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ILLUSTRATED.
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NEW YORK:
DOUD, MEAD, AND COMPANY,
751 BROADWAY.
Copyright, 187b, Dodd, Mead, 6^ Company.
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Press of Rand, Avery, and Company, Boston.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. A Bhestie or Water-carrier ... frontispiece.
2. Jac Tree page 7
3. A Brahmin ii
4. Hindoos 14
5. Hindoo Girls, High Caste 15
6. Hand Prayer Mill 25
7. Water Prayer Mill 27
8. Burning Ghaut 29
9. Parsee 33
10. Fakirs 36
11. A Fakir 37
12. Banyan Tree 43
13. A Bungalow 46
14. A Water Carrier 48
15. Native Huts 49
6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
i6. Bullock Garry 52
17. A Palanquin ; 53
'18. Travellers' Bungalow 55
ig. Thatched Boat 57
20. Bombay One-man Cart 58
21. Sail Boat of Malabar 59
22. Indian Railways 61
23. The Cobra 63
24. Serpent Charmer 65
25. The Himalayas 71
26. A Himalaya Bridge 74
27. Street in Calcutta, European Quarters 77
28. Street in Calcutta, Native Quarters 79
29. Cyclone on the Hoogly ... 81
30. A Street Barber 85
31. The Ganges at Benares 88
32. Benares 91
33. Street in Benares 93
34. Interior of Taj at Agra 98
35. A Rebel Camp 105
36. Scene of the Massacre at Cavvnpore 109
INDIA.
QTRETCHING
southward far
into the Indian
Ocean hes the pen-
insula of India, the
great eastern em-
pire of England.
The kingdoms of
Europe, France,
Spain, Germany,
.. all sink into insig-
S^^^^'^S^^a^'S^^^^JrC-^ nificance beside it.
jAc TREE. It is larger than
them all put together. Its greatest length
north and south and its greatest breadth east
8 INDIA.
and west, are over eighteen hundred miles ;
while it has a coast line of over four thou-
sand miles.
When we come to examine the country
itself, we find that everything is on a scale
proportioned to its vast size. It has three
great rivers over a thousand miles in length, it
has vast deserts covered with arid sands, it
has mountain peaks whose summits are white
with everlasting snows, while all its vast
plains are peopled with a swarming multitude.
In this country there are five times as many
souls as in the United States, or over two
hundred millions. Of what races this host
is made up, we shall proceed to see.
Many centuries before the Christian era,
vast hordes came from the north-west of Asia,
and driving out the inhabitants of India over-
ran and settled the land. Of the conquered
INDIA. 9
race some few descendants have survived, and
may be found in parts of the country to-day,
but they are the lowest in point of intelli-
gence of all its inhabitants, and but little
better than animals. Their new masters, the
Hindoos, soon acquired great wealth and
power, and reigned for many centuries undis-
turbed. The Institutes of Manu, as they are
called, written in the ninth century before
Christ, are a code of civil laws, which were,
however, believed to have all the weight
of the most holy inspiration. From them
we learn the social condition of the people at
this time. According to these all Hindoos
are divided into four classes :
Brahmins, who sprang from the head of
Brahma, to whom the priestly office belonged.
Kshatriyas, who sprang from the shoulders
of Brahma, and who are the warrior class.
lO INDIA.
Vaisyas, who sprang from the loins of
Brahma — this class included all merchants,
lawyers, doctors, etc.
Sudras, who sprang from the feet of
Brahma — the followers of all such trades as
were forbidden to the classes above them.
Did any man belong, to any one of these
classes, it was the will of God that had
placed him there ; to attempt to change his
condition would be impious. Each class was
fenced in with all manner of regulations. To
the Brahmins belonged the interpretation of
the holy books, and we may well believe that
they so interpreted them as to confirm them-
selves in power. To touch a Brahmin was
death ; to render him assistance was sufficient
atonement for almost any sin.
Tlic Institutes of Manu declare that he
'' who barely assaults a Brahmin with intent to
INDIA.
II
hurt him, shall be whirled about for a century
in hell. Never shall a king slay a Brahmin,
though convicted of all possible crimes ; let
him banish the offender from his realm, but
BRAHMIN.
with all his property secure, and his body un-
hurt. A Brahmin, whether learned or ignorant,
is a powerful divinity, even as fire is a power-
ful divinity, whether consecrated or popular."
