Hindupore : a peep behind the Indian unrest : an Anglo-Indian romance

Front matter

IAN PROBLEMS

BY

S. M. MITRA

Contents

CHAPTER PAOB

I. CHATEAUBRIAND'S "ATALA" CAPTIVATES LORD

II. RAJA RAM SINGH JOINS AT SUEZ - - 12

Preface

My articles on the Indian Unrest in the Nineteenth Century were well received, and I was asked to deal with the subject in a more popular form. That is the genesis of *' Hindupore." But for the encouraging letter to me from that distinguished Indian expert, Sir George Birdwood, M.D., K.C.I.E., C.S.I., LL.D., an extract from which, with his permission, I publish below, I should not have felt justified in placing " Hindupore " before the British public.

S. M. MITRA.

The Royal Asiatic Society,

22, Albemarle Street,

London, W.

November 30, 1909.

Extract from Sir Geoi^ge Birdwood' s Letter »

"Hindupore" reveals many of the deepmost things of India hidden from Englishmen, even those who may have passed away half their lives

vii viii PREFACE

in that country — a country in which historical (pagan Egypt, Chaldea, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, and Rome) as distinguished from prehistorical antiquity still survives. The chapters on " Pan- Hinduism," *' Irish Signs and Hindu Signs," and " Hindu-Japanese Affinity," are instructive and most suggestive ; and, apart ivova the attractions " Hindupore " may have for the readers of romances, it has a political value in this momentary crisis in the affairs of India ; for only the imbecilities inherent in our system of Government by party are artificially protracting a situation that to the ignorant alone seems so sinistrous.

CHAPTER I Chateaubriand's "atala" captivates lord tara

It was early in April, and the weather was mild and calm, when the favourite P. and O. steamer Nur-Jehan entered the bright blue waters of the " tideless sea " on her voyage to the East.

At Marseilles several English passengers came on board, among them being Lord Tara, a young Irish Member of Parliament, full of ardour and enlightened zeal for the true welfare of the vast Indian Empire, which he was about to visit for the first time.

After dinner the captain proposed a moonlight concert and promenade on the upper deck. On his way up Lord Tara was met by a tall, handsome girl, who exclaimed as she held out her hand in greeting :

" So you, too, Lord Tara, are on board. I wonder what you are up to? 1 thought you were too devoted to your duties to desert the House during the Session."

"To tell you the truth, Mrs. Ochterlony, I find I can't do much good there in the present state of affairs, so I am on my way to pay a long-promised visit to my old friend Herbert Harvey, who knows more than most men ^bout the real state of the country. You know, he is devoted to India, as his father was before him. If all our civil servants were like them, I expect we should not hear so much as we do of unrest in India. But may I ask why you are going out there just in time for the hot season ?"

"Can't you guess? We are going out for tiger-shooting. The Laird has been in India before, but I hope to prove myself a better shot even than he is, so I made him promise to give me a chance of my first tiger as soon as we were married. As you may remember, I brought down a splendid stag last September at Kildrum."

Tara did indeed remember how Mrs. Ochterlony, then Mabel Robson, had gloried in her cruel sport, not showing the least sign of compassion— as he thought a woman should — for the agony in the pathetic dying glance of her noble victim. He had never admired her since.

At that moment the Laird of Ochterlony joined his wife, handing her a gold cigarette-case she had sent him to fetch. He shook hands heartily with Tara, saying :

" I hope you, too, are coming out for some

JAGANNATH 3

tiger-shooting. If so, you had better join us. I've had good sport in India before, but it's veryexpensive — one has to pay so many natives for standing about doing nothing — and then, it's so confoundedly hot 1" The Laird, though young, wfts a heavy man.

" I dare say you'll be shocked to see me light a cigarette. Lord Tara, but the Laird doesn't like to smoke alone," said Mabel. " I'm only glad Lady Claremont isn't here to see me ; how dreadfully shocked she would be I You are the only man I know who doesn't smoke, and I know how much your mother dislikes it. But here comes your protegee, the fair lady doctor, Cehtia Scott. I think you have met her before ?"

