Modern India by William Eleroy Curtis

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A few days later Sir Henry Havelock, the hero of the first relief,
died from an attack of dysentery from which he had long been
suffering, and his body was buried under a wide-spreading tree in
the park. The tomb of Havelock is a sacred spot to all soldiers.
A lofty obelisk marks the resting place of one of the noblest
of men and one of the bravest and ablest of soldiers.

The residency is naturally a great object of interest, but the
cemetery, gay with flowers and feathery bamboos, is equally so,
because there lies the dust of 2,000 men and women who perished
within the residency, in the attempts at relief and in other
battles and massacres in that neighborhood during the mutiny.

Nana Sahib, who was guilty of these awful atrocities, was never
punished. In the confusion and the excitement of the fighting
he managed to make his escape, and mysteriously disappeared. It
is now known that he took refuge in the province of Nepal, where
he was given an asylum by the maharaja, and remained secretly
under his protection, living in luxury for several years until
his death. It is generally believed that the British authorities
knew, or at least suspected, his whereabouts, but considered it
wiser to ignore the fact rather than excite a controversy and
perhaps a war with a powerful native province.

There is little of general interest in Cawnpore. Lucknow, however,
is one of the most prosperous and busy towns in India. The people
are wealthy and enterprising. It has probably more rich natives
than any other city of India except Bombay, and their houses are
costly and extravagant, but in very bad architectural taste.
Millions of dollars have been spent in tawdry decorations and
ugly walls, but they are partially redeemed by beautiful parks
and gardens. Lucknow has the reputation of being the home of
the Mohammedan aristocracy in India, and a large number of its
wealthiest and most influential citizens belong to that faith.
Their cathedral mosque is one of the finest in the country. The
imambra connected with it is a unique structure and contains
the largest room in the world without columns, being 162 feet
long by 54 feet wide, and 53 feet high. It was built in 1784,
the year of the great famine, in order to give labor and wages
to a hungry people, and is one solid mass of concrete of simple
form and still simpler construction.

The architect first made a mold or centering of timber, bricks
and earth, which was covered with several layers of rubble and
coarse concrete several feet in thickness. After it had been
allowed a year or two to set and dry, the mold or centering was
removed, and this immense structure, whose exterior dimensions
are 263 by 145 feet, stood as solid as a rock, a single piece
of cement literally cast in a mold, and, although it has been
standing 125 years, it shows no signs of decay or deterioration.
The word imambra signifies "the patriarch's palace." The big room
is used for the celebration of the Moslem feast of Mohurram,
which commemorates the martyrdom of the sons of Ali, the immediate
descendants of Mahomet.

The royal palaces of Lucknow, formerly occupied by the native
kings, are considered the worst architecture of India, although
they represent the expenditure of millions of dollars. But the
hotels are the best in all the empire, except the new one of
which I have spoken in Bombay. For this reason and because it is
a beautiful city, travelers find it to their comfort and advantage
to stop there for several days longer than they would stay elsewhere,
and enjoy driving about the country visiting the different parks
and gardens.

One of the most novel excursions in India may be made to the
headquarters of the commissariat department of the army, about
three miles out of town, where a herd of elephants is used for
heavy lifting and transportation purposes. The intelligence,
patience and skill of the great beasts are extraordinary. They
are fed on "chow patties," a mixture of hay, grains and other
forage, and are allowed a certain number for each meal. Each
elephant always counts his as soon as they are delivered to him,
and if spectators are present the guardkeepers frequently give
them a short allowance, whereupon they make a terrible fuss until
they get what they are entitled to.

There are some quaint customs among the farmers in that part
of the country. The evil eye is as common and as much dreaded
as in Italy, and people who are suspected of that misfortune
are frequently murdered by unknown hands to rid the community
of a common peril and nuisance.

Good and bad omens occur hourly; superstitions are as prevalent
as in Spain. If a boy be born, for example, a net is hung over
the doorway and a fire is lighted upon the threshold to prevent
evil spirits from entering the house.