12 INDIA.
Two per cent, interest only could be
asked from them on loans. They were not
allowed to obtain wealth except by intel-
lectual means, though they could receive
presents, and as to them belonged the power
of blessing and cursing, we can easily fancy
that they did not fall into poverty. To the
three higher classes belonged the title, '' twice
born," but to the poor Sudra belonged
neither title nor wealth — it was the will of
God that he should be ever a servant, and
in beggary.
Such was the composition of Indian
society, and such it remained till nearly the
seventh century, when the Mohammedans
began to attack the country on its north-
western border, and after varying successes
carried on through several centuries, at last
obtained the mastery, and ground down the
INDIA. T3
poor Hindoos beneath them. For a thousand
years they ruled, until finally the East India
Company, incorporated by the English gov-
ernment, which had gained a foothold in the
land, gradually brought it all under the
English sway.
Modern Indian society is therefore com-
posed of many discordant elements, Hindoos
and Mohammedans, each in turn conquerors
and conquered, unite in hating the English.
The laws of caste which the code of Mj.nu
laid down, are still as rigorously enforced
as in his days nine hundred years before
Christ, but in the twenty-seven centuries
that have passed since then, they have be-
come much complicated and somewhat
changed. The Sudra is now no longer a
beggar, he may be a wealthy merchant, but
his social position is not one particle raised,
14
INDIA.
and the Brahmin may be poor and perhaps
occupy a menial position, but he is none
the less " twice born." A recent traveller
tells of how in Calcutta he saw a wealthy
Sudra merchant who had in his employ a
Brahmin as porter, but the rich man could
HINDOOS.
never pass his servant without a gesture
denoting the greatest deference. No crime
can cause one to lose his rank. Only in one
way can this be done, by eating with one
of another class or by violating some similar
INDIA. 15
ceremonial law. The offender does not de-
scend in rank, but becomes an outcast, de-
spised alike by every one, and shunned by
every one, for he who should receive him
HINDOO GIRLS {High Caste).
would himself become an outcast. The same
traveller tells us that while in India a hi^h
caste Hindoo was present at an entertainment
1 6 INDIA.
given by some Europeans, and partook of
some food in their presence. For this he
lost caste, and only regained it after paying
a heavy fine, humbling himself before an
idol with presents and performing other de-
grading offices. There is not a Hindoo in all
India who would not consider that he had
lost caste by eating with any sovereign of
Europe.
One of the greatest agents in breaking
up the system of caste is the railways. The
Indians are fond of travel, and sooner than
undergo the delays of the days when rail-
ways were not known, they put their pre-
judice aside, and the Brahmin, who formerly
thought it pollution to have a Sudra sit upon
the same mat, may be seen quietly sitting
beside him in the cars.
India is especially the home of strange
INDIA. ty
gods, for the Hindoos are worshippers of
many idols. In the single Presidency of Bom-
bay are over twenty thousand idol temples,
while it is said that in all India the deities
and objects considered sacred, amount in
number to nearly thirty million.
Our only way to explain how all this
superstition came, is to go back to far dis-
tant ages, and see what the earliest records
tell us of the primitive rehgion of the people.
We find then, that many hundred centuries
before Christ, there was believed to be one
God, Brahme, who was all powerful. At the
present day the educated Hindoo believes
in this god as superior to all the many
thousands worshipped. His attributes were
Brahma, the creative power — Vishnu, the
preserving power — and Siva, the destroying
power. It was but a short time before these
l8 INDIA.
attributes became separate gods. Hindoo
imagination made each of them real persons ;
it gave them wives who became goddesses,
to be worshipped, and sons and daughters
to become a new race of heavenly beings to
whom divine honors should be paid. Vishnu,
they tell us, ten times took the form of man,
and each form in which he appeared is rev-
erenced as a god.
Then, seeing that matter could not be de-
stroyed, for instance that wood when burned
did not disappear, but only changed its form,
they looked on matter as eternal, and wor-
shipped it. There is a fire-god Agni, while
water is perhaps the most prominent element
in the Hindoo religion. The Ganges is an
object of double worship since, in addition to
its divine character, it is especially holy, as it
sprang from the head of the god Vishnu.
