinism, a source of unmiti
gated evil to many families at the present time. It is,
however, only fair to say that some of the more respectable
Hindus, and amongst them some of the Kulins themselves,
have endeavoured again and again to have an end put to this
mosji iniquitous system ; and when it is known that the
authority for the institution is not to be found in the Hindu
Scriptures, but was an arbitrary arrangement made by a man
who was a great admfrer of the Brahmanical order, and one
who wished to increase their honour and add to their wealth, it
certainly seems to be one of those cases in which humanity
cries aloud to the Government to step in to put an end to
most cruel practices for which there is no authority in the
writings regarded by the people as sacred. There would be
an outcry, doubtless, from those who now benefit by the sys
tem ; but the immense relief that the stoppage of the practice
would give would be far greater than any such discontent.
Ward gives the following description of the evils of the
system : —
" Each Kulin Brahman marries at least two wives — one

188 CASTE.
the daughter of a Brahman of his own order, the other of a
Srotriya ; the former he generally leaves at her father's, the
other he takes to his own house. It is essential to the honour
of a Kulin to have one daughter, but by the birth of many
daughters he sinks in respect. . . . Some inferior Kulins
marry many daughters. . . . Numbers procure a subsistence
by excessive polygamy : at their marriages they obtain large
presents, and as often as they visit their wives they receive
presents from the father ; and then, having married into forty
or fifty families, a Kulin goes from house to house and is fed,
clothed, &c. Some old men after the wedding never see the
females ; others visit them once in three or four years. A
respectable Kulin never lives with the wife who remains in
the house of her parents ; he sees her occasionally as a friend
I'ather than a husband, and dreads to have offspring by her,
as he thereby sinks in honour. Children born in the houses
of their fathers-in-law are never owned by the father. In con
sequence of this state of things both the married and un
married daughters of the Kulins are plunged in an abyss of
misery." He then goes on to speak of the natural results of
this iniquitous system : immorality, public prostitution, and
abortion. The following official notice of their doings may be taken
as a sober, carefully weighed statement. It appeared in the
Gazette of India, Feb. 7, 1867, and is signed by C. P.
Hobhouse, H. T. Prinsep, Suttshara Ghosal, Ishwar Chandra
Surma, Eamanath Tagore, Joy Kisseii Mookerjea, Degumber
Mitter; the last three g^itlemen, while subscribing to the
report generally, state that the practice of polygamy among
those who observe it obtains in a much more mitigated form
than a few years before.
" We will now describe some of the main customs in the
matter of marriage, which, on the authority of the statements
made in petitions to the Legislative Council, and in some
instances within the knowledge of more than one of the
native gentlemen on our committee, obtain amongst the

KULINISM AND POLYGAMY. 18&
Bhanga KuUnas ; and we will state what are declared in the
papers before us to be the evil results of some of those
customs : —
1. In addition to the presents usually given amongst all
classes of the Hindus on the occasion of marriage, a Bhanga
Kulina always, except when he gives his daughter to a brother
Bhanga, andtakes in exchange that brother Bhanga's daughter,
exacts a consideration for marriage from the family of the bride.
2. A present is often given in addition on the occasion of
any visit made to the house of the father-in-law.
3. If the daughters of the first and second subdivisional
classes of Bhanga Kulinas cannot be given in marriage to
husbands of their own classes, they must remain unmarried.
4. The number of wives, including those of the same class,
is said to be often as many as 15, 20, 40, 50, 80.'''-
5. Polygamy is said to be resorted to as a sole means of
livelihood by many Bhanga Kulinas.
6. Marriage, it is said, is contracted quite in old age, and
the husband often never sees his wife, or only, at the best,
visits her once in every three or four years or so.
7. As many as three and four, even twenty- three marriages,
have been known to have been contracted in one day.
8. Sometimes all a man's daughters and his unmarried
sisters are given in marriage to one and the same individual.
9. It is so difficult to find husbands in the proper class for
Kulina women that numbers, it is said, remain unmarried.
10. The married and unmarried daughters and wives of
Kulinas are said to live in the utmost misery; and it is
alleged that crimes of the most heinous nature, such as
adultery, abortion, infanticide, and prostitution are the
common results of Bhanga Kulina marriages generally.
11. Cases are cited of men who have married 82, 72, 65,
60, aud 42 wives, and have had 18, 32, 41, 25, and 32 sons ;
and 26, 27, 25, 15, 16 daughters.
* Wilson mentions some cases known to pundits, with -whom he had
conversed on this subject, where the number was 100 aud 150.

190 CASTE.
12. Lists have been adduced of families in the Burdwan
and Hugh districts alone showing the existence of a pluraUty
of wives on the above scale, and of numerous cases.
13. The principle on which Kulinism was perpetuated, viz.,
that of preventing intermarriages between certain classes, is
violated. 14. FamUies, it is said, are ruined in order to provide the
large sums requisite to give a consideration on the occasion
of their daughters' marriages, or are unable to marry their
daughters at all for want of means to procure such consider
ation. 15. Marriages, it is said, are contracted simply in order to
[obtain] this consideration, and the husbands do not even
care to inqufre what becomes of their wives, and have never
even had any intention of fulfilling any one of the marriage
duties. 16. The crimes that are said to result from the Kuhna
system of marriage are said to be habitually concealed by the
actors in them and by their neighbours, and this so as to
baffle the efforts of the police at discovery.
17. No provision is made for the maintenance of one wife
before marriage with an unhmited number of others."
Surely if these statements can be relied on, and they form
the body of a report on the subject to the Legislative Council
of India, and if it were possible would certainly have been
controverted, no words of comment can add to their weight.
These Kulinas are strict Hindus, and are accounted worthy
of the respect of the community. They are the " honourable
class," the aristocracy of India.

WORSHIP.

CHAPTEE I.
HINDU WORSHIP."
In this and the following chapters, the worship, the strictly
religious life of the Hindus, will be described, as distinguished
from their ordinary social, or, as we might say, secular life. It
is true that the whole life of the Hindu is religious. His Scrip
tures teach him how he must dress, eat, work, and conduct
himself in all his various relationships. According to the belief
of a Hindu, he is as guilty, in many respects more guilty, in the
sight of God, when he violates some apparently trivial caste
regulation, as when he is guilty of falsehood, dishonesty, or
immorality. Still, as we make a distinction between reli
gious acts and ordinary life, I wish to treat in this chapter
of that which is known amongst us as religion proper ;
i.e., the worship that the Hindus pay to their deities, and the
time and manner of doing it.
As the Christian's aim in worship differs diametrically from
that of the Hindu, it naturally follows that their methods will
* The books that are regarded as authorities for teaching the worship
proper of the Hindus, and also for regulating their daily life, are the
Vedas, the Epics {i.e., the Mahabharata and the Eamayana), the IPuranas,
and the Tantras. Some of the Tantras are older than some of ths
Puranas, though generally it may be said that they are the most modern
of all the Hindu Soripturse. The Tantriks, indeed, claim respect for their
books, as afifth Veda, and regard them with reverence equal to that given
to the Vedas. Thus in the Siva Tantras that deity is represented as say
ing, ' ' The five seas issued from my five mouths. These five are known as
the paths to final liberation. There are many seas, but none equal to the
upper one" [i.e., the Tantra, which came from the uppermost head). It is
said that it was owing to a curse of Gayatri that in the Kali Yuga the
Brahmans have become Tantriks. 14

194 WORSHIP.
widely differ. In a word, the Christian's aim is to know and
love God ; that knowing Him he may know the character it
is his duty to strive after, and loving Him, he may have an all-
constraining motive impelUng him to attain it. To this end
he reads the Word of God, has spiritual fellowship with Him,
and strives, by uniting with others like-minded, to deepen that
love, until his whole nature shall become like to that of
God's. With the Hindu the aim is altogether different from
this. His belief is that he is part of God, but through igno
rance is unable to realize this identity. He fears the objects of
his worship, and tries by presents to purchase their favour,
and by knowledge of his identity with the Supreme, as a drop
of water falling into the sea loses its identity, to obtain re
union with Him. His books teach him that there are two
ways of gaining that desired end. The one is meditation, by
which a man at length ceases to think of anything, becomes
idiotic, as it seems to an onlooker, so far as the appearance
of those who have nearly gained this end can be relied on.
The other is by the performance of works of merit ; religious
acts, which, though not absolutely necessary, will in the end
ensure the doer of them great reward in the future life. In
describing the duties of the Brahman, I have already spoken
of the holiest life man can live according to Hinduism, viz. ,
the mendicant or ascetic life, which is regarded as the best
preparation for meeting God. All Hindus hope eventuaUy to
attain, after numerous successive bfrths, to that high position.
But for those who are not Brahmans, and who, therefore,
cannot in their present birth by any possibility attain to that
holy character, a system of religious works is prescribed by
which they may raise themselves in the estimation of the
gods, and in another birth, after enjoying years of happiness
in heaven, appear on earth as Brahmans, and then have the
opportunity of living the holy and devout life which will
enable them to obtain final absorption into deity. The " good
works," then, the rehgion proper of the Hindus, such as
bathing, visiting temples, shruies, worshipping the gods, are

HINDU WORSHIP. 195
not the means by which the " highest good" is to be directly
attained ; by their aid a step in advance may be made ; the
possibility of obtaining absorption coming to them when in
another life they are born as Brahmans, which they consider
the highest type of manhood. By this means, too, Brahmans
rise from the lower to the higher grades, and by a gradual
process attain to the most perfect stage. I shall now describe
the religious acts, i.e., worship proper taught by Hinduism.
Brahmans have assured me, and I have no reason for
doubting their truthfulness in this matter, that if they perform
their daily religious rites properly, at least two hours in the
morning and the same time in the evening would be fully
occupied with them ; and an hour or so in the middle of the
day should also be devoted to similar work. Many of the ortho
dox Hindus, there is no doubt, do spend a long time before
and after business hours in this manner. Men living the
ascetic life, whose whole time is at their own disposal, may
not find this very trying ; but for those engaged in school or
office for a good many hours of the day it certainly must
prove irksome. Some of the more wealthy engage a family
priest to perform many of these ceremonies for them, and by
occasionally looking on, hope to obtain the benefit that would
come to them had they personally performed them. Men
often come to their daily work weary with the efforts they
have made before leaving their homes to comply with the
demands of their religion. As the daily religious duties of a
Brahman are very numerous, and the instructions most
minute, it will be possible to mention only the more im
portant. The ordinary religious duties of the lower castes
will be described afterwards.
There are four chief duties or sacraments to be performed
daily by all good Brahmans : — The study of the Vedas, offer
ing of gifts to the departed, and to the gods, and the reception
of guests. But first, and as a preparation for the due perform
ance of any of these, there is —
Ablution. On rising from his couch he must clean his teeth

196 WORSHIP.
with a twig of the pipul-tree, after which the twig must be
thrown away. Then he must proceed to the Ganges, or some
holy stream, or a tank, if no river is near (or to a well, and
bathe by pouring water upon his body), and first sip a Uttle
water and sprinkle some before him. He must then throw
water eight times over his head, and pour a little upon the
ground, by which he destroys the demons who war upon the
gods. Then thrice plunging into the water, and repeating each
time the expiatory prayer which recites the creation, he
washes his clothes and sits down to worship the rising sun.
With each of these acts there are appropriate prayers to be
offered, the object of which is to enable him to perform the
rites properly, and to be blessed with health and general
prosperity. The sun is next worshipped. To do this properly, reciting
the Gayatri, he ties up the lock of hair which is allowed to
grow long on the top of his head, by which he hopes to be
lifted up to heaven. He then again sips water several times,
and touches the various parts of his body with his wet hand.
If during this exercise he happens to sneeze, he must wait for
a moment and touch his right ear as an expiation. For fire,
water, the Vedas, the sun, moon, air, all reside iu the right
ear of a Brahman ; and Ganga being there too, and sacrificial
fires in his nostrils, when these are touched all. sin vanishes
in a moment. He then closes his eyes and meditates on
Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, in their respective forms, and whilst
holding his breath, his left nostril being closed with the
fingers of his right hand, three times repeats the Gayatri.
This notable text is as follows : " Om (a word indicating the
three great gods of Hinduism — Brahma, Vishnu, Siva), earth,
sky, heaven ! We meditate on the adorable light of the re
splendent generator (the sun), which governs our intellects,
which is water, lustre, savour, immortal faculty of thought,
Brahma, earth, sky, heaven." This text is interpreted by
the commentators to mean the following : " That effulgent
power which governs our intellects is the primitive element of

HINDU WORSHIP. 197
water, the lustre of gems, and other glittering substances, the
savour of trees and herbs, the thinking soul of living beings :
it is the creator, preserver, destroyer ; the sun and every
other deity, and aU which moves or which is fixed in the three
worlds named earth, sky, and heaven. May he unite my soul
to his true radiance." Another interpretation of the Gayatri
differs from the former mainly in the last part, in which it is
said, " The power exists internally in my heart, and externally
in the sun ; being one and the same with that effulgent power,
I myself am an irradiated manifestation of the Supreme
Brahma." From the following explanatory passage it is
clear that the sun is thus really worshipped: "That which
is in the sun, and thus called Ught or effulgent power, is ador
able, and must be worshipped by them who dread successive
births and deaths, and who eagerly desire beatitude," This
prayer is preceded by the names of the seven worlds, sig
nifying that this glorious light permeates them all. These
seven worlds are as follows : 1. Earth, in which we are now
living. 2. The world, in which beings who have passed from
the earth are now unconsciously awaiting the end of the pre
sent age, when they will again awake to consciousness. 3.
Heaven, the abode of the good. 4. The middle world, i.e., the
region between these three lower and the next three higher
worlds. 5. The world of births, in which animals destroyed
at the great conflagration which closes each age are born
again. 6. The mansion of the blessed, which is occupied by
the sons of Brahma, who by their austerity are fitted for its
blessedness. 7. The sublime abode of truth, the home of
Brahma, the Supreme. Entrance into this is attained by
true knowledge, the regular discharge of duties, and veracity :
once attained it is never lost. The mystic syllable Om must
precede and follow this repetition of the names of the seven
worlds, or the efficacy of their repetition is lost. Though
all rites, oblations, sacrifices, pass away, it is declared that
this awful word, as it is the symbol of God, cannot pass
away.

198 WORSHIP.
After the three suppressions of the breath which repre
sent the threefold utterance of the Gayatri, the worshipper,
after again sipping water, prays to the sun and the deities who
preside over sacrifice to prevent him from imperfectly per
forming the ceremony ; and asks, further, " May whatever
sin I have committed by night, in thought, word, or deed,
be cancelled by day. Whatever sin is in me, may it be
far removed;" and, with other prayers, he offers water to
the sun, throws water eight times over his head, and then
upon the ground. As a means of cleansing his heart from
sin, he takes up a little water in the hollow of his hand,
inhales a little with one nostril, and exhales it by the other,
and concludes the ceremony by again sipping a little water.
The worshipper next worships the sun standing on one foot
and resting the other on his ankle or heel ; looking towards
the east, and holding his joined hands opened before him,
repeats other prayers ; again and again the Gayatri, in a
slightly altered form, is repeated, and an offering is made of
flowers, grains, water, &c.
A Brahman who is living the religious life must also
bathe at midday and in the evening ; whilst the forms are
very similar, the prayers differ slightly ; but it is stated that
for a householder who has other duties to attend to, the
midday and evening bathing may be dispensed with, and the
prayers shortened in the morning. Where bathing in water
is inconvenient, other modes of ablution are prescribed —
rubbing of the body with ashes, standing in the dust raised
by cows treading the earth, exposure to the rain — these,
under special circumstances, may be substituted for bathing
in a river.
Preparatory to any religious act, or when he bathes with
the express object of obtaining freedom from sin, the wor
shipper must bathe with certain rites, and uttering of certain
prayers that do not essentially differ from the foregoing.
He calls on the names of the sacred streams, and con
cludes with a prayer to earth, saying, after taking up a

HINDU WORSHIP. 199
handful and scattering it, "0 Earth, whatever sin has
been committed by me, do thou, who art upheld, by the
hundred-armed Krishna, incarnate as a boar, ascend my
limbs and remove every such sin." On continuing in the
water and seeking deliverance by them, after addressing the
water and plunging three times in the stream he says, " 0
consummation of solemn rites, who dost purify when per
formed by the most grievous offenders, thou dost invite the
basest criminals to purification, thou dost expiate the most
heinous crimes, and atone for sins to the gods by oblation
and sacrifice ; I expiate sins towards mortals by employing
mortals to officiate at sacraments ; defend me from the
pernicious sin of offending the gods." This form of worship
is also used at the ordinary midday ablution. The sun is
then to be worshipped with uplifted arms, not as in the
morning with joined hands.
There are also instructions given as to the prayers to be
offered, and rites to be performed, before the reading of the
Vedas commences; offerings have to be made of grain,
&c., with various ceremonies to the gods inviting them to be
• present and cheerful as he reads the holy writings ; then to
the great progenitors of mankind, to Yama, to his father,
grandfather, and great-grandfather, mother, and other near
relatives who have died; afterwards for those more remote,
and lastly, for all men — the idea being that the gifts of water
and grain will relieve the wants of any who may be suffering
in some of the many hells, or give increase of blessedness to
those in the regions of the blessed. When the Vedas are not
read, the offerings of grain, water, &c., to the progenitors,
spirits, deities, and ancestors are made. These ceremonies can
be shortened or lengthened at the wish of the individual ; but
the duties are all prescribed, and in some cases literally
fulfilled, and when they are performed the Brahman prepares
for his meal. Here, again, other religious rites have to be
observed. He first gives a portion to the gods, progenitors,
relatives who have passed away, and to all other beings, then

200 WORSHIP.
feeds his guests, and is ready for his first meal. After
washing his hands and feet, and sipping though not swallowing
the water, he sits on a stool or cushion, not on a couch or bed,
which must be placed in a clean place and marked off with
quadrangular lines. When the food is brought in, he bows
to it, raises his hands in the form of a humble salutation
to his forehead, and adds, " May this be always ours." After
sitting down he should lift the plate with his left hand, and
say, " Thou art invigorating." As the food is given to him
he says, " May heaven give thee ! " and accepts it with the
prayer, " May earth receive thee ! " Before eating he moves
his hand round the plate to insulate it and his person from
the rest of the company. He then offers five lumps of it to
Yama, sips the water, makes five oblations to breath, wets his
eyes, and commences to eat in silence.
At night similar duties to those of the morning are gone
through, and in many cases offerings of flowers, &c., are made
to the gods. If a Vaishnava, the Salgrama, the common repre
sentation of Vishnu, is worshipped : if of some other sect, some
emblem of the special deity. Thus an unceasing round of
duties are discharged, though it is difficult to see how the great
majority of them can have any moral or beneficial effect on
the character. Eepetition of the same rites and words so
frequently one would think must lead to a merely mechanical
performance. And as far as one can see this is the case ;
though of course some of the Brahmans are better than
their creed, and better than their ritual could ever make
them. The Vishnu Purana gives the following interesting par
ticulars respecting part of the daily worship of the Brahmans,
and it is quite in harmony with the teaching of other
Scriptures. As part of the morning worship it is the duty of
a man to make a daily oblation of water for the benefit of his
ancestors and relations in any former birth who may be
suffering in hell. The prayer is as follows : " May the gods,
demons, serpents, and trees, birds, fish, all that people the

HINDU WORSHIP. 201
waters, earth, or air, be propitiated by the water I have pre
sented to them. This water is given by me for the aUeviation
of the pains of all those who are suffering in the realms of
hell. May all those who are my kindred, and who are not
my kindred, and who were my relations in a former life, all
who desire libations from me, receive satisfaction from this
water. May this water and sesamum presented by me
relieve the hunger and thirst of all who are suffering from
those inflictions wheresoever they may be " (p. 303). After
making an offering to the gods in general, he is then to
cast a few grains of rice broadcast on a clean place, for the
good of creation at large, with some such formula as that
above. Before taking his food, when all is ready, he must wait in
expectation of a guest's arrival ; for " he who feeds himself
and neglects the poor and friendless stranger, in want of hos
pitality, goes to hell." And it is his duty to treat his guest
well, for if he depart from one house unsatisfied and goes
to another in order to obtain a sufficiency of food, he transfers
his sins to the man whose house he leaves, and at the same
time robs him of all his merit that he may have laid up in
heaven. Brahma himself is present in every guest, and he
it is who partakes of the food that is given. Next he must
st3e that any married woman in his house, any who are
ill, aged, and very young, are fed, and then he can him
self partake of his food; but the severest punishment is
threatened if he eat without first bathing, praying, and con
secrating his food, and before the children and the aged are
supplied. WhUst the daily duties of the Brahman are thus numerous
and lengthy, those of the mass of the people are not so by
any means. Most Hindus regard it as a religious duty to
bathe daily if this is at all convenient, and to raise their
hands and bow towards the sun as he rises ; but beyond this
little or nothing is done daily. In the houses of the well-to-do
there will be an image with its ministrant priest, and as the

202 woESHip.
conch shell is blown or the bell rung some members of
the household may look on at the ceremony, and some of
the poorer neighbours run in for a few moments, as flowers,
fruits, grain, and water, are offered to the image. But the
mass of the people have no regular daily private worship,
The shopkeepers, as a rule, have a picture or an image of
Ganesa in their shops, and before commencing business in the
morning a little incense is burned before it ; and occasionally
a devout workman will salute his tools before he commences
work for the day. But except in the homes of the Brah
mans, who have rites to perform for themselves, and tho
homes of the rich in which there are hired priests to attend
to these matters for them, there is no ordinary house
hold religious worship. The professed ascetics are supposed
to devote all their time to religion of course ; but I am now
speaking of the people who have not given up their secular
Ufe. The worshippers of Vishnu, if they can spare the money to
purchase it, have a Salgrama in their houses, or at any rate
try to cultivate a small Tulasi plant the representative of his
favourite mistress, after whom the plant, is named. Vishnu's
spouse, being jealous of her husband's attentions to Tulasi,
changed her into a plant ; Vishnu, in order that he might
still enjoy her company, transformed himself into the Sal
grama, an ammonite that is found in some rivers in the
Nepalese territory, and which is most highly valued by the
Vaishnavas or worshippers of Vishnu. In the houses of
the people these Salgramas are most carefully kept and re
garded as though they were living beings. In the hot
season they are carefully bathed, and in many cases a jar
of water is hung over them, from which, through a Httle
string, the water slowly drops upon them and keeps them
cool. The Tulasi plant is also most carefully tended. Be
fore these the daUy prayers are offered, or at least their
deity is acknowledged by a most profound salutation many
times during the day.

HINDU WOESHIP. 203
As another part of the private worship of tho Hindu
should be mentioned the repetition of the names of the gods.
It is considered a meritorious act to repeat these names a
great number of times during the day : some of the sects
prescribing the use of the rosary so that the people may
easily reckon up the number of times that they repeat
these names. Stories are found in their religious books
showing the immense benefit that comes fr-om this — some
even obtaining entrance into heaven, though they had lived
very immoral lives, because they had uttered the sacred
name in teaching it to their parrots. It is a most common
thing to see Hindus sitting at their doors loudly or silently
repeating these names.
Wlien the women go to the rivers to bathe, where there is
no temple of Siva present, they make an image of mud in
the form of the Linga ; but as the Saivite women are not
taught the mantras or sacred texts, their worship consists in
bowing the head or body to this little image, after which it
is thrown into the river.
Though the deity worshipped differs, and to some extent
the form of worship varies with the different Hindu sects, yet
in the main there is great similarity in their forms of wor
ship. In the following account of the ceremonies of the
Saktas,'" i.e., those who worship the female deities chiefly,
will be found a fair example of the religious exercises of the
religious members of the Hindu community. As there are
Brahmans devoted entirely to religion and Brahmans en
gaged in secular work, so there are men of other castes
who devote far more time to their religious duties than do the
rest of their brethren. And as it is allowable for the Brahman
to shorten his morning and evening exercises, so is it for the
other castes. In fact, when circumstances are unfavourable
for a lengthened period of devotion it is taught that it is
sufficient for a man simply to repeat the mid mantra as it
is called, i.e., the text that he was taught by his guru when
* Calcutta Review, vol. xxiv. p. 41.

204 WORSHIP.
he was originally received into the sect to which he may
belong. In fact, as mentioned previously, many of the
Hindus content themselves with bowing to the sun as he
rises, and with the uplifting of their hands before partaking
of their food, and the repetition of the name of their deity.
It will be noticed that in the daily devotions of the Brah
mans there was the distinct utterance of petitions for pardon ;
prosperity, long life, &c. ; but in the case of those whose
worship consists in attending to the Salgrama and Tulasi,
there is no prayer, no expression of the heart's desire to God.
There are twenty distinct acts in the following elaborate
ritual of the Saktas :
1. Anchmana. The object of this is the purification of the
worshipper, and consists in taking up water from a copper
vessel with the left hand in a small copper spoon, and
pouring a small quantity on the half-closed palm of the right
hand. A little of this water is sipped three times with the
lips, but it must not be swallowed. The fingers are then
dipped into the spoon, and thus wetted touch the lips, eyes,
ears, and other parts of the head, during which an appro
priate mantra is recited.
2. Sasthi Bachdna. The object of this ceremony is to
render the whole act of worship beneficial to him who per
forms it, and consists in repeating the name of the month,
the age of the moon, the day of the week, and certain
mantras, the recital of which are supposed to bring general
prosperity to the reciter.
3. Sankalpa. This forms what may be termed the petition-
part of the ceremony. At this time the worshipper mentions
the object he has in view in this act of devotion : he then
repeats again the name of the month, the age of the moon,
the day of the week, his own name, and that of the great
progenitor from whom he beheves his famUy has descended.
During all the time of this exercise a betel nut, or some
other fruit, is held in the water that stands in the copper
vessel standing near.

HINDU WOESHIP. 205
4. Ghatasthdpana. This consists in placing an earthen-
jar, a brass pot, or sometimes simply a piece of mud
hoUowed out, in which, if it is obtainable, a little water from
a sacred river is placed. A bunch of leaves, a green cocoa-
nut, or a ripe plaintain is then put on the top of the vessel,
and the distinctive marks of the worshipper's sect are painted
in red paint upon it. This ordinarily takes the place of an
image, but sometimes an image of the deity is set up and
worshipped : when this is not done the jar of water is re
garded as the representative of the deity.
5. Sdmdnya Argha Sthdpana. This is the offering of
prayers to the ten guardians of the earth ; i.e., to the beings
who are supposed to rule over the eight main points of the
compass, the Zenith and the Nadir. This is done by
offering an argha, i.e., a small quantity of soaked rice, and
a few blades of durva grass which are placed in a conch shell
to the left of the worshipper. If a Brahman happen to be
present, a few grains of rice must first be given to him, and
then the whole is thrown upon the representative of the
deity, whether it be an image or the pot of water mentioned
above. 6. Ashan Suddhi, i.e., the purification of the seat. This
really means the determination of the posture of the wor
shipper during the ceremony. The Tantras declare that
there are 80,000 postures in which the worshipper should
sit or stand, the form \being determined by the object he
has in performing the worship. The most common position
is to sit cross-legged upon the ground.
7. Bhuta Suddhi, i.e., the purification of the body. The
body is said to be composed of five elements — earth, water,
fire, air, and ether. In this part of the ceremony the fire
and ether, which dwell in the forehead, are supposed to
work wonders owing to the force of the mantras that are
here repeated. The fire consumes the whole of the old body,
and the ether, mixing with the ashes, forms a new one from
them.

206 WORSHIP.
8 and 9. Prdndyam and Rishyddimjds. These are prayers
or invitations to the goddess to be present at the celebration
of her worship. During the repetition of these mantras, the
worshipper must close his nostrils with his fingers, and
remain without breathing as long as possible. It is said
that some can do this for a great length of time, owing to
which their bodies become so buoyant that they float in the
air. Most wonderful stories are told of the doings of some
of these worshippers, but unfortunately I have never seen
any who could thus set at defiance the law of gravitation.
9 and 10. Matrikdmjas and Barnanyas. These consist in
the repetition of the Sanskrit alphabet, first simply, and then
with the strong nasal sounds peculiar to that and the cog
nate languages. Whilst this is being done, the worshipper
touches fifty different parts of his body. If an earthen
image of the goddess forms the object of worship, the cor
responding parts of the idol are also touched by the minis
trant. 12. Dhyana; i.e., meditation. Closing his eyes, the wor
shipper forms a mental image of the deity ; the mantra
repeated at this time being a description of her.
13. Abakan. When an earthen pot is regarded as the
representative of the Deity, a simple invitation is given to
make it her temporary dwelling-place ; the words used are
as follows : " 0 goddess, come here, come here ; stay here,
stay here. Take up thine abode here aud receive my wor
ship." But when an image is employed for the same purpose,
two more elaborate rites are performed, viz., the Chak-
shrudana, or the giving of eyes, and the Pranpratishtha, or
the giving of life. These ceremonies are performed by the
officiator touching the eyes, breast, and cheek of the image
with the first two fingers of the right hand as he says, " Let
the soul of the goddess long continue in happiness in this
image." 14. Pvja or worship. This consists in the offering of
rice, fruit, flowers, incense, &c. There are two kinds of

HINDU WOESHIP. 207
puja — the one simple, the other more expensive. In the
simpler form only five articles are required — incense, a
burning lamp, sandal-wood powder, flowers, and a cone of
soaked rice, adorned with fruits, grain, curds, sweetmeats,
&c. In the more elaborate form of puja, sixteen articles are
mentioned as necessary — an ashan, or seat, i.e., a small
square plate of gold, a formal reception of the deity, water to
wash her feet (this ceremony is performed by lading water
from one vessel to another), argha (an offering of sandal-wood
paste and rice as a sign of respect), water for cleaning her
mouth, a copper jar containing ghi, honey, and sugar, water to
clean her mouth a second time, water for her bath, clothes,
ornaments for her hands, feet, nose, ear, neck, and waist ;
and finally praise is given to her as the person officiating
walks round and round the image. This praise is expressed
in the most adulatory strains, in which her greatness and
goodness are extoUed, and in which she is reminded that she
is the one supreme deity, of which all the others are but
representatives. 15. Lelchi mudra. This consists in shaking of the fingers,
with the palm of the right hand placed upon the back of the
left. 16. Abarana, i.e., the worship of the ghosts and demons
who form the usual attendants of the goddess.
17. Mahakdla is the worship of Siva, the husband of the
goddess, in one of his many forms. It is understood to be a
most sinful thing, an act that will ensure the sufferings of hell,
if a man worship Sakti and neglect at the same time to adore
her lord.
18. Baliddna. The offering of a sacrifice ; it may be a kid,
sheep, or buffalo.
19. Kabajan Path. The reading or the reciting of the
warlike deeds of the goddess.
20. Homa. This is a burnt-offering. For this a bed of sand
about a foot square is prepared, on which a little ghi is laid,
together with a few sacred leaves. This is then set on fire,

208

WORSHIP.

and with some of the ashes the forehead of the worshipper is
marked ; the rest is most carefully kept in the house.
It will of course be understood that this elaborate and
expensive ritual is not gone through daily in its entirety.
On ordinary days parts of it only are performed, the whole
being prescribed for special occasions.

CHAPTEE II.
TEMPLE WORSHIP.
Befoee noticing the worship as it is carried on in the Hindu
temples it will not be out of place to give a sketch of
an ordinary temple. Accustomed as we are to Christian
churches, we are apt to imagine that heathen temples are of
somewhat similar style, and used for a similar purpose. But
this is an altogether erroneous view. The churches of
Christendom have been built to hold great crowds of wor
shippers, who have come together to witness the grand
processions of the officiants, to hear the solemn strains of
music, and, in later times, to listen to the instructions and
exhortations of the preachers. And for such a purpose they
are weU adapted. Further, though there are small and costly
buildings that have been erected through the munificence of a
few faithful and generous givers, as a rule they have risen
through the united offerings of many people for their common
convenience and good. But the ordinary temples of the
Hindus, having a very different purpose to serve, are built in
a very different style. There are in India a few large temples
but as a rule they are quite small, not being more than ten
or twelve feet square. No congregation gathers in them
to witness an imposing ceremonial ; no addresses on religion
and morals are given ; there are no seats for those who come.
With the Hindu the object of visiting a temple is simply to
walk round the building, hand over his offering to the
officiating priest, and, if possible, catch a glimpse of the idol it
15

210 WORSHIP.
contains, and after prostrating himself before it, to return to
his home.
The Hindu temple comprises an outer court, quadrangular
in form, sometimes with verandahs round, in which the
pilgrims may reside for a day or two when they come there
to worship, and an edifice at one end containing the shrine.
This shrine is again divided into two parts — the Sabha, or
vestibule ; and the Garbhagriha, or shrine in which the image
is placed. This inner room is so small that it permits only
of the entrance of the priest as he performs the worship.
Generally a bell is suspended over the door of this shrine.
When, therefore, a worshipper approaches, this bell is rung
to call the attention of the god to the xjresence of his
follower, who, having walked round the building, hands his
gift to the priest, bows to the image, and then walks away.
On the great festival days, when a constant stream of people
pass in front of the idol to make their offerings, all
appearance of devotion and reverence is wanting, as they
jostle against each other in the attempt to approach the
shrine. In temples such as that at Kalighat, where bloody
sacrifices are offered, the courtyard has all the appearance
and frightful smell of the worst shambles, for on certain days
of the year the executioners are at work from dawn till dark
decapitating the victims, whose blood streams over the pave
ment, whilst the sun is shining in all his strength; the
frame-work in which the animals are placed being in the
courtyard of the temple about thirty or forty feet from the
shrine itself.
Many of the temples are the gifts of private individuals,
who have erected them in order to obtain " merit," i.e., the
fruit of works of supererogation as a set-off against a certain
number of sins. If a man has determined to spend a
certain amount of money for this purpose, in most cases
he will devote it not to the building of a grand and
imposing structure, in which a number of people could
unite in presenting their praises and their prayers to

TEMPLE WOESHIP. 211
God, but in erecting seven, fourteen, twenty-one, or
some greater number in multiples of seven of these small
shrines. When the visitors desire to make their offerings
in more than one of these, worship is performed in
them; but generally one or two of them may be used,
whilst the others are seldom entered. This fact also
suggests a reason why so many new temples are springing
up, whilst others in their close neighbourhood are allowed to
fall into ruin. If a man of the present generation were to
spend his money in repairing a temple that was already
standing, the " merit " of his deed would be reckoned to the
account of the original builder, and not to himself.
There are other temples that are kept in good repair,
because they are largely endowed ; some of these endowments
being the gifts of previous governments, some of devout
worshippers now passed away. As these are largely frequented
by hosts of pilgrims who by this means hope to obtain
entrance into heaven, and as all who come make an offering
of some kind, they are a source of considerable income to
their owners or guardians. In some cases men are employed
in travelling ff'om place to place proclaiming the benefits that
a visit to them will secure. In this way large revenues are
obtained, and it is the interest of their owners to make them
as attractive as possible. In speaking of Pilgrimage, I shall
describe some of these larger temples ; but it must be under
stood that whether the temple be large or small, the plan is
much the same in all, and the part the worshippers take
identical — it is a mere promenade round the shrine, the
bestowal of an offering to the deity, and an attempt to catch
a ghmpse of the idol in whose honour and for whose worship
the building has been raised. So far as I have seen, no in
structive work is done in them; nor is there any gathering
of a congregation for the presenting of their' united prayers
to the gods.
In the Hindu temples the worship proper is all performed
by the priests (who must of necessity be Brahmans), though

212 WOESHIP.
they are regarded as of a lower order than others who do not
engage in this work. There may occasionally be some people
curious enough to watch the ministrant at the altar, but, as
a rule, he has no lookers-on, except those who may assist.
There is no attraction to the ordinary Hindu to stand by,
'because the texts are muttered, not distinctly whispered
even ; and if it were possible for the words to be heard, all
being recited in the Sanskrit language, they would be unin
telligible to him. Moreover, the meaning of the various
parts of the service are known only to the priests ;
this is their proper work, and the common people would
not for a moment attempt to understand, much less to
practise that which belongs by birthright to the sacerdotal
class. It is the priest's duty to repeat the texts, and make
offerings to the gods ; it is the people's duty to provide these
gifts, and to fee those who condescend to be their mediators
with the gods. The mass of the people have nothing more
to do with the temple worship.
Looking now to the worship as it is performed by the
priests, we find that they treat the images as though they
were living beings ; the ritual observed and the attentions
paid being precisely similar in spirit to those that would be
shown by a servant to his master. In the worship of different
deities, of course the texts somewhat differ, as also do the
offerings presented ; Vishnu, e.g„ in all his forms being most
careful of all forms of life — no bloody sacrifices are made in
his temples ; whilst Durga, delighting in blood, is regaled
with the blood of slaughtered victims in vast numbers.
Still, a description of the daily work in one temple is very
similar to that in others. I shall now give the worship that
is paid in the temples in which Gopal is worshipped. This is
the name given to Krishna, one of the incarnations of Vishnu,
when he was a boy living in the house as the reputed son of
Nanda, a cowherd. The word Gopal signifies the cowherd.
1. Mangala. About half an hour after sunrise the god is
taken from the couch on which he has been supposed to sleep

TEMPLE WOESHIP. 213
during the night, is then washed and dressed, and placed
upon his seat ; slight refreshments are offered to him with
betel-nut, pan-leaf, and spices — a mixture of which the
Hindus are very fond.
2. After an interval of about an hour and a half, SringUra
is performed ; the image is anointed with oil, camphor,
and sandal-wood, and robed in gorgeous garments.
3. Next comes Givala, about three quarters of an hour
after the preceding ; he is visited as though he were now
going out to do the work of a cowherd, which in his younger
days was Krishna's occupation.
4. Rdjd Bhoja. This is the midday meal, when Krishna is
supposed to come in from the fields to dine. All kinds of
delicacies are placed before the image in the way of food ;
these are prepared by the officials of the temple, and after
wards distributed to the votaries present, and sometimes
even sent to the homes of well-to-do people in the neighbour
hood, who are friends of the temple and of its priests.
5. Uthdpan, i.e., the awaking of the god from his afternoon
sleep, which takes place a couple of hoars or so before sunset,
6. Bhoja. The afternoon meal ; this is given about half an
hour after he has been awakened from his sleep.
7. Sandhya. At sunset the ornaments, &c., are taken off
from the image, and he is anointed and perfumed afresh.
8. Sayan, repose. About eight or nine o'clock in the
evening the image is placed on a bed, refreshments, water,
aud betel-nut are left near at hand, when the priest retires,
aud the temple is shut until the following morning.
This goes on, with slight variation in the offerings made
and texts recited from day to day, the whole year round.
There is no established ritual for general use, nor any pre
scribed form of pubhc adoration. At certain festival days —
some account of which wUl be given in another chapter — other
rites are performed, having reference to the chief events in
the life of Krishna. When, as is sometimes the case, the
images are very heavy, they are not made to lie down at night.

CHAPTEE IH.
RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS.
In addition to the daily worship of the deities whose images
are set up in a permanent form in the temples and in the
homes of the people, there are certain days of the year
on which important events in the earthly life of these deities
are commemorated by festivals, and there are other deities
whose worship is almost entirely limited to the days that
are regarded as sacred to them. Just as we have the events
of the Saviour's life especially brought to memory on Christ
mas Day and Good Friday, so the Hindus commemorate
the birth, &c., of Krishna and the other gods by special
festivals ; and as we have saints' days, such as St. John,
St. Matthew, &c., so the Hindus have gods' days, i.e., special
days for the worship of certain deities, such as Lakshmi,
Sarasvati, &c. On the special festival days an image is
prepared for the occasion, which, as soon as the worship
is completed, is destroyed. As it is considered a work of
merit to observe these festivals, on these days the houses
of nearly all the well-to-do Hindus are converted into temples
for the time being, aud crowds of people flock in to see the
images there set up for worship.
Opposite to the entrance-gate to the Hindu house is a
platform, which is built for the special purpose of receiving
the images that are connected with the religious festivals;
whilst the open courtyard in front is evidently made for
the purpose of admitting a large number of spectators who

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 215
may come in to witness the ceremony, or to enjoy the amuse
ments that are generally provided for the night, when the
worship proper of the idol is completed. Though ordinarUy
no one would enter the house uninvited, on these occasions
all who wish may come, and a cordial welcome is given
them. Generally — though the image itself may not be very
costly, and the fees to the officiating priests may not be very
large — it is an expensive affair to have one of these celebra
tions, because amusements for the public must be provided,
and a great number of guests entertained. In places where
there are not many of the large family houses, it is no
uncommon thing for a number of neighbouring villages to
unite in celebrating these pujas, each householder being
expected to pay his share. In this case a temporary building
of mat-work is erected, and the donations are spent in pro
viding the idol and the requirements of a feast.
When a gentleman determines to set up an image for
public worship in his house, or when in the case of a cluster
of villages doing the same, the first thing is to order the
image. These are made of various sizes and styles of deco
ration, according to the prioe agreed upon by the purchasers.
The workman receiving the order first gets his bamboos, which
are split and tied together into the shape of the desired
image. On this framework he binds hay, until there is some
thing of the human form made. Upon this mud from some
sacred stream is laid and moulded into shape, and then
placed in the sun to harden. As soon as it is dry it is
painted, dressed, and decorated according to certain designs,
the authority for which is found in the Sastras.
When the image is completed it is taken to the house
where it is to be worshipped, and at an auspicious moment
the priest who has been engaged to conduct the worship goes
through an interesting ceremony called the giving of life
(pran pratishtha), by which he invites the deity to reside
in it for one, two, or three days. Prior to this the image
is regarded as ordinary mud, &c., and any one may even touch

216 woESfflP.
it with impunity ; but the mere repetition of certain magical
words is supposed to change all this ; just as in the Catholic
Church the repetition of the words, " This is my body," is
supposed to convert the bread and wine into the body and
blood of our Lord. After this it would be regarded as pro
fanation for any one except a Hindu to approach the image,
or for any one but a Brahman to touch it. The officiating
priest is occupied for a couple of hours or so in the morning,
and the same time in the evening, repeating texts, offering
fiowers, fruit, &c. , engaging in a similar round of ceremonies
to those that are rendered to an image in a temple. In the
case of the worship of Durga, in any of her forms, a kid,
sheep, or buffalo is sacrificed in front of the image, and a
vessel of the blood from the victim is placed before her. In
the courtyard of Hindu gentlemen who worship Durga, the
frame for holding the victims whilst they are sacrificed
remains permanently.
After the evening worship is concluded, in the courtyard
immediately in front of the image which is believed to be
inhabited by the deity, amusements of varied kinds take
place. Sometimes these consist of the singing of songs by
professional singers, not necessarily in favour of the par
ticular deity whose worship is then being celebrated, These
songs are often of a most lascivious kind. Sometimes there
will be a Nautch, in which professional dancers, who as
a class are prostitutes, dance, sometimes without, sometimes
with, most immoral gestures. Sometimes there are Jatras,
or theatrical representations of mythological scenes, after the
style of the miracle plays of Europe, in which men always
perform. It will be understood that at these festivals women
in large numbers are present, and these indecent represen
tations are made, not only in their presence, but in front
of the image supposed to represent the deity. In home
services, as in the temples, it will be noticed that the
people generally have no part in the worship proper of
the deities ; this is all done by the officiating priests, gene-

EELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 217
rally with merely a few curious onlookers, who are not
supposed to have the remotest connection with this part of
the ceremonial.
On the day following the worship of the images another
interesting ceremony is performed, viz., the farewell of the
deity is taken. Before her supposed departure, the priest
thanks her for the favour she has bestowed on the wor
shipper in becoming his guest, and after asking her to regard
him with special favom-, an invitation is given to her to
return the next year, when another image will be prepared
for her habitation. After her departure, the materials that
for a time were regarded as sacred are considered so no
longer. Any one may now touch them. Just before sunset
the image is carried to the river bank, or if there be no
river near, to the side of a tank, preceded by a procession
headed by a band of music, and as darkness comes on
torches are lighted. With bands playing, women dancing,
men shouting, and torches burning, a most weird proces
sion is formed. On reaching the water's edge, a couple of
boats are lashed together, on which the image is placed.
These boats are then rowed into the middle of the stream,
the lashing cut, the image falls into the water, and the
whole ceremony is complete.
I shall now pass on to notice the various festivals that
are held during the year. It should be noticed that although
a Hindu may have his own chosen deity to whom he gives
special worship daily, he is bound by the fear of evil from its
neglect, and by the hope of benefit arising from its celebra
tion, to worship the many who form the Hindu Pantheon.
A few are to be found who are content with the wor
ship of one of the many gods ; but I have known men who
themselves, in their private worship, are the devout followers
of Vishnu, to whom all life is sacred, not only witnessing,
and thus countenancing the offering of bloody sacrifice to
Durga, but themselves officiating as priests at these festivals.
When this inconsistency is pointed out to them, they excuse

218 WOESHIP.
themselves on the ground that they must live, and it is only
by this means that they can gain a livelihood.
I shall follow the order of the Bengali Festivals from the
commencement to the end of the year, as marked in their
almanack. 1. Vaisdkh.
This is the first month of the year, according to the
Bengali reckoning, answering to parts of April and May.
No public religious ceremonies inaugurate the New Year.
On this day the tradespeople and others open new accounts,
and the year's business is commenced by the painting of an
image of Ganesa, the god of wisdom, on their shop doors.
The Bengalis have great faith in omens, and are most anxious
to transact a good amount of business on this day, in the
belief that it will then prove a prosperous year. In order
to have a large number of transactions to record, it is no
uncommon thing for friends to pretend to purchase goods, so
that their names may appear on the books, though the goods
and money are returned a day or two afterwards.
Though no great ceremonies occur, it is considered a
specially holy month. Generally it is the hottest month of
the year, and as a work of merit the Hindus place jars of
water near their houses, that the cows as they pass may
quench their thirst ; and vessels of water are also placed in
the trees for the birds. Jars of water are suspended over
the Lingam and Shalgram, that these representatives of the
great deities Siva and Vishnu may be kept cool and not
suffer from thirst. In this month, too, the gods are fed with
more dainty food, and the Brahmans gladdened with more
costly gifts. The worship of the river Bhagirathi and the
bathing of the images of Vishnu take place, but these are
comparatively unimportant festivals. There is, however, one
festival that calls for notice, viz., the worship of the Dhenki.
The Dhenki is a large wooden beam working on a pivot, by
which rice is husked. It is said that Narad, the patron of
the pivot, hearing a guru teaching his disciples to repeat the

EELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 219
word Dhenki a hundred and eight times a day, was so pleased
with the man's devotion that he paid him a visit riding upon
a Dhenki and translated him to heaven. At several important
domestic ceremonies- — such as the giving rice to a child for
the first time, marriage, the investiture with the sacred
thread the Dhenki is worshipped ; but in the first month of
the year the women worship it, as it is to them one of the
most useful implements of domestic use. The head of the
beam is painted with vermilion, anointed with sacred oil,
and presented with rice and the holy Durva grass. Dhar-
maraja, the lord of virtue or religion, too, is worshipped in
some places ; as also, in a few localities, but not at all
generally, a log of wood called Devani, i.e., partaker of the
Divine nature. This wood is said to have the power of
visiting the sacred places of pilgrimage through subterranean
roads for the benefit of its worshippers.
2. Jaishtha.
(1) Dasahara ; * this festival commemorates the descent of
the Ganges from heaven to earth and is called Dasahara,
because bathing at this season is said to remove all the sins
committed in ten births, i.e. , during ten different lives. This is
a most interesting ceremony. Thousands upon thousands of
the people bring their offerings of flowers, fruits, and grain to
the river side, and then enter the sacred stream. It is a
thing worthy of note that although in many places men and
women bathe together, the men having on simply a cloth
round their loins, and the women often having the upper
part of their bodies exposed, I have never seen the slightest
impropriety of gestures on these occasions. In some festivals,
as previously noticed, the grossest impropriety of language
and gesture are freely indulged in ; but at bathing festivals
I have never noticed anything indecent. It is proper to
bathe in the Ganges for those who live near enough ; but
other rivers may take the place of the Ganges, and legends
have been manufactured to show that their vfrtues are even
* For a fuller account of this, see chapter on Pilgrimages, Ganga Sagar.

220 WOESHIP.
greater than those of the Ganges ; if there is no river con
venient, then a tank can be substituted.
(2) The Snan Jatra; i.e., the first of the three great festi
vals performed in honour of Jagannatha. At Puri, the head
quarters of Jagannatha's worship, this is the great festival of
the year ; but it is not confined to that place. At several
places in Calcutta this ceremony is performed. Near Seram-
pore, in a village called Mahesh, is a temple with cars almost
as ponderous as those at Puri, that are called into requisition
in the following month for the Eath Jatra, which attracts
almost as many people from the neighbourhood as Pmi itseff,
whilst most large villages has its own car for the festival.
The ceremonies are much the same as those at Puri ; but,
being performed in a place which has no sacred enclosure
to shut out the non-Hindu population, it can be witnessed
by any who may wish to do so. And I certainly think that,
of aU the festivals of Hinduism, this is the most imposing
that I have seen. On this occasion the image that has been
kept in its shrine since the similar festival of the preceding
year is brought outside the temple, and on a high platform,
erected for the occasion, bathed, anointed with holy oU
and clothed by the priests, in the sight of an immense
concourse of people. Prom 60,000 to 80,000 people
stand round this platform, with their gaze directed to the
priests engaged in their holy work, and as the time for
its completion approaches, there is scarcely a sound heard.
Many of the people probably have gone there out of mere
curiosity, some have gone simply for amusement ; but mul
titudes, it is certain, have been brought there with the earnest
desire to see Jagannatha, the sight of whom they believe will
take away all their sins. At length the bath and the robing
being completed, the god is raised up so that the people can
see him ; and from the vast crowd there goes forth a shout,
" Jai, Jai, Jagannatha; Jai, Jai, Jagannatha," which onceheard
will never be forgotten. On this occasion the whole neigh
bourhood has the appearance of a fair, and when the religious

EELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 221
ceremony is over, the fair begins. There are stalls with all
kinds of goods for sale, shows, and various kinds of amuse
ments. And as the great majority of fallen women, having
been outcasted when they took to a life of immorality, have
become Vaishnavas, they are to be found in great numbers
at this, almost the only religious festival in which they can
have a share. Certainly the music, dancing, and general
merry making, that prevail after the religious part of the
festival is over, are altogether out of harmony with what has
always appeared to me as the most impressive ceremony
I have seen connected with Hinduism. Every large town
and many villages have their image of Jagannatha, so that
yearly there is the observance of this festival within an easy
distance of almost every part of Bengal. It is my belief
that this festival is more largely attended, and its lessons
more widely taught, than those perhaps of any other ; not
excepting even the Durga Puja. There are ceremonies, such
as the sacrificing of goats in the Durga Puja, that offend the
prejudices of the more earnest followers of Vishnu ; but in
Jagannatha's worship, as it is practised away from Puri,
there is nothing to offend the prejudices of any Hindu. At
Puri caste distinctions are ignored ; but this is not common
at other places.*
(3) Sasthi, the goddess who rules over women and the
protector of children, though regularly worshipped at six
seasons of the year, and at special seasons also, has her
proper festival in this month. At childbirth, and even
before, her blessing is invoked ; and after birth until the
child attains to manhood or womanhood, it is supposed to be
under her special care. In the sickness of children her aid
is first invoked to effect their recovery. At this festival it is
not common to set up an image of the goddess; but as
the banian-tree is regarded as specially sacred to her, she is
represented by it on this occasion. On the day of worship
the women of the neighbourhood march with music playing
* For further account, see chapter on Pilgrimages.

222 WORSHIP.
to the tree ; the mothers of sons with joy written upon thefr
faces, those as yet unblessed with disappointment in their
looks and fervent prayers for this blessing in their hearts and
even on their lips. The mantras are recited by the priests ;
the honoured mothers who have sons give presents to those
who have none, and the procession wends its way back to the
village. After this is over sons-in-law are invited to the
houses of their fathers-in-law, and after being hospitably
entertained there, are sent home laden with presents. On the
whole, it is one of the happiest days of the year.
" On this festive occasion, the son-in-law is invited to spend
the day and night at his father-in-law's house. No pains or
expense is spared to entertain him. When he comes in the
morning, the first thing he has to do is to go into the female
apartments, bow his head down in honour of his mother-in-
law, and put on the floor a few rupees, say five or ten, some
times more, if newly married. The food consists of all the
delicacies of the season, and both the quantity and variety
are often too great to be done justice to. . . . Surrounded by
a galaxy of beauty, the youthful son-in-law is restrained by a
sense of shame from freely partaking of the feast specially
provided for him. ... If this be his first visit as son-in-law,
he finds himself bewildered in the midst of the superfluity
and superabundance of preparation. Many are the tricks
employed to outwit him, and in their own way the good-
natured females are mistresses of jokes and jests ; and
nothing pleases them better than to find the youthful new
comer completely nonplussed. This forms the favourite
subject of their talk long after the event. Shut up in the
cage of a secluded zenana, quite beyond the influence of the
outside world, it is no wonder that their minds and thoughts
do not rise above the trifles of their own narrow circle. . . .
Ample presents of clothes, fruit, and sweetmeats, are sent to
the house of the son-in-law, and every lane and street in
Calcutta ia thronged with male and female servants trudging
along with their loads, in full hope of getting their share

EELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 223
of eatables and a rupee or half a rupee each, into the
bargain." '¦=
3. Asdrha.
The festival of this month is the Eath Jatra, or Car
Festival. For fifteen days after the Snan Jatra Jagannatha
remains invisible to the public. It is supposed that by the
exposure on that occasion he caught cold and suffers from
fever during the days that he remains hidden. At Puri,
this is the time for cleaning and repainting the image, which,
owing to the many offerings of his worshippers has in the
course of the year become covered with dirt. The deity
having recovered from his indisposition on this day is placed
on a ponderous car and dragged a mile or two to the temple
of some other god whom he is supposed to visit, and with
whom he remains a few days. The ceremonies connected
with this festival will be described when speaking of Puri,
the ritual observed at the head-quarters of his worship being
most scrupulously foUowed in the other places. In former
days, these cars were, and in some out-of-the-way places are
still, adorned with most obscene pictures, but the purer
tastes of the people, or the watchful eyes of the magistrates,
being averse to this, in most places they have disappeared.
Great profits arise from the establishment of such a popular
temple and car as those at Mahesh, in Bengal ; and it hap
pened a few years ago that, owing to a dispute arising
between those who benefited by them, a rival car was built
and a rival image set up. But after a year or so, the popu
larity of the old establishment proved too strong for the
opposition ; for whilst the old car found plenty of willing
assistants to drag it to the appointed place, the other had to
remain stationary, and the god had to lose the benefit of a
ride and a change of residence.
The Ulta Eath, or the return of Jagannatha to his temple.
About a fortnight after the Car Festival, another of a some
what similar character is held, though it is by no means so
* " Hindoos as they are,'' p. 90.

224 WORSHIP.
popular as the former. The image of Jagannatha is brought
out from the temple where it has been on a visit, placed upon
the car, and then dragged back to its own proper temple.
The people come in large numbers, but there is nothing like
the same enthusiasm manifested as when the deity was taken
out for his visit. Sometimes the people have to be rewarded
by sweetmeats, &c., to induce them to give assistance in
dragging the car ; whilst at the Car Festival there were more
volunteers than necessary. To assist in the holy work of
removing the ponderous car is beUeved by the more super
stitious to secure the favour of the god, and to improve their
position in heaven. Jagannatha being a form of Vishnu, it
is this great deity's favour that is obtained when honour is
shown to this idol, hence the Vaishnavas, as a whole, take
part in these ceremonies.
4. Srdvana.
The Julana Jatra. This festival is held in the temples
of Krishna, and also in those houses where a regular shrine
of this deity is set up. On this occasion, in a room ad
joining the shrine, the god is placed in a swing, and after
swinging for a time taken back to the shrine, when the
feasting and merriment commence. Friends are invited to
the feast, and then Jatras and other celebrations are per
formed. As the Jatras form an important part in most of
the Hindu festivals, and as they are one of the most im
portant agencies for teaching the people about Hinduism, a
few words descriptive of them will not be inappropriate here.
These Jatras come nearer to the old miracle plays of
Europe than to anything else with which we are famihar.
In front of the platform on which the image is placed is a
space railed off for the performers. I have never seen them
on a raised platform or stage ; but as the fr-ont rows of people
generaUy sit down, those standing behind can obtain a good
view of the performance. The actors are men and boys, who
are in great request at these seasons. There is generally a
band of music, which plays between the scenes of the Jatra.

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 225
The performance takes place immediately in front of the idol,
although it can hardly be regarded as part of the worship,
as it commences after the worship proper is over ; yet it is
supposed to be as much for the delight of the god as for the
amusement of the people who gather to witness it. These
plays, which begin about eleven o'clock at night, and are
continued until six or even seven o'clock the following morn
ing, give representations of the important parts of the lives of
the gods and goddesses of the Pantheon — the amours and
amusements of Krishna, the quarrels of Siva and Parvati, the
life of Eama and Sita, being the most common. The actors
are dressed and painted in imitation of the deities they
represent, and frequently the conversations are rendered
attractive by sensual and obscene allusions ; whilst in the
interludes boys dressed in women's clothes dance with most
indecent gestures. The worst dances that I have ever seen
have been in front of an image, and as part of the rejoicings
of a religious festival. Crowds of men, women, and children
sit to watch them the whole night through, and certainly
these theatrical representations of the acts and words of the
deities form a most successful method of teaching the people
the most memorable events of their lives. The words and
dress of the actors being aU according to the teaching of the
Sastras, there can be no doubt that they exert an immense
influence over the people. Lessons taught by this method are
not easily forgotten.
Manasa. At this time there is also the worship of Manasa,*
the queen of snakes, who, though not forgotten at other
seasons, has her chief celebration towards the end of this
month. Sometimes an image is made, sometimes a pot of water
is regarded as her representative. It occasions no surprise
that in a country infested with snakes, some of which are so
venomous that death foUows their bite in about half an hour,
some protection from their baneful influence should be sought.
And as they all, large and small, are supposed to be under
* " Hindu Mythology," p. 395.
16

226 WORSHIP.
the control of Manasa, she is worshipped with Divine
honours. A day or two before the festival it is no un
common thing for mothers to prepare a dish of rice with
treacle, which is placed before a pot of water under a village
tree or in the homes. After it has been offered to the deity
it is eaten by the mother and her children, whom she hopes
to preserve from these reptiles by this simple worship. At
Manasa's festival the snake-charmers are called into requi
sition, and receive presents for their performance. These men,
seated on a platform of bamboos, expose themselves to the
bite of the most venomous reptiles, pretending that by their
religious mantras they are proof against the poison. It may
be that they are inoculated with it, or, what is more pro
bable, the poison glands of their snakes have been previously
removed. Some of these performers are remarkably skilful,
for to hear them speak and watch their actions, it would
appear that there are snakes everywhere, that they have
simply to call them and they appear. I have seen large
snakes suddenly show themselves in most unexpected places
where it had been indicated that it was the wish of the
spectators that they should be found. The reason of this
worship is found in stories in the Mahabharata and elsewhere.
It should be noticed that this, the chief worship of the snake
deity, is held at the commencement of the rainy season,
when, owing to the earth being saturated with moisture,
snakes are driven from their holes, and become unusually
destructive of human life.
5. Bhadra.
In this month is one great festival, viz., that of the birth
of Krishna, and is called Nandotsaba, the joy of Nanda, the
adopted father of the great cowherd. In describing this
festival as it is observed at Puri,''= we have said all that
is necessary to be said. It is a festival that is observed all
through the country where there are Vaishnarvas. Away
from Puri there is one form of it that is not practised there.
* See chapters on Pilgrimage.

