CHAPTER XII.

CHOITHRO, MARCH.

CHURUCK-POOJA.--HOOK SWINGING.

This is the last month of the Hindoo year, and witnesses that bloody religious ceremony which is so much talked of in Christian countries. It is Churuck-pooja; or, graphically, the swinging by the hooks. I am aware that the Christian missionaries have taken especial care to describe this fearful institution ably and accurately to their friends at home. But as they write what they see, not what they know of the Hindoos, they often fail to treat of the real state of the thing. However, they are not to blame; for the want of true knowledge of an object makes its description dry and imperfect.

It has been a belief in Hindoo minds from the remote ages, that self-torture is essentially requisite for the propitiation of the gods. The human body being made out of matter which is evil in its nature, and wars against the spirit, it is desirable to macerate it, and give dominion to the spirit thereby. This notion has created various orders of Shun-nashi’s, Shadhoos, Jog-us, Mohuntros, etc., who are common in India. It did not long remain confined to India, but, crossing its boundaries, reached the people of Persia, Tartary, Arabia, Turkey, etc. Its influence was also felt by the Christian Church in her infancy.

In India it manifests itself in some form or other in all the religious institutions of the people. I have seen a man offer prayer to Shiba, standing on his head; others on one leg for hours under the burning sun. Some would not eat or drink anything unless it should be put in their mouths, while others would not lie down at all for a certain number of years. Nearly three years ago there came a Shadhoo into our village, who spent a whole day and night on foot. His disciples said that many years had seen him eat, drink, and rest in that position, and perhaps his head will not touch the earth until it does forever.

The subject of this chapter traces its origin from that singular belief of which we have spoken. Ban Raja, a king of great religious enthusiasm, is said to have instituted this ceremony in honor of Shiba. From the fifteenth of March the Mool Shun-nashee, with others, walks round the place at the pretended permission of Shiba.[26] They carry with them a great quantity of Oothuries, or thread, and finding a low-caste man within reach, they put a Oothuries round his neck, crying aloud, “Tarash-orāre nash Shiba!” From that moment the poor man becomes one of the party, forsaking his professional business until the end of Shun-nash. This mode of enlistment seems to command the victim, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.” There is no way for his getting out free; he must wear the badge of Oothuries, and walk day and night with the party at the penalty of excommunication or a fine.[27]

It is to be observed here that the Brahmuns do not join the party at all: they put heavy burdens upon others, but do not help them with their fingers. Hence the Shun-nashees are always from the poor, ignorant, low castes. As there is no fixed limit to the number of Shun-nashees, they enlist hundreds within a few days. However, the number is great or small, according to the popularity of the idol. Though every idol is of Shiba and every temple is his abode, yet some are believed to possess the fullness of the god in greater degree than others, and are revered by the people accordingly. Thus there are three temples of Shiba in one village, and one of them draws crowds of worshippers toward it, which fact increases its income, and its priests receive a great deal. Now Shun-nashees thus gathered together spend the rest of the month in visiting the idols of Shiba and their brethren in different villages,--very like to the custom of the fire-companies in this country, who receive from, and make visits to, their friends of neighboring towns. When two or more parties come in collision, they stand in order, and salute and embrace each other with loud shouts of “Tarash-orare nash Shiba!” Each party has some leading men, who sing a few verses, desiring their friends to expound or solve them as the nature of the question would require. The trumpets are sounded, the bells rung, the flags waved, and the staves carried by hundreds. As they march in procession their music and shouts deafen the ears and make heads ache.

