-iNEW-YORK : PRINCETON, N. J. 2&413. M.9.3 Division Section Number . ' ■ - : • ' ORIENTAL SERIES. MORRISON AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE. TIE 1QTD11AN EMMIE Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/indianempireitshOOhunt THE INDIAN EMPIRE: ITS HISTORY, PEOPLE, AND PRODUCTS. BY W. W. HUNTER, C.I.E. LL.D. LONDON: TRUBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL. 1882. All Rights Reserved. htC. OCT 1882 THSOLOGlCAIw MIL;-vv^ »**▼¥* V.,...^ 8 . PREFACE. This book tries to present, within a small compass, an account of India and her people. The materials on which it is based are condensed from my larger works. In 1869, the Government of India directed me to execute a Statistical Survey of its dominions, — a vast enterprise, whose records will make one hundred printed volumes, of which more than ninety have already been issued. The scale of the operations, although by no means too elaborate for the administrative purposes for which they were designed, necessarily placed their results beyond the reach of the general public. The hundred volumes of The Statistical Survey were, therefore, reduced to a more compendious form as the nine volumes of The Imperial Gazetteer of India. But the edition of that work was almost entirely exhausted within a few months of its issue, and the publishers inform me that it will shortly be out of print. The present book distils into one volume the essence of The Imperial Gazetteer and certain of my previous works. It consists in the main of my article India in the Gazetteer ; but of that article carefully revised, re- modelled into chapters, and brought more nearly up to date. The Imperial Gazetteer was necessarily based upon the Indian Census of 1871 ; in the following pages I have incorporated the general results, so far as they are yet available, of the Census of 1881. In this and in other respects I have endeavoured to reach a higher standard of convenience in arrangement, and 6 INDIA. of completeness in detail, than it was in my power to attain to, at the time when I compiled, chiefly from my previous works, the article India for The Imperial Gazetteer. I have elsewhere explained the mechanism by which the materials for the Statistical Survey were collected in each of the 240 Districts, or territorial units, of British India.1 Without the help of a multitude of fellow- workers, the present volume could never have been written. It represents the fruit of a long process of con- tinuous condensation. But in again acknowledging my indebtedness to brethren of my Service in India, I wish to specially commemorate the obligations which I also owe to a friend at home. Mr. J. S. Cotton, late Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford, has rendered important ser- vice at every stage of the work ; and the later sections of the present volume, dealing with the administrative and industrial aspects of India, are to a large extent the work of his hands. Continuous condensation, although convenient to the reader, has its perils for the author. Many Indian topics are still open questions, with regard to which divergences of opinion may fairly exist. In some cases I have been compelled by brevity to state my conclu- sions without setting forth the evidence on which they rest, and without any attempt to combat alternative views. In others I have had to content myself with conveying a correct general impression, while omitting the modifying details. For I here endeavour to present an account, which shall be at once original and com- plete, of a continent inhabited by many more races and 1 See Preface to Volume I. of The Imperial Gazetteer of India. I regret to observe that, in regard to the Madras Presidency, I alluded only to the local accounts prepared by the District officers, without specifically mention- ing the assistance which I derived from Mr. M‘Iver, of the Madras Civil Service. I gladly avail myself of this earliest opportunity to thank him for the aid which he rendered by the compilation of many of the Madras articles for The Imperial Gazetteer. — W. W. H. INDIA. 7 nations than Europe, in every stage of human develop- ment, from the polyandric tribes and hunting hamlets of the hill jungles, to the most complex commercial communities in the world. When I have had to expose old fables, or to substitute truth for long accepted errors, I clearly show my grounds for doing so. Thus, in setting aside the legend of Mahmud the Idol-Breaker, I trace back the growth of the myth through the Persian Historians, to the contemporary narrative of A1 Biruni (970-1029 A.D.). The calumnies against Jagannath are corrected by the testimony of three centuries, from 1580, when Abul Fazl wrote, down to the police reports of 1870. Macaulay’s somewhat fanciful story of Plassey has been told afresh in the words of Clive’s own despatch. But almost every period of Indian history forms an arena of controversy. Thus, in the early Sanskrit era, each date is the result of an intricate process of induc- tion ; the chapter on the Scythic inroads has been pieced together from the unfinished researches of the Archaeo- logical Survey and from local investigations ; the growth of Hinduism, as the religious and social nexus of the Indian races, is here for the first time written. In attempting to reconstruct Indian history from its original sources in the fewest possible pages, I beg oriental scholars to believe that, although their indi- vidual views are not always set forth, they have been respectfully considered. I also pray the English reader to remember that, if he desires a more detailed treat- ment of the subjects of this volume, he may find it in my larger works. W. W. H. Weimar, October 1881. . TABLE OF CONTENTS. GENERAL PLAN. PAGE Physical Aspects, . 25-59 Population, .... 60-68 The Non -Aryan Races, . 69-88 The Aryans in India, 89-136 Buddhism, .... 137-156 The Greeks in India, 157-165 Scythic Inroads, 166-176 Rise of Hinduism, . 177-212 Early Muhammadan Rulers, . 213-233 The Mughal Empire, 234-257 The Marhatta Power, 258-264 Early European Settlements, . 265-280 History of British Rule, 281-327 PAGE British Administration of India, 328-369 Christianity in India, 370-379 Agriculture and Products, 380-431 Means of Communication, 432-437 Commerce and Trade, . 438-468 Manufactures and Arts, . 469-485 Mines and Minerals, 486-495 Geology, .... 496-504 Meteorology, 505-5 1 5 Zoology and Botany, 516-528 Vital Statistics, 529-542 Statistical Appendices, I.-X., 543-556 Index, 557-568 CHAPTER I. PHYSICAL ASPECTS. General Description of India ; Boundaries, The Three Regions of India, First Region ; the Himalayas ; Scenery and Products, Second Region ; the Northern River Plains, The Great Rivers ; their Work, and Land-making, . Three Stages in the Life of an Indian River, . Delta of the Ganges ; its Age and Formation, . The Rivers as Highways and as Destroyers, Scenery and Crops of the Northern River Plains, Third Region of India ; the Southern Tableland, The Ghats and their Passes, ..... PAGE • 25, 26 27 • 27-32 • 32-53 • 32-52 • 4L 42 . 42-48 • 48-51 • 5 I_ 53 • 53-59 • 54-57 TO TABLE OF CONTENTS. pag?: Products and Scenery of the Southern Tableland, . . . 57-59 British Burma; its Geography and Products, . . . . 59 CHAPTER II. POPULATION. Feudatory India ; the Chiefs and their Powers, . . . 60 The Twelve British Provinces; how governed, . . . 60, 61 Population Tables, . . . . . . . . 61, 62 Pressure of Population ; overcrowded Districts, . . . 62-64 Under-peopled Provinces ; Nomad Husbandry, ... 64 The Labour and Land Question in India; Serfdom, . . 64-66 Unequal Pressure of Population ; its Remedies, ... 66 Increase since 1871; Population of India in 1881, . . . 66, 67 The Ethnical Elements of the Indian People, . . . . 67, 68 CHAPTER III. THE NON-ARYAN RACES. Kistvaen Builders ; Flint and Bronze Periods, ... 69 The Non- Aryans of Vedic India described, . . . .69,70 Andaman Islanders ; Anamalai Hillmen, . . . .70,71 Polyandry among the Nairs ; Gonds, . . . . . 71 Leaf-wearing Juangs ; Himalayan Tribes, . . . . 72 The Santals ; Tribal Government, Religion, History, . . 73-76 The Kandhs ; Tribal Government, Blood Revenge, . . 76, 77 Marriage by Capture ; Human Sacrifice, . .... 77-79 The Three Non-Aryan Stocks — Tibeto-Burmans, Dravi- dians, Kolarians; their Languages, ..... 79-85 Statistics of Non-Aryan Races in 1872, ..... 85 Crushed Tribes ; Gipsy Clans; Predatory Races, . . . 86,87 Their Reclamation by good Government, . . . . 87, 88 CHAPTER IV. THE ARYANS IN INDIA. The Indo-European Stock, ....... 89 Its Common Camping-ground in Central Asia, ... 89 TABLE OF CONTENTS. The Indo-Aryans on the March, ..... And in their new Indian Homes, ..... The Rig-Veda ; Widow-burning unknown, Development of Caste, 91, 92, 97. Aryan Civilisation in the Veda, The Four Vedas, ........ The Brahmanas, Sutras ; smti and smriti, The Four Castes formed, ...... The Struggle between the Brahmans and Kshattriyas, The Brahman Supremacy ; the Brahman Ideal Life, Brahman Theology, ....... Rise of the Post-Vedic Gods; Hindu Triad, . Brahman Philosophy ; the Six Schools, .... Sanskrit Grammar ; Panini, ...... Sanskrit and Prakrit Dialects ; and MSS., Brahman Astronomy ; its Three Periods, Brahman Medicine, 350 B.c. to 1879 A.D., Indian Music ; its Modern Revival, .... Indian Architecture, Art-work, and Painting, . Brahman Law ; Manu, Yajnavalkya, .... Customary Law ; Perils of Codification, .... Secular Literature of the Hindus, ..... The Mahabhdrata ; its Growth and Central Story, . The Polyandry of Draupadi, ...... The Ramayana ; Valmiki, ...... Later Sanskrit Epics, ....... The Hindu Drama ; Kalidasa, ..... The Hindu Novel ; Beast Stories, ..... Sanskrit Lyric Poetry ; Jayadeva, ..... Mediaeval Theology ; the Puranas, . . . . 135, The Six Stages of Indian History, CHAPTER V. BUDDHISM (543 B.C. TO IOOO A.D.). Buddha’s Story modelled on the Sanskrit Epic, It is the Spiritual Development of the Heroic Aryan Man, 1 1 PAGE 90 • 9°> 91 91 99, 104. . 92-98 • 98, 99 99 100, 101 102— 104 104-106 . 107 107, 108 108-1 10 . 1 10 hi, 112 115-118 119, 120 120, 121 121-123 123, 124 125 125-129 128 129-131 I31 131-133 133, !34 134 202, 203 i35> r36 137 137) 138 12 TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Life and Death of Gautama Buddha, .... 138-141 Doctrines of Buddha ; karma, ?iirvdna, .... 141-143 His Moral Code ; Missionary Aspects, . . . . . 143 Political Development of Buddhism; the Four Councils, 143, 144, 147 The Work of Asoka; his Council and Edicts, . . 144-147 The Work of Kanishka ; Northern Buddhism, . . 147, 148 Spread of Buddhism throughout Asia, .... 148, 149 Its Influences on Christianity and Hinduism, . 149, 150, 187, 188 Buddha’s Personality denied, 1 5 1 Buddhism did not oust Brahmanism, . . . . . 152 Buddhism under Siladitya ; Monastery of Nalanda, . . 153,154 Mingling of Buddhism and Brahmanism, . . . . 154 Buddhism exiled ; its Foreign Conquests, . . . 154,155 Buddhist Survivals in India ; Jains, .... 155, 156 CHAPTER VI. THE GREEKS IX INDIA (327 TO l6l B.C.). Early Greek Writers, 549-401 b.c., . . . . . 157 Alexander in India ; Results of his Invasion, . . . 158-160 Seleukos and Chandra Gupta, . . . . . 160, 16 1 The India of Megasthenes, ...... 161-163 Indo-Greek Treaty, 256 b.c. ; Later Greeks, . . . . 163 Greek Survival in Indian Art ; Yavanas, . . . 163-165 CHAPTER VII. SCYTHIC INROADS (126 B.C. TO 544 A.D.). Early Scythic Influences, 126 b.c., ...... 166 Was Buddha a Scythian ? Scythic Buddhism, . . . 166, 167 Scythic Elements in the Indian Population, . . . . 167 Among the Jats and Rajputs, ..... 167, 168 Indo-Scythic Settlements, 57 b.c. to 544 A.D., . . . 168-170 Sah, Gupta, and Vallabhf Dynasties, .... 169,170 Non-Aryan Kingdoms in Northern India, . . . 170,171 The Takshaks and Nagas, . . . . . . 172, 137 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 13 PAGE Ghakkars, Bhars, Koch, Ahams, etc., .... 1 73— 1 75 Aboriginal Substratum of the Population, . . . . 176 CHAPTER VIII. RISE OF HINDUISM (750 TO 1520 A.D.). Decay and Persecution (?) of Buddhism, 1.77 Twofold Basis of Hinduism, Caste and Religion, 178 Caste founded on ‘ Race,’ ‘ Occupation,’ ‘ Locality,’ 178, 179 The Brdhman Caste analyzed, 1 79. 180 Building up of Caste ; Hindu Marriage Law, . 180, 181 Changes of ‘ Occupation ’ by Castes, .... 181- -183 Plasticity and Rigidity of Caste, ..... 183 Trade-Guilds ; an Indian Strike, ..... 183- -185 Practical Working of Caste ; no Poor Law, 185, 186 The Religious Basis of Hinduism, ..... 186 Buddhist Influences ; Beast Hospitals ; Monasteries, 186, 187 A Japanese Temple and a Christian Church, . 188 Buddhist, Hindu, and Christian Art, .... 188 Common Shrines of Various Faiths, .... 189 Serpent-Worship ; Ndga Rites ; Phallic Emblems, . 190, 191 Fetish-Worship in Hinduism ; Salagram, 191, 192 Brahman Founders of Hinduism; Low-Caste Apostles, . i93 The Ada Sandorum of Hinduism ; Bhakta Mdla, . 193, 194 Kumarila Bhatta, 750 a.d., 194, *95 Sankara Acharya, 9th cent, a.d., I95> 196 Growth of Siva-Worship ; Twofold Aspects, 196- -198 Based on Brahman Philosophy and Non-Aryan Rites, i97, 198 Human Offerings, ........ i97, 198 The Thirteen Sivaite Sects ; their Gradations, . i99> 200 Vishnu and Siva compared, ...... 200 Friendly Vishnu 3 the Vishnu Purana, .... 200- -202 Brahmanical and Popular Vishnuvism, .... 202 Vishnuvite Founders, 1150-1520 a.d., .... 203- -208 Christian Calumnies against Jaganndth, .... 208- -2 1 1 Practical Faith of the Hindus, ..... 2 1 1, 212 Modern Fate of the Hindu Triad, ... 212 14 TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. EARLY MUHAMMADAN RULERS (7 1 2 TO I 526 A.D.). PAGE Early Arab Expeditions to Sind, . . . . . . 213 India on the Eve of Muhammadan Conquest, . . . 213, 214 Hindu Kingdoms, 1000 a.d., ...... 214, 215 The Muhammadan Conquest was only partial and temporary, . 215 Table of Muhammadan Dynasties, 1001-1857 a.d., . . 216 Mahmud of Ghazni ; his 17 Invasions; Somnath, . . 2 17-2 19 House of Ghor; Muhammad of Ghor’s Invasions, . . 220-223 Hindu Kingdoms ; Rdjput Dissensions, 1184 a.d., . . 220-222 The Slave Dynasty, 1206-90; Mughal Irruptions, . . 223-225 House of Khilji ; Ald-ud-dfn’s Southern Raids, . . 225-227 House of Tughlak; Forced Copper Currency, .. . 227-229 Firuz Shah Tughlak’s Canals, 1351-88, ..... 229 Timur (Tamerlane), 1398; Sayyids, Lodis, .... 230 Hindu Kingdoms of the Deccan; Vijayanagar, . 231, 232, 233 Five Muhammadan States of the Deccan ; Bahmani Kings, 231, 232 State of India on the Eve of the Mughal Conquest, . . 231-233 CHAPTER X. THE MUGHAL EMPIRE (1526 TO I 76 1 A.D.). BabaPs Invasion ; Panipat ; 1526-30, ..... 234 Humayun ; Sher Shah the Afghan, . . . . 234, 235 Akbar the Great; his Work in India, 1556-1605, . . 235, 236 His Conciliation of the Hindus ; Intermarriages, . . 236,237 AkbaPs Hindu Ministers ; Reforms; AkbaPs New Faith, 237-239 Akbar’s Financial System ; Table of his Revenues, . . 240, 241 Revenues of the Mughal Empire, 1593-1761, . . . 242 Jahdngir Emperor, 1605-27 ; the Empress Nur Jah^n, 242-245 Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador ; Drinking Bouts at Court, 244, 245 Shah Jahan, Emperor; the Taj Mahal, .... 245-247 Provinces and Revenues under Shah Jahan, . . . . 247 Aurangzeb Emperor, 1658-1707, 248, 249 His Conquest of Southern India ; Marhattis, . . . 249-251 Aurangzeb’s Provinces and Revenues, . . . . 252, 253 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 15 PAGE The Mughal Empire begins to break up, . . . . 254 Decline and Fall of Mughal Empire, r 70 7-r 85 8, . . 254,255 Six Puppet Successors of Aurangzeb, . . . . 255,256 Independence of the Deccan and Oudh, . . . . 256 Northern Invasions ; Nadir Shah ; Ahmad Shah ; 1739-61, 256, 257 Last Battle of Panipat, 1761; Fall of Mughal Empire, . . 257 CHAPTER XI. THE MARHATTA POWER (1634 TO 1818 A.D.). We won India, not from the Mughals, but from the Hindus, . 258 Rise of the Marhattas ; Shahji Bhonsla, 1634, . . . 258 The Hindu Party in Southern India, . . . . . 259 Sivaji the Great, 1627-80, 259,260 His Guerilla Warfare with the Mughals, ..... 260 Sambhaji, 1680-89, ... ... 260 Rise of the Peshwas ; Balaji Vishwanath, . . . . 261 Growth of the Marhatta Confederacy, . . . . 26 r, 262 Marhatta Raids ; Chauth, . . . . . . . 262 Defeat of the MarhatHs at Panipat, 1761, . . . . 262 The Five Marhatta Powers, ...... 262-264 Decline of the Peshwas, . . .... 264 Our Wars with the Marhattas, 1779-81, 1803-4, i8i7~r8, . 264 The Last Peshwa a Pensioner, . . . . . . 264 CHAPTER XII. EARLY EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS (1498 TO 18TH CENTURY A.D.). Vasco da Gama’s Expedition, ^98, .... 265, 266 Portuguese Supremacy in the East ; Albuquerque, . . 267,268 Downfall of the Portuguese; their Possessions in 1871, . . 269 The Dutch in India, 1602-1824, • • • • • 270, 271 Early English Adventurers, 1496-1596, .... 271,272 English East India Companies, ..... 272, 273 Naval Fights with the Portuguese ; Swally, . . . . 274 Wars with the Dutch ; Massacre of Amboyna, . . 275,276 i6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Early English Factories in India ; Surat, Hugh', PAGE 276, 277 Madras founded ; Bombay ceded, .... 277, 278 Calcutta founded, 1686-89, 278, 279 Other European East India Companies, . 279, 280 CHAPTER XIII. THE HISTORY OF BRITISH RULE (i 75 7 TO 1 88 1 A.D.). First British Territorial Possessions, French and English Wars in the Karnatic; Dupleix, Clive, 281- The English in Bengal, ........ Native Rulers of Bengal, 1707-56; the ‘Black Hole’ Tragedy, 283 Battle of Plassey, 1757, and its Results, .... Clive, First Governor of Bengal, ..... Massacre of Patni, ....... The Grant of the 1 Diwdm,' 1765, ..... Administration of Warren Hastings, 1772-85, . Rohilla, Marhatta, and Mysore Wars, . . . 292, Administration of Lord Cornwallis ; Second Mysore War, The Permanent Settlement of Bengal, 1793, . Administration of the Marquis of Wellesley, 1798-1805, Third Mysore War ; Seringapatam, 1799, Second Marhatta War, 1802-05, .... Administration of the Earl of Minto, 1807-13, Administration of the Marquis of Hastings, 1814-23, The Nepal War, Pindhari, and last Marhatta War, . Administration of Lord Amherst, 1823-28, First Burmese War ; Bhartpur, .... Administration of Lord William Bentinck, 1828-35, His Reforms ; Sati abolished ; Charter renewed, Administration of Lord Metcalfe, 1835-36, Administration of Lord Auckland, 1836-42, . The First Afghan Campaign, ..... Administration of Lord Ellenborough, 1842-44; Sind War, Lord Hardinge, 1844-48; the Sikhs; first War, Administration of Lord Dalhousie, 1848-56, . Second Sikh War to Annexation of Oudh, 285, 286, 290- 293. 294- 295. 296- 298, 299, 301- 3°2- 3°4- 3°S> 306, 3°6, 3°7, 308- 3°9> 3IO> 3”. 312- 3r3" 281 283 283 284 286 287 288 289 294 294 296 296 3 00 299 3°° 301 304 3°4 306 306 3°7 307 308 3 1° 3IQ 31 1 312 317 3T7 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 17 PAGE Administration of Lord Canning, 1856-62, . . . 317-324 The Mutiny of 1857, ....... 318-322 India transferred to the Crown, 1858; Reforms, . . 323,324 Later Indian Viceroys — Lords Lawrence, Mayo, North- brook, Lytton, and Ripon, ..... 324-327 Second Afghan War, 1879-81, 326, 327 CHAPTER XIV. BRITISH ADMINISTRATION OF INDIA. Control of India in England, ....... 328 Under the Company and the Crown, ..... 328 The Secretary of State ; the Viceroy, 328 The Executive Council, 328, 329 The Legislative Council, . . . . . . . 329 High Courts ; the Law of India, ...... 330 Provincial Administration in Different Provinces, . . 330, 331 ‘Regulation ’ and ‘ Non-Regulation’ Districts, . . . 331 The District Officers ; their Duties, .... 331, 332 Districts and Sub-Districts of India, ..... 333 The Secretariats, Imperial and Provincial, . . . . 333 The Land Tax, 333“337 Ancient Land System under the Hindus and Musalmans, 334, 335 Land System under the Company ; the Zaminddr , . . . 335 Landed Property in India ; Growth of Private Rights, . 335, 336 The Land Settlement ; ‘ Survey and Settlement,’ . . 336,337 Rates levied under Native and British Rule, .... 336 Permanent Settlement in Bengal, ..... 337~339 Land Law of 1859 ; Rent Commission of 1880, . . 338, 339 Temporary Settlements ; in Orissa; in Assam, . . 339,34° Rayatwari Settlement in Madras ; Sir Thomas Munro, . 340-342 Land System of Bombay ; the Deccan Cultivator, . . 342-345 The Southern India Agriculturists’ Relief Act, . . 344, 345 Land System of the N.-W. Provinces and Punjab, . . 345, 346 Of Oudh ; Central Provinces ; Sind, .... 346,347 The Salt Tax ; Systems of Manufacture, .... 347, 348 Excise Administration ; Distilleries; Breweries, . . 349,35° B 1 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Opium; Ganja ; Charas ; Tobacco, .... 349, 350 Municipal Administration ; the old Panchjyat, . . . 350 Finance and Taxation of British India, .... 351-361 Taxation under the Mughals and the British compared, . 352—355 Heavy Taxation in Native States, ...... 356 Incidence of Taxation in British India, ..... 356 Balance-Sheet of British India, ..... 356-358 Analysis of Indian Revenues, ..... 358, 359 Indian Expenditure ; Army; Public Debt, . . . 359, 360 Exchange ; Public Works ; Railways ; Irrigation, . . . 360 Local Finance ; Municipal Finance, ..... 361 'I 'he Army of India ; its Constitution, .... 361,362 Police and Jails, ......... 362 Education, ......... 362-368 Education in Ancient India; Sanskrit tols ; Village Schools, . 363 Early English Efforts ; the Calcutta Madrasa, . . . 363 Mission Schools ; State Education, ..... 364 Universities; Colleges; Schools, ..... 364-366 Primary Schools ; Girls’ Schools ; Normal Schools, . 366-368 The Verracular Press ; Newspapers and Books, . . 368,369 CHAPTER XV. CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA (486 TO 1879 A.D.). Christian Population of India, 37°— 379 The Ecclesiastical Department, 371 Origin of Christianity in India; Saint Thomas; Nestorianism, 372, 373 First Catholic Mission, 1550 ; the Syrian Rite, . . 372> 373 Xavier and the Jesuits; de Nobili ; de Britto, . . 372~374 The Jesuits suppressed, 1759-73 ; re-established, 1814, . . 374 Organization of Roman Catholic Missions; their small Resources, and large Results; Statistics, . .. . 375, 376 First Protestant Mission, 1705 ; Danish Lutherans, . . 376 Swartz ; Kiernander ; the Serampur Missionaries, . . . 377 Bishopric of Calcutta ; Indian Sees, .... 377> 378 Presbyterian and other Missions, 37& Statistics of Protestant Missions, 379 TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. AGRICULTURE AND PRODUCTS. Agriculture almost the sole Occupation, . Various Systems of Agriculture ; Irrigation ; Manure, Rice in the different Provinces ; Out-turn, Wheat ; Millets ; Pulses ; Oil-seeds ; Vegetables, . Fruits; Spices; Palms; Sugar, .... Cotton Cultivation in different Provinces ; Exports, J ute Cultivation and Preparation ; Exports, . Indigo ; Exports ; System of Indigo-planting, Opium ; Cultivation and Manufacture, . Tobacco ; Cultivation, Trade, and Method of Curing, Coffee; Introduction into India; Progress; Coffee- planting, and subsequent Growth, . Table of Crop Statistics, ..... Tea in India; its History, ..... History of Indian Tea-planting ; Statistics, Process of Cultivation and Manufacture, Cinchona Cultivation and Manufacture, . Silk ; Sericulture a declining Industry, . The Company’s Silk Factories, .... Jungle Silks; Lac; Shell-lac, .... Model Farms, ....... The Problem of Improved Husbandry, . The Three Impediments to better Husbandry, Want of Cattle ; Want of Manure ; Want of Water, Agricultural Stock, ...... Breeds of Cattle ; Horse Fairs ; Studs ; Wild Elephants, The Forest Department, ..... Wanton Destruction of Forests ; Indian Timber-trees, Forest Conservancy ; its Results, .... Nomadic Cultivation ; its Destructiveness, Irrigation; its Function in India, .... Irrigated Area, in Sind ; Bombay ; Punjab, . In the N.-W. Provinces ; Oudh ; Bengal ; Orissa, . In Madras ; Mysore ; Central Provinces, PAGE 380 38L 382 382-384 384-387 387- 388 388- 390 39°. 39i 391, 392 392, 393 394 395) 397, 398 396 398-402 399, 4oo 400-402 402, 403 403 403-405 405, 406 407-409 408 409 409-41 1 411-413 411, 412 413-419 413-416 417 417-419 419 420, 421 421-424 424, 425 20 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Table of Cultivation and Irrigation, . Famines ; their Causes ; Drought, Flood, Blight, War, . Necessity for husbanding and utilizing the Water Supply, History of previous Famines, 1769 to 1876, . The Famine of 1876-78 ; its Area, . Remedial Efforts ; Mortality, . ... . Famine a Weak Check on Population, . . . . CHAPTER XVII. MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. Indian Railway System ; Two Classes of Lines, Guaranteed Railways ; State Railways ; Statistics, Roads ; Old Military Routes, The Grand Trunk Road ; Road Extension, Inland Navigation confined to a few Great Rivers, Navigable Canals ; Malabar Backwaters, CHAPTER XVIII. COMMERCE AND TRADE. Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern Trade in India, . Growth of Trading Cities under British Rule; Calcutta ; Bombay, ........ Summary of Indian Exports, 1700-1880, India’s Balance of Trade, ...... India’s Yearly Savings, ....... Early Portuguese Trade ; Dutch Monopoly, . English Factories and Trade, 1600-1700, Growth of Trade ; Quinquennial Table of Foreign Trade, Imports ; Cotton Goods ; Treasure, .... Exports; Raw Cotton ; Jute; Rice; Wheat, . Exports; Oil-seeds; Indigo; Tea; Coffee, Exports of Cotton and Jute Manufactures, Countries with which India trades, .... Distribution of Foreign Trade, . PAGE 426 426, 427 427, 428 428, 429 429, 43° 43°) 43 1 43i 432, 433 433) 434 434 434, 435 435, 436 437 438, 439 439, 440 441 441 442 443 443, 444 445 447-449 449-452 452-454 454 454-457 456, 457 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 21 Effects of the Suez Canal on Indian Trade, . Trade of the last Thirty-six Years, . Coasting Trade ; Shipping Statistics, Frontier Trade with Afghanistan and Central Asia, The Himalayan Trade Routes; Nepal, Tibet, Trade with Bhutan ; with Independent Burma, Internal Trade ; Trading Castes, . Local Trade ; the Village Money-lender, Religious Fairs ; Village Markets, . Internal Trade a Safeguard against Famine, . Statistics of Internal Trade, .... Growth of Large Marts ; Local Centres of Trade, PAGE 457, 458 458, 459 459, 460 460-463 461, 462 462 463, 464 464, 465 465 465, 466 466, 467 467, 468 CHAPTER XIX. ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Manufactures of India ; Art Work, .... Competition with the English Artisan, .... Native Industries ; Village Crafts, ..... Cotton-weaving ; its Decline, ...... But still a Domestic Industry throughout India, Special Fabrics ; Muslins ; Chintzes ; Saris, . Silk-weaving ; Classes of Silk Fabrics, .... Steam Silk Factories, ....... Embroidery ; Kashmir Shawls ; Leather-work, Carpets and Rugs ; Processes of Manufacture, Goldsmiths’ and Jewellers’ Work, ..... Iron-work ; Cutlery ; Chain Armour ; Damascening, Brass and Copper Work ; Bidari Work, .... Indian Pottery ; Sculpture, ...... Wood-carving ; Inlaying ; Ivory-carving, European Industries; Steam Cotton Mills, Their Manufactures ; Competition with Manchester, Statistics of Bombay Cotton Mills ; their Future Prospects, Jute Mills; Manufacture of Gunny, .... Exports of Jute ; Indian Consumpt ; Growth of the Trade, Brewing; Paper-making; Leather, .... 469 469 469, 470 470, 471 471, 472 472, 473 473, 474 474 474 475 575-477 477 478, 479 477, 478 479, 480 480-482 482 482, 483 483, 484 484, 485 485 22 TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XX. MINES AND MINERALS. Indian Iron ; Native System of working, Difficulties of Iron-smelting in India, Indian Coal ; its Inferior Quality, .... The Four great Coal-fields ; Future of Indian Coal, Salt Manufacture ; the Punjab Salt Range, Saltpetre ; Manufacture and Exports, Gold and Gold-mining ; the Wainad Quartz Reefs, . Copper; Lead; Tin; Antimony; Cobalt, Petroleum ; Stone ; Lime ; Kankar ; Marble ; Slate, Diamonds ; Carnelians ; Pearl Fisheries, PAGE 486 486, 487 487, 488 489 489, 490 490, 491 491, 492 492> 493 493. 494 494, 495 CHAPTER XXL GEOLOGY. Geology; the Himalayan Region, .... The Lower Himalayas ; Siwaliks ; Salt Range, Indo-Gangetic Plain ; its Geological Age and History, Peninsular India ; Vindhyan Rocks, Gondwana, Panchet, Talcher, and Ddmodar Series, The Ranfganj Coal Seams, ..... Deccan Trap ; Laterite, ..... 496, 497 497, 49s 498, 499 499, 5°° 500-502 5°2, 5°3 5°3, 5°4 CHAPTER XXII. METEOROLOGY. Meteorological Geography ; the Eastern and Western Himalayas, ........ 505, 506 Air-currents; Vapour-bearing Winds, ..... 506 Punjab Frontier ; Indus Plain; the Great Indian Desert, . 507 Gangetic Plain ; Eastern Bengal and Assam, . . . 507, 508 Central Tableland ; Satpura Range, . . . . . 508 Malwa Plateau ; Avaralli Range, 508, 509 Southern Plateau ; Anamalai Hills ; Coast Strip, . . . 509 TABLE OF CONTENTS. British Burma ; Independent Burma, . Observatory Stations, ....... Temperature; Atmospheric Pressure; Wind; Humidity, Rainfall Returns, ........ Sunspot Cycles, ........ CHAPTER XXIII. ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. Mammals of India ; Lion ; Tiger ; Leopard, . Wolf; Fox; Jackal; Dog; Hyaena, Bear ; Elephant ; Rhinoceros ; Wild Hog, Sheep and Goats ; Antelopes; Nilgai; Deer, Bison and Buffalo, Ornithology ; Birds of Prey and Game Birds, . Reptiles ; Loss of Life from Snake-bite ; the ‘ Cobra,’ Fishes ; Insects ; Locusts, ..... Indian Flora in different Provinces, CHAPTER XXIV. VITAL STATISTICS. Sources of Health Returns ; their Untrustworthiness, Death-rate in India ; Average Duration of Life, Vital Statistics in different Provinces, Tables of Birth and Death Rate, .... Health of the European Army ; Causes of Mortality, Health of the Native Army; Causes of Mortality, . Health Statistics of the Jail Population, . 23 PAGE 5°9 511 5*3, 5J4 5*4, 5X5 5l6> 5r7 5 1 7» 5l8 518-52° 520, 521 521, 522 522, 523 523, 524 524-S26 526-528 529» 53° 53°) 531 53 I— 535 536, 537 535, 538, 539 539-541 54i, 542 24 TABLE OF CONTENTS. APPENDICES. PAGE Appendix I. Area, Villages, and Population in each Province of British India, ...... 545 „ II. Distribution of Population into Town and Country, 546 „ III. Cultivable, Uncultivable, and Cultivated Land in Provinces for which Returns exist, . . 546 ,, IV. Population of British India according to Age and Sex, 547 ,, V. Population of British India according to Caste and Nationality, 548 „ VI. Asiatic Non-Indian Population of British India according to Nationality, . . . . 549 „ VII. Non-Asiatic Population of British India according to Nationality, . . . . . . 550 „ VIII. Population of British India according to Religion, 551 „ IX. Town Population of India, being a List of 139 Towns of British India of which the Popula- tion exceeds 20,000, .... 552, 553 „ X. Customs Tariff of British India, . . 554—556 Index, 557~568 THE INDIAN EMPIRE: ITS HISTORY, PEOPLE, AND PRODUCTS. CHAPTER I. PHYSICAL ASPECTS. India forms a great irregular triangle, stretching southwards General from Mid-Asia into the sea. Its northern base rests upon the outlme- Himalayan ranges ; the chief part of its western side is washed by the Arabian Sea, and the chief part of its eastern side by the Bay of Bengal. It extends from the eighth degree to the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude ; that is to say, from the hottest regions of the equator to far within the temperate zone. The capital, Calcutta, lies in 88° e. long. ; so that when the sun sets at six o’clock there, it is just past mid-day in England. The length of India from north to south, and its greatest breadth from east to west, are both about 1900 miles; but the triangle tapers with a pear-shaped curve to a point at Cape Comorin, its southern extremity. To this compact dominion the English have added, under the name of British Burma, the strip of country on the eastern shore of the Bay of Bengal. The whole territory thus described contains close on 1^ millions of square miles, and 253 millions of inhabitants. India, there- fore, has an area and a population about equal to the area and population of the whole of Europe less Russia.1 Its people more than double Gibbon’s estimate of 120 millions for all the races and nations which obeyed Imperial Rome. India is shut off from the rest of Asia on the north by a Bonn- vast mountainous region, known in the aggregate as the daries> Himalayas.^ Among their southern ranges lie the Independent on 1 Totals of population refer to 1881 ; but details, necessarily, to 1871. C 26 INDIA. [boundaries. on the west ; on the east. Burmese boundary. Tenas- serim boundary. States of Bhutan and Nepal : the great tableland of Tibet stretches behind. The Native Principality of Kashmir occu- pies their north-western Indian angle. At this north-western angle (in lat. 350 n., long. 740 e.), an allied mountain system branches southwards. India is thus separated by the well- marked ranges of the Safed Koh, and the Sulaiman from Afghanistan ; and by a southern continuation of lower hills (the Halas, etc.) from Baluchistan. The last part of the western land frontier is formed by the river Hab, and the boundary ends with Cape Monze, at the mouth of its estuary, in lat. 24° 50' n., long. 66° 38' e. Still proceeding southwards, India is bounded along the west and south-west by the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. Turning northwards from its southern extremity at Cape Comorin (lat. 8° 4' 20" n., long. 77° 35' 35" e.), the long sea-line of the Bay of Bengal forms the main part of its eastern boundary. But in the north-east, as in the north-west, India has again a land frontier. The Himalayan ranges at their north- eastern angle (in about lat. 28° n., long. 97° e.) throw off spurs and chains to the southward. These spurs separate the British Provinces of Assam and Eastern Bengal from Independent Burma. They are known successively as the Abar, Naga, Patkoi, and Barel ranges. Turning almost due south in lat. 25°, they culminate in the Blue Mountain, 7100 feet, in lat. 220 37' n., long. 930 10' e. ; and then stretch southwards under the name of the Arakan Yomas, separating British Burma from Independent Burma, until they again rise into the great moun- tain of Myeng-mateng (4700 feet), in 19 J degrees of north latitude. Up to this point, the eastern hill frontier follows, generally speaking, the watershed which divides the river systems of the Brahmaputra, Meghna, Kuladan (Koladyne), etc., in Bengal and British Burma, from the Irawadi basin in Independent Burma. But from near the base of the Myeng- mateng Mountain, in about lat. 19^°, the British frontier stretches almost due east in a geographical line, which divides the lower Districts and delta of the Irawadi in British Burma from the middle and upper Districts of that river in Indepen- dent Burma. Proceeding south-eastwards from the delta of the Irawadi, a confused succession of little explored ranges separates the British Province of Tenasserim from the Native Kingdom of Siam. The boundary line runs down to Point Victoria at the extremity of Tenasserim (lat. 90 59' n., long. 98° 32' e.), following the direction of the watershed between the rivers of the British territory on the west and of Siam on the east. INDIA. 27 HIMALAYAS.] The Empire included within these boundaries is rich in Physical varieties of scenery and climate, from the highest mountains asPects- in the world, to vast river deltas raised only a few inches above the level of the sea. It forms a continent rather than a country. But if we could look down on the whole from a balloon, we The three should find that India consists of three separate and well-defined tracts. The first includes the lofty Himalaya Mountains, which shut it out from the rest of Asia, and which, although for the most part beyond the British frontier, form an overruling factor in the physical geography of Northern India. The second region stretches southwards from the base of the Himalayas, and comprises the plains of the great rivers which issue from them. The third region slopes upward again from the edge of the river plains, and consists of a high three-sided tableland, supported by the Vindhya Mountains on the north, and by the Eastern and Western Ghats which run down the coast on either side, till they meet at a point near Cape Comorin. The interior three-sided tableland, thus enclosed, is dotted with peaks and ranges, broken by river valleys, and interspersed by broad level uplands. It comprises the southern half of the . peninsula. The first of the three regions is the Himalaya Mountains First and their offshoots to the southward. The Himalayas— literally, ^heHiind the ‘ Dwelling-place of Snow,’ from the Sanskrit hima, frost iayas. (Latin, hiems , winter), and dlaya, a house — consist of a system of stupendous ranges, the loftiest in the world. They are the Emodus or Imcius of the Greek geographers, and extend in the shape of a scimitar, with its edge facing southwards, for a distance of 1500 miles along the northern frontier of India. At the north-eastern angle of that frontier, the Dihang river, the connecting link between the Tsan-pu (Sangpu) of Tibet and the Brahmaputra of Assam, bursts through the main axis of the Himalayas. At the opposite or north-western angle, the Indus in like manner pierces the Himalayas, and turns southwards on its course through the Punjab. The Himalayas, like the Kuen-luen chains, the Tian-shan, and the Hindu Kush, converge towards the Pamir tableland — that central knot whence all the great mountain systems of Asia radiate. With the Kuen-luen the Himalayas have a closer connection, as these two mighty ranges form the northern and southern ^ buttresses of the lofty Tibetan plateau. But regarded merely c]0UebIe as a natural frontier separating India from the Tibetan plateau, Himalayan the Himalayas may be described as a double mountain wall Trough*1 running nearly east and west, with a trough or series of deep beyond. 28 INDIA. Himalayan Passes. Offshoots of the Hima- layas ; [HIMALAYAS. valleys beyond. The southernmost of the two walls rises steeply from the plains of India to 20.000 feet, or nearly 4 miles, in height. It culminates near its centre in Kanchan- janga, 28,176 feet, and Mount Everest, 29,002 feet, the latter being the loftiest measured peak in the world. This outer or southern wall of the Himalayas subsides on the northward into a series of dips or uplands, 13,000 feet above the level of the sea, beyond which rises the second or inner range of Himalayan peaks. The double Himalayan wall thus formed, then descends into a great trough or line of valleys, in which the Sutlej, the Indus, and the mighty Tsan-pu (Sangpu) gather their waters. The Sutlej and the Indus flow westwards, and pierce by separate passes through the western Himalayas into the Punjab. The Tsan-pu (or Sangpu), after a long unexplored course eastwards along the valley of the same name in Tibet, finds its way through the Dihang gorge of the Eastern Hima- layas into Assam, where it takes its final name of the Brahma- putra. On the north of the river trough, beyond the double Himalayan wall, rise the Karakoram and Gangri Mountains, which form the immediate escarpment of the Tibetan tableland. Behind the Gangris, on the north, the lake-studded plateau of Tibet spreads itself out at a height averaging 15,000 feet. Broadly speaking, the double Himalayan wall rests upon the low-lying plains of India, and descends into a river trough beyond which rises the Tibetan plateau. The higher ranges between Tibet and India are crowned with eternal snow ; while vast glaciers, one of which is known to be 60 miles in length, slowly move their masses of ice downwards to the valleys. This wild region is in many parts impenetrable to man, and nowhere yields a passage for a modern army. It should be mentioned, however, that the Chinese outposts extend as far as a point only 6000 feet above the Gangetic plain, north of Khatmandu. Indeed, Chinese armies have seriously threatened Khatmandu itself ; and Sir David Ochterlony’s advance from the plains of Bengal to that city in 1816 is a matter of history. Ancient and well-known trade routes exist, by means of which merchandise from the Punjab finds its way over heights of 18,000 feet into Eastern Turkistan and Tibet. The Mustagh (Snowy Mount), the Karakoram (Black Mount), and the Chang-chenmo are the most famous of these passes. The Himalayas not only form a double wall along the north of India, but at both their eastern and western extremities send out ranges to the southwards, which protect its north- eastern and north-western frontiers. On the north-east, those THEIR OFFSHOOTS.] INDIA. 29 offshoots, under the name of the Naga and Patkoi Mountains, on east ; etc., form a barrier between the civilised British Districts and the wild tribes of Upper Burma. The southern continuations of these ranges, known as the Yomas, separate British from Independent Burma, and are crossed by passes, the most historic of which, the Aeng or An, rises to 4668 (formerly given at 4517) feet, with gradients of 472 feet to the mile. On the opposite or north-western frontier of India, the on west, mountainous offshoots run down the entire length of the British boundaries from the Himalayas to the sea. As they proceed southwards, their best marked ranges are in turn known as the Sufed Koh, the Sulaiman, and the Hala Moun- tains. These massive barriers have peaks of great height, culminating in the Takht-i-Sulaiman, or Throne of Solomon, 11,317 feet above the level of the sea. But the mountain The Gate- wall is pierced at the corner w'here it strikes southwards of from the Himalayas by an opening through which the Indus river flows into India. An adjacent opening, the Khaibar Pass (rising to 3373 feet), with the Kuram Pass to the south of it, the Gwalari Pass near Dera Ismail Khan, the Tal Pass debouching near Dera Ghazi Khan, and the famous Bolan Pass (5800 feet at top), still farther south, furnish the gateways between India and Afghanistan. The Hala, Brahui, and Pab Mountains form the southern hilly offshoots between India and Baluchistan, and have a much less elevation. The Himalayas, while thus standing as a rampart around Himalayan the northern frontier of India, collect and store up water water for the tropical plains below. Throughout the summer vast SUppIy' quantities of water are exhaled from the Indian Ocean. This moisture gathers into vapour, and is borne northward by the monsoon or regular wind, which sets in from the south in the month of June. The monsoon carries the masses of cloud northwards across India, and thus forms the ‘ rainy season,’ on which agriculture so critically depends. But large quantities of the moisture do not fall as rain in passing over the hot plains. This vast residue is eventually dashed against the Himalayas. Their lofty double walls stop its farther progress northwards, and it either descends in rain on their outer slopes, or is frozen into snow in its attempt to cross their inner heights. Very little gets beyond them ; so that while their southern spurs receive the largest measured rainfall in the Himalayan world, and pour it down to the Indian rivers, the great plateau rainfall, of Tibet on the north of the double wall gets scarcely any rainfall. At Cherra-Punji (Poonjee), where the monsoon first 3° INDIA. [HIMALAYAS. strikes the hills in Assam, 368 inches of rain, according to former returns, fall annually. Later statements give the fall at 523 inches ; and in one year (1861) as many as 805 inches were reported, of which 366 inches fell in the single month of July. While, therefore, the yearly rainfall in London is about 2 feet, and that of the plains of India from 1 to 6, the rain- fall at Cherra-Punji is from 30 to over 40 feet, and in one year 67 feet of water fell from the sky, or sufficient to drown a three-storied house. The outer slopes of the Himalayas swell the Indian rivers by their torrents during the rainy season ; their inner ranges and heights store up the rainfall in the shape of snow, and thus form a vast reservoir for the steady supply of the Indian rivers throughout the year. Himalayan This heavy'- rainfall renders the southern slopes of the scenery. Himalayas very fertile, wherever there is any depth of tilth. But, on the other hand, the torrents scour away the surface soil, and leave - most of the mountain-sides bleak and bare. The upper ranges lie under eternal snow ; the intermediate heights form arid grey masses ; but on the gentler slopes, plateaux, and valleys, forests spring up, or give place to a rich though simple cultivation. The temperature falls about 3 J0 F. for each thousand feet of elevation ; and the vegetation of the Himalayas is divided into three well - marked zones, the tropical, the temperate, and the arctic, as the traveller ascends from the Indian plains. A damp belt of lowland, the tarai, stretches along their foot, and is covered with dense, fever-breeding jungle, habitable only by rude tribes and wild beasts. Fertile duns or valleys penetrate their outer margin. Himalayan In their eastern ranges adjoining the Lieutenant-Governorship vegetation. Df Bengal, where the rainfall is heaviest, the tree-fern flourishes amid a magnificent vegetation. Their western ranges are barer. But the rhododendron grows into a forest tree, and large tracts of it are to be found throughout the whole length of the Himalayas. The deodar , or Himalayan cedar, rises in stately masses. Thickets of bamboos, with their graceful light-green foliage, beautify the lower valleys. Higher up, the deeper-hued ilex, the dark cedar, and patches of the white medlar blossom, form a brilliant contrast to the stretches of scarlet and pink rhododendron. In the autumn, crops of millet run in bright- red ribands down the hillsides. The branches of the trees are themselves clothed with a luxuriant growth of mosses, ferns, lovely orchids, and flowering creepers. The Himalayas have enriched English parks and hothouses by the deodar , the rhododendron, and the orchid ; and a great extension in the INDIA. HIMALAYAS.] 31 cultivation of the deodar and rhododendron throughout Britain dates from the Himalayan tour in 1848 of Sir Joseph Hooker, now Director of Kew Gardens. The hill tribes cultivate barley, oats, and a variety of Himalayan millets and small grains. Vegetables are also raised on a cultivation, large scale. The potato, introduced from England, is now a favourite crop, and covers many sites formerly under forest. Rice is only grown in exceptional spots, which have an unfail- ing command of water. The hillmen practise an ingenious system of irrigation, according to which the slopes are laid Irrigation out in terraces, and the streams are diverted to a great dis- amI ° power. tance by successive parallel channels along the mountain-side. They also utilize their water-power for mill purposes. Some of them are ignorant of cog-wheels for converting the vertical movement of the mill-wheel into the horizontal movement re- quired for the grinding-stone. They therefore place their mill- wheel flat instead of upright, and lead the water so as to dash with great force on the horizontal paddles. A horizontal rotary movement is thus obtained, and conveyed direct by the axle to the millstone above. The chief saleable products of the Himalayas are timber, Himalayan charcoal, barley, millets, potatoes, other vegetables, honey, saleable and jungle products. Strings of ponies and mules straggle with their burdens along the narrow pathways, which are at places mere ledges cut out of the precipice. The hillmen and their hard-working wives load themselves also with pine stems and conical baskets of grain. The high price of wood on the plains for railway sleepers and other purposes has caused many of the hills to be stripped of their forests, so that the rainfall now rushes quickly down their bare slopes, and no new wood can spring up. The yak-cow and hardy mountain sheep are the favourite beasts of burden in the inner ranges. The little yak-cow, whose bushy tail is manufactured in Europe into lace, patiently toils up the steepest gorges with a heavy burden on her back. The sheep, with their bags of borax, are driven into Simla, where they are shorn of their wool, and then return into the interior laden with salt. The characteristic animals of the Himalayas include the Himalayan yak-cow, musk-deer, many kinds of wild sheep and goat, an™a!*es bear, ounce, and fox ; the eagle, pheasants of beautiful varie- ties, partridge, and other birds. Ethnologically, the Hima- layas form the meeting-ground of the Aryan and Turanian races, which in some parts are curiously mingled, though gene- rally easily distinguishable. The tribes or broken clans of non- 32 INDIA. [river plains. Second Region of India — The northern River Plains. Aryan origin number over fifty ; with languages, customs, and religious rites more or less distinct. The lifelong labours of Mr. Brian Houghton Hodgson, late of the Bengal Civil Service, have done much to illustrate the flora, fauna, and ethnology of the Himalayas, and no sketch of this region would be complete without a reference to Mr. Hodgson’s work. The wide plains watered by the Himalayan rivers form the second of the three regions into which I have divided India. They extend from the Bay of Bengal on the east, to the Afghan frontier and the Arabian Sea on the west, and contain the richest and most densely crowded Provinces of the Empire. One set of invaders after another have, from pre-historic times, entered by the passes on their eastern and north-western frontiers. They followed the courses of the rivers, and pushed the earlier comers southwards before them towards the sea. About 150 millions of people now live on and around these river plains in the Provinces known as the Lieutenant- Governorship of Bengal, Assam, the North-Western Provinces, Oudh, the Punjab, Sind, Rajputana and other Native States. The vast level tract which thus covers Northern India is watered by three distinct river-systems. One of these river- systems takes its rise in the hollow trough beyond the Hima- layas, and issues through their western ranges upon the Punjab as the Sutlej and Indus. The second of the three river-systems also takes its rise beyond the double wall of the Himalayas, not very far from the sources of the Indus and the Sutlej. It turns, however, almost due east instead of west, enters India at the eastern extremity of the Himalayas and becomes the Brahmaputra of Assam and Eastern Bengal. These rivers collect the drainage of the northern slopes of the Himalayas, and convey it, by long and tortuous, although opposite, routes, into India. Indeed, the special feature of the Himalayas is that they send down the rainfall from their northern as well as from their southern slopes to the Indian plains. Of the three great rivers of Northern India, the two longest, namely the Indus with its feeder the Sutlej, and the Brahmaputra, take their rise in the trough on the north of the great Himalayan wall. The third river system of Northern India receives the drainage of the southern Himalayan slopes, and eventually unites into the mighty stream of the Ganges. In this way the rainfall, alike from the northern and southern slopes of the Himalayas, pours down upon the river plains of India. Thelndus. The Indus (Sanskrit, sitidhu ; ’IvSos, 2ivf?os) rises in an The three River- svstems of N. India. (1) The Indus, with the Sutlej. (2) The Tsan-pu or Brahma- putra. (3) The •Ganges, with the Tumna. INDIA. 33 INDUS, SUTLEJ.] unexplored region (lat. 3 20 n., long. 8i° e.) on the slopes of the sacred Kailas Mountain, the Elysium or Siva’s Paradise of ancient Sanskrit literature. The Indus has an elevation of 16,000 feet at its source; a drainage basin of 372,700 square miles; and a total length of over 1800 miles. Shortly after it passes the Kashmir frontier, it drops to 14,000 feet, and at Leh is only about 11,000 feet above the level of the sea. The rapid stream dashes down ravines and wild mountain valleys, and is subject to tremendous floods. The Indus bursts through the western ranges of the Himalayas by a wonderful gorge near Iskardoh, in North-Western Kashmir; a gorge reported to be 14,000 feet in sheer depth. Its great feeder, the Sutlej, rises on the southern slopes The Sutlej, of the Kailas Mountain. It issues from one of the sacred lakes, the Manasarowar and Ravana-hrada (the modern Rakhas Tal), famous in Hindu mythology, and still the resort of the Tibetan shepherds. Starting at an elevation of 15,200 feet, the Sutlej passes south-west across the plain of Guge, where it has cut through a vast accumulation of deposits, by a gully said to be 4000 feet deep, between precipices of alluvial soil. After traversing this plain, the river pierces the Himalayas by a gorge with mountains rising to 20,000 feet on either side. The Sutlej is reported to fail from 10,000 teet above sea level at Shipki, a Chinese frontier outpost, to 3000 feet at Rarnpur, and to about 1000 feet at Bilaspur. After entering British territory, it receives the waters of the Western Punjab, and the united stream falls into the Indus near Mithankot, after a course of 900 miles. I give a full account of the Indus in the article on that river. Lower About 800 miles of its course are passed among the Himalayas j^sse of before it enters British territory, and it flows for about 1000 more, south-west, through the Provinces of the Punjab and Sind. In its upper part it is fordable in many places during the cold weather ; but it is liable to sudden freshets, in one of which Ranjit Sinh is said to have lost a force, variously stated at from _ 1200 to 7000 horsemen, while crossing the river. A little way above Attock, the Indus receives the Kabul river, which brings down the waters of Afghanistan. The volume of those waters, as represented by the Kabul river, is about equal to the volume of the Indus at the point of junction. At Attock, the Indus has fallen, during a course of 860 miles, from its elevation of 16,000 feet at its source in Tibet to under 2000 feet. These 2000 feet supply its fall during the remaining 940 miles of its course. The estimated discharge of the Indus, after receiving all its 34 INDIA. [BRAHMAPUTRA. tributaries, varies from 40,857 to 446,086 cubic feet per second, according to the season of the year. The enormous mass of water spreads itself over a channel of a quarter of a mile to nearly a mile in breadth. The effect produced by the evapora- tion from this fluvial expanse is so marked that the thermometer is reported to be 10° F. lower close to its surface than on the surrounding plains. The Indus supplies a precious store of water for irrigation works at various points along its course, and forms the great highway of the Southern Punjab and Sind. In its lower course it sends forth distributaries across a wide delta, with Haidarabad (Hyderabad) in Sind as its ancient political capital, and Karachi (Kurrachee) as its modern port. The silt which it carries down has helped to form the islands, mud banks, and shallows, that have cut off the once famous emporia around the Gulf of Cambay from modern maritime commerce. The Tsan- The Brahmaputra, like the Sutlej, rises near to the sacred Brahma- Manasarowar- Indeed, the Indus, the Sutlej, and the putra. Brahmaputra may be said to start from the same water-parting. The Indus rises on the western slope of the Kailas Mountain, the Sutlej on its southern, and the Brahmaputra at some dis- The Kailas tance from its eastern base. The Mariam-la and other saddles watershed. connect the northern mountains, to which the Kailas belongs, with the double Himalayan wall. They form an irregular watershed across the trough on the north of the double wall of the Himalayas. The Indus flows down a north-western valley from this transverse watershed ; the Sutlej finds a more direct route to India by a south-western valley. The Brahma- putra, under its Tibetan name of Tsan-pu or Sangpu, has its source in 31° n. lat. and 83° e. long. It flows eastwards down the Tsan-pu valley, passing not far to the south of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and about 800 miles of its course are spent in the hollow trough on the north of the Himalayas. The After receiving several tributaries from the confines of the Brahma- Chinese Empire, the river twists round a lofty eastern range of putra con- 1 . , fluents in the Himalayas, and enters British territory under the name of Assam. the Dihang, near Sadiya in Assam. It presently receives two confluents, the Dibang river from the north, and the Brahma- putra proper from the north-east (lat. 270 20' N., long. 950 50' e.). The united triple stream then takes its well-known appellation of the Brahmaputra, literally the ‘Son of Brahma or God.’ It represents a drainage basin of 361,200 square miles, and its summer discharge at Goalpara in Assam has been computed at 146,188 cubic feet of water per second. During the rains the INDIA. 35 BRAHMAPUTRA.] channel rises 30 or 40 feet above its ordinary level, and its flood discharge is estimated at over 500,000 cubic feet per second. The Brahmaputra rolls down the Assam valley as a vast sheet of water, broken by numerous islands, and exhibiting the operations of alluvion and diluvion on a gigantic scale. It is so heavily freighted with silt from the Himalayas, that the least impediment placed in its current causes a Brahma- deposit, and may give rise to a wide-spreading, almond-shaped in,tra Sllt‘ mud bank. Steamers anchoring near the margin for the night sometimes find their sterns aground next morning on an ac- cumulation of silt, caused by their own obstruction to the cur- rent. By centuries of alluvial deposit, the Brahmaputra has raised its banks and channel at parts of the Assam valley to a higher level than the surrounding country. Beneath either bank ' lies a low strip of marshy land, which is flooded in the rainy season. Beyond these swamps, the ground begins to rise towards the hills that hem in the valley of Assam on both sides. After a course of 450 miles south-west down the Assam The valley, the Brahmaputra sweeps round the spurs of the Garo 1 Hills due south towards the sea. It here takes the name of Bengal the Jamuna, and for 180 miles rushes across the level plains of ^™una Eastern Bengal, till its junction with the Ganges at Goalanda Meghna). (lat. 23° 50' n., long. 89° 46' E.). From this point the deltas of the two great river-systems of the Ganges and the Brahma- putra unite into one. But before reaching the sea, their com- bined volume has yet to receive by way of the Cachar valley, the drainage of the eastern watershed between Bengal and Burma, under the name of the Meghna river, itself a broad and magnificent sheet of water. The Brahmaputra is famous not only for its vast alluvial Brahma- deposits, but also for the historical changes which have taken ^nds! * place in its course. One of the islands which it has created in its channel out of the silt torn away from the distant Himalayas covers 441 square miles. Every year thousands of acres of new land are thus formed out of mud and sand ; some of them destined to be swept away by the inundations of the following year, others to become the homes of an industrious peasantry or the seats of busy river marts. Such formations give rise to changes in the bed of the river, which within a hun- dred years have completely altered the course of the Brahmaputra through Bengal. In the last century, the stream, on issuing from Assam, bent close round the spurs of the Garo Hills in a south-easterly direction. This old bed of the Brahmaputra, the only one recognised by Major Rennel in 1765-75, has 3*5 INDIA. [BRAHMAPUTRA. Great changes in its course. The Brahma- putra as a high-road. Brahma- putra traffic. The Gangetic River- system. now been deserted. It retains the ancient name of Brahma- putra, but during the hot weather it is little more than a series of pools. The modern channel, instead of twisting round the Garo Hills to the east, bursts straight southwards towards the sea under the name of the Jamuna, and is now separated at places by nearly ioo miles of level land from the main channel in the last century. A floating log, or any smallest obstruction, may cause the deposit of a mud island. This formation gives a new direction to the main channel, which in a few years may have eaten its way far across the plain, and dug out for itself a new bed at a distance of several miles. Unlike the Ganges and the Indus, the Brahmaputra is not used for artificial irrigation. But its silt-charged overflow annu- ally replenishes the land. Indeed, the plains of Eastern Bengal watered by the Brahmaputra yield unfailing harvests of rice, with exhausting crops of jute, mustard, and oil-seeds, year after year, without any visible deterioration ; and the valley of Assam is not less fertile, although inhabited by a less industrious race. The Brahmaputra is the great high-road of Eastern Bengal and Assam. Its tributaries and bifurcations afford innumerable waterways, almost superseding roads, and at the same time rendering road-construction and maintenance very difficult. The main river is navigable by steamers as high up as Dibrugarh, about 800 miles from the sea ; and its broad surface is crowded with country craft of all sizes and rigs, from the dug-out canoe and timber raft to the huge cargo ship, with its high bow and stern, its bulged-out belly, and spreading square-sails. The busy emporium of Sirajganj, on its western bank, collects the produce of the surrounding Districts for trans- mission to Calcutta. Fifty thousand native craft, besides river steamers, passed Sirajganj in 1876. The downward traffic consists chiefly of tea (to the value of 1^ million sterling), timber, caoutchouc, and raw cotton, from Assam ; with jute, oil-seeds, tobacco, rice, and other grains, from Eastern Bengal. In return for these, Calcutta sends northwards by the Brahma- putra, European piece-goods, salt, and hardware ; while Assam imports by the same highway large quantities of rice from the Bengal delta. The railway system of India taps the Brahmaputra at Goalanda, but a network of channels supply a cheaper means of transit for bulky produce across the delta to Calcutta. As the Indus, with its feeder the Sutlej, and the Brahma- putra, convey to India the drainage from the northern slopes GANGES.] INDIA. 37 of the Himalayas, so the Ganges, with its tributary the Jumna, collects the rainfall from the southern slopes of the mountain wall, and pours it down upon the plains of Bengal. The Ganges traverses the central part of those plains, and occupies a more prominent place in the history of Indian civilisation than either the Indus in the extreme west or the Brahmaputra in the extreme east of Hindustan. It passes its whole life to the south of the Himalayas, and for thousands of years has formed a great physical influence in the development of the Indian races. The Ganges issues, under the name of the Bhagirathi, from an ice-cave at the foot of a Himalayan snowbed, 13,800 feet above the level of the sea (lat. 30° 56' 4" n., long. 790 6' 40" E.). After a course of 1557 miles, it falls by a network of estuaries into the Bay of Bengal. It represents, with its tribu- taries, an enormous catchment basin, bounded on the north by a section of about 700 miles of the Himalayan ranges, on the south by the Vindhya Mountains, and embracing 391,100 square miles. Before attempting any description of the func- tions performed by the Ganges, it is necessary to form some idea of the mighty masses of water which it collects and dis- tributes. But so many variable elements affect the discharge of rivers, that calculations of their volume must be taken as estimates rather than as actually ascertained facts. At the point where it issues from its snowbed, the infant stream The is only 27 feet broad and 15 inches deep, with an elevation of 13,800 feet above sea level. During the first 180 miles of its Ganges, course, it drops to an elevation of 1024 feet. At this point, Hard war, it has a discharge, in the dry season, of 7000 cubic feet per second. During the next 1000 miles of its journey, the Ganges collects the drainage of its catchment basin, and reaches Rajmahal about 1170 miles from its source. It has here a high flood discharge of 1,800,000 cubic feet of water per second, Discharge and an ordinary discharge of 207,000 cubic feet ; longest of f,an2es- duration of flood, about forty days. The maximum discharge of the Mississippi is given at 1,200,000 cubic feet per second.1 The maximum discharge of the Nile at Cairo is returned at only 362,000 cubic feet ; and of the Thames at Staines at 6600 cubic feet of water per second. One of the many mouths of the Ganges is 20 miles broad, with a depth, in the dry season, of 30 feet. But for a distance of about 200 miles, the sea face of Bengal entirely consists of the estuaries of the Ganges, inter- sected by low islands and promontories, formed out of its silt. 1 Hydraulic Manual, by Lowis D’A. Jackson, Hydraulic Statistics. Table 11. 38 INDIA. [JUMNA The Jumna. Sanctity of the Ganges. Gangetic pilgrim- ages. In forming our ideas with regard to the Ganges, we must begin by dismissing from our minds any lurking comparison of its gigantic stream with the rivers which we are familiar with in England. A single one of its tributaries, the Jumna, has an independent existence of 860 miles, with a catchment basin of 118,000 square miles, and starts from an elevation at its source of 10,849 feet above sea level. The Ganges and its principal tributaries are treated of at such length as the nature of this book permits in separate articles under their own names. I must here confine myself to a brief sketch of the work which they perform in the plains of Northern India, and of the posi- tion which they hold in the thoughts of the people. Of all great rivers on the surface of the globe, none can compare in sanctity with the Ganges, or Mother Ganga, as she is affectionately called by devout Hindus. From her source in the Himalayas, to her mouth in the Bay of Bengal, her banks are holy ground. Each point of junction of her main stream with a tributary has special claims to sanctity. But the tongue of land where the Ganges unites with her great sister river the Jumna, is the true Praydg, the place of pilgrimage to which hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus repair to wash away their sins in her sanctifying waters. Many of the other holy rivers of India borrow their sanctity from a supposititious underground connection with the Ganges. The ancient legend relates how Ganga, the fair daughter of King Himalaya (Him- avat) and of his queen the air-nymph Menaka, was persuaded, after long supplication, to shed her purifying influence upon the sinful earth. The icicle-studded cavern from which she issues is the tangled hair of the god Siva. Loving legends hallow each part of her course ; and from the names of her tributaries and of the towns along her banks, a whole mythology might be built up. Her estuary is not less sacred than her source. Sagar Island at her mouth is annually visited by a vast con- course of pilgrims, in commemoration of her act of saving grace; when, in order to cleanse the 60,000 damned ones of the house of Sagar, she divided herself into a hundred channels, thus making sure of reaching their remains, and so forming the delta of Bengal. The six years’ pilgrimage from the source to the mouth and back again, known as pradakshina , is still performed by many ; and a few devotees may yet be seen wearily accom- plishing the meritorious penance of ‘ measuring their length ’ along certain parts of the route. To bathe in the Ganges at the great stated festivals washes away guilt, and those who have thus purified themselves carry back bottles to their less fortu- INDIA. 39 AND GANGES.] nate kindred in far-off provinces. To die and be buried on the river bank is the last wish of millions of Hindus. Even to exclaim ‘Ganga, Ganga,’ at the distance of ioo leagues from the river, say her more enthusiastic devotees, may atone for the sins committed during three previous lives. The Ganges has earned the reverence of the people by Work centuries of unfailing work done for them. She and her tribu- c*one b>' taries are the unwearied water-carriers for the densely peopled Ganges, provinces of Northern India, and the peasantry reverence the bountiful stream which fertilizes their fields and distributes their produce. None of the other rivers of India comes near to the Ganges in works of beneficence. The Brahmaputra and the Indus may have longer streams, as measured by the geographer, but the upper courses of both lie beyond the great mountain wall in the unknown recesses of the Himalayas. Not one of the rivers of Southern India is navigable in the proper sense of the word. The Ganges begins to distribute The water- fertility by irrigation as soon as she reaches the plains, within fertufze^"1 200 miles of her source, and at the same time her channel of Bengal, becomes in some sort navigable. Thenceforward she rolls majestically down to the sea in a bountiful stream, which never becomes a merely destructive torrent in the rains, and never dwindles away in the hottest summer. Tapped by canals, she distributes millions of cubic feet of water every hour in irrigation; but her diminished volume is promptly recruited by great tributaries, and the wide area of her catch- ment basin renders her stream inexhaustible in the service of man. Embankments are in but few places required to restrain her inundations, for the alluvial silt which she spills over her banks affords in most parts a top-dressing of inex- haustible fertility. If one crop be drowned by the flood, the peasant comforts himself with the thought that his second crop will abundantly requite him. The function of the Ganges as a land-maker on a great scale will be alluded to hereafter. The Ganges has also played a pre-eminent part in the com- The mercial development of Northern India. Until the opening up ^n|^at of the railway system within the past twenty years, her magni- highway ficent stream formed almost the sole channel of traffic between BenSal* Upper India and the seaboard. The products not only of the river plains, but even the cotton of the Central Provinces, were formerly brought by this route to Calcutta. Notwithstanding the revolution caused by the railways, the heavier and more bulky staples of the country are still conveyed by the river, and the Ganges may yet rank as one of the greatest waterways 40 INDIA. Traffic on the Ganges. Not diminished by the railway. The great Gangetic cities. Calcutta. The part played by the great rivers. [GANGES TRAFFIC. in the world. The through traffic into Calcutta alone, by the Gangetic channels, was valued in 1877-78 at ^14,000,000 sterling. At Bamanghata, on one of the canals near Cal- cutta, 178,627 cargo boats were registered in 1876-77; at Hugh', 124,357; and at Patna, 550 miles from the mouth of the river, the number of cargo boats entered in the register was 61,571. Articles of European commerce, such as wheat, indigo, cotton, opium, and saltpetre, prefer the railway; so also do the imports of Manchester piece-goods. But if we take into account the vast development in the export trade of oil- seeds, rice, etc., still carried by the river, and the growing inter- change of food grains between various parts of the country, it seems probable that the actual amount of traffic on the Ganges in native craft has increased rather than diminished since the opening of the railways. At well-chosen points along her course, the iron lines touch her banks, and these river-side stations form centres for collecting and distributing the produce of the surrounding country. The Ganges, therefore, is not merely a rival, but a feeder, of the railway. Her ancient cities, such as Allahabad, Benares, and Patna, have thus been able to preserve their former importance ; while fishing villages like Sahibganj and Goalanda have by the same means been raised into thriving river marts. For, unlike the Indus and the Brahmaputra, the Ganges is a river of great historic cities. Calcutta, Patna, and Benares are built on her banks ; Agra and Delhi on those of her tribu- tary, the Jumna ; and Allahabad on the tongue of land where the two sister streams unite. Many millions of human beings live by commerce along her margin. Calcutta, with its suburbs, contains a population of 794,645 (1876). It has a municipal revenue of ^289,844 (1876-77), and a sea-borne commerce of over ^50,000,000 sterling, with a landward trade also aggre- gating close on ^50,000,000 sterling. This great .city lies on the Hugli, the most westerly of the mouths by which the Ganges enters the sea. To the eastwards stretches the delta, till it is hemmed in on the other side by the Meghna, the most easterly of the mouths of the Ganges ; or rather the united estuary by which the combined waters of the Brahma- putra and Gangetic river-systems find their way into the Bay of Bengal. In order, therefore, to understand the plains of Northern India, we must have a clear idea of the part played by the great rivers ; for the rivers first create the land, then fertilize it, and finally distribute its produce. The plains of Bengal INDIA. 4i RIVER LIFE.] were in many parts upheaved by volcanic forces, or deposited in an aqueous era, before the present race of man appeared. But in other parts they have been formed out of the silt which the rivers bring down from the mountains ; and at this day we may stand by and watch the ancient, silent process of land- making go on. A great Indian river like the Ganges has three Three distinct stages in its career from the Himalayas to the sea. staSe.s in r . r r ■ -ii , TT. ,, the life of In the first stage of its course, it dashes down the Himalayas, a r;ver. cutting out for itself deep gullies in the solid rock, and plough- First ing up glens between the mountains. In wading across the sta2e ; Sutlej feeders among the hills in the rainy season, my ankles have been sore from the pebbles which the stream carried with it ; while even in the hot weather the rushing sand and gravel cause a prickly sensation across the feet. The second stage in Second the life of a river begins at the point where it emerges from staSe- the mountains upon the plains. It then runs more peacefully along the valleys, searching out for itself the lowest levels. It receives the drainage and mud of the country on both sides, absorbs tributaries, and rolls forward with an ever-increasing volume of water and silt. Every torrent from the Himalayas brings its separate contribution, which it has torn from the rocks or eroded from its banks. This process repeats itself throughout many thousands of miles; that is to say, down the course of each tributary from the Himalayas and across the northern plains of India. As long as the force of the current is maintained by a sufficient fall per mile, the river carries forward the silt thus supplied, and adds to it fresh contributions from its banks. Each river acquires a character of its own as it advances, a character which tells the story of its early life. Thus, the Indus is loaded with silt of a brown hue ; the ist and 2d Chenab has a reddish tinge ; while the Sutlej is of a paler staSes colour. The exact amount of fall required per mile depends riverfas upon the specific gravity of the silt which it carries. At a a silt-col- comparatively early stage, the current drops the heavy par- lcclur‘ tides of rock or sand which it has torn from the Himalayan precipices. But a fall of 5 inches per mile suffices to hold in suspension the great body of the silt, and to add further accretions in passing through alluvial plains. The average fall of the Ganges between Benares and the delta-head (about 461 miles) is nearly 5 inches per mile. By the time the Ganges reaches the middle of Lower Loss of Bengal (Colgong to Calcutta), its average fall per mile has can>'in£- dropped to 4 inches. From Calcutta to the sea it varies, po"u' according to the tide, from 1 to 2 inches. The current is no D 42 Third stage of a great river as a silt-de- positor. The delta of Bengal. The deltaic distribu- taries. INDIA. [BENGAL DELTA. longer strong enough to carry the burden of its silt, and accordingly deposits it.1 In Lower Bengal, therefore, the Ganges enters on the third stage of its life. Finding its speed checked by the equal level of the plains, and its bed raised by the deposit of its own silt, it splits out into channels, like a jet of water suddenly obstructed by the finger, or a jar of liquid dashed on the floor. Each of the new streams thus created throws out in turn its own set of channels to right and left. The country which their many offshoots enclose and intersect forms the delta of Bengal. The present delta of the Ganges may be taken to commence at a point 1231 miles from its source, and 326 from the sea by its longest channel. At that point the head waters of the Hugh' break off, under the name of the Bhagirathi, from the main channel, and make their way almost due south to the sea. The main volume pursues its course to the south-east, and a great triangle of land, with its southern base on the Bay of Bengal, is thus enclosed. Between the Hugh on the west and the main channel on the east, a succession of offshoots strike southward from the 1 The following facts may be useful to observers in Bengal who wish to study the most interesting feature of the country in which they live, namely, the rivers. Ten inches per mile is considered to be the fall which a navigable river should not exceed. The fall of the Ganges from the point where it unites with the Jumna at Allahabad to Benares (139 miles), is 6 inches per mile ; from Benares to Colgong (326 miles), 5 inches per mile ; from Colgong to the delta-head, where the Bhagirathi strikes off (about 135 miles), 4 inches per mile; from the delta-head to Calcutta (about 200 miles), also 4 inches per mile ; from Calcutta to the sea (about So miles), 1 to 2 inches per mile, according to the tide. The fall of the Nile from the first Cataract to Cairo (555 miles), is inches per mile ; from Cairo to the sea, it is very much less. The fall of the Mississippi for the first hundred miles from its mouth, is 1 '8o inch per mile ; for the second hundred miles, 2 inches; for the third hundred, 2^30 inches; for the fourth hundred, 2^57 inches; and for the whole section of 855 miles from the mouth to Memphis, the average fall is given as 4J inches to the mile. The following table, calculated by Mr. David Stevenson ( Canal ami River Engineering, p. 315), shows the silt-carrying power of rivers at various velocities : — Inches per Second. 3 = 6 = 8 = 12 = 24 = 36 = Mile per Hour. O'l 70 will just begin to work on fine clay. C340 will lift fine sand. °'454S will lift sand as coarse as linseed. o'68i9 will sweep along fine gravel. 1 '3638 will roll along rounded pebbles 1 inch in diameter. 2 ‘045 will sweep along slippery angular stones of the size of an egg. BENGAL DELTA.] INDIA. 43 Ganges. The network of streams struggle slowly downwards over the level delta. Their currents are no longer able, by reason of their diminished speed, to carry along the silt or sand which the more rapid parent river has brought down from Northern India. They accordingly drop their burden of silt in their channels or along their margins, producing almond- shaped islands, and by degrees raising their banks and chan- above Sur- nels above the surrounding plains. When they spill over their rounding banks, the largest amount of silt is deposited in the vicinity of countr> » their margin. In this way not only their beds, but also the land along their banks is gradually raised. Section of a Deltaic Channel of the Ganges. a. The river channel ; b b. the two banks ; c c. the surface of the water when not in flood ; d d. the low-lying swamps stretching away from either bank, into which the river flows when it spills over its banks in time of flood ; e e. the dotted lines represent the level of the river surface. The rivers of a delta thus build themselves up, as it were, thus into high-level canals, which in the rainy season overflow their |h”mseK-es banks and leave their silt upon the low country on either side, up into Thousands of square miles in Low’er Bengal receive in this way canals- each summer a top-dressing of new soil, brought free of cost for more than a thousand miles by the river currents from Northern India or the still more distant Himalayas — a system of natural manuring which yields a constant succession of rich crops. At Goalanda, about half-way between the delta-head and Junction the sea, the Ganges unites with the main stream of the brahma- S Brahmaputra, and farther down with the Meghna. Their com- putra, and bined waters exhibit deltaic operations on the most gigantic -^e£hna- scale. They represent the drainage collected by the two vast river-systems of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, from an aggregate catchment basin of 752,000 square miles on both sides of the Himalayas, together with the rainfall poured 44 INDIA. Their combined delta. Deltaic swamps. how filled up by silt. Last scene in the life of an Indian river. Land- making in the estuary. Egypt, the 4 Gift of the Nile.’ [BENGAL DELTA. into the Meghna from the Burmese watershed. The forces thus brought into play are beyond the calculations even of modern engineering. As the vast network of rivers creeps farther down the delta, they become more and more sluggish, and raise their beds still higher above the adjacent flats. Each set of channels has a depressed tract or swamp on either side, so that the lowest levels in a delta lie about half-way between the rivers. The stream constantly overflows into these de- pressed tracts, and gradually fills them up with its silt. The water which rushes from the river into the swamps has some- times the colour of pea-soup, from the quantity of silt which it carries. When it has stood a few days in the swamps, and the river flood subsides, the water flows back from the swamps into the river channel ; but it has dropped all its silt, and is of a clear dark-brown hue. The silt remains in the swamp, and by degrees fills it up, thus slowly creating new land. The muddy foliage of the trees which have been submerged bears witness to the fresh deposit. As we shall presently see, buried roots and decayed stumps are found at great depths ; while nearer the top the excavator comes upon the remains of old tanks, broken pottery, and other traces of human habitations, which within historic times were above the ground. The last scene in the life of an Indian river is a wilderness of forest and swamp at the end of the delta, amid whose malarious solitude the network of tidal creeks merges into the sea. Here all the secrets of land -making stand disclosed. The river channels, finally checked by the dead weight of the sea, deposit most of their remaining silt, which emerges in the shape of banks or blunted headlands. The ocean- currents also find themselves impeded by the outflow from the rivers, and in their turn drop the burden of sand which they sweep along the coast. The two causes combine to build up breakwaters of mingled sand and mud upon the foreshore. In this way, while the solid earth gradually grows outward into the sea, owing to the deposits of river silt, peninsulas and islands are formed along the river mouths from the sand dropped by the ocean currents, and a double process of land- making goes on. The great Indian rivers, therefore, not only supply new ground by depositing chars or islands in their beds, and by filling up the low-lying tracts or swamps beyond their margins, but also by forming banks and capes and masses of land at their mouths. They slowly construct their deltas by driving back the sea. Egypt was ‘the gift of the Nile,’ according to JBENGAL DELTA.] JNDIA . 45 her priests in the age of Herodotus ; and the vast province of Lower Bengal is in the strictest scientific sense the gift of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the eastern waters of the Meghna. The deltas of these three river-systems are now united into one, but three distinct delta-heads are observable. The delta - head of the Brahmaputra commences near the bend where the river now twists due south round the Garo Hills, 220 miles from the sea as the crow flies; and the present delta-head of the Ganges begins at the point where the Bhagirathi breaks southward from the main channel, also about 220 miles in a direct line from the sea. The delta of the Meghna, which represents the heavy southern rainfall of the Khasi Hills and the western drainage of the great water- shed between Bengal and Independent Burma, commences in Sylhet District. The three deltas, instead of each forming a triangle like the Greek A, unite to form an irregular parallelo- gram, running inland 220 miles from the coast, with an average breadth also of about 220 miles. This vast alluvial basin of say 50,000 square miles was once covered with the deep sea, and it has been slowly filled up to the height of at least 400 feet by the deposits which the rivers have brought down. In other words, the united river-systems of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna have torn away from the Himalayas and North-eastern Bengal enough earth to build up a lofty island, with an area of 50,000 square miles, and a height of 400 feet. I have been careful not to overstate the work performed by the rivers. Borings have been carried down to 481 feet at Calcutta, but the auger broke at that depth, and it is impossible to say how much farther the alluvial deposits may go. There seem to have been successive eras of vegetation, followed by repeated depressions of the surface. These successive eras of vegetation now form layers of stumps of trees, peat-beds, and carbonized wood. Passing below traces of recently submerged forests, a well-marked peat-bed is found in all excavations around Calcutta at a depth varying from 20 to 30 feet ; and decayed wood, with pieces of fine coal, such as occur in mountain streams, was met with at a depth of 392 feet. Fossilized remains of animal life have been brought up from 372 feet below the present surface. The subjoined footnote1 1 ‘ Abstract Report of Proceedings of Committee appointed to Superin- tend the Borings at Fort-William, December 1835 to April 1840.’ ‘After penetrating through the surface soil to a depth of about 10 feet, a stratum of stiff blue clay, 15 feet in thickness, was met with. Underlying this Bengal, the ‘ Gift of the Ganges.’ Size of the Bengal delta. Successive depres- sions of the delta. Its subter- ranean structure. 46 INDIA. Amount of silt brought down. [BENGAL DELTA. illustrates the successive layers of the vast island, so to speak, which the rivers have built up. It should be remembered that they have been aided in their work by the sand deposited by the ocean currents. But, on the other hand, the alluvial deposits of the Ganges and Brahmaputra commence far to the north of the present delta-head, and have a total area greatly exceeding the 50,000 square miles mentioned in the last para- graph. The Brahmaputra has covered over with thick alluvium the valley of Assam ; its confluent, the Meghna, or rather the upper waters which ultimately form the Meghna, have done the same fertilizing task for the valleys of Cachar and Sylhet ; while the Ganges, with its mighty feeders, has prepared for the uses of man thousands of square miles of land in the broad hollow between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas, far to the west of its present delta. A large quantity of the finest and lightest silt, moreover, is carried out to sea, and discolours the Bay of Bengal 150 miles from the shore. The plains of Bengal are truly the gift of the great rivers. Several attempts have been made to estimate the time which the Ganges and Brahmaputra must have required for accom- plishing their gigantic task. The borings already referred to, was a light-coloured sandy clay, which became gradually darker in colour from the admixture of vegetable matter, till it passed into a bed of peat, at a distance of about 30 feet from the surface. Beds of clay and variegated sand, intermixed with katikar, mica, and small pebbles, alternated to a depth of 120 feet, when the sand became loose and almost semi-fluid in its texture. At 152 feet, the quicksand became darker in colour and coarser in grain, intermixed with red water- worn nodules of hydrated oxide of iron, resembling to a certain extent the laterite of South India. At 159 feet, a stiff clay with yellow veins occurred, altering at 163 feet remarkably in colour and substance, and becoming dark, friable, and apparently con- taining much vegetable and ferruginous matter. A fine sand succeeded at 1 70 feet, and this gradually became coarser, and mixed with fragments of quartz and felspar, to a depth of 180 feet. At 196 feet, clay impregnated with iron was passed through ; and at 221 feet sand recurred, containing fragments of limestone with nodules of kankar and pieces of quartz and felspar ; the same stratum continued to 340 feet ; and at 350 feet a fossil bone, conjectured to be the humerus of a dog, was extracted. At 360 feet, a piece of supposed tortoiseshell was found, and subsequently several pieces of the same substance were obtained. At 372 feet, another fossil bone was discovered, but it could not be identified, from its being torn and broken by the borer. At 392 feet, a few pieces of fine coal, such as are found in the beds of mountain streams, with some fragments of decayed wood, were picked out of the sand, and at 400 feet a piece of limestone was brought up. From 400 to 481 feet, fine sand, like that of the sea- shore, intermixed largely with shingle composed of fragments of primary rocks, quartz, felspar, mica, slate, and limestone, prevailed, and in this stratum the bore has been terminated.’ BENGAL DELTA.] INDIA. 47 together with an admirable account by Colonel Baird Smith in the Calcutta Journal of Natural History ,x and the Rev. Mr. Everest’s calculations, form the chief materials for such an estimate. Sir Charles Lyell1 2 accepts Mr. Everest’s calculation, made half a century ago, that the Ganges discharges 6368 millions of cubic feet of silt per annum at Ghazipur. This Ganges at would alone suffice to supply 355 millions of tons a year, or ^ ’Pur» nearly the weight of 60 replicas of the Great Pyramid. ‘ It is scarcely possible,’ he says, ‘ to present any picture to the mind which will convey an adequate conception of the mighty scale of this operation, so tranquilly and almost insensibly carried on by the Ganges.’ About 96 per cent, of the whole amount are brought down during the four months of the rainy season. The work thus done in that season may be realized if we suppose that a fleet of two thousand great ships sailed down the river every day during the four months, and deposited a freight of 1400 tons of mud apiece each morning into the estuary. But the Ganges at GMzipur is only a single feeder of the Estimated mighty mass of waters which have formed the delta of Bengal. The Ganges, after leaving Ghazipur, receives many of its r;ver. principal tributaries, such as the Gogra, the Son, the Gandak, system at and the Kusi. It then unites w'ith the Brahmaputra, and thc '- We have just seen how the first terminus of the Eastern away. Bengal Railway at Kushtia had been partially deserted by the Ganges. Its new terminus at Goalanda has suffered from an opposite but equally disastrous accident. Up to 1875, the Godl- anda station stood upon a massive embankment near the water’s edge, protected by masonry spurs running out to the river. About ,£130,000 had been spent upon these protective works, RICE HARVEST.] INDIA. 51 and it was hoped that engineering skill had conquered the violence of the Gangetic floods. But in August 1875, the solid masonry spurs, the railway station, and the magistrate's court, were all swept away ; and deep water covered their site. A new terminus had to be erected about 2 miles from the river bank. Indeed, each autumn the mighty currents undermine, and then rend away many thousand acres of solid land. They afterwards deposit their spoil in their channels farther down, and thus, as we have seen, leave high and dry in ruin many an ancient city on their banks. Their work, however, is on the whole beneficent ; and a poem of Ossian Poetry of might be made out of the names which the Indian peasant applies to his beloved rivers. Thus, we have the Goddess of names. Flowing Speech ( Saraswati ), or, according to another deriva- tion, the River of Pools ; the Streak of Gold ( Suvarna-rekha ) ; the Glancing Waters ( Chitra ); the Dark Channel ( Kdla-nadi ) ; the Sinless One ( Pdpagim — Pdpah'mi) ; the Arrowy (, Sharavati ) ; the Golden Sands ( Suvarna-mati ) ; the Stream at which the Deer Drinks ( Haringhdta ) ; the Forest Hope {Bands) ; the Old Twister ( Burabalang ) ; besides more common names, such as the All-Destroyer, the Forest King, the Lord of Strength, the Silver Waters, and the Flooder. Throughout the river plains of Northern India, two harvests, Crops of and in some Provinces three, are reaped each year. These j^;”sver crops are not necessarily taken from the same land ; but in many Districts the best fields have to yield two harvests within the twelve months. In Lower Bengal, pease, pulses, oil-seeds, and green crops of various sorts, are reaped in spring ; The three the early rice crops in September ; the great rice harvest of the harvests year, and other grains, in November and December. Before year these last have been gathered in, it is time to prepare the ground for the spring crops, and the husbandman knows no rest except during the hot weeks of May, when he is anxiously waiting for the rains. Such is the course of agriculture in Lower Bengal. But it should always be remembered that rice is the staple crop in a limited area of India, and that it Rice, forms the every-day food of only 67 millions, or one-third of the population. It has been estimated that, in the absence of irrigation, the rice crop requires an annual rainfall of at least 36 inches ; and an Indian Province requires an average fall of not less than 40 to 60 inches in order to grow rice as its staple crop. A line might almost be drawn across Behar, to the north of which the food of the people ceases to be rice, and becomes wheat and millets, etc. There are, 52 INDIA. Scenery of the river plains. In North- Western Bengal. In the delta. Crops of North- Western Bengal ; of the delta. [river SCENERY. indeed, rice-growing tracts in favoured, low-lying Districts of Northern India, and in the river-valleys or deltas and level strips around the southern coast; but in Upper India their produce is consumed only by the richer classes. The chief products of each Province are carefully enumerated in the separate provincial notices in the Itnperial Gazetteer , and an account of the most important will be found under the heading of Agriculture, farther on in the present volume. I here allude to them only so far as is necessary to give a general idea of the scenery of the river plains. In the northern and drier regions along the upper courses of the rivers, the country rises gently from their banks in fertile undulations, dotted with mud villages and adorned with noble trees. Mango groves scent the air with their blossom in spring, and yield their abundant fruit in summer. The spreading banyan, with its colonnades of hanging roots; the stately pipal, with its green masses of foliage ; the leafless wild cotton-tree, glowing with heavy crimson flowers ; the tall, delicate tamarind, and the quick-growing babul, rear their heads above the crop fields. As the rivers approach the coast, the palm-trees take posses- sion of the scene. The ordinary landscape in the delta is a flat stretch of rice-fields, fringed round with an evergreen border of bamboos, cocoa-nuts, date-trees, areca, and other coronetted palms. This densely peopled tract seems at first sight bare of villages, for each hamlet is hidden away amid its own grove of plantains and wealth-giving trees. The bamboo and cocoa- nut play a conspicuous part in the industrial life of the people ; and the numerous products derived from them, including rope, oil, food, and timber, have been dwelt on with admiration by many writers. The crops also change as we sail down the river. In the north, the principal grains are wheat, barley, indian corn, and a variety of millets, such as jocir (Holcus sorghum) and bajra (Holcus spicatus). In the delta, on the other hand, rice is the staple crop, and the universal diet. In a single District, Rangpur, I have named 295 separate kinds of rice known to the peasant,1 who has learned to grow his favourite crop in every locality, from the solid field, which yields the dman har- vest, to the swamps 1 2 feet deep, on the surface of whose waters the rice ears may be seen struggling upwards for air. Sugar- cane, oil-seeds, flax, mustard, sesamum, palma-christi, cotton, tobacco, indigo, safflower and other dyes, ginger, coriander, capsicum, cummin, and precious spices, are grown both in 1 Statistical Account of Bengal , vol. vii. pp. 234-237. INDIA. 53 SOUTHERN TABLELAND.] the North-Western or Upper Provinces, and in the moister valleys and delta of Lower Bengal. A whole pharmacopoeia Drugs, of native medicines, from the well-known aloe and castor-oil, to bbr?s’ oib seeds etc. obscure but valuable febrifuges, is derived from shrubs, herbs, and roots. Resins, gums, varnishes, india-rubber, perfume-oils, and a hundred articles of commerce or luxury, are obtained from the fields and the forests. Vegetables, both indi- genous and imported from Europe, largely enter into the food of the people. The melon and huge yellow pumpkin spread themselves over the thatched roofs ; fields of potato, brinjal , and yams are attached to the homesteads. The tea -plant is reared on the hilly ranges that skirt the plains both in the North-West and in Assam ; the opium poppy about half-way down the Ganges, around Benares and in Behar ; the silkworm mulberry still farther down in Lower Bengal; while the jute fibre is essentially a crop of the delta, and would exhaust any soil not fertilized by river floods. Even the jungles yield Jungle the costly lac and the tasar silk cocoons. The mahua, also Products* a gift of the jungle, produces the fleshy flowers which form a staple article of food among the hill tribes, and when dis- tilled supply a cheap spirit. The sal, sissu, tun, and many other indigenous trees yield excellent timber. Flowering creepers, of gigantic size and gorgeous colours, festoon the jungle ; while each tank bears its own beautiful crop of the lotus and water-lily. Nearly every vegetable product which feeds and clothes a people, or enables it to trade with foreign countries, abounds. Having described the leading features of the Himalayas on Third the north, and of the great river plains at their base, I come now to the third division of India, namely, the three-sided The tableland which covers the southern half or more strictly peninsular portion of India. This tract, known in ancient times as the Deccan (Dakshin), literally the south, comprises the Central Provinces, Berar, Madras, Bombay, Mysore, with the Native Territories of the Nizam, Sindhia, Holkar, and other Feudatory States. It had in 1872 an aggregate population The of over 90 millions. For the sake of easy remembrance, there- Deccan '> fore, we may take the inhabitants of the river plains in the north at nearly 150 millions, and the inhabitants of the southern three-sided tableland at nearly 100 millions. The Deccan, in its local acceptation, is restricted to the high tract between the Narbada (Nerbudda) and the Kistna rivers; but it is popularly understood to include the whole country south of the Vindhyas as far as Cape Comorin. It slopes up from the southern edge 54 INDIA. Its three supporting mountain- walls. The Vindhya Moun- tains ; their various ranges ; the ancient barrier between Northern and Southern India. TheGhats. Eastern Ghats. Western Ghats [the GHATS of the Gangetic plains. Three ranges of hills support its northern, its eastern, and its western side, the two latter meet- ing at a sharp angle near Cape Comorin. The northern side rests on confused ranges, running with a general direction of east to west, and known in the aggregate as the Vindhya Mountains. The Vindhyas, however, are made up of several distinct hill systems. Two sacred peaks stand as outposts in the extreme east and west, with a succession of ranges stretching 800 miles between. At the western extremity, Mount Abu, famous for its exquisite Jain temples, rises, as a solitary outlier of the Aravalli Hills, 5650 feet above the Rajputfina plains, like an island out of the sea. Beyond the southern limits of that plain, the Vindhya range of modern geography runs almost due east from Guzerat, forming the northern wall of the Narbada valley. The Satpura Moun- tains stretch, also east and west, to the south of that river, and form the watershed between it and the Tapti. Towards the heart of India, the eastern extremities of these two ranges end in the highlands of the Central Provinces with their lofty level plains. Passing still farther east, the hill system finds a continuation in the Kaimur range and its congeners ; which eventually end in the outlying peaks and spurs that mark the western boundary of Lower Bengal, and abut on the old course of the Ganges under the name of the Rajmahal Hills. On the extreme east, Mount Parasnath — like Mount Abu on the extreme west, sacred to Jain rites — rises to 4400 feet above the level of the Gangetic plain. The various ranges of the Vindhyas, from 1 500 to over 4000 feet high, form, as it were, the northern wall and buttresses which support the central tableland. Now pierced by road and railway, they stood in former times as a barrier of mountain and jungle between Northern and Southern India, and formed one of the main difficulties in welding the whole into an empire. They consist of vast masses of forests, ridges, and peaks, broken by culti- vated valleys and broad high-lying plains. The other two sides of the elevated southern triangle are known as the Eastern and Western Ghats. These chains start southwards from the eastern and western extremities of the Vindhyas, and run along the eastern and western coasts of India. The Eastern Ghats stretch in fragmentary spurs and ranges down the Madras Presidency, receding inland and leaving broad, level tracts between their base and the coast. The Western Ghats form the great sea-wall of the Bombay Presidency, with only a narrow strip between them and the INDIA. 55 THE DECCAN.] shore. Some of them rise in magnificent precipices and headlands out of the ocean, and truly look like colossal ‘ passes or landing-stairs ’ {ghats) from the sea. The Eastern Ghats have an average elevation of 1500 feet. The Western Ghats ascend more abruptly from the sea to an average height of about 3000 feet, with peaks up to 4700, along the Bombay coast ; rising to 7000 and even 8760 feet in the upheaved angle The up- where they unite with the Eastern Ghats, towards their southern soutlfern extremity. angle. The inner triangular plateau thus enclosed lies from 1000 The cen- to 3000 feet above the level of the sea. But it is dotted ^a[rian" with peaks and seamed with ranges exceeding 4000 feet in plateau, height. Its best known hills are the Nflgiris (Blue Mountains), with the summer capital of Madras, Utakamand, 7000 feet above the sea. Their highest point is Dodabetta peak, 8760 feet, at the upheaved southern angle. The interior plateau is approached by several famous passes from the level Passes coast-strip on the western side. The Bor-Ghat, for example, ascends a tremendous ravine about 40 miles south-east of Bor-Ghat, Bombay city, to a height of 1798 feet. In ancient times it was regarded as the key to the Deccan, and could be held by a small band against any army attempting to penetrate from the coast. A celebrated military road was constructed by the British up this pass, and practically gave the command of the interior to the then rising port of Bombay. A railway line has now been carried up the gorge, twisting round the shoulders of mountains, tunnelling through intervening crags, and clinging along narrow ledges to the face of the precipice. At one point the zigzag is so sharp as to render a circuitous turn impossible, and the trains have to stop and reverse their direction on a levelled terrace. The Thall Ghat, to the north-east of Bombay, has in like manner the Thall been scaled both by road and railway. Another celebrated Ghat’ pass, farther down the coast, connects the military centre of Belgium with the little port of Vingurla. These ‘landing- stairs ’ from the sea to the interior present scenes of rugged grandeur. The trap rocks stand out, after ages of denudation, like circular fortresses flanked by round towers, from the mass of hills behind ; natural fastnesses, which in the Mar- hatta times were rendered impregnable by military art. In the south of Bombay, the passes climb up from the sea through thick forests, the haunt of the tiger and the mighty bison. Still farther down the coast, the western mountain- the Pal- wall dips deep into the Palghat valley — a remarkable gap, ghat Pass. 56 INDIA. [the DECCAN. The rivers of the inner plateau ; no exit west- wards. Historical signifi- canceofthe Eastern and West- ern Ghats, 20 miles broad, and leading by an easy route, only 1000 feet in height, from the seaboard to the interior. A third railway and military road start by this passage from Beypur across the peninsula to Madras. On the eastern side of India, the Ghats form a series of spurs and buttresses for the elevated inner plateau rather than a continuous mountain wall. They are traversed by a number of broad and easy passages from the Madras coast. Through these openings, the rainfall of the southern half of the inner plateau reaches the sea. The drainage from the northern or Yindhyan edge of the three-sided tableland falls into the Ganges. The Narbada (Nerbudda) and Tapti carry the rainfall of the southern slopes of the Vindhyas and of the Satpura Hills, by two almost parallel lines, into the Gulf of Cambay. But from Surat, in lat. 21° 9', to Cape Comorin, in lat. 8° 4', no great river succeeds in piercing the Western Ghats, or in reaching the Bombay coast from the interior tableland. The Western Ghats form, in fact, a lofty unbroken barrier between the waters of the central plateau and the Indian Ocean. The drainage has therefore to make its way across India to the eastwards, now twisting sharply round project- ing ranges, then tumbling down ravines, or rushing along valleys, until the rain which the Bombay sea-breeze has dropped upon the Western Ghats finally falls into the Bay of Bengal. In this way the three great rivers of the Madras Presidency, viz. the Godavari, the Kistna (Krishna), and the Kaveri (Cauvery), rise in the mountains overhanging the Bom- bay coast, and traverse the whole breadth of the central table- land before they reach the sea on the eastern shores of India. The physical geography and the political destiny of the two sides of the Indian peninsula, have been determined by the characteristics of the mountain ranges on either coast. On the east, the country is comparatively open, and was everywhere accessible to the spread of civilisation. On the east, therefore, the ancient dynasties of Southern India fixed their capitals. Along the west, only a narrow strip of low- land intervenes between the barrier range and the seaboard. The inhabitants of those tracts remained apart from the civilisation of the eastern coast. To this day, one of their ruling races, the Nairs, retain land-tenures and social customs, such as polyandry, which mark a much ruder stage ot human advancement than Hinduism, and which in other parts of India only linger among isolated hill tribes. On the other hand, the people of the western coast enjoy a bountiful INDIA. 57 THE DECCAN.] rainfall, unknown in the inner plateau and the east The and of the monsoon dashes its rain-laden clouds against the Western rainfa11. Ghats, and pours from ioo to 200 inches of rain upon their maritime slopes from Khandesh down to Malabar. By the time the monsoon has crossed the Western Ghats, it has dropped the greater part of its aqueous burden, and central Districts, such as Bangalore, obtain only about 35 inches. The eastern coast also receives a monsoon of its own ; but, except in the neighbourhood of the sea, the rainfall throughout the Madras Presidency is scanty, seldom exceeding 40 inches in the year. The deltas of the three great rivers along the Madras coast form, however, tracts of inexhaustible fertility; and much is done by irrigation to husband and utilize both the local rainfall and the accumulated waters which the rivers bring down. The ancient Sanskrit poets speak of Southern India as Products buried under forests ; and sal, ebony, sissu, teak, and other great trees, still abound. The Western Ghats, in particular, land, are covered with magnificent vegetation wherever a sapling can take root. The mountains of Kanara, Malabar, Mysore, and Coorg, furnish the Forest Department with its richest supplies. Along some of their highest ridges grow what is officially known as ‘ The Evergreen Forest.’ The pun (Calophyllum angustifolium) shoots up straight to a hundred feet without branch or bend. Few trees in the world are Trees and better suited for ships’ spars and masts. The fruit-yielding jack Forests- (Artocarpus integrifolia), the iron-wood (Mesua ferrea), the Indian mahogany (Cedrela toona), ebony (Diospyros ebe- naster), the champac (Michelia champaca), teak (Tectona grandis), blackwood unsurpassed for carvings (Dalbergia latifolia), sal admirable for building purposes (Shorea robusta), the precious sandal-wood (Santalum album), and the universal bamboo, — these are a few of the forest products of the Ghats and inner ranges of the three-sided southern plateau. Inter- spersed among the tall trees flourish an infinite variety of shrubs, gorgeous parasites, and creepers. European enterprise has covered many a hillside in Mysore and Madras with coffee. Cinchona and tea are also grown. In wild tropical beauty nothing can surpass the luxuriance Scenery of of an untouched Coorg forest, as viewed from one of the peaks ^°uffiern of the Western Gh£ts. A waving descent of green, broken into country, terraces of varying heights, slopes downward on every side. . North and south run parallel ranges of mountains, wooded almost to the summit ; while to the west, thousands of feet E 58 INDIA. [the DECCAN. Crops of Southern India. Minerals; Coal, Lime, Iron. Recapitu- lation : the Three Regions of India. below, the view is bounded by the blue line of the Arabian Sea. Wild animals of many kinds breed in the jungle, and haunt the grassy glades. The elephant, the tiger, and the leopard, the furious bison, the stately sambhar deer, and the jungle sheep, with a variety of smaller game, afford adventure to the sportsman. During the rains magnificent cataracts dash over the precipices. The Garsoppa falls, in the Western Ghats, are said to have a descent of 1000 feet. In the valleys, and upon the elevated plains of the central plateau, tillage has driven back the jungle to the hilly recesses, and fields of wheat and many kinds of smaller grain or millets, tobacco, cotton, sugar-cane, and pulses, spread over the open country. The black soil of Southern India is pro- verbial for its fertility ; and the level strip between the Western Ghats and the sea rivals even Lower Bengal in its fruit-bearing palms, rice harvests, and rich succession of crops. The deltas on the eastern side have from time immemorial been celebrated as rice-bearing tracts. The interior of the tableland is liable to droughts. The cultivators contend against the calamities of nature by varied systems of irrigation, by which they store the rain brought during a few months by the monsoon, and husband it for use throughout the whole year. The food of the common people consists chiefly of small grains, such as joar , bdjra , and ragi. The great export is cotton, with wheat from the northern Districts of Bombay. The pepper trade of Malabar dates from far beyond the age of Sindbad the Sailor, and probably reaches back to Roman times. Cardamoms, spices of various sorts, dyes, and many medicinal drugs, are also grown. It' is on the three-sided tableland, and among the hilly spurs which project from it, that the mineral wealth of India lies hid. Coal -mining now forms a great industry on the north-eastern side of the tableland, in Bengal ; and also in the Central Provinces. Beds of iron-ore and limestone have been worked in several places, and hold out a possibility of a new era of enterprise to India in the future. Many Districts are rich in building stone, marbles, and the easily worked laterite. Copper and other metals exist in small quantities. The diamonds of Golconda were long famous. Gold dust has from very ancient times been washed out of the river- beds; and quartz-crushing for gold is being attempted on scientific principles in Madras and Mysore. I have now briefly surveyed the three regions of India. The first, or the Himalayas, lies for the most part beyond the BURMA.] INDIA. 59 British frontier; but a knowledge of it supplies the key to the history and climatic conditions of India. The second region, or the River Plains in the north, formed the theatre of the ancient race -movements which shaped the civilisa- tion and political destinies of the whole Indian peninsula. The third region, or the Triangular Tableland in the south, has a character quite distinct from either of the other two divisions, and a population which is now working out a sepa- Their rate development of its own. Broadly speaking, the Himd- ^aces an(I layas are peopled by Turanian tribes. The great River Plains gUages. of Bengal are still the home of the Aryan race. The Triangular Tableland has formed an arena for a long struggle between that gifted race from the north, and what is known as the Dravidian stock in the south. To this vast Empire the English have added British Burma, British consisting of the lower valley of the Irawadi (Irrawaddy) with its Burma ; delta, and a long flat strip stretching down the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal. Between the narrow maritime tract and the Irawadi runs a backbone of lofty ranges. These ranges, known as the Yoma (Roma) Mountains, are covered with dense forests, and separate the Irawadi valley from the strip of coast. The Yoma (Roma) ranges have peaks exceeding 4000 its valleys feet, and culminate in the Blue Mountain, 7100 feet. They an.(l moun‘ i. ' tains; are crossed by passes, one of which, the An or Aeng, rises to 4668 feet above the sea level. A thousand creeks indent the seaboard; and the whole of the level country, both on the coast and in the Irawadi valley, forms one vast rice-field. The rivers float down an abundant supply of teak and bamboos from the north. Tobacco, of an excellent quality, its pro- supplies the little cigars which all Burmese (men, women, and ducts- children) smoke, and affords an industrial product of increasing value. Arakan and Pegu, or the Provinces of the coast strip, and also the Irawadi valley, contain mineral oil-springs. Ten- Tenas- asserim forms a long narrow maritime Province, running serim. from the mouths of the Irawadi southward to Point Victoria, where British territory adjoins Siam. It is rich in tin mines, and contains iron-ores equal to the finest Swedish ; besides gold and copper in smaller quantities, and a very pure limestone. Rice and timber form the staple exports of Burma; and rice is also the universal food of the people. British Burma, with Tenasserim, has an area of 88,556 square miles ; and a population, in 1881, of 3f million persons. 6o INDIA. [population. General survey of the People. The Feu- datory Chiefs. Their various powers. British India — the Twelve Provinces, CHAPTER II. THE PEOPLE. The Population of India, with British Burma, amounted in 1 88 1 to 252 millions, or, as already mentioned, more than double the number which Gibbon estimated for the Roman Empire in the height of its power. But the English Govern- ment has respected the rights of native chiefs who are willing to govern well, and one-third of the countty still remains in the hands of its hereditary rulers. Their subjects make about one-fifth of the whole Indian people. The British territories therefore comprise only two-thirds of the area of India, and about four-fifths of its inhabitants. The native princes govern their States with the help and under the advice of a Resident, whom the English Viceroy stations at their courts. Some of them reign almost as inde- pendent sovereigns ; others require more assistance, or a stricter control. They form a magnificent body of feudatory rulers, possessed of revenues and armies of their own. The more important exercise the power of life and death over their subjects ; but the authority of each is limited by treaties or engagements, acknowledging their ‘ subordinate dependence ’ to the British Government. That Government, as Suzerain in India, does not allow its feudatories to make war upon each other, or to form alliances with foreign States. It inter- feres when any chief misgoverns his people ; rebukes, and if needful removes, the oppressor ; protects the weak ; and firmly imposes peace upon all. The British possessions are distributed into twelve govern- ments, each with a separate head ; but the whole is under the orders of the supreme Government of India, consisting of the Governor-General in Council. The Governor-General, who also bears the title of Viceroy, holds his court and government at Calcutta in the cold weather, and during summer at Simla, 7000 feet up the Himalaya Mountains. The Viceroy of India, and the Governors of Madras and Bombay, are usually British statesmen appointed in England INDIA. POPULATION.] 61 by the Queen. The heads of the other ten Provinces are how selected for their merit from the Anglo-Indian services, and g°ver iei'- are nominated by the Viceroy, subject in the case of the Lieutenant-Governorships to approval by the Secretary of State. The Census of 1881 shows a population of 252,541,210 for Census of all India. But the complete details are not yet available. I jg have, therefore, in the following tables to use the Census of 1871 for the individual Provinces and States. At p. 67, I also give the returns of 1881, so far as I have obtained them. The Twelve Governments or Provinces of British India. (Based on the Census of 1871-72 ; but see also post , p. 67.) Name of Province (Exclusive of the Native States attached to it). Area in Square Miles. Total Population. Number » Persons per Square Mile. 1. Government of Madras, 138,856 31,672,613 228 2. Government of Bombav, with Sind, 124,102 16, quo, 206 131 3. Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal, . 156,200 60,502,897 387 4. Lieutenant-Governorship of Punjab, . 104,975 17,611,498 168 3. Lieutenant-Governorship of the North-1 Western Provinces, >- 81,403 30,781,204 378 6. Chief Commissionership of Oudh, 1 ) 23,992 11,220, 232 468 7. Chief Commissionership of the Central Provinces, 84, 208 8,201,519 97 8. Chief Commissionership of British Burma, 88,556 2,747,148 3i 9. Chief Commissionership of Assam,2 . 55.384 4,162,019 75 10. Commissionership of Berar,3 17,711 2,227,654 396,889 126 11. Commissionership of Ajmere, 2,711 146 12. Commissionership of Coorg, 2,000 168,312 84 Total for British India, 880,098 186,041,191 21 1 1 Oudh has been incorporated, since 1877, with the North-Western Pro- vinces. The Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces is also Chief-Commissioner of Oudh. 2 Assam was separated from the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal in 1874, and erected into a Chief-Commissionership. The area includes an estimate for the unsurveyed tracts in the Cachar, Nagd, and Lakhimpur Hills. 3 Berar consists of the six ‘Assigned Districts' made over to the British administration by the Nizam of Haidarabad for the maintenance of the Haidardbad Contingent, which he was bound by treaty to maintain, and in discharge of other obligations. 62 INDIA. [population. Density of the popu- lation, The Twelve Groups of Native States forming Feudatory India in 1871. Name of State. Total Area in Square Miles. Total Population. Number of Persons per Square Mile. *3 G 1. Raj pu tana, .... 130,989 10,192,871 77 O c 2. Haidarabad (Nizam's Dominions) 80,000 9,000,000 112 0 s 3. Central Indian Agency and Bun- 80,008 8,360,571 93 Sb delkhand, "2 i'-J 4 Baroda, 4,399 2,000,225 454 5. Mysore,1 29.325 5,055,412 172 6 6. Manipur, 7o84 126,000 16 7. Native States under Bombay 66,410 6, 784,482 102 Government, 8. Native States under Madras 9,818 3.289,392 335 0 Government, $2 £ ~ c 9. Native States under Bengal 37. 988 2,328,440 61 Government, ”3 O 10. Native States under Punjab 114,742 5,367,042 46 Government, rt 0 11. Native States under North- 5.123 657.013 128 Western Provinces, 12. Native States under the Central 29,112 I»°49*7I° 36 Provinces, Total for Feudatory India, 604,590 54,211,158 89 If to the foregoing figures we add the French and Portu- guese possessions, we obtain the total for all India. Thus — All India, including British Burma. (Based chiefly on the Census of 1871-72.) Area in Square Miles. Population. Number of Persons per Square Mile. British India, .... 880,098 186,041,191 211 Feudatory India, 604,590 54,211,158 89 Portuguese Settlements, 1,086 407,712 ■j Chiefly in v Towns or French Settlements, . 178 271,460 ) Suburban. Total for all India, including"^ 1,484,952 162 British Burma, . . j 240,931,521 British India, therefore, supports a population much more than twice as dense as that of the Native States. If we exclude the outlying and lately-acquired Provinces of British 1 Mysore was under direct British administration since 1830, but has been replaced under native rule in March 1881; its young chief having attained his majority. I accordingly show it among the Native States. OVER POPULATION.] INDIA. 63 Burma and Assam, the proportion is almost exactly threefold, or 243 persons to the square mile. How thick this population is, may be realized from the fact that France has only 180 people to the square mile; while even in crowded England, compared wherever the density approaches 200 to the square mile it pj.£mceand ceases to be a rural population, and has to live, to a greater England, or less extent, by manufactures, mining, or city industries.1 In certain areas of Bengal, two persons have to live on the proceeds of each cultivated acre, or 1280 persons to each culti- vated square mile. The Famine Commissioners reported in 1880, that over 6 millions of the peasant-holdings of Bengal, • or two-thirds of the whole, averaged from 2 to 3 acres a-piece. Allowing for women and children, this probably represents a population of about 24 millions struggling to live off 15 million acres, or just over half an acre a-piece. Unlike England, India has few large towns, and no great Absence manufacturing centres. Thus, in England and Wales 42 per towns, cent., or nearly one-half of the population, live in towns with upwards of 20,000 inhabitants, while in British India only a little over 4 per cent., or not one-twentieth of the people, live in such towns.2 India, therefore, is almost entirely a rural Population country ; and many of the so-called towns are mere groups of villages, in the midst of which the cattle are driven a-field, and ploughing and reaping go on. Calcutta itself has grown out of a cluster of hamlets on the bank of the Hugh ; and the term ‘ municipality,’ which in Europe is only applied to towns, often means in India a collection of rural homesteads for the purposes of local government. We see, therefore, in India, a dense population of husband- Over- men. Wherever their numbers exceed 1 to the acre, or 640 Disuicts to the square mile, — excepting in suburban districts or in irri- gated tracts, — the struggle for existence becomes hard. At half an acre a-piece that struggle is very hard. In such Districts, a good harvest yields just sufficient food for the people ; and thousands of lives depend each autumn on a few inches more or less of rainfall. The Government may, by great efforts, feed the starving in time of actual famine ; but it cannot stop the yearly work of disease and death among a steadily underfed people. In these overcrowded tracts the population reaches the stationary stage. For example, in Allahabad District during 20 years, the inhabitants increased by only 6 persons in 10,000 each year. In still more densely 1 Report on the Census of England and Wales for 1871. 2 See Appendices Nos. ii. and ix. at end of this volume. 64 INDIA. Under- peopled Provinces. The ‘im- mobile ’ Indian peasant. The nomadic system of hus- bandry. Labour and land in the last century ; [labour AND LAND. peopled localities upon the line of railway, facilities for migration have drained off the excessive population, and their total num- ber in 1872 was less than it had been 20 years before. On the other hand, in thinly peopled Provinces the inhabitants quickly multiply. Thus, when we obtained the District of Amherst in 1824 from the king of Burma, it had been depopulated by savage native wars. The British established their firm rule ; people began to flock in ; and by 1829 there were 70,000 in- habitants. In less than 50 years the population had increased by more than threefold, or to 240,000 in 1872. In some parts of India, therefore, there are more husband- men than the land can feed; in other parts, vast tracts of fertile soil still await the cultivator. In England the people would move freely from the over- populated districts to the thinly- inhabited ones ; but in India the peasant clings to his heredi- tary homestead long after his family has outgrown his fields. If the Indian races will only learn to migrate to tracts where spare land still abounds, they will do more than the utmost efforts of Government can accomplish to better themselves and to prevent famines. The Census of 1872 showed, indeed, that the Indian peasant had lost something of his old immobility. The general tendency of the population in Bengal is southwards and eastwards to the newly formed delta, and north-eastwards to the thinly peopled valleys of Assam. But the clinging of the people to their old villages in spite of hard- ship and famine still forms a most difficult problem in India. Throughout many of the hill and border tracts, land is so plentiful that it yields no rent. Any one may settle on a patch which he clears of jungle, exhaust the soil by a rapid succession of crops, and then leave it to relapse into forest. In such tracts no rent is charged ; but each family of wandering hus- bandmen pays a poll-tax to the chief, or to the Government under whose protection it dwells. As the inhabitants increase, this nomadic system of cultivation gives place to regular tillage. Throughout British Burma we see both methods at work side by side; while on the thickly peopled plains of India the ‘ wandering husbandmen ’ have long since disappeared, and each household remains rooted to the same plot of ground during many generations. In some parts of India, this change in the relation of the people to the land has taken place before our own eyes. Thus, in Bengal there was in the last century more cultivable land than there were husbandmen to till it. A hundred years of British rule has reversed this state of things, and there are SERFDOM.] INDIA. 