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 227
After the strictly religious rites are over, the excited worship
pers dig a hole in the yard before the image of the deity, and
pour in water, curds, turmeric, &c. ; and, after plunging into
this filthy mess, dance and shout the praises of their god.
They then walk through the streets in this state until they
reach another tank where they bathe. In the afternoon pro
cessions of singers walk about singing the praises of Krishna
and Eadha. It should be noticed that in no worship does
singing and music figure so largely as in that of Krishna. He
was a musician himself, and there is no doubt that the
rejoicing and merriment attendant on his worship have done
much to attract foUowers from the more quiet and some
times cruel ceremonies that constitute the worship of Siva.
At this season of the year the disciples are looked up by
their gurus, and receive more liberal donations than at other
times. 6. Aswin.
In this month fall the festivals connected with Durga and
Lakshmi. As the Durga Puja is emphatically the festival of
the year in Bengal, I shall describe it in detail.
A Hindu who determines to have the Durga Puja celebrated
in his house on the day of the Eath Jatra takes a piece of
split bamboo into the room where the family idols are kept,
and the famUy priest, after a prayer to Vishnu, anoints it
with sandal-wood paste, and invokes Durga's blessing upon
it. This bamboo remains there untU the Janmasthami, i.e.,
the birthday of Krishna, when the maker of the image
removes it, that the work of constructing the idol may
commence. The materials for this purpose — bamboos,
grass, and Ganges mud are carefully selected, and on an
auspicious moment the holes are drilled in a piece of
wood on which the images are to be fixed. When this is
done, and the rough skeletons made, they are covered with a
preparation of mud, cow-dung, and the husks of rice. The
figures that cluster around Durga are her two sons, Kartikeya
and Ganesa ; and Sarasvati, the bride of Brahma, and

228 WORSHIP,
Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu. There are also representations
of Mahesha, the buffalo fiend, whom Durga came to slay.
When the figures are dry, at appointed times the painters
come to paint and the decorators to adorn the image.
Bound these figures, on what is caUed a roof, but which is
reaUy a cfrcle, divided into compartments, pictures of other
deities are painted, or some mythological scenes represented.
These vary considerably according to the taste of the gentle
man in whose house and at whose expense the worship is
carried on. The central figure, Durga, has ten hands, in
which are various weapons; for, though bearing a most
mild and gentle expression, it is supposed to represent her
when victorious over the great Asura, the enemy of gods and
men. This worship may be performed or not, according to the
rehgious state of the householder. On the one hand, it is a
sin of omission to neglect it, whilst to perform it wUl ensure
great good to the worshipper. One Sastra says : " Whoever
¦from ignorance, vanity, or jealousy, or from any other cause,
does not worship Devi (Durga), the wrath of the goddess
falls on him, and destroys all his wishes." Another declares
that "the gratification of Bhavani is the assurance of happi
ness for the whole year, is for the destruction of spfrits,
goblins, and ghosts, and for the sake of festivity." Another
speaks still more strongly, as it declares that " the meri
torious effects of gratifying Durga, even for half a minute,
cannot be described by Mahesh (Siva), the five-faced, in
a hundred years." Where circumstances prevent a man
from incurring the expense of setting up an image in his
own house, it is no uncommon thing to worship her as
represented by a picture or a jar of water, or to send
their offerings to the temporary shrine that is. set up at
the house of a neighbour or relative. It is declared in one
of the Puranas that the offerings of even slaves and outcasts
are acceptable to the goddess at these festive seasons.
The first part of the ceremony is the Bodhana, or the

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 229
awaking of the goddess, who is supposed to have been
sleeping for the past two months, a part of which ceremony
is the worshipping of a twig of the bel-tree, which is
especially dear to her. The texts differ as to when this
ceremony should take place. When the time arrives for the
commencement of the worship, the head of the family, after
certain purifying ceremonies, declares his name and expresses
his purpose to perform the Durga Puja with proper rites. He
then, in due form, appoints the officiating priests, who in his
name and on his behalf perform the ceremonies. The priests
then go through a long and tedious list of ceremonies,
worshipping other deities as well as Durga, and sanctifying by
their mantras all the various implements, &c., that are used
in the celebration. Part of this worship is called Dhyan, or
meditation, in which the priest thinks of Durga according to
the representation that is there before him. The most
interesting part of the ceremony is that in which the, goddess
is invited to visit the house, and dwell in the image that has
been prepared for her. The priest, in order to obtain this
blessing, after several other ceremonies have been performed,
places his right hand on the breast of the image and says,
" Om ! welcome, Devi, to my house with thy eight Saktas.
Accept my worship done according to the Sastras, 0
Dispenser of blessings ; 0 Lotus-eyed, I perform this
autumnal festival. Eespond to me, 0 great goddess ; . . .
Annihilator of all trangressions in this unfordable ocean of
the world. Save me, blessed goddess. I salute thee, beloved.
0 Sankara (Siva), protect my life, my honour, my offspring,
my wives, and my wealth. As thou art the only defender
of all, 0 goddess, the most beloved in the world, enter and
stay with this sacrifice as long as I am worshipping thee."
First the right eye, then the left, then the eye on the fore
head are touched by the priest, and after this the other p arts
of the body, and an appropriate mantra recited, by which
means the ceremony of Pranpratishtha, or the giving of
the life to the image, is performed. After this all the vari ous

230 WORSHIP.
vessels and articles used in the worship are sanctified by
mantras. For three mornings and three evenings the worship is
continued. In some houses, though not in aU, a kid, or
three, or seven, are sacrified. In some cases a buffalo is
added. The victim is sanctified by certain ceremonies, Ganges
water is sprinkled on its head, a little vermilion is placed
on its forehead, and its head, having been made fast in a
strong frame, with one blow of the sacrificial knife is severed
from the body. A little of the blood and a piece of flesh is
then placed before the image.
On the afternoon of the fourth day the goddess is supposed
to take leave of the image. Most elaborate dismissal
ceremonies are gone through, and an invitation is given to
her to return at the next annual festival. When this is over
the image is taken down from the platform, and the women
of the household and others walk round it, and throw rice,
water, and betel leaves upon it. It is then carried to the
riverside, and, accompanied by music, east into the stream
amidst the shouts of the spec tators.
This festival, in Bengal at any rate, is the most popular of
all. It is a universal holiday, and at this season husbands
and sons, who by their business may have been absent from
their homes, endeavour to rejoin their famiUes. It is not
inaptly termed the Christmas of Bengal, in the sense that it
is a time of universal rejoicing and merriment. In front of
the image at this festival as at others already described, when
the evening worship is concluded, there is the usual singing,
dancing, and theatrical representation throughout the whole
night. As these images are set up in the villages as well as
in the towns, the poorer people are able to attend them. And
when it is remembered that the amusements are perfectly free
for all, it is not surprising that immense crowds are seen at
these religious festivals. In the three nights of the Puja
Calcutta is awake the whole night, and any one unacquainted
with the cause, as the drums are beating all over the city.

EELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 231
might fancy that the whole city was in arms. And although
these nights are given up to merriment, the police have Uttle
to do except to keep the vehicles in motion, in order to pre
vent a block. Occasionally a few drunken men are seen, but
this is a rare exception. As a rule, the immense crowds that
are afoot are most peaceably inclined and weU conducted as
they walk from house to house to see the jatras and nauches.
The other festival of the month is the Lakshmi Puja, which
takes place on the night of the full moon following the Durga
Puja. This is the goddess of prosperity, the wife of Vishnu.
Where an image is not made, her representative is kept in every
house, viz., abasket for measuring corn. On this occasion the
basket, filled with rice, and decorated with flowers, is covered
with a piece of cloth. Some people prefer to have an image
made, and then the worship is performed by priests, as in the
case of other deities. As Lakshmi is supposed during the
night to pass over all who may be awake, it is usual for the
people to sit up playing at cards, or amusing themselves in
some way, so as to keep themselves awake. Here we see a
custom not unlike one that prevails in many parts of England
on New Year's Eve, where the people sit up in the belief
that it is a proper thing to watch the old year out and the
new year in.
7. Kartik.
Shydind Puja. This is the worship of Durga under quite
another aspect. In the dreadful war with the demons,
Durga, or Kali, or Tara, as she is called at this time, gained
a great victory over Eakta Vija, the commander-in-chief of
the enemy's forces, and was so elated by her feats of
prowess that she began to dance so vehemently that she
shook the world, and the gods were afraid that it would fall
to pieces. In their distress they cried to her husband, Siva,
for help. As he saw no other means of pacifying her, he fell
down prostrate amongst the slain. Directing her gaze to the
ground, she observed that she was d&,ncing upon the body of
her husband, and became at once calm with shame, and

232 WORSHIP.
thrust out her large tongue. In the images which represent
her at this festival, she is black, as her name, Kah, im
plies, and her husband is lying down under her feet. Her
tongue protrudes from her mouth, her four arms are extended
— one hand grasping a sword, another the head of a giant, and
the other two signalling to her hosts. As ear-rings, she has
two dead bodies of her foes ; her neck is adorned with a
necklace of skulls, and her only garment, a zone, is made with
the hands of her vanquished foes, whilst her hair falls down
in long tresses to her waist. Intoxicated with the blood of
her foes, her eyes flash with rage, her eyebrows are dyed with
crimson, and blood flows down her breast. Her worship is in
ieeping with her character. It takes place on the night of the
new moon, afmidnight, when numbers of animals are sacri
ficed to her. The darkness of the night, the bleating of the
victims, the flashing of the sacrificial knife, the shrieks of the
ministering priests as they cry, " Jai, jai, Tara," the flicker
of the torches, the gestures of the intoxicated worshippers,
make this one of the most terrible of all the festivals in
India. Two days after the Shyama, or Kali Puja, it is customary
for Hindu sisters to feed their brothers. In this festival they
put a little paint on their foreheads, and as they are engaged
in this work, they seek this blessing : " While I put this
paint on yom- forehead, may the path to Yama's kingdom be
planted with thorns." Yama (the God of the spirit world) is
then worshipped with appropriate rites. After the religious
part of the festival is over, the brothers are feasted with aU
kinds of delicacies. In the beginning of this month a special
service is performed in honour of Yama by the unmarried
girls pf the fimily, the object of which is to secure from him
a husband and sons, and exemption from punishment in the
next world. This ceremony is performed in the following
manner : — A small pit having been dug in front of the house,
the four corners of it are sown with wheat or barley,
and planted with branches of the plantain-tree. The young

EELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 233
ladies then put on new clothes, sprinkle Ganges water on
thefr heads, and, going to the pit, present garlands of
flowers to Yama. A kourie shell is put into a vessel kept
there on thirty successive mornings, and on the thirtieth day
these shells are given to the person who dug the pit.
Jagaddhdtri. In this month, too, Jagaddhatri (the mother
of the world), another of Durga's many forms, is worshipped.
This festival is almost identical with that of Durga, but with
fewer ceremonies, and extending over one day only. On
the day following, as in the case of the other festivals, the
images are thrown into the river.
Kartikeya. Towards the 'close of the month Kartikeya,
the god of war, is worshipped. He is the son of Siva and
Parvati. His worship is performed one evening only, and
as he is unmarried, but keeps a concubine, this worship
is peculiarly attractive to the immoral women of the cities.
Perhaps next to the festivals in honour of Krishna, there is
more of Ucentiousness and revelry connected with Kartikeya's
festival than with any other.'
Rasa Jatra. This festival is held to commemorate the sports
of Krishna with the mUkmaids of Vrindavana. It continues
for three nights. A high platform is erected near the temples
-of Krishna, to which the image is brought, and it remains
there during the bright moonlight night whilst the amuse
ments are continued. The deity is first worshipped with due
solemnity, and then the fun begins. Singing of love-songs,
jatras, dancing, alternate throughout the night, and at early
dawn the idol is taken back to its temple, where it remains
until the next evening. This is a most popular festival, and
immense crowds of people come to this annual fair with aU
the attendant festivities and excesses.
8. Agrahdyana.
The festival of this month is what may appropriately be
termed the feast of first-fruits. It is held at the season when
the new rice is ripe. An offering of rice, milk, and fruits, is
first made to the gods, then to the great progenitors of man-

234 WORSHIP.
kind, then to the cattle, then to the scavengers, i.e., crows
and jackals, and then the people partake of some themselves.
And when it is remembered that Bengal is pre-eminently an
agricultural country, there is something very beautiful in an
offering of the first-fruits to the Deity in acknowledgment of
the fact that it is He who is the giver of all their good.
Often fireworks and gifts to the Brahmans and spiritual guides
close the ceremony.
9. Polish.
In the country districts a festival more social than religious
is held, which is called Poushali. During the day a number
of men go round with baskets from house to house for offer
ings. When their work is completed the gifts are taken to the
village green, where Brahman cooks prepare the food so that
all may freely partake of it. All who have given towards
the feast are welcomed, and in friendly chat a few hours
are spent together, after which the feasters return to their
homes. The other festival of this month is the Feast of Cakes.
This festival continues for three days, during which Lakshmi
and Manasa are worshipped, and in many places Sasthi is
also included in the ceremony. Cakes made with rice,
treacle, and milk are prepared, and men, women, and chil
dren partake of them. On the first day of the feast the
furniture of the house is bandaged with straw, the idea being
that by thus tying it, it will never be removed from the
house.
10. Mdgk
Sarasvati Puja. This is the worship of Brahma's wife, the
goddess of learning, who is worshipped alike by the followers
of Siva and of Vishnu. All who have the slightest smattering
of learning feel bound to reverence her ; and not her image
only, but pens, ink, paper, books, &c., by which knowledge
can be acquired and taught. The women have no share in
this worship, though it is certainly strange that the patron of
learning should be a woman.

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 235
11. Phalgun.
In this month the Dol Jatra or Holi festival, in honour of
Krishna, is held. In speaking of the Jagannatha worship at
Puri, we shall have to describe this. It is a festival common
throughout North India, and where there are no temples of
Krishna, the people go about in excited crowds throwing
red powder upon passers-by, and singing indecent songs. It
is almost impossible for a woman to walk through the streets
without being insulted. It commemorates Krishna's volup
tuous amusements. In this month Ghentu, the god of itch,
is also worshipped, for whom a dunghill is regarded as the
representative, or an old broken earthen pot daubed with lime
and turmeric. The mistress of the house acts as priestess :
when a few doggerel verses about the god have been recited
the vessel is broken into bits. At this time Shitala, the
goddess of smallpox, and Ola Bibi, the goddess of cholera,
are also worshipped.
12. Chaitra.
In this month the Charak Puja takes place. It is said that
an ancient king, by reason of his great austerities, obtained
an interview with Siva, in commemoration of which this
festival is held. The peculiarity of the worship consists in
the fact that the 'devotees of Siva belonging to the lower
castes assume the profession and dress of Sanyasis for a week or
ten days, and march about the streets soliciting alms from
people. On the first day of the festival the pro. tern. Sanyasis
throw themselves down from a bamboo platform about eight
or ten feet high upon knives that are so arranged that they
fall down under the weight of the body, though occasionally
an accident happens. Processions of these men parade the
streets to the great temple of Kali, some with spears in
their tongues, others with pans of burning incense, where
they make their offerings and return. At this season, too,
there is a sort of carnival. Processions are formed and
tableaux vivants arranged on platforms, representing different
trades and professions, are carried through the streets. In

236 WORSHIP.
former years the gestures as well as the scenes represented
were of the most obscene character, but of late years these
objectionable features have been largely curtailed. On the
second day of the Puja the swinging which has given its
name to this festival takes place. In former years, a hook
was inserted in the flesh of the men, to which a rope was
fixed; this rope was tied to a bamboo, which was made to rise
or fall from the ground, being attached to another bamboo
that was fixed in the ground, lifting the victim a great height.
At the present time either a bundle of clothes is swung as
the representative of the men, or a rope is tied round the body
in which the hook is hung. Trevelyan, in the Competition
Wallah, gives the following most graphic description of this
festival as it occurred in Calcutta, in a letter dated April 17,
1863: " One morning, at the beginning of this month, as I
lay between sleeping and waking near the open window, I
began to be aware of a hideous din in an adjacent street. At
first the sound of discordant music, and a confused multitude
of voices impressed me with the vague idea that a battahon
of volunteers were passing by in marching order headed by
their band. This notion was, however, soon dispelled by my
bearer, who informed me that this was the festival of Kali
(the bearer was wrong ; it was Kali's husband), the goddess
of destruction, and that all the Hindu people had turned out
to make holiday. I immediately sallied forth in the direction
of the noise, and soon found myself amidst a dense crowd in
the principal thoroughfare leading to the shrine of the deity.
During a few minutes I could not believe my eyes, for I
seemed to have been transported in a moment over more
than twenty centuries to the Athens of Cratinus and
Aristophanes. If it had not been for the colour of the faces
around, I should have believed myself to be on the main road
to Eleusis in the full tide of one of the Dionsyiac festivals.
The spirit of the scene was the same, and at each step some
well-known feature reminded one irresistibly that the Bacchic

EELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 237
orgies spring from the mysterious fanaticism of the Par East.
It was no unfounded tradition that pictured Dionysus return
ing from conquered India, leopards and tigers chained to his
triumphal car, escorted from the Hyphasis to the Asopus by
bands of votaries dancing in fantastic measure to the clang
of cymbals. It was no chance resemblance this, between a
Hindu rite of the middle of the nineteenth century and those
wild revels that stream along many a Grecian basrelief and
wind round many an ancient Italian vase ; for every detail
portrayed in these marvellous works of art was faithfully
represented here. If one of the lifelike black figures in the
Etruscan chamber of the British Museum could have walked
down off the background of red pottery into the midst of
the road leading to Kali Ghat, he would not have attracted
the notice of the closest observer. Every half-minute
poured by a troop of worshippers. First came boys stark
naked and painted from head to foot in imitation of leopards
and tigers, whilst others guided them with reins of thin cord.
Then followed three or four strange classic figures, wearing
the head-dress which is familiar to us from the existing
representations of bacchanalian processions, dancing in an
attitude which recalled, spontaneously and instantly, the
associations of Smith's 'Dictionary of Antiquities.' The
only circumstance which was not in common between ' Tolly
Nullah ' and the Cephisus was the censer of live charcoal
which these men carried before them, supported by wires
passed through the flesh under their armpits. Into this
from time to time they threw a powder, which produced a
sudden flash, and a most infernal smell. Behind them, his
brows crowned profusely with foliage, was led in mimic bonds
the chief personage of the company, who was supposed to be
under the dfrect influence of the god. All around him,
musicians Were beating tomtoms and clashing tambourines,
like the satellites of Evius on the day when he leapt from
his car into the arms of the forsaken Ariadne ; as he still
leaps on the glowing canvas of Titian. All was headlong

238 WORSHIP.
license and drunken frenzy. After struggling through the
throng for a mile and a half of dusty street, I came to a
narrow slum which descended to the Ghat, or landing-place
of Kali, which lies on the nullah [stream] of the mythical
hero Tolly [Col. Tolly was a gentleman who owned a large
house and grounds on the banks of the stream, a historical
person who resided there in the last century, and not a mythical
personage] , who perhaps was the Atys of this Oriental Cybele.
From this lane, a passage of a yard or two in breadth opened
on to a dirty court, in which stood the sanctuary whence
Calcutta derives its name, which was an object of awe and
reverence to the surrounding population for ages before the
first ship, laden with Feringhi wares, was warped up the
neighbouring river. It seemed impossible to pierce the mob
of devotees, and penetrate to the holy place ; but not even
religious madness, not even the inspiration of bhang and
toddy, could overcome the habitual respect paid to a white
face and a pith helmet. A couple of poUcemen cleared a
passage before me to within a few feet of the sacred image.
It appeared to be a rude block ornamented with huge glass
beads (it is really the head only of the goddess that is visible),
but I dare say the Palladium which fell from heaven was not
a very elaborate device, and yet it saved the reputation of a
young Eoman lady, and gave a synonym to an English jury.
Before I reached home, what with the jostling and hubbub
and stench, I was very glad to get back to the society of
clean, fragrant Christians. As I grew every moment more
tired and hot the exhibition seemed to savour less of the
classical and more of the diabolical. At last I came to the
ill-natured conclusion that Satan was at the bottom of the
whole business, and not the golden-haired Dionysus."
This completes the list of the chief rehgious festivals as
they are held throughout the year. It is a long list, and
coming as they do at short intervals the interest of the people
is kept up in religious matters. No special day of the week
is sacred to the Hindus, as Friday with the Mussulmans or

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 239
Sunday with ourselves ; in the native shops and fields work
goes on steadily from Monday to Monday. These festivals,
however, give some relief. On these days little or no work is
done ; the religious part of the community and those seeking
pleasure merely, when set free from work, find their satisfac
tion in these various festivals.

CHAPTEE IV.
PILGRIMAGES.
BENABES.
The next form of Hindu worship, and scarcely less important
than the preceding, is the visiting of particular shrines — the
undertaking of journeys to see the temples, bow down before
the images, and pay their offerings to the deities to whom
these places are peculiarly sacred. Pilgrimage is the peculiar
work of those who have given themselves up to a life
of religion. One of the virtues of the highest class of
Brahmans, which gave them the privilege of Kulinism, was
their pre-eminent devotion in wandering from shrine to
shrine ; in fact, in the ideal life of the Brahman one quarter of
his manhood should be spent in this work. And this is the
life-work of millions who by virtue of it are regarded as the
most holy of men, the .saints of Hinduism. But the visiting
of shrines is by no means peculiar to those classes who have
adopted the religious life. It is the ambition, the earnest
desire of many of the ordinary people, at least once in a life
time, to visit one, if not more, of these sacred places. And
certainly if one can judge of the earnestness of the people,
and of their implicit faith in the teachings of thefr leaders,
by their joy as they come in sight of these places, thefr in
tense sufferings on the way to them, which are borne with
exemplary patience, or by the look of satisfaction with which
they speak of having accomplished these journeys, they are
very earnest, and their faith most marvellous. I have seen
the people throw themselves on the ground and kiss the very

PILGEIMAGES. 241
dusl^ as soon as they have caught sight of the holy city of
Benares ; I have seen them take the dust from the wheels
of Jagannatha's car, and place it on their head with signs of
the intensest pleasure. I have heard them shout with joy
as they have come in sight of the meeting of the waters of
the Ganges with the sea at Sanger Island; and there can
be no doubt whatever that in the minds of many there is
the most impUcit faith that a visit to these places will en
sure them invaluable blessings in this world and the next.
A few years ago as one of these pilgrims was returning from
Benares by train an accident happened, and he was asked
to give evidence against the railway official who caused it ;
but the man refused to do this, and was apparently dis
appointed that through the attentions of the surgeon he was
restored to health ; for he would have preferred to die under
such circumstances rather than return to his ordinary avo
cations, and by a sinful life lessen the amount of merit that
had been obtained by a visit to the holy city. Many by the
exercise of the greatest self-denial save a little year by year
for twenty or twenty-five years from their scant earnings,
and are able in this manner to provide for the expenses
of the journey and for the offerings they have to make at
the shrines. Multitudes of poor women, when their husbands
are sick, vow to go to some of these places, and though for
years they cannot obtain the necessary funds, as soon as
they can they start on these journeys. And when it is re
membered that it is taught, e.g., that once bathing in the sea
at Sanger Island will wash away all past, present, and future
sins, it cannot afford much surprise that they should wish
to go.
Formerly the journey to these places was far more difficult
and tedious than at present. Eailways and steamers carry
their hundreds of thousands of visitors with comparative
safety and comfort. But all will not avail themselves of
these " aids to devotion." Some persistently walk as far as
it is possible, and then crowd into unseaworthy boats, so that
17

242 WOESHIP.
scarcely a year passes without some of these capsizing in the
wide creek which has to be crossed in order to reach the
scene of the festival at Saugor. The road to Jagannatha's
festival at Puri is literally strewed yearly by the corpses of
those who die by the road-side on their journeys to and
fro, and by over-crowding when they arrive there. Others
again, in fulfilment of vows or in their desire to please
the deity by their sufferings, travel for miles by measuring
their length upon the ground. They lie down with their
faces to the ground, and stretch their hands beyond their
heads ; and having marked the ground with thefr fingers,
place their toes there and again stretch themselves upon
the ground. In this manner they continue for days together,
until they become completely exhausted. When a poor
pilgrim starts for some of these places at a great distance
from his home, it is with the expectation that he will
never return. Often the death of these poor people
is accelerated by the extortions of the priests extract
ing all their money from them for offerings, and leaving
them little or nothing for the expenses of the homeward
journey. And what is the life they lead at these places ? Benares,
though called holy and sacred, is one of the most wicked
cities in India. At Ganga Saugar quite a colony of prostitutes
go there to ply their infamous traffic. In direct connec
tion with the temples in some places, or living in close
proximity to them in others, are prostitutes who regularly
pay a portion of their earnings to the shrines which attract
the worshippers. The pilgrims who go for religious pur
poses merely bathe, make offerings at the shrines, walk round
the temples, suffer many inconveniences for want of proper
accommodation and wholesome food; but worship in the
true sense of the word there is none. Many of them know
little more than the names of the many deities whose shrines
they visit ; nor would the contemplation of the lives of most
of these deities, were the people familiar with them, conduce

PILGRIMAGES. 243
to make them holier in heart or purer in life. It is abso
lutely true that in the majority of cases the more closely a
man follows the example of his gods, the more impure in
heart and life will he become.
I shall now mention some of the more celebrated places of
pilgrimage, and give a brief account of the particular shrines
the pilgrims visit. One means of attracting visitors to these
shrines is for touters to go from town to town singing
their praises and extolling their virtues. I once had the
opportunity of seeing the origin of one of these that
may in the course of years become famous. One of the
keepers of the shrine, a little less astute than the others,
let me into the secrets of the place. It appears that some
one professed to have seen a spirit hovering over a
small and dirty tank, who declared that the tank had
healing virtues. A company of some thirty men soon sought
to take advantage of this. A mud temple was erected, and
one half of the company travelled from town to town telling
the people the benefits that would accrue from a visit, whilst
the others remained to attend to the temple. The day I
visited the place, some three hundred or more were gathered
there ; some blind, some dumb, some crippled, had made
their way to this place of healing; and most wonderful
stories were told of some who had been healed. So in
complete were the arrangements that an image had not been
placed there ; a dirty piece of rag covered a heap of bricks,
the pilgrims imagining that an idol was there, though they
could not see it. Another place, Tarkeswar, a Siva temple
in Bengal, is visited twice a year, on festival days, by
60,000 to 70,000 people. In viUages I have heard most
wonderful stories of the blind receiving sight and the sick
being healed by simply visiting this place. It is by means
of the travelling members of the company that the ex
citement is kept up and the attention of the Hindus directed
towards these shrines. When I ventured to express a doubt
as to the efficacy of a visit to such places as a means of

244 WORSHIP.
curing bodily diseases, the narrators simply stared at me
in blank astonishment that I should for a moment question
the power of the idol to heal. Faith-healing is not by any
means confined to the people of England.
It is not, however, as a means of getting relief from sick
ness that the pilgrims chiefly visit the shrines. Sometimes
it is in fulfilment of vows, because they believe that the
deity has blessed them in some hour of trouble, and who
will, therefore, be pleased with this act of homage ; often it
is to obtain the greatest of aU boons, a son ; but in the great
majority of cases it is to obtain merit, an entry to be written
on the credit side of their account with the gods as a set-off
against the sins (debts) they have committed. As a pilgrimage
is a work of supererogation, it is believed that it will counter
balance many sins. Many of these shrines have little stones
or other things hung on trees near, which have been placed
there as witnesses of vows ; these will be redeemed by more
substantial gifts when the boon asked for is granted.
Bena7'es.'''
Of all the shrines of India, Benares is the most sacred.
It is peculiarly the city of Siva, the great god of the Hindus.
Being a place peculiarly dear to him, it is the earnest wish
of his worshippers if possible to die within its sacred pre
cincts ; but if that be impracticable, at least once in a lifetime
to visit it. Hindus who can afford it, and especially Brah
mans when growing old, give up their position in their
family and move there to end their days, in the assurance
that by this means they will gain easy entrance into heaven.
The legend t by which this excessive sanctity of Benares is
taught is as follows. On one occasion Brahma and Siva
quarrelled respecting their respective positions. As Brahma
declared that he was supreme, Siva cut off Brahma's fifth
head, and thus was guilty of the most heinous crime of
' See Calcutta Review, vol. xl. p. 253.
t " Hindu Mythology," p. 228.

PILGEIMAGES. 245
injuring a Brahman, Brahma being the progenitor of the
Brahmans. After giving vent to his anger, Siva found
himself in a most miserable plight ; the dissevered head of
his rival adhered to his hand as the blood of his slaughtered
guest adhered to the hand of Macbeth. In order to get
free from this dreadful sign of his revengeful spirit, Siva
wandered from shrine to shrine, and practised the most
arduous penances ; but all was vain until he reached the
sacred city of Benares. There he lost his burden ; and
following his example, his worshippers, weighed down with
the burden of sin, go from shrine to shrine ; but in Benares,
of all other places, find peace of conscience and the assurance
of salvation. As Siva found relief in this city that no other
place could give, it is natural that his followers should wish
to dwell in the place that was so beneficial to their deity, and
which they believe is especially dear to him.
The sanctity of this holy shrine is not bounded by the city
proper, but extends from the holy river Ganges to a road
called the Panch-Kosi road, i.e., a road that is not more than
ten miles distant from the banks of the river. This road
starts from the river bank at the south part of the city, and
winds through the country until it rejoins the river. It is
about fifty miles long, and contains hundreds of temples of
different deities, who are supposed to act as a police force
under orders of Bisheshwar, the divine king, in keeping the
peace of the city. The whole of the land enclosed between
this road and the stream is most sacred ; and it is one of the
meritorious acts of the thousands of pilgrims to Benares to
traverse this sacred path. The regular inhabitants of the
city are taught that at least once a year they ought to walk
along it, to obtain deliverance from the sins they may have
committed even in the holy city. The entire area thus en
closed is regarded as Benares, and whoever dies within it,
whether Hindu, Mussulman, or Christian, whether pure in
heart and life or outcast and guilty ev.en of murder, is sure of
obtaining the blessedness of heaven. In order to secure the

246 WOESHIP.
benefits promised to those making this journey, the pilgrims
must bathe before starting and at the close of each day's
journey ; must walk barefooted, only very young children
and sick people are allowed to be carried by others. They
must not give food or water to their friends, nor take these
things from others, but each must make provision for his
own wants ; nor must they indulge in bad language or
quarrel with others, or the merit of the journey is lost.
There are six regular longer or shorter stages where the
pilgrim stays for the rest of the day ; and on reaching
the Mankarnika Ghat whence he started, he must bathe, give
his gifts to the attendant priests, and pay a visit to Sakhi-
binaik, the witness Ganesa, where his act of penance is re
corded, otherwise his labour will be lost. This fifty-mile
walk is generally the final act of a successful pilgrimage to
Benares. There is no doubt that Benares is one of the most ancient
cities of India ; but when it was founded cannot now be ascer
tained with anything like certainty. " By some subtle, mys
terious charm this city has linked itself with the religious
sympathies of the Hindus through every century of its exis
tence. For the sanctity of its inhabitants, of its temples and
tombs, of its wells and streams, of the very soil that is
trodden, of the air that is breathed, and of everything in and
around it, Benares has been famed for thousands of years.
The poor deluded sensualist, whose life has been passed in
abominable practices, or the covetous usurer who has made
himself rich by a long course of hard-fisted extortion, or the
fanatical devotee, fool, and murderer,more simple than a babe,
yet guilty of the foulest crimes, stUl comes, as of old, from the
remotest corners of India as the sands of time are slowly
ebbing away ; and fearful lest the golden thread should be
snapped before his long journey is ended, he makes desperate
efforts to hold on his course, until, arriving at the sacred city
and touching its hallowed soil, his anxious spirit becomes
suddenly calm, a strange sense of relief comes over him, and

PILGRIMAGES. 247
he is at once cheered and comforted with the treacherous lie,
that his sins are forgiven him and his soul is saved."
The form of religion in Benares is Puranic, which most
probably began to exert its influence over the people as
Buddhism lost its authority. There is no doubt that
Vedantism more or less colours the philosophical creed of
the more thoughtful and better educated, but the worship of
the masses is pure and simple idolatry in its lowest and
grossest forms — the worship of ugly idols, monsters, the
lingam and other indecent figures. There is no city in India
where the reverence paid to idols is more absolute and
complete than in Benares; and though better things might
be expected of the pundits and thinking men, they join
in this as well as the more ignorant and superstitious.
It is interesting to know that there have been more temples
built and more money spent in idolatrous worship since
the country came under British rule than during the
same number of years when the Mussulmans were masters.
Owing to the cruel oppression of their masters the people
were poor ; now, as their life and property are secure,
many have, under the belief that it will add to their bliss
in heaven, built temples in the holy city, or lavished gifts upon
those who minister to those already existing. There is one
noticeable fact that there is no solidarity in Hinduism. A
temple of costly material and of beautiful workmanship will be
allowed to go to ruin whilst a new one is being erected by its
side. The building of the one now passing away has done
its work, secured the blessings of the donor ; the building of
the new one will in its turn benefit its builder. No one would
think of gi'vihg money to restore the structure that another
hand raised. To an onlooker it appears as if Hinduism were
as vigorous as ever, i.e. , judging by the number of temples that
are being built in the strongholds of that religion. But, as
hinted above, these people having more money in the present
day, the more superstitious are better able to gratify their
religioiis cravings.

248 WORSHIP.
Some years ago the temples of Benares were counted by
order of one of the magistrates, and it was found that in the
city proper exclusive of the suburbs there were one thousand
Hindu temples: this number has since been increased, and did
not include the niches in the walls of the houses and ghats, in
which images of some of the many deities are to be found.
Although most of the temples are of modern date, yet the
sites of many shrines remain, where for many ages there has
been a constant stream of worshippers. The pundits in
Benares say that Gaiiesa is worshipped in 56 places, Yogani
in 64, Durga in 9, Bhairava in 8, Siva in 11, Vishnu in 1,
the Sun in 12, all of which shrines date from the mythical
period when Devodas, the famous Eaja of Benares, was pre
vailed upon to allow the gods to return to their ancient home
from which he had expelled them. There are vastly more
temples than this now where the people present thefr offerings
to the gods. Owing to the fact that they profess to beheve that
all these deities differing in character and appearance, are
but varied representatives of the One, they have a strange
fancy for accumulating many idols in one spot. Not content
with placing one deity in a temple, they make niches in the
walls in which images of others are placed, or arrange them
in rows in the temple enclosure. In some places there are
twenty, fifty, or even a hundred of these gods congregated
together; and sometimes it happens that these subordinate
deities, so far as size and position indicate their importance,
are equal to their chief, and they receive as much attention
from the worshippers as the one in whose special honour the
temple was erected.
The temple that is considered the most important in the
whole city, and that to which the pilgrims hasten on their
arrival there is that of Bisheshwar, i.e., God of the world, a
name of Siva. He is regarded as the king of aU the gods in
Benares itself and in the whole of the sacred territory
enclosed by the Panch-kosi road mentioned before. His
Kutwal or magistrate is Bhaironath, and the gods along the

PILGRIMAGES. 249
sacred path are his watchmen. The image of Bisheshwar is
the Linga, similar to that which is found in all Saiva temples.
All day long crowds of people of all classes pass in front of
this image with their offerings of sugar, rice, ghi, grain,
flowers, money, &c., which are taken by the ministering
priests as their own. Over the narrow gateway leading to
the shrine is an image of Ganesa on which the pilgrims
sprinkle a few drops of water they have brought from the
river as they pass. A bell is hung in front of the image,
which is kept sounding all day long, by which the attention
of the deity is supposed to be called to a worshipper as he
goes to pay his respects. Sometimes the appearance of the
worshipper as he approaches the image is distressing and
solemn. His soul seems to be overawed, but with what
sentiments cannot well be affirmed. Fear certainly seems to
be the prevailing emotion ; nor is this to be woddered at
when the stories about this dreadful god are remem
bered, and the worshipper believes him to be really present
in that stone which he is approaching. As soon as the image
is passed and the temple precincts are left, the fear at once
passes away. It seems they have a dread lest by some inad
vertence they should excite the anger of this most irascible
deity. Outside of the enclosure on the north side, in what is
called the " Court of Mahadeva," are a number of the stone
emblems of Siva and his consort : possibly these are the
images that were left when some of the old temples were
destroyed by the Mussulmans.
Near the temple just described is the Gyan Kup or well of
knowledge. Tradition says that once the rains were with
held for twelve years from Benares. The people being in
great distress, a Eishi pierced the earth with Siva's trident,
when there issued a copious stream of water. Siva hearing
of this promised to reside in that well for ever after. The
worshippers throw in water, flowers, &c. , as sacrifice to the god
inhabiting it. The stench arising from this is one pecuhar
to this sacred city, and one that is not readily forgotten.

250 WORSHIP.
The next chief attraction is a temple to Annapurna, a form
of Durga. Under the orders from Bisheshwar it is her duty
to feed the inhabitants of the city. The story is that when
Benares was first inhabited Annapurna found the work of
feeding so many people rather difficult. Ganga came to her
relief and promised that if she would give a handful of
grain to every person, she would supply them with a (lotah)
vessel of water. In honour of this goddess hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of poor people are daily fed by grain, a handful
being given to as many beggars as the donor can afford to
supply. Near this temple there is always an ample supply of
beggars waiting to receive the gifts of the pious.
Near the temple of Annapurna is the temple of Sakhi-
binaik, the witness-bearing Binaik ; a deity who keeps a
record of the pilgrims' names who visit the holy city and
march along the road which encircles it. It is generally
visited by the pilgrims as they are about to return to their
own homes.
About a mile to the north of the temple of Bisheshwar
is that of Bhaironath, the magistrate (Kotwal) of Benares. It
is his work to keep the peace of the city, and to prevent the
entrance of evil spirits. It is through his help that the
Hindus who go to Benares to end their days there obtain
salvation. He is represented in this temple by a stone staff
or cudgel. His vahan or vehicle was a dog, a representative
of which is placed near the image. It will be remembered
that whilst many pUgrims visit Benares with the expectation
of returning to their homes, many go there to die. Hindus
of means whose homes are in other parts of India have a
house in Benares, and whenever attacked by sickness, or old
age comes on, they go there in the hope that death there
is only an entrance into a higher and better life than the
present. The Mankarnika well is one of the greatest attractions of
Benares, and is amongst the first places visited by the pilgrims.
Its filthy water is regarded as a healing balm that will wash

PILGEIMAGES.

251

away all sins and make the human soul pure. Murder and
all great crimes are said to be washed away by simply bathing
in its foul water. The story which gives it this great at
traction is as follows. Vishnu who dug this well with his
discus, filled it with perspiration from his body, and called it
the Chakrapushkarani, or discus-produced tank. On the north
side of the tank this deity was engaged in his religious
exercises when Siva arriving saw in the water of the well
the glory of a hundred million suns, and was so delighted
that he promised to give Vishnu any boon he might like to
ask. Vishnu asked that Siva would always remain with him :
on hearing such a request Mahadeva was delighted, and in
the excess of pleasure his body shook so that an ear-ring
called mankarnik fell from his ear into the well. From this
circumstance Siva gave the well the name of Mankarnik, and
endowed it with two properties — viz., the power of giving
mukti or salvation to his worshippers ; and secondly, the
power of granting success in every good work : and com
manded that it should be the chief and most efficacious of
pilgrimages. A flight of stone steps leads down to the water,
and an image of Vishnu is on the north side of the stairs ;
there are also sixteen small altars where offerings to ances
tors are made. The water is only two or three feet deep and
abominably foul, yet the people bathe in it in the hope of
gaining the advantages promised to those who visit it.
Amongst the other many temples is one to Vridhakali, the
lengthener of time, and who, pleased with the devotion of an
old man who went to Benares to die, not only restored him
to health, but renewed his youth, in gratitude for which
one of the grandest old temples of the city was built, in
which is a representation of the sun and the planets ; Kali
and Hanuman are represented too. Daksheswar temple
seems to have been erected to keep in memory the story
of Siva's anger at the slight his father-in-law Daksha showed
by not inviting him to the great sacrifice that he made.
Siva in his anger is said to have sent his awful emissaries,

252 woEsmp.
who cut off Daksha's head, which was replaced by that of a
goat, because his own could not be found. Daksha wandered
to Benares as a penance for his sin ; Mahadeva meeting
him there forgave him, where Daksha as a mark of his
gratitude is said to have erected this temple.

CHAPTEE V.
PILGRIMAGES {continued).
KALI GHAT  GANGA sIgAE  GAYA.
Kali Ghat.
Kali Ghat is the name of a temple situated near Calcutta,
a corrupted or anglicised form of which is seen in the name
Calcutta. The temple is said to have a supernatural origin.
When, owing to her anger at the slight shown to her husband
by her father neglecting to invite him to his great sacrifice,
Parvati destroyed herself, Siva was inconsolable at her loss,
and throwing her corpse over his shoulder, wandered through
the earth causing the greatest consternation and trouble.
Vishnu appealed to by mankind in their distress, let his
wonder-working discus fly through the air, by which Parvati's
body was cut into fifty parts, and wherever any part touched
the ground a temple rose. It is said that at Kali Ghat the
second toe of her left foot is preserved. It is interesting to
note that excepting in the case of Krishna's bones being pre
served in the image of Jagannatha at Puri, and the parts
of Parvati being preserved in these temples, there is no
regard for relics shown by the Hindus.
To this temple at Kali Ghat pilgrims come every day in
the year, but on the days of any festival connected with the
worship of Siva, e.g., th') Charak Puja, and on the days when
Durga in any of his forms is worshipped, immense crowds
gather there. The great purpose of pilgrims in visiting
KaU's temple is not simply to walk round the building, and

254 WOESHIP.
try to catch a glimpse of her black face as they pass in
front of the image, but to sacrifice a kid, sheep, or buffalo.
Parents desirous of sons, families in any great sorrow vow
to Kali that if a son be given, or the trouble that oppresses
be removed, a kid will be sacrificed to her, and it is in a
large number of cases in the fulfilment of these vows that
they come. There is no promise of relief from sin, or of
entrance into heaven, such as attract to the shrines at
Benares ; it is rather as the giver of good in this present
life, and as the deliverer from pressing evils, that KaU's
temple is sought.
The image of Kali is most hideous. She is black, as her
name (The Black One) implies, and came, as did Durga, to
destroy the demons who were afflicting mankind. When
her work was over as she was dancing with joy, there
was fear of the earth falling to pieces, her husband threw
himself down on the ground amongst the corpses. Seeing
him under her feet she thrust out her tongue to express her
shame, and in this postm-e her image is formed. At Kali
Ghat her large golden tongue is almost the only part that
is clearly visible, as the offerings that are thrown over the
image make it dirty, whilst the place is exceedingly dark. f| {j
This temple is a source of considerable profit to the pro
prietors, as not only do the pilgrims make their offerings,
but a fee of about sixpence is taken for every kid that is
sacrificed there ; and on some days the victims are numbered
by hundreds, if not by thousands. The Haldar family [is
now divided into a number of branches, each of which
receives the offerings for a week or ten days ; but on the
great festival days all the branches have their representa
tives present, and the receipts are divided amongst them.
The temple or shrine is not much larger, though it is con
siderably more lofty than the ordinary Hindu temple. In
front of it is a sort of covered platform upon which the
Brahmans sit to read the Sastras, and on which th3 spec
tators stand to witness the sacrifices. The sight of the

PILGRIMAGES. 255
courtyard around the place of sacrifice is most repulsive,
whilst the smell is most sickening. I certainly was sur
prised when first I saw this place at the time of sacrifice.
I looked in vain for any, the slightest, sign of reverence
as the people were offering their victims to the deity. On
busy days there is a noisy, bustling crowd, each one trying to
get his gift first attended to. The people bring their victims,
pay the fee, and the priest then puts a little vermilion on
its head. When their turn comes the executioner takes
the animal, fixes its head in the frame, and then beheads
it. A little of the blood is placed in front of the idol, and
the pilgrim takes away the headless body. Throughout
the whole ceremony, there seems to me nothing expres
sive of sin or the desire for purity ; nor is there in the
ceremony itself anything at all calculated to impress the
people with the idea of devotion ; nothing calculated to
make or keep them pure. The whole ceremony from begin
ning to end seems utterly unfitted, as far as one can see,
in any way to benefit the worshippers.
Ganga Sugar,
This is one of the great bathing festivals, and though
it is considered a good thing to bathe in any part of the
Ganges, the most sacred part is at the mouth of the river
where its waters mingle with those of the sea. It is held
on the southern shore of Saugor Island. Ganga Sagar
simply means the Eiver-Ocean ; and as the island of Saugor
faces the sea and the waters of the river flows on either side
of it, the water there is really partly sea and partly river
water. The people believing that by bathing here salvation
from sin is certain, they come from places hundreds of miles
distant to attend the great festival which is held annually
in the month of January.
In the Eamayana * a story is found which explains why
the waters of the Ganges is so efficacious here that people
* " Hindu Mythology," p. 383.

256 woRsmp.
come from all parts of India once in a lifetime at least to
wash away their sins. There is a fulness in the promise to
those who bathe in its flowing waters; it is that all sin — past,
present, and future — is by that act at once removed. And
as in the early days of the Christian Church the converts
delayed their baptism until late in Ufe lest after receiving
the rite they should fall into mortal sin and have no resource
by which they could be freed ; so in many cases it is the
aged that attend the festival at Ganga Sagar, that there may
be the less fear of their falling into sin. For few a second
visit would be practicable, the trouble and expense connected
with a visit being so great.
The story from the Eamayana is as follows : — A king
named Sagar (it is from him that the island takes its name),
being childless, prayed repeatedly to the gods for a son. At
last Siva, pleased with his devotion, gave him 60,000. After
a time this king wished to obtain the position of Indra, or
king over the gods. This could only be obtained by the per
formance of the Asvamedh, or sacrifice of a hundred horses.
All preparation was made for this important ceremony, and
had proceeded satisfactorily until ninety-nine had been
offered. The hundredth horse, as was customary, the night
before it was to be sacrificed was set at liberty to wander
where it wished. On the following morning search was made
for it in vain. The reigning Indra had stolen it in fear
that if Sagar's sacrifice were properly offered he would have
to resign his throne. Great consternation was manifest as
the missing horse could not be found. The sons of the king
searched everywhere, but their efforts were for a long time
fruitless. At last they commenced digging, and working away
until they came to the middle of the earth, they found
the horse tied to a tree beside a saint named Kapila, who is
said to have been an incarnation of Vishnu. Angry at what
they considered an act of theft, they abused this saint; and he
in his turn becoming angry, cursed them, and they became a
heap of ashes. Only one son who had remained with his

PILGRIMAGE S . 257
father was spared. The king, in great sorrow at his loss, is
told that only by one means could his sons be restored to
him, and that was by inducing Ganga (the Eiver Ganges)
to come down from her abode in heaven, which was in the
Himalayah mountains. Sagar was thinking for 30,000 years
how he could manage this ; but seeing no way, he resigned
his kingdom to his son, and went to heaven. But it was not
until his great-grandson, Bhagiratha, had by a life of most
severe penance obtained a boon from the gods that she could
be persuaded to come. When at last she came, she was
in a great rage at being disturbed ; but her husband Siva,
catching her in his hair, quieted her, and at length she
reached this heap of ashes, and no sooner touched them than
the princes all sprang up to life again, and were imme
diately carried in golden chariots to Indra's heaven. And
because it is said that it was at this place she manifested
this great power the people visit it to bathe. As here she
brought to life Sagar's sons, and gained admission for them
to heaven, the people say, here, more than elsewhere, is she
able to wash away sin.
At the festival held in January it is estimated that not less
than 100,000 are present. During the greater part of the
year the place where it is held is quite uninhabited, in fact, it
is under water, as the waters of the Bay of Bengal are carried
over it by the south-west winds. But a week or two before
the bathing day shopkeepers and others come, and then the
pilgrims crowd in with every tide. On reaching the island
they generally make temporary dweUing-places for themselves
on shore, as they have had 'a good deal of discomfort to
endure on board the boats by which they have come. As
a rule, they simply make enclosures with strips of calico,
having no covering overhead.
Of course the great object in coming is to bathe, and it is
a most interesting sight to see thousands of people rushing
into the sea in the assurance that this will wash away their
sins. That this is the firm conviction of multitudes there
18

258 WORSHIP.
can be no doubt. For this journey many have been saving
a little out of their scanty earnings for twenty years or more.
For this they have been travelling for days and weeks, exposed
to all kinds of danger and discomfort ; and from the lips of
many I have heard the assurance that they could now die in
peace, because they had washed in holy Ganga's stream. As
soon as it is light these crowds of pilgrims plunge into the
flood with shouts of exultation ; they are gratifying the
desire of many long years, and doing what by many of them
is regarded as the most holy act of religion.
Another important work for the pilgrim is the worship of
the many deities that are there represented by their idols, and
whose praises are extolled by their priests. Along the sid-es
of the main thoroughfares images are set up with thefr priests
sitting by to receive the gifts of the pious. And I have watched
hundreds of the pilgrims going up one side and down the
other, giving something to the guardians of every idol, evi
dently fearful lest inadvertently omitting one this neglected
deity, being angry, should bring down all kinds of evil upon
them. It is the extortion of these priests that greatly adds
to the expense of a visit to such a place, because they each
declare that the neglect of the particular deity in whom
they are personally interested will bring down his curse.
In addition to the deities there are hundreds of Sanyasis
{saints), whom it is accounted an honour and a work of
merit to feed ; and these idle parasites are fed by the poor
people, who in this way lavish their hard-earned money
upon those who are able, but not willing, to work for their
living. The most important object of worship at this festival is an
image of Kapila, the saint near whom Sagar's horse was found,
and who in his anger burnt up the sons of the king. This is
a shapeless piece of stone daubed over every year with a fresh
coat of red paint. During, the year the image is kept care
fully packed away in Calcutta, but a week or two before the
festival it is entrusted to a number of priests, who agree to

PILGRIMAGES. 259
take charge of it during the festival^on condition that they
receive a percentage on the gifts of the pilgrims. This image
is set up in a temporary temple, as by the encroachments of
the sea the old brick temple has been destroyed. A plat
form of sand about four feet high is first raised ; a hut is
then erected on the platform, and in this the image is set
up for worship. A bamboo railing is placed in front of
it, and a crowd of people from daylight until dark, on the
three days of the festival, is constantly hurrying'past it. All
give something. And when asked why they do so, the
answer is : " If Kapila Muni could destroy Sagar's sons, how
mighty he must be ! And if we please him with our gifts he
wiU pray to the gods for us, and we shall be blessed through
his intercession." Of course where the belief prevails that
he was an incarnation of Vishnu, it is easy enough to see
why the people should be ready to make their offerings to
him. I have watched the poor people as they have been
hurried past this block of stone giving of their poverty, aye,
often all they had, and felt that these were amongst the most
religious people I had ever seen. Their faith iii]the power of
the gods to curse and to bless is almost unlimited ; and it
appeared to me that after bathing in the sea and, as they
believed, washing away their guilt by that act, they now
came with glad hearts to make a thank-offering for the great
boon they had received.
Stories such as the following taken from the Eamayana
tend to excite and sustain the faith of the people in this
method of purification from sin, and to lead them to make
pilgrimages to the banks of this sacred stream. A pre
eminently wicked Brahman, who from youth had been
-associated with a harlot, was walking in a wood when a tigejr
seized him, ate his flesh and drank his blood. A crow
snatching up a bone was flying with it over the Ganges,
when a vulture attacked him, and in the fight the bone fell
into the water. Immediately the bone touched the stream
the emissaries of Vishnu seized the soul of the departed as it

260 WORSHIP.
was being carried off to Yama. In thefr rage and despair these
men go into the presence of their king and narrate the
story of their loss. Yama in his turn, being greatly excited,
immediately rushed off to Vishnu with the story of his sup
posed wrongs. Vishnu listens attentively to all he has to
say, and then declared that Ganga had gone down to earth
with the express purpose of taking away the sin of man ;
that her power was such that even he, the Lord of aU, could
not properly estimate it, and further declared that as far
as the waves of the Ganges should roll Vishnu would extend
his protecting arm to those whose bones should fall into her
stream, and that as soon as the bones touched the water the
soul of the man should immediately ascend to heaven ; and
that the drinking of a draught of water from this river wiUl
fully atone for all the sins of a lifetime.
The following invocation to Ganga is found in a child's
reading book, and has doubtless influenced many in thefr
religious practices :
" Oh ancient Purifler of the fallen, the drinking vessel
of Brahma was thine abode. At his side didst thou.
dwell, and sanctify the city of the gods. Seeing the sad
state of mortals, to deliver them from fear of the future,
thou, goddess of the gods, camest upon earth. . . . Themost
wicked sinner upon touching thy waters goes to heaven in
his body. . . . The low Sudra or Sanyasi on dying goes
to heaven if he has bathed there when the sun enters Cap
ricorn. By pronouncing thy name he obtains admittance to-
the house of Vishnu ; he is spared the sight of Yama's city.
When life has fled from the corpse, the father and mother
wiU drag it to the place of cremation, and whilst they
forsake it, thou foldest it in thy bosom. The corpse fed
upon by crows and jackals floats till it reaches thy banks
where hundreds of heavenly courtezans with fans in their
hands come to attend upon it. . . , The most wicked sinner
if he but touch thy waters enjoys thy favour in the last.
extremity."

PILGRIMAGES.

261

Carrying Water from the Ganges. — Another very common
form of pilgrimage to the Ganges — if possible to Hurdwar
where its waters rush from the hUls, but if that be too far
distant then to some nearer spot — is to bring a vessel of
water thence to bathe the image of some particular deity
whose aid has been sought in time of sickness or trouble,
and to whom this offering of sacred water was promised
if a favourable issue resulted. During the cold weather
months it is a most common thing to see numbers of people
travelling with an earthen vessel of this water most care
fully preserved. In some cases a vow is made that the
person interested will himself fetch this water and carry it
to the temple of the god to whom it has been promised, and
this may necessitate a journey of a thousand miles.
Sometimes a servant will be sent on this errand, or it may
be purchased from men who earn their living by carrying
it to places remote from the river. In times of trouble
large sums of money are often paid for it by those who
believe that this is the most acceptable offering they can
make. The water taken from Hurdwar is put in bottles
which bear the seal of the officiating priests of the temple
there. When this sacred water is pom-ed over or before an
image of Vishnu, or. any of his incarnations, it is carefully
caught and drunk by his worshippers, as it is supposed
to have healing and purifying virtues ; but owing to a curse
of his wife's, that which is poured over Siva's image is not
allowed to touch human lips. In most of these forms of
worship the idea of David when King Araunah wished to
give him cattle for a sacrifice and wood to burn is seen. He
says, " Nay, but I will surely buy them from thee at a price.
Shall I give to Jehovah that which costs me nothing." It
is generally when some loved member of the family has re
covered from sickness, or a law-suit has been decided in
favour of the offerer that, in gratitude for what he believes
the particular deity to whom the offering is made has done
for him, these lengthy and wearisome journeys are made;

262 WORSHIP.
though the offering is intrinsically of little value, it is be
lieved to be most acceptable to many of the deities.
Gayd.'^
This well-known place of pilgrimage is resorted to for
the benefit not so much of the living as of the dead ;
for the Sradha, or funeral ceremonies for the departed, is
considered to be of far greater benefit if performed here'
than elsewhere. Originally Gaya was the headquarters of
the Buddhists, as it was there that Buddha lived during his.
hermit-life and attained to the highest state of purity. Here-
for centuries Buddhists flocked from all parts of India and
the farther East, though now as a Buddhist shrine it is-
almost deserted. In fact, the shrine that the Buddhists
regarded as perhaps the most sacred spot on the face of
the earth has been under the charge of a Saiva Mahant and
disciples, who enjoy the benefit of the gifts of the people
who visit the sacred tree near the temple. His income from
lands and offerings is reckoned at eighty thousand rupees per
year ; out of [which he was to feed on an average about
one hundred pilgrims and ascetics daily. The town in
which this shrine is found is called Buddha Gaya, to dis
tinguish it from Brahma Gaya, or simply Gaya, which is five
miles distant, where the Hindus now resort. The town of
Gaya has existed for 2,400 years ; it was there that Buddha
made his home, and it was there that he first conceived the
idea of devoting himself to a life of meditation which was
to secure to mankind the highest blessing. The people here
were the first to believe in him and receive his doctrines,
and it became for a time the headquarters of his faith. But
at the beginning of the fifth century it had lost its Buddhist
character and had relapsed into Hinduism. In the Gaya
Mahatmya of the Vayu Purana is a legend to account for
this change, and for the sacred character it possesses in the
* " Buddha Gaya," by Dr. Kagendra LaU Mittra.

PILGEIMAGES. 263
minds of the Hindus of the present day. I give this in an
abbreviated form : —
Brahma created all things by the order of Vishnu, who from
his fierce nature produced the Asuras, and from his humane
nature the noble-minded Devas. Among the Asuras was one
Gaya, who was endowed with great strength and vigour.
This great giant measured 576 miles in height, and was 268
miles in girth, and was a most devout worshipper of Vishnu.
With his breath suppressed he practised great austerities for
many thousands of years untU the gods became afraid, and
in thefr distress repafred to Brahma for aid. Brahma,
hearing their request, led them to Siva, and he in his turn
led them to Hari (Vishnu), who was sleeping on the mUky
ocean, saying, "He will devise some means of relief." Arriving
in his presence they adored him in a hymn, and being
gratified, he revealed himself to them, and asking what was
their need, told them to proceed to the Asura Gaya, and that
he himself would accompany them.
Arriving in his presence the three deities asked him why
he persevered in his austerities and assured him that they
were prepared to grant him any boon he might ask. The
request was this : " Make my body purer than that of
Brahma, Vishnu, Siva ; purer than the Devas or Brahmans,
purer than aU sacrifices, and sacred pools and high mountains,
purer even than the purest of the gods." "Be it so,'' said the
gods, and repaired to heaven. The result of which blessing
was that mortals who believed or touched the demon at
once ascended to the heaven of Brahma ; the world became
empty, and Hades, Yama's dominion, was deprived of in
habitants. When Yama, Indra, and the other deities thus became
deprived of their subjects, they repaired to Brahma and re
solved to resign thefr positions, as, having no subjects to
govern, there was nothing for them to do. Led by Brahma,
they again repaired to Vishnu, and complained that " by
the sight of the demon whom you have blessed all mortals

264 WOESHIP.
are being translated to heaven, and the three regions (earth,
sky, and hell) have become empty." Under the advice of
Vishnu, the gods then repaired to Gaya, to ask him to give
Tip his body to them that they might offer a sacrifice upon it,
by which means he assured them they would escape from
their present difficulties. The demon was delighted at the
honour which was paid to him, and, addressing Brahma and
the gods, said: " Blesssed is my life this day, blessed is my
penance ; verily I have attained all my objects since Brahma
has become my guest. Say why you have come, and I wUl
at once execute the task for you." Brahma then told the
Asura that of all holy pools that he had seen, there was none
to compare with the demon's body as a place of sacrifice, and
asked him to grant it for this purpose. Gaya replied ;
"Blessed am I since you have asked for my body; my
paternal ancestors will be sanctified shouldest thou perform a
sacrifice on my body. By you it was created, and it is weU
that it should be of use to you: it will then be of use
to aU."
Having thus spoken, the demon feU prostrate on the ground,
leaning towards the south-west. Brahma produced from
his mind the officiating priests (Eitvijas), and collected the
necessary articles, and offered the sacrifice. The priests
having been fed and the bathing over, he and his companions
were greatly surprised to find that the demon's body was
moving on the ground. He therefore ran to Yama, aud asked
him to bring the stone of religion (DharmasUa) and place
it upon the demon's head ; but though this was done, Gaya
-still moved. The gods then sat upon the stone to press down
Gaya's head; but all their efforts were useless, the demon
continued to move. In his distress Brahma repaired to
Vishnu, and told him of the power of Gaya in moving, though
all the gods were trying to keep him quiet. Vishnu then
sent a fierce fiend who issued from his person ; but even this
was powerless too. At last Vishnu himself came, bearing
his mace, called Gadadhara, and striking the demon with it.