" Our old friend and doctor, Dr. Granville Bain, introduced me to her a little while ago, to ask me to use some influence we had in getting her a Zenana appointment in India, and it ended in her being nominated to superintend the hospital at Cuttack, where she will attend the women pilgrims on their way to the Temple of Jagannath," replied Tara.

" It seems awful to me. I suppose she is fired by missionary zeal to convert the poor, ignorant creaturejs."

" Not at all. She admires their devotion to what they think right, and is ready to be of service to them in case of sickness or accident."

" I can't understand how a Christian woman can undertake such work."

1—2

*' I dare say you can't," replied Tara quietly, as he went forward to meet Celitia.

" I did not know you were coming out before the end of the month," said Tara. " I beUeve the great Festival does not take place until the end of June or beginning of July." »

" I am to take up my appointment, which I owe to your great kindness. Lord Tara, at the beginning of June ; but Mrs. Ochterlony was kind enough to ask me to come out with her some weeks earlier, and spend a month or so in India before I settled down to my work, so of course 1 was only too glad to accept the offer."

" It happens that her uncle. Dr. Robert Scott, of Edinburgh, was our favourite doctor when we were children," said Mrs. Ochterlony. " He used to say, however, that we were not worth much to him, we were so seldom ill. My four brothers and I ran quite wild in our early years, always riding or hunting or fishing when we ought to have been at our lessons. Our home was on the Clyde, but my father owned about fifty square miles of forest land in the Western Highlands, too — but you have been to Kildrum, Lord Tara."

Mrs. Ochterlony might have added that Mr. Robson also owned one of the largest whisky distilleries in Scotland, but she did not.

" I spent a very happy time there last year," said Tara. ''You have not told me yet where

LADY DOCTOR 5

you are going to stay in India. Everyone will be at Simla by the time we get out. I rather wished to avoid meeting too many of our own people — one sees so much of them at home. Harvey is detained at Barrackpore just now while his chief is away."

"We have promised to stay for a time with the Grevilles at Allahabad. Colonel Greville is stationed there with the Golconda Hussars. But how is it we did not meet on the journey to Marseilles ?"

" I did not take the express," replied Tara. " I started in time to spend a day or two in Paris on the way."

" I think it is getting too chilly to sit out longer in the moonlight," said Mrs. Ochterlony, as she rose to go away.

" It is a lovely night," said Tara to Celitia. " Would you like to walk about a little while the band is still playing ?" Celitia thanked him with the gracious manner that so well became her fine figure and commanding appearance. She was about thirty, with a curious power of attraction in her large grey eyes and expressive mouth, seeming to appeal instinctively to the admiration of every man she approached, as if fully conscious of her own position as a clever and cultured woman of the world.

When she was studying medicine all the doctors hovered about her, and, although statistics formed no part of the medical curriculum,

Dr. Granville Bain, the learned lecturer on pathology, often dwelt with statistical accuracy — in his private diary — on the number of times he had the good luck of enjoying Celitia's delightful society. She had taken her degree of M.D. with credit, and exerted her great persuasive powers to induce her friend and admirer Dr. Bain to use his influence on her behalf, with signal success.

The following morning Celitia was early on deck, taking a sketch of a passing fishing-smack, touched with the glowing hues of the newlyrisen sun, that had caught her fancy, when Lord Tara came up to her.

" Good-morning, Miss Scott. I did not expect to find you about so early, but I see you have an object in view. How beautifully firm your outline is !"

" My drawing is of the practical kind that one studies as a help to the details of anatomy, and of course it's of no value unless quite accurate. I delight in colour effects. I never saw so glorious a sunrise as this — life in the West is so sombre."