65 now more people than there is land for them to till. This change has produced a silent revolution in the rural economy of the Province. When the English obtained Bengal in the last century, they found in many Districts two distinct rates of rent current for the same classes of soil. The higher rate was paid by the tJidni rdyats, literally ‘ stationary 1 tenants, who had their houses in the hamlet, and formed the permanent body of cultivators. These tenants would bear a great deal of extortion rather than forsake the lands on which they had expended labour and capital in digging tanks, cutting irrigation channels, and building homesteads. They were oppressed accordingly ; and while they had a right of occupation in their holdings, so long as they paid the rent, the very highest rates were squeezed out of them. The temporary or wandering cultivators, paikhast rdyats, were those who had not their homes in the village, and who could therefore leave it whenever they pleased. They had no right of occupancy in their fields; but on the other hand, the landlord could not obtain so high a rent from them, as there was plenty of spare land in adjoining villages to which they could retire in case of oppression. The landlords were at that time competing for tenants ; and one of the commonest complaints which they brought before the Com- pany’s officials was a charge against a neighbouring proprietor of ‘ enticing away their cultivators ’ by low rates of rent This and at tlie state of things is now reversed. The landlords have no longer ^fen to compete for tenants. It is the husbandmen who have to compete with one another for land. There are still two rates of rent. But the lower rates are now paid by the ‘ stationary ’ tenants, who possess occupancy rights ; while the higher or rack-rents are paid by the other class, who do not possess occupancy rights. In ancient India, the eponymous hero, or original village founder, was the man who cut down the jungle. In modern India, special legislation and a Forest Department are required to preserve the trees which remain. It will be readily understood that in a country where almost Serfdom , , . , , ... in India, down to the present times there was more land than there were people to till it, a high value was set upon the cultivating class. In tracts where the nomadic system of husbandry survives, no family is permitted by the native chief to quit his territory. For each household represents a poll-tax. In many parts of India, we found the lower classes attached to the soil in a manner which could scarcely be distinguished from predial slavery. In spite of our legislative enactments, this system lingered on. Our early officers in South-Eastern 66 INDIA. [census of 1881. Unequal pressure of the popula- tion on the land. Census of 1881. Increase of the people. Bengal, and the great island of Sandwip adjoining, almost raised a rebellion by their attempts to liberate the slaves. Indeed, in certain tracts where we found the population very depressed, as in Behar, the courts have in our own day occa- sionally brought to light the survival of serfdom. A feeling, like the old native one, exists in the minds of some British officers against migration of the people from their Districts. If we except the newly annexed Provinces of Burma and Assam, the population of British India is three times more dense to the square mile than the population of Feudatory India. This great disproportion cannot be alto- gether explained by differences in the natural capabilities of the soil. It would be for the advantage of the people that they should spread themselves over the whole country, and so equalize the pressure throughout. The Feudatory States lie interspersed among British territory, and no costly migration by sea is involved. That the people do not thus spread themselves out, but crowd together within our Provinces, is partly due to their belief that, on the whole, they are less liable to oppression under British rule than under native chiefs. But any outward movement of the population, even from the most densely peopled English Districts, would probably be regarded with pain by the local officers. Indeed, the occasional exodus of a few cultivators from the overcrowded Province of Behar into the thinly peopled frontier State of Nepal, has been a subject of sensitive self-reproach. In proportion as we can enforce good government under the native chiefs of India, we must expect to see a gradual movement of the people into the Feudatory States. There is plenty of land in India for the whole population. What is required is not the diminution of the people, but their more equal distribution. The general results of the Census, taken in February 1881, have been telegraphed to England. They show an increase of i2f millions for all India, or 6 '2 per cent, during the decade. But this general statement gives but an imperfect insight into the local increment of the people. For while in the southern Provinces, which have suffered most from famine, the numbers have stood still, or even receded, in the less thickly peopled tracts the increase has been at an enormous rate. Thus, the British Presidency of Madras shows a diminution of 2'4 per cent. ; while the Native State of Mysore, which felt the full effects of the long-continued dearth of 1876-79, has 17 per cent, fewer inhabitants now than it had ten years ago. The Bengal population has increased by about 10 per cent., in INDIA. 67 INDIAN RACES.] spite of the milder scarcity of 1874. But the great increase is in the outlying, under-peopled districts of India, where the pressure of the inhabitants on the soil has not yet begun to be felt, and where thousands of acres are still awaiting the culti- vator. In Assam the increase has been 19 per cent. — largely due to immigration ; in the Central Provinces, with their tracts of unreclaimed jungle, 25 per cent. ; in Berar (adjoining them), 20 per cent. ; while in Burma — which, most of all the British Provinces, stands in need of inhabitants — the ten years have added 35 per cent, to the population, equivalent to doubling the people in about twenty-five years. The following returns of 1881 have been received for some of Principal the principal Provinces and States. They cannot yet be accur- ;n I8Si. ately compared with the figures for the same areas in 1871. Bengal, 68,829,920; Assam, 4,815,157; Madras, 30,839,181; Bombay, 20,920,119; Sind, 2,404,934; North-Western Pro- vinces, 33,445,111; Oudh, 11,407,625; Punjab, 22,647,542; Central Provinces, 11,505,149; Berar, 2,670,982; Burma, 3,707,646; Mysore, 4,186,399; Coorg, 178,283; Ajmere, 453>°75; Baroda, 2,154,469; Travancore, 2,401,158; and Cochin, 600,278. The grand total for all India is 252,541,210. Of the portion already classified according to sex, there are 123 millions of males to 118 millions of females. The Ethnical History of India. — The statistical elucida- Ethno tion of the races and Provinces of India can only be effected losy' by tabular forms. I therefore append at the end of this volume a series of statements dealing with the various aspects of the Indian population,1 and proceed here to briefly sketch 1 Viz. — Table I. Area, villages, houses, and population in each Province of British India in 1871. ,, II. Distribution into town and country, or ‘ towns and villages in British India.’ ,, III. Cultivable, uncultivable, and uncultivated land in Provinces for which returns exist. ,, IV. Population of British India according to age and sex. ,, V. Population of British India according to caste and nationality. ,, VI. Asiatic non-Indian population of British India according to nationality. ,, VII. Non-Asiatic population of British India according to nationality. ,, VIII. Population of British India according to religion. ,, IX. Town population of India, being a list of the 139 towns of British India of which the population exceeds 20,000. 68 INDIA. [non-aryans. Four-fold division of the People. (1) Non- Aryans. (2) Aryans, (3) Mixed Hindus. (4) Mu- hamma- dans. Plan of this article in dealing with the Indian Races and their his- tory. The two races of pre-historic India. The Aryans. the history of the ethnological elements of which it is made up. European writers formerly divided the Indian population into two races — the Hindus and the Muhammadans. But when we look more closely at the people, we find that they consist of four well-marked elements. These are, first, the recognised Non- Aryan Tribes, called the Aborigines, and their half-Hinduized descendants, numbering 18 millions in 1871 ; second, the comparatively pure offspring of the Aryan or Sanskrit-speaking Race (the Brahmans and Rajputs), about 16 millions in 1871 ; third, the great Mixed Population, known as the Hindus, which has grown out of the Aryan and non-Aryan elements (chiefly from the latter), and in 1871 numbered no millions; fourth, the Muhammadans, 41 millions. These make up the 186 millions of people under British rule in 1871. The same four-fold division applies to the population of the 54 millions in Feudatory India in 1871, but we do not know the numbers of the different classes. In dealing with the population of India, I shall treat of each of these four classes separately ; as the four distinct elements which make up the present population. Their history, as a loosely-connected whole, after they had been pounded together in the mortar of Muhammadan conquest, will next be traced. I shall then narrate the events by which the English nation became answerable for the welfare of this vast section of the human family. Finally, I shall show how the British Government is trying to discharge its solemn responsi- bility, and indicate the administrative mechanism which has knit together the discordant races of India into a great pacific Empire. Our earliest glimpses of India disclose two races struggling for the soil. The one was a fair-skinned people, which had lately entered by the north-western passes ; a people of Aryan, literally ‘ noble,’ lineage, speaking a stately language, worship- ping friendly and powerful gods. The other was a race of a lower type, who had long dwelt in the land, and whom the lordly new-comers drove back before them into the mountains, or reduced to servitude on the plains. The comparatively pure descendants of these two races are now nearly equal in numbers ; the intermediate castes, sprung chiefly from the ruder stock, make up the mass of the present Indian population. NON-ARYANS.] INDIA. 69 CHAPTER III. THE NON-ARYAN RACES. The present chapter treats of the lower tribes, an obscure The Non- 1 . A. RYANS or people, who, in the absence of a race-name of their own, may Abori_ be called the non-Aryans or Aborigines. They have left no gines. written records ; indeed, the use of letters, or of any simplest hieroglyphics, was to them unknown. The sole ivorks of their hands which have come down to us are rude stone circles, and the upright slabs and mounds, beneath which, like the primitive Kistvaen- peoples of Europe, they buried their dead. From these we builders- only discover that, at some far distant but unfixed period, they knew how to make round pots of hard, thin earthenware, not inelegant in shape; that they fought with iron weapons, and wore ornaments of copper and gold. Coins of Imperial Rome have been dug up from their graves. Still earlier remains prove that, long before their advent, India was peopled as far as the depths of the Central Provinces, by tribes unacquainted Flint with the metals, who hunted and warred with polished flint "eaPons- axes and other deftly wrought implements of stone, similar to those found in Northern Europe. And even these were the successors of yet ruder beings, who have left their agate knives and rough flint weapons in the Narbada valley. In front of this far-stretching background of the early-Metal and Stone Ages, we see the so-called Aborigines being beaten down by the newly arrived Aryan race. The struggle is commemorated by the two names which the The Non- victors gave to the early tribes, namely, the Dasyus, or ‘ enemies,’ and the Dasas, or ‘slaves.’ The new-comers from the north by the prided themselves on their fair complexion, and their Sanskrit Aryans, word for ‘colour’ (varna) came to mean ‘race’ or ‘caste.’ Their earliest poets, 3000 years ago, praised in the Rig-veda their bright gods, who, ‘ slaying the Dasyus, protected the The Aryan colour who ‘subjected the black-skin to the Aryan man.’ They tell us of their ‘ stormy deities, who rush on like furious bulls and scatter the black-skin.’ The sacrificer gave thanks to his god for ‘ dispersing the slave bands of black descent,’ and for sweeping away ‘ the vile Dasyan colour.’ Moreover, 7° INDIA. [non-aryans Flat- nosed. Raw- eaters. The ‘ Demons ’ of the Aryan race. More civilised non- Aryan tribes. The non- Aryans as they are. The Andaman islanders. the Aryan, with his finely formed features, loathed the squat Mongolian faces of the Aborigines. One Yedic singer speaks of them as ‘ noseless ’ or flat-nosed, while another praises his own ‘beautiful-nosed’ gods. Indeed, the Vedic hymns abound in scornful epithets for the primitive tribes, as ‘ disturbers of sacrifices,’ ‘ gross feeders on flesh,’ ‘ raw-eaters,’ ‘ lawless,’ ‘ not- sacrificing,’ ‘ without gods,’ and * without rites.’ As time went on, and these rude tribes were driven back into the forest, they were painted in still more hideous shapes, till they became the ‘ monsters ’ and ‘ demons ’ of the Aryan poet and priest. Their race-name Dasyu, ‘ enemy,’ thus grew to signify a devil, as the old Teutonic word for enemy (still used in that sense in German) has become the English ‘ fiend.’ Nevertheless, all of them could not have been savages. We hear of wealthy Dasyus, and even the Vedic hymns speak much of their ‘ seven castles ’ and ‘ ninety forts.’ In later Sanskrit literature, the Aryans make alliance with aboriginal princes ; and when history at length dawns on the scene, we find some of the most powerful kingdoms of India ruled by dynasties of non-Aryan descent. Nor were they devoid of religious rites, or of cravings after a future life. ‘ They adorn,’ says a very ancient Sanskrit treatise,1 ‘ the bodies of their dead with gifts, with raiment, with ornaments ; imagining that thereby they shall attain the world to come.’ These ornaments are the bits of bronze, copper, and gold which we now dig up from beneath their rude stone monuments. In the Sanskrit epic which narrates the advance of the Aryans into Southern India, a non-Aryan chief describes his race as ‘ of fearful swiftness, unyielding in battle, in colour like a dark-blue cloud.’2 Let us now examine these primitive peoples, not as portrayed by their enemies 3000 years ago, but as they exist at the present day. Thrust back by the Aryans from the plains, they have lain hidden away in the recesses of the mountains, like the remains of extinct animals which palaeontologists find in hill- caves. India thus forms a great museum of races, in which we can study man from his lowest to his highest stages of culture. The specimens are not fossils or dry bones, but living com- munities, to whose widely diverse conditions we have to adapt our administration and our laws. Among the rudest fragments of mankind are the isolated Andaman islanders in the Bay of Bengal. The old Arab and European voyagers described them as dog-faced man-eaters. 1 Chandogya Upanishad, viii. 8. 5, Muir’s Sanskrit Texts, ii. 369 (1S74). 2 Ramayana (ed. Gorresio), iii. 28. 18. INDIA. 7i NAIRS, GONDS, ETC.] The English officers sent to the islands in 1855 to establish a Settlement, found themselves surrounded by quite naked cannibals of a ferocious type ; who daubed themselves when festive with red earth, and mourned in a suit of olive-coloured mud. They used a noise like crying to express friendship or j oy ; bore only names of common gender, which they received before birth, and which therefore had to be applicable to either sex ; and their sole conception of a god was an evil spirit, who spread disease. For five years they repulsed every effort at intercourse with showers of arrows; but our officers slowly brought them to a better frame of mind by building sheds near the Settlement, where these poor beings might find shelter from the tropical rains, and receive medicines and food. The Anamalai Hills, in Southern Madras, form the refuge of Anamalai a whole series of broken tribes. Five hamlets of long-haired, hillmen. wild-looking Puliars live on jungle products, mice, or any small animals they can catch ; and worship demons. Another clan, the Mundavers, shrink from contact with the outside world, and possess no fixed dwellings, but wander over the innermost hills with their cattle, sheltering themselves under little leaf sheds, and seldom remaining in one spot more than a year. The thick-lipped, small-bodied Kaders, ‘Lords of the Hills,’ are a remnant of a higher race. These hills, now almost uninhabited, abound in the great stone monuments (kistvaens and dolmens) which the primitive tribes erected over their dead. The Nairs, or hillmen of South-Western India, still The Nairs. practise polyandry, according to which one woman is the wife of several husbands, and a man’s property descends not to his own but to his sister’s children. This system also appears among the Himalayan tribes. In the Central Provinces, the aboriginal races form a large Non- proportion of the population. In certain Districts, as in the Aryan Feudatory State of Bastar, they amount to three-fifths of the ^ ^ inhabitants. Their most important race, the Gonds, have made Central some advances in civilisation ; but the wilder tribes still cling *’™vraces- to the forest, and live by the chase. Some of them are Gonds. reported to have used, within a few years back, flint points for their arrows. The Marias wield bows of great strength, which they hold with their feet while they draw the string with both hands. A still wilder tribe, the Maris, fly from their grass-built huts on the approach of a stranger. Once a year a messenger Tax- comes to them from the local Raja to take their tribute, which Sathenn£ consists chiefly of jungle products. He does not, however, MirR 1C enter their hamlets, but beats a drum outside, and then hides 72 INDIA. [jUANGS. The Tuangs or ‘ Leaf- wearers ’ of Orissa Hill States ; clothed by Govern- ment. A relic of the Stone Age. Tuang dwellings. Himalayan tribes. himself. The shy Maris creep forth, place what they have to give in an appointed spot, and run back into their retreats. Farther to the north-east, in the Tributary States of Orissa, there is a poor tribe, 10,000 in number, of Juangs or Patuas, literally the ‘ leaf- wearers,’ whose women wore no clothes. The only covering on the females consisted of a few strings of beads round the waist, with a bunch of leaves tied before and behind. Those under British influence have since been clothed by order of the Government, and their native chief was persuaded to do the same work for others. In 1871, the English officer called together the clan, and after a speech, handed out strips of cotton for the women to put on. They then passed in single file, to the number of 1900, before him, made obeisance to him, and were afterwards marked on the forehead with vermilion, as a sign of their entering into civilised society. Finally, they gathered the bunches of leaves which had formed their sole clothing into a heap, and set fire to it. This leaf-wearing tribe had no knowledge of the metals till quite lately, when foreigners came among them, and no word existed in their native language for iron or any other metal. But their country abounds in flint weapons, so that the Juangs form a remnant to our own day of the Stone Age. ‘ Their huts,’ writes the officer who knows them best, ‘ are among the smallest that human beings ever deliberately con- structed as dwellings. They measure about 6 feet by 8. The head of the family and all the females huddle together in this one shell, not much larger than a dog-kennel.’ The boys and the young men of the village live in one large building apart by themselves ; and this custom of having a common abode for the whole male youth of the hamlet is found among many aboriginal tribes in distant parts of India. Proceeding to the northern boundary of India, we find the slopes and spurs of the Himalayas peopled by a great variety of rude tribes. Some of the Assam hillmen have no word for expressing distance by miles nor any land-measure, but reckon the length of a journey by the number of plugs of tobacco or pan which they chew upon the way. As a rule, they are fierce, black, undersized, and ill-fed. They eked out a wretched subsistence by plundering the more civilised hamlets of the Assam valley ; a means of livelihood which they are but slowly giving up under British rule. Some of the wildest of them, such as the independent Abars, are now engaged as a sort of irregular police, to keep the peace of the border, in return for a yearly gift of cloth, hoes, and grain. Their very INDIA. 73 AKAS, SANTALS.] names bear witness to their former wild life. One tribe, the Akas of Assam, is divided into two clans, known respectively Akas of as ‘ The eaters of a thousand hearths,’ and ‘ The thieves who Assam- lurk in the cotton-field.’ Many of the aboriginal tribes, therefore, remain in the same More early stage of human progress as that ascribed to them by the advanced Vedic poets more than 3000 years ago. But others have made Aryan great advances, and form communities of a well - developed tribes, type. I confine myself to a brief description of two of them. The Santals and the Kandhs inhabit the north-eastern edge of the central plateau. The Santals have their home among the hills which abut on the Ganges in Lower Bengal. The Kandhs live about 200 miles to the south, on the spurs and ridges which look down upon the Orissa delta. The Santals dwell in villages in the jungles or among the The mountains, apart from the people of the plains. They Santals. number about a million, and give their name to a large District, the Santal Parganas, 140 miles north-west of Calcutta. Although still clinging to many customs of a hunting forest tribe, they have learned the use of the plough, and settled down into skilful husbandmen. Each hamlet is governed by its own head-man, who is supposed to be a descendant of the original founder of the village, and who is Santal assisted by a deputy head-man and a watchman. The boys of vlllaSe . . y aovem- the hamlet have their separate officers, and are strictly con- ^ent. trolled by their own head and his deputy till they enter the married state. The Santals know not the cruel distinctions of Hindu caste, but trace their tribes, usually fixed at seven, to the seven sons of the first parents. The whole village feasts, hunts, and worships together ; and the Santal must take his wife, not from his own tribe, but from one of the six others. So strong is the bond of race, that expulsion from No castes, the tribe was the only Santal punishment. A heinous criminal but s‘Ll'onS was cut off from ‘ fire and water ’ in the village, and sent forth feeiinCr. alone into the jungle. Minor offences were forgiven upon a public reconciliation with the tribe ; to effect which the guilty one had to provide a feast, with much rice-beer, for his clansmen. The chief ceremonies in a Santal’s life, six in number, vary The six in different parts of the country, but all bear upon this strong Santal feeling of kinship. The first is the admission of the newly- monies. born child into the family, — a secret rite, one act of which consists in the father placing his hand on the infant’s head and repeating the name of the ancestral deity. The second, the admission of the child into the tribe, is celebrated three or five F 74 INDIA. [SANTALS. days after birth, — a more public ceremony, at which the child’s head is shaved, and the clansmen drink beer. The third ceremony, or admission into the race, takes place about the fifth year ; when all friends, whatever may be their tribe, are invited to a feast, and the child is marked on his right arm with the Santal spots. The fourth consists of the union of his own Santal tribe with another by marriage, which does not take place till marriages. tpe y0ung people can choose for themselves. At the end of the ceremony the girl’s clanswomen pound burning charcoal with the household pestle, in token of the breaking up of her former family ties, and then extinguish it with water, to signify the separation of the bride from her clan. The Santals respect their women, and seldom or never take a second wife, except for the purpose of obtaining an heir. The fifth ceremony consists of the dismissal of the Santal from the race, by the solemn burning of his body after death. The sixth is the reunion of the dead with the fathers, by floating three fragments of the skull down the Damodar river (if possible), the sacred stream of the race. Santal The Santal has no conception of bright and friendly gods, religion. such as tpe Vedic singers worshipped. Still less can he imagine one omnipotent and beneficent Deity, who watches over man- kind. Hunted and driven back before the Hindus and Muhammadans, he does not understand how a Being can be more powerful than himself without wishing to harm him. ‘ What,’ said a Santal to an eloquent missionary, who had been discoursing on the Christian God — ‘ what if that strong One should eat me ? ’ Nevertheless, the earth swarms writh spirits and demons, whose ill-will he tries to avert. His religion consists of nature-worship, and offerings to the ghosts of his ancestors ; and his rites are more numerous even than those of the Hindus. First, the Race-god ; next, the Tribe-god of each of the seven clans ; then the Family-god, requires in turn his Race-god ; oblation. But besides these, there are the spirits of his Tnbe- forefathers, river-spirits, forest-spirits, well-demons, mountain- Family- demons, and a mighty host of unseen beings, whom he must god ; keep in good humour. He seems also to have borrowed from Demon*. ^he pfuMiig some rites of sun-worship. But his own gods dwell chiefly in the ancient sal trees which shade his hamlets. Them he propitiates by offerings of blood ; with goats, cocks, and chickens. If the sacrificer cannot afford an animal, it is with a red flower, 'or a red fruit, that he draws near to his gods. In some hamlets, the people dance round every tree, so that they may not by evil chance miss the one in which the village- spirits happen to be dwelling. SANTALS.] INDIA. 75 Until nearly the end of the last century, the Santdls were The San- the pests of the neighbouring plains. Regularly after the British*^ December harvest, they sallied forth from their mountains, rule, plundered the lowlands, levied black-mail, and then retired with their spoil to their jungles. But in 1789, the British Government granted the proprietary right in the soil to the landholders of Bengal under the arrangements which four years later became the Permanent Settlement. Forthwith every landholder tried to increase the cultivated area on his estate, now become his own property. The Santals and other wild tribes were tempted to issue from their fastnesses by high wages or rent-free farms. ‘ Every proprietor,’ said a London newspaper, the Morning Chronicle, in 1792, ‘is collecting husbandmen from the hills to improve his lowlands.’ They come The English officers found they had a new race to deal with, the ^iiis. and gradually won them to peaceful habits by grants of land and ‘exemption from all taxes.’ They were allowed to settle disputes ‘ among themselves by their own customs,’ and they were used as a sort of frontier police, being paid to deliver up any of their own people who committed violent crimes. Such criminals, after being found guilty by their countrymen, were handed over for punishment to the English judge. The Santals gained confidence in us by degrees, and came down in great numbers within the fence of stone pillars, which the British officers set up in 1832 to mark off the country of the hill people from the plains. The Hindu money-lender soon made his appearance in their The San- settlements, and the simple hill-men learned the new luxury s^t of borrowing. Our laws were gradually applied to them, and to the before the middle of this century most of the Santal hamlets Hindus, were plunged in debt. Their strong love of kindred prevented them from running away, and the Hindu usurers reduced them to a state of practical slavery, by threatening the terrors of a distant jail. In 1848, three whole villages threw up their clearings, and fled in despair to the jungle. On the 30th of June 1855, the southern Santals started in a vast body, 30,000 strong, with their bows and arrows, to walk to Calcutta and lay their condition before the Governor-General. At first they were orderly; but the way was long, and they had to live. Robberies took place ; quarrels broke out between them and the police ; and within a week they were in armed rebellion. Santal The rising was put down, not without mournful bloodshed ; and their wrongs were carefully inquired into. A very simple form of administration was introduced, according to which INDIA. 76 The Kandhs or Kondhs. Breaking up of the race. Kandh patri- archal govern- ment. Kandh wars and punish- ments. Blood- revenge. [kandhs. their village head-men were brought into direct contact with the English officer in charge of the District, and acted as the representatives of the people. Our system of justice and government has been adapted to their primitive needs, and the Santals have for years been among the most prosperous of the Indian races.1 The Kandhs, literally ‘ The Mountaineers,’ a tribe about 100,000 strong, inhabit the steep and forest-covered ranges which rise from the Orissa coast. They form one of a group of non-Aryan races who still occupy the positions assigned to them by the Greek geographers, 1500 years ago. Before that early date, they had been pushed backwards by the advancing Aryans from the fertile delta which lies between the mountains and the sea. One section of the Kandhs was completely broken up, and has sunk into landless low castes among the Aryan or Hindu communities at the foot of the hills. Another section stood its ground more firmly, and became a peasant militia, holding grants of land from the Hindu chiefs in return for military service. A third section fell back into the fast- nesses of the mountains, and was recognised as a wild but free race. It is of this last section that I now treat. The Kandh idea of government is purely patriarchal. The family is strictly ruled by the father. The grown-up sons have no property during his life, but live in his house with their wives and children, and all share the common meal prepared by the grandmother. The clan consists of a number of families, sprung from a common father ; and the tribe is made up in like manner from a number of clans who claim descent from the same ancestor. The head of the tribe is usually the eldest son of the patriarchal family ; but if he be not fit for the post he is set aside, and an uncle or a younger brother appointed. He enters on no undertaking without calling together the heads of clans, who in their turn consult the heads of families. According to the Kandh theory of existence, a state of war might lawfully be presumed against all neighbours with whom no express agreement had been made to the contrary. Mur- ders were punished by blood-revenge, the kinsmen within a certain degree being one and all bound to kill the slayer, 1 While these sheets were passing through the press, an agitation took place among the Santals, through fear of a poll-tax, suggested by the preparations for the Census of 1881. The panic soon passed off. In the last generation it would have meant the devastation of the adjacent low- lands. KANDHS.] INDIA. 77 unless appeased by a payment of grain or cattle. The man who wounded another had to maintain the sufferer until he recovered from his hurt. A stolen article must be returned, or its equivalent paid ; but the Kandh twice convicted of theft was driven forth from his tribe, the greatest punish- ment known to the race. Disputes were settled by combat, or by the ordeal of boiling oil or heated iron, or by taking a solemn oath on an ant-hill, or on a tiger’s claw, or a lizard’s skin. When a house-father died, leaving no sons, his land was parcelled out among the other male heads of the village ; for no woman, nor indeed any Kandh, was allowed to hold land who could not with his own hand defend it. The Kandh system of tillage represents a stage half-way Kandh between the migratory cultivation of the ruder non-Aryan “S”cu1' tribes and the settled agriculture of the Hindus. They do not, on the one hand, merely burn down a patch in the jungle, take a few crops off it, and then move on to fresh clearings. Nor, on the other hand, do they go on cultivating the same fields from father to son. When their lands show signs of exhaustion, they desert them ; and it was a rule in some of their settlements to change their village sites once in fourteen years. Caste is unknown ; and, as among the Santals, marriage between relations, or even within the same tribe, is forbidden. A Kandh wedding consists of forcibly Kandh carrying off the bride in the middle of a feast. The boy’s ^ father pays a price for the girl, and usually chooses a strong ture.’ one, several years older than his son. In this way, Kandh maidens are married about fourteen, Kandh boys about ten. The bride remains as a servant in her new father-in-law’s house till her boy-husband grows old enough to live with her. She generally acquires a great influence over him ; and a Kandh may not marry a second wife during the life of his first one, except with her consent. The Kandh engages only in husbandry and war, and despises Serfs of all other work. But attached to each village is a row of hovels inhabited by a lower race, who are not allowed to hold land, to go forth to battle, or to join in the village worship. These poor people do the dirty work of the hamlet, and supply families of hereditary weavers, blacksmiths, potters, herds- men, and distillers. They are kindly treated, and a portion of each feast is left for them. But they never rise in the social scale. No Kandh could engage in their work without degradation, nor can he eat food prepared by their hands They can give no account of their origin, but are supposed to 78 INDIA. [kandhs. be the remnants of a ruder race whom the Kandhs found in possession of the hills when they themselves were pushed backwards by the Aryans from the plains. Kandh The Kandhs, like the Santals, have many deities, race-gods, sacrifices tribe-gods, family-gods, and a multitude of malignant spirits and demons. But their great divinity is the earth-god, who represents the productive energy of nature. Twice each year, at sowing-time and at harvest, and in all seasons of special calamity, the earth-god required a human sacrifice. The duty of providing the victims rested with the lower race attached to the Kandh village. Brahmans and Kandhs were the only classes exempted from sacrifice, and an ancient rule ordained that the offering must be bought with a price. Men of the lower race kidnapped the victims from the plains, and a thriving Kandh village usually kept a small stock in reserve, ‘ to meet sudden demands for atonement.’ The victim, on being brought to the hamlet, was welcomed at every threshold, daintily fed, and kindly treated till the fatal day arrived. He was then solemnly sacrificed to the earth-god, the Kandhs shouting in his dying ear, ‘ We bought you with a price ; no sin rests with us!’ His flesh and blood were distributed among the village lands. In 1835, the Kandhs passed under our rule, and these rites had to cease. Their proud spirit shrunk from compulsion ; but after many tribal councils, they agreed to give up their stock of victims as a valuable present to their new suzerain. Care was taken that they should not procure fresh ones. The kidnapping of victims for human sacrifice was declared a capital abolished, offence ; and their priests were led to discover that goats or buffaloes did quite as well for the earth-god under British rule as human sacrifices. Hitherto they had consisted of separate tribes, always at war with each other and with the world. Under able English administrators (especially Campbell, Macpherson, and Cadenhead), human sacrifices were abolished, and the Kandhs were formed into a united and peaceful race (1837-45). The British officer removed their old necessity for tribal wars and family blood-feuds by setting himself up as a central authority. He adjusted their inter-tribal disputes, The race and punished heinous crimes. Samuel Charters Macpherson, won over particlilar won over the more troublesome clans to quiet to peaceful . r . , industry, industry, by grants of jungle tracts, of little use to us, but a paradise to them, and where he could keep them well under his eye. He made the chiefs vain of carrying out his orders by small presents of cattle, honorific dresses, and titles. He The victims. The sacrifice. The Kandhs under British rule. Human cornfinpc INDIA. 79 NON-ARYAN STOCKS.] enlisted the whole race on his side by picking out their best men for the police ; and drew the tribes into amicable relations among themselves by means of hill-fairs. He constructed roads, and taught them to trade, with a view to ‘ drawing them from their fastnesses into friendly contact with other men.’ The race has prospered and multiplied under British rule. Whence came these primitive peoples, whom the Aryan Origin of invaders found in the land more than 3000 years ago, and who Aryan”" are still scattered over India, the fragments of a pre-historic tribes, world? Written annals they do not possess. Their oral traditions tell us little ; but such hints as they yield, feebly point Non- to the north. They seem to preserve dim memories of a time t^uions when their tribes dwelt under the shadow of mightier hill ranges than any to be found on the south of the river plains of Bengal. ‘ The Great Mountain ’ is the race-god of the Santals, and an object of worship among other tribes. Indeed, the Gonds, who now number million in the heart of Central India, have a legend that they were created at the foot of Dewalagiri peak in the Himalayas. Till lately, they buried their dead with the feet turned northwards, so as to be ready to start again for their ancient home in the north. But the language of the non-Aryan races, that record of a Non- nation’s past more enduring than rock-inscriptions or tables of Al7an brass, is being slowly made to tell the secret of their origin. It already indicates that the early peoples of India belonged to The three three great stocks, known as the Tibeto-Burman, the Kolarian, ”on' and the Dravidian. stocks. The first stock, or Tibeto - Burman tribes, cling to the skirts of the Himalayas and their north-eastern offshoots. They crossed over into India by the north-eastern passes, and CO The in some pre-historic time had dwelt in Central Asia, side by Burmans. side with the forefathers of the Mongolians and the Chinese. Several of the hill languages in Eastern Bengal preserve Chinese terms, others contain Mongolian. Thus, the Nagas in Assam still use words for three and water which might almost be understood in the streets of Canton.1 1 The following are the twenty principal dialects of the Tibeto- Burman group : — (1) Cachari or Bodo, (2) Garo, (3) Tipura or Mrung, (4) Tibetan or Bhutia, (5) Gurung, (6) Murmi, (7) Newar, (8) Lepcha, (9) Miri, (10) Aka, (n) Mishmi dialects, (12) Dhimal, (13) Kanawari dialects, (14) Mfkir, (15) Singpho, (16) Naga dialects, (17) Kuki dialects, (18) Burmese, (19) Khyeng, and (20) Manipuri. ‘It is impossible,’ writes Mr. Brandreth, ‘ to give even an approximate number of the speakers included in this group, as many of the languages are either across the frontier or only project a short distance into our own territory. The So INDIA. (2) The Kolarians. (3) The Dravidi- ans. Their con- vergence in Central India. The Kol- arians broken up. [NON-ARYAN STOCKS. The Kolarians, the second of the three non-Aryan stocks, seem also to have entered Bengal by the north-eastern passes. They dwell chiefly in the north, and along the north-eastern edge, of the three-sided tableland which covers the southern half of India. Some of the Dravidians, or third stock, appear, on the other hand, to have found their way into the Punjab by the north-western passes. They now inhabit the southern part of the three-sided tableland, as far down as Cape Comorin, the southernmost point of India. It appears as if the two streams, namely the Kolarian tribes from the north-east and the Dravidians from the north-west, had converged and crossed each other in Central India. The Dravidians proved the stronger, broke up the Kolarians, and thrust aside their frag- ments to east and west. The Dravidians then rushed forward in a mighty body to the south. It thus happened that while the Dravidians formed a vast mass in Southern India, the Kolarians survived only as isolated tribes, scattered so far apart as to soon forget their common origin. We have seen one of the largest of the Kolarian races, the Santals, dwelling on the extreme eastern edge of the three- sided tableland, where it slopes down into the Gangetic valley. The Kurkus, a broken Kolarian tribe, inhabit a languages included in this group have not, with perhaps one or two exceptions, both a cerebral and dental row of consonants, like the South- Indian languages ; some of them have aspirated forms of the surds, but not of the sonants ; others have aspirated forms of both. All the twenty dialects have words in common, especially numerals and pronouns, and also some resemblances of grammar. In comparing the resembling words, the differences between them consist often less in any modification of the root-syllable than in various additions to the root. Thus in Burmese we have na, “ear;” Tibetan, rna-ba; Magar, na-kep ; Newar, nai-pong ; Dhimal, na-hathong ; Kiranti dialects, na-pro, na-rek , na-phak ; Naga languages, te-na-ro, ie-na-rang ; Manipuri, na-kong ; Kupui, ka-na ; Sak, aka-7ia ; Karen, na-kliu ; and so on. It can hardly be doubted that such additions as these to monosyllabic roots are principally determinative syllables for the purpose of distinguishing between what would otherwise have been monosyllabic words having the same sound. These determina- tives are generally affixed in the languages of Nepal and in the Dhimal language ; prefixed in the Lepcha language, and in the languages of Assam, of Manipur, and of the Chittagong and Arakan Hills. Words are also distinguished by difference of tone. The tones are generally of two kinds, described as the abrupt or short, and the pausing or heavy. It has been remarked that those languages which are most given to adding other syllables to the root make the least use of the tones, and, vice versa, where the tones most prevail the least recourse is had to determinative syllables.’ — This and the following quotations, from Mr. E. L. Brandreth, are con- densed from his valuable paper in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series, vol. x. (1877), pp. 1-32. INDIA. 81 KOLARIANS.] patch of country about 400 miles to the west. They have for perhaps thousands of years been cut off from the Santdls by mountains and pathless forests, and by intervening races of the Dravidian and Aryan stocks. The Kurkus and Santals have Scattered no tradition of a common origin ; yet at this day the Kurkus ^ °gfnan speak a language which is little else than a dialect of Santdli. ments. The Savars, once a great Kolarian tribe, mentioned by Pliny and Ptolemy, are now a poor wandering race of woodcutters in Northern Madras and Orissa Yet fragments of them have lately been found deep in Central India, and as far west as Rajputana on the other side. The Juangs are an isolated non-Aryan remnant among an Aryan and Uriya-speaking population. They have forgotten, and disclaim, any connection with the Hos or other Kolarian tribes. Nevertheless, their common origin is attested by a number of Kolarian words which they have unconsciously preserved in their common speech.1 1 The nine principal languages of the Kolarian group are — (1) the Santal, (2) Mundari, (3) Ho, (4) Bhumij, (5) Korwa, (6) Kharria, (7) Juang, (8) Kurku, and perhaps (9) the Savar. Some of them, however, are separated only by dialectical differences. ‘ The Kolarian group of languages,’ writes Mr. Brandreth, ‘has both the cerebral and dental row of letters, and also aspirated forms, which last, according to Caldwell, did not belong to early Dravidian. There is also a set of four sounds, which are perhaps peculiar to Santali, called by Skrefsrud semi-consonants, and which, when followed by a vowel, are changed respectively into g, j, d, and b. Gender of nouns is animate and inanimate, and is distinguished by difference of pronouns, by difference of suffix of a qualifying noun in the genitive relation, and by the gender being denoted by the verb. As instances of the genitive suffix, we have in Santali in-ren hopott “my son,” but in-ak orak “my house.” There is no distinction of sex in the pronouns, but of the animate and inanimate gender. The dialects generally agree in using a short form of the third personal pronoun suffixed to denote the number, dual and plural, of the noun, and short forms of all the personal pronouns are added to the verb in certain positions to express both number and person, both as regards the subject and object, if of the animate gender ; the inanimate gender being indicated by the omission of these suffixes. No other group of languages, apparently, has such a logical classification of its nouns as that shown by the genders of both the South Indian groups. The genitive in the Kolarian group of the full personal pronouns is used for the posses- sive pronoun, which again takes all the post-positions, the genitive relation being thus indicated by the genitive suffix twice repeated. The Kolarian languages generally express grammatical relations by suffixes, and add the post-positions directly to the root, without the intervention of an oblique form or genitive or other suffix. They agree with the Dravidian in having inclusive and exclusive forms for the plural of the first personal pronoun, in using a relative participle instead of a relative pronoun, in the position of the governing word, and in the possession of a true causal form of the verb. They have a dual, which the Dravidians have not, but 82 The com- pact Dra- vidians of Southern India. Their off- shoots be- yond sea (?) INDIA. [dravidians. The compact Dravidians in the south, although in after-days subdued by the higher civilisation of the Aryan race which pressed in among them, were never thus broken into fragments.1 Their pure descendants consist, indeed, of small and scattered tribes ; but they have given their languages to 46 millions of people in Southern India. A theory has been started that some of the islands in the distant Pacific Ocean were peopled either from the Dravidian settlements in India, or from an earlier common source. Bishop Caldwell points out that the aboriginal tribes in Southern and Western Australia use almost the same words for I, thou, he , we , you , etc. , as the Dravidian fishermen on the Madras coast ; and resemble in other ways the Madras hill tribes, as in the use of their national weapon the boomerang. they have no negative voice. Counting is by twenties, instead of by tens, as in the Dravidian. The Santali verb, according to Skrefsrud, has 23 tenses, and for every tense two forms of the participle and a gerund.’ 1 Bishop Caldwell recognises twelve distinct Dravidian languages : — (1) Tamil, (2) Malayalam, (3) Telugu, (4) Kanarese, (5) Tulu, (6) Kudugu, (7) Toda, (8) Kota, (9) Gond, (10) Kandh, (11) Uraon, (12) Rajmahal. ‘ In the Dravidian group,’ writes Mr. Brandreth, ‘ there is a rational and an irrational gender of the nouns, which is distinguished in the plural of the nouns, and sometimes in the singular also, by affixes which appear to be fragmentary pronouns, by corresponding pronouns, and by the agree- ment of the verb with the noun, the gender of the verb being expressed by the pronominal suffixes. To give an instance of verbal gender, we have in Tamil, from the root sey, “to do,” seyd-an, “he (rational) did;” st’yd-al, “she (rational) did;” seyd-adu, “it (irrational) did;” scyd-ar, “ they (the rationals) did ; ” seyd-a, “ they (the irrationals) did : ” the full pronouns being avail, “he;” aval, “she;” adu, “it;” avar, “they;” avei, “they.” This distinction of gender, though it exists in most of the Dravidian languages, is not always carried out to the extent that it is in Tamil. In Telugu, Gond, and Kandh, it is preserved in the plural, but in the singular the feminine rational is merged in the irrational gender. In Gond, the gender is further marked by the noun in the genitive relation taking a different suffix, according to the number and gender of the noun on which it depends. In Uraon, the feminine rational is entirely merged in the irrational gender, with the exception of the pronoun, which preserves the distinction between rationals and irrationals in the plural ; thus, as, “he,” referring to a god or aman ; ad, “she”or“it,” referring toawoman or an irrational object ; but ay, “ they,” applies to both men and women ; abra, “they,” to irrationals only. The rational gender, besides human beings, includes the celestial and infernal deities ; and it is further sub- divided, in some of the languages, but in the singular only, into masculine and feminine. The grammatical relations in the Dravidian are generally expressed by suffixes. Man}' nouns have an oblique form, which is a remarkable characteristic of the Dravidian group ; still, with the majority of nouns, the post-positions are added directly to the nominative form. Other features of this group are — the frequent use of formatives to specialize 83 NON-ARYAN LANGUAGES.] INDIA. The following is a list of 142 of the principal non- Aryan List of languages and dialects, which Mr. Brandreth prepared for the A°yjn Royal Asiatic Society in 1877, classified according to their gram- lan- matical structure. Mr. Robert Cust has also arranged them in SuaSes* a very convenient form, according to their geographical habitat. I regret that space precludes me from giving both schemes : — Table of the Non-Aryan Languages of India.1 Dravidian Group. Tamil. Malayalam. Telugu. I Kanarese. ( Badaga. Tulu. Kudagu or Coorg. Toda. Kota. Gond dialects. Mahadeo. Raj. Maria. Kandh or Ku. Uraon or Dhangar. Rajmabali or Maler. Miscellaneous Dialects. {Naikude. Kolami. Keikddi. Yerukala. Gadaba (Kolarian?). Kolarian Group. Santali. ( Mundari. < Ho or Larka Kol. ( Bhumij. Korwa. Kharria. Juang. ( Kuri. j ICurku. Mehto. Savara. Tibeto-Burman Group. ( Kachan or Bodo. < Mech. ( Hojai. Garo. Pani-Koch. Deori-Chutia. Tipura or Mrung. the meaning of the root ; the absence of relative pronouns and the use instead of a relative participle, which is usually formed from the ordinary participle by the same suffix as that which Dr. Caldwell considers as the oldest sign of the genitive relation ; the adjective preceding the substantive ; of two substantives, the determining preceding the determined ; and the verb being the last member of the sentence. There is no true dual in the Dravidian languages. In the Dravidian languages there are two forms of the plural of the pronoun of the first person, one including, the other excluding, the person addressed. As regards the verbs, there is a negative voice, but no passive voice, and there is a causal form.’ Bishop Caldwell’s second edition of his great work, the Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages (Triibner, 1875), forms in itself an epoch in that department of human knowledge. Mr. Beames’ Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India (Triibner, 1872) has laid the foundation for the accurate study of North Indian speech. Colonel Dalton’s Ethnology of Bengal (Calcutta, 1872), and Sir George Campbell’s Specimens of the Languages of India (Bengal Secretariat Press, 1S74), have also shed new and valuable light on the questions involved. 1 Brackets refer to dialects that are very closely related ; + to languages beyond the circle of the Indian languages. s4 INDIA. [non-aryan languages. Tibeto-Burman Group — continued. II. ( Tibetan or Bhutia. < Sarpa. ( Lhopa or Bhutani. Changlo. Twang. III. ( Gurung. ( Murmi. Thaksya. ( Newar. ( Pahri. Magar. IV. Lepcha. V. Daphla. Miri. Abar. Bhutia of Lo. VI. Aka. VII. Mishmi dialects. Chulikata. laying or Digaru. Mijhu. VIII. Dhimal. IX. Kanawari dialects, i Milchan. < Tibarskad. ( Sumchu. X. i Kiranti. | Limbu. S unwar. Bramu. Chepang. Vayu. Kusunda. XI. Naga dialects. Namsang or Jbipuria. j Banp&ra or Joboka. ( Mithan. i Tablung. ( Mulung. XII. Naga dialects. Kliari. j Naugaon. \ Tengsa. Lhota. XIII. Naga dialects. Angami. Rengma. SArung. Kutcha. Liyang or Kareng. Maram. XIV. Mikir. XV. \ Singpho. \ Jili- XVI. Burmese. XVII. Kuki dialects. Thado. Lushai. ( Hallami. Khyeng. Manipuri. Tibeto-Burman Group — continued. ( Maring. j Khoibu. Kupui. Tangkhul. Luhupa. Khungui. Phadang. Champhung. Kupome. Takaimi. Andro and Sengmai. Chairel. Anal and Namfau. XVIII. I Kumi. ( Kami. Mru. ( Banjogi or Lungkhe. ( Pankho. Shendu or Poi. Sak. Kyau. XIX. Karen dialects. Sgau. Bghai. Red Karen. Pwo. Taru. Mopgha. Kay or Gaikho. Toungthu. 't'Lisaw. tGyarung. tTakpa. TManyak. +Thochu. +Horpa. Khasi. Khasi. Tai. Siamese or Thai. Lao. Shan. Ahom. | Khamti. L Aiton. tTai Mow or Chinese Shan. Mon-An am. Mon. +Kambojan. +Anamese. tPaloung. ABORIGINAL RACES.] INDIA. 85 We discern, therefore, long before the dawn of history, masses Recapitu- of men moving uneasily over India, and violently pushing in Jhe'non"- among still earlier tribes. They crossed the snows of the Hirna- Aryan layas, and plunged into the tropical forests in search of new races- homes. Of these ancient races, fragments now exist almost in exactly the same stage of human progress as they were described by Vedic poets more than 3000 years ago. Some are dying out, such as the Andaman islanders, among whom only one family in 1869 had as many as three children. Others are increasing, like the Santals, who have doubled themselves under British rule. But they all require special and anxious care in adapt- ing our complex administration to their primitive condition and needs. Taken as a whole, and including certain half-Hin- duized branches, they number 17,716,825, or say 18 millions, equal to three-quarters of the population of England and Wales. But while the bolder or more isolated of the Abori- ginal races have thus kept themselves apart, by far the greater portion submitted in ancient times to the Aryan invaders, and now make up the mass of the Hindus. The following table shows the distribution of the aboriginal Distribu* tribes throughout British India. But many live in Native States, aborigines not included inthis enumeration; and the MadrasCensus of 1872 in India, did not distinguish aborigines from low-caste Hindus. Their total number throughout all India probably exceeds 20 millions. Aboriginal Tribes and Semi- Hinduized Aborigines in 1872 : — (Madras Presidency and the Feudatory States not included) Bengal, . . . 11,116,883 Assam, . . . 1,490,888 North-West Provinces, 3771674 Oudh, . . . 90,490 Punjab, . . . 959,720 Central Provinces, . 1,669,835 Berar, . . . 163,059 Mysore, . Coorg, British Burma, Bombay, 89,067 42,516 1,004,991 711,702 17,716,825 In Bengal and Assam, the aboriginal races are divided into Their nearly 60 distinct tribes.1 In the North-Western Provinces, J? ™g’pai 16 tribes of aborigines are enumerated in the Census of 1872. In the Central Provinces they number if million; the ancient race of Gonds, who ruled the central tableland before the rise of the Marhattas, alone amounting to ij million. In British Burma, the Karengs, whose traditions have a singularly Jewish tinge, number 330,000. In Oudh, the nationality of 1 Among them may be noted the Santals, 850,000 under direct British administration, total about a million ; Kols, 300,000 ; Uraons or Dhangars, 200,000; and Mundas, 175,000 — within British territory. In Assam — Cacharis, 200,000 ; Khasis, 95,000. 86 INDIA. Crushed tribes. Gipsy clans. Aboriginal criminal tribes on the plains. Predatory hill races. Character of the non- Aryan tribes. [ NON-ARYANS. the aboriginal tribes has been buried beneath successive waves of Rajput and Muhammadan invaders. For example, the Bhars, formerly the monarchs of the centre and east of that Province, and the traditional fort-builders to whom all ruins are popularly assigned, were stamped out by Ibrahim Sharki of Jaunpur, in the 15th century. The Gaulis or ancient ruling race of the Central Provinces, the Ahams of Assam, and the Gonds, Chandels, and Bundelas of Bundelkhand,1 are other instances of crushed races. In centres of the Aryan civilisation, the aboriginal peoples have been pounded down in the mortar of Hinduism, into the low-castes and out-castes on which the social fabric of India rests. A few of them, however, still preserve their ethnical identity as wandering tribes of jugglers, basket- weavers, and fortune-tellers. Thus, the Nats, Bediyas, and other gipsy clans are recognised to this day as distinct from the surrounding Hindu population. The aboriginal races on the plains have supplied the heredi- tary criminal classes, alike under the Hindus, the Muhamma- dans, and the British. Formerly organized robber communities, they have, under the stricter police of our days, sunk into petty pilferers. But their existence is still recognised by the Criminal Tribes Act, passed so lately as 1871, and occasionally enforced within certain localities of Oudh and Northern India. The non- Aryan hill races, who appear from Vedic times downwards as marauders, have at length ceased to be a disturbing element in India. Many of them figure as predatory clans in Muhammadan and early British history. They sallied forth from their mountains at the end of the autumn harvest, pillaged and burned the lowland villages, and retired to their fastnesses laden with the booty of the plains. The measures by which these wild races have been reclaimed, form some of the most honourable episodes of Anglo-Indian rule. Cleve- land’s Hill-Rangers in the last century, and the Bhils and Mhairs in more recent times, are well-known examples of how marauding races may be turned into peaceful cultivators and loyal soldiers. An equally salutary transformation has taken place in many a remote forest and hill tract of India. The firm order of British rule has rendered their old plundering life no longer a possible one, and at the same time has opened up to them new outlets for their energies. Their character differs in many respects from that of the tamer population of the plains. Their truthfulness, sturdy 1 See for the origin of the Bundelas, Mr. J. Beames’ Races of the North - Western Provinces, vol. i. p. 45, etc. (1869). NON-ARYANS.] INDIA. 87 loyalty, and a certain joyous bravery, almost amounting to playfulness, appeal in a special manner to the English mind. There is scarcely a single administrator who has ruled over them for any length of time without finding his heart drawn to them, and leaving on record his belief in their capabilities for good. Lest the traditional tenderness of the Indian Civil Service should weaken the testimony of such witnesses, I shall quote only the words of soldiers with reference to the tribes with which each was specially acquainted : — ‘ They are faithful, truthful, and attached to their superiors,’ writes General Briggs ; ‘ ready at all times to lay down their lives for those they serve, and remarkable for their indomit- able courage. These qualities have always been displayed in our service. The aborigines of the Karnatic were the sepoys of Clive and of Coote. A few companies of the same stock joined the former great captain from Bombay, and helped to fight the battle of Plassey in Bengal, which laid the foundation of our Indian Empire. They have since dis- tinguished themselves in the corps of pioneers and engineers, not only in India, but in Ava, in Afghanistan, and in the celebrated defence of Jalalabad. An unjust prejudice against them grew up in the native armies of Madras and Bombay, produced by the feelings of contempt for them existing among the Hindu and Muhammadan troops. They have no preju- dices themselves ; are always ready to serve abroad and embark on board ship; and I believe no instance of mutiny has ever occurred among them.’ Since General Briggs wrote these sentences, the non- Aryan hill races have supplied some of the bravest and most valued of our Indian regiments, particularly the gallant little Gurkhas. Colonel Dixon’s report, published by the Court of Directors, portrays the character of the Mhair tribes with admirable minute- ness. He dilates on their ‘ fidelity, truth, and honesty,’ their determined valour, their simple loyalty, and an extreme and almost touching devotion when put upon their honour. Strong as is the bond of kindred among the Mhairs, he vouches for their fidelity in guarding even their own relatives as prisoners when formally entrusted to their care. For centuries they had been known only as exterminators ; but beneath the considerate handling of one Englishman, who honestly set about under- standing them, they became peaceful subjects and well- disciplined soldiers. Sir James Outram, when a very young man, did the same good work for the Bhils of Khandesh. He made their chiefs The non- Aryan hill, tribes as soldiers. Colonel Dixon on the Mhairs. Outram’s work among the Bhils. 88 INDIA. [non-aryans. his hunting companions, formed the wilder spirits into a Bhil battalion, and laid the basis for the reclamation of this formerly intractable race. (See also Dangs, Imperial Gazetteer , iii. 32.) Every military man who has had anything to do with the aboriginal races acknowledges, that once they admit a claim on their allegiance, nothing tempts them to a treacherous or disloyal Fidelity of act. ‘ The fidelity to their acknowledged chief,’ writes Captain races*1* Hunter, ‘ is very remarkable ; and so strong is their attach- ment, that in no situation or condition, however desperate, can they be induced to betray him. If old and decrepit, they will convey him from place to place, to save him from his enemies.’ Their obedience to recognised authority is absolute ; and Colonel Tod relates how the wife of an absent chieftain pro- cured for a British messenger safe-conduct and hospitality through the densest forests by giving him one of her husband’s arrows as a token. The very officers who have had to act most sharply against them speak most strongly, and often not without a noble regret and self-reproach, in their favour. 1 It was not war,’ Major Vincent Jervis writes of the operations against the Santals in 1855. ‘They did not understand yielding ; as long as their national drums beat, the whole party would stand, and allow themselves to be shot down. They were the most truthful set of men I ever met.’ Ethnical We have seen that India may be divided into three regions — tionof1" Himalayas on the north, the great River Plains that stretch Indian southward from their foot, and the Three-sided Tableland races. which slopes upwards again from the River Plains, and covers the whole southern half of India. Two of these regions, the Himalayas on the north, and the Three-sided Tableland in the south, still form the retreats of the non-Aryan tribes. The third region, or the great River Plains, became in very ancient times the theatre on which a nobler race worked out its civilisation. THE ARYAN STOCK.] INDIA. 89 CHAPTER IV. THE ARYANS IN INDIA. This nobler race belonged to the Aryan or Indo-Germanic stock, from which the Brahman, the Rajput, and the English- man alike descend. Its earliest home seems to have been in Central Asia. From that common camping-ground, certain branches of the race started for the east, others for the west. One of the western offshoots founded the Persian kingdom ; another built Athens and Lacedaemon, and became the Greek nation ; a third went on to Italy, and reared the City on the Seven Hills, which grew into Imperial Rome. A distant colony of the same race excavated the silver-ores of pre- historic Spain ; and when we first catch a sight of ancient England, we see an Aryan settlement fishing in wattle canoes, and working the tin mines of Cornwall. Meanwhile, other branches of the Aryan stock had gone forth from the primitive home in Central Asia to the east. Powerful bands found their way through the passes of the Himalayas into the Punjab, and spread themselves, chiefly as Brahmans and Rajputs, over India. We know little regarding these noble Aryan tribes in their early camping-ground in Central Asia. From words preserved in the languages of their long-separated descendants in Europe and India, scholars infer that they roamed over the grassy steppes with their cattle, making long halts to rear crops of grain. They had tamed most of the domestic animals ; were acquainted with iron; understood the arts of weaving and sewing ; wore clothes ; and ate cooked food. They lived the hardy life of the temperate zone, and the feeling of cold seems to be one of the]earliest common remembrances of the eastern and the western branches of the race. Ages afterwards, when the Vedic singers in hot India prayed for long life, they asked for ‘ a hundred winters .’ The forefathers of the Greek and the Roman, of the Englishman and the Hindu, dwelt together in Asia, spoke the same tongue, worshipped the same gods. The languages of Europe and India, although at first sight they seem wide apart, are merely different growths from the The Aryan Stock. Its European branches. Its Eastern branches. The Aryans in their primitive home. European andlnclian languages merely varieties of Aryan speech. 9o INDIA. Common origin of European and Indian religions. The Indo- Aryans on the march. and in their new settle- ments. [iNDO-ARYAXS. original Aryan speech. This is especially true of the common words of family life. The names for father , mother , brother, sister, and widow , are the same in most of the Aryan lan- guages, whether spoken on the banks of the Ganges, of the Tiber, or of the Thames. Thus the word daughter, which occurs in nearly all of them, has been derived from two Sanskrit roots meaning ‘ to draw milk ; ’ and preserves the memory of the time when the daughter was the little milk- maid in the primitive Aryan household. The ancient religions of Europe and India had a similar origin. They were to some extent made up of the sacred stories or myths which our common ancestors had learned while dwelling together in Central Asia. Several of the Vedic gods were also the gods of Greece and Rome ; and to this day the Deity is adored by names derived from the same old Aryan root by Brahmans in Calcutta, by the Protestant clergy of England, and by Catholic priests in Peru. The Vedic hymns exhibit the Indian branch of the Aryans on their march to the south-east, and in their new homes. The earliest songs disclose the race still to the north of the Khaibar Pass, in Kabul ; the later ones bring them as far as the Ganges. Their victorious advance eastwards through the intermediate tract can be traced in the Vedic writings almost step by step. One of their famous settlements lay between the two sacred rivers, the Saraswati and the Drishadvati, sup- posed to be the modern Sarsuti, near Thanesar, in the Punjab, and the Ghaggar, a day’s march from it. This fertile strip ot land, not more than 60 miles long by 20 broad, was fondly remembered by them as their Holy Land, ‘ fashioned of God, and chosen by the Creator.’ As their numbers increased, they pushed eastwards along the base of the Himalayas, into what they afterwards called the Land of the Sacred Singers (. Brahmarshidcsha ). Their settlements included by degrees the five rivers of the Punjab, together with the other great river-system formed by the upper courses of the Jumna and the Ganges. Here the Vedic hymns were composed ; and the steady supply of water led the Aryans to settle down from their old state of wandering pastoral tribes into communities of husbandmen. The Vedic poets praised the rivers which enabled them to make this great change — perhaps the most important step in the progress of a race. ‘ May the Indus,’ they sang, ‘ the far-famed giver of wealth, hear us ; (fertilizing our) broad fields with water.’ The Himalayas, through whose offshoots they had reached India, and at whose southern base RIG-VEDA.] INDIA. 91 they long dwelt, made a lasting impression on their memory. The Vedic singer praised ‘ Him whose greatness the snowy ranges, and the sea, and the aerial river declare.’ In all its long wanderings through India, the Aryan race never forgot its northern home. There dwelt its gods and holy singers ; and there eloquence descended from heaven among men; while beyond the mountain-wall lay the paradise of deities and heroes, where the kind and the brave for ever repose. The Rig-Veda forms the great literary memorial of the early Aryan settlements in the Punjab. The age of this vener- able hymnal is unknown. The Hindus believe, without evi- dence, that it existed ‘ from before all time,’ or at least from 3001 years B.c., nearly 5000 years ago. European scholars have inferred from astronomical dates that its composition was going on about 1400 b.c. But these dates are themselves given in writings of modern origin, and might have been calculated backwards. We only know that the Vedic religion had been at work long before the rise of Buddhism in the 6th century b.c. Nevertheless, the antiquity of the Rig-Veda, although not to be expressed in figures, is abundantly estab- lished. The earlier hymns exhibit the Aryans on the north- western frontiers of India, just starting on their long journey. Before the embassy of the Greek Megasthenes, at the end of the 4th century b.c., they had spread at least to the verge of the Gangetic delta, 1500 miles distant. At the time of the Periplus, the southernmost point of India was apparently a seat of their worship. A temple to the wife of Siva stood on Cape Comorin, circ. 100 a.d. The Brahmans declare that the Vedic hymns were directly inspired by God. Indeed, in our own times, the young Theistic Church of Bengal, which rejects Brahmanical teaching, was split into two sects on the question of the divine authority of the Veda. The Vedic hymns seem to have been composed by certain families of Rishis or psalmists, some of whose names are preserved. The Rig-Veda is a very old collection of 1017 of these short lyrical poems, chiefly addressed to the gods, and containing 10,580 verses. They show us the Aryans on the banks of the Indus, divided into various tribes, some- times at war with each other, sometimes united against the * black - skinned ’ aborigines. Caste, in its later sense, is unknown. Each father of a family is the priest of his own household. The chieftain acts as father and priest to the tribe ; but at the greater festivals he chooses some one specially learned in holy offerings to conduct the sacrifice in the name of the Recollec- tions of their northern home. The Rig- Veda. Insufficient- evidence for its sup- posed dates, 3001 B.c. (?), 1400 B.C. (?) Neverthe- less of great anti- quity. Inspiration of the Veda. The Rig- Veda ; 1017 hymns, 10,580 verses. Caste not known to Rig-Veda, INDIA . 92 nor widow- burning. Aryan civilisation in the Veda. Spread of the Aryans eastwards. The gods of the Veda. [rig-veda. people. The chief himself seems to have been elected ; and his title of Vis-pati, literally ‘ Lord of the Settlers,’ survives in the old Persian Yis-paiti, and as the Lithuanian Wiez-patis in central Europe at this day. Women enjoyed a high position, and some of the most beautiful hymns were composed by ladies and queens. Marriage was held sacred. Husband and wife were both * rulers of the house ’ ( dampat'i ) ; and drew near to the gods together in prayer. The burning of widows on their husbands’ funeral-pile was unknown ; and the verses in the Veda which the Brahmans afterwards distorted into a sanction for the practice, have the very opposite meaning. ‘ Rise, woman,’ says the sacred text to the mourner ; ‘ come to the world of life. Come to us. Thou hast fulfilled thy duties as a wife to thy husband.’ The Aryan tribes in the Veda are acquainted with most of the metals. They have blacksmiths, coppersmiths, and gold- smiths among them, besides carpenters, barbers, and other artisans. They fight from chariots, and freely use the horse, although not yet the elephant, in war. They have settled down as husbandmen, till their fields with the plough, and live in villages or towns. But they also cling to their old wander- ing life, with their herds and ‘ cattle-pens.’ Cattle, indeed, still form their chief wealth — the coin (Latin, pecunia ) in which payments or fines are made ; and one of their words for war literally means ‘ a desire for cows.’ They have learned to build ‘ ships,’ perhaps large river-boats ; and have seen or heard something of the sea. Unlike the modern Hindus, the Aryans of the Veda ate beef ; used a fermented liquor or beer, made from the soma plant ; and offered the same strong meat and drink to their gods. Thus the stout Aryans spread eastwards through Northern India ; pushed on from behind by later arrivals of their own stock ; and driving before them, or reducing to bondage, the earlier ‘ black-skinned ’ races. They marched in whole communities from one river-valley to another ; each house-father a warrior, husbandman, and priest ; with his wife, and his little ones, and cattle. These free-hearted tribes had a great trust in themselves and their gods. Like other conquering races, they believed that both themselves and their deities were altogether superior to the people of the land and their poor, rude objects of wor- ship. Indeed, this noble self-confidence is a great aid to the success of a nation. Their divinities — droas, literally ‘ The Shining Ones,’ from the Sanskrit root div, ‘to shine’ — were the great powers of nature. They adored the Father-heaven, RIG-VEDA.] INDIA. 93 Dyaushpitar in Sanskrit, the Diespiter or Jupiter of Rome, the Zeus of Greece, the Low German Duus, and, through the old French god-demon, Dus-ius , probably the Deuce of English slang ; together with Mother-Earth ; and the Encom- passing Sky, Varuna in Sanskrit, Uranus in Latin, Ouranos in Greek. ‘ Let me not yet, O Varuna, enter the house of clay’ (the grave), says a Rig-Vedic hymn; ‘have mercy, Almighty, have mercy. If I go along trembling, like a cloud driven by the wind ; have mercy, Almighty, have mercy. Through want of strength, thou strong and bright god, have I gone wrong ; have mercy, Almighty, have mercy.’ Indra, or the Aqueous Vapour that brings the precious rain on which plenty or famine still depends each autumn, received the largest number of hymns. By degrees, as the settlers realized Influence more and more keenly the importance of the periodical rains ra;ny to their new life as husbandmen, he became the chief of the season on Vedic gods. ‘The gods do not reach unto thee, O Indra, or men ; thou overcomest all creatures in strength.’ Agni, the logy. God of Fire (Latin, igni-s ), ranks perhaps next to Indra in the number of hymns addressed to him as ‘ the youngest of the gods,’ ‘the lord and giver of wealth.’ The Maruts are the Storm Gods, ‘ who make the rocks to tremble, who tear in pieces the forest.’ Ushas, ‘the High-born Dawn’ (Greek, Dos), ‘ shines upon us like a young wife, rousing every living being to go forth to his work.’ The Aswins, or ‘ Fleet Out- riders ’ of the Dawn, are the first rays of sunrise, ‘ Lords of Lustre.’ The Solar Orb himself (Surjya), the Wind (Vayu), the Sunshine or Friendly Day (Mitra), the animating fermented juice of the Sacrificial Plant (Soma), and many others, are invoked in the Veda; in all, about thirty-three gods, ‘who are eleven in heaven, eleven on earth, and eleven dwelling in glory in mid-air.’ The terrible blood-drinking deities of modern Hinduism are The blood- scarcely known in the Veda. Buffaloes are indeed offered ; of and one hymn points to a symbolism based on human sacrifices, Hinduism an early practice apparently extinct before the time of the Vedic singers. The great Horse-Sacrifice seems a substitution for the V/eda. the flesh and blood of a man. But, as a whole, the hymns are addressed to bright, friendly gods. Rudra, who was destined to become the Siva of the Hindus, and the third person, or Destroyer, in their triad, is only the god of Roaring Tempests in the Veda. Vishnu, the second person, or Preserver, in the Hindu triad, is but slightly known as the deity of the Shining Firmament ; while Brahma, the first person, or Creator, has no 94 INDIA. [rig-veda. Attitude of the Vedic singer to his gods. Higher concep- tions of the Deity in the Veda. A Vedic hymn. separate existence in these simple hymns. The names of the dreadful Mahadeva, Durga, Kali, and of the gentler Krishna and Rama, are alike unknown in the Rig-Veda. The Aryan settlers lived on excellent terms with their bright gods. They asked for protection with an assured conviction that it would be granted. The sense of sin, or the idea of spiritual submission, scarcely appears in the Veda. ‘ Give me cows, or land, or long life, in return for this hymn or offering;’ ‘ slay my enemy, scatter the black-skin, and I will sacrifice to thee,’ — such is the ordinary frame of mind of the singer to his gods. But, at the same time, he was deeply stirred by the glory and mystery of the earth and the heavens. Indeed, the majesty of nature so filled his mind, that when he praises any one of his Shining Gods he can think of none other for the time being, and adores him as the Supreme Ruler. Verses may be quoted declaring each of the greater deities to be the One Supreme: ‘Neither gods nor men reach unto thee, O Indra ; ’ Soma is ‘ king of heaven and earth, the conqueror of all.’ To Varuna also it is said, ‘ Thou art lord of all, of heaven and earth ; thou art king of all those who are gods, and of all those who are men.’ The more spiritual of the Vedic singers, therefore, may be said to have worshipped One God, although not One Alone. Some beautiful souls among them were filled not only with the splendours of the visible universe, but with the deeper mysteries of the Unseen, and the powerlessness of man to search out God. ‘ In the beginning there arose the Golden Child. He was the one born lord of all that is. He established the earth and this sky. Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? \ ‘ He who gives life, he who gives strength ; whose command all the Bright Gods revere ; whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death. Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? ‘ He who, through his power, is the one king of the breathing and awakening world. He who governs all, man and beast. Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? ‘ He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm ; he through whom the heaven was established, nay, the highest heaven ; he who measured out the light and the air. Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? ‘ He who by his might looked even over the water-clouds; he INDIA. 95 KIG-VEDA.] who alone is God above all gods. Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? 1 The yearning for rest in God, that desire for the wings of a ‘ The dove, so as to fly away and be at rest, with which noble hearts j have ached in all ages, breathes in several exquisite hymns of the Rig-Veda: ‘Where there is eternal light, in the world where the sun is placed, — in that immortal, imperishable world, place me, O Soma ! Where life is free, in the third heaven of heavens, where the worlds are radiant, — there make me im- mortal ! Where there is happiness and delight, where joy and pleasure reside, where our desires are attained, — there make me immortal.’ 2 While the aboriginal races buried their dead under rude Burning stone monuments, the Aryan — alike in India, in Greece, and in Italy — made use of the funeral-pile as the most solemn method of severing the mortal from the immortal part of man. As he derived his natural birth from his parents ; and a partial regeneration, or second birth, from the performance of his religious duties ; so the fire, by setting free the soul from the body, completed the third or heavenly birth. His friends stood round the pyre as round a natal bed, and commanded his eye to go to the sun, his breath to the wind, his limbs to the earth, — the water and plants whence they had been derived. But 1 as for his unborn part, do thou, Lord (Agni), quicken it with thy heat ; let thy flame and thy brightness quicken it ; convey it to the world of the righteous.’ For the lonely journey of the soul after its separation from Vedic the body, the Aryans, both in Asia and Europe, provided a of faithful guide ( Sdrameyas in Sanskrit, Hermeias in Greek). Yama, or According to the Zend or old Aryan legend in Persia, Yama Death, was a monarch in the old time, when sorrow and sickness were unknown. By degrees sin and disease crept into the world ; the slow necessity of death hastened its step ; and the old king retired, with a chosen band, from the polluted earth into a better country, where he still reigns. The Indian version of the story makes Yama to be the first man who passed through death into immortality. Having discovered the way to the other world, he leads men thither. Meanwhile his two dogs — ‘black and spotted,’ ‘broad of nostril,’ and ‘with a hunger never to be satisfied ’—wander as his messengers among men. ‘ Worship with an offering King Yama, the Assembler of Men, 1 Rig-Veda, x. 121 ; translated by Prof. Max Muller, Hist. Anc. Sansk. Lit., p. 569. Chips, vol. i. p. 29 (ed. 1867). 2 Rig-Veda, ix. 113. 7. Max Muller’s translation. 96 The Vedic farewell to the dead. Vedic concep- tions of immor- tality. The Aryans advance into the Middle Land. INDIA. [rig-veda. who departed to the mighty waters, who found out the road for many.’ 1 Several exquisite hymns bid farewell to the dead : — ‘ Depart thou, depart thou by the ancient paths to the place whither our fathers have departed. Meet with the Ancient Ones ; meet with the Lord of Death. Throwing off thine imperfections, go to thy home. Become united with a body ; clothe thyself in a shining form.’ ‘ Let him depart to those for whom flow the rivers of nectar. Let him depart to those who, through medi- tation, have obtained the victory ; who, by fixing their thoughts on the unseen, have gone to heaven. Let him depart to the mighty in battle, to the heroes who have laid down their lives for others, to those who have bestowed their goods on the poor.’ The doctrine of transmigration was unknown. The circle round the funeral-pile sang with a firm assurance that their friend went direct to a state of blessedness and reunion with the loved ones who had gone before. ‘ Do thou conduct us to heaven,’ says a hymn of the later Atharva-Veda ; ‘ let us be with our wives and children.’ ‘ In heaven, where our friends dwell in bliss, — having left behind the infirmities of the body, free from lameness, free from crookedness of limb, — there let us behold our parents and our children.’ ‘ May the water- shedding spirits bear thee upwards, cooling thee with their swift motion through the air, and sprinkling thee with dew.’ ‘ Bear him, carry him ; let him, with all his faculties complete, go to the world of the righteous. Crossing the dark valley which spreadeth boundless around him, let the unborn soul ascend to heaven. Wash the feet of him who is stained with sin ; let him go upwards with cleansed feet. Crossing the gloom, gazing with wonder in many directions, let the unborn soul go up to heaven.’ The hymns of the Rig-Veda were composed, as we have seen, by the Aryans in their colonies along the Indus, and on their march eastwards towards the Jumna and upper Ganges. The growing numbers of the settlers, and the arrival of fresh Aryan tribes from behind, still compelled them to advance. From the Land of the Sacred Singers, Manu describes them as spreading through ‘The Middle Land’ ( Madhyadesha ), com- prising the whole river-systems of Upper India as far east as 1 Rig-Veda, x. 14. 1. See Dr. John Muir’s ‘ Sanskrit Texts,’ and his essay on ‘Yama,’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, part ii., 1865, whence many of the above quotations are derived. See also Max Muller’s essay on the ‘Funeral Rites of the Brahmans,’ on which the following paragraph is chiefly based. RIG-VEDA.] INDIA. 97 Oudh and Allahabad, with the Himalayas as its northern, and the Vindhya ranges as its southern boundary. The conquest of the vast new tracts thus included seems not to have commenced till the close of the Rig-Vedic era, and it must have been the work of many generations. During this advance, the simple faith of the Rig-Vedic singers was first adorned with stately rites, and then extin- guished beneath them. The race progressed from a loose confederacy of tribes into several well-knit nations, each bound together by the strong central force of kingly power, directed by a powerful priesthood, and organized on a firm basis of caste. Whence arose this new constitution of the Aryan tribes into The Aryan nations, with castes, priests, and kings ? We have seen that organized although in their earlier colonies on the Indus each father was into priest in his family, yet the Chieftain, or Lord of the Settlers, kinSdoms- called in some man specially learned in holy offerings to conduct the great tribal sacrifices. Such men were highly honoured, and the famous quarrel which runs throughout the whole Veda sprang from the claims of two rival sages, Vasishtha and Viswamitra, to perform one of these ceremonies. The art of writing was unknown, and the hymns and sacrificial words had to be handed down by word of mouth from father Origin of to son. It thus happened that the families who learned them by heart became, as it were, the hereditary owners of the liturgies required at the most solemn offerings to the gods. Members of these households were chosen again and again to conduct the tribal sacrifices, to chant the battle-hymn, to implore the divine aid, or to pray away the divine wrath. Even the Rig-Veda recognises the importance of these sacrifices. ‘ That king,’ says a verse, ‘ before whom marches the priest, he alone dwells well established in his own house, to him the people bow down. The king who gives wealth to the priest, he will conquer, him the gods will protect.’ The tribesmen first hoped, then believed, that a hymn or prayer which had once acted successfully, and been followed by victory, would again produce the same results. The hymns became a valu- able family property for those who had composed or learned them. The Rig-Veda tells how the prayer of Vasishtha pre- vailed ‘in the battle of the ten kings,’ and how that of Viswa- mitra ‘ preserves the tribe of the Bharats.’ The potent prayer was termed brahma , and he who offered it, brahman. Woe to him who despised either! ‘Whosoever,’ says the Rig-Veda, ‘ scoffs at the prayer (brahma) which we have made, may hot 98 Growing numbers of priests. The four Vedas. l']' be entirely spent in learning by heart from some Brahman the inspired Scriptures, tending the sacred fire, and serving their preceptor. Having completed his long studies, the Brahman (2) The entered on the second stage of his life, as a householder. He L^ider" married and commenced a course of family duties. When he {tp-ihas- had reared a family, and gained a practical knowledge of the world, he retired into the forest as a recluse, for the third period (3) The of his life ; feeding on roots or fruits, and practising his reli- Recluse gious duties with increased devotion. The fourth stage was {vana- that of the ascetic or religious mendicant, wholly withdrawn from ast,“^- earthly affairs, and striving to attain a condition of mind Asceti^ which, heedless of the joys, or pains, or wants of the body, is (jaw- intent only on its final absorption into the deity. The Brahman, in this fourth stage of his life, ate nothing but what was given to him unasked, and abode not more than one day in any village, lest the vanities of the world should find entrance into his heart. Throughout his whole existence, he practised a strict temperance ; drinking no wine, using a simple diet, curbing the desires, shut off from the tumults of war, and having his thoughts ever fixed on study and contemplation. ‘ What is this world?’ says a Brahman sage. ‘ It is even as the bough of a tree, on which a bird rests for a night, and in the morning flies away.’ It may be objected that so severe a life of discipline could Brahman never be led by any large class of men. And no doubt there j^al of have been at all times worldly Brahmans ; and the struggle for existence in modern times has compelled the great majority of the Brahmans to betake themselves to more practical pursuits. But the whole body of Sanskrit literature bears witness to the fact that this ideal life was constantly before their eyes, and that it served to the whole caste as a high standard in its two really essential features of self-culture and self-restraint. In- cidents in the history of Buddha, in the 6th century before Christ, show that numbers of Brahmans at that time lived H INDIA. 106 [brahmans. Brahman rule of life. Its here- ditary results on the caste. The work done by the Brah- mans for India. according to its rule ; and three hundred years later, the Greek ambassador, Megasthenes, found the Brahmans discoursing in their groves, chiefly on life and death. The Chinese travellers, down to the ioth century a.d., attest the survival of the Brah- manical pattern of the religious life. The whole monastic system of India, and those vast religious revivals which have given birth to the modern sects of Hinduism, are based on the same withdrawal from worldly affairs. At this day, Brahman colleges, called tols, are carried on without fees, on the old model, at Nadiya in Bengal, and elsewhere. I can testify, from personal visits, to the stringent self-discipline, and to the devotion to learning for its own sake, often protracted till past middle-life, and sometimes by grey-haired students, in these retreats. The Brahmans, therefore, were a body of men who, in an early stage of this world’s history, bound themselves by a rule of life the essential precepts of which were self-culture and self- restraint. As they married within their own caste, begat children only during their prime, and were not liable to lose the finest of their youth in war, they transmitted their best qualities in an ever-increasing measure to their descendants. The Brahmans of the present day are the result of 3000 years of hereditary education and self-restraint; and they have evolved a type of mankind quite distinct from the surrounding population. Even the passing traveller in India marks them out, alike from the bronze-cheeked, large-limbed, leisure- loving Rajput or warrior caste of Aryan descent ; and from the dark-skinned, flat-nosed, thick-lipped low-castes of non-Aryan origin, with their short bodies and bullet heads. The Brahman stands apart from both, tall and slim, with finely modelled lips and nose, fair complexion, high forehead, and slightly cocoa-nut shaped skull — the man of self-centred refinement. He is an example of a class becoming the ruling power in a country, not by force of arms, but by the vigour of hereditary culture and temperance. One race has swept across India after another, dynasties have risen and fallen, religions have spread themselves over the land and disappeared. But since the dawn of history, the Brahman has calmly ruled ; swaying the minds and receiving the homage of the people, and accepted by foreign nations as the highest type of Indian mankind. The paramount position which the Brahmans won, resulted, in no small measure, from the benefits which they bestowed. For their own Aryan countrymen, they developed a noble language and literature. The Brahmans were not only the INDIA. THEOLOGY.] 107 priests and philosophers, but also the lawgivers, the admini- strators, the men of science, and the poets of their race. Their influence on the aboriginal peoples, the hill and forest races of India, was even more important. To these rude remnants of the flint and bronze ages they brought, in ancient times, a knowledge of the metals and the gods. Within the historical period, the Brahmans have incorporated the mass of the back- ward races into the social and religious organization of Hinduism. A system of worship is a great comfort to a tropical people, hemmed in by the uncontrolled forces of nature, as it teaches them how to propitiate those mysterious powers, and so tends to liberate their minds from the terrors of the unseen. The reflective life of the Middle Land ( Madhyci-desha ) led the Brfihmans to see that the old gods of the Vedic hymns were in reality not supreme beings, but poetic fictions. For when they Brahman came to think the matter out, they found that the sun, the tlieo!osy- aqueous vapour, the encompassing sky, the wind, and the dawn, could not each be separate and supreme creators, but must have all proceeded from one First Cause. They did not shock the religious sense of the less speculative castes by any public rejection of the Vedic deities. They accepted the old ‘ Shining Ones’ of the Veda as beautiful manifestations of the divine power, and continued to decorously conduct the sacrifices in their honour. But among their own caste, the Brahmans distinctly enunciated the unity of God. To the Veda, the Brahmanas, and the Sutras, they added a vast body of theolo- gical literature, composed at intervals between 800 b.c. and 1000 a.d. The Upanishads, meaning, according to their great Brahman expounder, ‘ The Science of God,’ and His ‘ identity with the soul;’ the Aranyakas, or ‘Tracts for the Forest- Recluse ; ’ and the much later Puranas, or ‘ Traditions from of Old,’ — contain mystic and beautiful doctrines regarding the unity of God and the immortality of the soul, mingled with less noble dogmas, popular tales, and superstitions. The mass of the people were left to believe in four castes, four Vedas, and many deities. But the higher thinkers among the Brahmans recognised that in the beginning there was but one caste, one Veda, and one God. The old ‘ Shining Ones’ of the Vedic singers were, indeed, Rise of the no longer suitable deities, either for the life which the Aryans p°st-Vedic led after they advanced into Southern Bengal, or for the country sud!’’ m which they lived. The Vedic gods were the good ‘ friends ’ of the free-hearted warring tribes in Northern India, settled on the banks of fordable streams or of not overpowering rivers. ic8 INDIA. [HINDU TRIAD. Brahma ; In Central and South-Eastern Bengal, the Brahmans required deities whose nature and attributes would satisfy profoundly reflective minds, and at the same time would be commensurate with the stupendous forces of nature amid which theydwelt. The storm-gods ( Manits ) of the Veda might suffice to raise the dust-whirlwinds of the Punjab, but they were evidently deities on a smaller scale than those which wielded the irresistible cyclones of Bengal. The rivers, too, had ceased to be merely bountiful givers of wealth, as in the north. Their accumulated waters came down in floods, which buried cities and drowned provinces; wrenching away the villages on their banks, de- stroying and reproducing the land with an equal balance. The High-born Dawn, the Genial Sun, and the Friendly Day, with the other kind but confused old groups of Vedic deities, gave place to the conception of one god in his three solemn mani- The Hindu festations as Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and triad : Siva the Destroyer and Reproducer. Each of these had his prototype among the Vedic deities ; and they remain to this hour the three persons of the Hindu triad. Brahma, the Creator, was too abstract an idea to be a popular god ; and in my journeys through India, I have only come across a single great seat of his worship at the present day, on the margin of the sacred lake Pushkara, near Ajmere. One day of Brahma is 2160 millions of man’s years. Vishnu, the Preserver, was a more useful and practical deity. In his ten incarnations, especially in his seventh and eighth as Rama and Krishna, under many names and in very varied forms, he took the place of the old bright Vedic gods. Siva, the third person of the triad, em- bodied as Destroyer and Reproducer the profound conception of death as a change of state and an entry into new life. He thus obtained, on the one hand, the special reverence of the mystic and philosophic sects among the Brahmans ; while, on the other, his terrible aspects associated him alike with the Rudra, or ‘ God of Roaring Tempests,’ of the Veda, and with the blood-loving deities of the non-Aryan tribes. Vishnu and Siva, in their diverse male and female shapes, now form, for practical purposes, the gods of the Hindu population. The truth is, that the Aryans in India worshipped — first, as they felt ; then, as they admired ; and finally, as they reasoned. Their earliest Vedic gods were the stupendous phenomena of the visible world ; their deities became divine heroes in the epic legends ; and were spiritualized into abstractions by the philosophical schools. From the Vedic era downward — that is to say, during a period which cannot be estimated at Vishnu Siva. Brahman philoso- phy. PHILOSOPHY.] INDIA. 109 less than 3000 years — the Brahmans have slowly elaborated the forces and splendid manifestations of nature into a har- monious godhead, and constructed a system of belief and worship for the Indian people. They also pondered deeply on the mysteries of life. Whence arose this fabric of the visible world, and whence came we ourselves— we who with conscious minds look out upon it ? It is to these questions that philo- sophy has, among all races, owed her birth ; and the Brahmans arranged their widely diverse answers to them in six great systems or darsanas, literally ‘ mirrors of knowledge.’ I can only touch upon the vast body of speculation which thus grew up, at least 500 years before Christ. The universal insoluble problems of thought and being, of mind and matter, and of soul as apart from both, of the origin of evil, of the summum boniim of life, of necessity and freewill, and of the relations of the Creator to the creature, are endlessly discussed. The Sankhya, founded by the sage Kapila, explains the visible world by assuming the existence of a primordial matter from all eternity, out of which the universe has, by successive stages, evolved itself. The Yoga school of Patanjali assumes the exist- ence of a primordial soul, anterior to the primeval matter, and holds that from the union of the two the spirit of life ( mahdti - di/nd) arose. The two Vedanta schools ascribe the visible world to a divine act of creation, and assume an omnipotent god as the cause of the existence, the continuance, and the dissolu- tion of the universe. The Nyaya or logical school of Gautama enunciates the method of arriving at truth, and lays special stress on the sensations. It is usually classed together with the sixth school, the Vaiseshika, founded by the sage Kanada, which teaches the existence of a transient world composed of eternal atoms. All the six schools had the same starting-point, ex nihilo nihil fit ; and their sages, as a rule, struggled towards the same end, the liberation of the human soul from the neces- sity of existence and from the chain of future births, by its absorption into the Supreme Soul, or the primordial essence, of the universe.1 The Brahmans, therefore, treated philosophy as a branch of religion. Now the universal problems of religion are to lay 1 Any attempt to fuse into a few lines the vast conflicting masses of Hindu philosophical doctrines must be unsatisfactory. Objections may be taken to compressing the subdivisions and branching doctrines of each school into a single sentence. But space forbids a more lengthy disquisi- tion ; and I have based the above paragraphs as fairly as I can on the accounts which H. H. Wilson, Albrecht Weber, Professor Dowson, and the Rev. K. M. Banarji give of the Six Darsanas or Schools. The six darsanas or schools (1) The Sankhya ; (2) The Yoga ; (3, 4) The Vedantas ; (5) The Nyaya ; (6) The Vaise- shika. Summary of Brah- man religion. I IO INDIA. Brahman science. Sanskrit grammar. Panini. [grammar. down a rule of conduct for this life, and to supply some guide to the next. The Brahman solutions to the practical questions involved, were self-discipline, alms, sacrifice to and contem- plation of the deity. But besides the practical questions of a religious life, religion has also intellectual problems, such as the compatibility of evil with the goodness of God, and the un- equal distribution of happiness and misery in this life. Brahman philosophy exhausted the possible solutions of these difficulties, and of most of the other great problems which have since per- plexed Greek and Roman, mediaeval schoolman, and modern man of science. The various theories of Creation, Arrange- ment, and Development were each elaborated ; and the views of physiologists at the present day are a return, with new lights, to the evolution theory of Kapila, whose Sankhya system is held by Weber to be the oldest of the six Brahman schools, and which certainly dates not later than 500 b.c. The works on Religion published in the native languages in India in 1877, numbered 1192, besides 56 on Mental and Moral Philosophy. The Brahmans had also a circle of sciences of their own. The Science of Language, indeed, had been reduced in India to fundamental principles at a time when the grammarians of the West still treated it on the basis of accidental resemblances ; and modern philology dates from the study of Sanskrit by European scholars. Panini was the architect of Sanskrit grammar; but a long succession of learned men must have laboured before he reared his enduring fabric. The date of Panini has been fixed by his learned editor Bohtlink at about 350 b.c. ; but Weber, reasoning from a statement made (long afterwards) by the Chinese pilgrim Hiouen Thsang, suggests that it may have been later. The grammar of Panini stands supreme among the grammars of the world, alike for its precision of statement and for its thorough analysis of the roots of the language and of the formative principles of words. By employing an algebraic terminology it attains a sharp succinctness unrivalled in brevity, but at times enigma- tical. It arranges, in logical harmony, the whole phenomena which the Sanskrit language presents, and stands forth as one of the most splendid achievements of human invention and industry. So elaborate is the structure, that doubts have arisen whether its innumerable rules of formation and phonetic change, its polysyllabic derivatives, its ten conjugations with their multiform aorists and long array of tenses, could ever have been the spoken language of a people. It is certain SANSKRIT.] INDIA. Ill that at an early date Sanskrit began to undergo simplifica- tion; and that the Aryan peasant, alike in his ancient and modern vernaculars, contented himself with narrower forms of speech. It seems probable, indeed, that this divergence took place Sanskrit before the time of Panini (350 b.c.), and that the spoken lan- p"^kri[ guage, or Prdkrita-bhdsha, had already assumed simpler forms speech, by the assimilation of consonants and the curtailment of ter- minals. The Sanskrita-bh dish d, literally, the ‘ perfected speech,’ which Panini stereotyped by his grammar, retained the old Aryan accumulations of consonants, with an undiminished array of inflections. In this language the Brahmans wrote. It became the literary language of India, — isolated from the spoken dialects, but prescribed as the vehicle for philosophy, science, and all poetry of serious aim or epic dignity. As the Aryan race mingled with the previous inhabitants of the land, the Indian vernaculars adopted words of non-Aryan origin, and severed themselves completely from Sanskrit, which for many hundred years has been unintelligible to the common people of India. The old synthetic Sanskrit underwent the same process as Latin did, into an analytic language, and about the same time. Each of these noble languages died, and each gave birth to a family of languages which can never die. An intermediate stage of the process can be traced in the Hindu drama, in which persons of good birth speak in Pra- kritised Sanskrit, and the low-castes in a bhdshd , or patois, between the old Prakrit and the modern dialects. It is chiefly under the popularizing influences of British rule that the Indian vernaculars have become literary languages. Until the last century, Sanskrit, although as dead as Latin so far as the mass of the people were concerned, was the vehicle for all intel- lectual and artistic efforts of the Hindus, their local ballads excepted. In addition to their other sources of influence, therefore, the Brahmans were the interpreters of a national literature written in a language unknown to the people. The priceless inheritance thus committed to their charge Sanskrit they handed down, to a great extent, by word of mouth. Partly from this cause, but chiefly owing to the destructive climate of India, no Sanskrit manuscripts of remote antiquity exist. A fairly continuous series of inscriptions on rocks, pillars, and copper-plates enable us to trace back the Indian alphabets to the 3rd century b.c. But even the more ancient of the Sanskrit manuscripts are only four hundred years old, very few have an age exceeding five centuries, and only two date as ones. I I 2 INDIA. [SANSKRIT. Sanskrit writings almost entirely in verse. far back as 1132 and 1008 A.D.1 The earliest of them (1008 a.d.) comes from the cold, dry highlands of Nepal.2 With regard to the origin of the Indian alphabets, the evidence is still too undigested to allow of cursory statement. Of the two characters in which the Asoka inscriptions were written (250 a.d.), the northern variety, or Ariano-Pali, is now admitted to be of Phoenician, or at any rate of non-Indian, parentage. The southern variety, or Indo - Pali, is believed by some scholars to be of Western origin, while others hold it to be an independent Indian alphabet ; and an attempt has even been made to trace back its letters to an indigenous system of picture-writing, or hieroglyphics, in pre-historic India.3 Quintus Curtius mentions that the Indians wrote on leaves in the time of Alexander (326 B.c.).4 They do so to this hour. Sanskrit literature was the more easily transmitted by word of mouth, from the circumstance that it was entirely written in verse. A prose style, simple and compact, had grown up during the early age following that of the Vedic hymns. But Sanskrit literature begins with the later, although still ancient, stage of Aryan development, which had superseded the Vedic gods by the Brahmanical triad, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. When Sanskrit appears definitively on the scene in the centuries preceding the birth of Christ, it adopted once and for all a rhythmic versification alike for poetry, philosophy, science, law, and religion, with the exception of the Beast Fables and the almost algebraic strings of aphorisms in the Sutras. The Buddhist legends adhered more closely to the spoken dialects of ancient India, prdkrita-bhashd ; and they have also retained a prose style. But in classical Sanskrit literature, prose became an 1 Footnote 198a to Weber’s Hist. Ind. Lit., p. 182 (1878), quoting the report of Rajendra Lala Mitra (1874), and Dr. Rost’s letter (1875). Mr. R. Cust, in a note to me, assigns the year 883 a.d. as the date of the earliest existing Sanskrit MS. at Cambridge. But this is a moot point (1S80). 2 I have printed and sent to the India Office Library, for public reference, a catalogue of the 332 Sanskrit Buddhist mss. collected by Mr. B. H. Hodgson in Nepal. 3 By General Cunningham, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, pp. 52 etseq. The attempt cannot be pronounced successful. Dr. Burnell’s Paleography of Southern India exhibits the successive developments of the Indian alphabet. For the growth of the Indian dialects, see Mr. Beames’ Compara- tive Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India; Dr. Rudolph Hoernle’s Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Languages ; two excellent papers, by Mr. E. L. Brandreth, on the Gaurian Languages, in the Journ. Roy. As. Soe., vols. xi. xii. ; and Mr. R. N. Cust’s Linguistic and Oriental Essays, pp. 144-171, Triibner, 1S80. For a compendious view of the Indian alphabets, see Faulmann’s Such der Schrift, 119-158, \ ienna, iSSo. 4 Alexander in India, lib. viii. cap. 9, v. 15. ASTRONOMY.] INDIA. arrested development; the sloka or verse reigned supreme; and nothing can be clumsier than the attempts at prose in the later romances and commentaries. Prose-writing was practically a I'rose, a lost art in India during eighteen hundred years. forgotten Sanskrit dictionaries are a much later product than Sanskrit ganskrit grammar. The oldest Indian lexicographer whose work sur- diction- vives, Amara-sinha, ranked among the ‘ nine gems ’ at the aries- court of Vikramaditya, one of several monarchs of the same name — assigned to various periods from 56 b.c. to 1050 a.d. This dictionary furnishes data which certainly belong to a later period than the 1st century b.c. ; probably to many hundred years later. The other Sanskrit lexicons which have come down belong to the nth, 12th, and subsequent centuries. Those centuries, indeed, seem to mark an era of industry in dictionary - making ; and there is no inherent evidence in Amara-sinha’s work (the Amara-kosha) to show that it was separated from them by any wide interval. The number of works on language, published in 1877 in India, was 604. The astronomy of the Brahmans has formed alternately the Brahman subject of excessive admiration and of misplaced contempt. “t^,‘ The truth is, that there are three periods of Sanskrit astronomy ( Jyoti-sastra ). The first period belongs to Vedic times, and has Indepen- left a moderate store of independent observations and inferences u> worked out by the Brahmans. The Vedic poets had arrived 300 b.c. at a tolerably correct calculation of the solar year ; which they divided into 360 days, with an intercalary month every five years. They were also acquainted with the phases of the moon ; they divided her pathway through the heavens into 27 or 28 lunar mansions; and had made observations of a few of the fixed stars. The order in which the lunar mansions are enumerated is one which must have been established ‘ some- where between 1472 and 536 b.c.’ (Weber). The planets were also an independent, although a later discovery, bordering on the Vedic period. At first seven, afterwards nine in number, they bear names of Indian origin ; and the generic term for planet, graha, the seizer, had its source in primitive Sanskrit astrology. They are mentioned for the first time, perhaps, in the Taittiriya-Aryanaka. The Laws of Manu, however, are silent regarding them ; but their worship is inculcated in the later code of Yajnavalkya. The zodiacal signs and the Jyotisha, or so-called Vedic Calendar,- — with its solstitial points referring to xi8i b.c., or to a period still more remote, — seem to have been constructed, or at any rate completed, in an age long subsequent to the Veda. The influence of the Chinese 1 14 INDIA. [astronomy. 2nd period ; Greek influences, 300 B.C. to IOOO A.D. 3>'d period ; decay under Muham- madan rule — 1 1 50- 1 Soo A. D. Jai Sinh’s observa- tories, 172S. observers upon Indian astronomy, especially with regard to the lunar mansions, is an undecided but a pregnant question. The second period of Brahman astronomy dates from the Greek and Greco-Bactrian invasions of India, during the three centuries before Christ. The influence of Greece infused new life into the astronomy of the Hindus. The Indian astrono- mers of this period speak of the Yavanas, or Greeks, as their instructors ; and one of their five systems is entitled the Romaka-Siddhanta.1 Their chief writer in the 6 th century, Varaha-Mihira, 504 a.d., gives the Greek names of the planets side by side with their Indian appellations ; and one of his works bears a Greek title, Hora-Sastra (uprj). The Greek division of the heavens into zodiacal signs, decani, and degrees, enabled the Brahmans to cultivate astronomy in a scientific spirit ; and they elaborated a new system of their own. They rectified the succession of the Sanskrit lunar mansions which had ceased to be in accordance with the actual facts, transferring the two last of the old order to the first two places in the new. In some points the Brahmans made advances beyond Greek astronomy. Their fame spread in turn throughout the West, and found entrance into the Chronicon Paschale (commenced about 330 a.d. \ revised, under Heraclius, 6 10-641 a.d. ). In the 8th and 9th centuries, the Arabs became their disciples, borrowed the lunar mansions in the revised order from the Hindus, and translated the Sanskrit astronomical treatises Siddhantas under the name of Sindhends. The Brahman astronomer of the 6th century, Varaha-Mihira, was followed by a famous sage, Brahmagupta, in the 7th (664 a.d.); and by a succession of distinguished workers, ending with Bhaskara, in the 12th (1150 a.d.). The Muhammadan conquest of India then put a stop to further independent progress. After the death of Bhaskara, Indian astronomy gradually decayed, and owed any occasional impulse of vitality to Arabic science. Hindu observers of note arose at rare intervals. Thus, in the beginning of the 18th century, Raja Jai Sinh 11. constructed a set of observa- tories at his capital Jaipur, and at Delhi, Benares, Muttra, and Ujjain, by which he was able to correct the astronomical tables of De la Hire, published in 1702, before the French accepted the Newtonian Astronomy. The Rdja left, as a monument of 1 That is, the Grecian Siddhanta. Another, the Paulisa-Siddhanta, is stated by A1 Biruni to have been composed by Paulus al Yunani, and is probably to be regarded, says Weber, as a translation of the Y.'us«.yuyn of Paulus Alexandrinus. But see Weber’s own footnote, No. 277, p. 253, Hist. Ind. Lit. (1878). MATHEMATICS.] INDIA. "5 his skill, lists of stars collated by himself, known as the Tij Mu- hammad Shahi, or Tables of Muhammad Shah, the Emperor of Delhi, by whose command he undertook the reformation of the Indian Calendar. His observatory at Benares survives to this day. Nevertheless, Hindu astronomy steadily declined. Even from Vedic times it had linked omens and portents with the study of the heavens, and under the Muhammadan dynasties it degenerated into a tool of trade in the hands of almanac- makers, genealogists, astrologers, and charlatans. In algebra and arithmetic, the Brahmans attained to a high degree of proficiency independent of Western aid. To them we owe the invention of the numerical symbols on the decimal system ; the Indian figures i to 9 being abbreviated forms of the initial letters of the numerals themselves,1 and the zero, or o, representing the first letter of the Sanskrit word for empty ( sunya ). The Arabs borrowed them from the Hindus, and transmitted them to Europe. The Arabian mathematicians, indeed, frequently extol the learning of the Indians ; and the Sanskrit term for the apex of a planet’s orbit seems to have passed into the Latin translations of the Arabic astronomers.2 The works on mathematics and mechanical science, published in the native languages in India in 1877, numbered 89. The medical science of the Brahmans was also an indepen- dent development. Both the national astronomy and the national medicine of India derived their first impulses from the exigencies of the national worship. Observations of the heavenly bodies were required to fix the dates of the recurring festivals ; anatomical knowledge took its origin in the dissection of the victim at the sacrifice, with a view to dedicating its different parts to the proper gods. The Hindus ranked their medical science as an upa-veda , or a supplementary revelation, under the title of Ayur-Veda, and ascribed it to the gods. But their earliest medical authorities belong to the Sutra period, or later scholastic development, of the Yajur-Veda. The specific diseases whose names occur in Panini’s Grammar, indicate that medical studies had made progress before his time (350 b.c.). The chapter on the human body in the earliest Sanskrit dictionary, the Amara-kosha (56 b.c. to 1050 a. d. ?), presupposes a systematic cultivation of the science ; and Brahman mathe- matics. Brahman medicine. Its inde- pendent develop- ment, 4th century B.c. to 8th century A.n. 1 Dr. Burnell has lately questioned this hitherto accepted view, and suggests that the old cave numerals of India are themselves of Greek origin. 2 The Sanskrit ucc/ia has become the aux (gen. aitgis) of the later translators (Reinaud, p. 525 ; Weber, p. 257). Scope of Indian medicine. Indian surgery. INDIA. [medicine. the works of the great Indian physicians, Charaka and Susruta, were translated into Arabic not later than the 8th century. Unlike the astronomical treatises of the Brahmans, the Hindu medical works never refer to the Yavanas, or Greeks, as authorities ; and, with one doubtful exception, they contain no names which point to a foreign origin. The chief seat of the science was at Benares, far to the east of Greek influence in India; and Indian pharmacy employed the weights and measures of provinces still farther to the south-east, Magadha and Kalinga. Arabic medicine was founded on the trans- lations from the Sanskrit treatises, made by command of the Kaliphs of Bagdad, 750-960 a.d. European medicine, down to the 17th century, was based upon the Arabic; and the name of the Indian physician Charaka repeatedly occurs in the Latin translations of Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Rhazes (A1 Rasi), and Serapion (Ibn Serabi). Indian medicine dealt with the whole area of the science. It described the structure of the body, its organs, ligaments, muscles, vessels, and tissues. The materia medica of the Hindus embraces a vast collection of drugs belonging to the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, many of which have now been adopted by European physicians. Their pharmacy contained ingenious processes of preparation, with elabo- rate directions for the administration and classification of medicines. Much attention was devoted to hygiene, regimen of the body, and diet. The surgery of the ancient Indian phy- sicians was bold and skilful. They conducted amputations, arresting the bleeding by pressure, a cup-shaped bandage, and boiling oil ; practised lithotomy ; performed operations in the abdomen and uterus; cured hernia, fistula, piles; set broken bones and dislocations ; and were dexterous in the extraction of foreign substances from the body. A special branch of surgery was devoted to rhinoplasty, or operations for improving deformed ears and noses, and forming new ones ; a useful operation in a country where mutilation formed part of the judicial system, and one which European surgeons have now borrowed. The ancient Indian surgeons also mention a cure for neuralgia, analogous to the modern cutting of the fifth nerve above the eye-brow. They devoted great care to the making of surgical instruments, and to the training of students by means of operations performed on wax spread out on a board, or on the tissues and cells of the vegetable kingdom, and upon dead animals. They were expert in midwifery, not shrinking from the most critical operations, and in the diseases MEDICINE.] INDIA. ”7 of women and children. Their practice of physic embraced the classification, causes, symptoms, and treatment of diseases, — diagnosis and prognosis. The maladies thus dealt with have been arranged into io classes, namely — those affecting (i) the humours ; (2) the general system, including fevers ; (3 to 9) the several organs and parts of the body; and (10) trivial complaints. Considerable advances were also made in veteri- nary science, and monographs exist on the diseases of horses and elephants. The best era of Indian medicine was contemporary with the Buddhist ascendency of Buddhism (250 b.c. to 600 a.d.), and did not hospitals long survive it. The science was studied in the chief centres of Buddhist civilisation, such as the great monastic university of Nalanda, near Gaya. The very ancient Brdhmans may have derived the rudiments of anatomy from the dissection of the sacrifice ; but the public hospitals which the Buddhist princes established in every city were probably the true schools of Indian medicine. A large number of cases were collected in them for continuous observation and treatment ; and they sup- plied opportunities for the study of disease similar to those which the Greek physicians obtained at their hospital camps around the mineral springs. Hippokrates was a priest-physician, indeed the descendant of a line of priest-physicians, practising at such a spring; and Charaka was in many ways his Indian counterpart. To the present day, works on Hindu medicine frequently commence their sections with the words, ‘ Charaka says.’ This half-mythical authority and Susruta, furnish the types of the ancient Indian physician, and probably belong, so far as they were real personages, to about the commencement of the Christian era. Both appear as Brahmans ; Susruta being, according to tradition, the son of the sage Viswamitra (, ante , p. 206); and Charaka, of another ‘Veda-learned Muni.’ As Buddhism passed into modern Hinduism (600-1000 a.d.), Decline of and the shackles of caste were reimposed with an iron rigour, ^dkine the Brahmans more scrupulously avoided contact with blood or morbid matter. They withdrew from the medical profes- sion, and left it entirely in the hands of the Vaidyas, a lower caste, sprung from a Brahman father and a mother of the Vaisya or cultivating class. These in their turn shrank more and more from touching dead bodies, and from those ancient operations on ‘ the carcase of a bullock,’ etc., by which alone surgical skill could be acquired. The abolition of the public hospitals, on the downfall of Buddhism, must also have proved a great loss to Indian medicine. The series of Muhammadan INDIA. [art of war. English medical colleges in India. Hindu art of war. conquests commencing in 1000 a.d., brought in a new school of foreign physicians, who derived their knowledge from the Arabic translations of the Sanskrit medical works of the best period. These Musalman doctors or hakims monopolized the patronage of the Muhammadan princes and nobles of India. The decline of Hindu medicine went on until it has sunk into the hands of the village kabiraj, whose knowledge consists of jumbled fragments of the Sanskrit texts, and a by no means contemptible pharmacopoeia, supplemented by spells, fasts, and quackery. While the dissection of the human body under Vesalius and Fabricius was giving birth to modern medicine in the 17th century, the best of the Hindu physicians were working upon the recollections of a long past age without any new lights. On the establishment of medical colleges in India by the British Government, about thirty years ago, the Muham- madan youth took advantage of them in disproportionately large numbers. But the Brahmans and intellectual classes of the Hindus soon realized that those colleges were the doors to an honourable and a lucrative career. Having accepted the change, they strove with their characteristic industry and acute- ness to place themselves at the head of it. Of the 1661 pupils now (1879) in our medical schools throughout India, 950 are Hindus and 284 are Muhammadans, while the remaining 427 include Christians, Parsis, and all others. Of three Indian youths studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh during the same year, one belonged to the Kayasth or writer caste, another to the Vaidya or hereditary physician caste, and the third was a Brahman.1 The number of medical works published in the native languages in India in 1877 amounted to 130. The Brahmans regarded not only medicine, but also the arts of war, music, and architecture as upa-vedas, or supplementary parts of their divinely inspired knowledge. Viswamitra, the Vedic sage of royal warrior birth, who in the end attained to 1 For monographs on this deeply interesting branch of Indian science, see the articles of Dr. E. Haas, ‘ Ueber die Urspriinge der Indischen Medizin, mit besonderem Bezug auf Susruta,’ and ‘ Hippokrates und die Indische Medizin des Mittelalters,’ — Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen- liindischen Gesellschaft for 1876, p. 617, and 1877, p. 647 ; the ‘ Indische Medicin, Karaka,’ of Professor Roth in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft for 1872, p. 441 ; the Review of the History of Medicine among the Asiatics, by T. A. Wise, M.D., 2 vols., Churchill, 1867; H. H. Wilson’s little essay, Works, iii. 269 (ed. 1864); and the excellent summary in Weber’s History of Indian Literature, Triibner, 1S7S. MUSIC.] INDIA. 119 Brahmanhood, was, according to tradition, the first teacher of the art of war ( dhanur-veda ). The Sanskrit epics prove that strategy had attained to the position of a recognised science before the birth of Christ, and the later Agni Purana devotes long sections to its systematic treatment. The Indian art of music (gandharva-veda) was destined to Indian exercise a wider influence. A regular system of notation had music- been worked out before the age of Panini (350 b.c. ?), and the seven notes were designated by their initial letters. This notation passed from the Brahmans through the Persians to Arabia, and was thence introduced into European music by Guido d’Arezzo at the beginning of the nth century.1 Some, indeed, suppose that our modern word ganiut comes not from the Greek letter gamma, but from the Indian gdma (in Prakrit ; in Sanskrit, grama), literally ‘ a musical scale.’ Hindu music, after a period of excessive elaboration, sank under the Muhammadan dynasties into a state of arrested development. Of the 36 chief musicians in the time of Akbar, only 5 were Hindus. Not content with tones and semi-tones, the Indian musicians employ a more minute subdivision, together with a number of sonal modifications, which the Western ear neither recognises nor enjoys. Thus they divide the octave into 22 sub-tones, instead of the 12 semi-tones of the European scale. This is one of several fundamental differences, but it alone suffices to render Indian music barbaric to us ; giving it the effect of a ballad in a minor key sung intentionally out of tune. Melodies which the Indian composer pronounces to be Its peculi- the perfection of harmony, and which have for ages touched anties- the hearts and fired the imagination of Indian audiences, are condemned as discord by the European critic. The Hindu ear has been trained to recognise modifications of sound which the European ear refuses to take pleasure in ; our ears, on the other hand, have been taught to expect harmonic combina- tions for which Indian music substitutes different combinations of its own. The Indian musician declines altogether to be judged by the few simple Hindu airs which the English ear can appreciate. It is, indeed, impossible to adequately represent the Indian system by the European notation ; and the full range of its effects can only be produced on Indian instruments — a vast collection of sound -producers, slowly elaborated during 2000 years to suit the special requirements of Hindu 1 Von Bohlen, Das alte Indien, ii. 195 (1830) ; Benfey’s Indien (Ersch & Gniber’s Encyclopasdie, xvii., 1S40) ; quoted by Weber, Hist. Ind. Lit., p. 272, footnote 315 (1878). Revival of Hindu music. Indian architec- ture. INDIA. [architecture. music. The complicated structure of its musical modes (rags) rests upon three separate systems, one of which consists of five, the other of six, and the other of seven notes. It pre- serves in a living state some of the earlier forms which puzzle the student of Greek music, side by side with the most complicated developments. Patriotic Hindus have of late endeavoured to create a musical revival upon the old Sanskrit basis. Within the past ten years, Raja Sourindra Mohan Tagore of Calcutta has published a series of interesting works on Indian music in the English tongue, adopting as far as possible the European notation. He has organized an orchestra to illustrate the art ; and presented complete col- lections of Hindu instruments to the Conservatoire at Paris, and to other institutions in Europe. One of the earliest sub- jects which the new movement took as its theme, was the celebration of the Queen of England and her ancestors, in a Sanskrit volume entitled the Victoria-Gitika (Calcutta, 1875). No Englishman has yet brought an adequate acquaintance with the technique of Indian instrumentation to the study of Hindu music. The art still awaits investigation by some eminent Western professor; and the contempt with which Europeans in India regard it merely proves their ignorance of the system on which Hindu music is built up. Indian architecture ( artha-sastra j,1 although also ranked as an upa-veda or supplementary part of inspired learning, owes its development to Buddhist rather than to Brahmanical impulses. A brick altar sufficed for the Vedic ritual. The Buddhists were the great stone-builders of India. Their monasteries and shrines exhibit the history of the art during twenty-two centuries, from the earliest cave structures and rock-temples, to the latest Jain erections, dazzling in stucco and over- crowded with ornament. It seems not improbable that the churches of Europe owe their steeples to the Buddhist topes. The Greco - Bactrian kingdom profoundly influenced archi- tecture and sculpture in Northern India; the Musalman con- querors brought in new forms and requirements of their own. Nevertheless, Hindu art powerfully asserted itself in the imperial works of the Mughals, and has left behind memorials which extort the admiration and astonishment of our age. The Hindu builders derived from the Muham- madans a lightness of structure which they did not formerly possess. The palace -architecture of Gwalior, the mosques and mausoleums of Agra and Delhi, with several of the older 1 Specifically, nirmana-silpam, or nirmdna-vidya. PAINTING.] INDIA. I 2 I temples of Southern India, stand unrivalled for grace of out- line and elaborate wealth of ornament. The Taj-Mahal ( see Agra) justifies Heber’s exclamation, that its builders had designed like Titans, and finished like jewellers. The open- carved marble windows and screens at Ahmedabad, etc. supply examples of the skilful ornamentation which beautifies every Indian building from the cave monasteries of the Buddhist period downward. English decorative art in our day has borrowed largely from Indian forms and patterns. The ex- quisite scrolls of the rock-temples at Karli and Ajanta, the delicate marble tracery and flat wood-carving of Western India, the harmonious blending of forms and colours in the fabrics of Kashmir, have contributed to the restoration of taste in England. Indian art-work, when faithful to native designs, has obtained the highest honours at the various international exhibitions of Europe. In pictorial art, the Hindus never made much progress, except in miniature-painting, for which perspec- Indian tive is not required. But some of the book-illustrations, PamtinS- executed in India under Persian impulses, are full of spirit and beauty. The Royal library at Windsor contains the finest existing examples in this by-path of art, — a noble manuscript of the Shah Jahan Ndviah , purchased in Oudh for ^1200 in the last century, and now in possession of Her Majesty, will amply repay a visit. The specimens at the South Kensington Museum do not adequately represent that branch of Indian painting. But they are almost everything that could be desired as regards Indian design, even including Persian bookbinding, and several of the minor formative arts. While the Brahmans claimed religion, theology, and philo- Brahman sophy as their special domain, and the chief sciences and arts Ia"' as supplementary sections of their divinely inspired knowledge, they secured their social supremacy by codes of law. Their earliest Dharma-sastras, or legal treatises, belong to the Grihya- Grihya- Sutra period, a scholastic outgrowth from the Veda. But their ^ Bb’c two great digests, upon which the fabric of Hindu jurisprudence (?). has been built up, are of later date. The first of these, the code of Manu, is separated from the Vedic era by a series of The code Brahmanical developments, of which we possess only a few of ^ ^en-’ the intermediate links. It is a compilation of the customary tury b.c. law, current probably about the 5th century b.c., and exhibits (?)- the social organization which the Brahmans, after their successful struggle for the supremacy, had established in the Middle Land of Bengal. The Brahmans, indeed, claimed for their laws a divine origin, and ascribed them to the first Manu, or Aryan 1 Code of Yajna- valkya. 2nd to 6th century. Scope of Hindu law. Its rigid caste system. INDIA. [law. man, 30 millions of years ago. But as a matter of fact, the laws of Manu are the result of a series of attempts to codify the usages of some not very extensive centre of Brahmanism in Northern India, — a metrical digest of local customs con- densed by degrees from a legendary mass of 100,000 couplets {slokas) into 2684. They may possibly have been reduced to their final form of a written code with a view to securing the system of caste against the popular movement of Buddhism, and to thus giving a rigid fixity to the privileges of the Brahmans. The second great code of the Hindus, that of Yajnavalkya, belongs to a period when Buddhism had established itself, and probably to a territory where it was beginning to succumb to the Brahmanical reaction. It represents the Brahmanical side of the great controversy (although a section of it deals with the organization of Buddhist monasteries), refers to the execu- tion of deeds on metal plates, and altogether marks an advance in legal precision. It was compiled apparently not earlier than the 2nd century A.D., and certainly not later than the 6th or 7 th. These codes deal with Hindu law in three branches, namely — (x) domestic and civil rights and duties; (2) the administration of justice ; (3) purification and penance. They stereotyped the unwritten usages which regulated the family life and social organization of the old Aryan communities in the Middle Land. They did not pretend to supply a body of law for all the numerous races of India, but only for Hindu communities of the Brahmanical type. It is doubtful whether they quite accurately represented the actual customary law even in such communities, for they were apparently drawn up with a view to asserting and maintaining the special privileges of the Brahmans. This they effect by a rigid demarcation of the employments of the people, each caste or division of a caste having its own hereditary occupation assigned to it ; by stringent rules against the intermingling of the castes in marriage ; by forbidding the higher castes, under severe penalties, to eat or drink or hold social intercourse with the lower ; and by punishing the lower castes with still more cruel penances, for defiling by their touch the higher castes, or in any way infringing their privileges. They ex- hibit the Hindu community in the four ancient divisions of priests, warriors, cultivators, and serfs ( sudras ). But they dis- close that this old Aryan classification failed to represent the actual facts even of the Aryan communities in Northern India. They admit that the mass of the people did not belong to any INDIA. 123 LAW.] one of the four castes, and very inadequately ascribe it to mixed concubinage or illicit connections. The ancient Brdh- manical communities in Northern India, as revealed by the codes, consisted — First, of an Aryan element divided into The actual priests, warriors, and cultivators, all of whom bore the proud ^’people title of the Twice-Born, and wore the sacred thread. Second, of the subjugated races, ‘ the once-born ’ Sudras. Third, of a vast residue of the Varna-sankara, literally the ‘mingled colours,’ a great but uncertain number of castes to whom was assigned a mixed descent from the four recognised classes. The Census of 1871 proved that the same division remains the fundamental one to this day. As the Brahmans spread their influence eastwards and Growth of southwards from the Middle Land of Bengal, they carried |5^du their codes with them. The number of their sacred law- books (Dharma-sastras) amounted to at least fifty-six, and separate schools of Hindu law sprang up. Thus the Daya- bhaga version of the I, aw of Inheritance prevails in Bengal, while the Mitdkshara commentary on Yajnavalkya is current in Madras and throughout Southern and Western India. But all modern recensions of Hindu law rest upon the two ancient codes ; and these codes, as we have seen, only recorded the usages of certain Brahmanical centres in the north, and perhaps did not fairly record even them. As the Brahmans gradually moulded the population of India into Hinduism, such codes proved too narrow a basis for dealing with the rights, duties, and social organization of the people. The later Hindu legislators accordingly inculcated the recog- Based on nition of the local usages or land-law of each part of the country, £^omary and of each class or tribe. While binding together and pre- serving the historical unity of the Aryan twice-born castes by systems of law founded on their ancient codes, they made provision for the customs and diverse stages of civilisation of the ruder peoples of India, over whom they established their ascendency. By such provisions, alike in religion and law, the Brahmans incorporated the Indian races into that loosely coherent mass known as the Hindu population. It is to this plastic element that Hinduism owes its success ; Plasticity and it is an element which English administrators have some- ?f Hindu- times overlooked. The races of British India exhibit many lsm' stages of domestic institutions, from the polyandry of the Nairs to the polygamy of the Kulin Brahmans. The structure of their rural organization varies, from the nomadic hus- bandry of the hillmen, to the long chain of tenures which 124 INDIA. Its incor- poration c local customs. Perils of modern codifica- tion. [INDIAN LAW. in Bengal stretches from the landlord through a series of middle-men to the actual tiller of the soil. Every stage in industrial progress is represented ; from the hunting tribes of the central plateau to the rigid trade-guilds of Guzerat. The Hindu legislators recognised that each of these diverse stages of social development had its own usages and unwritten law. Vrihaspati says, ‘ The laws ( dharma ) practised by the various countries, castes, and tribes, they are to be preserved ; other- wise the people are agitated.’ Devala says, ‘ What gods there are in any country, . . . and whatsoever be the custom and law anywhere, they are not to be despised there ; the law there is such.’ Varahamihira says, ‘ The custom of the country is first to be considered ; what is the rule in each country, that is to be done.’ The most learned English judge in Southern India thus sums up : ‘ By custom only can the Dharma-sastra [Hindu law] be the rule of others than Brahmans [only one- thirtieth of the population of Madras], and even in the case of Brahmans it is very often superseded by custom.’1 The English, on assuming the government of India, wisely declared that they would administer justice according to the customs of the people. But our High Courts enforce the Brahmanical codes with a comprehensiveness and precision unknown in ancient India. Thus in Bengal, the custom of saga t, by which deserted or divorced wives among the lower castes marry again, was lately tried according to ‘ the spirit of Hindu law ; ’ while in Madras, judges have pointed out a serious divergence between the Hindu law as now admini- stered, and the actual usages of the people. Those usages are unwritten and uncertain. The Hindu law is printed in many accessible forms ; and Hindu barristers are ever pressing its principles upon our courts. Efforts at comprehensive codification in British India are thus surrounded by special difficulties. For it would be improper to give the fixity of a code to all the unwritten half-fluid usages current among the 300 unhomogeneous castes of Hindus; while it might be fraught with future injustice to exclude any of them. Each age has the gift of adjusting its institutions to its actual wants, especially among tribes whose customs have not been reduced to written law. Many of those customs will, if left to them- selves, die out ; others of them, which prove suited to the new 1 Dr. Burnell’s Daya-vibhagha, Introd. p. xv. — See also Hindu Law as Administered by the High Court of Judicature at Madras, by J. Nelson, M.A., District Judge of Cuddapa, chaps, iii. and iv. (Madras, 1S77). Especially Journal Roy. As. Soc., pp. 208-236 (April 1881). EPIC POETRY.] INDIA. J25 social developments under British rule, will live. A code should stereotype the survival of the fittest ; but the process of natural selection must be, to some extent, the work of time, and not an act of conscious legislation. This has been recog- nised by the ablest of Anglo-Indian codifiers. They restrict the word code to the systematic arrangement of the rules relating to some well-marked section of juristic rights, or to some executive department of the administration of justice. ‘ In its larger sense,’ write the Indian Law Commissioners in 1879, ‘ °f a general assemblage of all the laws of a community, no attempt has yet been made in this country to satisfy the conception of a code. The time for its realization has manifestly not arrived.’ The number of works on Law, published in the native lan- guages in India in 1877, was 165. The Brahmans were not merely the depositaries of the Secular sacred books, the philosophy, the science, and the laws of^et^ure the ancient Hindu commonwealth ; they were also the creators Hindus, and custodians of its secular literature. They had a practical monopoly of Vedic learning, and their policy was to trace back every branch of knowledge and of intellectual effort to the Veda. In this policy they were aided by the divergence which, as we have seen, arose at a very early date between the written and spoken languages of India. Sanskrit literature, apart from Its chief religion, philosophy, and law, consists mainly of two great l,,ran<-llL>- epics, the drama, and a vast body of legendary, erotic, and mystical poetry. The venerable epic of the Mahabharata ranks first. The The Maha- orthodox legend ascribes it to the sage Vy£sa, who, according hharata ; to Brahman chronology, compiled the inspired hymns into the four Vedas, nearly five thousand years ago (3001 B.C.). But one beauty of Sanskrit is that every word discloses its ancient origin in spite of mediaeval fictions, and Vyasa means simply the ‘ arranger,’ from the verb ‘to fit together.’ No fewer than twenty-eight Vyasas, incarnations of Brahma and Vishnu, came down in successive astronomical eras to arrange and promulgate the Vedas on earth. Many of the legends in the Mahabharata are of Vedic antiquity, and the main story deals with a period assigned, in the absence of any conclusive evidence, to about 1200 b.c.; and certainly long anterior to the time of Buddha, 543 b.c. But its compilation into its present literary form seems to have taken place several centuries later. Panini makes no clear allusion to it (350 b.c.). The inquisitive Greek ambassador and Its date ; historian, Megasthenes, does not appear to have heard of it 1 26 INDIA. [mahabharata. during his stay in India, 300 b.c. Dion Chrysostomos sup- plies the earliest external evidence of the existence of the Mahabharata, circ. 75 a.d. The arrangement of its vast mass of legends must probably have covered a long period. Indeed, the present poem bears traces of three separate eras of com- pilation ; during which its collection of primitive folk-tales Its grew (as stated by itself) from 8800 s/okas or couplets, into a growth. cyclopaedia of Indian mythology and legendary lore extending over eighteen books and 220,000 lines. The twenty-four books of Homer’s Iliad comprise only 15,693 lines ; and the twelve books of Virgil’s Hineid, only 9868. Central The central story of the Mahabharata occupies scarcely th^Maha- °ne-fourth of the whole, or about 50,000 lines. It narrates bharata. a prehistoric struggle between two families of the Lunar race for a patch of country near Delhi. These families, alike descended from the royal Bharata, consisted of two brotherhoods, cousins to each other, and both brought up under the same roof. The five Pandavas were the miraculously born sons of King Pandu, who, smitten by a curse, resigned the sovereignty to his brother Dhrita-rashtra, and retired to a hermitage in the Himalayas, where he died. The ruins of his capital, Hastinapura, or the ‘ Elephant City,’ are pointed out beside a deserted bed of the Ganges, 57 miles north-east of Delhi, at this day. His brother ruled in his stead, and to him one hundred sons were born, who took the name of the Kauravas from an ancestor, Kuru. Dhrita-rashtra acted as a faithful guardian to his five nephews, the Pandavas, and chose the eldest of them as heir to the family kingdom. His own sons resented this act of supercession ; and so arose the quarrel between the hundred Kauravas and the five Pandavas which forms the main story of the Mahabharata. Its outline. The hundred Kauravas forced their father to send away their cousins into the forest, and there they treacherously burned down the hut in which the five Pindavas dwelt. The latter escaped, and wandered in the disguise of Brahmans to the court of King Draupada, who had proclaimed a swayani- vara , or maiden’s-choice, at which his daughter would take the victor as her husband. Arjuna, one of the Pandavas, bent the mighty bow which had defied the strength of all the rival chiefs, and so obtained the fair princess, Draupadf, who became the common wife of the five brethren. Their uncle, the good Dhrita-rashtra, recalled them to his capital, and gave them one- half of the family territory, reserving the other half for his own sons. The Pandava brethren hived off to a new settlement, INDIA. 127 MAH ABHA RATA.] Indra-prastha, afterwards Delhi ; clearing the jungle, and driving out the Nagas or forest - races. For a time peace reigned ; but the Kauravas tempted Yudishthira, ‘ firm in fight,’ the eldest of the Pandavas, to a gambling match, at which he lost his kingdom, his brothers, himself, and last of all, his wife. Their father, however, forced his sons to restore their wicked gains to their cousins. But Yudishthira was again seduced by the Kauravas to stake his kingdom at dice, again lost it, and had to retire with his wife and brethren into exile for twelve years. Their banishment ended, the five Pandavas returned at the head of an army to win back their kingdom. Many battles followed, gods and divine heroes Final joining in the struggle, until at last all the hundred Kauravas ^ were slain, and of the friends and kindred of the Pandavas Kauravas. only the five brethren remained. Their uncle, Dhrita-rashtra, made over to them the whole kingdom ; and for a long time the Pandavas ruled gloriously, Reign of celebrating the aswa-j/iedha, or ‘ great horse sacrifice,’ in p^^vas token of their holding imperial sway. But their uncle, old and blind, ever taunted them with the slaughter of his hundred sons, until at last he crept away with his few surviving ministers, his aged wife, and his sister-in-law, the mother of the Pandavas, to a hermitage, where the worn-out band perished in a forest fire. The five brethren, smitten by remorse, gave up their kingdom ; and taking their wife, Draupadf, and a faith- ful dog, they departed to the Himalayas to seek the heaven of Their pil- Indra on Mount Meru. One by one the sorrowful pilgrims died Snmage to J a o heaven upon the road, until only the eldest brother, Yudishthira, and the dog reached the gate of heaven. Indra invited him to enter, but he refused if his lost wife and brethren were not also admitted. The prayer was granted, but he still declined unless his faithful dog might come in with him. This could not be allowed, and Yudishthira, after a glimpse of heaven, was thrust down to hell, where he found many of his old comrades in anguish. He resolved to share their sufferings rather than to enjoy paradise alone. But having triumphed in this crowning trial, the whole scene was revealed to be may a or illusion, and the reunited band entered into heaven, where they rest for ever with Indra. Even this story, which forms merely the nucleus of the Slow Mahabharata, is evidently the growth of far distant ages. For of^ example, the two last books, the 17th and 18th, which nar- story, rate ‘the Great Journey’ and ‘the Ascent to Heaven,’ are the product of a very different epoch of thought from the early 128 INDIA. MAHABHARATA. ones, which portray the actual life of courts and camps in ancient India. The swayam-vara or husband-choosing of Draupadi is a genuine relic of the warrior-age of the Aryans in Hindustan. Her position as the common wife of the five brethren preserves a trace of even more primitive institutions The poly- — institutions still represented by the polyandry of the Nairs Draupadi an<^ other hill races, and by domestic customs which are survivals of polyandry among the Hinduized low-castes all over India. Thus, in the Punjab, among Jat families too poor to bear the marriage expenses of all the males, the wife of the eldest son has sometimes to accept her brothers-in-law as joint husbands. The polyandry of the Ghakkars, the brave people of Rdwal Pindi District, was one of their characteristics which specially struck the advancing Muhammadans in 1008 a.d.1 The Karakat Vellalars of Madura, at the opposite extremity of the peninsula, no longer practise polyandry ; but they preserve a trace of it in their condonement of cohabita- tion with the husband’s kindred, while adultery outside the husband’s family entails expulsion from caste. Such customs became abhorrent at an early period to the Brahmans ; and they have justified Draupadi’s position, on the ground that as the five Pandava brethren were divinely begotten emanations from one deity, they formed in reality only one person, and could be lawfully married to the same woman. No such afterthought was required to uphold the honour of Draupadi in the age when the legend took its rise. Throughout the whole Maha- The rest of the Maha- bharata. bharata she figures as the type of a high-born princess, and a chaste, brave, and faithful wife. She shares in every sorrow and triumph of the five brethren ; bears a son to each ; and finally enters with the true - hearted band into the glory of Indra. Her husbands take a terrible vengeance on any insult offered to her, and seem quite unaware that a later age would deem her position one which required explanation.2 The struggle for the kingdom of Hastinapur forms, how- ever, only a fourth of the Mahabharata. The remainder con- sists of later additions ; some of them are legends of the early Aryan settlements in the Middle Land, tacked on to the central story ; others are mythological episodes, theological 1 See post, p. 173. 2 The beautiful story of Savitn, the wife faithful to the end, is told in the Mahabharata by the sage Markandeya in answer to Yudishthira’s question, whether any woman so true and noble as Draupadi had ever been known. Savitri dogged the steps of Yama, King of Death, until she wrung from him, one by one, many blessings for her family, and finally the restoration of her husband to life. RAMAYANA.] INDIA. X29 discourses, and philosophic disquisitions, intended to teach the military caste its duties, especially its duty of reverence to the Brahmans. Taken as a whole, the Mahdbhdrata may be said to form the cyclopaedia of the Heroic Age in Northern India, with the struggle of the Pdndavas and Kauravas as its original nucleus ; and the submission of the military power to priestly domination as its later and didactic design. The second great Indian epic, the Ramdyana, recounts the The advance of the Aryans into Southern India. Unlike the Rama' Mahabharata, its composition is assigned not to a compiler J (vyasa) in the abstract, but to a named poet, Valmfki. On the other hand, the personages and episodes of the Ramayana have an abstract or mythological character, which contrasts with the matter-of-fact stories of the Mahabharata. The heroine of the Ramdyana, Sfta, is literally the ‘ field-furrow,’ to whom the Vedic hymns and early Aryan ritual paid divine honour. She represents Aryan husbandry, and has to be defended against the raids of the aborigines by the hero Rama, an incar- nation of the Aryan deity Vishnu, born of his divine nectar, and regarded by Weber as originally identical with Balarama, the ‘ Ploughbearer ’ ( ' lialabhrit ). The abduction of Sfta by an Its alle- aboriginal or demon prince, her recovery by Rama, and the ^rac'tei advance of the Aryans into Southern India, form the main stoiy of the Ramayana. It differs therefore from the central legend of the Mahabharata, as commemorating a period when the main arena of Aryan enterprise had extended itself far beyond their ancient settlements around Delhi ; and as a pro- duct of the Brahman tendency to substitute abstract personi- fications for human actors and mundane events. The nucleus of the Mahabharata is a legend of ancient life ; the nucleus of the Ramayana is an allegory. Its most modem form, the Adhyatma Rdmdyana, still further spiritualizes the story, and elevates Rama into a saviour and deliverer, a god rather than a hero. Its reputed author, Valmfki, forms the central literary figure Valmfki. in the epic, as well as its composer. He takes part in the action of the poem, receives the hero Rama in his hermitage, and afterwards gives shelter to the unjustly banished Sfta and her twin sons, nourishing the aspirations of the youths by tales of their father’s prowess. These stories make up the main part of the Ramayana, and refer to a period which has been loosely assigned to about 1000 b.c., although the poem could not have been put together in its present shape many centuries before the birth of Christ. Parts of it may be i3o Outline of the Rama- yana. The local legend. The ab- duction of Si'ta. Her rescue. INDIA. [ramayana. earlier than the Mahabharata, but the compilation as a whole apparently belongs to a later date. The Ramayana consists of seven books (. Kandas ) and 24,000 s/okas, or about 48,000 lines. As the Mahabharata celebrates the lunar race of Delhi, so the Ramayana forms the epic chronicle of the solar race of Ajodhya or Oudh. The two poems thus preserve the legends of two renowned Aryan kingdoms at the two opposite, or eastern and western, borders of the Middle Land (Madhya- desa). The opening books of the Ra.md.yana recount the wondrous birth and boyhood of Rama, eldest son of Dasa- ratha, King of Ajodhya; his marriage with Sfta, as victor at her swayam-vara , by bending the mighty bow of Siva in the public contest of chiefs for the princess ; and his selection as heir- apparent (or Juva-raja) to his father’s kingdom. A zanana intrigue ends in the youngest wife of Dasa-ratha obtaining this appointment for her own son, Bharata, and in the exile of Rama, with his bride Sita, for fourteen years to the forest. The exiled pair wander south to Allahabad, already a place of sanctity, and thence across the river to the hermitage of Val- miki, among the Banda jungles of Bundelkhand, where a hill is still pointed out as the scene of their abode. Meanwhile Rama’s father dies, and the loyal youngest brother, Bharata, although the lawful successor, refuses to enter on the inherit- ance, and goes in quest of Rama to bring him back as rightful heir. A contest of fraternal affection takes place ; Bharata at length returning to rule the family kingdom in the name of Rama, until the latter should come to claim it at the end of his fourteen years of banishment. So far, the Ramdyana merely narrates the local chronicles of the court of Ajodhya. In the third book the main story begins. Ravana, the demon or aboriginal king of the far south, smitten by the fame of Sita’s beauty, seizes her at the hermitage while her husband is away in the jungle, and flies off with her in a magic chariot through the air to Ceylon. The next three books (4th, 5th, and 6th) recount the expedition of the bereaved Rama for her recovery. He makes alliances with the aboriginal tribes of Southern India, under the names of monkeys and bears, and raises a great army. The Monkey general, Hanuman, jumps across the straits between India and Ceylon, discovers the princess in captivity, and leaps back with the news to Rama. The monkey troops then build a causeway across the narrow sea, — the Adam’s Bridge of modern geography, — by which Rama marches across and, after slaying the monster Ravana, delivers Sita. The rescued wife proves INDIA. LATER EPICS.] I3I her unbroken chastity, during her stay in the palace of Rdvana, by the ancient ordeal of fire. Agni, the god of that element, himself conducted her out of the burning pile to her husband; and, the fourteen years of banishment being over, Rama and Sita return in triumph to Ajodhya. There they reigned gloriously ; and Rama celebrated the great horse sacrifice ( asiva-medha ) as a token of his imperial sway over India. But a famine having smitten the land, doubts arose in Rama’s heart as to his wife’s purity while in her captor’s power at Ceylon. He banishes the faithful Sita, who wanders forth again to Yalmiki’s her- mitage, where she gives birth to Rama’s two sons. After six- teen years of exile, she is reconciled to her repentant husband, and Rama and Sita and their children are at last reunited. The Mahabharataand the Ramayana, however overlaid with Later San- fable, form the chronicles of the kings of the Middle Land sknt epic (Madhya-desa), their family feuds, and their national enter- prises. In the later Sanskrit epics, the legendary element is more and more overpowered by the mythological. Among them the Raghu - vansa and the Kumara - sambhava, both assigned to Kalidasa, take the first rank. The Raghu-vansa Raghu- celebrates the solar line of Raghu, King of Ajodhya, more vansa- particularly the ancestry and the life of his descendant Rama. The Kumdra-sambhava recounts the birth of the war-god.1 Kumara- It is still more didactic and allegorical, abounding in sentiment and in feats of prosody, but nevertheless containing passages of much beauty of style and grace of thought. From the astrological data which these two poems furnish, Jacobi arrives at the conclusion that they cannot have been composed before 35° a.d. The name of Kdlidasa has come down, not only as the Kalidasa, composer of these two later epics, but as the father of the Sanskrit drama. According to Hindu tradition, he was one of the ‘ Nine Gems ’ or distinguished men at the court of Vikramaditya, King of Ujjain, who has given his name to the Samvat era, commencing in 56 or 57 b.c. But, as Holtzmann points out, it may be almost as dangerous to infer from this latter circumstance that Vikramaditya lived in 57 b.c., as to King Vik- place Julius Caesar in the first year of the so-called Julian ramadltya- Calendar, namely 4713 b.c. Several Vikramadityas figure in Indian history; indeed, the name is a title, ‘A very Sun in 1 Translated into spirited English verse by Mr. Ralph T. H. Griffith, M.A., who is also the author of a charming collection of ‘ Idylls from the Sanskrit,’ based on the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Raghu-vansa, and Kali- dasa’s Seasons. i32 INDIA. [drama. Prowess,’ which has been borne by victorious monarchs of many of the Indian dynasties. The date of Vikramaditya has been variously assigned from 57 b.c. to 1050 a.d. ; and the works of the poets and philosophers who formed the ‘ Nine Gems ’ of his court, appear from internal evidence to have been composed at intervals during that long period. Age of the In India, as in Greece and Rome, scenic representations drama 11 seem to have taken their rise in the rude pantomime of a very early time, possibly as far back as the Vedic ritual ; and the Sanskrit word for the drama, naiaka, is derived from nata, a dancer. But the Sanskrit dramas of the classical age which have come down to us, probably belong to the period between the 1st century b.c. and the 8th century a.d. They make mention of Greek slaves, are acquainted with Buddhism in its full development, and disclose a wide divergence between Sanskrit and the dialects used by the lower classes. The Maha- bharata and Ramayana appear in the drama as part of the popular literature, — in fact, as occupying very much the same position which they still hold. No dramas are yet known to exist among the works which the Hindus who emigrated to Java, about 500 a.d., carried with them to their new homes, nor among the Tibetan translations of the Sanskrit classics. Sakuntala. The most famous drama of Kdliddsa is Sakuntala, or the ‘ Lost Ring.’ Like the ancient epics, it divides its action between the court of the king and the hermitage in the forest. Prince Dushyanta, an ancestor of the noble Lunar race, weds by an irregular marriage a beautiful Brahman girl, Sakuntala, at her father’s retreat in the jungle. Before returning to his capital, he gives his bride a ring as a pledge of his love ; but smitten by a curse from a Brdhman, she loses the ring, and cannot be recognised by her husband till it is found. Sakun- tala bears a son in her loneliness, and sets out to claim recog- nition for herself and child at her husband’s court. But she is as one unknown to the prince, till, after many sorrows and trials, the ring comes to light. She is then happily reunited with her husband, and her son grows up to be the noble Bharata, the chief founder of the Lunar dynasty whose achievements form the theme of the Mahabharata. Sakun- tala, like Sita, is the type of the chaste and faithful Hindu wife ; and her love and sorrow, after forming the favourite romance of the Indian people for perhaps eighteen hundred years, have furnished a theme for the great European poet of our age. ‘ Wouldst thou,’ says Goethe — INDIA. 133 NOVELS. J ‘ Wouldst thou the young year’s blossoms, and the fruits of its decline, And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed, — Wouldst thou the earth and heaven itself in one sole name combine ? I name thee, O Sakuntala ! and all at once is said.’ Sakuntala has had the good fortune to be translated by Sir William Jones (1789), and to be sung by Goethe. But other of the Hindu dramas and domestic poems are of almost equal interest and beauty. As examples of the classical period, may be taken the Mrichchhakatf, or ‘ Toy Cart,’ a drama in ten acts, on the old theme of the innocent cleared and the guilty punished ; and the poem of Nala and Damayantf, or the ‘ Royal Gambler and the Faithful Wife.’ Such plays and poems frequently take an episode of the Mahabharata or Ramayana for their subject ; and in this way the main incidents in the two great epics have been gradually drama- tized or reduced to the still more popular form of household song. The drama was one of the first branches of Hindu literature to heartily accept the spoken dialects ; and the native theatre forms the best, indeed the only, school in which an Englishman can acquaint himself with the in-door life of the people. In our own day, there has been a great dramatic revival in India : new plays in the vernacular tongues con- stantly issue from the press ; and societies of patriotic young natives form themselves into dramatic companies, especially in Calcutta and Bombay. Many of the pieces are vernacular renderings of stories from the Sanskrit epics and classical dramas. Several have a political significance, and deal with the phases of development upon which India has entered under the influence of British rule. One Bengdli play, the Nil-darpan,1 or the ‘ Indigo Factory,’ became the subject of a celebrated trial in Calcutta ; while others — such as Ekei ki bale Sabhyatd? ‘ Is this what you call civilisation ? ’ — suggest many serious thoughts to a candid English mind. In 1877, the last year for which I have the official returns, 102 dramas were published in India in the native tongues. Closely allied to the drama is the prose romance. In 1823, Dr. H. H. Wilson intimated that Hindu literature contained collections of domestic narrative to an extent surpassing those of any other people. The vast growth of European fiction since that date renders this statement no longer accurate. But 1 Literally, ‘The Mirror of Indigo.’ Since writing the above, nine Bengali plays have reached me from Calcutta ; and such works, in the various vernaculars, figure largely in the annual lists of printed books registered in each of the Indian Presidencies or Provinces. Other dramas, The Hindu novel. J34 INDIA. [lyric poetry. Beast- stories. Sanskrit lyric poetry. Wilson’s translations from the Vrihat-kathd will still be read with interest,1 and the Sanskrit Beast-stories now occupy an even more significant place in the history of Indo-European literature than they did then. The fables of animals familiar to the western world, from the time of vEsop downwards, had their original home in India. The relation between the fox and the lion in the Greek versions has no reality in nature ; but it was based upon the actual relation between the lion and his follower the jackal, in the Sanskrit stories.2 Weber thinks that complete cycles of Indian fables may have existed in the time of Panini (350 b.c. ?). It is known that the Sanskrit Pancha- tantra, or Book of Beast Tales, was translated into the ancient Persian as early as the 6th century a.d., and from that render- ing all the subsequent versions in Asia Minor and Europe have been derived. The most ancient animal fables of India are at the present day the nursery stories of England and America. The graceful Hindu imagination delighted also in fairy tales ; and the Sanskrit compositions of this class are the original source of many of the fairy stories of Persia, Arabia, and Christendom. The works of fiction published in the native languages in India in 1877 numbered 196. In mediaeval India, a large body of poetry, half-religious, half- amorous, grew up around the legend of the youthful Krishna (the eighth incarnation of Vishnu) and his loves with the shepherdesses, the playmates of his sweet pastoral life. Kali- dasa, according to Hindu tradition, was the father of the erotic lyric, as well as a great dramatic and epic poet. In his Megha-duta, or ‘ Cloud Messenger,’ an exile sends a message by a wind-borne cloud to his love, and the countries beneath its long aerial route are made to pass like a panorama before the reader’s eye. The Gita Govinda, or Divine Herdsman of Jayadeva, is a Sanskrit ‘Song of Solomon,’ not earlier than the 1 2th century a.d. A festival once a year celebrates the birthplace of this mystical love-poet, in the Birbhum District of Lower Bengal ; and many less famous compositions of the same class now issue from the vernacular press throughout India. In 1877, no fewer than 697 works of poetry were published in the native languages in India. 1 Oriental Quarterly Magazine , Calcutta, March 1824, pp. 63-77. Also vol. iii. of Wilson’s Collected Works, pp. 156-268. London, 1864. 2 See, however, Weber’s elaborate footnote, No. 221, for the other view, Hist. Ind. Lit., p. 21 1. Max Muller’s charming essay on the Migration of Fables (Chips, vol. iv. pp. 145-209, 1875) traces the actual stages of a well-known story from the East to the West. PURANAS.] INDIA. 135 The mediaeval Brahmans displayed a marvellous activity in The theological as well as in lyric poetry. The Puranas, literally g^to 16th ‘The Ancient Writings,’ form a collection of religious and philo- century sophical treatises in verse, of which the principal ones number A,D' eighteen. The whole Puranas are said to contain 1,600,000 lines. The really old ones have either been lost or been in- corporated in new compilations ; and the composition of the existing Puranas probably took place from the 8th to the 16th century a.d. As the epics sang the wars of the Aryan heroes, so the Puranas recount the deeds of the Brahman gods. They Contents deal with the creation of the universe ; its successive dissolu- of lhe tions and reconstructions ; the stories of the deities and their ra 1 ' incarnations; the reigns of the divine Manus; and the chronicles of the Solar and Lunar lines of kings who ruled, the former in the east and the latter in the west of the Middle Land (Madhya-desha). The Puranas belong to the period when the Hindus had split up into their two existing divisions, as worshippers of Vishnu or of Siva. They devote themselves to the glorification of one or other of these two rival gods, and thus embody the sectarian theology of Brah- manism. While claiming to be founded on Vedic inspiration, Their they practically superseded the Veda, and have formed during influence, ten centuries the sacred literature on which Hinduism rests. An idea of the literary activity of the Indian mind at the Indian present day may be formed from the fact, that 4890 works were works published in India in 1877, of which 4346 were in the native ^1877?^ languages. Only 436 were translations, the remaining 4454 being; original works or new editions. In order to understand the long domination of the Brahmans, and the influence which they still wield, it is necessary ever to keep in mind their position as the great literary caste. Their priestly supremacy has been repeatedly assailed, and was during a space of nearly a thousand years overthrown. But throughout twenty-two centuries they have been the counsellors of Hindu princes and the teachers of the Hindu people. They represent the early Aryan civilisation of India ; and the essential history of the Hindus is a narrative of the attacks upon the continuity of that civilisation, — that is to say, of attacks upon the Brah- manical system of the Middle Land, and of the modifications and compromises to which that system has had to submit. Those attacks range themselves under six epochs. First, the religious uprising of the half-Brahmanized Aryan tribes on the e'ast of the Middle Land, initiated by the preaching of Buddha The essentials of Indian history. The six at- tacks from without on Brahman- ism, 6th century B.c. to 19th cen- tury A.D. 136 INDIA. 1. Buddh- ism. 2. Greeks. 3. Non- Aryan tribes. 4. Hindu sects. 5. Muham- madans. 6. English. • [six EPOCHS. in the 6th century b.c., culminating in the Buddhist kingdoms about the commencement of our era, and melting into modern Hinduism about the 8th century a.d. Second, warlike inroads of non-Brahmanical Aryans or other races from the west, com- mencing with the Greek invasions in the 4th century b.c., and continuing under the Greco-Bactrian empire and its successors to probably the 3rd or 5th century a.d. Third, the influence of the non-Aryan tribes of India and of the non-Aryan low- castes incorporated from them ; an influence ever at work — indeed by far the most powerful agent in dissolving Brahman- ism into Hinduism, but represented in a special manner by the non- Aryan kingdoms about the 7th and 8th centuries a.d. Fourth, the reaction against the low beliefs, priestly oppression, and bloody rites which resulted from this compromise between Brahmanism and aboriginal worship. The reaction received an impetus from the preaching of Sankar Acharja, who founded the great Sivaite sect about 700 a.d. It obtained its full development under a line of great Vishnuvite reformers from the 1 2th to the 16th centuries a.d. Fifth, Muhammadan invasions and the rule of Islam, 1000 to 1765 a.d. Sixth, the English supremacy, and the popular upheaval which it has produced in the 18th and 19th centuries. GAUTAMA.] INDIA. 137 CHAPTER V. BUDDHISM (543 B.C. TO IOOO A.D.). The first great solvent of Brahmanism was the teaching of Buddhism. Gautama Buddha. The life of this celebrated man has three sides, — its personal aspects, its legendary developments, and its religious consequences upon mankind. In his own person, Buddha appears as a prince and preacher of ancient India. In the legendary developments of his story, Buddha ranks as a divine teacher among his followers, as an incarnation of Vishnu among the Hindus, and apparently as a saint of the Christian church, with a day assigned to him in both the Greek and Roman calendars. As a religious founder, he left behind a system of belief which has gained more disciples than any other creed in the world ; and which is now professed by 500 millions of people, or nearly one-half the human race. The story of Buddha’s earthly career is a typical one. It is The story based on the old Indian ideal of the noble life which we have modelled3' seen depicted in the Sanskrit epics. Like the Pandavas in on the epic the Mahabharata, and like Rama in the Ramayana, Buddha is tyPe< the miraculously born son of a king, belonging to one of the two great Aryan lines, the Solar and Lunar ; in his case, as in Rama’s, to the Solar. His youth, like that of the epic heroes, is spent under Brahman tutors, and like the epic heroes he obtains a beautiful bride after a display of unexpected prowess with the bow ; or, as the northern Buddhists relate, at an actual swayam-vara, by a contest in arms for the princess. A period of voluntary exile follows a short interval of married happiness, and Buddha retires like Rama to a Brahman’s hermitage in the Buddha forest. The sending back of the charioteer to the bereaved and Rama‘ father’s capital forms an episode in the story of both the young princes ; and as in the Ramayana, so in the legend of Buddha, it is to the jungles on the south of the Ganges, lying between the Aryan settlements and the aboriginal races, that the royal exile repairs. After a time of seclusion, the Pandavas, Rama, and Buddha alike emerge to achieve great conquests, the two former by force of arms, the last by the weapons of the Spirit. K INDIA. 138 Parentage of Gau- tama Buddha. His lonely youth, at. 1-19. His mar- ried life, at. 19-29. His Great Renuncia- tion, at. 29-30. [life OF Up to this point the outline of the three stories has followed the same type ; but henceforth it diverges. The Sanskrit epics depict the ideal Aryan man as prince, hermit, and hero. In the legend of Buddha, that ideal has developed into prince, hermit, and saint. Gautama, afterwards named Buddha, ‘The Enlightened,’ and Siddhartha, ‘ He who has fulfilled his end,’ was the only son of Suddhodana, King of Kapilavastu. This prince, the chief of the Sakya clan, ruled over an outlying Aryan settle- ment on the north-eastern border of the Middle Land, about a hundred miles to the north of Benares, and within sight of the snow-topped Himalayas. A Gautama Rajput of the noble Solar line, he wished to see his son grow up on the warlike model of his race. But the young prince shunned the sports of his playmates, and retired to solitary day-dreams in nooks of the palace garden. The king tried to win his son to a practical career by marrying him to a beautiful and talented girl; and the youthful Gautama unexpectedly proved his manliness by a victory over the flower of the young Rajput chiefs at a tournament. For a while he forgot his solemn speculations on the unseen in the sweet realities of early married life. But in his drives through the city he deeply reflected on the types of old age, disease, and death which met his eye ; and he was powerfully impressed by the calm of a holy man, who seemed to have raised his soul above the changes and sorrows of this world. After ten years, his wife bore to him an only son ; and Gautama, fearing lest this new tie should bind him too closely to the things of earth, retired about the age of thirty to a cave among the forest-clad spurs of the Vindhyas. The story of how he turned away from the door of his wife’s lamp-lit chamber, denying himself even a parting caress of his new-born babe lest he should wake the sleeping mother, and galloped off into the darkness, is one of the many tender episodes in his life. After a gloomy night ride, he sent back his one companion, the faithful charioteer, with his horse and jewels to his father. Having cut off his long Rajput locks, and exchanged his princely raiment for the rags of a poor passer-by, he went on alone a homeless beggar. This abandonment of earthly pomp and power, and of loved wife and new-born son, is the Great Renunciation which forms a favourite theme of the Buddhist scriptures in Sanskrit, Pali, and Chinese. It has furnished, during twenty centuries, the type of self-sacrifice which all Indian reformers must follow if they are to win the trust of the people. BUDDHA.] INDIA. i39 For a time he studied under two Brahman recluses, near Buddha’s Rajagriha, in Patna District, learning from them that the path to divine knowledge and tranquillity of soul lies through J J the subjection of the flesh. He then buried himself deeper in the south-eastern jungles, which at that time covered Gaya District, and during six years wasted himself by austerities in company with five disciples. The temple of Buddh-Gaya marks the site of his long penance. But instead of earning peace of mind by fasting and self-torture, he reached a crisis of religious despair, during which the Buddhist scriptures affirm that the enemy of mankind, Mara, wrestled with him in bodily shape. Torn with doubts as to whether, after all his penance, he was not destined to perdition, the haggard ascetic, in a final paroxysm, fell senseless to the earth. When he recovered, the mental struggle had passed. He felt that the path to salvation lay not in self-torture in a mountain cave, but in preaching a higher life to his fellow- men. His five disciples, shocked by his giving up penance, forsook him ; and he was left in solitude to face the question whether he alone was right and all the devout minds of his age were wrong. The Buddhist scriptures depict him as sitting serene under a fig-tree, while the great enemy and his Hi-; temp- crew whirled round him with flaming weapons. ‘ When the tatlon- conflict began between the Saviour of the World and the Prince of Evil,’ says one of their sacred texts,1 the earth shook; the sea uprose from her bed, the rivers turned back to the mountains, the hill-tops fell crashing to the plains, the sun was darkened, and a host of headless spirits rode upon the tempest. ' From his temptation in the wilderness, the ascetic emerged with his doubts for ever laid at rest, seeing his way clear, and His ‘ En- henceforth to be known as Buddha, literally ‘ The Enlightened.’ iighten- This was Buddha’s second birth ; and the pipal fig or Bo, under whose spreading branches its pangs were endured, has become the sacred tree of 500 millions of mankind in the East, and is the Ficus religiosa of Western science. The idea of a second birth was familiar to the twice-born Aryan castes of His story ancient India, and was represented by their race-ceremony of follows the investing the boy at the close of childhood with the sacred types^ an thread. In this, as in its other features, the story of Buddha adheres to ancient Aryan types, but gives to them a new spiritual significance. Having passed through the three pre- scribed stages of a saintly life, — as learner, householder, and 1 The Madhurattha-Vilasim, Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, vol. vii. p. 812. Rhys Davids’ Buddhism, p. 36. 140 INDIA. [buddha’s life Public teaching of Buddha, at. 36. He sends forth the Sixty. He con- verts the people, and his own family. forest recluse, — he now entered on the fourth stage as a reli- gious mendicant. But he developed from the old Brahmanical model of the wandering ascetic, intent only on saving his own soul, the nobler type of the preacher, striving to bring deliver- ance to the souls of others. Two months after his temptation in the wilderness, Buddha commenced his public teaching in the Deer-Forest, on the outskirts of the great city of Benares. Unlike the Brahmans, he addressed himself, not to one or two disciples of the sacred caste, but to the mass of the people. His first converts were laymen, and among the earliest were women. After three months of ministry, he had gathered around him sixty disciples, whom he sent forth to the neighbouring countries with these words : ‘ Go ye now and preach the most excellent Law.’ The essence of his teaching was the deliverance of man from the sins and sorrows of life by self-renunciation and inward self- control. While the sixty disciples went on their missionary tour among the populace, Buddha converted some celebrated hermits and fire-worshippers by an exposition of the philo- sophical side of his doctrine. With this new band he journeyed on to Rajagriha, where the king and all his subjects joined the new faith, but where also he first experienced the fickleness of the multitude. Two-thirds of each year he spent as a wandering preacher; the remaining four months of the rainy season he abode at some fixed place, often near Rajagriha, teaching the people who flocked around his little dwelling in the bamboo grove. His five old disciples, who had forsaken him in the time of his sore temptation in the wilderness, penitently rejoined their master. Princes, mer- chants, artificers, Brahmans and hermits, husbandmen and serfs, noble ladies and repentant courtesans, were yearly added to those who believed. Buddha preached throughout a large part of Behar, Oudh, and the adjacent Districts in the North- Western Provinces. Monasteries marked during ages his halting-places; and the principal scenes of his life, such as Ajodhya, Buddh-Gaya, Sravasti, the modern Sahet Mahet, Rajagriha, etc., became the great places of pilgrimage for the Buddhist world. His visit to his aged father at Kapila- vastu, whence he had gone forth as a brilliant young prince, and to which he returned as a wandering preacher, in dingy yellow robes, with shaven head and the begging bowl in his hand, is a touching episode which appeals to the heart of universal mankind. The old king heard him with reverence. The son, whom Buddha had left as a new-born babe, was AND DEATH.] INDIA. converted to the faith ; and his beloved wife, from the threshold of whose chamber he had ridden away into the darkness, became one of the first of Buddhist nuns. The Great Renunciation took place in his thirtieth year. After silent self-preparation, his public ministry commenced when he was about thirty-six, and during forty-four years he preached to the people. In prophesying his death, he said to his He pro- followers : ‘ Be earnest, be thoughtful, be holy. Keep stedfast Phe^es llis watch over your own hearts. He who holds fast to the law and discipline, and faints not, he shall cross the ocean of life and make an end of sorrow.’ He spent his last night in preaching, and in comforting a weeping disciple ; his latest words, according to one account, were, ‘ Work out your salva- Buddha’s tion with diligence.’ He died calmly, at the age of eighty,1 last words- under the shadow of a fig-tree, at Kusinagara, the modern Kasia, in Gorakhpur District. The Fo-wei-kian-king,1 2 or ‘ Dying Instruction of Buddha,’ translated into Chinese between 397 and 415 a.d. from a still earlier Sanskrit text, gives to the last scene a somewhat different, although an equal, beauty. ‘ It was now in the middle of the night,’ it says, ‘ perfectly quiet and still ; for the sake of his disciples, he delivered a summary of the law.’ After laying down the rules of a good life, he revealed the inner doctrines of his faith. From these I select a few sentences. ‘ The heart is lord of the senses : govern, therefore, your heart ; watch well the heart.’ ‘Think of the fire that shall consume the world, Chinese and early seek deliverance from it.’ ‘ Lament not my going g^^a>s away, nor feel regret. For if I remained in the world, then dying dis- what would become of the church ? It must perish without course- fulfilling its end. From henceforth all my disciples, practising their various duties, shall prove that my true Body, the Body The of the Law ( Dharmakaya ), is everlasting and imperishable, Buddha The world is fast bound in fetters ; I now give it deliverance, as a physician who brings heavenly medicine. Keep your mind on my teaching ; all other things change, this changes not. No more shall I speak to you. I desire to depart. I desire the eternal rest {Nirvana). This is my last exhortation.’ The secret of Buddha’s success was, that he brought spiritual 1 According to some accounts ; according to others, at about seventy. But the chronology of Buddha’s life is legendary’. 2 Translated in Appendix to the Catalogue of the Manuscripts presented by the Japanese Government to the Secretary of State for India, and now in the India Office. — Concluding letter of Mr. Beal to Dr. Rost, dated 1st September 1874, sec. 5. Law of Karma. The liber- ation of the soul. Nirvana. INDIA. [nirvana. deliverance to the people. He preached that salvation was equally open to all men, and that it must be earned, not by propitiating imaginary deities, but by our own conduct. He thus cut away the religious basis of caste, of the sacrificial ritual, and of Brahman supremacy as the mediators between God and man. He taught that sin, sorrow, and deliverance, the state of a man in this life, in all previous and in all future lives, are the inevitable results of his own acts (Karma). He thus applied the inexorable law of cause and effect to the soul. What a man sows, that he must reap. As no evil remains without punishment, and no good deed without reward, it follows that neither priest nor God can prevent each act bearing its own consequences. Misery or happiness in this life is the unavoidable result of our conduct in a past life ; and our actions here will determine our happiness or misery in the life to come. When any creature dies, he is born again in some higher or lower state of existence, according to his merit or demerit. His merit or demerit consists of the sum total of his actions in all previous lives. By this great law of Karina , Buddha explained the inequalities and apparent in- justice of man’s state in this world as the unavoidable consequence of acts in the past ; while Christianity compensates those inequalities by rewards in the future. A system in which our whole well-being, past, present, and to come, depends on ourselves, leaves little room for a personal God. But the atheism of Buddha was a philosophical tenet, which does not weaken the sanctions of right and wrong.1 Life, according to Buddha, must always be more or less painful; and the object of every good man is to get rid of the evils of existence by merging his individual soul into the universal soul. This is Nirvana, literally ‘cessation.’ Some Buddhists explain it as absolute annihilation, when the soul is blown out like the flame of a lamp. Others hold that it is the extinction of the sins, sorrows, and selfishness of individual life ; the final state of union and communion with the Supreme, or the absorption of the individual soul into the divine essence. The fact is, that the doctrine underwent processes of change and development like all theological dogmas. * But the earliest idea of Nirvana, , says one of the greatest authorities on Chinese Buddhism, ‘ seems to have included in it no more than the enjoyment of a state of rest consequent on the extinction 1 ‘Buddhism,’ says Mr. Beal, Catena of Buddhist Scriptures , p. 153, ‘ declares itself ignorant of any mode of personal existence compatible with the idea of spiritual perfection, and so far, it is ignorant of God.’ FIRST COUNCIL.] INDIA. '43 of all causes of sorrow.’ 1 The great practical aim of Buddha’s teaching was to subdue the lusts of the flesh and the cravings of the mind ; and Nirvana has been taken to mean the extinc- tion of the sinful grasping condition of heart which, by the inevitable law of Karma , would involve the penalty of renewed individual existence. The pious Buddhist strove to reach a state of quietism or holy meditation in this world, and looked forward to an eternal calm in a world to come. Buddha taught that this end could only be attained by the Moral practice of virtue. He laid down eight precepts of morality, cocie- with two more for the religious orders, making ten command- ments ( dasa-sila ) in all. He arranged the besetting faults of mankind into ten sins, and set forth the special duties appli- cable to each condition of life; to parents and children, to pupils and teachers, to husbands and wives, to masters and servants, to laymen and the religious orders. In place of the Brahman rites and sacrifices, Buddha prescribed a code of practical morality as the means of salvation. The three essential features of that code were — control over self, kind- ness to other men, and reverence for the life of all sentient creatures. He urged on his disciples that they must not only follow Missionary the true path themselves, but that they should preach it to all mankind. Buddhism has from the first been a missionary religion. One of the earliest acts of Buddha’s public ministry was to send forth the Sixty ; and he carefully formulated the four chief means of conversion. These were companionship with the good, listening to the Law, reflection upon the truths heard, and the practice of virtue. He also instituted a re- ligious Order, one of whose special duties it was to go forth and preach to the nations. While, therefore, the Brahmans kept their ritual for the twice-born Aryan castes, Buddhism addressed itself not only to those castes and to the lower mass of the people, but to all the non-Aryan races through- out India, and eventually to the whole Asiatic world. On the death of Buddha, five hundred of his disciples met The First in a vast cave near Rajagriha, to gather together his sayings. ^ bx.’(?) This was the First Council. They chanted the lessons of their master in three great divisions — the words of Buddha to 1 Beal : Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese, p. 157, ed. 1871 ; and the Buddhist Tripilaka, App., Letter to Dr. Rost, sec. 6. Max Muller deals with the word from the etymological and Sanskrit side in his Chips from a Germa7i Workshop, vol. i. pp. 279, 290, ed. 1867. But see, specially, Childers’ Phli Dictionary, s.v. Nilbanam, pp. 265-274. 144 INDIA. [asoka. his disciples ; 1 his code of discipline ; 2 and his system of doctrine.3 These became the Three Collections4 of Buddha’s teaching; and the word for a Buddhist Council5 means Second literally ‘ a singing together.’ A century afterwards, a Second Council* 1 Council, of seven hundred, was held at Vaisali, to settle disputes 443 b.c. (?) between the more and the less strict followers of Buddhism. It condemned a system of ten ‘ Indulgences ’ which had grown up ; but it led to the separation of the Buddhists into two hostile parties, who afterwards split into eighteen sects. Third During the next two hundred years Buddhism spread over Buddhist Northern India, perhaps receiving a new impulse from the 2441; c ’ (?) Greek kingdoms in the Punjab. About 257 b.c., Asoka, the King of Magadha or Behar, became a zealous convert to the faith.6 Asoka was grandson of Chandra Gupta, the adven- turer in Alexander’s camp, and afterwards the ally of Seleukos (see post , p. 160). Asoka is said to have supported 64,000 Buddhist priests ; he founded many religious houses, and his kingdom is called the Land of the Monasteries (Vihara or Behar) to this day. 1 Sutras. 2 Vinaya. 3 Abhidharma. 4 Pitakas, literally ‘ baskets. ’ 5 Sangiti in Pali. 6 Much learning has been expended upon the age of Asoka, and various dates have been assigned to him. But, indeed, all Buddhist dates are open questions, according to the system of chronology adopted. The middle of the 3rd century B.c. maybe taken as the most likely era of Asoka. The fol- lowing table from General Cunningham’s Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, p. vii. (1877), exhibits the results of the latest researches on this subject: — B.C. 264 Asoka, Struggle with brothers, 4 years. 260 Comes to the throne. 257 Conversion to Buddhism. 256 Treaty with Antiochus. 255 Mahindo ordained. 251 Earliest date of rock edicts. 249 Second date of rock edicts. 248 Arsakes rebels in Parthia. 246 Diodotus rebels in Bactria. 244 Third Buddhist Council under Mogaliputra. 243 Mahindo goes to Ceylon. 242 Barabar cave inscriptions. 234 Pillar edicts issued. 231 Queen Asandhimitta dies. 228 Second Queen married. 226 Her attempt to destroy the Bodhi tree. 225 Asoka becomes an ascetic. 224 Issues Rupnath and Sasseram edicts 223 Dies. 215 Dasaratha’s cave inscriptions, Nagarjuni. ASOKA.] INDIA. M5 Asoka did for Buddhism what Constantine afterwards effected The work for Christianity ; he organized it on the basis of a State of Asoka‘ religion. This he accomplished by five means — by a Council to settle the faith, by edicts promulgating its principles, by a State Department to watch over its purity, by missionaries to spread its doctrines, and by an authoritative revision or canon of the Buddhist scriptures. In 244 b.c., Asoka convened (1) His at Patna the Third Buddhist Council, of one thousand elders. Council Evil men, taking on them the yellow robe of the Order, had given forth their own opinions as the teaching of Buddha. Such heresies were now corrected ; and the Buddhism of Southern Asia practically dates from Asoka’s Council. In a number of edicts, both before and after the synod, he published (2) His throughout India the grand principles of the faith. Such edicts c lL s' are still found graven deep upon pillars, caves, and rocks, from the Yusafzai valley beyond Peshawar on the north-western frontier, through the heart of Hindustan and the Central Provinces, to Kathiawar in the west, and Orissa in the east. Tradition states that Asoka set up 84,000 memorial columns or topes ; and the forty inscriptions extant in our own day show how widely these royal sermons were spread over India.1 In the year of the Council, the king also founded a State De- (3) His partment to watch over the purity, and to direct the spread, of of the faith. A Minister of Justice and Religion (Dharma MaM- Public matra) directed its operations ; and, one of its first duties being Worship. 1 Major-General Cunningham, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, enumerates 13 rock inscriptions, 17 cave inscriptions, and 10 inscribed pillars. The rock inscriptions are at— (1) Shahbazgarhi in the Yusafzai country, 40 miles east -north-east of Peshawar; (2) Khalsi, on the west bank of the Jumna ; (3) Girnar in Kathiawar, 40 miles north of Somnath ; (4 to 7) Dhauli in Cuttack, midway between Cuttack and Puri, and Jaugada in Ganjam District, 18 miles north-north-west of Berhampur, — two inscriptions at each virtually identical ; (8) Sasseram, at the north-east end of the Kaimur range, 70 miles south-east of Benares ; (9) Rupnath, a famous place of pilgrimage, 35 miles north of Jabalpur; (10 and 1 1 ) Bairat, 41 miles north of Jaipur; (12) the Khandgiri Hill, near Dhauli in Cuttack ; (13) Deotek, 50 miles south-east of Nagpur. The cave inscriptions, 17 in number, are found at — (1, 2, 3) Barabar, and (4, 5, 6) in Nagarjuni Hills, both places 15 miles north of Gaya ; (7 to 15) in Khandgiri Hill in Cuttack, and (16 and 17) in Ramgarh in Sirguja. The ten inscribed pillars are — (1) the Delhi-Siwalik, at Delhi; (2) the Delhi-Meerut, at Delhi ; (3) the Allahabad ; (4) the Lauriya-Araraj, at Lauriya, 77 miles north of Patna ; (5) the Lauriya-Navandgarh, at Lauriya, 15 miles north-north-west of Bettia ; (6 and 7) two additional edicts on the Delhi-Siwalik, not found on any other pillar ; (8 and 9) two short additional edicts on the Allahabad pillar, peculiar to itself ; (10) a short mutilated record on a fragment of a pillar at Sanchi, near Bhilsa. 146 INDIA. (4) Mis- sionary efforts. (5) Re- formed canon of Buddhist scriptures. Edicts of Asoka. [asoka. to proselytize, he was specially charged with the welfare of the aborigines among whom its missionaries were sent. Asoka did not think it enough to convert the inferior races, without looking after their material interests. Wells were to be dug, and trees planted, along the roads ; a system of medical aid was established throughout his kingdom and the conquered Provinces, as far as Ceylon, for man and beast.1 Officers were appointed to watch over domestic life and public morality,2 and to promote instruction among the women as well as the youth. Asoka recognised proselytism by peaceful means as a State duty. The Rock Inscriptions record how he sent forth mis- sionaries ‘ to the utmost limits of the barbarian countries,’ to ‘intermingle among all unbelievers’ for the spread of religion. They shall mix equally with soldiers, Brahmans, and beggars, with the dreaded and the despised, both within the kingdom ‘ and in foreign countries, teaching better things.’3 Conversion is to be effected by persuasion, not by the sword. Buddhism was at once the most intensely missionary religion in the world, and the most tolerant. This character of a proselytizing faith, which wins its victories by peaceful means, so strongly impressed upon it by Asoka, has remained a prominent feature of Buddhism to the present day. Asoka, however, not only took measures to spread the religion, he also endeavoured to secure its orthodoxy. He collected the body of doctrine into an authoritative version, in the Magadhi language or dialect of his central kingdom in Behar ; a version which for two thousand years has formed the canon ( pitakas ) of the Southern Buddhists. Mr. Robert Cust has summarized the purport of the Four- teen Edicts of Asoka in the following sentences : — 1. Prohibition of the slaughter of animals for food or sacrifice. 2. Provision of a system of medical aid for men and animals, and of plantations and wells on the roadside. 3. Order for a quinquennial humiliation and republication of the great moral precepts of the Buddhistic creed. 4. Comparison of the former state of things, and the happy existing state under the king. 5. Appointment of missionaries to go into various countries, which are enumerated, to convert the people and foreigners. 1 Rock Inscriptions, Edict ii., General Cunningham’s Corpus Inscrip- tionum, p. 118. 2 Rock Inscriptions, Edict vi. etc., Corpus Inscriptionum, p. 120. These Inspectors of Morals are supposed to correspond to the Sixth Caste of Megasthenes, the ’Ex/irxax.i of Arrian. s Rock Inscriptions, Edict v. etc., Corpus Inscriptionum, p. 120. INDIA. >47 KANISHKA.] 6. Appointment of informers (or inspectors) and guardians of morality. 7. Expression of a desire that there may be uniformity of religion and equality of rank. 8. Contrast of the carnal pleasures of previous rulers with the pious enjoyments of the present king. 9. Inculcation of the true happiness to be found in virtue, through which alone the blessings of heaven can be propitiated. 10. Contrast of the vain and transitory glory of this world with the reward for which the king strives and looks beyond. 11. Inculcation of the doctrine that the imparting of dharma or virtue is the greatest of charitable gifts. 12. Address to all unbelievers. 13. (Imperfect) ; the meaning only conjectural. 14. Summing up of the whole. The fourth and last of the great Councils was held under Fourth King Kanishka, according to one tradition, four hundred years Kankhka after Buddha’s death. The date of Kanishka is still uncertain; (40 a.d.?) but, from the evidence of coins and inscriptions, his reign has been fixed in the 1st century after Christ, or, say, 40 A.D.1 Kanishka, the most famous of the Saka conquerors, ruled over North-Western India, and the adjoining countries. His authority had its nucleus in Kashmir, but it extended to both sides of the Himalayas, from Yarkand and Khokan to Agra and Sind. His Council of five hundred drew up three com- mentaries on the Buddhist faith. These commentaries sup- plied in part materials for the Tibetan or Northern Canon, completed at subsequent periods. The Northern Canon, or, as the Chinese proudly call it, the ‘Greater Vehicle of the Law,’ includes many later corruptions or developments of the Indian faith as originally embodied by Asoka in the ‘ Lesser Vehicle,’ or Canon of the Southern Buddhists (244 B.c.). The Buddhist Canon of China, a branch of the ‘ Greater Vehicle,’ was arranged between 67 and 1285 a.d. It includes 1440 distinct works, comprising 5586 books. The ultimate diver- gence between the Canons is great, both as to the historical aspects of Buddha’s life and as to his teaching. With respect to doctrine, one example will suffice. According to the Northern or ‘Greater Vehicle,’ those who transgressed wilfully after ordina- tion might yet recover themselves ; while to such persons the Southern or ‘Lesser Vehicle’ allowed no room for repentance.2 The original northern commentaries were written in the Northern 1 The latest efforts to fix the date of Kanishka are little more than gQ^4lern records of conflicting authorities. See Dr. James Fergusson’s paper in the Canons. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Article ix., April 1880 ; and Mr. E. Thomas’ comprehensive disquisition on the Sah and Gupta coins, pp. 18-79 of the Report of the Archaological Survey of Western India for 1874-75, 4to, London, 1876. 2 Beal; Catena, p. 253. 148 INDIA. [buddhism. Sanskrit language, perhaps because the Kashmir and northern priests, who formed Kanishka’s Council, belonged to isolated Aryan colonies which had been little influenced by the growth of the Indian vernacular dialects. Kanishka and his Kashmir Council (40 a.d. ?) thus became in some degree to the Northern or Tibeto-Chinese Buddhists, what Asoka and his Patna Council (244 b.c.) had been to the Buddhists of Ceylon and the South. Buddhism Buddhism was thus organized as a State religion by the asa , Councils of Asoka and Kanishka. It started from Brah- religion, manical doctrines ; but from those doctrines, not as taught in hermitages to clusters of Brahman disciples, but as vitalized by a preacher of rare power in the capital cities of India. Buddha did not abolish caste. On the contrary, reverence to Brah- mans and the spiritual guide ranked as one of the three great duties, with obedience to parents and acts of kindness to all men and animals. He introduced, however, a new classifica- tion of mankind, on a spiritual basis of believers and un- believers. The former took rank in the Buddhist community, — at first, according to their age and merit ; in later times, as laity1 and clergy2 (i.e. the religious orders). Buddhism carried transmigration to its utmost spiritual use, and proclaimed our own actions to be the sole ruling influence on our past, present, and future states. It was thus led into the denial of any external being or god who could interfere with the immutable law of cause and effect as applied to the soul. But, on the other hand, it linked together mankind as parts of one universal whole, and denounced the isolated self-seeking of the human heart as ‘ the heresy of individuality.’3 Its mission was to make men more moral, kinder to others, and happier themselves ; not to propitiate imaginary deities. It accord- ingly founded its teaching on man’s duty to his neighbour, instead of on his obligations to God; and constructed its ritual on a basis of relic-worship or the commemoration of good men, instead of on sacrifice. Its sacred buildings were not temples to the gods, but monasteries ( viharas ) for the reli- gious orders, with their bells and rosaries ; or memorial shrines,4 reared over a tooth or bone of the founder of the faith. Spread of The missionary impulse given by Asoka quickly bore fruit. Buddhism. jn tjie year after great Council at Patna (244 B.c.), his son 1 Upasaka. 2 Sramana, bsikshu (monk or religious mendicant), bhikshnni (nun). 3 Sakayadilthi. 4 Stupas , topes , literally ‘ heaps or tumuli ; ’ dagobas or dhdtu-gopas, ‘ relic-preservers ; ’ chaityas. BUDDHISM.] INDIA. 149 Mahindo 1 carried Asoka’s version of the Buddhist scriptures in the Magadhi language to Ceylon. He took with him a in the band of fellow-missionaries : and soon afterwards, his sister, South, Cevlon the princess Sanghamitta, who had entered the Order, followed etc;( 244 with a company of nuns. It was not, however, till six hundred 1!-c- to years later (410-432 a.d.) that the holy books were rendered ^ A'D' into Pdli, the sacred language of the Southern Buddhists. About the same time, missionaries from Ceylon finally estab- lished the faith in Burma (450 a.d.). The Burmese themselves assert that two Buddhist preachers landed in Pegu as early as 207 b.c. Some, indeed, place their arrival just after the Patna Council, 244 b.c., and point out the ruined city of Tha-ton, between the Sitoung (Tsit-taung) and Sahvin estuaries, as the scene of their pious labours. Siam was converted to Buddhism in 638 a.d. ; Java received its missionaries direct from India between the 5 th and the 7 th centuries, and spread the faith to Bali and Sumatra.2 While Southern Buddhism was thus wafted across the ocean, another stream of missionaries had found in the their way by Central Asia into China. Their first arrival in that ^°.rtll> t empire is said to date from the 2nd century b.c., although it 2d century was not till 65 a.d. that Buddhism there became the estab- B-c- to lished religion. The Greco-Bactrian kingdoms in the Punjab, A'D' and beyond it, afforded a favourable soil for the faith. The Scythian dynasties that succeeded them accepted it, and the earliest remains which recent discovery has unearthed in Afghanistan are Buddhist. Kanishka’s Council, soon after the commencement of the Christian era, gave a fresh impetus to the faith. Tibet, South Central Asia, and China, lay along the great missionary routes of Northern Buddhism ; the Kirghis are s^id to have carried the religion as far west as the Caspian ; on the east, the religion was introduced into the Korea in 372 a.d., and thence into Japan in 552. Buddhist doctrines are believed to have deeply affected Buddhist religious thought in Alexandria and Palestine. The question is yet undecided as to how far the Buddhist ideal of the holy tianity. ' 1 Sanskrit, Mahendra. 2 All these dates are uncertain, they are founded on the Cingalese chronology, but the orthodox in the various countries place their national conversion at remoter periods. Occasionally, however, the dates can be tested from external sources. Thus -we know from the Chinese traveller Fa-Hian, that up to about 414 a.d. Java was still unconverted. Fa- Hian says, ‘ Heretics and Brahmans were numerous there, and the law of Buddha in nowise entertained.’ The Burmese chroniclers go back to a time when the duration of human life was ninety millions of years ; and a single dynasty ruled for a period represented by a unit followed by 140 cyphers. See Imperial Gazetteer , vol. viii., s.v. Sandoway. *5° INDIA. [buddhism. life, with its monks, nuns, relic-worship, bells, and rosaries, influenced Christian monachism ; and to what extent Buddhist philosophy aided the development of the Gnostic heresies, particularly those of Basilides and Manes, which rent the early church. It is certain that the analogies are striking, and have been pointed out alike by Jesuit missionaries in Asia, and by oriental scholars in Europe.1 The form of abjuration for those who renounced the Gnostic doctrines of Manes, expressly mentions BoSSa and the 2/’- near Allahabad, where the Ganges and the Jumna unite their waters, all the kings of the Empire, and a multitude of people, were feasted for seventy-five days. Siladitya brought forth the stores of his palace, and gave them away to Brahmans and Buddhists, monks and heretics, without distinction. At the end of the festival, he stripped off his jewels and royal raiment, handed them to the bystanders, and, like Buddha of old, put on the rags of a beggar. By this ceremony the monarch commemorated the Great Renunciation of the founder of the Buddhist faith, and at the same time practised the highest duty inculcated alike by the Buddhist and Brahmanical religions, namely almsgiving. The vast monastery of Nalanda1 formed Monastery of Nal- 1 Identified with the modern Baragaon, near Gaya. The Great Monas- anda, 640 tery can be traced by a jnass of brick ruins, 1600 feet long by 400 feet A-D- L *54 INDIA. Mingling of Buddh- ism and Brahman- ism, 629- 645 A.D. Victory of Brahman- ism, 600- 800 A.D. Buddhism an exiled religion, 1000 A.D. [buddhism EXILED. a seat of learning which recalls the universities of Mediseval Europe. Ten thousand monks and novices of the eighteen Buddhist schools here studied theology, philosophy, law, science, especially medicine, and practised their devotions. They lived in lettered ease, supported from the royal funds. But even this stronghold of Buddhism is a proof that Buddhism was only one of two hostile creeds in India. During a single period, with regard to which the Chinese records afford information, it was three times destroyed by the enemies of the faith.1 Hiouen Thsang travelled from the Punjab to the mouth of the Ganges, and made journeys into Southern India. But everywhere he found the two religions mingled. Gaya, which holds so high a sanctity in the legends of Buddha, had already become a great Brahman centre. On the east of Bengal, Assam had not been converted to Buddhism. In the south- west, Orissa was a stronghold of the faith. But in the seaport of Tamluk, at the mouth of the Hugh', the temples to the Brahman gods were five times more numerous than the convents of the faithful. On the Madras coast, Buddhism flourished ; and indeed, throughout Southern India, the faith seems still to have been in the ascendant, although struggling against Brahman heretics and their gods. During the next two centuries, Brahmanism gradually became the ruling religion. There are legends of persecutions, instigated by Brahman reformers, such as Kumarila Bhatta and Sankara Acharjya. But the downfall of Buddhism seems to have resulted from natural decay, and from new movements of religious thought, rather than from any general suppression by the sword. Its extinction is contemporaneous with the rise of Hinduism, and belongs to a subsequent part of this sketch. In the nth century, only outlying States, such as Kashmir and Orissa, remained faithful ; and before the Muhammadans fairly came upon the scene, Buddhism as a popular faith had almost disappeared from India. During the last thousand years, Buddhism has been a banished religion from its native home. But it has won greater triumphs in its exile than it could have ever achieved in the land of its birth. It has created a literature and a religion for nearly half the human race, and has affected the beliefs of the other half. Five hundred millions of men, or forty per cent, of the inhabitants of the world, still follow the teaching of Buddha. Afghanistan, deep. General Cunningham’s Ancient Geography of India, pp. 468-470, ed. 1871. 1 Beal’s Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese, p. 371, ed. 1871. INDIA. •55 JAINS.] Nepal, Eastern Turkistan, Tibet, Mongolia, Manchuria, China, Japan, the Eastern Archipelago, Siam, Burma, Ceylon, and India, at one time marked the magnificent circumference of its conquests. Its shrines and monasteries stretched in a Its foreign continuous line from what are now the confines of the Russian conquests. Empire to the equatorial islands of the Pacific. During twenty-four centuries, Buddhism has encountered and outlived a series of powerful rivals. At this day it forms, with Chris- tianity and Islam, one of the three great religions of the world ; and the most numerously followed of the three. In India its influence has survived its separate existence. Buddhist It not only left behind it a distinct sect, but it supplied the survivals basis upon which Brahmanism finally developed from the creed of a caste into the religion of the people. Of this Buddhistic influence on Hinduism I shall hereafter speak. The distinct sect is known as the Jains, who number about The Jains, half a million 1 in India. Like the Buddhists, they deny the authority of the Veda, except in so far as it agrees with their own doctrines ; disregard sacrifice ; practise a strict morality ; believe that their past and future states depend upon their own actions rather than on any external deity ; and scrupu- lously reverence the vital principle in man and beast. They differ from the Buddhists chiefly in their ritual and objects of worship. The veneration of good men departed is common to both, but the Jains have expanded and methodized such adoration on lines of their own. The Buddhists admit that many Buddhas have appeared in successive lives upon earth, and attained Nirvana or beatific extinction ; but they confine their reverence to a comparatively small number. The Jains Jain doc- divide time into successive eras, and assign twenty-four Jinas, or lrmes- just men made perfect, to each.2 They name twenty-four in the past age, twenty-four in the present, and twenty-four in the era to come ; and place colossal statues of white or black marble to this great company of saints in their temples. They adore above all the two latest, or twenty-third and twenty-fourth Jinas of the present era — namely, Parsvanath 3 and Mahavira. 1 Returned by the Census of 1872 as 485,020 ‘Buddhists’ in India; besides the 2,447,831 Buddhists in Burma. Except in a few spots, chiefly among the spurs of the Himalayas and in South - Eastern Bengal, the Indian Buddhists may be generally reckoned as Jains. 2 Under such titles as Jagata-prabhu, ‘lord of the world Kshmakarma, ‘freed from ceremonial acts;’ Sarvajna, ‘ all - knowing ; ’ Adhiswara, ‘ supreme lord ; ’ Tirthankara, ‘he who has crossed over the world;’ and Jina, ‘ he who has conquered the human passions,’ 3 Popularly rendered Parasndth. INDIA. !S6 [jains. Jain temple cities. Relation They choose wooded mountains and the most lovely retreats of nature for their places of pilgrimage, and cover them with exquisitely carved shrines in white marble or dazzling stucco. Parasnath Hill in Bengal, the temple city of Palitana in Kdthiawar, and Mount Abu, which rises with its gems of architecture like a jewelled island from the Rajputana plains, form well-known scenes of their worship. The Jains are a wealthy community, usually engaged in banking or wholesale commerce, devoid indeed of the old missionary spirit of Buddhism, but closely knit together among themselves. Their charity is boundless ; and they form the chief sup- porters of the beast hospitals, which the old Buddhistic tenderness for animals has left in many of the cities of India. . . Jainism is, in some respects, Buddhism equipped with a of Jainism , . . , , to Buddh- mythology, — a mythology, however, not of gods, but of saints, ism. The question has been raised, indeed, whether Jainism does not form a survival of beliefs anterior to Asoka and Kanishka, According to one view, the Jains are simply a remnant of the Indian Buddhists who saved themselves from extinction by compromises with Hinduism, and so managed to erect them- selves into a recognised caste. According to another view, they represent in an unbroken succession the Nigantha sect of the Asoka edicts. They themselves claim as their founder, Vardhamana, the teacher or contemporary of Buddha ; and the Niganthas appear as a sect independent of, indeed opposed to, the Buddhists in the Rock Inscriptions and Southern Canon ( pitakas ). A theory has thus been advanced that the Buddhism of Asoka (244 B.c.) was in reality a later product than the Nigantha or Jain doctrines.1 In its practical aspects, however, Jainism may be described as Buddhism humanized by saint- worship, and narrowed from a national religion to suit the exclusive requirements of a sect. The noblest survivals of Buddhism in India are to be found, not among any peculiar body, but in the religion of the people ; in that principle of the brotherhood of man, with the re-assertion of which each new revival of Hinduism starts ; in the asylum which the great Vaishnavite sect affords to women who have fallen victims to caste rules, to the widow and the outcast ; in that gentleness and charity to all men, which take the place of a poor-law in India, and give a high significance to the half-satirical epithet of the ‘ mild ’ Hindu. 1 The subject is discussed in Mr. Edward Thomas’ Jainism, or the Early Faith of Asoka ; in Mr. Rhys Davids’ article in The Academy of 13th September 1879; and Numismata Orientalia (Ceylon fasciculus), pp. 55, 60 (Tiilbncr, 1 S77). ‘ GREEK HISTORIANS.] INDIA. 157 CHAPTER VI. THE GREEKS IN INDIA (327 TO l6l B.C.). Religion and philosophy have been the great contributions of India to the world. We now come to deal with India, not as a centre of influence upon other nations, but as acted on by them. The External History of India commences with the External ^ Greek invasion in 327 b.c. Some indirect trade between India the history and the Mediterranean seems to have existed from very ancient of India, times. Homer was acquainted with tin,1 and other articles of Indian merchandise, by their Sanskrit names ; and a long list has been made of Indian products mentioned in the Bible.2 But the first Greek historian who speaks clearly of India is Early Hekataios of Miletos (549-486 b.c.) ; the knowledge of Hero- W^11S dotos (450 b.c.) ended at the Indus; and Ktesias, the physician 549-401 (401 b.c.), brought back from his residence in Persia only a B-C> few facts about the products of India, its dyes and fabrics, monkeys and parrots. India to the east of the Indus was first made known to Europe by the historians and men of science who accompanied Alexander the Great in 327 b.c. Their narratives, although now lost, are condensed in Strabo, Pliny, and Arrian. Soon afterwards, Megasthenes, as Greek Megas- ambassador resident at a court in the centre of Bengal (306-298 b.c.), had opportunities for the closest observation, b.c. The knowledge of the Greeks and Romans concerning India practically dates from his researches, 300 b.c.3 1 Greek, Kassiteros ; Sanskrit, Kastira ; hence, subsequently, the name of Kassiterides given to, the Scilly Islands. Elephas, ivory, through the Arabian eleph (from Arabic cl, the, and Sanskrit ibha, domestic elephant), is also cited. 2 Dr. Birdwood’s Handbook to the British Indian Section of the Paris Exhibition c/1878, pp. 22-35. 3 The fragments of the Indika of Megasthenes, collected by Dr. Schwanbeck, with the first part of the Indika of Arrian, the Periplus 158 Alexan- der’s ex- pedition, 327-325 15. C. Alexander in the Punjab, 327-326 B.C. INDIA. [ALEXANDER. Alexander the Great entered India early in 327 b.c. ; crossed the Indus above Attock, and advanced, without a struggle, over the intervening territory of the Taxiles 1 to the Jhelum (Hydaspes). He found the Punjab divided into petty kingdoms jealous of each other, and many of them inclined to join an invader rather than to oppose him. One of these local monarchs, Porus, disputed the passage of the Jhelum with a force which, substituting chariots for guns, about equalled the army of Ranjit Sinh, the ruler of the Punjab in the present century.2 Plutarch gives a vivid description of the battle from Alexander’s own letters. Having drawn up his troops at a bend of the Jhelum, about 14 miles west of the modern field of Chilian wala, 3 the Greek general crossed under shelter of a tempestuous night. The chariots hurried out by Porus stuck in the muddy bank of the river. In the engagement which followed, the elephants of the Indian prince refused to face the Greeks, and, wheeling round, trampled his own army under foot. His son fell early in the onset ; Porus himself fled wounded ; but on tendering his submission, he was confirmed in his kingdom, and became the conqueror’s trusted friend. Alexander built two memorial cities on the scene of his victory, — Bukephala on the west bank, near the modern Jalalpur, named after his beloved charger slain in the battle ; and Nikaia, the present Mong, on the east side of the river. Alexander advanced south-east through the kingdom of the younger Porus to Amritsar, and after a sharp bend backward to the west, to fight the Kathaei at Sangala, he reached the Beas (Hyphasis). Here, at a spot not far from the modern Maris Erythrsei, and Arrian’s account of the voyage of Nearchus, have been collected in two most useful volumes by Mr. J. W. M‘Crindle, M.A. (Triibner, 1877 and 1879). The Indika of Ktesias, with the 15th Book of Strabo, is also promised ; and the sections referring to India in Ptolemy’s Geographia would complete a series of high value to Indian history. 1 The Takkas, a Turanian race, the earliest inhabitants of Rawai. Pindi District. They gave their name to the town of Takshasila or Taxila, which Alexander found ‘ a rich and populous city, the largest between the Indus and Hydaspes,’ identified with the ruins of Deri Shahan. Taki or Asarur, on the road between Lahore and Pindi Bhatiyan, was the capital of the Punjab in 633 a.d. 2 Namely, ‘ 30,000 efficient infantry ; 4000 horse ; 300 chariots ; 200 elephants ’ [Professor Cowell]. The Greeks probably exaggerated the numbers of the enemy. Alexander’s army numbered ‘ about 50,000, including 5000 Indian auxiliaries under Mophis of Taxila.’ — General Cun- ningham, A71C. Geog. of India, p. 172. See his lucid account of the battle, with an excellent map, pp. 159-177, ed. 1871. s And about 30 miles south-west of Jhelum town. ALEXANDER.] INDIA. r59 battle-field of Sobraon, he halted his victorious standards.1 He had resolved to march to the Ganges ; but his troops were worn out by the heats of the Punjab summer, and their spirits broken by the hurricanes of the south-west monsoon. The native tribes had already risen in his rear, and the Conqueror of the World was forced to turn back before he had crossed even the frontier Province of India. The Sutlej, the eastern Districts of the Punjab, and the mighty Jumna, still lay between him and the Ganges. A single defeat might have been fatal to his army ; if the battle on the Jhelum had gone against him, not a Greek would probably have reached the Afghdn side of the passes. Yielding at length to the clamour of his men, he led them back to the Jhelum. He there embarked 8000 of his troops in boats previously prepared, and floated them down the river ; the remainder marched in two divisions along the banks. The country was hostile, and the Greeks held only the land on which they encamped. At Multan, then as now the capital of the Southern Punjab, he had to fight a pitched battle with the Malli, and was severely wounded in taking the city. His enraged troops put every soul within it to the sword. Farther down, near the confluence of the five rivers of the Punjab, he made a long halt, built a town, — Alexandria, the modern Uchh, — and received the submission of the neighbour- ing States. A Greek garrison and Satrap, which he here left behind, laid the foundation of a lasting influence. Having constructed a new fleet, suitable for the greater rivers on which he was now to embark, he proceeded southwards through Sind, and followed the course of the Indus until he reached the ocean. In the apex of the delta, he founded or refounded a city — Patala — which survives to this day as Haidarabad, the capital of Sind.2 At the mouth of the Indus, Alexander beheld for the first time the majestic phenomenon of the tides. One part of his army he shipped off under the com- 1 The change in the course of the Sutlej has altered the old position of that river to the Beas at this point. The best small map of Alexander’s route is No. v. in General Cunningham’s Anc. Geog. of Itidia, p. 104, ed. 1871 ; 64 miles to the inch. 2 For its interesting appearances in ancient history, see General Cun- ningham’s Anc. Geog. of India, pp. 279-287, under Patala or Nirankot. It appears variously as Pattala, Pattalene, Pitasila, etc. It was formerly identified with Tatta (Thatha), near to where the western arm of the Indus bifurcates. See also M'Crindle’s Com. and Nav. of Erythrcean Sea, p. 156. (Triibner, 1879.) An excellent map of Alexander’s campaign in Sind is given at p. 248 of Cunningham’s Anc. Geog. of India. Alexander in Sind, 325 B.c. INDIA. 160 [CHANDRA GUPTA. Leaves India, August 325 B.C. Results of Greek ex- pedition, 327-325 B.C. Seleukcs, 323-312 B.C. mand of Nearchus to coast along the Persian Gulf ; the other he himself led through Southern Baluchistan and Persia to Susa, where, after terrible losses from want of water and famine on the march, he arrived in 325 b.c. During his two years’ campaign in the Punjab and Sind, Alexander captured no Province, but he made alliances, founded cities, and planted Greek garrisons. He had trans- ferred much territory to chiefs and confederations devoted to his cause ; ever}- petty court had its Greek faction ; and the detachments which he left behind at various positions from the Afghan frontier to the Beas, and from near the base of the Himalayas to the Sind delta, were visible pledges of his return. At Taxila (Deri-Shahan) and Nikaia (Mong) in the Northern Punjab ; at Alexandria (Uchh) in the Southern Punjab ; at Patala (Haidarabad) in Sind ; and at other points along his route, he established military settle- ments of Greeks or allies. A body of his troops remained in Bactria ; and in the partition of the Empire after Alexander’s death in 323 b.c., Bactria and India eventually fell to Seleukos Nikator, the founder of the Syrian monarchy. Chandra Meanwhile, a new power had arisen in India. Among the Gupta, Indian adventurers who thronged Alexander’s camp in the 326 b.c. , punjab, each with his plot for winning a kingdom or crushing a rival, Chandra Gupta, an exile from the Gangetic valley, seems to have played a somewhat ignominious part. He tried to tempt the wearied Greeks on the banks of the Beas with schemes of conquest in the rich south-eastern Provinces ; but having personally offended their leader, he had to fly the camp (326 b.c.). In the confused years which followed, he managed, with the aid of plundering hordes, to found a kingdom on the ruins of the Nanda dynasty in Magadha, or Behar 316 b.c. ; (316 b.c.).1 He seized the capital, Pataliputra, the modern Patna ; established himself firmly in the Gangetic valley, and compelled the north-western principalities, Greeks and natives alike, to acknowledge his suzerainty.2 While, there- fore, Seleukos was winning his way to the Syrian monarchy during the eleven years which followed Alexander’s death, Chandra Gupta was building up an empire in Northern India. Seleukos reigned in Syria from 312 to 280 b.c.; Chandra 312 b.c. Gupta in the Gangetic valley from 316 to 292 b.c. In 312 1 Corpus Inscriptionum I}idicarum, i. 7. - For the dynasty of Chandra Gupta, see Xumismata Orion/alia (Ceylon fasciculus), pp. 41-50. MEGASTHENES.] INDIA. 161 b.c., the power of both had been consolidated, and the two new sovereignties were soon brought face to face. About that year, Seleukos, having recovered Babylon, pro- Seleukos ceeded to re-establish his authority in Bactria and the Punjab. 'n 1 J 312-306 In the Punjab, he found the Greek influence decayed. Alex- B.c. ander had left a mixed force of Greeks and Indians at Taxila. But no sooner had he departed from India, than the Indians rose and slew the Greek governor ; the Macedonians next massacred the Indians ; a new governor, sent by Alexander, murdered the friendly Punjab prince, Porus ; and was himself driven out of India, by the advance of Chandra Gupta from the Gangetic valley. Seleukos, after a war with Chandra Gupta, determined to ally himself with the new power in India rather than to oppose it. In return for 500 elephants, he ceded the Greek settlements in the Punjab and the Kdbul valley; gave his daughter to Chandra Gupta in marriage ; and stationed an ambassador, Megasthenes, at the Gangetic court (306-298 306-29S b.c. ). Chandra Gupta became familiar to the Greeks as B‘c' Sandrokottos, King of the Prasii ; his capital, Pataliputra,1 or Patna, was rendered into Palibothra. On the other hand, the Greeks and kings of Grecian dynasties appear in the rock- inscriptions, under Indian forms.2 Megasthenes has left a life-like picture of the Indian people. The India Notwithstanding some striking errors, the observations which °^e^sgas" he jotted down at Patna, three hundred years before Christ, 300 b.c. give as accurate an account of the social organization in the Gangetic valley as any which existed when the Bengal Asiatic Society commenced its labours at the end of the last century (1785). Up to the time of Megasthenes, the Greek idea of India was a very vague one. Their historians spoke of two classes of Indians, — certain mountainous tribes who dwelt in Northern Afghanistan under the Caucasus or Hindu Kush, and a maritime race living on the coast of Baluchistan. Of the India of modern geography lying beyond the Indus, they practically knew nothing. It was this India to the east of the Indus which Megasthenes opened up to the western world. 1 The modern Patna, or Pattana, means simply ‘the city.’ For its identification with Pataliputrapura by means of Mr. Ravenshaw’s final discoveries, see General Cunningham’s Anc. Geog. of India, p. 452 et seq. 2 The Greeks as Yonas (Yavanas), from the ’idons or Ionians. In the Inscriptions of Asoka, five Greek princes appear : Antiochos (of Syria) ; Ptolemy (Philadelphos of Egypt) ; Antigonos (Gonatos of Macedon) ; Magas (of Kyrene) ; Alexander (II. of Epirus). — Weber, Hist. Ind. I.it., pp. 179, 252. But see also Wilson, Journ. Roy. As. Soc., vol. xii. (1850), and Cunningham’s Corpus Inscrip. Indie., pp. 125, 126. 162 INDIA. [megasthenes. Kalanos the Brah- man. 323 B.C. Indian society. 300 n.c. Petty kingdoms. He describes the classification of the people, dividing them, however, into seven castes instead of four,1 — namely, philo- sophers, husbandmen, shepherds, artisans, soldiers, inspectors, and the counsellors of the king. The philosophers were the Brahmans, and the prescribed stages of their life are indicated. Megasthenes draws a distinction between the Brahmans (Bpa^//.Sves) and the Sarmanai (2,ap/j.dv at), from which some scholars infer that the Buddhist Sramanas or monks were a recognised order fifty years before the Council of Asoka. But the Sarmanai also include Brahmans in the first and third stages of their life as students and forest recluses.2 The inspectors,3 or sixth class of Megasthenes, have been identified with the Buddhist supervisors of morals, afterwards referred to in the sixth edict of Asoka. Arrian’s name for them, is the Greek word which has become our modem bishop or overseer of souls. The Brahmans deeply impressed Alexander by their learning and austerities. One of them, Kalanos by name, was tempted, notwithstanding the reproaches of his brethren, to enter the sendee of the conqueror. But falling sick in Persia, Kalanos determined to die like a Brahman, although he had not consist- ently lived as one. Alexander, on hearing of his philosopher’s resolve to put an end to his life, vainly tried to dissuade him ; then loaded him with jewels ; and directed that he should be attended with all honours to the last scene. Distributing the costly gifts of his master as he advanced, wearing a garland of flowers, and singing his native Indian hymns, the Brahman mounted a funeral pyre, and serenely perished in the flames. The Greek ambassador observed with admiration the ab- sence of slavery in India, the chastity of the women, and the courage of the men. In valour they excelled all other Asiatics ; they required no locks to their doors ; above all, no Indian was ever known to tell a lie. Sober and industrious, good farmers, and skilful artisans, they scarcely ever had recourse to a law- suit, and lived peaceably under their native chiefs. The kingly government is portrayed almost as described in Manu, with its hereditary castes of councillors and soldiers. Megasthenes mentions that India was divided into 1x8 kingdoms; some 1 Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian, being fragments of the Indiha, by J. W. M'Crindle, M.A., p. 40, ed. 1877. 2 Brahmacharins and Vanaprasthas (£x«/3<5i). \\ eber very properly declines to identify the Sup/nivai exclusively with the Buddhist Sramanas. Hist. Ind. Lit., p. 28, ed. 1878. 3 The itfofci (Deodorus, Strabo), iviexovn (Arrian). INDIA. 163 GREEK INFLUENCES.] of which, such as that of the Prasii under Chandra Gupta, exercised suzerain powers. The village system is well described, each little rural unit seeming to the Greek an independent republic. Megasthenes remarked the exemption of the hus- bandmen (Vaisyas) from war and public services ; and enume- rates the dyes, fibres, fabrics, and products (animal, vegetable, and mineral) of India. Husbandry depended on the periodical rains ; and forecasts of the weather, with a view to ‘ make adequate provision against a coming deficiency,’ formed a special duty of the Brahmans. ‘ The philosopher who errs in his predictions observes silence for the rest of his life.’ Before the year 300 b.c., two powerful monarchies had thus Indo- begun to act upon the Brahmanism of Northern India, from the east and from the west. On the east, in the Gangetic 256 e.’c. valley, Chandra Gupta (316-292 b.c.) firmly consolidated the dynasty which during the next century produced Asoka (264-223 b.c.), established Buddhism throughout India, and spread its doctrines from Afghanistan to China, and from Central Asia to Ceylon. On the west, the heritage of Seleukos (312-280 b.c.) diffused Greek influences, and sent forth Greco- Bactrian expeditions to the Punjab. Antiochos Theos (grand- son of Seleukos Nikator) and Asoka (grandson of Chandra Gupta), who ruled these probably conterminous monarchies, made a treaty with each other, 256 E.c. In the next century, Eukratides, King of Bactria, conquered as far as Alexander’s royal city of Patala, the modern Haidarabad in the Sind Delta; and sent expeditions into Cutch and Guzerat, 181-161 b.c. Menander advanced furthest into North-Western India, Greeks in and his coins are found from Kabul, near which he pro- bably had his capital, as far as Muttra on the Jumna. The b.c. Buddhist successors of Chandra Gupta profoundly modified the religion of Northern India from the east; the empire of Seleukos, with its Bactrian and later offshoots, deeply influenced the science and art of Hindustan from the west. We have already seen how much Brahman astronomy owed Greek in- to the Greeks (p. 114); and what the Buddhists were to the (^nce on architecture of Northern India, that the Greeks were to its sculpture. Greek faces and profiles constantly occur in ancient Buddhist statuary. They enrich almost all the larger museums in India, and examples may be seen at South Kensington. The purest specimens have been found in the Punjab, where the Greeks settled in greatest force. In the Lahore collection I saw, among other beautiful pieces, an exquisite little figure of an old blind man feeling his way with a staff. 164 INDIA. Greek and Hindu types of sculpture. Foreign influences on India. Greeks in Bengal. [GREEK INFLUENCES- Its subdued pathos, its fidelity to nature, and its living move- ment dramatically held for the moment in sculptured suspense, are Greek, and nothing but Greek. It is human misfortune, that has culminated in wandering poverty, age, and blindness - — the very curse which Sophocles makes the spurned Teiresias throw back upon the doomed king — ‘ Blind, having seen ; Poor, having rolled in wealth ; he with a staff Feeling his way to a strange land shall go.’ As we proceed eastward from the Punjab, the Greek type begins to fade. Purity of outline gives place to lusciousness of form. In the female figures, the artists trust more and more to swelling breasts and towering chignons, and load the neck with constantly accumulating jewels. Nevertheless, the Grecian type of countenance long survived in Indian art. It is perfectly unlike the coarse, conventional ideal of beauty in modem Hindu sculptures, and may perhaps be traced as late as the delicate profiles on the so-called Sun Temple at Kanarak, built in the 12th century a.d. on the Orissa shore. It must suffice to indicate the ethnical and dynastic influ- ences thus brought to bear upon India, without attempting to assign dates to the individual monarchs. The chronology of the twelve centuries intervening between the Greco-Bactrian period and the Muhammadan conquest still depends on a mass of con- flicting evidence derived from inscriptions, legendary literature, unwritten traditions, and coins.1 Four systems of computation exist, based upon the Vikramaditya, Saka, Seleucidan, and Par- thian eras. In the midst of the confusion, we see dim masses moving southwards from Central Asia into India. The Greco- Bactrian kings are traced by coins as far as Muttra on the Jumna. Their armies occupied for a time the Punjab, as far south as Gujarat and Sind. Sanskrit texts are said to indicate their advance through the Middle Land of the Brahmans (Madhya- desha) to Saketa (or Ajodhya), the capital of Oudh, and to Patna in Behar.2 Megasthenes was only the first of a series ot 1 Report of the Archeological Survey of Western India for 1S74-75, P- 49 (Mr. E. Thomas’ monograph). 2 Goldstucker assigned the Yavana siege of Saketa (Ajodhya), men- tioned in the Mahabhashya, to Menander ; while the accounts of the Gargi Sanhita in the Yuga Purana speak of a Yavana expedition as far as Tatna. But, as Weber points out [Hist. Ind. Lit., p. 251, footnote 276), the ques- tion arises as to whether these Yavanas were Greeks or Indo-Scythians. See, however, Report of Archeological Survey of Western India for 1874-5, p. 49, and footnote. INDIA. REEK. INFLUENCES.] i65 Greek ambassadors to Bengal.1 A Grecian lady became the queen of Chandra Gupta at Patna (circ. 306 b.c.). Greek girls, or Yavanis, were welcome gifts, and figure in the Sanskrit drama Greek as the personal attendants of Indian princes. The credentials survivals of the Indian embassy to Augustus in 22-20 b.c. were written in India' on skins ; a circumstance which perhaps indicates the extent to which Greek usage had overcome Brahmanical prejudices. During the century preceding the Christian era, Scythian or Tartar hordes began to supplant the Greco-Bactrian influence in the Punjab. The term Yavana, or Yona, formerly applied to a non- The Brahmanical race, and then to the Greeks, was now extended Yavanas. to the Sakse or Scythians. It probably includes many various tribes of invaders from the west. Many years of patient effort will be required before the successive changes in the meaning of Yavana, both before and after the Greek period, are worked out. 1 Weber, Hist. Ind. Lit., p. 251 (ed. 1878), enumerates four. , i66 INDIA. [SCYTHIC INFLUENCES- CHAPTER VII. SCYTHIC INROADS INTO INDIA (126 B.C. TO 544 A.D.). Scythic About 126 b.c., the Tartar tribe of Su are said to have driven influences out the Greek dynasty from Bactria ; and the Greco-Bactrian m nun. setj;iements jn the Punjab were overthrown by the Tue-Chi.1 The Scythian migrations towards India culminated in the empire of Kanishka, who held the Fourth Buddhist Council, circa 40 a.d., and practically became the royal founder of Northern Buddhism. The Scythic element thus played an im- portant part in the history of Northern India. Under Kanishka and his successors aconnection was established with the Buddhist nations of Central and Eastern Asia, traces of which survived to the time of Hiouen Thsang (629-645 a.d.) in the name of China-pati, about 10 miles to the west of the Beas river.2 China-pati is said to have been the town which Kanishka appointed for the residence of his Chinese hostages. It has been suggested that the Aswatnedha, or Great Horse Sacrifice, in some of its Indian developments at any rate, was based upon Scythic ideas. * It was in effect,’ writes Mr. Edward Thomas, ‘ a martial challenge, which consisted in letting the victim who was to crown the imperial triumph at the year’s end, go free to wander at will over the face of the earth ; its sponsor being bound to follow its hoofs, and to conquer or conciliate ’ the chiefs through whose territories it passed. Such The As- a prototype seems to him to shadow forth the life of the ■wamedha, Central Asian communities of the horseman class, ‘ among origin (?)'C "'hom a captured steed had so frequently to be traced from B camp to camp, and surrendered or fought for at last.’3 An Scythian(?) effort has indeed been made to trace Buddha himself to a Scythic origin. 1 De Guignes, supported by Prof. Cowell on the evidence of coins. Appendix to Elphinstone’s History of India, p. 269, ed. 1866. 2 General Cunningham’s Anc. Geog. of India, p. 200. 3 Report, Archeological Survey of Western India, pp. 37, 38 (1876). But see, in opposition to Mr. Thomas’ view, M. Senart in the French fount, fsiatique, 1875, p. 126. SCYTHIC SETTLEMENTS.] INDIA. 167 Whatever may be the value of this conjecture, the influence of the Scythian dynasties in Northern India is a historical fact. The northern or Tibetan form of Buddhism, represented by Kanishka and his Council1 in 40 a.d., made its way down to the plains of Hindustan, and during the next six centuries com- peted with the earlier Buddhism of Asoka. The Chinese pilgrim in 629-645 a.d. found both the Northern or Scythic and the Southern forms of Buddhism in full vigour in India. He spent fourteen months at China-pati, the town where Kanishka had kept his Chinese hostages in the Punjab ; and he records the debates between the Northern and Southern sects of Buddhists in various places. The Scythic influence in India was a dynastic as well as a religious one. The evidence of coins and the names of Indian tribes or reigning families, such as the Sakas, Huns, and Nagas, point to Scythian settlements as far south as the Central Provinces.2 Some scholars believe that the Scythians poured down upon India in such masses as to supplant the previous population. The Jits or Jits,3 who form nearly one-half of the inhabitants of the Punjab, are identified with the Getae ; and their great sub- division the Dhe, with the Dahae, whom Strabo places on the shores of the Caspian. This view has received the support of eminent investigators, from Professor H. H. Wilson to General Cunningham, the present Director-General of the Archeo- logical Survey of India.4 The existing division between the Jats and the Dhe has, indeed, been traced back to the con- tiguity of the Massa-getae or Great Getae,5 and the Dahae, who dwelt by the side of each other in Central Asia ; and who may have advanced together during the Scythian movements towards India on the decline of the Greco-Bactrian Empire. Without pressing such identifications too closely in the service of particular theories, the weight of authority is in favour of a Scythian origin for the Jats, the most numerous and industrious section of the population of the Punjab.6 A similar descent Scythic Buddhism in India, 40-634 a.d. Scythic settlements in India. Scythian elements in the popu- lation. (1) Of the jats. 1 Numismata Orientalia (Ceylon fasc.), p. 54. 2 Muir’s Sanskrit Texts, chap. v. vol. i. (1S68); C. Grant’s Gazetteer of the Central Provinces, Ixx., etc. (Nagpur, 1870); Reports of the Archeo- logical Survey of India and of Western India; Professor H. H. Wilson (and Dr. F. Hall), Vishnu Parana, ii. 1 34. 3 The word occurs as Jats and Jats; but the identity of the two forms has been established by reference to the Ain-i-Akbari. Some are Hindus, others Muhammadans. 4 See among other places, part iv. of his Archeological Report, p. 19. 5 Alassa means ‘ great ’ in Pehlevi. 6 It should be mentioned, however, that Dr. Trumpp believes them to be of Aryan origin (Zeitsch. d. Dcutsch. Alorg. Gesellsch., xv. p. 690). See 1 68 INDIA. [SCYTHIC INROADS. has been assigned to certain of the Rajput tribes. Colonel Tod, still the standard historian of Rajasthan, strongly insisted on this point. The relationship between the Jats and the Rijputs, although obscure, is acknowledged ; and although the (2) Of the jus connubii no longer exists between them, an inscription Rajpu.a. seems t0 show that they intermarried in the 5th century a.d.1 Professor Cowell, indeed, regards the arguments for the Scythic descent of the Rajputs as inconclusive.2 But authorities of great weight have deduced, alike from local investigation 3 and from Sanskrit literature,4 a Scythic origin for the Jats and for some of the Rajput tribes. We shall see that the Scythian hordes also supplied certain of the non-Aryan or so-called aboriginal races of India. Indian The Scythic settlements were not effected without a struggle. a^n;rhe Chandra Gupta advanced from theGangetic valley, and rolled Scythians, back the tide of Greco-Bactrian conquest, 312-306 b.c., so the native princes who stemmed the torrent of Scythian invasion are the Indian heroes of the first century before and after Christ. Vikramaditya, King of Ujjain, won his paramount place in Samvat Indian story by driving out the invaders. An era, the Samvat , era> 57 beginning in 57 E.C., was founded in honour of his achieve- ments. Its date 5 seems at variance with his legendary victories over the Scythian Ivanishka in the 1st century after Christ;0 Mr. J. Beames’ admirable edition of Sir Henry Elliot’s Glossary of the Races of the North-Western Provinces, vol. i. pp. 130-137, ed. 1869. 1 Inscription discovered in Kotah State; No. 1 of Inscription Appendix to Colonel Tod’s Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, vol. i. p. 701, note 3 (Madras Reprint, 1S73). 2 Appendix to Elphinstone’s Hist. Ind., pp. 250 et seq., ed. 1866. 3 Tod’s Rajasthan, pp. 52, 4S3, 500, etc., vol. i. (Madras Reprint, 1S73). 4 Dr. Fitz-Edward Hall’s edition of Professor H. H. Wilson's Vishnu Parana, vol. ii. p. 1 34. The Hunas, according to Wilson, were ‘the white Huns who were established in the Punjab, and along the Indus, as we know from Arrian, Strabo, and Ptolemy, confirmed by recent discoveries of their coins and by inscriptions.’ ‘ I am not prepared,’ says Dr. Fitz- Edward Hall, * to deny that the ancient Hindus when they spoke of the Hunas included the Huns. In the Middle Ages, however, it is certain that a race called Huna was understood by the learned of India to form a division of the Kshattriyas. ’ Professor Dowson’s Diet. Hindr Mythology, etc., p. 122. 5 Samvatsara, the ‘ Year. ’ The uncertainty which surrounds even this long accepted finger-post in Indian chronology may be seen from Dr. J. Fergusson’s paper ‘On the Saka and Samvat and Gupta eras ' {Journal Roy. As. Soc., New Series, vol. xii.), especially p. 172. 6 The Hushka, Jushka, and Kanishka family of the Raja Tarangini, or Chronicles of Kashmir, are proved by inscriptions to belong to the 4th century of the Seleucidan era, or the 1st century a.d. SCYTHIC ERA.] INDIA. I 69 but his very name suffices to commemorate his struggle against the northern hordes, as Vikramaditya Sakari, or the Enemy of the Scythians. His reign forms the Augustan era of Sanskrit literature ; and tradition has ascribed the highest products of the Indian intellect during many later centuries to the poets and philosophers, or Nine Gems, of his Court. As Chandra Gupta, who freed India from the Greeks, is celebrated in the drama Mudra-rakshasa ; so Vikramaditya, the vanquisher of the Scythians, forms the central royal personage of the Hindu stage. Vikramaditya’s achievements, however, furnished no final Sdka or deliverance, but merely an episode in the long struggle between prcayt^g n the Indian dynasties and new races from the north. Another a.d. popular era, the Sdka, literally the Scythian, takes its com- mencement in 78 a.d.,1 and is supposed to commemorate the defeat of the Scythians by a king of Southern India, Salivahana.2 During the seven centuries which followed, three powerful monarchies, the Sahs, Guptas, and Valabhis, established them- selves in Northern and Western India. The Sahs of Surashtra Sah are traced by coins and inscriptions from 60 or 70 b.c. to after dynasty, 235 a.d.3 After the Sahs come the Guptas of Kanauj,4 in the 2°5 \ 'd ° North-Western Provinces, the Middle Land (Madhya-desha) of ancient Brahmanism. The Guptas introduced an era of Gupta their own, commencing in 319 a.d.; and ruled in person or cb'nasty> by viceroys over Northern India during 150 years, as far to a.d. the south-west as Kathiawar. The Gupta dynasty was over- thrown by foreign invaders, apparently a new influx of Huns or Tartars from the north-west (450-470 a.d.). The Valabhis Valabhi succeeded the Guptas, and ruled over Cutch, the north-western clPiasT> Districts of Bombay,5 and Malwa, from 480 to after 722 a.d.6 The Chinese pilgrim, Hiouen Thsang, gives a full account of the court and people of Valabhi (630-640 a.d.). Buddhism was the State religion ; but heretics (i.e., Brahmans) abounded ; and the Buddhists themselves were divided between the northern 1 Monday, 14th March 78 a.d., Julian style. 2 General Cunningham ; see also Mr. Edw. Thomas’ letter, dated 16th September 1874, to The Academy, which brings this date within the period of the Kanishka family (2 B.C. to 87 A.D.). 3 By Mr. Newton. See Mr. E. Thomas on the Coins of the Sah Kings, Archecol. Rep. Western India, p. 44 (1876) ; and Dr. J. Fergusson, Journal Roy. As. Soc., 1880. 4 Now a town of only 17,000 inhabitants in Farrukhabad District, but with ruins extending over a semicircle of 4 miles in diameter. 5 Lat-desha, including the collectorates of Surat, Broach, Kaira, and parts of Baroda territory. < 6 The genealogy is worked out in detail by Mr. E. Thomas, ut supra, pp. 80-82. M 170 INDIA. [nox-aryan influences. Long struggle against Scythic invaders, 57 b.c. to 544 a.d. The pre- Aryan element in ancient India. school of the Scythian dynasties, and the southern or Indian school of Asoka. The Valabhfs seem to have been overthrown by the early Arab invaders of Sind in the 8th century. The relations of these three Indian dynasties, the Sahs, Guptas, and Valabhis, to the successive hordes of Scythians, who poured down on Northern India, are obscure. There is abundant evidence of a long-continued struggle, but the efforts to affix dates to its chief episodes have not yet pro- duced results which can be accepted as final. Two Vikrama- ditya Sakaris, or vanquishers of the Scythians, are required for the purposes of chronology ; and the great battle of Korur near Multan, in which the Scythian hosts perished, has been shifted backwards and forwards from 78 to 544 A.D.1 The truth seems to be that, during the first six centuries of the Christian era, the fortunes of the Scythian or Tartar races rose and fell from time to time in Northern India. They more than once sustained great defeats ; and they more than once overthrew the native dynasties. Their presence is abundantly attested during the century before Christ, represented by Yikramaditya (57 b.c.); during the 1st century after Christ, represented by the Kanishka family (2 b.c. to 87 a.d.); and thence to the time of Cosmas Indicopleustes, about 535 a.d. The latest writer on the subject2 believes that it was the white Huns who overthrew the Guptas between 465 and 470 a. d. He places the great battles of Korur and Maushari, which ‘ freed India from the Sakas and Hunas,’ between 524 and 544 A.D. Cosmas Indicopleustes, who traded in the Red Sea about 535 a.d., speaks of the Huns as a powerful nation in Northern India in his days.3 The Pre-Aryans. — While Greek and Scythic influences had thus been at work in Northern India during nine centuries (327 b. c. to 544 a.d.), another element was profoundly affecting the future of the Indian people. In a previous section, I have traced the fortunes, and sketched the present condition, of the pre- Aryan ‘aborigines.’ The Brahmanical Aryans never accom- plished a complete subjugation of these earlier races. The tribes and castes of non-Aryan origin still number about 1 8 millions 1 78 A.D. was the popularly received date, commemorated by the Saka era ; ‘between 524 and 544 A.D. ’ is suggested by Dr. Fergusson (p. 2S4 of Journal Roy. As. Soc., vol. xii.) in the latest discussion of the subject during the present year, 1880. 2 Dr. J. Fergusson, Journal Roy. As. Soc., pp. 2S2-284, etc. (1880). 3 Topographia Christiana, lib. xi. p. 33S (Paris 1707); apitd Fergusson, ut supra. NON-ARYAN KINGDOMS.] INDIA. 1 7 1 in British territory ; while the castes who claim a pure Aryan descent are under 16 millions.1 The pre-Aryans have influ- enced the popular dialects of every Province, and in Southern India they have given their speech to 46 millions of people. The Vedic settlements along the five rivers of the Punjab were merely colonies or confederacies of Aryan tribes, who had pushed in among a non-Aryan population. When an Aryan family advanced to a new territory, it had often, as in the case of the Pandava brethren, to clear the forest and drive out the aboriginal people. This double process constantly repeated itself; and as late as 1657, when the Hindu Raja founded the present city of Bareilly, his first work was to cut down the jungle and expel the Katheriyas. The ancient Brahmanical kingdoms of the Middle Land, or Madhya-desha, in the North- Western Provinces and Oudh, were surrounded by non-Aryan peoples. All the legendary advances beyond the centre of Aryan civilisation, narrated in the epic poets, were made into the territory of non-Aryan races. When we begin to catch historic glimpses of India, we find the countries around the Aryan centre ruled by non-Aryan princes. The Nandas, whom Chandra Gupta succeeded in Behar, were a Sudra or non- Aryan dynasty; and, according to one account, Chandra Gupta and his grandson Asoka came of the same stock.2 The Buddhist religion did much to incorporate the pre- Pre- Aryan tribes into the Indian polity. During the long struggle against Greco-Bactrian and Scythian inroads (327 b.c. to 544 ;n 0 a.d.), the Indian aboriginal races must have had an ever- Northern increasing importance, whether as enemies or allies. At the ' ' end of that struggle, we discover them in some of the fairest tracts of Northern India In almost ever)’ District throughout Oudh and the North-Western Provinces, ruined towns and forts are ascribed to aboriginal races who ruled at different periods, according to the local legends, between the 5th and nth centuries a.d. When the Muhammadan conquest supplies a historical footing after 1000 a.d., non-Aryan tribes were in 1 This latter number includes both Brahmans (10,131,541) and Kshattriyas and Rajputs (5,641,138). But, as we have seen, some of the Rajput tribes are believed to be of Scythic origin, w hile others have been incorporated from confessedly non- Aryan tribes (pp. 101, 168). Such non- Aryan Rajputs more than outnumber any survivals of the Vaisyas of pure Aryan descent. 2 The Mudrd-rdkshasa represents Chandra Gupta as related to the last of the Nandas ; the Commentator of the Vishnu Purana says he was the son of a Nanda by a low-caste woman. Prof. Dowson’s Diet. Hindu Mythology , etc., p. 68 (Triibner, 1879). 172 The Takshaks of Rawal Pindi District. The Takshaks. 