CHAPTER III.

THE DRINKING HABITS OF THE ARYAN RACES OF INDIA—THE VEDAS AND BRAHMINICAL LITERATURE—MODERN INDIA.

We are now about to consider the drinking propensities of our own remote ancestry—of those from whom most of the inhabitants of modern Europe and the Transatlantic continents are descended; and should there exist in the mind of any of our readers a doubt as to the enormous advances that have been made in civilisation since the earliest historic period, we think that doubt will be dispelled for ever.

The religious and moral condition of the Aryan races of India is to be found impressed upon the sacred writings of the ancient Brahmans, for a knowledge of which we are largely indebted to that industrious student of Sanskrit, Professor Max Müller of Oxford, who considers that the period embraced by the Rig-Veda or Sacred Books extended back indefinitely from 1200 B.C., and that the hymns which they contain were first committed to writing between 600 and 200 B.C.,[54] about the same time, therefore, as the writings of Confucius and Mencius were published in China.

And what can these Brahminical writings teach us concerning the drinking customs of the people? the reader may inquire. At the risk of offending his susceptibilities, and even of laying ourselves open to the charge of irreverence, we will ask him what he would think of a body of worshippers in our day, who, instead of addressing their hymns and prayers to the Almighty Father and Ruler of the universe, the One ineffably good, and wise, and holy, were to appeal to Him as a mighty Ruler in heaven who was to be propitiated and bribed with unlimited offerings of brandy, and who, until he became completely intoxicated, was incapable of performing any great or benevolent act? And yet this, or even lower than this, was the estimate which the Aryan people had formed of their god Indra, as well as of his less powerful companions in heaven; and the only inference we are able to draw—one that we are sure the reader would extract from the study of those so-called hymns—is that the nature of the Deity was but a reflex of the character of his worshipping multitudes.

The chief sacrificial ceremony of the ancient Brahmans was called “soma,” after an intoxicating drink to be described presently; and the deity to whom this drink was believed to be the most acceptable was Indra. The “soma” sacrifice was and is still performed by the Brahmans as follows:—A certain quantity of the intoxicating juice is offered as a libation to the different deities by pouring it from variously shaped wooden vessels upon the sacred fire. This the gods are supposed to drink. Then the priests themselves drink, sometimes very copiously; also the sacrificer.[55] The drink itself is believed to have been prepared with the juice of a creeper (_Asclepias_). After being cleaned and macerated in water, the plant was pressed between two stones, and the juice which flowed from it was diluted with water, and strained through ram’s wool. This juice was then mixed with malt and warm milk or clarified butter, and was allowed to ferment. M. Haug, who witnessed the sacrifices of the modern Brahmans, tasted the “soma” as at present prepared, and describes it as whitish, very astringent and bitter, with some intoxicating properties. He says it had a most disagreeable taste, and he could only drink a few spoonfuls of it. The plant used in the present day is, however, not that employed by the ancient Brahmans. “Soma,” it should be added, was not only a drink, but is frequently addressed in the Vedas as a deity; and, by priestly incantations, the liquor was believed to be miraculously transformed into the god himself. It is not unlikely that this was the origin of the modern doctrine of transubstantiation, or the real presence of the body and blood of Christ, through priestly consecration, in the bread and wine of the Eucharist; and it is strange how universal has been the practice of combining the use of intoxicating drink with religious worship throughout all ages. It is first found in connection with the early religious observances of the Persian, Brahminical, and Chinese faiths. It was forbidden by the Buddhists. Commencing with the Semitic sacrifices, it has retained its place in the ceremonies of the modern Jews, and has found its way into the worship of every denomination of Christians, from the Unitarians to the Roman Catholics. Without attempting to discuss the proposition of some total abstainers that the wine used at the Lord’s Supper was not an intoxicating drink,[56] we cannot help remarking that until the custom, however nominal, ceases to receive the highest possible sanction—the approval of the Church and the priesthood—it seems idle to attempt to suppress or discountenance the use of alcohol by coercive measures amongst the lay members of society.