[Illustration: TOMB OF AKBAR, THE GREAT MOGUL, AT AGRA]

The commencement of the farming season is celebrated with ceremonies.
The first furrow in the village is plowed by a committee of farmers
from the neighborhood. The plow is first worshiped and decorated.
The bullock or camel which draws it is covered with garlands of
flowers, bright-colored pieces of cloth and rosettes of ribbon
are braided into its tail and hung upon its horns. Behind the
plow follows "the sower," who is also decorated with flowers
and ornaments, has a red mark upon his forehead and his eyelids
colored with lampblack. He drops seed into the furrow. Behind
him comes a second man, who carefully picks up every grain that
has fallen outside of the furrow. When the furrow is finished
the farmers assemble at some house in the neighborhood and have
a dinner of simple food. There are similar ceremonies connected
with the harvest. Some of them are said to be inherited from
their ancient Aryan ancestors; others are borrowed from the Arabs,
Persians and Chinese.

XXIV

CASTE AND THE WOMEN OF INDIA

Everybody who keeps in touch with the slowly changing social
conditions in India is convinced that the caste, the most important
fetich of the Hindus, is gradually losing its hold, particularly
upon the upper classes, because they cannot adjust it to the
requirements of modern civilization and to the foreign customs
they imitate and value so highly. Very high authorities have
predicted in my hearing that caste will be practically obsolete
within the next fifty years, and entirely disappear before the end
of the century, provided the missionaries and other reformers will
let it alone and not keep it alive by controversy. It is a sacred
fetich, and when it is attacked the loyal Hindu is compelled to
defend and justify it, no matter what his private opinion of
its practicability and advantages may be, but, if foreigners will
ignore it, the progressive, cultured Hindus will themselves discard
it. The influences of travel, official and commercial relations,
and social intercourse with foreigners, personal ambition for
preferment in the military and the civil service, the adoption
of modern customs and other agencies are at work undermining the
institution, and when a Hindu finds that its laws interfere with
his comfort or convenience, he is very certain to ignore them.
The experience of the Maharaja of Jeypore, told in a previous
chapter, is not unusual. His case is only one of thousands, for
nearly every native prince and wealthy Hindu has broken caste
again and again without suffering the slightest disadvantage,
which has naturally made them indifferent.

Travelers see very little of this peculiar institution, and it
is so complicated that they cannot comprehend it without months
of study. They notice that half the men they meet on the streets
have odd looking signs upon their foreheads. Ryas, our bearer,
calls them "god marks," but they are entirely artificial, and
indicate the particular deity which the wearer is in the habit
of worshiping, as well as the caste to which he belongs. A white
triangle means Krishna, and a red circle means Siva--the two
greatest gods--or vice versa, I have forgotten which, and Hindus
who are inclined to let their light shine before men spread on
these symbols with great care and regularity. At every temple,
every market place, at the places where Hindus go to bathe, at the
railway stations, public buildings, in the bazaars, and wherever
else multitudes are accustomed to gather, you will find Brahmins
squatting on a piece of matting behind trays covered with little
bowls filled with different colored ochers and other paints.
These men know the distinctive marks of all the castes, and for
small fees paint the proper signs upon the foreheads of their
patrons, who wear them with great pride. You frequently see them
upon children also; and on holidays and religious anniversaries,
when the people come out for pleasure, or during special ceremonials
at their temples, nearly everybody wears a "god mark," just as he
would wear a badge denoting his regiment and corps at a Grand
Army reunion.

The more you study the question of caste the more confusing it
becomes, but it is interesting and important because it is the
peculiar institution of India and is not found in any other country
in the world. The number of castes is almost infinite. The
200,000,000 or more Hindus in this empire are divided into a vast
number of independent, well-organized and unchangeable groups,
which are separated by wide differences, who cannot eat together or
drink from the same vessel or sit at the same table or intermarry.
There have been, and still are, eminent and learned philosophers
and social scientists who admire caste as one of the highest
agencies of social perfection, and they argue that it alone has
prevented the people of India from relapsing into barbarism, but
foreigners in general and Christian missionaries in particular
take a very different view, and many thoughtful and patriotic
Hindus publicly declare that it is the real and only cause of
the wretched condition of their people and the greatest obstacle
to their progress. Mr. Shoshee Chunder Dutt, a very learned Hindu
and author of a standard book entitled "India, Past and Present,"
declares that "civilization has been brought to a standstill by
its mischievous restrictions, and there is no hope of its being
remedied until those restrictions are removed."