6th Cen- tury B.C. 327 B.C. 78 A.D. 633 A.D. The Nagas. INDIA. [nagas. possession of some of these Districts, and had been lately ousted from others. The Statistical Survey has brought together many survivals of these obscure races. It would be impossible to follow that survey through each locality ; but I propose, with the utmost brevity, to indicate a few of the results. Starting from the West, Alexander the Great found Rawal Pindi District in the hands of the Takkas or Takshaks, from whom its Greek name of Taxila was derived. This people has been traced to a Scythian migration about the 6th century B.C.1 Their settlements in the 4th century b.c. seem to have extended from the Paropamisan range 2 in Afghanistan to deep into Northern India. Their Punjab capital, Takshasila, or Taxila, was the largest city which Alexander found between the Indus and the Jhelum (327 b.c.).3 Salihavana, from whom the Saka or Scythian era took its commencement (78 a.d.), is held by some authorities to have been of Takshak descent.4 In the 7th century A.D., Taki,5 perhaps derived from the same race, was the capital of the Punjab. The Scythic Takshaks, indeed, are supposed to have been the source of the great Serpent Race, the Takshakas or Nagas, who figure so prominently in Sanskrit literature and art, and whose name is still borne by the Naga tribes of our own day. The words Naga and Takshaka in Sanskrit both mean a ‘ snake,’ or tailed monster. As the Takshakas have been questionably connected with the Scythian Takkas, so the Nagas have been derived, by conjecture in the absence of evidence, from the Tartar patriarch Nagas, the second son of Elkhan.6 The two names, however, seem to have been loosely applied by the Sanskrit writers to a variety of non-Aryan peoples in India, whose religion was of an anti-Aryan type. We learn, for example, how the five Pandava brethren of the Mahabharata burned out the snake-king Takshaka from 1 Such dates have no pretension to be anything more than intelligent conjectures based on very inadequate evidence. With regard to the Tak- shaks, see Colonel Tod and the authorities which he quotes, Rdj&sthan, vol. i. p. 53 passim, pp. 93 cl scq. (Madras Reprint, 1873). 2 Where Alexander found them as the Parae-takae— pahari, or Hill Takae (?). 3 Arrian. The Brahman mythologists, of course, found an Aryan pedi- gree for so important a person as King Taksha, and make him the son of Bharata and nephew of Rama-chandra ! 4 Tod, Rajasthan, vol. i. p. 95 (ed. 1873). 5 Taki, or Asarur, 45 miles west of Lahore. General Cunningham, Anc. Geog. of Ind., p. 191, and Map vi. (ed. 1871). This Taki lies consider- ably to the south-east of the Takshasila of Alexander’s expedition. 6 Tod, Rajasthan, vol. i. p. 53 (ed. 1873) ; a doubtful authority. INDIA. *73 GHAKKARS.] his primeval Khandava forest. The Takshaks and Nagas were the tree and serpent worshippers, whose rites and objects of adoration have impressed themselves deeply on the architecture and sculptures of India. The names were applied in a confused manner to different races of Scythic origin. The chief authority on Tree and Serpent Wor- Indo- ship in India has deliberately selected the term ‘ Scythian ’ for the anti- Aryan elements, which entered so largely into the Indian religions both in ancient and modern times.1 The Chinese records give a full account of the Naga geography of ancient India. The Naga kingdoms were both numerous and powerful, and Buddhism derived many of its royal con- verts from them. The Chinese chroniclers, indeed, classify the Nagd princes of India into two great divisions, as Buddhists and non-Buddhists. The serpent-worship, which formed so typical a characteristic of the Indo-Scythic races, led the Chinese to confound them with the objects of their adora- tions ; and the Indo-Scythic Nagas would almost seem to be the originals of the Dragon races of Chinese Buddhism and the Chinese art. I shall speak of the compromises to which Buddhism submitted, with a view to winning the support of the China. Naga peoples, when I come to describe the rise of Hinduism. As the Greek invaders found Rawal Pindi District in possession of a Scythic race of Takkas in 327 b.c., so the Musalman conqueror found it inhabited by a fierce non- Aryan race of Ghakkars thirteen hundred years later. The Ghakkars for a time imperilled the safety of Mahmud of The Ghazni in 1008. Ferishta describes them as savages addicted ghakkars to polyandry and infanticide. The tide of- Muhammadan p;ncfj conquest rolled on, but the Ghakkars remained in possession 1008-1857 of their submontane tract.2 In 1205, they ravaged the Punjab A D‘ to the gates of Lahore ; in 1206, they stabbed the Muhamma- dan Sultan in his tent ; and in spite of conversion to Islam by the sword, it was not till 1525 that they made their submission to the Emperor Babar in return for a grant of country. During the next two centuries they rendered great services to the Mughal 1 Dr. J. Fergusson’s Tree and Serpent Worship, pp. 71, 72 (India Museum, 4to, 186S). For the results of more recent local research, see Mr. Rivett-Camac’s papers in the Journal of the As. Soc., Bengal, ‘The Snake Symbol in India,’ ‘Ancient Sculpturings on Rocks,’ ‘Stone Carv- ings at Mainpuri,’ etc. ; the Honourable Rao Sahib Vishvanaks Narayan Mandlik’s ‘ Serpent-Worship in Western India,’ and other essays in the Bombay As. Soc. Journal; also, Reports of Arch. Survey, Western India. 2 For a summary of their later history, see article on Rawal Pindi District, Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. viii. 1 74 INDIA. Pre- Aryans of Bareilly District. The Bhars in Oudli. In Jaun- pur. In Gorakh' pur. [bhars. dynasty against the Afghan usurpers, and rose to high influence in the Punjab. Driven from the plains by the Sikhs in 1765 a.d., the Ghakkar chiefs maintained their independence in the Murree (Marri) Hills till 1830, when they were crushed after a bloody struggle. In 1849, Rawal Pindi passed, with the rest of the Sikh territories, under British rule. But the Ghakkars revolted four years afterwards, and threatened Murree, the summer capital of the Punjab, as lately as 1857. They now number only 10,153 persons; described by the British officers as ‘ a fine spirited race, gentlemen in ancestry and bearing, and clinging under all reverses to the traditions of noble blood.’ 1 I have selected the inhabitants of Rdwal Pindi District to illustrate the long-continued presence and vitality of the pre- Aryan element in India. I shall deal more briefly with other parts of the country. Proceeding inwards to the North-Western Provinces, we everywhere find traces of an early Buddhist civi- lisation having been overturned by rude non-Aryan tribes. In Bareilly District, for example, the wild Ahfrs from the north, the Bhfls from the south, and the Bhars from the east, seem to have expelled highly developed Aryan communities at some period before 1000 a.d. Still farther to the east, all remains of prehistoric masonry in Oudh and the North-Western Provinces, are assigned to the ancient Buddhists or to a non-Aryan race of Bhars. The Bhars appear to have possessed the north Gangetic plains in the centuries coeval with the fall of Buddhism. Their kingdoms extended over most of Oudh ; lofty mounds covered with ancient groves mark the sites of their forgotten cities ; and they are the mysterious ‘ fort- builders ’ to whom the peasantry ascribe any ruin of unusual size. In the western Districts, their power is said to have been crushed by the Sharki dynasty of Jaunpur in the end of the 14th century. In the eastern Districts of the north Gangetic plain, the Bhars figure still more prominently in local traditions, and an attempt has been made to trace their con- tinuous history. In Gorakhpur District, the aboriginal Tharus and Bhars seem to have overwhelmed the early outposts of Aryan civilisation several centuries before Christ. Their appearance on the scene is connected with the rise of Buddhism. They became vassals of the Buddhist kingdom of Behar on the south-east ; and on the fall of that power, about 550 a.d., the Bhars regained their independence. The Chinese pilgrim in the 7th century comments in this region 1 Imperial Gazetteer of India , vol. viii. pp. 45 48. KOCHS, AHAMS.] INDIA. 175 on the large number of monasteries and towers — the latter probably a monument of the struggle with the aboriginal Bhars, who were here finally crushed between the 7th and the 10th centuries a.d. As we advance still farther eastwards into Bengal, we find that the non-Aryan races have within historical time supplied a large part of the Hindu population. In the north, the Koch The Koch established their dominion upon the ruins of the Aryan ^orthcm kingdom of Kamrup, which the Afghan King of Bengal had Bengal, overthrown in 1489. The Koch gave their name to the Native State of Kuch Behar ; and their descendants, together In Kuch with those of other non-Aryan tribes, form the mass of the Behar‘ people in the neighbouring British Districts, such as Rangpur. In Kang- One part of them got rid of their low origin by becoming pi" ' Musalmans, and thus obtained the social equality which Islam grants to all mankind. The rest have merged more or less imperfectly into the Hindu population ; and many of them claim, in virtue of their position as an old dominant race, to belong to the Kshattriya caste. They call themselves Rdj- bansis, a term exactly corresponding to the Rajputs of Western India. The Hinduized Rajas of Kuch Behar obtained a divine Kuch origin from their Brahman genealogists, in order to conceal their aboriginal descent ; and all remembrance of the Koch tribe was carefully avoided at court. The present Raja married the daughter of the celebrated theistic apostle, Keshab Chandra Sen of Calcutta. Proceeding still eastwards, the adjacent valley of Assam Ahams of was, until the last century, the seat of another non-Aryan Assam- ruling race. The Ahams entered Assam from the south-east about 1350 (?) a.d. ; had firmly established their power in 1663 ; gradually yielded to Hinduism ; and were overpowered by fresh invasions from Burma between 1750 and 1825, when the valley was annexed to British India. The Ahams have been completely crushed as a dominant race ; and their old national priests, to the number of 179,000, have been forced to become tillers of the soil for a living. But the people of Assam are still so essentially made up of aboriginal races and their Hinduized descendants, that not 65,000 persons of even alleged pure Aryan descent can be found in a population exceeding 4 millions.1 1 The Brahmans number only 58,528 (being fewer than the Kalitas or old priests of the Ahams), out of a total population in Assam of 4,132,019; while the Koch alone number about 300,000, and even the crushed Ahams 128,980. See Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. i. pp. 238-255. i?6 INDIA. [aborigines. I have hitherto confined my survey to the country on the north of the Ganges. If we pass to the southern Gangetic plain, we find that almost every tract has traditions of a pre- Aryan tribe, either as a once dominant race or as lying at the root of the local population. The great Division of Bundel- Aborigines khand contains several crushed peoples of this class, and takes Inbantral *ts name fr°m Bundelas, a tribe of at least semi-aboriginal descent. As we rise from the Gangetic plain into the highlands of the Central Provinces, we reach the abiding home of the non-Aryan tribes. One such race after another — Gaulfs, Nagas, Gonds, Ahfrs, Bhils — ruled from the Satpura plateau.1 Some of their chiefs and leading families now claim to be Kshattriyas ; and a section of one of the lowest races, the Chauhans, borrowed their name from the noble ‘ Chauhan ’ Rajputs, in Lower In the Lower Provinces of Bengal, we find the delta Bengal ; peopled by masses of pre-Aryan origin. One section of them has merged into low-class Hindus ; another section has sought a more equal social organization by accepting the creed of Muhammad. But such changes of faith do not alter their ethnical type ; and the Musalman of the delta differs as widely in race from the Afghan, as the low-caste Hindu of the delta in Southern differs from the Brahman. Throughout Southern India, the India. non-Aryan elements form almost the entire population, and have supplied the great Dravidian family of languages, which are spoken by 46 millions of people. Two of our oldest and most faithful allies in the Madras Presidency, the enlightened dynasty of Travancore, and the ancient princes of Pudukotta, are survivals of the time when non-Aryan sovereigns ruled over Southern India. 1 See Central Provinces, Imperial Gazetteer of India. The Gaulis are locally believed to have been earlier fort-builders than the Gonds (see for example, Saoner, vol. viii.); and some of the Gond chiefs trace their descent through 54 generations to a well-recorded ancestor assigned to 91 A. d. (see for example, Saranghar, vol. viii.). Pre- Aryan element south of the Ganges. BASIS OF HINDUISM.] INDIA. 177 CHAPTER VIII. RISE OF HINDUISM (750 TO 1520 A.D.). From these diverse races, pre- Aryan, Aryan, and Scythic, the population of India has been made up. The task of organizing them fell to the Brahmans. That ancient caste, which had never quitted the scene even during the height of the Buddhistic supremacy, stepped forward to the front of the stage upon the decay of the Buddhist faith. The Chinese pilgrim, about 640 a.d., had found Brahmanism and Buddhism co-existing throughout India. The conflict of creeds brought forth a great line of Brahman apostles, from the 8th to the 16th century a.d., with occasional successors down to our own day. The disintegration of Buddhism, as we have seen, occupied many hundred years, perhaps from 300 to 1000 a. d. But the Hindus take the beginning of the 8th century as the turning-point in the struggle. About 750 a.d., they say, arose a holy Brahman of Bengal, Kumarila by name, preaching the old Vedic doctrine of a personal Creator and God. Before this realistic theology, the im- personal abstractions of the Buddhists succumbed ; and according to a later legend, the reformer wielded the sword of the flesh not less trenchantly than the weapons of the spirit. A Sanskrit writer, Madhara-Acharya, of the 14th cent. a.d. relates how Sudhanwan, a prince in Southern India, ‘ commanded his servants to put to death the old men and the children of the Buddhists, from the bridge of Rama [the ridge of reefs which connects India with Ceylon] to the Snowy Mountain : let him who slays not, be slain.’ It is needless to say that no sovereign existed at that time in India whose power to persecute extended from the Hima- layas to Cape Comorin. So far as the legend has any truth, it refers to one of the local religious reprisals which took place at many of the Indian courts during the struggle between the Buddhists and the Brahmans, as in later days, and on a smaller scale, between the rival Hindu sects. Rise of Hindu- ism. Kumarila, 750 (?) a.d. Persecu- tion (?) of Buddhism. True value of the legend. 178 INDIA. Twofold basis of Hindu- ism ; caste and religion. Caste basis of Hindu- ism. The race- origin of caste. Modified by ‘ occu- pation ’ and ‘ lo- cality. ’ Complex- ity of caste. Even the Brahmans not an ethnical unit. [caste. Hinduism is a social organization and a religious con- federacy. As a social organization, it rests upon caste, with its roots deep down in the ethnical elements of the Indian people. As a religious confederacy, it represents the coali- tion of the old Vedic faith of the Brahmans with Buddhism on the one hand, and with the ruder rites of the pre-Aryan and Indo-Scythic races on the other. The ethnical basis of caste is disclosed in the old division of the people into the ‘ twice-born ’ Aryan castes, including the Brahmans, Kshattriyas, and Vaisyas ; and the ‘ once-born ’ non-Aryan Sudras. The Census proves that this classification remains the fundamental one to the present day. The ‘ twice- born ’ castes still wear the sacred thread, and claim a joint, although an unequal, inheritance in the holy books of the Veda. The ‘ once-born ’ castes are still denied the sacred thread, and their initiation into the religious literature of the Indo-Aryans has only been effected by the secular teaching of our Anglo-Indian schools. But while caste is thus deeply founded in the distinctions of race, its superstructure has been regulated by another system of division, based on the occupations of the people. The early classification of the people may be expressed either ethnically as ‘twice-born’ Aryans, and ‘ once-born ’ non-Aryans ; or socially, as priests, warriors, husbandmen, and serfs. On the two principles of classification, according to race and to employment, still further modified by geographical position, has been built up the ethnical and social organization of Indian caste. From these cross-divisions arises an excessive complexity, which must render any brief exposition of caste superficial. As a rule, it may be said that the Aryan or ‘ twice - born ’ castes adhere most closely to the ethnical principle of division ; the ‘ once-born ’ or distinctly non - Aryan to the same principle, but profoundly modified by the concurrent principle of employment ; while the mixed progeny of the two are entirely classified according to their occupation. Even among the Brahmans, whose pride of race and continuity of tradition should render them the firmest ethnical unit among the Indian castes, classification by employment and by geo- graphical situation plays a very important part ; and the Brah- mans, so far from being a compact unit, are made up of several hundred castes, who cannot intermarry, nor eat food cooked by each other. They follow every employment, from the calm pandits of Behar in their stainless white robes, or the haughty priests of Benares, to the potato-growing Brahmans THE BRAHMANS.] INDIA. >79 of Orissa, ‘ half - naked peasants, struggling along under their baskets of yams, with a filthy little Brahmanical thread over their shoulder.’ 1 In many parts of India, Brahmans may be found earning The Brah- their livelihood as porters, shepherds, cultivators, potters, and fishermen, side by side with others who would rather starve and see their wives and little ones die of hunger, than de- mean themselves to manual labour, or let food prepared by a man of inferior caste pass their lips. Classification by locality introduces another set of distinctions among the Brahmans. In Lower Bengal jails, a convict Brahman from Behar or the North-Western Provinces used to be highly valued, as the only person who could prepare food for all classes of Brahman prisoners. In 1864, I saw a Brahman felon try to starve himself to death, and submit to a flogging rather than eat his food, on account of scruples as to whether the birthplace of the North-Western Brahman, who had cooked it, was equal in sanctity to his own native district. The Brahmans are popularly divided into ten great septs, according to their locality ; five on the north, and five on the south of the Vindhya range.2 But the minor distinctions are innumerable. Thus, the first of the five northern septs, the Saraswatas in the 1 See Orissa, vol. i. pp. 238 et seq. (ed. 1872), where I have devoted 25 pages to the diversities of the Brahmans in occupation and race. Also Hindu Tribes and Castes, by the Rev. M. A. Sherring, Introd. xxi. vol. ii. (4to, Calcutta, 1879). 2 Thus tabulated according to a Sanskrit mnemonic Sloka : — I. The five Gauras north of the Vindhya range — (1) The Saraswatas, so called from the country watered by the river Saraswati. (2) The Kdnyakuijas, so called from the Kanyakubja or Kanauj country. (3) The Gauras proper, so called from Gaur, or the country of the Lower Ganges. (4) The Utkalas, of the Province of Utkala or Odra (Orissa). (5) The Maithilas, of the Province of Mithila (Tirhut). II. The five Dravidas south of the Vindhya range — (1) The Maharashtras, of the country of the Marathi language. (2) The Andhras or Tailangas, of the country of the Telugu language. (3) The Dravidas proper, of the country of the Dravidian or Tamil language. (4) The Karnatas, of the Karnatika, or the country of the Canarese language. (5) The Gurjaras, of Gurjarashtra or country of the Gujarati language. — Indian Caste, by the late John Wilson, D.D. (of Bombay), ii. p. 17. r8o INDIA. [low ER CASTES. The lower castes still more com- plex. The build- ing up of castes. The slow develop- ment of Hindu marriage law. Punjab, consist of 469 classes.1 Mr. Sherring enumerates 1886 separate Brahmanical tribes.2 Dr. Wilson, of Bombay, carried his learned work on Caste to the length of two volumes, aggregating 678 pages, before his death ; but he had not com- pleted his analysis of even a single caste — the Brahmans. It will be readily understood, therefore, how numerous are the Subdivisions, and how complex is the constitution, of the lower castes. The Rajputs now number 590 separately named tribes in different parts of India.3 But a process of syn- thesis as well as of analysis has been going on among the Indian peoples. In many outlying Provinces, we see non- Aryan chiefs and warlike tribes turn into Aryan Rajputs before our eyes.4 I have elsewhere cited well-known legends of large bodies of aliens being from time to time incorporated even into the Brahman caste.5 But besides these ‘ manu- factured Brahmans,’ and the ethnical syncretisms of which they are surviving types, there has been a steady process of amalgamation among the Hindus by mixed marriage.6 The Siidras, says Mr. Sherring, ‘ display a great intermingling of races. Every caste exhibits this confusion. They form a living and practical testimony to the fact that in former times the upper and lower classes of native society, by which I mean the Hindu and non-Hindu population of India, formed alliances with one another on a prodigious scale, and that the offspring of these alliances were in many instances gathered together into separate castes and denominated Sudras.’7 The Hindu custom now forbids marriage between (1) per- sons of the same^/'ir or kindred, and (2) persons of different castes. But this precise double rule has been arrived at only after many intermediate experiments in endogamous and exo- gamous tribal life. The transitions are typified by the polyandry of Draupadi in the Mahabharata, and by the multitudinous 1 Compiled by Pandit Radha Krishna, quoted by Dr. J. Wilson, Indian Caste, part ii. pp. 126-133. - Hindu Tribes and Castes, pp. xxii.-xlvi. vol. ii. (4to, Calcutta, 1S79). 3 Sherring, Hindu Tribes and Castes, vol. ii. pp. lv.-lxv. 4 Vide ante, pp. 100, 101, 167, 168, 170, 171, footnote. Also Sherring, Hindu Tribes and Castes, vol. ii. p. lxvii. 5 Orissa, vol. i. p. 247 (in Oudh), p. 248 (in Bhagalpurl, p. 254 (in Malabar), etc. 6 See two interesting articles from opposite points of view, on the synthetic aspects of caste, by the Rev. Mr. Sherring, of Benares, and by Jogendra Chandra Ghose, in the Calcutta Review, Oct. 1SS0. 7 Calcutta Review, cxlii. p. 225. INTERMARRIAGES.] INDIA. 181 caste customs relating to marriage, inheritance, and the family tie, which survive to this day. Such survivals constitute an important branch of law, in fact, the ‘ common law ’ of India, and furnish one of the chief difficulties in the way of Anglo- Indian codification.1 Thus, to take a single point, the rules Survivals regarding marriage exhibit every phase from the compulsory ^s*llc pro polyandry of the Nairs, the permissive polyandry of the Jats, and the condonement of adultery with a husband’s brother or kinsman among the Karakat Vellalars of Madura; to the law of Levirate among the Ahirs and Nuniyas, the legal remarriage of widows among the low-caste Hindus, and the stringent provisions against such remarriages among the higher ones. Among the Koils, although polyandry is forgotten, the right of disposing of a girl in marriage still belongs, in certain cases, to the mater)ial uncle, — a relic of the polyandric system of succession through females. This tribe also preserves the form of marriage by ‘ capture.’ The Brdhmatias indicate that the blood of the Hindus Ancient was, even in the early post-Vedic period, greatly intermingled.2 The ancient marriage code recognised as lawful, unions of men of higher caste with females from any of the lower ones, and their offspring3 had a quite different social status from the progeny 4 of illicit concubinage. The laws of Manu dis- close how widely such connections had influenced the struc- ture of Indian society 2000 years ago ; and the Census of 1872 proved that the mixed castes still make up the great body of the Hindu population. In dealing with Indian caste, we must therefore allow not only for the ethnical and geo- graphical elements into which it is resolvable, but also for the synthetic processes by w'hich it has been built up. The same remark applies to the other principle of classifi- The ‘oc- cupation ’ 1 See ante , pp. 124, 125. Among many treatises on this subject, Arthur basis of Steele’s Law and Custom of Hindu Castes (1868) deals with Western caste- India; Nelson’s View of Hindu Law (1877), and Burnell’s Dayavibh&ga, etc., may be quoted for the Madras Presidency; Beames’ admirable edition of Sir Henry Elliot’s Tribes of the North - Western Provinces , and Sherring’s Hindu Tribes (besides a number of more strictly legal treatises), for Bengal. 2 The Taittiriya Brahmana of the Krishna Yajur Veda (quoted by Dr. J. Wilson, Caste, i. pp. 127-132) enumerates 159 castes. 3 Anuloma. 4 Pratiloma. For an arrangement of 134 Indian castes, according to their origin, or ‘procession’ from (1) regular full marriage by members of the same caste, (2) anuloma, (3) pratiloma, (4) Vrdlya-Santati, (5) adultery, (6) incest, (7) degeneration ; see Dr. J. Wilson, Lndiati Caste, ii. PP- 39-70- 182 INDIA. [occupation. Changes of 1 occu- pation ’ by castes. The Vais- yas. Gold- smiths of Madras. The Dattas of Bengal. cation on which caste rests, namely, according to the employ- ments of the people. On the one hand, there has been a tendency to erect every separate employment in each separate Province into a distinct caste. On the other hand, there has been a practice (which European observers are apt to over- look) of the lower castes changing their occupation, and in some cases deliberately raising themselves in the social scale. Thus the Vaisya caste, literally the vis or body of the Aryan settlers, were in ancient times the tillers of the soil. They have gradually abandoned this laborious occupation to the Sudra and mixed castes, and are now the merchants and bankers of India. ‘ Fair in complexion,’ writes the most accurate of recent students of caste, 1 ‘ with rather deli- cate features, and a certain refinement depicted on their countenances, sharp of eye, intelligent of face, and polite of bearing,’ the Vaisyas 1 must have radically changed since the days when their forefathers delved, sowed, and reaped.’ Indeed, so great is the change, that a heated con- troversy is going on in Hindu society as to whether the Bengali hernias, or merchant-bankers, are really of Vaisya descent. Such a rise in the social scale is usually the unconscious work of time, but there are also legends of distinct acts of self- assertion by individual castes. In Southern India, the gold- smiths strenuously resisted the rule of the Brahmans, and for ages claimed to be the true spiritual guides, styling themselves aclmryas , ‘ religious teachers,’ and wearing the sacred thread. Their pretensions are supposed to have given rise to the great division of castes in Madras, into the ‘ Right-hand,’ or the cultivating and trading castes who supported the Brahmans ; and the ‘ Left-hand,’ chiefly handicrafts which sided with the artisan opposition to Brahman supremacy.'2 In Bengal, that opposition came from the literary class. The Dattas, a sept of the Kayasth or writer - caste, formally renounced the position assigned to them in the Brahmanical classification of Hindu society. They claimed to rank next to the Brahmans, and thus above all the other castes. They failed ; but a native author 3 states that one of their body, within the 1 The Rev. M. A. Sherring, deceased, alas, since the above was written, after a life of noble devotion and self-sacrifice to the Indian people. Calcutta Review, October 1880, p. 220. 2 This subject is involved in much obscurity. I reproduce, without criticism, the explanation given in Nelson’s View of the Hindu Law, as administered by the High Court of Madras, p. 140 (Madras, 1877). Cf. the ‘ right-hand ’ and ‘ left-hand ’ worshippers of Sakti, post, pp. 303, 304. Jogendra Chandra Ghose, Calcutta Review, cxlii. p. 279 (October 1S80). INDIA. BASIS OF CASTE.] 183 memory of men still living, maintained his title, and wore the sacred thread of the pure ‘twice-born.’ The Statistical Survey of India has disclosed many self-assertions of this sort, although of a more gradual character and on a smaller scale. Thus, in Eastern Bengal, where land is plentiful, the Shahas, a section of the Suris or degraded spirit-sellers, The have, in our own time, advanced themselves into a respectable ^hahas- cultivating caste, and are now prosperous traders. Some of the Teh's or oil-pressers in Dacca District, and certain of the Tells, Tambuh's or pan growers in Rangpur, have in like manner etc risen above their hereditary callings, and become bankers and grain merchants. There is therefore a plasticity as well as a rigidity in caste. Plasticity Its plasticity has enabled it to adapt itself to widely separated rigidity stages of social progress, and so to incorporate within itself in caste, the various ethnical elements which make up the Indian people. Its rigidity has given strength and permanence to the corporate body thus formed. Hinduism is internally loosely coherent, but it has great powers of resistance to external pressure. Each caste is to some extent a trade- Caste, as guild, a mutual assurance society, and a religious sect. As a ^Yrad^ trade-union, it insists on the proper training of the youth of guilds, its craft, regulates the wages of its members, deals with delinquents, and promotes good fellowship by social gather- ings. The famous fabrics of mediaeval India, and its chief local industries in our own day, were developed under the supervision of caste or trade guilds of this sort. Such guilds may still be found in many parts of India, but not always with the same complete development.1 2 In Ahmedabad Dis- trict 2 each different trade or manufacture forms a separate guild. All heads of artisan households are ranged under their proper guild. The objects of the guild are to regulate com- its petition among the members, and to uphold the interest of regulation A 0 A of \va caste, as mutual assurance societies, and in ordinary times allow none of their members to starve. Caste and the trading No ‘Poor* or agricultural guilds concurrent with it, take the place of a india.m poor-law in India. It is obvious that such an organization must have some Caste weapons for defending itself against lazy or unworthy mem- re"ards’ bers. The responsibility which the caste discharges with regard to feeding its poor, would otherwise be liable to abuses. As a matter of fact, the caste or guild exer- cises a surveillance over each of its members, from the close of childhood until death. If he behave well, he will rise to an honoured place in his community, and the desire for such local distinction amounts to an important influence in the life of a Hindu. But the caste has its punishments as well as its rewards. Those punishments consist of fine and excommunication. The fine usually takes the form of a compulsory feast to the male members of the caste. This is the ordinary means of purification, or of making amends for breaches of the caste code. Excommunication inflicts three penalties : First, an interdict against eating with the fellow- Caste pun- members of the caste. Second, an interdict against mar- ishmtnts- riage within the caste. This practically amounts to debarring the delinquent and his family from respectable marriages of any sort. Third, cutting off the delinquent from the general community, by forbidding him the use of the village barber and washerman, and of the priestly adviser. Except in very serious cases, excommunication is withdrawn upon the submission of the offender, and his payment of a fine. But the caste punishments exercise an efficacious restraint upon the unworthy members of the community, precisely as the caste rewards supply a powerful motive of action to the good ones. A member who cannot be controlled by this mixed discipline of punishment and reward is eventually expelled ; and, as a rule, an ‘ out-caste ’ is really a bad man. Imprison- ment in jail carries with it, ipso facto , that penalty ; but may be condoned after release, by heavy expiations. Such is a brief survey of the nature and operation of caste. N i86 INDIA. [religious basis Kecapitu- But the cross-divisions on which the institution rests ; its con- caste flicting principles of classification according to race, employ- ment, and locality ; the influence of Islam in Northern India ; of the ‘right-handed’ and ‘left-handed’ branches in the south;1 and the modifications everywhere effected by social or sectarian movements, render a short account of caste full of difficulties. The reli- Hinduism is, however, not only a social organization resting of°HiniaS1S uPon caste ; it is also a religious federation based upon wor- duism. ship. As the various race elements of the Indian people have been welded into caste, so the simple old beliefs of the Veda, the mild doctrines of Buddha, and the fierce rites of the non-Aryan tribes have been thrown into the melting-pot, and poured out thence as a mixture of alloy and dross to be worked up into the Hindu gods. In the religious as in the social structure, the Brahmans supplied the directing brain- Its stages power. But both processes resulted from laws of human of evolu- evolution, deeper than the workings of any individual will ; and in both the product has been, not an artificial manufac- ture, but a natural development. Hinduism merely forms one link in the golden chain of Indian religions. I have shown that the earthly career of Buddha was but a spiritualized rendering of the heroic Aryan life as recorded in the Indian epics. In- deed, the discipline of the Buddhists organized so faithfully the prescribed stages of a Brahman’s existence, that it is difficult to decide whether the Sarmanai of Megasthenes were Buddhist clergy or Brahman recluses. If accurate scholarship cannot accept Buddhism as simply the Sankhya philosophy turned into a national religion,2 it readily admits that Buddhism and Brahmanism are united by intermediate links. An early set of these links is found in the darsanas, or philosophical systems between the Vedic period and the estab- lishment of Buddhism as a national religion under Asoka (1400? to 250 b.c.). A later set is preserved in the com- promises effected during the final struggle between Buddhism and Brahmanism, ending in the reassertion of the latter in its new form as the religion of the Hindus (300 to 1000 a.d.). Buddhist Buddhism not only breathed into the new birth its noble oif Hin-eS sPirit °f charity, but bequeathed to Hinduism many of its duism. institutions unimpaired, together with its scheme of religious life, and the material fabric of its worship. At this day, the 1 The Valankei and Yedanhei, ante , p. 182. See Crole’s C'ningleput District, pp. 33-34 (1879). 2 Ante, p. 151. OF HINDUISM.] INDIA. 187 mahdjan or bankers’ guild, in Surat, devotes part of the Beast fees that it levies on bills of exchange to animal hospitals ; hosPitals- true survivals of Asoka’s second edict, which provided a system of medical aid for beasts, 250 years before Christ. The cenobitic life, and the division of the people into laity and clergy, have passed almost unchanged from Buddhism into some of the Hindu sects. The Hindu monasteries in our own day vie with the Buddhist Monas- convents in the reign of Sfladitya ; and Puri is, in many respects, tenes> a modern unlettered Nalanda. The religious houses of the Orissa delta, with their revenue of ^50,000 a year,1 are but the Hindu developments of the Buddhist cells and rock monasteries, whose remains still honeycomb the adjacent hills. If we examine the religious life of the Vishnuvite communities, we find their rules are Buddhistic, with Brdh- manical reasons attached. Thus the moral code of the Kabir The reli- Panthfs consists of five rules : 2 First, life, whether of man or S10US lllc' beast, must not be violated ; because it is the gift of God. Second, humanity is the cardinal virtue ; and the shedding of blood, whether of man or beast, a heinous crime. Third, truth is the great principle of conduct ; because all the ills of life and ignorance of God are due to original falsehood (mdyd). Fourth, retirement from the world is desirable ; because the desires of the world are hostile to tranquillity of soul, and to the undisturbed meditation on God. Fifth, obedience to the spiritual guide is incumbent on all. This last rule is common to every sect of the Hindus. But the Kabir Panthis direct the pupil to examine well his teacher’s life and doctrine before he resigns himself to his control. If we did not know that Buddhism was itself an outgrowth from primitive Brahmanism, we might hold this code to be simple Buddhism, with the addition of a personal God. But knowing as we do that Brahmanism and Buddhism were themselves closely con- nected, and that they combined to form Hinduism, it is impossible to discriminate exactly how far the last was made up by direct transmission from either of the other two. I have already alluded to the influence of Buddhism on the Buddhist Christianity of the western world.3 Whatever uncertainties mfHences , . . on later may still obscure that question, the effect of Buddhism upon religions. the present faiths of Eastern Asia admits of no doubt. The 1 Report by the Committee of native gentlemen appointed to inquire into the Orissa maths, dated 25th March 1869, par. 15. 2 H. H. Wilson’s Religion of the Hindus, vol. i. p. 94 (ed. 1862). 3 Ante, pp. 149, 150. i88 INDIA. [SERPENT- WORSHIP. A Japanese temple ; its analo- gies to Hinduism and Chris- tianity. Serpent ornamen- tation: In Hinduism; In Buddhism; In Chris- tian art. Coalition of Bud- dhism with earlier religions : best elements in the teaching of Buddha have survived in modern Hinduism ; and Buddhism carried with it many essential doctrines of Brahmanism to China and Japan. It is difficult to enter a Japanese temple without being struck by the analogies to the Christian ritual on the one hand, and to Hinduism on the other. The chantings of the priests, their bowing as they pass the altar, their vestments, rosaries, bells, incense, and the responses of the worshippers, remind one of the Christian ritual. ‘ The temple at Rokugo,’ writes a recent traveller to a remote town in Japan, ‘ was very beautiful, and, except that its ornaments were superior in solidity and good taste, differed little from a Romish church. The low altar, on which were lilies and lighted candles, was draped in blue and silver ; and on the high altar, draped in crimson and cloth of gold, there was nothing but a closed shrine, an incense burner, and a vase of lotuses.’ 1 In a Buddhist temple at Ningpo, the Chinese goddess of mercy, Kwan-yin, whose resemblance to the Virgin Mary and Child has already been mentioned,2 is seen standing on a serpent, bruising his head with her heel. The snake orna- mentation, which figures so universally in the religion of India, is said to have been carried by Buddhism alike to the east and the west. Thus, the canopy or baldachino over Buddha’s head delights in twisted pillars and wavy patterns. These wave-like ornaments are conventionalized into cloud curves in most of the Chinese and Japanese canopies; but some of them still exhibit the original figures thus symbolized as undulating serpents or Nagas. A serpent baldachino of this sort may be seen in a monastery at Ningpo.3 It takes the place of the cobra- headed canopy, which in India shelters the head of Siva, or of Vishnu as he slept upon the waters at the creation of the world. The twisted columns which support the baldachino at St. Peter’s in Rome, and the fluted ornamentation so common over Pro- testant pulpits, are said to have a serpentine origin, and an eastern source. The association of Buddha with two other figures, in the Japanese temples, perhaps represents a recol- lection of the Brahman triad. The idea of trinity, as Buddha, Dharma (the Law), and Sangha (the Congregation), deeply penetrates the faith. The Sacred Tooth at Ceylon is a reproduction of the phallic linga of India. Buddhism readily coalesced with the pre-existing religions 1 Miss Bird’s Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, vol. i. p. 295 (ed. 1880). 2 Ante, p. 150. 3 My authority is an unpublished drawing by Miss Gordon Cumming. COMMON SHRINES.] INDIA: 189 of primitive races. Thus, among the hill tribes of Eastern Bengal, we see the Khyoungthas, or ‘ Children of the River,’ passing into Buddhists without giving up their aboriginal rites. They still offer rice and fruits and flowers to the spirits of hill In India ; and stream ; 1 and the Buddhist priests, although condemning . the custom as unorthodox, do not very violently oppose it. In In Japan. Japan, a Buddhist saint visited the hill-slope of Hotoke Iwa in 767 a.d. ; declared the local Shinto deity to be only a mani- festation of Buddha ; and so converted the ancient high-place into a Buddhist shrine. Buddhism has thus served as a link Shrines between the most ancient faiths of India and the modern con?mon to . . . various worship of the eastern world. It has given sanctity to the centres faiths. of common pilgrimage, to which the great faiths of Asia resort. Thus, the Siva-worshippers ascend the top of Adam’s Peak in Adam’s Ceylon, to adore the footprint of their phallic god, the Siva- pada ; the Buddhists repair to the spot to adore the same symbol as the footmark of Buddha ; and the Muhammadans to venerate it as the relic of Adam, the Semitic father of man- kind. Many common shrines of a similar character exist in India. The famous spot of pilgrimage at Sakhi Sarwar crowns Sakhi the high bank of a hill stream at the foot of the Sulaimans, yai"ar- in the midst of desert scenery, well adapted to those who would mortify the flesh. To this remote place, the Muham- madans come in honour of a Musalman saint ; the Sikhs to venerate a memorial of their theistic founder, Nanak ; and the Hindus to perform their own ablutions and rites. The mingled architecture of such pilgrim-shrines attests the various races and creeds which have combined to give them sanctity. Buddhism, which was at first a revolt against Brahman supre- macy, has done much to maintain the continuity between the ancient and the modern religions of India. Hinduism, however, derived its elements not merely from Non- the two ancient Aryan faiths, the Brahmanical and the Bud- ‘'lryan . . dhist. In its popular aspects, it drew much of its strength, Hinduism, and many of its rites, from the Naga and other non-Aryan peoples of India. Buddhists and Brahmans alike endea- voured, during their long struggle, to enlist the masses on their side. The Naga kingdoms were divided, as we have seen, by the Chinese geographers into those which had accepted Buddhism, and those which had not. A chief feature Naga rites, in Naga -worship was the reverence for dragons or tailed monsters. This reverence found its way into mediaeval Buddhism, and became an important element in Buddhist 1 See my Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. vi. p. 40, etc. 190 INDIA. [phallic emblems. Serpent- mythology. Indeed, the historian of Tree and Serpent worsh'p worship goes so far as to say that * Buddhism was little more in Hindu- , r . , , . .. ,, ism. than a revival of the coarser superstitions of the aboriginal races, purified and refined by the application of Aryan mora- lity.’1 The great monastery' of Nalanda owed its foundation to the supposed influence of a tailed monster, or N£ga, in a neighbouring tank. Many Hindu temples still support colonies of sacred crocodiles ; and the scholar who has approached the subject from the Chinese point of view, comes to the con- clusion that ‘ no superstition was more deeply embedded in the [ancient] Hindu mind than reverence for Nagas or dragons. Buddhism from the first had to contend as much against the under current of Naga reverence in the popular mind, as against the supercilious opposition of the philosophic Brah- man in the upper current. At last, as it would seem, driven to an extremity by the gathering cloud of persecution, the Buddhists sought escape by closing with the popular creed, and endeavouring to enlist the people against the priests; but with no further success than such a respite as might be included within some one hundred years.’2 Phallic This conception of the process is coloured by modern hi^Hindu ideas, but there can be no doubt that Hinduism incorporated ism. many aboriginal rites. It had to provide for the non-Aryan as well as for the Aryan elements of the population, and it combined the Brahmanism and Buddhism of the Aryans with the fetish-worship and religion of terror which swayed the non-Aryan races. Some of its superstitions seem to have been brought by Turanian or Scythian migrations from Central Asia. Serpent-worship is closely allied to, if indeed it does not take its origin in, that reverence for the symbols of human reproduction which formed one of the most widely spread religions of pre-historic man.3 Phallic or generative emblems are on earth what the sun is in the heavens. The sun, as the type of celestial creative energy, was a primitive object of Aryan adoration. Later Brahmanism, and its successor Hinduism, The Hindu seem to have adopted not only the serpent, but the linga and hitga and yoni. or the terrestrial organs of male and female creative yoni. 1 Fergusson’s Tree and Serpent Worship, pp. 62, with footnote, et set/. (4to, 1868). This view must be taken subject to many limitations. 3 Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese, pp. 415, 416. By Samuel Beal. (Triibner, 1871.) 3 I here acknowledge my obligations to General Forlong for much information on this subject, derived from the proof-sheets of his forthcoming Rivers of Life, a work which embodies the patient research of twenty years devoted to the study of phallic religions in Europe and Asia. FETISH IN HINDUISM.] INDIA. IQI energy, from the non-Aryan races. The early Aryan ritual of the Vedas was addressed to the elements, particularly to Fire. The worship of the phallic emblem or linga finds only a doubtful sanction, if any at all, in those ancient scriptures ; 1 but the Puranas disclose it in full vigour (1000 a.d.) ; and the Muhammadans found it in every part of India. It is not only the chief religion to the south of the Vindhyas, but it is universally recognised by all Hindus. Such symbolism fitted well into the character of the third person of their triad — Siva, the Reproducer, as well as the All-Destroyer. To the Brah- mans it supplied a popular basis for their abstruse doctrines regarding the male and female energy in nature. Phallic worship harmonized also with their tendency to supply each god The with a correlative goddess, and furnished an easily understood ei^g^lve symbolism for the Sdkta sects, or worshippers of the divine creative power,2 so numerous among the Hindus. For the semi- aboriginal tribes and half-Hinduized low-castes, the conception of Siva as the All-Destroyer and Reproducer, organized on a philosophical basis their old religion of propitiation by blood.3 The fetish and tree worship of the non-Aryan races also Fetish- entered largely into Hinduism. The first Englishman who ^iiuluCin1 tried to study the natives as they actually are, and not as the Brahmans described them, was struck by the universal preva- lence of a worship quite distinct from that of the Hindu deities.4 A Bengal village has usually its local god, which it adores either in the form of a rude unhewn stone, or a stump, or a The sdla- tree marked with red-lead. Sometimes a lump of clay placed Sram- under a tree does for a deity, and the attendant priest, when there is one, generally belongs to one of the half-Hinduized low-castes. The rude stone represents the non-Aryan fetish ; and the tree seems to owe its sanctity to the non-Aryan belief that it forms the abode of the ghosts, or gods, of the village. 1 H. H. Wilson’s Religion of the Hindus, vol. i. p. 220 (ed. 1862). 2 Sakti ; see post, pp. 199, 200. 3 The relation of these rites of the semi-Hinduized low-castes to the religion of the non-Aryan races is treated at considerable length, from personal observation, in my Annals of Rural Bengal, pp. 127-136 and 194, 5 th edition. 1 Dr. Francis Buchanan, who afterwards took the name of Hamilton. His survey of the North-Eastern Districts of Bengal, 1807-13, forms a noble series of ms. folios in the India Office, much in need of a competent editor. Montgomery Martin made three printed volumes out of them by the easy process of drawing his pencil through the parts which did not interest him, or which he could not understand. These he published under the title of the History, Antiquities, Topography, and Statistics of Eastern India (3 vols., 1838). 192 INDIA . Vishnuvite symbols. J ungle rites. Non- Aryan rites merg- ing into Hinduism. [jungle RITES. We have seen how, in some Santali hamlets, the worshippers dance round every tree ; so that they may not, by any evil chance, miss the one in which the village spirits happen to dwell.1 As the non-Aryan phallic emblems were utilized by Hindu- ism in the worship of Siva, the All-Destroyer and Reproducer, so the household fetish sdlagram has supplied a symbol for the rival Hindu deity Vishnu, the Preserver. The sdlagram (often an ammonite or curved stone) and the tulasi plant are the insignia of Vishnuvism, as universally as the ling a is of Sivaism. In both cases the Brahmans enriched the popular symbolism with deep metaphysical doctrines, and with admirable moral codes. The Sivaite devotee carries round his neck, or hidden about his person, a miniature phallic emblem, linga ; the sdlagram and tulasi are the objects of reverence among all the Vishnuvite sects.2 The great Vishnuvite festival of Bengal, the rath-jdtra , when Jagannath, ‘ The Lord of the World,’ is dragged in his car to his garden-house, is of Buddhist origin.3 But it has many a humbler counterpart in the forest excursions which the Bengal villagers make in their holiday clothes to some sacred tree in the neighbouring grove or jungle. These jungle rites find special favour with the low-castes, and disclose curious survivals of the non-Hinduized element in the wor- shippers. Blood sacrifices and the eating of flesh have long been banished from the popular Vishnuvite sects. But on such forest festivals, the fierce aboriginal instincts even in the mixed- castes, who accept in ordinary life the restraints of Hinduism, break loose. Cowherds have been seen to feed on swine- flesh, which at all other times they regard with abhorrence. The ceremonies, where they can pretend to a conscious meaning, have a propitiatory or necromantic tinge. Thus, in Birbhum District the mixed and low castes of the chief town repair once a year to the jungle, and make offerings to a ghost who dwells in a bel- tree. Buchanan - Hamilton describes such sacrifices as ‘ made partly from fear, and partly to gratify the appetite for flesh.’ * In examining the western ethnical frontier of Lower Bengal, I found that the rites of the non-Aryan hillmen merged into the Hinduism of the plains.5 I came to the conclusion that the Hindus had derived from non-Aryan sources their phallic emblem, linga, their house- 1 Ante , p. 74. 2 See, inter alia , pp. 15, 39, 50, 54, 116, 117, 140, 149, 179, 181, 246, vol. i. of H. H. Wilson’s Religion of the Hindus (ed. 1862). 3 Post, pp. 208, 209. 4 History, etc. of Eastern India, from the Buchanan MSS., vol. i. p. 194. i Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 194, 5th edition. INDIA. T93 HINDU APOSTLES.] hold fetish, sdlagrdm, their village gods, gram-devatas , with the ghosts and demons that haunt so many trees, and the bloody rites of their national deity, Siva. Among the Hindus, these superstitions are isolated and unconnected with each other ; among the Santals and other non-Aryan races, they form links in a ritual of fear and propitiation. The development of Hinduism out of pre-existing religious Brahman types, although a natural evolution, bears the impress of Hinduism human guidance. Until the 12th century a.d., the Brahmans supplied the directing energy in opposition to the Buddhists, and founded their reforms on a reassertion of the personality of God. But by that period, Buddhism had ceased to struggle for a separate existence in India ; and the mass of the people began to strike out religious sects upon popular rather than on Brahmanical lines. The wrork of the early Brahman reformers was accordingly carried on after the 12th century, Low- in part by low-caste apostles, who gave life to the old Brah- ^a^t]es manical conception of a personal God, by infusing into it the ‘ Buddhist doctrine of the spiritual equality of man. Many of the Hindu sects form brotherhoods, on the Buddhist model, w-ithin which the classification by caste gives place to one based on the various degrees of perfection attained in the religious life. Most of the Hindu reformations since the 12th century thus preserve what was best in each of the two ancient faiths of India — namely, the personal God of the Brahmans, and the spiritual equality of the Buddhists. Among the Hindus, every preacher who would really appeal to the popular heart must fulfil two conditions, and conform to a certain type. He must cut himself off from the wrorld by a solemn act, like the Great Renunciation of Buddha ; and he must come forth from his solemn communing wTith a simple message. The message need not be original, for it must consist of a reassertion, in some form, of the personality of God and the equality of men in His sight. Hinduism boasts a line of religious founders stretching in The Hindu almost unbroken succession from about 700 a.d. to the present ActaSanc- . torum. day. The lives of the mediaeval saints and their wondrous works are recorded in the Bhakta-Mala, literally, ‘The Garland of the Faithful,’ compiled by Nabhaji, about three centuries ago.1 This difficult Hindu work wras popularized by later 1 H. H. Wilson, writing in the Asiatic Researches (Calcutta, 1828), says about * 250 years ago.’ — See Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Asiatic Society, vol. iii. p. 4. J94 INDIA. [KUMARILA, 750 A.D Miracles of the religious founders. Kabir’s death. Kumarila Bhatta, 7 50 1?) A. D. versions and commentaries,1 and a vast structure of miracle and fable has been reared upon it. It is the Golden Legend and Acta Sanctorum of Hinduism. The same wonders are not recorded of each of its apostles, but divine interpositions abound in the life of all. The greater ones rank as divine incarnations prophesied of old. Some were bom of virgins ; others overcame lions ; raised the dead ; their hands and feet when cut off sprouted afresh ; prisons were opened to them ; the sea received them and returned them to the land unhurt, while the earth opened and swallowed up their slanderers. Their lives were marvellous, and the deaths of some a solemn mystery. On Kabfr’s decease, both the Hindus and Musal- mans claimed the body, the former to burn it, the latter to bury it, according to their respective rites. While they wrangled over the corpse, Kabir suddenly stood in the midst, and, commanding them to look under the shroud, vanished. This they did. But under the winding-sheet they found only a heap of beautiful flowers, one-half of which they gave to be burned by the Hindus in their holy city, while the other half was buried in pomp by the Musalmans. His name lives in the memory of the people ; and pilgrims from Upper India beg a spoonful of rice-water from the Kabfr Monastery at Puri, at the extreme southern point of Bengal, to this day. The first in the line of apostles was Kumarila, a bhatta or Brahman of Behar. The legend relates that he journeyed into Southern India, in the 8th century a.d., commanding princes and people to worship one God. He stirred up a persecution against the Buddhists or Jains in the State of Rudrapur, — a local persecution which later tradition magni- fied into a general extermination of the Buddhists from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin.2 In Hindu theology he figures as a teacher of the later Mimansa philosophy, which ascribes the universe to a divine act of creation, and assumes an all- powerful God as the cause of the existence, continuance, and dissolution of the world. The doctrine of this personal deity, ‘ the one existent and universal soul,’ * without a second ’ 1 The best know'll are that of Narayan Das, about the time of Shah Jahan (1627-58); the tiki of Krishna Das (1713); and a later version ‘in the more ordinary dialect of Hindustan.’ — Wilson’s Religions of the Hindus, vol. i. pp. 9, io (ed. 1862). s The local persecution is recorded by Ananda Giri, a disciple of Sankara about the 8th or 9th century a.d., and the author of the Sankara - Vijaya . The magnified version appears in the Sarua Darsana Sangraha of Madhava Acharya, in the 14th century. See, however, the Mackenzie mss. in the India Office Library. SANKARA, Soo A.D.j INDIA. 195 (adwaita), states the philosophical argument against the Bud- dhists. Kumarila bequeathed his task to his famous disciple Sankara Acharya, in whose presence he is said to have solemnly committed his body to the flames. With the advent of Sankara Acharya we touch more solid Sankara ground. Born in Malabar, he wandered as an itinerant Acharya, preacher over India as far as Kashmir, and died at Kedarnath tury a.i>. in the Himdlayas, aged 32. One of his disciples has narrated his life’s work under the title of ‘ The Victory of Sankara,’ 1 a record of his doctrines and controversial triumphs. Sankara moulded the later Mfmansa or Vedantic philosophy into its final form, and popularized it into a national religion. It is scarcely too much to say, that since his short life in the 8th or 9th century, every new Hindu sect has had to start with a personal God. He addressed himself to the high-caste philosophers on His two- the one hand, and to the low-caste multitude on the other. fo,<1 wor1'* He left behind, as the twofold results of his life’s work, a compact Brahman sect and a popular religion. The Brahman sect are the Smartas, still powerful in Southern His sect of India. Sankara taught that there was one sole and supreme Smarta 0 .. 1 Brahmans. God, Brahma Para Brahma , distinct alike from any member of the old Brahman triad, or of the modern Hindu pantheon ; the ruler of the universe and its inscrutable first cause, to be » worshipped, not by sacrifices, but by meditation, and in spirit and in truth. The Smarta Brahmans follow this philosophic side of his teaching ; and of the religious houses which he founded some remain to this day, controlled from the parent monastery perched among the western ranges of Mysore.2 But Sankara His realized that such a faith is for the few. To those who could [jfe^eople1 not rise to so high a conception of the godhead, he allowed the practice of any rites prescribed by the Veda, or by later orthodox teachers, to whatsoever form of the godhead they might be addressed. Tradition fondly narrates that the moulders of almost all the historical sects of Hinduism — Sivaites, Vishnu- vites, Sauras, Saktas, Ganapatya, Bhairavas — were his disciples.3 1 The Sankara - Vijaya of Ananda Giri, published in the Bibliotheca Jndica, and critically examined by Kashinath Trimbak Telang in vol. v. of the Indian Antiquary. But, indeed, Sankara is the first great figure in almost every Hindu hagiology, or book of saints, from the Sana Darsana Sangraha of Madhava Acharya downwards. 3 At Sringiri ( Imperial Gazetteer , vol. viii. p. 445), where a brief account is given of the head of the Smarta sect, who has his headquarters in this monastery. See also Mysore and Coorg, by Lewis Rice, vol. ii. p. 413, etc. (Bangalore Government Press, 1876.) 3 Wilson’s Religion of the Hindus, vol. i. p. 28 (1862). 196 INDIA. [SIVA-WORSHIP, Growth of Siva- worship ; But Siva-worship claims Sankara as its founder in a special sense. Siva-worship represents the popular side of his teach- ing, and the piety of his followers has elevated Sankara into an incarnation of Siva himself.1 But nothing is altogether new in Hinduism, and it is need- less to say that Siva had won his way high up into the pantheon long before the 8th century a.d. Siva is the Rudra of the Vedas, as developed by Brahman philosophy, and finally adapted to popular worship. Rudra, the Storm-God of the Vedic hymns, had grown during this process into Siva, the Destroyer and Reproducer, as the third person of the Brah- man triad. The Chinese pilgrims supply evidence of his worship before the 7th century A.D., while his dread wife had a temple at the southernmost point of India at the time of the Periplus (2d century a.d.), and gave her name to Cape Comorin.2 Siva ranks high in the Mahabharata, in various passages of uncertain date ; but does not reach his full develop- ment till the Puranas, probably after the 10th century a.d. His worship in Bengal is said to have been formulated by Paramata Kalanala at Benares ; 3 but Sankara’s teaching gave an impulse to it throughout all India, especially in the south ; and later tradition makes Paramata himself a disciple of Sankara. In the hands of Sankara’s followers and apostolic suc- cessors, Siva-worship became one of the two chief religions of India. As at once the Destroyer and Reproducer, Siva represented profound philosophical doctrines, and was early recognised as being in a special sense the god of the Brahmans.4 To them he was the symbol of death as merely a change of life. Its terrible On the other hand, his terrible aspects, preserved in his long list of names from the Roarer (Rudra) 5 of the Veda, to the Dread One (Bhima) of the modern Hindu Pantheon, well adapted him to the religion of fear and propitiation prevalent among the ruder non-Aryan races. Siva, in his twofold character, thus became the deity alike of the highest and of the lowest Its philo sophical aspects; forms. 1 This rank is claimed for Sankara by Madhava Acharya in the 14th century a.d. ; indeed, Siva’s descent as Sankara is said to have been fore- told in the Skattda Purana. Sankara is one of the names of Siva. s From Kumari or Kanya-kumari, the Virgin Goddess, a nameofDurga, wife of Siva. 3 As Visweswara, or Lord of the Universe, under which name Siva is still the chief object of worship at Benares. 4 A Sanskrit text declares Siva to be the ddideva, or special god of the Brahmans ; Vishnu, of the Kshattriyas ; Brahma, of the Vaisyas ; and Ganesa, of the Sudras. 4 From the roat rud, weep. ITS TWO ASPECTS.] INDIA. 1 97 castes. He is the Maha-deva, or Great God of modern Hinduism ; and his wife is Devi, pre-eminently the Goddess. His universal symbol is the linga, a fetish emblem of repro- duction ; his sacred beast, the bull, connected with the same idea; a trident tops his temples. His images partake of his double nature. The Brahmanical conception is repre- sented by his attitude as a fair-skinned man, seated in profound thought, the symbol of the fertilizing Ganges above his head, and the bull (emblem alike of procreation and of Aryan plough-tillage) near at hand. The wilder non-Aryan aspects of his character are signified by his necklace of skulls, his collar of twining serpents, his tiger-skin, and his club with a human head at the end. His five faces and four arms have also their significance. His wife, in like manner, appears in her Aryan form as Uma, ‘ Light,’ the type of high-born loveliness ; in her composite character as Durga, a golden - coloured woman, beautiful but menacing, riding on a tiger ; and in her terrible non-Aryan aspects, as Kali, a black fury, of a hideous coun- tenance, dripping with blood, crowned with snakes, and hung round with skulls. As an Aryan deity, Siva is Pasu-pati, the lord of animals and the protector of cows ; Sambhu, the auspicious ; Mrityunjaya, the vanquisher of death ; Viswan- atha, monarch of all. In his non-Aryan attributes, he is Aghora, the horrible ; Virupaksha, of mis-shapen eyes ; Ugra, the fierce ; Kapala-malin, garlanded with skulls. So also Devi, his female form, as an Aryan goddess is Uma, the lovely daughter of the mountain king, Himavat ;* Aryd, the revered ; Gann, the brilliant or gold-coloured; Jagad-gaurf, the World’s Fair One ; Bhavani, the Source of Existence ; and Jagan-mata, the Mother of the Universe. Her non-Aryan attributes appear in her names of Kali or Syama, the Black One ; Chandi, the Fierce; Bhairavi, the Terrible; Rakta-danti, the Bloody-Toothed. The ritual of Siva -worship preserves, in an even more striking way, the traces of its double origin. The higher minds still adore the godhead by silent contemplation, as pre- scribed by Sankara, without the aid of external rites. The ordinary Brahman hangs a wreath of flowers around the phallic linga, or places before it harmless offerings of rice. But the low-castes pour out the lives of countless victims at the feet of the terrible Kali, and until lately, in time of pestilence and famine, tried in their despair to appease the relentless goddess by human blood. During the dearth of 1866, in a temple to Kali within 100 miles of Calcutta, a boy was found with his 1 Monarch of the Himalayas. Twofold aspects of Siva and his wife. Their two- fold sets of names. Twofold aspects of Siva- worship. 198 INDIA. [man-sacrifice. Human offerings, 1866. The Charak- Puja. neck cut, the eyes staring open, and the stiff clotted tongue thrust out between the teeth. In another temple at Hugh (a railway station only 25 miles from Calcutta), the head was left before the idol, decked with flowers.1 Such cases are true survivals of the regular system of human sacrifices which we have seen among the non-Aryan tribes.2 They have nothing to do with the old mystic purusha-medha or man-offering, whether real or symbolical, of the ancient Aryan faith ; 3 but form an essential part of the non- Aryan religion of terror, which demands that the greater the need, the greater shall be the propitiation. Such sacrifices are now forbidden, alike by Hindu custom and English law. H. H. Wilson found evidence that they were regularly offered by the Kapalika sect of Sivaite Hindus eight centuries ago ; and representatives of those hideous votaries of Siva, ‘ smeared with ashes from the funeral pile, and their necks hung round with human skulls,’ survive to this day.4 Colonel Keatinge tells me that he has seen old sacrifice troughs near Jaintiapur, now used only for goats, which exactly fitted the size of a man. The modern ones are reduced to the dimensions of the animals at present offered ; and the greater length of the ancient ones is explained by a legend of human sacrifices. The Statistical Survey of India has brought to light many traditions of such offerings. The hill tribes between Sylhet and Assam hunt a monkey at sowing-time, and crucify it on the margin of the village lands, apparently as a substitute for the Spring man-sacrifice.2 A human life was sometimes devoted to the preservation of an artificial lake, or of a river embankment 3 a watchman being sacrificed,5 or a virgin princess walled up in the breach.6 Another Sivaite festival was the Charak-Puja, or Hook-Swing- ing Festival, during which men were twisted on a pole by a hook thrust through the muscles of the back, and then swung in the air, in honour of Kali. It was my duty in 1863 to see 1 The Calcutta Englishman of 19th May 1866 ; Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 128, 5th edition. 2 As among the Kandhs, ante, p. 78, etc. 3 See Dr. Haug’s Origin of Brahmanism, p. 5 (Poona, 1863). The Purusha-sukta of the Rig Veda, x. 90, verses 7-15 ; and the Purusha-medha of the Satapatha Bralunana, i. 2, 3, 6, and xiii. 6, i. I ; and of the Aitareya Bralunana, ii. 8, with other passages quoted throughout Dr. Muir’s Sanskrit Texts, seem to have an allegorical and mystical significance, rather than to refer to a real sacrifice. See also Wilson’s Essay on Human Sacrifices, Journal Roy. As. Soc., vol. viii. p. 96 (1S52). 4 Religion of the Hindus, vol. i. p. 264. 5 See Sakraypatna, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. viii. p. 122. 6 See Anantasagakam, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 194. INDIA. 199 SIVAITE SECTS.] that the orders abolishing this festival were carried out in a border District, lying between the Hindu plains and the non- Aryan highlands. The low-castes, in reality semi-aborigines, and only half-Hinduized, assembled round the poles and foretold famine from the loss of their old propitiatory rites. As they thought the spring ceremonies absolutely essential before commencing tillage, I suggested they might swing a man by a rope round his waist instead of with a hook through his back. This compromise was accepted by some, but the better informed cultivators assured me that it would have no effect on the crops without the spilling of blood.1 The thirteen chief sects of Siva - worshippers faithfully The represent the composite character of their god. Sankara gh;"^teen left behind him a succession of teachers, many of whom rose sects, to the rank of religious founders. The Smarla Brahmans still maintain their life of calm monastic piety. The Dand'is or ascetics, divide their time between begging and meditation. Some of them adore, without rites, Siva as the third person of the Aryan triad. Others practise an apparently non-Aryan ceremony of initiation by drawing blood from the inner part of the novice’s knee, as an offering to the god in his more terrible form, Bhairava. All Dand'is follow the non - Aryan custom of burying their dead, or commit the body to some sacred stream.2 The Yogis include every class of devotee, Gradations from the speechless mystic who, by long suppressions of the breath, loses the consciousness of existence in an unearthly union with Siva, to the impostor who sits upon air, and the juggler who travels with a performing goat. The Sivaite sects descend, through various gradations of self-mortification and abstraction, to the Ag/ioris , whose abnegation extends to eating carrion and gashing their bodies with knives. The lowest Non- sects follow non - Aryan rather than Aryan types, alike as Aryan regards their use of animal food and their bloody worship. tyiies These non -Aryan types are, however, spiritualized into spiritual- a mystic symbolism by the Sivaite Sdkias, or worshippers lzccl 1,y the of the creative energy in nature ( Sakti ). The ‘ right-hand ’ adorers3 follow the Aryan ritual, with the addition of an offering of blood.4 Their Tantras or religious works take Sakta sects. 1 It is right to say that very little blood was lost, and the wounds caused were slight ; indeed, slighter than those sometimes left behind by the skewers which were fixed through the cheek or tongue of the swinger during the performance. 3 Cf. the Santals and the Damodar river, ante , p. 74. 3 Dakshinas or Bhaktas. 4 The bah. 200 INDIA. Sakta or Tantrik sect. Secret orgies. Siva and Vishnu compared. Vishnu always a friendly god. [SIVAITE ORGIES. the form of a dialogue between Siva and his lovely Aryan bride,1 in which the god teaches her the true forms of prayer and ceremonial. But the ‘ left-hand ’ worship 2 is an organized fivefold ritual of incantation, lust, gluttony, drunkenness, and blood. The non-Aryan origin of these secret rites is attested by the meats and drinks forbidden to all respectable Hindus ; perhaps also by the community of women, possibly an un- conscious survival of the non-Aryan forms of polyandry and primitive marriage by capture.3 The Kanchuliyas, one of the lowest of the Sivaite sects, not only enforce a community of women, but take measures to prevent the exercise of indi- vidual selection, and thus leave the matter entirely to divine chance. Even their orgies, however, are spiritualized into a mystic symbolism ; and the Dread Goddess surely punishes the votary who enters on them merely to gratify his lusts. Siva-worship thus became a link between the highest and the lowest castes of the Hindus. Vishnu, the second person of the Aryan triad, supplied a religion for the intermediate classes. Siva, as a philosophical conception of the Brahmans, afforded small scope for legend ; and the atrocities told of him and his wife in their terrible forms, as adapted to the non - Aryan masses, were little capable of refined literary treatment. But Vishnu, the Preserver, furnished a congenial theme for sacred romance. His religion appealed, not to the fears, but to the hopes of mankind. Siva-worship com- bined the Brahmanical doctrine of a personal god with non- Aryan bloody rites ; Yishnu-worship, in its final form as a popular religion, represents the coalition of the same Brah- manical doctrine of a personal God, with the Buddhist principle of the spiritual equality of man. Vishnu had always been a very human god, from the time when he makes his appearance in the Veda as a solar myth, the ‘ Unconquerable Preserver ’ striding across the universe in three steps.4 His later incarnations made him the familiar 1 Usually in the form of Uma or Parvati. 2 Vamis or Vamacharis, whose worship comprises the fivefold Makara, ‘which takes away all sin,’ namely — mama (flesh), matsya (fish, the symbol of oviary fertility), madya (intoxicating spirits), maMuna (sexual intercourse), mudra (mystical gesticulations). 3 Cf. also the festival of the Rukmini-haran-ekadasi at Puri. See my Orissa, vol. i. p. 1 3 1. * Probably at first connected with the rising, zenith, and setting of the sun in his daily course. INDIA. 201 FRIENDLY VISHNU.] friend of man. Of these ‘ descents ’ 1 on earth, ten or twenty- Vishnu as two in number, Vishnu-worship, with the unerring instinct of a hero- a popular religion, chose the two most beautiful and most human for adoration. As Rama and Krishna, Vishnu attracted to himself innumerable loving legends. Rama, his seventh incarnation, was the hero of the Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana. In his eighth incarnation, as Krishna, Vishnu becomes the His later high-souled prince of the other epic, the Mahabharata ; he afterwards grew into the central figure of Indian pastoral poetry ; was spiritualized into the supreme god of the Vishnu- vite Puranas ; and now flourishes the most popular deity of the Hindus. The worship of Vishnu, in one form or another, is the religion of the bulk of the middle classes ; with its roots deep down in beautiful forms of non-Aryan nature-worship, and its top sending forth branches among the most refined of the Brahmans and literary classes. It is a religion in all things graceful. Its gods are heroes or bright friendly beings, who walk and converse with men. Its legends breathe an almost Grecian beauty. But pastoral simplicities and an exquisite ritual belong to a later age than Siva-worship, with its pandering to the grosser superstitions of the masses. Vishnuvism made its popular con- quests at a later period than Sivaite rites. In the nth century, the Vishnuvite doctrines were gathered The into a religious treatise. The Vishnu Purana dates from ^rdna about 1045 a.d., and probably represents,2 as indeed its name circ. 1045 implies, ‘ancient’ traditions which had co-existed with Sivaism A,1)- and Buddhism for centuries. It derived its doctrines from the Vedas, not, however, in a direct channel, but filtered through 1 Avatdras. The ten chief ones are : (1) the Fish incarnation, (2) the Tortoise, (3) the Boar, (4) the Man-Lion, (5) the Dwarf, (6) Parasu-rama or Rama with the Axe, (7) Rama or Rama-chandra, (8) Krishna, (9) Buddha, and (10) Kalki, the White Horse, yet to come. The first four are mythological beasts, perhaps representing the progress of animal life through the eras of fishes, reptiles, and mammals, developing into half- formed man. From another aspect, the Fish represents the yoni, or ovarian fertility; the Tortoise, the lingo. ; the Boar, the terrestrial fertilizer; and the Man-Lion, the celestial. These four appeared in the Satya Yuga, an astronomical period anterior to the present world. The fifth or dwarf incar- nation represents early man in the Treta Yuga, or second astronomical period, also long anterior to the present mundane one. The next three incarnations represent the Pleroic Age ; the ninth or Buddha, the Religious Age. The tenth stands for the end of all things, according to the Hindu apocalypse, when Vishnu shall appear on a white horse, a drawn sword blazing like a comet, in his hand, for the destruction of the wicked and the renovation of the world. The Bkdgavata Purana gives twenty-two incarnations of Vishnu. J Preface to the Vishnu Purdna. H. K. Wilson, p. cxii. (ed. 1S64). O 202 INDIA. [VISHNU PURANA. The eighteen Puranas. Brahmani- cal Vish- nuvism, 1045 A.D. Popular Vishnu- vism. Ramanuja, circ. 1150 A.D. the two great epic poems. It forms one of the eighteen Puranas or Sanskrit theological works, in which the Brahman moulders of Vishnuvism and Sivaism embodied their rival systems. These works especially extol the second and third members of the Hindu triad, now claiming the pre-eminence for Vishnu as the sole deity, and now for Siva ; but in their higher flights rising to a recognition that both are but forms for representing the one eternal God. Their interminable dialogues are said to run to 1,600,000 lines.1 But they exhibit only the Brahmanical aspect of what were destined to become the two national faiths of India, and are devoid of any genuine sympathy for the people. The Vishnu Purina starts with an intolerance equal to that of the ancient code of Manu. It still declares the priests to have sprung from the mouth, and the low-castes from the feet, of God.2 Its stately theogony disdains to touch the legends of the people. It declares, indeed, that there is One God ; but He is the God of the Brahmans, to whom He gives the earth as an inheritance, and in His eyes the ruder Indian races are as naught. This is the general tenor of its doctrines, although more enlightened, perhaps because later, passages occur. In the Vishnu Pura?ia , Buddha is still an arch-heretic, who teaches the masses to despise the Veda, but whose disciples are eventually crushed by the bright Aryan gods. It is true that in the concluding book, when treating of the last Iron Age, to which this world has now come, some nobler idea of God’s dealing with man gleams forth. In that time of universal dissolution and darkness, the sage consoles us by the fact that devotion to Vishnu will suffice for salva- tion to all persons and to all castes.3 Vishnuvism had to preach a different doctrine before it could become, as it has for ages been, a religion of the people. The first of the line of Vishnuvite reformers was Ramanuja, a Brdhman of Southern India. In the middle ot the 12th century, he led a movement against the Sivaites, proclaiming the unity of God, under the title of Vishnu, the Cause and the Creator of all things. Persecuted by the Chola king, who tried to enforce Sivaite conformity through- out his dominions, Ramanuja fled to the Jain sovereign of Mysore. This prince he converted to the Vishnuvite faith by expelling an evil spirit from his daughter. Seven hundred 1 Preface to the Vishnu Parana , p. xxiv. H. H. Wilson (ed. 1864). - Vishnu Parana, lib. i. cap. vi. p. 89. H. H. Wilson’s ed. (1864). 3 Vishnu Parana, lib. vi. cap. ii. H. H. Wilson, p. cxxxviii. INDIA. 203 VISHXUVITE APOSTLES.] monasteries, of which four still remain, are said to have marked the spread of his doctrine before his death. Rama- nuja made converts from every class, but it was reserved for his successors to formally enunciate the brotherhood of man. At the end of the 13th century a.d., according to some Rdma- authorities, or at the end of the 14th, according to others, the nand> great reformation, which made Vishnu-worship a national I4°° religion of India, took place. Ramanand stands fifth in the apostolic succession from Ramanuja, and spread his doctrine through Northern India. He had his headquarters in a monastery at Benares, but wandered from place to place, preaching the One God under the name of Vishnu, and choosing twelve disciples, not from the priests or nobles, but among the despised castes. One of them was a leather- dresser, another a barber, and the most distinguished of all was the reputed son of a weaver. The list shows that every His low- caste without distinction found free entrance into the new caste , disciples. faith. The life of a disciple was no life of ease. He was called upon to forsake the world in a strictly literal sense, and to go about preaching or teaching, and living on alms. His old age found an asylum in some monastery of the brother- hood. Ramanuja had addressed himself chiefly to the pure Aryan castes, and wrote in the language of the Brahmans. Ramanand appealed to the people, and the literature of his sect is in the dialects familiar to the masses. The Hindi vernacular owes its development into a written language, partly to the folk-songs of the peasantry and the -war-ballads of the Rajput court-bards, but chiefly to the literary requirements of the new popular faith. Vishnuvism has deeply impressed itself on the modern dialects of Northern India.1 Kabir, one of the twelve disciples of Ramanand, carried his Kablr, doctrines throughout Bengal. As his master had laboured to 138°-I42° gather together all castes of the Hindus into one common faith, so Kabir, seeing that the Hindus were no longer the whole inhabitants of India, tried, about the beginning of the 15 th century, to build up a religion that should embrace Hindu and Muhammadan alike. The writings of his sect His doc- acknowledge that the god of the Hindu is also the god oftnnes' 1 The three best known sets of such religious treatises are — (1) the volu- minous works ascribed to Kabir (1400 A.D.) and his followers, preserved at the headquarters of his sect, the Kabir Chaura at Benares ; (2) the Grant h , or scriptures of various Bhagats or Vishnuvite religious founders, especially of Dudu in Rajputana, and of the Sikh Gurus, beginning with Nanak (1469) ; and (3) the Bhaktamdla, or Roll of the Bhaktas or apostles, the Golden Legend of Vishnuvism alluded to, ante, p. 193, 204 INDIA. Coalition of Vishnu- vism with Islam, 1420 A.D. The One God of both. Brother- hood of man. The rest of the soul. Faith. Chaitanya, 1485-1527 A. D. [kabir, 1420. the Musalmin. His universal name is The Inner, whether he be invoked as the Ah' of the Muhammadans, or as the Rama of the Hindus. ‘ To Ah' and to Rama we owe our life,’ say the scriptures of his sect,1 ‘ and should show like tender- ness to all who live. What avails it to wash your mouth, to count your beads, to bathe in holy streams, to bow in temples, if, whilst you mutter your prayers or journey on pilgrimage, deceitfulness is in your heart ? The Hindu fasts every eleventh day ; the Musalman on the Ramazan. Who formed the remaining months and days, that you should venerate but one? If the Creator dwell in tabernacles, whose dwelling is the universe? The city of the Hindu god is to the east [Benares], the city of the Musalman god is to the west [Mecca]; but explore your own heart, for there is the God, both of the Musalmdns and of the Hindus. Behold but One in all things. He to whom the world belongs, He is the father of the worshippers alike of Ali and of Rama. He is my guide, He is my priest’ 2 Kabfr’s teaching marks another great stride in the Vish- nuvite reformation. His master, Ramanand, had asserted the equality of castes, because he identified the deity with the worshipper. He had regarded the devotee as but a mani- festation of the divinity, and no lowness of birth could degrade the godhead. As Vishnu had taken the form of several of the inferior animals, such as the Boar and the Fish incarnations, so might he be born as a man of any caste. Kabi'r accepted this doctrine, but he warmed it by an intense humanity. All the chances and changes of life, the varied lot of man, his differences in religion, his desires, hopes, fears, loves, are but the work of Maya , or illusion. To recognise the one Divine Spirit under these manifold illusions, is to obtain emancipation and the rest of the soul. That rest is to be reached, not by burnt-offerings or sacrifice, but, according to Kabir, by faith ( bhakti ), by meditation on the Supreme, by keeping His holy names, Hari, Ram, Govind, for ever on the lips and in the heart. The labours of Kabir may be placed between 1380 and 1420 a.d. In 1485, Chaitan)’a was born, and spread the Vishnuvite doctrines, under the worship of Jagannath, through- out the deltas of Bengal and Orissa.3 Signs and wonders 1 The Vijak of Bhagodas, one of Kabir’s disciples. For the rival claims of the Hindus and Musalmans to Kabir’s body, see ante , p. 194. 2 Sabda, lvi. Abridged from H. H. Wilson’s Works, vol. i. p. 81. 3 For the worship of Jagganath, see post, pp. 208-211. CHAITANYA, 1500.] INDIA. 205 attended Chaitanya through life, and during four centuries he has been worshipped as an incarnation of Vishnu. Extricat- ing ourselves from the halo of legend which surrounds and obscures the apostle, we know little of his private life except that he was the son of a Brahman settled at Nadiya near Calcutta; that in his youth he married the daughter of a celebrated saint ; that at the age of twenty-four he forsook the world, and, renouncing the state of a householder, repaired to Orissa, where he devoted the rest of his days to the propagation of the faith. He disappeared in 1527 a.d. But with regard to his doctrine we have the most ample evidence. No race or caste was beyond the pale of salvation. The Musalmans shared his labours, and profited by his preaching as well as the Hindus. He held that all men are alike capable of faith, and that all castes by faith become equally pure. Implicit belief and incessant devotion were his watchwords. Con- templation rather than ritual was his pathway to salvation. Obedience to the religious guide is the great characteristic of his sect ; but he warned his disciples to respect their teachers as second fathers, and not as gods. The great end of his system, as of all Indian forms of worship, is the liberation of the soul. He held that such liberation does not mean the mere annihilation of separate existence. It consists in nothing more than an entire freedom from the stains and the frailties of the body. The liberated soul dwells for ever, either in a blessed region of perfect beauty and sin- lessness, or it soars into the heaven of Vishnu himself, high above the myths and mirages of this world, where God appears no more in his mortal incarnations, or in any other form, but is known in his supreme essence. The followers of Chaitanya belong to every caste, but they acknowledge the rule of the descendants of the original disciples ( gosains ). The sect is open alike to the married and unmarried. It has its celibates and wandering mendicants, but its religious teachers are generally married men. They live with their wives and children in clusters of houses around a temple to Krishna ; and in this way the adoration of Chaitanya has become a sort of family worship throughout Orissa. The landed gentry worship him with a daily ritual in household chapels dedicated to his name. After his death, a sect arose among his followers, who asserted the spiritual independence of women.1 In their monastic en- closures, male and female cenobites live in celibacy; the 1 The Spashtha Dayakas. Chait- anya’s life, 1 500 A. D. His teach- ing. ‘ Libera- tion ’ of the soul. The Chait- anya sect. Its religious houses. 206 The place it assigns to women. Modem Buddhist nuns. Vallabha- Swami, circ. 1 520 A. D. INDIA. [woman’s function. women shaving their heads, with the exception of a single lock of hair. The two sexes chant the praises of Vishnu and Chaitanya together, in hymn and solemn dance. But the really important doctrine of the sect is their recognition of the value of women as instructors of the outside female community. For long, they were the only teachers admitted into the zananas of good families in Bengal. Fifty years ago, they had effected a change for the better in the state of female education, and the value of such instruction was assigned as the cause of the sect having spread in Calcutta.1 Since that time, Vishnuvite female ascetics of various sorts have entered the same field. In some instances the bad crept in along with the good, and an effort made in 1863 to utilize them in the mechanism of Public Instruction failed.2 The analogy of woman’s position in the Vishnuvite sects to that assigned to her by ancient Buddhism is striking. But the analogy becomes more complete when the comparison is made with the extra-mural life of the modern Buddhist nun on the Punjab frontier. Thus, in Lahul, the nuns have not, as in Tibet, cloisters of their own. They are attached to monasteries, in which they reside only a few months of the year; and which they may permanently quit, either in order to marry or for other good reasons. In 1868, there were seventy-one such Buddhist nuns in Lahul, able to read and write, and very closely resembling in their life and discipline the better orders of Vishnuvite female devotees in Bengal. One of them was sufficiently skilled in astronomy to cal- culate an eclipse.3 The death of Chaitanya marked the beginning of a spiritual decline in Vishnu - worship. About 1520, Vallabha-Swami preached in Northern India that the liberation of the soul did not depend upon the mortification of the body ; and that God was to be sought, not in nakedness and hunger and solitude, but amid the enjoyments of this life. An opulent sect had, from an early period, attached itself to the worship of Krishna and his bride Radhd ; a mystic significance being, of course, assigned to their pastoral loves. Still more popular among women is the modem adoration of Krishna as the 1 Wilson’s Religion of Hindus, vol. i. p. 171 (ed. 1862). 2 The official details of this interesting and once promising experiment at Dacca will be found in Appendix A to the Report of the Director of Public Instruction, Bengal, for 1863-64, pp. 83-90; for 1864-65, pp. 1 55- 1 58 ; and in each subsequent Annual Report to 1869. 3 Sherring’s Hindu Tribes, vol. ii. p. 9 (4to, Calcutta). INDIA. 207 KRISHNA-WORSHIP.] Bala Gopala, or the Infant Cowherd, perhaps unconsciously Child- stimulated by the Christian tradition of the Divine Child. worshiP- Another influence of Christianity on Hinduism may possibly be traced in the growing function assigned by the Krishna sects to bhakti, or faith, as an all-sufficient instrument of salvation. Vallabha-Swami was the apostle of Vishnuvism as a reli- Krishna- gion of pleasure. When he had finished his life’s work, he worship' descended into the Ganges ; a brilliant flame arose from the spot; and, in the presence of a host of witnesses, his glorified form ascended to heaven. The special object of his homage was Vishnu in his pastoral incarnation, in which he took the form of the divine youth Krishna, and led an arcadian life in the forest. Shady bowers, lovely women, exquisite viands, and everything that appeals to the luscious sensuousness of a tropical race, are mingled in his worship. His daily ritual consists of eight services, in which Krishna’s image, as a beautiful boy, is delicately bathed, anointed with essences, splendidly attired and sumptuously fed. The fol- lowers of the first Vishnuvite reformers dwelt together in secluded monasteries, went about scantily clothed, living upon alms. But this sect performs its devotions arrayed in costly apparel, anointed with oil, and perfumed with camphor or sandal. It seeks its converts, not among weavers, or leather- dressers, or barbers, but among wealthy bankers and merchants, who look upon life as a thing to be enjoyed, and upon pil- grimage as a holiday excursion, or an opportunity for trade. In a religion of this sort, abuses are inevitable. It was a a religion revolt against a system which taught that the soul could °fpleasure. approach its Maker only by the mortification of the body. It declared that God was present in the cities and marts of men, not less than in the cave of the ascetic. Faith and love were its instruments of salvation, and voluptuous contemplation its approved spiritual state. It delighted to clothe the deity in a beautiful human form, and mystical amorous poems make a large part of its canonical literature. One of its most valued theological treatises is entitled The Ocean of Love, Love Prem Sagar ; and although its nobler professors always recog- 1 oems' nise its spiritual character, to baser minds it has become simply a religion of pleasure. The loves of Radha and Krishna, that woodland pastoral, redolent of a wild-flower aroma as ethereal as the legend of Psyche and Cupid, are spmetimes materialized into a sanction for licentious rites. I have described a few of the Vishnuvite sects, in order to Numerous show the wide area of religious thought which they cover, and sects. 208 The twenty chief Vishnuvite sects. Theistic move- emnts. The Sikhs. Nanak Shah, 1469- Brother- hoods. Jagannath. His Brah- manical and Buddhist origin. INDIA. [brotherhoods. the composite conceptions of which they are made up. But any attempt at even a complete catalogue of them is alto- gether beyond the scope of this work. Wilson divides them into twenty principal sects, and the branches or lesser brother- hoods probably number not less than a hundred. Their series of religious founders continued until the present century, when they began to merge into the more purely Theistic movements of our day. Indeed, the higher Vishnuvite teachers have always been theistic. The Statistical Survey of India has disclosed many such reformations, from the Karta- bhajas1 of the Districts around Calcutta, to the Satnamis2 of the Central Provinces. Some of them are poor local brother- hoods, with a single religious house ; others have developed into widespread and wealthy bodies ; while one theistic sect has grown into a great nation, the Sikhs, the last military power which we had to subdue in India.3 Nanak Shah, the spiritual founder of the Sikhs, was nearly contemporary with Kabir, and taught doctrines in the Punjab but little differing from those of the Bengal apostle.4 The Vaishnavas now en- gross almost the whole population of Lower Bengal, excepting the very highest and the very lowest castes. In many of their sects, caste is not acknowledged. Such sects form brotherhoods which recognise only spiritual distinctions or degrees ; and a new social organization is thus provided for the unfortunate, the widow, or the out-caste. In lately settled Provinces like Assam, Vishnu - worship becomes practically the universal religion of the Hindus. The Car Festival of Jagannath is perhaps the most typical ceremony of the Vishnuvite faith. Jagannath, literally £ The Lord of the World,’ represents, with unmistakeable clearness, that coalition of Brahman and Buddhist doctrines which form the basis of Vishnu-worship. In his temple are three rude images, unconsciously representing the Brahmanical triad. His Car Festival is probably a once-conscious reproduction of the Tooth Festival of the Buddhists, although its original significance has dropped out of sight. The Chinese pilgrim Fa - Hian gives an account of the yearly procession of Buddha’s Sacred Tooth from its chapel to a shrine some way 1 See my Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. i. pp. 73-75 (Twenty-four Parganas) ; vol. ii. pp. 53-55 (Nadiya). 2 Vide Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. ii. p. 364. 3 See post, p. 31 1, and Imperial Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 180 (Amritsar) ; vol. vii. pp. 419-421 (Punjab). For the theological aspects of the Sikhs, see Wilson’s Religion of the Hindus, vol. i. pp. 267-275 (ed. 1862). 4 H. H. Wilson’s Religion of the Hindus, vol. i. p. 269. INDIA. 209 JAGANNATH.] off,1 and of its return after a stay there. This was in the 5th century a.d. ; but the account applies so exactly to the Car Festival at the present day, that Fergusson pronounces the latter to be ‘merely a copy.’2 A similar festival is still cele- brated with great rejoicing in Japan. As in the Indian proces- sion of Jagannath, the Japanese use three cars ;3 and Buddha sits in his temple, together with two other figures, like the Jagannath triad of Orissa.3 It is needless to add, that while Jagannath is historically of Buddhist or composite origin, he is to his true believers the one supreme ‘ Lord of the World.’ In another work, I have exposed the calumnies in which Car Festi- some English writers have indulged with regard to his worship. ja to Ahmad Shah’s tempest of invasion in 1761 a.d. They represent in Indian history the overflow of the nomad tribes of Central Asia to the south-east ; as the Huns, Turks, and various Tartar tribes disclose in early European annals the westward movements from the same great breeding-ground of nations. At no time was Islam triumphant throughout all India. Powerful Hindu dynasties ruled over a large area. At the height of the Muhammadan power, the Hindu princes paid tribute, and sent agents to the Imperial Court. But even and tem- this modified supremacy of Delhi lasted for little over a century porary- (1578-1707). Before the end of that brief period, the Hindus had again begun the work of reconquest. The native chivalry of Rajputana was closing in upon Delhi from the south-east ; the religious confederation of the Sikhs was growing into a Hindus military power on the north - west. The Marhattas com- reconquer , r . . India from bined the fighting powers of the low-castes with the states- the Musal- manship of the Brahmans, and subjected the Muhammadan mans, A J 1 707-6 1 kingdoms throughout India to tribute. So far as can now be estimated, the advance of the English power at the beginning of the present century alone saved the Mughal Empire from passing to the Hindus. In treating of the Muhammadan period, I shall exhibit the principal stages in the spread of the Musalm^n conquest, without dwelling on the intermediate princes of the various dynasties who flit across the scene.1 The annexed summary presents a view of the whole : — 1 The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone’s History of India is still the standard popular work on the Muhammadan period. Professor Cowell’s edition (Murray, 1866) has endeavoured to incorporate many of the new materials furnished by Indian scholarship since the time when Mr. Elphinstone wrote. But much of the original work is little more than a reproduction of Firishta, and requires to be rewritten from the Indian His- torians and the Reports of the Indian Surveys. I have chiefly used, besides Elphinstone, the following works for the Muhammadan period : — (1) Sir 2l6 INDIA. Summary of Muhammadan Conquerors and Dynasties of India ( I. House of Ghazni (Turki). 1001-1186. Mahmud of Ghazni to Sultan Khusru. Pp. 217-19. II. House of Ghor (Afghan ?). 1186-1206. Muhammad Ghori (Shahab-ud-din). Pp. 220-23. III. Slave Kings (chiefly Turki). 1206-1290. Kutab-ud-din to Bal- ban and Kaikubad. Pp. 223-25. IV. House of Khilji (Turki?). 1290-1320. Jalal-ud-din to Nasir- ud-din Khusru. Pp. 225-27. \ . House of Tughlak (Punjab Turks). Pp. 227-30. 1320. Ghiyas - ud - din Tughlak. P. 227. 1325. Muhammad Tughlak. Pp. 228-30. 1351. Firuz Tughlak. P.230. 1414. End of the dynasty. P. 230. [Irruption of the Mughals under Timur (Tamerlane) in 1398- 99, leaving behind him a fifteen years’ anarchy under the last of the line of Tughlak, until the accession of the Sayyids in 1414. P. 230.] VI. The Sayyids. 1414-1450. Curtailed power of Delhi. P. 230 passim. VII. The Lodis (Afghans). 1450-1526. Feeble reigns; inde- pendent States. Pp. 230-33. VIII. House of Timur (Mughal). 1526-1530. Babar. P. 234. Humayun. Pp. 234, 235- 3I’i857)- [Sher Shah, the Afghan Gover- nor of Bengal, drives Huma- yun out of India in 1540, and his Afghan dynasty rules till 1555. P. 235.] 1556- 1605. Akbar the Great. Pp. 235-42. 1605-1627. Jahangir. Pp. 242-44. 1628-1658. Shah Jahan, deposed. Pp. 244-47. 1658-1707. Aurangzeb or Alam- gir 1. Pp. 248-55. 1 707- 1 7 12. Bahadur Shah, or Shah Alam 1. P. 255. 1712. Jahandar Shah. P. 355. 1 7I3*1 7 18. Farrukhsiyyar. P. 255. 1719-1748. Muhammad Shah (after two boy Emperors). P. 255- [Irruption of Nadir Shah the Persian, 1738-1739. P. 257.] 1748-1754. Death of Muhammad Shah ; and accession of Ahmad Shah, deposed 1754. P. 255. I754-I7S9- Alamgir 11. P. 255. [Six invasions of India by Ahmad Shah Durani, the Af- ghan, 1748-1761. Pp.255-56]. 1759-1806. Shah Alam 11., titular Emperor. P. 255. 1806-1834. Akbar 11., titular Em- peror. P. 255. 1834-1857. Muhammad Bahadur Shah, titular Emperor ; the seventeenth and last Mughal Emperor ; died a State prisoner at Rangoon in 1862. P. 255. Henry Elliot’s Translations from the Indian Historians, 8 vols. (1S67-77), ante, Note 1 to p. 317 ; (2) Mr. Edward Thomas’ Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi, especially for reigns from 1193 to 1554, for which period he gives the initial dates of the Hijra years (Triibner, 1871) ; (3) Mr. Edward Thomas’ Revenue Resources of the Mughal Empire, with his manuscript marginal notes ; (4) Lieut. -Colonel Briggs’ Translation of Muhammad Kasim Firishta’s History of the Rise of the Muhammadan Power in India ; (5) Reports of the Archteological Survey of Western India, and materials supplied by the Statistical Survey of the various Provinces of India ; (6) Professor Blochmann’s Ayin-i-Akbari, together with Gladwin’s older translation (2 vols. 1800). TURK. I INVASIONS.] INDIA. 217 The first collision between Hinduism and Islam on the First Punjab frontier was the act of the Hindus. In 977, Jaipal, ?l^)ons the Hindu chief of Lahore, annoyed by Afghan raids, led his troops up the passes against the Muhammadan kingdom of Ghazni, in Afghanistan. Subuktigm, the Ghaznivide prince, after severe fighting, took advantage of a hurricane to cut off the Hindu retreat through the pass. He allowed them, how- ever, to return to India on the surrender of fifty elephants, Subukti- and the promise of 1 million dirhams (about .^s^oo).1 977 Tradition relates how Jaipal, having regained his capital, was counselled by the Brahman, standing at his right hand, not to disgrace himself by paying ransom to a barbarian ; while his nobles and warrior chiefs, standing at his left, implored him to keep faith. In the end, Subuktigm swept down the passes to enforce his ransom, defeated Jaipal, and left an Afghan officer with 10,000 horse to garrison Peshawar. Subuktigm was soon afterwards called away to fight in Central Asia, and his Indian raid left behind it only this outpost.2 But henceforth, the Afghans held both ends of the passes. In 997, Subuktigm died, and was succeeded by his son, Mahmud Mahmud of Ghazni, aged sixteen. This valiant monarch iq^jo'-’o reigned for thirty-three years,3 and extended the limits of his father’s little Afghan kingdom from Persia on the west, to deep into the Punjab on the east. Having spent four years in consoli- dating his power to the west of the Khaibar Pass, he led forth in 1001 a.d. the first of his seventeen invasions of India.4 Of His seven- these, thirteen were directed to the subjugation of the western ^”sinVa" Punjab, one was an unsuccessful incursion into Kashmir, and 1001-1026. the remaining three were short but furious raids against more distant cities — Kanauj, Gwalior, and Somnath. Jaipal, the Hindu frontier chief of Lahore, was again defeated. Accord- ing to Hindu custom, a twice-conquered prince was deemed unworthy to reign, and Jaipal, mounting a funeral pile, solemnly 1 The Tarikh Yamint, written circ. 1020, by A1 ’Utbi, a secretary of Sultan Mahmud, is the contemporary authority for this invasion. It is translated in Sir Henry Elliot’s Hist., vol. ii. pp. 18-24. The materials for the invasions of Subuktigm are Firishta, i. pp. 11-25 (ed. 1829); and Sir Henry Elliot’s Indian Historians, vols. ii. iii. iv. and vi. 2 His chronicler, A1 ’Utbi, never once mentions Delhi or Lahore. 3 The Tabakdt-i-Nasiri (Sir Henry Elliot, vol. ii. p. 270) speaks of the ■36th year of his reign.’ But the dates 997 to 930 seem authoritative. The original materials for the invasions of Mahmud are Firishta, i. pp. 37-82 ; and Sir Henry Elliot’s Indian Historians , vols. i. ii. iii. and iv. 4 For this number, and subsequent details, I follow the Persian autho- rities translated by Sir Henry Elliot, vols. ii. iii. iv. ; and critically examined in the Appendix to his second volume, pp. 434-478 (1869). P 218 INDIA. [MAHMUD OF GHAZNI, I CO I. Patriotic made over his kingdom to his son, and burned himself in his of the ' °n regal robes. Another local chief, rather than yield himself to Hindus, the victor, fell upon his own sword. In the sixth expedition 1008 a. d. (I00g a.d. ), the Hindu ladies melted their ornaments, while the poorer women spun cotton, to support their husbands in the war. In one great battle, the fate of the invaders hung in the balance. Mahmud, alarmed by a coalition of the Indian kings as far as Oudh and Malwa, entrenched himself near Peshawar. A sortie which he made was driven back, and the wild Ghakkar tribe 1 burst into the camp and slaughtered nearly 4000 Musalmans. Mahmud’s But each expedition ended by further strengthening the Indfa6SS m Muhammadan foothold in India. Mahmud carried away 1001-1024. enormous booty from the Hindu temples, such as Thaneswar and Nagarkot, and his sixteenth and most famous expedition was directed against the temple of Somnath in Guzerat (1024 a.d.). After bloody repulses, he carried the town, and the Hindu garrison, leaving 5000 dead, put out in boats to sea. The famous idol of Somnath was merely one of the twelve litigas or phallic emblems erected in various parts of India. Expedition But Mahmud having taken the name of the ‘ Idol-Smasher,’ ndth° 1024 the modern Persian historians gradually converted the plunder of Somnath into a legend of his pious zeal. Forgetting the contemporary accounts of the idol as a rude block of stone, Firishta tells how Mahmud, on entering the temple, was offered an enormous ransom by the priests if he would spare the image.2 But Mahmud cried out that he would rather be * remembered as the breaker than the seller of idols, and clove the god open with his mace. Forthwith a vast treasure of jewels poured forth from its vitals, which explained the liberal offers of the priests, and rewarded the disinterested piety of the monarch. The growth of this myth can be clearly traced,3 but it is still repeated by uncritical historians. Mahmud carried off the temple gates, with fragments of the 1 Vide ante , p. 173. Firishta says, ‘30,000 Ghakkars, with their heads and feet bare.’ Colonel Brigg’s Firishta, vol. i. p. 47 (ed. 1829). 2 Colonel Brigg’s Firishta, vol. i. pp. 72, 73 (ed. 1829). 3 Sir H. Elliot’s Histoiy of India from Persian Historians, vol. ii. p. 270, from the Tabakdt-i-Nasiri ; also Appendix, vol. ii. p. 476; vol. iv. pp. 182, 183, from the Habibu-s-Siyar of Khondamir. But see, even in 1S32, H. H. Wilson in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii. pp. 194 et seq. A founda- tion for Firishta’s invention is, however, to be found in the contemporary account of A1 Biruni (970-1029 A.D.), who says that the top of the linga was garnished with gems of gold. HIS INVASIONS.] INDIA. 219 phallic emblem, to Ghazni',1 and on the way nearly perished with his army in the Indus desert. But the famous ‘ Sandal- wood gates of Somnath,’ brought back as a trophy from Ghazni by our troops in 1842, and paraded through Northern India, were as clumsy a forgery as the story of the jewel-bellied idol himself. Mahmdd died at Ghazni in 1030 a.d. As the result of seventeen invasions of India, and twenty- five years’ fighting, Mahmud had reduced the western districts of the Punjab to the control of Ghazni, and left the remem- brance of his raids as far as Kanauj on the east and Guzerat in the south. He never set up as a resident sovereign in India. His expeditions beyond the Punjab were the adven- tures of a religious knight-errant, with the plunder of a temple- city, or the demolition of an idol, as their object, rather than serious efforts at conquest. But as his father had left Pesha- war as an outpost garrison, so Mahmud left the Punjab as an outlying Province of Ghazni. The Muhammadan chroniclers tell many stories, not only of his valour and piety, but also of his thrift. One day a poor woman complained that her son had been killed by robbers in a distant desert of Irak. Mahmud said he was very sorry, but that it was difficult to prevent such accidents so far from the capital. The old woman rebuked him with the words, ‘ Keep no more territory than you can rightly govern ; ’ and the Sultan forthwith rewarded her, and sent troops to guard all caravans passing that way. Mahmud was an enlightened patron of poets, and his liberality drew the great Ferdousi to his court. The Sultan listened with delight to his Shdh-ndmah , or Book of Kings, and promised him a dirham , meaning a golden one, for each verse on its completion. After thirty years of labour, the poet claimed his reward. But the Sultan finding that the poem had run to 60,000 verses, offered him 60,000 silver dirhams , instead of dirhams of gold. Ferdousi retired in disgust from the court, and wrote a bitter satire which tells of the base birth of the monarch to this day. Mahmud forgave the satire, but remembered the great epic, and, repenting of his meanness, sent 100,000 golden dirhams to the poet. The bounty came too late. For as the royal messengers bearing the bags of gold entered one gate of Ferdousi’s city, the poet’s corpse was being borne out by another. Results of Mahmud’s invasions, 1030 A.n. The Punjab conquered Mahmud’s justice and thrift. Ferdousi. 1 Of the four fragments, he deposited one in the Jama Masjid at Ghazni, another at the entrance of his palace, the third he sent to Mecca, and the fourth to Medina. Tabakat-i-Nasirl. 220 INDIA. [ghor invasions, i i 86. House of Ghor, 1152-1186 During a century and a half, the Punjab remained under Mahmud’s successors, as a Province of Ghazni. But in 1152, the Afghans of Ghor1 overthrew the Ghazmvide dynasty; and Khusru, the last of Mahmud’s line, fled to Lahore, the capital of his outlying Indian territory. In 1186, this also was wrested from him ; 2 and the Ghorian prince Shahab-ud-dm, better known as Muhammad of Ghor, began the conquest of India on his own account. But each of the Hindu princi- palities fought hard, and some of them still survive seven centuries after the torrent of Afghan invasion swept over their heads. On his first expedition towards Delhi, in 1191, Muhammad of Ghor was utterly defeated by the Hindus at Thanesar, badly wounded, and barely escaped with his life. His scat- tered hosts were chased for 40 miles. But he gathered together the wreck at Lahore, and, aided by new hordes from Central Asia, again marched into Hindustan in 1193. Family quarrels among the Rajputs prevented a united effort against him. The cities of Delhi and Kanauj stand forth as the centres of rival Hindu monarchies, each of which claimed the first place in Northern India. A Chauhan prince, ruling over Delhi and Ajmere, bore the proud name of Prithwf Raja or Suzerain. The Rahtor king of Kanauj, whose capital can still be traced across 8 square miles of broken bricks and rubbish,3 celebrated a feast, in the spirit of the ancient Horse-sacrifice,4 to proclaim himself the Over-lord. At such a feast, all menial offices had to be filled by royal vassals ; and the Delhi monarch was summoned as a gate- keeper, along with the other princes of Hindustan. During the ceremony, the daughter of the King of Kanauj was to make her swayatnvara ,5 or ‘ own choice ’ of a husband, as in the Sanskrit epics. The Delhi Raja loved the maiden, but he tury a. d. could not brook to stand at another man’s gate. As he did not Obtains the Punjab, 11S6. Muham- mad of Ghor’s invasions, 1191-1206. His first defeat, 1191. Dissen- sions among the Hindu princes. Court pageant at Kanauj, 1 2th cen- 1 Ghor, one of the oldest seats of the Afghan race, is now a district and ruined town of Western Afghanistan, 120 miles south-east of Herat. The feud between Ghor and Ghazni was of long standing and great bitterness. Mahmud of Ghazni had subdued Ghor in 1010 A.D., but about 1051 the Ghorian chief captured Ghazni, and dragged its chief inhabitants to Ghor, where he cut their throats, and used their blood in making mortar for the fortifications. After various reprisals, Ghor finally triumphed over Ghazni in 1152. 2 Tabakdt-i-Nasiri. Sir H. Elliot, vol. ii. p. 281. 3 See article Kanauj, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. v. p. 204. 4 As-cua-niedka, ante, pp. 127, 131, 166. 5 Ante, pp. 126, 130. RAJPUT CLANS.] INDIA. 221 arrive, the Kanauj king set up a mocking image of him at the A sway- door. When the princess entered the hall to make her choice, ormaiden’s she looked calmly round the circle of kings, then stepping choice, proudly past them to the door, threw her bridal garland over the neck of the ill-shapen image. Forthwith, says the story, the Delhi monarch rushed in, sprang with the princess on his horse, and galloped off towards his northern capital. The outraged father led out his army against the runaways, and, having called in the Afghans to attack Delhi on the other side, brought about the ruin of both the Hindu kingdoms. > The tale serves to record the dissensions among the Rajput Distribu- princes, which prevented a united resistance to Muhammad of Ghor. He found Delhi occupied by the Tomara clan, Ajmere tire. 1184. by the Chauhans, and Kanauj by the Rahtors. These Rajput States formed the natural breakwaters against invaders from the north-west. But their feuds are said to have left the King of Delhi and Ajmere, then united under one Chauhan Over- lord, only 64 out of his 108 warrior chiefs. In 1193, the Afghans again swept down on the Punjab. Prithwi Raja of Delhi and Ajmere1 was defeated and slain. His heroic princess burned herself on his funeral pile. Muhammad of Ghor, having occupied Delhi, pressed on to Ajmere ; and in 1194, overthrew the rival Hindu monarch of Kanauj, whose body was identified on the field of battle by his false teeth. The brave Rahtor Rajputs of Kanauj, with other of the Rajput Rfijput clans in Northern India, quitted their homes in large bodies rather than submit to the stranger. They migrated putana. to the regions bordering on the eastern desert of the Indus, and there founded the military kingdoms which bear their name, Rajputana, to this day. History takes her narrative of these events from the matter-of-fact statements of the Persian annalists.2 But the Hindu court-bard of Prithwi Raja left behind a patriotic version of the fall of his race. His ballad- chronicle, known as the Pritlvwiraj Rasau of Chand, is one of the earliest poems in Hindi. It depicts the Musalman invaders as beaten in all the battles except the last fatal one. Their leader is taken prisoner by the Hindus, and released for a 1 Descended from the eponymous Raja Aja of Ajmere, circ. 145 a.d. ; and on the mother’s side, from Anang Pal Tuar, Raja of Delhi, who adopted him ; thus uniting Delhi to Ajmere. See Imperial Gazetteer, vol. i. pp. 93. 94- 2 Firishta (i. 161-187), the Tabakat-i-Ndsiri of Minhaju-s-Siraj, and others ; translated in Sir Henry Elliot’s 2d, 5th, and 6th volumes. 222 Muham- madan conquest of Bengal, 1203. Muham- mad of Ghor’s work in India, 1191-1206. INDIA. [BENGAL CONQUERED, 1203. heavy ransom. But the quarrels of the chiefs ruined the Hindu cause. Setting aside these patriot songs, Benares and Gwalior mark the south-western limits of Muhammad of Ghor’s own advance. But his general, Bakhtiyar Khiljf, conquered Behar in 1199,1 and Lower Bengal down to the delta in 1203. On the approach of the Musalmans, the Brahmans advised Lakshman Sen, the King of Bengal, to remove his capital from Nadiya to some more distant city. But the prince, a religious old man of eighty, could not make up his mind until the Afghan general had seized his capital, and burst into the palace one day while his majesty was at dinner. The monarch slipped out by a back door without having time to put on his shoes, and fled to Purl in Orissa, where he spent his remaining days in the sendee of Jagannath.2 Meanwhile the Sultan, Muham- mad Ghori, had divided his time between campaigns in Afghanistan and Indian invasions. Ghazni was his capital, and he had little time to consolidate his Indian conquests. Even in the Punjab, the tribes were defeated rather than sub- dued. In 1203, the Ghakkars issued from their mountains, took Lahore,3 and devastated the whole Province.4 In 1206, a party of the same clan swam the Indus, on the bank of which the Afghan camp was pitched, and stabbed the Sultan while asleep in his tent.5 Muhammad of Ghor was no religious knight-errant like Mahmud of Ghazni, but a practical conqueror. The objects of his distant expeditions were not temples, but Provinces. Subuktigin had left Peshawar as an outpost of Ghazni (977 a.d.); and Mahmud had reduced the western Punjab to an outlying Province of the same kingdom (1030 a.d.). That was the net result of the Turki invasions of India. But Muhammad of Ghor left the whole north of India, from the delta of the Indus to the delta of the Ganges, under skilful Muhammadan generals, who on his death set up for them- 1 History of Bengal from the first Muhammadan Invasion to 1757, by Major Charles Stewart, p. 25 (Calcutta, 1847). The nearly contem- porary authority is the Tabakat-i-Nasiri (1227-41) ; Sir II. Elliot, vol. ii. pp. 307-309. 2 Stewart, p. 27. The Tabakat-i-Nasiri merely says ‘ he went towards Sanknat ’ {sic) (Jagannath?) ; Sir H. Elliot, vol. ii. p. 309. 3 Firishta, vol. i. pp. 182-184. 4 As far south as the country near Multan, Tdju-l-Ma-dsir ; Sir H. Elliot, vol. ii. pp. 233-235 ; Tdrikh-i-Alfi, v. 163. The Muhammadan historians naturally minimize this episode. 5 Sir H. Elliot, vol. ii. pp. 235, 297, 393. Brigg’s Firishta, vol. i. pp. 185-6. SLAVE KINGS, 1206.] INDIA. 223 selves (1206 a.d.). His Indian Viceroy, Kutab-ud-din, pro- Northern claimed himself sovereign of India at Delhi, and founded a sub* line which lasted from 1206 to 1290. Kutab claimed the control over all the Muhammadan leaders and soldiers ofKutab-ud- fortune in India from Sind to Lower Bengal. His name is I0 . preserved at his capital by the Kutab Mosque, with its grace- ful colonnade of richly sculptured Hindu pillars, and by the Kutab Minor,1 which raises its tapering shaft, encrusted with chapters from the Kuran, high above the ruins of old Delhi. Kutab-ud-din had started life as a Turki slave, and several of his successors rose by valour or intrigue from the first same low condition to the throne. His dynasty is accordingly^1^'? known as that of the Slave Kings. Under them India became for the first time the seat of resident Muhammadan sovereigns. Kutab-ud-din died in 1210.2 The Slave Dynasty found itself face to face with the three Th6 Slave perils which have beset the Muhammadan rule in India from the outset, and beneath which that rule eventually succumbed. First, rebellions by its own servants, Musalman generals, or viceroys of Provinces ; second, revolts of the Hindus ; third, fresh invasions, chiefly by Mughals, from Central Asia. Altamsh, the third and greatest Sultan of the line (1211-36 Its difficul- a.d.), had to reduce the Muhammadan Governors of Lower ties' Bengal and Sind, both of whom had set up as independent rulers ; and he narrowly escaped destruction by a Mughal invasion. The Mughals under Changiz Khan swept through the Indian passes in pursuit of an Afghan prince ; but their pro- gress was stayed by the Indus, and Delhi remained untouched. Before the death of Altamsh (1236 a.d.), the Hindus had Altamsh, ceased for a time to struggle openly; and the Muhammadan I2II'j6- Viceroys of Delhi ruled all India on the north of the Vindhya range, including the Punjab, the North-Western Provinces, Oudh, Behar, Lower Bengal, Ajmere, Gwalior, Malwa, and Sind. The Khalif of Baghdad acknowledged India as a separate Muhammadan kingdom during the reign of Altamsh, and struck coins in recognition of the new empire of Delhi (1229 a.d.).3 Altamsh died in 1236. 1 Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iii. p. 88. 2 The original materials for Kutab-ud-din Aibak’s reign are to be found in Firishta, vol. i. pp. 189-202 (ed. 1829); and the Indian Historians, translated by Sir Henry Elliot, vols. ii. iii. iv. and v. 3 Chronicles vf the Pathan Kings of Delhi, by Edward Thomas, p. 46 (Milne, 1871). Original materials for Shams-ud-dfn Altamsh : Firishta, vol. i. pp. 205-212 (1829) ; Sir Henry Elliot, vols. ii. iii. iv. 224 The Empress Raziya, 1236-39- Mughal irruptions, 1244-88. Rajput revolts. Balban, 1265-87 His cruelties to the Hindus. INDIA. [mughal inroads, i 244. His daughter Raziya was the only lady who ever occupied the Muhammadan throne of Delhi (1236-39 a.d.). Learned in the Kuran, industrious in public business, firm and energetic in every crisis, she bears in history the masculine name of the Sultati Raziya. But the favour which she showed to her master of the horse, an Abyssinian slave, offended her Afghan generals ; and after a troubled reign of three and a half years, she was deposed and put to death.1 Mughal irruptions and Hindu revolts soon began to under- mine the Slave dynasty. The Mughals are said to have burst through Tibet into North-Eastern Bengal in 1245 ;2 and during the next forty-four years, repeatedly swept down the Afghan passes into the Punjab (1244-88). The wild Indian tribes, such as the Ghakkars and the hillmen of Mewat, ravaged the Muhammadan lowlands almost up to the capital. Rajput revolts foreshadowed that inextinguishable vitality of the Hindu military races, which was to harass, from first to last, the Mughal Empire, and to outlive it. Under the Slave kings, even the north of India was only half subdued to the Muhammadan sway. The Hindus rose again and again in Malwd, Rajputana, Bundelkhand, and along the Ganges and the Jumna, to opposite Delhi itself.3 The last but one of the Slave line, Balban (1265-87 a.d.), had not only to fight the Mughals, the wild Indian tribes, and the Rajput clans; he was also compelled to watch his own viceroys. Having in his youth entered into a compact for mutual support and advance- ment with forty of his Turki fellow-slaves in the palace, he had, when he came to the throne, to break the powerful con- federacy thus formed. Some of his provincial governors he publicly scourged; others were beaten to death in his presence; and a general, who failed to reduce the rebel Muhammadan Viceroy of Bengal, was hanged. Balban himself moved down to the delta, and crushed the Bengal revolt with a merciless skill. His severity against Hindu rebels knew no bounds. He nearly exterminated the Jadun Rajputs of Mewdt, on the south of Delhi, putting 100,000 persons to the sword. He 1 Thomas’ Chronicles of the Pathan Kings, pp. 104-10S; Firishta, vol. i. pp. 217-222 ; Sir Henry Elliot, vols. ii. and iii. - This invasion of Bengal is discredited by the latest and most critical historian; Edward Thomas’ Pathan Kings of Delhi, p. 121, note (ed. 1871). On the other side, see Firishta, vol. i. p. 231, but cf. Col. Brigg’s footnote ; and the Tahakat-i-Nasiri in Sir H. Elliot’s vol. ii. pp. 264, 344 ; ‘In March 1245, the infidels of Changiz Khan came to the gates of Lakhnauti ’ (Gaur). 3 Thomas’ Pathan Kings, 13 1. KHILJI KINGS, I290.] INDIA. 225 then cut down the forests which formed their retreats, and opened up the country to tillage. The miseries caused by the the Mughal hordes in Central Asia drove a crowd of princes and poets to seek shelter at the Indian court. Balban boasted His fifteen that no fewer than fifteen once independent sovereigns had 1?yal pen‘ fed on his bounty, and he called the streets of Delhi by the names of their late kingdoms, such as Baghdad, Kharizm, and Ghor. He died in 1287 a.d.1 Hi? successor was poisoned, and the Slave dynasty ended in 1290.2 In that year Jalal-ud-dfn, a ruler of Khiljf, succeeded to House of the Delhi throne, and founded a line which lasted for thirty years (1290-1320 a.d.). The Khiljf dynasty extended the Muhammadan power into Southern India. Ala-ud-dfn, the nephew and successor of the founder, when Governor of Karra,3 near Allahabad, pierced through the Vindhya ranges with his cavalry, and plundered the Buddhist temple city of Bhflsa, 300 miles off. After trying his powers against the Ala-ud- rebellious Hindu princes of Bundelkhand and Malwd, he southern conceived the idea of a grand raid into the Deccan. With a raids, band of only 8000 horse, he rode into the heart of Southern I294- India. On the way he gave himself out as flying from his uncle’s court, to seek service with the Hindu King of Rajama- hendri. The generous Rajput princes abstained from attacking a refugee in his flight, and Ala-ud-dfn surprised the great city of Deogirf, the modern Daulatabad, at that time the capital of the Hindu kingdom of Maharashtra. Having suddenly galloped into its streets, he announced himself as only the advance guard of the whole imperial army, levied an immense booty, and carried it back 700 miles to the seat of his Governorship on the banks of the Ganges. He then lured the Sultan Jalal- ud-dfn, his uncle, to Karra, in order to divide the spoil; and mur- dered the old man in the act of clasping his hand (1295 a.d.).4 Ala-ud-dfn scattered his spoils in gifts or charity, and pro- Reign of claimed himself Sultan (1295-1315 a.d.).5 The twenty years of his reign established the Muhammadan sway in Southern 1315. 1 Materials for the reign of Balban (Ghiyas-ud-dfn Balban) : Sir Henry Elliot’s Indian Historians, vol. iii. pp. 38, 97, 546, 593 (1871); Firishta, vol. i. pp. 247-272 (1829). 2 Mr. E. Thomas’ Pathan Kings, pp. 138-142. 3 Forty miles north-west of Allahabad, once the capital of an important fief, now a ruined town. See Imperial Gazetteer, vol. v. p. 279. 4 Thomas’ Pathan Kings, p. 144. s Materials for the reign of Ala-ud-din Khiljf : Sir Henry Elliot’s Indian Historians, vol. iii. (1871) ; Firishta, vol. i. pp. 321-382 (1829). 226 Ala-ud- din’s re- conquest of N. India, I295-I3°3- His con- quest of Southern India, I303-I5- His gene- ra!, Malik Kafur. Extent of the Mu- hammadan power in India, 1306. Muham- madan population in India, 1286-1311. INDIA. [deccan conquered, 1303. India. He reconquered Guzerat from the Hindus in 1297; captured Rintimbur,1 after a difficult siege, from the Jaipur Rajputs in 1300; took the fort of Chittor, and partially sub- jected the Sesodia Rajputs (1303); and having thus reduced the Hindus on the north of the Vindhyas, prepared for the conquest of the Deccan. But before starting on this great expedition, he had to meet five Mughal inroads from the north. In 1295, he defeated a Mughal invasion under the walls of his capital, Delhi ; in 1304-5, he encountered four others, sending all prisoners to Delhi, where the chiefs were trampled by elephants, and the common soldiery slaughtered in cold blood. He crushed with equal severity several rebellions which took place among his own family during the same period ; first putting out the eyes of his insurgent nephews, and then beheading them (1299-1300). His affairs in Northern India being thus settled, he under- took the conquest of the South. In 1303, he had sent his eunuch slave, Malik Kafur, with an army through Bengal, to attack Warangal, the capital of the Hindu kingdom of Teling- ana. In 1306, Kafur marched victoriously through Malwa and Khandesh into the Marhatta country, where he captured Deogiri, and persuaded the Hindu king Ram Deo to return with him to do homage at Delhi. While the Sultan Ala-ud-dfn was conquering the Rajputs in Marwar, his slave general, Kafur, made expeditions through the Karnatic and Maha- rashtra, as far south as Adam’s Bridge, at the extremity of India, where he built a mosque. The Muhammadan Sultan of India was no longer merely an Afghan king of Delhi. Three great waves of invasion from Central Asia had created a large Muhammadan population in Northern India. First came the Turkfs, represented by the house of Ghazni ; then the Afghans (commonly so called), represented by the house of Ghor; finally the Mughals, having failed to conquer the Punjab, took service in great numbers with the Sultans of Delhi. Under the Slave Kings the Mughal mercenaries had become so powerful as to require to be massacred (1286). About 1292, three thousand Mughals, having been converted from their old Tartar rites to Muham- madanism, received a suburb of Delhi, still called Mughalpur, for their residence. Others followed. After various plots, Ala- ud-dfn slaughtered 15,000 of the settlers, and sold their families as slaves (1311 a.d.). The unlimited supply of soldiers which he could thus draw upon from the Turkf, Afghan, and Mughal 1 See article Rintimbur, Imperial Gazetteer , vol. viii. p. 60. TUGHLAK KINGS, 1320.] INDIA. 