On the day before the Churuck-pooja, the ignorantly mistaken as well as daring men in the party make _bans_, or pass the thick iron or bamboo sticks through the skin of their arms and tongue. Indeed, it is a fearful sight! Not only do the grown-up men do such things, but boys of thirteen years or more pass sticks through their skin. I have seen men pass four Sholas (bamboo sticks of the thickness of our first finger) through the different parts of their left arm, and binding some extra ones with them, make a little terrace, with a vine creeping over it. Others make a hole in their tongue sideways, and pass through it the tail of Gochora (the flat-headed, venomous snakes). Thus arranged, they go to the houses of the gentlemen and dance there a quarter of an hour, getting a little money for compensation. By a little money, I mean from a quarter to a whole dollar. The money thus realized is disposed of in making some vile shows before the temple, and to buy intoxicating liquors for those who exhibit these bloody feats. A low-caste old man in our village was preparing some fine Sholas, to show a feat altogether new and surprising; but he died before the time came. Among other things his beloved wife remarked, in the course of her lamentation, that “he made grand preparation to excel others in the _ban_, but could not succeed!” Then comes the Churuck the next day, with an aspect more dreadful than the _bans_.

In the morning, the Shun-nashees all go to bathe, and gather a large number of cocoa-nuts, bananas, and other fruits. Before the temple, the _Jhap_ is performed. It is a terrace made by sticking some bamboo poles in the ground, and sometimes rises twenty feet high. The Shun-nashees, both young and old, climb up the terrace and stand in two rows, one above the other; the spectators stand all round; some climb up the trees, to get a better view. A few men post themselves near the foot of the terrace, holding a large bag in their hands, by which they receive the men who jump down from the terrace, one after the other. This bag is stuffed with dry leaves, so as to make it soft, and a _Botty_ (kind of large knife, not very sharp) is put over it. When everything is ready, then Mool Shun-nashee bends his head to the god, takes leave of the brethren on the terrace, scatters the flower-wreaths, raw rice, bananas, etc., to the crowd below, and, lastly, jumps down on to the bag, or, rather, the mattress. After him, all the Shun-nashees jump down in the same way, one by one, amid the deafening shouts of the crowd and the sound of the trumpets.

In the afternoon, the order of the exercises is as follows. Before going to the Churuck, the Shun-nashees ask the god’s permission, which he gives by a nod, seen by the priests only. They put some flowers on the head of the idol, and if one of them, at least, should slip down from it, it is interpreted as the pleasure and permission of Shiba. Sometimes the flowers do not fall easily, being at the centre of the idol’s head. This is interpreted as owing to the anger of the god. As the Shun-nashees are to fast certain hours of the day, and live according to the rules appointed by the priests, it is believed that they have violated the rules, by eating or drinking, which circumstance has offended the all-knowing Shiba. Hence, seeing the flowers do not fall from the idol, the priests command the officers to bind the Shun-nashees and beat them with stripes. I have seen the young boys roll round the temples, their hands tied together, in order to appease the enraged god. It is curious that they always suspect the boys of violating the rules of the Shun-nashee’s life, even if they observe, with their native earnestness, almost every “jot and tittle” of the regulation. It is the grown-up, old, indifferent men, who privately eat and drink, I believe; and the poor boys suffer for their sin. As the idol delays to give its permission by a nod, and by throwing some flowers from its head thereby, the priests interpret its terrible wrath, and order the town officers to be bound also. It is, however, a beautiful lesson the Brahmuns teach by this; they say, “The sin of the king causeth his subjects to suffer, and brings affliction upon them.”

There is a trick which the priests impose upon the people at this time. They contrive every means to open the window of the temple, in order to bring a draught within, that it may blow flowers away from the idol’s head. In my village there is a back window in the temple, through which the people on the outside look at the proceedings within. They, of course, prevent the wind from going in, in some degree, and the fanatic priests drive them all away, cursing and rebuking them shamefully. The moment a draught of wind has knocked a flower down, they in ecstasy dance round the temple, clap their hands, embrace each other, and shout, “Tar-āre Shur-are nash Shiba!” etc.

In this state of excitement, they form a procession and march down to the Churuck Tola, which is in some place very near the temple, or but a little way off. The Churuck Garch, or “Swinging Tree,” is a heavy, long, wooden pole, set up perpendicularly, with one end on the ground, with _moche_ like the main-yard of a ship on its top, and which can be turned round either way. Sometimes the Churuck Garch is nearly twenty feet high. A man--the poor victim to the Churuck--bends down on his knees and hands, while another draws out the skin about his shoulder-blades, and the Cormokar, or the blacksmith, forces two iron hooks (ten inches or more long) into the skin and the muscles. Some daring man will suffer four iron hooks to pass through the different parts of his body, so as to show his proficiency in the affair. There are some strong cords fastened to the hooks, which also are attached to a long, thick cord, and the man is drawn up to one end of the yard. To keep the balance right, a man climbs half way on the rope attached to the other end of the yard. Thus bound and hung, the victim jumps in the air, and turns round the “Swinging Tree” from ten to fifteen minutes.