It is curious to learn that the word "caste" is not Hindu at
all, but Portuguese, and that instead of being an ancient feature
of the Hindu religion, it is comparatively a modern idea.

The first form of religion in India was the worship of nature,
and the chief gods of the people were the sun, fire, water and
other natural phenomena, which were interpreted to the ignorant
masses by priests, who gradually developed what is now called
Brahminism, and, in the course of time, for social reasons, divided
the people into four classes: First, the Brahmins, which include the
priestly, the literary and the ruling portions of the population;
second, the Kshatryas, or warriors, who were like the knighthoods
of Europe in the middle ages; then the Vaisyas, or landowners,
the farming population, and those engaged in mercantile and
manufacturing industries; and finally the Sudras, or servants
who attended the other castes, toiled in the fields and did the
heavy labor of the community.

Gradually these grand divisions became divided into sections
or social groups. Trades, professions, tribes and clans, and
particularly those who worshiped the same god, naturally drifted
together and were watchful of their mutual interests. As there
are as many gods in the Hindu pantheon as there are inhabitants of
India, these religious associations are very numerous. Occupation
is not a sign of caste. Every caste, and particularly the Brahmins,
have members in every possible occupation. Nearly every cook
in India is a Brahmin, which is a matter of almost imperative
necessity, because no man can partake of food cooked or even
touched by persons of lower caste. The Brahmins are also more
numerous than any other caste. According to the recent census
they number 14,888,000, adult men only being counted. The soldier
caste numbers more than 10,000,000, the farmer caste and the
leather workers have nearly as many. Nearly 20 per cent of the
population of India is included in those four castes, and there
are forty or fifty sub-castes, each having more than 1,000,000
members.

There are more than 1,800 groups of Brahmins, who have become so
numerous and so influential that they are found everywhere. The
number in the public service is very large, representing about
35 per cent of the entire mass of employes of the government in
every capacity and station, and they have the largest proportion
of educated men. It is a popular delusion that every Brahmin is a
priest, when the fact is that they are so numerous that not more
than a small percentage is employed in religious functions. But
for more than 2,000 years they have maintained their superiority
unchallenged. This is not only due to their pretensions, but
to their intellectual force. They have been the priests, the
writers, the rulers, the legislators of all India, because of
their force of character and mental attainments, and will always
preserve their supremacy through the same forces that enabled
them to acquire it.

The laws of caste, as explained by Mr. Shoshee Chunder Dutt, the
Hindu writer referred to above, provide:

1. That individuals cannot be married who do not belong to the
same caste.

2. That a man may not sit down to eat with another who is not
of his own caste.

3. That his meals must be cooked either by persons of his own
caste or a Brahmin.

4. That no man of an inferior caste is to touch his cooked rations,
or the dishes in which they are served, or even to enter his
cook room.

5. That no water or other liquid contaminated by the touch of
a man of inferior caste can be made use of--rivers, tanks and
other large sheets of water being, however, held to be incapable
of defilement.

6. That articles of dry food, excepting rice, wheat, etc., do not
become impure by passing through the hands of a man of inferior
caste so long as they remain dry, but cannot be taken if they
get wet or greased.

7. That certain prohibited articles, such as cows' flesh, pork,
fowls, etc., are not to be taken.

8. That the ocean or any other of the boundaries of India cannot
be crossed over.

The only acts which now lead to exclusion from castes are the
following:

1. Embracing Christianity or Mohammedanism.

2. Going to Europe, America or any other foreign country.

3. Marrying a widow.

4. Throwing away the sacred thread.

5. Eating beef, pork or fowl.

6. Eating food cooked by a Mohammedan, Christian or low caste
Hindu.

7. Officiating as priest in the house of a low caste Sudra.

8. By a female going away from home for an immoral purpose.

9. By a widow becoming pregnant.

When a Hindu is excluded from caste his friends, relatives and
fellow townsmen refuse to partake of his hospitality; he is not
invited to entertainments in their houses; he cannot obtain wives
or husbands for his children; even his own married daughters
cannot visit him without running the risk of being excluded from
caste; his priest and even his barber and washerman refuse to
serve him; his fellow caste men ostracize him so completely that
they refuse to assist him even in sickness or at the funeral of
a member of his household. In some cases the man excluded from
caste is debarred from the public temples.