PILGRIMAGES. 265
and sitting with the other gods and goddesses upon the
stone, was able to keep the demon quiet. Upon this Gaya,
addressing the gods, said : " Why should you treat me thus,
when I have given my sinless body to Brahma ? Would I
not have become motionless if Hari (Vishnu) had asked me ?
Why then should he torture me with his mace ? And why
should you all join in this torture ? Now show mercy to
me?" The gods, delighted, promised to grant him his
¦desire. Gaya prayed : " As long as the earth and moun
tains, seas and stars shall last, may you, Brahma, Vishnu,
and Mahadeva, rest on this stone. May you, the Devas, rest
¦on it too, and call this place after me. The Kshetra (field) of
Gaya, extending over ten miles, of which two miles are
covered with my head. Therein, for the good of mankind,
let aU the sacred tanks on earth abide, where persons by
bathing and offering of oblations of water, or funeral cakes,
may attain high merit for themselves, and translate their
ancestors blessed with all that is desfrable, and salvation, to
the region of Brahma. As long as Vishnu in his triple form
shall be adored by the learned, so long let this be renowned
on earth as the sacred place of Gayasura, and may resort to
it cleanse men of even the sin of killing Brahmans." Hear
ing this prayer, the gods, headed by Vishnu, said: " What
ever you ask shall be accomplished. By offering the Pinda
(funeral cakes) and performing Shradhas here, persons will
translate their ancestors for a hundred generations, as also
themselves, to Brahmalok (heaven), where exists no disease.
By worshipping our feet they wiU attain to the highest re
ward in after life."
It is the infiuence of this legend which leads numbers to
visit Gaya annually to perform the Shradha of their deceased
relatives. And monstrous as the story at first sight seems.
Dr. Mittra suggests a very plausible, and at the same time
reasonable, explanation of it. The Asuras (literally non-gods)
are generally described as the enemies of the gods ; but this
Gaya was a devout worshipper of Vishnu, and through this

266 WOESHIP.
worship gained such immense power. Gaya then represented
Buddhism, which at one time threatened the extinction of
Hinduism, and by its simple rites and the abolition of sacri
fice, did away largely with the necessity of the priests, and so
cut off their resources that were derived from the offerings of
the people. He was regarded as a heretic, and at that
time the Buddhist religion extended over as large a portion
of India as is represented by the immense body of this
Asura. The headquarters of Buddhism were then at Gaya ;
the attempt of the gods to hold down the head of the giant
represents the attempt of the Brahmans to attack the here
tical system at its great stronghold ; and Vishnu's mace
represents the appeal to force where reasoning and the mUder
measures had proved of no avail. Then the gods blessed
the means emidoyed, and made what was once the head of a
heretical creed the most beneficial place of pilgrimage for the
faithful. The Hindus have appropriated to themselves the chief
places of this district, as well as in Orissa and elsewhere,
that once were sacred to the Buddhists. The footmarks of
Vishnu in the chief Buddhist temple at Buddha Gaya are
most religiously worshipped by the Hindus, and the same
Purana which praises Gaya as a place of pUgrimage for
Hindus teaches that, before offering the cakes for their an
cestors, they must first visit and worship the sacred pipul-
tree near the Buddhist temple, under which Buddha is said to
have meditated, as the dwelling-place of Vishnu. And though
this tree is about five miles from the Hindu Gaya, in that
book the whole district, fifteen miles in length, is regarded as
sacred ; though some parts of it are said to be more sacred
than others, especially a small well called Gayasiras, the
Head of Gaya. It is here that the town called by the people
Purana Gaya stands, which is almost exclusively occupied by
the Gawal priests, who are called into requisition for the
funeral ceremonies of people in all parts of India. As many
as six hundred famUies live there, but as they only intermarry

PILGRIMAGES. 267
amongst themselves, the race appears to be dying out. Other
parts have special names — Eama Gaya, Vishnu Gaya, and
Buddha Gaya, which was mentioned before, which are spe
ciaUy sacred to the deities named here, though the whole
district is holy ground.

CHAPTEE VI.
PILGRIMAGES [continued).
THE TEMPLE OF JAGANNATHA * AT PURI.
Amongst the most popular tirthas, or places of pUgrimage, is
Puri, the town in which the temple of Jagannatha stands.
The whole province of Orissa is regarded as pecuharly holy ;
the many temples, and particularly the one at Puri, give it
this peculiar sanctity. " Its whole extent is one uninter
rupted tirtha. Its happy inhabitants live secure of a recep
tion into the world of spirits, and those who even visit it
and bathe in its sacred rivers, obtain remission of thefr
sins, though they weigh like mountains. Who shall ade
quately describe its sacred streams, its temples, its khetras,
its fragrant flowers, and all the merits and advantages of a
sojourn in such a land ? What necessity, indeed, can there
be for enlarging on the praise of a region which the Devatas
themselves delight to inhabit ? t However popular some of
the other temples may have been in past times, e.g., those in
Bhuvaveswara, when Saivism was more common than it is
at present, it is to Jagannatha-Khetra that the bulk of the
pilgrims wend their way, and with " seeing " the deity there
they generaUy remain content.
The name Puri signifies the city, it being regarded by many
of the Hindus as the most holy place on the face of the eartht
* Dr. Bagendra LaU Mittra's work on Orissa.
t " Kapila Sanhita," quoted in As. Ser. Journal, vol. xv. p. 166.

PILGRIMAGES. 269
It is a town built on the sandy shore of the Bay of Bengal,
and the hill on which the great temple is built is only about
twenty feet higher than the surrounding plain. One of the
strangest facts about the temple and its great inhabitant
Jagannatha is this, that whilst he is regarded as the incarna
tion of Vishnu, the mildest and most genial of all the deities
of the Hindu Pantheon, in European writings he is regarded
as the Moloch of India. It is true that many have perished
by throwing themselves under the wheels of his car whilst it
was being drawn through the streets ; but this has been not
because the people imagined that blood was a pleasing offering
to him : but either because those who thus sacrificed their
lives felt so secure of heaven if they died within the limits of
the sacred khetra or holy place, that they did not wish to
return to the wicked world to incur fresh sins ; or possibly
some who were familiar with the cruel rites supposed to be
acceptable to some of the forms of Devi, in their ignorance of
Jagannatha's real character, imagined that their voluntary
immolation would be acceptable to him. This is very pro
bable, when it is remembered that many pilgrims start on
a protracted course of wandering, going from shrine to
shrine; and though brought up in one particular sect, and
knowing what, according to its tenets, is pleasing to the
deity they usuaUy worship, they do not stop to learn what is
pleasing to others. It is also possible that in a few cases it
was owing to the excitement of the moment, not as a pre
meditated act of devotion, that they cast themselves under
the wheels of the car, in the hope that such complete self-
sacrifice could not fail to receive its reward. Whatever the
motive, it is certain that from what is generally taught as the
character of Jagannatha, and the rites that are performed in
his worship, there is nothing to lead men to regard him as a
cruel deity delighting in death, but the very opposite.
The town of Puri has nothing to attract save its temples
and maths, or monasteries ; it is composed mostly of ruined
huts, with a fixed population, mostly Hindus, of about 23,000.

"270 WORSHIP.
At the great festivals there are from 60,000 to 100,000 pilgrims
present there. Its history naturally divides itself into three
periods :
1. The Early Hindu Period. The authority for this are
chapters in the three Puranas — the Skanda, Kurma, and
Narad. The legends are evidently v.Tritten with the object of
casting a halo of glory round the place, which, at the time
they were written, was growing in popularity. The informa
tion is given in answer to an inquiry why Vishnu assumed
the form of a log of wood, by which he is represented at the
temple at Puri.
Brahma, feeling distressed that he had not provided suffi-
•cient means for human salvation, repaired to Vishnu with
the request that he would provide a simple method. This
was not immediately granted, but Brahma was reminded
that those who were really in earnest in their search for
salvation could easily obtain it by Uving in the secret abode of
the divinity by the sea-shore. In praise of this place Vishnu
then said : " On the north shore of the sea to the south of
Mahanadi Eiver is my favourite abode, which alone can
¦confer all the blessings to be derived from aU the other
¦sacred places on the earth put together. Those wise sons of
Manu who reside there enjoy the fruits of all the good deeds
^performed by them in previous births. . . . None who has little
merit or is weak in faith, can live there. . . . The Blue Hill (the
site of the temple) is the most secret place on earth ; most
difficult of access even to you (Brahma). I dwell there in a
bodily form, and that holy spot, rising above all mutabihty,
is unassailable by creation and destruction. As you see me
here, so you will see me there. On that Blue HUl to the west
of the Kalpa fig-tree, there is a fountain named Eohina;
dwelling near it men may see me with their mortal eyes, and
washing off their sins with its water, attain equahty with
me." This does not merely refer to moral, but also bodily,
likeness ; for on Brahma's visiting the place, it is said that he
saw a crow first dip, then plunge into the water of this

PILGEIMAGES. 271
fountain — the result was that the crow came forth out of the
water the exact counterpart of Vishnu, and at once went to
his heavenly abode. On seeing this, Brahma was convinced
of the glory of the place, and determined to extend and
•enhance it. Other stories are given, one of which is to show
that Yama has no control over those who die there, the souls
of the departed obtaining at once complete salvation.
Another teaches that this place is not subject to decay and
dissolution as are others, but will continue in its glory when
all other places have been swept away.
This same authority gives the following account of the
building of the temple, and the establishment of the worship
of a wooden image there. In the earliest stage of its exist
ence, Puri was a forest, having the Blue Hill in the centre,
the Kalpa tree on its brow, the sacred fountain of Eohina on
the west, and on its side an image of Vishnu in sapphfre.
This stone gave its name to the image, viz., Nila mani
(the blue jewel). Indradyumna, King of Malava (Malwa),
hearing of the glories of the place, and the benefits to be
•derived from worshipping there, from an ascetic, determined
to visit it in person. Before setting out, however, it was
thought advisable to send an officer from his court to see if
this account were true. The priest's brother went, and on
arriving at the spot, saw a number of Brahmans who had
been changed into Vishnu's form, having each four arms.
The chief of the community at first was unwilling to aUow
this officer to see the sacred bower, but afterwards consented,
and gave him a heavenly wreath of flowers, which was taken
from the neck of the god.
On his return the king was most anxious to start on his
journey, and his earnestness was increased by a visit of the
sage Narad, who told him that aU other holy places, and aU
religious ceremonies would not yield him a thousandth part
of the benefit that would come through faith in Vishnu.
When the king reached the borders of Orissa, he was met
hy its king, and they together worshipped Siva under the

272 WORSHIP.
usual form of a Linga in a mango forest ; the place to which
Vishnu had exiled him when he drove him from Benares. He
then proceeded to the secret temple, but great was his disap
pointment to find that the sapphire image had sunk through
the sand ; and the deity had left his favourite earthly abode
and gone to Patala, the nether regions. At first the king was
almost inconsolable, but at length Narad was able to comfort
him ; he told him that he could form a wooden image of
the departed deity, the sight of which would obtain as great
comforts for mankind as though they saw the god himself,
and led him to set about a great sacrifice of 1,000 horses,
which would prove of the greatest benefit to himself and
others. The sacrifice was commenced with great pomp and
magnificence, and on the seventh night of the ceremony the
king had a dream, which rewarded him for all his trouble.
He saw a noble tree, within which was Vishnu, accompanied
by his wife Lakshmi, and Ananta. In his hands were the
usual emblems — the conch, discus, mace, and lotus ; and by
his side the celestial wonder-working wheel, Sudarsana. A
few days after this, an immense log of wood was washed upon
the shore, in which were the marks of Vishnu, and its arrival
was regarded as the fulfilment of the dream. From this log
were formed images of Jagannatha (Vishnu), Balarama,
Subhadra, and the Sudarsana. And when these were ready,
at Indradyumna's request, Brahma and the gods came down
from heaven to assist at their consecration and the inaugura
tion of the worship of Vishnu under the form of Jagannatha
at Puri.
2. The Buddhist Period. The temple records quietly ignore
the very existence of Buddhism, and invent stories of the
district being overcome by Mussulmans and others ; but the
truth seems to be that at one time Puri was reaUy one of the
important centres of Buddhistic teaching. When the Gaya
Asura fell down in worship, whilst his head was said to be
at Gaya, his navel in the same legend is said to have been at
Puri, clearly indicating that Puri was one of the important

PILGRIMAGES. 273
centres of that worship. There is much to be said in favour
of the idea that the relic which is supposed to be enshrined in
the image of Jagannatha, which is most carefully transferred
from the old to a new image, and which the Hindus believe
to be the bones of Krishna, or according to others the soul
of the deity, is nothing else than the tooth of Buddha, which
it is known was most carefully preserved, and over which a
magnificent temple or Dagoba was erected at a place called
Dantapura. Where Dantapura was situated is uncertain ;
but it is highly probable that it was at Puri, and that the
buUding erected as a shrine for the tooth of Buddha has
given place to the temple in which the image of Jagannatha
is worshipped. This relic was taken to Patna, where
some miracles are said to have been wrought through its
power, on seeing which the Brahmans of the place exclaimed :
" There are many incarnations of Janardana (Vishnu);
this bone is part of him. If not, whence such influence as
this." And a careful examination of the Vaishnavism of the
present day wUl show how the main lessons of Buddhism
have been incorporated in it, and its emblems modified or
explained to be identical with those of the Vaishnava sects.
8. The Vaishnava Period. As far as can be distinctly
known, it was about the close of the fifth century of the present
era that a king, named Yayati Kesari, came from Magadlia
and estabhshed, or, as the Hindus say, re-established Hindu-
Brahmanical worship at Puri, where Buddhism had for cen
turies held sway. This same king is said also to have made
preparations for the erection of the great tower at Bhuva-
neshwara, where Siva- worship has its great stronghold. This
may be true, for instances are known of men who show their
impartiality by erecting temples or supporting the worship of
the temples of several deities ; or it may be that he changed
the object of his worship — he who at one time was an earnest
worshipper of Vishnu possibly became as earnest a foUower
of Siva.
This is a probable account of the king's action. Finding a
19

274 WORSHIP.
Buddhist temple with three mystic monograms, together with
the wheel of the law set on high at one end, before which the
worshippers bowed and then went on their way, these three
emblems Yayati called by Hindu names, and taught that
they were representations of Vishnu and his brother and
sister, and the Buddhistic wheel an image of Vishnu's won
derful discus. Placing Hindu priests there, the mantras
were changed, and some slight changes in the ritual intro
duced also. He probably repaired the temple, and slightly
changed the representatives of deity ; but it is unlikely that
he did more than this. There are some records which de
scribe this king as building a new temple and setting up new
images, which so delighted the people that they caUed him
Indradyumna II. ; but this, as Dr. Mittra says, is most
unlikely. At first the changes introduced were as few as
possible, in order that it might appear that the really new
system was only a development of the one with which the
people had been familiar.
The present building was completed in 1196, the account
of its erection being found in the temple annals. A king of
Orissa, named Kamadeva, determining to erect a new temple
in place of the one which had partly fallen into ruins, pulled
down the old one, and collected materials for a new building ;
but after working at it for five years he died. His son, Madan
Mahadeva, was at first engaged in the erection of a temple at a
place eight miles from Puri ; and when this was finished, he
turned his attention to the work commenced by his father.
But he died after reigning four years only, and his brother,
Ananga Bhima, succeeded to the throne, and also took up
with great energy the work of the re-building of the great
temple. He took as his model the great tower of Bhuvanesh-
wara, but surpassed his model in beauty and grandeur.
This man having been guilty of the almost unpardonable
sin of killing a Brahman, tried to make expiation by erecting
temples, crossing rivers with bridges, making good roads,
digging tanks, &o. To him Jagannatha appeai-ed in a dream

PILGRIMAGES. 275
and told him to go to Puri and there call upon his name.
And it was to the effort of the king to atone for this sin that
the temple owes its completion. His descendants are the
guardians of the holy shrine, and glory in the title of " the
Sweepers of the sacred Temple."
It was during the reign of his successor, Prataparudra,
that Puri was visited by Chaitanya, the great reformer of
Bengal ; who, finding that so many pilgrims came there from
all parts of the country, considered that it would be a good
place to promulgate his doctrines, and remaining there for
years, by his teaching greatly changed the character of
the Vishnu worship. He taught that Bhakti (trust) was far
more acceptable to the deity than fastings, penance of various
kinds, and the performance of religious rites. Hitherto fear
and veneration had been the emotions that men had thought
to be most acceptable to God; he taught that the highest
type of worship was the passionate love which man cherishes
for woman ; and though iu his own teaching there was little
that was objectionable, as his followers have developed it it
tends to render those who embrace it most voluptuous. The
Buddhist character of the place served his purpose ; the name
of the deity (Jagannatha, i.e., the Lord of the World) was suited
to his world-wide idea of brotherhood. Caste had been almost
destroyed by Buddhism ; and Chaitanya taught that within
the temple enclosure all men were brethren, and were per
mitted to eat together of the food that had been made sacred
by being presented to the deity. Aided by the Eaja who
became one of his most devout disciples, the ritual was
¦changed and the mystic songs of Jayadeva were sung at the
morning and evening worship of the god; and the "Lord
of the World " in his worship was regarded very much as a
man with human sympathies such as were in his followers.
"The divinity ceased; and in his place rose the being who
¦may be looked upon at option as the master, friend, parent,
or mistress of the worshippers; and his service was modelled
.accordingly. A human bemg on rising from bed must first

276 WORSHIP.
wash his face and brush his teeth ; and the first service was
accordingly made to typify washmg and brushing. Bathing,
breakfast, recreations, dining, and sleeping all foUowed by
symbolisms, and the service of the divinity was changed to
the service of man. This anthropomorphic form of worship,
first introduced by Chaitanya, still obtains, and traits of it
will be seen in the accounts of the feasts and festivals " con
nected with the worship at this place. " The memory of the
reformer is held in the highest veneration, and there are
upwards of eight hundred temples devoted to his worship in
Qx'lBSS.." It has been frequently stated that the worship of Jagan
natha is associated with much that is licentious. Dr. Hunter
and Mr. Pergusson state that it is on the Vishnu temples-
that the more indecent sculptures are to be found, but Dr.
Mittra distinctly and emphatically denies this. He says that
in the Central Provinces and Orissa, where these represen
tations are to be found, they are at least as common on Siva
temples as on those of the many incarnations of Vishnu ; and
concludes by saying: "As a Hindu by birth, and Vaishnava
by family religion, I have had access to the innermost sanc
tuaries, and to the most secret of Scriptures ; I have studied
the subject most extensively, and have had opportunities of
judging which no European can have, and I have no hesita
tion in saying that, the ' mystic songs ' of Jayadeva and the
' Ocean of Love ' notwithstanding, there is nothing in the
ritual of Jagannatha which can be called hcentious."
During the Mussulman rule the images of this as weU as
other temples were once and again destroyed, but it is believed
that before the Mussulmans attacked the temple the relic,
whatever it is, which is said to be preserved in the image,
was carefully removed, and when safer times came, new
images having been made, the relics were restored ; so that
though the perishable part of the deity has been frequently
renewed, that which gives special sanctity to it continues.
unimpaired.

PILGEIMAGES. 277
The large temple which gives such great sanctity to
the whole city stands on a mound about 20 feet high. The
courtyard surrounding it is 665 feet by 644 feet, and is
enclosed by a thick stone waU about 22 feet high, but
which is of a much later date than the temple itself. There
are four gateways ; the principal one being to the east, in
front of which is a splendid stone pillar that was originally
in front of the Sun Temple at Konasak. The buUding itself
is of the pyramidal form which is common in Orissa.
Besides the chief figures for whose worship the temple was
erected, there are others occupying less conspicuous positions.
On the staircase by which the pilgrims enter are images
of Siva and Eamachandra. On the right is the Snan-
Vedi, or platform on which the god is bathed at the great
festival of the Snan Jatra ; near to it is a small pavilion
in which the goddess Lakshmi is placed to witness this
ceremony; whilst on the opposite side of the courtyard
is a similar pavilion on which she sits to welcome him on his
return from his annual ride on the car. There is the cook-
room in which sacred food is cooked, and a covered way
leading from it to the temple, so that it can be carried by
the priests without fear of defilement into the presence of
the god. There is also a house called Vaikuntha (the
heaven of Vishnu), in which some priests reside, and which is
used as a place where the rich pilgrims are taken to ratify their
-endowments to the temple ; and a sacred place where the old
images are buried when new ones are instituted in their place.
The inner enclosure, 400 feet by 278 feet, is secured by
double walls, with a space of 11 feet between them, which are
supposed to have been made thus in case of need, to be fiUed
in with earth to strengthen the defence. The centre of this
enclosure is occupied with the great temple, as well as a
number of smaller shrines and spots regarded as especially
sacred. Amongst these the most important object to the
pilgrims is the sacred tree, under which it is said the mes
senger from Indradyumna met the keeper of the forest ; but

278 WORSHIP.
as the tree now growing is the Vata {Ficus Indica), and the
tree mentioned in the legend is the Asvattha {Ficus religiosa},
and as the present tree is not more than two hundred years
old, it is certain that this cannot be the identical tree though
it is probable that it stands where some noted tree that was
sacred to the Buddhists once grew. The tree is called the
Kalpa-briksha, and has the virtue of making barren women
fr-uitful. When visited for this purpose the woman spreads
her cloth on the ground, and if within a reasonable time a
fruit falls on it from the tree she takes it as a sign that tho
god is propitious and will bestow on her the desired boon.
The Kapila Sanhita declares, " whoever stands under tho
shadow of this tree, immediately clears himself from the sin
of killing Brahmans ; and whoever walks round it and then
worships it, Hari remits all his sins committed in the
course of a hundred generations. At its foot is an image of
Mangala, the giver of prosperity to the gods ; whoever be
holds and adores her emancipates himself from all delusion."
Near this is a hall open on all sides in which Pundits read
and explain the Sastras to any who may come to listen ;
and then comes a small lake in which it is said the crow dipped
and came out in Vishnu's likeness, a representation of which
is seen on a stone close by. Near by, strange to say, is a
shrine sacred to Vimala Devi, the wife of Siva, to whom once
a year, in the middle of a moonless night, a kid is sacrificed
within the enclosure which is sacred to Vishnu, to whom all
life, that of animals as well as man, is sacred ; thus affording
another illustration of the idea so firmly insisted on by the
Hindus that the many gods are but varied manifestations of
the one Supreme Being. It should be stated, however, that
the Pundits usually deny that this sacrifice is made. There
is also a temple of Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, who, though
not enshrined in the large temple with her spouse, takes a
prominent part in his annual worship ; and a temple of the
Sun, but his image is so completely hidden by those of
Eadha and Krishna that it can only be seen even at midday

PILGRIMAGES. 279
by those who go behind these later additions and carry a
light with them.
The temple has four chief rooms — first the Bhoga Man-
dapa, or Hall of Ofl'erings, a room 58 feet by 56 feet ; this leadu
to the Dancing Hall, 69 feet by 67 feet, in which, on certain
occasions, tho amusements of the temple are hold. Leading
out, and as a part of this, are four smaller rooms, in one of
which Siva is represented by the Linga ; another is devoted to
Krishna ; a third is caUed Lakshmi's dressing-room, as it is
hero that she is got ready to go to take part in the festival ;
and a foiuth for the musicians of the temple, who play daily
at certain portions of the service, when they are not perform
ing in the large liaU. In these rooms there are sculptm'es
of a most obscene character. Then comes the porch or
audience chamber of the temple, 80 feet by 80 feet ; and finally
tho temple or slirino proper, also 80 feet by 80 feet. Three
large niches in tho shrine contain figures of three of Vishnu's
incarnations, viz., the Vai-iiha (Boar), Nrisinglia (Man-lion),
and the Vamana (Dwarf). In the plinth is a small niche,
in which there is a figure of a human being with his hands
and foot chained. This is to represent the eleventh day of the
lunar month, which Hindu widows have to observe as a strict
fast, and which good Hindus of both sexes regard as speciaUy
holy. To allow one day in the month to be observed as a
fast where feasting is the rule, and where the priests make
large profits out of the food sold, would not pay, so a story
has been written, of which this figure is an illustration, to
the eflect that Ekadasi, i.e., the llth, contended with the
genius of the temple in favour of the fast being observed
evoii here ; but Jagannatha explained to him that though
the rule held good elsewhere, his wUl was higher than the
law. As, however, Ekadasi was not satisfied, he was chained,
and remains enchained to this day, as a warning agaiust those
who would resist the authority of the " Lord of the ^A'olid,"
and as an encouragement to nervous Hindus, who might
otherwise wish to fast on this day when at Puri.

280 WORSHIP.
" All the four gates of the sacred enclosure are left open
until a late hour at night, but the rule is that, except in the
case of special permits, granted by the Khurda Eaja (the
custodian of the temple), pilgrims should enter by the east
gate, turn to the left in the inner enclosure, circumambulate
the great temple once, thrice, or even seven times, and then
enter the Dancing Hall by the north door. Proceeding thence
to the audience chamber (or porch), and standhig in front of a
log of sandal-wood, which cuts off further approach, they be
hold the Lord of the universe on his sanctum in front. Persons
paying largely are allowed to cross the bar, and enter the
sanctum. Those having special permits, which cost from
Es. 500 to Es. 5,000, enter by the south gate, and have the
right of getting into the inner enclosure, which is cleared of
all other visitors for the time they remain inside. They, of
course, have the right of entering the sanctum itself. This
sanctum is so dark, that without the aid of a lamp nothing
is visible within even at midday. Going thrice round the
temple at noon with the sun glaring on the whitewashed
houses, and devoting the greater part of the time in looking
upwards towards the cornice and the tops of the temples and
¦other erections, to which their attention is constantly dfrected
by the cicerones, the eyes of the pilgrims get so dazed, that it
is impossible immediately after to see anything placed in a
dark corner ; and under the best of circumstances the poor
pilgrims, standing before the sandal- wood bar, see very little.
Even those who get beyond the bar cannot see much at first,
until their eyes adjust themselves to the light. The priests
attribute this to the effect of sin, which renders carnal eyes
unfit to behold the divinity. When that sin is destroyed by
devotion, the divinity becomes visible." As the great object
of the pilgrims visiting Puri is to see Jagannatha, many
have to return without being able to gratify their desire.
Dr. Mittra tells an amusing story of a certain Eaja, who,
lax in morals and of thrifty habits, visited this temple, and,
being unable to see the image after walking round the temple

PILGRIMAGES. 281
in the glare of midday, went to his lodgings and prayed
day and night, vowing to do a great number of good deeds,
one of which remains to this day in the metalled road that
runs from Puri to Cuttack, a distance of fifty mUes. Eetum-
ing to the temple the next day, and passing into the sanctum
without walking round the temple, his eyes were opened, and
he was able to see the god ! Dr. Mittra's own experience is
quite as amusing. After walking round the temple and
entering the sanctum, he could see but little, so asking the
attendant priest to conduct him round the throne three times,
during which his eyes became accustomed to the darkness,
he, on his return to the front of the image, could see
distinctly. He declares that a shrewd priest with whom he
afterwards conversed on the subject, declared that the priests
knew well to what cause the supposed miracle was due.
Another miracle is repeatedly spoken of to the pilgrim. It
is said that the roar of the sea so terrified Subhadra, the
sister of Jagannatha, whose image is next to his own, that
it caused her hands and arms to shrink into her body.
Whereupon her brother commanded the sea not to allow the
noise of his waves breaking upon the shore to enter the
sacred enclosure. And it is a fact, that though the sound of
the " sad sea waves," is distinctly heard outside, owing to the
very high walls which surround the temple, and the noise of
the multitudes near, the sound is scarcely audible within.
But no miracle is necessary to account for this.
According to the same authority, the images which are
sold at Puri fafrly represent those within the shrine. Those
worshipped in the temple are made of iron-wood, a hard,
close-grained wood, capable of taking a higli polish, and so
bitter that insects will not eat it. The images are each made
of one solid block. They are most ugly and rude imitations
of human figures, without hands or legs. They have stumps
of arms on which golden hands are fixed ; and it is said
that Subhadra's arms which cannot be seen, are lying by
her side ; those of the other two being nailed on to the body.

282 WORSHIP.
Jagannatha is painted black ; Balarama, his brother, white ;
whilst their sister is golden coloured. The figures of the
male deities are six feet high ; that of Subhadra about four
and a half feet. The Sudarsana is a mere stump about sis
feet high, on which Dr. Mithra could see no mark of the
wheel, but which the priest declares has that mark on the top.
Several times a day the dresses and ornaments of these
images are changed, but none save the priests are allowed to
see them in their native ugliness. The people admit that
these are not beautiful, and the following legend has been.
invented to account for this.
When King Indradyumna determined to establish the-
worship of Vishnu under this form, he applied to Visvakarma,
the architect of the gods, to assist him in the erection of the
temple and the construction of the image. To this the deity
consented on the understanding that he was to be allowed to
work without being overlooked by the king or any of his
people. The king assenting, the work was commenced
forthwith, and the temple arose under the magic touch of
Visvakarma. But the image occupied a much longer time.
When the king had restrained his impatience for about a
fortnight, being very anxious to see how the work was pro
gressing, he ascended a ladder and was peeping over the
wall, when Visvakarma, noticing him, at once left his work
unfinished and returned to his heavenly home. The king,
seeing the unfinished ugly images, was greatly distressed at
first, but Brahma and the other deities consoled him with the
promise that they would be present at the installation of the
image, and that, ugly though the images were, the worship
that he inaugurated should be most popular amongst the
whole kingdom. This prediction has certainly been fulfilled
as far as Puri is concerned, and the people generally who
worship Jagannatha at other places, too, do not appear to see
any incongruity in worshipping Vishnu as represented by
these ugly deformities.
' Other stories are told to account for these strange figures

PILGEIMAGES. 283
being worshipped, e.g., it is said that as God is great no
figure can fairly represent Him, hence these ugly ones are
made to drive people through fear to propitiate Him with
gifts. The true explanation, as I believe, being that they
are modifications of the old Buddhist worship, the Sudar
sana being nothing else than the wheel of the Law — the
only object placed in the Buddliist halls before images of
Buddha became common ; whilst the three figures are modi
fied forms of a monogram composed of the initial letters
of the five elements — air, fire, water, earth, and ether — which
in Pali characters arrayed in a peculiar manner, placed over
the wheel, do not look unlike the representatives of Jagan
natha and his companions. This certainly appears to be
a natural and reasonable explanation of what otherwise is
inexplicable. The images are renewed from time to time, as the old ones
become unfit for further duty. It is said that the best time
for doing this work is when the month of Asfidlia becomes
an intercallary one ; but as it is believed that the king in
whose reign it is done dies soon after, there is not much
inducement for any one to renew them. When the renewal
takes place, the relic is taken from the old ones, which are
then solemnly buried ; wliUst tho relic is put into the body of
the new ones. A great mystery attaches to this relic. The
priests refused to tell Dr. Mithra what it was ; and, as before
stated, there is every reason to believe that it is a Buddhist
remain. When hard pressed by rich pilgrims, the priests with
their natural kindness do not like positively to refuse to say
what it is, so give one story to one, and another to another, as
they think Ukely to quiet the importunity of the questioner.
Some say it is a part of the original image, the wood of
which came floating in from the sea ; others that it is a bone
of Krishna ; a Hindu clerk at Cuttack, in writing a history
of Puri, declares that " a boy from a potter's family is selected
to take out from the breast of the old idol a small box of
quicksilver, said to be the spirit, which he conveys inside the

284 WORSHIP.
new." The boy who renders this service is always removed
from the world before the end of the year.
These three images are placed on a platform, four feet
high and sixteen feet long. In front of them is a gold image
of Lakshmi, and a silver one of the earth (Bhudevi) ; and
several smaller ones. The principal images are never moved
except at the time of the great festivals. Their dresses are
changed frequently, and the transformation caused by this is
so great that they look like quite different objects at different
times of the day. Amongst these varied dresses is one
caUed Buddhavesa, the garb of Buddha, another incidental
proof of the rise of this worship from Buddhism. At times
the image is dressed iu boys' clothes to represent incidents
ix). the life of Krishna. At such times, a rope is tied round
his waist and fastened to a post to represent the way in
which Krishna was tied by his foster-mother to prevent him
from stealing the curds : and again he is di'essed in the dress
peculiar to Ganesa, and, to make the resemblance complete,
he has a trunk attached to his face, such as that of the
elephant-headed god of wisdom.
The daily service of the temple is very similar to that of
other deities as described fully in the account of Bhu-
vaneshwara. The work of the day begins by ringing a bell
to awake the sleeping deities ; offerings and the repetition of
mantras go on until about eleven p.m., when a bedstead is
presented to them, and they are invited to retire for the night.
Small quantities of food are brought into the sanctuary itself,
which belongs to the priests alone ; but at the four principal
meals of the day, large quantities of cooked food are taken
into the refectory, and consecrated by being placed in front
of the idol. Excepting the offering of the Eaja of Khurda,
those made by pilgrims are not taken into the sanctuary, but
into the dining-room ; and one class of sweetmeats are pre
pared speciaUy at the Eaja's palace, and sent daily to the
temple, the proceeds of which are given to him ; the money
received from the sale of the other sacred food being taken

PILGRIMAGES. 285
by the priests. When it is remembered that on some days
food for 100,000 people is prepared in the temple, and
sold, it will be seen that the yearly profits must be something
enormous. The food is cooked by low caste men, who profess to be
the descendants of the woodman who conducted Indra
dyumna to the original shrine ; but such is supposed to be the-
sanctifying effect of this holy place, that it is cheerfully eaten
by people of all castes ; it is even carried away to their homes
by the pilgrims, and regarded as the most sacred treasure..
A single grain of this consecrated food, placed upon the
cakes offered at the funeral ceremonies of the dead, is
believed by the Vaishnavas to be more effectual in saving the
departed from misery than anything and everything else that
could be offered. It is called Mahaprasad, and the gods
even are said to be delighted if they can obtain a portion.
The greatest sins are removed the moment a grain of this
rice touches the tongue. Legends such as the following are
given to strengthen the faith of the people. A man proud
of his high caste came to see Jagannatha, but would not
touch what he regarded as unclean food that had been cooked
by outcastes. But, after leaving the city, on his way home
his arms and legs fell off, and in that state he remained,
until a dog happened to come near who dropped a few grains
of this holy food from his mouth. The man in his distress
managed to crawl to the spot, and licking up this rice,
Jagannatha forgave his pride, and caused his limbs to grow
again, and he returned home a firm believer in the wisdom
of following the teaching of the Lord of the World.
In connection with the worship of Jagannatha, a number
of festivals are held, at which religion and amusements are
blended, and which tend largely to increase the popularity
of the idol, and to bring pilgrims in greater numbers to its
shrine. Some of these have an astronomical origin, i.e., they
are to celebrate some particular season of the year ; some
are held with the view of calling to memory events in the

'286 WORSHIP.
life of the deity during his temporary sojourn on earth. A
ibrief account of these will not be without interest. There
is a calendar peculiar to Orissa, which we shall follow ; and
according to this, the year begins with the month Agra-
'hayana (Nov.-Dec).
1. Ghorndgi is held on the sixth of the waning moon of the
first month of the year, and at this time the images are clad
lin shawls, and other warm and costly garments. This is
the day some women in Bengal set apart as a day of fasting
for the benefit of their sons.
2. Abhisheka, i.e., the coronation, when the images are
:arrayed in royal robes. (This is the same as the Pusha
Jatra of Bhuvaneshwara).
3. Markara, i.e., the day Sun enters the sign of Capricornus
on his return to the north. It is a day of feasting with
-cakes, &c., and one of general rejoicing.
4. The Dol Jatra or Holi. This, next to the Snan and Eath
-Jatras, is the most popular festival at Piud. It is the con
tinuation of a festival, with modern innovations, that was
held in Vedic times to celebrate the arrival of spring. In
-all countries that has been a season of unusual merriment,
and the people of India to-day, with the exception that the
youths do not run about naked, foUow in the same lines as
those which prevailed in Eome and Germany, and which
may be seen to-day in the Carnival, as it is observed in con
tinental towns. Drinking, buffoonery, licentious talk and
gestures prevail ; and the throwing of red powder. It is called
the Dole, or Swing Festival, because on this day the images
of Krishna, or his representatives, are placed on a swing ;
swinging being the most common form of amusement,
¦especiaUy for women, in the North-west Provinces of India.
It is a most common festival, celebrated with greater or less
-expense in most of the Vaishnava temples, and fun and
frolic form the chief part of the ceremonies. At Puri, owing
to the great weight of the idols, and to the fact that some
years ago an accident happened to Jagannatha, they are not

PILGRIMAGES. 287
swung ; but two other images, those of Madanamohana and
Lakshmi, are substituted for them. Another reason for
relieving Jagannatha and his companions from this swinging
was that the red powder or Holi, which was freely thrown on
them, uijured the paint. It is said that this festival is to
commemorate a deed of heroisn of Krishna's when he slew
a demon called Holi. All through Upper India this is a
season of great licentiousness. The red powder is thrown,
or red water squirted on passers-by. The ceremony at Puri
lasts for one day only ; but the merriment generally con
tinues in the streets for about four days.
5. Bdma navami, i.e., the ninth of the waxing moon of
Chaitra, the day regarded as the birthday of Eama. As
Jagannatha is said to be a later incarnation of the same
deity as Eama, on this day he is dressed and worshipped as
Eama. 6. Dasnd Chori ; on this day the proxy of Jagannatha is
worshipped ; it is a festival to celebrate the stealing of some
thyme by the great deity himself.
8. Chandana Jatra, or Flower Festival. The proxies
Madanamohana and four Lingas are carried to a small
temple, on an island in the Norendra tank, where they
remain twenty-one days. Every evening they are taken for
a row on the lake, flowers, sandal- wood, &c., are presented,
and the worshippers entertained with singing and dancing.
8. Rukmini harana. This is to celebrate Krishna's carrying
off his wife Eukmini, who was originally betrothed to Sisu-
pala ; but, loving Krishna, she ran away with him. At Puri,
Madanamohana, because of the difficulty in transporting the
^reat image, takes Jagannatha's place, and, being carried to
a neighbouring garden, is supposed to steal his bride, and
when he has brought her home, they are married at night
under a sacred tree in the enclosure of the temple.
9. Snan Jcitra is held on the fifteenth of the waxing moon of
the Jaishtha. This festival is held to commemorate the day
when the first image was commenced by Indradyumna. The

288

WORSHIP.

images are brought out from the sanctum and bathed at mid
day on a platform kept specially for the purpose, with water
taken from a well near the sacred tree, after which they are
dressed in beautiful robes. When the ceremonies of the bath
are concluded, the images are taken to one of the smaller
rooms in the porch called the Sick Chamber, where they re
main for a fortnight, it being understood that fever resulted
from their unusual exposure on the day of bathing. During
this time the outer doors of the temple are closed; there is no
cooking of food, no regular worship. The real reason of this
is that during this time the images are being re-painted, and
it would lessen the respect of the people for thefr deities if they
saw them in this- state. When it is remembered that water,
flowers, and other offerings are thrown upon them daily, it
will easily be understood that annually a fresh coat of paint
is quite necessary.
10. The Rath Jatra. After the painting is complete, the gods
are exposed to the public gaze as they are taken for a ride
upon their raths or chariots. These immense cars are made
according to fixed rules as to size, &c. The height of Jagan
natha's car is 45 feet, that of Balarama 44 feet, that of Sub
hadra, 43 feet. The first car has sixteeen wheels with sixteen
spokes each; the second, fourteen wheels with fourteen spokes ;
the third, twelve wheels with twelve spokes. These cars are
most strongly and clumsily built, are of immense weight, and
can with great difficulty be moved. When the time comes
for the ride, the lady is carried on the shoulders of men ; the
other two, having a silken cord round the waist, are dragged
to the car, and then drawn up an inclined plane to their seat,
by people of the same caste as those who cook the food in the
temple, whose ancestors have done this work for generations,
the priests holding the idols in an upright position. When
placed upon their seats, the images are dressed in gorgeous
robes, and golden hands and arms attached to them.
When all is ready, the Eaja of Khurda, the " Sweeper of
the Temple," descends from his elephant about one hundred

PILGRIMAGES. 289
yards from the cars, and sweeps the road until he reaches
them ; he then worships each of the idols, and after making
his offerings, just touches the ropes of each car as though he
dragged them, when hundreds of coolies, who for this work
hold their land rent free, aided by the voluntary effort of
hundreds or thousands of pilgrims, set the ponderous cars in
motion. These cars are dragged to a suite of temples about two
miles distant. The journey occupies four days ; and on their
arrival the image of Lakshmi is taken from the Puri tempi,
to see her lord. After remaining here four or five days, the
cars are brought back much in the same way as they went,
and on their arrival at the temple, Lakshmi, as a faithful wife,
is waiting in' a pavilion to welcome home her husband.
Much speculation has arisen as to the origin of this Car
Festival. There seems, however, to be little reason to doubt
that it is a continuation of a Buddhist festival to celebrate
the birth of that saint. There is evidence to show that it
was common for images of Buddha to be dragged through the
streets in this manner ; and there is nothing in the older
Hindu books, nor is there any tradition of this practice being
commonly practised by the Hindus, except in connection with
Buddhistic worship. The reasons for believing that this prac
tice is of Buddhistic origin, are the foUowing : There is no
doubt that Puri at one time was one of the chief centres of
Buddhism ; the images of Jagannatha and his companions
have been shown to be modifications of Buddhist emblems ;
the possession of a reUc in the idol is almost peculiar to this
temple ; caste differences are obliterated at Puri ; in the
representations of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, Jagannatha
takes the place of Buddha, who, according to the Vishnu
Purana, was an incarnation of Vishnu for the purpose of de
ceiving mankind ; and at this season of the year a car festival
was common amongst the Buddhists in honour of the birthday
of Buddha.
11. Say ana Ekadasi; this day is observed with feasting and
20

290 WORSHIP.
rejoicing, and at night the three images, represented by small
gold idols, are put to bed for four months. Some say it is to
represent Vishnu's descent to Patala ; others that it is to
commemorate his sleep upon the ocean. The probable
reason is that this being the rainy season, travelling is most
difficult, and the professional pilgrims remain in the monas
teries instead of wandering about. The more pious Hindus
regard it as a season when they should be unusually abste
mious, much as in some Christian homes the season of Lent is
observed. During these months weddings are not celebrated;
nor as a rule are the temples of the gods visited.
12. The next festival is the Julana Jatra, or Swinging Festi
val. Madanamohana has again to do duty for his lord, and,
profusely adorned, is put into a swing, and every evening
regaled with music, feasting, and dancing.
13. Janmdshtami, i.e., the birthday of Krishna at Mathura.
This festival, common throughout the whole of North India,
is here celebrated with great eclat, and eye-witnesses declare
that in the presence of a crowd a dancing gfrl plays the part of
the mother, and a priest that of the father, and the "ceremony of
his nativity is performed to the life." The story is as follows :
Krishna's mother fell asleep as sooix as he was born, and to
save him from the cruel hands of his uncle his father took
him to the home of a cowkeeper's wife, and changed him
for her newly-born girl, whom he placed by the side of his
sleeping wife. Dr. Mittra denies that there is any obscenity
in the representation. Certainly it is a delicate subject for
representation, and as I have heard it described by Hindus
it is not represented in the most delicate manner. At
tached to this temple are girls, some as dancers, and some
as singers, who are said to be married to the deity, of whom
the most that Dr. Mittra can say in favour of thefr purity of
life is that they are not more unchaste than the actresses and
ballet girls of Europe. These are professional vestal virgins.
and it may be, of course, that some of them remain pure ;
but certainly the common belief amongst the Hindus them-

PILGRIMAGES, 291
selves is that this is a very rare exception, and it is admitted
that the one selected for taking the part of Krishna's mother
is no better than the rest.
14. Pdrsva parivartana is a festival held to celebrate the
turning of the images on to their right side, they having
been laid on their backs when first they were placed in posi
tion for their long sleep.
15. Kdliya damana ; the slaying of the serpent Kaliya in
the river Yamuna by Krishna. Jagannatha's image is
wrapped round with an imitation serpent, made of cloth,
whUst his proxy is carried to a tank close by, with music
and singing, where he is supposed to slay the demon.
16. Vdmanjanam. On this day Jagannatha is dressed to
represent Vishnu when he appeared on earth as a dwarf :
in the Hindu calendar it is the day when Vishnu, in his
«leep before the re-creation of the world, tm-ned over from
iis right to his left side.
17. Utthdpana Edadasi is the day when Vishnu awakes
from his sleep. The metal images are aroused, bathed,
dressed, and worshipped in due form.
It should be noticed that besides these there are several
other less important festivals.
The garden-house to which Jagannatha is taken in his car
is said to be the place where Indradyumna pitched his tent
when- he first came there to worship : it was here that he
performed his great horse sacrifice ; and it was near here
that the log of wood is said to have been washed ashore
which was used in making the first image.
There are a number of smaller temples of no great im
portance, but are interesting chiefly because they furnish an
illustration of the way in which the supremacy of one god is
asserted over others. At Bhuvaneshwara, where Siva is wor
shipped as supreme, Vishnu and his consort are made guardians
of the city ; here, as Vishnu is the chief deity, Siva and his wife,
in eight different forms, have the duty of wardens of the
¦city assigned to them. There are also tanks here as in

292 WORSHIP.
Benares, the waters of which are declared to have the power
immediately to cleanse the soul from impurity, and to give
emancipation from future evil; but in connection with.
them there are conditions of a similar nature to that whicli
permits only the pure to see Jagannatha in his temple.

CHAPTEE VII.
PILGRIMAGES {continued).
BHUVANESHWARA.
This place was in former years far more attractive as a
place of pUgrimage than it is at the present day. It may
have been commenced as a rival shrine to Benares; or it
may have arisen during the time that Buddhism prevailed
there before its influence was felt in Orissa.'^ Some pilgrims
caU here on their way to or from Puri, and thus pay their
respects to the two great deities whose worship is carried
on at these two important places; the majority, however,
pass by Bhuvaneshwara, content with the expense and labour
incurred in the journey, and the offerings made, to Jagan
natha. The image of Siva, the Linga, being an upright stone
pillar, and remaining fixed in its place, does not admit of
the same variety of ceremonies as are possible with movable
images such as those at Puri ; but the ceremonies, though
¦somewhat differing in form, are much the same in spfrit.
The following account describes the daily worship in the
temple, and the special festivals that are held there.
The image is bathed daily with a great quantity of water,
milk, and bhang, and large quantities of food are placed
* The full name, Tribhuvaneshwara — meaning the Lord of the three
worlds, heaven, earth, and hell; Jagannatha, signifying Lord of the world
only — suggests a third cause of its origin, viz., as a rival shrine to that of
Jagannatha at Puri.

294 WORSHIP.
before it. Flowers, sandal-wood, and clothes, too, are pre
sented. The daUy service begins at dawn with the ringing
of a beU to wake up the idol ; then a lamp is moved about
in front to Ught him to get up. Then comes the cleaning
of his teeth ; this is done by moving about a stick bruised at
the one end, similar to those used by the Brahmans for this
purpose ; a bowl of water and towel are next brought, to
wash his face. Then comes his bath : this consists of water,
ghi, and milk thrown over the stone, which is then washed
and dried. Next comes the dressing ; the clothes worn on
the previous day having been washed are put round the
lower part of the stone. After this a light breakfast of
sweetmeats is given, which is foUowed a couple of hours
later, at ten o'clock, with the regular breakfast. At eleven
o'clock another breakfast is prepared, the difference con
sisting in the kinds of food that are presented. Incense
is burned, the doors of the temple are closed, and the deity
enjoys his midday repose. At four o'clock the doors are
again opened, and pretty much the same ceremonies are
repeated in the evening until bed-time comes, when the
deity is invited to repose, with the phrase that "Parvati
awaits her lord." Twenty-two ceremonies are performed on
ordinary days ; on special festival days others are added, for
each of which there are the proper mantras or texts to he
employed. The festivals generally refer to some events con
nected with the history of Siva, of which appropriate legends
are told; though it is evident that several of these have
been written to make these festival days attractive to the
people, at the time when there are special festivals held in
connection with deities worshipped in other temples.
The chief festivals of Siva are the foUowing : —
1. Prathamdstimi, literaUy the first (feast) of the eighth
day of the moon of the first month of the year, according
to the sacred calendar used in Orissa. On this occasion
a smaU image called Chandrasekhara is taken from its shrine
as a substitute for Bhuvaneshwara, and placed upon a cae

PILGRIMAGES. 295
with much pomp and music, and is taken to a tank which,
as its name, Papasini, implies, has the power to wash away
sin, and there bathed; it is then dressed in new clothes,
worshipped, and brought back amidst a crowd sometimes
numbering as many as ten thousand people.
2. Pravaranotsava is a festival held when the cold season
IS considered to have fairly set in. The flat stone forming
the base of the image has warm clothes placed upon it ; from
its shapeless form it cannot of course be properly robed.
3. Pushya Jatra. On this occasion 108 pitchers of water
brought from the Vindu Sagara Lake are poured over the
image, after which it is dressed in new clothes, and presented
with a garland of mustard flowers, and regaled with music and
singing. 4. Markara. This is held on the day when the sun com
mences his return to the north. On this occasion, too, 108
pitchers of water are thrown over the idol, and offerings of
new rice, fruits, &c., are made. This is a sort of harvest
festival. 5. Mdgha Saptami, i.e. , the seventh day of the new moon in
the month of Magh. The image mentioned before as Siva's
substitute is taken to a temple of Bhaskareshwara (Lord of
the Sun) a mile distant, and then adorned with new clothes,
feasted and worshipped. The reason why a substitute is
carried about instead of the image itself is this : It is taught
that when once an image of Siva has been fixed in any
place it is a great sin to move it. Hence we find many
images of this deity standing amid ruined temples because it
is beUeved sinful to remove one that has once been set up for
worship. 6. Sivardtri is held on the fourteenth night of the wane
of the moon in Phalgum. The origin of this festival is
given in the foUowing legend : A fowler having lost his way
in a wood took refuge in a bel-tree, and, weeping, his tears
feU on a decayed leaf and carried it to a Lfriga of Siva that
happened to be near. The deity was delighted with this un-

296 WORSHIP.
intentional offering, and so the pious Saivites regard the day
as a fast, and worship Siva at the four watches of the night.
At Bhuvaneshwara 100,000 bel leaves are offered at the four
watches to an image representing half Vishnu and half Siva.
7. Asokdslitami. This day is sacred because Sita when
confined by Eavana offered some asoka leaves to Siva in order
to induce him to assist her to rejoin her lord. On this day
at Bhuvaneshwara Siva's substitute is carried to a temple of
Eama with great pomp, where it remains for a few days.
This is the rival ceremony to the Car Festival at Puri, and
the practices of that ceremony are most closely followed
in the worship of Siva.
8. Daman-bhangika Jdtra. This festival is peculiar to
Orissa. As on this day Jagannatha is supposed to go to steal
thyme from a neighbouring garden, Siva's representative is
taken to a platform where he receives presents of ornaments
made of thyme.
9. Chandana Jdtra. On this occasion the proxy is taken
to a temple on an island in the Vindu Sagara Lake, where he
remains for twenty- two days. Each evening he is carried
about in a boat, and amused with music and dancing. During
this time Bhuvaneshwara himself receives an extra smearing
of sandal-wood paste daily.
10. Parasurdmdshtama. On this occasion Chandrasekhara
is carried in a sort of chair on men's shoulders to a temple of
Parasurama, where he is entertained with flowers, music, and
dancing. It will be noticed that all these visits of the god to
other temples are an acknowledgment of their equality with
the great deity himself
11. Sayana Chaturdasi. This is the time when Siva and
Parvati, represented by small images, are put to bed for
their long sleep of four months. The day is spent in re
joicing. In the address to these deities it is said that by
their sleep their worshippers will have rest.
12. Pavitrapani Jdtra is the day when a new portia or
sacred thread is presented to the god.

PILGEIMAGES. 297
13. Yamadevitrya. Yama, the Lord of Hades, on this day
was worshipped by his sister Yami, who by this act obtained
longevity. Hence it is common on this day for sisters to
feed their brothers, and present them with new clothes. At
Bhuvaneshwara this festival is observed by Siva's proxy being
carried to a temple of Yama, and is supposed by this act to
obtain long life for his lord, the immortal Siva.
14. Utthdn. This is the festival of awakening the deity
after the four months' sleep. The idol is bathed, dressed,
and worshipped. At aU these and other festivals there
are peculiar mantras and slightly differing forms of worship ;
but the variation is very slight.
A noticeable feature of the worship of Siva at this place is
that, as at Puri, large quantities of rice and other articles of food
are cooked and presented to the deity, and then Hindus of all
castes purchase and eat it because of its supposed sanctifying
power. This custom is pecuhar to these two shrines. It
is the more remarkable that in Siva-worship, the teaching
of which is generally in favour of the caste system, this
custom should prevail ; but it is evidently copied from the
practice prevailing at the great rival establishment at Puri.
Though many pilgrims travelling to Puri pass within a few
miles of this temple on their way to see Jagannatha, they are
too excited to remain here, whilst on their return journey they
are generally too poor to pay it a visit, the gifts made at
Puri having quite exhausted their resources. There is, how-
¦ever, no lack of legends to prove that of all places this is the
most sacred, and its deities and tanks most beneficial to the
worshippers. As a means of extracting money and offerings
from the pilgrims before they approach the image of the great
god, they must first present themselves before a colossal figure
of a bull Nandi, which represents Siva's vehicle ; then they
must worship Bhagavati, Khartikeya, and Ganesa, who are
regarded as guardians of the shrine. In addition to this
they must on their entrance into the town worship Vishnu as
represented in a temple called Ananta ; it was by his per-

298 WOESHIP.
mission Siva was able to make this his secret abode. Each
pilgrim must also ask from Vishnu permission to bathe in
the sacred tank and enter the holy temple. He must next
visit the temple of a goddess caUed Ardhapapaharini, or " the
one who removes half of a man's sins,'' and then he is free
to bathe in the water of the sin-destroying tank. Great evil
is threatened if any of these temples be passed by without
worship being offered.
The lake referred to, the Vindu Sagara, has this name
because it is said that water from all the sacred tanks in
heaven, earth, and the lower regions are constantly falhng
into it. It is taught, in the common language of panegyric,
that once bathing in it will give more real merit to the
bather than ten visits to the source of the Ganges, AUahabad,
Prayaga, or Ganga Sagar. It is difficult to estimate what
this virtue can be, as a single visit to any one of these places
is said to wash away all sins of the past, present, and future.
In the tank the crocodiles are well behaved, for though
numerous it is declared that they never seize the pUgrims.
Bathing in this tank is considered an indispensable part of
the pilgrim's duty who visits this shrine.