Once, in my grandmother’s village, I witnessed a scene more desperate than the above. A man swung round the pole nearly fifteen minutes in the air, with his head downwards, and four iron hooks catching him by the skin. His long hair began to wave in the air, and his hands beat a drum which was fastened to the same cord. But expert as he seemed to be, he could not as yet make good music. In some places several men hang in this way in succession. I wonder that these men do not seem to feel very much hurt; for I have seen them go to their respective work within a couple of days. Coming down from the Churuck Garch, the victims receive the benediction from the priest, who blesses them with a flower from the altar, as a sacred relic.

The morning after the Churuck, the Shun-nashees gather together before the temple, take off the Oothuries, or the sacred badges, from their necks, return them to the priest, and shave a part of their heads (for during the term of Shun-nash they are forbidden to shave their heads or cut their nails). After this, they bathe in the river or tanks, as the situation of the place will permit, and go to their own homes, eased from the bondage of superstition.

There is one peculiarity, however, in the Churuck-pooja which is worth noticing. During the Shun-nash term, the band is organized somewhat on the principles of brotherhood, each member bearing a kind, brotherly affection toward another,--an affection they do scarcely dream of before. If one of the party dies during these holidays, they all put on mourning according to the custom of the Hindoos. An insult to one is felt by all, for they being different are yet the members of the same body in Shiba. They regard the badge they wear round the neck as binding them together into the sacred bond of fraternity. The ever-vigilant, ever-living caste system interferes, of course, with their manifesting fully the relation they bear towards each other. The Shun-nashees of different castes would not eat at the same table or drink out of the same cup, although in other respects they do not observe all the regulations of the caste.

Thus ends the Hindoo year with so many religious festivals, holidays full of degrading and demoralizing amusements, and ceremonies bloody and mistaken. Though the internal spirit of these hosts of religious institutions tends to devotional and charitable purposes, yet the influence of their outward appearances confounds and corrupts the weak-minded Hindoo. The people in general do not strip them of the veil, in order to find out the real significance within. They hardly understand what those rites and ceremonies do mean, but in their ignorance take them just as they are, and worship all corporeal objects as true gods and goddesses. This feature of the religious belief among the low and ignorant classes is very gloomy, for they are hardly taught to recognize the difference between man and God. The Brahmuns, the priests of these people, do not have a regular mode of religious teaching. In the temples, by the side of the Gunga, under the sacred Burr (banian-tree), or in their houses, very few words are spoken by way of religious instruction. By some fixed mechanical rules they are taught how, what, and when to eat, drink, bathe, walk, speak, and sleep, and in these their religion consists. The language of the prayers, being Sanscrith, is unintelligible to the worshipper himself. Very few attempt to understand the phraseology of the prayer, and think it improper to handle the inspired words. In the prayer to Shuresh-sotte, or the muse, I find the description of almost every inch and each member of her person, with rich, glowing poetical imagery, which a sensible man ought not to apply to her, his mother goddess. So it will be found that most of the Hindoo prayers are immoral, yet beautiful representations of the personal graces of the male and female deities, which simply please our senses and bewilder our reason, instead of creating a deeper sense of reverence in our religious nature. Again, the want of a regular system of religious instruction has brought into the minds of the people all sorts of mistaken, erroneous ideas respecting God, man, and duty; life, death, and immortality. The man on the very verge of his life, standing between the edges of this and the next world, hardly knows where he is bound, whom he is going to, and what will be his true destiny. He, under the burden of superstition, recognizes his god in the person of the Brahmun, standing near his death-bed, or in the sacred Ganges glittering yonder. If he should unfortunately die at home, or on Tuesday or Saturday night, it is believed the gates of heaven will be closed against him, until the Brahmuns, by some peculiar ceremony, should exorcise his spirit, and with mortal hands open the gates of Paradise! This is the substance of modern Brahminism. Its belief is erroneous, its influence pernicious, and the end which it contemplates as destiny is dark. It makes piety to consist in the ordinances, in the law, such as in bathing, fasting, eating certain things, offering worship to some visible objects on some fixed days. Besides what has already been treated as the leading features of the Hindoo religion, there are some additional religious institutions, which I will describe to the reader before the close of the book.