To deprive a man of the services of his barber and his washerman
is becoming more difficult these days, but the other penalties
are enforced with more or less rigor.

They tell us that foreigners cannot appreciate the importance
of caste. Murray's guide book warns the traveler to remember
that fact, and says that the religion of the Hindu amounts to
little more than the fear of demons, of the loss of caste and
of the priests. Demons have to be propitiated, the caste rules
are strictly kept and the priests presented with gifts. Great
care has to be taken not to eat food cooked by a man of inferior
caste; food cooked in water must not be eaten together by people
of different castes, and castes are entirely separated with regard
to marriage and trade. A sacred thread of cotton is worn by the
higher castes. Washing in the sacred rivers, particularly the
Ganges, and especially at Allahabad, Benares, Hardwar and other
exceptionally holy spots, is of efficacy in preserving caste
and cleansing the soul of impurities.

"The traveler should remember," says the guide book, "that all
who are not Hindus are outcasts, contact with whom may cause
the loss of caste to a Hindu. He should not touch any cooking or
water holding utensil belonging to a Hindu, nor disturb Hindus
when at their meals; he should not molest cows, nor shoot any
sacred animal, and should not pollute holy places by his presence
if any objection is made. The most sacred of all animals is the
cow, then the serpent, and then the monkey. The eagle is the
attendant of Vishnu, the bull of Siva, the goose of Brahma, the
elephant of Indra, the tiger of Durga, the buffalo of Rama, the
rat of Ganesh, the ram of Agni, the peacock of Kartikkeya, the
parrot of Kama (the god of love), the fish, the tortoise and
boar are incarnations of Vishnu, and the crocodile, cat, dog,
crow, many trees, plants, stones, rivers and tanks are sacred."

Nevertheless, Brahmins are very clever in dodging an issue when
it is necessary for their convenience. For example, when a modern
water supply was introduced for the first time into a city of
India the problem arose, How could the Hindus use water that
came from hydrants, in face of the law which prohibited them
drinking it from vessels which may have been touched by people of
another caste? After much reflection and discussion the pundits
decided that the payment of water rates should be considered an
atonement for violating the ordinances of their religion.

There has been some improvement in the condition of women in
India, and it is due almost entirely to the Christian missionaries
who have brought about reforms which could not have occurred
otherwise, although, at the same time, the spirit of modern progress
has not been without its influence upon the native families.
Remarkable instances have occurred in which native women have
attained distinction in literature, scholarship and science.
Several have passed university entrance examinations; a few have
obtained degrees. In 1903 there were 264 women in collegiate
institutions throughout the empire, more than has ever been known
before. There has been a gradual increase in their number. In
1893-4 there were only 108; two years later there were 110. In
1898-9 the number jumped to 174, and in 1900-1 it reached 205,
hence you will see that the advance has been normal and regular
and there have been no steps backward. The greatest progress
has been in the southern part of the empire, where women are
less secluded and the prejudice against their education is not
so strong. Nevertheless 99 per cent of the women of India are
absolutely illiterate, and among the total of 144,409,000 only
1,433,000 can read and write; 75 per cent of them can do no more.
If a census were taken of those who can read and understand an
ordinary novel or a book of travel the total would be less than
250,000, and counted among the literates are all the girls now
in school who have advanced as far as the first reader.

In the United Provinces, the richest and proudest of India, where
the arts and sciences have advanced quite rapidly among men, only
56,000 women out of a total of 23,078,000 can read and write,
and that, as I said before, includes the girl children in the
schools. In the Punjab Province, which lies in the north, out
of a total of 12,369,000 women and girls only 42,000 can read
and write and at least 50 per cent of them are under 12 years
of age. The total number of girls now attending school in India
is only 446,282 out of a total population of 144,409,000 women,
but even this small number shows most encouraging improvement
during the last ten years. In 1893-4 the girls in school were
only 375,868, but since then there has been a gradual increase
every year--400,709 in 1897-8, 425,914 in 1899-1900 and 429,645
in 1900-01. In the Central Province, which ought to be one of
the most progressive in India, out of a total female population
of 23,078,000 only 20,821 girls altogether are in school.