''It is strange how one may sometimes be haunted by a picture," said Tara thoughtfully. " My ideal of beauty in a girl came to me from a lovely picture in the Louvre — Chateaubriand's ' Atala ' — which I first saw when I was a boy of about twelve. My sister and I were in Paris at the time learning French, in charge of an ex-

LADY DOCTOR 7

tremely comme ilfaut French governess. Mademoiselle could not be persuaded to tell me the story of 'Atala,' as she said I was much too young to hear it, but I read it later. The exquisitely delicate and graceful figure and dark, refined features of the hapless Indian maiden made an impression upon my mind that has never left it. Every time I see the picture the feeling is confirmed."

Celitia was rather startled by this unexpected confidence. Perhaps Lord Tara had some romantic hope of finding his ideal in the East. She gave him a curious glance of her large intelligent grey eyes, and replied quietly :

*' Sometimes we do have a mysterious kind of sympathy with a great work of art — there is something almost supernatural in the original conception of an imaginary being endowed with soul and spirit like our own."

" It was the spiritual beauty of this face that was its attraction. No one could see it and doubt the absolute purity and nobility of nature of the youthful virgin martyr. But to descend from the clouds, to everyday life, I wonder if you would gratify my curiosity to know why you have set your heart upon going to India ?"

" It has been the dream of my life," said Celitia. "My father was in a Highland regiment, and as a very young man was present at the Siege of I^ucknow. He afterwards exchanged into another regiment in order to remain longer in India, and just before his retirement he met my mother in a remote part of the hill-country. She was then a beautiful girl of about seventeen, and, although unmistakably English in appearance, had been adopted and brought up with the utmost kindness in the family of a Hindu gentleman. He told my father that she was found — a pretty little girl of about three years old — by a Brahman priest in a deserted house at Cawnpore, just after the fatal massacre there, and conveyed in safety to the care of a friend in a distant province."

" No wonder you wish to see India ; but pray finish your story."

" She came home with my father to Scotland soon after their marriage, but the climate tried her very much after the luxurious life she had led in India, and she died when I was seven years old. My father died about three years later, leaving me, his only child — almost unprovided for — to the care of his brother, a doctor of some standing in Edinburgh. Although he had a large family of his own, my uncle was like a father to me, and, as I had fairly good abilities, I succeeded in taking the degree of M.D. with honours, with the view of trying to obtain a Zenana appointment in India."

" But how did you discover that there was an opening for a lady doctor to the pilgrims at Jagannath — Juggernaut, as the missionary magazines call it — of all places in the world ?" said

LADY DOCTOR 9

Tara, with an amused twinkle in his keen blue eyes.

'' My mother had often told me, as a little child, of the sacred pilgrimages to Orissa, the Holy Land of the Hindu people, among whom sh« had lived so happily, and of the blessings that attend all who serve at the great Temple of Jagannath, the Lord of the World ! I used to cry at the sad story she told me of the sufferings of the thousands of poor women who make the pilgrimage on foot every year. Quite lately I happened to meet an old Indian friend of my mother's, who told me that he had admired her so much as a girl that he would have married her, notwithstanding the difficulty of overcoming caste prejudices, if she had cared for him. When he found out what my ideas were, he said it would be a noble work for me to do what I could for these poor women, whose religious zeal leads them to overtax their strength by long and weary marches at the hottest season of the Indian year. It seems that more than five- sixths of the pilgrims are actually women ! You see how much more depth of religious emotion we have than men. Even in church how few men are seen !" Celitia paused, and then added : " Where a lady doctor is so much needed, I naturally felt a great desire to be the one chosen."

" It is quite a strange coincidence," said Lord Tara, "that I, too, should have heard so much of the undying hold that the faith in the mighty

Jagannath has upon hundreds of millions of the Hindu race. My grandfather was formerly Viceroy of India, and felt the deepest respect for a religion that could thus command the reverence of all the people of that vast Hindu Empire during thousands of years, and whichfin some vital points bears a striking resemblance in its sacred rites and beliefs to our own form of religion. My earliest recollections are of the thrilling stories my grandfather used to tell me, in his old age, of the miracles attributed to the great Vishnu — Jagannath — during the invasions of the Musalmans, who only succeeded in conquering and despoiling a comparatively small region of India in the end. My father, however, does not share my enthusiasm about India. His tastes are entirely those of a country gentleman, while the charm and glamour of the East have always had the strongest fascination for me."