Building temples to the gods, digging tanks, and planting trees on the wayside, are considered very pious. This belief has prompted the Hindoos to spend immense wealth in the erection of temples, which crowd the banks of the Ganges. The number of the temples varies according to the circumstances of the man; either two, twelve, or one hundred and eight are to be erected and dedicated unto the gods. There are very few men who have dedicated one hundred and eight temples at a time. There are some, however, at the expense of the Rajah of Burdwan, which I hear are very costly. On the banks of the Ganges, in lower Bengal, there are several Ghauts (bathing-places) erected with brick or marble. Their stairs are sometimes twenty feet wide and lead into the water several feet deep. On both sides of the Ghaut either two or twelve temples are erected for the abode of the idols. At the time of the dedication, people are entertained at a great feast, money is distributed to the Brahmuns, and the temples are adorned and illuminated.

The digging of tanks, especially where there is a scarcity of water, is commendable, and a part of religion. I can see the necessity of annexing this to the religion, for in a warm climate, were people use water so much, a great many tanks are needed to supply their wants. Hence we see almost every house in Bengal has a small tank, of twenty to fifty yards square, attached to it, and in this they raise fish for the family use. After a tank has been dug, it is filled with water, partly from the sky, and partly from the earth itself. They stick a long wooden pole into the centre. The owner of the tank, at the direction of the officiating priest, crosses it by holding the tail of a cow. This denotes the idea of crossing the river that glides along everlastingly between this life and the next. On this occasion, also, the poor people are entertained; a feast is given to the Brahmuns, etc.

Now the planting trees by the road-side must be noticed. There is, however, a selection of the place where the trees are to be fixed. Always the place where three roads from different directions meet together is preferable. The number and species of the trees are five,--such as Burr, Oshud, Nim, Bāle, and Amlokee. Five young shoots of these trees are planted together, which mode is called “The union of the sacred trees.” Scarcely all of them grow together, for, sacred as they are, some of them occupy the places and crush the others to death.

_The daily worship._ The rich religious people in India have the idols in their houses for the daily worship. There is a room entirely for the accommodation of the idols, like the “baby rooms” in this country. In it there are a throne, bed, seats, furniture, plates, dishes, cups, tumblers, bells, wash-tubs, clothes, and ornaments, of the lifeless gods. In the morning, the family priest comes in, awakes the idols from their sleep, brings them down from the bed, washes and wipes them, repeating some prayers and ringing the bell at the same time. Dressing them according to their shape and size, he worships in the usual way, by strewing flowers over them, offering them something to eat, etc. The head member of the family would not eat his meal until the idols have been cared for. In the evening, the priest comes again, to give the gods their supper. First of all, he lights “punch-prodip,” or five lamps, and waves them before the idols. He then puts them in their respective beds, covers them with clothes, or hangs the mosquito net round them, as the nature of the weather would require! Just as the children take care of their dolls, so the Brahmuns serve their idols.

_The public worship._ In every Hindoo country, a party of young men tax each family once a year and dispose of the money thus realized in the “worship of twelve friends.” They charge also all the bridegrooms who come to marry the girls in their village. A splendid image is erected in the public place of the town, and music and theatrical performances are held before it. This, taken on the whole, is the worst of the Hindoo institutions. It corrupts the young, who, taking this opportunity, do all sorts of immoral acts which they never dreamt of before. You ask the boys when they learned to smoke, steal, or quarrel, and they will point out these holidays to you. I remember distinctly having stolen tobacco and a smoking-pipe (hooka) from my uncle’s room, to help the smoking party in the garden. Almost all of us were beginners in this filthy and unhealthy habit. Fearing our parents would know it, we used to chew a piece of green banana-leaf, which in some measure takes away the dirty smell from the mouth.