But this does not fairly indicate the influence of women in India,
where they take a larger and more active share in the
responsibilities of the family and in the practical affairs of
life than one would suppose. The mother of a family, if she is
a woman of ability and character, is always the head of the
household, and the most influential person in it, and as long
as she lives she occupies the place of honor. Women often manage
estates and commercial affairs, and several have shown remarkable
executive ability and judgment. Several of the native states have
been ruled by women again and again, and the Rannee of Sikkim
is to-day one of the most influential persons in India, although
she has never been outside of the town in which she lives.

An American lady told me of a remarkable interview she recently
had with the granddaughter of Tipu, the native chief who, in
the latter part of the eighteenth century, gave the English the
hardest struggle they ever had in India. He was finally overcome
and slain, and his territory is now under English rule, but his
family were allowed a generous pension and have since lived in
state with high-sounding titles. His granddaughter lives in a
splendid palace in southern India, which she inherited from her
father, and is now 86 years old. She cannot read or write, but
is a women of extraordinary intelligence and wide knowledge of
affairs, yet she has never been outside of the walls that surround
her residence; she has never crossed the threshold of the palace
or entered the garden that surrounds it since she was a child,
and 90 per cent of her time, day and night, has been spent in
the room in which she was born. Yet this woman, with a title
and great wealth, is perfectly contented with her situation.
She considers it entirely appropriate, and thinks that all the
women in the world ought to live in the same way.

The influence she and other women of old-fashioned ideas and
the conservative classes have is the chief obstacle to progress,
for they are much more conservative than the men, and much more
bigoted in their ideas. She does not believe that respectable
women ought to go to school; she does not consider it necessary
for them to read or write, and thinks that all women should devote
themselves to the affairs of their households and bear children,
duties which do not require any education. The missionaries who
work in the zenanas, or harems, of India tell me that the prejudice
and resistance they are compelled to overcome is much stronger
and more intolerant among women than among men, for the former
have never had an opportunity to see the outside of their homes;
have never come in contact with foreigners and modern ideas,
and are perfectly satisfied with their condition. They testify
that Hindu wives as a rule are mere household drudges, and, with
very rare exceptions, are patterns of chastity, industry and
conjugal fidelity, and they are the very best of mothers.

Here and there a husband or a father is found who is conscious
of the disadvantages under which the women of his family are
laboring and would be glad to take upon himself the duty of
instructing his wife and daughters, yet is prevented from doing
so because the latter prefer to follow the example of their
foremothers and remain ignorant.

While such conditions prevail it is impossible for the government
to take any steps for the promotion of education among women, but
a notable reform has been conducted by English women of India
under the leadership of the Marchioness of Dufferin, Lady Curzon,
and the wives of other viceroys, by supplying women doctors and
hospitals, because, as you understand, men physicians are not
permitted to enter zenanas except upon very rare occasions and
then only in the most liberal of families. Nor are women allowed
to be taken to hospitals. There are excellent hospitals and
dispensaries in every part of India, but women are not permitted to
participate in their benefits, and an untold amount of unnecessary
suffering is the result. Some years ago, inspired by Lady Dufferin,
an association was formed to provide women doctors, hospital
nurses, and establish, under the direction of women exclusively,
hospitals for the treatment of women and girls. This association
is non-sectarian and no religious services or conversations are
allowed. The movement has received active encouragement from both
the imperial government and the local authorities, and by the
latest returns is responsible for 235 hospitals and dispensaries,
33 women doctors with degrees from the highest institutions of
Europe, 73 assistants, and 354 native students and trained nurses,
who, during the year 1903, took care of nearly a million and a
half of women and girls who needed treatment and relief. This
does not include many similar institutions that are maintained
by the various missionary boards for the same purpose. Taking
both the civil and religious institutions together, the women
of India are now well supplied with hospitals and asylums.

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