CHAPTEE VIII.
HINDU WORSHIP.
HOW SUSTAINED, AND OBJECTS SOUGHT THEOUGH IT.
The people of India, as a rule, are uneducated. Of the total
population in Bengal, as appears from the last census, 1 in
17 of the males are able to read and write ; whilst of the
females, 1 in 566 only possess this knowledge. When this
fact is taken into account, a reason wiU at once be seen for
the methods of instruction in religion that prevail in India.
1. There is Home Instruction. Knowing the inability of the
masses of the people to read, though of course one cannot
fail to be struck with their ignorance of Hinduism as a whole,
at the same time the accuracy of the knowledge of the people
of what belongs to their own particular sect is equally re
markable. I have no hesitation at all in saying that the
iUiterate Hindu knows far better what, according to the
teaching of his sect, he ought to do and leave undone, than
multitudes know of the simplest truths of Christianity in our
Christian country. In India every man is, more or less,
rehgious ; and even when his moral hfe may be bad, his obser
vance of caste rules and religious rites and ceremonies is
generally most strict. Men who can scarcely count beyond
twenty, and know not the letters of the alphabet, would die
rather than eat food which had been prepared by men of
lower caste, unless it had been sanctified by being offered to
an idol ; and would kUl thefr daughters rather than endure

300 WOESHIP.
the disgrace of having unmarried girls at home beyond twelve
or thirteen years of age. Every year thousands perish of
disease that might recover if they would take proper nourish
ment, and drink the medicine that science prescribes, but which
they imagine thefr religion forbids them to touch.
Whence is all this knowledge obtained ? Largely through
the teaching in the homes. In India, as elsewhere, the women
are by far the most religious and superstitious ; and here, as
elsewhere, where people cannot read, it is found that the
memory is unusually retentive. Stories heard when a child, and
implicitly believed, are repeated, with embeUishments often,
to their children, and thus there is a constant religious edu
cation of the masses going on by the mothers chiefly, and
by the fathers also, to some extent. I have often been
struck with the correct notions that the children have, when
very young, of the peculiar practices of the caste to which
they belong. Just as in England there is an unconscious
teaching by example, and a conscious, direct teaching by
word ; and in very young children it is easy to tell the cha
racter of the home in which they have lived : so it is in India,
with this difference — that in England the social customs and
life in the home are not universally regarded as under the law
of religion ; in India everything that has to be done, even to the
choice of food, mode of dress, &c., has been settled by religious
authority. As far as my observation has gone, I am decidedly
of opinion that the Hindus are by far the most religious
people I have met with. If a question is asked in England,
" Why do you do this or that ? " the answer would be, " I
don't know ; others do it, and we do as they do." In India
it would be, " It is our dharma, our religion, that ordains it.''
Here and there, it is true, you find infidels, men who do not
care for the gods, but these are most rare ; and though they
may not give anything to the gods as offerings, they must
respect the rules of their caste, or they must either give up
their old companions and, unite themselves to some sect in
which caste rules are disregarded, or live a solitary life. In

HINDU WOESmP. 301
the temples, mothers teach their chUdren to present their offer
ings, and to bow down before the idols; in the rivers they teach
them to bathe with becoming reverence ; in their journeys to
the sacred spots they tell them of the great benefits to be
derived from all this painful effort ; and in the homes they teU
them the names and doings of some of the many gods that
are commonly worshipped by the people. And as a result of
thefr earnestness in religion in our mission work we find that
the greatest obstacles to our progress are those that the
mothers and wives place in our way.
2. The Teaching in the Schools. The efforts of the edu
cational department of the Government to induce the indi
genous schools of the lowest grades to place themselves under
Government control and inspection, and the fixing of text-books
for study, in order that the children may appear in the periodi
cal examinations, has done a great deal towards removing this
method of religious instruction. Before the Governmental
system came into operation, and in some places now where
the Patshalas (primary schools) are not included in the
Government schemes and the teachers are free to select
their own text-books, books are read which have had a large
influence in the education of the people in Hinduism. As
the Hindus are a religious people, it is only natural that they
would wish their children to read religious books ; and re
ligious books for them, of course, mean books in which the
reUgion of the Hindus is taught. In these books there are
stories from the Puranas of some of the various deities wor
shipped, and the time devoted to the reading of these stories
gives an opportunity for the teacher to enlarge upon the
benefits that eome from the proper adoration of their idols,
very much as an earnest Christian would seek to explain and
enforce the lessons of the Christian Scriptures. But this
method of teaching is fast passingaway, as the books selected
for the examinations are generally free from distinctively reU-
gious instruction.
3. Next to the teaching of the mothers, perhaps in some

,S02 WOESHIP.
respects even more influential than that, is the teaching of
the guru, or spiritual guide. When a child is about nine
or ten years of age, if a Brahman, Kshatriya, or Vaishya,
lie is invested with the sacred thread, and thus initiated
into the Hindu religion ; or if of the lower castes, he is
initiated by the receiving of the mantra only from his guru.
The father chooses a guru for his child, and the guru, either
from the name the child bears or from some other causes,
¦decides which of the many deities is to be the Ishta Deva of
the child. This term means, " chosen deity " ; and it is sup
posed that though all the gods of the Pantheon are his
guardians, this one vnll be particularly propitious to him,
and it is this deity that he must worship above aU others.
'The initiation is performed by the guru whispering in the
¦candidate's ear a mantra or text, which on no pretence
whatever must be repeated to another person, or the most
dreadful results are threatened. I have heard several of these
mantras from those who, having embraced Christianity, have
no superstitious fears respecting them, but can make no
meaning out of them, nor could those who received them.
It is, perhaps, more reasonable to suppose that the words
were formed with some skill, expressing some truth, if the
key to their interpretation were only known. But so far as I
have been able to learn, the words only are given without any
clue to their meaning. One word in the mantra is, of course,
the name of the chosen deity. This mantra it is the duty of
the person receiving it to repeat at least once daily on rising
from sleep, and once before retiring to rest ; but as there is
believed to be great virtue in its mere repetition, by many
it is done 108 times during the day. When the initiation is
completed, the guru receives a fee from the father varying ac
cording to his circumstances, and the one initiated is reckoned
ever after as a disciple of this guru, and the bond thus formed
is indissoluble except by death. As is noticed in the chapter
on sects, in some cases the guru is taught to be worthy of
respect equal to that given to the god; in others he is said to be

HINDU WORSHIP. 303
¦superior even to deity. Hence it is no uncommon thing when
a disciple meets his guru for him to prostrate himself before
him, and take the very dust from his feet and place it on
his head.
The guru, being the spiritual guide of his disciples, visits
them from time to time. Some visit their disciples monthly,
some quarterly, some yearly, and some at even longer in
tervals. Whenever they go they expect to be paid for their
visit ; and as some of these have no home of their own they
spend their time in the homes of their disciples, moving from
one to another, and staying a day or more with each. All
these gurus acknowledge some central authority, to whom
they are expected to pay a portion of the fees they receive.
When they go to see a disciple they generally give some in
struction in religious matters. The most common plan is
to read a few passages from some of the many sacred writings,
and translate and expound them. As the gurus are gene
rally illiterate, ignorant men, they often learn by rote a
few sentences of Sanskrit, which they interpret to their
disciples ; and when the time comes for them to pay another
visit, they prepare for it by learning more. In travelling about
the country this fact strikes one when in conversation with
the people, that a good number of them appear to be familiar
with one set of stories about one or other of the deities,
and employ the same religious phraseology, a few miles
only away quite a new set of religious ideas and words pre
vail, those of the other district being almost unknown.
The explanation of this fact, I think, is this — that the gurus
¦of the one district have taught one part of the Hindu
Scriptures, the gurus of the other district being better ac
quainted with some other parts.
For the women who receive the mantras there are female
gurus, usually of the Vaishnava sects ; in some houses,
however, the male gurus enter freely, and it would be re
garded as a great sin, and productive of immense evil, were
the doors closed against one of these saintly men who might

304 WORSHIP.
wish to enter. The gurus in their periodic visits seem to
discharge the duties of the minister who visits his people in
their homes to supplement the lessons given from the pulpit,
and has even more influence over his disciples than the
confessor in the confessional. There is no doubt, therefore,
that by this means the doctrines of Hinduism are taught,
and the religious enthusiasm of the people excited. For
when it is remembered that there are shrines connected with
aU the various sects of which the gurus are the main ad
vertisers, and that the advice of the guru is taken as the voice
of God, it is his duty, as it is his interest, to recommend
a pilgrimage to these holy places, in which he, as well as
others, wiU participate in the offerings made there. The
great reformers of Hinduism have shown their appreciation
of the great influence these men and women exert by the
fact that they have generaUy settled down for years at
Benares, Puri, and other holy places, that they might teach
their doctrines to the gurus and professed religious ascetics
who assemble there.
4. The next important method of instruction is the re
ligious festivals, as we have already shown. Each month
has some day or days that are especially sacred to some one
or other of the deities ; and though each has his own pe
culiar guardian deity, he is also bound by fear of the evU
of neglect, or by the hope of gaining some good, to show his
respect to each and all of the rest. Some of these deities,
whose images are enshrined in temples, have special days on
which some event of their lives is brought into special
prominence by the ritual observances which have been al
ready noticed ; whilst those who have no permanent images
are brought before the people, and the events of their lives
taught by means of images that are made for the occasion,
worshipped for a longer or shorter period, and then cast
away. In a few cases, deities whose images are to be
seen in the temples are also worshipped in the houses. In
speaking of the places of pilgrimage sacred to Siva and

HINDU WORSHIP. 805
Vishnu, I have already described some of their festivals, and
it will be easily seen that as Good Friday and Christmas
Day bring to the remembrance of the Christian community
the fact of Christ's birth and death, and as the Passover
preserves amongst the Jews the memory of the deliverance of
the first-born in Egypt; so these festivals in the temples,
and in the houses of the people, which are attended by thou
sands of people, are immensely powerful as a means of in
struction to the ignorant, and tend to stimulate the faith and
devotion of others.
With this round of festivals, with the change of image
month by month and all the attendant ceremonies, with
the descriptive song and mythological representations, it is
not at all surprising that the people know a great deal about
the most popular deities. It would be almost impossible to
find in all India a man as grossly ignorant of the names and
doings of the chief deities of the Pantheon as some in Eng
land are ignorant of Jesus Christ and His apostles. The
processions meet the gaze of all, the sound of music and
singing reach every ear, and the natural inquisitiveness of
human nature prompts men to ask what it all means. The
quiet and respectable services in Christian churches are all
that could be desired for those who, by other agencies, are
taught the truths that are embodied in these services ; but
for the mass of the ignorant who cannot read, there can be
no doubt whatever that the attractive festivals of heathenism
as an instructing agency are far superior. Teaching by the
eye is more easily understood, and more easily retained in the
memory, than that which comes through the ear only. One
has only to see how people laugh or weep as they witness
ludicrous or pathetic plays and long remember them, and
compare this with the comparative inattention to discourses
from the pulpit ; whUst it is true, as 0. W. Holmes says,
that though men listen to, say, one hundred theological
lectures in the course of the year, comparatively few can
express the doctrines taught in an inteUigible manner.
21

306 WORSHIP.
5. Eeading of the Eamayana or Mahabharat and the
Puranas. There is yet another method of instruction. A
man in fulfilment of a vow made in time of trouble, or
from some other motive, will engage readers to read the
Mahabharat or Eamayana to the people.
Sometimes the readers wdll sit in the courtyard of the
house, or if the weather be favourable, under the shade of a
tree, and hundreds, sometimes thousands, will gather round
him and sit for two or three hours in the morning and
again in the evening to listen to them, some of whom
are most entertaining with their comments. These sacred
books are not lacking in promises of good to those who
read or hear them read. Almost every chapter closes with
the assurance that those who read or hear it will by that
simple act obtain freedom from aU their sins. It is a meri
torious act for a man to have them read ; it is a meritorious
act for the paid reader to read their sacred words ; and it is a
meritorious act to sit and listen to them. At the Ghats in
the North-west there are men whose work it is to read these
-or other books diu'ing the greater part of the year, and a
more orderly and attentive audience one could scarcely wish
to have. The reader often stops to explain the meaning of
the more difficult passages; whUst, as a relief fr-om the
monotony of his voice, and to give him breathing time, at a
sign from him, the audience breaks forth into a sort of re
sponse ; generally taking the form of praise to some one or
other of the deities. It is a most interesting sight to see
hundreds of faces directed towards the reader, intent on
hearing the life-giving, saving words ; and then as he looks up
or raises his hand, to hear from the multitude the cry, " Jai,
Jai, Eama " (Glory, glory to Eama). When it is remem
bered that, whilst the Vedas are not to be read to the com
mon people, the two great epics are said to contain the
essence of the Vedas, it occasions no surprise that when
these oracles are read aloud, large numbers of low-caste
people, both men and women, should gather together and

HINDU WORSHIP. 307
try to hear what they believe to be the words of God to man.
At times, though not very frequently, if a man does not quite
understand what is read, he will ask for an explanation.
This is the kind of promise given to those who hear these
books ; it is the encouragement to hear the Vishnu Purana.
Listening to the first book of this Purana " expiates all
offences. The man who hears this Purana obtains the fruit
of bathing in the Pushkara lake (bathing but once in this
lake is said to remove all sin) for twelve years, in the month
of Kartik. The gods bestow upon him who hears this work
the dignity of a divine sage, of a patriarch, or of a spirit of
heaven." I have now described the many methods by which the
Hindus are instructed in their religion, and the means by
which thefr faith is strengthened and their zeal is fired.
And though it is true of most of the educated Hindus that
the entrance of the light of truth, scientific, historic, as
weU as religious, has revealed the errors and evils of Hindu
ism, one cannot move about amongst the uneducated people
or the more ignorant of the Brahmans without being im
pressed with the fact that Hinduism has a firm hold of the
minds and hearts of the people. It is said with truth, that
the gifts in the temples are not as numerous or as costly as
they were, that the numbers of pilgrims visiting the shrines
are lessening year by year, that the Brahmans are compelled
to seek for employment, or they would starve, who once were
richly supported by the offerings of the people. But, notwith
standing all this, Hinduism is a mighty power in the land,
and has an immense hold upon the people, as a visit to
Jagannatha's festivals, or to any of the great shrines, wiU
easily demonstrate. The most absurd stories are easily
.believed by the people ; and the miracles of the New Testa
ment are commonplace beside those that the people hear of
as having been wrought by some of their many deities when
.they were incarnate amongst men.
I shall now try to show what is the object or end of aU this

308 WORSHIP.
worship ; what is the main good the people expect to obtain
by this long and costly round of duties.
In studying the religions of the people of India one cannot
faU to be struck with the great variety of methods by which
it is taught that the greatest good men desire can be attained,
and, at the same time, the failure to find the rest that the
performance of the work prescribed promised. It is stated,
e.g., in the plainest language, that bathing in the waters of
the holy Ganges will cleanse the soul fr'om all sins of the
past, present, and future ; nevertheless, those who live on her
banks and daily wash in her holy xjurifying streams, at the
proper season of the year will visit some particular part of
the river, it may be hundreds of miles away from thefr home,
where her waters are said to have greater purifying power.
It is declared in the Mahabharat and Eamayana that the
mere hearing of the words of a single chapter of these books
will have the like effect upon the human soul. It is declared
that an offering made at some particular shrine, or bathing
in some particular well, such as the Mankarnika well at
Benares, will bring about the successful accomplishment of"
any desired work, and give to the believer the much desired
mukti (final deliverance) from future births. Then again, we
read that a visit to the holy city, and walking round the sacred
enclosure wiU ensure entrance into heaven. Then a visit to
some shrine, such as that of Jagannatha at Puri and others,
promise similar boons. And yet when any or many of these
good works have been done, the Hindu, as a rule, fails to
find the peace he sought. I can account for this hurrying
from one means of salvation to another partly by the gross
ignorance and morbid fear of the people, excited by the fact
that, though one act of merit may have satisfied one deity,
others who have not been pacified may wreak their vengeance
upon them. At great melas I have seen how the fears of the
people are aroused. Some poor women who had bathed in the
holy stream, paid their respects to the great deity that was
worshipped there, were walking along with a crowd to see-

HINDU WORSHIP. 309
the sights of the place. A number of itinerant shrines having
been set up, as is commonly the case at such places, as the
people were not liberal enough with their gifts to these sub
ordinate deities, the priests shouting loudly with angry looks
assured the people that unless they gave something to them,
the anger of these gods being excited, suffering here and
hereafter would come upon them, notwithstanding the merit
that had been attained by the visit to the festival. In fear
the poor people give out of their poverty. There are so
many creditors amongst the heathen deities that it seems to
be more than a life's work to get out of their debt. Incited
by the declarations of the priests, shrine after shrine is visited
and work after work is done ; still in the minds of the many
there is a fear that some deity has been neglected who may
at any moment demand his rights, and punish them for
neglecting him.
Another noticeable feature of Hindu worship is the way in
which each deity, in its turn, according to the particular
faith of its worshipper, or object of the writer of the scripture
which authorizes its worship, is regarded as superior to all
the rest. Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Krishna, Sakti, each, in
their turn, is regarded as supreme over all ; it being declared
that the others have received their being from the one who is
being adored ; and, in like manner, bathing, giving, hearing
the Scriptures, penance, pilgrimage, is regarded for the
moment as the way of salvation. The mind becomes be
wildered. But as there are so many deities, and so great
a variety of character in these deities, and such various kinds
of work are pleasing to them, it is a fact that almost any
habit can be indulged in, almost any vice committed, under
the impression that it is pleasing to some deity or other. Is
a man inclined to drink spirits, bhang, or use opium ? He can
do this as an act pleasing to Siva. Does he wish to eat
flesh ? This can be done as part of the worship of Kali. Is he
lustful ? He has an example in Krishna. Is he fond of travel ?
He can go on pUgrimage.

810 WORSHIP.
An eminent Bengali Christian expresses himself on this
subject as follows : " So grossly have the pernicious practices,
ceremoniously observed in the country, blunted the sentiments
of piety in her people, and corrupted their notions of the very
fundamentals of divine worship, that a native [Hindu] scarcely
ever thinks of worshipping his god except by means of unin
telligible sounds which he has been taught to articulate
without understanding their meaning, and to which he attri
butes a more than magical efficacy in propitiating the gods.
. . . The Hindu ritual, of which the largest portion is care
fully concealed from the vast majority of the inhabitants
[i.e., in Sanskrit] , and no portion whereof can be used by the
servile classes but in the presence and under the superinten
dence of the twice-born, has entirely disregarded the duty of
rendering a rational and spiritual service to God. . . . It is the
voice, no less of reason than of revelation, that hymns are
uttered by means of words which the understanding does not
comprehend, and can never expect a hearing or acceptance
from Him . . . who, though a God that heareth prayer,
cannot be expected to take pleasure in the mere acoustic of a
religious ceremony." * As an illustration of the foregoing
remarks is the following story from one of the Puranas. A
man, in the hour of death being thirsty, called to his son,
named Narayana, to bring him a little water. Vishnu, hear
ing the man repeating one of his names, though the idea of
the god was not in the mind of the dying man, was so pleased
that he sent his messengers to convey him safely to heaven, and
save him from Yama, the king of Hades and the judge of
men. As some shrines promise special blessings — e.g., Jagan
natha promises pardon, Benares certain entrance into heaven,
&c. — many visit them in the hope of obtaining the particular
benefit promised there ; but what is the desire and aim of
the Hindu in his ordinary acts of worship ? The foUowing
extract from the Vishnu Purana puts in a clear and definite
* Calcutta Rei'iew, vol. iii. p. 142.

HINDU WOESHIP. 811
form the benefits the worshipper may obtain from worshipping
him: " He who pleases Vishnu obtains all terrestrial enjoyments,
heaven, final liberation, and, in a word, all his wishes find
gratification with whom Vishnu is pleased. How is he to
be rendered complaisant ? The supreme Vishnu is propitiated
by a man who observes the institution of caste, order, and
purificatory practices ; no other path is the way to please
him. He who offers sacrifice, sacrifices to him ; he who
murmurs prayers, prays to him ; he who injures living crea
tures, injures him ; for Hari is all beings. He is iJropitiated
by him who follows the duties prescribed for his caste ; who
does good to others, never utters abuse, calumny, or untruth ;
who covets not another's wife or wealth ; who never beats or
slays any animate or inanimate thing ; and who is diligent
in the service of the gods, Brahmans, and religious precep
tors." 1. Worldly prosperity, or deliverance from some present
or threatened evil.
With the great bulk of the people who visit the temples on
ordinary occasions, it is with the definite hope of obtaining
some desired object that the journey is undertaken. In times
of sickness or trouble of any kind, the superstitious wiU
make a vow that if deliverance is obtained a goat or goats
wUl be sacrificed to Kali, or a pilgrimage to Puri undertaken,
or sacred water will be brought from the holy river and
poured forth on, or in front of, some particular image. The
idea of being able to purchase the favour of a special deity
by their act of worship is a most common one, Bribery
is one of the most common vices of the people. When a trial
was pending, it used to be the common practice to bribe all
connected with the court, from the judge to the lowest officer ;
and it was pretty well understood that the possessor of the
longest purse would win the case. Now the European officers
are known to be above suspicion in this respect, but it is
believed by the people, and by their superior officers too, that

312 WORSHIP.
the native officials of the lower courts are frequently bought
in this manner. The same idea seems to prevail amongst
the people respecting their gods — a costly offering being
made, or a wearisome and dangerous journey being under
taken, in the belief that this act of homage will render the god
propitious. That this is the case is further evident from the
fulsome language which is addressed to these deities in turn.
Whoever the god addressed may be, as the deliverer from
threatened danger, or the giver of some desired boon, he or
she is the supreme being. It is nothing .more nor less with
many of the people than an attempt to bribe the deity into
compliance with their wishes ; the idea of a God of love and
goodness, who is ready without solicitation to do good to all
His creatures, is unknown in Hinduism. God is regarded
rather as an enemy whose favour must be purchased, a judge
whose decisions can be influenced by gifts and service ; this
is by far the commonest notion that prevails throughout the
country. Of the multitudes who flock to the festivals, it is
not love that attracts, but fear that drives them there. "If
we do not go," they say, " our crops will fail, our children or
our husbands will die, our enemies will trample over us."
If there is no special boon to be asked, there is this general
evil to be averted.
2. Eeligious merit.
It is a most common and widespread notion that a man by
doing any extraordinary deed (supererogation), such as the
setting up of an image in his house, visiting the shrine of
any deity, bathing, pilgrimage, incurring bodily suffering,
can have a certain number of good deeds written down to
his credit, which will be an equivalent for a certain amount
of sins, caused by neglects of duty or by the committal
of actual offences. A balance will be struck when he leaves
the world, and his future condition depend upon the pre
ponderance of good or evil. If good outweighs the evil,
his next birth will be higher ; if the evil preponderate, he
will sink in the scale of creation. A low-caste man may, by

HIXDU WOESHIP. 313
his meritorious acts, become a Brfiliman iu a succeeding
birth ; and, in like manner, a Brahman through sin may sink
into a lower caste. Hence the religious are ever trying to laj'
up a stock of punya (merit), which will stand on the credit
side of their account in the day of judgment. And though
there are manifold ways prescribed for getting rid of sin, it
seems to be a settled conviction, as it is explicitly declared
in their Sastras, that pardon of sin is impossible. As a
man's works so will be his reward. But if there is no pardon,
no forgiveness on God's part, there is the payment or the
giving of an equivalent on theirs. And this is what is
meant by their works of merit ; it is an attempt, by means of
religious acts, over and above what is absolutely necessary,
to make a sort of set-off against their sins.
As far as lean gather from observation and conversation with
the people, by their acts of worship there is no attempt after
real purity of heart, the conquering of an evil nature, and a
desire to please God in return for His goodness. Men sin at
the shrines as they do in their homes, and on their return as
before their visit. Nor is it thought anything remarkable
that this should be so, excepting perhaps in the case of those
who have left their homes, and gone to some sacred place in
the hope of ending their days there. In cases of this kind I
have heai'd of a higher, purer life being attempted, and of the
¦expectation of this by those who know them. But certainly
there is neither the attempt nor expectation of this in the
minds of the large majority of the people who go on pil
grimage. It is not that they may be made pure, but that, by
an act of penance, they may give an equivalent to the gods
for their sins. Sin and punishment are indissolubly joined
together ; the penance of a pilgrimage is believed to be the
punishment of sins committed, though in another form ; if
this were not self-inflicted, the gods would bring upon them
the natural penalty that by unalterable decrees have been
attached to the offences committed.
The Hindu Scriptures contain many stories to show how

314 WORSHIP.
men and demons (Asuras) even have, by their religious fer
vour and protracted penance, forced the gods to grant them-
the boon desired, Sometimes to their own hurt, often to the
injury of the other deities, boons have been extracted from
the gods by the pious acts of their worshippers ; and it will
be easily seen how the people's faith in their religious acts
can be excited by the narration of such stories. Even in the
present day will be found those who in great distress approach
the gods, in the belief that they can by persistent suffering
compel them to do their bidding.
The following is a typical story of the power of penance.
A demon king of Tripura by the force of his austerities ex
tracted a boon from Brahma, much against his will, that he
should be invulnerable save by a son of Siva. As that deity
had no son it seemed likely that he would remain for ever
free from injury ; he therefore became so tyrannical that he
even took by force treasures from the other gods, who in their
distress repaired to Brahma for advice and help. As a boon
once granted could not be withdrawn, it was arranged that
Siva should have a son, through whom the common enemy of
the gods was destroyed. In a similar manner a worshipper of
Siva, named Hiranyakasipu, obtained a boon that he should
not be slain by man or beast, by day or night, in heaven, earth,
or hell, presuming on which he made himself obnoxious to
Vishnu, who exercised great ingenuity in getting rid of his
foe without violating the letter of the promise Siva had
given him. He came as a man-lion, i.e., neither man or
beast, slew his enemy at twilight, which was neither day or
night, under the eaves of a house, which is proverbialy de
clared not to be in heaven, earth, or hell. In a chapter on
the future life the benefits expected from worship wiU be
further considered.

CHAPTEE IX.
RELIGIOUS NOTIONS COMMON TO THE HINDUS
GENERALLY.
1. Unity of the Godhead. This will seem strange to those
who hear of the vast number of deities worshipped by the
Hindus ; yet it is a fact that there is scarcely any truth, as
an article of faith, on which they are more agreed than this.
" God is one without a Second," is a phrase that is on
the lips of every one who speaks about the deity. They
freely confess that this One God made the heavens and the
earth; that He is the Creator of all men, whatever their
race, colour, and creed ; and that it is He who has made
the distinctions between Hindus and those of other faiths.
They explain their position in this manner : God is great and
cannot be fully expressed by any one being ; all the gods,
differing as they do in form and character, represent a part,
but only a small part, of His immensity. And they have no
difficulty whatever in admitting that it is possible that Jesus
Christ is another of the many partial manifestations of this
Great Being, and Christianity another form of religion
equally good in itself as Hinduism, though not for them.
It is the claim of Christians for the supremacy of Jesus that
offends them ; were the Christian teacher willing to speak
of Him as one of the Avataras, all that he advances in proof
of this claim would be freely admitted by most of the Hindus.
As an illustration of the belief in the unity of the Godhead, as
has been noticed, each deity in his turn is extolled as supreme,

316 WOESHIP.
all the others being regarded as emanations from him. The
same worshipper will use the same epithets in addressing
any one of the gods, and so long as a general respect is
shown to the other gods the Hindu has no objection to raise
against any one employing the most laudatory epithets to
any of the deities in turn. At tunes, owing to the many
manifestations of this one God, the followers of Hinduism are
puzzled to know which is the cause of any calamity ; and
hence it is not at all an uncommon thing for them to make
vows to one after another in the hope that they may discover
and so be able to appease the one whom they imagine has
heen offended.
2. Belief in the holiness of God, and at the same time belief in
the immoral character of His incarnations. When asked the
character of God the Hindus will repeat most glibly a
string of attributes, most of which the devout Christian
would admit as being truly descriptive of God. They wiU say
He is without beginning or end; truthful, holy in nature,
righteous in act, pure, merciful, almighty, all-wise, every
where present ; and yet they as firmly believe that this same
God, when incarnate amongst men, was a " man of like pas
sions with ourselves ; " using His greater wisdom and power
for the doing of greater evil. The stories of Siva's infidelity
towards his wife and their consequent quarrels ; Krishna's
unbounded licentiousness (he is generally represented and
worshipped not with his own wife but with the wife of
another man) ; Eama's ignorance of his wife's whereabouts
when she was carried off by Eavana, and his inability then
to rescue her, and, when found, his inability to say whether
she had continued true to him during her enforced residence
in Ceylon, are as fully believed as the moral attributes of God
just mentioned. And further, though God is declared to be
almighty, we read of demons or men by the ]30wer of their
religious fervour making even the deities to tremble with
fear lest they should lose their thrones and divine honours.
Hindus have admitted to me that they should be very sorry

EELIGIOUS NOTIONS COMMON TO THE HINDUS. 817
for the gods to live near them and their families ; and
it has passed into a proverb, that whilst the teaching the
gods have given is good and worthy to be followed, the
example they have set is bad and unfit to be copied. In the
present day there are philosophizing men who try to explain
away a good deal of the worst teaching of the Puranas in
this respect, and to give a poetical interpretation to the
stories of the varied immoralities of the gods ; but the
mass of the people believe these accounts in their most
literal form, and merely say that acts permitted to the
gods are forbidden to men. The most disgusting stories
are to be found in the sacred writings, with which the
common people are made familiar ; stories that explain the
reason why certain emblems are worshipped as the represen
tatives of certain gods ; and in front of the images, as soon
as the strictly religious part of the ceremonies are over, most
" fleshly " voluptuous songs are sung, not merely for the de
lectation of the people, but for the amusement of the deity
too. Generally speaking, the Hindus profess to believe in a
Supreme Deity, who is holy, pure, and good ; but the mani
festations of that Deity in every case are opposed in character
to this ideal Being. And yet it is most difficult to enable
them to see the incongruity of this faith.
3. Belief in innumerable incarnations.
The Hindu who professes to believe in millions of incar
nations of deity, finds no difficulty in adding to this number
at any time ; hence we see that when any great teacher or
reformer arises he is either deified during his lifetime or
by his followers after his death. Buddha, although a most
stem and successful opponent of the popular Hinduism, was
seen to be far too influential to be regarded as an ordinary
mortal, and so he is declared to have been an incarnation of
Vishnu, who appeared for the special purpose of deceiving
men and leading the devout worshippers of the gods into
heresy, that by this means their power might be diminished.
Chaitanya, who three centuries ago was an ordinary teacher

318 WOESHIP.
¦of a new sect, became exalted to divuiity, and is now wor
shipped with as great veneration as Krishna, whose devoted
servant he professed to be. So earnest was the devotion of
some of Keshub Chunder Sen's foUowers a few years ago,
that they addressed him in terms differing but little from
those employed in the worship of God; and there can be
little doubt that, but for fear of public opinion, that same
tendency would have led his followers to place him amongst
the gods. Even now, no one is allowed to sit upon the
platform in the mandir (church) where he sat to teach, as
though he were still the minister or teacher, present in
spirit though absent in body. The addition of another in-
.carnation is a comparatively easy matter with the Hindu.
But the clumsiest of all is certainly that of Buddha, men
tioned above, where the deity is said to have come down to
earth simply to lead devout men into error, because of the
immense merit they gained through their earnest devotion.
4. The belief in Mdyd.
This term, meaning illusion, plays a very important part
in the philosophy of the Hindus, but I wish to speak of it
here only as it influences the religious life of the people.
The common notion of the mass of the people is/that the
world and all that is are an emanation from God ; that
as the snail comes out from the shell and can withdraw itself
at wiU from sight, so the universe has come out from God,
and He can withdraw all into Himself. And yet, though all
things are God in other forms, men think of themselves as
something different from Him 1 This is aU Maya, or illusion.
True wisdom consists in realizing the oneness of all things
with God ; and when this is done the man's separate exist
ence ends, and he gains true blessedness in reunion with the
Divine SpiritJ The common phrase the people use is that
creation is the play or sport of God. He was tired of being
alone, and for His own amusement formed the world from
Himself; "all the painS-and miseries and vexations of life
come from the influence of Maya, from the individual

RELIGIOUS NOTIONS COMMON TO THE HINDUS. 319
imagining himself to be something distinct from God.! There
are several ways by which this illusion can be overcome.
Some seek to overcome it by the observance of the rites of
religion, by obtaining merit that shall greatly overbalance
the sins of life ; but when it is gained in this way, by some
it is taught that it is only a partial, temporary blessedness
that is secured. The best way of all is by meditating on the
identity of the soul with God, until the mind becomes con
scious of nothing else. In other words, as it seems to an
outsider, supreme bliss consists in having no knowledge and
no desires ; indifference to heat and cold, hunger and thirst,
day and night, self and the world. A life of inaction is the
noblest man can live ; and a life without thought is better
than an active, self-denying one. Certainly most of those
who are thus seeking bliss appear almost idiotic. Their life
is perfectly useless to themselves and to others, and their
chief virtue consists in indifference to the comforts and con
veniences, or the pains and disappointments of life. It
always appeared to me that the ideal of human lifp, as illus
trated by these men, gives the most complete condemnation
of Hinduism next to that of the character of the incarnations
of deity.
5. Pantheism.
Connected with, in a sense, as an outcome from it, is the
general belief in Pantheism : God is everything ; everything
is God. I have heard men exclaim repeatedly, 1' I am part
of God ; " and it is a most common reply, when it is attempted
to show the evil of sin, that sin is not sin, i.e., not violation
of God's law ; that man's acts, whether good or evil, are not
his own; he does simply what God compels him to do.
Nothing tends more to blight a man's moral sense than this
loss of the sense of freedom and moral responsibility ; and yet
it is the common belief of the large majority of the Hindus.
They will laugh at illustrations such as that of the Judge
and the Prisoner; — "I was impelled by God to strike that
man, I am therefore not responsible ; but I am also impelled

820 WORSHIP.
by God to punish you '' — and yet go away quite comfortable
in the assurance of their own immunity from punishment
for similar deeds, (ft is most generally believed and most
freely admitted, that God induces men to sin, as He induces
them at other times to do right ; and that the blame in the
one case and the merit in the other is God's, not man's.
The idea is rejected that we are conscious of freedom of
choice, and that upon this alone rests the possibility of a
just judgment of mankind by God. It is argued that since
I" God is everywhere. He must be in me ; and if He is in me,
jHe, being mightier than I, must induce me to act as He
¦wishes. "y-' When it is remembered that the gods themselves
were not over-scrupulous in their conduct, it need occasion
less surprise that it can be believed that He would induce
men to sin also.
6. Fate.
No doctrine is more commonly and implicitly believed
than this, that all man's life is arranged by the deity, and
that it is useless for him to attempt to go against the Divine
decrees ; all that man can do is to submit. During the first
few days of a child's life the deity is believed to write a
sketch of his career on the forehead, and what is written is said
to be inevitable. Hence when trouble comes it is regarded
as a sufficient explanation to say, "It is written." There is
only one way, so far as I know, of gaining an alteration
of this destiny, viz., by bathing in a tank at Benares, where
it is promised to the bathers that they can obtain a success
ful issue for their plans, although the opposite has been
written by the gods. No doctrine seems to be more necessary
to India than this — that it is not enough to say, " God mend
all," but that man must help Him to mend what needs atten
tion. This bowing to Fate paralyzes effort, and multitudes
die year by year through its baneful influence. In times of
sickness remedial measures will not be tried, because if it
IS written that the patient must die he will die, whatever
trouble be taken or expense incurred.

RELIGIOUS NOTIONS COMMON TO THE HINDUS. 321
From what has afready been said on the subject of Hindu
worship, it will be noticed that there is nothing in the
example of the gods to lead to purity of heart and life, and
the ritual observed in the public and private worship has
no tendency in this direction, whilst many of the attendant
ceremonies have just the opposite tendency, it occasions no
surprise that a man who strictly observes the rules of his
particular caste, and repeats the mantras of his guru, and is
liberal in his offerings to the temples or gurus, is accounted
a good Hindu, whatever liis moral character may be. The
practical side of religion, as seen in the renunciation of sin
and the obtaining of a pure nature, is almost forgotten
in Hinduism. That there are some truthful, pure-hearted
men there can be no doubt, but it is not the result of their
strict adherence to their religion that has made them so. The
Salgrama, the ammonite used as a representation of Vishnu
— which is accounted by the Vaishnavas as the most holy
thing on earth — is a form into which he is said to have
changed himself when his wife metamorphosed one of his
mistresses into the Tulsi plant, in order that he might con
tinue near to her. The associations of Hinduism have a de
moralizing, polluting influence. And it is freely admitted by
the more thoughtful that nowadays it does not matter what a
man believes or does so long as he attends to the restrictions
and duties of his caste, whilst caste itself is losing much of
its influence over the educated and thoughtful of the people.
Love to God and love to man are certainly not the natural
outcome of the close observance of caste regulations, and
of the most scrupulous performance of the rites of the Hindu
religion.

22

WOMAN.

CHAPTEE I.
THE POSITION OF WOMAN, AS TAUGHT IN THE SlSTRAS.*
At first sight it may appear strange in a work on the Hindu
Eeligion to devote a book to the position of woman. In
Christian countries, where woman is regarded as the equal
and companion of man, if writing of those brought up
in the Christian religion, where the highest privileges are
obtainable by all who seek them, of course this would not be
necessary. But as in India the position of woman is so
inferior to that of man, and as this inferiority has the sanc
tion of the Hindu sacred writings, it is necessary to a com
plete view of the Hindu religion that this should be most
clearly stated.
It is commonly asserted by the Hindus, when their atten
tion is caUed to the prevalent custom amongst the middle
and upper classes of society of immuring their wives in the
prison-like rooms known as the Zenana Khanah, or women's
apartments, and of preventing them from visitingother houses,
oxcepting their own fathers, that this custom arose either
in imitation or through fear of the Mussulman conquerors.
Under the rule of the Mahommedan princes, thefr wives' and
daughters' persons not being safe, the system that prevails in
the present day came into fashion. They admit that the
liberty enjoyed by ladies in England may not have been
given to the ladies of India, but at the same time they were
not kept in anything like the same seclusion as that which
* Calcutta Review, vol. xxxvi. p. 315.

326 WOMAN.
prevails amongst them to-day. This may be to a large
extent true, but it certainly cannot be accepted as a full state
ment, of the case. For, as we shall see directly, it is to the
teaching of Manu, whose work was compiled about 900 b.c,
that we must look for the origin of this system. In his work
we find teaching so evil, and laws so cruel concerning
woman, that no Mussulman invasion was necessary to account
for the want of confidence in woman's honour and virtue
that is almost universal. It may be that when the con
querors came, some fifteen centuries after these laws had been
in force, they put the crovm upon the arch which was already
waiting for them. Their unscrupulous conduct may have
tightened the chains by which woman was already enslaved.
There is, however, no doubt that the lessons of this old law
giver were quite sufficient of themselves to account for aU we
see around us in India to-day. The Mussulmans conquered
other countries besides India, but it is only in that countiy,
where Manu's book was • already in authority, that we find
women regarded as altogether unworthy of the respect and
trust of their husbands.
In some respects the women of Greece and Eome were
treated as they are at the present time in India. In a speech
delivered by an Athenian on his trial for the murder of his
wife's seducer, we gain an insight into the customs that then
prevailed in Athens. He assures the judge that whilst he
treated her kindly, he did not aUow her to be master of his
fortune, nor of her own actions. After she became a mother,
he says, he placed more confidence in her, and aUowed her
to go out of his house unattended by himself, to be present
at the funeral ceremonies of her mother-in-law. And it was
whilst away from home on that occasion that she was seen
by her seducer, and by means of her servant induced to listen
to his evil proposals. Browne, in his work on their Civil Law,
says of the Eomans that " wives were dismissed not only for
want of chastity, or for being of intolerable temper, but for
the slightest causes," and further, that " they were never con-

THE POSITION OF WOMAN, AS TAUGHT IN THE SASTRAS. 327
sidered to have attained the age of reason and experience,
but were condemned to the perpetual tutelage of parents,
husband, and guardians." This last passage is almost
identical with one of the lessons given by Manu.
We shall now examine the teaching of the Hindu Law
Books on the position of woman.
She must ever be in a state of dependence upon and of
obedience to others. " By a girl, or by a young woman, or
by a woman advanced in years, nothing must be done, even
in her own dwelling-place, according to her mere pleasure.
In chUdhood must a female be dependent on her father, in
youth on her husband, her lord being dead, on her sons. A
woman must never seek independence." "¦' The commentators
add a few words to provide for all contingencies: "If she
have no sons she must be dependent on and subject to the
near kinsmen of her husband ; if he have left no kins
men, on those of her father ; or, if she have no paternal
kinsmen, on the sovereign."
This legislation is perfectly one-sided. Though the hus
band be altogether bad, though he be cruel and untrue to
his wife, this does not at aU free her from her obligation to
him, as the following passage clearly teaches: "Though
unobservant of approved usages, or enamoured of another
woman, or devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must
constantly be revered as a god by a virtuous wife." f The
result of this law is that when a husband, as frequently is
the case, is unfaithful to his wife, and it is known that he
has other women in his keeping, there is no redress for the
injured wife. She cannot obtain a divorce from him ; and,
were such a coarse possible, she would be treated in her own
family as a widow ; i.e., as we shall presently show, her life
would be made as wretched as man's ingenuity could conceive.
The wife, according to the same authority, has no separate
independent existence apart from her husband. She is for-
• " Dharma Sastra," chap. v. pp. 162, 163.
t Chap. V. p. 154.

328 WOMAN.
bidden the comfort even of approaching the gods in her own
name and on her own behalf. " No sacrifice is aUowed to
women apart from their husbands, no religious rite, no
fasting. As far only as a wife honours her husband, so far
she is exalted in heaven. A faithful wife who wishes to attain
in heaven the mansion of her husband must do nothing
unkind to him, be he living or dead." *• This seems to be
about the most cruel of all these laws : a woman is denied
free access to the gods in her own name. Of course women
are to be found in large numbers at the shrines, at the sacred
bathing-places, &c. ; but it is only as an appendage of their
lords : only in his name can they reach the ear of heaven.
It is further declared that " women have no concern with
the text of the Vedas. This is lawfully settled. Having,
therefore, no evidence of law, and no knowledge of expiatory
texts, sinful women must be as foul as falsehood itself. And
this is a fixed rule." In perfect accord with this is the
teaching of some of the sects that women cannot obtain
final emancipation, the highest bliss of heaven. They must
be re-born into the world as men : thus, and thus only, is the
highest blessedness available for them. Of the religious acts
that may be performed by women in their own name we shall
speak later on.
The bond uniting a woman to her husband is indissoluble
•even by death. Widow-remarriage is said, on good authority,
to be not contrary to the general teaching of the Hindu
Scriptures, and consequently a law permitting it has been
passed by the Government of India; but Manu certainly
teaches that a widow must continue her widowhood until her
¦death, and the general sentiment of the community is so
strongly opposed to widow-remarriage, that those who have
availed themselves of this act have been outcasted by theu-
feUows. Manu's teaching is as follows: "Let her (the
widow) emaciate her body by living voluntarily on pure
fiowers, roots, and fruit ; but let her not, when her lord is
* Chap. V. pp. 155, 156.

THE POSITION OF WOMAN, AS TAUGHT IN THE SASTRAS. 329
deceased, even pronounce the name of another man. Let
her continue until death, forgiving all injuries, performing
harsh duties, avoiding every sensual pleasure, and cheerfully
practising the incomparable rules of virtue which have been
foUowed by such women as were devoted to one only husband."
" A widow who, from a wish to bear children, slights her
deceased husbaod by marrying again, brings disgrace on
herself here below, and shall be excluded from the seat of
her lord. Issue begotten on a woman by any other than her
husband [i.«., of course, her first husband] is here declared to
be no progeny of hers, . . . nor is a second husband allowed
in any part of this code to a virtuous woman. She who
neglects her former husband, though of a lower class, aaid
takes another of a higher, becomes despicable in this world."
But how different is the case with man ! A few verses on
we read : "A twice-born man, versed in the sacred ordinances,
must burn with hallowed fire and fit implements of sacrifice,
his wife dying before him, if she was of his own class and
lived by these rules, i.e., vfrtuously; having thus kindled
sacred fires and performed funeral rites for his wife who died
before him, he may marry again, and again light the nuptial
fire." ¦'' A man may marry as often as he may wish, but the
widow must remain unmarried untU her death. And it is no
uncommon thing for a widower, who has performed the
funeral rites for his wife, to go through the marriage ceremony
with a new wife, after an interval of only a few weeks. There
is, however, this fact to be remembered, that his new wife
being but a child, it may be necessary for him to live alone
for years ere she is old enough to join him.
During her life the position assigned to the wife by Manu
is one of entire subjection to her husband, and in order to
ensure obedience he ordains that it is quite within a
husband's rights to inflict corporal punishment upon her if
she prove disobedient. " A wife, a son, a servant, a pupil,
and a younger brother, may be corrected, when they commit
* Bk. V. p. 157, ff.

330 WOMAN.
faults, with a rope or a small shoot of a cane." This seems
to be generally admitted as a perfectly right position by the
women. A servant in my employ had married a second wife,
and expected the elder woman not only to earn her own
living, but to give up her wages to him, that he might indulge
his own passion for strong drink, and be able to maintain his
new wife in comparative idleness at home. Occasionally the
woman resented this, and was thrashed most severely for her
contumacy. On one occasion, when her husband was more
violent than usual, and threatened to murder her, she came
to me for advice, and agreed to go. the next day before a
magistrate, to obtain legal protection against her husband.
On the following day, when I suggested that we should attend
court, she affected surprise at my suggestion, and gave what
appeared to her a sufficient reason for continuing to endure
his cruel treatment, as she said, " He is my husband, cannot
he do as he likes with me ? "
Concerning the moral nature of woman, Manu speaks in no
measured terms, and his opinion is quite endorsed by other
writers on morals, as we shall see. " It is the nature of
women in this world to cause men to sin." " A female,
indeed, is able to draw from the right path in this life, not a
fool only, but even a sage, and can lead him in subjection to
desire or to wrath." There can be no doubt whatever that
it is this low opinion of woman that is the ultimate cause of
the greater part of his legislation concerning her.
Although the wife must honour her husband as her god,
and must remain a widow after his death, the husband, on the
other hand, may, after seven years of marriage, if there be no
son born, supersede her by another wife : nay, it is taught by
Manu that " a wife who speaks unkindly may be put aside
without delay. ... If a wife drinks, shows hatred to her
lord, is mischievous, or wastes his property, she may at all
times be superseded by another wife."
. Hitherto, in giving the laws respecting woman's position,
I have quoted only from Manu's "Dharma Sastra," a work

THE POSITION OF WOMAN, AS TAUGHT IN THE SASTRAS. 331
that is regarded as of the highest authority by the Hindus.
The following extracts will show the position he occupies as a
religious lawgiver amongst the Hindus of all classes.
" Of Manu's antiquity and reality there can be no doubt.
... It is clear that the code was compiled by a Brahman
well versed in the lore of the Vedas, and to a certain extent
in the ways of the world, thus combining secular and book
knowledge at once. Nor, again, is there any doubt as to
Manu's being the main fountain whence the religious obser
vances of a country where every custom is based on religion,
the hopes and the fears of the Hindu in this life and in the next,
the various regulations of society and intercourse, marriage
and inheritance, birthrights and funeral pyres, spring and
are perpetuated. This is indeed the Sastra to which learned
and unlearned alike appeal. The well-read Pundit, when we
ask of him the reason for this or that custom, will base his
answer on a text from Manu. The secular Hindu, nay, the
unlettered ryot, while pleading in extenuation of some grave
folly sanctioned by the transmission of ages, unconsciously
repeats the substance of some time-honoured sloke. But
most Hindus, if asked the age and date of their great legis
lator, would answer in a breath that he was the son of the
' self existent,' that he was taught his laws by Brahma in
one hundred thousand verses, and that finally he gave them
in an abridged form to his son Bhrigu, who gave them cur
rency to the world." " It is not a system of uncompromising
ambition or unmingled priestcraft suddenly erected by some
enterprising Brahman for those whom his arms had van
quished in the field." " It covers nearly all varieties of
human life. It gives laws to kings and councils, to pleaders
and clients, to the husbandman in the field and the mahajan
on the ship ; and it lays down the law which is to regulate
man in every relationship of life into which he can enter.
And in many respects its laws are as thoroughly acknow
ledged by the mass of the Hindus to-day as when the code
was originaUy drawn up. And not only does the system

332

WOMAN.

deal with overt acts, but is as careful to regulate and to
dilate upon the thoughts and desires of men which could
hardly be referred to in the secrets of the confessional. It
is a strange mixture, for there, in startling relief, contrasting
as the vivid lightning on the black thunder cloud, wiU be
seen in perhaps one and the same page puerUities of thought
joined with masculine vigour of mind; Baconian profundity
and bold truisms ; the manners of Confucius or of Socrates
with those of the most Jesuitical dishonesty ; Draco's stern
ness and the simplicity of patriarchal simphcity ; the polite
ness of Chesterfield and the rampant pride of Brahmanical
domination ; wise saws straight as a sunbeam, and casuistry
tortuous and at variance with itself; sensible views of natural
history, and vague and childish solutions of the most common
phenomena ; truth and falsehood ; darkness and hght ; and
much that is noble and admirable in morals, with aU that is
vile and degraded of superstitions.'' Evidently he wrote at
times as though men were good ; at other times, seeing cer
tain evils prevailing, he gives a sort of sanction to them, as
though he saw that at present there was no reasonable hope
of their being prevented; e.g., "he legalizes abduction, and
makes it one of the eight forms of marriage."
Before passing on to notice the present position of woman,
I shall add a few words from a code of Hindu laws drawn up
at the close of the last century by order of the Government
of the day for the guidance of the judicial officers. The
Hindus were to be judged according to their own time-
honoured laws and customs — hence the necessity for some
authority. It will be seen from the few extracts given that
the spirit, and almost the words of Manu, reappear in this
more modern code.
" A man both day and night must keep his wife so much
in subjection that she by no means be mistress of her own
actions. If the wife have her own free will, notwithstanding
she be sprung from a superior caste, she will yet behave
amiss." This passage is followed by another almost identical

THE POSITION OP WOMAN, AS TAUGHT IN THE SASTRAS. 333
with the one quoted from Manu, declaring that her father
husband, sons, &c., must have her under their care. "A
woman is not to be relied on."
"A woman who always abuses her husband shall be treated
with good advice for a year ; if she does not amend with one
year's advice, and does not leave off abusing her husband,
he shall no longer hold any communication with her, nor
keep her any longer near him, but shall provide her with
food and clothes. A woman who dissipates or spoils her own
property, ... or who has an intention to murder her hus
band, and is always quarrelling with everybody, or who eats
before her husband eats, such woman shall be turned out of
the house."
"A woman shaU never go out of the house without the
consent of her husband ; . . . shall never hold discourse with
a strange man; . . . shall not laugh without drawing her
veil over her face ; shall pay a proper respect to the Deity,
her husband's father, her spiritual guide, and the guests, and
shall not eat until she has served them with victuals. A
woman shall never go to a stranger's house, shall not stand
at the door, and must never look out of a window."
" If a man goes on a journey, his wife shall not divert
herself by play, nor see any public show, nor laugh, nor
dress herself in jewels and fine clothes, nor see dancing, nor
hear music, nor sit at the window, nor ride out, nor behold
anything choice and rare ; but shall fasten well the house
door, and remain private. She shall not eat any dainty
victuals, blacken her eyes with eye-powder, or view her face
in a mirror. She shall never exercise herself in any such
agreeable employment during the absence of her husband."
"It is proper for a woman, after her husband's death, to
burn herself in the fire with his corpse ; every woman who
thus burns herself shaU remain in Paradise with her hus
band 35,000,000 years by destiny." The text does not say
how it will be if the husband is unworthy of attaining all
these years of blessedness. If his deeds demand the punish-

334 WOMAN.
ment of hell, is it the duty of a faithful wife, as a reward for
her self-immolation, to go there with him ? "If she cannot
burn, she must in that case preserve an inviolable chastity ;
if she remains chaste, she goes to Paradise ; and if she does
not, she goes to hell." *
" Confidence must not be placed in woman." " If one
trust a woman, without doubt he must wander about the
•streets as a beggar."
Founded upon and in harmony with the spirit of these
laws are proverbs commonly known and accepted by the
people. " Blind sons support their parents, but a prince's
¦daughters extract money from them;" i.e., sons, however
weak and helpless naturally, wiU nevertheless prove helpful
to their parents, whilst daughters will simply prove a source
of constant expense and trouble. '¦' Unless a daughter dies,
she cannot be praised for her virtue ; '-' i.e,,, that women are
so frail, that however good and pure their lives may have
been, there is no certainty that they will continue so.
It is true that in one passage Manu speaks a little more
kindly of woman than he did in the texts quoted above. In
one place he says that " good women, eminently fortunate and
worthy of reverence, irradiate the houses of thefr lords, and
between them and Lakshmi, the goddess of abundance, there
is no diversity whatever." In another passage he says :
"Where females are honoured the deities are pleased, and
when they are dishonoured religion becomes useless." But
as this is so utterly opposed to his general teaching, a writer
in the Calcutta Review says truly, that " as Manu's ' Insti
tutes ' were evidently a compilation, had there been new and
revised editions of his work, these gallant expressions would
have been eliminated."
I have gone rather fully into the legal position of woman
as taught in the Hindu writings, because it wUl be seen,
"when we come to consider their condition at the present
* " Code of Hindu Laws," 1776, pp. '285, 286.

THE POSITION OF WOMAN, AS TAUGHT IN THE SASTRAS. 335
day, that Manu legislation of 2000 years ago is still sub
stantially the law of the Hindu community.
It must not be overlooked, however, that before Manu's day
a very different state of affairs existed. In the Vedic times
it is evident that woman was regarded more as her husband's
companion, was treated with more confidence and respect,
and was permitted to join her husband in the public religious
festivals. " The original normal Vedic idea of religious worship
appears to have been that it should be performed by a married
couple, the husband officiating and his wife assisting. The
normal household had one husband and one wife on a level
of equality at the hearth, which was the altar of sacrifice.
The wife had charge of the sacred vessels, prepared the
sacrifice, and even sometimes composed the hymn." But
even -in the Vedic hymns, whilst sons are prayed for, and
blessings implored on their behalf, daughters are not asked
for, nor is intercession made for them. In one passage the
inferiority of woman is implied as " the highest praise which
the Eishi Syavaswa could give to a queen, his greatest
benefactor, who had not only treated him with reverence, but
had given him a herd of cattle, and costly ornaments, and
put him in the way of obtaining the woman on whom he had
set his heart. ' Sasiyasi, though a female, is more excellent
than a man who reverences not the gods, nor bestows wealth,'
on the principle that a living dog is better than a dead lion.'"''
Several of the hymns show, further, that the old Aryans had
not the highest opinion of woman's purity and virtue.
In the Epic Poems, scenes are described which are quite
at variance with the prevailing custom of secluding women.
The Mahabharata has stories of Swayambaras, i.e., festivals
held at which princesses selected their husbands from a host
of admirers , reminding one of the j ousts and tournaments of the
Western world. Meetings were held at which neighbouring
princes were invited, and the prize for excellence in archery
was the hand of the fair princess, who was permitted in those
• "The Vedic Eeligion," p. 165.

336 WOMAN.
days to see and be seen by others. In one of these the skill
displayed was far in excess of anything that is heard of in
the present age. The target was a fish suspended from the
top of a high pole, the competitors not being allowed to
look directly at the object, but to shoot as they saw its
reflection only in a vessel of water. Several competitors
tried and failed. At length came Arjuna, the friend of
Krishna, who was treated with the laughter and ridicule of
several as he approached the place of trial ; but hitting the
mark, he carried off the prize, much to the chagrin and envy
of those who had ridiculed him.
From the various forms of marriage, as they are termed by
Manu, it is evident that women enjoyed far more freedom
than is permitted now, or some of these would have been
impossible, except amongst the lowest orders of the people,
who are unable, owing to thefr poverty, to immure their wives
and daughters ; but, as mentioned previously, Manu evidently
wished to give a sort of sanction to the customs he found
prevaihng which he was unable to suppress.

CHAPTEE II.
THE PRESENT POSITION OF WOMAN.
It should be understood that this account refers more especially
to the women of the middle and upper classes in North India.
The poorer people would, if it were possible, seclude their wives
as do those in more favoured circumstances. But when we
consider the style of house, or rather hut, in which the mass of
the people live, and the fact that it is necessary for the wife to
go to the markets, draw water, and attend to all the duties of
the house, seclusion for them is impossible. But the desire
to act in the same manner is almost universal. I have
known household servants as scrupulous in keeping their
wives hidden from the public gaze as men of large incomes.
It is not, therefore, that the husbands of the poorer classes are
more kind and trustful than the rich ; but simply that circum
stances are against their carrying out their wishes in this
respect. The degradation of women commences from the very hour
of their birth. Whilst the story of Hannah, as written in
the Book of Samuel, is true of every Hindu wife who has
not been blessed with a son, daughters are seldom prayed
for, nor is their advent in a family welcomed. Though other
reasons of a secular nature may be given for the universal
desire for sons, it is doubtless the religious one, that a son is
able to perform successfully the funeral rites of his parents and
ancestors, that hasthe greatest influence. Unless theserites are
properly performed, all a father's good works go for nothing; he
23

338 WOMAN.
must suffer in hell until some one performs them. A story is
told in the Mahabharata which enforces this duty. A man be
fore he had entered the marriage state determined to live an
ascetic life. In process of time he came into the spirit world,
and there saw four men in the greatest distress, hanging by
their feet from the bough of a tree overhanging a deep precipice.
Eats were gnawing at the ropes which held their feet, so that
they were in momentary expectation of being dashed to pieces.
Entering into conversation with them, he found they were his
father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grand
father, doomed thus to suffer because their descendant had
refused to marry and provide one who could, by his perform
ance of the Shradha, deliver them from thefr pains. Manu
teaches, in the extravagant way common to Hindu writers,
the immense benefits sons can confer on their families. A
son born in a family where husband and wife, Brahmans, were
married according to the Brahma form of marriage [i.e., where
the wife was given and accepted without gifts on behalf of
either party), "redeems from sin, if he performs vfrtuous acts,
ten ancestors, ten descendants, and himself the twenty-first
person." A son born after marriage, according to the Daivya
rite [i.e., where a daughter, gaily dressed and laden with
ornaments, is bestowed upon an officiating priest), can in like
manner " redeem seven and seven in higher and lower
degrees. Sons of marriages, according to the Prajapatya
rite, six; and those according to the Arsharite, three ancestors
and three descendants.'' It is interesting to see how the
Eoman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, which makes the
rescue of the souls of the departed depend upon the offerings
of their living friends, has its counterpart, perhaps its origin,
in Hinduism. I once heard a priest in a Catholic Church
exhorting his people to arrange for masses for the souls of thefr
fr-iends based upon arguments that Hindus might well have
used. Hindu wives not blessed with sons give costly presents to
the deities, undertake journeys to particular shrines, where

THE PRESENT POSITION OF WOMAN. 339
the boon of sons is promised to visitors, endure long and
severe fasts, and incur expense and fatigue to obtain this
blessing. The trees near to the shrines are laden with stones,
rags, &c., that superstitious women have tied there in com
memoration of a vow, that if a son be given to them within
a certain time, they will again visit the shrine with an offering
of a certain value. Nor is this to be wondered at when it
is taught by Manu that "a barren wife may be superseded
by another in the eighth year (after marriage), she whose
children are all dead in the tenth, she who brings forth only
daughters in the eleventh." In addition, then, to the negative
pain of having no son to prove a comfort and support, there is
also the positive evil arising from the thought that she may have
to give up her position of wife to another and more fortunate
woman. And sometimes it happens that they are called upon
to take a [second wife to the home, because of the dreaded
consequences of having no son in the house to perform the
funeral rites. In the names of many of the Hindus, a his
tory is suggested as in that of Samuel — " asked of the Lord."
The names Kali Prasanna, Durga Prasanna, &c., indicate that
in the belief of the parents it was "by the favour" of the
deities after whom the child is named that they were given ;
and probably a vow had been previously made, that on the
birth of the son an offering would be given at thefr shrine.
But whilst there is this great desire to obtain sons, daughters
are seldom prayed for. When a son is born there is great
rejoicing in the family, and friends come with their congratu
lations ; but on the birth of a daughter there are no sounds
indicative of gladness an the house ; whilst, if friends call to
see the father, it is with the offer of consolation. " The Ben-
gaU Kulin Brahman sees in a daughter a bitter well-spring of
anxiety, expense, and possible humiliation; for she must
probably marry a man who afready has many wives, most of
whom he seldom sees ; she must live as a burden in her
lather's house, and be exposed to manifold trials and temp
tations through the absence of her husband." And what is

340 WOMAN.
true of the Kulin Brahman is true of the ordinary Hindu
family, only in a less degree. The girl must be married before
she is twelve or thirteen years of age ; and to provide a
husband will necessitate the expenditure of the savings of
years ; or, if there be no money in hand, debts will be con
tracted which it will take years to pay off.
In the religious ceremonies pertaining to the births of
chUdren there is a marked difference in the treatment of
boys and girls. In order that the boy may be protected
during the days of infancy and childhood, Sasthi, the special
protectress of mothers and children, must be invoked on
his behalf. She is propitiated with gifts that she may take
the child under her care and save him from dangers incident
to infancy. And on the fifth night after the boy's birth the
father is most careful to place in the room, where the mother
and her helpless babe are lying, pen and ink, flowers and fruits,
BO that Vidhata, who is supposed to come down from heaven
to write upon the infant's forehead all the main events of his
life, being pleased with the offerings, may write a favourable
and prosperous history. But in the case of girls aU this
religious work is omitted. Girls seem to be regarded as
unworthy of attention, and from their very advent into the
world are regarded as far inferior to men. It is this which
accounts largely for the practice of infanticide which has
prevailed so commonly in many parts of India.
We shall now pass on to notice the girlhood of Hindu
women. Whilst the boys are early sent to school, as a rule-
the girls remain at home spending their time in play ; and,,
further, whilst the boys are initiated at the age of seven or
eight into the Hindu system by the guru appointed for
them by their father by whom they are taught the mantra, and
are then free to worship the gods, the Hindu girl's whole
religious training has to do with certain ceremonies performed
with the simple object of obtaining a husband, and that he
may live long.* When it is remembered that these religious
* " The Hindus aa they are," p. 35.

THE PRESENT POSITION OF WOMAN. 341
rites are first performed when the girl is but five years of age,
it will be evident that the children must be taught a great
deal that it would be far better for them not to know at so
tender an age.
The following are the religious acts permitted to girls : —
1. Siva Puja, i.e., the worship of Siva. The object sought
by this ceremony is that she may obtain a husband as Siva.
The origin of this rite appears to be the following : — When
Siva's wife, Parvati, was angry with her father because he
failed to invite her husband to his great sacrifice, she
destroyed herself, and hence, among other names, is known as
Sati, or the faithful wife. When she was born again into the
world as Durga, she was most anxious to be re-united to her
husband ; but as he had just commenced a life of severe
penance, there seemed to be little chance of obtaining
her heart's desire. However, she commenced to worship the
ordinary image of her husband immediately in front of Siva,
who was engaged in meditation, whilst Kamadeva (the Indian
cupid) promised to shoot an arrow at him whenever he raised
his head. After a time, the opportunity coming, Kama let
fly his arrow ; and Siva, seeing Durga engaged in his worship
again became enamoured of her, and she obtained the
blessing she sought. But Kama suffered for his part in the
transaction. A fierce fire issued from the third eye of Siva,
which consumed the god of love to ashes. Little girls are
taught to worship the image of Siva, that they, in hke
manner, may obtain a husband such as he was. But why
they can desire one like him it is difficult to say ; he is con
sidered a model husband in this ceremony ; but the Puranas
teach that he was anything but true to his wife, and the
quarrels of Siva and Durga are anything but edifying reading.
The ceremony is as follows : — " On the 30th of Chaitra, the
last day of the Bengali year, the Hindu girl is required to
make two little earthen images of this god ; and, placing
them on the rind of a bel-fruit (wood apple) with leaves, she
begins to perform his worship. Before doing so, she is en-

342 , WOMAN.
joined to wash herself and change her clothes, a requirement
which enforces upon her thus early — cleanliness, and purity in
habits and manners, if not exactly in thought and feeling.
The mind being filled with young susceptibilities, she imbibes
almost instinctively an increasing predilection for the per
formance of religious ceremonies. Sprinkling a few drops
of holy water [i.e., water from some of the sacred streams),
she repeats the following words : ' All homage to Siva. . . .
All homage to Hara (another name of Siva). All homage to
Bajjara' (meaning by this two smaU earthen balls like peas,
which are stuck on the body of the images). She is then to
become absorbed in meditation about the form and attributes
of the god, and afterwards she says her prayers three times
in connection with Siva's several names. Offerings of flowers
and bel leaves are then presented to the god with an incan
tation (mantra). Being pleased, Siva is supposed to ask
from heaven what Brata or religious ceremony Gauri (Durga)
is performing. Gauri replies that she is worshipping Siva
that she may get him for a husband, because Siva is a model
husband." *
2. Krishna Puja, or the worship of Krishna. This is per
formed with the object of obtaining a good husband and sons.
" The two feet of the god being painted in white sandal-wood
paste on a brass plate, the girl worships him with flowers and
sandal-wood paste. The god, seeing this, is supposed to ask
what girl worships his feet, and what boon she wants. She
replies, ' May the prince of the kingdom be my husband ;
may I be beautiful and virtuous, and be the mother of seven
wise and virtuous sons and two handsome daughters.' She
also asks that her daughters-in-law may be industrious and
obedient; that her sons-in-law may shine in the world by
their good quahties ; that her granary and farm-yard may be
always full ; . * . that when she dies, all those who are near
and dear to her may enjoy long life and prosperity ; and that
she may eventually, through the blessing of Krishna, die
* " The Hindus as they are," p. 36.