Again, as the musical performances are performed through the whole night, these boys and young men go round the place, climb up the cocoa-nut-trees and steal their fruits. As the cocoa-nut-trees are very tall and the fall of the fruit on the ground makes a loud noise, some seven boys were once climbing up a tree one after the other that they might pass down the fruits noiselessly from hand to hand; the most cunning of them did something to make his successor laugh, and he doing the same, there wont a peal of laughter from the head to the foot of the tree, which apprised the owner of his loss. One of the boys attempting to come down quickly, fell upon some broken glass and was badly injured. Fortunately I was not with them. To enumerate the evils that rise from the Hindoo worship and holidays would occupy a book. Coming out disfigured and bruised from the dark caves of Brahminism, I hoped the British government would stretch forth its hand at least against the most immoral, and ruinous institutions of the Hindoos, because their own eyes are not bright enough yet to notice the defects thereof. But my

“Hopes that were angels in their birth, Perished young, like things on earth.”

The late Sepoy mutiny has, as I see, given a lesson which the government must mind. However there is yet a hope of India’s regeneration. The influence of the Missionary as well as the government schools will open the eyes of the rising generation, and thus bring the matter to a slow but happy close. Father of lights! let Thy knowledge shine in every creek and corner of the world; and bring it to the recognition of Thee, who art its Creator, and loving Father! Let India worship Thee as her God and Father!

MISCELLANEOUS.

India is inhabited by a people of various colors, customs, and languages; and consequently affords a picturesque scene to the traveller. As the climate varies in different parts of the country, the color of the inhabitants changes likewise; although they are one and the same people, and their origin is the same,--the Indo-Caucasian Stock. And what is more striking is the difference in the color in one family. Thus, a mother is dark, the father olive, and the children are yellow, of different shades,--one is as burning gold, while the other is as gilded brass.

The people speak different languages in various parts of the country, but all trace their origin to the great source,--the Mother Sanscrith. The Bengalee, which has much resemblance to the Sanscrith, is spoken in Bengal; the Orria in the Orissa, the seat of the celebrated Jogger-nauth; Tamul in Madras, by the Moharashtros, and the Hindoosth-anee in its various forms in the regions of the northwestern provinces, and in Nepaul. Besides, there are several wild tribes, such as Naug-poorias, and the Saun-tals, who speak tongues of their own. The Brahmuns, in their religious services, and sometimes in their conversation, speak Sanscrith, but the other castes use Bengalee. For illustration I will give specimens of the same thing in different languages of the country,--_I will go_, is in Sanscrith, “Jochamee;” in Bengalee, “Amee Jabow;” in Orria, “Mo-ja-bow;” and in Hindoosth-anee, “Haum gaga.” In their characteristics the Bengalees are mild, peaceable, intelligent, speculative, and subtle, and those of Upper India are brave, haughty, warlike, but kind. The Bengalees in their bodily structure are delicate, while others are robust, and well built. In the late Sepoy mutiny, the Sepoys--the people of the northwestern provinces--took the lead, and the Bengalees did not help them by their fingers. The latter hardly use warlike instruments, while the former make them their companions. A gentleman in Upper India carries his sword or a club, wherever he goes; but a Bengalee thinks it savage to equip in this way.

I have been often asked whether my people smoke and drink or not. The Bengalees do not smoke cigars, they think it mean, and ungentlemanly; they use the Hooka in smoking.