227 races in Northern India and the countries beyond, enabled Mughal him to send armies farther south than any of his predecessors, But in his later years, the Hindus revolted in Guzerat ; 1311. the Rajputs reconquered Chittor ; and many of the Muham- madan garrisons were driven out of the Deccan. On the capture of Chittor in 1303, the garrison had preferred death to Hindu submission. The peasantry still chant an early Hindi ballad, revolts* telling how the queen and thirteen thousand women threw themselves on a funeral pile, while the men rushed upon the swords of the besiegers. A remnant cut their way to the Aravalli Hills; and the Rajput independence, although in abeyance during Ala-ud-din’s reign, was never crushed. Having imprisoned his sons, and given himself up to paroxysms of rage and intemperance, Ala-ud-din died in 1315, helped to the grave, it is said, by poison given by his favourite general, Kafur. During the four remaining years of the house of Khiljf, the A renegade actual power passed to Khusru Khan, a low-caste renegade £^peur01. Hindu, who imitated the military successes and vices of his 1316-20. patron, Kafur, and personally superintended his murder.1 Khusru became all in all to the debauched Emperor Mubarik; then slew him, and seized the throne. While outwardly pro- fessing Jsldm, Khusru desecrated the Kuran by using it as a seat, and degraded the pulpits of the mosques into pedestals for Hindu idols. In 1320 he was slain, and the Khiljf dynasty disappeared.2 The leader of the rebellion was Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlak, who had started life as a Turki slave, and risen to the frontier Governorship of the Punjab. He founded the Tughlak House of dynasty, which lingered on for ninety-six years (1320- 1414), although submerged by the invasion of Timur (Tamerlane) in 1398. Ghiyas-ud-din (1320-24 a.d.) removed the capital from Delhi to a spot about 4 miles farther east, and called it Tughlakabad. His son and successor, Muhammad Tughlak (1324-51), Muham- was an accomplished scholar, a skilful captain, and a severely abstinent man.3 But his ferocity of temper, perhaps inherited 1324-51. from the tribes of the steppes, rendered him merciless as a judge and careless of human suffering. The least opposition drove him 1 Thomas’ Pathan Kings, pp. 178-179. 2 Idem, pp. 184-185. 3 Materials for his reign : Sir Henry Elliot’s Indian Historians, vols. i. iii. v. vi. viL ; Firishta, vol. i. pp. 408-443 (ed. 1829) ; Elphinstone’s narrative of this reign is an admirable specimen of his spirited style of work, pp. 403-410 (ed. 1866). 228 Muham- mad Tughlak’s mad ex- peditions, I324-5I- His cruelties. His forced currency. Revolt of the Pro- vinces, I338-5I- He flays his nephew. INDIA. [forced currency, 1340. into outbursts of insane fury. He wasted the treasures accumu- lated by Ala-ud-dfn in buying off the Mughal hordes, who again and again swept down on the Punjab. On the other hand, in fits of ambition, he raised an army for the invasion of Persia, and sent out an expedition of 100,000 men against China. The first force broke up for want of pay, and plundered his own dominions ; the second perished almost to a man in the Hima- layan passes. He planned great conquests into Southern India, and dragged the whole inhabitants of Delhi to Deogiri, to which he gave the name of Daulatabad, 800 miles off. Twice he allowed the miserable suppliants to return to Delhi; twice he compelled them on pain of death to quit it. One of these forced migrations took place amid the horrors of a famine ; the citizens perished by thousands, and in the end, the king had to give up the attempt. Having drained his treasury, he issued a forced currency of copper coins, by which he tried to make the king’s brass equal to other men’s silver.1 During the same century, the Mughal conqueror of China, Kublai Khan, had expanded the use of paper notes, early devised by the Chinese ; and Kai Khatu had introduced a bad imitation of it into Persia. Tughlak’s forced currency quickly brought its own ruin. Foreign merchants refused the worthless brass tokens, trade came to a stand, and the king had to take payment of his taxes in his own depreciated coinage. Meanwhile, the Provinces began to throw off the Delhi yoke. Muhammad Tughlak had succeeded in 1324 to the greatest empire which had, up to that time, acknowledged a Muham- madan Sultan in India. But his bigoted zeal for Islam forbade him to trust either Hindu princes or Hindu officers ; and he thus found himself compelled to fill every high post with foreign Muhammadan adventurers, who had no interest in the stability of his rule. The annals of the period present a long series of outbreaks, one part of the Empire throwing off its allegiance as soon as another had been brought back to subjection. His own nephew rebelled in Malwa, and being caught, was flayed alive (1338). The Punjab governor revolted (1339), was crushed, and put to death. The Musalman Vice- roys of Lower Bengal and of the Coromandel coast set up for themselves (about 1340), and could not be subdued. The Hindu kingdoms of Karnata and Telingana recovered their independence (1344), and expelled the Musalman 1 Thomas’ Pathan Kings, p. 243. See the whole monograph entitled ‘Muhammad Bin Tughlak’s Forced Currency,’ pp. 239-261. FIRUZ’S CANALS, I 360.] INDIA. 229 garrisons. The Muhammadan governors in the Deccan also His reign revolted, while the troops in Guzerat rose in mutiny. Mu- °ey0J°n!=r hammad Tughlak rushed with an army to the south to take vengeance on the traitors, but hardly had he put down their rising than he was called away by insurrections in Guzerat, Malwa, and Sind. He died in 1351, while chasing rebels in the lower valley of the Indus. Muhammad Tughlak was the first Musalman ruler of India Muham- who can be said to have had a revenue system. He increased Tughlak ’s the land tax between the Ganges and the Jumna; in some revenue Districts tenfold, in others twentyfold. The husbandmen fled before his tax-gatherers, leaving their villages to lapse into jungle, and formed themselves into robber clans. He cruelly punished all who trespassed on his game preserves; and he invented a kind of man-hunt without precedent in the annals of human wickedness. He surrounded a large tract with his His ‘ man- armv, ‘ and then gave orders that the circle should close hunt> towards the centre, and that all within it (mostly inoffensive peasants) should be slaughtered like wild beasts. This sort of hunt was more than once repeated ; and on a subsequent occasion, there was a general massacre of the inhabitants of the great city of Kanauj. These horrors led in due time to famine ; and the miseries of the country exceeded all powers of description.’1 His son, Firuz Tughlak (1351-88), ruled mercifully, but FlruzShah had to recognise the independence of the Muhammadan kingdoms of Bengal and the Deccan, and suffered much from bodily infirmities and court intrigues.2 He undertook many public works, such as dams across rivers for irrigation, tanks, caravan-sarais, mosques, colleges, hospitals, and bridges. But his greatest achievement was the old Jumna Canal. This His canals, work drew its waters from the Jumna, near a point .where it leaves the mountains, and connected that river with the Ghaggar and the Sutlej by irrigation channels.3 Part of it has been reconstructed by the British Government, and spreads a margin of fertility on either side to this day. But the dynasty of Tughlak soon sunk amid Muhammadan mutinies and Hindu revolts, and left India an easy prey to the great Mughal invasion of 1398. 1 Elphinstone’s History of India, pp. 405, 406 (ed. 1866). : Materials for his reign : Sir Henry Elliot’s Indian Historians, vols. i. iii. iv. vi. viii. ; Firishta, vol. i. pp. 444-465 (ed. 1829). 3 Thomas’ Pathan Kings, p. 294 See article Jumna Canal, Western, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. v. pp. 121, 122. V 230 INDIA. Timur’s (Tamer- lane’s) invasion, 1398. Ruin of the Tugh- laks, 1399. The Sayyids, 1414-50. The Lodis, 1450-1526. Hindu kingdoms of the Deccan. Chera, Chola, and Pandia. [southern KINGDOMS. In that year, Timur (Tamerlane) swept through the Afghan passes at the head of the united hordes of Tartary. He defeated the Tughlak King, Mahmud, under the walls of Delhi, and entered the capital. During five days, a massacre raged ; ‘ some streets were rendered impassable by heaps of dead;’1 while Timur calmly looked on and held a feast in honour of his victoiy. On the last day of 1398, he resumed his march, with a ‘ sincere and humble tribute of grateful praise ’ to God, in Firuz’s marble mosque on the banks of the Jumna. He crossed the Ganges, and proceeded as far as Hardwar, after a great massacre at Meerut. Then, skirting the foot of the hills, he retired westwards into Central Asia (1399). Timur left no traces of his power in India, save desolate cities. On his departure, Mahmud Tughlak crept back from his retreat in Guzerat, and nominally ruled till 1412. The Tughlak line ended in 1414. The Sayyid dynasty ruled from 1414 till 1450, and the Afghan house of Lodi from 1450 to 1526. But some of these Sultans reigned over only a few miles round Delhi ; and during the whole period, the Hindu princes and the local Muhammadan kings were practically independent throughout the greater part of India. The house of Lodi was crushed beneath the Mughal invasion of Babar in 1526. Babar founded the Mughal Empire of India, whose last representative died a British State prisoner at Rangoon in 1862. Before entering on the story of that empire, I turn to the kingdoms, Hindu and Muhammadan, on the south of the Vindhya range. The three ancient kingdoms, Chera, Chola, and Pandia occupied, as we have seen,2 the Dravidian country peopled by Tamil-speaking races. Pandia, the largest of them, had its capital at Madura, and traces its foundation to the 4th century b.c. The Chola kingdom had its head- quarters successively at Combaconum and Tanjore. Talkad, in Mysore, now buried by the sands of the Kaveri, was the capital of the Chera kingdom. The 116th king of the Pandia dynasty was overthrown by the Muhammadan general Malik Kafur in 1304. But the Musalmans failed to establish their power in the extreme south, and a series of Hindu dynasties ruled from Madura over the old Pandia kingdom until the 18th century. No European kingdom can boast a continuous succession such as that of Madura, traced back by 1 Firishta , vol. i. p. 493. His whole account of Timur’s invasion is very vivid, vol. i. pp. 485-497 (ed. 1829). 2 Ante, p. 214 ; andarticles Chera, Chola, Pandia, Imp. Gaz. vols. ii. vii. INDIA. 231 BAHMANI KINGS, 1 347-] the piety of genealogists to the 4th century b.c. The Chera kingdom enumerates fifty kings, and the Chola sixty-six, besides minor dynasties. But authentic history in Southern India begins with the Kingdom Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar or Narsinha, from 1118 to 1565 a.d. The capital can still be traced within the Madras 1118-1565. District of Bellary, on the right bank of the Tungabhadra river, — vast ruins of temples, fortifications, tanks, and bridges, haunted by hysenas and snakes. For at least three centuries, Vijayanagar ruled over the southern part of the Indian triangle. Its Rajas waged war and made peace on equal terms with the Muhammadan Sultans of the Deccan. Those Sultans derived their origin from the conquests ofMuham- Ala-ud-din (1303-06). After a period of confused fighting, the Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan emerged as the repre- in the sentative of Muhammadan rule in Southern India. Zafar Deccan> 1 303 . Khan, an Afghan general during the reign of Muhammad Tughlak (1325-51), defeated the Delhi troops, and set up as Musalman sovereign of the Deccan. Having in early youth been the slave of a Brahman who had treated him kindly and foretold his future greatness, he took the title of Bahmani,1 2 and transmitted it to his successors. The rise of the Bahmani dynasty is usually assigned to the The year 1347, and it lasted for 178 years, until 1525. 2 Its 4 capitals were at Gulbargah, Warangal, and Bidar, all in the 1347.1525. Haidarabad territory; and it loosely corresponded with the Nizam’s Dominions of the present day. At the height of their power, the Bahmani kings claimed sovereignty over half the Deccan, from the Tungabhadra river in the south to Orissa in the north, and from Masulipatam on the east to Goa on the west. Their direct government was, however, much more confined. They derived support, in their early struggle against the Delhi throne, from the Hindu southern kingdoms of Vijaya- nagar and Warangal. But during the greater part of its career, the Bahmani dynasty represented the cause of Islam against Hinduism on the south of the Vindhyas. Its alliances and its wars alike led to a mingling of the Musalman and Hindu populations. For example, the King of Malwa invaded the 1 His royal name in full was Sultan (or Shah) Ala-ud-din Gango Bahmani. 2 I take these extreme dates from E. Thomas’ Pathan Kings, pp. 340, 341. Materials for the Bahmani dynasty : Sir Henry Elliot’s Indian Historian, vols. iv. vii. viii. ; Firishta, vol. ii. pp. 283-558 (ed. 1829). 232 INDIA. [the DECCAN, 1347-1687. Bahmam kingdom, 1347-1525' Mingling of Hindus and Musal- mans. Fall of Bahmam dynasty, 1489-1525. Five Mu- hammadan States of the Deccan, 1489-1686. Fall of Hindu kingdom of Vijaya- nagar. Battle of Talikot, 1565- Bahmam dominions with a mixed force of 12,000 Afghans and Rajputs. The Hindu Raja of Vijayanagar recruited his armies from Afghan mercenaries, whom he paid by assignments of land, and for whom he built a mosque. The Bahmam troops, on the other hand, were frequently led by converted Hindus. The Bahmam armies were themselves made up of two hostile sects of Musalmans. One sect consisted of Shias, chiefly Persians, Turks or Tartars from Central Asia; the other, of native-born Musalmans of Southern India, together with Abys- sinian mercenaries, both of whom professed the Sunni faith. The rivalry between these Musalman sects frequently imperilled the Bahmam throne. Its dynasty reached its highest power under Ala-ud-dfn 11. about 1437, and was broken up by its discordant elements between 1489 and 1525. Out of its fragments, five independent Muhammadan king- doms in the Deccan were formed. These were — (1) The Adil Shahi dynasty, with its capital at Bijapur, founded in 1489 by a son of Amurath 11., Sultan of the Ottomans ; annexed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1686-88. (2) The Kutab Shahi dynasty, with its capital at Golconda, founded in 1512 by a Turkoman adventurer ; also annexed by Aurangzeb in 1687-88. (3) The Nizam Shahi dynasty, with its capital at Ahmednagar, founded in 1490 by a Brahman renegade from the Vijayanagar Court ; subverted by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in 1636. (4) The Imad Shahi dynasty of Berar, with its capital at Ellich- pur, founded in 1484 also by a Hindu from Vijayanagar ; an- nexed to the Ahmednagar kingdom (No. 3) in 1572. (5) The Barid Shahi dynasty, with its capital at Bidar, founded 1492- 1498 by a Turk or Georgian slave. Territories small and undefined; independent till after 1609; Bidar fort taken by Aurangzeb in 1657. It is beyond my scope to trace the history of these local Muhammadan dynasties of Southern India. They preserved their independence until the firm establishment of the Mughal Empire in the north, under Akbar’s successors. For a time they had to struggle against the great Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar. But in 1565 they combined against that power, and, aided by a rebellion within its own borders, they over- threw it at Talikot in 1565. The battle of Talikot marks the final downfall of Vijayanagar as a centralized Hindu kingdom. But its local Hindu chiefs or Nayaks seized upon their re- spective fiefs, and the Muhammadan kings of the south were only able to annex a part of its dominions. From the Nayaks are descended the well-known Palegars of the Madras Presi- MUSALMAN STATES.] INDIA. 233 dency, and the present Maharaja of Mysore. One of the blood-royal of Vijayanagar fled to Chandragiri, and founded a line which exercised a prerogative of its former sovereignty by granting the site of Madras to the English in 1639. Another scion, claiming the same high descent, lingers to the present day near the ruins of Vijayanagar, and is known as the Raja of Anagundi, a feudatory of the Nizam of Haidarabad. The independence of the local Hindu chiefs in Southern India, throughout the Muhammadan period, is illustrated by the Manjarabad family, which maintained its authority from 1397 to 1799.1 Lower Bengal threw off the authority of Delhi in 1340. Its Indepen- Muhammadan governor, Fakir-ud-din, set up as sovereign, with Bengal^ his capital at Gaur, and stamped coin in his own name. A 1340-1576; succession of twenty independent kings ruled until 1538, when Bengal was temporarily annexed to the Mughal Empire by Humayun. It was finally incorporated with that empire by Akbar in 1576. The great Province of Guzerat in Western India Of Guze- had in like manner grown into an independent Muhammadan "j^,1.391' kingdom, which lasted for two centuries, from 1391 till con- quered by Akbar in 1573. Malwa, which had also set up as an independent State under its Muhammadan governors, was annexed by the King of Guzerat in 1531. Even Jaunpur, Of Jaun- includingthe territory of Benares, in the centre of the Gangetic Pur’ *393 valley, maintained its independence as a Musalman State for nearly a hundred years from 1393 to 1478, under the disturbed rule of the Sayyids and the first Lodi at Delhi. 1 See post, p. 281 ; and article Manjarabad, Imperial Gazetteer, vi. 321. Q 234 INDIA. [babar, 1526-30. State of India in 1526. Early life of Babar, 1482-1526. Invades India, 1526. Battles of Panipat. Conquers Northern India, 1 526-3°. Humayun, Emperor, 1530-56. CHAPTER X. • THE MUGHAL EMPIRE (1526 TO 1761 A.D.). When, therefore, Babar invaded India in 1526, he found it divided among a number of local Muhammadan kings and Hindu princes. An Afghan Sultan of the house of Lodi, with his capital at Agra, ruled over what little was left of the historical kingdom of Delhi. Babar, literally the Lion, born in 1482, was the sixth in descent from Timur the Tartar. At the early age of twelve, he succeeded his father in the petty kingdom of Ferghana on the Jaxartes (1494); and after romantic adventures, conquered Samarkand, the capital of Tamerlane’s line in 1497. Overpowered by rebellion, and driven out of the Valley of the Oxus, he seized the kingdom of Kabul in 1504. During twenty-two years, he grew in strength on the Afghan side of the Indian passes, till in 1526 he burst through them into the Punjab, and defeated the Delhi sovereign Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat. This was the first of the three great battles which decided the fate of India on that same plain, viz. in 1526, 1556, and 1761. Having entered Delhi, he received the allegiance of the Muhammadans, but was speedily attacked by the Rajputs of Chittor. In 1527, Babar defeated them at Fatehpur Sikri near Agra, after a battle memorable for its perils and for Babar’s vow, in his extremity, never again to touch wine. He rapidly extended his power as far as Multan and Behar. He died at Agra in 1530, leaving an Empire which stretched from the river Amu in Central Asia to the borders of the Gangetic delta in Lower Bengal. His son, Humayun, succeeded him in India, but had to make over Kabul and the Western Punjab to his rival brother Kamran.1 Humayun was thus left to govern a new conquest, a. d. 1 Reign of Humayun : — 1530. Accession to the throne. Capture of Lahore and occupation of the Punjab by his rival brother Kamran. Final defeat of the Lodis under Mahmud Lodi, and acquisition of Jaunpur by Humayun. 1532. Humayun’s campaigns in Malwa and Guzerat. 1539. Humayun defeated by Sher Shah, the Afghan ruler of Bengal, at Chapar Ghat, near Baxar, the Mughal army being utterly routed. Retreats to Agra. [1540. INDIA. 235 HUMAYUN, 1530-56.] and at the same time was deprived of the base from which his father had drawn his supplies. The Mughal hordes who had accompanied Babar were more hateful to the long settled Indian Afghans than the Hindus themselves. After ten years of fighting, Humayun was driven out of India by the Bengali Humayun Afghans under Sher Shah, the Governor of Bengal. While fly- £yPsher ing through the desert of Sind, as an exile to Persia, his famous Shah, son Akbar was born to him in the petty fort of Umarkot (1542). Sher Shah set up us Emperor, but was killed while storming Afghan the rock fortress at Kalinjar (1545). His son succeeded to y °f his power. But under his grandson, the third of the Afghan 1540-56. house, the Provinces revolted, including Mdhva, the Punjab, and Bengal. Humayun returned to India, and Akbar, then only in his thirteenth year, defeated the Afghan army after a desperate battle at Panipat (1556). India now passed finally Regains from the Afghans to the Mughals. Sher Shah’s line disappears; 1116 thronL' and Humayun, having recovered his Kabul dominions, reigned again for a few months at Delhi, but died in 1556. Akbar the Great, the real founder of the Mughal Empire Akbar the as it existed for two centuries, succeeded his father at the age of ^5^605 fourteen.1 Born in 1542, his reign lasted for almost fifty years, from 1556 to 1605, and was therefore contemporary with that of our own Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603). His father, Humd- yun, left but a small kingdom in India, scarcely extending beyond the districts around Agra and Delhi. At the time of Humay un’s death, Akbar was absent in the Punjab under the guardianship of Bairam Khan, fighting the revolted Afghans. Bairam, a Turkoman by birth, had been the support of the exiled Humayun, and held the real command of the army which restored him to his throne at Pdnipat. He now be- came the Regent for the youthful Akbar, under the honoured title of Khan Baba, equivalent to ‘the King’s Father.’ 1556-60. Brave and skilful as a general, but harsh and overbearing, he 1540. Humayun finally defeated by Sher Shah near Kanauj, and escapes to Persia as an exile. Sher Shah ascends the Delhi throne. 1556. Humayun’s return to India, and defeat of the Afghans at Panipat by his young son Akbar. Remounts the throne, but dies in a few months, and is succeeded by his son Akbar. For dates see Thomas’ Path&n Kings, pp. 379-380. Materials for Huma- yun’s reign : Sir Henry Elliot’s Indian Historians, vols. iv. v. vi. ; Firishta, vol. ii. pp. 154-180 (1829); Elphinstone, pp. 441-472 (1866). 1 Materials for reign of Akbar : the Ain-i-Akbari, of Abul Fazl (old translation by Francis Gladwin, 2 vols., 1800; best edition by Professor Blochmann, Calcutta, left, I believe, unfinished at his death) ; Sir Henry Elliot’s Indian Historians, vols. i. v. and vi. ; Firishta, vol. ii. pp. 181- 282; Elphinstone, 495-547 (1866). 236 INDIA. Akbar reigns for himself, 1560. Akbar’s work in India. Concilia- tion of Hindus. [akbar, 1556-1605. raised many enemies ; and Akbar, having endured four years of thraldom, took advantage of a hunting party to throw off his minister’s yoke (1560). The fallen Regent, after a struggle between his loyalty and his resentment, revolted, was defeated, but pardoned. Akbar granted him a liberal pension ; and Bairam was in the act of starting on a pilgrimage to Mecca, when he fell beneath the knife of an Afghan assassin, whose father he had slain in battle. The chief events in the reign of Akbar are summarized below.1 India was seething with discordant elements. The earlier invasions by Turks, Afghans, and Mughals had left a powerful Muhammadan population in India under their own chiefs. Akbar reduced these Musalman States to Provinces of the Delhi Empire. Many of the Hindu kings and Rajput nations had also regained their independence ; Akbar brought them into political dependence to his authority. This double task he effected partly by force of arms, but in part also by alliances. He enlisted the Rajput princes by marriage and by a sympathetic policy in the support of his throne. He then employed them in high posts, and played off his Hindu generals and Hindu ministers against the Mughal party in Upper India, and against the Afghan faction in Bengal. On his accession in 1556, he found the Indian Empire con- fined to the Punjab, with the districts around Agra and Delhi. 1 Reign of Akbar, 1556-1605 : — 1542. Born at Umarkot in Sind.' 1 555-56. Regains the Delhi throne for his father by the great victory over the Afghans at Panipat (Bairam Khan in actual command). Succeeds his father after a few months in 1556, under regency of Bairam Khan. 1 560. Akbar assumes the direct management of the kingdom. Revolt of Bairam, who is defeated and pardoned. 1566. Invasion of the Punjab by Akbar’s rival brother Hakim, who is defeated. 1561-68. Akbar subjugates the Rajput kingdoms to the Mughal Empire. 1 572-73. Akbar’s campaign in Guzerat, and its reannexation to the Empire. 1576. Akbar’s reconquest of Bengal, its final annexation to the Mughal Empire. 1581-93. Insurrection in Guzerat. The Province finally subjugated in 1593 to the Mughal Empire. 1 586. Akbar’s conquest of Kashmir ; its final revolt quelled in 1 592. 1592. Akbar’s conquest and annexation of Sind to the Mughal Empire. 1 594. His subjugation of Kandahar, and consolidation of the Mughal Empire over all India north of the Vindhyas as far as Kabul and Kandahar. 595. Unsuccessful expedition of Akbar’s army to the Deccan against Ahmednagar under his son Prince Murad. 1599. Second expedition against Ahmednagar by Akbar in person. Cap- tures the town, but fails to establish Mughal rule. [1601, CONCILIATES HINDUS.] INDIA. 237 He quickly extended it at the expense of his nearest Akbar neighbours, namely, the Rajputs. Jaipur was reduced to a fief of the Empire ; and Akbar cemented his conquest by marrying the daughter of its Hindu prince. Jodhpur was in like manner overcome ; and Akbar married his heir, Salim, who afterwards reigned under the title of Jahangir, to the grand-daughter of the Raja. The Rajputs of Chittor were Reduction overpowered after a long struggle, but would not mingle their high-caste Kshattriyan blood even with that of an Emperor. They found shelter among the mountains and in the deserts of the Indus, whence they afterwards emerged to recover most of their old dominions, and to found their capital of Udaipur, which they retain to this day. They still boast that alone, among the great Rajput clans, they never gave a daughter in marriage to a Mughal Emperor. Akbar pursued his policy of conciliation towards every Hindu State. He also took care to provide a career for the lesser Hindu Employ nobility. He appointed his brother-in-law, the son of the Hindus. Jaipur Rdja, Governor of the Punjab. Rdja Man Sinh, also a ]yjan g;n]1< Hindu relative, did good war-service for Akbar from Kabul to Orissa, and ruled as his Governor of Bengal from 1598 to 1604. His great finance minister, Raja Todar Mall, was like- Todar wise a Hindu, and carried out the first land settlement and survey of India. Out of 415 mansabdars, or commanders of horse, 51 were Hindus. Akbar abolished the jaziah , or tax on non-Musalmans, and placed all his subjects upon a political equality. He had the Sanskrit sacred books and epic poems translated into Persian, and showed a keen interest in the litera- ture and religion of his Hindu subjects. He respected their Reform of laws, but he put down their inhumane rites. He forbade trial by ^"oms ordeal, animal sacrifices, and child marriages before the age of puberty. He legalized the remarriage of Hindu widows, but he failed to abolish widow-burning on the husband’s funeral pile, although he took steps to ensure that the act was a voluntary one. Akbar thus incorporated his Hindu subjects into the Indian effective machinery of his empire. With their aid he reduced the independent Muhammadan kings of Northern India. He States subjugated the Musalman potentates from the Punjab to^j^edby Behar. After a struggle, he wrested Bengal from its Afghan 1601. Annexation of Khandesli, and return of Akbar to Northern India. 1605. His death at Agra. N.B. — Such phrases as ‘Akbar’s conquest’ or ‘ Akbar’ s campaign’ mean the conquest or campaign by Akbar’s armies, and do not necessarily imply his personal presence. 238 INDIA. [akbar’s conquests. Capital changed from Delhi to Agra. Akbar’s efforts in • Southern India. Only annexed Khandesh. Ilis death. princes of the house of Sher Shah, who had ruled it from 1 539 t0 I576- From the latter date, Bengal remained during two centuries a Province of the Mughal Empire, under governors appointed from Delhi (1576-1765). In 1765, it passed by an imperial grant to the British. Orissa, on the Bengal seaboard, submitted to Akbar’s armies under his Hindu general, Todar Mall, in 1574. On the opposite coast of India, Guzerat was reconquered from its Muhammadan king (1572-73), although not finally subjugated until 1593. Malwa had been reduced in 1572. Kashmir was conquered in 1586, and its last revolt quelled in 1592. Sind was also annexed in 1592 ; and by the recovery of Kandahar in 1594, Akbar had extended the Mughal Empire from the heart of Afghanistan across all India north of the Vindhyas to Orissa and Sind. He removed the seat of government from Delhi to Agra, and founded Fatehpur Sikri as the future capital of the Empire. From this project he was afterwards dissuaded, by the superior position of Agra on the great water-way of the Jumna. In 1566, he built the Agra fort, whose red sandstone battlements majestically overhang the river to this day. His efforts to establish the Mughal Empire in Southern India were less successful. Those efforts began in 1586, but during the first twelve years were frustrated by the valour and states- manship of Chand Bibf, the queen-regent of Ahmednagar. This celebrated lady skilfully united the Abyssinian and the Persian factions1 in the Deccan, and strengthened herself by an alliance with Bijapur and other Muhammadan States of the south. In T599, Akbar led his armies in person against the princess; but, notwithstanding her assassination by her mutinous troops, Ahmednagar was not reduced till the reign of Shah Jahan, in 1637. Akbar subjugated Khandesh, and with this somewhat precarious annexation, his conquests in the Deccan ceased. He returned to Northern India, perhaps feeling that the conquest of the south was beyond the strength of his young Empire. His last years were rendered unhappy by the intrigues of his family, and by the misconduct of his beloved son, Prince Salim, afterwards Jahangir. In r6o5, he died, and was buried in the noble mausoleum at Sikandra, whose mingled architecture of Buddhist design and Arabesque tracery bear witness to the composite faith of the founder of the Mughal Empire. In T873, the British Viceroy, Lord Northbrook, presented a cloth of honour to cover the plain marble slab beneath which Akbar lies. 1 Professing the hostile Sunni and Shia sectarian creeds, ante, p. 232. AKBAR’s ‘ NEW FAITH.’] INDIA. 239 Akbar’s conciliation of the Hindus, and his interest in their literature and religion, made him many enemies among the pious Musalmans. His favourite wife was a Rajput princess ; another of his wives is said to have been a Christian. On Fridays (the Sabbath of Islam) he loved to collect professors Akbar’s of many religions around him. He listened impartially to re!'Si?us the arguments of the Brahman and the Musalman, the fire- 1 worshipper, the Jew, the Jesuit, and the sceptic philosopher. The history of his life, the Akbar-namah , records such a con- ference, in which the Christian priest Redif disputed with a body of Muhammadan mullas before an assembly of the doctors of all religions, and is given the best of the argument. Starting from the broad ground of general toleration, Akbar was gradually led on by the stimulus of cosmopolitan dis- cussion to question the truth of his inherited beliefs. The counsels of his friend Abul Fazl, coinciding with that sense of superhuman omnipotence which is bred of despotic power, led him at last to promulgate a new State religion, ‘ The His new Divine Faith,’ based upon natural theology, and comprising faith’ the best practices of all known creeds. Of this eclectic creed Akbar himself was the prophet, or rather the head of the Church. Every morning he worshipped in public the sun, as the repre- sentative of the divine soul which animates the universe, while he was himself worshipped by the ignorant multitude. Divine It is doubtful how far he encouraged this popular adoration, ^°]^.rs to but he certainly allowed his disciples to prostrate themselves before him in private. The stricter Muhammadans accused him, therefore, of accepting a homage permitted only to God. Akbar not only subdued all India to the north of the Akbar’s Vindhya Mountains, he also organized it into an Empire, t^no'f the He partitioned it into Provinces, over each of which he placed Empire, a Governor, or Viceroy, with full civil and military control. This control was divided into three departments — the military, the judicial, including the police, and the revenue. With a Army view to preventing mutinies of the troops, or assertions 0freforms' independence by their leaders, he reorganized the army on a new basis. He substituted, as far as possible, money payments to the soldiers, for the old system of grants of land ( jdgirs ) to the generals. Where this change could not be carried out, he brought the holders of the old military fiefs under the control of the central authority at Delhi. He further checked the independence of his provincial generals by a sort of feudal organization, in which the Hindu tributary princes took their place side by side with the Mughal nobles. The 240 INDIA. [akbar’s revenues. Akbar’s system of justice, ancl police. Akbar’s revenue system. Akbar’s land revenue. His total revenue. judicial administration was presided over by a lord justice (Mir-i-adl) at the capital, aided by Nazis or law-officers in the principal towns. The police in the cities were under a superintendent or kotwal , who was also a magistrate. In country districts where police existed at all, they were left to the management of the landholders or revenue officers. But throughout rural India, no regular force can be said to have existed for the protection of person and property until after the establishment of British rule. The Hindu village had its hereditary watchman, who in many parts of the country was taken from the predatory castes, and as often leagued with the robbers as opposed them. The landholders and revenue-officers had each their own set of myrmidons, who plundered the peasantry in their names. Akbar’s revenue system was based on the ancient Hindu customs, and survives to this day. He first executed a survey to measure the land. His officers then found out the produce of each acre of land, and settled the Government share, amounting to one-third of the gross produce. Finally, they fixed the rates at which this share of the crop might be commuted into a money payment. These processes, known as the land settlement, were at first repeated every year. But to save the peasant from the extortions and vexations incident to an annual inquiry, Akbar’s land settlement was afterwards made for ten years. His officers strictly enforced the payment of a third of the whole produce, and Akbar’s land revenue from Northern India exceeded what the British take at the present day. From his fifteen Provinces, including Kabul beyond the Afghan frontier, and Khandesh in Southern India, he demanded 14 millions sterling per annum; or excluding Kabul, Khandesh, and Sind, 12^ millions. The British land tax from a much larger area of Northern India was only 12 millions in 1879.1 Allowing for the difference in area and in the purchasing power of silver, Akbar's tax was about three times the amount which the British take. Two later returns show the land revenue of Akbar at i6£ and 1 7^ millions sterling. The Provinces had also to support a local militia {burnt) in contradistinction to the regular royal army, at a cost of at least 10 millions sterling. Excluding both Kabul and Khandesh, Akbar’s demand from the soil of Northern India exceeded 22 millions sterling per annum, under 3 Namely, Bengal, ,£3,767,082 ; Assam, £378,618 ; North-Western Provinces and Oudh, £5,942,197 ; and Punjab, £1,991,867 5 total, £12,079,764. — Parliamentary Abstract, p. 27 (1880). akbar’s provinces, 1580.] INDIA. 241 the two items of land revenue and militia cess. There were also a number of miscellaneous taxes. Akbar’s total revenue is estimated at 42 millions.1 Akbar’s Hindu minister, Raja Todar Mall, conducted the revenue settlement, and his name is still a household word among the husbandmen of Bengal. Abul Fazl, the man of letters and Finance Minister of Akbar, compiled a statistical survey of the Empire, together with many vivid pictures of his master’s court and daily life, in the Ain-i-Akban , which may be read with interest at the present day.2 Abul Fazl was killed in 1503 at the instigation of Prince Salim, the heir to the throne. 1 Provinces of the Delhi Empire under Akbar, circ. 1580. I. Allahabad, . . . . . Land Tax in Rupees. 5,310.667 2. Agra, . . . . . 13,656,257 3* Oudh, . . . . . 5,043,954 4- Ajmere, . . . . . 7,153,449 5- Guzerat, ..... 10,924,122 6. Behar, . . . . . 5,547,985 7- Bengal, . . . . . 14,961,482 8. Delhi 15,040,388 9- Lahore, ..... 13,986,460 IO. Multan, ..... 9,600,764 I I. Mahva, ..... 6,017,376 12. Berar, ..... 17,376,117 1.3- Khandesh, ..... 7,563,237 14- Ahmednagar (only nominally a Province, yielded no revenue), 15. Tatta (Sind), .... 1,656,284 Total, 133,828,552 1 6. Kabul (omitting payments in kind), 8,071,024 Grand Total, 141,909,576 The land revenue was returned at i6£ millions sterling in 1594, and .£17,450,000 at Akbar’s death in 1605. The aggregate taxation of Akbar was 32 millions sterling ; with 10 millions for militia cess ( btlml ) ; total, 42 millions sterling. See Thomas’ Revenue Resources of the Mughal Empire, pp. 5-21 and p. 54 (Triibner, 1871). These and the following conversions are made at the nominal rate of 10 rupees to the pound sterling. But the actual rate was then about 8 or 9 rupees to the £. The real revenues of the Mughal Emperors represented, therefore, a considerably larger sum in sterling than the amounts stated in the text and footnotes. The pur- chasing power of silver, expressed in the staple food grains of India, was two or three times greater than now. 2 The old translation is by Gladwin (1800) ; the best is by the late Mr. Blochmann, Principal of the Calcutta Madrasah, or Muhammadan college, whose early death was one of the greatest losses which Persian scholarship has sustained in this century. 242 INDIA, [mughal revenues. It may be here convenient to exhibit the revenues of the Mughal Empire in India, during the century from its practical foundation by Akbar to its final expansion under Aurangzeb in 1697 ; and thence to its fall in 1761 : — £ . o o o o o. <3 n' o' CO HM S* Tt* ON ^ ^ Q z in * C fa 2 P3 fa fa « o ^ fa m m D O O K ^ < < fa S a o ^ a < fa § 5= I CO o o CO rj- O cf o' r-^co 10 IG LT) rj- vo'vcTt'^ 0 0 0 ^-0 O o NH f'JCN ON ~ rfOO^ O O covcT ~ vo O O Tf vo rj- O vo O N O vO vo ef VCf T? VO rr H N N N Mto , *S» *r- -Ki ip ■Vi O M O Cn 't'O o ■ct* o ~ J »-h o C '“X - c a O rli w c ;• O* o c/> " G.22 g'rt ui o — .5 _5 m p s/ N O ^ HH 5 r. K ■slg'S's is O .2 O = < r. C_> rj 3*3 |t ^ I W-H ^ 3 S J2 6-g o 5 rt *3 3 a *" 3 6 fa tT a 1 N CO ^ vovO 00 On O ** M ^ Salim, the favourite son of Akbar, succeeded his father in 1605, and ruled until 1627 under the title of Jahangir, or INDIA. 243 JAHANGIR, 1605-27.] Conqueror of the World. The chief events of his reign are Jahangir, summarized below.1 His reign of twenty-two years was spent ^5^7! ’ in reducing the rebellions of his sons, in exalting the influence of his wife, and in festive self-indulgence. In spite of long wars in the Deccan, he added little to his father’s territories. India south of the Vindhyas still continued apart from the northern Empire of Delhi. Malik Ambar, the Abyssinian minister of Ahmednagar, maintained, in spite of reverses, the independence of that kingdom. At the end of Jahangir’s reign, his rebel son, Prince Shah Jahan, was a refugee in the Rebellion Deccan, in alliance with Malik Ambar against the Mughal 0 lls son‘ troops. The Rajputs also began to reassert their indepen- dence. In 1614, Prince Shah Jahan on behalf of the Emperor defeated the Udaipur Raja. But the conquest was only partial and for a time. Meanwhile, the Rajputs formed an Revolt - , . . . . , . of the important contingent of the imperial armies, and 5000 ot j General decline of the Empire; revolts within, and invasion of Nadir Shah from Persia (1739). The Marhattas obtain Maltva (1743), followed by the cession of Southern Orissa and tribute from Bengal ( 1 75 1 )• First invasion of India by Ahmad Shah Durani, who had obtained the throne of Kandahar (1747) ; his defeat in Sirhind (1748). 1748. Death of Muhammad Shah. 1748-50. Accession of Ahmad Shah, his son ; disturbances by the Rohilla Afghans in Oudh, and defeat of the Imperial troops. 1751- The Rohilla insurrection crushed with the aid of the Marhattas. 1751-52. Second invasion of India by Ahmad Shah Durani, and cession of the Punjab to him. 1754. Deposition of the Emperor, and accession of Alamgir 11. 1756. Third invasion of India by Ahmad Shah Durani, and sack of Delhi. 1759. Fourth invasion of India by Ahmad Shah Durani, and murder of the Emperor Alamgir II. by his wazir, Ghazi-ud-din. The Marhatta conquests in Northern India. Their organization for the conquest of Hindustan, and their capture of Delhi. 1761-1805. The third battle of Panipat ; between the Afghans under Ahmad Shah, and the Marhattas ; the defeat of the latter. From this time the Mughal Empire ceased to exist, except in name. The nominal Emperor on the death of Alamgir 11. was Shah Alam 11., an exile, who resided till 1771 in Allahabad, a pensioner of the British. In the latter year, he threw in his fortunes with the Marhattas, who restored him to a fragment of his hereditary dominions. The Emperor was blinded and imprisoned by rebels. He was afterwards rescued by the Marhattas, but was virtually a prisoner in their hands till 1803, when the Marhatta power was overthrown by Lord Lake. Shah Alam died in 1806, and was succeeded by his son, 1806-1837. Akbar 11., who succeeded only to the nominal dignity, and lived till 1837 ; when he was followed by 1837-1862. Muhammad Bahadur Shah, the seventeenth Mughal Emperor, and last of the race of Timur. For his complicity in the Mutiny of 1857, he was deposed and banished for life to Rangoon, where he died, a British State prisoner, in 1862. Two of his sons and grand- son were shot by Hodson in 1857, to prevent a rescue, and for their participation in the murder of English women and children at Delhi. 1 Sir Henry Elliot’s Indian Historians , vol. vii. pp. 348-558 (Triibner, 1877). 256 INDIA. [HINDU UPRISINGS, 1715. Indepen- dence of the Deccan, 1720-48; of Oudh, 1732-43- Hindu risings. Oppression of the Sikhs, 1710-16. Rajput indepen- dence. 1715- The Mar- hatta chanlh, 1751. who well earned their title of the ‘ king-makers.’ From the year 1720, the breaking up of the Empire took a more open form. The Nizam ul Mulkh, or Governor of the Deccan,1 established his independence, and severed the largest part of Southern India from the Delhi rule (1720-48). The Governor of Oudh,2 originally a Persian merchant, who had risen to the post of Wazir or Prime Minister of the Empire, practically established his own dynasty in the Provinces which had been committed to his care (1732-43). The Hindu subjects of the Empire were at the same time establishing their independence. The Sikh sect in the Punjab were driven by oppression into revolt, and merci- lessly crushed (1710-16). The indelible memory of the cruelties then inflicted by the Mughal troops nerved the Sikh nation with that hatred to Delhi which served the British cause so well in 1857. Their leader, Banda, was carried about in an iron cage, tricked out in the mockery of imperial robes, with scarlet turban and cloth of gold. His son’s heart was torn out before his eyes, and thrown in his face. He himself was then pulled to pieces with red-hot pincers, and the Sikhs were exterminated like mad dogs (1716). The Hindu princes of Rajputana were more fortunate. Ajit Sinh of Jodhpur asserted his independence, and Rajputfina practically severed its connection with the Mughal Empire in 1715. The Marhattas having enforced their claim to black-mail ( cliauth ) throughout Southern India, burst through the Vindhyds upon the north, obtained the cession of Malwa (1743) and Orissa (1751), with an Imperial grant for tribute from Bengal (1751). Invasions from the north- west, 1739-61. Nadir Shah, 1739- Ahrnad Shah, 1748-61. While the Muhammadan governors and Hindu subjects of the Empire were thus asserting their independence, two new sets of external enemies appeared. The first of these con- sisted of invasions from the north-west. In 1739, Nadir Shah, the Persian, swept down with his destroying host, and, after a massacre in the streets of Delhi and a fifty-eight days’ sack, went off with a booty estimated at 32 millions sterling.3 Six times the Afghans burst through the passes under Ahmad Shah Duranf, plundering, slaughtering, and then scornfully retiring to their homes with the plunder of the Empire. In 1 738, Kabul, the last Afghan Province of the Mughals, was severed from Delhi ; and in 1752, Ahmad Shah obtained the cession of the Punjab. 1 Chin Kulich Khan or Azaf Shah, a Turkoman Sunni. 2 Saadat Ali Khan, a Persian Shia. 3 Mill’s History of British India, vol. ii. p. 456 (Wilson’s edition, 1S40). 257 AFGHAN INVASIONS, I 748.] INDIA. The cruelties inflicted upon Delhi and Northern India during Afghan these six invasions form an appalling tale of bloodshed and wanton cruelty. The miserable capital opened her gates, and was fain to receive the Afghans as guests. Yet on one occasion it suffered for six weeks every enormity which a barbarian army can inflict upon a prostrate foe. Meanwhile the Afghan cavalry were scouring the country, slaying, burning, and muti- lating in the meanest hamlet as in the greatest town. They took especial delight in sacking the holy places of the Hindus, and murdering the defenceless votaries at the shrines. A horde of 25,000 Afghdn horsemen swooped down Misery of upon the sacred city of Muttra during a festival, while it was the l ro' thronged with peaceful Hindu pilgrims engaged in their devo- tions. ‘They burned the houses,’ says the Tyrolese Jesuit Tieffenthaler, who was in India at that time, ‘ together with their inmates, slaughtering others with the sword and the lance ; hauling off into captivity maidens and youths, men and women. In the temples they slaughtered cows,’ the sacred animal of the Hindus, ‘ and smeared the images and pavement with the blood.’ The border-land between Afghanistan and Afghan India lay silent and waste ; indeed, districts far within the atrocljies> frontier, which had once been densely inhabited, and which are now again thickly peopled, were swept bare of inhabitants. The other set of invaders came from the sea. In the wars Invaders between the French and English in Southern India, the last from the vestiges of the Delhi authority in the Madras Presidency dis- appeared (1748-61). Bengal, Behar, and Orissa vrere handed over to the English by an imperial grant in 1765. We techni- Fall of the cally held these fertile Provinces as the nominee of the Emperor; emPire- but the battle of Panipat had already reduced the throne of Delhi to a shadow. This battle was fought in 1761, between Battle of the Afghan invader Ahmad Shah and the Marhattd powers, on Panipat, the memorable plain on which Babar and Akbar had twice won the sovereignty of India. That sovereignty was now, in 1761, lost for ever to their degenerate descendants. The Afghans defeated the Marhattas ; and during the anarchy which followed, the British patiently built up a newr power out of the wreck of the Mughal Empire. Mughal pensioners and puppets reigned at Delhi over a numerous seraglio, under such lofty titles as Akbar 11. or Alamgir (Aurangzeb) 11. But their power Last of the was confined to the palace, while Marhattas, Sikhs, and ^"Sha,s> Englishmen struggled for the sovereignty of India. The last nominal Emperor emerged for a moment as a rebel during 1857, and died a State prisoner in Rangoon in 1862. INDIA. [PUPPET EMPERORS, 1761-1857. 258 British India won, not from the Mughals, but from the Hindus Rise of the Marhattas. Shahji Bhonsla, 1634. Sivaji. CHAPTER XI. THE MARHATTA POWER (1634 TO l8l8 A.D.). The British won India, not from the Mughals, but from the Hindus. Before we appeared as conquerors, the Mughal Empire had broken up. Our final wars were neither with the Delhi King, nor with his revolted governors, but with the two Hindu confederacies, the Marhattas and the Sikhs. Our last Marhatta war dates as late as 1818, and the Sikh Confedera- tion was overcome only in 1848. About the year 1634, a Marhatta soldier of fortune, Shahji Bhonsla by name, began to play a conspicuous part in Southern India.1 He fought on the side of the two inde- pendent Muhammadan States, Ahmednagar and Bijapur, against the Mughals ; and left a band of followers, together with a military fief, to his son Sivaji, born in 1627.2 Sivaji formed a national party out of the Hindu tribes of Southern India, as opposed alike to the imperial armies from the north, and to the independent Muhammadan kingdoms of the 1 The original authorities for the Marhatta history are — (1) James Grant Duff’s History of the Mahrattas , 3 vols. (Bombay reprint, 1863) ; (2) Edward Scott Waring’s History of the Mahrattas (quarto, 1810) ; (3) Major William Thome’s Memoir of the War in India conducted by General Lord Lake (quarto, 1818) ; (4) Sidney J. Owen’s Selections from the Despatches of the Marquis of Wellesley (1877) ; (5) his Selections from the Indian Despatches of the Duke of Wellington (1880) ; and (6) Henry T. Prinsep’s Narrative of Political and Military Transactions of British India under the Marquis of Hastings (quarto, 1820). The very brief notice of the Marhattas which my space permits of precludes anything like an exhaustive use of these storehouses. But it should be mentioned that the later history of the Marhattas (since 1819) has yet to be written. The leading incidents of that history are described in separate articles in the Imperial Gazetteer. To save space I confine myself, as far as practicable, to referring in footnotes to those articles. Ample materials will be found in the Gazetteers of the Bombay Districts and Central Provinces. 2 Grant Duff’s History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. p. 90 (ed. 1863). RISE OF MARHATTAS.] INDIA. 259 Deccan. There were thus, from 1650 onwards, three powers Three in the Deccan : first, the ever-invading troops of the Delhi [^ties in Empire; second, the forces of the two remaining independent Deccan, Muhammadan States of Southern India, namely, Ahmednagar l65°- and Bijapur ; third, the military organization of the local Hindu tribes, which ultimately grew into the Marhatta confederacy. During the eighty years’ war of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, Strength of with a view to the conquest of Southern India (1627-1707), or 1 the third or Hindu party fought from time to time on both party, sides, and obtained a constantly increasing importance. The Mughal armies from the north, and the independent Muham- madam kingdoms of the south, gradually exterminated each other. Being foreigners, they had to recruit their exhausted forces from outside. The Hindu confederacy drew its inexhaustible native levies from the wade tract known as Maharashtra, stretching from the Berars in Central India to near the south of the Bombay Presidency. The Marhattas Courted by were therefore courted alike by the Imperial generals and by the independent Muhammadan sovereigns of the Deccan. With true Hindu statecraft, their leader, Sivajf, from time to time aided the independent Musalman kingdoms of the Deccan against the Mughal avalanche from the north. Those kingdoms, with the help of the Marhattas, long proved a match for the imperial troops. But no sooner were the Delhi armies driven back, than the Marhattas proceeded to despoil the independent Musalman kingdoms. On the other hand, the Delhi generals, when allied with the Marhattas, could com- pletely overpower the independent Muhammadan States. Sivaji saw the strength of his position, and, by a course Sivajf, of treachery, assassination, and hard fighting, won for the 'j?"1 Marhattas the practical supremacy in Southern India.1 As a basis for his operations, he perched himself safe in a number of impregnable hill forts in the Bombay Presidency. His His hill troops consisted of Hindu spearmen, mounted on hardy forts- ponies. They were the peasant proprietors of Southern India, His army and could be dispersed or called together on a moment’s ^ek°rse' notice, at the proper seasons of the agricultural year. Sivajf had therefore the command of an unlimited body of troops, without the expense of a standing army. With these he swooped down upon his enemies, exacted tribute, or forced them to come to terms. He then paid off his soldiery by a His tactics, part of the plunder, and retreated with the lion’s share to 1 The career of Sivajf is traced in Grant Duff’s History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. pp. 90-220. 260 INDIA. Coins money. Visits Delhi, 1666. Enthrones himself, 1 674- Die J 1680. Aurang- zeb’s mis- taken policy, 1688-1707. Sambhaji 1680-89. Sahu, 1707. [SIVAJI, 1627-80. his hill forts. In 1659, he lured the Bijapur general into an ambush, stabbed him at a friendly conference, and exterminated his army. In 1662, Sivaji raided as far as the extreme north of the Bombay Presidency, and sacked the Imperial city of Surat. In 1664, he assumed the title of king (Raja), with the royal prerogative of coining money in his own name.1 The year 1665 found Sivaji helping the Mughal armies against the independent Musalman State of Bijapur. In 1666, he was induced to visit Delhi. Being coldly received by the Emperor Aurangzeb, and placed under restraint, he escaped to the south, and raised the standard of revolt.2 In 1674, Sivaji enthroned himself with great pomp at Raigarh, weighing himself in a balance against gold, and distributing the precious counterpoise among his Brahmans.3 After sending forth his hosts as far as the Karnatic in 1676, he died in 1680. The Emperor Aurangzeb would have done wisely to have left the independent Musalman Kings of the Deccan alone, until he had crushed the rising Marhatta power. Indeed, a great statesman would have buried the old quarrel between the Muhammadans of the north and south, and united the whole forces of Islam against the Hindu confederacy which was rapidly organizing itself in the Deccan. But the fixed resolve of Aurangzeb’s life was to annex to Delhi the Muhammadan kingdoms of Southern India. By the time he had carried out this scheme, he had wasted his armies, and left the Mughal Empire ready to break into pieces at the first touch of the Marhattas. Sambhaji succeeded his father, Sivaji, in 1680, and reigned till 1689. 4 His life was entirely spent in wars with the Portu- guese and Mughals. In 1689, Aurangzeb captured him. The Emperor blinded his eyes with a red-hot iron, cut out the tongue which had blasphemed the Prophet, and struck off his head. His son, Sahu, then six years of age, was also captured and kept a prisoner till the death of Aurangzeb. In 1707 he was restored, on acknowledging allegiance to Delhi. But his long captivity among the Mughals left him only half a Marhatta.5 He wasted his life in his seraglio, and resigned the rule of his 1 Grant Duff’s History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. p. 146. -Idem, vol. i. chap. v. ad f item. 3 Idem, vol. i. pp. 191-193. 4 For the career of Sambhaji', see Grant Duff s History of the Mahrattas , vol. i. pp. 220-261. 5 The career of Sahu is traced in Grant Duff’s History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. pp. 297-306. PESHWAS, 1707-51.] INDIA. 261 territories to his Brahman minister Balaji Vishwanath, with the title of Peshwa.1 This office became hereditary, and the Rise of the power of the Peshwa superseded that of the Marhatta kings. Peshwas. The family of Sivaji only retained the little principalities of Satara and Kolhapur.2 Satdra lapsed, for want of a direct heir, Satara and to the British in 1849. Kolhapur has survived through their Kolhapur; clemency, and is now ruled, under their control, by the last of tjivaji’s Sivaji’s line. line. Meanwhile the Peshwas were building up at Poona the pr0gress great Marhatta confederacy. In 1718, Balaji, the first Peshwa, of the marched an army to Delhi in support of the Sayyid ‘ king- makers.’ 3 In 17 20, 4 he extorted an Imperial grant of the chauth or ‘ one-fourth ’ of the revenues of the Deccan. The Marhattas were also confirmed in the sovereignty of the countries round Poona and Satara. The second Peshwa, Second Baji Rao (1721-40), converted the tribute of the Deccan Peshwa granted to his father into a practical sovereignty. In fifteen years he wrested the Province of Malwa from the Empire Deccan, (1736), together with the country on the north-west of the D 20-40. Vindhyas, from the Narbada to the Chambal.3 In 1739,0 he captured Bassein from the Portuguese. The third Peshwa, Balaji Baji Rao, succeeded in 1740, and Third carried the Marhatta terror into the heart of the Mughal Peshwa, Empire." The Deccan became merely a starting-point for I'4°’ I' a vast series of their expeditions to the north and the east. Conquests Within the Deccan itself he augmented his sovereignty, at the ™ th® expense of the Nizam, after two wars. The great centres of the Marhatta power were now fixed at Poona in Bombay and Nagpur in the Berars. In 1741-42, a general of the Berar branch of Expe- the confederacy known as the Bhonslas, swept down upon it . Bengal ; but, after plundering to the suburbs of the Muham- madan capital Murshidabad, he was driven back through Orissa To Bengal, by the Viceroy All Vardi Khan. The ‘Marhatta Ditch,’ or I742-5 1 ; semicircular moat around part of Calcutta, records to this day the panic which then spread throughout Bengal. Next year, 1743, the head of the Berar branch, Raghoji BhonsM, himself invaded Bengal in force. From this date, in spite of quarrels 1 For Balaji’s career, see Grant Duff’s Hist, of the Mahrattas , i. 307-339. 2 See articles Kolhapur and Satara, Imperial Gazetteer, vols. v. pp. 430-433, and viii. pp. 206-212. 3 See ante, p. 255. * History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. pp. 324, 325. 5 History of the Mahrattas, pp. 393*395- 6 For Baji Rao’s career, see History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. pp. 344-410. 7 His career is sketched in History of the Mahrattas, vol. ii. pp. 1-115. To the Punjab, 1760. Panipat, 1761. Fourth Peshwa, 1761-72. The five Marhatta branches. Fifth Peshwa, 1772. Decline of the Peshwas, 1772-1818. INDIA. [peshwas, 1760-72. between the Poona and Berar Marhattas over the spoil, the fertile Provinces of the Lower Ganges became a plundering ground of the Bhonslds. In 1751, they obtained a formal grant from the Viceroy All Vardi of the chauth or ‘ quarter- revenue’ of Bengal, together with the cession of southern Orissa. In Northern India, the Poona Marhattas raided as far as the Punjab, and drew down upon them the wrath of Ahmad Shah, the Afghan, who had wrested that Province from Delhi. At the battle of Panipat, the Marhattas were overthrown, by the combined Muhammadan forces of the Afghans and of the Provinces still nominally remaining to the Empire (1761). The fourth Peshwa, Madhu Rao, succeeded to the Marhatta sovereignty in this moment of ruin.1 The Hindu confederacy seemed doomed to destruction, alike by internal treachery and by the superior force of the Afghan arms. As early as 1742, the Poona and Berar branches had taken the field against each other, in their quarrels over the plunder of Bengal. Before 1761, two other branches, under Holkar and Sindhia, held independent sway in the old Mughal Province of Malwa and the neighbouring tracts, now divided between the States of Indore and Gwalior. At Panipat, Holkar, the head of the Indore branch, deserted the Hindu line the moment he saw the tide turn, and his treachery rendered the Marhatta rout complete. The fourth Peshwa was little more than the nominal centre of the five great Marhatta powers, with their respective headquarters at Poona, the seat of the Peshwas ; at Nagpur, the capital of the Bhonslas, in Berar ; at Gwalior, the residence of Sindhia ; at Indore, the capital of Holkar ; and at Baroda, the seat of the rising power of the Gaekwars. Madhu Rao, the fourth Peshwa, just managed to hold his own against the Muhammadan princes of Haidarabdd and Mysore, and against the Bhonsla branch of the Marhattas in Berar. His younger brother, Narayan Rao, succeeded him as fifth Peshwa in 1772, but was quickly assassinated.2 From this time the Peshwd’s potver at Poona begins to recede, as that of his nominal masters, the lineal descendants of Sivajf, had faded out of sight in Satara and Kolhapur. The Peshwas came of a high Brahman lineage, while the actual fighting force of the Marhattas consisted of low-caste Hindus. It thus happened that each Marhatta general who rose to independent territorial sway, was inferior in caste, although possessed of more real power than the Peshwa, the 1 For his career, see Grant Duff’s Hist, of the Mahrattas, ii. 1 15 -172. - History of the Mahrattas, vol. ii. pp. 175-178. NORTH MARHATTAS, I 77 I.] INDIA. 263 titular head of the confederacy. Of the two great northern houses, Holkar was descended from a shepherd,1 and Sindhia from a slipper-bearer.2 These potentates lay quiet for a time after their crushing disaster at Panipat. But within ten years Progress of that fatal field, they had finally established themselves ^ ^ throughout Malwa, and invaded the Rajput, Jat, and Rohilla Marhattas. Provinces, from the Punjab on the west to Oudh on the east sindhia (1761-71). In 1765, the titular Emperor, Shah Alarn, had ^ "d sunk into a British pensioner after his defeat at Baxar. In 1761-1803. i77r, he made overtures to the Marhattas. Holkar and Sindhia nominally restored him to his throne at Delhi, but held him a virtual prisoner till 1803-04, when they were over- thrown by our second Marhatta war. The third of the northern Marhatta houses, namely, the The Bhonslas of Berar and the Central Provinces, occupied them- selves with raids to the east. Operating from their basis at 1751-1853. Nagpur,3 they had extorted, by 1751, the chauth or ‘quarter revenue ’ of Bengal, together with the sovereignty of Southern Orissa. The accession of the British in Bengal (1756-65) put a stop to their raids in that Province. In 1803, a division of our army drove them out of Orissa. In 1817, their power was finally broken by our last Marhatta war. Their headquarter territories, now forming the Central Provinces,4 were admini- stered under the guidance of British Residents from 1817 to 1S53. On the death of the last Raghoji Bhonsla, without issue, in 1853, Nagpur lapsed to the British. The fourth of the northern Marhatta houses, namely, The Baroda,5 extended its power throughout Guzerat, on the north- western coast of Bombay, and the adjacent peninsula of Kathiawar. The scattered but wealthy dominions known as the territories of the Giekwar were thus formed. Since our last Marhatta war, in 1817, Baroda has been ruled by the Gaekwar, with the help of an English Resident and a British subsidiary force. In 1874, the reigning Gaekwar, having Baroda in attempted to poison the Resident, was tried by a High Com- l8H- mission consisting of three European and three native mem- bers, found guilty, and deposed. But the British Government refrained from annexing the State, and raised a descendant of the founder of the family from poverty to the State cushion. 1 See article Indore, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iv. 2 See article Gwalior, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iii. p. 491. 3 See article Nagpur, Imperial Gazetteer , vol. vii. pp. 29-32. 4 See article Central Provinces, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. ii. pp. 356-357. 5 See article Baroda, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. i. pp. 451-454. 264 INDIA. [last PESHWAS, 1774-1818. Sixth Peshwa, 1774-95- First Mar- hatta war, 1779-81. Seventh and last Peshwa, 1795-1818. Second Marhatta war, 1803-04. Last Mar- hatta war, 1S17-18. End of the Peshwas, 1357- While these four northern houses of the Marhattas were pursuing their separate careers, the Peshwa’s power was being broken to pieces by family intrigues. The sixth Peshwa, Madhu Rao Narayan, was born after his father’s death, and during his short life of twenty-one years the power remained in the hands of his minister, Nana Farnavis. Raghoba, the uncle of the late Peshwa, disputed the birth of the posthumous child, and claimed for himself the office of Peshwa. The infant’s guardian, Nana Farnavis, having invoked the aid of the French, the British sided with Raghoba. These alliances brought on the first Marhatta war (1779-81), ending with the treaty of Salbai (1782). That treaty ceded the islands of Salsette and Elephanta with two others to the British, secured to Raghoba a handsome pension, and confirmed the child- Peshwa in his sovereignty. The latter, however, only reached manhood to commit suicide at the age of twenty-one. His cousin, Baji Rao 11., succeeded him in 1795 as the seventh and last Peshw£ The northern Marhatta house of Holkar now took the lead among the Marhattas, and forced the Peshwa into the arms of the English. By the treaty of Bassein in 1802, the Peshwa agreed to receive and pay for a British force to maintain him in his dominions. The northern Mar- hatta houses combined to break down this treaty. The second Marhatta war followed (1803-04). General Wellesley crushed the forces of the Sindhia and Nagpur houses on the great fields of Assaye and Argaum in the south, while Lord Lake disposed of the Marhatta armies at Laswari and Delhi in the north. In 1804, Holkar was completely defeated at Dig. These cam- paigns led to large cessions of territory to the British, the over- throw of the French influence in India, and the replacement of the titular Delhi Emperor under the protection of the English. In 1817-18, the Peshwa, Holkar, and the Bhonsla Marhattas at Nagpur took up arms, each on his own account, against the British, and were defeated in detail. That war finally broke the Marhatta power. The Peshw£, Baji Rao, surrendered to the British, and his territories were annexed to our Bombay Presidency.1 The Peshwa remained a British pensioner at Bithur, near Cawnpore, on a magnificent allow- ance, till his death. His adopted son grew up into the infamous Nana Sahib of the Mutiny of 1857, when the last relic of the Peshwas disappeared from the eyes of men. 1 For a summary of the events of this last Marhatta war, see post , pp. 302-304. Also Grant Duff’s History of th: Mahrattas, vol. iii. passim. EARLY VOYAGES.] INDIA. 265 CHAPTER XII. EARLY EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS (1498 TO 18TH CENTURY A.D.). The Muhammadan invaders of India had entered from the north-west. Her Christian conquerors approached by sea from The Portir the south. From the time of Alexander to that of Vasco da in Gama, Europe held little direct intercourse with the East. An Vasco da occasional traveller brought back stories of powerful kingdoms and of untold wealth; but the passage by sea was scarcely dreamed of, and by land, wide deserts and warlike tribes lay be- tween. Commerce, indeed, never ceased entirely, being carried on chiefly by the Italian cities on the Mediterranean, which traded to the ports of the Levant.1 * * * S But to the Europeans of the 15th century, India was an unknown land, which powerfully attracted the imagination of spirits stimulated by the renais- sance, and ardent for discovery. The materials for this period 1 The following is a list of the most noteworthy early travellers to the East, from the 9th century to the establishment of the Portuguese as a conquering power in India. The Arab geographers will be found, in great detail, in Sir Henry Elliot’s first volumes. The standard authority is The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian, edited by Colonel Henry Yule, C.B., 2 vols., second edition, 1875. My best thanks are due to Colonel Yule for the personal assistance he has kindly afforded me both here and in those parts of the Imperial Gazetteer that came within the scope of his researches. 881 a.d. King Alfred sends Sighelm of Sherburn to the shrine of Saint Thomas in India. 851-916. Sulaiman and Abu Zaid, whose travels furnished the Relations of Reinaud. 912-30. The geographer Mas’udi. 1 159-73. Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela; visited Persian Gulf, reported on India. 1260-71. The brothers Nicolo and Maffeo Polo, father and uncle of Marco Polo ; make their first trading venture through Central Asia. 1271. They started on their second journey, accompanied by Marco Polo ; and about 1275, arrived at the Court of Kublai Khan in Shangtu, whence Marco Polo was entrusted with several missions to Cochin China, Khanbulig (Peking), and the Indian Seas. 1292. Friar John of Monte Corvino, afterwards Archbishop of Pekin; spent thirteen months in India on his way to China. [Ibn S 266 INDIA. [voyages, 1498. State of India on arrival of Portu- guese. have been collected by Dr. Birdwood in his admirable official Report on the Old Records of the India Office (1879), to which the following paragraphs are largely indebted. I have given the history of the various European settlements, in greater detail, under their respective articles in the Imperial Gazetteer of India. In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed westwards under the Spanish flag to seek India beyond the Atlantic, bear- ing with him a letter to the great Khan of Tartary. He found America instead. An expedition under Vasco da Gama started from Lisbon five years later, in the opposite, or south-eastern, direction. It doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and cast anchor off the city of Calicut on the 20th May 1498, after a protracted voyage of nearly eleven months. An earlier Portuguese emissary, Covilham, had reached Calicut overland about 1487. From the first Da Gama encountered hostility from the Moors, or rather Arabs, who monopolized the sea-borne trade ; but he seems to have found favour with the Zamorin or Hindu Raja of Malabar. An Afghan of the Lodi dynasty was on the throne of Delhi, and another Afghan king was ruling over Bengal. Ahmedabad formed the seat of a Muhammadan dynasty in Guzerat. The five independent Muhammadan kingdoms of Ahmednagar, Bijapur, Ellichpur, Golconda, and Bidar had 1304-78. Ibn Batuta, an Arab of Tangiers ; after many years in the East, he attached himself to the Court of Muhammad Tughlak at Delhi, 1334-42, whence he was despatched on an embassy to China. 1316-31. Odorico di Pordenone, a Minorite friar; travelled in the East and through India by way of Persia, Bombay, and Surat (where he collected the bones of four missionaries martyred in 1321), to Malabar, the Coromandel coast, and thence to China and Tibet. 1328. Friar Jordanus of Severac, consecrated Bishop of Quilon. 1 338-49. John de Marignolli, a Franciscan friar ; on his return from a mission to China, visited Quilon in 1347, and made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas in India in 1349. 1327-72. Sir John Mandeville ; wrote his travels in India (supposed to be the first printed English book, London, 1499) ; but beyond the Levant his travels are fiction or borrowed. 1420-40. Nicolo Conti, a noble Venetian ; travelled throughout Southern India and along the Bombay coast. 1442-44. Abd-ur-Razzak ; during an embassy to India, visited Calicut, Mangalore, and Vijayanagar, where he was entertained in state by the Hindu sovereign of that kingdom. 1468-74. Athanasius Nikitin, a Russian; travelled from the Volga, through Central Asia and Persia, to Guzerat, Cambay, and Chaul, whence he proceeded inland to Bidar and Golconda. 1494-99. Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, a Genoese ; visited the port of Malabar and the Coromandel coast as a merchant adventurer, and after proceeding to Ceylon and Pegu, sailed for Cambay. 1 S°3-o8. Travels of Ludovico di Varthema. In the Hakluyt Series. PORTUGUESE, 1499-1510.] INDIA. 267 partitioned out the Deccan. But the Hindu Raja of Vijaya- nagar still ruled as paramount in the south, and was perhaps the most powerful monarch to be found at that time in India. After staying nearly six months on the Malabar coast, Da Gama returned to Europe, bearing with him the following letter from the Zamorin to the King of Portugal : — ‘ Vasco da Gama, a nobleman of your household, has visited my kingdom and has given me great pleasure. In my kingdom there is abundance of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones. What I seek from thy country is gold, silver, coral, and scarlet.’ The safe arrival of Da Gama at Lisbon was cele- brated with national rejoicings as enthusiastic as those which had greeted the return of Columbus. If the West Indies belonged to Spain by priority of discovery, Portugal might claim the East Indies by the same right. The Portuguese mind was intoxicated by dreams of a mighty oriental empire. The early Portuguese discoverers were not traders or private adventurers, but admirals with a royal commission to conquer territory and promote the spread of Christianity. A second expedition, consisting of thirteen ships and twelve hundred soldiers, under the command of Cabral, was despatched in 1500. ‘The sum of his instructions was to begin with preach- ing, and if that failed, to proceed to the sharp determination of the sword.’ On his outward voyage, Cabral was driven by stress of weather to the coast of Brazil. Ultimately he reached Calicut, and established factories both there and at Cochin, in spite of active hostility from the natives. In 1502, the King of Portugal obtained from Pope Alex- ander vi. a bull constituting him ‘ Lord of the Navigation, Conquests, and Trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India.’ In that year Vasco da Gama sailed again to the East, with a fleet numbering twenty vessels. He formed an alliance with the Rajas of Cochin and Cananore against the Zamorin of Calicut, and bombarded the latter in his palace. In 1503, the great Alfonso d’Albuquerque sailed to the East in command of one of three expeditions from Portugal. In 1505, a large fleet of twenty-two sail and fifteen thousand men was sent under Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Governor and Viceroy of India. In 1509, Albuquerque succeeded as Governor, and widely extended the area of Portuguese influence. Having failed in an attack upon Calicut, he seized Goa in 1510, which has since remained the capital of Portuguese India. Then, sailing round Ceylon, he captured Malacca, the key of the navi- Raja of Calicut’s letter, 1499. Portuguese expedi- tion, 1500. Portuguese supremacy in eastern seas, 1500- 1600. Albu- querque takes Goa. 1510, INDIA. 2 68 [PORTUGUESE, 1 5 1 5- 1 600. Cruelties of Portu- guese in India. Their braver}'. gation of the Indian archipelago, and opened a trade with Siam and the Spice Islands. Lastly, he sailed back westwards, and after penetrating into the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, returned to Goa only to die in 1515. In 1524, Vasco da Gama came out to the East for the third time, and he too died at Cochin, in 1527. For exactly a century, from 1500 to 1600, the Portu- guese enjoyed a monopoly of Oriental trade.1 ‘From Japan and the Spice Islands to the Red Sea and the Cape of Good Hope, they were the sole masters and dispensers of the treasures of the East ; while their possessions along the Atlantic coast of Africa and in Brazil completed their maritime empire.’ 2 But the Portuguese had neither the political strength nor the personal character necessary to maintain such an Empire. Their national temper had been formed in their contest with the Moors at home. They were not traders, but knights-errant and crusaders, who looked on every pagan as an enemy of Portugal and of Christ. Only those who have read the contemporary narratives of their conquests, can realize the superstition and the cruelty with which their history in the Indies is stained. Albuquerque alone endeavoured to conciliate the goodwill of the natives, and to live in friend- ship with the Hindu princes, who were naturally better pleased to have the Portuguese, as governed by him, for their neigh- bours and allies, than the Muhammadans whom he had expelled or subdued. The justice and magnanimity of his rule did as much to extend and confirm the power of the Portuguese in the East as the courage and success of his military achievements. In such veneration was his memory held, that the Hindus of Goa, and even the Muhammadans, were wont to repair to his tomb, and there utter their complaints, as if in the presence of his shade, and call upon God to deliver them from the tyranny of his successors. ‘ The cruelties of Soarez, Sequeyra, Menezes, Da Gama, and succeeding viceroys, drove the natives to desperation, and encouraged the princes of Western India in 1567 to form a league against the Portuguese, in which they were joined by the King of Achin.’ But the undisciplined Indian troops were unable to stand against the veteran soldiers of Portugal; 200 of whom, at Malacca, utterly routed 15,000 1 For a full account of the Portuguese in India, and the curious phases of society which they developed, see article Goa, Imperial Gazetteer , vol. iii. pp. 387-396. Also for local notices, Daman, Diu, Bassein, Calicut. 2 This and the following paragraphs are condensed from Dr. Birdwood’s official Report on the Miscellaneous Old Records in the India Office, dated 1st November 1878 (folio, 1879). THEIR RUIN, 1639-1739.] INDIA. 269 natives with artillery. When, in 1578, Malacca was again besieged by the King of Achin, the small Portuguese garrison destroyed 10,000 of his men, and all his cannon and junks. Twice again, in 1615 and for the last time in 1628, it was besieged, and on each occasion the Achinese were repulsed with equal bravery. But the increased military forces sent out to resist these attacks proved an insupportable drain on the revenues and population of Portugal. In 1580, the Portuguese crown was united with that of Spanish Spain, under Philip 11. This proved the last blow to the mari- “gQences’ time and commercial supremacy of Portugal. The interests of Portugal in Asia were henceforth subordinated to the Euro- pean interests of Spain. In 1640, Portugal again became a separate kingdom. But in the meanwhile the Dutch and Eng- lish had appeared in the Eastern seas ; and before their indomit- able competition, the Portuguese empire of the Indies withered away as rapidly as it had sprung up. The period of the highest development of Portuguese commerce was probably from 1590 to 1610 on the eve of the subversion of their com- mercial power by the Dutch, and when their political admini- Downfall stration in India was at its lowest depth of degradation. At of Por?u' ... . °ri6se in this period a single fleet of Portuguese merchantmen sailing India, from Goa to Cambay or Surat would number as many as 150 i639-i 739- or 250 car racks. Now, only one Portuguese ship sails from Lisbon to Goa in the year.1 The Dutch besieged Goa in 1603, and again in 1639. Both attacks were unsuccessful on land; but the Portuguese were gradually driven off the sea. In 1683, the Marhattas plundered to the gates of the city. The further history of the Portuguese in India is a miserable chronicle of pride, poverty, and sounding titles. The native princes pressed upon them from the land. On the sea they gave way to more vigorous European nations. The only remaining Portuguese possessions in India are The Por- Goa, Daman, and Diu, all on the west coast, with an area Gf ^’S11656. 1086 square miles, and a population of 407,712 souls. Them 1871. general Census of 1871 also returned 426 Portuguese in British India, not including those of mixed descent. About 30,000 of the latter are found in Bombay (‘ Portuguese ’ half-castes), and 20,000 in Bengal, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Dacca and Chittagong. The latter are known as Firinghis ; and, excepting Mixed de- that they retain the Roman Catholic faith and European sur- scenclants- names, are scarcely to be distinguished either by colour, lan- guage, or habits of life from the natives among whom they live. 1 Reproduced, without verification, from Dr. Birdwood’s Report, p. 70. 270 INDIA . [dutch progress, 1602. The Dutch in India, 1602-1824. Their pro- gress, 1619. Dutch supremacy in eastern seas, 1600- 1700. Their brilliant progress, 1635-69. The Dutch were the first European nation who broke through the Portuguese monopoly. During the 16th century, Bruges, Antwerp, and Amsterdam became successively the great emporia whence Indian produce, imported by the Portuguese, was distributed to Germany, and even to England. At first the Dutch, following in the track of the English, attempted to find their way to India by sailing round the north coasts of Europe and Asia. William Barents is honourably known as the leader of three of these arctic expeditions, in the last of which he perished. The first Dutchman to double the Cape of Good Hope was Cornelius Houtman, who reached Sumatra and Bantam in ^96. Forthwith private companies for trade with the East were formed in many parts of the United Pro- vinces; but in 1602, they were all amalgamated by the States- General into ‘The Dutch East India Company.’ Within fifty years the Dutch had established factories on the continent of India, in Ceylon, in Sumatra, in the Persian Gulf, and in the Red Sea, besides having obtained exclusive possession of the Moluccas. In 1619, they laid the foundation of the city of Batavia in Java, as the seat of the supreme government of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, which had previously been at Amboyna. At about the same time they discovered the coast of Australia, and in North America founded the city of New Amsterdam or Manhattan, now New York. During the 17th century, the Dutch maritime power was the first in the world. Their memorable massacre of the English at Amboyna, in 1623, forced the British Company to retire from the Eastern Archipelago to the continent of India, and thus led to the foundation of our Indian Empire. The long naval wars and bloody battles between the English and the Dutch within the narrow eastern seas, were not terminated until William of Orange united the two countries in 1689. In the Archipelago the Dutch ruled without a rival, and gradually ex- pelled the Portuguese from almost all their territorial possessions. In 1635, they occupied Formosa; in 1640, they took Malacca, a blow from which the Portuguese never recovered ; in 1647, they were trading at Sadras, on the Palar river ; in 1651, they founded a colony at the Cape of Good Hope, as a half-way station to the East ; in 1652, they built their first Indian factory at Palakollu, on the Madras coast; in 1658, they captured Jaffnapatam, the last stronghold of the Portuguese in Ceylon. In 1664, they wrested from the Portuguese all their earlier settle- ments on the pepper-bearing coast of Malabar ; and in 1669, they expelled the Portuguese from St. Thom£ and Macassar. DUTCH MONOPOLY.] INDIA. 271 The fall of the Dutch colonial empire resulted from its Their short-sighted commercial policy. It was deliberately based upon a monopoly of the trade in spices, and remained from policy, first to last destitute of sound economical principles. Like the Phoenicians of old, the Dutch stopped short of no acts of cruelty towards their rivals in commerce; but, unlike the Phoenicians, they failed to introduce their civilisation among the natives with whom they came in contact. The knell of Stripped Dutch supremacy was sounded by Clive, when in 1758 he attacked the Dutch at Chinsurah both by land and water, and posses- forced them to an ignominious capitulation. In the great , French wars from 1793 to 1811, England wrested from Holland every one of her colonies; although Java was restored in 1816, and Sumatra exchanged for Malacca in 1824. At the present time, the Dutch flag flies nowhere on the mainland of India. But quaint houses at Chinsurah, Negapatam, Jaff- napatam, and other petty ports on the Coromandel and Malabar coast, with the formal canals or water-channels in some of these old Settlements, remind the traveller of scenes in the Nether- lands. The passage between Ceylon and the mainland still bears the name of the Dutch governor, Palk. In the Census of 1872, only seventy Dutchmen were enumerated throughout all British India.1 The earliest English attempts to reach India were made by Early the North-west passage. In 1496, Henry vii. granted letters patent to John Cabot and his three sons (one of whom turers, was the famous Sebastian) to fit out two ships for the ex- r496-i596. ploration of this route. They failed, but discovered the island of Newfoundland, and sailed along the coast of America from Labrador to Virginia. In 1553, the ill-fated Sir Hugh The Willoughby attempted to force a passage along the north °f jl^sagT^1 Europe and Asia, the successful accomplishment of which 1553-1616. has been reserved for a Swedish savant of our own day. Sir Hugh perished miserably, but his second in command, Chancellor, reached a harbour on the White Sea, now Archangel. Thence he penetrated by land to the court of the Grand Duke of Moscow, and laid the foundation of ‘ the Russia Company for carrying on the overland trade between India, Persia, Bokhara, and Moscow.’ Many subsequent attempts were made to find a North-west passage from 1576 to 1 For local notices of the Dutch in India, see articles Sadras, Palakollu, Chinsurah, Negapatam, Palk’s Passage, etc., in their respective volumes of the Imperial Gazetteer. 272 INDIA. [ENGLISH VOYAGES, 1553-1616. 1616. They have left on our modern maps the imperishable names of Frobisher, Davis, Hudson, and Baffin. Meanwhile, in 1577, Sir Francis Drake had circumnavigated the globe, and on his way home had touched at Ternate, one of the Moluccas, the king of which island agreed to supply the English nation with all the cloves it produced. The first modern Stephens, Englishman known to have visited India was Thomas Stephens, lishman°in 111 I579- But William of Malmesbury states that in 883 Sighel- India, mus of Sherborne, sent by King Alfred to Rome with presents I579' to the Pope, proceeded thence to the East Indies to the tomb of St. Thomas (at Mailapur, a suburb of Madras), and brought back jewels and spices. Stephens (1579) was edu- cated at New College, Oxford, and was rector of the Jesuits’ College in Salsette. His letters to his father are said to have roused great enthusiasm in England to trade directly with Fitch, India. In 1583, three English merchants, Ralph Fitch, Leedes”' ’ James Newberry, and Leedes, went out to India overland as 1583- mercantile adventurers. The jealous Portuguese threw them into prison at Ormuz, and again at Goa. At length Newberry settled down as a shopkeeper at Goa; Leedes entered the service of the Great Mughal ; and Fitch, after a lengthened peregrination in Ceylon, Bengal, Pegu, Siam, Malacca, and other parts of the East Indies, returned to England.1 The defeat of the ‘Invincible Armada’ in 1588, at which time the crowns of Spain and Portugal were in union, gave a fresh stimulus to maritime enterprise in England ; and the successful voyage of Cornelius Houtman in 1596 showed the way round the Cape of Good Hope into waters hitherto monopolized by the Portuguese. English I condense the following paragraph on the early history of Com-Ind'a t^ie English East India Companies, with little change, from panies. Dr. Birdwood’s valuable official report.2 In 1599, the Dutch, who had now firmly established their trade in the East, raised the price of pepper against us from 3s. per lb. to 6s. and 8s. The merchants of London held a meet- ing on the 22d September at Founders’ Hall, with the Lord Mayor in the chair, and agreed to form an association for the purposes of trading directly with India. Queen Elizabeth also sent Sir John Mildenhall by Constantinople to the Great Mughal to apply for privileges for an English Company. On the 3 1 st December 1600, 3 the English East India Company was 1 Condensed from Report on Old Records in the India Office , pp. 75-77. 2 Condensed from Repoi-t on Old Records in the India Office, pp. 77 ct seq. 3 Auber gives the date as the 30th December, Analysis of the Constitution 273 ENG. COMPANIES, 1600-1709.] INDIA. incorporated by royal charter under the title of ‘ The Governor First and Company of Merchants of London trading to the East ^ist E)e- Indies.’ The original Company had only 125 shareholders, cember and a capital of ^70,000, which was raised to ^400,000 in l(,0°- 1612, when voyages were first undertaken on the joint-stock account. Courten’s Association, known as ‘ The Assada Mer- Later chants,’ from a factory subsequently founded by it in Madagas- car, was established in 1635, but, after a period of internecine 1635, ’ rivalry, combined with the London Company in 1650. In 1655, 1655, the ‘ Company of Merchant Adventurers ’ obtained a charter from Cromwell to trade with India, but united with the original Company two years later. A more formidable rival subsequently appeared in the English Company, or ‘ General Society trading to the East Indies,’ which was incorporated under powerful patronage in 1698, with a capital of 2 millions 1698, sterling. According to Evelyn, in his Diary for March 5, 1698, ‘ the old East India Company lost their business against the new Company by 10 votes in Parliament, so many of their friends being absent, going to see a tiger baited by dogs.’ However, a compromise was effected through the arbitration of Lord Godolphin1 in 1708; by which the ‘London’ and i7°8. the ‘English’ Companies were finally amalgamated in 1709, Amalgam- under the style of ‘The United Company of Merchants of ated> l7°9- England trading to the East Indies.’ About the same time, the Company advanced loans to the State aggregating ^3,200,000 at 5 per cent, interest, in return for the exclusive privilege to trade to all places between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan.2 The early voyages of the Company from 1600 to 1612 are Voyages, distinguished as the ‘ separate voyages,’ twelve in number. l6o°'12- The subscribers individually bore the expenses of each voyage, and reaped the whole profits.3 With the exception of the fourth, all these separate voyages were highly prosperous, the profits hardly ever falling below 100 per cent. After 1612, the voyages were conducted on the joint-stock account. The English were promptly opposed by the Portuguese. First But James Lancaster, even in the first voyage (1602), established commercial relations with the King of Achin and of the East India Company, by Peter Auber, Assistant-Secretary to the Honourable Court of Directors, p. ix. (London, 1826.) 1 Under the award of Lord Godolphin, by the Act of the 6th of Queen Anne, in 1708, cap. 17. Auber’s Analysis, p. xi. ! Mill, Hist. Brit. Ind*, vol. i. p. 151 (ed. 1840). Auber gives a detailed statement of these loans, from 1708 to 1793 ; Analysis, p. xi. etc. 3 For the pecuniary aspects of these voyages, see post, pp. 443, 444. 274 Swally fight, 1615. INDIA. [first ventures, 1602-15. at Priaman in the island of Sumatra, as well as with the Malaccas, and at Bantam, where he settled a factory or ‘House of Trade’ in 1603. In 1604, the Company undertook their second voyage, commanded by Sir Henry Middleton, who extended their trade to Banda and Amboyna. The success of these voyages attracted a number of private merchants to the business; and in 1606, James 1. granted a licence to Sir Edward Michelbome and others to trade ‘to Cathay, China, Japan, Corea, and Cambaya.’ But Michelbome, on arriving in the East, instead of exploring new sources of commerce like the East India Company, followed the pernicious example of the Portuguese, and plundered the native traders among the islands of the Indian Archipelago. He in this way secured a considerable booty, but brought disgrace on the British name, and much hindered the Company’s business at Bantam. In 1608, Captain D. Middleton, in command of the fifth voyage, was prevented by the Dutch from trading at Banda, but succeeded in obtaining a cargo at Pulo Way. In this year also, Captain Hawkins proceeded from Surat as envoy from James 1. and the East India Company to the court of the Great Mughal. He was graciously received by the Emperor (Jahangir), and remained three years at Agra. In 1609, Captain Sharpe obtained the grant of free trade at Aden, and a cargo of pepper at Priaman. In this year also, the Company constructed the dockyard at Deptford, which was the beginning, observes Sir William Monson, ‘ of the increase of great ships in England.’ In 1611, Sir Henry Middleton, in command of the sixth voyage, arrived before Cambay. He resolutely fought the Portuguese, who tried to beat him off, and obtained important concessions from the native powers. In 1610-11 also, Captain Hippon, commanding the seventh voyage, established agencies at Masulipatam, and in Siam, at Patania or Patany, on the Malay Peninsula, and at Pettipollee. We obtained leave to trade at Surat in 1612. In 1615, the Company’s fleet, under Captain Best, was attacked off Swally, the port of Surat, at the mouth of the river Tapti, by an overwhelming force of Portuguese.1 But the assailants were utterly defeated in four engagements, to the astonishment of the natives, who had hitherto considered them invincible. The first fruit of this decisive victory was the pre-eminence of our factory at Surat, with subordinate agencies at Gogra, Ahmedabad, and Cambay. Trade was also opened 1 For this date and account of the engagement, see Bombay Gazetteer, Surat and Broach, vol. ii. pp. 77, 78 (Bombay Government Press, 1877). SIR T. ROE, 1615.] INDIA. 275 with the Persian Gulf. In 1614, an agency was established at Ajmere by Mr. Edwards of the Surat factory. The chief seat of the Company’s government in Western India remained at Surat until 1684-87, when it was transferred to Bombay.1 * In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe was sent out by James 1. as am- sir bassador to the court of Jahangir, and succeeded in placing ^10inIgSI . the Company’s trade in the Mughal dominions on a more N favourable footing. In 1618, the English established a factory at Mocha; but the Dutch compelled them to resign all pre- tensions to the Spice Islands. In that year also, the Company failed in its attempt to open a trade with Dabhol, Baticola, and Calicut, through a want of sincerity on the part of the Zamorin or Calicut Raja. In 1619, we were permitted to establish a factory and build a fort at Jask, in the Persian Gulf. In 1619, the ‘Treaty of Defence’ with the Dutch, to Treaty prevent disputes between the English and Dutch companies, was ratified. When it was proclaimed in the East, hostilities 1619. solemnly ceased for the space of an hour, while the Dutch and English fleets, dressed out in all their flags, and with yards manned, saluted each other. But the treaty ended in the smoke of that stately salutation, and the perpetual strife between the Dutch and English Companies went on as bitterly as ever. Up to that time, the English company did not possess any territory in sovereign right in the Indies, excepting in the island of Lantore or Great Banda. This island was governed by a commercial agent of the Company, who had under him thirty Europeans as clerks and warehousemen. This little band, with two hundred and fifty armed Malays, constituted the only force by which it was protected. In the islands of Banda and Pulo Roon and Rosengyn, the English Company had factories, at each of which were ten agents. At Macassar and Achin, they possessed agencies ; the whole being subordinate to a head factory at Bantam in Java. In 1620, the Dutch, notwithstanding the Treaty of Defence English concluded the previous year, expelled the English from Pulo Roon and Lantore, and in 1621 from Bantam. The fugitive 1620. factors tried to establish themselves, first at Pulicat, and afterwards at Masulipatam on the Coromandel coast, but were effectually opposed by the Dutch. In 1620, the Portuguese also attacked the English fleet under Captain Shillinge, but were defeated with great loss. From this time the estimation in which the Portuguese were held by the natives declined, 1 Orders issued, 1684 ; transfer commenced, 1686 ; actually carried out, 1687. Bombay Gazetteer , vol. ii. p. 98. 276 INDIA. [amboyna massacre, 1623. while that of the English rose. In 1620, too, the English Masuli- Company established agencies at Agra and Patna. In 1622, tory they j°ined with the Persians, attacked and took Ormuz from the Portuguese, and obtained from Shah Abbas a grant in per- petuity of the customs of Gombroon. This was the first time that the English took the offensive against the Portuguese. In the same year, our Company succeeded in re-establishing their factor)7 at Masulipatam. The mas- The massacre of Amboyna, which made so deep an im- Amboyna Pressi°n on the English mind, marked the climax of the 1623. ’ Dutch hatred to us in the eastern seas. After long and bitter recriminations, the Dutch seized our Captain Towerson at Amboyna, with 9 Englishmen, 9 Japanese, and 1 Portuguese sailor, in February 1623. They tortured the prisoners at their trial, and found them guilty of a conspiracy to surprise the garrison. The victims were executed in the heat of passion, and their torture and judicial murder led to an outburst of indignation in England. Ultimately, commissioners were ap- pointed to adjust the claims of the two nations ; and the Dutch had to pay a sum of ^36 15 as satisfaction to the heirs of those who had suffered. But from that time the Dutch remained masters of Lantore and the neighbouring islands. They monopolized the whole trade of the Indian Archipelago, until the great naval wars which commenced in 1793. In 1624, English the English, unable to oppose the Dutch, withdrew nearly all uf'Yrchi”1 ^lc’r factories from the Archipelago, the Malay Peninsula, Siam, and Java. Some of the factors and agents retired to the island of Lagundy, in the Strait of Sunda, but were forced, by its unhealthiness, to abandon it. In 1625-26, the English established a factory at Armagaon on the Coromandel coast, subordinate to Masulipatam.1 But in 1628, Masulipatam was, in consequence of the oppressions of the native governors, for a time abandoned in favour of Armagaon, which now mounted 12 guns, and had 23 factors and agents. In 1629, the factory at Bantam in Java was re- established as an agency to Surat; and in 1630, Armagaon, reinforced by 20 soldiers, was also placed under the presidency of Surat. In 1632, the factory was re-established at Masuli- patam, under a grant, known as the ‘ Golden Firman,’ from the King of Golconda. In 1634, by a farvidti dated February 2, 1 In these chronological paragraphs I follow, almost verbatim, with a few omissions, additions, and corrections of dates, Dr. Birdwood’s official Report on the Old Records in the India Office (folio), p. 83. For notices of the various towns mentioned, see the articles in the Imperial Gazetteer. pelago, 1624. English retire to India, 1625. Their early factories, 1625-53. OUR FACTORIES, 1 634-6 1.] INDIA. 277 the Company obtained from the Great Mughal liberty to trade Trade to in Bengal. But their ships were to resort only to Pippli in Orissa, now left far inland by the sea. The Portuguese were in the same year expelled from Bengal. In 1634-35, Bantam Bantam was again raised to an independent presidency, and an agency Fres1' was established at Tatta, or ‘ Sandy.’ In 1637, Courten’s ’ Association (chartered 1635) settled agencies at Goa, Baticola, Karwar, Achin, and Rajapur. Its ships had the year before plundered some native vessels at Surat and Diu. This act disgraced the Company with the Mughal authorities (who could not comprehend the distinction between the Company and the Association), and depressed the English trade with Surat, while that of the Dutch proportionately increased. In 1638, Armagdon was abandoned as unsuited for commerce; and in 1639, Fort St. George or Maderaspatam (Chineepatam) Madras was founded by Francis Day, and the factors at Armagaon jg“gded’ were removed to it. It was made subordinate to Bantam in Java, until raised in 1653 to the rank of a Presidency. In 1640, the Company established an agency at Bussorah, and a factory at Karwar. Trade having much extended, the Company’s yard at Deptford was found too small for their ships, and they purchased some copyhold ground at Blackwall, which at that time was a waste marsh, without an inhabitant. Here they opened another dockyard, in which was built the Royal George , of 1200 tons, the largest ship up to that time seen in England. The factory at Hugh' was established in 1640, and at Hugh', Balasor in 1642. In 1645, in consequence of professional i64°- services rendered by Mr. Gabriel Boughton, surgeon of the Hopewell , to the Emperor Shah Jahan, additional privileges were granted to the Company; and in 1646, the Governor of Bengal, who had also been medically attended by Boughton, made concessions which placed the factories at Balasor and Hugh on a more favourable footing. In 1647, Courten’s Asso- Mada- ciation established its colony at Assada, in Madagascar. In S^car, 1652, Cromwell declared war against the Dutch on account of their accumulated injuries against the English Company. In 1653, the Company’s factory at Lucknow was withdrawn. No record has been found of its establishment. In 1658, the Company established a factory at Kasimbaz^r (spelt ‘ Castle Bazaar ’ in the records), and their establishments in Bengal were made subordinate to Fort St. George, instead of to Bantam. In 1661, Bombay was ceded to the British crown as part of Bombay the dower of Catharine of Braganza, but was not delivered up ^1.' 27S Our fac- tories, 16S5. Bantam. Madras. Bombay. Persian Galf. Bengal. Bengal separated from Madras, 16S1. Bombay a Presi- dency, 16S7'. Calcutta founded, 16S6. INDIA. [ENGLISH PROGRESS, 1665-86. until 1665. King Charles 11. transferred it to the East India Company, for an annual payment oi fQ\o, in 1668. The seat of the Western Presidency was removed to it from Surat in 1684-87. The Company’s establishments in the East Indies then consisted of the Presidency of Bantam in Java, with its dependencies of Jambee, Macassar, and other places in the Indian Archipelago; Fort St. George and its dependent factories on the Coromandel coast and Bengal ; Surat, with its affiliated dependency of Bombay ; and factories at Broach, Ahmeaabad, and other places in Western India, also at Gombroom and Bussorah in the Persian Gulf and Euphrates valley. In 1661, the factory at Biliapatam was founded. In 1663, the factories which had been established at Patna, Balasor, and Kasimbazar were ordered to be discontinued, and purchases made only at Hugli. In 1664, Surat was pillaged by Sivaji, but Sir George Oxenden bravely defended the English factor)- ; and the Mughal Emperor, in admiration of his conduct, granted the Company an exemption from customs for one year. In 1681, Bengal was separated from Madras, and Mr. Hodges appointed ‘agent and governor’ of the Company’s affairs ‘in the Bay of Bengal, and of the factories subordi- nate to it, at Kasimbazar, Patna, Balasor, Maldah, and Dacca. A corporal of approved fidelity with 20 soldiers, to be a guard to the agent’s person at the factory of Hugh, and to act against interlopers.’ In 1684, Sir John Child was made ‘Captain-General and Admiral of India,’ and Sir John Wybome, ‘ Vice-Admiral and Deputy Governor of Bombay.’ In 1687, the seat of the Presidency was finally transferred from Surat to Bombay. In 1686, Kasimbazar, in common with the other English factories in Bengal, had been condemned to con- fiscation by the Nawab Shaista Khan. The Hugh factor)- was much oppressed, and the Company’s business throughout India suffered from the wars of the Mughals and Marhattas. Sir John Child was appointed titular ‘Governor-General,’1 with full power in India to make war or peace, and was ordered to proceed to inspect the Company’s possessions in Madras and Bengal, and arrange for their safety. On the 20th of December 1686, the Company’s Agent and Council quitted the factory at Hugh, and retired to Sutanati (Calcutta). Tegnapatam (Fort St. David) was first settled in this year (1686), and definitively established in 1691-92. 1 Dr. Birdwood’s Report ok the Old Records of the India Office , p. 85, quotes this title from the Mss. It is, nominally, a century older than usually stated; but Hastings was the first real Governor-General, 1774. INDIA. OTHER COMPANIES.] 279 In 1687-88, the Company’s servants, broken in spirit by the English oppressions of the native Viceroy, determined to quit their factories in Bengal. In 1688, Captain Heath, of the Resolu- Bengal, tion, in command of the Company’s forces, embarked all its l686- servants and goods, sailed down the Hugh', and anchored off Balasor. They were, however, soon invited to return by the Emperor, who granted them the site of the present city of Calcutta for a fortified factory. In 1689, our factories at Vizagapatam and Masulipatam were seized by the Muhamma- dans, and the factors were massacred. But in this same year, the Company determined to consolidate their position in The Com- India on the basis of territorial sovereignty, to enable them to resist the oppression of the Mughals and Marhattas. With territorial that view, they passed the resolution, which was destined to turn their clerks and factors throughout India into conquerors and proconsuls : ‘ The increase of our revenue is the subject of our care, as much as our trade ; ’tis that must maintain our force when twenty accidents may interrupt our trade ; ’tis that must make us a nation in India. Without that we are but a great number of interlopers, united by His Majesty’s royal charter, fit only to trade where nobody of power thinks it their interest to prevent us. And upon this account it is that the wise Dutch, in all their general advices that we have seen, write ten paragraphs concerning their government, their civil and military policy, warfare, and the increase of their revenue, for one paragraph they write concerning trade.’ The Portuguese at no time attempted to found a Com- Other pany, but kept their eastern trade as a royal enterprise and monopoly. The first incorporated Company was the English, Com- established in 1600, which was quickly followed by the Dutch Pames- in 1602. The Dutch conquests, however, were made in Dutch ; the name of the State, and rank as national colonies, not as private possessions. Next came the French, whose first French ; East India Company was founded in 1604 ; the second, in 1 61 1 ; the third, in 1615 ; the fourth (Richelieu’s), in 1642 ; the fifth (Colbert’s), in 1644. The sixth was formed by the union of the French East and West India, Senegal, and China Companies under the name of ‘ The Company of the Indies,’ in 1719. The exclusive privileges of this Company were, by the king’s decree, suspended in 1769 ; and the Company was finally abolished by the National Assembly in 1796. The first Danish East India Company was formed in 1612, and the Danish; second in 1670. The settlements of Tranquebar and Seram- 28o INDIA. [their fates, 1600-1806. Scotch ; Spanish ; Ostend ; Swedish. European traders in 1871. pur were both founded in 1616, and acquired by the English by purchase from Denmark in 1845. Other Danish settle- ments on the mainland of India were Porto Novo; with Eddova and Holcheri on the Malabar coast The Company started by the Scotch in 1695 may be regarded as having been still-born. The ‘Royal Company of the Philippine Islands,’ incorporated by the King of Spain in 1733, had little to do with India proper. Of more importance, although but short-lived, was ' The Ostend Company,’ incorporated by the Emperor of Austria in 1723, its factors being chiefly persons who had served in the Dutch and English Companies. But the opposition of the maritime powers forced the court of Vienna in 1727 to suspend the Company’s charter for seven years. The Ostend Company, after passing through a very trying existence, prolonged by the desire of the Austrian Government to participate in the growing East India trade, became bankrupt in 1784. It was finally extinguished by the arrangements made at the renewal of the English East India Company’s charter in 1793. The last nation of Europe to engage in maritime trade with India was Sweden. When the Ostend Company was suspended, a number of its servants were thrown out of employment. Mr. Henry Koning, of Stockholm, took advantage of their knowledge of the East, and obtained a charter for the ‘ Swedish Company,’ dated 13th June 1731. This Company was reorganized in 1806. The extent to which foreign nations now carry on direct dealings with India may be inferred approximately from the following figures, taken from the Census Report of 1871. There were then in British India about 8000 inhabitants of continental Europe; but of these the nationality of only 2628 was more particularly specified, chiefly in Bengal. Germans numbered 755; French, 631 ; Portuguese, 426; Italians, 282; Greeks, 127; Swedes, 73; Russians, 72; Dutch, 70; Nor- wegians, 58 ; Danes, 45 ; Spaniards, 32; Belgians, 20; Swiss, 19 ; Turks, 18. FIRST BRITISH POSSESSION.] INDIA. 28l CHAPTER XIII. HISTORY OF BRITISH RULE (1757 TO l88l A.D.). The political history of the British in India begins in the 18th Our first century with the French wars in the Karnatic. Fort St. George, territorjaI the nucleus of Madras, founded by Francis Day in 1639, was Madras our earliest possession. The French settlement of Pondicherri, 1639. about 100 miles lower down the Coromandel coast, was estab- lished in 1674; and for many years the English and French traded side by side without rivalry or territorial ambition. The English paid rent of 1200 pagodas (say ^500) to the deputies of the Mughal Empire when Aurangzeb annexed the south, and on two several occasions bought off a besieging army by a heavy bribe. On the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the whole of Southern Southern India became practically independent of Delhi. In the India after Deccan Proper, the Nizam -ul-Mulk founded a hereditary dynasty, with Haidarabad for its capital, which exercised a nominal authority over the entire south. The Karnatic, or the lowland tract between the central plateau and the eastern sea, was ruled by a deputy of the Nizam, known as the Nawab of Arcot. Farther south, Trichinopoli was the capital of a Local Hindu Raja ; Tanjore formed another Hindu kingdom under rulers- a degenerate descendant of Sivaji. Inland, Mysore was gradually growing into a third Hindu State ; while everywhere local chieftains, called p alegars or naiks, were in semi-inde- pendent possession of citadels or hill-forts. These represented the fief-holders of the ancient Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar ; and many of them had maintained a practical independence since its fall in 1565. Such was the condition of affairs in Southern India when war broke out between the English and the French in Europe _ , . , . r. French in 1 744. Dupleix was at that time Governor of Pondicherri, and Eng- and Clive was a young writer at Madras. An English fleet lish in . first appeared on the Coromandel coast, but Dupleix by a ^ judicious present induced the Nawab of Arcot to interpose T 282 First war, 1746-48. We lose Madras, 1746. Second war, 1750-61. Dupleix. Clive’s defence of Arcot, 1751. INDIA. [french WARS, 1744-51. and prevent hostilities. In 1746, a French squadron arrived, under the command of La Bourdonnais. Madras surrendered almost without a blow ; and the only settlement left to the English was Fort St. David, a few miles south of Pondicherri, where Clive and a few other fugitives sought shelter. The Nawab, faithful to his impartial policy, marched with 10,000 men to drive the French out of Madras, but was defeated. In 1748, an English fleet arrived under Admiral Boscawen, and attempted the siege of Pondicherri, while a land force co-operated under Major Lawrence, whose name afterwards became associated with that of Clive. The French repulsed all attacks ; but the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in the same year, restored Madras to the English.1 The first war with the French was merely an incident in the greater contest in Europe. The second war had its origin in Indian politics, while England and France were at peace. The easy success of the French arms had inspired Dupleix with the ambition of founding a French empire in India, under the shadow of the Muhammadan powers. Disputed successions at Haidarabad and at Arcot supplied his oppor- tunity. On both thrones he placed his nominees, and posed as the arbiter of the entire south. The English of Madras, under the instinct of self-preservation, had supported another candidate to the throne of Arcot, in opposition to the nominee of Dupleix. Their candidate was Muhammad Ah, after- wards known in history as Wala-jah. The war w'hich ensued between the French and English in Southern India has been exhaustively described by Orme. The one incident that stands out conspicuously is the capture and subsequent defence of Arcot by Clive in 1751. This heroic feat, even more than the battle of Plassey, spread the fame of English valour throughout India. Shortly afterwards, Clive returned to England in ill-health, but the war continued fitfully for many years. On the whole, English influence predominated in the Karnatic or Madras coast, and their candidate, Muhammad Ah', maintained his position at Arcot. But, inland, the French ware supreme in the Deccan, and they ware able to seize the maritime tract called ‘ the Northern C hears.’ The final struggle did not take place until 1760. In that 1 The original authorities for the French and English wars in Southern India are — (1) Orme’s Indostan, 2 vols., Madras reprint, 1861 ; (2) Mill’s History of British India (ed. 1840) ; and (3) for the French view of those transactions, Colonel Malleson’s admirable History of the French in India (London, 1868), and Final Struggles of the French in India (London, 1878). BENGAL FACTORIES, 1634-1740.] INDIA. 283 year Colonel (afterwards Sir Eyre) Coote won the decisive Wande- victory of Wandewash over the French General, Lally, and proceeded to invest Pondicherri, which was starved into capitulation in January 1761. A few months later the hill- Gingi sur- fortress of Ginjee (Gingi) also surrendered.1 In the words ^ April of Orme : ‘ That day terminated the long hostilities between 1761. the two rival European powers in Coromandel, and left not a single ensign of the French nation avowed by the authority of its Government in any part of India.’ 2 Meanwhile, the narrative of British conquest shifts with The Clive to Bengal. The first English settlement in that part ?n^1e1®ga] of India was Pippli in Orissa, to which the East India Com- 1634-96. pany was permitted to trade in 1634, five years before the foundation of Madras. The river on which Pippli stood has since silted up, and the very site of the English settlement is now a matter of conjecture. In 1640, a factory was opened at Hugh; in 1642, at Balasor; and in 1681, Bengal was erected into a separate presidency, though still subordinate to Madras. The name of Calcutta is not heard of till 1686, when Job Charnock, the chief at Hugh, was expelled by the deputy of Aurangzeb, and settled lower down the river on the opposite bank. There he acquired a grant of the three petty villages of Sutanati, Gobindpur, and Kdlighat (Calcutta), and founded the original Fort William in 1696. At the time of Aurangzeb’s death, in 1707, the Nawdb or Native Governor of Bengal was Murshid Kuh Khan, known also in European history, as Jafar Khdn. By birth a Brahman, and 1707-56. brought up as a slave in Persia, he united the administrative ability of a Hindu to the fanaticism of a renegade. Hitherto the capital of Bengal had been at Dacca, on the eastern frontier of the empire, whence the piratical attacks of the Portuguese and of the Arakanese or Maghs could be most easily checked. Murshid Kuh' Khan transferred his residence to Murshidabad, in the immediate neighbourhood of Kasim- bazar, which was then the river port of the Gangetic trade. The English, the French, and the Dutch had each factories at European Kasimbazar, as well as at Dacca, Patna, and Maldah. But Calcutta was the headquarters of the English, Chandarnagar 1740. 1 A full account of Gingi is given, sub verbo , in vol. iii. of the Imperial Gazetteer , pp. 368-370. In like manner, the local history of each Presidency, Province, or town is treated in the separate article upon it, and can there- fore only be very briefly summarized here. Thus, with regard to Calcutta, the reader is referred to vol. ii. of the Imperial Gazetteer, p. 315. 2 Orme’s History of Military Transactions in Indostan (1803), Madras reprint, vol. ii. p. 733 (1861). 284 INDIA. Ah' Vardi Khan, 1740-56. Siraj-ud- Daula, 1756. ‘ Black Hole ’ of Calcutta, 1756. Clive and Watson. Calcutta recovered, 1756. [‘ BLACK HOLE,’ I 756. of the French, and Chinsurah of the Dutch ; these three towns being situated close to one another in the lower reaches of the Hugh', where the river was navigable for sea-going ships. Murshid Kuli Khan ruled over Bengal prosperously for twenty- one years, and left his power to a son-in-law and a grandson. The hereditary succession was broken in 1740 by Ah' Vardi Khan, a usurper, but the last of the great Nawabs of Bengal. In his days the Marhatta horsemen began to ravage the country, and the inhabitants of Calcutta obtained permission in 1742 to erect an earthwork, known to the present day as the Marhatta ditch. .AH Vardi Khan died in 1756, and was succeeded by his grandson, Siraj-ud-Daula (Surajah Dowlah), a youth of only eighteen years, whose ungovernable temper led to a rupture with the English within two months after his accession. In pursuit of one of his own family who had escaped from his vengeance, he marched upon Calcutta with a large army. Many of the English fled down the river in their ships. The remainder surrendered after some resist- ance, and were thrust for the night into the ‘ Black Hole ’ or military jail of Fort William, a room about 18 feet square, with only two small windows barred with iron. It was our ordinary garrison prison in those times of cruel military dis- cipline. But although the Nawab does not seem to have been aware of the consequences, it meant death to a crowd of 146 English men and women in the stifling heats of June. When the door of the prison was opened next morning, only 23 persons out of 146 remained alive.1 The news of this disaster fortunately found Clive back again at Madras, where also was a squadron of the King’s ships under Admiral Watson. Clive and Watson promptly sailed to the mouth of the Ganges with all the troops they could get together. Calcutta was recovered with little fighting, and the Nawab consented to a peace which restored to the Company all their privileges, and gave them ample compensation for their losses. It is possible that matters might have ended thus, if a fresh cause of hostilities had not suddenly arisen. War had just been declared between the English and French in Europe ; and Clive, following the traditions of warfare in the Kamatic, captured the French settlement of Chandarnagar. Siraj-ud-Daula, exasperated by this breach of neutrality within 1 The contemporary record of that terrible night is Holwell’s Narrative. The original materials have been carefully examined, and much misre- presentation has been cleared away by Dr. H. E. Busteed, in the Calcutta EnglisJinian, several dates, 1880. INDIA. 285 PLASSEY, 1757.] his dominions, took the side of the French. But Clive, again acting upon the policy which he had learned from Dupleix, provided himself with a rival candidate (Mir Jafar) to the throne. Undaunted, he marched out to the grove of Plassey, about 70 miles north of Calcutta, at the head of Battle of 1000 Europeans and 2000 sepoys, with 8 pieces of artillery. Hassey, The Bengal Viceroy’s army numbered 35,000 foot and 15,000 horse, with 50 cannon. Clive is said to have fought in spite of his Council of War. The truth is, he could scarcely avoid a battle. The Nawab attacked with his whole artillery, at 6 a.m.; but Clive kept his men well under shelter, ‘ lodged in a large grove, surrounded with good mud banks.’ At noon the enemy drew off into their entrenched camp for dinner. Clive only hoped to make a ‘successful attack at night.’ Mean- while, the enemy being probably undressed over their cooking- pots, he sprang upon one of their advanced posts, which had given him trouble, and stormed ‘an angle of their camp.’ Several of the Nawab’s chief officers fell. The Nawab himself, dismayed by the unexpected confusion, fled on a camel ; his troops dispersed in a panic, and Clive found he had won a great victory. Mir Jafar’s cavalry, which had hovered undecided during the battle, and had been repeatedly fired on by Clive, ‘ to make them keep their distance,’ now joined our camp ; and the road to Murshidabdd lay open.1 The battle of Plassey was fought on June 23, 1757, an anniversary afterwards remembered when the Mutiny of 1857 ivas at its height. History has agreed to adopt this date as the beginning of the British Empire in the East. But the immediate results of the victory were comparatively Its small small, and several years passed in hard fighting before even ^“lts at the Bengalis would admit the superiority of the British arms. For the moment, however, all opposition was at an end. Clive, again following in the steps of Dupleix, placed Mir Jafar upon the Viceregal throne at MurshidaMd, being careful to obtain a patent of investiture from the Mughal court. Enormous sums were exacted from Mir Mir Jafar, Jafar as the price of his elevation. The Company claimed 10 million rupees as compensation for its losses. For the English, Indian, and Armenian inhabitants of Calcutta were demanded, respectively, 5 million, 2 million, and x million rupees ; for the naval squadron and the army, 1 I take these numbers and the account of the battle from Clive’s MS. Despatch to the Secret Committee, dated 26th July 1757. The quotations are Clive’s own words. 286 INDIA. [clive’s jagir. Grant of Twenty- four Par- ganas, 1757- Clive’s 1759- million rupees apiece. The members of the Council received the following amounts : — Mr. Drake, the Governor, and Colonel Clive, 280,000 rupees each ; and Mr. Becker, Mr. Watts, and Major Kilpatrick, 240,000 rupees each. The whole claim amounted to ^2, 697, 750. The English still cherished extravagant ideas of Indian wealth. But no funds existed to satisfy their inordinate demands, and they had to be contented with one-half the stipulated sums. Even of this reduced amount, one-third had to be taken in jewels and plate, there being neither coin nor specie left At the same time, the Nawab made a grant to the Com- pany of the zamindari or landholder’s rights over an extensive tract of country round Calcutta, now known as the District of the Twenty-four Parganas. The area of this tract was 882 square miles. In 1757 the Company obtained only the zaminddri rights — i.e., the rights to collect the cultivators’ rents, with the revenue jurisdiction attached. The superior lordship, or right to receive the land tax, remained with the Nawab. But in 1759, this also was granted by the Delhi Emperor, the nominal Suzerain of the Nawab, in favour of Clive, who thus became the landlord of his own masters, the Company. Clive was enrolled among the nobility of the Mughal Empire, with the rank of commander of 6000 foot and 5000 horse, and a large allotment of land near Calcutta, 1759. This military fief, or Clive’s jagir , as it was called, subsequently became a matter of inquiry in England. Lord Clive’s claims to the property as feudal Suzerain over the Company were contested in 1764; and on the 23d June 1765, when he returned to Bengal, a new deed was issued, confirming the unconditional jagir to Lord Clive for ten years, with reversion afterwards to the Company in perpetuity. This deed, having received the Emperor’s sanction on the 12th August 1765, gave absolute validity to the original jagir grant in favour of Lord Clive. It transferred, eventually, to the Company the Twenty- four Parganas as a perpetual property based upon a jagir grant. The sum of Rs. 222,958, the amount at which the land was assessed when first made over to the Company in 1757, was paid to Lord Clive from 1765 until his death in 1774, when the whole proprietary right reverted to the Company.1 In 1758, Clive was appointed by the Court of Directors the 1 For a full account of the different grants, and the powers granted by them, see Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. i. (Twenty-Four Parganas), pp. 19, 20. ENGLISH RULERS, 1758-lSSo.] INDIA. 287 first Governor of all the Company’s settlements in Bengal.1 Clive, first Two powers threatened hostilities. On the west, the Shahzada or Imperial prince, known afterwards as the Emperor Shah 1758 ; Alam, with a mixed army of Afghans and Marhattas, and supported by the Nawab Wazir of Oudh, was advancing his own claims to the Province of Bengal. In the south, the influence of the French under Lally and Bussy was over- shadowing the British at Madras. The name of Clive exercised a decisive effect in both directions. Mir Jafar was anxious to buy off the Shahzdda, who had already invested Patna. But Clive marched in person to the rescue, with an scatters army of only 450 Europeans and 2500 sepoys, and the Mughal °udh. army dispersed without striking a blow. In the same year, overcomes Clive despatched a force southwards under Colonel Forde, French in which recaptured Masulipatam from the French, and per- Madras ’ manently established British influence throughout the Northern Circars, and at the court of Haidarabad. He next attacked the Dutch, the only other European nation who defeats might yet prove a rival to the English. He defeated them Dutc!l- both by land and water ; and their settlement at Chinsurah existed thenceforth only on sufferance. From 1760 to 1765, Clive was in England. He had left Misman- no system of government in Bengal, but merely the tradition that unlimited sums of money might be extracted from 1 Governors and Governors-General of India under the East India Company, 1758-1858. 