THE PEESENT POSITION OF WOMAN. 343
on the banks of the sacred Ganges, and thereby procure
entrance into heaven.
" It is worthy of remark here that even young Hindu girls,
in the exercise of their immature discretion, make a dis
tinction between the gods in the choice of a husband. In
the Siva Puja a tender girl of five years of age is taught,
almost unconsciously, as it were, to prefer that god to Krishna
for her husband, because the latter, according to the Hindu
Sastras, is reputed to have borne a questionable character.
I once asked a girl why she would not have Krishna for her
husband. She promptly answered that that god disported
himself with thousands of gopinis (milkmaids), and was
therefore not a good god, whilst Siva was devotedly attached
to his one wife Durga." It will be noticed that in the Siva
Puja the girl asks that Siva may be her husband, whilst in
the Krishna Puja she asks the deity to provide her with one.
It is not easy to see why both these gods should be wor
shipped with the same object ; and certainly it is not easy
to see how women can desfre for a husband any one at all
hke Siva.
3. The worship of heroes. " This requfres that the girl
should paint on the floor ten pictures of deified men, as well
as of gods, with rice paste (pitali). Offering them flowers
and sandal-wood paste, she asks that she may have a father-
in-law like Dasaratha, the father of Eamachandra (one of
the ten chief incarnations of Vishnu, the second person of
the Hindu Triad), a mother-in-law like Kausalya, his mother,
a husband like Eama himself, a husband's brother like
Lakshmana, Eama's younger brother ; that she be a mother
Uke Sasthi, whose children are all living ; like Kunti, whose
sons were renowned for thefr justice, piety, courage, and
heroism ; like the Ganges, which allays the thirst of aU ;
like Mother Earth, whose patience is inexhaustible. And, to
crown the whole, she prays that she may, like Durga, be
blessed with an affectionate and devoted husband ; that, like
Draupadi (the wife of the*, five Pandavas), she may be re-

844 WOMAN.
markable for her industry, devotion, and skill in the culinary
art; and that she may be like Sita (Eama's wife), whose
chastity and attachment to her husband were worthy of all
praise." It will be noticed that all these prayers and worship
are expressive of the desfre for a husband and for the
obtaining of those virtues which will enable them to retain
his affections. The second and third of these ceremonies
are performed in the month Vaisakh (April and May), which
is considered by the Hindus as the holiest of the twelve.
There are two other forms of worship which Hindu gfrls
are taught to offer. The first is called the Sanjuti Vrata,
and " is intended to ward off the thousand evils of polygamy.
.... To get rid of the consequences of this monstrous evil, a
girl of five years is taught to offer her invocation to God, and
in the outburst of her juvenile feeling is almost involuntarUy
led to indulge in all manner of curses and imprecations
against the possible rival of her lord. Nor can we find fault
with her conduct because ' an overmastering and brooding
sense ' of some great future calamity thus early haunts her
mind. In performing this ceremony the girl paints on the
floor with rice flour a variety of objects, such as the bough
of a flower tree, a palanquin containing a man and a woman,
¦with the sun and moon over it, the Ganges and Jumna with
boats on them, a temple of Siva, &c. Having done this, she
invokes Siva and asks for his blessing. An elderly lady,
more experienced in domestic matters, then begins to dictate,
and the girl repeats after her a volley of abuse and curses
against her satin, or rival wife. The following are a specimen
of the curses :
" ' May my satin become a slave ; may she be exposed to
infamy; may I devour her head; may she have spleen; may
she die, and may I see her from the top of my house ; may I
never have a satin.' " *
The other rite is the worship of Yama, the god of the
spirit world, who is supposed to be always wandering on the
* '' The Hindus as they are," p. 88.

THE PRESENT POSITION OP WOMAN. 345
earth with a noose to seize his victims, and a club to slay
them, that his kingdom may not lack subjects. The object
of this worship is that a husband in due time being given to
her, his life may be long spared, and she be saved from the
miseries of widowhood.
This, so far as I know, is the whole of religious worship
that is taught and permitted to Hindu girls. When they
marry they can make offerings to and approach the gods in
the name of and through their husbands. Whilst girls at
home, they see the worship of the various deities as it is per
formed by priests in their own homes or in their neighbours'
houses, and learn from their mothers the stories connected
with the various deities ; but they have no personal share in
this worship; they are taught that the one object before them
is to obtain a husband, and. towards the realization of this
their devotion to the gods is dfrected. And further, at this
early age their attention is directed,, by the worship they are
taught to offer, to the two great evils that may be in store for
them : the possibility of having a rival wife to supersede
them ; and secondly, the loss of the husband whom they have
been taught to regard as the one blessing of their existence.
But not only are the girls at this tender age taught to think
about marriage, and some of the possible evils connected with
it, but a year or two later they are actually married. We
shall now pass on to notice the laws and customs connected
with this event.
Marriage and the attendant ceremonies.
The authority for the early marriage of Hindu girls is to
be found in the writings of Manu, and the spirit of his legis
lation is seen in all its force at the present time. The pre
vailing idea of the Hindus to-day is this : " The marriage of
a girl is to be celebrated after she is seven years old, other
wise it becomes contrary to the dictates of religion. At the
age of eight she becomes a Gauri {i.e., Siva's consort, who
in many respects is regarded as the ideal Hindu wife). At
the age of nine a Echini (the wife of Chandra, the moon).

846 WOMAN.
at the age of ten a mere ordinary girl." In other words, the
sooner a girl is married the better, after she is seven years of
age. Manu says : '' Eeprehensible is the father who gives
not his daughter in marriage at the proper time," and declares
that if before she is eleven her father has not provided her
with a husband, she is justified in seeking one for herself.
In teaching the duties of the two lowest of the fom- great
castes, speaking on the question of marriage, he declares that
" a man aged thirty may marry a girl of twelve, if he find
one dear to his heart ; or a man of twenty- four years a
damsel of eight." In his regulations respecting Brahmans
he is most particular in his description of those whom he
regards as suitable for their wives. Amongst other things,
a Brahman must avoid marrying a girl whose family " has
omitted the prescribed forms of religion, that has produced no
sons, that which has thick hair on the body, or is afflicted with
hereditary diseases. Let him not marry a girl with reddish
hair, one with too much or too little hair. Let him choose
for his wife a girl whose form has no defect, who has an
agreeable manner, who walks gracefully like a phenicopteros
or like a young elephant, and whose body has exquisite
softness." When a widower seeks another wife, as widow remarriage
is repugnant to Hindu custom, and as all the girls are
married before or at the age of twelve, it follows that he,
however old, must take one of these children to wife. And
when, owing to his poverty, a father has failed to obtain a
bridegroom somewhat near the same age as his daughter, he
is only too glad to allow any one, though he be an old man,
to relieve him of the disgrace attaching to a family in
which there is an unmarried girl of twelve living in it.
It wiU be remembered that these children do not forsake
their fathers' house immediately after their marriage. When
the first marriage ceremony is performed an iron bracelet is
put upon her wrist and a little red paint on her forehead at
the parting of her hair, to show that she is married ; after

THE PRESENT POSITION OP WOMAN. 347
which she remains as a child at home until she is about
twelve or thirteen, when she goes away for good to her
father-in-law's house, and becomes ever after a member of
her husband's family. In the interval she may see her
husband at her father's house, or go on a visit to her father-
in-law's, and thus become, to some extent, familiar with him
and his family before she goes to his home for good. It
sometimes happens that, owing to distance and the exposure
of travelling, she never sees her husband's home untU she
goes permanently to reside there.
The worst feature of the marriage system of the Hindus,
resulting from the necessity of having their daughters married
whilst they are children, is seen in the case of the Kulin
Brahmans, the highest caste of all. As these girls must not
marry beneath them, i.e., Brahmans other than Kulins, and
as the supply of these is limited, fathers, who are not in a
position to induce by costly presents a young man to take
their daughters, and to remain content with her as his one
wife, are compelled to give their daughters to those who
make .a living by being husbands. A child of twelve, under
these circumstances, being given as, perhaps, the fortieth or
fiftieth wife of some old man ; sometimes two or more sisters
being given to the same man ; and sometimes to one who
evidently has not long to live. Though it is certain that the
girl must soon be a widow — even this is considered preferable
to allowing her to remain unmarried. It can therefore
occasion no surprise that from this class many forsake their
homes to live in immorality.
As the ordinary bridegroom is about twelve or fourteen,
and the bride from seven to ten, it follows that on thefr side
there can be no choice ; in fact, it often happens that they
meet for the.fijrst time on the wedding-day. The choice of a
partner for hfe is made not by the parties most intimately
concerned in it, but by their parents on their behalf. There
are men and women called Ghataks, whose work in life is to
arrange for marriages ; they are virtually marriage-brokers.

348 WOMAN.
who, having received a commission from a father who has a
daughter or daughters to settle in life, go from family to
family to find a suitable match, and when they have found
one or more who wish to have their sons married, they bring
the two parents together, who then enter upon negotiations
respecting dowry, wedding expenses, &c. Sometimes, of course,
the assistance of these middlemen is unnecessary ; the fathers
of the bride and bridegroom being old friends may arrange
for the marriage of their children as a means of cementing
their friendship ; but generally marriages are arranged for
through the assistance of the professional Ghataks.
As the Ghataks play so important a part in Hindu society,
it may be well to say a little more about them. The Eev.
L. B. Day thus describes them.* The Ghatak " is the pro
fessional match-maker, and therefore an under-servant of
Kamadeva, the Indian Cupid. As in India, young men and
women do not themselves choose their partners in life, they
have to depend on the good offices of this happy functionary,
who, however, bears his commission not from the parties
themselves, but from their parents and guardians. . . . This
worthy functionary's character is as amiable as his occupa
tion is pleasant. He possesses the highest Christian vfrtue
in perfection, as he possesses an unlimited measure of that
charity which covers a multitude of sins. He has never
been known to find fault with any young man or young
woman of marriageable age. The spinster may be as ugly
as one of Shakespeare's witches, and the young man may be
as, deformed as deformity itself, the Ghatak sees no defect iu
either. The one in his eye, or at any rate in his mouth, is
as beautiful and gentle as Lakshmi (the wife of Vishnu, the
Venus of India), and the other as handsome and accom
plished as Kartikeya (the Indian Mars). ... A Ghatak,
properly speaking, is a Brahman of a very high order, and
confines his services only to the priestly class. A Brahman
Ghatak is often a man of learning, and invariably a man of
* " Bengal Peasant Life," p. 81.

THE PEESENT POSITION OF WOMAN. 349
persuasive eloquence, and he has the whole of the Indian
' Burke's Peerage ' and ' Baronetage ' at his fingers' ends. But
every caste has its own Ghataks," who are acquainted with
the family history for generations of the families in their
neighbourhood. Another Bengali gentleman writes much in the same
strain.''' " When an unmarried boy attains his seventeenth
or eighteenth year, numbers of professional men, called
Ghataks, or match-makers, come to the parents with over
tures of marriage. These men are destitute of principle, but
know how to pander to the frailties of human nature ; most
of them are great flatterers, and endeavour to impose on the
parents in the most barefaced njanner. When the qualities
of a girl are to be commended, they indulge in a strain of
exaggeration, and unblushingly declare that ' she is beautiful
as a fuU moon, the symmetry of her person is exact, her
teeth are like the seeds of a pomegranate, her voice is sweet
as that of the cuckoo, her gait is graceful, she speaks like
Lakshmi, and will bring fortune to any family she may ha
connected with.' ... If the qualities of a youth are to be
appraised, they describe him thus : ' He is beautiful as
Kartikeya, his deportment is that of a nobleman, he is free
from all vices, he studies day and night — in short, he is a
precious gem and an ornament of the neighbourhood.' " This
same writer goes on to state that, as in these matrimonial
aUianees the leaders of the household have a great deal to
say, of late years women have largely supplanted the men in
this work of marriage brokerage, because they can gain access
to the women's apartments, and by their influence lead to
the rejection of overtures made by the men, and recom
mend others in their place. As payment goes to the suc
cessful Ghatak, it is not to be wondered at that when women
undertake this work they should drive men out of the field.
They are generally widows or low-caste women who engage
in this work. * " The Hindus as they are," p. 40.

350 WOMAN.
I shall now try to give, as briefly as possible, the formalities
connected with a Hindu marriage. The first thing to be
done when the overtures of the Ghatak have been favourably
entertained, and the amount of presents fixed that will be given
by both families to the bride and bridegroom', is for a represen
tative of the boy's family, generally his father or guardian, to
call to see the intended bride. The little girl, gaily dressed
and elaborately adorned with jewels, is introduced to this
gentleman, who, after a little talk, if satisfied, puts a gold
mohur (£1 12s.) into her hand, the mother remaining in the
inner apartments, anxious to know the result. If the visit
take place in the morning, no feast is made ; but if in the
,evening, the guests partake of a grand dinner before they
return. A similar visit of inspection is next paid by the gfrl's
father to the boy's house, and in like manner, if he be thought
suitable, a gold mohur is placed in his hand as the ex
pression of the bride's father's approval. When both parties
are satisfied, an agreement is drawn up by which the boy's
father promises to marry his son to the girl, her father also
.agreeing to give his daughter ; this document is then signed by
the respective fathers and a number of witnesses. When
this is done the contracting parties consult an almanac, and
by the aid of the priests select a favourable day for the pre
liminary rite caUed the Gatraharidra, or anointing with
turmeric. This ceremony takes place a few days before the wedding-
day. " After bathing and putting on a red-bordered cloth,
the bridegroom is made to stand on a grindstone surrounded
by four plantain trees, while four women (one of whom must
be a Brahmani), whose husbands are living, go round him
five or seven times, anoint his body with turmeric, and touch
his forehead at one and the same time with sacred water, betel
leaf, &c. From this time until his marriage the boy must
carry about with him a pair of silver nutcrackers, and the
girl a case containing the black dye used in beautifying
the eyelids, until the solemnization of the nuptials, for

THE PRESENT POSITION OP WOMAN. 351
the purpose of repelling evil spirits. A little of the turmeric
paste with which the body of the bridegroom has been anointed
is sent by the family barber to the bride in a silver cup, with
which she anoints her body, together with other presents."
Two or three days after this ceremony a great feast is made
by the father of the bridegroom to his male relatives ; on the
same day the father of the girl feasts his own female relatives.
After these preliminary arrangements comes the marriage
¦ceremony proper, in which there are many unimportant parts
which it is unnecessary to narrate. On the wedding-day the
bride and bridegroom must only partake of a little milk and
fruit before the wedding takes place ; the bride's father and
officiating priests must also be equally abstemious. During
the day presents are sent to the bridegroom's family, and the
fathers perform a ceremony for the benefit of their respective
ancestors. The mother of the bridegroom, however, eats at
least seven times during the day,ythe reason assigned for this
being the fact that when Durga's son, Kartikeya, went back
home for a moment after he had started for his bride's house,
ihe found her eating, using all her ten hands. When asked
why she was thus engaged, she declared that she was making
a good meal, because she was afraid that when her daughter-
in-law came she might not have food enough.
Before the bridegroom leaves the house he is superbly
dressed in coloured embroidered clothes, with necklace, arm
lets, &c. ; he then worships Durga, and as he is about to start
his mother asks where he is going, to which he replies
that he is going to bring home her maidservant. She then
counsels him how to conduct himself in the house of his
father-in-law ; and just as he starts a plate of rice and a pot
of vermilion are thrown over his head by his father and caught
by his mother in her clothes.
The procession now starts, headed by a band of music, with
torch-bearers, &c. ; the youth riding either in a gaily painted
palanquin or a carriage. As soon as he arrives he is conducted
to his seat of red satin in the courtyard of the house under

352 WOMAN.
an awning which has been placed there for the occasion.
When the guests are all seated, the genealogies of the two
families are loudly proclaimed. After this the bridegroom
lays aside his gay dress, and, having put on a simple robe of
red silk, is conducted into the place of worship where the
religious ceremony takes place. As soon as he is seated there,
the bride, with her face still closely veiled, is carried on a sort
of stool and placed on his left side. The priest then gives the
bridegroom a few blades of Kusa grass which he winds round
his fingers; he next pours a little Ganges water into his
hand, which he holds there whilst his father-in-law repeats a
mantra. Eice, flowers, &c., are next given to him, which he
places near the vessel containing the holy water. The bride
groom having placed his hand in the vessel, and the bride
hers upon it, the priest ties them together with a garland of
flowers. As soon as this is done the father of the girl says :
" I,  , give  to thee,  ." The bride
groom replying : " I have received her." The father-in-law
having united their hands, pours a little holy water on their
heads and blesses them. Before the water is given, a form
something like the following is generally used. The bride's
priest, addressing the bridegroom, says : "The bride says to
you, ' If you live happy, keep me happy also ; if you be in
trouble, I will be in trouble also : you must support me, and
must not leave me when I suffer ; you must always keep with
me, and pardon all my faults, and your pujas, pUgrimages,
fastings, incense, and all other religious duties you must not^
perform without me ; you must not defraud me regarding
conjugal love ; you must have nothing to do with another
woman while I live ; you must consult me in all that you do,
and you must always tell me the truth. Vishnu, fire, and
the Brahmans are witnesses between you and me.' The
bridegroom replies : ' I wiU all my life-time do just as the
bride requires of me, but she must also make me some pro
mises : she must go with me through suffering and trouble,
and must always be obedient to me ; she must never go to

THE PRESENT POSITION OF WOMAN. 853
her father's house unless she is asked by him ; and when she
sees another man in better circumstances, or more beautiful
than I am, she must not despise or slight me." To this the
bride replies : "I will all my life do just as you require of me ;
Vishnu, fire, and the Brahmans are witnesses between us."
After this the bridegroom takes a little water in his hand
and sprinkles it on the bride's head as the Pundit repeats
some texts. Bride and bridegroom then bow before the sun
in worship. After this the bridegroom raises his hand
over the right shoulder of the bride, touches her heart,
places a little vermilion on the parting of her hafr, puts his
shoes on her feet, and then quickly removes them. This
being completed, a piece of silk cloth is thrown over the
heads of the newly-married couple, the bridegroom draws
her veil aside, and in many cases sees the face of the bride
for the first time. As soon as this is done the boy and girl
are conducted into the women's apartments, where the
greatest merriment commences. And here, again, he goes
through the ceremony of tying garments, and takes another
peep at his wife's face. When this is over he returns to
the place of worship, when the religious rites are concluded
by the Hom, i.e., the burning a little ghi to the deities. No
sooner is this concluded than presents are made to priests,
servants, friends, &c.
Next comes the feasting : the bridegroom dining with the
gentlemen, the bride, of course, remaining with the women in
the inner apartments of the house. As soon as the feast is
concluded the bridegroom repairs to the Basaghar, or
dwelling-house, where he and his new wife remain in company
with a crowd of female relatives, who are playing, laughing,
and joking during nearly the whole of the night. As soon as
day dawns the little girl goes away. After breakfast the
happy pair, with a grand procession, go to the house of the
bridegroom's father, where a similar scene awaits them.
Here, amidst other ceremonies, the mother-in-law puts on
the iron wfre bracelet, and the vermilion on the forehead 'at
24

354 WOMAN.
the parting of the hair, which are the signs of mar
riage. After feasting, the newly married folk again retire to
their room, and have to pass the night surrounded by their
friends, who, not having shared in the games of the previous
night, are quite able to continue their good-natured fun
until near the dawn. During the greater part of the day
the bride remains at her new home, and then returns to
her father's, heartily glad, as a rule, that the long and weari
some ceremony is at an end, and that she is once again a
child at home. Here she remains for a year or two, with an
occasional sight of her husband, either at his or her father's
house, until the time comes for her to go permanently to
reside with him.
The ceremonies that precede the final departure of a gfrl
to her husband's home are much simpler than at the first
wedding. The priests are again in requisition. They recite
the mantras, the bridegroom repeating them ; the hands
of the two are joined by him, and several deities are wor
shipped with the object of obtaining a blessing upon the happy
pair. The parting from the home is often very sad, as meet
ings afterwards are not very common ; whilst frequently the
condition of a young wife in her husband's family is anything
but enviable. Being but a child, she is under the authority
of the older ladies ; where they are kind, all is well ; but
where the opposite, it is easy to see that they frequently wish
themselves back again at their old home. And having gone
to reside with her husband, his home is afterwards her per
manent dwelling-place ; for should he die, the widow remains
an inmate of his family ; they, and not her own father, being
hereafter responsible for her support.
We now pass on to notice the position of the Hindu
married woman. As soon as the hour arrives for the wife to
join her husband she enters the women's apartments of his
family house and becomes one of his family. At once her
freedom of movement is at an end. As a girl, though

THE PRESENT POSITION OF WOMAN. 355
married, she could move about the house, go freely into the
outer or more public apartments, was allowed, under the care
of a servant, to attend school, and was as unfettered in her
movements as an English girl of the same age. But when
her husband conducts her to his home the scene changes
entfrely. She is at once subjected to all the restrictions
of the Hindu home. She must live in the women's apart
ments, keep her face veiled when her brothers-in-law are
present, and never be seen speaking even to her husband in
the day-time. It would be esteemed wrong even to pronounce
her husband's name, or to touch his elder brothers. And
seldom can she cross the threshold of her new home except
it be to pay a visit to her own father's. Manu has taught
that she is " unworthy of confidence, and the slave of
passion,'' and the lesson has been learned only too well.
If the family into which she is brought be large and wealthy
there wUl not be much for her to do, as all the housework
will be done either by the older ladies, widows of the family,
or by servants. She will never, of course, take her meals with
her husband; he wiU eat with the other gentlemen of the
family, whilst she will join the ladies at their meals. When
the employment of the husband permits him to continue to
live at home, she has the prospect of his company in the
evening; but when, as very frequently happens, his work
is at a distance, she may not see him for months at a time.
Under these circumstances it is only natural that she should
find her new mode of life wearisome and monotonous. In
the normal condition of society she would be unable to read,
sew, or' engage in the many forms of employment that so well
engage the minds and fingers of the fair in England, her
time being occupied in gossip, personal decoration, &c.
In the case of the poorer people there is an entirely
different state of affairs. There the girls, as soon as they
are married, having been taught to be useful, find work in
their new home, and generally, the companionship of a mother-
in-law, widowed sister-in-law, or some older person, who acts

356 WOMAN.
as guardian of the young wife in the absence of her husband.
Hard though in some respects the lot of the poor in India may
be, to an outsider, the condition of the women in the poorer
ranks, considering the greater freedom they enjoy, and the
employment they are free to engage in, seems far to be pre
ferred to that of their richer sisters, who are immured in
their prison-like homes. In order, however, that the actual
condition of women may be known, and not merely the
suppositions of one who has never seen the interior of a
Hindu house, I shall avail myself rather fully of an account
of them given by a Bengali gentleman, who, though now a
Christian, was once, as a Hindu, familiar with the home life
of Hindu families. Mr. Bose writes as foUows :'¦'
' ' The system of early marriage that prevails here has been
justly condemned by all civilized nations, and it is really a
marvel that parties so capriciously affianced in early age can
live happily together afterwards to the end of thefr lives.
The young bride, between ten and eleven years of age, gene
rally simple, artless, and unlettered, even in the, case of a
respectable family, is brought up almost from her cradle to
look upon her future lord with feelings of extreme submissive
ness." I once met with rather an amusing case corroborative
of this. A Christian convert of about thirty years of age
wishing to get married, and coming to me for counsel, I
advised him to marry a lady somewhere near his own age ;
but this idea was quite repugnant to his notions, as he said
that if he took any one as old as that she would not be brought
into subjection so easily as a young girl ! " She is a perfect
stranger to freedom of action, if not actually to freedom of
thought. When her reasoning faculties are somewhat deve
loped, and she grows tired of a monotonous slavish existence,
she naturally struggles to be free ; but fate has otherwise
ordained. The apartment in which she lives, the atmosphere
she breathes, the mode of life she is enjoined to follow, the
society she moves in, and the surroundings by which she is
* " The Hindus as they are," 287.

THE PRESENT POSITION OF WOMAN. 357
fenced — ^all attest the very abnormal restraints to which she
is, at all hours of her life, subjected after her marriage. But
she cannot altogether suppress human nature. With the
development of her passions and desires the fetters of ser
vitude gradually relax, she pants for a little freedom, because
absolute freedom is denied her by the peculiar conventional
rules by which she is governed, and, as a necessary conse-
¦quence of this, she is permitted to move about half unveiled
within the precincts of her secluded domicile. And when
she becomes the mother of two or three children, through the
blessing of the goddess Sasthi, the conventional restraints
by degrees give way, until through her age she becomes the
grihini, or mistress of the house — ¦a position which gives a
great extension to her privileges. She then in her turn
assumes the duties and discipline of the house, and seeks to
correct any little impropriety she sees in its inmates.
" An Englishman, who is but superficially acquainted with
the inner life of Hindu society, is apt to conclude from what
is stated above that a native woman, hampered by so many
restrictions, can seldom be happy in the proper sense of the
word ; but however paradoxical this may appear, the reverse
is true. She feels quite happy and contented when Pro
vidence gives her what she values over every other worldly
consideration — a good husband and dutiful sons and daugh
ters. Brought up in a state of perfect isolation, and prac
tically confined to restricted thought and action, her happi
ness is necessarily identified with that of a few beings who
are near and dear to her. Although married when she is
scarcely capable of thinking and judging for herself, yet,
through the kind dispensation of an overruling Providence,
she is destined in most cases to enjoy the blessings of a
married life. The rites and ceremonies by which she is early
united in the bonds of wedlock exert little or no influence on
her in her maturer years. She becomes happy in spite of
the domestic and social restrictions imposed on her by what
Shakespeare calls the ' Monster Custom.' The gravity of the

358 WOMAN.
marriage compact is due to the religious incantations used
on the occasion. Though their precise meaning is scarcely
understood by the boy-husband or the girl- wife, the influence
of conventionalism is so powerful that a few words pro
nounced by the officiating priest prove absolutely binding
on both to the end of their days. Nor can it be other
wise. As they advance in years, their mutual love and
affection cement the bond of union that was so casually and
capriciously formed. And even where the individual tempers,
dispositions, habits, and ideas are irreconcilable, as is some
times the case, open rupture between the parties is very rare,
if not altogether impossible. In respectable families, in
which a husband is educated, and a wife not educated, and
moreover ill-tempered, a sense of honour and propriety,
which is shocked at the slightest whisper of scandal, restrains
the former from having recourse to a separation from the
latter, even if he were so disposed. Thus we see the very
difl'erence in their characters and dispositions graduaUy over
come. The law of divorce was not known in the country
before the English came into it. The fear of scandal, even
where there is sufficient justification for it, suppresses every
thing at its incipient stage."
The following extract from a book written by a Hindu lady
on the duty of wives to their husbands is quite in accordance
with the teaching of the Hindu Scriptures, and maybe taken
as a fair representation of the position of the typical Hindu
wife: "The husband is the wife's religion, the wife's sole
business, the wife's all-in-all. The wife should meditate on
her husband as Brahma. For her, all pUgrimages should be
concentrated on her husband's foot. The command of a
husband is as obligatory as a precept of the Vedas. To a
chaste wife her husband is her god. When the husband is
pleased Brahma is pleased. The merit of waiting on the
feet of the husband is equivalent to the merit of performing
all the pilgrimages in the world. To obey the husband is to
obey the Vedas. To worship the husband is to worship the

THE PEESENT POSITION OF WOMAN. 359
gods. The husband is the wife's spiritual guide (guru), her
honour, the giver of her happiness, the bestower of fortune,
righteousness, and heaven, her deliverer from sorrow and
from sin." *
In perfect harmony with this is the following extract from
the Vishnu Purana, where a very curious question is under
discussion, viz., at what season in the world's history the
least am.ount of merit gained by good works obtained the
highest heavenly reward. The learned men, unable to settle
this question themselves, repaired to Veda Vyasa, whom,
when they visited, they found bathing. As his head rose
above the water the first time he said, " Excellent is the
Kali Yuga;" the second time, "Well done, Sudra; thou
art happy ; " and the third time, " Well done, women ; they
are happy. Who are more fortunate than they ? " On being
asked for an explanation of these utterances, the sage solved
the problem they brought for solution. It was as follows : He
declared the Kali Yuga (the fourth and worst of the four ages
of the world) excellent, because a single day and night's devo
tion in that age obtained, as a reward, as much blessedness
as the devotion of a month in the Dwapara, or a year in the
Treta, or as ten years in the Krita. And, further, the same
blessedness that in the other ages is gained by abstract medi
tation, sacrifice, or adoration, is in the Kali Yuga gained by
the mere repetition of the name of Keshava (Vishnu). In a
similar manner he explained that whilst the Brahmans had
most laborious duties assigned to them, the Sudra had simply
to wait upon them, and had far fewer restrictions laid upon
his actions and food. And woman for a similar reason he
declared to be happy, because by simply loving and honour
ing her husband she is able to attain the position, however
exalted that may be, which he has attained as the result of
immense exertion.
It is difficult for Europeans to realize what the position of
the weU- to-do women in India really is. Accustomed as they
* Calcutta Revieio, vol. xlix. p. 39.

360 WOMAN.
are to go out from their homes to transact business or see
friends, and to receive guests in their houses, to enjoy the
companionship of their husbands as their equals in intelli
gence and education, and to feel that the love of their hus
bands is based upon confidence in their love and trustworthi
ness, it seems almost impossible to imagine a state of society
where all this is reversed. A Hindu lady sees in the character
of the apartments she occupies, and the fact that she cannot
go outside her home without the consent of her husband, and
elaborate arrangements being made to secure her privacy
on a journey, that her husband has been taught to regard
her as one who will easily be led into sin. Shut out by her
ignorance from the world of literature and from the pleasure
of profitably employing her mind and hands in work, she can
only waste her days in frivolous occupations. Prohibited by
custom from conversation with her husband except in her own
chamber, and by her want of education from sharing in his
thoughts and from being his companion in the true sense of
the word, she feels that she is little more to him than a
ministrant of his pleasures. As the gentlemen of the family
sit and talk and amuse themselves in various ways, they are
independent to a large extent of the pleasure that the com
pany and conversation of a wife would afford. Hindu
gentlemen are simply astonished as they see Englishmen
entrust their wives to the protection of a friend on a raU
way journey or on board a steamer. To no one except her
own father would they consider it prudent to leave their
wives under similar circumstances. And it seems to an out
sider that it must be degrading after marriage to lose their
own name, and when their first son is born to be known and
addressed by their relatives as " the mother of Priya," or by
whatever name he may be called.
Of course it would be unwise to say that, under such cir
cumstances there can be no happiness ; but that the educated
husbands feel the great disparity between themselves and their
wives, there can be no doubt. A graduate of the University,

THE PRESENT POSITION OF WOMAN. 361
whose mind for years has been strained with the highest
subjects of Western thought, cannot possibly have much in
common with a girl who cannot read. A Hindu gentleman,
speaking to me on the subject, put it rather strangely, though
forcibly, as he said, " Educated Hindu gentlemen are doomed
to perpetual widowhood," i.e., to a life of solitude, so far as
true companionship in their wives is concerned. And there
is no doubt whatever that the great progress that has been
made of late in female education, which was so vehemently
opposed at first by the leaders of Hindu society, is largely
owing to the fact that the educated Hindu desires some sort
of companionship in his wife ; and this has led many to devote
their leisure time to their instruction. Happiness in the
women there may be, as, if all one hears be true, there was
happiness enjoyed by the slaves before their emancipation.
Few human beings are so placed that they cannot smile
sometimes. But happiness cannot be the habitual condition
of women under such circumstances, nor can the highest of
all happiness which comes frohi the perfect companionship
•of man and wife be known by those who are little better than
the slaves of their husbands.
Further ; it would be foolish to deny that women, ignorant
and enslaved though they may be, exert great influence on
their husbands and children. Some of the rich and highly
respected members of Hindu society have confessed that they
owed their success in life to the sympathy, encouragement,
and carefulness of their wives. And as the women are most
religious, their influence over their sons and husbands in
religious matters is very great indeed. Many of the educated
Hindus who have themselves lost all faith in the religion of
their fathers maintain an outward conformity to its practices,
largely owing to their desire not to give offence to the ladies
of their household. But where there is equality in natural
inteUigence and culture, of course that influence is vastly
increased. In his account of Bengal viUage life, Eev. B. L. Day gives

862 WOMAN.
a picture of the young wife's persecution at the hands of her
mother-in-law, which, if all one hears on this subject be true, is
far from uncommon. The wife came to her husband's house,
which was small, and iu these cases she would be left almost
entirely to the tender mercies of the husband's mother ; there
was only her sister-in-law as a companion besides this old lady.
" This nectar-mouthed lady was a source of great trial to
poor Malati. For some time she seemed to be very kind to
her, but the infirmities of temper soon discovered themselves
and made Miilati quite wretched. Whatever she did seemed
to displease her mother-in-law. She did not sweep the fioor
well ; her cowdung cakes (for fuel) are badly made ; the cm-ries
which she cooks are execrable ; she is very ill-bred ; she
walks more like a boy than a girl ; her voice is scarcely
audible — it is like the hissing of a serpent ; she has a nasty,
sneering, sarcastic smile on her lips whenever anything is
said to her. Such were the criticisms pronounced by Sudha-
mukhi on Malati." This goes on from bad to worse after the
father-in-law's death, until in her anger Malati receives a
slap on the face. This was more than she could stand. It
is astonishing how much verbal abuse a Bengali will stand ;
but a blow is never forgotten or forgiven. So, on her hus
band's return from his work, the wife, with sobs and groans,
teUs him what has happened, and entreats him to send his
mother away and maintain her. The husband listens to his
wife's story ; but when he spoke of it to his mother he is
received with a shower of abuse that drives him from the
house for a time, whilst the anger of the mother-in-law is
allowed to cool down of itself. Scenes like this we might
naturally expect to take place, and they are generally borne
as patiently as possible, as it is accounted disgraceful for
a son to ask his mother to leave the family house, however
painful she may make his and his wife's existence. In India
the people know by experience, though they have not as yet
found out a remedy, that " relations are best separated," and
when unpleasantness arises a woman cannot leave the house

THE PRESENT POSITION OF WOMAN. 363
for a time ; her only resource is go into a room and hide away
from the family until the storm passes over.
In harmony with the spirit of the preceding paragraph are
the following proverbs : " If a mother-in-law breaks a pan, it
is earthen ; if the daughter-in-law, it is golden." And again :
" Tears come into the eyes of a daughter-in-law sir months
after the death of a mother-in-law."
Keshub Chundra Sen, in one of his addresses in England,
teaches in a humorous way that women have immense
influence in the homes of India as in other countries. He
says, " Woman has been defined as an adjective, agreeing with
the noun man. I should rather say that man is a noun in
the objective case, governed by the verb woman."

CHAPTEE III.
HINDU WIDOWS.
The last part of this subject is the most painful, viz., the con
dition of the Hindu widow; and any more distressing sub
ject than this it is scarcely possible to conceive. It seems as
if the old legislators had studied to make the widow's hfe as
miserable as possible. As was indicated before, Manu teaches
that it is unlawful for a widow to mention the name of another
man ; and that only by living as a virtuous widow can she
rejoin her husband after death ; whilst he further teaches
that by re-marriage ' ' she brings disgrace on herself here
below, and shall be excluded from the seat of her lord.''
These penalties being pronounced on the widow who may re
marry is as real a prohibition as if he had in so many words
forbidden it. And further, though Manu did not order the
Hindus to render her life miserable, he declared that it was
her own duty to do so.
Custom now teaches the following duties for a widow, and
in the majority of cases it is strictly followed in the hope
that by this means she may rejoin her husband. She must
take but one meal a day, and twice in a month fast for a day,
i.e., go without food or water for forty-eight hours. At a
meeting of the highest religious court, the Sanatan Dharma
Eakshini Sabha, in Calcutta, a few years ago, it was decreed
that if, acting on medical advice, a widow on these fast days
drank a little water, the offence should be condoned. She
must wear white clothes only, not even a coloured border
being allowed. She must give up all jewels, take off the iron
wire bracelet, and remove the spot of red paint from her fore-

HINDU WIDOWS. 365
head, and generally deny herself of the comforts of life.
Frequently she is made the drudge of the family. But lest
it should be thought that an Euroxsean would give an exag
gerated account, I here give a statement by a Hindu widow,
and anything stronger than this I have never seen written
nor heard from the lips of a European. When the position
of the widow is seen as it is here depicted, it need occasion
no surprise that many of them, seeing no possible hope of
improvement in this life, forsake their homes, and go to swell
the ranks of the immoral women in the cities.
" There are four principal castes amongst Hindus, and of
them aU, I think the third caste, the Kayasthas, to which I
belong, make thefr widows suffer most.
" All are treated badly enough, but our customs are much
worse than those of some others. In the Punjab they are not
always strict in enforcing their customs with widows; but
though we live in the Punjab, our family comes from the
North-West, and as we are rich and well-to-do, our customs
are kept up scrupulously.
" When a husband dies, his wife suffers as much as if the
death-angel had come for her also. She must not be
approached by any of her relations, but several women, from
three to six (wives of barbers, a class who are kept up for
this object), are in waiting, and as soon as the husband's last
breath is drawn, they rush at the new-made widow, and tear
off her ornaments. Ear and nose rings are dragged off, often
tearing the cartUage, ornaments plaited in with the hair are
torn away, and if the arms are covered with gold and silver
bracelets, they do not take the time to draw them off one by
one, but holding her arm on the ground, they hammer with a
stone, until the metal, often sohd and heavy, breaks in two ;
it matters not to them how many wounds they inflict, they
have no isity, not even if the widow is but a child of six or
seven, who does not know what a husband means.'-'
* In Bengal a -widow may continue to wear some of her ornaments
until she is twelve years of age.

366 WOMAN.
" At that time two sorrows come upon every widow — one
from God and one from her own people, who should cherish
and support her, but who desert and execrate her. If the
husband dies away from home, then, on the arrival of the
fatal news, all this is done. At the funeral, the relatives,
men as well as women, have to accompany the corpse to the
burning ghat. If they are rich and have carriages, they
must not use them, but all go on foot. The men foUow the
corpse, the women (all the ladies weU covered from sight)
come after, and last the widow, led along by the barbers' wives.
They take care that at least 200 feet intervene between her
and any other woman, for it is supposed that if her shadow
feU on any (her tormentors excepted) she also would become
a widow ; therefore no relative, however much sympathy she
may feel in secret, dare look on her face. One of the rough
women goes in front, and shouts aloud to any passer-by to
get out of the way of the accursed thing, as if the poor widow
were a wild beast ; the others drag her along.
" Arrived at the river, tank, or weU, where the body is to be
burned, they push her into the water, and as she falls, so she
must lie, with her clothes on, until the body has been burned,
all the company have bathed, washed their clothes, and dried
them. When they are all ready to start for home, but not
before, they drag her out, and in her wet things she must
trudge home. It matters not what the weather is, in a burn
ing sun, or with icy wind blowing from the Himalayas.
They care not if she dies. Oh, I would rather choose the
Suttee !
" Many are happy enough to die in consequence of these
sorrows, for however ill they may become, no care is taken of
them, or medicine given.
" I once went to a funeral (before I was myself a widow),
where the burning ghat was three ghos (about six miles) from
the city. It was the hottest month of the year, and though
we started at sunrise, we did not reach the house again till
3 p.m. I shall never forget how much we women suffered

HINDU WIDOWS. 367
from the hot blasting wind that blew on us like fire, and the
blazmg sun. We were almost worn out with heat and thirst,
though we had stopped often to rest and drink. The poor
widow dared not ask for a drink, or she would have lost her
character ; the women with her might have given her water
if they had liked, but they would not.
" At last she fell, but they pulled her up again and dragged
her on, told her not to give way, she was not the only widow,
and taunted her, when she wept, with wanting a husband.
When she had no strength left even to crawl, they dragged
her along like a bundle of clothes.
" On arrival at the house she was flung on to the floor in a
little room ; still, though they knew she was almost dead
with thirst, they did not give her a drop of water, and she
dared not ask for any. She was a relative of mine, but none
of us dared go near her, for it would have brought down
maledictions on the head of any one who tried it. At last
one young woman, after watching a long while, saw her
opportunity, and slipped in with a vessel of water. The
widow ran at her like a wild creature. I cannot describe
how she behaved ; at first she did not recognize her friend —
she drank, and drank, till life and sense came back to her.
Then she fell down at the feet of her who had brought the
water, and embracing them, said : ' Oh, sister ! I will never
forget what you have done for me ! You are my God — my
second creator ! But go away quickly, I pray, that no one
may ever find out what you have done, or we shall both suffer.
I promise I will never tell of you.'
" For fifteen days after a funeral the relatives must eat and
drink only once in the day (twenty-four hours) ; but the
widow must keep up this for a year, with frequent fasts.
When she returns from the funeral she must sit or lie in a
corner on the ground in the same clothes she had on when
her husband died, whether still wet or by this time dry.
Now and then one of the barbers' wives comes and looks
after her, or if she is poor and not able to pay for their

368 WOMAN.
further kind attentions, she must sit alone. Oh, cruel place f
Each widow knows you well, and remembers you with bitter
ness ! Separated from her husband, though she lives she is
not alive! Not only is she deprived of comforts, but her
friends add to her misery. Though she is in her corner
alone, and must not speak to any one, they are near and talk
at her in this way : her mother says, ' Unhappy creature !
I can't bear the thought of any one so vile — I wish she had
never been born.' Her mother-in-law says, ' The horrid
viper ! she has bitten my son and killed him ; now he is dead,
and she, useless creature, is left behind.' And this, even
though the speakers may themselves be widows. Every
indignity that the tongue can speak is heaped upon her, lest
the standers-by, or perchance the gods, should think they
had sympathy with her.
" 0 God ! I pray Thee, let no more women be born in this
land! " The sister-in-law says, ' I will not look at her or speak to
such a thing ! ' They comfort the dead man's mother, and
say, ' It is your daughter-in-law, vUe thing ! who has de
stroyed your house ; curse her ! For her sake you have to
mourn for the rest of your life.'
" To the widow they say, ' What good are you ? Why are
you stiU living in the world ? ' If she cry, and shows her
grief, they all say, ^'How immodest, how abandoned — see,
she is crying for a husband!' They ; have no pity. Only
those who have been through this know what it is. You
must feel this grief to prove it. Whose foot has the chilblain
feels the pain. For thirteen days the widow must sit and
bear this.
" On the eleventh day comes a Brahman, hke a policeman
who comes for a culprit, orders money, and oil, and other
things to be given. However poor the widow may be, money,
or the promise of it, must be given ; from the very poorest at
least Es. 13. Other Brahmans^make other demands, and if
the family is rich their demands are very high. A poor

HINDU WIDOWS. 369
widow has often to labour hard for months at grinding,
or some other work, to earn money to satisfy their claims.
" 0 Lord ! why hast Thou created us to make us suffer
thus ? From birth to death sorrow is our portion. While
our husbands live we are their slaves ; when they die we are
still worse off. But they have all they wish here, and pro
mises for the Ufe to come.
" The thirteenth day is a bad day, though then the widow
may take off the clothes she has worn ever since her husband
died, and may bathe. The relatives all gather and lay rupees
before the widow, which are supposed to be a provision for
her for life. They do not spare their reproaches. If the
rupees given amount to any large sum, it is taken charge of
by some relative, who doles it out.
" Now again the Brahmans come for more money. The
widow's head is shaved, and there is another Brahmanical
tax. Then the barbers' wives have to be paid. Six weeks
after the husband's death the widow must once again put on
the hated clothes she wore for those thirteen days — abhorred
garments ! If a widow by chance catches sight of them she
shudders as if a fresh widowhood were hers, and then, if
possible, she must go on a pilgrimage to the Ganges, and,
after bathing there, the clothes may be thrown away in the
river. " After a year has passed away, a widow who is living with
her father and mother may wear ornaments again.* But
why is this ? If you ask the parents, they say, ' Poor girl !
she has not seen much of life ; if she cannot wear jewels now
while we are with her, she can never wear them, and how
can she pass a long life without jewels ? We can't bear to
see her naked ; how could we wear jewels and she sit before
us bare ? '
" But I say, if they cannot bear to see her pass her life
without jewels, how can they bear to see her pass her life
without a husband or any of the pleasures of life ? A veil of
* This custom does not prevail in Bengal.
25

370 WOMAN.
ignorance has fallen upon them, so that they cannot see
things in their right light. If they cannot bear to see her
sorrow, they should let her marry again. What medicine
for a wounded spirit will she find in jewels ? Let them first
take some care for her heart. As our homes are managed,
how can they expect that a widow will remain pure ? She
has never been taught, any more than her brothers or cousins,
to restrain her passions. Let those who can marry wear
jewels, but not those who have no hope of marrying ; and let
not little children take the name and place of widows. Jewels
are, for widows, a great help on the downward road. I write
of what I know and have seen. All men and women love to
adorn themselves, but especially women love to do so, that
they may be seen and look fine. If widows wear jewels they
will be sought after. I do not say that aU widows who wear
jewels are bad, but I do say they have taken one step on the
bad road. Alas ! that it is the parents who open the way
for beloved daughters to go wrong. Then when consequences
foUow they are ready to kill them.
" The widows who have no parents are still more to be
pitied ; they have to serve as servants to their brothers' or
sons' wives. Every one knows that if there are widows in a
house servants need not be hired. A sister-in-law rules over
a widow, and they quarrel night and day. If a widow re
mains in her husband's house, it is the same ; she is hated
by mother and sister-in-law, and beaten from place to place.
If, for the sake of peace, she would like to live alone, she
loses her character. If she has children she works for them
while they are young ; when her sons marry she becomes
their wives' servant. If a widow is childless and rich (by the
money given her after her husband's death), her relatives
choose some boy to be her hefr, and to be provided for by
her. She may bring him up with love and care, but when
he gets big he takes her property, and only allows her food
and clothes while she waits on his wife. A widow has no
power over property supposed to be her own. It is happier

HINDU WIDOWS.

371

for a widow to be poor, and earn her living by grinding
corn !
" Amongst us, women can inherit no cowrie of their father's
wealth, it all goes to their brothers. Neither do they inherit
what their husbands leave. They have only what may be
given them, and if it is a lump sum, perhaps they are silly,
and spend it foolishly ; they are not taught to take care of it
properly. If a wife die she is burned in her best clothes and
jewels, but a widow's corpse is wrapped in white cloth. It
is supposed that if she came to her husband in the next
life without the show of mourning, he would not receive
her. " Why do the widows of India suffer so ? Not for rehgion or
piety. It is not written in our ancient books. In none of
the Shastras or in the Mahabharat is there any sign of this
suffering. What Pandit has brought it on us ? Alas ! that
all hope is taken from us. We have not sinned, then why
are thorns instead of flowers given us ?
" Thousands of us die, but more live. I saw a widow die,
one of my cousins. She had been ill before her husband's
death. When he died she was too weak to be dragged to the
river. She was in a burning fever ; her mother-in-law called
a water-carrier, and had four large skins of water poured over
her as she lay on the ground, where she had been thrown
from her bed when her husband died. The chill of death
came upon her, and after lying alone and untended for eight
hours, her breath ceased. Every one praised her, and said
she had died for love of her husband.
" I knew another woman who did not love her husband, for
a,ll thefr friends knew that they quarrelled so much that they
could not live together. The husband died suddenly away
from home, and when the widow heard the news she threw
herself off the roof and was taken up dead. She could not
hear the thought of the degradation before her. She was
praised by all. A book fuU of such instances might be
written. The only difference for us since Suttee was

372 WOMAN.
abolished is, that we then died quickly, if cruelly, but now
we die all our lives in lingering pain.
" We are aghast at the great number of widows ; how is it
there are so many? The answer is, that if an article is
constantly supplied and never used up, it must accumulate.
So it is with widows ; nearly every man or boy who dies
leave one, often more ; so though thousands die, more live on.
" The English have abolished Suttee ; but, alas! neither the
English nor the angels know what goes on in our homes.
And Hindus not only don't care, but think it good ! 'What !
do not Hindus fear what such oppression may lead to % If
the widow's shadow is to be dreaded, why do they darken
and overshadow the whole land with it ?
" I am told that in England they comfort widows"
hearts ; but there is no comfort for us."
Anything more pathetic and heart-rending than the fore
going statement of the condition of myriads of widows in
India it would be hard to imagine. But lest it should seem
to possess too black a colouring, I add a passage from Mr.
Dey's book on Hindu village life, which to some extent cor
roborates, and to some extent modifies it ; probably both are
equally true, though not of the same families. "English
people have somehow or other got the idea that a Hindu_
widow receives harsh and cruel treatment from the relations
of her husband. This is not true. There are, no doubt,
exceptional cases, but, as a general rule, Hindu widows are
not only not ill-treated, but they meet with a vast deal of
sympathy. Old widows, in a Bengali Hindu family, are often
the guides and counsellors of those who style themselves the
lords of creation. . . Old widows, provided they have inteUi
gence and good character, assert, on account of their ex
perience in life, their superiority over men younger than they.-
As to the privations of life, a Uttle too much is made of them.
Besides the one supreme privation of having the fountain of
their affections sealed up, the others, of which foreign writers
make so much, are not worth speaking about. The most con-^

HINDU WIDOWS. 373
siderable of these minor privations is that only one meal is
permitted them in twenty -four hours. But this restraint wiU
cease to be regarded as a privation when it is considered that
a widow's meal is usuaUy larger in quantity and heavier in
weight than that of a married woman ; that the meal is taken
in the afternoon, not many hours before sleep ; that most
widows are sleek and stout, and that many of the strong and
able-bodied peasants qf the North- Western Provinces, and the
Hindu sepoys of the Bengal army, take only one meal in
twenty-four hours." This certainly is rather a strong way
of putting it ; but it overlooks the fact that those who par
take of one meal a day only can eat if they feel hungry, and
drink when thfrsty ; but with the widow none of these re
sources are available. Moreover, it is quite a different thing
to continue in habits that have been formed from infancy ;
and quite another thing suddenly to give up habits that have
become parts of one's nature. And again, in the case of
the widow, she has this additional cause of anguish : she is
taught that it is owing to some sin in a previous birth that
she is now called to suffer all the pains incident to her posi
tion as a widow. From what I have heard of the sadness
and sorrow of the Hindu window, and from the great bless
ings that are promised to the Sati, or faithful wife, who
ascended the funeral pile with her husband, I certainly am
not at all surprised that as long as the law permitted it, many
preferred the few moments of physical agony, with the hope
of gaining a heavenly mansion with their lord, rather than
continue in the misery which is the normal condition of the
widows of Hindus to this day.
Before passing on to notice the institution and practice of
Sati, it will not be out of place here to indicate briefly the
improvements that are visible in the position of women in
India. First, education is rapidly spreading amongst the middle
classes. When missionaries first attempted to commence
work amongst the gfrls, it was with the greatest difficulty

374 WOMAN.
that they could induce parents to aUow them to learn. Before
this time, gfrls who were intended for a life of prostitution
had received some instruction in order that they might prove
more attractive to their visitors ; hence education in women
was associated with immorality. In order to overcome their
prejudice, parents had to be paid to allow thefr daughters to
attend school. Then the conservatism of the older members
of the family most strongly opposed it, on the ground that
the gods would be angry and show their displeasure by re
moving the husbands of girls who had been taught. Were
the history of the progress of female education in India
written, it would contain many stories of schools almost de
prived of scholars owing to one of them becoming a widow,
and the old women pointing to her case as a certain instance
of the displeasure of the gods falling upon her and her family
for departing from their time-honoured customs. But gradu
ally this prejudice was destroyed by the quiet and persistent
efforts of the ladies of various missionary societies, until
nowadays in a very great number of the houses of the
middle and upper classes are to be found those who have
been regularly sent to school, and are able to read and write
fairly well.
The Zenana work in India, which of late has so greatly
excited the interest of ladies in Europe and America, grew
out of the school work. When her pupils had grown too old
to attend school, they asked Mrs. Mullens, in Calcutta, if she
could not continue her work with them in their homes. She did
so ; and from this small beginning the great work that is now
going on in India has grown. As education spread amongst the
boys and young men they naturally wished to have educated
wives ; and within the last few years some Hindu girls have
obtained the B.A. degree in the Calcutta University. Within
a little more than a single generation the education of girls
and women in India has so rapidly developed: the minds
of the women forty years ago were regarded as unfit for cul
tivation ; now some of the brightest productions of culture

HINDU WIDOWS. 375
are to be found. Few nations can point to greater changes
in so short a time.
In some classes of the community, especially the progres
sive Brahmos, decided improvements have been seen in the
position of women. In thefr mandfr, or church, seats are
appropriated for ladies, and week after week are to be seen
at public worship, ladies who in the normal state of Hindu
society would have remained immured in the dark recesses of
the Hindu home. And in the houses of Europeans I have
myself had the pleasure of meeting Brahmo gentlemen and
their wives. By friendly intercourse of this kind the way is
being prepared for the ladies to be led from slavery to free
dom. During the Calcutta Exhibition a great mark of progress
was to be seen in the thousands of Hindu ladies who were
permitted to come forth from thefr homes to witness the great
show. Ladies in bands of four to twenty were to be seen
under the guidance of their young brothers-in-law, or the
Zenana teachers of the various missions, most busily engaged
in examining aU the wonders that were there coUected to
gether. The prospect and retrospect of this visit to the out
side world must have given immense delight to multitudes
who for years had not been permitted to see or be seen by the
outside world. Some Hindu gentlemen went so far as to say
that in their opinion, had the Exhibition continued open for a
year, the doors of the Zenana Khanahs would not have been
again closed ; that the ladies, having once tasted the sweets
of liberty, would not have been content to remain immured.
A great deal of talk is indulged in against the Zenana
system by the educated Hindus; and in time the present
state of affairs, so far as woman is concerned, will pass away.
Ignorance and slavery can co-exist ; education and slavery
never. To educate is to enfranchise ; and such must even
tually be its result in India.
Having noticed the position of woman from birth to death,
it is necessary, in giving an account of the Hindu religion,

876 WOMAN.
to show to what it led when English law and power did
not interfere. In the case of widows, it taught that it was
a proper thing for them to burn with the body of their
husbands, and the name Sati, the faithful, is given to those
who were brave and devoted enough to pass through this
ordeal. In British territory this religious act has been for
bidden, and those assisting, or permitting it even, are liable
to an action for murder; but within the last few years it
has been practised in some of the independent native States,
so that it is not absolutely a thing of the past.

¦A •'
CHAPTEE IV. 1^.,:
SATI, OR THE BURNING OF A HINDlf<miDO^' ^ITH
THE BODY OF HER HUSBA^^i ' /
It is impossible to say when this rite first came iiito favour.
The name Sati is given to Parvati, when, anj'ryjwith her
father for omitting to invite her husband' to fcs feast, she
destroyed herself by fire ; but in this case, though she proved
herself " a faithful wife," she did not burn hersi^l^with her
husband's body. Still, as she manifested faithfulness, even
to death, in the interests of her husband, the naaheihas been
given to those widows who, by thefr self-fmmflla^on, have
manifested a similar devotion.
In Vedic times it seems certain that this rite was not
practised, nor is there a single text authorizing it. There
is a text, however, which, by a wilful mis-tran'slation, has
been taught by the priests to be an authority for, the practice,
concerning which Max Miiller says : " This is perhaps the
most flagrant instance of what can be done b^ an unscrupu
lous priesthood." This text, which is the one |hat is repeated
by the officiating priest as the widow walks round the pyre
on which her husband's corpse is placed, before ascending
it herself, is as foUows : " Om ! Let those women, not to be
widowed, good wives adorned with coUyrium, holding clarified
butter, consign themselves to the fire. Immortal, not child
less, not husbandless, well adorned with gems, let them pass
into the fire, whose original element was water." The correct
translation is the foUowing: "May these women, who are

378 WOMAN.
not widows, draw near with oil and butter. Let those who
are mothers go first to the altar, without sorrow, but decked
with fine jewels." * The passage evidently refers to ordinary
sacrifices, and not to the immolation of widows.
The plan to be adopted at this ceremony, carefully taught
in more modern works, is as follows : ' ' Having first bathed,
the widow, dressed in her clean garments, and holding some
cusa grass, sips water from the palm of her hand. Bearing
cusa and tila on her head, she looks towards the east or north,
whilst tho Brahman utters the mystic word Om. Bowing to
Narayana, tihe next declares : ' On this month, on this day, I '
[naming heraelf and her family] , ' that I may meet Arund
hati (the wife of Vasistha, the guru of the gods), and reside
in Swarga, ' that the years of my stay may be numerous
as the hail's of the human body, that I may enjoy with
my husband the felicity of heaven, and sanctffy my paternal
and materr'al progenitors, and the ancestry of my husband's
father ; that, lauded by the Apsarases (celestial nymphs), I
may be happy with my lord through the reign of fourteen
Indras (kings of the gods) ; that expiation be made for my
husband's offences, whether he has killed a Brahman, broken
the ties of gratitude, or murdered his friend — thus I ascend
my husband's burning pile. I call on you, ye guardians
of the eight regions of the world — Sun and Moon, Air, Ffre,
Ether, Earth and Water, my own soul, Yama (the god of
the spirit world), Day, Night and Twilight, and thou Con
science — bear witness I follow my husband's corpse on the
funeral pile.' " t
It is the duty qf the son, or nearest relative, to apply
the first torch when the widow has repeated this mantra.
The texts on which it is founded are the following : —
" The wife who commits herself to the flames with her
husband's corpse shall equal Arundhati, and reside in
Swarga." ¦* " Yedic Eeligion," p. 32.
t Colebrooke's " Essays," p. 71.

