India and the Indians

Edward Fenton Elwin

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• Publié par: nochur
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English

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Title: India and the Indians
Author: Edward F. Elwin
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Language: English
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INDIA AND THE
INDIANS

BY EDWARD F. ELWIN
OF THE SOCIETY OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST, COWLEY
AUTHOR OF "INDIAN JOTTINGS," "THIRTY-FOUR YEARS IN POONA
CITY,"
"STORIES OF INDIAN BOYS," ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS


LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1913
[v]PREFACE
India is really waking up, but she is doing so in her own Indian way. For some
years past it has been one of my daily duties to arouse an Indian boy, and I
know exactly how an Indian wakes. It is a leisurely process. He slowly
stretches his legs and rubs his eyes, and it is at least ten minutes before he can
be said to be really wide awake. And every morning I have to say exactly the
same thing: "Now remember, Felix, to say your prayers; then go and wash your
hands and face, and then feed the pony." And if on any particular morning I
were to leave this reminder unsaid, and Felix left any, or all of these duties,
undone, and I were to ask him the reason, he would reply, "You did not tell me."
With India waking up, there never was a time when she stands more in need of
some kindly person at her side to tell her what to do. She needs to be taught to
say her prayers, because with the old religion gone and the True Faith dimly
[vi]understood, India would be in the appalling condition of a great country without
a religion. We need to tell her to wash her hands and face, because there are
certain elementary matters of sanitation which must be attended to if India is
ever to become a wholesome and prosperous country. And we have got to
teach her how to work, because India wide awake, but idle, might easily
become a source of great mischief.
Every Englishman who takes pleasure in the sense of Empire ought to realise
that it brings with it great responsibilities, and therefore that every Englishman
has a measure of responsibility towards India. We must be taking care that, if
when she is wide awake she fails to fulfil her great vocation, at any rate she
shall have no cause to utter against us the reproach, You never told me.
A better understanding of what India and the people who live in it are really like,
seems to be the necessary preparation for sympathy and work of any sort
connected with that country; and to help, in however small a degree, to bring
about this end is the object of this book. I have had unusually favourable and
varied opportunities for getting to know intimately the inner side of Indian life
and character during a somewhat long residence in this country. The contents
of the book are exceedingly miscellaneous because the daily experiences
[vii]have been equally so. Everything that is told is the outcome of my own
personal observations amongst a people to whom I am deeply attached, and I
have taken the utmost pains to record nothing of which I was not sure, and to
verify everything concerning which I was doubtful.
The photographs were all taken by Brother Arthur of our Society.
Edward F. Elwin.
Yerandawana,Poona District, India.
[ix]CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. Introductory 1
II. Indian Hospitality 11
III. The Indian View of Nature and Architecture 17
IV. Indian Employees of Labour 24
V. The Indian Postal Service 32
VI. Indians and English Customs 40
VII. Indian Unpunctuality 48
VIII. Indian Poverty 54
IX. Indian Art 60
X. The Indian Village 66
XI. Indian Entertainments 74
XII. The Conversion of India 83
XIII. Mission Work in India 89
XIV. Indian Music 98
XV. Indian Meals 105
XVI. Hindu Philosophy 111
XVII. Hindus and Religion 117
XVIII. Religious Phases in India 124
XIX. Games in India 130
XX. Indian Wrestlers 137
XXI. Books in India 143
XXII. Indian Pageants 151
XXIII. The Indian Character 157
XXIV. Religious Controversy in India 164
XXV. Wild Beasts in India 170
XXVI. Some Indian Animals 176
XXVII. The Indian World of Nature 182
XXVIII. Insects in India 188
XXIX. The Indian Ascetic 196
XXX. The Indian Widow 204
XXXI. Wrongdoing in India 212
XXXII. Property in India 221
XXXIII. East and West Travelling 228
XXXIV. Customs of East and West 234
XXXV. Servants in India 241
XXXVI. The Educated Hindu 247
XXXVII. Unfinished Plans in India 256
XXXVIII. Gifts in India 263
XXXIX. Proverbial Sayings About India 270XL. Indian Unrest 278
XLI. The English in India 288
XLII. Dishonesty in India 295
XLIII. Indian Mohammedans 302
XLIV. Night Alarms in India 309
XLV. The Indian Washerman 317
XLVI. Agriculture in India 328
XLVII. East and West on Board Ship 337
Index 347
[xi]LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Felix Tipnis Frontispiece
Swithun's New Home in the Village To face page 16
Yerandawana Church from a Distance " 20
The Indian Village Postman " 38
Narayen Khilari, a Farmer's Son " 42
The Kindly Hindu Neighbour and His Family " 48
A Modern House in Poona City " 60
Mrs Salome Zadhaw " 66
Ragu, the Night-watchman " 72
The Yerandawana Village Wrestlers " 138
Nirari Bhosle, the Mischievous Village Boy " 168
Milking the Buffalo " 180
Dowd Pheride, the Egg-merchant's Son " 198
Sarla Kalu, the Yerandawana Widow " 206
The Indian Butler " 242
The Cemetery Cross " 268
[1]INDIA AND THE INDIANS
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
Misconceptions about India. Hinduism. An "infernal religion." Hindu
mythology. Ascetics. Translations of Hindu sacred books. Modern
and ancient ways of teaching Christianity. Danger of the
incorporation of a false Christ into Hinduism. Hindu India as it really
is. Definitions of "What is Hinduism?" from representative Hindus.India is not really quite so mysterious a country as it appears to be on first
acquaintance. But you have to live there a long time before things begin to
reveal their real shape. It is only on the ground of long residence, and frequent
and often close intercourse with a great variety of Indians, that I venture now
and then to give some of my experiences to others. India remains almost an
unknown land to a large number of people in spite of all that has been written or
spoken about it, and it is hard to dissipate the many misconceptions which exist
concerning the country. Some of these misconceptions came into being years
[2]ago, but they have become stereotyped. They were presumably the outcome of
hasty conclusions drawn from superficial knowledge. But even visitors to India
often view the country in the light of preconceived ideas which they have either
heard or read of, and they therefore fail to see things as they really are.
It is inevitable in dealing with Indian things that the defects of the people of the
country should occupy rather a prominent place. The cause is their misfortune
and not their fault. They have many delightful natural characteristics, and the
years that I have lived amongst them have only served to increase my deep
affection for the people of India, and the real pleasure that I find in their society.
The defects of Hindus come from their religion, which is deeply steeped in
idolatry, and neither gives them a code of morality, nor grace to keep one if it
had been given. The strongest denunciations of Hinduism come from the
people themselves. I often repeat what the old Brahmin, who lived and died a
Hindu, said when he roared out to me, "It is a most infernal religion." And he
proceeded to give instances of its infernal nature which it is impossible to print,
but which justified the expression.
A Hindu admits the beauty of a moral life, but puts it aside as impossible of
fulfilment. He has no creed, and cannot tell you what he believes. He is in
doubt and uncertainty both as regards where man came from, and whither he is
[3]going. Nearly every Hindu is an idolater at some time or other, if only to please
his wife, or to oblige a friend. Some, nowadays, try to explain away the custom
as being merely an ancient tradition, but on that account to be respected; or as
edifying for the ignorant, who cannot find God in any other way.
The histories of the gods, like all heathen mythology, consist of tales, some
picturesque, some foolish, some dull and childish, some obscene. How far the
educated Hindu believes them it is difficult to know. Those that are obviously
absurd he will say are allegorical, and in spite of their diversity he will maintain
that they are all manifestations of one god. The uneducated rustic, so far as he
is familiar with these stories, believes them.
The ascetic life, at any rate as represented by the professional ascetics o