1758. Lord Clive, Governor. 1767. Harry Verelst. 1769. John Cartier. 1772. Warren Hastings; firstGover- nor-Ceneral, 1774. 1785. Sir John Macpherson {pro tom.). 1 786. Marquis of Cornwallis. 1793. Sir John Shore (Lord Teign- mouth). 1798. Sir Alured Clarke ( pro tom.). 1798. Lord Mornington (Marquis Wellesley). 1805. Marquis of Cornwallis (second time). 1806. EarlofMinto. 1813. Earl of Moira, Marquis of Hastings. 1823. John Adam {pro tern.). 1823. Lord Amherst. 1828. Lord William Cavendish Bentinck. 1835. Sir Charles Metcalfe (Lord Metcalfe) ( pro tern.). 1836. Earl of Auckland. 1842. Earl of Ellenborough. 1844. Viscount Hardinge. 1848. Earl (afterwards Marquis) of Dalhousie. 1856. Earl Canning. 1S05. Sir George Barlow ( pro tern.). Viceroys of India under the Crown, 1858-81. 1858. Earl Canning. 1862. Earl of Elgin. 1864. Sir John Lawrence Lawrence). 1869. Earl of Mayo. 1872. Earl of Northbrook. (Lord , 1876. Earl of Lytton. 1880. Marquis of Ripon. 288 INDIA. [ENGLISH MISRULE, 1760-63. set up, 1761. the natives by the terror of the English name. In 1761, it was found expedient and profitable to dethrone Mir Jafar, the English Nawab of MurshidaMd, and to substitute his Mir Kasim son-in-law, Mir Kasim, in his place. On this occasion, besides private donations, the English received a grant of the three Districts of Bardwan, Midnapur, and Chittagong, estimated to yield a net revenue of half a million sterling. But Mir Kasim soon began to show a will of his own, and to cherish dreams of independence. He retired from Murshidabad to Monghyr, a strong position on the Ganges, commanding the only means of communication with the north-west. There he proceeded to organize an army, drilled and equipped after European models, and to carry on intrigues with the Nawib Wazir of Oudh. He resolved to try his strength with the English, and found a good pretext. The Company’s servants claimed the privilege of carrying on their private trade throughout Bengal, free from inland dues and all imposts. The assertion of this claim caused affrays between the customs officers of the Nawab and the native traders, who, whether truly or not, represented that they were acting on behalf of the servants of the Company. The Nawab alleged that his civil authority was everywhere set at nought. The majority of the Council at Calcutta would not listen to his complaints. The Governor, Mr. Vansittart, and Warren Hastings, then a junior member of Council, attempted to effect some compromise. But the controversy had become too hot. The Nawab’ s officers fired upon an English boat, and forthwith all Bengal rose in arms. Two thousand of our sepoys were cut to pieces at Patnd ; about 200 Englishmen, who there and in other various parts of the Pro- vince fell into the hands of the Muhammadans, were massacred.1 But as soon as regular warfare commenced, Mfr Kasim met with no more successes. His trained regiments were defeated in two pitched battles by Major Adams, at Gheriah and at Udha-nala ; and he himself took refuge with the Nawab Wazfr of Oudh, who refused to deliver him up. This led to a prolongation of the war. Shah Alam, who had now succeeded his father as Emperor, and Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab Wazir of Oudh, united their forces, and threatened Patna, which the English had recovered. A more formidable danger appeared in the English camp, in the form of the first sepoy mutiny. This was quelled by Major (afterwards Sir Hector) Munro, 1 The massacre of Patna is described in sufficient detail under article Patxa District, vol. vii. pp. 321, 322, of the Imperial Gazetteer, and in my Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. xi. pp. 71 et seq. Patna massacre, 1 763- First sepoy mutiny, !764. CLIVE, 1765-67.] INDIA. 289 who ordered 24 of the ringleaders to be blown from guns, an old Mughal punishment. In 1764, Major Munro won the Battle of decisive battle of Baxar, which laid Oudh at the feet of the conquerors, and brought the Mughal Emperor as a suppliant to the English camp. Meanwhile, the Council at Calcutta had twice found the Clive’s opportunity they loved of selling the government of Bengal „oCv°"n0r. to a new Nawab. But in 1765, Clive (now Baron Clive of ship, Plassey in the peerage of Ireland) arrived at Calcutta, as 1 765-67- Governor of Bengal for the second time. Two landmarks stand out in his policy. First, he sought the substance, although not the name, of territorial power, under the fiction of a grant from the Mughal Emperor. Second, he desired to purify the Company’s service, by prohibiting illicit gains, and guaranteeing a reasonable pay from honest sources. In neither respect were his plans carried out by his immediate successors. But the beginning of our Indian rule dates from this second governorship of Clive, as our military supremacy had dated from his victory at Plassey. Clive landed, advanced rapidly up from Calcutta to Allah- Clive’s abad, and there settled in person the fate of nearly half of G^n^ehc0 India. Oudh was given back to the Nawab Wazir, on condi- valley, tion of his paying half a million sterling towards the expenses of the war. The Provinces of Allahabad and Kora,1 forming the greater part of the Doab, were handed over to Shah Alam himself, who in his turn granted to the Company the diwan'i Diwani or fiscal administration of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and also the territorial jurisdiction of the Northern Circars. A puppet 1765. Nawab was still maintained at Murshidabad, who received an annual allowance from us of ^600,000. Half that amount, or about^3oo,ooo,we paid to the Emperor as tribute from Bengal.2 * Thus was constituted the dual system of government, by which the English received all the revenues and undertook to maintain the army; while the criminal jurisdiction, or nizamat, was vested in the Nawab. In Indian phraseology, the Company was diwan and the Nawab was nizam. The actual collection of the revenues still remained for some years in the hands of native officials. Clive’s other great task was the reorganization of the Com- pany’s service. All the officers, civil and military alike, were 1 The ‘ Corah ’ of the E. I. Company’s records ; the capital of an ancient Muhammadan governorship, now a decayed town in Fatehpur District. See article Kora, vol. v. p. 437, of the Imperial Gazetteer of India. 2 The exact sums were Sikka Rs. 5,386,131 to the Nawab, and Sikka Rs. 2,600,000 to the Emperor. 290 INDIA. [warren Hastings, 1 772. Clive’s reorgan- ization of the Company’: service, 1766. Dual sys- tem of admini- stration, 1767-72. Abolished 1772. Warren Hastings, 1772-85. His admi- nistrative reforms. tainted with the common corruption. Their legal salaries were paltry and quite insufficient for a livelihood. But they had been permitted to augment them, sometimes a hundredfold, by means of private trade and gifts from the native powers. Despite the united resistance of the civil servants, and an actual mutiny of two hundred military officers, Clive carried through his reforms. Private trade and the receipt of presents were prohibited for the future, while a substantial increase of pay was provided out of the monopoly of salt. Lord Clive quitted India for the third and last time in 1767. Between that date and the governorship of Warren Hastings in 1772, little of importance occurred in Bengal beyond the terrible famine of 1770, which is officially reported to have swept away one-third of the inhabitants. The dual system of government established in 1765 by Clive, had proved a failure. Warren Hastings, a tried servant of the Company, distinguished alike for intelligence, for probity, and for know- ledge of oriental manners, was nominated Governor by the Court of Directors, with express instructions to carry out a predetermined series of reforms. In their own words, the Court had resolved to ‘ stand forth as diwan , and to take upon themselves, by the agency of their own servants, the entire care and administration of the revenues.’ In the execution of this plan, Hastings removed the exchequer from Murshid- abad to Calcutta, and appointed European officers, under the now familiar title of Collectors, to superintend the revenue collections and preside in the courts. Clive had laid the territorial foundations of the British Empire in Bengal. Hastings may be said to have created a British administration for that Empire. The wars forced on him by Native Powers in India, the clamours of his masters in England for money, and the virulence of Francis with a faction of his colleagues at the Council table in Calcutta, retarded the completion of his schemes. But the manuscript records dis- close the patient statesmanship and indomitable industry which he brought to bear upon them. From 1765 to 1772, Clive’s dual system of government, by corrupt native underlings and rapacious English chiefs, prevailed. Thirteen years were now spent by Warren Hastings in experimental efforts at rural administration by means of English officials (1772-85). The completion of the edifice was left to his successor. But Hastings was the administrative organizer, as Clive had been the territorial founder, of our Indian Empire. Hastings rested his claims as an Indian ruler on his admini- WARREN HASTINGS, I 7 74.] INDIA. strative work. He reorganized the Indian service, reformed Hastings’ every branch of the revenue collections, created courts of justice and some semblance of a police. But history remem- native bers his name, not for his improvements in the internal ad- Powers- ministration, but for his bold foreign policy, and for the crimes into which it led him. From 1772 to 1774, he was Governor of Bengal; from the latter date to 1785, he was the first Governor-General of India, presiding over a Council Warren nominated, like himself, under a statute of Parliament known J^tinss as the Regulating Act (1773). his domestic policy, he Governor - was greatly hampered by the opposition of his colleague in General, council, Philip Francis. But in his external relations with I/74' Oudh, with the Marhattas, and with Haidar Ali, he was generally able to compel assent to his views. His relations with the native powers, like his domestic His two- policy, formed a well-considered scheme. Hastings had to fold aims- find money for the Court of Directors in England, whose thirst for the wealth of India was not less keen, although more decorous, than that of their servants in Bengal. He had also to protect the Company’s territory from the Native Powers, which, if he had not destroyed them, would have annihilated him. An honest man under such circumstances might be led into questionable measures. Hastings in his personal dealings, and as regards his personal gains, seems to have been a high-minded English gentleman. But as an Anglo-Indian statesman, he shared the laxity which he saw practised by the native potentates with whom he had to deal. Parts of his policy were vehemently assailed in Parliament, and cannot be upheld by right-thinking men. It is my busi- ness neither to attack nor to defend his measures, but to give a short account of them as a connected whole. Warren Hastings had in the first place to make Bengal pay. Hastings This he could not do under Clive’s dual system of administra- tion. When he abolished that double system, he cut down pay.& the Nawab’s allowance to one-half, and so saved about jQ 1 60,000 a year. In defence of this act, it may be stated that the titular Nawab, being then a minor, had ceased to render even any nominal service for his enormous pension. Clive had himself reduced the original ^600,000 to ^450,000 on the accession of a new Nawab in 1766, and the grant was again cut down to ^350,000 on a fresh succession in 1769P The 1 The detailed history of these transactions, and a sketch of each of the 14 Nawabs of Bengal from 1704 to 1876, will be found under District Murshidabad, vol. ix. pp. 172-195 of my Statistical Account of Bengal. 292 INDIA. [WARREN HASTINGS, 1780. allowance had practically been of a fluctuating and personal character.1 Its further reduction in the case of the new child- Nawab had, moreover, been expressly ordered by the Court of Directors six months before Hastings took office. Sells Hastings’ next financial stroke was the sale of Allahabad and an^Kora* ^ora Provinces to the Wazir of Oudh. These Provinces had 1773 • ' been assigned by Clive, in his partition of the Gangetic valley, to the Emperor Shah Alam, together with a tribute of about ^300,000 (26 lakhs of rupees), in return for the grant of Bengal to the Company. But the Emperor had now been seized by the Marhattas. Hastings held that His Majesty was no longer independent, and that it would be a fatal policy for the British to pay money to the Marhattas in Northern India, when it was evident that they would soon have to fight Withholds them in the south. He therefore withheld the tribute of the a.t_ _ Emperor’s ^300)000 from the puppet Emperor, or rather from his tribute. Marhatta custodians. Clive, at the partition of the Gangetic valley in 1 765, assigned the Provinces of Allahabad and Kora to the Emperor. The Emperor, now in the hands of the Marhattas, had made them over to his new masters. Warren Hastings held that by so doing His Majesty had forfeited his title to these Provinces. Hastings accordingly resold them to the Wazir of Oudh. By this measure he freed the Company from a military charge of half a million sterling (40 lakhs of rupees), and obtained a price of over half a million (50 lakhs ) for the Company. The sale included the loan of the British troops to subdue the The Ro- Rohilla Afghans, who had held a large tract in those Provinces ^773 74-"* ever s'nce Ahmad Shah’s desolating invasion in 1761. The Rohillas were foreigners, and had cruelly lorded it over the peasantry.2 They now resisted bravely, and were crushed with the merciless severity of Asiatic warfare by the Wazir of Oudh, aided by his British troops. By these measures Warren Hastings bettered the finances of Bengal to the extent of a million sterling a year on both sides of the account ; but he did so at the cost of treaties and pensions granted by his predecessor Clive. He further improved the financial position of the Company by what is known as the plunder of Chait Sinh and the 1 See separate agreements with the successive Nawabs of 30th September 1765, 19th May 1766, and 21st March 1770, in each of which the grant is to the Nawab, without mention of heirs or successors. — Aitchison’s Trcatie and Engagements, vol. i. pp. 56-59 (ed. 1876). 2 For the history of the Rohilla Afghans, on whom much sentiment has been needlessly lavished, see article Bareilly District, Imperial GazetteeY, vol. i. pp. 433, 434, and other Districts of Rohilkhand. WARREN HASTINGS, I 781.] INDIA. 293 Begam of Oudh. Chait Sinh, the Raja of Benares, had grown Plunder rich under British protection. He resisted the demand of gj^j ^g0 Warren Hastings to subsidize a military force, and an alleged correspondence with the enemies of the British Government led to his arrest. He escaped, headed a rebellion, and was crushed. His estates were forfeited, but transferred to his nephew sub- ject to an increased tribute.1 The Begam, or Queen-Mother, of Oudh was charged with abetting the Benares Raja in his rebellion. A heavy fine was laid upon her, which she resisted Hastings to the utmost. But after cruel pressure on herself and the eunuchs of her household, over a million sterling was extorted. Begam, On his return to England, Warren Hastings was impeached, in l7&2- 1786, by the House of Commons for these and other alleged acts of oppression. He was solemnly tried by the House of Lords, and the proceedings dragged themselves out for seven years (1788-95). They form one of the most celebrated State trials in English history, and ended in a verdict of not guilty on all the charges. Meanwhile, the cost of the defence had ruined Warren Hastings, and left him dependent upon the charity of the Court of Directors — a charity which never failed. The real excuse, such as it is, for some of Hastings’ measures Hastings’ is that he had to struggle for his very existence ; that native Poor j j excuse. perfidy gave him his opportunity ; and that he used his oppor- tunity, on the whole, less mercilessly than a native Viceroy would have done. It is a poor excuse for the clearest English head, and the firmest administrative hand, that ever ruled India. In his dealings with Southern India, Warren Hastings had not to regard solely the financial results. He there appears as the great man that he really was ; calm in council, cautious of enterprise, but swift in execution, and of indomitable courage in all that he undertook. The Bombay Government was naturally emulous to follow the example of Madras and Bengal, and to establish its supre- macy at the Court of Poona by placing its own nominee upon the throne. This ambition found its scope, in 1775, by the treaty of Surat, by which Raghunath Rao, one of the claimants to the throne of the Peshwa, agreed to cede Salsette and Bassein to the English, in consideration of being himself restored to Poona. The military operations that followed are known as First Mar- the first Marhatta war. Warren Hastings, who in his capacity ^atta war> of Governor-General claimed a right of control over the deci- I7^8'81- sions of the Bombay Government, strongly disapproved of the treaty of Surat. But when war actually broke out, he threw 1 See Imperial Gazetteer , article Benares, vol. i. pp. 533, 534, and 543. 294 INDIA. [MYSORE WAR, I 780-84. Goddard’s march, 1779- Treaty of Salbai, 1782. War with Mysore, 1780-84. Death of Haidar Ali, 1782. Lord Corn- wallis, 1786-93- the whole force of the Bengal army into the scale. One of his favourite officers, General Goddard, marched across the penin- sula from sea to sea, and conquered the rich Province of Guzerat almost without a blow. Another, Captain Popham, stormed the rock-fortress of Gwalior, which was regarded as the key of Hindustan. These brilliant successes of the Bengal troops atoned for the disgrace of the convention of Wargaum in 1779, when the Marhattas had overpowered and dictated terms to our Bombay force, but the war was protracted until 1781. It was in 1782 closed by the treaty of Salbai, which practically restored the status quo. Raghunath Rao, the English claimant to the Peshwaship, was set aside on a pension ; Guzerat was restored to the Marhattas; and only Salsette, with Elephanta and two other small islands, was retained by the English. Meanwhile, Warren Hastings had to deal with a more for- midable enemy than the Marhatta confederacy. The reckless conduct of the Madras Government had roused the hostility both of Haidar Ali of Mysore and of the Nizam of the Deccan, the two strongest Musalman powers in India. These attempted to draw the Marhattas into an alliance against the English. The diplomacy of Hastings won back the Nizam and the Marhatta Raja of Nagpur ; but the army of Haidar Ali fell like a thunderbolt upon the British possessions in the Kamatic. A strong detachment under Colonel Baillie was cut to pieces at Pollilore, and the Mysore cavalry ravaged the country up to the walls of Madras. For the second time the Bengal army, stimulated by the energy of Hastings, saved the honour of the English name. He despatched Sir Eyre Coote, the victor of Wandewash, to relieve Madras by sea, with all the men and money available, while Colonel Pearse marched south over- land to overawe the Raja of Berar and the Nizam. The war was hotly contested, for the aged Sir Eyre Coote had lost his energy, and the Mysore army was not only well-disciplined and equipped, but skilfully handled by Haidar and his son Tipu. Haidar died in 1 782, and peace was finally concluded with Tipu in 1784, on the basis of a mutual restitution of all conquests. Two years later, Warren Hastings was succeeded by Lord Cornwallis, the first English nobleman of rank who undertook the office of Governor-General of India. Between these two great names an interval of twenty months took place under Sir John Macpherson, a civil servant of the Company (Feb. 1785 to Sept. 1876). Lord Cornwallis twice held the hig post of Governor-General. His first rule lasted from 1786 CORNWALLIS, I 786-93.] INDIA. 295 to J793> and is celebrated for two events — the introduction of the Permanent Settlement into Bengal, and the second Mysore war. If the foundations of the system of civil admini- stration were laid by Hastings, the superstructure was raised by Cornwallis. It was he who first entrusted criminal jurisdic- tion to Europeans, and established the Nizamat Sadr Adalat, or Supreme Court of Criminal Judicature, at Calcutta; and it was he who separated the functions of Collector and Judge. The system thus organized in Bengal was afterwards extended to Madras and Bombay, when those Presidencies also acquired territorial sovereignty. But the achievement most familiarly associated with the name of Cornwallis is the Permanent Settlement of the land revenue of Bengal. During four years, 1786-90, he laboured, with the help of an able Bengal civilian, John Shore, to arrive at the facts of the case. Warren Hastings had introduced, unsuccessfully and only for a period, a five years’ settlement of the land revenue. Lord Cornwallis, after three years of inquiry and of provisional measures, introduced a ten years’ or £ decennial ’ settlement The De- (1789-91). Up to this time, the revenue had been collected pretty much according to the old Mughal system. The ment, zamindars, or Government farmers, whose office always tended 1789-9I- to become hereditary, were recognised as having a right to collect the revenue from the actual cultivators. But no principle of assessment existed, and the amount actually realized varied greatly from year to year. Hastings seems to have looked to experience, as acquired from a succession of quinquennial settlements, to furnish the standard rate of the future. Francis, on the other hand, Hastings’ great rival, advocated a limitation of the State demand in perpetuity. The same view recom- mended itself to the authorities at home, partly because it would place their finances on a more stable basis, partly because it seemed to identify the zammddr with the landlord of the English system of property. Accordingly, Cornwallis took out The Per- with him in 1787 instructions to introduce a Permanent manent 0 ' ' Settlement Settlement. 0f Bengal, The process of assessment began in 1789, and terminated in 1793- 1791. No attempt was made to measure the fields or calculate the out-turn, as had been done by Akbar, and as is now done whenever settlements are made in the British Provinces. The amount to be paid in the future was fixed by reference to what had been paid in the past. At first the settlement was called decennial, but in 1793 it was declared permanent for ever. The total assessment amounted to Sikka Rs. 26,800,989, or 29<> INDIA. [JOHN SHORE, 1793-98. about 3 millions sterling for Bengal. Lord Cornwallis carried the scheme into execution, but the praise or blame, so far as details are concerned, belongs to Sir John Shore, afterwards Lord Teignmouth, a civil servant, whose knowledge of the country was unsurpassed in his time. Shore would have proceeded more cautiously than Cornwallis’ preconceived idea of a proprietary body, and the Court of Directors’ haste after fixity, permitted.1 Second The second Mysore war of 1790-92 is noteworthy on two Mysore accounts. Lord Cornwallis, the Governor-General, led the war, . . . . ’ 1790-92. British army in person, with a pomp and a magnificence of supply which recalled the campaigns of Aurangzeb. The two great southern powers, the Nizam of the Deccan and the Marhatta confederacy, co-operated as allies of the British. In the end, Tipu Sultan submitted when Lord Cornwallis had commenced to beleaguer his capital. He agreed to yield one-half of his dominions to be divided among the allies, and to pay 3 millions sterling towards the cost of the war. These conditions he fulfilled, but ever afterwards he burned to be revenged upon his English conquerors. Sir John The period of Sir John Shore’s rule as Governor-General, ^79^98 fr°m 1 793 to 1798, was uneventful. In 1798, Lord Morning- Marquis of ton> better known as the Marquis of Wellesley, arrived in Wellesley, India, already inspired with imperial projects which were 179S-1S05. destined to change the map of the country. Mornington was the friend and favourite of Pitt, from whom he is thought to have derived his far-reaching political vision, and his antipathy to the French name. From the first he laid down as his guiding principle, that the English must be the one paramount power in the peninsula, and that native princes could only retain the insignia of sovereignty by sur- rendering their political independence. The history of India since his time has been but the gradual development of this policy, which received its finishing touch when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India on the 1st of January 1877. French To frustrate the possibility of a French invasion of India, influence ]e(j j,y Napoleon in person, was the governing idea of 179S-1S00. Wellesley’s foreign policy. France at this time, and for many years later, filled the place afterwards occupied by Russia in the imagination of English statesmen. Nor was the danger so remote as might now be thought. French regiments guarded and overawed the Nizam of Haidarabad. 1 The Permanent Settlement will be referred to in greater detail, and its practical working exhibited, under the Administrative section, post, pp. 337, 338. . WELLESLEY, 1798-1805.] INDIA. 297 The soldiers of Sindhia, the military head of the Marhatta con- federacy, were disciplined and led by French adventurers. Tipii Sultan of Mysore carried on a secret correspondence with the French Directorate, allowed a tree of liberty to be planted in his dominions, and enrolled himself in a republican club as ‘ Citizen Tipii.’ The islands of Mauritius and Bourbon afforded a convenient half-way rendezvous for French intrigue and for the assembling of a hostile expedition. Above all, Napoleon Buonaparte was then in Egypt, dreaming of the conquests of Alexander ; and no man knew in what direction he might turn his hitherto unconquered legions. Wellesley conceived the scheme of crushing for ever the India be- French hopes in Asia, by placing himself at the head of a ^elk-sley great Indian confederacy. In Lower Bengal, the conquests 1798 ; of Clive and the policy of Warren Hastings had made the English paramount. Before the end of the century, our power was consolidated from the seaboard to Benares, high in the up the Gangetic valley. Beyond our frontier there, theNawab nuUil ’ Wazir of Oudh had agreed to pay a subsidy for the aid of British troops. This sum in 1797 amounted to ^760,000 a year; and the Nawab, being always in arrears, entered into negotiations for a cession of territory in lieu of a cash pay- ment. In 1801, the treaty of Lucknow made over to the British the doab, or fertile tract between the Ganges and the Jumna, together with Rohilkhand. In Southern India, our possessions in the were chiefly confined, before Lord Wellesley, to the coast south' Districts of Madras and Bombay. Wellesley resolved to make the British supreme as far as Delhi in Northern India, and to compel the great powers of the south to enter into subordinate relations to the Company's government. The intrigues of the native princes gave him his opportunity for carrying out this plan without breach of faith. The time had arrived when the English must either become supreme in India, or be driven out of it. The Mughal Empire was completely broken up ; and the sway had to pass either to the local Muhammadan governors of that Empire, or to the Hindu confederacy represented by the Marhattas, or to the British. Lord Wellesley determined that it should pass to the British. His work in Northern India was at first easy. The Lord Wel- treaty of Lucknow in 1801 made us territorial rulers as far s as the heart of the present North-Western Provinces, and established our political influence in Oudh. Beyond those in the limits, the northern branches of the Marhattas practically north ; u 2g8 INDIA. [MYSORE WAR, I 7 79. in the south. Treaty with the Nizam, 1798. Third Mysore war, 1799. Fall of Serin gapa- tam, 1799. held sway, with the puppet Emperor in their hands. Lord Wellesley left them untouched for a few years, until the second Marhatta war (1802-04) gave him an opportunity for dealing effectively with their nation as a whole. In Southern India, he saw that the Nizdm at Haidarabad stood in need of his protection, and he converted him into a useful follower throughout the succeeding struggle. The other Muhammadan power of the south, Tipu Sultan of Mysore, could not be so easily handled. Lord Wellesley resolved to crush him, and had ample provocation for so doing. The third power of Southern India — namely, the Marhatta con- federacy— was so loosely organized that Lord Wellesley seems at first to have hoped to live on terms with it. When several years of fitful alliance had convinced him that he had to choose between the supremacy of the Marhattas or of the British in Southern India, he did not hestitate to decide. Lord Wellesley first addressed himself to the weakest of the three southern powers, the Nizam at Haidarabad. Here he won a diplomatic success, which turned a possible rival into a subservient ally. The French battalions at Haidarabad were disbanded, and the Nizam bound himself by treaty1 not to take any European into his service without the consent of the English Government, — a clause since inserted in every engagement entered into with Native Powers. Wellesley next turned the whole weight of his resources against Tipu, whom Cornwallis had defeated, but not subdued. Tipu’s intrigues with the French were laid bare, and he was given an opportunity of adhering to the new subsidiary system. On his refusal, war was declared, and Wellesley came down in viceregal state to Madras to organize the expedition in person, and to watch over the course of events. One English army marched into Mysore from Madras, accompanied by a contingent from the Nizam. Another advanced from the western coast. Tipu, after a feeble resistance in the field, retired into Seringapatam, and, when his capital was stormed, died fighting bravely in the breach, 1799. Since the battle of Plassey no event so greatly impressed the native imagination as the capture of Seringapatam, which won for General Harris a peerage, and for Wellesley an Irish Marquisate. In dealing with the territories of Tipu, Wellesley acted with moderation. The central portion, forming the old State of Mysore, was restored to an infant representative of the Hindu Rdjas, whom Haidar 1 Dated 1st September 1798. — Aitchison’s Treaties ana Engagements, vol. v. pp. 173-176 (1876). MARHATC'A WAR, lSo2.j 1XDIA. 299 All had dethroned; the rest of Tipri’s dominions was par- titioned between the Nizdm, the Marhattas, and the English. At about the same time, the Karnatic, or the part of South- eastern India ruled by the Nawab of Arcot, and also the prin- cipality of Tanjore, were placed under direct British admini- stration, thus constituting the Madras Presidency almost as it has existed to the present day. The sons of the slain Tipu were treated by Lord Wellesley with paternal tenderness. They received a magnificent allowance, with semi - royal establishment, first at Vellore, and afterwards in Calcutta. The last of them, Prince Ghulam Muhammad, was long a familiar and public-spirited citizen of Calcutta, an active Justice of the Peace, and died only a few years ago (about 1877). The Marhattas had been the nominal allies of the English The Mar- in both their wars with Tipu. But they had not rendered hattas in active assistance, nor were they secured to the English side as the Nizdm now was. The Marhatta powers at this time were five in number. The recognised head of the con- federacy was the Peshwa of Poona, who ruled the hill country of the Western Ghats, the cradle of the Marhatta race. The fertile Province of Guzerat was annually harried by the horse- men of the Gaekwar of Baroda. In Central India, two military leaders, Sindhia of Gwalior and Holkar of Indore, alternately held the pre-eminency. Towards the east, the Bhonsla Raja of Nagpur reigned from Berar to the coast of Orissa. Wellesley laboured to bring these several Marhatta powers within the net of his subsidiary system. In 1802, the necessities of the Peshwa, who had been defeated by Holkar, and driven as a fugitive into British territory, induced him to sign the treaty of Bassein. By this, he pledged himself to the British to hold communications with no other power, European or Native, and granted to us Districts for the main- tenance of a subsidiary force. This greatly extended the English territorial influence in the Bombay Presidency. But it led to the second Marhatta war, as neither Sindhia nor the Raja of Nagpur would tolerate the Peshwa’s betrayal of the Marhatta independence. The campaigns which followed are perhaps the most glori- Second ous in the history of the British arms in India. The general Marhatta plan, and the adequate provision of resources, were due to 1802-04. the Marquis of Wellesley, as also the indomitable spirit which refused to admit of defeat. The armies were led by Sir Arthur Wellesley (afterwards Duke of Wellington), and General (afterwards Lord) Lake. Wellesley operated in the Deccan, 3°o INDIA. [wellesley’s india, 1805. British where, in a few short months, he won the decisive victories 1802-03.’ Assaye and Argaum, and captured Ahmednagar. Lake’s campaign in Hindustan was no less brilliant, although it has received less notice from historians. He won pitched battles at Aligarh and Laswari, and took the cities of Delhi and Agra. He scattered the French troops of Sindhia, and at the same time stood forward as the champion of the Mughal Emperor in his hereditary capital. Before the end of 1803, both Sindhia and the Bhonsla Raja of Nagpur sued for peace. Sindhia ceded all claims to the territory north of the Jumna, and left the blind old Emperor Shah Alam once more under British protection. The Bhonsla forfeited Orissa to the English, who had already occupied it with a flying column in 1803, and Berar to the Nizam, who gained a fresh addition by every act of complaisance to the British Government. The freebooter Jaswant Rao Holkar alone remained in the field, supporting his troops by raids through Malwd and Rajputana. The concluding years of Wellesley’s rule were occupied with a series of operations against Holkar, which Later dis- brought little credit on the British name. The disastrous 1804-05. retreat of Colonel Monson through Central India (1804) recalled memories of the convention of Wargaum, and of the destruction of Colonel Baillie’s force by Haidar Ali. The repulse of Lake in person at the siege of Bhartpur (Bhurt- pore) is memorable as an instance of a British army in India having to turn back with its object unaccomplished (1805). Bhartpur was not finally taken till 1827. India after Lord Wellesley during his six years of office carried out Wellesley a^most every part of his territorial scheme. In Northern 1805; ' India, Lord Lake’s campaigns, 1803-05, brought the North- in the Western Provinces (the ancient Madhya-desha) under British north ; ruiej together with the custody of the puppet Emperor. The new Districts were amalgamated with those previously acquired from the Nawab Wazir of Oudh into the ‘ Ceded and Con- quered Provinces.’ This partition of Northern India remained till the Sikh wars of 1844 and 1847 gave us the Punjab. In in the South-eastern India, we have seen that Lord Wellesley’s con- south. quests constituted the Madras Presidency almost as it exists at this date. In South-western India, the Peshwa was reduced, to a vassal of the Company. But the territories now under the Governor of Bombay were not finally built up into their present form until the last Marhatta war in 1818. The financial strain caused by these great operations of Lord Wellesley had meanwhile exhausted the patience of the EARL MINTO, 1807-13.] INDIA. 301 Court of Directors at home. In 1805, Lord Cornwallis was Marquis of sent out as Governor-General a second time, with instructions K to bring about peace at any price, while Holkar was still un- 1805. subdued, and with Sindhia threatening a fresh war. But Cornwallis was now an old man, and broken down in health. Travelling up to the north-west during the rainy season, he sank and died at Ghazi'pur, before he had been ten weeks in the country. His immediate successor was Sir George Bar- Sir George low, a civil servant of the Company, who as a locum tenens had ^j.ow’ no alternative but to carry out the commands of his employers. Under these orders, he curtailed the area of British territory, and, in violation of engagements, abandoned the Rajput chiefs to the cruel mercies of Holkar and Sindhia. During his ad- ministration, also, occurred the mutiny of the Madras sepoys at Vellore (1806), which, although promptly suppressed, sent a shock of insecurity throughout the empire. The feebly economical policy of this interregnum proved a most disastrous one. But, fortunately, the rule soon passed into firmer hands. Lord Minto, Governor-General from 1807 to 1813, con- Earl of solidated the conquests which Wellesley had acquired. His only military exploits were the occupation of the island of the Mauritius, and the conquest of Java by an expedition which he accompanied in person. The condition of Central India continued to be disturbed, but Lord Minto succeeded in pre- venting any violent outbreaks without himself having recourse to the sword. The Company had ordered him to follow a policy of non-intervention, and he managed to obey his orders without injuring the prestige of the British name. Under his auspices, the Indian Government opened relations with a new set of foreign powers, by sending embassies to the Punjab, to Afghanistan, and to Persia. The ambassadors were all trained in the school of Wellesley, and formed, perhaps, the most illustrious trio of ‘ politicals’ whom the Indian sen-ices have produced. Metcalfe went as envoy to the Sikh Court of Ranjit Sinh at Lahore ; Elphinstone met the Shah of Afghanistan at Peshawar ; and Malcolm was despatched to Persia. It cannot be said that these missions were fruitful of permanent results ; but they introduced the English to a new set of diplomatic relations, and widened the sphere of their influence. T , . . .Lord The successor of Lord Minto was the Earl of Moira, better Moira known by his later title as the Marquis of Hastings. The (Marquis of Marquis of Hastings completed Lord Wellesley’s conquests ^81 4 -2 3? ^ ;o2 INDIA. [NEPAL WAR, 1815. Lord Moira, 1814. Nepal war, 1814-15. Treaty of Segauli ; cedes Himalayan tracts, 1815. The Pindaris, 1804-17. in Central India, and left the Bombay Presidency almost as it stands at present His long rule of nine years, from 1814 to 1823, was marked by two wars of the first magnitude, namely, the campaigns against the Gurkhas of Nepal, and the last Marhatta struggle. The Gurkhas, the present ruling race in Nepal, are Hindu immigrants, who claim a Rajput origin. The indigenous inhabitants, called Newars, belong to the Indo-Tibetan stock, and profess Buddhism. The sovereignty of the Gurkhas dates only from 1767, in which year they overran the valley of Khatmandu, and gradually extended their power over the hills and valleys of Nepal. Organ- ized upon a military and feudal basis, they soon became a terror to their neighbours, marching east into Sikkim, west into Kumaun, and south into the Gangetic plains. In the last quarter their victims were British subjects (natives of Bengal), and it became necessary to check their advance. Sir George Barlow and Lord Minto had remonstrated in vain, and nothing was left to Lord Moira but to take up arms. The first campaign of 1814 was unsuccessful. After over- coming the natural difficulties of a malarious climate and precipitous hills, our troops were on several occasions fairly worsted by the impetuous bravery of the little Gurkhas, whose heavy knives or kukris dealt terrible execution. But in the cold weather of 1814, General Ochterlony, who advanced by way of the Sutlej, stormed one by one the hill forts which still stud the Himalayan States, now under the Punjab Government, and compelled the Nepal darbar to sue for peace. In the following year, 1815, the same general made his brilliant march from Patna into the lofty valley of Khatmandu, and finally dictated the terms which had before been rejected, within a few miles of the capital. By the treaty of Segauli, which defines the English relations with Nepal to the present day, the Gurkhas withdrew on the south- east from Sikkim ; and on the south-west, from their advanced posts in the outer ranges of the Himalayas which have supplied the health-giving stations of Naini Tal, Massuri, and Simla. Meanwhile, the condition of Central India was every year becoming more unsatisfactory. The great Marhatta chiefs had learned to live as princes rather than as predatory leaders. But their old example of lawlessness was being followed by a new set of freebooters, known as the Pindaris. As opposed to the Marhattas, who were at least a Hindu nationality bound by traditions of a united government, the Pindaris were merely plundering bands, closely corresponding to the free PINDARI WAR, 1817.] INDIA. 3°3 companies of mediaeval Europe. Of no common race, and Pindari of no common religion, they welcomed to their ranks the outlaws and broken tribes of all India — Afghans, Marhattas, or Jats. They represented the debris of the Mughal Empire, which had not been incorporated by either the local Muham- madan or Hindu powers which sprang up out of its ruins. For a time, indeed, it seemed as if the inheritance of the Mughal might pass to these armies of banditti. In Bengal, similar hordes had formed themselves out of the disbanded Muhammadan troops and the Hindu predatory castes. But they had been dispersed under the vigorous rule of Warren Hastings. In Central India, the evil lasted longer, attained a greater scale, and was only stamped out by a regular war. The Pindari headquarters were in Malwa, but their depre- dations were not confined to Central India. In bands, some- times of a few hundreds, sometimes of many thousands, they rode out on their forays as far as the opposite coasts of Madras and of Bombay. The most powerful of the Pindari captains, Pindari Amir Khan, had an organized army of many regiments, and Icatlers- several batteries of cannon. Two other leaders, known as Chitu and Karim, at one time paid a ransom to Sindhia of ^100,000. To suppress the Pindari hordes, who were sup- ported by the sympathy, more or less open, of all the Marhatta chiefs, Lord Hastings (1817) collected the strongest British army which had been seen in India, numbering 120,000 men. One - half operated from the north, the other half from the south. Sindhia was overawed, and remained quiet. Amir Khan disbanded his army, on condition of being guaranteed the possession of what is now the principality of Tank. The remaining bodies of Pindaris were attacked in Pindari their homes, surrounded, and cut to pieces. Karim threw war’ l8l?' himself upon the mercy of the conquerors. Chitu fled to the jungles, and was killed by a tiger. In the same year (1817) and almost in the same month (November) as that in which the Pindaris were crushed, the three great Mar- hatta powers at Poona, Nagpur, and Indore rose separately against the English. The Peshwa, Baji Rao, had long been chafing under the Last Mar- terms imposed by the treaty of Bassein (1802). A new treaty of Poona, in June 1817, now freed the Gaekwar from his control, ceded further districts to the British for the pay of the subsidiary force, and submitted all future disputes to the decision of our Government. Elphinstone, then our Resident at his Court, foresaw a storm, 3° 4 INDIA. [marhatta war, 1818. Bombay territories annexed, 1818. Map of India, 1818-48. Mr. Adam, 1823. Lord Amherst, 1823-28. and withdrew to Kirki, whither he had ordered up a European regiment The next day the Residency was burnt down, and Ki'rki was attacked by the whole army of the Peshwa. The attack was bravely repulsed, and the Peshwa immediately fled from his capital. Almost the same plot was enacted at Nagpur, where the honour of the British name was saved by the sepoys, who defended the hill of Sitabaldi against enormous odds. The army of Holkar was defeated in the following month at the pitched battle of Mehidpur. All open resistance was now at an end. Nothing remained but to follow up the fugitives, and to impose conditions for a general pacification. In both these duties Sir John Malcolm played a prominent part. The dominions of the Peshwa were annexed to the Bombay Presidency, and the nucleus of the present Central Provinces was formed out of the territory rescued from the Pindaris. The Peshwa him- self surrendered, and was permitted to reside at Bithur, near Cawnpore, on a pension of ^80,000 a year. His adopted son was the infamous Nana Sahib of the Mutiny of 1857. To fill the Peshwa’s place, as the traditional head of the Mar- hatta confederacy, the lineal descendant of Sivaji was brought forth from obscurity and placed upon the throne of Satara. An infant was recognised as the heir of Holkar, and a second infant was proclaimed Raja of Nagpur under British guardian- ship. At the same time, the States of Rajputana accepted the position of feudatories to the paramount British power. The map of India, as thus drawn by Lord Hastings, remained substantially unchanged until the time of Lord Dalhousie. But the proudest boast of Lord Hastings and Sir John Malcolm was, not that they had advanced the pomceriutn, but that they had conferred the blessings of peace and good government upon millions who had groaned under the extortions of the Marhattas and Pindaris. The Marquis of Hastings was succeeded by Lord Amherst, after the interval of a few months, during which Mr. Adam, a civil servant, acted as Governor-General. The Marhatta war in the Peninsula of India was hardly completed when our armies had to face new enemies beyond the sea. Lord Amherst’s administration lasted for five years, from 1823 to 1828. It is known in history by two prominent events, the first Burmese war and the capture of Bhartpur. Lor some years past, our north-eastern frontier had been disturbed by Burmese raids. Burma, or the country which fringes the western shore of the Bay of Bengal, and runs up the valley INDIA. BURMESE WAR, 1824.] 3°5 of the Irawadi, has a people of Tibeto-Chinese origin, and a history of its own. Tradition asserts that its early civilisation Ancient was introduced from the Indian coast of Coromandel, by a Burrna- people who are supposed to preserve a trace of their origin in their name of Talaing ( cf Telingana). However this may be, the Buddhist religion, professed by the Burmese at the present day, certainly came from India at a very early date. Waves of invasion from Siam on the south, and from the wild mountains of Asia in the north, have passed over the land. These conquests were marked by that wanton and wholesale barbarity which seems to characterise the Tibeto- Chinese race, but the civilisation of Buddhism survived every shock, and flourished around the ancient pagodas. European Burma, travellers in the 15th century visited Pegu and Tenasserim, cent* which they describe as flourishing marts of maritime trade. During the period of Portuguese predominance in the East, Arakan became the asylum for desperate European adven- turers. With their help, the Arakanese extended their power inland, occupied Chittagong, and (under the name of the Maghs) became the terror of the Gangetic delta. About 1750, a new dynasty arose, founded by Alaungphaya or Alompra, with its capital at Ava, and still rules over Inde- pendent Burma.1 The successors of Alompra, after having subjugated all Burmese Burma, and overrun Assam, about 1800, which was then an encr°ach* independent kingdom, began a series of encroachments upon India, the British Districts. As they rejected all peaceful proposals with scorn, Lord Amherst was at last compelled to declare war in 1824. Little military glory could be gained by beating First Bur- the Burmese, who were formidable chiefly from the pestilen- ^e2s® "ar’ tial character of their country. One expedition with gunboats proceeded up the Brahmaputra into Assam. Another marched by land through Chittagong into Arakan, for the Bengal sepoys refused to go by sea. A third, and the strongest, sailed from Madras direct to the mouth of the Irawadi. The war was protracted over two years. After a loss to us of about 20,000 lives, chiefly from disease, and an expenditure of £14, 000, 000, the King of Ava signed, in 1826, the treaty of Yandabu. By this he abandoned all claim to Assam, and Assam, ceded the Provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim, already in the ^ecx’dan‘ military occupation of the British. He retained the whole 1826. ’ valley of the Irawadi, down to the sea at Rangoon. 1 For the history of Burma, see the article in vol. ii. of the Imperial Gazetteer, pp. 279-283 and 299-307. 3°6 INDIA. [ehartpur taken, 1827. Bhartpur taken, 1827. Lord William Bentinck, 1828-35. His financial reforms. Abolition of salt, 1829. The capture of Bhartpur in Central India by Lord Comber- mere, in January 1827, wiped out the repulse which Lake had received before that city in January 1805. A disputed succes- sion led to the British intervention. Artillery could make little impression upon the massive walls of mud. But at last a breach was effected by mining, and the city was taken by storm, thus removing the popular notion throughout India that it was impregnable — a notion which had threatened to become a political danger. The next Governor-General was Lord William Bentinck, who had been Governor of Madras twenty years earlier, at the time of the mutiny of Vellore (1806). His seven years’ rule (from 1828 to 1835) is not signalized by any of those victories or extensions of territory by which chroniclers measure the growth of an Empire. But it forms an epoch in administrative reform, and in the slow process by which a subject popula- tion is won over to venerate as well as to dread its alien rulers. The modern history of the British in India, as bene- volent administrators, ruling the country with a single eye to the good of the natives, may be said to begin with Lord William Bentinck. According to the inscription upon his statue at Calcutta, from the pen of Macaulay : ‘ He abolished cruel rites ; he effaced humiliating distinctions ; he gave liberty to the expression of public opinion ; his constant study was to elevate the intellectual and moral character of the nations committed to his charge.’ His first care on arrival in India was to restore equilibrium to the finances, which were totter- ing under the burden imposed upon them by the Burmese war. This he effected by three series of measures — first, by reductions, in permanent expenditure, amounting to i£ million sterling a year; second, by augmenting the revenue from land which had unfairly escaped assessment ; third, by duties on the opium of Malwa. He also widened the gates by which educated natives could enter the service of the Company. Some of these reforms were distasteful to the covenanted service and to the officers of the army. But Lord William was staunchly supported by the Court of Directors and by the 'Whig Ministry at home. His two most memorable acts are the abolition of sail, or widow-burning, and the suppression of the thags. At this distance of time it is difficult to realize the degree to which these two barbarous practices had corrupted the social system of the Hindus. European research has clearly proved that the text in the Vedas adduced to authorize the immolation BENTINCK, 1828-35.] INDIA. 3°7 of widows, was a wilful mistranslation.1 But the practice had been enshrined in Hindu opinion by the authority of cen- turies, and had acquired the sanctity of a religious rite. The Emperor Akbar prohibited it, but failed to put it down. The early English rulers did not dare to violate the religious traditions of the people. In the year 1817, no less than 700 widows are said to have been burned alive in the Bengal Presidency alone. To this day, the holy spots of Hindu pilgrimage are thickly dotted with little white pillars, each com- memorating a sati. In spite of strenuous opposition, both from Europeans and natives, Lord William Bentinck carried a regu- lation in Council on the 4th December 1829, by which all who abetted sati were declared guilty of ‘ culpable homicide.’ The honour of suppressing thagi must be shared between Lord Suppres- William Bentinck and Captain Sleeman. 'Thags were hereditary . assassins, who made strangling their profession. They travelled . in bands, disguised as merchants or pilgrims, and were sworn together by an oath based on the rites of the bloody goddess Kali. Between 1826 and 1835, as many as 1562 thags were apprehended in different parts of British India, and, by the evidence of approvers, this moral plague-spot was gradually stamped out. Two other historical events are connected with the admini- stration of Lord William Bentinck. In 1833, the Charter of Renewal the East India Company was renewed for twenty years, but °g^larter» upon the conditions that the Company should abandon its trade and permit Europeans to settle in the country. At the same time, a fourth or legal member was added to the Governor-General’s Council, who might not be a servant of the Company ; and a Commission was appointed to revise and codify the law. Macaulay was the first legal member of Council, and the first President of the Law Commission. In Mysore 1830, it was found necessary to take the State of Mysore !Ig']toec,e<1, under British administration. It continued so up to the pre- sent year, when it was restored to native government (March i88r). In 1834, the frantic misrule of the Raja of Coorg Coorg brought on a short and sharp war. The Raja was permitted jg!^xed’ to retire to Benares ; and the brave and proud inhabitants of J his mountainous little territory decided to place themselves under the sway of the Company. This was the only annexa- tion effected by Lord William Bentinck, and it was done ‘ in consideration of the unanimous wish of the people.’ L°r(l Sir Charles (afterwards Lord) Metcalfe succeeded Lord 1 See ante, p. 92. 3°8 INDIA. [AUCKLAND, 1836-42. Lord Auckland, 1836-42. Afghani- stan under the Duranis, 1747-1826. Our early dealings with Kabul, 1S00-37. William as senior member of Council. His short term of office is memorable for the measure which his predecessor had initiated, but which he carried into execution, for giving entire liberty to the press. Public opinion in India, as well as the express wish of the Court of Directors at home, pointed to Met- calfe as the fittest person to carry out the policy of Bentinck, not provisionally, but as Governor-General for a full term. Party exigencies, however, led to the appointment of Lord Auckland. From this date commences a new era of war and conquest, which may be said to have lasted for twenty years. All looked peaceful until Lord Auckland, prompted by his evil genius, attempted to place Shah Shuja upon the throne of Kabul ; an attempt conducted with gross mismanagement, and ending in the annihilation of the British garrison placed in that city. For the first time since the days of the Sultans of Ghazni and Ghor, Afghanistan had obtained a national king in 1747 in Ahmad Shdh Durani. This resolute soldier found his oppor- tunity in the confusion which followed the death of the Persian conqueror, Nadir Shah. Before his own decease in 1773, Ahmad Shah had conquered a wide empire, from Herat to Peshawar, and from Kashmir to Sind. His intervention on the field of Panipat (1761) turned back the tide of Marhatta conquest, and replaced a Mughal Emperor on the throne of Delhi. But Ahmad Shah never cared to settle down in India, and alternately kept state at his two national capitals of Kabul and Kandahar. The Durani kings were prolific in children, who fought to the death with one another on each succession. At last, in 1826, Dost Muhammad, head of the powerful Barakzai family, succeeded in establishing himself as ruler of Kabul, with the title of Amir, while two fugitive brothers of the Durani line were living under British protection at Ludhiana, on the Punjab frontier. The attention of the English Government had been directed to Afghan affairs ever since the time of Lord Wellesley, who feared that Zaman Shah, then holding his court at Lahore (1800), might follow in the path of Ahmad Shah, and overrun Hindu- stan. The growth of the powerful Sikh kingdom of Ranjit Sinh effectually dispelled any such alarms for the future. Subsequently, in 1809, while a French invasion of India was still a possibility to be guarded against, Mountstuart Elphinstone was sent by Lord Minto on a mission to Shah Shujd to form a defensive alliance. Before the year expired, Shah Shuja had been driven into exile, and a third brother, Mahmud Shdh, was on the throne. In 1837, when the curtain rises upon the KABUL DISASTER, 1842.] INDIA. 309 drama of English interference in Afghanistan, the usurper Dost Muhammad, Barakzai, was firmly established at Kabul. Dost Mu- His great ambition was to recover Peshawar from the Sikhs. When, therefore, Captain Alexander Burnes arrived on a mission from Lord Auckland, with the ostensible object of opening trade, the Dost was willing to promise everything, if only he could get Peshawar. But Lord Auckland had another and more important object in view. At this time the Russians were advancing rapidly in Central Asia, and a Persian Russian army, not without Russian support, was besieging Herat, the ^flaence> traditional bulwark of Afghanistan on the east. A Russian envoy was at Kabul at the same time as Burnes. The latter was unable to satisfy the demands of Dost Muhammad in the matter of Peshawar, and returned to India unsuccessful. Lord Auckland forthwith resolved upon the hazardous plan of placing a more subservient ruler upon the throne of Kabul. Shah Shuja, one of the two exiles at Ludhiana, was selected for the purpose. At this time both the Punjab and Sind were independent kingdoms. Sind was the less powerful of the two, and accordingly a British, army escorting Shah Shuja made its way by that route into southern Afghanistan through the Bolan Pass. Kandahar surrendered, Ghazni was taken by Shah storm, Dost Muhammad fled across the Hindu Kush, and Stalled Shah Shuja was triumphantly led into the Bala Hissar at Kabul 1839. in August 1839. After one more brave struggle, Dost Muham- mad surrendered, and was sent to Calcutta as a State prisoner. But although we could enthrone Shah Shuja, we could not win for him the hearts of the Afghans. To that nation he seemed a degenerate exile thrust back upon them by foreign arms. During two years, Afghanistan remained in the military Kabul occupation of the British. The catastrophe occurred in Novem- occupied, ber 1841, when our Political Agent, Sir Alexander Burnes, was 41‘ assassinated in the city of Kabul. The troops in the canton- ments were under the command of General Elphinstone (not to be confounded with the able civilian and historian, the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone). Sir William Macnaghten was the political officer. Elphinstone, an old man, proved unequal to the responsibilities of the position. Macnaghten was treacherously murdered at an interview with the Afghan chief Akbar Khan, eldest son of Dost Muhammad. After lingering in their cantonments for two months, the British The army set off in the depth of winter, under a fallacious guar- antee from the Afghan leaders, to find its way back to India through the passes. When they started, they numbered 4000 3r° Our garrison annihil- ated, 1842. The shock in Eng- land. Earl of Ellen- borough, 1S42-44. The army of retribu- tion, 1842. Sind war, iS43- JAlDfA. [ellenborough, 1842-44. fighting men with 12,000 camp followers. A single survivor, Dr. Brydon, reached the friendly walls of Jalalabad, where Sale was gallantly holding out. The rest perished in the snowy defiles of Khurd, Kabul, and Jagdalak, from the knives and matchlocks of the Afghans, or from the effects of cold. A few prisoners, chiefly women, children, and officers, were considerately treated by the orders of Akbar Khan. The first Afghan enterprise, begun in a spirit of aggression, and conducted amid dissensions and mismanagement, had ended in the disgrace of the British arms. The real loss, which amounted only to a single garrison, and cost fewer soldiers than many a victory, was magnified by the horrors of the winter march, and by the completeness of the annihilation. Within a month after the news reached Calcutta, Lord Auckland had been superseded by Lord Ellenborough, whose first impulse was to be satisfied with drawing off in safety the garrisons from Kandahar and Jalalabad. But bolder counsels were forced upon him. General Pollock, who was marching straight through the Punjab to relieve Sale, was allowed to penetrate to Kabul. General Nott, although ordered to with- draw from Afghanistan, resolved to take Kabul on the way. Lord Ellenborough gave his commands in well-chosen words, which would leave his Generals responsible for any disaster.1 General Nott took that responsibility, and instead of retreating south-east to the Indus, boldly marched north to Kabul. After hard fighting, the two British forces, under Pollock and Nott, met at their common destination in September 1842. The great bazar at Kabul was blown up with gunpowder, to fix a stigma upon the city ; the prisoners were recovered ; and all marched back to India, leaving Dost Muhammad to take undisputed possession of his throne. The drama closed with a bombastic proclamation from Lord Ellenborough, who had caused the gates from the tomb of Mahmud of Ghazni to be carried back as a memorial of ‘ Somnath revenged.’ The gates were a modern forgery ; and their theatrical procession through the Punjab formed a vainglorious sequel to Lord Ellenborough’s diffidence, while the fate of our armies hung in the balance. Lord Ellenborough, who loved military pomp, had his tastes gratified by two more wars. In 1843, the Muhammadan rulers of Sind, known as the meers or Amirs, whose chief fault was that they would not surrender their independence, 1 The Indian Administration of Lord • Ellenborough, being his Cor- respondence. Edited by Lord Colchester, 1874. See Lord Ellenborough’s town. Letters, pp. 29, 30, 39, etc. LORD HARDINGE, 1844-48.] INDIA. 31 1 were crushed by Sir Charles Napier. The victory of Miani, in which 3000 British troops defeated 20,000 Baluchis, is one of the brilliant feats of arms in Anglo-Indian history. But valid reasons can scarcely be found for the annexation of the country. In the same year, a disputed succession at Gwalior, Gwalior fomented by feminine intrigue, resulted in an outbreak of the jg^real<’ overgrown army which the Sindhia family kept up. Peace was restored by the battles of Maharajpur and Punneah, at the former of which Lord Ellenborough was present in person. In 1844, Lord Ellenborough was recalled by the Court of Directors, who differed from him on points of administration, disliked his theatrical display, and distrusted his erratic genius. He was succeeded by Sir Henry (afterwards Lord) Hardinge, Lord who had served through the Peninsular war, and lost a hand at Ligny. It was felt on all sides that a trial of strength between the British and the remaining Hindu power in India, the great Sikh nation, drew near. The Sikhs were not a nationality like the Marhattas, but a The Sikhs, religious sect bound together by the additional tie of military 1 discipline. They trace their origin to Nanak Shah, a pious Hindu reformer, born near Lahore in 1469, before the ascendency of either Mughals or Portuguese in India. Nanak, like other zealous preachers of his time, preached the abolition of caste, the unity of the Godhead, and the obligation of leading a pure life.1 From Nanak, ten gurus or apostles are Nanak traced down to Govind Sinh in 1708, with whom the sue- Shah, cession stopped. Cruelly persecuted by the ruling Muham- madans, almost exterminated under the miserable successors of Aurangzeb,2 the Si'kh martyrs clung to their faith with unflinching zeal. At last the downfall of the Mughal Empire transformed the sect into a territorial power. It was the only political organization remaining in the Punjab. The Sikhs in the north, and the Marhattas in Southern and Central India, thus became the two great Hindu powers who partitioned the Mughal Empire. Even before the rise of Ranjit Sinh, offshoots from the Sikh misls or confederacies, each led by its elected sardar, had carved out for them- selves feudal principalities along the banks of the Sutlej, some of which endure to the present day. Ranjit Sinh, the Ranjit Sinh, , . 1780-1839. 1 See ante, p. 208. The life of Nanak and growth of his sect are summarized in articles Amritsar, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 180, and Punjab, vol. vii. pp. 419-421. The religious aspects of the Sikhs are fully treated in Wilson’s Religion of the Hindus, vol. i. pp. 267-275. ! See ante, p. 256. 312 INDIA. [SIKH WAR, 1845. His kingdom. Its dis- sensions. First Sikh war, 1845. Dhulip Sinh, 1845. Earl of Dalhousie, 1848-56. founder of the Si'kh kingdom, was born in 1780. In his twentieth year he obtained the appointment of Governor of Lahore from the Afghan King, and formed the project of basing his personal rule upon the religious fanaticism of his Sikh countrymen. He organized the khalsa, or ‘ the libe- rated,’ into an army under European officers, which for steadiness and religious fervour has had no parallel since the ‘Ironsides’ of Cromwell. From Lahore, as his capital, he extended his conquests south to Multan, west to Peshawar, and north to Kashmir. On the east side alone, he was hemmed in by the Sutlej, up to which river the authority of the British Government had advanced in 1804. Till his death, in 1839, Ranjit Sinh was ever loyal to the engagements which he had entered into with Metcalfe in 1809. But he left no son capable of wielding his sceptre. Lahore was torn by dissensions between rival generals, ministers, and queens. The only strong power was the army of the khalsa, which, since our disaster in Afghanistan, burned to measure its strength with the British sepoys. The French or European Generals, Avitabile and Court, were foolishly ousted, and the supreme military command was vested in a series of panchayats or elective committees of five. In 1845, Sikh army, numbering 60,000 men with 150 guns, crossed the Sutlej and invaded British territory. Sir Hugh Gough, the Commander-in-Chief, together with the Governor-General, hurried up to the frontier. Within three weeks, four pitched battles were fought, at Mudki, Firozshahr, Aliwal, and Sobraon. The British loss on each occasion was heavy ; but by the last victory, the Sikhs were fairly driven back into the Sutlej, and Lahore surrendered to the British. By the terms of peace then dictated, the infant son of Ranjit, Dhulip Sinh, was recognised as Raja; the Jalandhar Doab, or tract between the Sutlej and the Ravi, was annexed ; the Sikh army was limited to a specified number ; Major Henry' Lawrence was appointed to be Resident at Lahore; and a British force sent to garrison the Punjab for a period of eight years. Sir H. Hardinge received a peerage, and returned to England in 1848. Lord Dalhousie succeeded. The eight years’ rule of this greatest of Indian proconsuls (1848-56) left more con- spicuous results than that of any Governor - General since Clive. A high-minded statesman, of a most sensitive conscience, and earnestly desiring peace, Lord Dalhousie found himself forced against his will to fight two wars, and to INDIA. SIKH WAR, 1849.] 313 embark on a policy of annexation. His campaigns in the Punjab and in Burma ended in large acquisitions of territory; while Nagpur, Oudh, and several minor States also came under British rule. But Dalhousie’s deepest interest lay in His the advancement of the moral and material condition of the adm!m‘ strative country. The system of administration carried out in the reforms, conquered Punjab, by the two Lawrences and their assistants, is probably the most successful piece of difficult work ever accomplished by Englishmen. British Burma has prospered under our rule not less than the Punjab. In both cases, Lord Dalhousie himself laid the foundations of our administrative success, and deserves a large share of the credit. No branch of the administration escaped his reforming hand. He founded the Public Works Department, with a view to creating the network of roads and canals which now cover India. He opened the Ganges Canal, still the largest work of the kind in the country ; and he turned the sod of the first Indian railway. He promoted steam communication with England via the Red Sea, and introduced cheap postage and the electric telegraph. It is Lord Dalhousie’s misfortune that these benefits are too often forgotten in the recollections of the Mutiny, which followed his policy of annexation, after the firm hand which had remodelled British India was withdrawn. Lord Dalhousie had not been six months in India before Second the second Sikh war broke out. Two British officers were sIko "ar’ 184S-49. treacherously assassinated at Multan. Unfortunately, Henry Lawrence was at home on sick leave. The British army was not ready to act in the hot weather ; and, despite the single- handed exertions of Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Herbert) Edwardes, this outbreak of fanaticism led to a general rising. The khalsd army again came together, and once more fought on even terms with the British. On the fatal field of Chilian- Chilian- wala,1 which patriotism prefers to call a drawn battle, the British wala,i849. lost 2400 officers and men, besides four guns and the colours of three regiments (13th January 1849). Before reinforce- ments could come out from England, bringing Sir Charles Napier as Commander-in-Chief, Lord Gough had restored his reputation by the crowning victory of Gujrat, which absolutely Gujrat destroyed the Sikh army. Multan had previously fallen ; and vlctory- the Afghan horse under Dost Muhammad, who had forgotten their hereditary antipathy to the Sikhs in their greater hatred of the British name, were chased back with ignominy to their 1 See articles Chii.ianwala, Imperial Gazetteer , vol. ii. p. 434 ; and Gujrat, vol. iii. pp. 463-467. X 314 The Punjab annexed, 1849. Its pacifi- cation. Second Burmese war, 1852. British Burma annexed, 1852. Its pros- perity under our rule. INDIA. [PUNJAB ANNEXED, 1849. native hills. The Punjab, annexed by proclamation on the 29th March 1849, 1 became a British Province — a virgin field for the administrative talents of Dalhousie and the two Law- rences. Maharaja Dhulip Sinh received an allowance of ^58,000 a year, on which he now lives as an English country gentleman in Norfolk. The first step in the pacification of the)Punjab2 was a general disarmament, which resulted in the delivery of no fewer than 120,000 weapons of various kinds. Then followed a settle- ment of the land tax, village by village, at an assessment much below that to which it had been raised by Si'kh exactions ; and the introduction of a loose but equitable code of civil and criminal procedure. Roads and canals were laid out by Colonel Robert Napier (afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala). The security of British peace, and the personal influence of British officers, inaugurated a new era of prosperity, which was felt to the farthest corners of the Province. It thus happened that, when the Mutiny broke out in 1857, the Punjab remained not only quiet, but loyal. The second Burmese war, in 1852, arose out of the ill- treatment of some European merchants at Rangoon, and the insults offered to the captain of a frigate who had been sent to remonstrate.3 The whole valley of the Irawadi, from Rangoon to Prome, was occupied in a few months ; and as the King of Ava refused to treat, it was annexed by proclama- tion on the 20th December 1852, under the name of Pegu, to the Provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim, which we had acquired in 1826. Since annexation, the inhabitants of Ran- goon have multiplied tenfold in number. The trade of the port, which in four years after annexation (1857-58) amounted to ,£2,131,055, had increased in 1877-78 to ^£8, 192, 025. 4 The towns and rural parts have alike prospered. Before 1826, Amherst District was -the scene of perpetual warfare between the Kings of Siam and Pegu, and was stripped of inhabitants. In February 1827, a Talaing chief with 10,000 followers settled in the neighbourhood of Maulmain ; and 1 In terms of the agreement with Maharaja Dhulip Sinh, of same date. — Aitchison’s Treaties and Engagements, vol. vi. p. 47 (ed. 1870). 2 For the annexation and administrative history of the Punjab, see Imperial Gazetteer, vol. vii. pp. 422, 423, and 427-433. 3 For further details, see article Burma, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. ii. p. 305 ; and for subsequent administration, pp. 283-291. 4 See article Rangoon, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. viii. pp. 14, 15. For growth of trade in other Burmese ports, see also article Akyab, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 124 BURMESE WAR, 1852.] INDIA. 3r5 after a few years, a further influx of 20,000 immigrants took place. In 1855, the population of Amherst District amounted to 83,146 souls ; in i860, to 130,953 ; and in 1875, to 275,432. Or, to take the case of a seaport, — in 1826, when we occupied the Province, Akyab was a poor fishing village. By 1830, it had developed into a little town with a trade valued at ^7000. In 1879, the trade exceeded 2 millions sterling; so that the trade of Akyab has multiplied itself close on three hundred- fold in fifty years. Lord Dalhousie’s dealings with the Feudatory States of India The revealed the whole nature of the man. That rulers only exist ^™^tory for the good of the ruled, was his supreme axiom of govern- ment, of which he gave a conspicuous example in his own daily life. That British administration was better for the people than native rule, followed from this axiom. He was thus led to regard native chiefs from somewhat the same point of view as the Scotch regarded the hereditary jurisdictions after 1745, namely, as mischievous anomalies, to be abolished by every fair means. Good faith must be kept with rulers on the throne, and with their legitimate heirs. But no false sentiment should preserve dynasties which had forfeited our sympathies by generations of misrule, nor prolong those that had no natural successor. The ‘ doctrine of lapse ’ was the practical application of these principles, complicated by the Indian practice of adoption. It has never been doubted that, according to Hindu private law, an adopted son entirely Hindu fills the place of a natural son, whether to perform the religious of obsequies of his father or to inherit his property. In all respects he continues the persona of the deceased. But it was argued that, both as a matter of historical fact and as one of political expediency, the succession to a throne stood upon a different footing. The paramount power could not recognise such a right, which might be used as a fraud to hand over the happiness of millions to a base-bom impostor. Here came in Lord Dalhousie’s maxim of ‘ the good of the governed.’ In his mind, benefits to be conferred through British administra- tion weighed heavier than a superstitious and often fraudulent fiction of inheritance. The first State to escheat to the British Government in Lapsed accordance with these principles was Satara, which had been >tates' reconstituted by Lord Hastings on the downfall of the Peshwa in 1818. The Raja of Satara, the last direct representative of Sivaji, died without a male heir in 1848, and his deathbed adop- tion was set aside (1849). In the same year, the Rajput State 3i6 Jhansi. Nagpur, 1853- Berars handed over, 1853. Annexa- tion of Oudh, 1856. Lord Dal- housie’s view of the measure. INDIA. [lapsed states, 1849-53. of Karauli was saved by the Court of Directors, who drew a fine distinction between a dependent principality and a pro- tected ally. In 1853, Jhansi suffered the same fate as Satara. But the most conspicuous application of the doctrine of lapse was the case of Nagpur. The last of the Marhattd. Bhonslas, a dynasty older than the British Government itself, died with- out a son, natural or adopted, in 1853. His territories were annexed, and became the Central Provinces. That year also saw British administration extended to the Berars, or the Assigned Districts, which the Nizam of Haidaribad was induced to hand over as a territorial guarantee for the subsidies which he per- petually kept in arrear. The relics of three other dynasties also passed away in 1853, though without any attendant accretion to British territory. In the extreme south, the titular Nawab of the Karnatic and the titular Raja of Tanjore both died without heirs. Their rank and their pensions died with them, though compassionate allowances were continued to their families. In the north of India, Baji Rao, the ex-Peshwa who had been dethroned in 1818, lived on till 1853 in the enjoyment of his annual pension of ^80,000. His adopted son, Nana Sahib, inherited his accumulated savings, but could obtain no further recognition. Lord Dalhousie annexed the Province of Oudh on different grounds. Ever since the Nawab Wazir, Shuja-ud- Daula, received back his forfeited territories from the hands of Lord Clive in 1765, the existence of his dynasty had depended on the protection of British bayonets.1 Guarded alike from foreign invasion and from domestic rebellion, the long line of Nawabs had sunk into private debauchees and public oppressors. Their one virtue was steady loyalty to the British Government. The fertile districts between the Ganges and the Gogra, which now support a denser population than any rural area of the same size on this globe, had been groaning for generations under an anarchy for which each British Governor- General felt himself in part responsible. Warning after warning had been given to the Nawabs (who had assumed the title of Shah or King since 1819) that they must put their house in order. What the benevolent Bentinck and the soldierly Har- dinge had only threatened, was reserved for Lord Dalhousie, who united honesty of purpose with stern decision of character, to perform. He laid the whole case before the Court of Directors, who, after long and painful hesitation, resolved on 1 For the history of Oudh since 1765, and the misrule which compelled its annexation, see article Oudh, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. vii. pp. 220-226. dalhousie’s work, 1848-56.] INDIA. 3l7 annexation. Lord Dalhousie, then on the eve of retiring, felt that it would be unfair to leave the perilous task to his suc- cessor in the first moments of his rule. The tardy decision of the Court of Directors left him, however, only a few weeks to carry out the work. But he solemnly believed that work to be his duty to the people of Oudh. ‘ With this feeling on my mind,’ he wrote privately, ‘ and in humble reliance on the blessing of the Almighty (for millions of His creatures will draw freedom and happiness from the change), I approach the execution of this duty, gravely and not without solicitude, but calmly and altogether without doubt.’ At the commencement of 1856, the last year of his rule, he issued orders to General (afterwards Sir James) Outram, then Resident at the Court of Lucknow, to assume the direct administration of Oudh, on the ground that ‘ the British Government would be guilty in the sight of God and man if it were any longer to aid in sustaining by its countenance an administration fraught with suffering to millions.’ The pro- clamation was issued on the 13th February 1856. The king, Wajid Ah', bowed to irresistible force, although he refused to recognise the justice of his deposition. After a mission to England, by way of protest and appeal, he settled down in the pleasant suburb of Garden Reach near Calcutta, where he still lives (1881) in the enjoyment of a pension of £ 120,000 a year. Oudh was thus annexed without a blow. But this measure, on which Lord Dalhousie looked back with the proudest sense of rectitude, was perhaps the one act of his rule that most alarmed native public opinion. The Marquis of Dalhousie resigned office in March 1856, being then only forty-four years of age ; but he carried home with him the seeds of a lingering illness, which resulted in his death in i860. Excepting Cornwallis, he was the first, though by no means the last, of English statesmen who have fallen victims to their devotion to India’s needs. Lord Dalhousie completed the fabric of British rule in India. The Empire as mapped out by Lord Wellesley and Lord Hastings, during the first quarter of the century, had received the addition of Sind in 1843. The Marquis of Dalhousie finally filled in the wide spaces covered by Oudh, the Central Provinces, and smaller States within India, together with the great outlying territories of the Punjab on the North-Western Frontier, and the richest part of British Burma beyond the sea. The great Governor -General was succeeded by his friend Lord Canning, who, at the farewell banquet in England given Grounds of annexa- tion. Lord Dal- housie’s death, i860. His work in India. Earl Canning, 1856-62. 3iS INDIA. The Sepoy Mutiny, 1S57. Its causes. The ‘ greased cartridges, 1857. [sepoy mutiny, 1857. to him by the Court of Directors, uttered these prophetic words, ‘ I wish for a peaceful term of office. But I cannot forget that in the sky of India, serene as it is, a small cloud may arise, no larger than a man’s hand, but which, growing larger and larger, may at last threaten to burst and overwhelm us with ruin.’ In the following year, the Sepoys of the Bengal army mutinied, and all the valley of the Ganges from Patna to Delhi rose in rebellion. The various motives assigned for the Mutiny appear inade- quate to the European mind. The truth seems to be that native opinion throughout India was in a ferment, predisposing men to believe the wildest stories, and to rush into action in a paroxysm of terror. Panic acts on an oriental popula- tion like drink among a European mob. The annexation policy of Lord Dalhousie, although dictated by the most enlightened considerations, was distasteful to the native mind. The spread of education, the appearance of the steam-engine and the telegraph wire, seemed at the same moment to reveal a deep plan to substitute an English for an Indian civilisation. The Bengal sepoys, especially, thought that they could see further than the rest of their countrymen. Most of them were Hindus of high caste; many of them were recruited from Oudh. They regarded our reforms on Western lines as attacks on their own nationality, and they knew at first hand what annexation meant. They believed it was by their prowess that the Punjab had been conquered, and that all India was held. The numerous dethroned princes, or their heirs and widows, were the first to learn and to take advantage of this spirit of disaffection and panic. They had heard of the Crimean war, and were told that Russia was the perpetual enemy of England. Our muni- ficent pensions had supplied the funds with which they could buy the aid of skilful intriguers. They had much to gain, and little to lose, by a revolution. In this critical state of affairs, of which the Government had no official knowledge, a rumour ran through the cantonments that the cartridges of the Bengal army had been greased with ’ the fat of pigs — animals unclean alike to Hindu and Muham- madan. No assurances could quiet the minds of the sepoys. Fires occurred nightly in the native lines; officers were insulted by their men ; confidence was gone, and only the form of dis- cipline remained. The events which followed form contemporary annals. Any narrative of them beyond the barest summary would involve the criticism of measures on which history has not yet pro- SUNDAY, IOTH MAY 1 85 7.] INDIA. 319 nounced her calm verdict, and lead to personal praise or blame of still living men.1 Each episode of the Mutiny is treated in my account of the town or district where it occurred. But it may not be out of place to mention here, that the outbreak of the storm found the native regiments denuded of many of their best officers. The administration of the great empire, to which Dalhousie put the corner-stone, required a larger staff than the civil service could supply. The practice of selecting able military men for civil posts, which had long existed, received a sudden and vast development. Oudh, the Punjab, the Central Provinces, British Burma, were administered to a large extent by picked officers from the Company’s regiments. Good and skilful commanders remained ; but the native army had never- theless been drained of many of its brightest intellects and firmest wills at the very crisis of its fate. On the afternoon of Sunday, 10th May 1857, the Sepoys at Meerut (Mfrath) broke into open mutiny. 2 They burst into the jail, and rushed in a wild torrent through the cantonments, cutting down every European whom they met. They then streamed off to the neighbouring city of Delhi, to stir up the native garrison and the criminal population of that great city, and to place themselves under the authority of the discrowned Mughal Emperor. Meerut was the largest military station in Northern India, with a strong European garrison of foot, horse, and guns, sufficient to overwhelm the mutineers before ever they reached Delhi. But as the Sepoys acted in irrational haste, so the British officers, in but too many cases, acted with equally irrational indecision. The news of the outbreak was telegraphed to Delhi, and nothing more was done that night. At the moment when one strong will might have saved India, no soldier in authority at Meerut seemed able to think or act. The next morning the Muhammadans of Delhi rose, and all that the Europeans there could do was to blow up the magazine. A rallying centre and a traditional name were thus given to the revolt, which forthwith spread like wild-fire through the North-Western Provinces and Oudh down into Lower Bengal. The same narrative must suffice for all the outbreaks, although each episode has its own story of sadness and devotion. The 1 The Mutiny of 1857 has already a copious literature. Sir John Kaye’s History of the Sepoy War (3 vols.), with its able and eloquent continuation by Colonel Malleson, C.S.I., as The History of the Indian Mutiny (3 vols.), forms the standard work. 2 See article Meerut, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. vi. p. 349. The army drained of its talent. Outbreak of the Mutiny, May 1857. At Meerut. At Delhi. 320 Spread of the Mutiny summer of 1857. Loyalty of the Sikhs. Cawnpore. Nana Sahib. Massacre of Cawn- pore. INDIA. [cawnpore, 1857. Sepoys rose on their officers, usually without warning, sometimes after protestations of fidelity. The Europeans, or persons of Christian faith, were massacred ; occasionally, also, the women and children. The jail was broken open, the treasury plun- dered, and the mutineers marched off to some centre of revolt, to join in what had now become a national war. Only in the Punjab were the Sepoys anticipated by stern measures of re- presssion and disarmament, carried out by Sir John Lawrence and his lieutenants, among whom Edwardes and Nicholson stand conspicuous. The Sikh population never wavered. Crowds of willing recruits came down from the Afghan hills. And thus the Punjab, instead of being itself a source of danger, was able to furnish a portion of its own garrison for the siege of Delhi. In Lower Bengal most of the Sepoys mutinied, and then dispersed in different directions. The native armies of Madras and Bombay remained true to their colours. In Central India, the contingents of many of the great chiefs sooner or later joined the rebels, but the Muhammadan State of Haidarabad was kept loyal by the authority of its able minister Sir Salar Jang. The main interest of the Sepoy war gathers round the three cities of Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Delhi. The cantonment at Cawnpore contained one of the great native garrisons of India. At Bithur, not far off, was the palace of Dundhu Panth, the heir of the last Peshwd, who had inherited his savings, but failed to procure a continuance of his pension ; and whose more familiar name of Nana Sahib will ever be handed down to infamy. At first the Nana was profuse in his professions of loyalty, but when the Sepoys mutinied on the 6th June, he put himself at their head, and was proclaimed Peshwa of the Marhattas. The Europeans at Cawnpore, numbering more women and children than fighting men, shut themselves up in an ill-chosen hasty entrenchment, where they heroically bore a siege for nineteen days under the sun of a tropical June. Every one had courage and endurance to suffer or to die ; but the directing mind was again absent. On the 27th June, trusting to a safe-conduct from the Nana as far as Allah- abad, they surrendered, and to the number of 450, embarked in boats on the Ganges. Forthwith a murderous fire was opened upon them from the river bank. Only a single boat escaped, and but four men, who swam across to the protection of a friendly Raja, ultimately survived to tell the tale. The rest of the men were massacred on the spot. The women and children, numbering 125, were reserved for the same fate on DELHI, 1857.] INDIA. 321 the 15 th July, when the avenging army of Havelock was at hand.1 Sir Henry Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner of Oudh, had Lucknow, foreseen the storm. He fortified and provisioned the Residency Sir Henry at Lucknow, and thither he retired with all the European Lawrence, inhabitants and a weak British regiment on 2nd July. Two days later, he was mortally wounded by a shell. But the clear head was here in authority. Lawrence had deliberately chosen his position, and the little garrison held out under unparalleled hardships and against enormous odds, until relieved by Have- lock and Outram on 25th September. But the relieving force was itself invested by fresh swarms of rebels ; and it was not till November that Sir Colin Campbell (afterwards Lord Clyde) cut his way into Lucknow, and effected the final deliverance of the garrison2 (16th November 1857). Our troops then withdrew to more urgent work, and did not finally reoccupy Lucknow till March 1858. The siege of Delhi began on 8th June, just one month Siege of after the original outbreak at Meerut. Siege in the proper Pelhi’ sense of the word it was not ; for the British army, encamped Sept, on the historic ‘ridge,’ never exceeded 8000 men, while the I^57- rebels within the walls were more than 30,000 strong. In the middle of August, Nicholson arrived with a reinforcement Nicholson, from the Punjab ; but his own inspiring presence was even more valuable than the reinforcement he brought. On 14th Sep- tember the assault was delivered, and after six days’ desperate fighting in the streets, Delhi was again won. Nicholson fell at the head of the storming party. Hodson, the intrepid leader of a corps of irregular horse, hunted down next day the old Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shdh, and his sons. The Emperor was afterwards sent a State prisoner to Rangoon, where he lived till 1862. As the mob pressed in on the guard around the Emperor’s sons, near Delhi, Hodson found it necessary to shoot down the princes (who had been captured uncondi- tionally) with his own hand.3 After the fall of Delhi and the final relief of Lucknow, the Oudh war loses its dramatic interest, although fighting went on in recluced. various parts of the country for eighteen months longer. The population of Oudh and Rohilkhand, stimulated by the presence of the Begam of Oudh, the Nawab of Bareilly, and Ndna Sahib himself, had joined the mutinous Sepoys en masse. 1 See article CAWNPORE, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. ii. pp. 341-342, 348-349. 2 See article Lucknow, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. vi. pp. 90-93. 3 See article Delhi City, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iii. pp. 91, 92. 322 INDIA. [order restored, 1858. Lord Clyde. Sir Hugh Rose. Renewals of the Company’s Charter, 1813-15. Its privi- leges cur- tailed. Downfall of the Company, 1858. In this quarter of India alone, it was the revolt of a people rather than the mutiny of an army that had to be quelled. Sir Colin Campbell (afterwards Lord Clyde) conducted the campaign in Oudh, which lasted through two cold seasons.1 Valuable assistance was lent by Sir Jang Bahadur of Nepal, at the head of his gallant Gurkhas. Town after town was occupied, fort after fort was stormed, until the last gun had been recaptured, and the last fugitive had been chased across the frontier by January 1859. In the meanwhile, Sir Hugh Rose (afterwards Lord Strathnairn), with another army from Bombay, was conducting an equally brilliant campaign in Central India. His most formidable antagonists were the disinherited Rdnf or Princess of Jhansi, and Tantia Topi, whose military’ talent had previously inspired Nana Sahib with all the capacity for resist- ance that he ever displayed. The Princess died fighting bravely at the head of her troops in June 1858.2 Tantia Topi, after doubling backwards and forwards through Central India, was at last betrayed and run down in April 1859. The Company’s charter had been granted from time to time for periods of twenty years, and each renewal formed an oppor- tunity for a national inquest into the management of India. The Parliamentary Inquiry of 1813 abolished the Company’s monopoly of Indian trade, and compelled it to direct its energies in India to the good government of the people. The Charter Act of 1833 did away with its remaining Chinese trade, and opened up the Government of India to the natives, irrespective of caste, creed, or race. The Act of 1853 abolished the patronage by which the Company filled up the higher branches of its civil service; laid down the principle that the administration of India was too national a concern to be left to the chances of benevolent nepotism ; and that England’s representatives in India must be chosen openly, and without favour, from the youth of England. The Mutiny sealed the fate of the East India Company, after a life of more than two and a half centuries. The original Company received its charter of incorporation from Elizabeth in 1600. Its political powers, and the constitution of the Indian Government, were derived from the Regulating Act of 1773, passed by the ministry of Lord North. By that statute the Governor of Bengal was raised to the rank of Governor-General ; and, in conjunction with his Council of four other members, he was entrusted with the duty of 1 See article Bareilly, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 434. 2 See article Jhansi, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. v. pp. 85, 86. INDIA. ACT OF 1S58.] 323 superintending and controlling the Governments of Madras Its history and Bombay, so far as regarded questions of peace and war : a Supreme Court of Judicature was appointed at Calcutta, to 1600-185S. which the judges were appointed by the Crown : and a power of making rules, ordinances, and regulations was conferred upon the Governor-General and his Council. Next came the India Bill of Pitt (1784), which founded the Board of Control, Act of strengthened the supremacy of Bengal over the other Presi- Hs4- dencies, and first authorized the historic phrase, ‘ Governor- General-in-Council.’ The Act which abolished the Company’s Chinese trade in 1833, introduced successive reforms into the Act of constitution of the Indian Government, added to the Council lSj8‘ a new (legal) member who might not be chosen from among the Company’s servants, and was entitled to be present only at meetings for making Laws and Regulations ; it accorded the authority of Acts of Parliament to the Laws and Regulations so made, subject to the disallowance of the Court of Directors ; it appointed a Law Commission ; and it gave the Governor-General-in-Council a control over the other Presi- dencies, in all points relating to the civil or military admini- stration. The Charter of the Company was renewed for the last time in 1853, not for a definite period of years, but only for so long as Parliament should see fit. On this occasion the number of Directors was reduced, and, as above stated, their patronage as regards appointments to the civil service was taken away, to make room for the principle of open competition. The Act for the better government of India (1858), which India finally transferred the entire administration from the Company J^a^erre<1 to the Crown, was not passed without an eloquent protest from Crown, the Directors, nor without acrimonious party discussion in lS58- Parliament. It enacts that India shall be governed by, and in the name of, the Queen of England through one of her principal Secretaries of State, assisted by a Council of fifteen members. The Governor-General received the new title of ‘ The Viceroy. The European troops of the Company, numbering ^ iceroy‘ about 24,000 officers and men, were amalgamated with the royal service, and the Indian navy was abolished. By the Indian Councils Act (1861), the Governor-General’s Council, and also the Councils at Madras and Bombay, were aug- mented by the addition of non-official members, either natives or Europeans, for legislative purposes only ; and by another Act passed in the same year, High Courts of Judicature were constituted out of the old Supreme Courts at the Presidency towns. 324 INDIA. [queen’s proclamation. India under the Crown, 1858-62. Queen’s proclama- tion, 1st Nov. 1858. Financial reforms. Legal reforms. Lord Elgin, 1862-63. Lord Lawrence, 1864-69. It fell to the lot of Lord Canning both to suppress the Mutiny, and to introduce the peaceful revolution which followed. It suffices to say that he preserved his equanimity unruffled in the darkest hours of peril, and that the strict impartiality of his conduct incurred alternate praise and blame from partisans of both sides. The epithet then scornfully applied to him of ‘ Clemency ’ Canning, is now remembered only to his honour. On 1st November 1858, at a grand darbar held at Allahabad, he sent forth the Royal Proclamation, which announced that the Queen had assumed the government of India. This document, which is, in the truest and noblest sense, the Magna Charta of the Indian people, proclaimed in eloquent words, the policy of justice and religious toleration ; and granted an amnesty to all except those who had directly taken part in the murder of British subjects. Peace was proclaimed throughout India on the 8th July 1859. In the following cold weather, Lord Canning made a viceregal pro- gress through the northern Provinces, to receive the homage of loyal princes and chiefs, and to guarantee to them the right of adoption. The suppression of the Mutiny increased the debt of India by about 40 millions sterling, and the military changes which ensued augmented the annual expenditure by about 10 millions. To grapple with this deficit, a distinguished political economist and parliamentary financier, Mr. James Wilson, was sent out from England as financial member of Council. He reorganized the customs system, imposed an income tax and a licence duty, and created a State paper currency. He died in the midst of his splendid task ; but his name still lives as that of the first and greatest finance minister of India. The Penal Code, originally drawn up by Macaulay in 1837, passed into law in i860; together with Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure in 1861.1 Lord Canning left India in March 1862, and died before he had been a month in England. His successor, Lord Elgin, only lived till November 1863. He expired at the Himalayan station of Dharmsdla, and there he lies buried. He was succeeded by Sir John Lawrence, the saviour of tile Punjab. The chief incidents of his rule were the Bhutdn war, followed by the annexation of the Dwars in 1864, and the terrible Orissa famine of 1866. In a later famine in Bundel- khand and Upper Hindustan in 1868-69, Lord Lawrence laid down the principle, for the first time in Indian history, that the officers of the Government would be held personally responsible 1 On the subject of Anglo-Indian Codification, see ante, pp. 124, 125. LORD MAYO, 1869-72.] INDIA. 325 for taking every possible means to avert death by starvation. An inquiry was conducted into the status of the peasantry of Oudh, and an Act was passed with a view to securing them in their customary rights. After a period of fratricidal war among the sons of Dost Muhammad, the Afghan territories were con- centrated in the hands of Sher Ah', and the latter was acknow- ledged as Amir by Lord Lawrence. A commercial crisis took place in 1866, which seriously threatened the young tea industry in Bengal, and caused widespread ruin in Bombay. Sir John Lawrence retired in January 1869, after having passed through every grade of Indian service, from an assistant magistracy to the viceroyalty. On his return to England, he was raised to the peerage. He died in 1879, and lies in Westminster Abbey. Lord Mayo succeeded Lord Lawrence in 1869, and urged Lord on the material progress of India. The Ambala darbar, at which Sher All was recognised as Amir of Afghanistan, Ambala although in one sense the completion of what Lord Lawrence darbar, had begun, owed its success to Lord Mayo (1869). The visit I^9' of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh in 1869-70 gave great pleasure to the natives of India, and introduced a tone of personal loyalty into our relations with the feudatory princes. Lord Mayo reformed several of the great branches of Lord the administration, created an Agricultural Department, and introduced the system of Provincial Finance. The impulse to provinciai local self-government given by the last measure has done finance, much, and will do more, to develop and husband the revenues of India, to quicken the sense of responsibility among the English administrators, and to awaken political life among the people. Lord Mayo also laid the foundation for the reform of the Salt Duties. He thus enabled his successors to abolish the old pernicious customs-lines which walled off Province Customs- from Province, and strangled the trade between British India ^jished and the Feudatory States. He developed the material re- sources of the country by an immense extension of roads, railways, and canals. He carried out the beneficent system of Public Works which Lord Dalhousie had inaugurated. Lord Mayo’s splendid vigour defied alike the climate and the vast tasks which he imposed on himself. He anxiously and labori- ously studied with his own eyes the wants of the farthest Provinces of the empire. But his life of noble usefulness was Lord cut short by the hand of an assassin, in the convict settlement ^Iay° s J . death, of the Andaman Islands, in 1872. x872. His successor was Lord Northbrook, whose ability found 326 Lord North- brook, 1872-76. Lord Lytton, 1S76-80. The ‘ Empress of India.’ Famine of 1877-78. Afghan affairs, 1878-81. INDIA. [AFGHAN WAR, 1 878-81. pre-eminent scope in the department of finance.1 * * During his viceroyalty, a famine which threatened Lower Bengal in 1874 was successfully obviated by a vast organization of State relief; the Marhatta Gaekwar of Baroda was dethroned in 1875 f°r misgovernment and disloyalty, but his dominions were continued to a nominated child of the family ; and the Prince of Wales made a tour through the country in the cold weather of 1875-76. The presence of His Royal Highness evoked a passionate burst of loyalty never before known in the annals of British India. The feudatory chiefs and ruling houses of India felt for the first time that they were incorporated into the Empire of an ancient and a splendid dynasty. Lord Lytton followed Lord Northbrook in 1876. On January 1, 1877, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India at a durbar of unparalleled magnificence, held on the historic 4 ridge ’ overlooking the ancient Mughal capital, Delhi. But while the princes and high officials of the country were flocking to this gorgeous scene, the shadow of famine was darkening over Southern India. Both the monsoons of 1876 had failed to bring their due supply of rain, and the season of 1877 was little better. This long-continued drought stretched from the Deccan to Cape Comorin, and subsequently invaded Northern India, causing a famine more widespread than any similar calamity since 1770. Despite vast importations of grain by sea and rail, despite the most strenuous exertions of the Government, which incurred a total expenditure on this account of 1 1 millions sterling, the loss of life from actual starvation and its attendant train of diseases was lamentable. The deaths from want of food, and from the diseases incident to a famine-stricken population, were estimated at 5^ millions. In the autumn of 1878, the affairs of Afghanistan again forced themselves into notice. Sher Ah', the Amir, who had been hospitably entertained by Lord Mayo, was found to be favouring Russian intrigues. A British embassy was refused admittance to the country, while a Russian mission was received with honour. This led to a declaration of war. British armies advanced by three routes — the Khaibar (Khyber), the Kuram, and the Bolan ; and without much 1 It would be unsuitable for an officer of the Government to attempt anything beyond the barest summary of events in India since the death of Lord Mayo in 1872. The three Viceroys who have ruled during the past nine years are, happily, still living ; their policy forms the subject of keen contemporary criticism ; and the administrators, soldiers, and diplomatists who gave effect to that policy still hold possession of the scene. LORD RIPON, 1 88 1.] INDIA. 327 opposition occupied the inner entrances of the passes. Sher Ali fled to Afghan Turkistan, and there died. A treaty was entered into with his son, Yakub Khan, at Gandamak, by which the British frontier was advanced to the crests or farther sides of the passes, and a British officer was admitted to reside at Kabul. Within a few months the British Resident, Sir Louis Cavagnari, was treacherously attacked and mas- sacred together with his escort, and a second war became necessary. Yakub Khan abdicated, and was deported to India. At this crisis of affairs, a general election in England resulted in a defeat of the Conservative Ministry. Lord Lytton resigned simultaneously with the Home Government, and the Marquis of Ripon was nominated as his successor in April 1880. Since then, a British brigade received a defeat between Kandahar and the Helmand river from the Herat troops of Ayub Khan ; a defeat promptly and completely Marquis of retrieved by the brilliant march of General Sir Frederick ^So-Si. Roberts from Kabul to Kandahar, and by the total rout of Ayub Khan’s army on 1st September 1880. Abdurrahman Khan, the eldest male representative of the stock of Dost Muhammad, was recognised by us as Amir. The British forces retired from Kabul, leaving him, as our friend, in possession of the capital. The withdrawal of our troops from Kandahar was also effected. Soon afterwards Ayub Khan advanced with an army from Herat, defeated the Amir Abdurrahman’s troops, and captured Kandahar. Abdurrahman marched south with his forces from Kabul, and completely routed Ayub Khan on 2 2d September, re-occupied Kandahar, and now reigns as undisputed Amir of Afghanistan (October 1881). The Native State of Mysore was replaced under its hereditary dynasty on the 25 th March 1881. 328 INDIA. [administration: CHAPTER XIV. BRITISH ADMINISTRATION OF INDIA. Control of India in England. Under the Company. Under the Crown. The Secre- tary of State. His Council in England. Office of Viceroy. Admini- stration in India. ‘Governor General-in Council.’ The Act of 1858, which transferred India from the Company to the Crown, also laid down the scheme of its government. Under the Company, the Governor-General was an autocrat, only responsible to the distant Court of Directors. The Court of Directors had been answerable to the shareholders, or Court of Proprietors, on the one hand, and, through the Board of Control, to the Sovereign and to Parliament on the other. The Act of 1858 did away with these intermediary bodies between the Governor-General and the British Ministry. For the Court of Directors, the Court of Proprietors, and the Board of Control, it substituted a Secretary of State, aided by a Council appointed by the Crown. The Secretary of State is a Cabinet Minister, who comes into and goes out of office with the other members of the Ministry. His Council was origin- ally appointed for life. They are now appointed for ten years only;1 but may be reappointed for another five years for special reasons. The Secretary of State rules in all ordinary matters through the majority of his Council. But in affairs of urgency, and in the questions which belong to the Secret Department, including political correspondence, he is not required to do so. The Viceroy or Governor-General is appointed by the Crown, and resides in India. His ordinary term of office is five years. The supreme authority in India is vested by a series of Acts of Parliament 2 in the Viceroy or Governor-General-in-Council, subject to the control of the Secretary of State in England. Every executive order and every legislative statute runs ' in the name of the ‘ Governor-General-in-Council ; ’ 3 but in 1 Under 32 and 33 Viet. c. 97. 2 The chief of these Acts are 13 Geo. III. c. 63 ; 33 Geo. III. c. 52 ; 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 85 ; 21 and 22 Viet. c. 106 ; and 24 and 25 Viet. c. 67. 3 A style first authorized by 33 Geo. III. c. 52, see. 39. ADMINISTRATION.] INDIA. 329 certain cases,1 a power is reserved to the Viceroy to act independently. The Governor-General’s Council is twofold. First, the ordinary or Executive Council,2 usually composed Executive of about six official members besides the Viceroy, which may Council, be compared with the cabinet of a constitutional country. It meets regularly at short intervals, discusses and decides upon questions of foreign policy and domestic administration, and prepares measures for the Legislative Council. Its members divide among themselves the chief departments of State, such as those of Foreign Affairs, Finance, War, Public Works, etc. ; while the Viceroy combines in his own person the duties of constitutional Sovereign and of Prime Minister.3 Second,4 the Legislative Council, which is made up of the same members as the preceding, with the addition of the Governor of the Province in which it may be held, and official delegates from Madras and Bombay, together with certain nominated members representative of the non- official Native and European communities. The meetings of Legislative the Legislative Council are held when and as required. They Council- are open to the public ; and a further guarantee for publicity is ensured by the proviso that draft Bills must be published a certain number of times in the Gazette. As a matter of prac- tice, these draft Bills have usually been first subjected to the criticism of the several provincial governments. Provincial Legislative Councils have also been appointed for the Presi- dencies of Madras and Bombay, and for the Lieutenant-Gover- norship of Bengal. The members of these local Legislative Councils are appointed by the Viceroy, and their Acts, which can only deal with provincial matters, are subject to his sanction. The Presidencies of Madras and Bombay, and the Lieutenant- 1 ‘Cases of high importance, and essentially affecting the public interest and welfare ’ (33 Geo. ill. c. 52, sec. 47) ; ‘when any measure is proposed whereby the safety, tranquillity, or interests of the British possessions in India may, in the judgment of the Governor-General, be essentially affected ’ (3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 85, sec. 49) ; ‘ cases of emergency ’ (24 and 25 Viet, c. 67, sec. 23). 2 The lineal descendant of the original Council organized under the charters of the Company, first constituted by Parliamentary sanction in 1773 (13 Geo. hi. c. 63, sec. 7). 3 The mechanism and working of the Governor-General’s Council, and of the Secretariats, and chief Departments of the Indian Administration, are described in my Life of the Earl of Mayo, vol. i. pp. 189-202 (2nd ed.). 4 Originally identical with the Executive Council, upon which legislative powers were conferred by 13 Geo. in. c. 63, sec. 36. The distinction between the two Councils was first recognised in the appointment of ‘ the fourth member ’ (3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 85, sec. 40). V 33° High Courts of Justice. The law of British India. Provincial Admini- stration. Madras. Bombay. Bengal. INDIA. [administration Governorships of Bengal and of the North-Western Provinces, have each a High Court,1 supreme both in civil and criminal business, with an ultimate appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England. Of the minor Provinces, the Punjab has a Chief Court, with three judges ; the Central Provinces, Oudh, and Mysore have each a Judicial Com- missioner, who sits alone ; while in Assam and British Burma, the Chief Commissioner, or supreme executive officer, is also the highest judicial authority. The law administered in the Indian Courts consists mainly of— (i) the enactments of the Indian Legislative Councils (Imperial and Provincial), as above described, and of the bodies which preceded them ; (2) statutes of the British Parliament which apply to India ; (3) the Hindu and Muhammadan laws of inheritance, and their domestic law in causes affecting Hindus and Muhammadans ; (4) the Customary Law affecting particular castes and races. Much has been done towards consolidating special sections of the Indian law 3 2 and in the Indian penal code, together with the codes of civil and criminal procedure, we have memorable examples of such efforts. But although the Governor-General-in-Council is theoretically supreme over every part of India alike,3 his actual authority is not everywhere exercised in the same direct manner. For ordinary purposes of administration, British India is partitioned into Provinces, each with a government of its own 3 and certain of the Native States are attached to those Provinces with which they are most nearly connected geographically. These Pro- vinces, again, enjoy various degrees of independence. The two sister Presidencies of Madras and Bombay still retain many marks of their original equality with Bengal. They each have an army and a civil service of their own. They are each administered by a Governor appointed direct from England. They have each an Executive and a Legislative Council, whose functions are analogous to those of the Councils of the Governor- General, although subject to his control.4 They thus possess a domestic legislature 3 and in administrative matters, also, the interference of the Viceroy is a somewhat remote contingency. Of the other Provinces, Bengal, or rather Lower Bengal, occupies a peculiar position. Like the North-Western Pro- 1 Constituted out of the Supreme Courts and the Sudder (Sadr) Courts in 1861 (24 and 25 Viet. c. 104). - Ante , p. 124. 3 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 85, secs. 39 and 65. 4 24 and 25 Viet. c. 67, sec. 42. INDIA. OF BRITISH INDIA.] 331 vinces and the Punjab, it is administered by a single official with the style of Lieutenant-Governor, who is controlled by no Executive Council ; but, unlike those two Provinces, Bengal has a Legislative Council, so far preserving a sign of its early pre-eminence. The remaining Provinces, whether ruled by a Minor Lieutenant-Governor or a Chief Commissioner, may be regarded Provinces from a historical point of view as fragments of the original Bengal Presidency,1 which as thus defined, would be co-extensive with all British India not included under Madras or Bombay. Garrisons on the Madras or Bombay establishment may be posted in outlying tracts of the old Bengal territories, but civil officers of the Madras and Bombay Services are excluded. The Lieutenant-Governors and most of the Chief Commissioners are chosen from the Covenanted Civil Service. In executive matters they are the practical rulers, but, excepting the Lieu- tenant-Governor of Bengal, they have no legislative authority. To complete the total area of territory under British admini- stration, it is necessary to add certain ^«ar/-Provinces, under the immediate control of the Viceroy. These consist of— Ajmere, transferred from Rajputana ; Berar, or the Districts assigned by the Nizam of Haidarabad ; the State of Mysore, under British administration since 1830, but restored in March 1881 to its native Raja, who has long been a minor; and the tiny territory of Coorg, in the extreme south.2 Another difference of administration, although now of less ‘The importance than in former times, derives its name from the old Regulations, or uniform rules of law and practice which preceded the present system of Acts of the Legislature. These Regulations have been from time to time withdrawn as regards certain tracts of country which, from their backward state of civilisation or other causes, seemed to require exceptional treatment. In non-Regulation territory, broadly speaking, a Non- larger measure of discretion is allowed to the officials, both in Regulation the collection of revenue and in the administration of civil temtorj • justice ; strict rules of procedure yield to the local exigencies ; and the judicial and executive departments are to a great extent combined in the same hands. Closely connected with this indulgence in favour of the personal element in admini- stration, a wider field is also permitted for the selection of the administrative staff, which is not confined to the Covenanted Civil Service, but includes military officers on the staff and also 1 See article Bengal, Imperial Gazetteer , vol. ii. p. 1. 2 For the constitution of each of these Provinces, see their articles in the Imperial Gazetteer. For a list of them, see ante , p. 61. 332 INDIA. ‘ Deputy Commis- sioners.’ The ‘ Dis- trict ’ or territorial unit. The Dis- trict Officer or ‘Collector- Magis- trate.’ Duties of the ‘ Col- lector- Magis- trate. ’ [THE ‘ COLLECTOR.’ uncovenanted civilians. The title of the highest executive official in a District of a Regulation Province is that of Col- lector-Magistrate. In a non-Regulation District, the corre- sponding officer is styled the Deputy Commissioner ; and the supreme authority in a non-Regulation Province is called, not a Lieutenant-Governor, but a Chief Commissioner. The Central Provinces and British Burma are examples of non-Regulation Provinces ; but non-Regulation Districts are to be found also in Bengal and the North-Western Provinces. Their existence is always disclosed by the title of ‘ Deputy Commissioner.’ Alike in Regulation and in non-Regulation territory, the unit of administration is the District — a word of very definite meaning in official phraseology. The District officer, whether known as Collector-Magistrate or as Deputy Commissioner, is the responsible head of his jurisdiction. Upon his energy and personal character depends ultimately the efficiency of our Indian Government. His own special duties are so numerous and so various as to bewfilder the outsider; and the work of his subordinates, European and native, largely depends upon the stimulus of his personal example. His position has been compared to that of the French prefet ; but such a comparison is unjust in many ways to the Indian District officer. He is not a creature of the Home Office, who takes his colour from his chief, and represents only officialism ; but an active w'orker in every department of the public well-being, with a large measure of local independence and of individual initiative. As the name of Collector - Magistrate implies, his main functions are twofold. He is a fiscal officer, charged with the collection of the revenue from the land and other sources ; he also is a civil and criminal judge, both of first instance and in appeal. But his title by no means exhausts his multifarious duties. He does in his smaller local sphere all that the Home Secretary superintends in England, and a great deal more ; for he is the representative of a paternal and not of a constitutional government. Police, jails, education, municipalities, roads, sanitation, dispensaries, the local taxation, and the imperial revenues of his District, are to him matters of daily concern. He is expected to make himself acquainted with every phase of the social life of the natives, and with each natural aspect of the country. He should be a lawyer, an accountant, a surveyor, and a ready writer of State papers. He ought also to possess no mean knowledge of agriculture, political economy, and engineering. INDIA. 333 THE SECRETARIAT.] The total number of Districts in British India is about 240. Number of They vary greatly in size and number of inhabitants. The average area is 3778 square miles, ranging from 6612 square India, miles in Madras to 1999 square miles in Oudh. The average population is 802,927 souls, similarly ranging from 1,508,219 in Madras to 161,597 in Burma. The Madras Districts are thus both the largest and the most populous. In every other Pro- vince but Madras, the Districts are grouped into larger areas, known as Divisions, each under the charge of a Commissioner. But these Divisions are not properly units of administration, as the Districts are. They are aggregates of units, formed only for Their convenience of supervision, so that an intermediate authority varying may exercise the universal watchfulness which would be im- slze' possible for a distant Lieutenant-Governor. The Districts are again partitioned out into lesser tracts, Sub- called Subdistricts, revenue tahs'ils , fiscal pargands, and police Districts. thdnds. The preceding sketch of Indian administration would be The Secre- incomplete without a reference to the Secretariat, or central tariat : bureau of each Province, which controls and gives unity to the whole. From the Secretariat are issued the orders that regulate or modify the details of administration; into the Secretariat come the multifarious reports from the local officers, to be there digested for future reference. But although the Secretaries may enjoy the social life of the Presidency capitals, with higher salaries and better prospects of promotion, the efficiency of our Rule rests ultimately upon the shoulders of the District officers, who bear the burden and heat of the day, with fewer opportunities of winning fame or reward. The Secre- tariat of the Supreme Government of India consists of six 0f the branches, each of which deals with a special department of the Govenv administration. The officers who preside over them are named jncj;a . respectively, the Foreign Secretary, the Home Secretary, the Financial Secretary, the Military Secretary, the Public Works Secretary, and the Secretary in the Legislative Department. In the Presidencies, Lieutenant-Governorships, and Chief Com- 0f the missionerships, the Provincial Secretariat is formed on the same local model, but the Secretaries are only from one to three in men™ number. The Land Tax. — The land furnishes the chief source of Indian revenue, and the collection of the land tax forms the main work of Indian administration. No technical term is 334 INDIA. [land tax. Land Settle- ment. Ancient land system of India. Musalman land tax. more familiar to Anglo-Indians, and none more obscure to the English public, than that of ‘land settlement.’ Nor has any subject given rise to more voluminous controversy. It will here suffice to explain the general principles upon which the system is based, and to indicate the chief differences in their applica- tion to the several Provinces. That the State should appro- priate to itself a share of the produce of the soil, is a maxim of finance which has been recognised throughout the East from time immemorial. The germs of rival systems in India can be traced in the survival of military and other service tenures, and in the poll tax of Assam and Burma. The early development of the Indian land system was due to two con- ditions,— a comparatively high state of agriculture, and an or- ganized plan of administration, — both of which were supplied by the primitive village community. During the lapse of generations, despite domestic anarchy and foreign conquest, the Hindu village preserved its simple customs, written only in the imperishable tablets of tradition. In the ancient village community, the land was held, not by private owners, but by occupiers under the village corporation : the Hindu revenue was due, not from individuals, but from the village community represented by its head-man. The harvest of the hamlet was dealt with as a common fund ; and before the general distri- bution, the head-man was bound to set aside the share of the king. No other system of taxation could be theoretically more just, or in practice less obnoxious, to the people. This ancient land system may still be found in parts of India, both under British and native rule ; and it prevailed almost universally before the Muhammadan conquest. The Musalmans brought with them the avarice of conquerors, and a stringent system of revenue collection. Under the Mughal Empire, as organized by Akbar the Great, the share of the State was fixed at one-third of the gross produce of the soil ; and an army of tax-collectors intervened between the cultivator and the supreme government. The vocabu- lary of our own land system is borrowed from the Mughal administration. The zamindar himself is a creation of the Muhammadans, unknown to the early Hindu system. He was originally a mere tax-collector, or farmer of the land revenue, who agreed to pay a lump sum from the tract of country assigned to him. But the Hindu chief or local mag- nate was often accepted by the Mughals as the zamindar , or revenue contractor, for the lands under his control. In this way, the Indian zamindars as a body are of mixed origin, and PRIVATE RIGHTS.] INDIA. 335 represent in some cases not merely an official status, but hereditary rights. If the Hindu village system may be praised for its justice, the Mughal farming system had at least the merit of efficiency. Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, as we have seen,1 extracted a larger land revenue than we obtain at the present day. When the responsibility of governing the country was first The Corn- undertaken by the East India Company, no attempt was Pjj?jy * made to understand the social system upon which the payment of land revenue was based. The zaminddr was conspicuous The and useful ; the village community and the cultivating ray at did za mindar ■ not force themselves into notice. The zaminddr seemed a solvent person, capable of keeping a contract ; and his official position as tax-collector was confused with the proprietary rights of an English landlord. In Bengal, the zaminddr has been raised by law to the status of a proprietor, holding at a quit-rent payable to the State, fixed in perpetuity. In Madras and most other parts of India, the actual cultivator has been raised to the same status, subject also to a quit-rent, fixed at intervals of thirty years. The aim of the British authorities has Growth of everywhere been to establish private property in the soil, so far P.