But to proceed. The Rig-Veda from beginning to end abounds with references to the supposed drinking proclivities of the deities, especially of Indra. To the effect of the libations poured out to him by his worshippers all his gifts are attributed. “Come hither, O Indra, to our sacrifice. Drink of the soma, O soma-drinker; thine intoxication is that which gives us abundance of cows.”[57] “Come hither, O Indra, and intoxicate thyself.”[58] Indra was not believed to be capable of accomplishing any heroic deed unless he was intoxicated. For example, “When he (Indra) combated against the withholder of rain (Vritra), in his inebriation, the refreshing rain rushed down the declivity like rivers.”[59] “When Indra, animated by soma, destroyed the defences of Vala with the thunderbolt, as did Trita.” Just as in one of the Hebrew psalms every verse ends with the words, “For His mercy endureth for ever,” so in one hymn to Indra each verse concludes as follows: “In the intoxication which soma has caused him, see what Indra has accomplished.”[60] The account of his toping powers is in some cases ludicrous, for he is described as taking such copious draughts of soma that his inside becomes like a fish-pond,[61] and it is made a merit in him that he is reeling drunk.[62] From these quotations it is obvious that the Vedic people must have been well acquainted with the intoxicating power of soma-drink, or they would not have known what influence it would have upon their gods; and from the same source we may gather with equal certainty that they indulged freely in that beverage themselves. For they seem to have entertained no doubt that their gods were willing to join in their revels, and often invited them to come down and be partakers in their banquets. “Called by us, O Indra,” they said, “sit down and intoxicate thyself with us, thy friends.”[63] They must have renewed old acquaintance amongst themselves, top, over what is called the social glass, for they treated their deities as hail-fellows-well-met, and invited them to do likewise. “Very old is your favour and your auspicious friendship,” they said to one of their gods; “renewing again that auspicious friendship, may we now in your society intoxicate ourselves with soma.”[64] No mincing matters there! Nor was it merely a figurative expression, for the sacrificer, or he at whose cost the sacrifice was provided, as well as the priests, drank soma during the ceremony until they were all drunk together,[65] but the hotar, or chief priest, commenced the operations: “Like the hotar, drink first of this soma, O Indra; we offer thee, O god, this sweet soma for inebriation.”[66] In one place, Indra is described with great circumstantiality as getting drunk with soma-drink mixed with milk early in the morning, a proof that the priests occasionally indulged in a matutinal sip. Indeed, detailed accounts of the ceremonies are found throughout the hymns which show that the priests were inordinate drunkards; so much so, that in the later Vedas and in the “Institutes of Manu” a check was put upon such practices, and they were denounced as sinful.

But so too were the laity. There was another intoxicating drink besides soma of which mention is made in the Vedas. It was called “sura,” and was much more inebriating than soma, which was the drink of the sacrifices, and therefore the supposed beverage of the gods, whilst sura was that of the common people. The plant which, in the Vedic age, entered largely into its composition was a tall grass of India, one of the genus _Panicum_, and the other ingredients were water, curds, honey, melted butter, and barley.[67] At a later period a liquor called sura seems to have been actually distilled from a preparation of rice, barley, black pepper, lemon juice, ginger, and hot water. The sura drink was in general use, and the proof alike of its extended consumption amongst the people, as well as of its being the cause of much crime in those days, is to be found in several verses of the Vedic hymns. In one place it is spoken of as a poison, kept at home suspended in a leather bottle;[68] in another, the excessive intoxication of Indra with soma is compared to the bad drunkenness caused by sura;[69] and in a well-known verse quoted by Professor Max Müller,[70] it is thus referred to:

“It was not our own disposition, O Varuna; it was temptation, Intoxication caused by sura, passion, thoughtlessness,” &c.

The Rig-Veda is certainly the most extraordinary publication of a sacred character that can be imagined in respect to drink and drunkenness; and the space occupied by references to the potations of the gods—for there is hardly a hymn that is free from them—shows clearly that the Vedic people, both priests and laymen, must have been terrible drunkards, and must have believed their Deities to have been the same. At a somewhat later period, however, we find the habit denounced in forcible terms and the severest penalties attached to its practice; in fact, it is spoken of as heinous in the last degree, and is compared to the murder of a Brahman.

The laws of Manu[71] contain a whole series of interdictions and penalties, but the selection of two or three examples must suffice, for some of them, although interesting as showing the depraved condition of mankind at that early period, are not fit for transcription into the pages of a popular work. “Any twice born (that is, regenerated) man who has _intentionally_ drunk the spirit of rice (sura) through perverse delusion of mind, may drink more spirit in flame and atone for his offence by severely burning his body.” “Or he may drink boiling hot, until he die, the urine of a cow, or pure water, or milk, or clarified butter, or juice expressed from cow-dung.” “If he tasted it _unknowingly_, he may expiate the sin of drinking spirituous liquor by eating only a little broken rice or grains of tila from which oil has been extracted, once every night for a whole year; wrapped in coarse vesture of hairs from a cow’s tail, or sitting unclothed in his house wearing his locks and beard uncut, and putting out the flag of a tavern-keeper.”