INDIA. 19
The sacred stream is never without its thou-
sands of worshippers, who hasten to wash
away all sin in its purifying waters. From
the indestructibihty of matter they soon
argued that the soul could not be destroyed,
but that it must pass on for endless ages,
entering either the body of man or of animal.
Some sects even go so far as to wear over
their mouths a cloth lest they may breathe
in some insect and thus perhaps destroy a
former friend or relative, while others carry
long brushes with which they carefully sweep
the ground before them, lest an unfortunate
step should crush a soul. With such views
it may be imagined that they look with hor-
ror on eating animal food. The heavens
were worshipped and many individual stars,
while the sun was a mighty ^od. One sect
ntver eat in the morning until they have
20 INDIA.
worshipped him, and always fast while he is
hidden behind the clouds. The seasons of
the year, coming with unfailing regularity
seemed to them divine, and the reproductive
power of Nature, under the emblem of the
Lingam, has more worshippers than any other
god in India. Sometimes the gods were
symbolized by animals. Thus Laksmi, the
wife of Vishnu, is represented by the cow —
Vishnu by the fish, and so on, and thus these
animals became gods. The story is told of
a devout Brahmin who had wandered as far
north from his country as St. Petersburg, and
who was seen watching a number of boys
fishing. When any fish was caught, he has-
tened to buy it, and reverentially returned
it to the water. Trees are worshipped, and
often what seem to the foreigner but pol-
ished stones, to the natives' mind are
INDIA. 21
emblems of their gods. To the Brahmins
belongs the right of performing all the offices
connected with the temples and worship of
these many gods, and to them alone is to be
laid the sin of this^ idolatry. It has been
devised and in every respect is arranged to
benefit them at the expense of the millions
whom they keep in ignorance.
The festivals of these gods and goddesses
are celebrated with great splendor and with
varying rites. The cruel goddess, Kali, is
supposed to be especially delighted with hu-
man suffering, and her devotees practise upon
themselves all manner of cruelties, cutting
themselves with knives and even swinging in
air by means of a hook thrust through the
fleshy part of the back.
On her altars, before the strong arm of
the English rule intervened, human victims
22 INDIA.
were offered, and this fearful goddess, repre-
sented by a statue surrounded with serpents,
her long hair erect and her four hands each
holding a dissevered human head, was satis-
fied only with the blood of young men in the
prime of life. Before the victim was struck
down, the priest saluted the statue, crying :
" Hail, Kali, goddess of thunder, iron scep-
tred, hail, fierce Kali, cut, cut, slay, destroy,
drink blood ! destroy, destroy ! " Hardly less
fearful were the rites of Juggernaut. An eye-
witness of the festival of this god in the days
when the East India Company ruled, gives a
vivid picture of it. For miles before he
reached the spot, the road was thronged
with pilgrims, thousands in number. At the
appointed time the idol was brought from the
temple, and placed upon an enormous car
sixty feet in height, to which six long cables
INDIA. 23
were attached, by which it was to be drawn.
Thousands seized the cables and dragged the
huge car, which moved slowly on, the priests
and attendants of the god standing upon it, to
the number of one hundred and twenty. The
hideous idol was set high above all, a black
and grinning face with bloody mouth, its body
dressed in gaudy colors. Presently, a pilgrim
announced that he was ready to offer himself
a sacrifice. Throwing himself upon the
ground, the huge mass passed over him, leav-
ing only a flattened corpse. The body, after
lying exposed for a time, was taken up and
carelessly cast aside, to be devoured by
jackals.
The great car of Juggernaut is still
brought forth on festival days, but human
sacrifices are no longer allowed, and the great
mass is surrounded with police to prevent
24 INDIA.
the people throwing themselves beneath its
wheels. At intervals they manage to do this,
and then it is astonishing to see men who
court this fearful death and are not afraid to
be crushed beneath the grinding mass, leap
up and take refuge in flight among the crowd
as the lash of the police falls upon their backs.
But we should be giving a very false idea
of Hindoo religion did we say that only such
rites as these were celebrated. A very differ-
ent spectacle is seen at the festival of Vasanti,
the goddess of spring, which extends over
forty days. Here all give themselves up to
enjoyment and revelry in very much the same
way as at the Carnival of Rome. Crowds
throng the streets in masks and throw at each
other light bags filled with a crimson powder
which breaks and scatters over all. Numer-
ous games are introduced, and in the general
INDIA. 25
merriment a part of the distinctions of caste
is overlooked.