^’^te as is consistent with the punctual payment of the revenue. The annual Government demand, like the succession duty Landed in England, is the first liability on the land ; when that is P°PeJ.b' satisfied, the registered landholder in Bengal has powers of sale or mortgage scarcely more restricted than those of a tenant in fee-simple. At the same time, the possible hardships, as regards the cultivator, of this absolute right of property vested in the owner have been anticipated by the recognition of occupancy rights or fixity of tenure, under certain conditions. Legal titles have everywhere taken the place of unwritten cus- toms. Land, which was merely a source of livelihood to the cultivator and of revenue to the State, has become a valuable property to the holders. The fixing of the revenue demand has conferred upon the holder a credit which he never before possessed, and created for him a source of future profit arising out of the unearned increment. This credit he may use im- providently. But none the less has the land system of India been raised from a lower to a higher stage of civilisation ; that is to say, from holdings in common to holdings in severalty, and from the corporate possession of the village community to individual proprietary rights. With regard to the money rates of the assessment, ample 1 See ante, pp. 240, 241, and post, pp. 351-353. INDIA. 336 [survey and The Land Settle- ment. Village Survey. Process of Settle- ment. evidence exists. They may be broadly stated to vary from 4d. to 4s. 6d. per cultivated acre, according to the quality of the land. The average is about 2s. per cultivated acre. In the North-Western Provinces they average 2s. 1 id. per acre. In the Punjab, with the same system of Land Settlement, but an inferior soil, they average is. 4d. But the actual share of the crop, represented by these rates, is a very difficult problem. The Mughal assessment was fixed at one-third of the produce. Under many native rulers, this rate was increased to one-half, and under some to three-fifths. For example, I found that in Parikud the Raja’s officers used to take f£ths of the crop on the threshing-floor, leaving only two-fifths to the cultivator.1 The English revenue officers adhere to the old theory of a third of the produce, but they make so many deductions in favour of the peasant, as to reduce the Government share to about one-seventeenth of the crop. This question will be dis- cussed in some detail in my general comparison of English and Mughal taxation.2 It must here suffice to say that the Famine Commissioners, the only body who have had the whole evidence before them, estimate the land tax throughout British India ‘ at from 3 per cent, to 7 per cent, of the gross out- turn.’ The old native basis of division, although retained in name in some Provinces, has disappeared in practice. Instead of the ruling power taking from 33 to 60 per cent., the average land tax of the British Government throughout India is only 5-g per cent, of the produce of the fields. The means by which the land revenue is assessed is known as Settlement, and the assessor is styled a Settlement Officer. In Lower Bengal, the assessment has been accomplished once and for all ; but throughout the greater part of India the process is ever going on. The details vary in the different Provinces ; but, broadly speaking, a Settlement may be described as the ascertainment of the agricultural capacity of the land. Prior to the Settlement is the work of Survey, which determines the area of every village, and in some Provinces of every field. Then comes the Settlement Officer, whose duty it is to esti- mate the character of the soil, the kind of crop, the oppor- tunities for irrigation, the present means of communication, their probable development, and all other circumstances which tend to affect the value of the produce. With these facts before him, he proceeds to assess the Government demand upon the land, according to certain general principles, which may vary in the several Provinces. The final result is a Settlement Report, 1 See my Orissa, vol. i. p. 34 (ed. 1872). 2 See post, pp. 352-354. INDIA. 337 SETTLEMENT.] which records, as in a Domesday Book, the whole agricul- tural statistics concerning the District. Lower Bengal, and a few adjoining Districts of the North- The Per- Western Provinces and of Madras, enjoy a Permanent Settle- Settlement ment, i.e. the land revenue has been fixed in perpetuity. When of Bengal, the Company obtained the diwdni or financial administration of Bengal in 1765, the theory of a Settlement, as described above, was unknown. The existing Muhammadan system was adopted in its entirety. Engagements, sometimes yearly, some- Our first times for a term of years, were entered into with the zaminddrs to pay a lump sum for the area over which they exercised con- trol. If the offer of the zaminddr was not deemed satisfactory, another contractor was substituted in his place. But no steps were taken, and perhaps no steps were then possible, to ascertain in detail the amount which the country could afford to pay. For more than twenty years this practice of temporary engagements continued, and received the sanction of Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of India. Hastings’ great rival, Francis, was among those who urged the superior advantages of a permanent assessment. At last, in 1789, a more accurate Permanent investigation into the agricultural resources of Bengal was Settle- carried out ; and the Settlement based upon this investigation was declared perpetual by Lord Cornwallis in 1793.1 The zaminddrs were thus raised to the status of landlords, Proprietors with rights of transfer and inheritance, subject only to the by payment in perpetuity of a rent-charge. In default of due pay- ment, their lands were to be sold to the highest bidder. The assessment of Lower Bengal was fixed at sikkd Rs. 26,800,989, Fixed equivalent to Rs. 28,587,722, or say millions sterling. By the year 1871-72, the total land revenue realized from the same Bengal, area had increased to Rs. 35,208,866, chiefly owing to the 1793- inclusion of estates which had escaped the original assessment on various pretexts. While the claim of Government against the zaminddrs was thus fixed for ever, the law intended that the rights of the zaminddrs over their own tenants should equitably be restricted. But no detailed record of tenant-right was inserted in the Settlement papers ; and as a matter of fact, the cultivators lost rather than gained in security of tenure. The rights of the landlord, as against the State, were defined by the Regulations of 1793 ; the rights of the tenants, as against the landlord, were 1 The personal aspects of this measure, and the parts played by the Court of Directors, the Governor-General (Lord Cornwallis), and his chief Indian adviser (John Shore), are narrated ante, pp. 295, 296. 338 Inter- mediate tenure- holders. Imperfect survey of Bengal. Cultivators oppressed, 1799-1812. Land Law of 1859. Land re- form of 1859. INDIA. [land i, aw, 1859. ‘ reserved ’ by those Regulations, but were not defined. The landlord could therefore go into Court with a precise legal status ; the cultivator could only shelter himself under vague customary rights. The zammddr is the only person recognised by the revenue law ; but in a large number of cases the zammddr has in effect parted with all his interest in the land, by means of the creation of perpetual leases or patnis. These leases are usually granted in consideration of a lump sum paid down and an annual rent. The pat?iiddr may in turn create an indefinite series of sub- tenures beneath his own, such as dar-patnis, se-patnis, etc. I have mentioned that the Permanent Settlement of 1793 was not preceded by any systematic survey. But in the course of the past thirty years, Lower Bengal has been sub- jected to a professional survey, which determined the boun- daries of every village, and issued maps on the scale of 4 inches to the mile. This survey, however, has only a topo- graphical value. Few statistical inquiries were made, and no record obtained of rights in the soil. Even the village land- marks then set up have been suffered to fall into decay. By two stringent Regulations in 1799 and 1812, the tenant was placed at the mercy of a rack-renting landlord. If he failed to pay his rent, however excessive, his property was rendered liable to distraint, and his person to imprisonment. At the same time, the operation of the revenue sale law had introduced a new race of zam’mddrs, who were bound to their tenants by no traditions of hereditary sympathy, but whose sole object was to make a profit out of their newly purchased pro- perty. The rack-rented peasantry found little protection in our courts until 1859, when an Act was passed which considerably restricted the landlord’s powers of enhancement in certain specified cases. The Land Law of 1859 divided the cultivators into four classes : — First, those who had held their holdings at the same rates since 1793. It ordained that the rents of such tenants should not be raised at all. Second, those who had held their land at the same rent for twenty years. It ordained that such tenants should be presumed by law to have held since 1793, unless the contrary was proved. Third, those who had held for twelve years. To such tenants it gave a right of occupancy, under which their rents could be raised only for certain specified reasons by a suit at law. Fourth, those who had held for less than twelve years. These were left by Act x. of 1859 to make what bargain they could with the landlords. TENANT RIGHT, l88o.] INDIA. 339 Further experience, since 1859, has shown that even these Subse- provisions are inadequate to avert the wholesale enhancement ' ' of rents in Bengal. The Government accordingly issued a Commission in 1879 t0 inquire into the questions involved ; Rent Com - and the report of the Commission has just reached England. ™'^10n> The Commissioners of 1879 would confirm all the rights given to the peasant by the Land Code of 1859, and they propose to augment them. The first class of cultivators, who have held their land at the same rates since 1793, can never have their rent raised. The second class, or those who have Its pro- thus held for twenty years, are still presumed to have held jggg ^ since 1793. The third class of cultivators, who have held for twelve years, would have their privileges increased. Their occupancy rights would be consolidated into a valuable peasant-tenure, transferable by sale, gift, or inheritance. The Commissioners also propose that any increase in the value of the land or of the crop, not arising from the agency of either the landlord or the ‘ occupancy tenant,’ shall hence- forth be divided equally between them. This provision is a very important one in a country like Bengal, where new railways, new roads, and the increase of the people and of trade constantly tend to raise the price of the agricultural staples. What political economists call the ‘ unearned incre- ment,’ would, if this proposal is adopted, be halved between the proprietor and the cultivator with occupancy rights. But the great changes proposed by the Rent Commissioners of 1879 refer to the fourth or lowest class of husbandmen, who have held for less than twelve years, and whom the Land Code of 1859 admitted to no rights whatever. The Com- Three missioners would accord a quasi-occupancy right to all tenants who have held for three years. If the landlord demands an increased rent from such a tenant, and the tenant prefers to leave rather than submit to the enhancement, then the land- lord must pay him — first, a substantial compensation for dis- turbance, and second, a substantial compensation for improve- ments. The compensation for disturbance is calculated at a Compensa- sum equal to one year’s increased rent, as demanded by the landlord. Whether these proposals will become law remains ance. to be seen. The Permanent Settlement was confined to the three Pro- vinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, according to their bound- aries at that time. Orissa Proper, which was conquered from Orissa the Marhattas in 1803, is subject to a temporary Settlement, of which the current term of thirty years will not expire until 1897. 1803-38. 340 INDIA. [land system Assam Settle- ment, yearly. Rdyatwdri Settlement in Madras. Its history. Zaminddri system failed. Sir Thomas Munro, 1820. Madras method of assess- ment : The assessment is identical with that fixed in 1838, which was based upon a careful field measurement and upon an investi- gation into the rights of every landholder and under-tenant. The Settlement, however, was made with the landholder, and not with the tenant; and in practice the rights of the cultivators are on the same footing as in Bengal. In Assam Proper, or the valley of the Brahmaputra, the system of settlement is simple and effective. The cultivated area is artificially divided into mauzas or blocks, over each of which is placed a native official or mauzadar. Every year the mauzadar ascertains the area actually under cultivation, and then assesses the fields, according to their character, at a prescribed rate. The prevailing system throughout the Madras Presidency is the rdyatwdri , which takes the cultivator or peasant pro- prietor as its rent-paying unit, as the Bengal system takes the zaminddr. This system cannot be called indigenous to the country, any more than the zaminddri is to Bengal. When the British declared themselves heir to the Nawab of the Karnatic at the beginning of the present century, they had no adequate experience of revenue management. The authorities in England favoured the zaminddri system already at work in Bengal, — a system which appeared best calculated to secure punctual payment. The Madras Government was accordingly instructed to enter into permanent engagements with zaminddrs; and where no zaminddrs could be found, to create substitutes out of enterprising contractors. The attempt resulted in utter failure, except in tracts where the zaminddrs happened to be the representatives of ancient lines or powerful chiefs. Several such chiefs exist in the extreme south and in the north of the Presidency. Their estates have been guaranteed to them on payment of a peshkash or permanent tribute, and are saved by the custom of primogeniture from the usual fate of subdivision. Throughout the rest of Madras, the influence of Sir Thomas Munro led to the adoption of the rdyatwdri system, which will always be associated with his name. According to this system, an assessment is made with the cultivator upon the land actually taken for cultivation. Neither zaminddr nor village community intervenes between the cultivator and the State. The early rdyatwdri settle- ments in Madras were based upon insufficient experience. They were preceded by no survey, and they had to adopt the crude estimates of native officials. Since 1858, a department of Revenue Survey has been organized, and the assessment carried out de novo. Nothing can be more complete in theory than a OF MADRAS.] INDIA. 34i Madras rayatwari settlement. First, the area of the entire first, District, whether cultivated or uncultivated, and of each field within the District, is accurately measured. The next step is to second, calculate the estimated produce of each field, having regard ,of to every kind of both natural and artificial advantage. Lastly, an equitable rate is fixed upon every field. The elaborate third, fixing nature of these inquiries and calculations may be inferred 1 16 rates' from the fact that as many as 35 different rates are sometimes struck for a single District, ranging from as low as 6d. to as high as j£i, 4s. per acre. The rates thus ascertained are Thirty fixed for a term of thirty years ; but during that period the ^ftat^ment aggregate rent-roll of a District is liable to be affected by several considerations. New land may be taken up for culti- vation, or old land may be abandoned ; and occasional remis- sions may be permitted under no fewer than eighteen specified heads. Such matters are decided by the Collector at the jamdbandi Madras or inquest held every year for ascertaining the amount °f janiMandi revenue to be paid by each rdyat for the current season. This annual inquiry has sometimes been mistaken for a yearly reassessment of the rdyat's holding. It is not, however, a change in the rates for the land which he already holds, but an • inquiry into and record of the changes in his holding, or of any new land he may wish to take up. Certain of the Madras Districts on the seaboard adjoining Permanent Bengal were granted on a Permanent Settlement to zaminddrs, Settlement hereditary native chiefs or revenue - farmers. The land thus permanently settled forms one-eighth of the area of Madras. Throughout the other seven-eighths, the rayatwari settlement has raised the cultivator into a peasant proprietor. This person was formerly the actual tiller of the soil. But as population increased under British rule, the value of the land rose, and the peasant proprietor has in many cases been able to sub-let his holding to poorer cultivators, and Sub- to live, in whole or part, off the rent. The Government tenures- has during the same period decreased rather than increased its average land tax per acre throughout the Madras Presi- dency. For as the people multiplied, they were forced back upon inferior soils, and the average Government demand per The culti- acre has been proportionately diminished. But the very vator same process of falling back on the inferior soils has, accord- mto ing to economical principles, created the possibility of levy- prietor. ing a rent from the superior soils. This rent is enjoyed by the former cultivators, many of whom are thus growing 3 42 INDIA. [land system into petty landholders, living upon the rent of fields which their fathers tilled with their own hands. An idea of the increase of population in Madras, and of Extension the extension of cultivation, may be obtained from the follow- in Madras in§ figures: — In j853, the general population was estimated 1853-78. at 22 millions; in 1878, at 31^ millions, showing an increase of 43 per cent., or nearly one-half. The cultivated land, held by husbandmen direct from the State, had increased from 1 2 to 20 millions of acres, or 66 per cent., exactly two-thirds. The area of tillage had, therefore, not only kept pace with the Exceeds increase of population, but had extended at a ratio of 50 per ^th cent, more rapidly. This resulted partly from the fact that illation^01 the inferior lands, now reclaimed, could not support so large an average of people as the superior lands, which were already in cultivation at the commencement of the period. The Government recognised this, and has accordingly increased its rental only from 3 millions to 3i millions sterling ; being only 26 per cent., or one-fourth, while the area of cultivation has increased by 66 per cent. The Government, in fact, has reduced its average rental over the total area of cultivation from 5s. an acre in 1853 to 3s. rod. an acre in 1878, or over 23 per cent., say one-fourth. According to the ordinary theory of rent, rates should have risen enormously during that period ; and they have risen enormously wherever the land is held by private proprietors. As regards the Madras Presidency, Reduction the facts may be recapitulated thus. During the 25 years landtax26 enc^n§ 1878, the area of cultivation has increased by 66 per cent., or two-thirds ; the population by 43 per cent., or nearly one-half ; and the Government rental by only 26 per cent., or one-fourth ; while the average rates of rent per acre have been actually reduced by over 23 per cent., or nearly one-fourth, from 5s. an acre in 1853 to 3s. rod. an acre in 1878. Instead of taking advantage of the increase of population to enhance the rental, the Madras Government has realized the fact that the increase in numbers means a harder struggle for life, and has reduced instead of enhancing, according to the economic laws of rent, the average rates throughout its domains. Land Bombay, again, has a land system of its own, which requires Bombay* to distinguished from the rdyatwari of Madras, though resembling it in some particulars. In the early days of our rule, no regular method existed throughout the Bombay Pre- sidency ; and at the present time there are tracts where something of the old confusion survives. The modern ‘survey tenure,’ as it is called, dates from 1838, when it was INDIA. 343 OF BOMBAY.] first introduced into one of the talukas of Poona District : it The has since been gradually extended over the greater part of the tenure^ of Presidency. As its name implies, the Settlement is preceded Bombay, by survey. Each field is measured, and an assessment placed upon it according to the quality of the soil and the crop. This assessment holds good for a term of thirty years. The ordinary rates vary in different Districts from 4s. 6d. an acre its rates, in the rich black-soil lands of Guzerat, to rod. an acre in the hills of the Konkan. The primary characteristic of the Bombay system is its Its sim- simplicity. The field is the unit, and its actual occupier is plicity‘ the only person recognised by the revenue law. He knows exactly what he will have to pay, and the State knows what it will receive, during the currency of the term. The assess- ment is, in fact, a quit-rent liable to be modified at intervals of thirty years. The Bombay system is also characterised by its fairness to the tenant. He possesses ‘ a transferable and heritable property, continuable without question at the expira- tion of a settlement lease, on his consenting to the revised rate.’ To borrow a metaphor from English law, his position has been raised from that of a villein to that of a copyholder. In place of the bare permission to occupy the soil, he has its advan- received a right of property in it. If the Bombay peasants ^esrto have not reaped all the advantages from this system that vident° might have been hoped for, the fault rests not with the system, but with themselves. Some of them have proved Its disad- unequal to the responsibilities of property which they had not won by their own exertions. In rich districts, the men who provident, were recorded as the actual occupiers are able to let their land to poorer cultivators, and so live off the toil of others upon fields which they themselves had formerly to till. But these proprietary rights give the peasant a power of borrowing which he did not possess before. In certain parts, especially in the dry Districts of the high-lying Deccan, the husbandmen have got hopelessly into debt to the village bankers. The peasant was often improvident, the seasons were sometimes unfortunate, the money-lender was always severe. Amid the tumults of native rule, the usurers lent com- Debts of paratively small sums. If the peasant failed to pay, they tfie Deccan could not evict him or sell his holding ; because, among other peasant' reasons, there was more land than there were people to till it. The native Government, moreover, could not afford to lose a tenant. Accordingly the bankrupt peasant went on, year after year, paying as much interest as the money-lender could 344 INDIA. [BOMBAY. Bombay Relief Act, 1879. Its pro- visions for the hus- bandman. squeeze out of him ; until the next Marhatta invasion or Muhammadan rebellion swept away the whole generation of usurers, and so cleared off the account. Under our rule there is no chance of such relief for insolvent debtors ; and our rigid enforcement of contracts, together with the increase of the population, has armed the creditor with powers formerly unknown. For the peasant’s holding under the British Government has become a valuable property, and he can be readily sold out, as there are always plenty of husbandmen anxious to buy in. The result is twofold. In the first place, the village banker lends larger sums, for the security is in- creased ; and in the second place, he can push the peasantry to extremities by eviction, a legal process which was economi- cally impossible under native rule. In Bengal, the cry of the peasant is for protection against the landlord. In South-western India, it is for protection against the money-lender. After a careful inquiry, the Govern- ment determined to respond to that cry. It has practically said to the village bankers : ‘ A state of things has grown up under British rule which enables you to push the cultivators, by means of our Courts, to extremities unknown under the native dynasties, and repugnant to the customs of India. Hence- forth, in considering the security on which you lend money, please to know that the peasant cannot be imprisoned or sold out of his farm to satisfy your claims ; and we shall free him from the life-long burden of those claims by a mild bankruptcy- law.’ Such is the gist of the Southern India Agriculturists’ Relief Act of 1879. This Act provides, in the first place, for small rural debtors of ^5 and under. If the Court is satisfied that such a debtor is really unable to pay the whole sum, it may direct the pay-ment of such portion as it considers that he can pay, and grant him a discharge for the balance. To debtors for larger amounts, it gives the protection of an Insolvency Act. No agriculturist shall henceforth be arrested or imprisoned in execution of a decree for money. In addition to the old provisions against the sale of the necessary implements of his trade, no agri- culturist’s immoveable property shall be attached or sold in execution of any decree, unless it has been specifically mort- gaged for the debt to which such decree relates. But even when it has been specifically mortgaged, the Court may order the debtor’s holding to be cultivated, for a period not exceed- ing seven years, on behalf of the creditor, after allowing a sufficient portion of it for the support of the debtor and his INDIA. 345 RELIEF ACT.] family. At the end of the seven years, the debtor is dis- charged. If the debtor himself applies for relief under the Insolvency clauses, the procedure is as follows : — His moveable property, less the implements of his trade, are liable to sale for his debts. His immoveable property, or farm, is divided into two parts, one of which is set aside as ‘ required for the support of the insolvent and members of his family dependent on him,’ while the remainder is to be managed on behalf of his creditors. But ‘nothing in this section shall authorize the Court to take into possession any houses or other buildings belonging to, and occupied by, an agriculturist.’ Village arbitrators or ‘ conciliators ’ are appointed by the same Act, ‘ Concilia- and every creditor must first try to settle his claims before tors' them. If the effort at arbitration fails, the ‘ conciliator ’ shall give the applicant a certificate to that effect. No suit to which an agriculturist (residing within any local area to which a * conciliator ’ has been appointed) is a party, shall be enter- tained by any Civil Court, unless the plaintiff produces a certificate from the ‘ conciliator ’ that arbitration has been attempted and failed. The North-Western Provinces and the Punjab have practically Land one land system. In that part of India, the village community has preserved its integrity more completely than elsewhere, vince's and Government therefore recognises the village, and not the zamtn- Punjab- dor’s estate or the rayafs field, as the unit of land admini- stration. Throughout the North-Western Provinces, however, the village is commonly owned by a proprietary body, called zamindars; whereas in the Punjab the joint community is still the proprietor. But this is a distinction of tenure rather than of administration. In both cases alike, the State recognises only the village, and makes its arrangement with the owners of the village, whether they be one or many, whether they be indi- viduals, a joint corporation, or a bhayachdra (brotherhood). The survey is a more comprehensive undertaking than in Corporate Madras or Bombay. In addition to the processes of measure- holdings, ment, and agricultural appraisement, it includes the duty of drawing up an exhaustive record of all rights and sub- tenures existing in every village. The proprietors are alone responsible for the revenue ; but while the State limits its claims against them, it defines the rights of all other parties interested in the soil. The term of settlement in the North- Western Provinces and in the Punjab is thirty years. The principle of assessment is that the Government revenue shall be equal to one-half of the improved rent, leaving the other z 346 INDIA. Land system of Oudh. The taluk- jars. Land system of Central Provinces. Land revenue of British India. [land SYSTEM. half as the share of the landlord, who is liable for due pay- ment, and has the trouble of collecting it from the cultivators. The average rate of assessment is about 2s. ird. per acre in the North-Western Provinces, and is. 4d. in the Punjab. Oudh, the Indian Province most recently acquired, has a peculiar land system, arising out of its local history. The Oudh tdlukdars resemble English landlords more closely even than do the zamindars of Bengal. In origin, they were not revenue-farmers but territorial magnates, whose influence was derived from feudal authority, military command, or hereditary sway. Their present legal status dates from the pacification after the Mutiny of 1857. The engagement then entered into has been described as a political treaty, rather than a revenue assessment. The great tdlukdars were invited to become responsible each for a gross sum payable from the territory over which he exercised feudal rights. The excep- tional position of the tdlukdars was recognised by conferring upon them, not only the privilege of succession by primogeni- ture, but also the power of bequest by Will — a land-right unknown alike to Hindu and Muhammadan law. Land not comprised in tdlukddri estates was settled in the ordinary way with its proprietors or zamindars for a term of thirty- years. The whole of Oudh has since been accurately surveyed. The Central Provinces contain many varieties of land tenure, from the feudatory chiefs, who pay a light tribute, to the village communities, who are assessed after survey. Population is sparse and agriculture backward, so that the incidence of land revenue is everywhere low. The survey was conducted generally on the Punjab system, adopting the village as the unit of measurement. But in the Central Provinces the British Government gave proprietory rights to the former revenue-farmers, or fiscal managers of villages, under native rule. It thus created a body of landholders between itself and the cultivators. Of the rental paid by the husbandmen, the Government ordinarily takes one-half as land tax, and allows one-half to the proprietory body. The current settlement, for a term of thirty years, will expire in 1897. The gross land revenue realized from territory under British administration in India, during the ten years ending 1879, averaged ^20, 963, 069, 1 which is raised to about 22 J millions by the inclusion of certain local rates and cesses levied on land. This latter figure shows an average of 9^d. per acre 1 Parliamentary Abstract relating to British India, 14th November (1SS0). p. 27. SALT TAX.] INDIA. 347 of gross area, or 2s. per cultivated acre; and 2s. 4^d. per head of total population. The highest rate of assessment appears to be that in Bombay, which is 3s. io|d. per head; the lowest, is. 2-^d. per head in Bengal and Assam. The net land revenue realized from British India, deducting charges of collection, during the ten years ending 1881, averaged 18J millions sterling. In 1880-81, the Budget estimate was 21^ millions gross, and 18^ millions net} Salt Tax. — Salt ranks next to land revenue among the Salt items of actual taxation in India ; opium being excluded, as paid by the Chinese consumer. Broadly speaking, the salt consumed in India is derived from four sources — (1) importation by sea, chiefly from the mines of Cheshire ; Sources of (2) solar evaporation in shallow tanks along the seaboard ; salt" (3) gatherings from the Salt Lakes in Rajputana; (4) quarrying in the Salt Hills of the Northern Punjab. Until recently, the tax levied upon salt varied very much in different parts of the country;' and a numerous preventive staff was stationed along a continuous barrier hedge, which almost cut the peninsula into two fiscal sections. The reform of Sir J. Strachey in 1878, by which the higher rates have been reduced and the lower rates raised, with a view to their ultimate equalization over the whole country, has effectually abolished this engine of oppression. Com- munication is now free; and it has been found that prices are lowered by thus bringing the consumer nearer to his market, even though the rate of taxation be increased. In the Punjab and Rajputana, salt administration has now become, as in Lower Bengal, a simple matter of weighing quantities and levying a uniform tax. In Bombay, also, the manufacture is now conducted with a minimum of expense at large central depots in Guzerat, under a thorough system of excise supervision. Along the western coast, however, from Orissa to Cape Comorin, the process of evaporating sea-water is carried on as a private industry, although on the Government account. Like the poppy cultivation in Bengal, the manufacture of salt in Madras is a monopoly, which can be defended by the circum- stances of the case. No one is compelled to manufacture, and rights of property in a salt-pan are strictly respected ; while the State contrives, by means of a careful staff of supervisors, to obtain the maximum of profit with a minimum of inter- ference. The system as at present carried on has been Reform of 1878. Systems of manufac- ture. Working of the monopoly in Madras. 1 Parliamentary Return, dated 8th July 1880. 348 INDIA. [salt tax. Cost of salt in Madras. Duty of salt. Equaliza- tion of duty. Process of manufac- ture. gradually developed from the experience of nearly a century. The manufacturers belong to the same class as ordinary culti- vators ; and, as a rule, their condition is somewhat more pros- perous, for they possess a hereditary privilege with a com- mercial value. They do not work upon a system of advances, as is the case with so many other Indian industries ; but they are paid at a certain rate when they bring their salt to the Government depot. This rate of payment, known as kudiva- ra?n, is at present fixed at an average of i anna 5-8 pies (or about 2^d.) per maund of 82 f lbs. ; the other expenses of the Salt Department for supervision, etc., raise the total cost to 3 annas 5-6 pies (or about 55-d.) per maund. The price now charged to the consumer by the Madras Government is Rs. 2. 8. (or about 5s.) per maund , the balance being net profit. The equal rate of salt duty which will ultimately prevail throughout all India is Rs. 2. 8. a maund, , or 7s. a cwt. This rate is already (1881) levied in Madras, Bombay, the North- Western Provinces, and the Punjab ; but in Bengal, a higher rate is provisionally in force of Rs. 2. 14. a maund , or 8s. a cwt. In British Burma, only 3 annas per maund , or 6d. a cwt, is charged for local consumption, and a transit duty of 1 per cent, ad valorem for salt sent across the frontier. The process of manufacture in Madras is exceedingly simple, and at the same time free from temptations to smuggling. The season lasts from about January to July, in which latter month the downpour of rain usually puts a stop to operations. A site is selected in the neighbourhood of one of those back- waters or inlets which abound along the coast. Before com- mencing, the proprietor of the salt-pan must year by year obtain the consent of the Collector of the District, and must engage to supply a certain quantity of salt. The first step is to form a series of pans or reservoirs of varying degrees of shallowness by banking up the earth, with interconnecting chan- nels. Into the outer and deepest of these pans, the sea-water is baled by means of the lever and bucket-lift, and there allowed to stand for some days until it has by evaporation acquired the consistency of brine. The brine is then passed through the channels into the remainder of the series of gradually shallowing pans. At last, it becomes crystallized salt, and is scraped off for conveyance to the wholesale depot. It is estimated that in a favourable season this process may be repeated de ?iovo from twelve to fifteen times, according as the weather permits ; but a single shower of rain will spoil the whole operation at any stage. INDIAN EXCISE.] INDIA. 349 Excise Duties in India are not a mere tax levied through Excise the private manufacturer and retailer, but (like salt) a species station of Government monopoly. The only excisable articles are intoxicants and drugs ; and the object of the State is to check consumption, not less than to raise revenue. The details vary in the different Provinces, but the general plan of administra- tion is the same. The right to manufacture, and the right to retail, are both monopolies of Government, let out to private individuals upon strict conditions. Distillation of country spirits is permitted under two systems — either to the highest bidder under supervision, or only upon certain spots set apart for the purpose. The latter is known as the sadr or central distillery system. The right of sale is also farmed out Distillery to the highest bidder, subject to regulations fixing the quantity system- of liquor that may be sold at one time. The brewing of Rice-beer, beer from rice and other grains, which is universal among the hill tribes and other aboriginal races, is practically untaxed and unrestrained. The European breweries, recently established at several hill stations, pay a tax at the rate of 6d. a gallon. Excise duties are also levied upon the sale of a number of intoxicating or stimulant drugs, of which the most important are opium and ganja or bhang. Opium is issued for local Opium, consumption in India from the Government manufactories at Patna and Benares, and sold through private retailers at a monopoly price. This drug is chiefly consumed in Assam, Burma, and the Punjab. Ganja is an intoxicating preparation Ganja. made from the flowers and leaves of Indian hemp ( Cannabis saiiva, var. indica). The cultivation of hemp for this purpose is almost confined to a limited area in Rdjshahf District, Bengal, and to the inner valleys of the Himalayas, whence the drug is imported under the name of charas. Its use is a fre- Charas. quent cause, not only of crime, but also of insanity. Govern- ment attempts to check consumption — first, by fixing the retail duty at the highest rate that will not encourage smug- gling ; and second, by continually raising that rate as ex- perience allows. Strictly speaking, ganja consists of the flowering and fruiting heads of the female plant; bhang or siddhi, of the dried leaves and small stalks, with a few fruits ; while charas is the resin itself, collected in various ways as it naturally exudes. No duty is at present levied upon tobacco in any part of British India. The plant is universally grown Tobacco, by the cultivators for their own smoking, and, like everything else, w*as subject to taxation under native rule; but the impos- 35° Municipal admini- stration. The old ‘ Council of Five.’ Municipal statistics. INDIA. [municipalities. sibility of accurate excise supervision has caused the British Government to abandon this impost. The municipalities at present existing in India are a creation of the Legislature ; indeed, a recent branch of our system ot administration. Their origin is to be traced, not to the native panchayat , but to the necessity for relieving the District officer from some of the details of his work. The patichayat or elective Council of Five is one of the institutions most deeply rooted in the Hindu mind. By it the village community was ruled, the head-man being only the executive official, not the legislator or judge ; by it all caste disputes were settled; by it traders and merchants were organized into powerful guilds, to the rules of which even European outsiders have had to submit ; by it the Sfkh army of the khalsa was despotically governed, when the centralized system of Ranji't Sinh fell to pieces at his death. But the Hindu village organization had been broken up under Mughal rule. Police, roads, and sanitation are the three main objects for which a modern Indian municipality is constituted. In rural tracts, these departments are managed (in different Provinces) by the Collector, or by one of his subor- dinate staff, or by a Local Fund Board. Within municipal limits, they are delegated to a Committee, who practically derive their authority from the Collector’s sanction, implied or expressed. Except in the great towns, the municipalities can scarcely be said to yet exhibit the attributes of popular represen- tation or of vigorous corporate life. However, as education advances, and with it the desire and capacity of self-government, the municipal committee will doubtless form the germ from which free local institutions will in the future be developed. In 1876-77, excluding the three Presidency capitals, there were altogether 894 municipalities in British India, with 12,381,059 inhabitants, or just 7 per cent, of the total population. Out of an aggregate number of 7519 members of municipal com- mittees, concerning whom information is available, 1794 were Europeans and 5725 natives; 1863 were ex-officio, 4512 nominated by Government, and 1144 elected, the last class being almost confined to the North-Western and Central Pro- vinces. The financial statistics of these municipalities are given at p. 361. The three great municipalities in the Presi- dency towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay administered a population in 1877 of million. Their governing bodies aggregated 176 members, of whom 122 were natives. Eighty of the members were elected by the ratepayers. INDIA. 351 FINANCE.] Finance. — It is difficult to present a view of Indian Imperial finance, which shall be at once concise and intelligible. The hnance' subject is full of controversies and is obscured by ambiguities. In the first place, the aggregate revenue and expenditure are officially returned according to a system which, although necessary for purposes of account, is apt to mislead the English critic. The Indian Government is not a mere tax-collecting agency, charged with the single duty of protecting person and property. Its system of administration is based upon the view Its ob- that the British power is a paternal despotism, which owns, in s0111-11165 a certain sense, the entire soil of the country, and whose duty it is to perform the various functions of a wealthy and an enlightened proprietor. It collects its own rents ; it provides, The ‘ busi out of its own capital, facilities for irrigation, means of com- ]^sIn^fian munication, public buildings, schools, and hospitals. It also Govem- takes on itself the business of a railway owner and of a manu- ment. facturer on a grand scale, as in the case of opium and salt. These departments swell the totals on both sides of the balance-sheet with large items, not of the nature of taxation or of administrative expenditure. In the second place, the methods of keeping the Indian Changes public accounts have been subjected to frequent changes during account recent years, to such an extent as to vitiate all comparative statements for long periods of time. The commercial traditions, inherited from the days of the Company, regulated the Indian accounts until about the year i860. From that date efforts have been made to bring the system of Indian account- ing into conformity with that of the English public accounts. It results that the same entries represent different facts at different periods. Thus, under the Company, the items usually represented the net sums ; they now represent the gross sums. At one period, the gross receipts are shown, with a per contra for the charges of collection or for refunds. At another time, important classes of charges have been transferred from the Im- perial to the Provincial Budgets, to be brought back again after an interval of a few years to the Imperial Budget, and again transferred to Local Finance. Capital expenditure on public works, at one period charged to current revenue, is at another excluded, as being ‘ extraordinary ’ or 6 reproductive.’ The entire net income of all railways, whether the property of the The result- State or of guaranteed companies, has now been entered as °t>- Imperial revenue, and the interest to shareholders as Imperial expenditure. The Indian accounts represent, therefore, not only the Indian taxation and the cost of administration ; they 352 Gross taxation of British India. Net and gross tax- ation of British India. English and Indian taxation. Indian taxation under the Mughal s, INDIA. [taxation. I represent the trade expenses and profits of the Government as a great railway owner, canal maker, opium manufacturer, salt monopolist, and pioneer of new industries. They also repre- sent these profits and expenses under diverse systems of account at different periods. I shall therefore first endeavour to exhibit the actual taxation of British India, as compared with that of the Mughal Empire. I shall then show the gross revenue and expenditure of British India, whether of the nature of taxation or otherwise, and analyze its principal items. The Taxation paid by the people of British India during the ten years ending 1879, averaged 35J millions. The sub- joined table shows the gross items, exclusive of the opium duty which is paid by the Chinese consumer, tributes from foreign or feudatory States, forest receipts, and the Mint. The actual taxation arranges itself under seven branches, as given in the statement on the opposite page. The net taxation of British India, that is to say, the sums realized, less the cost of collection, averaged 32 millions.1 Returns of net taxation, however, depend much upon the method on which they are prepared. But the final ac- counts as presented to Parliament enable us to arrive accu- rately at the gross taxation paid by the Indian people, as above shown, at 35^ millions during the ten years ending 1879, or a rate of 3s. 8d. per head. This rate contrasts alike with that paid by the taxpayer in England, and by the subjects of the Mughal Empire in India. The 34 millions of people in Great Britain and Ireland pay 68 millions of Imperial taxation,2 besides heavy local and municipal burdens. The revenues of the Mughal Empire, derived from a much smaller area and population than those of British India, varied, as we have seen,3 from 42 millions net under Akbar in 1593 to 80 millions under Aurangzeb in 1695. If we examine the items in the Mughal accounts, we find the explanation of their enormous totals. The land tax then, as now, formed about one-half of the whole revenue. The net land revenue demand of the Mughal Empire averaged [, Sentence continued on page 354. 1 Compiled from the Parliamentary Return, 8th July 1880, pp. 4, 5. 2 Customs, 20 millions ; Inland revenue, 48 millions : total taxation, 68 millions. The gross revenue of the United Kingdom in 1880 was^8i,265,055, besides ^29. 247,595 of local taxation; total, ^110,5 12,650. 3 Ante, p. 240; table of Mughal Revenues (1593 to 1761), p. 242. Gross Taxation of British India. Compiled from the Parliamentary Return dated 8 th July 1880. TAXATION.] INDIA. 353 »' s H « t! t. 05 d. h a Gross Taxation for Ten Years ending 1879, . . ^353,015,008 354 INDIA. [taxation. much heavier than now. Mughal poll tax. Summary. Taxation of Japan. Taxation of a Province under the Mughals, Sentence continued frontpage 352.] 25 millions sterling from 1593 to 1761 ; or 32 millions during the last century of that Empire, from 1655 to 1761. The annual net land revenue raised from the much larger area of British India, during the ten years ending 1879, has been 18 millions sterling (gross, 21 millions). But besides the land revenue there were under our predecessors not less than forty imposts of a personal character. These included taxes upon religious assemblies, upon trees, upon marriage, upon the peasant’s hearth, and upon his cattle. How severe some of them were, may be judged from the poll tax. For the pur- poses of this tax, the non-Muhammadan population was divided into three classes, paying respectively gf 2 , and gf\ annu- ally to the Exchequer for each adult male. The lowest of these rates, if now levied from each non-Musalman male adult, would alone yield an amount exceeding our whole taxation. Yet, under the Mughals, the poll tax was only one of forty burdens. We may briefly sum up the results. Under the Mughal Empire, 1593 to 1761, the existing returns of the Imperial demand averaged about 60 millions sterling a year. During the ten years ending 1879, the Imperial taxation of British India, witn its far larger population, averaged 35 millions. Under the Mughal Empire, the land tax between 1655 and 1761 averaged 32 millions. Under the British Empire, the net land tax has, during the past ten years, averaged 18 millions. Not only is the taxation of British India much less than that raised by the Mughal Emperors, but it compares favourably with the taxation of other Asiatic countries in our own days. The only other Empire in Asia which pretends to a civilised government is Japan. I have no special acquaintance with the Japanese revenues; but I find from German statists that over 1 1 millions sterling are there raised from a population of 34 million people, or deducting certain items, a taxation of about 6s. a head. In India, where we try to govern on a higher standard of effi- ciency, the rate of actual gross taxation averages 3s. 8d. a head. If, instead of dealing with the Imperial revenues as a whole, we concentrate our survey on apy one Province, we find these facts brought out in a still stronger light. To take a single instance. After a patient scrutiny of the records, I found that, allowing for the change in the value of money, the ancient revenue of Orissa represented eight times the quantity of the staple food which our own revenue now represents.1 The native 1 The evidence on which these statements are based, was published in my Orissa, vol. i. pp. 323-329 (Smith, Elder, & Co., 1872). INDIA. TAXATION.] 355 revenue of Orissa supported a magnificent court with a crowded and under seraglio, swarms of priests, a large army, and a costly public British worship. Under our rule, Orissa does little more than defray the local cost of protecting person and property, and of its irrigation works. In Orissa, the Raja’s share of the crops amounted, with dues, to 60 per cent., and the mildest Native Governments demanded 33 per cent. The Famine Commis- sioners estimate the land tax throughout British India 1 ‘ at The land from 3 per cent, to 7 per cent, of the gross out-turn.’ Ample tax- deductions are allowed for the cost of cultivation, the risks of the season, the maintenance of the husbandman and his family. Of the balance, Government nominally takes one- third or a half ; but how small a proportion this bears to the crop may be seen from the returns collected by the Famine Commissioners. Their figures deal with 176 out of the 191 millions of people in British India. These 176 millions culti- vate 188 millions of acres, grow 331 millions sterling worth of produce, and now pay i8f millions of land revenue. While, therefore, they raise over 15s. worth of produce per acre, they pay to Government under 2s. of land tax per acre. Instead of thus paying 5 J per cent, as they do now, they would under the Mughal rule have been called upon to pay from 33 to 50 per cent, of the crop. The two systems, indeed, proceed upon entirely different principles. The Native Governments, write the Famine Commissioners, often taxed the land * to the extent of taking from the occupier the whole of the surplus after defraying the expenses of cultivation.’ 2 The British Government objects to thus ‘ sweeping off the whole margin of profit.’ What becomes of the surplus which our Government declines Increase of to take? It goes to feed an enormously increased population. P°Pula‘ The tax-gatherer now leaves so large a margin to the husband- man, that the Province of Bengal, for example, feeds three times as many mouths as it did in 1780, and has a vast surplus of produce, over and above its own wants, for exportation. ‘ In the majority of Native Governments,’ writes the highest living authority on the question,3 * the revenue officer takes all he can get ; and would take treble the revenue we should 1 Report of the Indian Famine Commission, part ii. p. 90, as presented to Parliament 1880. 3 Idem. 3 Report by Mr. Alfred Lyall, C.B., formerly Governor - General’s Agent in Rajputana, now Foreign Secretary to the Government of India ; quoted in the Despatch of the Govemor-General-in-Council to the Secretary of State, 8th June 1880. ‘ Condition of India,’ Blue Book, pp. 36, 37. 356 INDIA. Taxation in Native States. Incidence of taxa- tion in British India. Gross balance- sheet of British India. [gross REVENUE assess, if he were strong enough to exact it. In ill-managed States, the cultivators are relentlessly squeezed : the differ- ence between the native system and ours being, mainly, that the cultivator in a Native State is seldom or never sold up, and that he is usually treated much as a good bullock is treated ; i.e. he is left with enough to feed and clothe him and his family, so that they may continue to work.’ John Stuart Mill studied the condition of the Indian people more deeply than any other political economist, and he took an indulgent view of native institutions. His verdict upon the Mughal Government is that, * except during the occasional accident of a humane and vigorous local administrator, the exactions had no practical limit but the inability of the peasant to pay more.’ The Famine Commission, after careful inquiries, state1 that throughout British India the landed classes pay revenue at the rate of 5s. 6d. per head, including the land tax for their farms, or is. 9d. without it. The trading classes pay 3s. 3d. per head ; the artisans, 2s. — equal to four days’ wages in the year ; and the agricultural labourers, is. 8d. The whole taxation, includ- ing the Government rent for the land, averaged, as we have seen, 3s. 8d. per head during the ten years ending 1879. But the Famine Commissioners declare that ‘ any native of India who does not trade or own land, and who chooses to drink no spirituous liquor, and to use no English cloth or iron, need pay in taxation only about 7d. a year on account of the salt he consumes. On a family of three persons, the charge amounts to is. 9d., or about four days’ wages of a labouring man and his wife.’2 Gross Revenues. — But it should be ever borne in mind that the actual taxation of the Indian people is one thing, and the gross revenues of India are another. As explained at pages 351 and 358, the revenues include many items not of the nature of taxation. The two following tables, compiled from the Parliamentary Abstract for 1877-78, exhibit the gross imperial revenue and expenditure of India for that year, according to the system of accounts adopted at the time. For the reasons already given, it is practically impossible to analyze these statements in such a way as to show the actual amount raised by taxation, and the actual amount returned in protection to person and property. I have therefore done 1 Report of the Famine Commission, part ii. p. 93 (folio, 1880). 2 Idem. AND EXPENDITURE.] INDIA. 357 this in a separate statement at p. 353. It is equally impos- sible to compare the gross totals with those for previous years.1 The only profitable plan is to take some of the items, and explain their real meaning. Table I. — Gross Imperial Revenue for 1877-78. Land revenue, . £20,026,036 Tributes and contributions, . . 675,120 Forest, .... . 664,102 Excise, .... 2,457,075 Assessed taxes, . 86,110 Provincial rates, . 238,504 Customs, .... . 2,622,296 Salt, ..... . 6,460,082 Opium, .... 9,182,722 Stamps, .... 2,993,483 Mint, ..... 443,859 Post office, .... 847,694 Telegraph, .... 358,430 Law and justice, . 813,221 Public works (ordinary), 37i,539 Irrigation, .... 495,142 State railways, 548,528 Guaranteed railways (net), . 6,129,765 Miscellaneous, 3,555,593 Total, £58,969.301 Deficiency of Gross Revenue as compared with Gross Expenditure, £3.543,oS7 Table II. — Gross Imperial Expenditure for 1877-78. Collection — Land, • £2,531,325 „ Salt, 539,858 ,, Opium, . 2,661,266 ,, Miscellaneous, . 2,330,902 Allowances under treaties, 1,646,093 Interest on debt, . 5,028,318 Administration, 1,805,368 Law and justice, . 3,319,673 Marine and inland navigation, 542,202 Ecclesiastical, 158,039 Medical, .... . . 611,819 Carry forward, £21,174,863 1 Nor will the land tax precisely tally with the return on p. 353 for 1877-78 (although it does so very nearly), as it represents a different stage in the final adjustment. The other items ought to be identical with those for the same year given on p. 353. 358 INDIA. [revenues. Brought forward, Political agencies, . Police, .... Education, . Stationery and printing, Loss by exchange, Army, .... Famine relief, Provincial payments. Public works (ordinary), Productive public works — Maintenance, ,, ,, ,, Interest and surplus profits, Miscellaneous, ....... Total, ^21,174,863 468,975 2,158,237 738,020 425,644 1,653,377 16,639,761 5,345,775 247,034 3,676,274 791,601 6,572,955 2,619,872 ^62,512,388 Analysis of Indian revenues in 1878. Not of the nature of taxation. Items of taxation summar- ized. These tables show how large a portion of the gross revenue is not of the nature of taxation. Public works, including rail- ways, alone yield over 7^ millions sterling, or nearly 13 per cent, of the total. Adding the items of post office and tele- graphs, which also represent payment for work done or services supplied, the proportion would rise to about 14 per cent. Then the sum of 9 millions gross, or 6J millions net, derived from opium, being somewhat more than an additional 15 per cent, of the gross revenue, is not a charge upon the native tax- payer, but a contribution to the Indian exchequer by the Chinese consumer of the drug. Add to these the tributes from non-British States, produce of the forests, eta, and one- third of the total gross revenue is accounted for. The land revenue, amounting to 20 millions in an exceptionally bad year (1877-78), cannot be passed over so lightly. Whether it should be properly regarded as a tax, or only as rent, is a problem for political economists to settle; but in any case, it is paid without question, as an immemorial right of the State. It yields 34 per cent., or more than one-third of the gross revenue. The whole revenue of British India of the nature of actual taxation, including Land Revenue, Excise, Assessed Taxes, Provincial Rates, Customs, Salt, and Stamps, amounted in 1878 to 34! millions, or 3s. 7fd. per head. The rate of actual taxation was about 4s. per head in 1880. Turning to some of the items, excise and stamps are practi- cally creations of British rule. The Excise is a tax upon intoxicating liquors and deleterious drugs, levied both on the manufacture and on the sale, according to different systems in different Provinces. Like the corresponding duty in England, it is voluntarily incurred, and presses hardest upon the lowest EXPENDITURE.] INDIA. 359 classes. But unlike the English excise, it can hardly be called Excise, an elastic source of revenue, for the rate is intentionally kept so high as to discourage consumption. No duty whatever is levied upon tobacco. Stamps, as in England, form a complex Stamps, item. The greater part is derived from fees on litigation, and only a comparatively trifling amount from stamps proper on deeds of transfer, etc. Customs are divided into import and Customs, export duties, both of which have been so greatly lightened or abolished in recent years, that their permanent maintenance may be considered doubtful. At the present time (1881), import duties, usually at the rate of 5 per cent, ad valorem, are levied upon a list of commodities.1 The reduced duty still remaining on cotton goods forms a difficult question for Indian financiers. All duties on exports have now been removed, with the single exception of that on rice, which brings in about ^500,000 a year. This is levied at the rate of 3 annas a maund, or about 6d. per cwt., being equivalent to an ad valorem rate of about 10 per cent. The salt tax is a matter of more importance, and of greater difficulty. It is an impost upon an article of prime necessity, and it falls with greatest severity upon the lowest classes. On the other hand, it may be urged that it is familiar to the people, and levied in a manner which arouses no discontent ; and that it is the only means available of spreading taxation proper over the com- munity. The reforms of 1878, referred to on p. 347, have tended to equalize the incidence of the salt tax over the entire country, with the immediate result of abolishing arbitrary and vexatious customs lines, and with a view to its ultimate reduction. Gross Expenditure. — Putting aside the cost of collection Indian and civil administration, which explain themselves, the most im- Expendi- portant charges are the Army, Interest on Debt, Famine Relief, 1878. Loss by Exchange and Public Works, to which may be added the complex item of Payments in England. Military expendi- Army ex- ture averages about 16 millions, and in 1879 was 1 7 millions. Pen ifs missions began a new life, and have since 1814. made great progress. Their prosperity is, however, much ham- pered by the action taken in Europe against the religious orders. The claims of Portugal to appoint the Archbishop of Goa, and through him to regulate the clerical patronage, as opposed to the claims of the Pope, have occasioned schisms in the past, and still give rise to discord. The native Roman Catholics, as already stated, number about ij million. The Roman Catholic missions are maintained by many of the INDIA. 3 75 ROMAN CATHOLICS.] European nations, and are nearly equally divided between the Organiza- secular and regular clergy. Almost every mission contains a mixture of races among its priests ; even Holland, Spain, and Catholic Germany being represented. Although all are directed by missl0ns- Europeans, at least seven-eighths of the Roman priests are natives. It is also worthy of remark, that in the list of bishops during the last 300 years the names of several natives are found, some of them Brahmans. The Roman Catholic mis- sions are presided over by bishops (vicars and prefects apostolic), the delegates of the Pope, who governs the missions himself, without the intervention of the hierarchy. Such is usually the case in heathen countries. Side by side with the sixteen vicars-apostolic, who are bishops in partibns inftdelium , the Archbishop of Goa has an extraordinary jurisdiction over Arch- a certain number of Catholics outside his diocese, and ^ishoP of scattered over all India, but chiefly found in the south. The jurisdiction of the prefect-apostolic of Pondicherri is confined to the French possessions, and in Pondicherri itself he has jurisdiction only over ‘ those who wear hats.’ As the ecclesi- astical and civil divisions of India do not correspond, it is difficult to compare mission with official statistics. The Catholics in French territory number 33,544, and in Portuguese Distribu- territory, 245,318. This leaves 1,038,940 for British India and the Native States. They are most numerous in the Catholics. Native States of Travancore and Cochin (comprised in the vicariates of Verapoly and Quilon). The archdiocese of Goa with 660 priests, nearly all natives, in a very small territory con- taining over 240,000 Catholics, is a witness to the sternly pro- selytizing influence of the Portuguese. Verapoly, the smallest The of the Roman Catholic vicariates, contains the largest number y^nat^' of priests and Catholics. These are chiefly the descendants (Travan- of the Nestorians converted to Rome in the 16th century, and core^ are divided into two classes — of the Syrian rite, 141,386, and of the Latin rite, 80,600. They are directed by 14 European Carmelite priests, and by 375 native priests, 39 of the Latin rite, and 336 of the Syrian rite. The Pondicherri and Madura vicariates represent parts of the famous Jesuit missions of Madura and of the Kamatic. The statistics of Protestant and Catholic Christians in the Madras Presidency have already been given (p. 371). In Bombay city, and along the fertile maritime strip or Konkan between the Western Ghits and the sea, the Roman Catholics form an important section of the native population. Catholic The Catholics in India seem steadily to increase ; and as in resources. 376 INDIA. [roman catholics. former times, the increase is chiefly in the south, especially in the missions of Pondicherri and Madura. The Pondicherri Pondi- Mission has performed over 50,000 adult baptisms in the last cherri Mis- three years. In the Madura vicariate, the increase is chiefly in Tinnevelli and Ramnad. The converts are mostly agricul- turists, but are by no means confined to the low castes. The Catholic principal Catholic educational establishments in India are the colleges, colleges of the Jesuits at Calcutta, Bombay, and Negapatam. Another Jesuit college has lately been opened at Mangalore in South Kanara, a District in which there are over 3000 Catholic Brahmans. England, being a Protestant country, supplies few priests, and hence Catholic missions have much difficulty in maintaining colleges and schools where English is the vehicle of higher education. The statistics of such institutions are incomplete, owing to want of information about certain parts of the Goa jurisdiction. But the number of schools actually returned in 1880, including Goa, was 1514, with 51,610 pupils. The Roman Catholics work in India with slender pecuniary resources. They derive their main support from two great Catholic organizations, the Association for the Propagation of the Faith, and the Society of the Holy Childhood. The former contributes ^24,464 yearly to Indian missions, and the latter ^12,300, making a total of ,£36,764. This is exclusive of the expenditure within the Archbishopric of Goa ; but it repre- sents the European contributions to the sixteen vicariates under the Pope. It maintains a staff of 16 bishops and 1118 priests, teaching 1236 schools, with 40,907 pupils, and giving religious instruction to 1,002,379 native Christians. The Roman Catholic priests deny themselves the comforts considered necessaries for Europeans in India. In many Districts, they live the frugal and abstemious life of the natives, and their influence reaches deep into the social life of the communities among whom they dwell. First Pro- The first Protestant missionaries in India were Lutherans, testant Ziegenbalg and Plutschau, who in 1705 began work under the patronage of the King of Denmark at the Danish settlement of Tranquebar. Ziegenbalg and many of the early Lutheran missionaries were men of great ability; and, besides their translations of the Scriptures, some of their writings still hold Transla- a high place in missionary literature. Ziegenbalg began the Bible°f the translati°n the ^nt0 Tamil, and his successor Schultze 1725!’ completed it in 1725. This was the first Protestant transla- PROTESTANTS.] INDIA. 377 tion of the Scriptures in India. Schultze also translated the whole Bible into Hindustani. Ziegenbalg died in 1719, leaving 355 converts. In spite of the patronage of the Kings of Den- mark and England, and of the liberal assistance of friends in Europe, the Lutheran mission made at first but slow progress, and was much hindered and opposed by the local Danish authorities. Gradually it extended itself into Madras, Cudda- lore, and Tanjore ; schools were set up, and conversion and education went hand in hand. In 1750, arrived the pious Schwartz, whose name is bound Schwartz up with the history of Tanjore and adjacent Districts until his l”rJan‘ death in 1798. He was the founder of the famous Tinne- 1750-98. velli missions.1 Next to the Lutherans come the Baptists of Serampur Serampur, with the honoured names of Carey, Marshman, !™^s‘on’ and Ward. In the 18th century, the English East India Company did not discourage the labours of Protestant mis- Kier- sionaries. It had allowed Kiernander, who was sent by the Haijder in Danish mission, to establish himself at Calcutta in 1758; j 758. subsequently, it put every obstacle in the way of missionaries, and deported them back to England on their landing. Carey Carey, arrived in 1793. In 1799, to avoid the opposition of the English I793' East India Company, he established himself with four other missionaries at Serampore (15 miles from Calcutta), at that time, like Tranquebar, a Danish possession. Then began that won- derful literary activity which has rendered illustrious the group of ‘ Serampore missionaries.’ In ten years, the Bible, or parts 31 transla- of it, was translated, and printed in 31 languages; and by 1816, g?”jSeoftlie the missionaries had about 700 converts. The London Mis- sionary Society (established 1795) entered the field in 1798, and its missions have gradually grown into importance. The opposition of the Company continued till 1813, when Opposi- it was removed by the new charter. The same document lth" provided for the establishment of the bishopric of Calcutta, 1813. and 3 archdeaconries, one for each Presidency. Up to this period the Established Church of England had attempted no direct missionary work, although some of the East India Com- pany’s chaplains had been men of zeal, like the ardent Henry Martyn (1806-n). The first Bishop of Calcutta (Middleton) Bishopric arrived in 1814. From this time the Church of England °^aal‘ has kept up a missionary connection with India, chiefly 1814. by means of its two great societies — the Church Missionary Society, which sent out its first representative in 1814, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which did so in 1 See article Tinnevelli, Itnperial Gazetteer , vol. ix. 2 B 378 Indian Sees. Presby- terian mis- sions, 1830-63. Other missions. Statistics of Pro- testant missions. Progress, 1856 to 1878. INDIA. [missionaries. 1826. Their most successful missions are in Southern India, where they have gathered in the seed sown by the Lutheran missions. The second Bishop of Calcutta was the well-known Heber (1823-26). In 1835, under a new charter of the East India Company, the see of Madras was established, and in 1837, that of Bombay. In 1877, owing to the extension of mission work in Tinnevelli, two missionaries were appointed bishops, as assistants to the Bishop of Madras ; the dioceses of Lahore and Rangoon were separated from Calcutta, and bishops appointed. The missionary bishopric of Travancore and Cochin was established in 1879. It has no connection with Government, nor have the assistant bishops in Madras. The first missionary of the Church of Scotland was Dr. Alexander Duff (1830-63), to whom the use of English as the means of higher education in India is mainly due. Mis- sionaries of numerous other Brotestant societies (European and American) have since entered India, and established numbers of churches and schools. They have furnished memorable names to the roll of Indian educators, such as Judson (Baptist) in Burma, 1813-50, and John Wilson (Pres- byterian) of Bombay, 1843-75. The progress of the several Protestant missions in India may be thus stated: — In 1830, there were 9 societies at work, and about 27,000 native Protestants in all India, Ceylon, and Burma. By 1870, there were no less than 35 societies at work; and in 1871, there were 318,363 converts (including Ceylon, etc., as above). In 1852, there were 459 Protestant missionaries, and in 1872, there were 606. Between 1856 and 1878, the converts made by the Baptist Societies of England and America, in India, Ceylon, and Burma, have increased from about 30,000 to between 80,000 and 90,000. Those of the Basle missions of Germany have multiplied from 1060 to upwards of 6000; those of the Wesleyan Methodist missions of England and America, from 7500 to 12,000; those of the American Board, from 3302 to about 12,000; those of the Presbyterian missions of Scot- land, England, Ireland, and America, connected with 10 societies, from 821 to 10,000; those of the missions of the London Missionary Society, from 20,077 to 48,000; and those of the Church Missionary Society and of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, from 61,442 to upwards of i64,ooo.1 1 The Rev. M. A. Sherring, in the Chronicle of the London Missionary Society, August 1879. I am indebted lor the materials regarding Christian Statistics of Four leading Indian Missions. missionaries.] INDIA. The following are the statistics of four important Societies : — 379 hr o fc/rc c % £ G 2 2 o e-o 42 -a Ch X " R rt y C ^ > .. -.2 12 w y ^ **-2 o C O 7, y ^ , x .3 £ C 2 'rt &*• w fa .2 — c m8 3 rt >-h H O C 5 §1 e.l* 3 2 8W S*oo ^7 O o c.-2 u rt c £,-3 p %g\ . ^ ^ a -’rt „•£ 2 J y a w T3 <— , C ^ O rt oo C x ^ . on O rt O ^ yi 5-i 2gs = S.2o« W • o.e 6 4S vo > o . ^ o w * 7 rt £*~* O O c/3 rt £*2 <->*£ rt £ C. O ri w S Macs c o> O t- J'E. 2^2 (J 5 o GCfi Pi £ w ^ .p .2 .SR 222 s ° ocn 2<» e"-" 5^ 7jj Missions to Mr. W. Rees Philipps, of the Forest Department, Madras. Mr. Rees Philipps is now in India, and I have not been able to test or verify all his dates and statements. 380 INDIA. [agriculture. Agricul- ture. The work of almost the whole people. CHAPTER XVI. AGRICULTURE AND PRODUCTS. The cultivation of the soil forms the occupation of the Indian people, in a sense which it is difficult to realize in England. As the land tax forms the mainstay of the imperial revenue, so the rayat or cultivator constitutes the unit of the social system. The village community contains many members besides the cultivator, but they all exist for his benefit, and all are maintained from the produce of the village fields. Even in considerable towns, the traders and handicraftsmen almost always possess plots of land of their own, on which they raise sufficient grain to supply their families with food. According to the returns of the general Census of 1872, the adult males directly engaged in agriculture amount to nearly 35 millions, or 56-2 per cent, of the total. To these must be added almost all the day - labourers, who number 7^- million males, or 12 '3 per cent. ; thus raising the total of persons directly supported by cultivation to 68-5 per cent. ; being more than two-thirds of the whole adult males. The number of persons indirectly connected with agriculture is also very great. The Famine Commissioners estimate that 90 per cent, of the rural population live more or less by the tillage of the soil. India is, therefore, almost exclusively a country of peasant farmers. Even the so-called towns are merely groups of villages, in the midst of which the plough- man drives his cattle a-field, and all the operations of agri- culture go on. The increase in the population has, however, developed a large landless class. The cultivated area no longer suffices to allow a plot of land for each peasant ; and multitudes now find themselves ousted from the soil. They earn a poor livelihood as day-labourers ; and according to the census of 1872, comprise one-eighth of the entire population. There INDIA. TILLAGE.] 3Sl is still enough land in India for the whole people, but the Indian peasant clings to his native District, however over- crowded. Migration or emigration has hitherto worked on too small a scale to afford a solution of the difficulty. Agriculture is carried on in the different Provinces with an Various infinite variety of detail. Everywhere the same perpetual assiduity is found, but the inherited experience of generations culture, has taught the cultivators to adapt their simple methods to differing circumstances. The deltaic swamps of Bengal and Burma, the dry uplands of the Karnatic, the black-soil plains of the Deccan, the strong clays of the Punjab, the desert sand of Sind or Rajputana, require their separate modes of agricul- ture. In each case the Indian peasant has learned, with- out scientific instruction, to grow the crops best suited to the soil. His light plough, which he may be seen carrying a-field on his shoulders, makes but superficial scratches ; but what the furrows lack in depth, they gain by repetition, and in the end pulverize every particle of mould. Where irrigation is Irrigation, necessary, native ingenuity has devised the means. The inundation channels in Sind, the wells in the Punjab and the Deccan, the tanks in the Karnatic, the terraces cut on every hillside, water at the present day a far larger area than is com- manded by Government canals. Manure is copiously applied Manure, to the more valuable crops, whenever manure is available ; its use being limited only by poverty and not by ignorance. The scientific rotation of crops is not adopted as a prin- Rotation ciple of cultivation. But in practice it is well known that aofcroPs- succession of exhausting crops cannot be taken in consecutive seasons from the same field, and the advantage of fallows is widely recognised. A mutation of crops takes the place of their rotation. The petite culture of Indian husbandmen is in many respects well adapted to the soil, the climate, and the social conditions of the people. The periodicity of the seasons usually allows of two, and in some places of three, harvests in the year. For inexhaustible fertility, and for retentiveness of moisture in a dry season, no soil in the world can surpass the regar or ‘ black cotton-soil ’ of the Deccan. In the broad river basins, the inundations deposit annually a fresh top-dressing of silt, thus superseding the necessity of manures. The burning sun and the heavy rains of the tropics combine, as in a natural forcing- house, to extract the utmost from the soil. I shall speak here- after of possible improvements in Indian agriculture1 — improve- 1 Post, pp. 407-409. 382 INDIA. [rice tillage. ments now necessary to support the increasing population. As the means of communication improve and blunt the edge of local scarcity, India is perhaps destined to compete with America as the granary of Great Britain. Rice. The name of rice has from time immemorial been closely associated with Indian agriculture. The rice-eating population is estimated at 67 millions, or over one-third of the whole.1 If, Statistics however, we except the deltas of the great rivers, and the long tivation U " str'P °f land fringing the coast, rice may be called a rare crop throughout the remainder of the peninsula. But where rice is grown, it is in an almost exclusive sense the staple crop. In British Burma, in a total cultivated area of 2,833,520 acres, in 1877-78, as many as 2,554,853 acres, or 90 per cent., were under rice. Independent Burma, on the other hand, grows no rice, but imports largely from British territory. For Bengal, unfortunately, no general statistics are available. But taking Rangpur as a typical District, it was there found that million acres, out of a classified total of a little more than if million acres, or 88 per cent., were devoted to rice. Similar proportions hold good for the Province of Orissa, the deltas of the Godavari, Kistna, and Kaveri (Cauvery), and the lowlands of Travancore, in different Malabar, Kanara, and the Konkan. In the North-Western I rovinces. provjnces an(j Oudh, rice is grown in damp localities, or with the help of irrigation, and forms a favourite food for the upper classes ; but the local supply requires to be supplemented by importation from Bengal. Throughout the interior of the country, except in Assam, which is agriculturally a continua- tion of the Bengal delta, the cultivation of rice occupies but a subordinate place. In Madras generally, the area under rice amounts to about 33 per cent, of the whole food-grain area. In Bombay proper, the corresponding proportion is only 10 per cent., and in the outlying Province of Sind, 17 per cent. In the Central Provinces, the proportion rises as high as 34 per cent., but in the Punjab it falls to 5 per cent. In scarcely any of the Native States, which cover the centre of the penin- sula, is rice grown to a large extent. Methods of Rice is in fact a local crop, which can only be cultivated profitably under exceptional circumstances, although under those circumstances it returns a larger pecuniary yield than inMadras ; any other food-grain in India. According to the Madras system of classification, rice is a ‘ wet crop/ i.e. it demands constant irrigation. In a few favoured tracts, the requisite irrigation is supplied by local rainfall, but more commonly by the periodi- 1 Report of the Indian Famine Commission, part ii. p- 81 (1880). FIELD OF RICE.] INDIA. 383 cal overflow of the rivers, either directly or indirectly through artificial channels. It has been estimated that the rice crop requires 40 inches of water in order to reach its full develop- ment. But more important than the total amount of water is the period over which that amount is distributed. While the seedlings are in an early stage of growth, 2 inches of water are ample ; but when the stem is strong, high floods are unable to drown it. In some Districts of Bengal, a long-stemmed in Bengal, variety of rice is grown, which will keep its head above 12 feet of water. Throughout Bengal, there are two main harvests of rice in the year — (1) the aus or early crop, sown on comparatively high lands, during the spring showers, and reaped between July and September; (2) the dman or winter crop, sown in low-lying lands, from June to August, usually transplanted, and reaped from November to January. The latter crop comprises the finer varieties, but the former is chiefly retained by the cultivators for their own food supply. Besides these two great rice harvests of the Bengal year, there are intermediate ones in various localities. The returns from Rangpur District specify no fewer than 295 varieties of rice.1 The average out-turn per acre in Bengal has been esti- Out-turn mated at 15 mautids, or 1200 lbs., of cleaned rice. In 1877-78, Arice. when famine was raging in Southern India, the exports of rice from Calcutta (much of it to Madras) amounted to nearly 1 7 million cwts. In British Burma, there is but a single harvest in the year, corresponding to the dman of Bengal. The grain is reddish in colour, and of a coarse quality ; but the average out-turn is much higher than in Bengal, reaching in some places an average of 2000 and 2500 lbs. per acre. In 1877-78, the Burmese export of rice exceeded 13 million cwts. Besides being practically the sole crop grown in the deltaic swamps, rice is also cultivated on all the hills of India, from Coorg to the Himalayas. The hill tribes practise one of two Hill culti- methods of cultivation. They either cut the mountain slopes vation. into terraces, to which sufficient water is conveyed by an ingenious system of petty canals; or they trust to the abundant rainfall, and scatter their seeds on clearings formed by burning patches of the jungle. In both cases, rice is the staple crop, where the moisture permits. It figures largely in the nomadic system of hill cultivation, described at pages 4 17-4 19. The table on the next page shows the comparative area under rice and the two great other classes of food-grains. The figures must be taken as approximate estimates only. 1 See my Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. vii. pp. 234-237 (1876; 384 INDIA. [WHEAT. A tea under the three trincipal classes of INDIAN FOOD-GRAINS. Province. Percentage of Food-Grain Area under Total Population Population eating Rice. Wheat or Barley. Millets. Rice. Millions. Millions. Punjab, 41 5 20 1 North-Western Provinces, . 57 34 9 42 4 Bengal and Assam, . Not known 66 46 Central Provinces, 27 39 34 8 3 Berar, 17 82 1 2 Bombay, 7 83 10 17 2 Madras, 67 33 31 10 Mysore, — 84 16 5 1 Total, — - — 191 67 Wheat. Statistics of wheat cultiva- tion. Out-turn of wheat. Recent exports of wheat to Europe have drawn attention to the important place which this crop occupies in Indian agriculture. It is grown to some extent in almost every Dis- trict ; but, broadly speaking, it may be said that wheat does not thrive where rice does ; nor, indeed, anywhere south of the Deccan. The great wheat-growing tract of India is the North-Western Provinces, where 57 per cent, of the food-grain area is under this crop. In the Punjab, the proportion is almost as high, or 54 per cent. Wheat is also largely grown in Behar, and in the Districts of Bengal that lie west of the Ganges. In the Central Provinces, in 1879, wheat was raised on 27 per cent, of the food-grain area, being the chief crop in the Districts of Hoshangabad, Narsinhpur, and Sagar. In Bombay, the corresponding proportion was only 7 per cent., and in Sind, 12 per cent. The significance of these figures may be learned from the fact, that in Great Britain the area under wheat is only 3 million acres, or less than one-half the amount in a single Indian Province, the Punjab. It has been estimated that the total area under wheat in India is equal to the area under the same crop in the United States. Nor is the out-turn contemptible, averaging about 13 bushels per acre in the Punjab, as compared with an average of 15 J bushels for the whole of France. The quality, also, of the grain is high enough to satisfy the demands of English millers ; and 1 Calcutta Club No. 1 ’ commands a price in Mark Lane not much below that of the finest Australian or Californian produce. Unfortunately, when a prosperous trade with Europe seemed on the point of establishing itself, the famine of 1877-78 supervened ; and India will now have to fight against the MILLETS.] JNDIA. 385 position of vantage occupied by the United States. According to the system of classification in Upper India, wheat ranks as a rabi or spring crop, being reaped at the close of the cold weather in April and May. Wherever possible, it is irrigated ; and the extension of canals through the Gangetic Doab has largely contributed to the substitution of wheat for inferior cereals. The abolition, in 1873, of the old Indian export duty on wheat, laid the foundation of the Indo-European wheat-trade, which, since this wise measure, has attained such large dimensions. Taking India as a whole, it may be broadly affirmed that Millets, the staple food-grain is neither rice nor wheat, but millet. Excluding special rice tracts, varieties of millet are grown more extensively than any other crop, from Madras in the south, at least as far as Rajputana in the north.1 The two most common kinds are great millet (Holcus sorghum vel Sorghum vulgare), c'11.e^. known as joar or jawdri in the languages derived from the San- skrit, as jonna in Telugu, and as cholam in Tamil ; and spiked millet (Holcus spicatus vel Penicillaria spicata), called bdjra in the north and kambu in the south. In Mysore and the neighbour- ing Districts, ragi (Eleusine coracana), called ndchani in Bom- bay, takes the first place. According to the Madras system of classification, these millets all rank as ‘ dry crops,’ being watered only by the local rainfall, and sown under either monsoon ; farther north, they are classed with the kharif or autumn harvest, as opposed to wheat. The following statistics show the importance of millet culti- Statistics vation throughout Southern and Central India. In Madras, cultivation, in 1875-76, cholam covered 4,610,000 acres; rdgi, 1,636,000 acres; varagti or auricalu (Paspalum frumentaceum), 1,054,000 acres ; kambu , 2,909,000 acres; satnai or millet proper (Pani- cum miliaceum), 1,185,000, — making a total of 11,384,000 acres under ‘ dry crops,’ being 5 2 per cent, of the cultivated area. The proportion was 67 per cent, of the food-grain area in 1879. In the upland region of Mysore, the proportion under ‘ dry crops,’ chiefly rdgi, rises to 77 per cent, of the cultivated area, or 84 per cent, of the food-grain area. The total under all millets, joar , and bdjra in Bombay and Sind is 82 per cent, of the food-grain area ; in the Central Provinces, 39 per cent.; in the Punjab, 41 per cent.; and in the North- Western Provinces, 34 per cent, of the food-grain area. Indian corn is cultivated to a limited extent in all parts of the country ; barley, in the upper valley of the Ganges, through- out the Punjab, and in the Himalayan valleys ; oats, only as 1 See foregoing table, p. 384. 386 Pulses. Oil-seeds. Vege- tables. INDIA. [oil-seeds. an experimental crop by Europeans. Joar and ragi, but not bdjra , are invaluable as fodder for cattle. Pulses of many sorts form important staples. In Madras, the area under pulses in 1875 was 2,077,000 acres, or 9 per cent.; in Bombay, about 830,000 acres, or 7 per cent. ; in the Punjab, 4,000,000 acres, or 21 per cent. The principal varieties grown, with many native names, but generically known to Europeans as gram and dal, are — Cicer arietinum, Phaseolus mungo, and P. radiatus, Dolichos biflorus, D. uniflorus, and D. lablab, Cajanus indicus, Ervum lens, Lathyrus sativus, and Pisum sativum. Oil-seeds also form an important crop in all parts of the country; oil being universally required, according to native customs, for application to the person, for food, and for lamps. In recent years, the cultivation of oil-seeds has received an extra- ordinary stimulus owing to their demand in Europe, especially in France. But as they can be grown after rice, etc. as a second crop, this increase has hardly at all tended to diminish the production of food-grains. The four chief varieties grown are mustard or rape-seed, linseed, til or gingelly (sesamum), and castor-oil. Bengal and the North-Western Provinces are at present the chief sources of supply for the foreign demand, but gingelly is largely exported from Madras and, to a less extent, from Burma. Area in 1875 under oil-seeds — in Madras, about 1,200,000 acres, or nearly 6 per cent, of the cultivated area; in Bombay, 628,000, or about 5 per cent.; in the Central Provinces, 1,358,571 acres, or nearly 9 per cent.; in the Punjab, 780,000 acres, or 4 per cent. In the year 1877-78, the total export of oil-seeds from India amounted to 12,187,020 cwts., valued at ,£7,360,284 ; in 1878-79, to 7,211,790 cwts., valued at £[4,682,512. Vegetables are everywhere cultivated in garden plots for household use, and also on a larger scale in the neighbourhood of great towns. Among favourite native vegetables, the follow- ing may be mentioned : — The egg-plant, called brinjdl or baigan (Solanum melongena), potatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, radishes, onions, garlic, turnips, yams, and a great variety of cucur- bitaceous plants, including Cucumis sativus, Cucurbita maxima, Lagenaria vulgaris, Trichosanthes dioica, andBenicasa cerifera. Of these, potatoes, cabbages, and turnips are of recent intro- duction. Almost all English vegetables can be raised by a careful gardener. Potatoes thrive best on the higher elevations, such as the Khasi Hills, the Nflgiris, the Mysore uplands, and the slopes of the Himalayas ; but they are also grown on the INDIA. 387 FRUITS, SPICES.] plains and even in deltaic Districts. They were first introduced into the Khasf Hills in 1 830. They now constitute the principal crop in these and other highland tracts. The annual export from the Khdsf Hills to the Calcutta market is more than 7000 tons, valued at ^50,000 a year. Among the cultivated fruits are the following : — Mango Fruits. (Mangifera indica), plantain (Musa paradisiaca), pine-apple (Ananas sativa), pomegranate (Punica granatum), guava (Psydium pomiferum et P. pyriferum), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), custard-apple (Anona squamosa), papmv (Carica papaya), shaddock (Citrus decu- mana), and several varieties of fig, melon, orange, lime, and citron. The mangoes of Bombay, of Multan, and of Maldah in Bengal, and the oranges of the Khasi Hills enjoy a high reputation ; while the guavas of Madras are made into an excellent preserve. Among spices, for the preparation of curry and other hot Spices, dishes, turmeric and chillies hold the first place, and are very widely cultivated. Next in importance come ginger, coriander, aniseed, black cummin, and fenugreek. The pepper vine is confined to the Malabar coast, from Kanara to Travan- core. Cardamoms are a valuable crop in the same locality, and also in the Nepalese Himalayas. Pan or betel-leaf is grown by a special caste in most parts of the country. Its cultivation requires constant care, but is highly remunera- tive. Betel-nut or the areca palm is chiefly grown in certain favoured localities, such as the deltaic Districts of Bengal, the Konkan of Bombay, and the highlands of Southern India. Besides betel-nut (Areca catechu), the palms of India Palms, include the cocoa-nut (Cocos nucifera), the bastard date (Phoenix sylvestris), the palmyra (Borassus flabelliformis), and the true date (Phoenix dactylifera). The cocoa-nut, which loves a sandy soil and a moist climate, is found in greatest perfection along the strip of coast-line which fringes the south- west of the peninsula, where it ranks next to rice as the staple product. The bastard date, grown chiefly in the country round Calcutta and in the north-east of the Madras Presidency, supplies both the jaggery sugar of commerce, and intoxicating liquors for local consumption. Spirit is also distilled from the palmyra, especially in the neighbourhood of Bombay and in the south-east of Madras. The true date is almost confined to Sind. Sugar is manufactured both from the sugar-cane and from Sugar, the bastard date-palm, but the total production is inadequate to the local demand. The best cane is grown in the North- 388 INDIA. [sugar, cotton. Cotton. The American war, 1862. Cotton Districts. Western Provinces, on irrigated land. It is an expensive crop, requiring much attention, and not yielding a return within the year ; but the profits are proportionately large. In Bengal, the manufacture from the cane has declined during the present century; but in Jessor District, the making of date-sugar is a thriving and popular industry.1 The preparation of sugar is everywhere in the hands of natives, except in the case of the Aska Factory in the Madras District of Ganjam, and the Ashtagram Factory in Mysore. Both these factories use sugar- cane instead of the date juice, and have received honourable notice at exhibitions in Europe. Cotton holds the first place among agricultural products grown for export. From the earliest times, cotton has been grown in sufficient quantities to meet the local demand, and even in the last century there was some slight export from the country, which was carefully fostered by the East India Company. But the present importance of the crop dates from the crisis in Lancashire caused by the American War. Prior to i860, the exports of raw cotton from India used to average less than 3 millions sterling a year ; but after that year they rose by leaps, until in 1866 they reached the enormous total of 37 millions. Then came the crash, caused by the restoration of peace in the United States ; and the exports steadily fell to just under 8 millions in 1879. The fact is that Indian cotton has a short staple, and cannot compare with the best American cotton for spinning the finer qualities of yarn. But while the cotton famine was at its height, the cultivators were intelligent enough to make the most of their opportunity. The area under cotton increased enormously, and the growers managed to retain in their own hands a fair share of the profit. The principal cotton-growing tracts are — the plains of Guzerat and Kathiawar, whence Indian cotton has received in the Liverpool market the historic name of Surat ; the highlands of the Deccan ; and the deep valleys of the Central Provinces and Berar. The best native varieties are found in the Central Provinces and Berar, passing under the trade names of Hing- anghat and Amraoti. These varieties have been successfully introduced into the Bombay District of Khandesh. Experi- ments with seed from New Orleans have been conducted for several years past on the Government farms in many parts of India ; but it cannot be said that they have resulted in success except in the Bombay District of Dharwar, where exotic cotton 1 A full account of the manufacture will be found in my Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. ii. pp. 280-298. INDIA. 389 COTTON.] has now generally supplanted the indigenous staple. In Cotton 1875-76, the total area under cotton in the Bombay Presidency, Bombay, including Sind and the Native States, amounted to 4,516,587 acres, with a yield of 2,142,835 cwts. Of this total, 583,854 acres, or 13 per cent., were sown with exotic cotton, including that from the Central Provinces and also that from New Orleans, with a yield of 248,767 cwts. The average yield was thus about 53 lbs. per acre, the highest being in Sind and Guzerat, and the lowest in the Southern Marhatta country. In 1875-76, the total exports were 3,887,808 cwts., from the Bombay Presidency, including the produce of the Central Provinces and the Berars, valued at ^10,673,761. In 1877-78, the area under cotton in the Central Provinces Cotton was 837,083 acres, or under 6 per cent, of the total culti- vated area, chiefly in the Districts of Nagpur, Wardha, and Provinces; Raipur. The average yield was about 59 lbs. per acre. The exports from the Central Provinces to Bombay, including re - exports from Berar, were about 300,000 cwts., valued at ,£672,000. In the same year, the area under cotton in Berar was 2,078,273 acres, or 32 per cent, of the total culti- in Berar ; vated area, chiefly in the two Districts of Akola and Amrdoti. The average yield was as high as 67 lbs. of cleaned cotton per acre. The total export was valued at £2,354,946, almost entirely railway-borne. In Madras, the average area under in Madras ; cotton is about 1,500,000 acres, chiefly in the upland Districts of Bellary and Karnul, and the low plains of Kistna and Tinnevelli. The total exports in 1876-77 were 460,000 cwts., valued at about 1 million sterling. In Bengal, the cultivation in Bengal ; of cotton is on the decline. The local demand is satisfied by imports from the North-Western Provinces and from the border- ing hill tracts, where a very short-stapled variety of cotton is extensively cultivated. The total area under cotton in Bengal is estimated at only 162,000 acres, yielding 138,000 cwts. of cleaned cotton. Of this, 31,000 acres were in Saran, 28,000 in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and 20,000 in Cuttack. Throughout the North-Western Provinces, and also the Punjab, sufficient cotton is grown to meet the wants of the village weavers. The total export of raw cotton from Indian ports in 18.78-79, Cotton was 2,966,569 cwts., valued at £7,914,091, besides cotton exPorts- twist and yarn to the value of ,£937,698, and cotton manu- factures valued at £1,644,125. The cotton-mills of Bombay will be treated of under the Cotton heading ‘ manufactures.’ But apart from weaving and spinning, cleamnS- the cotton trade has given birth to other busy industries, 39° INDIA. [JUTE. Jute. The jute area of Bengal. The jute plant. Prepara- tion of fibre. Mechan- ism ofjute trade. devoted to cleaning the fibre and pressing it into bales for carriage. In 1876-77, there were altogether 2506 steam-gins for cleaning cotton in the Bombay Presidency, besides 22 in the Native States. In addition, there were 130 full-presses worked by steam power, and 183 half-presses worked by manual labour. Cotton gins and cotton presses are also numerous at the chief marts in the Central Provinces and Berar. Jute ranks next to cotton as a fibre crop. The extension of its cultivation has been equally rapid, but it is more limited in its area, being practically confined to Northern and Eastern Bengal. In this tract, which extends from Purniah to Goal- para, for the most part north of the Ganges and along both banks of the Brahmaputra, jute is grown on almost every variety of soil. The chief characteristic of the cultivation is that it remains entirely under the control of the cultivator. Practically a peasant proprietor, he increases or diminishes his cultivation according to the state of the market, and keeps the profits in his own hands. The demand for jute in Europe has contributed more than any administrative measure to raise the standard of comfort throughout Eastern Bengal. The plant that yields the jute of commerce is called pat or koshta by the natives, and belongs to the family of mallows (Corchorus olitorius and C. capsularis). It sometimes attains the height of 12 feet. The seed is generally sown in April, the favourite soil being chars , or alluvial sandbanks thrown up by the great rivers ; and the plant is ready for cutting in August. When it first rises above the ground, too much water will drown it ; but later on, it is able to survive heavy floods. After being cut, the stalks are tied up in bundles, and thrown into standing water to steep. When rotted to such a degree that the outer coat peels off easily, the bundles are taken out of the water, and the fibre is extracted and carefully washed. It now appears as a long, soft, and silky thread ; and all that remains to do is to make it up into bales for export. The final process of pressing is usually performed in steam-presses at Calcutta. The trade is to a great extent in the hands of natives. Beparis or travelling hucksters go round in boats to all the little river marts, to which the jute has been brought by the cultivators. By their agency the produce is conveyed to a few great centres of trade, such as Sirajganj and Narainganj, where it is transferred to wholesale merchants, who ship it to Calcutta by steamer or large native boats, according to the urgency of demand. In 1872-73, when speculation was briskest, it is estimated INDIA. INDIGO.] 391 that about i million acres were under jute, distributed over 16 Jute out- Districts, which had a total cultivable area of 23 million acres. turn' The total export from Calcutta in that year was about 7 Exports, million cwts., valued at ^£4, 142,548. Both quantities and prices have since somewhat declined, but the business remains on a stable footing. In 1878-79, the total export of raw jute from India was 6,021,382 cwts., valued at ^3,800,426, besides jute manufactures to the value of ^1,098,434. Jute is undoubtedly an exhausting crop ; but this fact is well known to the cultivators, who generally allow jute -fields to lie fallow every third or fourth year. A fear has some- times been expressed that the profits derived from jute may have induced the cultivators to neglect their grain crops. But the apprehension seems to be quite groundless. Aspects to _ . . . , , the hus- ror the most part, jute is grown on flooded lands which would bandman. otherwise lie untilled. It only covers a very small portion of the total area, even of the jute Districts, say 4 per cent. ; and the fertility of the rice-fields of Eastern Bengal is such that they could support a much denser population than at present. Jute, in short, is no rival of rice ; but a subsidiary crop, from which the cultivator makes money, while he reserves the rice for his own consumption. Indigo is one of the oldest, and, until the introduction of tea- Indigo, planting, it ranked as the most important, of the Indian staples grown by European capital. In Bengal proper, its cultivation Its decline has greatly declined since the early years of this century. 2e^°a7er English planters have entirely abandoned the Districts of Hugh, the Twenty-four Parganas, Dacca, Farfdpur, Rangpur, and Pabna, which are dotted with the sites of ruined factories. In Nadiya, Jessor, Murshidabad, and Maldah, the industry is still carried on ; but it has not recovered from the depression and actual damage caused by the indigo riots of i860, and the emancipation of the peasantry by the Land Act of 1859. Indigo of a superior quality is manufactured in Midnapur, along the frontier of the hill tracts. The culti- vation on the old scale still flourishes in North Behar, Its culti- from which is derived one - half of the total exports from !n Calcutta. No accurate statistics of area are available ; but in Tirhut alone there are 56 principal concerns, with 70 outworks, producing annually about 20,000 maunds of dye; in Saran, 30 principal concerns and 25 outworks, producing about 12,000 viaunds ; in Champaran, 7 large concerns, producing also 12,000 maunds! It has been estimated that the total 1 The factory viaund of indigo weighs 74 lbs. 10 oz. 392 INDIA. [indigo-planting. in N.W. Provinces ; in Madras. Indigo exports. System of indigo- planting. Opium, in Bengal and Malwa in Raj- putana. amount of money annually distributed by the planters of North Behar cannot be less than i million sterling. Across the border, in the North-Western Provinces, indigo is grown and manufactured to a considerable extent by native cultivators. Inthe Punjab, also, indigo is an important native crop, especially in the Districts of Multan, Muzaffargarh, and Dera Ghazi Khan. In Madras, the total area under indigo is about 300,000 acres, grown and manufactured entirely by the natives, chiefly in the north-east of the Presidency, extending along the coast from Kistna to south Arcot, and inland to Karnul and Cuddapah. In 1877-78, the total export of indigo from all India was 120,605 cwts., valued at £[3,494,334 ; in 1878-79, the exports amounted to 105,051 cwts., of the value of ,£2,960,463. In Bengal, indigo is usually grown on low-lying lands, with sandy soil, that are liable to annual inundation ; in Behar, on comparatively high land. The general practice is for the planter to obtain from the zamlndar or landlord a lease of the whole village area for a term of years; and then to require the rayats or cultivators to grow indigo on a certain portion of their farms every year, under a system of advances. The seed, of which the best kind is imported from Cawnpore, is generally sown about March ; and the crop is ready for gather- ing by the beginning of July. A second crop is sometimes obtained in September. When cut, the leaves are taken to the factory, to be steeped in large vats for about ten hours until the process of fermentation is completed. The water is then run off into a second vat, and subjected to a brisk beating, the effect of which is to separate the particles of dye and cause them to settle at the bottom. Finally, the sediment is boiled, strained, and made up into cakes for the Calcutta market. In recent years, steam has been introduced into the factories for two purposes : to maintain an equable temperature in the vats while the preliminary process of fermentation is going on, and to supersede by machinery the manual labour of beating. The opium of commerce is grown and manufactured in two special tracts : (1) the valley of the Ganges round Patna and Benares ; and (2) a fertile tableland in Central India, corre- sponding to the old kingdom of Malwa, for the most part still under the rule of native chiefs, among whom Sindhia and Holkar rank first. In Malwa, the cultivation of poppy is free, and the duty is levied as the opium passes through the British Presidency of Bombay ; in Bengal, the cultivation is a Government monopoly. Opium is also grown for local con- sumption throughout Rajputana, and to a very limited extent OPIUM.] INDIA. 393 in the Punjab and the Central Provinces. Throughout the rest of India it is absolutely prohibited. In the Ganges valley, the cultivation is supervised from two agencies, with their headquarters at Patna and Ghazipur, at which two towns alone the manufacture is conducted. In 1872, the Bengal area under Bengal poppy was 560,000 acres ; the number of chests of opium sold out'turn- was 42,675 ; the sum realized was ^6,067, 701, giving a net revenue of ^4,259,376. The whole of this was exported from Calcutta to China and the Straits Settlements. The amount of opium exported from Bombay is about equal, thus raising the average exports of opium to about 12 millions sterling, of which about 8 millions represents net profit to Government. In 1878-79, 91,200 chests of opium were exported from all Total India, of the value of ^12,993,985, of which ^7,700,000 out-turn, represented the net profit to Government. Under the Bengal system, annual engagements are entered Bengal into by the cultivators to sow a certain quantity of land with °P‘um ... . . 1 J system: poppy; and it is a fundamental principle, that they may engage or refuse to engage, as they please. As with most other Indian industries, a pecuniary advance is made to the cultivator advances ; before he commences operations, to be deducted when he delivers over the opium at the subordinate agencies. He is compelled to make over his whole produce, being paid at a fixed rate, according to quality. The best soil for poppy is high land which can be easily manured and irrigated. The cultiva- tion requires much attention throughout. From the com- cultiva- mencement of the rains in June until October, the ground is tl0n> prepared by repeated ploughing, weeding, and manuring. The seed is sown in the first fortnight of November, and several waterings are necessary before the plant reaches maturity in February. After the plant has flowered, the first process is manufac- to remove the petals, which are preserved, to be used after- Uire‘ wards as coverings for the opium-cakes. The juice is then collected during the month of March, by scarifying the capsules in the afternoon with an iron instrument, and scraping it off the next morning. The quality of the drug mainly depends upon the skill with which this operation is performed. In the beginning of April, the cultivators bring in their opium to the subordinate agencies, where it is examined and weighed, and the accounts are settled. The final process of preparing the drug in balls for the Chinese market is conducted at the two central agencies at Patna and Ghazipur. This generally lasts until the end of July, but the balls are not dry enough to be packed in chests until October. 394 INDIA. [tobacco. Tobacco. Chief tobacco areas. Tobacco trade. Tobacco- curing. Tobacco is grown in every District of India for local con- sumption. The soil and climate are favourable; but the quality of native cured tobacco is so inferior, as to scarcely find a market in Europe. The principal tobacco - growing tracts are Rangpur and Tirhut in Bengal, Kaira in Bombay, the delta of the Godavari, and Coimbatore and Madura Dis- tricts in Madras. The two last-mentioned Districts supply the raw material for the well-known ‘ Trichinopoli cheroot,’ almost the only form of Indian tobacco that finds favour with Europeans; the produce of the lankds or alluvial islands in the Godavari is manufactured into ‘coconadas.’ The tobacco of Northern Bengal is largely exported to British Burma; for the Burmese, although great smokers, do not grow sufficient for their own needs. The manufacture of tobacco, both in Madras and Burma, is now making progress under European supervision, and promises to supply an important new staple in the exports of India. In 1876-77, the total registered imports of tobacco into Calcutta were 521,700 mautids, valued at ^£26 1,000, of which more than half came from the single District of Rangpur. Tobacco is also grown for export in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The tobacco of Tirhut is chiefly exported towards the west The total area under tobacco in that District is esti- mated at 40,000 acres, the best quality being grown in pargana Saressa of the Tajpur Subdivision. Since 1875, a private firm of capitalists, backed by Govern- ment support, has begun to grow tobacco, and manufacture it for the European market. The scene of operations is two abandoned stud-farms at Ghazfpur in the North-Western Provinces, and at Pusa in Tirhut District, Bengal In 1878-79, about 240 acres were cultivated with tobacco, the total crop being about 160,000 lbs. Five English or American curers were employed. Some of the produce was exported to England as * cured leaf ;’ but the larger part was put upon the Indian market in the form of ‘ manufactured smoking mixture.’ This mixture is in demand at regimental messes and canteens, and has also found its way to Australia. The enterprise may now be said to have passed beyond the stage of experiment, and has probably opened a new sphere alike for Indian agriculture and European capital. The one essential condition of success is skilled supervision in the delicate process of tobacco-curing. Tobacco to the value of ,£128,330 was exported from India in 1878-79. Before proceeding to crops of a special character, such as INDIA. 395 COFFEE.] coffee, tea, and cinchona, it may be well to give a general Uncer- view of the area covered by the staples of Indian agriculture. Indian ^ The table on next page must be taken as approximate only ; crop it represents, however, the best information available (1880). statistics- Its figures show various changes from the estimates in 1875, incorporated in some of the foregoing paragraphs. But it is necessary to warn the reader that Indian agricultural returns do not always stand the test of statistical analysis. I can only reproduce the local figures without verifying them ; alike in the preceding pages, and in this tabular statement (p. 396). But steps are now being taken to secure a higher degree of trustworthiness in such returns. The cultivation of coffee is confined to Southern India, Coffee, although attempts have been made to introduce the plant both into British Burma and into the Bengal District of Chitta- gong. The coffee tract may be roughly defined as a section of the landward slope of the Western Ghats, extending from Kanara in the north to Travancore in the extreme south. This Coffee tract includes almost the whole of Coorg, the Districts ofaiea' Kadur and Hassan in Mysore, and the Nilgiri Hills, enlarged by the recent annexation of the Wainad. Within the last few years, the cultivation has extended to the Shevaroy Hills in Salem District, and to the Palni Hills in Madura. Unlike tea, coffee was not introduced into India by European enterprise ; and even to the present day its cultivation is largely conducted by natives. The Malabar coast has always enjoyed a direct commerce with Arabia, and yielded many converts to Islam. One of these converts, Baba Budan, is said to have gone Introduc- on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and to have brought back with mt0 him the coffee berry, which he planted on the hill range in Mysore still called after his name. According to local tradition, this happened about two centuries ago. The shrubs thus sown lived on, but the cultivation did not spread until the beginning of the present century. The State of Mysore and the Baba Budan range also witnessed the first opening of a coffee-garden by an English planter about forty years ago. The success of this experiment led to the extension of coffee cultivation into the neighbouring tract of Manjarabad, also in Mysore, and into the Wainad Subdivision of the Madras District of Malabar. From 1840 to i860, the enterprise made Its pro- slow progress ; but since the latter date, it has spread with great rapidity along the whole line of the Western Ghats, clearing away the primeval forest, and opening a new era of prosperity to the labouring classes. The following statistics [. Sentence continued on p. 397. 396 INDIA. [crop-area. COFFEE.] INDIA. 3 97 Sentence continued from p. 395.] show the area under coffee for the year 1877-78 : — In Mysore, Coffee 128,438 acres, almost confined to the two Districts of Hassan ig-gStICS’ and Kadur; in Madras, 58,988 acres, chiefly in Malabar, the Nilgiris, and Salem; in Coorg, 45,150 acres: total, 232,576 acres, exclusive of Travancore. The average out-turn is esti- mated at about 3 cwts. per acre of mature plant. The total Indian exports (from Madras) in 1877-78 were 33,399,352 lbs., valued at ^1,355,643, of which about one-half was consigned to the United Kingdom. In 1878-79, the exports amounted to 38,336,000 lbs., valued at ^"1,548,481. Considerable judgment is required to select a suitable site Sites for for a coffee-garden, for the shrub will only thrive under special g°^^s . circumstances, which it is not very easy to anticipate before- hand. It is essential that the spot should be sheltered from the full force of the monsoon, and that the rainfall, though ample, should not be excessive. The most desirable elevation elevation ; is between 2500 and 3500 feet above sea level. The climate must be warm and damp, conditions which are not conducive to the health of Europeans. Almost any kind of forest land will do, but the deeper the upper stratum of decomposed vegetable matter the better. The site chosen for a garden is first cleared with the axe of jungle and undergrowth, but clearing ; sufficient timber -trees should be left to furnish shade. In the month of December, the berries are sown in a nursery, which has previously been dug, manured, weeded, and watered as carefully as a garden. Between June and August, the seed- lings are planted out in pits dug in prepared ground at regular cultiva- intervals ; an operation which demands the utmost carefulness tl0n ’ in order that the roots may not be injured. In the first year, weeding only is required ; in the second year, the shrubs are 1 topped,’ to keep them at an average height of about 3 feet ; in the third year, they commence to bear, but it is not until the seventh or eighth year that the planter is rewarded by a full crop. The season for blossoming is March and April, when the entire shrub burgeons in a snowy expanse of flower, with a most delicate fragrance. Gentle showers or heavy mists at this season contribute greatly to the fecundity of the blossoms. The crop ripens in October and November. The berries are picking ; picked by hand, and collected in baskets to be ‘ pulped ’ on the pulping ; spot. This operation is performed by means of a revolving iron cylinder, fixed against a breastwork at such an interval that only the ‘beans’ proper pass through, while the husks are rejected. The beans are then left to ferment for about twenty- 39§ INDIA. [tea. peeling. Tea. Home of the tea- plant, Assam. Discovered 1826. State ex- periments, 1834-49. Private Com- panies, 1839-51, four hours, when their saccharine covering is washed off. After drying in the sun for six or eight days, they are ready to be put in bags and despatched from the garden. But before being shipped, they have yet to be prepared for the home market. This is done at large coffee-works, to be found at the western ports and in the interior of Mysore. The berries are here ‘peeled’ in an iron trough by broad iron wheels, worked by steam power; and afterwards ‘winnowed,’ graded, and sorted for the market. The cultivation of tea in India commenced within the memory of men still living, and the industry now surpasses even indigo as a field for European capital. Unlike coffee-planting, the enterprise owes its origin to the initiation of Government, and it has never attracted the attention of the natives. Early travellers reported that the tea -plant was indigenous to the southern valleys of the Himalayas ; but they were mistaken in the identity of the shrub, which was the Osyris nepalensis. The real tea (Thea viridis), a plant akin to the camellia, grows wild in Assam, being commonly found throughout the hill tracts between the valleys of the Brahmaputra and the Barak. It there sometimes attains the dimensions of a large tree ; and from this, as well as from other indications, it has been plausibly inferred that Assam is the real home of the plant, which was thence introduced at a prehistoric date into China. The dis- covery of the tea-plant growing wild in Assam is generally attributed to two brothers named Bruce, who brought back specimens of the plant and the seed, after the conquest of the Province from the Burmese in 1826. In January 1834, under the Governor-Generalship of Lord William Bentinck, a com- mittee was appointed ‘ for the purpose of submitting a plan for the introduction of tea-culture into India.’ In the following year, plants and seed were brought from China, and widely distributed throughout the country. Government itself under- took the formation of experimental plantations in Upper Assam, and in the sub-Himalayan Districts of Kumaun and Garhwal in the North-Western Provinces. A party of skilled manufacturers was brought from China, and the leaf which they prepared was favourably reported upon in the London market. Forthwith private speculation took up the enterprise. The Assam Tea Company, still by far the largest, was formed in 1839, and received from the Government an extensive grant of land, with the nurseries which had been already laid out. In Kumaun, retired members of the civil and military services came forward with equal eagerness. Many fundamental mis- TEA.] INDIA. 399 takes as to site, soil, and methods of manufacture were made in those early days, and bitter disappointment was the chief result. But while private enterprises languished, Government steadily persevered. It retained a portion of its Assam gardens in its own hands until 1849, when the Assam Com- pany began to emerge from their difficulties. Government also carried on the business in Kumiun, under the able management of Dr. Jameson, as late as 1855. The real progress of tea-planting on a great scale in Assam Rapid dates from about 1851, and was greatly assisted by the promulgation of the Waste-Land Rules of 1854. By 1859, there were already 5 1 gardens in existence, owned by private individuals ; and the enterprise had extended from its original headquarters in Lakhimpur and Sibsagar as far down the Brah- maputra as Kamrup. In 1856, the tea-plant was discovered wild in the District of Cachar in the Barak valley, and European Cachar. capital was at once directed to that quarter. At about the same time, tea-planting was introduced into the neighbourhood of the Himalayan sanitarium of Darjiling, among the Sikhim Darjiling. Himalayas. The success of these undertakings engendered a wild spirit of speculation in tea companies, both in India and at home, which reached its climax in 1865. The industry Crisis of recovered but slowly from the effects of the disastrous crisis, l86S- and did not again reach a stable position until 1869. Since that date, it has rapidly but steadily progressed, and has been ever opening new fields of enterprise. At the head of the Bay Subse- of Bengal in Chittagong District, side by side with coffee on quent the Nilgiri Hills, on the forest-clad slopes of Chutia Nagpur, amid the low-lying jungle of the Bhutan Dwirs, and even in Arakan, the energetic pioneers of tea-planting have established their industry. Different degrees of success may have rewarded them, but in no case have they abandoned the struggle. The market for Indian tea is practically inexhaustible. There is no reason to suppose that all the suitable localities have yet been tried ; and we may look forward to the day when India shall not only rival, but supersede, China in her staple product. The following statistics, unless otherwise stated, refer to the Statistics year 1877-78. The total area taken up for tea in Assam, °efaIndian including both the Brahmaputra and the Barak valleys, was Assam 736,082 acres, of which 538,961 acres were fit for cultivation; the total number of separate estates was 1718; the total out- turn was 23,352,298 lbs., at the average rate of 286 lbs. per acre under mature plant. In Bengal, the area taken up was Bengal, 400 INDIA. [tea. N.W. Provinces. Punjab. Madras. Total exports. Tea culti- vation. Varieties of the tea- plant. Seed. 62,642 acres, of which 20,462 acres were under mature plant, including 18,120 acres in the single District of Darjiling; the number of gardens was 221; the out-turn was 5,768,654 lbs., at the rate of 282 lbs. per acre under mature plant. In the North-Western Provinces, there were, in 1876, 25 estates in the Districts of Kumaun and Garhwal, with an out-turn of 578,000 lbs., of which 350,000 lbs. were sold in India to Central Asian merchants; and in 1871, 19 estates in Dehra Dun, with 2024 acres under tea, and an out-turn of 297,828 lbs. In the Punjab, there were 10,046 acres under tea, almost entirely confined to Kangra District, with an out- turn of 1,113,106 lbs., or hi lbs. per acre. In Madras, the area under tea on the Ni'lgiris was 3160 acres; the exports from the Presidency were 183,178 lbs., valued at ^19,308. Excluding the figures just given for Madras, the whole of the Indian tea is shipped from the port of Calcutta, and almost the whole is sent to the United Kingdom. The total exports by sea for 1877-78 were 33>459,°75 lbs., valued at ^3, 044, 571. Of the total supply, about 26,000,000 lbs. came from Assam, about 8,000,000 lbs. from Bengal, 787,000 lbs. from the North- Western Provinces, and 684.000 lbs. from the Punjab. In the same year, the exports of tea from the Punjab to Central Asia were returned at 1,217,840 lbs., valued at ^181,634, being a considerable decrease on the previous year. In the year 1879-80, the exports of Indian tea to Great Britain rose to 40 million lbs., and new markets have been successfully opened in Australia and the United States. The processes of cultivation and manufacture are very similar throughout the whole of India, with the exception that in Upper India the leaf is prepared as green tea for the markets of Central Asia. Three main varieties are recognised — Assam, China, and Hybrid. The first is the indigenous plant, some- times attaining the dimensions of a tree; yielding a strong and high-priced tea, but difficult to rear. The China variety, originally imported from that country, is a short bushy shrub, yielding a comparatively weak tea and a small out-turn per acre. The third variety is a true hybrid, formed by crossing the two other species. It combines the qualities of both in varying proportions, and is the kind most sought after by planters. In all cases, the plant is raised from seed, which in size and appearance resembles the hazel-nut. The seeds are sown in carefully prepared nurseries in December and January, and at first require to be kept shaded. About April, the seed- lings are sufficiently grown to be transplanted, an operation TEA.] INDIA. 