THE BURNING OF A HINDU WIDOW WITH HER HUSBAND. 379
" Accompanying her husband, she shall reside so long
in Swarga as are the 35,000,000 of hairs on the human
body." "As the snake-catcher forcibly drags the serpent from
his earth, so bearing her husband [from hell] with him shall
she enjoy heavenly bliss."
" Dying with her husband, she sanctifles her maternal and
paternal ancestors, and the ancestors of him to whom she
gave her virginity."
" Such a wife, adoring her husband, in celestial felicity
with him, greatest and most admired, shall enjoy the
delights of heaven while fourteen Indras reign."
" Though a husband had killed a Brahman, broken the
ties of gratitude, or murdered a friend, she expiates the
crime." It should be noticed that whilst promising these blessings
to the widow who performs the rites of Sati, the Brahma,
Purana, which teaches the mantras employed at the cere
mony, also teaches that it is optional with a widow thus
to burn, or to adopt a life of austerity such as has already
been described ; but having once decided to be burned, she
must proceed with the ceremony, or incur defilement. It-
is further taught that though the widow of a Brahman who
died at a distance ought not to perform Sati, the widows
of other castes might do so under these circumstances.
" The bystanders throw on butter and wood : for this they
are taught that they acquire merit exceeding ten million-
fold the merit of an Asvamedh (or horse sacrifice), or other
great sacrifice. Even those who join the procession from
the house of the deceased to the funeral pile, for every step
are rewarded as for an asvamedh. Such indulgences are
promised by grave authors."
In the code of Hindu laws drawn up towards the close of
the last century, for the guidance of the judges, it is said:
"It is proper for a woman, after her husband's death, to
burn herself in the fire with his corpse. Every woman who

380 WOMAN.
thus burns herself shall remain in Paradise with her husband
850,000,000 of years by destiny."
The first authentic account of a Sati from the Hindu
writings, so far as I can discover, is that of one which
occurred about the year 1176. The lady's name was San-
jogata, daughter of Jadchand, the last Hindu king of Kanouj,
and wife of Prithiviraja, the last Hindu king of Dehli. At
that time princesses at least were allowed to select their own
husbands at Swayambaras, or tournaments, held for this
purpose. When her father inaugurated the festival, owing
to an old and bitter feud between the parties, Prithiviraja
was not invited; but an effigy of him being placed as a
doorkeeper, the princess, passing by aU the princes present,
placed the garland upon the neck of the effigy, as she had
heard so much of the martial exploits of him whom it repre
sented. Soon after this the prince, hearing of the favour
that had been shown him by the princess, came with an
armed band and carried her away by force. She completely
captivated her capturer by the force of her love and beauty.
About a year after this, as the Mussulman conquerors were
at their gates, urged by his wife, Prithiviraja went out to
fight them. During his absence she lived most simply,
having a presentiment that she should never see his face
again. This proved only too true. The enemy prevailed,
her beloved husband was slain ; and as soon as the news
reached her, she ordered a funeral pyre to be prepared, and
of her own accord entered it.
Prom the reports of eye-witnesses of the performance of the
Sati rite, it is evident that some widows went, in the spirit
of true devotion to their husbands, and with the hope of
obtaining the blessedness promised, to perform this dreadful
rite ; whilst others, owing to the disgrace which attached to
one who vowed, but had not courage to perform her vow,
were drugged, so as to be unconscious of what was before
them ; whilst the precaution was usually taken of tying down
the wood upon the victim, so that escape was impossible. I

THE BUENING OF A HINDU WIDOW WITH HEE HUSBAND. 381
shall now give an account of the performance of this ceremony
from eye-witnesses.
The first description is from Colonel Sleeman's " Eambles
and EecoUections." The Colonel, some years after the
occurrence, was passing a temple that had been erected on
the banks of the Nerbudda river, on the spot where, in 1829,
the Sati rite was performed in his presence. He goes on to
say that as Sati was prohibited at the time of this visit, he
would record what he saw in 1829, and declares that the
description being copied from his note-book written at the
time, the reader may rely upon the truthfulness of the account.
Colonel Sleeman forbade the erection of a temple on the site
of a Sati, lest the desire for posthumous fame might lead
some widows to immolate themselves.
" On November 29, 1829, this old woman, then about
sixty-five years of age, here mixed her ashes with those of her
husband, who had been burned alone four days before. On
receiving civil charge of the district, I issued a proclamation
prohibiting any one from aiding or abetting in Sati ; and
distinctly stating, that to bring one ounce of wood for the
purpose would be considered as so doing. If the woman
burned herself with the body of her husband, any one who
brought wood for the purpose of burning him would become
liable to punishment ; consequently the body of the husband
must be first consumed, and the widow must bring a fresh
supply for herself.
"On Tuesday, November 24, 1829, 1 had an application from
the heads of the most respectable and most extensive family
of Brahmans in the district, to suffer this old widow to burn
herself with the remains of her husband, Omed Sing Opuddea,
who had that morning died on the banks of the Nerbudda.
I threatened to enforce my order, and punish severely any
man who assisted, and placed a police-guard for the purpose
of seeing that no one did so. She remained sitting by the
edge of the water without eating or drinking. The next day
the body of her husband was burned to ashes in a small pit

382 . WOMAN.
of about eight feet square, and three or four deep, before
several thousand spectators, who had assembled to see the
¦Sati. All strangers dispersed before evening, as there seemed
to be no prospect of my yielding to the urgent solicitations
¦of her famUy, who dared not touch food till she had burned
herself, or declared herself willing to return to them. Her
.sons, grandsons, and some other relations remained with her,
while the rest surrounded my house, the one urging me to
.allow her to burn, and the other urging her to desist. She
remained sitting on a bare rock in the bed of the Nerbudda,
refusing every kind of sustenance, and exposed to the intense
Iieat of the sun by day, and the severe cold of the night, with
only a thin sheet thrown over her shoulders. On Thursday,
to cut off all hope of her being moved from her purpose, she
put on the Dhujja, or coarse red turban, and broke her
bracelets in pieces, by which she became dead in law, and for
ever excluded from caste. Should she choose to live after
this, she could never return to her family. She had resolved
to die. ' I have,' said she, ' tasted largely of the bounty of
the Government, having been maintained by it with all my
large family in ease and comfort upon our rent-free lands ;
.-and I feel assured my chUdren wUl not be suffered to want ;
hut with them I have nothing more to do ; our intercourse and
-communion end here. My soul is with Omed Sing Opuddea,
,and my ashes must here mix with his.' Again looking to
the sun — 'I see them together,' said she, with a tone and
countenance that affected me a great deal, ' under the bridal
canopy,' alluding to the ceremonies of marriage ; and I am
satisfied that she at that moment really believed that she saw
her own spfrit and that of her husband under the bridal
¦canopy in Paradise.
" I tried to work upon her pride and fears. I told her that
it was probable that the rent-free lands by which her famUy
had been so long supported might be resumed by Government
.a.s a mark of its displeasure against the chUdren for not dis
suading her from the sacrifice ; that the temples over her

THE BUENING OF A HINDU WIDOW WITH HEE HUSBAND. 383
ancestors might be levelled with the ground, in order to
prevent their operating to induce others to make similar
sacrifices ; and lastly, that not one brick or stone should ever
mark the place where she died, if she persisted in her resolu
tion. But if she consented to live, a splendid habitation
should be built for her amongst these temples — a handsome
provision assigned for her support out of these rent-free
lands — her children should come daily to visit her, and
I should frequently do the same. She smiled, but held
out her arm and said, ' My pulse has long ceased to beat,
my spirit has departed, and I have nothing left but a little
earth that I wish to mix with the ashes of my husband. I
shall suffer nothing in burning, and if you wish proof, order
some fire, and you shall see this arm consumed without giving
me any pain.' I did not attempt to feel her pulse, but some
of my people did, and declared that it had ceased to be per
ceptible. At this time every native present believed that she
was incapable of suffering pain ; and her end confirmed
them in that opinion.
" Satisfied myself that it would be unavailing to attempt
to save her life, I sent for all the principal members of her
family, and consented that she should be suffered to burn
herself if they would enter into engagements that no other
member of their family should ever do the same. This they
all agreed to, and the papers having been drawn out in due
form about midday, I sent down notice to the old lady, who
seemed extremely pleased and thankful. The ceremonies of
bathing were gone through before three, while the wood and
other combustible materials for a strong fire were coUected,
and put into the pit. After bathing, she called for a pan
(betel-leaf), and ate it, then rose up, and with one arm on
the shoulder of her eldest son, and the other on that of her
nephqw, approached the fire. I had sentries placed aU round,
and no other person was allowed to approach within five
paces. As she rose up, fire was set to the pile, and it was
instantly in a blaze. The distance was about 150 yards:

384

WOMAN.

she came on with a calm and cheerful countenance, stopped
once, and casting her eyes upward, said, ' Why have they
kept me five days from thee, my husband ? ' On coming to
the sentries her supporters stopped : she walked once round
the pit, paused a moment, and, whilst muttering a prayer,
threw some flowers into the fire. She then walked up
deliberately and calmly to the brink, stepped into the centre
of the flame, sat down, and leaning back in the midst as if
reposing upon a couch, was consumed without uttering
a shriek or betraying one sign of agony. A few instruments
of music had been provided, and they played as usual as she
approached the fire ; not, as is commonly supposed, in order
to drown screams, but to prevent the last words of the victim
from being heard, as these are supposed to be prophetic, and
might become sources of pain or strife to the hving. It was
not expected that I should yield, and but few people had
assembled to witness the sacrifice, so that there was httle or
nothing to stimulate her to any extraordinary exertions ; and
I am persuaded that it was the desfre of again being united
to her husband in the next world, and the entire confidence
that she would be so if she now burned herself, that alone
sustained her. From the morning of the day he died, Tues
day, till Wednesday evening, she ate pan, or betel-leaves, but
nothing else ; and from Wednesday evening she ceased eating
them. She drank no water from Tuesday. She went into
the fire with the same cloth about her that she had worn in
the .bed of the river ; but it was made wet, from a persuasion
that even the shadow of any impure thing faUing upon her
when going to the pile contaminates the woman, unless
counteracted by the sheet moistened in the holy stream. I
must do the family the justice to say, that they aU exerted
themselves to dissuade the widow from her purpose ; and had
she lived, she would assuredly have been cherished and
honoured as the first female member of the whole house."
It appears that thirteen years before this woman had firmly
resolved, if left a widow, to die the death of a Sati.

THE BURNING OF A mNDU WIDOW WITH HER HUSBAND. 885
Colonel Sleeman in the same book gives an account of
another Sati of which he was not an eye-witness, but of the
truthfulness of which there can be no doubt. In this case it
was not the wife of the deceased man who voluntarUy burned
herself, but the wife of a man then living, she believing
that in three previous bfrths she had been his vnfe, and that
in her present birth she was separated from him as a ptmish-
ment for a sin committed in her last previous birth. It is of
course easy for us to laugh at such superstitions, and difficult
to understand how people can be enslaved by them ; but there
is no doubt they have had, and still have, a firm grasp of the
minds of millions. "All that a man hath wUl he give for
his life," and when we see a woman choosing a painful death
in the full assurance that she is doing an act that is pleas
ing to the gods, it shows the force of her faith in the
religious teaching she has received. The story given by a
relative of the deceased man to Colonel Sleeman is as
foUows :
" When my eldest brother, who was so long a native col
lector under you in this district, died about twenty years ago
at Sehora, a Lodhee woman, who resided two miles distant, in
the village of Khittolee, which has been held by our family
for several generations, declared that she would burn herself
¦with him on the funeral pUe ; that she had been his wife in
three previous births, had afready burnt herself with him
three times, and had to burn with him four times more. She
was then sixty years of age, and had a husband living about
the same age. We were all astounded when she came for
ward with this story, and told her it must be a mistake, as we
were Brahmans, while she was a Lodhee. She said there
was no mistake in the matter; that she in her last birth
residing with my brother in the sacred city of Benares, one
day gave a holy man, who asked for charity, salt by mistake
for sugar with his food; that, in consequence, he told her
she should, in her next birth, be separated from her husband,
and be of inferior caste ; but that, if she did her duty weU in
26

386 WOMAN.
that state, she should be reunited to him in the following
bfrth. We told her that aU this must be a dream ; and the
widow of my brother insisted that if she were not aUowed to
burn herself, the other should not be aUowed to take her
place. We prevented the widow from ascending the pile, and
she died at a good old age, only two years ago, at Sehora. My
brother's body was burnt at Sehora, and the poor Lodhee
woman came and stole a handful of the ashes which she
placed in her bosom, and took back with her to Khittolee.
There she prevailed upon her husband and brother to assist
her in her return to her former husband and caste as a
Brahman. No soul else would assist them, as we got the
native chief to prevent it ; and these three persons brought
on thefr own heads the pile on which she seated herself with
the ashes in her bosom. The husband and his brother set
fire to the pile and she was burned." After this the members
of the family firmly believed the woman's story ; the father of
the man whose wife she declared she had been in previous
bfrths bore all her funeral expenses, i.e., for funeral cere
monies after death ; and a tomb is stiU in existence which
had been erected on the site where the Sati took place.
There is quite another side to this question. That aU
widows who have gone through this ceremony were not anxious
to suffer in this manner, the following narrative of an eye
witness wiU clearly prove. A rich Bania died near her house,
and there was great excitement in the bazaar as it was made
known that his widow, a woman about twenty-six years of
age, intended to perform Sati. The magistrate tried in vain
to dissuade her from the course she had chosen, but in reply
she simply beat her head upon the ground, declaring that
if she was not allowed to burn with her husband she would
hang herself in court, for the Sastras declare " that- the
prayers and imprecations of a Sati are never uttered in vain :
the great gods cannot listen to them unmoved."
If a widow touch food or water after her husband's death,
according to Hindu law she cannot be burned with his body.

THE BURNING OF A HINDU WIDOW WITH HER HUSBAND. 387
In the hope that this woman might be forced by hunger
to give up her design, the magistrate ordered the corpse to
be kept for forty-eight hours unburned ; but during all this
time she never touched anything. At length, when consent
was reluctantly given, the woman went to the banks of the
Ganges, where about 5,000 people were assembled to witness
the ceremony. The pile was raised, the dead body of the
husband laid upon it, when the widow, after bathing in the
sacred stream, lighted a brand, walked round the pile, set it
on fire, and then mounted cheerfully. The flames blazed up
instantly. She sat down, placing the head of the corpse
upon her lap, and repeated several times, " Eam, Eam, Sati ;
Eam, Eam, Sati " (" God, God, I am chaste").
As the wind drove the fierce flames towards her, she shook
her arms and Umbs as if in agony. At length she started up
and approached the side to escape. A Hindu policeman, who
had been placed there with the express object of seeing
that she had fafr play, ?,nd was not burned by force, raised
his sword to strike her. Upon his being seized by the magis
trate, the woman again approached the side, sprang out of
the fire, and rushed into the Ganges. When the crowd,
amongst whom were standing the brothers of the dead man,
saw this, they cried out, " Cut her down ; knock her down
with a bamboo ; tie her hands and feet, and throw her in
again ! " and they would have done this had not the police
interfered to prevent it.
The woman drank some water, and, having extinguished
the fire in her dress, expressed her wilhngness to enter the
fire again; but this the magistrate forbade, on the ground that,
according to Hindu law, a Sati who once forsook the pile
could not re-enter it. He then placed her in a palanquin
and sent her to the hospital for treatment, at the same time
assuring her that though she was now an outcaste from
Hindu society, the Government would provide for her and see
that she never came to want. The woman declared that in
six previous bfrths she had performed Sati, and so was most

388

WOMAN.

anxious to perform it for the seventh time, though when the
time came human nature protested against the pain. It
would have been far better for her not to have expressed
her determination to perform Sati. Not having fulfilled
her vow, she was not allowed to re-enter her home, and
became a stranger to her family.
The Eev. G. Pearce, in an address given in Calcutta in
1869, on " Eeminiscences of Life in India," gives the follow
ing description of a Sati in that city. It occurred about
1826, " One of the first intimations which I received, shortly
after my arrival, of the cruel and debasing character of
Hinduism, was a Sati scene that I witnessed in the northern
suburbs of Calcutta. It took place on the bank of the
river a little beyond Bagh Bazaar Bridge. I can never forget
it. It was about 5 p.m. when I arrived. The crowd was
very great — about 1,000 in number. In the centre was a pUe
of wood. The corpse of the husband lay upon it. On the
north side of it was a palanquin, containing the young
widow to be immolated. Brahmans stood round. I got.
permission to speak to her, but in attempting to do so I found
her so under the influence of drugs as to render the effort
useless. The Brahmans made short work of it. On my
leaving the palanquin, they took her out of it, and endea
voured to lead her round the pile ; but she was unable to
stand. She was then taken up into their arms and carried
round once only (they ought to have gone round seven times),
when they laid the poor woman on her wooden bed beside the
corpse of her husband. At this moment she seemed con
scious of what was before her, for she immediately drew her
arms round its neck, and embraced the corpse with great
affection. The Brahmans, however, lost no time in finishing
their dreadful work. Immediately they began to heap upon
the bodies the remainder of the pile, untU they covered them
at least two feet — a weight of wood sufficient to crush the
very bones themselves ; and to make all the more sure, they
bound down the whole pile with bamboos crossed over, lest

THE BUENING OF A HINDU WIDOW WITH HER HUSBAND. 389
the poor victim, in her struggles in feeling the fire, should
toss it off and escape. All being duly secured, a boy of
about twelve years of age came forth with a lighted torch
and set fire to the pile close to the head of the victim. At
this moment gongs and drums struck up their deafening
sounds, whilst the vast multitude of spectators joined in
shouts of ' Hari Bol ! Hari Bol ! ' thus effectuaUy drowning
the shrieks of the poor dying creature."
According to Mr. Pearce, at this time the annual number
of Satis in Bengal was about 1,200 ; and when Lord
William Bentinck passed an Act forbidding it, a petition was
sent in to the Privy Council signed by 18,000 people, many
of whom represented the best families of Calcutta, asking
that this practice might be allowed to continue.
Prior to this Act forbidding Sati, magistrates occasionaUy
interfered on their own authority to prevent children of
twelve years of age from performing the rite ; but in the case
of older women >,. "^y had no power to prevent them from
destroying themselves. At first the Government's efforts
were in the direction of regulating, not suppressing, the
custom. In 1812 the following instructions were issued to
the magistrates: "The Government, after considering the
replies of the Pundits, premised that the practice, generally
speaking, being recognized and encouraged by the Hindu
religion, it appears evident that the course which the British
Government should follow, according to the principle of
religious toleration already noticed, is to allow the practice
in those cases in which it is countenanced by their religion,
and to prevent it in others in which it is by the same
authority prohibited." Accordingly the magistrates were
ordered to confine their interposition to the following cases :
(1) To preclude, as far as possible, the employment of all com
pulsory means on the part of their relatives, of Brahmans,
and of others, in order to cause them to burn themselves ;
(2) to prevent the criminal use of intoxicating drugs or
liquors for the accomplishment of that object ; (3) to ascer-

390 WOMAN.
tain whether the women have attained the age as fixed by the
Hindu law at which they are permitted to burn themselves ;
(4) to inquire whether they are pregnant ; and (5) to
prevent the ceremony from proceeding in cases in which,
on any of the above grounds, it may be repugnant to the
principles of Hindu law. In harmony with these rules the
police were instructed to obtain as early information as
possible of an intended Sati, to inquire as to the age of the
woman, and to see if she was acting of her own free will ;
and they were empowered to prevent the ceremony if the
•widow were pregnant, or unwilling to burn.
In 1817 these orders were further modified. A woman not
in good health was to be prevented from burning, also one
who had an infant at the breast under four years of age ; and
also a woman who had a child or children under seven for
whom she was unable to provide a suitable guardian. Brah
man widows were permitted to burn only with their husband's
corpse ; not, as had formerly been the case, days or weeks
afterwards with some relic of his body. And further, that it
was the duty of the family to whom the intending Sati be
longed to inform the police of her intention, and not leave
the police to make the discovery.
During the years following the enactment of 1812, the
following number of Satis were burnt in Bengal: — 1815, 378;
1816, 442 ; 1817, 707 ; 1819, 839. The ages of these women
varied from twenty to seventy. It will be noticed that the
interference of the Government appeared rather to increase
than to lessen the practice. It is possible that this increase
is apparent rather than real ; that the cases were more care
fully reported, and not that more actually occurred.
It was reserved for Lord WiUiam Bentinck to put a stop to
this cruel practice. Some of his advisers in India, fearing
that an interference with Hindu custom might imperil the-
empire, advised delay, and urged that in time the Hindu
community would themselves give it up ; but the majority
of his counsellors being of opinion that it ought not under

THE BURNING OF A HINDU WIDOW WITH HEE HUSBAND, 391
any circumstances to be sanctioned, an Act was passed
rendering Sati a case of culpable homicide, and threatening
with severe penalties all who encouraged or in any way
assisted at the ceremony. The result was that this abomin
able and cruel custom was put an end to in 1830 in the
territories directly under British rule ; but since that time,
in some of the native States, Sati has been performed. The
last case I heard of in India was about 1880.

MORALS.

CHAPTEE I.
MORALS— THE HINDUS GENERALLY.
Of all questions connected with the Hindus, the question of
morality is perhaps the most difficult to write about with
anything approaching confidence, because of the opposing
opinions that are held by different people, for which more or
less plausible reasons can be given.
Arrian, in hjs" History of India," written in the second
century of the Christian era, gives a most glowing account of
the morals of the Hindus. Either his knowledge of them must
have been of the most superficial character, or certainly as a
whole they have greatly deteriorated since his day. It is
certain that his words could only now be employed as the
purest sarcasm. It is just possible that he wrote only of
some tribes, and not of the community at large ; the ex
cellences that he ascribes to them being those in which the
people as a whole are lamentably deficient. His words are
as follows : " They are remarkably brave ; superior in war
to all Asiatics. They are remarkable for simplicity and in
tegrity ; so reasonable as never to have recourse to a law
suit, and so honest as neither to require locks to their doors,
nor writings to bind their agreements. No Indian was ever
known to tell an untruth." We may say truly, if this be a
trustworthy account, " How are the mighty fallen, and the
bright gold become duU !"
Writing in Madras at the close of last century, the Abbe
Dubois, after a lengthened experience and cajreful observa-

396 MORALS.
tion, gives perhaps a picture as excessively dark as Arrian's
is bright. His words are :
" In my opinion the Hindus will remain after another
thousand years as they were a thousand years ago. Their
reserved and distant intercourse with Europeans wUl always
continue the same, and their abhorrence of the reUgion,
education, and manners of the latter, as weU as their other
leading prejudices, will continue undiminished. . . . Let
Bibles, as many as you please, in every shape and in every
style, be translated and circulated among the Hindus ; let
them, if you wish, be spread in every village, in every cottage,
and every family ; let the Christian religion be presented to
these people under every possible light — I repeat it, with
deep sorrow, in my humble opinion (an opinion grounded on
twenty-five years of experience) the time of conversion has
passed away, and under existing circumstances there remains
no human possibility to bring it back. . . . Are we not
warranted, on beholding the unnatural and odious worship
which prevails all over India, in thinking that these unhappy
people are lying under an everlasting anathema ; that by
obstinately refusing to listen to the voice of the heavens
which declare the glory of God, they have for ever rendered
themselves unworthy of the Divine favour ; that by obsti
nately rejecting the word of God, which has been in vain
announced to them during these last three or four centuries,
they have ' filled up the measure of thefr fathers,' have been
entirely forsaken of God, and (what is the worst of Divine
vengeance) given over for ever to a reprobate mind on account
of the peculiar wickedness of their worship, which supposes
in those amongst whom it prevails a degree of perversity far
beyond that of old pagan nations ? "
In trying to describe the general moral condition of the
Hindus, I shall certainly strive earnestly to give a fair and
impartial description. I have lived for many years in close
intimacy with the people, many of whom I love ; have con
versed with all classes of the community ; have spent many

MORALS  THE HINDUS GENEEALLY. 397
liappy years in working, as I beheve, for their benefit, and,
intentionally, , at any rate, shall not write down aught in
mahce. My wonder is, considering their religious faiths,
and the character of the deities they worship, that they are
not far worse than they are. When I consider the state of
Europe, with the example and teaching of Jesus more or
less generally known, it does not surprise me at all to find
the Hindus moraUy what they are, as I remember that whilst
their books contain some of the highest and noblest moral
precepts, their deities, when incarnate, are described as
ignoring these beautiful lessons ; and stUl further, when I
see that religion and morality are quite separate in thefr
view; for a man may be a most exemplary Hindu, and at
the same time guilty of the grossest immorality. I shall
strive to give a fair statement of their general character as
far as an outsider is able to estimate it. Of course it will be
understood that all Hindus have not aU the vices, neither
have all Hindus all the vfrtues, that I shall mention as be
longing to the community. I shall first give the darker, and
then the brighter side of the picture.
Ingratitude.When one of the missionaries was engaged in the
translation of the Scriptures into Bengali, he wanted a word
to express the idea of gratitude. After several attempts
to explain the idea for which an expression was required,
after a few moments' pause, his pundit said, " How can you
expect to find a word to express an idea that does not exist
in a country ? " And as it proved to be true that there was
no common Bengali word suitable, a term had to be intro
duced from the Sanskrit — a standing proof of the absence up
to that time of the need of an expression for this virtue. In
Uke manner an Enghshman, on going to India, is astonished
to find that there is no term expressive of " Thank you " for
any little acts of attention that may be shown to him by ser
vants and others. It is an instance of the way in which
"when iu Eome we act as the Eomans do," that up to this

398 MORALS.
hour the foreigners, who are most careful to recognize kind
nesses shown to them by those of their own nation, have
not forced an expression into general use equivalent to those
found in their own languages. Of course there are expressions
which can be, and are, employed to signify pleasure received
from the attentions shown ; but as a rule those who in their
•own country would be most particular in showing their ap
preciation of kindness, fall into the way, common in India, of
taking these courtesies as a matter of course.
That gratitude, or at any rate the expression of it, cannot
be universal, the following statement of a gentleman, who for
many years was the principal of a large missionary coUege,
will show. This gentleman had laboured most devotedly for
the good of the young men in India, had given hours daily
to the private instruction of many who were wishful to obtain
further teaching than they could obtain in the college classes,
for which extra work he, of course, did not receive a single
penny. After twenty-five years of such work, he said that
the only expression of gratitude he ever received was from one
of his old students, who at the time of the occurrence was a
station-master on the East India Eailway. Stqpping at the
station, and being anxious to obtain a time-table, the station-
master offered to get one, and when he offered payment it
¦was politely refused, as the young man said he had received
many acts of kindness from his professor, and would not
take the money.
The truthfulness of this story I do not for a moment doubt ;
but I think the experience of this gentleman was exceptional.
I have met on many occasions with old students of our col
leges who have expressed their thankfulness for the assist
ance they have received from our missionaries engaged in
educational work, and also for the kindness of the Christian
public in England in sending out Christian ladies to teach
their wives and daughters. Then the faithfulness of the
soldiers to their salt, as it is termed, i.e., their gratitude to
those from whom through many years they obtained their

MORALS  THE HINDUS GENEEALLY. 399
support, has kept, in troublous times, those faithful to British
rule who otherwise would have taken part with comrades in
rebeUion. StUl I fear it is a fact that as a rule gratitude is
not a common virtue in India. Look, e.g., at the class of
Zemindars, who, by the prodigality of the British Govern
ment, were raised at once from the mere collectors of the
revenue into practically the landholders of Bengal. When
any attempt is made to raise the revenue, however necessary
the cause, if their income be affected, how they cry out as
if an injustice were being done to them ! Look at the edu
cated classes, who, through the unfair assistance that is
given to them as compared with the mere trifle that is spent
in mass-education, write and speak against the same Govern
ment, because, having provided most costly establishments
for their instruction, it does not also provide ample employ
ment with proportionate incomes also. Brahma, the creator,
is scarcely worshipped by the masses of India in the present
day, because, his work of creation being finished, the people
say, " We can obtain nothing more from him if we worship
him." Gratitude, in the sense of thankfulness for past
favours, is not commonly expressed by the people ; though
in the sense of thankfulness for favours to come it is not so
uncommon. Untruthfulness.
That this is a very general vice of the mass of the
Hindus in Bengal, there can be no doubt whatever in the
minds of those who come into personal contact with the
people. Among the village people in other parts of India,
where there is a stronger physique and greater personal
bravery, and also amongst the aborigines who inhabit
the hills, this general statement would not apply ; but of
the Bengali it is absolutely true. A gentleman who has
been brought into the closest intimacy with all classes, and
knows their language and habits as well, perhaps, as almost
any one I have met, declares that when a question is asked,
the full bearing of which on themselves or those connected

400 MORALS.
with them they cannot see, you may rely upon it that the
first answer you receive is false ; but that when they see
that the truth cannot injure themselves or any one they care
for, they will speak the truth. One of the best educated of
our native Christians once said to me, " You who have been
born in Christian famUies and have been trained from infancy
to speak the truth and to hate lying can have no idea of the
difficulty we Bengalis have in overcoming the natural ten
dency in us to lying and deceit. You are taught that it is
dishonourable and evil to lie ; we are taught that the
dishonour is not in lying, but in being discovered." And so
far as my experience and observation goes, when an order is
disregarded in house or office, or any theft committed, it is
almost impossible for the culprit to be discovered. Those
who know the truth of the affair will not inculpate others,
but rather deny " with oaths and cursing " aU knqwledge
of the affair. When a tale of wrong-doing of any employe
is brought to us by other natives it may be taken as certain
that this information is given not from the simple wish to
boldly speak out the truth, but as simply the outcome of petty
spite — a mean manner of revenge for injury done. In busi
ness transactions their word is never taken ; the simplest
contracts that are made must be written, for if any profit
will arise to the promisor by repudiating the transaction it is
certain advantage will be taken of the fact that there is no
¦written evidence. I am thankful to be able to say that I
have met with some exceptions to this rule, men whose
word I could rely on as on that of an honest Englishman ;
but these exceptions are not numerous. The real secret of
this untruthfulness I take to be the natural cowardice of the
people, and the fact that when it served thefr purpose the
gods themselves — notably Brahma respecting Siva, and
Krishna respecting Eadha — are represented as resorting to
this practice. If lying was lawful for a deity, where can be
the harm of a poor weak mortal resorting to the same
practice ?

MORALS  THE HINDUS GENERALLY. 401
A notable instance of strict truthfulness is seen in the Ufe
of the late Babu Eam Gopal Ghose. This gentleman had
lived in open violation of caste regulation for some time,
but afterwards, for family reasons, wished to be recognized
again as a Hindu. His father suggested that he should deny
that he had eaten beef, &c. ; but he replied, " I would do
anything for you, yea, give up my life, but cannot lie.''
In corroboration of the opinion expressed above as to the
general untruthfulness of the Hindus, we might quote the
statements of many who have written on the subject : one wiU
suffice. In the " Competition Wallah " Mr. G. 0. Trevelyan
¦writes : " The want of truthfulness leavens the whole being
of the Bengali ; " and again, " It is not too much to assert
that the mass of Bengalis have no notion of truth and
falsehood." Dishonesty.Akin to lying is theft. Here, again, what is said of the mass
of the people of course is not true of every individual.
Amongst the lower orders, which form the servant class in
the cities and stations, pilfering is almost universal, and,
strange to say, those who, so far as was known, have been
honest for many years, when a favourable opportunity occurs
cannot resist the temptation. It is certain that prices are
usually asked from their employers for goods of daily con
sumption higher than were paid, and when discovery is made
there is but little sense of shame, as it is considered a right
thing for the servant to obtain a percentage on aU the money
of his master that passes through his hands. So clever and
80 persistent are the people in their efforts to rob that it is
simply impossible to prevent it unless one's whole time is
given to watch. A lady may sit in the verandah of her house
to see her horse fed; whilst she turns her head for a
moment only, a handful of corn is stolen and secreted in
the servant's clothes. A man wiU quietly steal into the
cow- shed before others are stirring in the morning and
extract a good supply of mUk from your cow. A servant wiU,
27

402 MORALS.
accompany you to the bazaar and note the money spent with
different shopkeepers, and force them, after your back is
turned, to give them a percentage. " Every agent employed
to make a purchase, great or small, pockets a commission
unknown to his principals ; this commission is called ' dus-
toori,' or ' the customary sum,' the amount being regulated
by the impudence of the buyer and the anxiety of the seller
to dispose of his goods." Trevelyan tells a story of a servant,
ignorant of the fact that stamps belong to the Government,
being sent to a stamp vendor to purchase stamps, knocking
down the functionary of the Government with his ruler and
carrying off his ledger to the Treasury in triumph because
the man refused to give him his dustoori. Contractors will
tender for goods to Government at a lower rate than the
Europeans who manufacture them, and from whom the con
tractor must purchase them, their profit being made by
giving short weight or measure ; and to enable them to do
this their profits must be shared with the officer who has to
receive and pass their goods. A man will contract to pur
chase salt at a certain price as it is being discharged from the
ship ; the price faUs ; the Bengali wiU go into hiding until
the shipping agents find that the least inconvenience and
loss is to cancel the sale and seek other purchasers. It is
seldom we hear of pickpockets and thieves who by their dex
terity rob others ; the common forms of theft are those where
children are decoyed into secret places and there robbed of
their ornaments, or where a number of men (dacoits) make
a combined attack upon a house or a village, and either by
setting fire to the house or by their shouts driving out the
people from their homes, and then make off with all they
can lay their hands on.
The use of abusive language.
The people, though cowardly, and for the most part peace
ably disposed, are nevertheless easily provoked to quarrel,
but not easily moved to fight. Where an excited Englishman
would freely use his fists, and try by physical force to subdue

MORALS  THE HINDUS GENERALLY. 403
an opponent, the Bengali is content to use his tongue. And
certainly passion, anger, hatred, contempt, were never
exhibited on any stage with greater force than may be seen
almost daily in the middle of a village, or a public street in a
city, when two women are engaged in a dispute. The tone
of voice and action of the whole body is at times quite tragic.
At such times the language, attitudes, and grimaces are of
the vilest. A man or woman when quarreUing seems to lose
all self-respect, and, in order to annoy the person with whom
they are disputing, have no hesitation in boasting of crimes
they have never committed. A man of pure morals will not
scruple to say that he has committed the grossest immorality
•with the wife or mother of his opponent ; and a woman will
make a simUar boast respecting her conduct with the husband
of the woman with whom she is quarrelling. The commonest
abuse when the people quarrel is that in which the female
relatives of his enemy are declared to be all that is bad. In
the poUce courts it is almost a daily occurrence for this to be
adduced as an excuse for blows which have caused the injury
¦or the death of their antagonists.
Perjury. The Hindus generally, and more especially the Bengalis,
-are a very litigious race. Certainly either Arrian did not
know the people, or they have sadly changed since his day.
Often it seems as if they could scarcely be happy without
havmg a lawsuit pending. To many Bengali gentlemen a
lawsuit is an amusement, as hunting and shooting are the
recreations of the British. " The natives regard a court of
law not as the bulwark of the innocent and the refuge of the
¦wronged, but as a prize-ring which affords a fair field and
no favour ; a stock exchange where fortunes are to be made
¦by cleverness and industry, and lost by carelessness and
stupidity ; where all men have an equal chance,^and no one
must rely on the justness of his cause, or the blamelessness
¦of his Ufe, or any such natural advantage which he may
possess over his feUows. The wealthiest and most respected

404 MORALS.
man of a district will often be one who dates his prosperity
from a suit which, as every one is well aware, was brought
to a successful termination by unlimited perjury, and a
document discovered at the bottom of a chest in the zenana
just in time to be produced in court. His neighbours speak
of him as the society of an English provincial town speak of
a man who began life behind a counter, and ends it in the
parlour of a county bank, whither he had pushed his way by
dint of prudence and frugality." '"
To lose a suit in court is not only annoying and expensive,
it is also regarded as disgraceful ; hence we find that all means
of damaging an opponent are freely resorted to. "A planter
confessed to a friend of mine that he had been reduced to the
verge of ruin by a Eaja, who trumped up three actions in
succession, and gained them all. The Englishman, however,
won back the ground which he had lost in a suit, the facts of
which had been invented and arranged by his agent and
Zemindar." t
A friend of my own told me that, when living in Cachar,
a man came and complained to him that a Sirdar on the
estate had burned some of his charcoal. On asking how he
knew this, the reply was, "Bholonatha saw him do it."
Going directly to Bholonatha, and asking if he had seen this
transaction, he denied all know^ledge of it; but when the
aggrieved party came upon the scene, the witness said,
" Why did you not tell me that you wished me to give
evidence ? "
The most common way in which a suit is commenced
is for a charge to be brought against a man altogether out of
proportion to the offence given. If a blow is struck, it is
magnified into an attempt at murder ; if a debt is incurred,
the amount is made double or treble what is legally owing ;
whilst the defendant will, in his turn, not be content with
giving a fair statement of the case, but wiU try to prove that
he is not indebted, or that he never struck the complainant ;
* " The Competition "Wallah," p. 227. t Ibid. p. 227.

MORALS  THE HINDUS GENEEALLY. 405
it is also certain that often where no legal offence has been
committed — but revenge impels a man to injure another — a
charge, for which there is not the slightest foundation in
fact, will be made. Men have been known to inflict severe
wounds upon themselves, in order that they could lay a
charge of assault against an enemy ; and corpses have been
hacked, in order that a charge of murder might be laid
against one they wished to injiu'e ; people have been killed,
and thefr dead bodies placed in such a position as to lead the
poUce authorities to believe that the person against whom
the conspiracy was formed had been guilty of their death.
The police reports state plainly that there is reason to fear
that a very large majority of witnesses in our courts perjure
themselves. Magistrates declare that they scarcely ever
think of deciding cases according to the evidence as it is
given in court, because they know that both sides have thefr
trained •witnesses ; they simply judge according to probabi
lity. Judges of the highest courts of India have declared
that they did not believe a single case had come before
them, in which the natives of India were concerned, which
was not supported by perjury. Barristers, at times, seeing
the way in which the evidence of the different witnesses is
so beautifuUy dovetailed, to make the story of their client
appear absolutely true, have sometimes to throw discredit on
some of their own witnesses, lest the art of their solicitors in
training the witnesses should be too apparent. The litigant
goes into court expecting the judge largely to discount the
charges made, and therefore makes them sufficiently large
to allow, when the discount is taken off, to secure all he
really ought to get ; whilst the defendant, not content with
simply disproving the charges, secures witnesses to prove a
great deal more than the truth. It is a notorious fact that
there are many in the neighbourhood of our law courts who
are ready to give evidence on any subject, and on either side,
for a mere trifle. Certainly the task of hearing the false
evidence in our courts, and of judging which side is the more

406 MORALS.
likely to be in the right, must be one of the most painful and
irksome tasks that can be undertaken. Added to this is the
belief that judges are open to bribery. Men who have any
excuse for going into the presence of a magistrate or judge
privately will not scruple to take money from litigants who
are foolish enough to believe that they are aiding their cause
by this waste of money.
As illustrations of what has been said, the following may
be given. " A shopkeeper complained in court that as he
was walking across the street, one of his neighbours knocked
him down with a cudgel, and, as he lay insensible, robbed
him of thirteen rupees. He produced seven witnesses who
confirmed substantially the whole statement. It eventually
tm-ned out that the prisoner struck the prosecutor on the
back with a slight switch, and that the rupees and the in
sensibility were an episode which had no foundation in
fact." *
"A young man bought a village from a Zemindar, who
sold it cheap because the inhabitants had for some time
refused to pay a pice of rent. As the new proprietor was
well aware that his tenants were likely to prove unruly, he
went with a strong force to compel them. At that time
cholera was rife in the village, and during the night the
headman came, with several of his companions, and de
clared that if the landlord did not clear off, he would bring
a corpse, cut its throat, throw it in the Englishman's
camp, and lay a charge of murder against him before the
magistrate." On another occasion this same planter happened to be
visiting a brother planter. After dinner a jackal began to
scream, when the host and another friend took up their rifles,
and went to shoot it. Not finding the jackal, one of them
fired at a sheep at a little distance, and when he fired he saw
a man suddenly jump up from behind the sheep, and then
fall down. On going to the spot it was discovered that the
• "The Competition ¦\Vallah," p. 229.

MORALS— THE HINDUS GENERALLY. 407
man was shot through the heart, and was quite dead. The
relations of the deceased prosecuted the planter for murder,
and swore that he had tied the deceased to a tree, beaten him
cruelly, outraged him in a most foul manner, and finally put
him out of his misery by deliberately firing at him from the
distance of a few yards." ¦'¦
In Agra a Thakur, having a quarrel with a shopkeeper, a
servant of the great man suggested that his master should
kill him, and then charge the shopkeeper with the murder.
The wife of the willing victim hearing of this, prevented her
husband from sacrificing himself, so an idiot boy was
murdered, and his body deposited in the premises of the
shopkeeper. But unfortunately this ingenuity was not
successful ; the trick was discovered, and the penalty fell on
the guilty parties.
Forgery.
Between perjury and forgery there is often but a single
step. In order to make valid a claim or to resist oppression,
in order to substantiate or disprove a charge, documentary
evidence is sometimes necessary. And where this has never
existed, or been destroyed, or lost, it is necessary to supply
its place. As a result, it is no uncommon thing for revenue
officers and judges, before whom these documents are placed,
to reject them as palpable forgeries. Though forgery is not
so common as perjury, because of the greater chances of
detection, yet it is the opinion of those whose experience of
our courts is greatest, that it is very frequently resorted
to. In cases where leases are required to prove the claim of
the landlord for rent it is an easy thing to manufacture
them when, in the great majority of cases, the tenant is too
ignorant to read or write, and so detect the fraud. And it
sometimes happens with forged documents as with the trained
witnesses, that the manufacture is too palpable, and thus a
doubt is raised in the judge's mind which leads him to reject
it. It is said that were aU those prosecuted for perjury and
* " The Competition 'Wallah," p. 231.

-408 MORALS.
forgery who are certainly guilty of these crimes, our judges
would have little else to do than to try them.
Want of confidence in their fellow-men.
As a result of the natural tendency to lying — which in
special cases leads to perjury and forgery — is the want of
confidence that the Hindus repose in each other, and in
Englishmen with whom business may bring them into
contact. If a workman agrees to execute any work, he wiU
not commence it until he has received money in advance
— professedly to purchase material, really as a safeguard
against his employer, who, if he did not require the article
he had ordered when it ¦was completed, might refuse to take
it, and the workman would have it thrown upon his hands.
In almost all business transactions of the smallest kind a
written agreement must be made on both sides, and this must
be stamped and registered, because it is believed that a man's
word is not binding. In connection with this may be men
tioned the almost universal practice of bargaining. A man
who has anything to sell, or a workman who may be caUed
to undertake any work, never dreams of asking the proper
price for his work ; nor does any one who has had any ex
perience think of giving what is asked. As in Solomon's
time — " It is nought, nought," says the buyer, as goods are
offered him for sale ; whilst the seller in his turn will not
scruple to speak falsely about the value of his articles, and
the prices for the same goods that others have given him.
It is my firm conviction, speaking generally of the lower
orders of the people, if not the middle and upper classes,
that a man goes away better pleased if he has by dint of a
long chaffering obtained a mere trifle over the proper price of
his work or goods, than if he had taken a much higher price
at first without the excitement of bargaining. In the one
case he imagines that his eloquence has prevailed to induce
his customer to give more than he intended ; but in the other
he imagines that the man has paid exorbitantly simply owing
to his ignorance. There is always this feeling on the part of

MORALS  THE HINDUS GENEEALLY. 409
the purchaser — that he might have driven a better bargain :
whilst the seller imagines that had he asked more, he might
have got a proportionately higher price. Occasionally one
meets with a man who asks a fair price, and sticks to it
whether he sells or not, but such are most rare exceptions.
Oppression.
It would be difficult to find a country where the people are
subjected to greater oppression from those above them than
prevails amongst the Hindus. The poor are passionately
attached to the soil which has been cultivated by their fore
fathers ; are unable, owing to their great poverty, to lay aside
any money to enable them to make a fresh start in another
part of the country ; and are naturally conservative in thefr
habits, and would with very great difficulty be able to adapt
themselves to the kind of food and the new methods of cultiva
tion that would be necessary in other parts of the country.
The poor of Bengal being in a damp rice-producing country,
would be scarcely able to exist in the dryer regions where
wheat is grown ; nor would they know how to turn the soil
to the best advantage : hence we find them submitting in
many cases to oppression that we should imagine sufficient
to drive them away. Bad as was the condition of the slave in
the Southern States of America, there can be no doubt that
the condition of multitudes of the poor in Bengal is in some
respects worse. The slave was sure of food, and of a decent
house in which to live, because it was the interest of his
owner to feed and house him well, that he might be in a con
dition to work; but it is far otherwise with the poor of India.
He has to pay as heavy a rent as his land will stand in
fruitful seasons, when the rains fall in plenty, and his crops
are good; but when the rainfall is low, or sickness may
interrupt his labours, he has to accept loans at exorbitant
interest from his landlord ; and when once he becomes in
debted it is almost impossible for him ever to free himself
from the chains. The interest often absorbs more than the
excess of the profits of the year over what is absolutely

410

MORALS.

necessary to support the life of himself and family. In
addition to the normal fixed rent which his lease gives his
landlord a legal right to demand, other exactions are made
which reduce the poor tenants to abject poverty. It is a
known fact that the rich, well-educated landlords of India,
when an income tax was levied, did not scruple to force this,
that should have come out of their own pockets, from their
miserable tenants ; and even in many cases, after that tax
was abolished, the tenants had to continue to pay it to their
landlords. A marriage in his family, or a death, or any
extraordinary expense that he may have to incur, is con
sidered a sufficient reason for demanding an extra sum from
his tenant. The result of this is, that the tenant is bound
to continue to live and work hard on his land without the
possibility of removal, as much as if a serf law were in force ;
and if he speak of his grievances to a sympathizing ear, and
a word is spoken in his defence, his cattle, his ploughs, his aU
may be seized; for he has literally nothing but what is
pawned to his landlord, or to some money-lending go-
between. There is a widespread oppression throughout the
whole country of Bengal ; and the grinding poverty of the
people makes one very sad as it is brought to notice in
traveUing through the country. Bengal, one of the richest
soils on the face of the earth, which is able in many parts to
support a larger population than it has, is in such a con
dition, that if a single season's rains are withheld, unless the
Government at immense cost steps in to prevent it, it would
be decimated by famine. The country produces sufficient
in the years of plenty to provide for the wants of its people
in the years of scarcity ; but owing to the fact that they Uve
from hand to mouth, and cannot possibly save anything for
such contingencies, they are entirely dependent upon the
care and generosity of the Government.
Revenge.
Hindus as a rule are unforgiving. They do not quarrel,
fight, shake hands, and become good friends again. Con-

MORALS  THE HINDUS GENERALLY. 411
cerning what they term their honour they are very sensitive,
and will wait long for an opportunity to avenge themselves
on those who have tarnished it. And as they are naturaUy
cowardly, their methods of revenge are subtle and secret.
To strike a blow in the dark is far more in the way of a
Hindu than boldly to accuse a man of wrong-doing and try
to punish him for it. And where the offender himself is
beyond the reach of direct attack, it is not beneath a
Bengali's view to try to wound him through his children or
other members of his. family. Even though the offence may
be apparently forgotten, if months or even years after the
quarrel a favourable opportunity occurs, it is seized as a
means of wreaking vengeance. I have known charges to be
unspoken for sixteen or eighteen years, and then brought up
against one whom at last time has brought into their power ;
and I have known many cases where, because of some
wretched family squabble, means have been used with the
object of robbing the offender of his means of livelihood.
When a Hindu's anger is excited, truth, honour, trust — all
are forgotten, and no means are left unemployed that can
injure an enemy in character, purse, and position. The
term " mild Hindu " certainly is the purest sarcasm ; they
submit to oppression and cruelty because they are physically
incapable of resistance, and not from any inherent mildness
and readiness to forgive. Only give them the opportunity to
avenge themselves, and to oppress others, and certainly they
are as vindictive in their way as any race of men on earth.
They do not use the knife or the dagger, it is true, but they
resort to poison, and, what is sometimes even worse, the
poison of their own untruthful tongues. A single day's
journey in the country or in the streets of Calcutta, with
one's eyes open, as the cartmen are seen cruelly illtreating
their bullocks, or a schoolmaster punishing his pupils, will
quite dispel the notion of the Hindu's natural mildness. He
is mild where he cannot help it; he can cruelly oppress where
he has the power.

412 MORALS.
Immorality. There are those who say that there is no such thing as
real morality amongst the Hindus; this I believe to be a
most exaggerated statement. That there is a great amount
of immorality, there can be no doubt ; but that many are
pure amongst the millions in India, is certain. A Brahman
gentleman, writing in the Calcutta Review, says, " Sexual im
purity is, it is true, scarcely considered a sin in the males." '¦'
As far as my observation has gone, and as far as I can gather
from conversation with those who know viUage life, I should
say that in the villages of India purity of morals generally
prevails. Men and women have to work hard in the fields or
in the home ; returning at dusk, they seldom go out again
until the following day. There are no idlers to lead others
astray, nor are there many opportunities of evil. Occa
sionally cases of infidelity even here come to light, and
when discovered they often lead to the murder of one or
both the guilty parties ; but speaking generaUy, I should say
that the morals of the poor and ignorant viUagers of Bengal
would compare favourably with the same class elsewhere.
Of course in the villages there are many left as widows :
these, if unchaste, generally migrate into the towns, because
they would not be allowed to live near the families they have
disgraced ; but if they do not openly commit themselves
they may continue in their homes. As a matter of fact
abortion and infanticide are not by any means confined to
the larger towns, but are as rife in the villages as elsewhere.
Still I should say, speaking generally, the life of the viUagers
is pure. But of the morality of the towns little can be said. London
is spoken of as an immoral city ; but Calcutta, with a popula
tion of one-sixth of that of London, has nearly double the
number of prostitutes.. The Zenana system has very much
to do with the immorality of the Hindus. A man marries,
and is called by his employment to live at a distance from
* Vol. ii. p. 23.

MOEALS  THE HINDUS GENEEALLY. 413
his family home. He deems it unsafe to take his wife ; she
is, therefore, left at his father's house, whilst he is absent for
months or years at a time. In the majority of cases men
thus separated from their families form other ties. Nearly
the whole of the servants in Calcutta are away from their
families for two or three years at a time. These and other
causes account for the dreadful immorality of the towns and
cities. The custom of compelling widows to remain un
married drives many of them to a life of immorality.
Made a drudge in the house of her father-in-law, and.
having no prospect of improvement, it can occasion little
surprise that they should swell the number of kept women
and public prostitutes. Concubinage is so common in Bengal
that no one seems surprised at it. And yet those who do not
see it to be a crime to be guilty of immorality themselves,
are most careful to prevent, if possible, the same looseness of
morals in their wives. It is often boastfully said by Bengali
gentlemen that they do not have recourse to the Divorce
Court as the English do. It is not because of the purer
lives of the gentlemen, certainly ; nor is it because of the
purer morals of many of the widows, though it may be
because of the seclusion in which their wives are kept ;
in which case their non-sinning is not the result of a purer
morality, but because of the want of opportunity. It may
be that means are employed to keep secret any misconduct,
lest dishonour should come to the famUy. Certainly, little
can be said of the morality of a community in which con
cubinage is openly practised, prostitution common everywhere,
and where abortion is carried on as a distinct profession.
The reason of this I see in the fact that continence is not
taught. As soon as it is possible for boys and girls to marry
they are brought together. Nor must the influence of character
of the gods, as taught in the later religious books of the-
Hindus, be overlooked. On the cars in which Jagannatha
is drawn, and on the temples, are pictures and sculptures
so disgusting and filthy that they cannot be described. At,

414 MORALS.
the religious festivals jatras are performed, in which the
sayings and doings of these deities are represented by the
.actors ; and as interludes, there is dancing of a most lasci
vious character, and songs of a most amorous description.
Here young and old see and hear things which are calcu
lated to inflame the passions in the very presence of the
images of the gods.
Now let us turn to the brighter side of the Hindu
character. And first of all virtues should be noticed thefr
Industry. I am aware that residents in the cities who have to do only
^ith the lower orders, and perhaps the worst class of these,
regard the Hindus as an idle, lazy race ; but there can be
little doubt that this is a wrong estimate of their general
character. In the country districts the men start out as
soon as it is light enough to see, and continue in the fields
ploughing, sowing, weeding, transplanting, reaping, according
to the season, until about eleven o'clock, when they return,
feed their cattle, bathe, take their first meal, and lie down to
rest. About two o'clock they return to their work, at which
they continue until dusk. On one or two days a week they
trudge to the nearest village, where a hat, or market, is held,
carrying their produce for sale, and returning with a load of
necessaries for the week, which they have purchased in
exchange. And this hard life continues the whole year
round, with Uttle to vary its monotony. Perhaps three or
four times in the year there may be some religious festival
held near, to which they go to listen to the music, to see the
performances, and to purchase commodities, which are brought
there from the cities, as the English peasantry used to fre
quent the fafrs of the neighbourhood. When, therefore, it
is remembered that the people have no regular day of rest,
as the labourers in Christian lands have Sunday, it is certain
that of the mass of the common people idleness certainly
cannot be said to be a characteristic. Look, again, at the
workmen in towns, where the men are paid by piece work.

MOEALS  THE HINDUS GENERALLY. 415
From early dawn until near midnight they will be found
at work — the blacksmiths before their blazing fires, the tin
men, the braziers, the carpenters, and all the varied trades
are in full swing. There are idlers to be found here and
there, but, taken as a whole, when it is to their interest to do
it, they work as hard and for longet hours than the British
workman would care to labour. Indoors the women are
not less industrious. They have their children to care for, the
house to keep clean, fuel to collect, food to cook, and all the
ordinary duties of the home. The middle and upper classes
have the household duties attended to by servants as in
England, but a great deal is done by the ladies of the house.
Those who have had to do with schools and colleges seldom
need to complain of the idleness of the students. When
it is remembered that in these colleges the students have to
receive nearly the whole of their instruction in English,
which is to them a foreign language, the high position taken
by natives in University lists show conclusively that they
must work far harder than their English competitors. A
visit to a Hindu home or lodging-house for young students,
late at night, or in the early morning, would at once dispel
all notions of the idleness of the young Bengali.
Patience. Though passionately fond of children, a man will see his
child die and perform the funeral ceremonies with a calm
and stolid countenance. He will suffer intense agony of body,
as is evident from the muscular contractions, or submit with
out shrinking to most painful operations, and never a sound
wUl escape his lips. He will make long, wearisome, and
dangerous journeys, suffering immense discomforts from
want of food and proper accommodation, &c., and never
murmur. The patience of the Hindu is most praiseworthy.
The secret of it lies, perhaps, in the firm conviction that his
life is but the working out of a Divine plan that was formed
at or soon after his birth, and that it is useless, as it is
wrong, for him to resist the inevitable. Still, whatever be

416 MORALS.
the cause, the fact remains that for patient endurance of
physical pain, of mental distress, and of the ordinary sorrows
of life, there are few if any race of people on the face of the
earth to equal, none to surpass them. It is not that they do
not feel, but they believe that whatever comes is their fate,
and must be patiently endured by them.
A characteristic story is told of two brothers who were
caught stealing horses from a regiment on the march. Before
sentence was passed one of the men suggested that his
brother should be sent to bring back the missing horses, and
he would answer for his return ¦with his life. As the horses
were urgently needed, the plan was adopted ; but as neither
man nor horses returned within the appointed time, the
brother who remained as a hostage was rather surprised
that any one expected to see them. For saving his brother
from punishment, and for enriching his friends with the
money for which the horses were sold, he was quite prepared
to suffer death.
Filial respect.
The word of the father or elder brother, who at the
father's death becomes the head of the family, the wish of
the mother or grandmother, is law. There are many of the
educated young men in Bengal at this moment who would
have embraced Christianity if it were not for the profound
respect they have for father and mother, and the intense grief
such a step as the open avowal of their faith in Christ would
cause them. Long after a man is of age, and when, accord
ing to Western notions, he might be allowed to think and act
for himself, the force of his filial ties is such as to hold him
back from a course that may appear to him right and desir
able. The fact that the son does not have a separate home,
but continues to dwell in the family house after his marriage,
fosters this filial respect ; but even where he forms a home
for himself it is seen to be almost as great as iu other cases.
Charity.
The charity of the Hindus is great ; by this word I mean

MOEALS  THE HINDUS GENERALLY. 417
bestowal of gifts on the poor, whether relatives or strangers.
There is no poor law in India, no guardians of the poor, no
workhouses, excepting for the Europeans in the Presidency
towns. The poor of a family, the halt, the lame, the blind,
the weak, the insane, are provided for by their family, if it
is at aU able to do it ; in cases where there are few or no
relatives, then the burden is taken up by others. It is a
" work of merit ; " just as making a tank, planting trees by the
road-side, or constructing a bathing-place on the banks of a
sacred stream. It is no uncommon thing for a man who is
at aU wealthy to have a number of poor pensioners almost
if not entfrely dependent upon him for their support. And
in a large family there are some less clever, less fortunate,
and less industrious than others ; the more clever, fortunate,
and industrious work the harder, and putting their earnings
in a common purse, aU share in the results of the industry of
the more successful members. OccasionaUy it will happen
that an idle, spendthrift son will wear out the patience and
strain the generosity of a brother until he is told to leave the
home or work ; but as a rule, •with exemplary kindness, the
poor and the helpless are provided for by the other members
of the family. There are miUions of professional beggars
in India ; there are many shrines whose offerings support
thousands in comparative idleness. This course could not
continue unless the hearts of the people were charitably dis
posed. At great festivals, where the people assemble in
crowds, beggars abound. It has often astonished me to
see poor women and men going from one to another, giving
a pice here and a handful of rice there. Of course
it may be said that this is a form of barter ; the people
give to these saints in order to gain credit for their gifts
in heaven. Were the same tests appUed to the gifts of
Christians, would aU the apparent charity be found real— i.«.,
gifts bestowed simply because of love to the Saviour and to
those for whom He has taught His people to care ?
Parental Jove. 28

418 MORALS.
Another most pleasing trait is the love of parents to
their children, and the long-continued and immense self-
sacrifice they make to further their advancement in life.
The Bengalis have a proverb referring to the way in which
a man should dispose of his income. He should divide it
into four parts : one part goes to pay off old debts ; one
part to God ; one part for present expenses ; one part is put
into the bank. The interpretation of this is as follows : one
part should be given to parents in return for all thefr kind
ness and self-denial in the past ; one part should be given
to God for the support of religion and for the help of the
needy and suffering ; a third part should be devoted to the
ordinary expenses of the family ; whilst a fourth part should
be spent on the education of the children, which wiU yield
interest in old age in the form of assistance from them. This
certainly is a more pleasing and natural proverb than the
Lancashire one, which teaches that the " old hen may scratch
for her chickens ; but the chickens never scratch for the old
hen ; " and, so far as my observation has gone, I thuik the
spirit of this proverb is seen in the ordinary life of the Ben
galis. Parents are not suffered to want as long as sons can
aid them. It would certainly be regarded as a most dis
graceful thing were a man who could do anything for the
support of an aged father or mother to allow the burden of
their maintenance to fall on strangers. I have heard of
the parents of people in England who could well provide
for them being allowed to derive assistance from the parish.
In gifts to the poor and needy, certainly the Hindu is not
lacking ; and the people of Bengal do not come behind those
of any country in toiling and denying themselves the com
forts of life in order that their sons may obtain a good educa
tion and rise to a higher position than that attained by their
fathers. Many of the educated young men of Bengal would
not occupy their present position were it not for the self-
denial of their fathers and mothers. Taken as a whole,
whilst the Hindu has many evil traits in his character, he
has many good ones too.

CHAPTEE II.
THE CRIMINAL CLASSES.
Having considered the question of the morals of the ordi
nary people, we naturally pass on to consider the peculiarities
of the crimes of those who sink, below the level of the com
munity and make themselves obnoxious to its penal laws. It
must be distinctly borne in mind that the description of this
class is no more true of the Hindus generally than would an
account of the English people drawn exclusively from the
Newgate Calendar and Police News. But it is most painful
to see how in many cases those who up to a certain moment
have been respectable members of society, in a fit of passion
aroused by abuse, or of jealousy caused by the infidelity of a
wife, or from the fear of a rival usurping their place in the
affections of a husband, resort to measures which at once
force them into the criminal class, and bring upon them the
penalties of the law. Most of the facts here recorded are
taken from a most painfully interesting work on Medical
3'urisprudence, by Dr. Norman Chevers.
At the commencement of that work Dr. Chevers says : " It
would probably be impossible to point to any races of men
whose great crimes more distinctly emanate from thefr
national character than is the case with those various classes
of nations who inhabit the British possessions in India." In
support of this statement the foUowing quotations are made
from two writers well qualified to speak concerning two
¦classes most opposed in national characteristics : Mackintosh,

420 MORALS.
describing the warlike Eajputs of the North-West Provinces ;
and Macaulay writing of the Bengalis. Mackintosh says :
" The Eajputs are the representatives of India. In them
are seen all the qualities of the Hindu race unmitigated by
foreign mixture, exerted with their original energy, and dis
played in the strongest light. They exhibit the genuine form
of a Hindu community formed of the most discordant
materials, and combining the most extraordinary contrasts
of moral nature ; unconquerable adherence to native opinions
and usages with servile submission to a foreign yoke ; an un
believing priesthood, ready to suffer martyrdom for the most
petty observance of their professed faith ; a superstition
which inspires the resolution to inflict or to suffer the most
atrocious barbarities without cultivating any natural senti
ment or enforcing any social duty ; . . . attachment to kindred.
and to home, with no friendship and no love of country;.
good temper and gentle disposition, little active cruelty except,
when stimulated by superstition ; but little sensibUity, little:
compassion, and scarcely any disposition to relieve suffering
or relieve wrong done to themselves or others ; timidity,
with its natural attendants, falsehood and meanness, in the
ordinary relations of human life, joined with a capabihty of be
coming excited, to courage in the field, to military enthusiasm,
to heroic self-devotion ; abstemiousness in some respects
more rigorous than that of a Western hermit, in others a lif&
of intoxication ; austerities and self-tortures almost in
credible, practised by those who otherwise wallow in gross
sensuality, childish levity, barefaced falsehood, no faith, no-
conptancy, no shame, no belief in the existence of justice."
Of the Bengalis, Macaulay, in his Essay on Warren Hastings,
writes: "The physical organization of the Bengali is feeble
even to effeminacy. . . . His pursuits are sedentary, his.
limbs delicate, his movements languid. During many
ages he has been trampled on by men of bolder and more
hardy breeds. Courage, independence, veracity, are qualities
to which his constitution and his situation are equally un-

THE CRIMINAL CLASSES. 421
favourable. . . . All those arts which are the natural defence
of the weak are more famUiar to this subtle race than to the
Eoman of the time of Juvenal, or to the Jew of the dark ages.
What the horns are to the buffalo, what the paw is to the
tiger, what the sting is to the bee, what beauty, according to
the old Greek song, is to woman, deceit is to the Bengali.
Large promises, smooth excuses, elaborate tissues of circum
stantial falsehood, chicanery, perjury, forgery, are the weapons,
offensive and defensive, of the people of the Lower Ganges. AU
these millions do not furnish one Sepoy to the armies of the
Company. But as usurers, money-changers, as sharp legal
practitioners, no class of human beings can bear a comparison
with them. With all his softness, the Bengali is by no means
placable in his enmities, or prone to pity. The pertinacity
¦with which he adheres to his purposes yields only to the
immediate pressure of fear. Nor does he lack a certain kind
of courage which is often wanting in his masters. To in
evitable evils he is sometimes found to oppose a passive forti
tude such as the Stoics attributed to thefr ideal sage. An
European warrior, who rushes on a battery of cannon with a
loud hurrah, will sometimes shriek under the surgeon's knife,
and faU into an agony of despair at the sentence of death.
But the Bengali, who would see his country overrun, his
house laid in ashes, his chUdren murdered or dishonoured,
without having the spfrit to strike one blow, has yet been
known to endure torture with the firmness of Mucins, and
to mount the scaffold with the steady step and even pulse of
Algernon Sidney."
From these extracts describing two distinct races of
Hindus, it will be seen how marked are the national charac
teristics ; and as their natures differ, so do their crimes. A
skilful detective, when a murder or any other great crime has
been committed, is generaUy able, from the manner of its
committal, to form a correct opinion concerning the nationality
of the criminal. We shall first treat of —
Murder.

