Imatges de pàgina
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CHAP. VIII. mended, their friends sat by them and wept, and then carried them to the river and floated them away on rafts of reeds. Marriages were performed in a very simple fashion. A cow and calf were

Patna.

Tanda, Kooch

Behar, Húghli,

given to a Bráhman. Then the Bráhman walked into the river with the bride and bridegroom. All three took hold of the tail of the cow, and the Bráhman poured water over it. The Bráhman next tied the clothes of the bride and bridegroom together, and required them to walk three times round the cow and calf. The newly-married husband and wife then gave alms to the poor, and money to the idols, and left the cow and calf in the hands of the Bráhman. Finally the pair prostrated themselves upon the earth, and kissed it several times, and then went their way.

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From Benares Mr Fitch went to Patna. The whole way was beset with thieves, who were without any fixed abode. Patna was a great long town with large streets. The houses were made of mud and thatched with straw. The women here had rings as before, and so many on their toes that they could not wear shoes. Mr Fitch saw a holy man sitting in the market-place and pretending to be asleep. The people came and touched his feet with their hands, and then kissed their hands. The honest merchant quaintly says,-"The people took him for a great man, but I saw that he was a lazy lubber."

Mr Fitch next went to the city of Tanda. At Satgong, Orissa, that time it was a great mart, but the Ganges, which once flowed past it, was already three miles

and the Sunderbunds.

55 This primitive ceremony has been superseded in the present day by a more tedious ceremonial.

off. From Tanda he went to Cooch, the modern CHAP. VIII. Kooch Behar. Here there was much silk, musk, and cotton cloth. The king was a Hindú. The people were all Hindús. They would kill nothing, and had hospitals for sheep, goats, dogs, cats, birds, and all other living creatures. From Cooch Mr Fitch went to the Portuguese settlement at Húghli. He went through the jungle because the highway was infested by thieves. The country round Gour was almost all wilderness. He saw many buffaloes, swine, and deer. There were also very many tigers. Satgong, about four miles from Húghli, was an emporium. In Bengal there was a great market every day at some part or other, and traders went from place to place in large boats to buy rice and other things. The boats were rowed by twenty or six and twenty oars. They were of great burden, but were not covered. The neighbouring country of Orissa was also a famous seat of trade. Vessels from India and the islands of the East came to Orissa, and brought away large cargoes of rice, cotton cloth, and a cloth made of grass that looked like silk; as well as long pepper, butter, and provisions. The Sunderbunds was occupied by rebels against the emperor Akber. The Mussulman horsemen could not punish them, because they were protected by the numerous creeks and rivers.56

of India in the

century by

Whilst Mr Fitch was traversing Hindustan, the General account Portuguese had already established their maritime seventeenth empire in the Eastern seas. Their historian Faria Faria y Sousa. y Sousa, who flourished in the seventeenth century, throws a flood of light upon those parts of the Dek

56 A further account of these rebels will be found in the next chapter, on Portuguese India.

CHAP. VIII. han and the Peninsula, which have been already described by Marco Polo. The history of Portuguese India will, however, be separately treated in the next chapter. In the present place it will suf fice to bring together the observations of the Portuguese historian as regards the people of India in general. "Those heathens," says Faria y Sousa, "have a book they believe in, and esteem as we do the Holy Scripture. It is writ in verse, and is pleasing and ingenious. They believe in one God, the creator of all things, yet allow other uncrcated gods; they also believe that there is heaven and hell, and that the souls of such as die in sin go into beasts, and stay there until, being purged, they go to eternal rest. They esteem cows as properest for this transmigration. When a man is dying they bring a cow to him, and put the tail into his hand, that when his soul departs it may be near the door it is to enter at. They allow no free will. Some are of opinion that the souls return from hell into other bodies till they merit heaven; and that there is an indifferent place without reward or punishment for those who live indifferently. The sins they esteem most heinous are murder, theft, drinking wine, and committing adultery. The sin of murder is wiped off with pilgrimages; the sin of theft with alms; the sin of drinking wine with fasting; and the sin of adultery with sacrifices. Sometimes men are sacrificed, but the greatest of all is the sacrifice of cows.57 Some will lie down under the wheels of the heavy carts of their idols, which crush them to pieces. Others wear irons with spikes that run into them. Others

57 Cows were certainly sacrificed in ancient times, but since the Brahmanical ascendancy the practice has fallen into disuse.

hang themselves on a hook, and there sing verses to CHAP. VIII. their idols. They maintain hospitals, where they look after sick birds and beasts, and send men abroad to bring them in. But they have no compassion for their fellow-men, saying, that their afflictions are sent them for their sins. There are men employed to buy birds or other creatures, only to return them to their liberty. Their chief gods are Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; and these form a body with three heads, called Mahámúrti, signifying the "three chiefs." Hence it is inferred that the Hindús had some knowledge, though imperfect, of the blessed Trinity. They are much addicted to witchcraft and superstition; and believe there are fourteen worlds, and that this we live in is an image of that in heaven. Their several families touch not one another, nor eat together. Tradesmen cannot marry out of their own trade. The most renowned families among them are the Rajas (i. e. Rajpoots), an ingenious people, who would rather lose their lives than their arms in battle; and the Bráhmans, who contend with the Rajas for precedence. The Chetties are the richest merchants. The Vellalers, or country people, are held in such esteem that kings marry their daughters to. Vellalers, saying,

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organization

operations of

In reviewing the state of India during the period, Ecclesiastical which has here been distinguished as the Brahman- and missionary ical revival, it is impossible to overlook the ecclesias- the Brahmans. tical organization of the Bráhmans, by which the varied populations of India have been brought under

58 The Vellalers are a high caste in Peninsular India. Faria y Sousa also refers to the division into the two Hands, known as the Right and Left Hands, which is peculiar to the Peninsula.

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CHAP. VIII. their influence and authority. In every village, and every important family, a Bráhman priest is generally established as a preceptor or Purohita. Again, every sect or district is under the jurisdiction of a Guru, or spiritual head, who maintains its orthodoxy in matters of caste and religion. The Purohita is supported by the village or family where he has taken up his permanent abode. The Guru is generally engaged in extensive ecclesiastical visitations, during which he levies contributions for the support of himself and his own immediate disciples, and confirms the younger Hindús who have attained a suitable age. The missionary operations of the Brahmans are indeed worthy of special study. They have been carried on from time immemorial; and the process is still going on amongst hill tribes and other remote populations. A Bráliman makes his appearance in a so-called aboriginal village; and establishes his influence by an affectation of superior sanctity, aided by the fame of his spells, incantations, mystic rites, and astrological predictions. He declares the village idol to be a form of one or other of the great gods or goddesses of the Brahmanical pantheon; and he professes to teach the true forms of worship. He divides the villagers into castes, and introduces caste laws. In this manner the populations of India have been brought under the spiritual domination of the Bráhmans, and the caste system has been introduced into secluded regions, in which it was previously unknown."

59 The distinction between the Purohita and the Guru has already been laid down. See History, vol. i., Mahá Bhárata, chap. ii. Its importance will abund antly appear hereafter in dealing with the later history.

60 The territory of Munipore between Cachar and Burma was only converted to Brahmanism during the last century.

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