Indian Life, religious and social

Preface

. Having seen a great deal of India, from the Vale of Kashmir to the tropical uplands of Ceylon, from the historic borderland of the Indus to the forest-covered banks of the Brahmaputra, having resided in each of the Provinces of Northern India from Assam to the Punjab, and having done my best to understand the character and intellectual condition of the people of the country, I trust the sketches of Indian life which I have embodied in this volume may prove acceptable to readers who take an interest in the two hundred and fifty millions of Hindus and Muham madans in India, so frequently alluded to in con temporary writings. Of the inner life of a people who adhere to the rigid rules of caste, and keep their women in seclu sion, it is not, perhaps, possible for an alien to form a just opinion ; and this difficulty certainly exists in regard to the entire upper and middle classes of the Indian world, whether Hindu or Muslim.

But the common people, more free and open in their domestic arrangements, afford better opportunities for obser vation, and I have not neglected the chances which

PREFACE.

. have come in my way of gaining an insight into the mode of life and habits of thought of the humbler ranks of the community. In Part II. of this volume I have recorded, from personal knowledge, many particulars connected with the somewhat peculiar domestic life of the lower orders, which may help English readers towards accurate conceptions regarding the lives and ideas of many millions of men and women in British India. J. C. 0. London, loth January, 1889. CONTENTS. *4

Part I. I'age

I. YOGIS AND MAHATMAS, THE SAGES OF INDIA ... II II. EXPERIENCES WITH FORTUNE-TELLERS 48 III. A STRANGE CULT ; THE WORSHIP OF ZAHIR PIR 66 IV. THE ARYA SAMAJ AND ITS FOUNDER 86 V. THE LAHORE BRAHMO SAMAJ 1 25 VI. A BRAHMO WEDDING 133 VII. TWO VISITS TO THE GOLDEN TEMPLE OF THE SIKHS I38 VIII. THE CENOTAPH OF MAHARAJAH RUNJEET SINGH, THE LION OF THE PUNJAB 1 52 IX. "BAZAAR GUP,'' OR RUMOURS OF THE MARKET PLACE 168 X. AT THE PLAY : THE NEW INDIAN THEATRE ... 1 83 XI. THE MOST SACRED SPOT ON EARTH ; OR, BUDDH GAYA AND BUDDHISM ... CONTENTS.