422 MOEALS.
' Of the trials in our Courts of Justice, those for murder
bulk largely ; and of all the means resorted to by which ob
noxious persons can be got rid of, perhaps poison is the com
monest — i.e., where the act is premeditated, and not the
result of a sudden outburst of rage. There is far less likeli
hood of detection in the use of poison than of any other
method. In India many poisonous plants grow wUd, and the
people are acquainted with their nature ; whUst other drugs,
such as arsenic, which produce symptoms very simUar to
those of cholera — a disease endemic in Bengal — are easily
procurable in the bazaars, as there are no strict regulations in
force prohibiting their sale as in England. Preparations of
opium and heinp, too, are in common use amongst the people,
and are employed as means of committing suicide, or are
given to those whom they wish, from covetousness or revenge,
to put out of their way. The burning of the bodies of de
ceased persons almost as soon as life is extinct, which pre
vents the examination that would follow a sudden or suspicious
death in othercountries, rather encourages this form of crime.
A common incentive to the use of poisonous drugs, where
the object is the very opposite to that of murder, but which
often causes it, is found in the superstitious character of the
people, which leads them to beheve that by administering
certain potions they can gain or retain the affections of a
husband or lover. In years not far back parents who feared
their sons were favourably inclined towards Christianity,
rather than suffer the disgrace of having one of their family
an apostate from the religion of thefr fathers, have admini^
stored poisons which have permanently destroyed their sons'
mental powers.
It is said that the custom of burning Indian widows was
introduced as a check to the women's practice of poisoning
their husbands. Captain Hamilton, who traded in India
between 1688 and 1723, reports this legend, apparently from
oral tradition : "In Canara there are several customs peculiar
to itself, and many of them are spread abroad to remote

THE CEIMINAL CLASSES. 423
countries. Here it was that the custom of wives burning on
the same pUe with their deceased husbands had its beginning.
It is reported that before the Brahmans invented this law
.poison was so weU known and practised that the least
quarrel that happened between a married couple cost the
husband his life, and this law put a great stop to it ; and now
custom so far prevails that if any faint-hearted lady has not
courage enough to accompany her spouse to the other world,
she is forthwith shaved and degraded, and obliged to serve all
her husband's family in aU kinds of drudgery."* It is highly
probable, to say the least, that some such causes may have
led to the custom of Sati, or of the alternative life of drudgery
and degradation. Dr. Chevers also quotes from an article on
Witchcraft in the Central Provinces, in which the •writer
speaks of poisoning for the purpose of winning the affections
of man or woman, as commonly practised there as late as
1866 : " It is most practised here, as everywhere else, by
jealous women, or desperate lovers of either sex, for the pur
pose of captivating affection, of infatuating and enthraUing
the object of desfre. But it is also used for baneful pur
poses — -to cause disease, death, or some strange aberration.''
And he cites a case where a husband had died from the
effects of poison administered to him by his •wife as a love-
potion, in which this was set up as the defence by the man
who had sold the drug.
The most common use of poison was made by the Thugs,
the professional murderers of India — men who regarded
themselves as most religious in their deadly trade, inasmuch
as they presented themselves before an image of Kah before
setting out on an expedition, and paid a certain proportion of
their Ul-gotten gains to her temple on thefr return, and who
further imagined that, as human sacrifices were once common
in India m the worship of this deity, they were doing what
must be pleasfrig to her in taking away the hves of then-
victims. These men generaUy went out in gangs of not less
* " Medical Jurisprudence," p. 104.

424 MORALS.
than three. They destroyed their victims by means of a
cloth drawn tightly round the neck, and pressed with the
hands at the back of the neck, not unlike the practice of
garotting which was common in England a few years back.
The bodies were often cut into pieces and buried in loose
sand near the roadside, cast into wells, or, with stones
tied round their necks, thrown into the rivers. These men
carried on their dreadful work on the roadside on the way
faring people, or very commonly in the boats and ferries by
which the rivers were crossed or traversed. To this day in
the Sunderbans, near Calcutta, which is a network of rivers
by which a large part of the produce of the countries to the
East reach that city, there are legends of murders being com
mitted by these men, who there used long boats which were
exceedingly fleet. This was a kind of piracy of which we do
not hear in history. Thousands of quiet, inoffensive people
have thus been murdered and robbed on the highways and
streams of India.
The following characteristic case of Thuggee, told by Colonel
Sleeman * (though in this case strangling, not poison, was re
sorted to) may be of interest to show how these professional
murderers carried on their vile trade. Happily the race is
now. extinct, owing to the Colonel's persistent efforts. " A
stout Mogul officer of noble] bearing, on his way from the
Punjab to Oude, crossed the Ganges at Gurmuktesa Ghat.
He was mounted on a fine Turkee horse, and attended by
his khitmutgar (butler) and groom. Soon after crossing the
river he fell in with a small party of well-dressed and modest-
looking men going the same road. They accosted him in a
respectful manner, and attempted to enter into conversation
with him. He had heard of Thugs, and told them to be off.
They smiled at his idle suspicions, and tried to remove them ;
but all in vain. The Mogul was determined ; they saw his
nostrils swelling with indignation, took their leave, and fol
lowed slowly. The next morning he overtook the same
* "Eambles and EecoUections," vol i. p. 106.

THE CEIMINAL CLASSES. 425
number of men, but of different appearance, apparently all
being Mussulmans. They accosted him in the same respect
ful manner, talked of the danger of the road, and the neces
sity of thefr keeping together, and taking advantage of the pro
tection of any mounted gentleman that happened to be going
the same way. The Mogul officer said not a word in reply,
as he was resolved to have no companions on the road. They
persisted ; his nostrUs again began to swell, and, putting his
hand to his sword, he bid them aU be off', or he would have
thefr heads from thefr shoulders. He had a bow and a
quiver-fuU of arrows over his shoulders, a brace of loaded
pistols at his waist, a sword by his side, and was altogether a
formidable-looking cavalier. In the evening another party
that lodged in the same serai became very intimate with the
butler and groom. They were going the same road, and as
the Mogul overtook them in the morning, they made their
bows respectfully, and began to enter into conversation with
their two friends, the butler and groom, who were coming up
behind. The Mogul's nostrils again began to swell, and he
bid the strangers be off. The groom and butler interceded,
for their master was a grave and sedate man, and they wanted
companions. All would not do, and the strangers feU in
the rear. The next day, when they had got to the middle of
an extensive and uninhabited plain, the Mogul in advance,
and his servants a few hundred yards behind, he came up to
a party of six poor Mussulmans sitting weeping by the side of
a dead companion. They were soldiers from Lahore, worn
down by fatigue in their anxiety to see their wives and chU
dren once more, after a long and painful service. Their com
panion, the hope and prop of his family, had sunk under
the fatigue, and they had made a grave for him ; but they
were poor, unlettered men, and unable to repeat the funeral
service from the holy Koran ; would his highness but per
form this last office for them, he would no doubt find his
reward in this world and the next. The Mogul dismounted
— the body had been placed in its proper position, with its

426 MORALS.
head towards Mecca. A carpet was spread : the Mogul took
off his bow and quiver, then his pistols and sword, and
placed them on the ground near the body, called for water
and washed his feet, hands, and face, that he might not pro
nounce the holy words in an unclean state. He then knelt
down and began to repeat the funeral service in a clear, loud
voice. Two of the poor soldiers knelt by him, one on each
side, in silence. The other four went off a few paces to beg
the butler and groom would not come so near as to interrupt
the good Samaritan at his devotions. All being ready, one
of the four, in a low undertone, gave the signal, the handker
chiefs were thrown over their necks, and in a few minutes all
three — the Mogul and his servants — were dead, and lying in
the grave in the usual manner — the head of one at the feet of
the one below him. - All the parties they had met with on
the road who accosted them belonged to a gang of Jumaldehee
Thugs of the kingdom of Oude. In despair of being able to
win the Mogul's confidence in the usual way, and determined
to have the money and jewels which they knew he carried
with him, they had adopted this mode of disarming him^dug
a grave by the side of the road in the open plain, and made
one represent a dead soldier."
Colonel Sleeman in the same work gives a story, a single
instance out of many of a similar nature that reached his ears,
which shows how difficult it was to trace these murderers,
owing to the very great reluctance of the people to appear in
court to give evidence against them. The narrative, which
was taken down verbatim by a clerk, is as follows ; th©
father of the poisoned boy is the narrator : "I reside in
my hut by the side of the road, a mile and a half from the
town, and live upon the bounty of travellers, and people of
the surrounding villages. About six weeks ago I was sitting
by the side of my shrine, after saying prayers, with my only
son, about ten years of age, when a man came up with his
wife, son, and daughter, the one a little older, the other a
little younger than my son. They baked and ate their bread-

THE CRIMINAL CLASSES. 427
near my shrine, and gave me flour enough to make two
cakes. This I prepared and baked. My boy was hungry and
ate a cake and a half ; I ate only half a one, as I was not
hungry. I had a few days before purchased a new blanket
for my boy, and it was hanging on a branch of a tree that
shaded the shrine when these people came. My son and I
soon became stupefied ; I saw him faU asleep and soon
foUowed. When I awoke, in the evening, I found myself in a
pool of water. I had sense enough to crawl towards my
boy; I found him stiU breathing; I sat by him with his
head in my lap, where he soon died. I was not yet quite
sensible. Duruig the night the wolves ate my poor boy — I
heard this from travellers. I did not quite recover tiU the
thfrd day, when I found that some washerwomen had put
me into the tank and left me there with my head out of the
water, in the hope that this would revive me ; but they had
no hopes of my son. I was then taken to the police of the
town ; but the landlord had begged me to say nothing about
the poisoners, lest it might get them and their viUage
community into trouble." The reason the man gave when
questioned as to why he had hidden the fact of the poison
being given to his son, was this : " The landholders told me
that the poUce could never bring, back my boy to life, and
the whole vUlage would be worried to death by them if I
made any mention of the poison ; " and so, rather than
excite the anger of the viUagers and be driven from the spot,
he simply informed the police that his son had been devoured
by wolves.
Here is another case illustrating the method by which
these men tried to secure their victims : —
At Midnapore, in 1853, a man meeting three traveUers on
the way from Calcutta to Cuttack, accosted them, and stating
that he was of the same caste, offered to share expenses with
them on the road. Arriving at a shop where they were to
rest, this man offered to cook for the party. When they
began to eat, some of the party found some seeds in the rice,

428 MORALS.
which they said were dhatura : the man denied this, but
excused himself from eating any on the ground that warm
rice did not agree with him. One of the others refrained from
eating too, and when he saw his friends growing insensible
he gave the alarm, and the culprit was seized, and on his
person a number of the dhatura seeds were found. He was
proved to be an old offender. It is by means of this dhatura
poison that we often read of the immoral women being
drugged and robbed by their visitors. Nor is the use of
poisonous drugs confined to human victims. It is an ascer
tained fact that in certain districts the Chumars poison the
cattle in order that they may purchase the skins. And it
was a very common practice in the time when the troops
marched from station to station, for their valuable horses to
be poisoned so that these classes might obtain the skins,
which would only be worth aigjit one rupee each.
Though nowadays there is not a regular organization of
Thug poisoners as in former times, when they were able at once
to distinguish and by secret signs and language to converse
with those from other parts of India, yet it seems certain
that there are numbers of people known more or less to each
other, and acting under orders from some central authority,
who earn their living by robbery ; and poison is one of their
chief auxiliaries. A man was detected and sentenced to be
hung, and when the rope was round his neck obstinately
refused to betray his accompUces, and rather hurried the
operation, lest the temptation should prove too strong.
And another man confessed to having poisoned no less than
seventeen persons within a space of eighteen months, and,
rather than express regret, he spoke of his victims as game,
just as a sportsman might boast of the results of his prowess.
The victims in these cases are not by any means confined to
the rich ; often poor cartmen and pilgrims are the prey of
these professional murderers.'''
In cases of murder by non-professional murderers there is
* " Confessions of a Thug."

THE CRIMINAL CLASSES. 429
generally evidence to show, in the way the victim is hacked
to pieces, that the murder resulted from some sudden provo
cation. Verbal abuse of the most gross and offensive kind
is most common, and this often leads to blows ; and when
the naturally timid and cowardly nature is aroused, the
murderer, for the time being, is simply a maniac. It may be
the discovery of a wife's infidelity, or abuse of the most
irritating nature, that ia the cause of the fatal blows being
struck. In such cases it is clear that it was not a cool, pre
meditated act, but the result of a temporary excitement.
Often, when he finds that the blows have proved fatal, the
offender will either attempt to take his own life or volun
tarily surrender himself to the police. Amongst the mass
of the people murder is rare.
Hanging is a common method resorted to by those who-
wish to commit suicide; and it is surprising in some
cases how determined the person was to complete the deed.
Sometimes their heels rest on the ground, and the body is
bent to allow their weight to fall on the neck. Sometimes
their heads are not more than six inches from the ground,
as when they tie the rope to the leg of a bedstead. And
because it is so common a mode of committing suicide,
hanging is often resorted to as a method of committing
murder ; or after the person has been otherwise killed, the
corpse is suspended by the neck, to lead to the impression
that the victim died by his own hands.
Abortion. The crime of procuring abortion is one of the commonest
in India. On this delicate subject Dr. Chevers says : " In a
country like India, where true morality is almost unknown,
but where the laws of society exercise the most rigorous and
vigilant control imaginable over the conduct of females, and
where six-sevenths of the widows, whatever their age or position.
in Ufe may be, are absolutely debarred from re-marriage, and
are compelled to rely upon the uncertain support of relatives,
it is scarcely surprising that great crimes should frequently

430 MORALS.
he practised to conceal the results of immorality, and that the
procuring of criminal abortion should be an act of almost
daily commission, and should have become a trade among
certain of the lower midwives.
" Ward described the crime of destroying illegitimate
children in the womb as prevalent to a shocking degree in
Bengal. In the family of a single Kulin Brahman, whose
daughters never lived with their husbands, it was common
for each daughter to destroy a child in the womb annuaUy ;
this crime he found to be very prevalent among widows.
The Pundit who gave him this information supposed that
10,000 children were thus murdered in the province of
Bengal every month. When Mr. Ward expressed his doubts
of this extraordinary and shocking circumstance, the Pundit
-appealed to the fact of the many females being tried for this
-offence in the Courts of Justice in every zillah of Bengal.
He said the fact was so notorious that every child in the
country knew of it, and that the crime had acquired an appro
priate name. It was a fact too, he was assured, that many
women died after taking drugs intended to destroy the child.
A Kulin Brahman assured him that he had heard more than
frfty women, daughters of Kulins, confess these murders. . . .
On making further inquiry into this subject, a friend, upon
whose authority he could implicitly rely, assured him that a
very respectable and learned Brahman, who certainly was not
willing to charge his countrymen with more vices than they
possessed, told him it was supposed that a thousand of these
abortions took place in Calcutta every month. . . . Mr. Ward
was a very careful inquirer, and if, as is most probable, much
of the depravity described above existed in Bengal forty years
ago, there can scarcely be a doubt that it prevails without
any abatement at the present moment."
In the Police Eeports are found numerous cases where
death has resulted to the mother from the use of drugs and
other means for effecting this purpose, so that there can be
no doubt whatever about the crime being a most common

THE CEIMINAL CLASSES. 431
one. It is also certain that in many cases it would be con
sidered a far less evil for the mother to die than for it to be
known that she had been guilty of immorality. The guilty
persons in the large majority of cases are widows, though it
is believed — and that not •without some authority — that in
districts where infanticide was common, as in Eajpootana,
and strenuous efforts were made to put a stop to it, astrolo
gers are sought who profess to be able to say whether the
child in utero is a male or female ; if a female, measures are
resorted to to procure abortion.
Infanticide.
' " Ihe murder of female children, whether by the direct
employment of homicidal means, or by the more inhuman and
not less certain measures of exposure to privation and neglect,
has for ages been the chief and most characteristic crime of
six-sevenths of the inhabitants of British India. Throughout
Central India, and especiaUy in Eajpootana, in Cutch Bhooj,
in the pro^vince of Agra, and in Khurdisthan, the destruction
of female children has prevailed in historic times. Bengal
Proper, or the Delta of the Ganges, appears now to be com
paratively free from this scourge, but the Bengalis were only
prevented by a stringent law from thinning their surplus
population by throwing their children to the alligators at the
mouths of the Ganges. It has lately been suggested in a
native paper, that in Kulin families female children are
systematically neglected, and that few grow up. Polyandry
stiU obtains among the Kasias — hill people near Sylbet.
Wherever this custom prevails, as among the Khurds and in
the Neilgherry HUls, it points demonstratively to the practice
of female infanticide. Beyond all this, the wilful neglect of
female children operates destructively in every town and
viUage throughout the length and breadth of India. By the
Hindu, the advent of a female child is superstitiously regarded
as a curse, and is practically regarded as a misfortune. The
daughter — so welcome in the English peasant's homestead, so
fondly greeted as the crowning honour and presiding grace of

432 MORALS.
every European family of gentle blood — is viewed by the
Hindusthani Eayat and the Eajpoot Thakur as a certain
presage either of poverty or of shame hereafter. The daughter
of a Hindu must always be dependent upon others for her
support. She must be suitably married, and a crime will be
involved in the postponement of her nuptials beyond the age
of childhood. At her husband's death she must trust whoUy
to the support of others, and her conduct must be watched
with unceasing vigilance, lest shame, with all its dfrest
accompaniments — feud, revenge, and murder — should be
entailed upon her house." * Manu's law on this subject is
this : " He who takes to wife a damsel of fuU age shaU not
give a nuptial present to her father, since the father lost his
dominion over her by detaining her at a time when she
might have been a parent." Numerous cases might be cited
where fathers have murdered their daughters, and brothers
have destroyed their sisters who have yielded to temptation,
when it has happened that, owing to poverty and other causes,
a husband could not be found for them, or they have been
left widows.
To what extent the practice of female infanticide is
practised may be inferred from the foUo^wing facts : " It is
clearly established that in every country in Europe there is
an excess of females. The census of 1851 showed that
throughout Great Britain and Ireland the number of males
then amounted to only 48-2 of the inhabitants. The first
census of the North-West Provinces of India, in 1863, gave
53-4 as the percentage of males in a population of 30,271,885 ;
whilst the official census of Mysore, for 1852, showed that in
a population of 3,410,382, the number of adult males ex
ceeded that of females by nearly 10 per cent, while the
excess of female infants was 16 per cent ! " t Prom the Eeport
on the above census it appears that "in the Thakur caste,
52,763 strong, there was a total of 10,695 male, and of only
5,865 female children. . . . Out of every thousand of the
* "Medical Jurisprudence," p. 750. t Ibid. p. 752.

THE CRIMINAL CLASSES. 433
Thakoor population, there are at least forty-two girls below
the age of twelve missing." *
In 1856 an officer was appointed to investigate the facts of
this wicked custom in Northern India. He personally ¦visited
the district, and states that of the villages visited by him, in
26 out of 308 not a single girl under six years of age existed.
In another batch of 38 villages he did not find a single girl ;
marriages were very rare there, and in some places were not
known to have taken place within the recollection of the pre
sent generation. In another instance there was not a girl over
six, and no marriage had taken place there for over eighty
years. In many parts of the Benares division he also found
that marriages had not taken place within the memory of the
present generation. Other officers in other districts had a
similar experience.
" Among the E^puts it appears to be customary to destroy
the infant immediately upon its birth ; the mothers of the
Eajkumar infants simply starved them to death." In other
cases they are poisoned with the juice of the mudar plant,
tobacco, or dhatura ; or the child was strangled immediately
it was born. In Benares it was a common practice to
drown them in milk after a prayer had been offered that
they might come again in the form of sons ; whilst in other
places, again, the newly-born infant was buried alive, or left
exposed in the jungle.
Strong measures have been resorted to by Government
with some measure of success ; but there is every reason to
believe that in many places the practice still prevails. The
plan relied on to check the evil was to reduce the expenditure
at weddings, and thus save the unfortunate father of a girl
from being compelled to spend immense sums of money in
feasting and making presents at the marriage. That these
neople do not differ much from those of other lands in the
proportion of the sexes, may be shown from the following
fact : " The village of Eaipoor, in the Umritsur district, had
* " Medical Jurisprudence," p. 752,
29

434 MORALS.
become so notorious for the commission of this crime, that
in September, 1867, there were only eight girls to one
hundred boys. A police force was quartered upon them for
two years, and in the next year thirteen gfrls, of whom ten
are alive, were born to nine boys." '¦'
In addition to the above-mentioned crime may be added
the custom which at one time prevailed, if it does not
now, viz., the unnatural exposure of children who are sup
posed to be possessed by a demon ; and in other cases, where
an illegitimate child is placed at the door of its reputed father
in order that he may be induced to provide for it and its
mother. If a child refused the breast, it was supposed to be
possessed by a devil, and exposed in a basket tied to the
branches of a tree for three days. At the expiration of this
time it was taken down ; if it survived the test, which was a
most rare occurrence, it was taken back to its mother ; but
generally it was dead, and this was taken as a confirmation
of the suspicion about its possession. It is said that the great
Hindu reformer Chaitanya was thus exposed, and would
most probably have shared the fate which others have suf
fered had not a Brahman happened to pass at the time, who
asserted that the infant was an incarnation of Vishnu, and
for this reason he was restored to his home.
An account of crime in India would hardly be complete
without mentioning one that is almost peculiar to the country,
viz., the employment of professional beaters, or latials, as
they are caUed. Two schoolboys quarrel, call each other
the foulest names, and when we should expect to see them
fight and then become friends, one of them wiU sneak
away and engage a number of stalwart men, who, armed
with sticks, ^wUl waylay the offender and give him a severe
thrashing. In the villages it is a most common practice
if a small Eayat refuse to pay his rent, or in any way offend
his landlord; or if a quarrel arise between him and some
neighbour, for a number of these ruffians to be hired, who
* " Medical Jurisprudence," p. 759.

THE CEIMINAL CLASSES. 435
may possibly set fire to his house in order to drive him out,
and then fulfil their instructions of beating him. This
method of firing a house and, under cover of the excitement,
robbing its inmates, is a most common occurrence, and
a name has been found for it — dacoity. As burglary is cha
racteristic of a braver and more courageous people, dacoity
is eminently characteristic of the weaker races of India.
For centuries torture was commonly resorted to by the
representatives of Government in order to extort money from
those thought to be rich, and obtain confession from those
suspected of crime ; and though for many years this has been
strictly forbidden by our Government, there is no doubt
jvhatever that it is frequently resorted to by masters, parents,
landlords, and others, to compel those in any way dependent
upon them to do thefr bidding. The following forma of tor
ture were common in native village schools ; through the efforts
of the Eev. J. Long, photographs of them were obtained.
A boy is made to bend forward with his face toward the
ground ; a heavy brick is then placed on his back, and an
other on his neck; and should he let either of them fall
within the prescribed period of half an hour or so, he is
punished with the cane.
A boy is made to stand for half an hour on one foot, and
should he shake or quiver, or let down the uplifted leg before
the time, he is severely punished.
A boy is made to sit on the floor with one leg turned up
behind his neck.
He is made to sit with his feet resting on two bricks, and
his head bent down between his legs, with his hands twisted
around each leg so as to hold his ears.
A boy is made to hang for a few moments with his head
downwards. His hands and feet are bound with cords ; to these mem-
hers so bound, a rope is fastened, and the boy is then hoisted
up by means of a pulley attached to the bearers or rafters of
the school.

436

MORALS.

Nettles dipped in water are applied to the body, which be*
comes irritated and swollen; the pain is excruciating, and
often lasts a whole day ; but however great the itching and
the pain, the sufferer is not aUowed to rub or touch the skin
for relief under the dread of a flageUation in addition.
The boy is put in a sack with some nettles, or a cat, or
some noisome creature, and then rolled along the ground.
The fingers of both hands are inserted across each other
with a stick between, and two sticks without, dra-wn close
together and tied."'
Among the many methods of torture that are now resorted
to, the following may be mentioned ; evidence of these being
still used is found in the reports of trials in recent years.
The burning of various parts of the body by means of a
heated chillum, in which tobacco is smoked; or by the
application of a lighted torch ; or by a hot iron. This ap
pears to be a common method employed by some husbands
to punish a wife for disobedience. Another method of torture
is by dipping the hands or feet in boiling water or oil ; and
a variation of this is made by pouring boiling water or oil on
different parts of the body. This means of torture has som e
sort of authority. Manu ordered that "should one {i.e., a
low-caste man) through pride give instruction to priests con
cerning their duty, let the king order some hot oU to be
dropped into his mouth and ears." And again, " If a Sudra
listens to the Vedas, then the oil, heated as before, shall be
poured into his ears ; and arzeez and wax shall be melted
together, and the orifice of the ears shall be stopped up there
with." In the cold weather, cold water is thrown upon the
body of the victim ; and at other times, wretched criminals,
or those suspected of crime, have been thrust into a nest of
ants or other insects, and driven almost mad by the torture.
The police authorities, as the Eeports show, are sometimes
guilty of these malpractices, which evidently at one time had
the authority of the rulers of the country.
* " Medical Jurisprudence," p. 530.

DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTURE LIFE.

CHAPTEE I.
DEATH AND ITS ATTENDANT CEREMONIES.
I THINK that perhaps in the treatment of Hindus in the
approach of death the cruelty of the system is more clearly
seen than in anything else ; I say the cruelty of the system,
for nothing could be farther from the thoughts and wishes of
Hindu sons, husbands, and fathers than to behave cruelly to
those whom in life and health they had most tenderly loved
and fondly cherished. And yet this very affection which
during life has led to the performance of most kindly acts
prompts them to try to secure happiness in heaven for the
objects of their affection by means that seem to us cruel in
the extreme. Accustomed as we are to see everything done
to try to alleviate the sufferings of our friends in their dying
moments, it seems almost incredible that any civilized people
could be such slaves to superstition as to adopt measures
which cannot fail largely to increase those sufferings.
In the teaching of Hinduism on this subject we have
another instance of the superlative method of instruction ;
i.e., of the way in which each duty that is under considera
tion is made to appear aU-important. As each deity addressed
is regarded for the moment, and actually addressed as, the
chief of all, so each religious rite is said to be necessary to
salvation. One wonders that the people do not ask in despair,
" Who, then, can be saved ? " and determine that they will let
the future care for itself. According to the Hindu Scriptures,
whatever a man's life may have been, if he do not die near

440 DEATH, SHEaDHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
some holy stream, if his body is not burned on its banks, or
at any rate near some water as a representative of the
stream; or where this is impracticable, if some portion of his
body be not thrown into it— his spirit must wander in misery,
unable to obtain the bliss for which he has done and suffered
so much in life. Or as such immense benefits are promised
to those who fulfil this part of the system, it is hoped that
the omission of much that should have been done will
be fuUy compensated. Hence it is that the friends of
those about to die are brought to act towards them, whom
they have dearly loved, in a way that to many at least
must seem most unkind. When it is taught that incalcu
lable good will come to the dying person who dies near a
holy river, and that indelible disgrace wiU attach to their
friends who do not take means to secure this object, it is
easily seen how some of the most kind-hearted of the Hindus
come to assist in these cruelties.
As some of the statements about to be made may seem
almost incredible to those in Christian lands, I may state
that most of them are from the writings of Hindus them
selves. In an article on the subject of Ghat minders, as
they are termed in the Calcutta Review,* the writer had
before him several prize essays that were written by Hindu
students, from which he obtained the greater part of the
facts he gives : from this and other equally reliable somxes
I have collected the information that follows.
The writer referred to, in speaking of the strange con
tradiction we find in Hindu Ufe, where we see those who are
most scrupulous not to destroy even the life of an insect, and
who regard the kiUing of a cow as a most heinous offence,
yet taking part in the burning alive of a mother, and of the
inferences being drawn that they are both humane and in
human at the same time, says, " Inhumanity had little or
nothing to do with the Sati rite, humanity has as little to
do with the vegetable diet of the Hindu. It was not from
* Vol. X. p. 404.

DEATH AND ITS ATTENDANT CEREMONIES. 441
any natural or acquired bloodthirstiness that the Hindus
slew their widows ; it is not from any natural or acquired
blood-abhorrence that they refrain from slaying their cows.
. . . The truth is that the Hindu religion overbears nature
and feeling and principle altogether. ... It takes no account
of the feelings and affections of the soul. Its demands are
fully satisfied when a certain round of external observance is
complied with. The good or bad state of the heart can add
nothing to, and take nothing from, the imagined merits of
these bodily exercises. From this fact we derive the infer
ence that' from the actions required by the system, and
habitually performed by its votaries, we are not necessarily
to infer so depraved a state of tho heart as would be implied
in the performance of the actions by those whose deeds were
the spontaneous effusions of their hearts." And he goes on
to say that though the, practice of Sati and other cruel rites
cannot faU to have an injurious effect upon the soul, yet it
would not be just to infer that "none but a very depraved
man would burn his widowed mother, . . . though we should
certainly be right were we to assert that the act of burning
her would leave the man worse than it found him."
When this custom of exposing the dying on the banks of
the rivers first came into practice it is impossible to say; but
from the fact that the older religious books are silent re
specting it, wliUst the more modern abound with allusions
to it, and statements respecting the benefits that the dying
will obtain by its means, it is natural to infer that it is of
comparatively modern origin. One of the essay writers
mentioned this to prove that it commenced only about three
hundred years ago ; but it probably originated earher than
that. The primary reason for the practice is found in the beUef
that the Ganges, or Ganga, as she is caUed, is a divine being,
wife of Siva, the great god of Hinduism. Of her descent from
her heavenly home in order to restore to life the sons of
Sagar we have already spoken, in giving an account of the

442 DEATH, SHEADHA, AND TBE FUTUEE LIFE.
great bathing festival at Saugor Island.* As the people,
fully believing in the efficacy of this stream to wash away
the sin of the living, visit her banks and bathe in her waters,
it is but a step further to believe that at the last moments of
a man's life it must be beneficial to be near her, or some
other water as her representative. Hence we find that whilst
the older writings tell the story of her descent from heaven,
and descant upon the benefits of bathing in her, the more
modern ones develop this teaching, and not only dwell upon
the benefits of dying on her banks, but speak of this as an
absolute necessity for a speedy entrance into heaven. It-
should be noticed that in the older accounts of this wonderful
effect of Ganga's advent it is said that the sons of Sagar
at once ascended to heaven in golden chariots. This pro
bably is the germ thought which has been so largely ex
panded in the more modern writings. As examples of the
popular teaching of the benefits Ganga can confer on mortals
are the following extracts ; the first is a translation of a
prayer to Bhagirathi, another name of Ganga, because it
was through his intercession that she came down from
heaven. " Oh, Mother Ganges ! I now bow down at thy feet, have
mercy on thy servant. Oh, who can describe thy virtues,.
since they are past the comprehension of the powers of man ?
The supreme divinity Brahma can alone describe some of
thy qualities. Were the greatest of sinners, the perpetrator
of endless sins, to pronounce the word Ganga, he, being de
livered from all his sins, shall be translated to the blissful
abode of the celestials. Thou alone art properly called the
' Source of Happiness ' and the ' Saviour of Men.' Infinite
sources of salvation are at thy command. In whatever state
a man may die, he is saved, as is proved in the case of the
sons of Sagar, who had been reduced to ashes by the curse of
a sage. It is only children that say that it is necessary to
be in a state of consciousness. He who performs ablutions
* See p. 256.

DEATH, AND ITS ATTENDANT CEREMONIES. 443
on thy banks not only saves himself, but also his ancestors,
the ancestors of his mother, and the ancestors of his wife.
Thou art material, thou art immaterial ! Thou art simple,
thou art compound ! Thou art the eternal source of all ! "
In another work, written especially to teach the virtues
of Ganga, called the Ganga Bakyabali, is the following :
"He who thinks upon Ganga, though he be 800 miles
distant from the river at the time, is delivered from all sin,
and is entitled to heaven. At the hour of death, if a person
think upon Ganga, he will obtain a place in the heaven of
Siva. If a person, according to the regulations of the
Sastras, be going to bathe in Ganga, and die on the road,
he shaU obtain the same benefits as though he had actually
bathed. If a person who has been guilty of killing cows,
Brahmans, his guru, or of drinking spirits, &c., touch the
waters of Ganga, desiring in his mind the remission of these
sins, they will be forgiven." The Skanda Purana says,
" that by dying in the Ganges, a person will obtain absorption
into Brahma." The same work contains a promise from Siva,
that " whoever dies in Ganga shall obtain a place in his
heaven." The Bhavishya Purana affirms that " if a worm, an
insect, or a grasshopper, or any tree growing by the side of
Ganga, die in the river, it will obtain absorption into
Brahma." The Brahma Purana says, " that whether a
person renounce life in Ganga, praying for any particular
benefit, or die by accident, or whether he possesses his
senses or not, he will be happy. If he purposely renounce
hfe, he will enjoy absorption or the highest happiness ; if he
die by accident, he wUl still obtain heaven." The Kurma
Purana says, " Those that consciously die on the banks of
the Ganges shall be absorbed into the essence of Brahma ;
whilst those who die there unconsciously shall go to the
heaven of Brahma." The Agni Purana declares that " those
who die when half their body is immersed in Ganga water,
shall be happy thousands of thousands of ages and resemble
Brahma."

444

DEATH, SHRaDHA, AND THE FUTURE LIFE.

With passages such as these, in what they beUeve to be
¦divinely inspired Scriptures, who can wonder that, in their
desfre to obtain for their dying friends the unspeakable
blessedness promised, the Hindus should act in a manner that
a,t first sight seems to indicate the absence of aU human feel
ing ? Where these statements are believed it is the greatest
charity to a sick friend to place him in such favourable cir
cumstances, even though they may increase his present pain
and materially shorten his present earthly life. In addition,
however, to these authoritative texts are stories commonly
told, and as implicitly believed, all tending in the same
direction. On the banks of the Bhagirathi there grew a
stately banyan tree, in whose ample foliage a paddy-bird
had made her nest. On a certain day the tree was torn up
by the roots by the violence of a storm. The bird was
destroyed, and its bones buried in the deep channel of the
Ganges. The paddy-bird in its next transmigration was
taken up to heaven, simply because its bones had been
accidentally deposited in the river, and there became one of
Indra's queens. But her residence there was not perpetual.
Her visit was extended in proportion to the time taken in the
decomposition of her bones. The time approaching for her re
turn to earth, Indra offered to her the choice of assuming what
ever shape she -wished. She selected the form of an elephant,
because its bones being of such an immense size, they would
occupy a longer time in decomposing than those of any other
a,nimal. She was accordingly born as an elephant, lived on
the banks of the Ganges, and when she died her body was cast
into its waters, and consequently she enjoyed the company
of Indra in his heaven for a countless number of years.
Having considered the authorities for the practice of the
Hindus in exposing the sick and dying, we shall now con
sider the way they usually act in order that their friends
may obtain the inestimable benefits promised. The account
I give is that of a Hindu gentleman in one of the essays
referred to before.

DEATH AND ITS ATTENDANT CEREMONIES. 445
" Whenever the disease of a native patient arrives at such
a stage as, according to the judgment of the native doctors,
renders any further attempt for his recovery fruitless, the
first thing that is suggested to his friends and relatives, as a
matter of duty, is to carry him to the banks of the river, or,
to use the homely phrase of the natives, 'to give him to
Ganga.' Here we must observe that in the minds of the
orthodox Hindus the carrying of their sick to the river is
at all times and under all circumstances reckoned as a higher
and a stronger duty than the seeking of means for their
recovery. Their reasoning on this head is very simple.
' Life and death,' say they, ' are in the hands of the gods ;
but the carrying of the sick to the river lies entirely in our
hands ; therefore we must first do our duty, let the doom
of the sick be as the gods may determine.' Such being the
state of the minds of the natives, the scene which next follows
is highly affecting. No sooner do the practitioners pro
nounce the case of a Hindu patient to be hopeless, than all
the members of his family, assisted by their neighbours,
begin with all haste and precaution to make preparations for
taking him to the river. These preparations consist in
bringing in that wretched imitation of a couch, called a khat,
for the dead, and, if it be night, a number of torches, in
sending for the old and experienced persons, and in giving a
general notice throughout the neighbourhood. In the mean
time the friends of the sick watch with great diligence and
anxiety over the progress of the disease ; but, alas ! not be
cause they care so much for his death, as for his dying at
home. When the necessary preparations are made, a piece
of cloth, the worst and dirtiest on the patient's bed, is spread
over the couch on which he is to be carried, and then he him
self is placed upon it. Now is presented the most moving part
of the scene. All the relatives of the sick man, the females
in particular, who, of course, are not allowed to go out of
doors, gather round his couch, beat thefr breasts and fore
heads ; some go to clasp their dying friend with their arms ;

446 DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
¦others, in the height of grief, fall flat on the ground;
whilst aU raise a noise, the shrillest that can be imagined.
Prom the midst of this most distressing scene the sick man
is brought out, not without much exertion, and carried to
the river, the bearers and attendants throughout the way
j:epeating loudly the names of the gods and goddesses
arranged for the purpose in a certain order.
" When they arrive at the banks of the river, they step
down the ghat, and lay their burden close to the waters of
the Ganges ; then they ask him to cast a look at her wide
expanse, and cause him to say that he has come to see the
Mother Ganges. He is then brought upon the ghat, where
either a low, damp, and miserable hut, or, as in some places,
.-a decent building, but crowded with a multitude of dying
people, and filled with all kinds of dirt and nuisance, re-
¦ceives him. Here he is taken from the khat and laid on
a miserable bed on the floor, surrounded by beings like him
self, whose shrieks and groanings disturb his repose at every
moment. A few minutes before his death he is again brought
-down to the brink of the river, where, half immersed in water,
lie gives up the ghost."
So far as this account refers to the circumstances of the
sick when they reach the river-side, I can bear testimony to its
absolute truthfulness. I have frequently seen men, women,
and children, lying under trees, exposed to the heat of the sun
by day, and to the cold at night, waiting for their death. In
some places, as stated above, are houses built for the recep
tion of the dying ; but they are open to aU who come, and
instead of the quiet and comfort of their home, in the hour
of nature's trial, they have added to their own pains and
anxieties the sight of others similarly situated. At one
place I saw two sick people who had lain on the river banks
for over three weeks, unwilling then to return home, as
their friends would be unwilling to take them. Sometimes
it happens that a sick man or woman, weary of their pains
and weakness, thinking that death is near, and hopeful that

DEATH AND ITS ATTENDANT CEREMONIES. 447
heavenly rewards wiU follow their passing away in a sacred
place, accept at once the suggestion that they shall leave
their home ; but in far greater numbers, when they see the
preparations for their removal, entreat to be aUowed to re
main in the peace and quietness of home. And as might be
expected, when once they hear that their friends consider
that the time for their removal has come, though hitherto
they have had hopes of their recovery, hope is turned to
despair, and they give themselves up to death.
Once only I saw what seemed to me nothing less than
murder, though it was, and still is, a common occurrence.
Eeturning to my boat late at night, I heard a great shout,
and, going to inquire about the cause, found that a poor old
woman was being hurried into eternity by her friends. She
iad been brought to the banks of the river, and when I saw
her was up to her waist in the cold water, whilst some other
women were filling her mouth with the mud. She died as
I stood there, and I confess it was hard to believe that these
people felt that they were acting kindly towards this poor
¦sick woman. Who knows whether in her case, as in thou
sands of others, proper care and attention might not have
prolonged her days ? It is morally certain that the treatment
she received shortened her life.
I shaU now pass on to another consideration ; this treat
ment of the sick is not only cruel, but destructive to human
life. In one of the essays before referred to the writer dwells
on this part of the subject, and having spoken of the evil
effect on the spirits of the sick, when by the actions of their
friends in removing them to the river they are told that all
hope of their recovery is given up ; of the painful effects of
the jolting in being carried on the ill-made khat, and of the
¦shouting on the way ; of the great injiuy they receive from
¦exposure to the sun, rain, or cold as they are being carried
in their weak state from their home to the ghat, and of
the certain evil effect of inhaling the vitiated air from the
23roximity of these ghats to the places where the dead bodies

448 DEATH, SHEADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
are burned, parts being frequently left unconsumed, which,
during decomposition, give off most hurtful gases ; he says,
" causes which singly would make any one sick, and com
bined would kill him, what is there to prevent the conclusion
being drawn that several at least out of many cases of the
sick would not prove fatal, if they were not brought out of
their homes and subjectedto the above insalutary influences ?
Many a sick man, we may safely say, dies solely on account
of being exposed to the insalubrious influence of the above
destructive agents — a fate which they would not meet,
were they suffered to lie at home. May we not, then, reckon
the natives who forcibly drag the sick to the river perpe
trators of a crime which amounts to nothing less than a
species of murder ? "
Here is an account of an actual case : " Some years ago
we had formed an acquaintance with a native youth. Among
a large class of boys, Eomonath was by far the fairest and
handsomest. On further acquaintance we found him intelli
gent and amiable. Our acquaintance with him continued for
several years. One morning we were told that Eomonath
was sick — so sick that he had been taken to the gh^t. At
the time the tidings were brought us we were conversing
with several friends, amongst whom was a medical gentleman.
We at once resolved to set off to see our young friend. The
day was one of extreme sultriness ; and after driving under
the conduct of a native guide through a perfect network of
narrow and filthy lanes, we reached the place, in a state of
greater exhaustion from heat than we remember ever to have
felt on any other occasion during a long residence in India.
We found the poor patient in a high fever, laid on the ground
in a little hut of mats erected for the occasion. He was
under the care of his father, who seemed almost stupefied at
the prospect of losing his darling, beautiful boy. Our
medical friend declared that the symptoms were scarcely
more severe than might have been expected to be produced
in a healthy patient by the treatment to which he was being

DEATH AND ITS ATTENDANT CEREMONIES. 449
subjected. Although this treatment had greatly aggravated
the disease, which must originally have been very slight, else
the patient must have died long before, his opinion was that
if it were possible to have the sufferer removed to a place
where he should have sufficient shelter, and to have him
under proper medical treatment, there was very little doubt
of a favourable issue.
" We willingly offered to convey him to our own house, and
to give him an apartment which he could occupy without
prejudice to his caste, and our medical friend as willingly
offered to attend him there ; but to this the father would not
consent. The next best proposal was to have him removed
to his o-wn house, where also medical attendance was freely
proffered ; but aU would not do. A consultation with Eome
Brahmans who were in attendance, completely turned the
scale in the father's judgment. On the one side were the
yearnings of a father's love ; on the other was the dread of
the disgrace that would be incurred were the son after all to
die at a distance fr-om the holy stream. After spending a long
time in ineffectual attempts to gain over the father, seconded,
as we thought, by the supplicating looks of the suffering son,
who, although he was unable to give more than monosyllabic
answers to the questions whether he would not like to go to
our house or his own, seemed evidently, by the earnest gaze
of his fine eyes, to be deeply anxious for the success of our
suit, we had no resource but to withdraw, having only gained
thus much, that the father consented, if we sent European
medicine, that he would permit his son to take it. This we
soon procured, and returned with it as speedily as possible ;
but on our return we found the hut demoUshed, and on in
quiring what had become of the sufferer, there was pointed out
to us a funeral pile, on which the lately beautiful body of our
young friend was already reduced to little more than a smaU
heap of ashes. This is a single case,fand one marked by no
features of singular atrocity ; but it is a fair and unexcep
tionable example of the way in which this truly murderous
30

450 DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
custom daily acts in kiUing scores of our feUow-creatures who
might otherwise survive, and in hastening the deaths of
hundreds, and in rendering miserable the last hours of
thousands." That it is a common practice for Hindus to get rid of
parents or other persons from whose death they may receive
some pecuniary advantage, I do not for a moment believe ;
but this custom of hurrying the sick from their home, and
immediately after death of burning the body, renders the
administration of poison a very easy matter ; and the legiti
mate practices on these occasions may certainly be employed
with success by those who wish to become possessed of the
property or position of their victim. That advantage is cer
tainly taken of the practice under consideration the foUowing
account wiU show ; this is a case where it happened that
there was an unlooked-for obstacle in the way. "A rich
native, who had been attended in various illnesses by a Euro
pean practitioner of eminence in Calcutta, was taken to the
ghat to die. Intimation of this fact having been in some way
made to the doctor, he hastened to the spot, and found him
only slightly indisposed. Observing that he was attended
by one only of the sections into which he knew the family was
divided, he immediately suspected there was foul play in
the case. On asking if the patient had made a wUl, and being
answered in the affirmative, he requested permission to read
the document. This being granted, he found, as he had ex
pected, that the testamentary disposition was entfrely in favour
of that portion of the testator's family who were now in atten
dance on him. With most praiseworthy imprudence he tore
the -wUl into shreds, and immediately the attendants consented
that the sufferer should be removed, it being now their interest
that he should recover and make a wUl, similar to the former
one, as it was formerly their interest that he should die."
From what has been said it is certain that the custom " pro
duces death in many cases, and probably hastens it in all,
while it opens up a way whereby the unnatural and murder-

DEATH AND ITS ATTENDANT CEREMONIES. 451
ously disposed may execute thefr foul purposes without the
possibiUty of detection."
In some diseases, such as cholera, there is a stage when
the pulse is scarcely perceptible, and the patient has all the
appearance of death ; and cases are on record where, in this
condition, the sick have been revived by the heat of the fire
that was kindled under them for the purpose of burning their
body ; and eye-witnesses have declared that the response to
this sign of returning life has been a murderous blow from a
bamboo, in the hands of some of the attendants. When it is
understood that it is accounted a disgraceful thing in the case
of a person once taken to the ghat to die for him to return
home, that it is taken as a sign that Ganga has rejected him,
it is easy to see how even this additional aid to death should
be given under the superstitious belief that they were acting
kindly rather than otherwise to their friend.
In former years a patient who recovered from his sickness
after being taken to the riverside was not permitted to rejoin
Jiis family, but being "rejected by Ganga," was also dis
owned by his family. A large village near Calcutta is
ocpupied by the descendants of these outcastes, who have
intermarried with each other, unmindful of thefr former
caste distinctions, because they were now equally regarded as
outcastes. But this practice has now ceased, the few who
survive this unnatural treatment being permitted to rejoin
their families.
The following extract from another and more recent Hindu
writer''' fully corroborates what has previously been said.
After giving a description of the ghats, where the sick are
brought to die, he says : " Can imagination conceive a more
dismal, ghastly scene ? Yet religion has crowned the practice
with the weight of national sanction, and thus deadened the
finer susceptibilities of our nature. Sad as this picture is, the
most staunch advocate of Liberalism can hardly expect to
escape such a fate. To a person accustomed to such scenes
* " The Hindus as they are," p. 258.

452 DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
death aud its concomitant agony loses half its terrors.
Instances are not wanting to corroborate the truth of this
painful fact. Persons entrusted with the care and nursing
of a dying man at the burning ghat soon get tired of their
charge, and, rather than minister to his comforts, are known
to resort to artificial means, whereby death is actually
accelerated. They unscrupulously pour the unwholesome,
muddy water of the river down his already choked throat,
and in some cases suffocate him. ' These are not the
ebullient flashes from the glowing caldron of a kindled
imagination,' but undeniable facts founded on the realities of
life. " The process of antajali, or immersion, is another name
for suffocation. Life is so tenacious in what the Hindus caU
old bones, or aged persons, that I have seen some persons
brought back home after having undergone this murderous
process nine or ten times in as many days. The patient,
perhaps an uncared-for widow cast adrift in the world,
retaining the faculty of consciousness unimpaired, is wilUng
to die rather than continue to drag on a loathsome existence,
but nature will not readily yield up the vital spark. . . .
In the case of an aged man, the return home after immersion
is infamously scandalous ; but in that of an aged widow the
disgrace is more poignant than death itself. I have known
of an instance in which an old widow was brought back after
fifteen immersions, but, being overpowered by a sense of shame,
she drowned herself in the river, after having lived a disgrace
ful life for more than a year. No expression is more frequent
in the mouth of an aged widow than this : ' ShaU I ever die ? '
Scarcely any effort has been made to suppress, or even to
ameliorate, this barbarous practice, simply because religion-
has consecrated it with its holy sanction."
The influence of this superstition is seen in other ways. I
have heard from most credible witnesses that they have seen-
pilgrims on the way to Saugor Island, and in other parts of
the Ganges, when they have fallen into the river, or their boat-

DEATH AND ITS ATTENDANT CEREMONIES. 453
has capsized, being allowed to dro-wn without the slightest
effort being made to save them by other Hindus near at
hand, under the impression that they would be doing an
injury to the drowning persons in taking them from the
sacred water. The writer of the article in the Calcutta
Review, before referred to, gives an account of his own
experience. When walking on the deck of a small boat his foot
slipped and he fell headlong into the river. His Hindu boat
men never attempted to rescue him ; but fortunately another
boat being near, he was dragged out of the water. When,
however, his boat reached the shore, his boatmen, who had
carried him over the muddy banks down to the boat, refused
to carry him up to the solid ground when he was leaving the
boat. Their excuse was this : "Was it not enough that we
carried you yesterday, mlecha though you be, must we carry
you now when Ganga refused to have you ? "
Having described the treatment of the dying, I shall now
pass on to notice the ceremonies connected with the burning
of the corpse.
"The sick man dies after a stay (say) of four days at the
ghat, suffering, perhaps, the most excruciating pangs and
agony frequently attendant on a deathbed. During these
days the names of the gods are repeatedly whispered in his
ears, and the consolations of religion are offered him with no
unsparing hand, in order to mitigate his sufferings, and, if
possible, to brighten his last hours. The corpse is removed
from its resting-place to the burning gh^t, a distance of a few
hundred yards, and preparations for a funeral pUe are
speedily made. The body is then covered with a piece of
new cloth and laid upon the pyre, the upper and lower
parts of which are composed of firewood, faggots, and a Uttle
sandal- wood, and ghi to neutralize the smeU. The Manipora
Brahman, an outcaste, reads the formula, and the son, or
nearest of kin, changing his old garments for new white
clothes, at one end of whichjs fastened an iron key to keep
off evU spfrits, sets fire to the pile. The body is consumed

454 DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
to ashes, but the navel remaining unburnt is taken out and
thrown into the river. Thus ends the ceremony of cremation.
The son, after pouring a few jars of holy water on the pile,
bathes in the stream and returns home with his friends." '¦=
On reaching home they all touch fire, and enter the house
with the cry, " Hari Bol ! " on their lips. This tells the inmates
that the last rites of their sick relative have been performed,
and is the signal for renewed expressions of grief. Those
who have once heard the cry of Hindu women at the loss of
husband or child will not easily forget it.
'When a Hindu dies at a distance from the river, if his
friends can arrange to do so, the corpse is carried to its
banks, and there burned. I have seen bodies carefuUy
wrapped in sacking that have been carried over thirty miles
for this purpose. Where the distance is too great, or the
expense too heavy for the family, after the body has been
burned nearer home, a part will be taken from the ashes and
thrown into the river.
Until recent years, the police regulations having now
removed the scandal, the scenes at the burning ghat, caused
by the outcaste Brahmans who have to repeat the mantras
before the body is burned, were most disgraceful. These
men, by reason of their office being regarded as unworthy
of respect by their fellow-Brahmans, have lost their self--
respect, and act like harpies in their efforts to extract
money from the friends of the deceased. The mantras must
necessarily be read, and the monopoly of this duty being in
their hands, disgraceful scenes of chaffering took place before
they would proceed with their work. Now, the legal price
has been fixed, and their unseemly squabbling at such a
time and place is at an end.
" From the time of his father's death to the conclusion of
the funeral ceremony the son is religiously forbidden to
shave, wear shoes, shirts, or any garment other than the
long piece of white cloth ; and his food is confined to a single
* " The Hindus as they are," p. 259.

DEATH AND ITS ATTENDANT CEEEMONIES. 455
meal, consisting only of rice, dhall, milk, ghi, and sugar,
which must be cooked either by his wife or mother, but it is
preferable if he can cook for himself; at night he takes a
little milk, sugar, and fruit. This regimen continues ten
days if the deceased be a Brahman, and thirty-one if a Sudra.
A married daughter, when her father or mother dies, mourns
for three days only. On the morning of the fourth day she
is enjoined to cut her nails and perform the funeral cere
mony for her departed parent."
In a hot and densely populated country like India there
is much to be said in favour of cremation, but in the manner
in which it is usually performed there certainly is not much
to commend it to Europeans. When the friends can afford
to purchase a sufficiency of wood to consume the body
thoroughly there is much that is repulsive. The body is
washed in a public place open to the gaze of bystanders.
Only a cotton garment is used to wrap round the body, and
when, as it frequently happens, the flames run along this,
the limbs are left exposed. But the poorer people cannot
provide wood sufficient to consume the body, and parts of it
are left for the jackals and vultures to complete the work.
The vicinity of a burning ghfit is strewed with human skulls
and other bones that have simply passed through the fire.
The whole scene is most painful and disgusting to any who
have not been brought up in Hinduism, and by familiarity
come to regard these things -with indifference.
In the account of the treatment of the dying and dead I
have simply introduced accounts by Hindu gentlemen of what
actuaUy takes place under such circumstances amongst their
own caste, I shall now add a few sentences from Colebrooke's
account of the religious ceremonies of the Hindus,"' more
especially of Brahmans, as taught in the Scriptures ; the
ceremonies, though varying a little in manner, are identical
in spirit and aim.
"A dying man, when no hopes of his surviving remain,
* " Essays," p. 97 ff.

456 DEATH, SHEADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
should be laid upon a bed of cusa grass, either in the house
or out of it if he be a Sudra, but in the open afr if he belong
to another tribe. When he is at the point of death dona
tions of cattle, land, gold, silver, or other things, according
to his ability, should be made by him, or, if he be too weak,
by another person in his name. His head should be sprinkled
with water drawn from the Ganges, and smeared with clay
brought from that river. A salgrama ought to be placed
near the dying man, holy strains from the Veda or from
sacred poems should be repeated aloud in his ears, and leaves
of holy basil must be scattered over his head." Instructions
then foUow respecting the washing of the corpse, the spreading
of a perfumed cloth over it, the carrying it to the place of
burning, and the preparation of the pile. When aU is ready,
if it be the body of a priest who has kept a sacred fire per
petuaUy burning in his house, the -fire to ignite the pile must
be brought from it ; but if not, then "it is only necessary to
avoid taking fire from another funeral pile, or from the abode
of an outcaste, of a man belonging to a tribe of executioners,
of a woman who has lately borne a child, or of any person
who is unclean."
When all its preparation is complete " a relative of the
deceased, taking up a lighted brand, must invoke by name the
holy places on the earth, and say, ' May the gods -with
flaming mouths burn this corpse ! ' He then walks thrice
round the pile, with his right hand towards it, and (if he be
a Brahman) shifts the sacrificial cord to his right shoulder.
Then looking towards the south, and dropping his left knee
to the ground, he applies the fire to the pile near the head
of the corpse, saying, ' Namo ! Namah ! ' whilst the attendant
priests recite the following prayer : ' Fire ! thou wert lighted
by him, may he therefore be reproduced from thee that he
may attain the region of celestial bliss. May this offering
be auspicious ! ' "
The burning must be so arranged that a few bones are
left unconsumed for the subsequent ceremony of gathering

DEATH AND ITS ATTENDANT CEEEMONIES. 457
the ashes. The other friends also throw into the fire a few
bits of wood, as an offering to Agni, as they say, " Salutation
to thee who dost consume flesh." Instructions are given for
the burning of the body of a Hindu by proxy when he may
have died far away from home or his body cannot be found.
In this case three hundred and sixty leaves of the butea tree,
or as many woollen threads are taken as his representative
aud burnt in place of the corpse.
When the body is reduced to ashes all the friends who
have taken any part in the ceremony must walk round the
ashes, bathe in the river, and change their clothes, and going
again into the water, after taking up a little in the hollow of
their joined hands, and naming the deceased and his family,
say, " May this be acceptable to thee ! " When this is done,
as a consolation to them the foUowing or other texts are
recited :
" Foolish is he who seeks permanence in the human state ;
unsoUd, like the stem of the plantain tree ; transient, like the
foam of the sea."
"When a body formed of five elements to receive the re
wards of deeds done in its own former person reverts to its
five original elements, what room is there for regret ? "
" The earth is perishable ; the ocean, the gods themselves,
pass away ; how should not that bubble, mortal man, meet
destruction ? "
" AU that is low must finally perish, all that is high must
ultimately fall, all compound bodies must end in dissolution,
and life is concluded with death."
" Unwillingly do the manes of the deceased taste the tears
shed by their kinsmen ; then do not wail, but diligently
perform the obsequies of the dead."
After a time the friends return home, the nearest relation
going first with a new earthen jar fuU of sacred water. At
or near the house the first part of the religious ceremony for
the deceased takes place. A suitable spot being prepared,
a ball of tila seed, boiled rice, honey, &c., is made and offered

458 DEATH, SHEADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
to the spirit of the departed with these words : " May this
first funeral cake, which shall restore thy head, be accept
able to thee ! " Again purifying the place and addressing the-
departed spirit with the formula, " May this apparel be
acceptable to thee,'' a woollen yarn is laid upon the cake. The-
next offers with the same formula a pot of water and tila
seeds. Some food is then laid upon a leaf for the crows.
Before entering the house the friends each bite three
leaves of nim, sip water, and touch a branch of Sami with
their right hands as the priest says, " May the Sami tre&
atone for sins ! " Each'mourner then touches fire whilst the
priest says, " May fire grant us happiness ! " In the evening
of the same day water and milk are suspended in vessels
before the doors of the house, and the words, " Such a one,
now deceased, bathe here, drink this."