These gods and festivals are not held in
HAND PRAYER-MILL.
equal honor in all parts of India. One great
deity who is an object of special worship in
26 INDIA.
one section may be held in slight esteem
in another, and a festival in which all join in
Northern India may be almost unheard-of
in Southern India.
For instance, among the Himalayas they
worship gods unknown in other parts of the
country, whom they think can only be ap-
peased by constant prayer. As to offer this
would be beyond the ability of man, they
have fashioned a little machine which shall
pray for them, and which the priests and
many of the people carry about with them
in their hands. It consists, as may be seen
from the picture, of a circular box, which is
made to revolve by the motion of the hand,
and inside of which is a paper whereon is
written a prayer for the six classes of living
creatures, " the souls in heaven, the evil
spirits in the air, men, animals, souls in
INDIA.
27
purgatory, and souls in hell." On the outer
surface of the machine is inscribed "O mane
WATER PRAYER-MILLS,
pad me han (to him of the Lotus and the
28 INDIA.
jewel)," who is supposed to be so well
pleased with worship of this kind, that these
machines are often made on a large scale
and kept turning day and night by water-
power like a mill wheel.
The Hindoos always burn the bodies of
the dead, and it is a common thing for the
traveller to see at night, as he approaches
a city, the flames and smoke arising from the
funeral pyres of the departed. Formerly the
widow always threw herself into the flames
and perished with her husband. This prac-
tice has been almost entirely stopped by the
government — all concerned in such a case
being considered as murderers — but it is still
occasionally done. No doubt, part of the
impulse which prompts a woman thus to
sacrifice herself is a religious one, but a great
share is doubtless due to the wretched lot to
INDIA. 31
which a widow is doomed. " From the day
of the death of her husband commence her
sufferings and privations. She is made to
employ herself in devotional austerities which
know no end. Her appearance on all joyous
occasions is considered a bad omen. Even
at the marriage ceremony of her brothers
and sisters she cannot take an honorable
place or join other females who, because
their husbands are living, can enjoy all the
reasonable freedom and pleasures of life.
The Hindoos invariably consider it an
auspicious omen to come across the wife of
a living husband when they leave home for
the accomplishment of an intended purpose,
but if they happen to come across a widow
they despair of success, andT proceed with
reluctance, or return to curse the widow.
She cannot talk familiarly with her dearest
32 INDIA.
and nearest relatives. Among the Brahmins
her diet is rigidly regulated. She is welcome
to a meal only once a day, and she must
content herself with some unwholesome eat-
ables in the evening merely to prevent the
cravings of hunger. To be brief, the widow
lives a Hfe of toil and mortification. From
morn to eve, she has something or other
to do. Domestic drudgery is her inseparable
doom. If she is able to read, she may spend
a leisure which is short and hard-earned in
the perusal of a potJiee containing tales in
honor of some of the Hindoo gods."
Besides the worshippers of Hindoo gods
are many of other religions. The Mussulmans
come next in number and are of course fol-
lowers of Mohammed. Their mosques,
capped with the graceful dome rising above
the houses of the cities, are seen from far and
INDIA.
33
are much more beautiful than the small and
dirty temples of the Hindoos. Perhaps one
great reason for this disparity may be found
in the fact that when the Mohammedans
conquered the country they destroyed the
THE PARSEE.
Hindoo temples, using the material for the
erection of their own. Besides these are the
Parsees, found principally in and about
Bombay, who are comparatively small in
numbers, but important on account of their
great success in business. They are followers
34 INDIA.
of Zoroaster, and are called fire-worshippers.
They reverence the sun, moon, and stars, and
may often be seen at sunset prostrate on the
seashore, praying to the departing king of day.
Fire is held in reverence by them, and in
their temples is a flame kept burning, which
they claim has never been extinguished. Of
course the upper classes regard fire only as
the emblem of an all-creating power, but with
the lower class it is to be feared that worship
does not go beyond the emblem, and that
fire itself is their god.
In the disposal of their dead, they have a
custom which is particularly revolting. Their
cemetery is at a little distance from the city,
upon a hill. From this rise several circular
towers called Towers of Silence, fifty or
sixty feet in height, their interior a hollow
well. Across the top of these towers are
INDIA. 35
placed gratings, on which the bodies of the
dead are exposed. The vultures soon de-
scend and devour the flesh, while the bones
fall through the grating into a common pile
below.
