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                    [Illustration: FELIX TIPNIS.]


                            INDIA AND THE

                               INDIANS



                          BY EDWARD F. ELWIN

           OF THE SOCIETY OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST, COWLEY

   AUTHOR OF "INDIAN JOTTINGS," "THIRTY-FOUR YEARS IN POONA CITY,"
                    "STORIES OF INDIAN BOYS," ETC.




                          WITH ILLUSTRATIONS







                                LONDON

                  JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

                                 1913


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PREFACE


India is really waking up, but she is doing so in her own Indian way.
For some years past it has been one of my daily duties to arouse an
Indian boy, and I know exactly how an Indian wakes. It is a leisurely
process. He slowly stretches his legs and rubs his eyes, and it is at
least ten minutes before he can be said to be really wide awake. And
every morning I have to say exactly the same thing: "Now remember,
Felix, to say your prayers; then go and wash your hands and face, and
then feed the pony." And if on any particular morning I were to leave
this reminder unsaid, and Felix left any, or all of these duties,
undone, and I were to ask him the reason, he would reply, "You did not
tell me."

With India waking up, there never was a time when she stands more in
need of some kindly person at her side to tell her what to do. She
needs to be taught to say her prayers, because with the old religion
gone and the True Faith dimly understood, India would be in the
appalling condition of a great country without a religion. We need to
tell her to wash her hands and face, because there are certain
elementary matters of sanitation which must be attended to if India is
ever to become a wholesome and prosperous country. And we have got to
teach her how to work, because India wide awake, but idle, might
easily become a source of great mischief.

Every Englishman who takes pleasure in the sense of Empire ought to
realise that it brings with it great responsibilities, and therefore
that every Englishman has a measure of responsibility towards India.
We must be taking care that, if when she is wide awake she fails to
fulfil her great vocation, at any rate she shall have no cause to
utter against us the reproach, You never told me.

A better understanding of what India and the people who live in it are
really like, seems to be the necessary preparation for sympathy and
work of any sort connected with that country; and to help, in however
small a degree, to bring about this end is the object of this book. I
have had unusually favourable and varied opportunities for getting to
know intimately the inner side of Indian life and character during a
somewhat long residence in this country. The contents of the book are
exceedingly miscellaneous because the daily experiences have been
equally so. Everything that is told is the outcome of my own personal
observations amongst a people to whom I am deeply attached, and I have
taken the utmost pains to record nothing of which I was not sure, and
to verify everything concerning which I was doubtful.

The photographs were all taken by Brother Arthur of our Society.

EDWARD F. ELWIN.

YERANDAWANA,

POONA DISTRICT, INDIA.

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CONTENTS


CHAP.                                                 PAGE

I.        INTRODUCTORY                                  1

II.       INDIAN HOSPITALITY                           11

III.      THE INDIAN VIEW OF NATURE AND ARCHITECTURE   17

IV.       INDIAN EMPLOYEES OF LABOUR                   24

V.        THE INDIAN POSTAL SERVICE                    32

VI.       INDIANS AND ENGLISH CUSTOMS                  40

VII.      INDIAN UNPUNCTUALITY                         48

VIII.     INDIAN POVERTY                               54

IX.       INDIAN ART                                   60

X.        THE INDIAN VILLAGE                           66

XI.       INDIAN ENTERTAINMENTS                        74

XII.      THE CONVERSION OF INDIA                      83

XIII.     MISSION WORK IN INDIA                        89

XIV.      INDIAN MUSIC                                 98

XV.       INDIAN MEALS                                105

XVI.      HINDU PHILOSOPHY                            111

XVII.     HINDUS AND RELIGION                         117

XVIII.    RELIG