CHAPTEE II.
THE SHRADHA, OR RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES FOR THE
BENEFIT OF THE DEAD.
In the previous chapter we have described the treatment of
the dying and the burning of the corpse ; we shall now con
sider the reUgious ceremonies that are ordained for the benefit
of the dead to be performed by their relatives.
In the case of old persons, or those who have been ill for a
long time, one ceremony called the Vaitarilrni rite is performed
before their death. This is called after the name of a river
which it is supposed the dead must cross ere they enter
heaven. Before the day arrives for carrying the sick man to
the river, money is given to a number of Brahmans in lieu
of a cow, rice, &c., that they may guide and assist him in
crossing the river. When this is not performed before death.
it forms part of the ceremonies at the Shradha.
Of all the ceremonies connected with the Hindu religion
the Shradha is the most important, and in some cases quite
equal in expense to a marriage. It takes place on tho
thirtieth day after the death of the person on whose behalf
it is celebrated. Its main features are the feeding of large
numbers of Brahmans and Hindus of other castes, and in
the presentation of offerings of food, sweetmeats, &c., to the
spirit of the person recently deceased, and his or her ances
tors. I shall give the particulars of these ceremonies first,
as they are taught in the Scriptures, and then add an account
of their ordinary observance in the present day. ,

460 DEATH, SHEADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
',' During ten days funeral cakes, together with libations of
water and tila, must be offered as on the first day, augmenting,
however, the number each time, so that ten cakes and as
many libations of water and tila be offered on the tenth day ;
and with this further difference, that the address varies each
time." "If the mourning last three days only, ten funeral
cakes must, nevertheless, be offered — three on the first and
last, and four on the second ; if it lasts no more than one
day, the ten oblations must be made at once. The difference
in the address consists in the mention of the part of the body
that is supposed to be restored by the cake. The first is
for the head ; the second is for the restoration of the ears,
eyes, and nose ; the third is for the throat, arms, and breast,
&c. During this time a pebble wrapped in a part of a sheet
that was laid over the deceased is worn by the heir, or nearest
of kin, suspended on his neck. To this pebble, as a type of
the deceased, the funeral cakes are offered. The same vessel
in which the first oblation was made must be used for aU the
others ; if it be broken, or the pebble lost, the rites must aU
be gone through a second time."
The relatives to the sixth degree ought to fast three days
and nights, or at least one day; the near relatives must
observe a partial fast as long as the days of mourning con
tinue, i.e., until the thirtieth day after the death occurred.
In some cases the funeral obsequies are hastened ; they may
be performed on the thfrd day after the body has been buried.
The first important duty after a Shradha, i.e., the offering
of a cake for the deceased, is the coUecting of the bones.
With many rites that it would be tedious to describe, a few
ashes or part of the corpse are collected and burned on the
banks of the river, whilst a bone is cast into the stream itself
Before going to the river, however, there is the feeding of
Brahmans, who have been invited to honour the family by their
presence. When these have eaten, the person performing
the ceremony places some cusa grass on the ground, and then
strews uncooked rice, tila, and ghi on it as the priest repeats

THE SHEADHA, OE CEEEMONIES FOE THE DEAD. 461
for him this prayer, " May those in my family who have been
burnt with fire, or who are alive, who are yet unburnt, be
satisfied with this food, presented on the ground, and proceed
contented towards the supreme path [of eternal bliss]. May
those who have no father nor mother, nor kinsman, nor food,
nor supply of nourishment, be contented with this food offered
on the ground, and attain like it a happy abode ! " After this
he again sanctifies the place of sacrifice and offers a cake to
his ancestors, asking them each to take a share. And again
naming the deceased person, he offers food, thread, &c., for
clothing; and then, having paid his fee to the priest, he lights
a lamp in honour of the dead person, and casts the food into
the fire, by which means it is supposed to reach those for
whom it was given. On his arrival at the burning place he
prays the gods to "convey the deceased to pleasing and
eternal abodes, and grant to him long life, health, and perfect
ease. " On the last day of mourning the nearest relation puts on
neat apparel, and causes his house and furniture to be cleaned ;
then, after offering the tenth funeral cake in the manner de
scribed, he makes ten libations of water from the palms of his
hands, is shaved, his nails are cut, and the clothes worn at the
funeral, and other remuneration, are given to the barber. He
anoints his head and body with sesamum oil, . . . sips water,
touches auspicious things, as stones, nim leaves, a cow, coral,
&c., and a bamboo staff, and returns to his home purified.
" The next day a second series of obsequies are commenced,
the interesting part of which is the setting free of a bullock
which is regarded as sacred. According to the circumstances
of the family, one, three, or more bullocks having been
branded with a trident, the mark of Siva, are turned adrift —
a custom reminding us of the scapegoat. These bulls are
deemed sacred, and allowed to go into the fields and eat the
grain. In some places, where the people are not quite so
superstitious, these are caught and sold. In Calcutta many of
these sacred animals are put to the ignoble duty of drawing

462 DEATH, SHEADHA, AND "tHB FUTUEE LIFE.
¦carts. The common idea is that as the bull was especially
¦dear to Siva, the person on whose behalf it is devoted wiU be
raised by its assistance to Siva's heaven. Presents are given
largely at these ceremonies to Brahmans and others ; and,
though not absolutely necessary to salvation, are believed by
the superstitious to be largely beneficial to those in whose
name or on whose behalf they are given.
" The first set of funeral ceremonies is adapted to effect,
by means of oblatiqns, the re-embodying of the soul of the
deceased, after burning his corpse. The apparent scope of the
second set is to raise his shade from this world (where it
would else, according to the notions of the Hindus, continue
to roam among demons and evil spirits) up to heaven, and
there deify him, as it were, among the manes of departed
ancestors. For this end a Shradha should be offered to the
¦deceased on the day after the mourning expfres ; twelve other
¦Shradhas singly, in twelve successive months, similar obsequies
at the end of the third fortnight, and also on the sixth and
twelfth months ; and the oblation called sapindana on the
first anniversary of his decease. At the sapindana this
prayer is offered, * May the mansion of those progenitors who
liave reached a common abode, and who have accordant
minds, foster him ; may the blessed sacrifice, sacred to the
gods, he his,'! and by their intercession may prosperity be
mine for a hundred years in this world. In most pro-vinces
the whole of these ceremonies are completed on the second or
third day ; after which the others are performed at the proper
times, but in honour of the whole set of progenitors, instead
of the deceased singly. Afterwards a Shradha is annually
offered to him on the anniversary of his decease."
Not only in connection with funerals, but on joyous occa
sions, especially at weddings, offerings are made to the de
ceased. By means of these the dead are supposed to share in
the festivities of the living members of their family. With
such benefits promised to those whose funeral rites are pro
perly performed, it cannot at all surprise any to hear of the

THE SHEADHA, OR CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 463
great anxiety of the Hindus for sons. Who but a faithful
son would take all the trouble and incur all the expense that
the proper performance of a Shradha involves ?
At the sapindana ceremony the worshipper generally offers
eight cakes : i.e., three for his paternal, and three for his
maternal, ancestors, and two for the Viswadevas, i.e., the gods.
Grasping his hand with the cusa grass on which they are laid,
a share is supposed to be given to his remoter ancestors. On
specially sacred, days, when Shradhas are performed, such as
Mahalaya, cakes are also offered separately to any deceased
relation or friend in whom the offerer is specially interested.
At Shradhas, Manu and other writers distinctly enjoin the
eating of flesh ; but many of the Hindus who object to this
declare that those laws are now obsolete ; or they make a
vow to abstain and regard the obligation of a vow as
superior to a command of the Scriptures. As a rule this order
is disregarded.
It will have been noticed that the laws given above speak
of ten days' mourning, and of the ceremonial defilements of
those who have had any part in a funeral for the same time ;
in the case of Sudras this time of mourning and defilement
extends to thirty days.
The teaching of the Vishnu Purana, similar in spfrit to the
above for Brahmans, and which is the rule followed by those
of other castes, is as follows : —
When the dead body has been washed, adorned with flowers,
and burned at the river-side, his kinsmen are to bathe with
their clothes on ; and looking towards the south, to make
offerings to the deceased as they say, " May this reach thee
wherever thou mayest be ! " For ten days the mourning is
continued,duringwhichthefriends are regarded as ceremonially
unclean ; on the first day one cake of cooked rice and spices
is made and offered to the deceased, on the second day, two,
and so on, each day increasing the number of cakes untU the
tenth day is reached, when Brahmans are feasted and the
impurity of the mourners is ended, a ball of rice being

464 DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
placed near the food that was prepared for the Brahmans as
an offering for the benefit of the deceased. This ceremony,
with the exception of feeding the Brahmans, is repeated
monthly for a whole year on the day of the month on which
the person died. At the end of the year the ceremony called
sapindana is performed. Here again cakes of food are prepared
for the deceased, and an interesting ceremony is performed,
by which it is supposed that the spirit of the departed be
comes admitted into the great company of ancestors who are
duly nourished by the offerings made by the devout who are
living on the earth. On this occasion four vessels of water
are provided, one of which represents the person on whose
behalf the ceremony is performed. The water is poured from'
this vessel into the other three, and thus the spirit of the
person recently deceased passes into the great crowd of an
cestors, to be worshipped and nourished by the offerings made
by the living. The persons qualified to perform these cere
monies are a son, grandson, great-grandson, nephews, or any
male relative ; but if these fail, then females, or whoever is
the inheritor of the property of the deceased. And it is this
quaUfication to perform the funeral rites of any one that
gives a title to the property of which he may die possessed.
But if these rites are neglected, the soul of the departed can
not enter into the company, nor enjoy the blessedness of the-
Pitris, or ancestors, who are made happy by the offerings of
their descendants.
In addition to the ordinary times specified above, it is
always allowable for a man to perform a Shradha, by which
the departed will be greatly benefited, and at some special
seasons a single offering of water and sesamum seeds will
content the Pitris for 1,000 years, yea, in some cases
for 10,000 years. And he who duly performs these cere
monies, and then bathes in some sacred stream, at once ex
piates all his own sins ; whilst offerings made at a sacred
shrine are peculiarly acceptable to the progenitors. In one
place it is taught that even the uplifting of the hands by

THE SHRADHA, OR CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 465
those who are too poor to give grain will prove a benefit to
the friends who have passed away. " He who grudges not
his wealth, but presents us with cakes, shall be born in a
distinguished family. Prosperous and affluent shall that
man ever be who in honour of us gives to the Brahmans — if
he is wealthy, jewels, clothes, land, &c., or who with faith
and humility entertains them with food, according to his
means, at proper seasons. If he cannot afford to give them
cooked food, he must give them uncooked ; or, in fact, such
gifts as he can give, however trifling they may be. Should
he be unable to do this, he can at least bow before a Brah
man and give him a few seeds, and pour out a little water
upon the ground ; or he can gather fodder for a single day
and give it to a cow ; or even if this be impossible for him,
he can go into the forest and lift up his arms to the sun, and
say : " I have no money, or grain, nor anything fit for an
ancestral offering. Bowing, therefore, before my ancestors,
I trust they will be satisfied with these arms thrown up in
the air in devotion." In the foUowing song, said to have been
heard sung by one of the Pitris (patriarchs), Gaya is mentioned
as the place where these offerings to the ancestors can be
most acceptably made: " Those of our descendants follow a
righteous path who shall reverently present us with cakes at
Gaya. May he be born in our race who shaU give us on the
13th of Bhadra and Magha, milk, honey, and ghi ; or when
he marries, or liberates a black buU (shar), or performs
any domestic ceremony agreeable to rule, accompanied by
donations to the Brahmans." In giving an account of Gaya
we mentioned that cakes offered there for deceased friends
and relatives are supposed to prove more beneficial than
those offered at home.
I shall now give a brief account of the Shradha ceremonies
as they are performed in the present day amongst other than
Brahman castes, from Mr. Bose's work "The Hindus as
they are." '¦' * P. 262, ff.
31

466 DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTURE LIFE.
About a fortnight after his father's decease, the son goes
into a calculation of the amount he ought to spend in
the proper performance of the funeral rites. Some of
the richer families are said to have expended as much as
j£20,000 over a funeral in gifts to Brahmans, schools, chari
table institutions, and the poor ; but as it is stated, in the
Sastras, that Eamachandra, one of the incarnations of Vishnu,
satisfied his ancestors by offering to them balls of sand for
funeral cakes, it is taught that the poor can obtain equal
benefit to themselves and ancestors without going to any
very great expense. A poor man in these days is held
to have performed a proper Shradha by making an offer
ing of rice, tila seed, and a little fruit, and by feeding one
Brahman only — a ceremony that costs him only about four
rupees. When twenty days have passed, the son, accompanied by
a Brahman, walks barefooted to invite his friends and others
whom he wishes to be present at the ceremony. On the
thirtieth day he and the near relatives who have been re
garded as ceremonially unclean, owing to the death of the
deceased, now are shaved, have their nails cut, and put on
clean clothes. On the thfrty-first day he goes to the river to
bathe, and as religious mendicants are ever on the watch for
such people, they clamour for presents, declaring that unless
their demands are satisfied, the departed cannot enter heaven.
In a well-conducted Shradha the son has to provide silver
plates and drinking vessels, also a bed and clothing to be
given away as presents to the Brahmans who may honour
him with their presence.
When the guests have assembled, amongst the Brahmans
will be a number of men who possess some knowledge of
Sanskrit. A Shradha is one of the field-days for these gentle
men, who beguile the weary hours before the feast takes
place with argumentation on some knotty point in Sanskrit
grammar or Hindu philosophy.
" From eight o'clock in the morning to two in the after-

THE SHRADHA, OR CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 467
noon, the house where a Shradha is going on is crammed to
suffocation. A large awning covers the open courtyard, pre
venting the free access of air; carpets are spread on the
ground for the Kayasthas and other castes, whUst the Brah
mans, by way of precedence, take then- seats on the raised
Thakurdalan, or place of worship [i.e., the place where the
images made for special religious festivals are set up). The
presents, with a salver of silver, are arranged in front of the
audience, leaving a little space for the musicians, male and
female, which form the necessary accompaniment of a
Shradha, for the purpose of imparting solemnity to the scene.
, . . The guests begin to come in at eight o'clock, and are
courteously asked to take their appropriate seats — Brahmans
with Brahmans, Kayasthas with Kayasthas, &c. ; the servants
supplying them with hukhas (pipe) and tobacco. . . . The cur
rent topics of the day form the subject of conversation, while
the hukha goes round the assembly with great precision and
peculiarity." For each caste a special hukha is preserved,
all of the same caste using the same. " The female relatives
are brought in covered palanquins by a separate entrance
shut out from the gaze of the males."
About ten o'clock the ceremony commences, the priest
reading the texts, the son repeating them after him. This
occupies about an hour, after which many take their leave,
whilst others remain for a share in the gifts to be distributed.
And often most unseemly disputes arise amongst these learned
men in the division of the spoil. As some of the Brahmans,
though present at the Shradha, will not eat in the house of a
Sudra, they carry home with them uncooked food and other
presents. On the following day the Brahmans and others are fed. It
is this feast that is supposed to restore the son and other
relatives of the dead person to ceremonial purity. Besides
those specially invited, it is no uncommon thing for as
jnany more to come uninvited to partake of the good
things. The food that is provided for these feasts is com-

468 DEATH, SHEADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
posed of what is regarded as sweetmeats, and not rice, the
ordinary food of the people. To eat rice with a man is
to acknowledge equality of caste ; but these sweetmeats
may be eaten without the ordinary caste restrictions being
broken. On the next day the Kayasthas and other castes are fed,
and, if possible, on this day there is a greater crush and con
fusion than on the Brahmans' day. On the morning of the
next day the mourning for the deceased is considered over.
After some hours of music in the house by professional
singers, the son and nearest relatives having anointed their
bodies with oil and turmeric, remove from the house what is
called a brisakat, and fix it on the ground near the house.
The brisakat is a painted log of wood about six feet long, on
which a figure of an ox is rudely cut. This is a sort of
monument to the memory of the deceased. After this they
bathe, return home, put on their ordinary dress, and sit down
to an ordinary meal.
I shall close this description of the funeral ceremonies with
an account form the Statesman of Calcutta, of a Shradha per
formed there September 20, 1882, as this was one of the
most celebrated of modern times, and gave rise to a most,
interesting discussion on the subject of Hinduism in the daily
papers of Calcutta.
" The Shradha ceremony or requiem service of the
Dowager Maharani, widow of the late Maharajah Kali
Krishna Bahadur, and grandmother of the Maharajah.
Harendra Krishna Bahadur, was held last Sunday morning.
"It was performed in the spacious quadrangle of thoi
Eajbari (palace), one of the largest in Calcutta. The quad
rangle was very tastefully and elaborately decorated, . . .
and presented the unusual spectacle of a stately ddnsdgar
(ocean of gift), consisting of sixteen sets of beds, sixteen sets
of silver plates and utensils, the plates of each separate set.
bearing a thousand rupees in silver. There were, besides,.
with each set, shawls, broadcloth, tusser silk, and silk dhuties.

THE SHRADHA, OE CEEEMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 469
and chadars (clothes for men). These articles were all
arranged on the east side of the quadrangle ; on the south
were heaps of brass utensils of every description, symmetri
cally arranged. There was also a palanquin and a horse.
"All these were dedicated to the service of the family idol,
Gopinathji [i.e., Krishna), who was brought out and placed on
a silver throne over the musmid (or platform), to hallow the
service with his sacred presence. Nearly 4,000 Adhyapaks,
or Professors of Hindu Logic, Philosophy, &c., were invited to
the convocation from the principal tols, or educational
institutions of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. Besides these, in
vitations were issued among 1,600 of the Maharajah's friends
and acquaintances in different parts of Bengal, amongst whom
482 were of the Kayastha caste. . . . The hour fixed for
the service was 8 a.m., and by that time the streets in the
vicinity of the Eajbari presented a scene of animation and
bustle." Then follows a long list of the principal guests
invited. " The company having been seated, Eaja Harendra
Krishna, being the oldest of the Maharani's grandchildren,
obtained leave with folded arms, according to Hindu custom,
from Maharajah Komul Krishna Bahadur, as the head of the
family, to perform the Shradha ceremony. The Maharajah,
before according permission, had himself to obtain the leave
of the convocation. During the performance of the ceremony,
which lasted about half an hour, the whole assembly remained
standing. The Vedic benediction having been pronounced
by all the Brahmans present in a body, the assembly slowly
dispersed. In the evening some ten to twelve thousand
beggars received charity in the shape of a small coin. On
the second day over 2,000 Brahmans were fed ; on the third
day the Kayasthas had a feast ; whilst some 3,500 ladies
partook of a banquet on the fourth day. The fifth and last
day the tenants and domestics were entertained." The
Maharajah of Travancore, in writing to excuse himself from
the ceremony, said, " It is a source of satisfaction to you that

470 DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
she died attended with all the observances prescribed in
your holy Sastras." The Maharajah of Doomraon,} writing
on the same occasion, refers to her as " according to our holy
Sastras, she has been able to breathe her last on the banks
of the Hoogly whilst reciting the name of her god."

CHAPTEE IIL
JUDGMENT— REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT.
The belief in life after death is universal amongst the Hindus ;
and the opinions as to its nature do not differ materiaUy in
the different sects. In brief, it is as follows : When the soul
forsakes the body, according as the conduct has been good or
evil, it ascends to heaven to enjoy the rewards, or sinks into
heU to suffer the penalties attached to the deeds committed.
After a longer or shorter period it returns to the earth in a
lower position than in the previous life if the evil pre
ponderated, or rises to a higher condition than formerly
if the good outweighed the evil ; and again is rewarded or
punished, until finally it attains to that condition wherein it is
fit to return to the Supreme Spirit whence it came, and
of whom, all unconsciously, it was but a part throughout the
ages of its separate existence. However low in the scale a
soul may be, by faithfully fulfilling the duties of that con
dition it will in due time rise, though the process may
extend over millions of years. As all have come out from
God, to Him they must eventually return. In the case of
some there may be an uninterrupted rise from the lowest to
the highest ; in others there may be a much more protracted
course, owing to the evils committed in certain stages, which
have caused them to sink in the scale of being ; which failures
must be counteracted by penance and good works in succeed
ing stages. I shall now give the teachings of Hinduism on
this subject at length.

472 death, shradha, and the future life.
In the Vedas the doctrine of the immortality of the soul
is not very prominent. The great desire of men in that
age was worldly prosperity ; the " powers of the world to
come " did not exert any great influence upon the community.
Agni and Soma, two of the great gods of that age, are in
some hymns spoken of as givers of immortality to mortals ;
and liberality in bestowing gifts was considered as the most
certain means of attaining it. Still, in speaking of the
departed, they are said to ascend to the Pitris, or fathers, as
though it was believed that those who had passed away from
the world were still living in other worlds.
Yama is regarded in these hymns as the king of the
spirit-world, and the rewarder of the faithful, but not as the
punisher of the guilty ; in fact " there is very little mention
of hell in the Veda." There is a reference to the dogs of
Yama which guard the way to his abode, and the worshippers
are exhorted to hurry past them with aU speed. This Yama
is at once the lord of the spirit-world, and the first of mortals
who passed through death to glory, and is consequently
addressed by men as the guide to immortality. He was the
son of the Sun, and Saranya, the daughter of Tvashtri, the
architect of the Vedic gods. When Yama and Yami, his
twin-sister, were born, their mother, in terror of the intense
brightness of her husband, left a beautiful woman — a
counterpart of herself — with her children in her husband's
house, and, transforming herself into a mare, hoped to
remain unknown. But her husband, penetrating through
her disguise, transformed himself into a horse, and they became
the parents of the Asvins (the Twins). She then changed her
self into other forms, with a similar result ; they became the
progenitors of the various classes of animals.
Eeference is made to the way in which Agni, as the god
of Pire, whilst consuming the bodies of the dead, did not
destroy them, but sent their several parts to heaven, there
to form another body, all which parts are said to go to heaven
by different routes : " Do thou, Agni, burn up or consume

judgment  EEWARDS AND PUNISHMENT. 473
the deceased ; do not dissolve his skin or his body. When
thou hast matured him, send him to the Pitris. When he
shall reach that state of vitality, he shall fulfil the pleasure
of the gods. Let his eye go to the sun, his breath to the
wind. Go to the sky, and to the earth, according to the
nature of thy several parts ; or go to the waters, if that be
suitable to thee ; enter into the plants with thy members.
As for his unborn part, do thou, Agni, kindle it with thy
Jieat, let thy flame and thy lustre kindle it ; with those forms
of thine which are auspicious, convey it to the world of the
righteous. Give up again, Agni, to the Pitris, him who comes
to be offered to thee with oblations. Putting on life, let him
approach his remains, let him meet with his body." *
In the following quotation from the Brahmana portion of
the Veda, it is taught that the gods, once mortal, have
become immortal ; and further, that death is the only way of
obtaining immortality left to mortals :
" The gods lived constantly in dread of Death,
The mighty Ender ; so with toilsome rites
They worshipped and performed religious acts
Till they became immortal. Then the Ender
Said to the gods, ' As ye have made yourselves
Imperishable, so will men endeavour
To free themselves from me ; what portion, then,
Shall I possess in man ? ' The gods replied,
' Henceforth no being shall become immortal
In his own body ; this his mortal frame
Shalt thou still seize ; this shall remain thine own.
Ho who through knowledge or religious works
Henceforth attains to immortality.
Shall first present his body. Death, to thee.' " t
As noticed above, Yama, in olden time, was regarded as
the rewarder of those who had faithfully discharged their
duties in life ; now, in addition to this, he is worshipped as
Death, ever on the watch for victims, by whom his kingdom
¦* " The Vedic Eeligion," p. 55.
t " Indian Wisdom," p. 34.

474 DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTURE LIFE.
may be filled with subjects, and as the cruel judge who con
demns the wicked to receive the penalties of their evil doings
in the various hells over which he reigns. The following
description of Yama on his judgment throne is from the
Padma Purana :
" At the extremity of the earth southward, floating on the
waters, is Sangryamani, the residence of Yama, the judge of
the dead, and of his recorder, Chitragupta, and his mes
sengers. " Those who perform works of merit are led to Yama's
palace along the most excellent roads, in some parts of which
the heavenly courtezans are seen dancing and singing, and
gods and heavenly choristers are heard chanting the praises
of other gods ; in others, showers of flowers fall from heaven.
There are houses containing cooling water and excellent
food, pools of water covered with flowers, and trees which
afford fragrance and shade. The gods are seen riding on
horses or elephants, or carried in palanquins and chariots,
some of whom, from the glory emanating from their bodies,
illumine the ten quarters of the world. Yama receives the
good with much affection, and feasting them with excellent
food, thus addresses them : ' Ye are truly meritorious in
your deeds ; ye are wise ; by the power of your merits ascend
to an excellent heaven. He who, born in the world, performs
meritorious actions is my father, brother, friend.'
" The wicked have 688,000 miles to travel to the palace of
Yama to receive judgment. In some places they pass over a
pavement of fire ; in others, the earth in which their feet sink
is burning hot ; or they pass over burning sands, sharp
stones ; also burning hot showers of brass instruments, burn
ing cinders, scalding water, and stones, fall upon them.
Burning winds scorch their bodies ; now they faU into
hidden wells, or pass through narrow passages in which
snakes lie concealed. Sometimes they are enveloped in
darkness, their road winding through trees with thorny
leaves ; or they have to walk over broken pots, bones.

JUDGMENT  REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT. 475
putrefying flesh, or sharp spikes; whilst tigers, jackal?,
giants, &c., beset them. They travel naked, their hair is
disordered, their throats and lips are parched, and their
bodies are covered with blood and dirt. As they walk some
are wailing, some weeping; horror is depicted on every
countenance. Some are dragged along by leathern thongs
round their necks, waists, or hands ; some are dragged by
their hair, ears, or feet ; others, again, are carried with their
heads and feet fastened together.
" On arriving at the palace they behold Yama clothed with
terror, '240 miles in height, his eyes distended like a lake of
water, with rays issuing from his purple body. His voice is
loud as thunder, the hairs of his body are as long as palm-
trees, a flame proceeds from his mouth. The noise of his
breathing is greater than the roaring of the temjjest ; his
teeth are exceedingly long, and his nails like the fan for
winnowing corn. In his right hand he holds an iron club,
his garment is formed of animals' skins, and he rides on a
terrific buffalo. Chitragupta also appears as a terrible mon
ster, and makes a noise like that of a warrior about to rush
into battle. Sounds terrible as thunder are heard, as punish
ments suited to offences committed are ordered on the
offenders. "Addressing the criminals before him, Yama says, 'Did
you not know that I am placed above all, to award happiness
to the good, and punishment to the wicked ? Have you never
given your minds to religion ? To-day with your own eyes
you shall see the punishment of the wicked. From age
(yuga) to age stay in these hUls. You have pleased your
selves with sinful practices, endure now the torments due to
these sins. What will weeping avail you ? ' Yama next
calls on Chitragupta, the recorder, to examine into the
offences of the criminals, who demands the names of the wit
nesses ; let them give their evidence in our presence. Yama,
smUing, though fuU of rage, commands the Sun, Moon, Wind,
Pire, the Heaven, Earth, Waters, Day, Night, Morning, and

476 DEATH, SHRiDHA, AND THE FUTURE LIFE.
Evening, and Eeligion, to appear against the pfisoners, who,
hearing their evidence, are struck dumb, and remain trembling
and stupefied with fear. Yama then, gnashing his teeth,
beats the prisoners with his iron club till they roar with
anguish ; after which he drives them to different hells." '•'
There are four kinds of happiness for the faithful after
death. 1. Entrance into the heaven of one of the gods.
Most of the gods are said to have a heaven of their own to
which they raise their worshippers after death. Here they
remain to enjoy the fruit of their meritorious acts for a longer
or shorter time, according to the amount of merit they have
acqufred by their good deeds. The works which raise a man
to share in the glories of one of the heavens for a number of
years are the following : honouring, serving, giving gifts to
Brahmans, repeating the names of the gods, especially that of
thefr own special deity. Visiting or residing at holy places,
and performing the worship that prevails there. Performing
Shradhas for deceased ancestors. Bathing in the Ganges and
other sacred streams. Offering sacrifices, building temples,
cutting roads, excavating tanks, planting trees, especially
sacred ones ; making and setting up images for worship.
Eeading and hearing read the Veda if a Brahman ; reading
or hearing the Puranas, if not entitled to the privilege of read
ing the Veda. Honouring a guru, or religious preceptor.
Hospitality to guests. Burning with a deceased husband.
Dying in a sacred place.
2. Deification.
It is taught that by the performance of certain sacrifices,
e.g., the Asvamedh, or horse sacrifice, mortals could attain to
the position of Indra, or king over the gods : but this position
could be held only for a certain time ; they were in danger of
being compelled to yield their throne to any who by virtue of
greater austerity or costliness in sacrifice proved themselves
more worthy of the honour. * Ward, vol. iii. p. 376.

JUDGMENT  REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT. 477
3. Dwelling in the immediate presence of the gods.
Though myriads may through their good works gain en
trance for a time into some heaven, it does i^ot follow that all
would be equally honoured there. As there are gradations
in the quality and quantity of good works done by men on
earth, so the position of those who enter heaven is graded,
and also the duration of their stay in heaven. Those who
have performed the greatest number of the best works not
only wiU remain through a more lengthened period, but will
obtain nearer access to the god who has received them into his
abode. These three forms of heavenly bliss are terminable, and
when the years of bliss to which the recipient is entitled pass
away, he must be re-born into the world, and pass through
another trial, starting from a higher level than at the com
mencement of the previous life, the reward of which he
has now enjoyed. None of the low-caste people have any
immediate hope of attaining the highest blessedness of
heaven. This is exclusively for the Brahmans ; at any rate,
the highest bliss of all can only be reached by them. The
Sudra's hope is that by reason of his good works he may
perhaps have a little term of enjoyment in heaven, and then
reappear on earth in a higher caste, until at length, coming
here as a Brahman, he may know the Vedas, and then pass
to the summit of bliss attainable by mortals. It is, indeed,
a long vista that opens out to the view of the low-caste people,
as the Sastras speak of thousands of lives that must be
spent, even by those whose onward march is uninterrupted
by a single failure.
4. Absorption.
This is the final end, the summum bonum of the Hindu
religion, when the soul, losing its identity, is re-absorbed
into Divine Essence, as a drop of water falling into the
sea loses its separate existence. This comes chiefly
through knowledge. Good works may raise a man from the
lower stages of existence, and bring him into that state

478 DEATH, SHEi^DHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
where the sources of knowledge are available to him ; but
knowledge — i.e., knowledge of the soul's identity with God,
and the destruction of Maya— i.«., the illusion that the soul
and God are separate — is the way of obtaining this iu-
i -estimable boon. I have seen men who profess to have
found this knowledge, and who expect when they pass
away from this world never again to be born into it. The
end of their course has now nearly come. Generally they
are intoxicated with hemp, or their minds, through utter
neglect, have become a perfect blank. As by not using a
limb it becomes incapable of action, so, by ceasing to think,
they have become incapable of thought. Pleasure and pain,
cold and heat, hunger and thirst, they have ceased to know ;
they are just animated matter, or little more. These have
attained to the height of perfection, according to the system
of Hinduism, and are now fit for absorption into deity ; and
once absorbed, they have no longer to endure birth and
death, and all the pains and vicissitudes of life. Their
-course is honourably ended.
That I have not overstated the condition of the "perfect"
being, the following quotation from the Bhagavata Gita
will show. Krishna is represented as speaking to his friend
and companion Arjuna in praise of the man " who forsaketh
¦every desire that entereth his heart, who is happy in him
self, who is without affection, who rejoices neither in good nor
evil, who, like the tortoise, can restrain his members from
their wonted purpose, to whom pleasure and pain are the
same." The Vishnu Purana, describing the condition of those in
heaven, says : "Not in hell alone do the souls of the deceased
undergo pain ; there is no cessation even in heaven ; for its
temporary inhabitant is ever tormented with the prospect of
descending again to earth, and again must he die. What
ever is produced that is most acceptable to man becomes a
seed whence springs the tree of sorrow." And asks. Whore
could men, scorched by the sun of this world, look for feUcity

JUDGMENT  EEWARDS AND PUNISHMENT. 479
were it not for the shade afforded by the tree of emancipa
tion ? This is the remedy for the ills of life, for it only is
absolute and final. It goes on to teach that this blessedness
is attainable by knowledge and works. Knowledge is of two
kinds — that derived from Scripture, and that which results
from meditation : knowledge obtained from Scripture or
any extraneous source being compared to the light of a
candle, whilst that which comes from reflection is as the
light of the sun. In one place men are urged to obtain light
from both sources, as they together form a pair of eyes by
which a man is able to see the Supreme. The superiority of
meditation, or Yoga, is explained in the following story :
""There were two kings, one most spiritually-minded, intent
by knowledge to obtain final liberation ; and the other seek
ing the same end by good works. These two fought, the one
possessed of divine knowledge conquering the one more
given to good works. It happened one daythat a cow of the
conqueror was killed by a tiger in the forest, but the king
not knowing how to make expiation for the offence was most
miserable ; and to add to his difficulty he was told that
.none but the king whom he had just conquered could
enlighten him. So to this king he went, and though his
counseUors urged him, in revenge, to slay his conqueror and
regain his kingdom, he refused to do so on the ground that
by this he would regain a mere earthly kingdom, whilst he
would lose a heavenly. He decided, therefore, to forgive his
foe, and give him the desired information. When the king
had made the penance prescribed he was still uneasy in his
mind, and found out that this arose from the fact that he had
paid no fee to his preceptor. So he again repaired to his
former foe and offered to give a fee. The only one that
the king could consent to accept was this : that he should
give him instruction in meditation — how to effect it, and the
benefits that would arise from it. The king complies and
assures him that he who devotes himself through several suc
cessive lives to meditation on the Divine Being will at length

480 DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTURE LIFE.
lose himself in the ocean of deity. The two kings obtained
absorption ; the one who conquered the world handed over
the whole to his son, and went to live a hermit's life in the
forest, to carry on the life of meditation he had commenced
years before ; the other, ceasing from trusting in his own
good works, lived amidst objects of sense without regarding
them, and instituted religious rites without expecting any
advantages to himself. Thus by the two different roads the
two rivals finally were admitted into the ocean of deity."
I shall now pass on to give the description of some of the
heavens wherein those who have done things worthy of
reward expect to enjoy the blessedness attached to these
works. Swarga, the heaven of Indra, is thus described in the
Mahabharata. It is situated on Mount Meru, which the
Hindus regard as the centre of the earth. It is supposed to
be somewhere to the north of the Himalayahs. The heavens
of the other deities are situated near to it. It has beautiful
houses for its happy inhabitants to occupy, and its splendour
is unequalled in the universe. Its gardens are stocked with
trees, which afford a grateful shade, yield the most luscious
fruits, and are adorned with beautiful and fragrant flowers.
Most beautiful nymphs (apsarasas) charm the inhabitants;
whilst choristers and musicians, unrivalled in the universe,
discourse the sweetest music. The city, which was built by
Visvakarma, is 800 miles in circumference and 40 miles
high. Its pillars are diamonds; its palaces, thrones, and
furniture, pure gold.
Vaikuntha, the heaven of Vishnu, is similarly described in
the same book. It is 80,000 miles in circumference, and
has streets of gold, its buildings being formed of jewels,
the pillars and ornaments of which are precious stones.
The crystal waters of the Ganges fall from the higher
heavens on the head of Druva, from thence into the
hair of the Seven Eishis, and from there they flow as a
river through the city. There are five pools bearing blue,

JUDGMENT  REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT. 481
red, and white lotuses. On a seat glorious as the meridian
sun, sitting on white lotuses, is Vishnu, and on his right hand
Lakshmi, his wife, who shines like a continued blaze of
lightning, and from whose body the fragrance of the lotus
extends 800 miles.
Kuvera's * heaven is much the same, and is described by the
same writer. It is 800 miles long and 560 broad. The wind,
perfumed by ten thousand odours, blows in soft breezes ; and
the palace, adorned with gold and jewels, displays a glory like
the rays of the full moon. Here are canals of pure water
filled with fish, water fowl, lotuses, &c., with gh^ts made of
gold ; and forests in which Kuvera and his courtezans divert
themselves. Prom his treasury the other deities supply
themselves with ornaments. Kuvera is there surrounded
with gods and goddesses, and hosts of other beings, such as
musicians, singers, and dancers. All the pleasures of the
other heavens are to be found here.
With the same Oriental extravagance employed in the
description of the various heavens, the several heUs are also
painted. It is said that there are 100,000 hells, each class
of offenders being cast into one place, where the appro
priate punishment is given. I shall briefly mention some of
the many forms of punishment threatened, with the offences
for which they are to be inflicted. This list is from the Sri
Bhagavata. Those guUty of fornication and adultery, and
those guilty of stealing children, are to be cast into Tamisra,
or the hell of darkness. The proud, who neglect the ceremonies
of reUgion, are to go to Eowrava, where they will be tor
mented with animals eaUed rurus, The glutton is to be cast
into a hell of boiling oil. He who disregards the Veda and
Brahmans is to be punished in a heU of burning metal for
3,500,000 years. He who injures a man of superior caste is
to be torn by swine. The unmerciful are to be tormented by
snakes, -flies, wasps, lice, &c. The Brahmans (male and
female), the saint, Vaishya, or king, who drinks spirits will be
* The god of wealth.
32

482 DEATH, SHEADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
thrown into pans of liquid fire. He who despises a religious
mendicant shaU be punished by sticking fast in mud with his
head downwards. He who kiUs a man and offers him to the
gods, and he who eats an animal that has not been sacrificed
to the gods, are to be fed on flesh and blood. He who betrays
and then destroys a person is to be pierced with spears and
arrows. He who is inhospitable to guests must have his eyes
torn out by vultures. The covetous are to be fed with im
pure food. The person who professes different religions, and
is famiUar with people of other castes than his own, is to be
punished by being continually thrown down from lofty trees.
Highway robbers and poisoners are to be bitten by ravenous
dogs. False witnesses are to be cast from rocks 800 miles
high. It must be borne in mind that these punishments are in
flicted only on those who have not offered the atonements
provided for all these classes of sins, or have not accumulated
merit by the performance of good deeds, by which the sins
with their punishments could be wiped off. Punishment
awarded by a magistrate is a sufficient atonement for most
offences. Sins atoned for in this life will not bring punish
ment in the next.
There is an interesting story in the Mahabharata to show
the impossibility of escape from the punishments inflicted by
Yama on those who come under his authority. Eavana, the
demon king of Ceylon, who carried off Sita, the wife of
Eama, had gained such power by his religio,us acts as to have
become a universal conqueror. One day he thought of the
suffering souls in hell, and determined to go there and
effect their release. As soon as the news of his approach
reached Yama he sent offers of submission to the great con
queror, who, seeing the condition of the lost, and his ears
being pierced with their cry, said : " I have conquered the
three worlds ; there is nothing which my power has not per
formed. It wiU be a glorious thing to set all these wretches
at liberty." He spoke to the miserable souls, and hope

JUDGMENT  REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT. 483
sprang into thefr breasts ; but when he caUed them to come
forth, and with his twenty arms tried to assist therd to escape,
as fast as he pulled them out they fell back. At length he
saw that even he could not reverse the decree by which they
were doomed to suffer.
Having considered the rewards of the righteous and the
punishment of the wicked, so far as thefr condition in another
world is concerned, we come now to speak of the teaching
of Hinduism concerning a further reward or punishment,
viz., the re-bfrth of human souls into the world for further
trial, either in a better or worse position than that they occu
pied in the hfe for which they have either been rewarded or
punished by Yama — the transmigration of souls.
The teaching of Manu is most explicit on this subject. In
order to understand it clearly it wiU be necessary to give
rather fully his views of man's organism and also his classi
fication of morals. I shaU give as briefly as possible an out-
Hne of his scheme.
Actions are of three kinds — mental, verbal, and corporeal ;
and they bear good or evU fruit according as they are good
or e-vil. " Prom the actions of men proceed their various
transmigrations in the highest, mean, and lowest degrees."
These three classes of actions are iUustrated as foUows : mental
actions are, " planning to appropriate another's wealth, resolv
ing on some forbidden deed, and conceiving notions of atheism
or materiaUsm ; " verbal actions are, " scurrilous language,
falsehood, backbiting, and useless tattle; " corporeal actions axe,
"taking goods not given to us, hurting sentient creatures
without the sanction of law, and adultery." As the acts are
either mental, verbal, or corporeal, so are the punishments
for those acts. For corporeal sins a man will assume after
death a vegetable or mineral form ; for verbal, the form of a
bfrd or a beast ; and for mental, the lowest of human con
ditions. But a man who exerts this threefold self-command
with respect to all animated creatures, whoUy subduing both
Just and wrath, shaU by these means attain beatitude.

484 DEATH, SHRiDHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
Man has two souls — the one answering to the living soul,
the other to the spirit. At death the soul takes to itself
another body, like the one that is burned, by means of which
it can enjoy the rewards or suffer the penalties of the actions
of life. According as good or evil deeds preponderate -will
the after condition of men be determined.
There are three qualities — viz., goodness, darkness, and
passion, one or other of which is the prevaUing character of
every soul. Goodness is true knowledge; darkness, gross
ignorance ; and passion, all emotions of desire or aversion.
The soul in which goodness prevails is given to the study of
the Scriptures, devotion, corporeal purity, command over the
organs, meditation on the Divine Spirit. The soul in which
darkness prevails is given to covetousness, indolence, avarice,
detraction, atheism, a habit of soliciting favours, and in
attention to necessary business. The soul in which
passion prevails is given to possess interested motives for
acts of religion or morality, perturbation of mind, selfish
gratification. These qualities determine the position the possessors of
them must occupy in their foUowing bfrth. " Souls en
dued with goodness attain always the state of deities ; those
with passion the condition of men, and those immersed in
darkness the nature of beasts." Each of these classes is
again subdivided into three minor classes, and according to
the amount or force of the prevailing quaUty wUl their posi
tion be higher or lower in the grade into which they are
born. The gradation of these classes is given as follows : —
I. Darkness. Class 1. Vegetable and mineral substances,
worms, insects, and reptiles.
,, 2. Elephants, horses, men of mlecha {i.e..
non-Hindu) nations.
,, 3. Dancers and singers, bfrds and deceitful
men, and savages.
II. Passion. ,, 1. Actors. Those addicted to gaining and
drinking.

JUDGMENT  REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT. 485
Class 2. Kings, warriors, controversialists.
,, 3. Heavenly musicians and servants of
gods.
III. Goodness. ,, 1. Hermits, religious mendicants, Brah
mans, and lower gods.
„ 2. Sacrificers, sages, deities of the lower
heaven.
,, 3. Brahma, the genius of -virtue.
Then follows a most minute account of sins, and the form
the soul wiU receive in its next birth as a punishment for
committing them. After torture for a number of years they
re-enter the world, and a new start in their almost infinite
career is given them. Thus a Brahman slayer must, accor
ding to the circumstances of his crime, enter the body of a
dog, boar, ass, camel, buU, goat, sheep, stag, bird, or a chan
dala (outcaste). A priest who has drunk spfrits shall migrate
into the form of a worm, or insect, or of some ravenous
animal. He who steals the gold of a priest shall pass 1,000
times into the bodies of spiders, snakes, or chameleons. If
a man steal grain in the husk he shall be born a rat (there
is some sort of analogy between the crime and the punish
ment). If a man steal water he shaU be born a diving bird;
or flesh-meat, a vulture. Women who have done similar
evil deeds incur a similar taint, and shaU be mated with
those male beasts in the form of their females. FaUure to
discharge religious duties wiU be punished by migration into
sinful bodies and servitude to their foes.
After separation from the material body the spiritual body
assumed answers all the purposes the other would serve ;
and the pains endured by the soul are the same as they
would be if it were still united to it.
According to Manu the knowledge of God is the best of
all sciences, because it insures immortality, and saves the
soul from this almost endless succession of births and deaths,
whilst ceremonial duty secures prosperity in this life and
bliss in heaven. But even ceremoniaUsm, properly per-

486 DEATH, SHRADHA, AND THE FUTUEE LIFE.
formed, may, in the long run, also save a man from the
necessity of reappearing on earth. When a man performs
acts of worship with the object of obtaining some special
benefit, such as rain, or some reward in heaven, he gains
only what he seeks — some temporary blessing here, and a
temporary residence in heaven ; but when he has no special
boon to gain, and, moved only by a desfre to please the gods,
frequently performs ceremonial acts of religion, he too -will
be rewarded with the highest bliss, and is for ever exempt
from a body, the source of all ills to man.
Such, then, is the teaching on this subject as it was given in
a book said to contain the essence of the Vedas, and which
has been for over 2,000 years the highest religious authority
of the Hindus. On this subject, as on others, the imagina
tion of the later writers has exerted itself, and in thefr books
the doctrine has developed to an astonishing length, as the
following passage from the Agni Purana will show. Here we
are taught the length of time, or rather the number of births
a soul must pass through, before it can reach the highest
position. The man must be very sanguine who entertains
the hope " in far-off years " to attain to absorption into the
Supreme Brahma.
" A person who loses human birth passes through 8,000,000
births amongst inferior creatures before he can appear again
on earth as a human being. Of these he remains 2,100,000
among the immovable parts of creation, as stones, trees, &c. ;
900,000 amongst the watery tribes ; 1,000,000 amongst
insects, worms, &c. ; 1,000,000 amongst birds; and 3,000,000
amongst the beasts. In the ascending scale, if his works be
suitable, he lives 400,000 Uves amongst the lower castes of
men, and 100 amongst Brahmans. After this he may
obtain absorption into Brahma." ¦•'
Another work, called the Karmavipaka, enters into parti
culars as follows: — "He who destroys a sacrifice wiU be
punished in hell, will be born again as a fish, in which state
* Ward, vol. iii. p. 324.

JUDGMENT  REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT. 487
he wiU continue for three years, or, re-assuming the human
form, he wUl be afflicted with disease. He who kUls an
enemy conquered in war will be cast into the hell Krakacha ;
he wiU then successively appear on earth as a bull, a deer, a
tiger, a bitch, a fish, a man ; in his human form he wiU die
of palsy. He who eats exceUent food without giving any to
others wiU be punished in heU for 30,000 years, and then be
born as a musk-rat, a deer, and then as a man whose body emits
an offensive smell, and who prefers bad to good food. The
man who refuses to give his father and mother the food
they desfre wiU be punished in hell, and then be born as a
crow, then as a man who can relish no kind of food. The
stealer of a water-pot wUl be born as an aUigator, and then
as a giant. The man who has lived with a woman of
superior caste wiU endure torment in heU through countless
ages, after which he wUl be cast into a second hell, where for
100,000 years he will burn Uke a blade of grass ; he will next
be born as a worm, and then as a man afflicted with disease.
The stealer of rice will first sink into hell, live eighteen years
as a crow, twelve years as a heron, and then regain his human
form, but always be afflicted. He who slays an animal not
intended as a sacrifice wiU, in the form of a turtle, suffer in
hell, then appear on earth as a buU, and then again as a man
with an incurable distemper. He who strangles an animal,
or laughs at the reading of a Purana, will, after punishment
in hell, be first born as a snake, then as a tiger, then as a
cow, then as a white heron, then as a crow, and then as an
asthmatic man. A beautiful woman who despises her hus
band -wiU suffer a variety of torments in hell ; she wiU then
be born again as a woman, and, losing her husband soon after
her marriage, wUl long suffer the miseries of widowhood." *
I The belief in previous and successive births is universal
I amongst the Hindus, though they freely admit as a rule
' that they bring with them no memory of their former lives.
When a parent is distracted with sorrow at the illness or
* Ward, vol. iii. p. 392.

488 DEATH, SHEADHA, AND THE FUTURE LIFE.
loss of a child, or when his business does not prosper, or
tribulation of any kind faUs upon him, his first thought is,
Which of the many gods have I offended ? What religious
duty have I neglected? If nothing can be remembered,
nor can any one suggest how it is that he is thus afflicted,
the common reflection comes — This sorrow is a punishment
of some sin committed in a former birth. As it seems to me,
this idea must largely tend to make them careless as to
morals. Their present condition may be a reward for good
conduct, or a punishment for evil. Who can tell ? And in
conversation with learned and ignorant, priest and people, as
I have spoken to them concerning the future, I have received
only one answer to the question. What -wUl be your condi
tion in your next life ? They say, with sorrow and pain,
" God knows ; we cannot say. If our present life is good,
we shaU be happy ; if evil, we shall be miserable ; " but
whether they have reason to hope or fear, they confess
they are unable to say. No word of the gospel, , as
far as my experience goes, meets the wants of the Hindu
more than this : " He that believeth on the Son hath ever
lasting life." The assurance that the Christian has of forgive
ness of sin, and the certain hope of blessedness in heaven, is
certainly one of the most attractive words the Christian can
offer to the Hindu.

THE END.

INDEX.

A.
Abortion, Practice of, 429.
Absorption into deity, 477.
 How attainable, 479.
Abusive language. Use of, 402.
Adi Somaj, The, 111.
Aghoris, The, 89.
Agni, Address to, 472.
Ajiva, A Jain division of existences,
101.
Annaprasan, The festival of, 13.
Ancestors,' Daily prayer for, 200.
Arya Somaj, The, 110.
Astrologers, The choice of names
by, 15.
 The work of, 27.
Atkauri ceremony, The, 11.
B.
Beating, 435.
Benares as a place of pilgrimage,
240.
Benares, why holy, 244,
Bengalis, Character of the, 420.
Bhakta Mala, The, 57.
Bhaktas, The, 52.
Bhagavatas, The, 52.
Bhagirathi, Worship of the, 218.
Bhuvaneshwara, The shrine of, 293.
Biith and its ceremonies, ^.

Bisheshwar, The temple of, 248.
Brahmo Somaj, The, 106.
 of India, The, 112.
Brahman, Position of the, 127.
 Privileges of the, 130.
 Daily duties of the, 195.
Brahmans, Classes of the, 170.
Brahmachari, The, 131.
Buddhism, The rise of, 37.
 The persecution of, 39.
Buddhistic councils, 38.

Cakes, The Feast of, 234.
Caste, General remarks on, 123.
 Distinctive marks of, 126.
 Teaching of Sastras concern
ing, 126.
 History of the growth of, 139.
 Probable origin of, 145.
 as it now exists, 158.
.  as seen in the Christian
Church, 165.
 Methods of regaining, 167.
 Eules disregarded at Puri,
285.
 at Bhuvaneshwara, 297.
 Births through which a soul
passes in rising from lower to
higher, 156, 486.

490

INDEX.

Castes, Struggles for supremacy
amongst the, 157.
 Position of people in the
mixed, 164.
— — • Proportion of people in the
mixed, 173.
Chaitanya, 73.
Changes of Hinduism, 37.
Chakrinas, The, 52.
Charan Dasis, The, 81.
Charak Puja, The, 235.
ChUdbirth, Purification after, 12.
Confidence, Want of, in man, 408.
Cooked food. Ceremony of, 3.
Covenant of Adi Somaj, 112.
 The New Dispensation, 117.
 ¦ The Sadharan Somaj, 118.
Creation, Vedantic account of, 49.
Cremation, 453.
Crime, 419. D.
Dacoity, 435.
Dadu Panthis, The, 67.
Dakshinas, The, 92.
Dais, or caste committees, 161.
Dandis, The, 84.
Dasahara, The festival of, 219.
Dasnami Dandis, The, 85.
Dead, Treatment of the, 439.
Deities, Change of, 44.
 Special, lauded in the Pura
nas, 45.
 Theolder,notnowwor3hipped,
54.
Devendra Nath Tagore, 108.
Devotion of the Hindus, 240.
Dhenki, Worship of the, 218.
Digambaras, The, 104.
Dishonesty, 401.
Dol Jatra, The, 235, 286.
Durga Puja, The, 227.
Dying, Treatment of the, 445.

E.
Ekodasi, Figure of, at Puri, 279.

F.
Family system of Hindus, The, 21.
Fate, 320.
Festivals, Eeligious, 214, 304.
Filial respect, 416.
First-fruits, The feast of, 233.
Forgery, 407.
Funeral ceremonies, 439, 455.
G.
Ganapatyas, The, 97.
Ganga Sagar, 253.
Ganges, kymn to the, 260, 442.
 Carrying water from the, 261 .
 Benefitof dying near the, 441.
Ganga, " Eejected of," 451.
Gaya, 262.
Ghataks, or marriage brokers, 345,
Ghat murders, The, 447.
Ghentu, the god of itch, 235.
Girls, Worship as taught to, 341.
Gods, How made immortal, 473.
Good works. The benefit of, 485.
Gopal, Worship of, 212.
Govinda Singhas, The, 99.
Grihastha stage. The, of Brahmans,
131.
Grihini, The, 25.
Guests, The duty of feeding, 201.
Guru, The, 26.
 Initiation by the, 28.
 Power and infiuence of, 31.
 Teaching given by the, 301.

Hanging, common form of murder,
429.

INDEX.

491

Heaven, 476, 480.
Hell, 481.
 Impossibility of escape from,
480.
Heroes, Worship of, 343.
Hinduism, Changes in form of, 38.
 Difficulty of defining, 56.
 absorbing the aborigines, 176
Hindus, Daily duties of the, 201.
Holiness of God admitted, 316.
Home, The Hindu, 17.
Home instruction, 299.
Horoscope, The, 15.
House, Description of a Hindu, 17.
 of a Eyot's, 19.

Image worship, 215.
Immorality, 412.
Incarnations, Belief in, 317.
Indifference to other religions, 42.
Industry, 414.
Infanticide, 431.
Ingratitude, 897.
Initiation into Hinduism, 28.
Instruction in Hinduism, 299.
J.
Jagaddhatri, Festival of, 233.
Jagannatha, Worship of, 220, 223.
 Shrine of, at Puri, 268.
 a form of Buddhism, 273.
 Images of, 281.
 • Festivals of, at Puri, 284.
Jains, The, 99.
Jangamas, The, 87.
Janmasthami, Festival of, 290.
Jatras described, 224.
Jayadeva, Legend of, 58.
Jiva, a division of existence amongst
the Jains, 101.
Julana Jatra, The, 224.

K.

Kabir Panthis, The, 64.
Kali Ghat, 252.
Kacha Sad, Ceremony of, 3.
Karta, The, 23.
Karta Bhojas, 80.
Kartikeya, Worship of, 233.
Karmahinas, The, 53.
Kayasthas, The, 159.
Keshub Chundra Sen, 110.
Khakis, The, 67.
Kshatriyas, The, 135.
Kil, 67.
Kiratis, The, 95.
Krishna Puja, The, 343.
Krishna treatment of women. The,
8.
Kulinism, 179.
Kuvera's heaven described, 481.

Lakshmi, Festival of, 231.
Lying-in-women, Treatment of, 8.

M.
Madhwacharis, The, 72.
Mahatsava, 79.
Maluk Dasis, 67.
Man, Vedantic account of, 49.
Manasa, Worship of, 225.
Mankarnika well. The, 250.
Mantras, The, 28.
Manu, as an authority, 331.
Marriage ceremonies, 345.
Maya, 318.
Merit, Eeligious, 312.
Mira Bais, The, 71.
Morals, 395.
Moral Law not found in Vedantism,
51.
Murder, Characteristics of, 421.

492

INDEX.

N.
Nagas, The, 82, 99.
Name-giving, 13.
Names of the gods, Eepetition of
the, 203.
Namkirton, an act of worship, 79.
Nahusha, 151.
l^andotsaba. Festival of, 226.
New Dispensation, The, 114.
Nirmalas, The, 99.
¦ 0.
¦Ola Bibi, the goddess of cholera,
235. P.
Panchamrita Festival, The, 3.
Pantheon, Changes in the, 44.
Pantheism, 319.
Paramhansas, The, 88.
Parental love, 417.
Parasurama, 155.
Patience of Hindus, 415.
Penance, Power of, 314.
Perfection of manhood, 478.
Perjury, 403.
Pilgrimage, 240.
 Benefits of, 250, 256, 265.
Pipa, Legend of, 64.
Poitra, Investiture with the, 28.
Poisons, Use of, 422.
Polygamy, 179.
Poor Law, not found in India, 26.
Poushali, 234.
Puranas, Sectarian character of the,
46.
Priest, The family, 26.
Puri, The shrine of, 268.
 Hindu period, 270.
-- — Buddhistic period, 272.
 Vaishnava period, 273^
.  Building of temple at, 274.

Puri, Licentious character of wor
ship at, 276.
 The work of pilgrims at, 277,
 Miracles at, 278.
Purification of women after child
birth, 12. E.
Eadha Vallabhis, The, 81.
Eai Dasis, The, 68.
Eajputs, Description of the, 420.
Eamanujas, The, 59.
Eamanandis, Tlie, 61.
Eama Mohun Bai, 106.
Eamayana account of caste. The,
143.
Eamrayas, The, 98.
Easa Jatra, The, 233.
Eath Jatra, The, 223, 288.
Eeading of the Sastras, The, 306.
Repetition of the names of the gods,
310.
Eeligious ideas conimon to all Hin
dus, 314.
Eevenge, 411.
Eewards and Punishments, 471,
477.
Eivalry amongst the deities, 45.
Eudra Sampradayis, The, 69.
S.
Sati, Account of, 377, 381, 388.
 Supposed origin of, 422.
Sadharan Somaj, The, 118.
Saivism, Eise of, 40.
Saivite Sects, 53, 83.
Sadhus, The, 104.
Saktas, The, 91, 208.
Sakhi Bhasas, The, 81.
Salgrama, The, 202, 321.
Sankara'g excuse for teaching idola
try, 55, 84.,

INDEX.

493

Sankirton, The, 79.
Sanyasis, The, 81, 133.
Sanjuti Vrata, 844.
Sasthi, 7, 221.
Sarasvati, Festival of, 284.
Satasanka, a name for childbirth, 5.
Satnamis, The, 105.
Satapada Brahmana quoted con
cerning caste, 141.
Saurapatas, The, 97.
Sects, Eemarks on Hindu, 41, 56.
 existing in 14th century, 58.
Sectarianism of the Puranas, 45.
 Eepudiation of, by Hindus,
46.
Shyama, Festival of, 231.
Shitala, The goddess of small-pox,
235.
Shrines, Conduct of pilgrims at,
242.
Shrine, Formation of a new, 248.
Schools, Hindu teaching in, 301.
Sick, Exposure of the, 440.
Shradha, The, of a Brahman, 265,
459.
 of a Kayastha, 465.
 Account of a recent celebrated,
468.
Sikhs, The, 97.
Siva Narayanas, 105.
Siva, Worship of, 293.
 Festivals of, 294.
Siva Puja for girls, 341.
Spashtha Dyaks, 80.
Snan Jatra, The, 220, 287.
Sons, Desire of Hindus for, 91,
338.
Son-in-law festival. The, 223.
Sravakas, The, 102.
Sri Sampradayis, The, 59.
Subhachini, Worship of, 12.
Suthreh Shahis, The, 99.
Sudras, Position of the, 137.

Supremacy of one God, The, 291,
309.
Suicide, 429.
Swarga, Siva's heaven, 480.
Swetambaras, The, 103..

Thakur, a deity worshipped by preg
nant women, 5.
Temples, Worship at, 209.
Temples, Plan of Hindu, 210.
Thugs, 423.
Torture, 435.
Transmigration of souls, 483.
Tulsi Dass, a Hindu poet, 57.
U.
Udasis, The, 98.
Ulta Eath Festival, The, 223.
Uncooked food ceremony, The, 3.
Unity of the godhead, 315.
Untruthfulness, 399.

Vaishnavas of Bengal, The, 72.
Vaishnavas, The, 52.
Vairagis, The, 82.
Vaishyas, The, 137.
Vaikuntha, Vishnu's heaven, 480.
Vallbhacharis, 69.
Vamacharis, The, 93.
Vanaprastha, the hermit, 132.
Vayu Purana on caste. Brahman,
stage of a, 142.
Vedantists, The, 49.
Vena, 151.
Vidhata, 10.
Vishnu Swami, 69.
Vedic deities forgotten, 54.
Visvamitra, 152.

494

INDEX.

Vishnu Purana on caste, 142.
 Benefits from worshipping,
811.
Vindu Sagara lake, 298.
Vows, 339,

W.
Widows, Cruel treatment of, 364.
 Burning of, 877.
Woman, Teaching of Law Books
respecting, 327.
 Position of, in early times,
335.

Woman in the home, 355.
.  duty towards husband, 358.
 Uneducated, 361,
 Improvements in position of,
374.
Worship, 193.
 how sustained, 298.
 Objects sought by, 308.
T.
Yama, The god of Hades, 472.
Yatis, The, 102.
Yogis, 86.

VN-W'IN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON.

HINDU MYTHOLOGY,
VEDIC AND PURANIC.
BY
W. J. WILKINS,
¦ LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY, CALCUTTA.

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED BY ENGBAVINOS FROM DRAWINGS BY
NATIVE ARTISTS.

PEICE 10/6.

THACKEE AND CO., 87, NEWGATE STEEET,
LONDON, E.G.

eez^Q