" I suppose mental tastes sometimes recur, like inherited diseases, not in the first, but in the second generation," remarked Celitia.

" That is a very professional idea of yours, but I dare say you are right," replied Tara, laughing. " Anyhow, I am lucky in being allowed to please myself. My mother has quite settled down at Tara now, as she has never cared for London life since she lost her only daughter, about two years ago. That is why I have no home in town during the Parliamentary season. You see, I am telling you all about myself, as if we were old

TIGER SEASON 11

friends. Don't you think there are some people who seem to attract one's confidence at once ?"

" I am sure there are," said CeUtia eagerly. " I wish you would tell me more about yourself. What are you going to do in India ?"

" I^had an invitation for big-game shooting in British East Africa from some Irish friends who have settled out there, but I thought I should prefer tiger-shooting in India, a civilized old country much better worth knowing. The tiger season happens to be the hottest time of the year in India, which is unfortunate. I don't get much hunting now, which I enjoy more than anything. I have hunted with my father since I was seven years old. There is the first breakfast - bell, I think ; I'm rather glad to hear it. May I help you to put away your easel, Miss Scott? I'm afraid I have spoilt your clever sketch."

Chapter II Raja Ram Singh Joins At Suez

As the Nur-Jehan approached nearer to the burning, sandy shores of the African coast the atmosphere became charged with the scorching dust- clouds raised by the gusts of wind blowing off the land. At Suez the only passenger to come on board was an Indian gentleman of remarkably distinguished appearance, dressed in a light English travelling suit, and attended by a Hindu servant with the greatest deference.

Tara, delighted to have the opportunity of making his acquaintance, soon found an excuse for entering into conversation with him.

The new-comer — Mr. Ram Singh — proved a great acquisition to the passengers, especially as he spoke English perfectly and bore the inevitable desagrhnents of the Suez Canal with true Oriental fortitude.

He was much interested in Celitia's mission, and passed hours with her and Lord Tara under the awning of the upper deck, talking over their plans and his own.

CHRISTIAN PREACHER 13

" I am now returning from a short visit to Italy ; I wanted to see Rome. I have not been in England since the Diamond Jubilee of the ' Maha Rani.' "

Celitia looked up inquiringly, and said aside to Tar»: *' He must be some one of consequence." Ram Singh continued: *'Iwas fortunate enough to have an interview with the Pope. It was obtained through a learned Italian Jesuit whom I met in Calcutta. His Holiness seemed much interested in the Roman tradition — I don't know whether he had heard it before — that St. Thomas the Apostle preached Christianity in Southern India, on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, founded several churches, and, finally, was martyred at the Little Mount, Madras, in 68 A.D. The Buddhist polity, then supreme in Southern India, was favourable to the reception of a faith whose moral characteristics were humanity and self-sacrifice. Perhaps earlier Jewish settlers had familiarized the Indian mind with the existence of an ancient and imposing religion in Palestine. When that religion was presented in the new and more attractive form of Christianity, no miraculous intervention was required to commend it to the tolerant Buddhist Princes of Southern India."

" I never heard this before 1" said Tara.

" I am true to my older faith," said Ram Singh, " yet the Christian ideal is one that must appeal to all religious minds. It is a pity that the reality falls so far short of it as a rule. You look pale and tired, Miss Scott. I hope you know how to take care of yourself as well as your patients."

" I am only feeling the heat ; one cannot get away from it on board ship," said Celitia. ,

" You must not work too hard in our climate. We do not allow our ladies to exert themselves much, though they are more energetic than they used to be in the olden days."