There are three chief descriptions of pernicious liquor forbidden to be drunk—one extracted from sugar dregs, another from bruised rice, and a third from the flowers of madhuca (_Bassia latifolia_). These, along with eight other kinds which were consumed with the flesh of animals at certain juncates or secret feasts, were forbidden to the Brahmans, for we are told that an intoxicated Brahman “might stumble upon something very impure, or might even when intoxicated pronounce a sacred phrase of the Veda, or might do some act that ought not to be done.” Even his priestly character left him if he had been polluted with spirits, and he sank to the low degree of a Sudra. “The slayer of a priest, a soldier, or merchant drinking arrack, or a priest drinking arrack, mead, or rum, he who steals the gold of a priest” (and ...) “are all to be considered respectively as offenders of the highest degree, except those whose crimes are not fit to be named.” Terrible punishments, such as branding the forehead with a hot iron, were the penalties attached to those crimes, and “with none to eat with them, with none to sacrifice with them, with none to read with them, with none to be allied by marriage to them; abject and excluded from all social duties, let them wander over this earth. Branded with indelible marks, they shall be deserted by their paternal and maternal relations, treated by none with affection, received by none with respect. Such is the ordinance of Manu.” Nor is the punishment, terrible as it appears, supposed to end in this world, for the soul of a priest who has drunk spirituous liquors is consigned to the body of a “smaller or larger worm, or insect, a moth, a fly feeding on ordure, or some ravenous animal.”

Notwithstanding these severe penalties and denunciations, however, it is clear from the later Sanskrit literature that intoxication was still rife amongst the Aryan races of India. Palastya, an ancient sage, enumerates no less than twelve different kinds of liquor besides soma,[72] and the preparation of those drinks from the grape, from honey, sugar, dates, the palm, pepper, rice, cocoa-nut, &c., has been described with considerable minuteness. Besides these home-made drinks, large quantities of foreign wines were imported into India two thousand years ago, and met with a ready sale throughout the country. Amongst them are mentioned the wine of Laodicea in Syria, Italian and Arabian wines.

In later times attempts were made by various rulers to suppress the manufacture and use of intoxicating drinks, but in the sixteenth century, when the interior of India was visited by English adventurers, many kinds were freely consumed, and they are said to have been drunk out of vessels of the most costly description. The East India Company encouraged the distillation of spirits as a means of revenue, and the best proof of the extensive consumption of such drinks in India during the last and beginning of the present century is to be found in the published statistics of the Company. Large quantities of native arrack, besides brandy, rum, gin, wine, and ale, were imported and exported from the various districts, and although the English themselves were, doubtless, large consumers, the quantities named suffice to show that these drinks must have been in general use amongst all classes.[73] In the year 1833 the value of native arrack exported from Ceylon alone to Great Britain and the British Colonies was £12,425, 9s., besides which large quantities were sent annually for consumption in Madras, Bombay, and other parts of India.[74]

We have thus reviewed, though very cursorily and superficially, the drinking habits and customs of the various peoples of India from the earliest ages down to a recent period; and before quitting this part of our subject, it will be useful to consider for a few moments the present condition of its inhabitants, who are allied to us, if not by ties of kindred, at least by identity of rule. All writers agree in regarding the people of India as a comparatively sober race, and the author finds the same opinion to prevail amongst those who have long resided in the country. That there is a considerable amount of intoxication in certain districts, and amongst the lower or half-castes, is doubtless true; but the middle and upper classes, and the population as a whole, are remarkably abstemious. One writer[75] says, “The Hindoos are unquestionably a temperate people. Their favourite beverage is water.” “Generally speaking,” he says, “the higher castes abstain from intoxicating drinks. It is only the low castes who indulge the habit of using such stimulants. The most common intoxicating liquor drunk by the natives is what is here called arrack. It is distilled from rice, and is highly intoxicating.” Toddy, or the juice of the palm, itself highly inebriating, the same writer tells us, is distilled into a strong liquor called Pariah arrack, and is largely drunk by the half-castes and lowest classes. It is further fortified, another writer says, by being mixed with _Datura stramonium_, a powerful narcotic.[76] (_Datura stramonium_, as the reader is doubtless aware, is used in England for the adulteration of beer.) The drink referred to, along with another intoxicating liquor called bhang or bang, and prepared from the hemp plant (_Cannabis sativa_), seems in the present day to be the commonest, and at the same time the most deleterious, that is used by the worst class of drunkards in India.