The _tamack_, or tobacco, needs much care, and is composed of a great many ingredients, such as thocta, or tobacco leaves, dry roses, and banana shells, molasses, cinnamon, etc. These being chopped and mixed together, are put under the earth for several days. When a person smokes, the vapor does not come right into the mouth, but, passing through a long pipe, comes into the bottom of the Hooka, which is full of cold water, and making its way through another pipe, reaches the mouth of the smoker. The people of Orissa smoke cigars as in this country. Drinking spirituous liquors is very common with the young men in the cities and mercantile places, where the Europeans import a good supply of wines of various names and natures, and set the natives the example. The Hindoo religion condemns a man who touches wine, except in case of alarming sickness, which nothing but spirituous liquors can cure. “As medicine, _Soora_ is to be used,” is the doctrine of the Brahmuns. Some people carry it so far that after having recovered from their sickness, they make _Praosh-chitro_, or atonement, for using English medicine, which they believe is always prepared with spirit. Others will not apply to a foreign physician at all, fearing that his medicine, while it saves the animal man, may strike a death-blow to the soul. Hence “it is preferable to die by the hand of Boitho, a physician by caste.”

_Tarie_, or the juice of the palm or date tree, is used by low-caste people generally. It has intoxicating influences, and is to be had at a low price. The juice of the palm-tree is taken by squeezing the stalks, which will fill a large pitcher with _tarie_ in a few hours. It is used as yeast by the bakers in India. The Hindoos do not eat meat; they have a great aversion to beef, ham, pork, etc. In their villages a single cow is not killed in many centuries. The man who whips his cattle so severely as to make them bleed, is outcasted, ridiculed, and hated by the public as a _Koshie_, or a butcher. The Hindoo law regulating the treatment of cattle is very kind to the beasts and severe to their masters. If a cow, calf, or bull should die with the rope round its neck, that is, through the master’s carelessness, the law holds him guilty, and prescribes penances for him to observe. He is required to walk from door to door, with a piece of rope round his own neck, a straw in his mouth, and making imperfect sounds like the cows. After three days of humiliation in this way, he abstains from food and drink a whole day, shaves his head, offers money to the Brahmuns, and redeems his sin thereby. Again, if a calf or cow should fall into a pond and die, both the owner of the pond and that of the beast, are regarded as sinners. The rational intention of all these prescriptions is to inculcate the law of care and kindness towards dumb beasts, especially the useful ones.

_The Knowledge of Art and Science._--The Hindoos from a remote antiquity cherished the knowledge of the heavenly bodies, reckoned eclipses, and watched the motion of the stars. These they did and do by means of their fixed system of astronomy; they have no scientific apparatus at all. European astronomers calculate the day of the eclipse, using several instruments, but the Brahmuns do the same thing without such aid. Architecture was known to them also from a distant period. The remains of the old temples and ghauts in various parts of India distinctly speak of their proficiency in architecture. On the temple walls you will see the representation of the heavenly bodies, the signs of the Zodiac, and the images of their gods, carved by men who had lived, so to speak, in the very infancy of the world. The knowledge of minerals was found among them also, for the universal use of gold and silver ornaments, and metallic household utensils, is evidence of the fact. They are unrivalled in the skill of working in gold and precious stones. The manufacture of fine cotton cloth, such as Dacai, and of shawls (the Cashmere), has obtained the undisputed applause of the world.

In fact, the Hindoos did and do largely cultivate all the appliances of civilized life. Only their knowledge of art, science, and civilization is not progressive, but limited. They feel satisfied to live, move, and die within the boundaries of their own acquirements, and hardly desire to add to or vary from the prescribed institutions of their forefathers. While the countries beyond Hindostan are making astonishing advances towards enlightenment, discovering new inventions for promoting temporal comforts, and introducing the best and choicest things of the world among themselves, the Hindoos dig trenches round their borders, and nourish their old national institutions in good earnest. But there is a strong possibility that a mighty revolution will take place in the social and spiritual condition of the country. The introduction of European civilization has dazzled the eyes of the young, some of whom, (though few,) are now eagerly co-operating with their friends for the welfare of the country. The School of Industrial Art, the Civil Engraving College, the Medical College, etc., are blessings coming from the British Government, and to these the young men from the high classes resort for instruction and improvement.

The Hindoos possess remarkable genius in imitating almost everything put before them, provided their caste and religion do not interfere. The low-caste people who work in the English factories, warehouses, steamboats, etc., display a ready and admirable talent for the business. On the Ganges, the uneducated, low castes manage steamboats. They serve in various capacities in the dockyards, founderies, factories, etc.