Celitia looked gratefully up to Ram Singh. How kind and considerate he was, and how very handsome ! Then she said :

" I wonder if you could tell me anything about medical science in India ? "

" I have been told that the ancient Hindus ranked their medical knowledge as an Upa Veda, or supplementary revelation, under the title of Ayur Veda, and ascribed it to the gods, as we do all things on earth. A chapter on the human body in the earliest Sanskrit dictionary, about 500 A.D., presupposes a systematic cultivation of the science," said Ram Singh.

" We are generally told that medical science came to us from Arabic sources !" remarked Celitia.

" The Hindu medical works contain no names that denote a foreign origin, and the chief seat of the science was at Benares. European medicine down to the seventeenth century was practically based upon the Hindu, and the name of the

HINDU SURGERY 15

Hindu physician Charaka repeatedly occurs in the Latin translations," said Ram Singh.

"This is quite a revelation to me," said Celitia. " But were there good surgeons too in those early days ?"

" They seem to have performed the most difficult operations. A very curious branch of surgery mentioned in the old Hindu medical books was that of improving deformed ears and noses and forming new ones," said Ram Singh. *

"Why, that is one of the latest scientific additions to surgery in the great London hospitals — one of the newest of innovations," said Celitia.

" You see, there is nothing new under the sun, the Indian sun especially," said Tara. " But this is really interesting. I suppose there were some medical schools too ?"

"There were public hospitals and medical students about two thousand years ago in all the great centres of Buddhist civilization, like the monastic University of Nalanda, near Gaya," said Ram Singh. " Hippocrates was a priestphysician, and the traditional Charaka was in many ways his Indian counterpart. The Greek physicians established their hospital camps round the mineral springs."

"Then, the efficacy of mineral springs was discovered in a very early age !" remarked Celitia.

" The idea of becoming healed of disease by bathing in certain springs is frequently alluded to in the Bible," said Tara. " Naaman the Syrian was cured of his leprosy by bathing seven times in the Jordan at the command of the prophet Elisha, and although a miracle is implied it is probable that the Jordan, which flowed into the Dead Sea, was strongly impregnated with salt and bituminous substances. The Pool of Bethesda was known as a healing spring."

" Most great rivers in the East are considered sacred on account of the blessings they bring to the lands through which they flow," said Ram Singh. " The Egyptians worshipped the Nile as we do our magnificent Ganga and Godavery. Even comparatively insignificant streams, like the Thames and Severn in England, were supposed to be haunted by their tutelary deities. In the same way the primitive natives of the vast American forests adored the elementary spirits they believed to exist in the mighty trees and rivers of their continent."

"We do not perhaps sufficiently see our Creator in His works," remarked Tara thoughtfully.

He walked away to meet Mrs. Ochterlony, who was fanning herself vigorously with a large ostrich-feather fan.

"Have you found out yet who Mr. Ram Singh really is ? If I saw as much of him as you and Miss Scott do, I should know all about him by this time," said Mabel.

" He is a delightful man, whoever he may be,"

RED SEA 17

replied Tara. "I only wish I could speak his language half as well as he does mine."

"You are quite infatuated about everything Indian. I'm getting as brown as a berry in this scorching sun, and awfully tired of the horrid blasis of hot, sandy air that stifle one by day and night. I'd give something to be back among the heather at bonnie Kildrum."

The waves of heat prevalent in the Red Sea at this season of the year made themselves oppressively felt during the ensuing day, and the travellers were all more or less in a state of collapse. Fortunately, there were but few ladies among the number.

Celitia felt the effects of the sudden change of climate rather acutely, and, after two sleepless nights, fainted one afternoon in her chaise-longue on the upper deck. Mr. Ram Singh, who was playing chess with Lord Tara at the time, came hastily forward to prevent her from falling to the ground, and supported her gently in his arms until the doctor could be called to her aid. She soon recovered, and the pleasure of finding herself so carefully tended helped much to restore her to consciousness. The doctor advised her to rest in a reclining position on deck, where she had the best chance of an occasional sea-breeze^ and Ram Singh had the happy idea of ministering to her comfort by setting up a screen of the fragrant cuscus matting — brought by his servant, Sukhdeo. He further sent for a large palm-leaf fan. He soon had the satisfaction of seeing her fall into a sound, refreshing sleep, and then left her to the care of his attendant, with instructions to continue fanning her while she slept.