In some portions of Central India there is at one period of the year a great amount of drunkenness and debauchery in every rank of society, and strangely enough this takes place, as of old, in connection with religious observances. These saturnalia have been referred to by several travellers and writers on India. Fraser in his tour to the sources of the Jumna and Ganges witnessed them in various places near the first-named river, and generally at the foot of the Himalayas. He says that the liquors drunk were manufactured from grains of various kinds as well as from the grape, and that the natives of all classes drank them to the accompaniments of music and dancing at the ceremony of bathing the images of their gods in the waters of the Jumna. The men kept on dancing all the day, and in the evening were joined indiscriminately by the women, who supported the dancing and revelry till the night was far advanced. This frantic kind of worship lasted for several days, until their liquor was exhausted. A more recent traveller has given a graphic and painful account of these saturnalia as they are practised at the present time.[77] He first witnessed them at Oudeypoor during the festival of the Holi which marks the arrival of spring, and says: “The carnival lasts several days, during which the most licentious debauchery and disorder reign throughout every class of society. It is the regular saturnalia of India. Persons of the greatest respectability, without regard to rank or age, are not ashamed to take part in orgies which mark this season of the year.” “Towards the middle of the month of Thalgun the revels reach their climax. Troops of men and women, wreathed with flowers and drunk with bang, crowd the streets carrying sacks full of a bright red vegetable powder. With this they assail the passers-by, covering them with clouds of dust, which soon dye their clothes a startling colour. No one is spared. The King and nobles throw off all restraint and give themselves up to mirth and revelry. The nautch girls enjoy unbounded liberty during the carnival They have special dances for the occasion, when all propriety is forgotten.” “Major Nixon advised me to go and see the sports.... Men, women, and children crowned with flowers appeared completely intoxicated. Never have I seen so revolting a spectacle. Groups of native wretches dead drunk were wallowing in the gutters, and at every step the most disgusting debauchery was exhibited with unblushing effrontery.” The writer witnessed and describes similar scenes, though not of quite so gross a character, at Rajnuggur in Chutterpore.

Notwithstanding these saturnalia, however, which are disgraceful alike to governors and governed, the general opinion of those who are acquainted with India is that, on the whole, the people are temperate. The author has been assured by one friend who has visited most of the large cities, and who resided three years at Bombay, that during the whole of that period he never saw a native intoxicated in the streets; that the higher classes amongst the Hindoos and Parsees (to whom we shall refer hereafter), although they offer wine to their European guests during their visits, refrain from drinking it themselves, and that any drunkenness which may exist in the most civilised portions of the country is confined entirely to Englishmen and the lowest castes of the native population.

It is impossible to pass away from this phase of the subject without uttering a word of caution as regards the future social condition of our Indian Empire. We hear a great deal about the bugbear of an invasion of India by the Russians, and if it were known that a statesman of any eminence was about to address our House of Commons on that question, its benches would be filled with eager listeners; but let any legislator or philanthropist, however great his reputation, take up the subject of the opium traffic, a detestable trade, which is not only a chronic curse to a great neighbouring empire, but which may at any time become a scourge to our own fellow-subjects, and we may rest assured that his audience would be of the most limited. And so, too, as regards all matters which concern the happiness and welfare of the people of India. But when we look at the facility which exists there for the distillation of ardent spirits from rice, the attention of our Legislature should be earnestly directed to the evil that might result from their more general use, in case the means of purchasing them were facilitated by greater prosperity. It should be one of the chief cares of the Home and Colonial Governments to provide for the education and training of the poorer natives, so that they may learn to make a wise use of their increasing resources.

Those who have read accounts of military life in India fifty or a hundred years back are aware that there has been a marked diminution in drunkenness amongst the English of late years, and it is to be hoped that the same causes which have led to a decided improvement in that respect amongst our middle class at home will likewise operate in India, and that our countrymen there may soon present that example of sobriety and dignity which should always characterise the dominant race.[78]