* * * * *

The Hindoos have their own system of agriculture, and raise fruits, flowers, and grain, of various kinds. The chief productions of their husbandry are rice, flax, sugar, indigo, cotton, potatoes, peas, beans of different species, and fruits too numerous to name. India has no winter; her rivers do not freeze, her high trees stand clothed with leaves and decked with flowers all the year round; her birds are merry, her sky fair, her sun bright and warm, her rivers grand, her mountains high, her children numerous, intelligent, and philosophical, her religion superstitious, her gods many, and her age old. May she thrive and grow upward, high as her Hymaloy, giving her light to, and receiving that from others,--this is the heartfelt prayer of her absent son.

APPENDIX.

Ever since my arrival in America I have heard with great surprise the statement, received on the authority of missionaries, that the Hindoo mothers throw their infants into the river Ganges. Almost every man, woman, boy, or girl in these United States knows it, and has seen the illustration of it in various books. During my tour over some sixteen States and the Canadas, I noticed that the Hindoo mother, her baby, and the alligator, were the subjects of constant inquiry. The story of the infants being thrown into the Ganges by their heartless mistaken mothers, is believed by the people of this country to be either a custom or a religious institution of the Hindoos.

I am aware that to speak against this prevalent belief is to falsify the reports of travellers and to criticise the statements of foreign writers who have disseminated this report throughout the whole length and breadth of the land. On the other hand, I cannot suffer a groundless and strange story to run so freely through the Christian community, and bring upon the poor innocent women of India such undeserved reproach. I do not wish to cover the really defective institutions of my country. Her religion, rather than custom, sanctions suicide in different ways, as manifested in the voluntary offering of the widows upon the funeral fire of their husbands. The throwing of babies into the Ganges or to the alligators, then, I would say never was in the customs or religious ordinances of India. I never heard of it even as a grandmother’s story; while, on the other hand, my mother and other friends often spoke of the widows who burned themselves alive with their dead husbands, of their preparation, their bidding farewell to their children, committing them to the care of some kind relative, etc. It seems strange to me, that, being a native of India, a Hindoo, yea, a Brahmun, by birth, I did not know nor hear of this custom of my own country, which is known to the people who live nearly eighteen thousand miles from the same. What did not come to my knowledge during my twenty-one years of life in India, came to my ear on the day I reached America. “What is this?” they ask me. “What do they mean? Hindoo mothers throw their babies into the Ganges to be devoured by the alligators! Horrible!! Hindoo mothers do such things!! The same mothers that sit with malshas (earthen pans) with fire burning upon them, on their heads, shoulders, hands, laps, before the goddess Doorga, and solicit the health and life of their children! The same that lie down (hothea) without food and drink before the temple, in case of the severe illness of their children, and who vow to appear before the goddess with an axe tied round their necks, or to shed blood by voluntarily tearing the flesh from their own breasts as an expression of gratitude for the recovery of their children!”

The Hindoo parents love their children as well as do any parents in Christendom; or perhaps I should say more, for some reasons of which Christians are ignorant. The redemption of the Hindoo parents depends in a great measure upon the lives of the children who send their spirits to their destination by a peculiar ceremony.[28] They believe the childless person has no heaven to inherit, no celestial pleasures to enjoy. The Hindoo religion commands a man to marry several wives, in order to raise up seed needed for his spiritual welfare, to say nothing of his temporal. In case of failure, he secures the birthright of a male child by adoption.

