



Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net








                    [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


       *       *       *       *       *




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.

       *       *       *       *       *




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.    RELIGIOUS PHASES IN INDIA                   124

XIX.      GAMES IN INDIA                              130

XX.       INDIAN WRESTLERS                            137

XXI.      BOOKS IN INDIA                              143

XXII.     INDIAN PAGEANTS                             151

XXIII.    THE INDIAN CHARACTER                        157

XXIV.     RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY IN INDIA              164

XXV.      WILD BEASTS IN INDIA                        170

XXVI.     SOME INDIAN ANIMALS                         176

XXVII.    THE INDIAN WORLD OF NATURE                  182

XXVIII.   INSECTS IN INDIA                            188

XXIX.     THE INDIAN ASCETIC                          196

XXX.      THE INDIAN WIDOW                            204

XXXI.     WRONGDOING IN INDIA                         212

XXXII.    PROPERTY IN INDIA                           221

XXXIII.   EAST AND WEST TRAVELLING                    228

XXXIV.    CUSTOMS OF EAST AND WEST                    234

XXXV.     SERVANTS IN INDIA                           241

XXXVI.    THE EDUCATED HINDU                          247

XXXVII.   UNFINISHED PLANS IN INDIA                   256

XXXVIII.  GIFTS IN INDIA                              263

XXXIX.    PROVERBIAL SAYINGS ABOUT INDIA              270

XL.       INDIAN UNREST                               278

XLI.      THE ENGLISH IN INDIA                        288

XLII.     DISHONESTY IN INDIA                         295

XLIII.    INDIAN MOHAMMEDANS                          302

XLIV.     NIGHT ALARMS IN INDIA                       309

XLV.      THE INDIAN WASHERMAN                        317

XLVI.     AGRICULTURE IN INDIA                        328

XLVII.    EAST AND WEST ON BOARD SHIP                 337

          INDEX                                       347

       *       *       *       *       *




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


FELIX TIPNIS                                        _Frontispiece_

SWITHUN'S NEW HOME IN THE VILLAGE             _To face page 16_

YERANDAWANA CHURCH FROM A DISTANCE                  "       20

THE INDIAN VILLAGE POSTMAN                          "       38

NARAYEN KHILARI, A FARMER'S SON                     "       42

THE KINDLY HINDU NEIGHBOUR AND HIS FAMILY           "       48

A MODERN HOUSE IN POONA CITY                        "       60

MRS SALOME ZADHAW                                   "       66

RAGU, THE NIGHT-WATCHMAN                            "       72

THE YERANDAWANA VILLAGE WRESTLERS                   "      138

NIRARI BHOSLE, THE MISCHIEVOUS VILLAGE BOY          "      168

MILKING THE BUFFALO                                 "      180

DOWD PHERIDE, THE EGG-MERCHANT'S SON                "      198

SARLA KALU, THE YERANDAWANA WIDOW                   "      206

THE INDIAN BUTLER                                   "      242

THE CEMETERY CROSS                                  "      268

       *       *       *       *       *




INDIA AND THE INDIANS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

     Misconceptions about India. Hinduism. An "infernal
     religion." Hindu mythology. Ascetics. Translations of Hindu
     sacred books. Modern and ancient ways of teaching
     Christianity. Danger of the incorporation of a false Christ
     into Hinduism. Hindu India as it really is. Definitions of
     "What is Hinduism?" from representative Hindus.


India is not really quite so mysterious a country as it appears to be
on first acquaintance. But you have to live there a long time before
things begin to reveal their real shape. It is only on the ground of
long residence, and frequent and often close intercourse with a great
variety of Indians, that I venture now and then to give some of my
experiences to others. India remains almost an unknown land to a large
number of people in spite of all that has been written or spoken about
it, and it is hard to dissipate the many misconceptions which exist
concerning the country. Some of these misconceptions came into being
years ago, but they have become stereotyped. They were presumably the
outcome of hasty conclusions drawn from superficial knowledge. But
even visitors to India often view the country in the light of
preconceived ideas which they have either heard or read of, and they
therefore fail to see things as they really are.

It is inevitable in dealing with Indian things that the defects of the
people of the country should occupy rather a prominent place. The
cause is their misfortune and not their fault. They have many
delightful natural characteristics, and the years that I have lived
amongst them have only served to increase my deep affection for