Celitia felt shy and grateful the next ^day when Ram Singh kindly inquired after her health, and, asking her if she would allow him to have the pleasure of telling her, during the sultry hours of the afternoon, the famous Hindu romance of Nala and Damayanti, added that he wished to interest her in everything connected with the manners and customs of India. Celitia, touched by so many proofs of considerate kindness, replied :

" There is nothing I should enjoy so much. It would be like an Arabian Nights' Entertainment, except that the Princes didn't take the trouble to amuse the ladies. It was quite the other way !"

" You will find that we Hindus — I am Rajput myself — know how to treat our ladies rather better than the tyrannical Musalmans of the Arabian Nights. I think you will like the story."

" I am sure I have heard of it," said Celitia. " I delight in Eastern romance."

" May I hear it too ?" said Tara. " I delight in Eastern tales of all kinds."

HINDU WIFE 19

The Story of Nala and Damayanti

Damayanti, daughter of the King of Vidarbha, was celebrated for her extreme beauty. She had large, soft, gazelle-like eyes, a lovely figure, and glossy black hair, long enough to reach almost to her feet.

She was an only child, and many Princes, having heard of her charms, sought her hand.

But she had seen in a dream the handsome Nala, the young King of Nishadha (a neighbouring State), who, having heard of her from a celestial messenger — a dove — had sent by him a love-letter to the Princess, offering her his hand and heart.

So she told her father that King Nala had fallen in love with her, and the King of Vidarbha decided to allow her to choose her own husband.

He sent out invitations to several Princes who had made offers of marriage to Damayanti, including the King of Nishadha.

Nala, while on his way to the palace, was met by three of the principal gods, who likewise desired to win the lady for a bride. They commanded Nala to communicate their wishes to her in a private interview to be obtained by their supernatural intervention.

He faithfully performed their bidding, and, in reply, was told by the Princess, to his delight, that he was himself the chosen lord of her life.

When all the aspirants were assembled at the

2—2 palace, Damayanti beheld with dismay four Nalas, the three gods having also assumed this form. Damayanti, however, prayed earnestly to be rightly guided in her choice of the true Nala, and at length found that this favour had been granted to her. *

Not dazzled by the flattering homage of celestial beings, she remained true to her chosen suitor, who vowed to her the most constant and devoted affection in return.

The gods at parting magnanimously conferred upon Nala special powers over the elements of fire and water, while Koli, a malicious and impious spirit, threatened him with dire misfortune.

For many years Nala and his Queen reigned in splendour and happiness in Nishadha.

By a careful observance of all religious rites, Nala gave Koli no chance of exercising his evil power over him, until at length on one unlucky evening he omitted a trifling ceremony, and Koli, ever on the watch, immediately took possession of him. Koli first incited him to gamble with a brother who was already in the clutches of the evil genius.

Nala soon became so constant and reckless a gambler that in a short time he played away literally everything that he possessed. He had just virtue enough left not to risk the loss of his wife, who had secured the safety of their children by sending them to her parents. Having lost

NALA DAMAYANTI 21

his kingdom and his home, still accompanied by his faithful Queen, Nala began his dreary wandering into exile.

They soon found themselves in a vast forest, where at nightfall they sought shelter in a hut.

Damayanti, in her weariness, sank into a deep sleep, and Nala, unable any longer to endure the sight of the distress he had brought upon her, resolved to leave her before greater disaster befell him.

The Queen, upon finding herself deserted and alone, was in despair, but in her solitary wanderings she was consoled by the inspired predictions of a good hermit, and, by his direction, returned to her father's Court, where she found her children again.