Now the question comes, Did these honest travellers and the reverend missionaries report a falsehood? In reply, I would say, I have no right to answer for them. They know themselves the grounds of their assertion, whether it is based upon their personal knowledge of the case, or upon the story of some tale-teller, who often takes advantage of our ignorance and deceives us accordingly. To speak for myself, I will confess that, although a Brahmun, a native of India, I never saw a child thrown alive into the Ganges, nor heard of such stories until I came to America. I have shown, by reasons drawn from the Hindoo scripture, as well as from custom, that the sacrifice of an infant is as monstrous in the sight of a woman in India as in America. I will allege further, that the maternal affection is everywhere the same, implanted in the human breast by the Creator. I thought perhaps some traveller might have seen the deed done in certain wild portions of India, away from the civilized and learned communities. In fact, several of my friends here said, perhaps I do not know this. I was in Bengal; it might have taken place among the ignorant people in the wild regions. To my great surprise I met the following in a large pictorial work on India, published in Boston. “Here (from the Saugor island) thousands of mothers have thrown their children into the Ganges to be devoured by alligators; not because they were destitute of maternal affection, but because a mother’s love was overpowered by her fears of the wrath of some offended deity.” Those who have ever visited Calcutta, know that the Saugor island is at the mouth of the Ganges, and only a few hundred miles from the city, the seat of wealth, learning, and refinement. To present this matter in its true light, I will describe this island and the sanctity attached to it. It is less settled by men than by wild beasts. It has a population of tigers, monkeys, and wolves. Very few children of Adam dare to dwell among these disagreeable inmates of the isle. There is a light-house, however, built by the British. The men who take care of the light, and a few solitary monks who live there, are considered the destined prey of the tigers, who are ready, whenever an opportunity occurs, to make their meal of them, or, to use a Hindoo expression, “if not a breakfast, a dinner, or a supper.” This place being near the confluence of the river Ganges with the sea, is regarded as sacred by the Hindoos, who resort there in the month of January to bathe, and spend three days in tents pitched on the sandy banks of the river. Its sanctity draws immense crowds only once a year, when hardly any mother carries her child with her, for the place, as well as the river, is very dreadful. The efficacy consists in the bathing in this place, not in throwing children into the river. Those who go there go for the purpose of purifying themselves with the sacred water, and not to commit so cruel a murder as throwing children into the river.

So much for the Saugor island. I have sometimes looked at this matter in a different way; that a traveller had seen perhaps an insane woman throw her child into the water, which he interpreted as the institution of the “heathen.” But it seems to me an unjust inference, to name the fruit of insanity as the custom of a people, to stigmatize a whole people for the folly of one, or a few even. I read in a Boston paper, that the average number of suicides in the United States is nine per week. Will it be proper for me to report in India that suicide is the custom of the American people? No, I cannot tell such a story. When I am asked about it, I will ascribe it to insanity or drunkenness. Once more, I will say, then, as a Brahmun I never knew nor heard of the story of children thrown by their mothers into the Ganges. If a Hindoo mother hears this story she will press her babe close to her heart and say, “Sweet treasure, I have drained the ocean for you. My tender kiss is more genial to you than the sharp lips of the alligator. My loving lap is a better place for you than the unconscious bed of the Ganges!”

A SKETCH

OF

MY LIFE AND EXPERIENCE.

DEDICATION.

THOMAS GAFFIELD, ESQUIRE.

That you may know the personal and religious experiences of one in whom you have taken so much interest, and as a token of gratitude for all you have done for me during my stay in this country, this imperfect sketch is respectfully dedicated to you by

Your friend and brother,

JOGUTH CHUNDER GANGOOLY, Of Calcutta, India.

PREFACE.

To speak of one’s self is not an easy matter. There are two things to be avoided,--vanity, which would cause one to put on what he never possessed, to say what he never was, and thereby to exaggerate the whole matter; second, cowardly humiliation, which would lead him to hide what he really has, and not to say what he has a right to say, lest the world should call him an egotist. It is better to take the middle ground, and proceed with prayer and watchfulness, keeping in mind “Thou God seest me.”

Since my arrival in this country, my friends have expressed a great desire to know my personal history,--how I was educated, what led me to change my former religious views, etc. This brief sketch, which I leave to my friends as a “parting gift,” will answer all these inquiries in a measure. This has been written in great haste. I have not had time to revise this sketch. Whenever the reader finds a point not clearly explained, he will please remember the circumstances under which this has been written. Only a few weeks before my departure for home I commenced writing it; and at the same time I had to attend to all other duties, and to make preparation for the voyage.

J. C. G.

SKETCH OF MY LIFE.