An outgrowth of all these superstitions \^
the class called Fakirs, who affect great holi-
ness and are held in the greatest reverence
by all. Their holiness is of a peculiar charac-
ter, and is not attended with that cleanHness
which is generally believed to be akin to it.
In their appearance they are most repulsive
and filthy, but this in the eyes of their wor-
shippers is but a fresh claim for reverence.
Some make it their business to carry the
sacred water of the Ganges to sprinkle upon
the altars of distant temples ; others excite
reverence by bodily tortures. • All this is very
profitable, for the gifts of the people are gen-
36
INDIA.
erous, since they are prompted by fear of
offending these holy men. At all sacred fes-
FAKIRS.
tivals these fakirs assemble in great numbers.
Here will be one whose arm is withered and
INDIA.
37
dead, from being held above the head mo-
A FAKIR.
tionless for many years : — here another whose
nails have grown through the palm of his
38 INDIA.
clenched hand. Another has come from a
long distance and has measured the weary
road by lying at full length upon every part
of it, like some great creeping worm. On all
such occasions it generally happens that some
one, by the ingenuity with which his torture
is devised, will obtain a higher degree of sanc-
tity than his fellows. On a recent occasion
this was gained by one who hung himself by
the feet, head downward, from the hmb of a
tree for several hours each day.
A still greater torture was undergone by
one who submitted to the ordeal of five
fires. Taking his place upon a raised plat-
form, four fires were lighted about him,
each large enough to roast an ox, while the
blazing tropical sun beat upon his head.
In the centre of all this he stood on one
leg, occasionally casting oil upon the flames
INDIA, 39
from a small vessel which he held in his
hand. Then, reversing his position, he
stood motionless upon his head with his
feet in the air, for three hours. Forty days,
from sunrise to sunset, he underwent this
torture, while the superstitious crowd paid
him -the reverence due to a god.
Europeans who have lived in India, all
agree that it is not so much the hope of the
instant entrance into heaven, which their
religion promises these devotees at death,
as the admiration and worship of the igno-
rant, that prompts them to these sufferings
and that as a class these Fakirs are thorough
knaves.
CHAPTER II.
'I 17 HEN we come to speak of the
productions of India, we find it
almost easier, to tell what it does not pro-
duce than what it does. As almost none
of its great population eat animal food,
grain of course must be raised in immense
quantities. Wheat and rice are the staple
articles of food, while fruits, such as the
banana, cocoanut, mango, etc., are produced
in the greatest variety and in endless num-
bers. An enormous business is done in
opium, which is sold to the Chinese markets,
carrying destruction with it. Nearly sixty
million dollars' worth a year are exported.
We are accustomed to think with horror of
INDIA. 41
the destruction of body and soul by alcohol,
but this is as nothing compared with the
ruin that opium effects. Its preparation is
a matter of great care. When the growing
poppy heads have reached the size of a
hen's egg, each one is wounded with a httle
saw-like instrument. From the wound the
milky juice of the plant oozes out, and on
the following day is carefully collected. It
is now carefully dried by exposure to the
air, then thrown into vats and kneaded
into balls and cakes, then again dried, and
packed in chests and is ready for the market.
Indigo, too, is a very important product.
The plants grow to a height of three or
four feet, and when in blossom are cut and
laid in cisterns. Heavy weights are placed
upon them to keep them in position, and
the cisterns are filled with water. Ferment-
42 INDIA.
ation soon begins, and the water is one
mass of rising bubbles. After a time the
water is drawn off. The indigo in solution
in it settles, and being removed, is dried and
prepared for the market.
Rich as is the vegetable growth, the trees
of India are equally magnificent. The Ban-
yan tree, as will be seen from the illustration,
has the power of sending down from its
branches roots to the ground, while the tree
continues to spread in every direction. A
single tree in this way becomes almost a
forest. There is one such where the parent
stem having died, an idol temple has been
erected in its place, and stands surrounded
on every side by the wide-spreading grove.
Near Bombay there is a tree whose branches
are so long that their weight has brought
the ends to the ground, thus forming a huge
INDIA. 45
tent in which a thousand people might camp
with comfort. The graceful cocoanut too, is