40 x which continues into July. The site selected for a tea-garden Sites for should be comparatively elevated land, for it is essential that ^-dens water should not lodge round the roots of the plants. In Assam, which may be taken as the typical tea district, the most favourite situation is the slopes of low hills, that everywhere rise above the marshy valleys. On the summit may be seen the neat bungalow of the planter, lower down the coolie lines, while the tea bushes are studded in rows with mathematical precision all round the sides. The best soil is virgin forest Soil, land, rich in the decomposed vegetable matter of ages. Great pains are expended to prevent this fertile mould from being washed away by the violence of the tropical rains. In bringing new land into condition, the jungle should be cut down in December, and burned on the spot in February. The ground is then cleaned by the plough or the hoe, and marked out for the seedlings by means of stakes planted at regular intervals of about 4 feet from each other. For the first two years, nothing is required except keeping Work of the plants clear of weeds. Afterwards, it is necessary to g^en • prune the luxuriant height of the bushes in the cold season of & every ensuing year. The prunings should be buried round the roots of the plant for manure. The plants begin to come into bearing in the third year, and gradually reach their maximum yield in their tenth year. The produce consists of the ‘ flushes,’ ‘flushes or successive shoots of young leaves and buds, which first appear in the beginning of the rainy season. There are from five to seven full flushes in the season from March to November. The bushes are picked about every ten days by picking; women and children, who are paid by weight on bringing their baskets to the factory, when the operation of manufacture forthwith begins. The leaf is first spread out lightly on trays or mats, in order that it may ‘ wither,’ i.e. become limp and ‘ wither- flaccid. Under favourable conditions, this result is effected in ing; a single night ; but sometimes the natural process has to be accelerated by exposure in the sun or by artificial heat. The next operation is known as ‘ rolling,’ performed either by the rolling ; manual labour of coolies or by machinery. The object of this is to twist and compress the leaf into balls, and set up fermen- tation. The final stage is to arrest fermentation by drying, drying ; which may be effected in many ways, usually by the help of machinery. The entire process of manufacture after ‘ wither- ing,’ does not take more than about four hours and a half. All that now remains to do is to sort the tea in sieves, according sorting, to size and quality, thus distinguishing the various grades from 402 INDIA. [cinchona. Cin- chona. Clements Markham, 1S60. Flowery Pekoe to Broken Congou, and to pack it for shipment in the well-known tea chests. The introduction of the quinine - yielding cinchona into India is a remarkable example of success rewarding the indefatigable exertions of a single man. When Mr. Clements Xilgiri planta- tions. Varieties. Markham undertook the task of transporting the seedlings from South America in i860, cinchona had never before been reared artificially. But the novel experiment in arbori- culture has not only been successfully conducted, but has proved remunerative from a pecuniary point of view. A cheap febrifuge has been provided for the fever-stricken popu- lation of the Indian plains, while the surplus bark sold in Europe more than repays interest upon the capital expendi- ture. These results have been produced from an expenditure of about 1 00,000. The headquarters of cinchona cultivation are on the Nilgiri Hills, where Government owns several planta- tions, covering an aggregate of about 1000 acres, with about 570,000 full-grown plants. From the Government plantations, cinchona seeds and plants are annually distributed to the public in large quantities ; and there are already several private planta- tions, rivalling the Government estates in area, and understood to be very valuable properties. The varieties of cinchona most commonly cultivated are C. officinalis and C. succirubra ; but experiments are being conducted with C. calisaya, C. pubescens, C. lanceolata, and C. pitayensis. Now that the success of the enterprise is secure, Government has somewhat curtailed the extent of its own operations. No fresh land is being taken up, but the plantations are kept free from weeds. The quinologist’s department has been abolished, and the bark is sold in its raw state. From the central establishment of the Government on the Nilgiris, cinchona has been introduced into the Palni Hills in Madura District, into the Wainad, and into the State of Trayancore. Plantations have also been successfully opened by Southern Government near Merkdra in Coorg, on the Baba Budan Hills in Mysore, and in Tsit-taung (Sitang) District in British Burma. Failure has attended the experiments made at Mahabaleshwar in the Bombay Presidency, and at Nongklao in the Khasf Hills, Assam. But the success of the Government plantation in Bengal, at Darjiling, in Northern Bengal, rivals that of the original plantation on the Nilgiris. The area has been gradually extended to more than 2000 acres, and the bark is manufac- tured into quinine on the spot by a Government quinologist. The species mostly grown is C. succirubra, which yields a Spread of cinchona ; m India CINCHONA.] INDIA. 403 red-coloured bark, rich in its total yield of alkaloids, but comparatively poor in quinine proper. Efforts are being made to increase the cultivation of C. calisaya, which yields the more valuable bark ; but this species is difficult to propagate. The febrifuge, as issued by the quinologist, is in the form of a nearly white powder, containing the following alkaloids : — Quinine, cinchonidine, cinchonine, quinamine, and what is known as amorphous alkaloid. It has been authoritatively described as ‘a perfectly safe and efficient substitute for quinine in all cases of ordinary intermittent fever.’ It has been substituted for imported quinine, in the proportion of three-fourths to one-fourth, at all the Government dispensaries, by which measure alone an economy of more than ,£20,000 a year has been achieved ; and it is now eagerly sought after by private druggists from every part of the country. The following are the financial results of the two Govern- ment plantations in 1877-78 : — On the Nilgiris, the crop was 138,808 lbs., of which 132,951 lbs. were shipped to England, and the rest supplied to the Madras and Bombay medical departments. The total receipts were ,£35,875, and the total expenditure £6977, thus showing a net profit of ,£28,898. At Darjiling, the crop amounted to 344,225 lbs. of bark^which was all handed over to the quinologist, and yielded 5x62 lbs. of the febrifuge. The total receipts were £9707, of which £6188 represents the amount debited to Government depart- ments for the sale of febrifuge and bark, while ,£3 519 was derived from sales to the public. The total expenditure was ,£8554, of which £5790 was expended upon the plantation, and £2764 on the quinologist’s department. The net profit, therefore, was £1150, which is expected shortly to rise to £4000 a year, as more of the young plants come into bearing. Sericulture in India is a stationary, if not a declining industry. The large production in China, Japan, and the Mediter- ranean countries controls the European markets; and on an average of years, the imports of raw silk into India exceed the exports. The East India Company from the first took great pains to foster the production of silk. As early as 1767, two years after the grant of the financial administration of Bengal had been conferred upon the Company, we find the Governor, Mr. Verelst, personally urging the zaminddrs , gathered at Murshidabad for the ceremony of the Punyd, ‘ to give all possible encouragement to the cultivation of mulberry.’ In 1769, a colony of reelers was brought from Italy to teach Cinchona alkaloids. Cinchona statistics, 1878. Silk. The Com- pany’s early silk- factories. 4°4 INDIA. [silk. Italian reelers, 1769. Tipu’s ex- periments, 1795- Bengal factories, 1779-1833. Silk area of Bengal. Silk statistics, 1878. the system followed in the filatures at Novi. The first silk prepared after the Italian method reached England in 1772, and Bengal silk soon became an important article of export. Similar efforts started at Madras in 1793 were abandoned after a trial of five years. The silk-worm is said to have been introduced into Mysore by Tipti Sultan, and for many years continued to prosper. But recently the worms there have been afflicted by a mysterious epidemic ; and despite the enterprise of an Italian gentleman, who imported fresh broods from Japan, the business has dwindled to insignificance. Bengal has always been the chief seat of mulberry cultivation. When the trading operations of the Company ceased in 1833, they owned 1 1 head factories in that Province, each supplied by numerous filatures, to which the cultivators brought in their cocoons. The annual export of raw silk from Calcutta was then about 1 million lbs. But in those days the weaving of silk formed a large portion of the business of the factories. In 1779, Rennel wrote that at Kasfmbazar alone about 400,000 lbs. weight of silk was consumed in the several European factories. In 1802, Lord Valentia describes Jangipur as ‘the greatest silk station of the Company, with 600 furnaces, and giving employment to 3000 persons.’ Under the new Charter of 1833, the Company’s silk trade and its commerce with China were to cease. But it could not suddenly throw out of employ- ment the numbers of people employed upon silk production, •and its factories were not entirely disposed of until 1837. When the Company abandoned the trade on its own account, sericulture was taken up by private enterprise, and still clings to its old headquarters. At the present time the cultivation of the mulberry is mainly confined to the Rajshahi and Bardwan Divisions of Lower Bengal. This branch of agriculture, and also the rearing of the silk-worms, is conducted by the peasantry themselves, who are free to follow or abandon the business. The destination of the cocoons is twofold. They may either be sent to small native filatures, where the silk is roughly wound, and usually consumed in the hand-looms of the country ; or they may be brought to the great European factories, which generally use steam machinery, and con- sign their produce direct to Europe. The exports vary con- siderably from year to year, being determined partly by the local yield, and still more by the prices ruling in Europe. In 1877-78, they were about million lbs., thus classified: — Raw silk, 658,000 lbs.; chasan , or the outer covering of the cocoon, 823,000 lbs.; the aggregate value was ,£750,439. JUNGLE SILK.] INDIA. 4°5 In the same year, the total imports of raw silk (chiefly received at Bombay and Rangoon) were a little over 2 million lbs., valued at ^678,069. The cultivation of the mulberry is chiefly carried on in the Mulberry Districts of Rajshahf, Bogra, Maldah, Murshidabad, Birbhum, -Bengal” Bardwan, and Midnapur. No accurate statistics are available, but in Rajshahi alone the area under mulberry is estimated at 80,000 acres. The variety grown as food for the silk-worms is not the fruit-tree with which we are familiar in England, but a comparatively small shrub. Any fairly good land will grow mulberry that does not grow rice. But the shrubs must be pre- served from floods ; and the land generally requires to be arti- ficially raised in square plots, with broad trenches between, like a chess-board. The mulberry differs from most Indian crops in being a perennial, i.e. it will yield its harvest of leaves for several years in succession, provided that care be taken to preserve it. It is planted between the months of November and January. Three growths of silk-worms are usually obtained in the year — in November, March, and August. Besides the silk-worm proper (Bombyx mori), fed upon the mulberry, several other species of silk-yielding worms abound in the jungles of India, and are utilized, and in some cases Jungle domesticated, by the natives. Throughout Assam, especially, s'lks an inferior silk is produced in this way, which has from time immemorial furnished the common dress of the people. These * wild silks ’ are known to commerce under the generic name of tasar or tusse r, but they are really the produce of {tasar) several distinct varieties of worm, fed on many different trees. The worm that yields tasar silk in Chutia Nagpur has been in Bengal ; identified as the caterpillar of Anthercea paphia. When wild, it feeds indiscriminately upon the sal (Shorea robusta), the baer (Zizyphus jujuba), and other forest trees; but in a state of semi-domestication, it is exclusively reared upon the dsan (Terminalia alata), which grows conveniently in clumps. The cocoons are sometimes collected in the jungle, but more fre- quently bred from an earlier generation of jungle cocoons. The worms require constant attention while feeding, to protect them from crows and other birds. They give three crops in the year — in August, November, and May — of which the second is by far the most important. The tasar silk-worm is also found and utilized throughout the Central Provinces, in in Central the hills of the Bombay Presidency, and along the southern Pl0Vinces ’ slope of the Himalayas. During the past twenty years, repeated attempts have been made to raise this industry out INDIA. [tasar, lac. 406 in Assam. Lac. Lac statistics, 1878. Descrip- tion of lac. Shell-lac. Lac-dye. Stick -lac. of its precarious condition, and to introduce tasar silk into the European market. That the raw material abounds is certain ; but the great difficulty is to obtain it in a state which will be acceptable to European manufacturers. Native spun tasar is only fit for native hand-looms. In Assam, two distinct qualities of silk are made, known as eria and mugd. The former is obtained from the cocoons of Phaloena cynthia ; and the worm is fed, as the native name implies, upon the leaves of the castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis). This variety may- be said to be entirely domesticated, being reared indoors. Mugd silk is obtained from the cocoons of Saturnia assamungis. The moth, which is remarkable for its size, is found wild in the jungle; but the breed is so far domesticated that cocoons are brought from one part of the Province to another, and the sum tree is artificially propagated to supply the worms with food. The collection of lac is in a somewhat similar position to that of tasar silk. The lac insect abounds on certain jungle trees in every part of the country ; and from time immemorial, it has been collected by the wild tribes, in order to be w-orked up into lacquered ware. But European enterprise has in vain tried to place the industry upon a stable and remunerative basis. Though lac is to be found everywhere, foreign exporta- tion is almost entirely confined to Calcutta, which draws its supplies from the hills of Chutia Nagpur, and in a less degree from Assam and Mirzapur in the North-Western Provinces. Lac is known to commerce both as a gum (shell-lac) and as a dye. In 1878, the total exports of lac of all kinds were 104,717 cwts., valued at ^362,244. In 1879, the total ex- ports were 91,983 cwts., valued at ^300,072. Lac (Jali) is a cellular, resinous incrustation of a deep orange colour, secreted by an insect (Coccus lacca) round the branches of various trees, chiefly kiisum (Schleichera trijuga), palds (Butea frondosa), pipal (Ficus religiosa), and baer (Zizyphus jujuba). The principal component is resin, forming about 60 or 70 per cent., from which is manufactured the shell-lac of commerce. Lac-dye is obtained from the small cells of the incrustration, and is itself a portion of the body of the female insect. The entire incrustation, while still adhering to the twig, is called stick-lac. In order to obtain the largest quantity of dye, the stick-lac should be gathered before the young come out, which happens twice in the year — in January and July. The dye is first extracted by repeated processes of washing and straining, while the shell-lac is worked up from what MODEL FARMS.] INDIA. 407 remains in a hot and semi-liquid state. For all articles in which a fast colour is not required, lac-dye can never compete with the cheaper and less permanent aniline dyes ; while for more lasting colours, cochineal is preferred. Lac-dye, how- ever, is said to be superior even to cochineal in resisting the action of human perspiration ; and it is probable that in the event of the supply of cochineal falling off, lac-dye might be used in its stead to produce the regimental scarlet. It has largely replaced cochineal of late years in dyeing officers’ coats ; and a further extension of its use for similar purposes seems possible. The chief establishment in India for manufacturing lac is situated near Doranda, in Lohardaga District, Chutia Nagpur, to which stick-lac is brought in from all the country round as far as the Central Provinces. The annual out-turn is about 6000 cwts. of shell-lac, made from double that quantity of raw material. In 1877-78, this factory ceased working, owing to the depressed state of the market in Europe. The efforts of Government to improve the native methods Model of agriculture, by the establishment of model farms under farms- skilled European supervision, have not been generally suc- cessful. In too many cases, the skilled agriculturists from Europe have been gardeners rather than farmers. In other cases, believing only in their own maxims of high cultivation — deep ploughing, subsoil drainage, manuring, and rotation of crops — they have despised the ancient rules of native experience, and have not adapted their Western learning to the circumstances of a tropical country. Nevertheless, many valuable experiments have been made, and much information of a negative character has been gained. At the present time, the model farms have been abandoned The small in Bengal, in Assam, and in the Punjab. In the North- ^^eil Western Provinces, the propagation of flowers, fruits, vegetables, and trees is still prosecuted. In Bombay, there are three model farms ; and in the Central Provinces one, on which the common crops of the country are raised at a loss. The Saidapet farm, near the city of Madras, is the only establish- ment at which important experiments have been conducted on a scale and with a perseverance sufficient to yield results of value. This farm was started by the Governor, Sir William Denison, in 1865, and has been for the past nine years under the able management of Mr. Robertson. It now (1881) covers an area of 250 acres in a ring fence. Important experiments have been made, of which some have produced encouraging results, indicating the general direction in which improvements 408 INDIA. [model farms. Is success possible ? The pro- blem of improved husbandry. Out-turn of crops. may be effected in the agricultural practice of the Presidency. It has been proved that many of the common ‘ dry crops ’ can be profitably cultivated for fodder at all seasons of the year. Those most strongly recommended are yellow cholam (Sorghum vulgare), guinea grass (Panicum jumentaceum), and horse-gram (Dolichus uniflorus). Sugar-cane and rice also yield excellent fodder, when cut green. Attention has also been given to subsoil drainage, deep ploughing, the fertilizing powers of various manures, and the proper utilization of irrigation water. It has been decided to establish a school of agricul- ture at Saidapet (Sydapet), in connection with the model farm, with subordinate branches in the Districts, so as to diffuse as widely as possible the agricultural lessons that have been already learned. In the year 1877-78, the total expenditure was about ,£600. To many it seems doubtful whether such experiments can be made to yield profitable results. The Hindu Patriot lately put the case in very pithy words : ‘ The native cultivators have nothing to learn so far as non-scientific agriculture is concerned, and the adoption of scientific agriculture is wholly beyond their means.’ If the only alternative lay between a strictly scientific and an altogether unscientific husbandry, I should have to concur in the Hindu Patriot’s conclusion. But the choice is not thus limited. In England one little improvement takes place in one district, another small change for the better in another. Strictly scientific farming trebles the produce ; a field which produces 730 lbs. of wheat without manure can be made to yield 2342 lbs. by manure. But the native of India has neither the capital nor the knowledge required to attain this result. If, therefore, the problem before him was to increase his crops threefold, I should despair of his success. But the task before him is a much less ambitious one ; namely, to gradually increase by perhaps 10 or 20 per cent, the pro- duce of his fields, and not by 300 per cent, at a stroke. Wheat land in the North-Western Provinces, which now gives only 840 lbs. an acre, yielded 1140 lbs. in the time of Akbar, and would be made to produce 1800 lbs. in East Norfolk. The average return of food-grains in India shows about 700 lbs. per acre; in England, w'heat averages over 1700 lbs. Mr. Hume, the Secretary to the Government of India, in its late Department of Agriculture, declares, * that with proper manur- ing and proper tillage, every acre, broadly speaking, of land in the country can be made to yield 30, 50, or 70 per cent, more of every kind of crop than it at present produces; INDIA. 409 CATTLE DISEASE.] and with a fully corresponding increase in the profits of cultivation.’ The first impediment to better husbandry is the fewness and The three weakness of the cattle. ‘ Over a great portion of the Empire,’ writes the Secretary to the late Agricultural Department in (1) Want India, ‘ the mass of the cattle are starved for six weeks every cattle, year. The hot winds roar, every green thing has disappeared, no hot-weather forage is grown ; the last year’s fodder has generally been consumed in keeping the well-bullocks on their legs during the irrigation of the spring crops; and all the husbandman can do is just to keep his poor brutes alive on the chopped leaves of the few trees and shrubs he has access to, the roots of grass and herbs that he digs out of the edges of fields, and the like. In good years, he just succeeds ; in bad years, the weakly ones die of starvation. But then come the rains. Within the week, as though by magic, the burning sands are carpeted with rank, luscious herbage, the cattle will eat and over-eat; and millions die of one form or other of cattle disease, springing out of this starvation followed by sudden repletion with rank, juicy, immature herbage.’ He estimates 4 the average annual loss of cattle in India by preventable disease ’at 10 million beasts, worth 7 J millions sterling. He complains that no real attempt has been made either to bring veterinary knowledge within reach of the people, or to organize a system of village plantation which would feed their cattle through the. summer. I shall deal with the statistics and breeds of agricultural stock at pp. 41 1-4 14. The second impediment to improved husbandry is the want (2) Want of manure. If there were more stock, there would be more manure' manure ; and the absence of firewood compels the people to use even the scanty droppings of their cattle for fuel. Under such circumstances, agriculture ceases to be the manufacture of food, and becomes a mere spoliation of the soil. Forage crops, such as lucerne, guinea-grass, and the great stemmed millets, might furnish a large supply of cattle-food per acre. Government is now considering whether their cultivation could not be promoted by reducing the irrigation rates on green fodder crops. A system of village plantations would not only supply firewood, but would yield leaves and an undergrowth of fodder sufficient to tide the cattle over their six weeks’ struggle for life each summer. In some districts, Government has land of its own which it could thus plant ; in others, it is only a sleeping partner in the soil. The system would have to be considerately organized on a legislative basis ; but Mr. 2 D 410 INDIA. [manure. Hume, the highest authority on such a subject, declares the system perfectly practicable. For the details I refer the reader to his valuable pamphlet on ‘ Agricultural Reform in India.’ In Switzerland, the occupiers of allmends , or communal lands, have at least in some cantons to keep up a certain number of trees. It seems a fair question whether plantations ought not in many parts of India to be now made an incident of the land tenure ; they would go far to solve the two fundamental difficulties of Indian agriculture — the loss of cattle, and the want of manure. The system of State Forestry at present pursued will be described at pp. 413, 415-41 7. Meanwhile, the natives set an increasing value on manure. The great cities are being converted from centres of disease Utiliza- into sources of food-supply. For a time, caste prejudices tion of stood in the way of utilizing the night-soil. ‘ Five years ago,’ manure. . J 0 ° . . . . , r writes the Secretary to the Poona Municipality, ‘ agriculturists would not touch the poudrette when prepared, and could not be induced to take it away at even a nominal charge. At present, the out-turn of manure is not enough to keep pace with the demand, and the peasants buy it up from four to six months in advance.’ At Amritsar, in the Punjab, 30,000 donkey-loads were sold in one year. A great margin still exists for economy, both in the towns and villages ; but the husbandman is becoming more alive to the utilization of every source of manure, and his prejudices are gradually giving way under the stern pressure of facts. (3) Want The third impediment to improved agriculture in India is of water. t]ie Want 0f water. Mr. Caird, the chief English authority who has inquired into the subject, believes that if only one-third of the cultivated area were irrigated, India would be secure against famine. At any rate, an extension of irrigation would alone suffice to raise the food-supply by more than 1 per cent, during many years. Since India passed to the Crown, great progress has been made in this direction. Money has been invested by millions of pounds; 200 millions of acres are now under cultivation ; and in the five British Provinces which require it most, 28 per cent, of the cultivated area, or say one- third, is artificially supplied with water. Those Provinces are the Punjab, the North-West, Oudh, Sind, and Madras. Look- ing to what has of late years been done, and to what yet remains to be done by wells and petty works with the aid of loans from the State, I think we may reckon on a vast increase of food from irrigation. The pecuniary and statistical aspects of irrigation will be exhibited at pp. 419-426. LIVE-STOCK.] INDIA. 41 1 Having thus summarized the three impediments to improved husbandry, I shall now examine in detail the three subjects immediately connected with them, namely the Agricultural Stock of India, Forests, and Irrigation. Throughout the whole of India, excepting in Sind and the Agricul- westem Districts of the Punjab, horned cattle are the only beasts used for ploughing. The well-known humped breed of cattle predominates everywhere, being divided into many varieties. Owing partly to unfavourable conditions of climate and soil, partly to the insufficiency of grazing ground, and partly to the want of selection in breeding, the general con- dition of the cattle is miserably poor. As cultivation advances, Want of the area of waste land available for grazing steadily diminishes, fod(ler- and the prospects of the poor beasts are becoming worse rather than better. Their only hope lies in the introduction of fodder crops as a regular stage in the agricultural course. There are, however, some fine breeds in existence, which are carefully fostered. In Mysore, the avirit mahal, a breed said to have been introduced by Haidar All for military purposes, is still kept up by Government. In the Madras Districts of Nellore and Kamul, the indigenous breed has Famous been greatly improved under the stimulus of cattle shows and breeds, prizes, founded by British officials. In the Central Provinces, there is a high-class breed of trotting bullocks, in great demand for wheeled carriages. The large and handsome oxen of Guzerat in Bombay, and of Hariana in the Punjab, are excellently adapted for drawing heavy loads in a sandy soil. The worst cattle are to be found always in deltaic tracts, but here their place is to a large extent taken by buffaloes. Buffaloes. These last are more hardy than ordinary cattle, their character being maintained by crossing the cows with wild bulls, and their milk yields the best gh't, or clarified butter. In British Burma, the returns show that the total number of buffaloes is just equal to that of cows and bullocks, being about 700,000 of each. Along the valley of the Indus, and in the sandy desert which stretches into Rajputana, camels supersede cattle for all Camels, agricultural operations. In the Punjab, the total estimated number of camels is 170,000. The breed of horses has generally deteriorated since the Horses, demand for the native Indian strains, for military purposes, declined upon the establishment of British supremacy. In Bengal proper, and in Madras, it may be broadly said that native breeds do not exist. The chief breeds in Bombay are those of the Deccan and of Kathiawar, in both of which Provinces 412 INDIA. Govern- ’ ment studs. Horse fairs. Mules. Ponies. Elephants. Numbers caught, 1878. Sheep and goats. [live-stock. Government maintains establishments of stallions. The Pun- jab, however, is the chief source of remounts for our Native cavalry; the total number of horses in that Province being returned at 80,000, in addition to 50,000 ponies. About the beginning of the present century, a stud department was organized by Government to breed horses for the use of the Bengal army, but this system was abolished as extravagant and inefficient by Lord Mayo in 1871. Remounts are now obtained in the open market ; but the Government of the Punjab still maintains about 130 stallions, including 60 im- ported from England, and 40 Arabs. The best Indian horses are bred by the Baluchi tribes along the western frontier. Four great horse fairs are held yearly in the Punjab — at Rawalpindi, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhang, and Dera Ismail Khan. At these, about 4500 horses were exhibited in 1877-78, and ^1300 was awarded in prizes. The average price given for Native cavalry remounts was only ;£i 7. In recent years, much attention has been paid in the Punjab to the breeding of mules for military purposes ; and the value of these animals has been conspicuously proved in the course of the operations in Afghanistan. Government maintains about 50 donkey stal- lions, of which 4 were imported from Spain, 28 from Arabia, and 12 from Bokhara. Some of the mules bred reach the height of 15 hands. The best ponies come from Burma, Manipur (the original home of the game of polo), and Bhutan. The catching of wild elephants is now either a Government monopoly, or is conducted under strict Government supervision. The chief source of supply is the north-east frontier, especi- ally the range of hills running between the valleys of the Brahmaputra and the Barak. During the year 1877-78, about 260 elephants were captured in the Province of Assam, yield- ing 3600 to Government. Of these, 170 were captured by lessees of the privilege, and 90 by the Government khedd department. Elephants are also captured to a smaller extent in the mountains bordering Orissa ; in Mysore and Coorg, among the Western Ghats ; and in Burma, for the wood trade. They are used by Government for transport, and are eagerly bought up by native chiefs and landowners as objects of display. The wild elephant will be treated of at p. 519. Sheep and goats are commonly reared in the wilder parts of the country for the sake of their wool. Both their weight for the butcher and their yield of wool are exceedingly low. In Mysore, and at the Saidapet farm, near Madras, attempts have been made to improve the breed of sheep by INDIA. 4i3 FORESTS.] crossing with merino rams, although without much success, except at Saidapet. Pigs of great size and most repulsive Pigs, appearance are everywhere reared, but are eaten only by the lowest of out-castes. The table on the next page summarizes the information collected regarding live stock in those parts of India where the statistics can be obtained with some approximation to accuracy. But they are offered under the same reservations as those prefixed to the crop returns at p. 395. The forests of India are beginning to receive their proper Forests, share of attention, both as a source of natural wealth and as a department of the administration. Up to about twenty years ago, the destruction of forests by timber-cutters, by Destruc- charcoal-burners, and above all, by nomadic cultivation, was tion of allowed to go on everywhere unchecked. The extension oUun“le‘ tillage was considered as the chief care of Government, and no regard was paid to the improvident waste of jungle on all sides. But as the pressure of population on the soil became more dense, and the construction of railways increased the demand for fuel, the question of forest conservation forced itself into notice. It was recognised that the inheritance of future generations was being recklessly sacrificed. The im- portance of forests, as affecting the general meteorology of a country, was also being taught by bitter experience in Europe. On many grounds, therefore, it became necessary to preserve what remained of the forests in India, and to repair the mischief of previous neglect, even at considerable expense. In 1844 and 1847, the subject was actively taken up by the Governments of Bombay and of Madras. In 1864, Dr. Brandis Growth of was appointed Inspector-General of Forests to the Government ^ Forest of India; and in the following year the first Forest Act passed ment) the Legislature (No. vn. of 1865). The regular training of 1844-67- candidates for the Forest Department in the schools of France and Germany dates from 1867. In the short interval which has since elapsed, sound principles of forest administration have been gradually extended. Indiscriminate timber-cutting has been prohibited ; the burning of the jungle by the hill tribes has been confined within bounds ; large areas have been surveyed and demarcated ; plantations have been laid out ; and generally, forest conservation has become a reality. From a botanical point of view, the forests may be divided Indian into several distinct classes, determined by varying conditions |™jer’ of soil, climate, and rainfall. The king of Indian forest trees is the teak (Tectona grandis), which rivals the British oak as [, Sentence continued on p. 415. Approximate Numbers of Live Stock and Implements in some Indian Provinces in 1877-78. INDIA [live-stock. Berar. 0 000 OOOO 8 Sj 8 8 : : 8 R 8 8 O O vO *>• vcT cT On vn O »-< 00 00 >- CO I-. Mysore. | 2,300,000 i 4,900 1 14,000 37.000 1,590,000 32.000 83.000 558,000 British Burma. OOO TJ-OOOO OOO N O O O Q 0^ 0^ 00^ : : ro 0^ 0^ 0^ 0^ rp rf liS ' hT o' N rp to ~ O M O ON C\ x>. VO »-<•-< c* Central Provinces. 5,200,000 12.000 82.000 22.000 7 641.000 132.000 286.000 764.000 Punjab. | 6,570,000 ( 85,000 ( 52,000 290.000 1 70.000 3.850.000 98,000 1.747.000 Bombay and Sind. OOO O O 0 00 OOOOO O OO 000 0 or: 0 :oo o~ o~ o' 0 o' - • o' * 0" o~ O 00 fo m c\ O 00 co CO co VO co co 0 co ci h co *-T Madras. OOOOOO^o^-OOOOO 000000^-000000 O^ O^ O^ 10 O^ O^ O O^ O^ O^ O^ 0^ o' o' >■* co' co' o' o' o'' rf CO O 0 co cj >-< n 0 O 10 co h vo o co vo r^- N N O co co rp of of Bullocks, Cows, .... Buffaloes, . Horses, Tonies, Donkeys, Camels, Elephants, . Sheep, Goats, .... Tigs Carts, .... Ploughs, INDIA. 4iS FORESTS.] Sentence continued from p. 413.] material for ship-building. The home of the teak is in the Teak. Bombay Ghats, Kanara, Cochin, Travancore, and the Burmese peninsula, where it flourishes under an excessive rainfall. Second to teak is the sal (Shorea robusta), which is indigenous sdl. along the lower slopes of the Himalayas from the Sutlej basin east to Assam, among the hills of Central India, and in the Eastern Ghats down to the Godavari river. On the Hima- layas of North-Western India, the distinguishing timber-tree is the deodara (Cedrus deodara) ; while on the North-Eastern Dcoddra. Himalayan frontier its place is occupied by Pinus khasiana and other trees, such as oak and chestnut, of a temperate zone. These noble trees supply the most valuable timber, and are the chief care of the Forest Department. But they are only the aristocracy of countless species, yielding timber, South firewood, and other products of value. In the south of the peninsula, the mountain range of the Western Ghats, from Travancore northwards into Kanara, is clothed with an in- exhaustible wealth of still virgin forest. Here there are three The three separate vegetations — (1) an evergreen belt on the seaward face of the mountains, where grow the stately pun (Calophyllum elatum), valuable as spars for ships, the anjili or wild jack (Artocarpus hirsutus), and a variety of ebony (Diospyros ebenum) ; (2) a belt of mixed forest, varying from 10 to 40 miles in width, which yields teak, blackwood (Dalbergia latifolia), and Lagerstroemia microcarpa, and here and there continuous avenues of lofty bamboos ; (3) a dry belt, extending over the central plateau, in which the vegetation declines in size and abundance. The precious sandal-wood (Santalum Sandal- album), limited almost entirely to Mysore and Kanara, thrives tree' best on a stony soil, with a light rainfall. In the Bombay Presidency, the chief forest areas, excluding Kanara, are to be found in the extension of the Western Ghats, known as the Sahyadri range, and in the delta of the Indus in the outlying Province of Sind. The Sind river - valley forests present many peculiar Sind features. They are locally reported to have been formed as forest5' game preserves by the Mirs or Musalman rulers, and are divided into convenient blocks or belas, fringing the entire course of the Indus. Being absolute State property, their management is embarrassed by no difficulties, excepting those caused by the uncontrollable floods of the river. They furnish abundant firewood, but little timber of value, their chief pro- duce being bdbicl (Acacia arabica), bhdn (Populus euphratica) 416 INDIA. [forest Punjab forests. Forests of N.-W. Provinces, of Oudh and N. Bengal. Sundarban forests. Assam forests. Burmese forests. and tamarisk (Tamarix indica). In the Punjab, the principal forests of deodara (Cedrus deodara) lie beyond the British frontier, in the Himalayan valleys of the great rivers ; but many of them have been leased from the bordering States, in order to secure a supply of firewood and railway sleepers. On the Punjab plains, the only woods are those growing on the rdkhs or upland plateaux which rise between the converging river basins. The chief trees found here are varieties of Prosopis, Capparis, and Salvadora; but the Forest Department is now laying out more valuable plantations of sissu (Dalbergia sissu), baer (Zizyphus jujuba), and kikar. The North-Western Provinces present the Himalayan type of forest in Kumaun and Garhwal, where the characteristic trees are the chil (Pinus excelsa) and chir (Pinus longifolia), with but little deodara. Farther west occurs a forest-belt of sal, which may be said to form the continuous boundary between Nepal and British territory. Owing to the facility of water communication and the neighbourhood of the great cities of Hindustan, these sal forests have long ago been stripped of their valuable timber, and are but slowly recovering under the care of the Forest Department. Oudh and Northern Bengal continue the general features of the North-Western Provinces ; but the hill station of Darjiling is surrounded by a flora of the temperate zone. Calcutta has, from its foundation, drawn its supply of fire- wood from the inexhaustible jungles of the Sundarbans, which have recently been placed under forest conservancy rules. This tract, extending over 3000 square miles, is a dismal swamp, half land, half sea or fresh water, overgrown by an almost impenetrable jungle of timber-trees and under- wood. The most valued wood is the sundari (Heretiera littoralis), which is said to give its name to the tract. Assam and Chittagong, like the Malabar coast and British Burma, still possess vast areas of virgin forest, although the more accessible tracts have been ruthlessly laid waste. Beside sal and Pinus khasiana, the timber-trees of Assam include nahor or nageswar (Mesua ferrea), sum (Artocarpus chaplasa), and jarul (Lagerstroemia reginae). Ficus elastica, yielding the caout- chouc of commerce, was formerly common, but now the supply is chiefly brought from beyond the frontier. Planta- tions of teak, tun (Cedrela toona), sissu, and Ficus elastica are now being formed and guarded by the Forest Department. In Burma, the importance of teak exceeds that of all the other timber-trees together. Next comes iron-wood (Xylia dolabri- INDIA. ADMINISTRATION.] 417 formis), and Acacia catechu, which yields the cutch of com- merce. Throughout the centre of the peninsula, forests cover Central a very extensive area ; but their value is chiefly local, as none India- of the rivers are navigable. Towards the east, sal predomi- nates, and in the west there is some teak; but fine timber of either species is comparatively scarce. Rajputana has a beautiful tree of its own, a variety of Anogeissus, with small leaves and drooping branches. From the administrative point of view, the Indian forests Forest ad- are classified as ‘reserved’ or as ‘open.’ The reserved forests ™istra' are those under the immediate control of officers of the Forest ‘Reserve(jj Department. They are managed as the property of the State, forests, with a single eye to their conservancy and future development as a source of national wealth. Their limits are demarcated after survey; nomadic cultivation by the hill tribes is prohibited ; cattle are excluded from grazing ; destructive creepers are cut down, and the hewing of timber, if permitted at all, is placed under stringent regulations. The open forests are less care- ‘ Open ’ fully guarded ; but in them, also, certain kinds of timber-trees foi'ests- are preserved. A third class of forest lands consists of planta- ‘ Planta- tions, on which large sums of money are spent annually, with tl0ns- a view to the rearing and development of timber-trees. It is impossible to present, in a single view, the entire results forest of the labours of the Forest Department. In 1872-73, the total J872-78. area of reserved forests in India was estimated at more than 6,000,000 acres ; and the area has probably been doubled since that date. In the same year, the total forest revenue was .£477,000, as compared with an expenditure of £295,000, thus showing a surplus of £182,000. By 1877-78, the revenue had increased to £664,102, of which £160,308 was derived from British Burma, and £126,163 from Bombay. The forest exports in that year included — teak, valued at £406,652 ; lac and lac- dye. -£362,008 ; caoutchouc, £89,381 ; and gums, ,£183,685. But these figures fail to exhibit the true working of the Forest Department, which is gradually winning back for India the fee-simple of her forest wealth, when it was on the point of being squandered beyond the possibility of redemption. The practice of nomadic cultivation by the hill tribes Nomadic may conveniently be described in connection with forest cultivation, conservation, of which it is the most formidable enemy. In all the great virgin forests of India, in Arakan, on its area, the north-east frontier of Assam and Chittagong, throughout the Central Provinces, and along the line of the Western Ghats, the aboriginal tribes raise their crops of rice, cotton, and 418 INDIA . [nomadic Its varie- ties. Its destruc- tiveness. Restraints on it. Merits of nomadic tillage. millets by a system of nomadic tillage. A similar method has been found in Madagascar ; and, indeed, from its simplicity and its appropriateness, it may fairly be called the most primitive form of agriculture known to the human race. Known as toungya in Burma, jum on the north-east frontier, dahya in Central India, kil in the Himalayas, and kumari in the Western Ghats, it is practised without any material differences by tribes of the most diverse origin. Its essential features are the burning down of a patch of forest, and sowing the crop with little or no tillage in the clearing thus formed. The tribes of the Bombay coast break up the cleared soil with a sort of hoe-pick and spade, or even with the plough ; in other parts of India, the soil is merely scratched, or the seed scattered on its surface without any cultivation. In some cases, a crop is taken off the same clearing for two or even three years in succession ; but more usually the tribe moves off every year to a fresh field of opera- tions. Every variety of implement is used, from the bill-hook, used alike for hewing the jungle and for turning the soil, to the plough. Every degree of permanence in the cultivation may be observed, from a one-year’s crop to the stage at which an aboriginal tribe, such as the Kandhs, visibly passes from nomadic husbandry1 to regular tillage. To these nomad cultivators the words rhetorically used by Tacitus of the primitive Gentians are strictly applicable — Arva per annos mutant ; et superesi ager. The wanton destruction wrought by them in the forest is incalculable. In addition to the timber-trees deliberately burned down to clear the soil, the fire thus started not unfrequently runs wild through the forest, and devastates many square miles. Wherever timber has any value from the proximity of a market, the first care of the Forest Department is to prohibit these fires, and to assign heavy penalties for any infringement of its rules. The success of a year’s forest operations is mainly estimated by the degree in which the reserves have been saved from the flames. But vast tracts of country yet remain in which it would be equally useless and impossible to place restraints upon nomad cultivation. The system yields a larger return for the same amount of labour than permanent plough - husbandry. A virgin soil, manured many inches deep with ashes, and watered by the full burst of a tropical rainfall, returns forty and fifty-fold of rice, which is the staple grain thus raised. In addition to rice, Indian corn, millet, oil-seeds, and cotton, are sometimes grown in the same clearing, the seeds being all thrown into the TILLAGE.] INDIA. 419 ground together, and each crop ripening in succession at its own season. Except to the eyes of a forest officer, a patch of nomadic tillage is a very picturesque sight. Men, women, and children all work together with a will, for the trees must be felled and burned, and the seed sown, before the monsoon breaks. Save on the western coast and the GMts (where the plough is occasionally used), the implement generally employed for all purposes is the ddo or hill-knife, which performs the office alike of axe, hoe, dibbler, and sickle. In a tropical country, where the rainfall is capricious in its Irrigation, incidence and variable in its amount, the proper control of the water supply becomes one of the first cares of Government. Its expenditure on irrigation works may be regarded as an invest- ment of the landlord’s capital, by which alone the estate can be rendered profitable. Without artificial irrigation, large tracts of country would lie permanently waste, while others could only be cultivated in exceptionally favourable seasons. Irrigation is to the Indian peasant what high cultivation is to the farmer in England. It augments the produce of his fields in a proportion Itsfunction far larger than the mere interest upon the capital expended. in India> It may also be regarded as an insurance against famine. When the monsoon fails for one or two seasons in succession, the cultivator of ‘ dry lands ’ has no hope ; while abundant crops are raised from the fortunate fields commanded by irrigation works. This contrast has recently been witnessed with vivid- ness in Southern India, where the limit between famine and plenty was marked by the boundaries of the irrigated and non- irrigated areas. But it would be an error to conclude that any outlay will absolutely guarantee the vast interior of the penin- sula from famine. Much, indeed, can be done, and much is during being done, year by year, to store and distribute the scanty famine- and irregular water supply of this inland plateau. But engineering possibilities are limited, not only by the ex- pense, but by the unalterable laws of nature. A tableland, with only a moderate rainfall, and watered by few perennial streams, broken by many hill ranges, and marked out into no natural drainage basins, can never be entirely saved from the vicissitudes of the Indian seasons. Irrigation is everywhere dependent upon the two supreme Irrigation considerations of water supply and land level. The sandy arcas‘ desert which extends from the hills of Rajputana to the basin of the Indus, is even more absolutely closed to irrigation than the confused system of hill and valley in Central India. 420 INDIA. [irrigation. Sind. The uncon- trollable Indus. Irrigation in Bombay. Farther west, in the Indus valley, irrigation becomes possible, and in no part of India has it been conducted with greater perseverance and success. The entire Province of Sind, and several of the lower Districts of the Punjab, are absolutely dependent upon the floods of the Indus. Sind has been compared to Egypt, and the Indus to the Nile ; but in truth, the case of the Indian Province is the less favourable of the two. In Sind, the average rainfall is barely io inches in the year ; the soil is a thirsty sand ; worst of all, the river does not run in confined banks, but wanders at its will over a wide valley. The rising of the Nile is a beneficent phenomenon, which can be depended upon with tolerable accuracy, and which the industry of countless generations has brought under control for the purposes of cultivation. The inundation of the Indus is an uncontrollable torrent, which often does as much harm as good. Broadly speaking, no crop can be grown in Sind except under irrigation. The cultivated area of 2\ million acres may be regarded as entirely dependent upon artificial water supply, although not entirely on State irrigation works. The water is drawn from the river by two classes of canals — (i) inundation channels, which only fill when the Indus is in floods; and (2) perennial channels, which carry off water by means of dams at all seasons of the year. The former are for the most part the work of ancient rulers of the country, or of the cultivators themselves ; the latter have been constructed since the British conquest. In both cases, care has been taken to utilize abandoned beds of the river. Irrigation in Sind is treated as an integral department of the land administration. In 1876-77, about 900,000 acres were returned as irrigated from works for which capital and revenue accounts are kept, the chief of these being the Ghar, Eastern and Western Nara, Sukkur (Sakhar), Phuleli and Pinyari ; the total receipts were about ;£ 1 90,000, almost entirely credited under the head of land revenue. In the same year, about 445,000 acres were irrigated from works of which revenue accounts only are kept, yielding about ,£75,000 in land revenue. The total area usually irri- gated in Sind was returned in 1880 at 1,800,000 acres, out of a cultivated area of 2,250,000 acres. In the Bombay Presidency, irrigation is conducted on a comparatively small scale, and mainly by private enterprise. In the Konkan, along the coast, the heavy local rainfall, and the annual flooding of the numerous small creeks, permit rice to be grown without artificial aid. In Guzerat the supply INDIA. 421 IRRIGATION.] is drawn from wells, and in the Deccan from tanks ; but both of these are liable to fail in years of deficient rainfall. Govern- ment has now undertaken a few comprehensive schemes of irrigation in Bombay, conforming to a common type. They dam up the head of a hill valley, so as to form an immense reservoir, and then conduct the water over the field by channels, which are in some cases of considerable length. In 1876-77, the total area in Bombay (excluding Sind) irrigated from Government works was about 180,000 acres, yielding a revenue of about £42,000. In the same year, the expenditure on irrigation (inclusive of Sind) was £65,000 under the head of extraordinary, and £170,000 under the head of ordinary; total, £235,000. Ordinary irrigated area in Bombay, 450,000 acres, out of a total cultivated area of 24! million acres. In some parts of the Punjab, irrigation is only one degree Irrigation less necessary than in Sind, but the sources of supply are more numerous. In the northern tract, under the Himalayas, and in the upper valleys of the Five Rivers, water can be obtained by digging wells from 10 to 30 feet below the surface. In the south, towards Sind, ‘inundation channels’ are usual. The upland tracts which rise between the basins of the main rivers are now in course of being supplied by the perennial canals of the Government. According to the returns for 1877-78, out of a grand total of 22,640,894 acres under cultivation, 5,000,481 were irrigated by private individuals, and 1,618,854 by public ‘channels;’ total area under irrigation, 6,619,535 acres, or 29 per cent, of the cultivated area. The principal Government works in the Punjab are the Western Jumna Canal, the Bari Doab Canal, and the Sirhind ; the latter of which, with the largest expenditure, is still incomplete. I have elsewhere given an account of each of these works.1 Up to the close of 1877-78, the capital outlay had been £3,645,189; the total income in that year was £263,053, of which ,£171,504 was classified as direct, and £91,549 as indirect ; the total revenue charges on works in operation were £224,316, of which £146,419 was for maintenance, and £ 77,897 for interest, thus showing a surplus of £38,737. On the Western Jumna Canal, taken singly, the net profit was £83,112. Ordinary irrigated area in the Punjab, 5J millions of acres, out of a total cultivated area of over 2 1 million acres. The North-Western Provinces present, in the great doab, or 1 See articles Jumna Canal, Eastern and Western, Imperial Gazetteer , vol. v. pp. 120-123 ; Bari Doab Canal, vol. i. pp. 444-446; Sirhind Canal, vol. viii. p. 391. 422 INDIA. [irrigation. Irrigation in the N.-W. Provinces. The great canals of the Doabs. Irrigation in Oudh. Irrigation in Bengal Proper. high land between the Ganges and the Jumna, a continuation of the physical features to be found in the Upper Punjab. The local rainfall, indeed, is heavier, but before the days of artificial irrigation each recurring drought resulted in a terrible famine. It is in this tract that the British Government has been perhaps most successful in averting such calamities. In Sind, irrigation is an absolute necessity ; in Lower Bengal, it may be regarded almost as a luxury; but in the great river basins of Upper India, it serves the threefold object of saving the population from the vicissitudes of the season, and of introducing more valuable crops, with higher methods of agriculture. Concerning private irrigation from wells in the North-Western Provinces, no information is available. The great Government works are the Ganges Canal, the Eastern Jumna Canal, the Agra Canals, and the Lower Ganges Canal, the last of which is not yet complete.1 Up to the close of 1877-78, the total outlay had been ^5,673,401. The gross income in that year was ^438,136, of which ,£337,842 was derived from water rates, and ^100,294 from enhanced land revenue ; the working expenses amounted to ,£143,984, leaving ,£294,152 for surplus profits, or 677 per cent, on the total capital expended on works in operation. The total area irrigated was 11,461,428 acres, of which two- thirds were supplied by the Ganges Canal. Of the irrigated area, 413,659 acres were under wheat and 139,375 under sugar- cane. Ordinary area under irrigation in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, 1 1^ million acres, out of a total cultivated area of 36 million acres. No irrigation works have yet been introduced into Oudh by Government. A tolerable local rainfall, the annual overflow of the rivers, and an abundance of low-lying swamps, combine to furnish a water supply which is ample in all ordinary years. According to the Settlement returns, out of a total cultivated area of 8,276,174 acres, 2,957,377 acres, or 36 per cent., are irrigated by private individuals ; but this figure probably includes low lands watered by natural overflow. Throughout the greater part of Bengal Proper, there is no demand for artificial irrigation, but Government has under- taken to construct works in those exceptional tracts where experience has shown that occasional drought is to be feared. In the broad valleys of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, and along the deltaic seaboards, flood is a more formidable 1 A full account of each of these works will be found under article Ganges Canal, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iii. pp. 296-301. ORISSA CANALS.] INDIA. 423 enemy than drought ; and embankments here take the place of canals. The Public Works Department in Lower Bengal has over 2000 miles of embankments under its charge, upon which ^79,105 was expended in 1877-78, either as direct outlay or in advances to landowners. The wide expanse of Northern Bengal and Behar, stretching from the Himalayas to the Ganges, is also rarely visited by drought ; although, when drought does come, the excessive density of the population brings the danger of famine very near. In Saran District alone has it been found necessary to carry out a scheme for utilizing the discharge of the river Gandak. The great irrigation works in Lower Bengal are two in number, and belong to two different types : — (1) In the delta The Orissa of Orissa, an extensive system of canals has been constructed " orks' on the pattern of those lower down the Coromandel coast. They store up the water by means of a weir or anicut thrown across the Mahanadi river.1 The Orissa works are intended to avert the danger of both drought and flood, and also to be useful for navigation. In average seasons, i.e. in five years out of six, the local rainfall is sufficient for the rice crop, which is here the sole staple of cultivation ; and therefore it is not to be expected that these canals will be directly remunerative. But, on the other hand, if they have saved the Province from a repetition of the disastrous year 1865-66, the money will not have been expended in vain. A canal, originally designed as a branch of the Orissa works, runs through Midnapur District and debouches on the Hugli. (2) In South Behar, the flood discharge of the Son has been intercepted, The Son after the system of engineering followed in the North-West, so " orks- as to irrigate a comparatively thirsty strip of land extending along the south bank of the Ganges, where distress has ere now been severely felt.2 In this case, also, the expenditure must be regarded rather as an insurance fund against famine than as reproductive outlay. The works are not yet complete, but the experience already gained proves that irrigation is wanted even in ordinary seasons. Up to the close of 1877-78, the capital expenditure on all the State irrigation works in Lower Bengal was ,£4,653,903 ; the gross income for the year was ,£49,477; the working expenses were £70,286, and the estimated interest on capital, at 4^ per cent., amounted to £203,971, thus showing a net deficit of £224,780. The area irrigated was about 400,000 acres. The whole area irrigated 1 See article Mahanadi, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. vi. pp. 198-205. 2 See article Son Canals, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. viii. pp. 429-432. 424 INDIA. [madras canals. from both public and private sources in Bengal proper is returned at i million acres, out of an estimated area of 54 1 million acres under cultivation. Irrigation In the Madras Presidency, and generally throughout Southern m Madras. india? facilities for irrigation assume a decisive importance in determining the character of agriculture. Crops dependent on the rainfall are distinguished as ‘ dry crops,’ comprehending the large class of millets. Rice is grown on ‘ wet land,’ which means land capable of being irrigated. Except on the Malabar or western coast, the local rainfall is nowhere sufficiently ample, or sufficiently steady, to secure an adequate water supply. Everywhere else, water has to be brought to the fields from rivers, from tanks, or from wells. Of the total * Dry ’ and cultivated area of Madras, 1 7 per cent, is assessed as ‘ wet ‘wet land. ]an(j . > Dr 5^ millions of acres out of a cultivated area of 32 millions. But the actual irrigated area is nearly 7^ millions of acres. From time immemorial, an industrious population has made use of all the means available to store up the rainfall, and direct the river floods over their fields. The upland areas are studded with tanks, which sometimes cover square miles of ground ; the rivers are crossed by innumerable anicuts or dams, by which the floods are diverted into long aqueducts. Most of these works are now the property of Government, which annually expends large sums of money in maintenance and repairs, looking for remuneration only to the augmented land revenue. The average rate of assessment is 9s. 6d. per acre on irrigated land, as compared with only 2s. 3d. per acre on unirrigated land. Works in It is therefore not only the duty, but the manifest advantage, the Madras 0f Government to extend the facilities for irrigation in Madras, deltas • • • wherever the physical aspect of the country will permit. The deltas of the Godavari, the Kistna, and the Kaveri (Cauvery), have within recent years been traversed by a network of canals, and thus guaranteed against risk of famine.1 Smaller works of a similar nature have been carried out in other places ; while a private company, with a Government guarantee, has undertaken the more difficult task of utilizing on a grand scale the waters of the Tungabhadra2 amid the hills and vales of the interior. The assessed irrigated area in the Presidency, of 5A million acres, yields a land revenue of 2 millions sterling. Of this total, 1,680,178 acres, with a revenue of pQ 739)778, are irrigated by eight great systems, for which revenue and 1 See article Godavari River, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iii. pp. 414-41. 2 See article Tungabhadra, Imperial Gazetteer , vol. ix. IRRIGATION.] INDIA. 425 capital accounts are kept. The minor works consist of about 35,000 tanks and irrigation canals, and about 1140 anicuts or dams across streams. The whole area under irrigation from public and private sources in Madras is, as already stated, 7J million acres, out of a total cultivated area of 32 million acres. In Mysore, tanks, anicuts, and wells dug in the dry beds of Irrigation rivers afford the means of irrigation. Since the late disastrous in^I)sore- famine, comprehensive schemes of throwing embankments across river valleys have been undertaken by Government. The whole area under irrigation from public and private sources in Mysore is f of a million acres, out of a total cultivated area of 5 million acres. In the Central Provinces, irrigation still remains a private In Central enterprise. According to the settlement returns, out of a total 1 rovmces- cultivated area of 13,610,503 acres, 804,378 acres, or 6 per cent., are irrigated by private individuals. The only Govern- ment work is a tank in the District of Nimar. In British Burma, as in Lower Bengal, embankments take In Burma, the place of canals, being classed as * irrigation works ’ in the annual reports. Within the last few years, Government has spent about £318,000 under this heading, in order to save the low rice-fields along the Irawadi from destructive inundation. The following figures, applying to India as a whole, show Statistics how far the Government has lately performed its duty as a j°^Pr'tIsl1 landlord in undertaking productive public works. During the ten years ending March 1878, a total sum of £10,457,702 was expended on irrigation under the budget heading of ‘extraordinary,’ as compared with £18,636,321 expended on State railways in the same period, — total, 29 millions. In 1879, the total had risen to about 32 millions. In the twelve months ending March 1878, irrigation yielded a gross income of £495,142, as compared with £548,528 derived from State railways; while ,£370,747 was charged to revenue account against irrigation, and £420,754 against State railways. The following table show’s the extent of cultivation and the average area irrigated in the Provinces, for which the facts can be obtained. They must be taken as only approximate estimates. They differ slightly from data obtained from other sources; as may be seen by comparing the return for the Central Provinces with the somewhat larger one obtained from the Settlement Officers, given above in the text : — 2 E 426 INDIA. [irrigation. Area of Cultivation and of Irrigation in certain Provinces. Province. Area ordinarily cultivated. Area ordinarily irrigated. Percentage of irrigation to cultivation. Punjab, .... Acres. 21,000,000 Acres. 5,500,000 26*2 North-Western Provinces and Oudh Bengal, .... 36,000,000 11,500,000 32-0 54,500,000 1,000,000 i*8 Central Provinces, 1 5, 500,000 770,000 S'° Berar, ..... Bombay, .... 6,500,000 100,000 i-5 24,500,000 450,000 r8 Sind, ..... 2,250,000 1,800,000 8o-o Madras, .... 32,000,000 7,300,000 800,000 23-0 Mysore, .... 5,000,000 i6‘o Total for the Provinces for which the facts can be ascertained, 197,250,000 29,220,000 148 Distribu- tion of irrigation over India. Sind. Northern India. Southern India. Central India. Lower Bengal. It will be seen from the above table that irrigation is most resorted to in the Provinces with the scantiest or most pre- carious rainfall. In Sind, tillage depends almost entirely on an artificial water supply ; and four-fifths of the cultivated area are ascertained to be irrigated. In Northern India, the deficient rainfall of the Punjab and the high-lying dodbs, or intermediate river plains of the North-Western Provinces, also demand a large measure of irrigation. The irrigated area, accordingly, amounts to from over one-fourth to one-third of the whole cultivation. In Madras, it is under one-fourth ; in Mysore, it is one-sixth; in the Central Provinces, it is one-twentieth. But the dry uplands of Bombay, the Central Provinces, and Berar, where the proportion of irrigated lands sinks to about one- sixtieth, undoubtedly require a larger artificial water supply than they possess at present. The black soil of these tracts, however, is very retentive of moisture. To a certain extent it stores up and husbands the rainfall. It thus lessens the neces- sity for irrigation. In Bengal, where the irrigated area is only i ’8 per cent, of the cultivated area, the abundant rainfall and the inundations of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Maha- nadi, and of the river systems connected with these main arteries, take the place of canals or an artificial water supply. Famines. — In any country where the population is dense Natural and the means of communication backward, the failure of a calamities. harvest> whether produced by drought, by flood, by blight, by locusts, or by war, causes intense distress. Whether such distress shall develop into famine is merely a matter of degree, INDIA. FAMINES.] 427 depending upon a combination of circumstances — the com- parative extent of the failure, the density of the population, the practicability of imports, the facilities for transport, the resources of private trade, and the energy of the administration. Drought, or a failure of the regular rainfall, is the Causes of great cause of famine. No individual foresight, no com- scarcity ; pensating influences, can prevent those recurring periods of continuous drought with which large Provinces of India are afflicted. Even an average rainfall in any one year, if irregularly distributed, or at the wrong seasons, may affect the harvest to a moderate degree ; so also may flood or blight. The total failure of one monsoon may result in a general scarcity. But famine proper, or wide-spread starvation, is caused only and of real by a succession of years of drought. The cultivators of India famine, are not dependent upon a single harvest, or upon the crops of one year. In the event of a partial failure, they can draw for their food supply either upon their own grain pits or upon the stores of the village merchants. The first sufferers, and those who also suffer most in the end, are the class who live by daily wages. But small is the number that can hold out, either in capital or credit, against a second year of insufficient rainfall ; and the third season sometimes proves adverse. All great famines in India have been caused by drought, and usually by drought repeated over two or three years. It becomes necessary to inquire into the means of husband- Water ing the water supply. That supply can be derived only from supply, three sources — (1) Local rainfall; (2) natural inundation; and (3) artificial irrigation from rivers, canals, tanks, or wells. Any of these sources may exist separately or together. In only a few parts of India can the rainfall be entirely trusted, as both sufficient in its amount and regular in its distribution. These favoured tracts include the whole strip of coast beneath the Western Ghats, from Bombay to Cape Comorin; the greater part of the Provinces of Assam and Burma ; together with the deltaic districts at the head of the Bay of Bengal. In these jravourej Provinces the annual rainfall rarely, if ever, falls below 60 to Provinces. 100 inches ; artificial irrigation and famine are alike unknown. The rest of the Indian peninsula may be described as Tlie ;rr;ga. liable, more or less, to drought. In Orissa, the scene of one tion area of the most severe famines of recent times, the average rainfall Inclia- exceeds 60 inches a year ; in Sind, which has been excep- tionally free from amine under British rule, the average drops to less than 10 inches. The local rainfall, therefore, is not the only element to be considered. Broadly speaking, artificial irrigation has protected, or is now in course of protecting, 428 INDIA. Irrigation area of India. Summary of Indian famines, 1770-1854. [water SUPPLY. certain fortunate regions, such as the eastward deltas of the Madras rivers and the upper valley of the Ganges. The rest, and by far the greater portion, of the country is still exposed to famine. Meteorological science may teach us to foresee what is coming.1 But it may be doubted whether admini- strative efforts can do more than alleviate the calamity when once famine has declared itself. Lower Bengal and Oudh are watered by natural inundation as much as by the local rainfall ; Sind derives its supplies mainly from canals filled by the floods of the Indus ; the Punjab and the North-Western Provinces are dependent largely upon wells ; the Deccan, with the entire south, is the land of tanks and reservoirs. But in all these cases, when the rainfall has failed over a series of years, the artificial supply must likewise fail after no long interval, so that irrigation becomes a snare rather than a benefit. Waterworks on a scale adequate to guarantee the whole of India from drought not only exceed the possibilities of finance ; they are also beyond the reach of engineering skill. The first great famine of which we have any trustworthy record is that which devastated the lower valley of the Ganges in 1769-70. One-third of the population is credibly reported to have perished. The previous season had been bad ; and, as not uncommonly happens, the break-up of the drought was accompanied by disastrous floods. Beyond the importation into Calcutta and Murshidabdd of a few thousand hundred- weights of rice from the Districts of Bakarganj and Chittagong, it does not appear that any public measures for relief were taken or proposed.2. The next great famine was that which afflicted the Karnatic from 1780 to 1783, and has been immortalized by the genius of Burke. It arose primarily from the ravages of Haidar All’s army. A public subscription was organized by the Madras Government, from which sprang the ‘ Monegar Choultry,’ or permanent institution for the relief of the native poor. In 1783-84 Hindustan Proper suffered from a prolonged drought, which stopped short at the frontier of British territory. Warren Hastings, then Governor-General, advocated the construction of enormous granaries, to be opened only in times of necessity. One of these granaries or golds, stands to the present day in the city of Patna, but it was never used until the scarcity of 1874. In 1790-92, Madras 1 See post, pp. 514, 515. 2 A full account of the famine of 1769-70 is given in my Annals of Rural Bengal, pp. 19-55 (5th ed.). The official record of this and the subsequent famines will be found in the Report of the Indian Famine Commission, presented to Parliament 1880, part i. paras. 62-84. PAST FAMINES.] INDIA. 429 was again the scene of a two years’ famine, which is memor- able as being the first occasion on which the starving people were employed by Government on relief works. Famines again occurred in Southern India in 1802-04, 1807, 1812, 1824, 1833, 1854, and 1866. A terrible dearth in 1838 caused great mortality in the North-Western Provinces. But so little was done by the State in these calamities, that Famines of few administrative lessons can be learned from them. In lS61 > 1860-61, however, a serious attempt was made to alleviate an exceptional distress in the North-Western Provinces. About half a million persons are estimated to have been relieved, at an expenditure by Government of about three-quarters of a million sterling. Again, in 1865-66, which will ever be known and of as the year of the Orissa famine, the Government attempted to l866- organize relief works and to distribute charitable funds. But on neither of these occasions can it be said that its efforts were successful. In Orissa, especially, the admitted loss of one-fourth of the population proves the danger to which an isolated Province is exposed. The people of Orissa died because they had no surplus stocks of grain of their own ; and because importation, on an adequate scale, was physically impossible by sea or land. Passing over the prolonged drought of 1868-70 in the North-Western Provinces and Rajputana, we come to the Behar scarcity of 1873-74, which first attracted the interest of Eng- land. Warned by the failure of the rains, and watched and stimulated by the excited sympathy of the public in England, the Government carried out in time a comprehensive scheme of relief. By the expenditure of 6|- millions sterling, and the importation of 1 million tons of rice, all risk even of the loss of life was prevented. The comparatively small area of distress, and the facilities of communication by rail and river, allowed of the accomplishment of this feat, which remains unparalleled in the annals of famine. The famine of 1876-78 is the widest spread and the most Famine of prolonged that India has experienced. The drought com- lS76-78- menced in Mysore by the failure of the monsoon in 1875 j and the fear of distress in the North-Western Provinces did not pass away until 1879. But it will be known in history as the great famine of Southern India. Over the entire Deccan, from Poona to Bangalore, the south-west monsoon failed to bring its usual rainfall in the summer of 1876. In the autumn of the same year, the north-east monsoon proved Failure of deficient in the south-eastern Districts of the Madras Presi- rain’ I§76‘ dency. The main food crop perished throughout an immense INDIA. 43° Failure of rain, 1877. Scarcity in Northern India, 1877-78. ' Famine in the South. Famine expendi- ture. 1876-78. Cholera. Decrease of birth- rate, 1877-78. [famine, 1877. tract of country; and, as the harvest of 1875 had also been short, prices rapidly rose to famine rates. In November 1876, starvation was already at work, and Government adopted measures to keep the people alive. The next eighteen months, until the middle of 1878, were devoted to one long campaign against famine. The summer monsoon of 1877 proved a failure ; some relief was brought in October of that year by the autumn monsoon; but all anxiety was not re- moved until the arrival of a normal rainfall in June 1878. Meanwhile the drought had reached Northern India, where it found the stocks of grain already drained to meet the famine in the south. Bengal, Assam, and Burma were the only Provinces which escaped in that disastrous year. The North- Western Provinces, the Punjab, Rajputana, and the Central Provinces suffered from drought throughout the summer of 1877, and, from its consequences, far into the following year. When once famine gets ahead of relief operations, the flood of distress bursts its embankments, and the people simply perish. Starvation and the long attendant train of famine- diseases sweep away their hundreds of thousands. The impor- tation of grain was left entirely free, and within twelve months 268,000 tons were brought by land, and 166,000 tons by sea, into the distressed Districts. The total expenditure of Government upon famine relief on this occasion may be estimated at 11 millions sterling, not including the indirect loss of revenue nor the amount debited against the State of Mysore. For this large sum of money there is but little to show in the shape of works constructed. The largest number of persons in receipt of relief at one time in Madras was 2,591,900 in September 1877 ; of these only 634,581 were nominally employed on works, while the rest were gratuitously fed. From cholera alone the deaths were returned at 357,430 for Madras Presidency, 58,648 for Mysore, and 57,252 for Bombay. Dr. Cornish, the Sanitary Commis- sioner of Madras, well illustrated the effects of the famine by the returns of births and deaths over a series of years. In 1876, when famine, with its companion cholera, was already beginning to be felt, the births registered in Madras numbered 632,113, and the deaths 680,381. In 1877 , the year of famine, the births fell to 477,447, while the deaths rose to 1,556,312. In 1878, the results of the famine showed themselves by a still further reduction of the births to 348,346, and by the still high number of 810,921 deaths. In 1879, the births recovered to 476,307, still below the average, and the deaths diminished to 548,158. These figures are INDIA. 43 1 FAMINE-DEATHS.] only approximate, but they serve to show how long the results of famine are to be traced in the vital statistics of a people. With regard to the deaths caused by the famine, and the Total diseases connected with it, the Famine Commissioners thus report : ‘ It has been estimated, and in our opinion on sub- famine of stantial grounds, that the mortality which occurred in the 1876-78. Provinces under British administration during the period of famine and drought extending over the years 1877 and 1878 amounted, on a population of 197 millions, to 5 J millions in excess of the deaths that would have occurred had the seasons been ordinarily healthy ; and the statistical returns have made certain what has long been suspected, that starvation and distress greatly check the fecundity of the population. It is probable that from this cause the number of births during the same period has been lessened by 2 millions ; the total reduction of the population would thus amount to about 7 millions. Assuming the ordinary death-roll, taken at the rate of 35 per mille, on 190 millions of people, the abnormal mortality of the famine period may be regarded as having increased the total death-rate by about 40 per cent.’ But when estimated over a period of years, the effect of Famine famine as a check upon the population is small. The Famine ^^edfon Commissioners calculate that, taking the famines of the past popula- thirty years, as to which alone an estimate of any value can be tlon- made, the abnormal deaths caused by famine and its diseases have been less than 2 per mille of the Indian population per annum. As a matter of fact, cultivation quickly extended after the famine of 1877-78, and there were in Bombay and Madras 120,000 more acres under tillage after the long protracted scarcity than before it. The famine of 1876-78 affected, directly, a population of 58J Famine of million persons, and an area of 257,300 square miles. The g8^,6"78 average number daily employed by the State on relief works marized. was 877,024. The average number of persons daily in receipt of gratuitous State relief was 446,641, besides private charities. Land revenue was remitted to close on 2 millions sterling. The famine lasted from 12 months in the North-Western Provinces, to 22 months in Madras. Its total cost, includ- ing both outlay and loss of revenue, is officially returned at ;£ii, 194,320.* A Commission was appointed to inquire into the causes of famine in India, and the means of averting or alleviating those calamities. Its report, presented to both Houses of Parliament in 1880, is replete with carefully collated facts regarding the past, and with wise suggestions for the future. 1 Report of the Indian Famine Commission, part I, p. 24 (1880). 432 INDIA. [railways. Internal communi- cations. Indian railways. Their history, 1843.71. Lord Dal- housie’s trunk lines, 1853- Lord Mayo’s branch lines, 1870. Two classes of Indian lines. CHAPTER XVII. MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. The means of communication in India may be classified under four headings — (1) railways, (2) roads, (3) rivers, and (4) canals. The existing system of railway communication in India dates from the administration of Lord Dalhousie. The first Indian line of rail was projected in 1843 by Sir Macdonald Stephenson, who was afterwards active in forming the East Indian Railway Company. But this scheme was blighted by the financial panic that followed soon afterwards in England. Bombay, the city which has most benefited by railway enter- prise, saw the first sod turned in 1850, and the first line of a few miles opened as far as Thana (Tanna) in 1853. The elaborate minute, drawn up by Lord Dalhousie in the latter year, still faithfully represents the railway map of India at the present day, although modified in detail by Lord Mayo’s reform of 1869. Lord Dalhousie’s scheme consisted of well-chosen trunk lines, traversing the length and breadth of the peninsula, 1 and connecting all the great cities and military cantonments. These trunk lines were to be constructed by private companies, to whom Government should guarantee a minimum of 5 per cent, interest on their capital expended, and from whom it should demand in return a certain measure of subordination. The system thus sketched out was promptly carried into execution, and by 1871 Bombay was put into direct railway communication with the sister Presidencies of Calcutta and Madras. The task Lord Mayo had to undertake was the development of traffic by means of feeders, which should tap the districts of production, and thus open up the entire country. This task he initiated by the construction of minor State lines on a narrower gauge, and therefore at a cheaper rate, than the existing guaranteed railways. Accordingly, the railways of India are divided into two classes, each of which serves a special purpose. On the one RAILWAYS.] INDIA. 433 hand, we have the railways constructed by guaranteed com- panies, for the most part between 1855 and 1875, which follow the main lines of natural communication, and satisfy the first necessities of national life, both commercial and political. On the other hand, there are a body of branch State lines, individually of secondary importance, all begun within the last ten years, and destined to yield fruit only in the future. The guaranteed lines, including the East Indian, which was trans- ferred to Government in 1879, in accordance with terms applicable to all alike, comprise the following — (1) The East Indian, running up the valley of the Ganges from Calcutta (Howrah) as far as Delhi, with a branch to Jabalpur. (2) The Great Indian Peninsula, which starts from Bombay, and sends one arm north-east to Jabalpur, with a branch to Nagpur, and another south-east to the frontier of Madras. (3) The Madras line, with its terminus similarly at Madras city, and two arms running respectively to the Great Indian Peninsula junction at Raichur and to Beypur on the opposite coast, with branches to Bangalore and Bellary. (4) The Oudh and Rohilkhand, con- necting Lucknow and Moradabad with Cawnpore and Benares. (5) The Bombay, Baroda, and Central India, which runs due north from Bombay through the fertile plain of Guzerat, which is destined ultimately to be extended across Rajputana to Delhi. (6) The Sind, Punjab, and Delhi, consisting of three sections, one in Lower Sind, another from Delhi to Lahore, and the third from Lahore to Multan. (7) The South Indian (the only guaranteed line on the narrow gauge), in the extreme south, from Cape Comorin to Madras city. (8) The Eastern Bengal, traversing the richest portion of the Gangetic delta. The State lines are too numerous to be described singly. They include the extension from Lahore to Peshawar on the north-west frontier, which at present (1879) stops short at Jhelum ; the * missing link,’ from Multan to Haidarabad, thus bringing the Punjab into direct connection with its natural seaport at Karachi (opened throughout in 1878); the line up the valley of the Irawadi from Rangoon to Prome ; and many short lines which have been constructed entirely at the expense of Native States. The following are the railway statistics of India for the year 1878: — Total length of lines open for traffic, 8215 miles, of which 6044 miles belong to guaranteed railways, and 2171 miles to State railways; total capital expended, ^115,059,434, being ^95,430,863 on the former, and ^19,628,591 on the latter class; number of passengers conveyed, 38,519,792; total number of tons of goods and minerals, 8,171,617; ‘ Guaran- teed ’ rail- ways. The eight great lines. The Stale railways. Railway statistics, 1878. 434 INDIA. [roads. Roads. Old mili- tary routes. The ‘ Grand Trunk ; Road.’ Bombay inland route. Extension of roads. number of live-stock, 594,249; gross receipts, ^[10,404,753; gross expenses, .£5,206,938; net earnings, ^7 5, 197,815, of ■which only ^[195,787 is credited to the State railways; per- centage of gross expenses to gross receipts, 5o-o4, varying from 3 4 '9 7 in the case of the East Indian main line to an average of 78^27 for all the State lines. These figures show 1 mile of railway to every 109 square miles of area, as com- pared with the area of British India, or to about each 180 square miles, as compared with the area of the entire peninsula. The average cost of construction per mile is almost exactly .£14,000. The guaranteed railways, embracing the great trunk lines throughout India, are on the ‘ broad gauge ’ of 5 feet 6 inches ; the State lines follow, as a rule, the narrow or metre gauge of 3 -2 81 feet. On 31st March 1879, the total length opened was 8545 miles; and the capital invested, 120 millions sterling. As the railway system of India approaches its completion, the relative importance of the roads naturally diminishes. From a military point of view, rapid communication by rail has now superseded the old marching routes as completely as in any European country. Like Portsmouth in England, Bombay in India has become the national harbour for the embarkation and disembarkation of troops. On landing at Bombay, all troops proceed, after a rest, to the healthy station of Deolalf on the plateau of the Deccan, whence they can reach their ultimate destinations, however remote, by easy railway stages. The Grand Trunk Road, running up the entire valley of the Ganges from Calcutta to the north-west frontier, first planned out in the 16th century by the Afghdn Emperor Sher Shah, and brought to completion under the administration of Lord William Bentinck, is now for the most part untrodden by troops. The monument, erected to commemorate the opening of the Bhor Ghat to wheeled traffic from Bombay, remains unvisited by all but the most curious travellers. Railways have bridged the widest rivers and the most formidable swamps. They have scaled, with their aerial zigzags, the barrier range of the Ghats ; and they have been carried on massive embankments over the shifting soil of the Gangetic delta. But although the railway system now occupies the first place, both for military and commercial purposes, the actual import ance of roads has increased rather than diminished. They do not figure in the imperial balance-sheet, nor do they strike the popular imagination ; but their construction and repair ROADS, RIVERS.] INDIA. 435 constitute one of the most important duties of the District official. A few lines, such as the continuation of the Grand Trunk Road in the Punjab, are still substitutes for the railways of the future. Others, which climb the passes of the Hima- layas, the Western Ghats, or the Nflgiris, will probably never be superseded. The great majority, however, are works of sub- ordinate utility, serving to promote that regularity of local com- munication upon which the progress of civilisation so largely depends. The substitution of the post-cart for the naked runner, and of wheeled traffic for the pack-bullock, is one of the silent revolutions effected by British rule. The more important roads are all carefully metalled, the Roarl material almost everywhere employed being kankar or cal- metal- careous limestone. In Lower Bengal and other deltaic tracts, where no kind of stone exists, bricks are roughly burnt, and then broken up to supply metal for the roads. The minor streams are crossed by permanent bridges, with foundations of stone, and not unfrequently iron girders. The larger rivers Bridges of have temporary bridges of boats thrown across them during boats- the dry season, which give place to ferries in time of flood. Avenues of trees along the roads afford shade, and material for timber. The main lines are under the charge of the Public Works Department. The maintenance of the minor roads has, by a recent administrative reform, been thrown entirely upon the shoulders of the local authorities, who depend for their pecuniary resources upon District committees, and are often compelled to act as their own engineers. No statistics are available to show the total mileage of roads in British India, or the total sum expended on their maintenance. Inland navigation is almost confined to the four great rivers, Rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Indus, and the Irawadi. These flow through broad valleys, and from time immemorial have been the chief means of conveying the produce of the interior to the sea. South of the Gangetic basin, there is not a single river which can be called navigable. Most of the streams in that tract, although mighty torrents in the rainy season, dwindle away to mere threads of water and stagnant pools during the rest of the year. The Godavari and the The Goda- Narbada, whose volume of water is ample, are both obstructed vari works, by rocky rapids, which engineering skill has hitherto been unable to overcome. A total sum of million sterling has been in vain expended upon the former river. Indeed, it may be doubted whether water carriage is able to compete, as regards the more valuable staples, with communication by rail. 436 INDIA. [rivers. The Ganges. The Brahma- putra. Minor streams. The Nadiya rivers. After the East Indian Railway was opened, steamers ceased to ply upon the Ganges ; and the steam flotilla on the Indus similarly shrunk to insignificance when through communication by rail became possible between Multdn and Karachi. On the Brahmaputra and its tributary the Barak, and on the Irawadi, steamers still run secure from competi- tion. But it is in the Gangetic delta that river navigation attains its highest development. There the population may be regarded as half amphibious. Every village can be reached by water in the rainy season, and every family keeps its boat. The main channels of the Ganges and Brahma- putra, and their larger tributaries, are navigable throughout the year. During the rainy months, road carriage is altogether superseded. All the minor streams are swollen by the rainfall on the hills and the local downpour ; while fleets of boats sail down with the produce that has accumulated in warehouses on the river banks. The statistics of this subject belong rather to the department of internal trade,1 but it may be mentioned here that the number of laden boats registered in Bengal in the year 1877-78 was 401,729. Boat-racing forms a favourite native sport in the deltaic and eastern Districts. It is con- ducted with great spirit and rivalry by the villagers. In some places, the day concludes with an illuminated boat procession by torchlight. The great majority of the Bengal rivers require no attention from Government, but the network known as the three Nadiya rivers is only kept open for traffic by close supervision. These three rivers, the Bhagirathi, Jalangf, and Matabhanga, are all offshoots of the Ganges, which unite to make up the head- waters of the Hugh.2 In former times, the main volume of the Ganges was carried to the sea by one or other of these channels. But they now receive so little water as only to be navigable in the rainy season, and then with difficulty. Since the beginning of the present century, Government has under- taken the task of preventing these Hugh head-waters from further deterioration. A staff of engineers is constantly employed to watch the shifting bed, to assist the scouring action of the current, and to advertise the trading community of the depth of water from time to time. In the year 1877-78, a total sum of ^9522 was expended on this account, while an income of ^32,494 was derived from tolls. 1 See post, pp. 463-468. 2 See article Hugli River, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iv. pp. 106,107 > ar>d in greater detail in my Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. ii. pp. 19-32. BOAT-CANALS.] INDIA. 437 The artificial water channels of India may be divided into Navigable two classes. (x) Those confined to navigation; (2) those canalb‘ constructed primarily for purposes of irrigation. Of the former class, the most important examples are to be found in the south of the peninsula. On both the Malabar and the Coromandel coasts, the strip of low land lying between the mountains and the sea affords natural facilities for the con- struction of an inland canal running parallel to the shore. In Malabar, the salt-water lagoons or lakes, which form so Malabar prominent a feature in the local geography, merely required to watejs. be supplemented by a few cuttings to supply continuous water communication from the port of Calicut to Cape Comorin. On the east coast, the Buckingham Canal, running north from Bucking- Madras city as far as the delta of the Kistna, has recently ham Canal, been completed without any great engineering difficulties. In Bengal, there are a few artificial canals, of old date, but of no great magnitude, in the neighbourhood of Calcutta. The principal of these form the system known as the Calcutta and Calcutta Eastern Canals, which consist for the most part of natural channels artificially deepened, in order to afford a safe boat route through the Sundarbans. Up to the close of the year 1877-78, a capital of ^360,332 had been expended by Government on the Calcutta canals, and the gross income in that year was ^44,120; after deducting cost of repairs, etc., charged to revenue account, and interest at the rate of 4J per cent., a net profit was left amounting to ^8748. The Hijili Tidal Canal in Midnapur District, which cuts off a difficult corner of the Hugli river, yielded a net revenue of ^3171 in the same year. Most of the great irrigation works, both in Northern and Southern India, have been so constructed as to be available also for navigation. The general features of these works have been already described. So far as regards Bengal, navigation Naviga- on the Orissa Canals in 1877-78 yielded ^3384, on the Mid- napur Canal ^£10,692, and on the Son Canals ^5965, the canals ; aggregate being larger than was derived from irrigation. In Madras, boat tolls in the Godavari delta brought in ^4496, On Madras and in the Kistna delta ^1718. The works of the Madras canals. Irrigation Company on the Tungabhadra were not made available for navigation until 1879. A scheme is now under Future the consideration of the Bengal Government for joining the Pr°jects- Midnapur and Orissa Canal systems, and extending the line of water communication farther southward through the Chilka Lake as far as Ganjarn, 400 miles from Calcutta. 43^ INDIA. [ancient trade. Trade of India. Mediaeval. Modem. The modem function of trade in India. CHAPTER XVIII. COMMERCE and trade. Commerce and Trade. — From the earliest days, India was a trading country. The quick genius of her inhabitants, even more than her natural wealth and an extensive seaboard, dis- tinguish her from other Asiatic lands. In contrast with the Arabian peninsula on the west, with the Malayan peninsula on the east, or with the equally fertile empire of China, India has always maintained an active intercourse with Europe. Philology proves that the precious cargoes of Solomon’s merchant ships came from the ancient coast of Malabar. The brilliant mediaeval republics of Italy drew no small share of their wealth from their Indian trade. It was the hope ot participating in this trade that stimulated Columbus to the discovery of America, and Da Gama to the circumnavigation of the Cape. Spices, drugs, dyes, and rare woods, fabrics of silk and cotton, jewels and gold and silver, — these were the temptations which allured the first adventurers from Europe. The East and the West were then separated by a twelvemonth’s voyage, full of hardships and perils. A successful venture made the fortune of all concerned, but trade was a lottery, and not far removed from piracy. Gradually, as the native kingdoms fell, and the proud cities of mediaeval India sank into ruin, the legendary wealth of India was found to rest upon an unstable basis. It has been reserved for our own day to discover, by the touchstone of free trade, the real source of her natural riches, and to substitute bales of raw produce for boxes of curiosities. The cotton, grain, oil-seeds, and jute of India now support a large population in England. Before entering on statistics of any sort, it is well to clearly apprehend the function which commerce has now to perform in India. The people have in some Provinces outgrown the food-producing powers of the soil ; in many others, they are pressing heavily upon these powers. Agriculture, once their sole industry, no longer suffices for their support. New INDIA. 439 MUGHAL TRADE.] industries have become a necessity for their well - being. New Commerce and manufactures have therefore obtained an industr!es economical importance which they never had before in India; neccS;,ai3' for they represent the means of finding employment and food for the rapidly increasing population. I shall therefore first give a popular sketch of the social aspects of Indian trade, before arranging in more logical sequence the facts and figures connected with its history and development. A large external trade was an impossibility under the Mughal Large sea- Emperors. Their capitals of Northern India, Agra and Delhi, lay more than a thousand miles from the river’s mouth. But even underj the capitals of the seaboard Provinces were chosen for military Mughals. purposes, and with small regard to the commercial capabilities of their situation. Thus, in Lower Bengal, the Muhammadans under different dynasties fixed in succession on six towns as their capital. Each of these successive capitals was on a river Their bank ; but not one of them possessed any foreign trade, nor caPlta-ls indeed could have been approached by an old East Indiaman. They were simply the court and camp of the king or the merely viceroy for the time being. Colonies of skilful artisans settled royal round the palaces of the nobles to supply the luxurious fabrics Cami of oriental life. After the prince and court had in some new caprice abandoned the city, the artisans remained, and a little settlement of weavers was often the sole surviving proof that the decaying town had once been a capital city. The exquisite muslins of Dacca and the soft silks of Murshidabad still bear witness to the days when these two places were successively the capital of Bengal. The artisans worked in their own houses. The manufactures of India were essentially domestic industries, conducted by special castes, each member of which wove at his own hereditary loom, and in his own village or homestead. One of the earliest results of British rule in India was the Growth of growth of great mercantile towns. Our rule derived its origin ^^sundcr from our commerce, and from the first, the East India Com- British pany’s efforts were directed to creating centres for maritime rule- trade. Other European nations, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes, and the French, have rivalled us as merchants and conquerors in India, and each of them in turn attempted to found great seaports. The long Indian coast, both on the east and the west, is dotted with decaying villages which were once the busy scenes of those nations’ early European trade. Of all their famous capitals in India, not one has now the commercial importance of Cardiff or Greenock, and not one 440 INDIA. The English as city- builders. A new era of produc- tion, based on co-opera- tion and capital. [new ERA IN of them has a harbour which would admit at low tide a ship drawing 20 feet The truth is, that it is far easier to pitch a camp and erect a palace, which, under the native dynasties, was synonymous with founding a capital, than it is to create a centre of trade. Such centres must grow of themselves, and cannot be called suddenly into existence by the fiat of the wisest autocrat. It is in this difficult enterprise, in which the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes, and the French had successively failed, that the British in India have succeeded. We make our appearance in the long list of races who have ruled that splendid empire, not as temple-builders like the Hindus, nor as palace and tomb builders like the Musalmans, nor as fort-builders like the Marhattas, nor as church-builders like the Portuguese ; but in the more commonplace capacity of town-builders, as a nation that had the talent for selecting sites on which great commercial cities would grow up, and who have in this way created a new industrial life for the Indian people. Calcutta and Bombay, the two commercial capitals of India, are the slow products of British rule. Formerly, the industries of India were essentially domestic manufactures, each man working at his hereditary occupation, at his own loom or at his own forge. Under British rule, a new era of production has arisen in India — an era of production on a great scale, based upon the co-operation of capital and labour, in place of the small household manufactures of ancient times. To us, who have from our youth grown up in the midst of a keen commercial civilisation, it is not easy to realize the change thus implied. The great industrial cities of British India are the type of this change. Under native rule, the country had reached what political economists of Mill’s school called ‘the stationary stage’ of civilisation. The husbandmen simply raised the food grains necessary to feed them from one harvest to another. If the food crops failed in any district, the local population had no capital and no other crops where- with to buy food from other districts ; so, in the natural and inevitable course of things, they perished. Now the peasants of India raise other and far more profitable crops than the mere foodstuffs on which they live. They also raise an annual surplus of grain for exportation, which is available for India’s own wants in time of need ; and there is a much larger aggregate of capital in the country, that is to say, a much greater national reserve or staying power. The so-called * stationary stage ’ in India has disappeared, and the Indian INDIAN TRADE.] INDIA . 441 peasant is keenly alive to each new demand which the market of the world may make upon the industrial capabilities of his country ; as the history of his trade in cotton, jute, wheat, and oil-seeds proves. At the beginning of the last century, before the English Summary became the ruling power in India, the country did not pro- of Indian duce ^1,000,000 a year of staples for exportation. During 1700-1880. the first three-quarters of a century of our rule, the exports slowly rose to about ^10,000,000 in 1834. During the half century since that date, the old inland duties and other remaining restrictions on Indian trade have been abolished. Exports have multiplied by sixfold. In 1880, India sold to foreign nations ^66,000,000 worth of strictly Indian produce, which the Indian husbandman had raised, and for which he was paid. In that year the total trade of India, including exports and imports, exceeded ;£i 22,000,000. India has more to sell to the world than she requires to India’s buy from it. During the five years ending 1879, the staples [r^gCe of which she exported exceeded by an annual average of over ^21,000,000 the merchandise which she imported.1 One-third of this balance she receives in cash ; and during the five years, she accumulated silver and gold, exclusive of re-exports, at the rate of ^7,000,000 per annum. With another third she pays interest at low rates for the capital with which she has constructed the material framework of her industrial life, — her What railways (^120,000,000), irrigation works, cotton mills, coal- mines, indigo factories, tea-gardens, docks, steam-navigation balance, lines, and debt. For that capital she goes into the cheapest market in the world, London; and she remits the interest, not in cash, but in her own staples, which that capital has enabled her to produce and to bring to the seaboard. With the remaining third of her surplus exports, she pays the home charges of the Government to which she owes the peace and security that alone have rendered possible her industrial development. The home charges include not only the salaries of the supervising staff in England, and the pensions of the whole military and civil services, who have given their life’s work to India, but the munitions of war, a section of the army, including the cost of its recruitment and transport, all stores for public works, and the whole materiel of a civilised admini- 1 This calculation allows a liberal deduction for trans-shipments, and re-exports of foreign goods. The total ‘ merchandise ’ exported averaged £63,000,000; the total ‘merchandise’ imported averaged £38,000,000. See Table, post, p. 445. 2 F 442 India’s yearly- savings. Divisions of Indian trade. Sea-borne trade. The four great ports. Petty southern ports. INDIA. [foreign trade. stration. That materiel can be bought more cheaply in England than in India, and India’s expenditure on good government is as essential an item for her industrial development, and repays her as high a profit, as the interest which she pays in England for the capital with which she has constructed her dockyards and railways. To sum up, India sells over ^21,000,000 a year more of her own staples to foreign nations than the merchandise which she buys for herself from them. She takes payment of one-third of the balance, or say ^7,000,000, in good govern- ment, and so secures that protection to person and property which she never had before, and which alone has rendered her industrial development possible. With another third, or ^7,000,000, she pays for the capital with which she has con- structed the material framework of that development — pays for it at the lowest interest, and pays for it, not in cash, but in her own products. The remaining ^7,000,000 she receives in gold and silver, and puts them in her purse. The trade of India may be considered under four heads — (1) sea-borne trade with foreign countries; (2) coasting trade; (3) frontier trade, chiefly across the northern mountains ; (4) internal traffic within the limits of the Empire. The sea-borne trade most powerfully attracts the imagination, and we have regarding it the most trustworthy statistics. With an extensive seaboard, India has comparatively few ports. Calcutta monopolizes the commerce, not only of Lower Bengal, but of the entire river-systems of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. Bombay is the sole outlet for the products of Western India, Guzerat, the Deccan, and the Central Provinces ; Karachi (Kurrachee) performs a similar office for the valley of the Indus, and Rangoon for that of the Irawadi. These four ports have been chosen as the termini where the main lines of railway debouch on the sea. In the south of India alone is the sea-borne trade distributed along the coast. The western side has a succession of fair-weather ports, from Goa to Cochin. On the east, there is not a single safe harbour, nor a navigable river-mouth, but ships anchor some miles off the shore at Madras, and at several other points, generally near the mouths of the rivers. Of the total foreign trade of India, Calcutta and Bombay control about 40 per cent. each. Madras has 6 per cent., Rangoon 4 per cent., and Karachi 2 per cent., leaving a balance of only 8 per cent, for all the remaining ports of the country. Calcutta and Bombay form the two central FOREIGN TRADE.] INDIA. 443 depots for collection and distribution, to a degree without a The two parallel in other countries. The growth of their prosperity is centre;’- identical with the development of Indian commerce. When the Portuguese, the pioneers of Eastern adventure, Early discovered the over-sea route to India, they were attracted to the Malabar coast, where they found wealthy cities already trade, engaged in active commerce with Persia, Arabia, and the I500-l6o°- opposite shore of Africa. From Malabar they brought back pepper and other spices, and the cotton calicoes which took their name from Calicut. Fixing their headquarters at Goa, they advanced northwards to Surat, the ancient port not only for Guzerat but for all Upper India, and westwards into the remote seas which are dotted with the Spice Islands. But with the Portuguese the trading instinct was subordinate to the spirit of proselytism and the ambition of territorial aggrandizement. The Dutch superseded them as traders, Dutch and organized a colonial system upon the basis of monopoly ^oo0!X>ly’ and forced labour, which has continued to the present day. Last of all came the English, planting factories at various English points along the coast-line, and content to live under the jgC2^ries’ shadow of the native powers. Wars with the Portuguese, with the Dutch, and with the French, first taught the English their own strength ; and as the Mughal Empire fell to pieces, they were compelled to become rulers in order to protect their commercial settlements. Our Indian Empire has grown out of trade, but, meanwhile, our Indian trade has grown even faster than our empire.1 ‘ The Governor and Company of Merchants of London English trading to the .East Indies’ was incorporated by Royal Charter on 31st December 1600, having been directly called into existence by the grievance of monopoly prices placed upon pepper by the Dutch.2 The first voyage was undertaken in 1601 by five ships, whose cargoes consisted of ,£28,742 in bullion and jQ 6860 in goods, the latter being chiefly cloth, lead, tin, cutlery, glass, quicksilver, and Muscovy hides. Their destination was ‘Atcheen in the Far East’ (Sumatra); their first factory was established at Bantam in Java, in 1603. The return cargoes, partly captured from the Portuguese, comprised raw silk, fine calicoes, indigo, cloves, and mace. The earliest factories on the mainland of India were founded at Masuli- patam in 1610, and Surat in 1612-15. In 1619, ten ships 1 For the history of the early European settlements in India, see ante , pp. 265-280. 2 For a fuller account, see ante, pp. 271-27S. 444 INDIA. [foreign trade. Our trade advances, 1 700-64. Statistics for 1S34. Inland duties abolished, 1836-48. were despatched to the East by the Company, with p£6 2,490 in precious metals and ^28,508 in goods; the proceeds, brought back in a single ship, were sold for ^108,887. The English made no great advance in trade during the 17th century. By the massacre of Amboyna (1623) the Dutch drove us out of the Spice Islands, and the period of great establish- ments ( aurangs ) for weaving had not yet commenced in India. Early in the 18th century, our affairs improved. During the twenty years ending 1728, the average annual exports from England of the East India Company were ^442,350 of bullion and ^92,288 of goods. The average imports were valued at ^'758,042, chiefly consisting of calicoes and other woven goods, raw silk, diamonds, tea, porcelain, pepper, drugs, and saltpetre. In 1772, the annual sales at the India House reached the total value of 3 millions sterling ; the shipping owned by the Company was 61,860 tons. From 1760 onwards, the Custom House returns of trade with the East Indies are given in Macpherson’s History of Commerce. But they are deceptive for comparative purposes, as they include the trade of China as well as of India. In 1834, when the Company’s trade with China as well as with India ceased, the total exports from India were valued at ^9,674,000, and the imports at ^2,576,000. Shortly after that date, trade was freed from many vexatious restrictions. Inland duties were abolished — in Bengal in 1836, in Bombay in 1838, and in Madras in 1844 ; the sugar duties in 1836, and the cotton duties in 1847 ; the navigation laws were repealed in 1848. The effect of these reforms, and the general progress of Indian commerce, may be seen in the table on the next page, which exhibits the foreign trade of the country and its chief items, in millions sterling, for each of the eight quinquennial periods between 1840 and 1879. Before, however, entering on the items of Indian trade, I ought to explain the method which I have adopted in dealing with them. Many of them may be regarded as agricultural productions, as manufactures or native industries, and as articles of export or internal trade. In such cases I have deemed it best to deal with them in each of these aspects, even at the cost of repeating myself. Thus cotton is treated of alike in the agricultural section, and in the trading and manu- facturing sections. In so doing I have not shrunk from repetitions which might be convenient to those who wish to consult the individual sections, without the necessity of read- ing the whole book. FOREIGN TRADE.] INDIA. 445 Foreign Trade of India for Forty Years, classified according to Quinquennial Periods, in Millions Sterling. Imports. Exports. Periods. Cotton Manufactures. Total Merchandise. Treasure. Raw Cotton. Total Merchandise. Treasure. Balance of Trade including Treasure. 1840-44, 3-I9 7 69 274 2 ‘34 14 '62 0-48 + 4‘17 1845-49, 375 9'i4 3 '°7 i-68 17*00 172 + 479 1850-54, 5'»5 1106 479 3’14 20*10 1*00 + 4-I7 185S-59. 6 '94 i5'58 11 *27 3'n 25 '85 0*92 — - 1*00 1860-64, IO‘92 23 '97 17-07 1576 43-I7 1*02 4- 2*11 1865-69, 1574 3170 17 '62 25 '98 57-66 i"8o + 8-35 1870-74, i7'56 33 '°4 876 i7'4i 57 '84 i'59 +I^75 1875-79. 1929 3876 9'8i 1172 63'i3 2"8l +i4'9i Average in millions t 10*27 21 '82 9 '34 10*09 36-04 177 + 675 sterling, ) The preceding table shows a rapid and steady growth, Steadiness which only finds its parallel in the United Kingdom. The growth exceptional imports of silver from 1855 to 1859 were required to pay for the Mutiny ; those from 1859 to 1864 represent the price of the cotton sent to Manchester during the American war. Before examining in detail the history of some of the chief Indian staples of trade, it may be convenient to give in this place ^“^etic . the statistics of a single year, 1877-78, which was a year of for 1878. inflation, despite the incidence of famine in Southern India. In 1877-78, the total sea-borne trade exceeded 126 millions sterling in value. The transactions on behalf of Government, such as stores, equipments, and munitions of war, show an import of ^2,138,182, and an export of ^36,615. The imports of merchandise were ^739,3 2 6,003, and of treasure ^17,355,460; total imports, ^56,681,463. The exports of merchandise were ^65,185,713, and of treasure ,£2,155,136 ; total exports, ^67,340,849. These figures exhibit an excess of exports Excess of over imports amounting to ^10,659,386; and an excess ofexPorts- treasure imported to the amount of ^15,200,324. By far the larger share of the total trade, amounting to 61 per cent., is conducted with the United Kingdom ; next comes China, with 13 per cent ; and then the following countries in order: — France, Straits Settlements, Ceylon, Italy, United States, India’s Mauritius, Austria, Persia, Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Australia, Aden, East Coast of Africa. The total number of vessels ' that entered and cleared was 12,537, with an aggregate of Indian 5>754>379 tons, or an average of 459 tons each. Of the shipping- 446 INDIA. [foreign trade total tonnage, 76 per cent, was British, 7 per cent. British Indian, and 15 per cent, foreign; American, Italian, and French being best represented in the latter class. Trade in In 1880, the total sea-borne trade exceeded 122 millions I^^0, sterling. The imports included 41 millions of merchandise, iif millions of treasure; total imports, 52! millions sterling. The exports consisted of 67^ millions of merchandise, and 2 millions of treasure ; total exports, 69% millions sterling. Surplus of exports above imports, 16J millions sterling. The following tables give the principal items, together with the totals, of import and export for 1877-78, showing the quantities wherever possible, as well as the values. I shall then examine in detail some of the chief articles of import and export ; although in so doing I shall have to travel over ground already entered on, in the agricultural sections of this volume. Foreign Trade of British India for 1877-78. Imports. Quantities. Value. Apparel •£557.597 Coal and Coke, . . tons 601,159 1*007,932 Cotton Twist and Yam, lbs. 36,194,125 £2,850,403 Cotton Piece-Goods — Grey, . . . yds. 992.537.579 11,562,853 White, ... ,, 215,624,360 2,936,109 Coloured, . . , , 150,548,713 2,454,103 Other sorts, . . ,, 369,248 Total Cotton Goods, . 20,172,716 Hardware and Cutlery, ... 448,228 Liquors — Ale, Beer, and Porter, gals. 1,328,077 £3*3. °7° Spirits, . . . ,, 737.714 647,661 Wines and Liqueurs, 496.733 436, 020 Other sorts, . . , , 14, 160 4, 808 Total Liquors, . ,, 2,576,684 1,401,559 Machinery, etc., . 850,997 Metals — Copper, . . . cwts. 320, 103 £1,498,175 Iron, . . . ,, 2.437.721 1,435,561 Other sorts, . . ,, 330.789 671,728 Total Metals, . ,, 3,088,613 3,605,464 Provisions, . 858,797 Railway Plant, . 907,002 Salt, .... tons 254,231 401,365 Silk, raw, . . . lbs. 2,102,930 678, 069 Silk, manufactured, . yds. 8,328,7x6 ... 804,883 Spices, . . . lbs. 33.123,137 ... 488,884 Sugar, . . . cwts. 475. IQ5 798,036 Woollen Goods, . . yds. 7,069,693 772,781 Miscellaneous, . 5.571.693 Total Merchandise, £39,326,003 Treasure, 17-355,460 Government Stores, 2, 138,182 Grand Total, £58,829,645 IN 1S77-78.] INDIA. 447 Foreign Trade of British India for 1877-78. Exports. Quantities. Value. Coffee lbs. 33,300,624 .£1.338.499 ' Cotton, raw. . ,, 387,416,624 9.383.534 Cotton Piece-Goods, yds. I7' 546. 591 ... 442,286 Cotton Twist, lbs. 15,600, 291 ... 682,058 Indigo, cwts. 120,605 3.494.334 Other Dyes, . Grain — 735.838 ... 406,660 Rice, ,, 18,428,386 £6,950,276 Wheat, ,, 6,340,150 2,856,990 Other grains. ,, 879, 806 326,834 Total Grain, . •• 25.648,342 10,134,100 Hides and Skins, . No. 22,916,317 3.756,887 Jute, raw, cwts. 5,450,276 3,518,114 Jute, manufactured, 77X.I27 Lac (except lac dye), cwts. 95,075 333.039 Oils, .... 371.552 Opium chests 92,820 12,374,355 Saltpetre, Seeds — cwts. 389,002 379,002 Linseed, , , 7,198,918 £4,224,429 Rape, ,, 3,193,488 1,9x8,438 Gingelly or Til, ,, 1,158,802 848,226 Other sorts, Total Seeds, . ,, 635.8x2 12,187,020 369, 191 7,360,284 Silk, raw. lbs. 1,512,819 703.549 Silk, manufactured, yds. 1.535.458 ... 151,080 Spices, .... lbs. 13,805,035 226,515 Sugar cwts. 844, X25 745.851 Tea lbs. 33,459,075 3.044.571 Timber, tons 56,939 ... 406,652 Tobacco, lbs. 11,102,23 3 93.037 Wool, raw. lbs. 23.075.323 943,645 Woollen Manufactures, . 207,873 Miscellaneous, r, 874, 929 Total Indian Produce, etc.. £63.143,533 Foreign Merchandise, 2,042,180 Treasure, 2,155, 136 Government Stores, . 36,615 Grand Total, . £67.377.464 Imports. — As regards the imports, the first thing to notice Analysis is the enormous predominance of two items — cotton goods ?f Indian \ 0 imports, and treasure. During the last forty years, cotton goods form 33 per cent., or exactly one-third of the total, and treasure an additional 30 per cent. Next in order come metals (copper, which is largely used by native smiths, slightly exceed- ing iron) ; Government stores, including munitions of war, boots, liquor, and clothing for soldiers, and railway plant; 448 INDIA. [imports. History of cotton- goods trade: Man- chester, 1641 ; Cotton introduced 1676. Cotton- goods imports, 1840-78. Imports of treasure. Proportion of gold to silver. liquors, entirely for European consumption ; coal, for the use of the railways and mills; railway plant for the guaranteed companies ; provisions, machinery, and mill-work, and manu- factured silk. It will thus be seen that, with the single exception of Manchester goods, no articles of European manufacture are in demand for native consumption, but only for the needs of our civilised administration ; and no raw materials, except copper, iron, and salt. England’s export trade to India thus mainly depends upon piece-goods. In the beginning of the 17th century, the industry had not been introduced into England. The small British demand for cotton -goods or calicoes was met by circuitous importations from India itself, where cotton- weaving is an immemorial industry. In 1641, ‘Manchester cottons,’ in imitation of Indian calicoes and chintzes, were still made of wool. Cotton is said to have been first manufactured in England in 1676. To foster the nascent industry, a succes- sion of statutes were passed prohibiting the wear of imported cottons; nor was it until after the inventions of Arkwright and others, and the application of steam as a motive power, had secured to Manchester the advantage of cheap production, that these protective measures were entirely removed. In the present century, Lancashire has rapidly bettered her instructors. During the five years 1840-45, the annual import of cotton manufactures into India averaged a little over ^3,000,000 sterling. In each subsequent quinquennial period, there has been a steady increase, until in the year 1877-78 the import reached the unprecedented total of ^20,000,000 sterling, or an increase of more than sixfold in less than forty years. The importation of treasure is perhaps still more extra- ordinary, when we bear in mind that it is not consumed in the using, but remains permanently in the country. During the same period of forty years, the net import of treasure, deducting export, has reached the enormous aggregate of 319 millions sterling, or more than £1, 6s. 6d. per head of the 240 million inhabitants of the peninsula. By far the larger portion of this was silver ; but the figures for gold, so far as they can be ascertained, are by no means inconsiderable. During the ten years ending 1875, when the normal value of silver as expressed in gold was but little disturbed, the total net imports of treasure into India amounted to just 99 millions. Of this total, 62J millions were in silver, and 36^ millions in gold, the latter metal forming more than one-third of the whole. On separating the re-exports from the imports, the EXPORTS.] INDIA. 449 attraction of gold to India appears yet more marked. Of the total imports of gold, only 7 per cent, was re-exported, while for silver the corresponding portion was 19 per cent. Roughly speaking, it may be concluded that India then absorbed annually about 3 millions sterling of gold, and 5 millions of silver; say a total hoard of 7 to 8 millions sterling of the precious metals each year. The depreciation of silver which has since taken place has caused an enormous increase in the import of silver, and a corresponding increase in the export of gold. The figures since 1876 do not show the normal state of things. But even in 1877-78, when the value of silver in terms of gold was at its lowest, although India drew upon its hoards of gold for export to the amount of more than x million sterling, she at the same time imported ij million, showing a net import of half a million of gold. It has been estimated that the gold circulation of India amounts to about 1,620,000 of gold mohars (16s. to 18s. each), as compared with ^158,000,000 of silver and ^2,960,000 of copper. In addition, 10 million sovereigns are said to be hoarded in India, mainly in the Bombay Presidency, where the stamp of St. George and the Dragon is valued as a religious symbol. Exports. — Turning to the exports, the changes in relative Analysis magnitude demand detailed notice. In 1877-78, raw cotton Sports1” for the first time for many years falls into the second place, being surpassed by the aggregate total of food grains. Oil-seeds show as a formidable competitor to cotton, jute surpasses indigo, and tea comes close behind; while cotton manufactures are nearly as valuable as coffee. The imports of sugar, in value although not in quantity, exceed the exports ; the trade in raw silk is about equally balanced ; while spices, once the glory of Eastern trade, were exported to the value of only ,£226, 515, as compared with imports of spices of twice that value (^488,884). The export of raw cotton has been subject to excessive Export of variations. At the close of the last century, cotton was sent to raw cotton. England in small quantities, chiefly the produce of the Central Provinces, collected at Mirzapur and shipped at Calcutta ; or the produce of Guzerat, despatched from Surat In 1805, Its history, the cotton from Surat was valued at ^"108,000. In the same iSo5‘34- year, only 2000 bales of East Indian cotton were imported into Great Britain. But this figure fails to show the average ; for by 1810, the corresponding number of bales had risen 45° INDIA. [cotton exports. Export of raw cotton since 1S40. Export of jute ; in 182S ; in 1848 ; to 79,000, to sink again to 2000 in 1813, and to rise to 248,000 in 1818. Bombay did not begin to participate in this trade until 1825, but has now acquired the practical monopoly, since the railway has diverted to the west the pro- duce of the Central Provinces. In 1834, when the commerce of India was first thrown open, 33,000,000 lbs. were exported. Analyzing the exports of cotton during the forty years since 1840, we find that in the first quinquennial period they averaged 2 2" millions sterling in value, and did not rise perceptibly until 1858, when they first touched 4 millions. From that date the increase was steady, even before the American exports were cut off by war in 1861. India then made the most of her opportunity, although the quantity and quality did not keep pace with the enhanced price. The export of raw cotton reached its highest value at millions sterling in 1865, and its highest quantity at 803,000,000 lbs. in 1866. Thenceforth the decline has been constant, although somewhat irregular; the lowest figures both of quantity and value being those of 1878-79, when the exports amounted to 2,966,569 cwts., valued at ^7,914,091. The most recent feature of the trade is the comparatively small amount shipped to the United Kingdom, and the even distribution of the rest among continental ports. In 1877-78, out of a total of nearly 3^ million cwts., less than 1 £ million cwts. was consigned to England ; of the remainder, France took 611,000 cwts. ; Italy, 434,000 ; Austria, 407,000 ; China, 209,000; and Germany, 109,000. The export of raw cotton in 1878-79 amounted in value to ,£7,914,091, and of twist and cotton goods, to ^2,581,823. Indian cotton has a short staple, which is ill suited for the finer counts of yarn spun in the Lancashire mills. Second in importance to cotton as a raw material of British manufacture comes jute. At the time of the London Exhibition of 1851, jute fibre was almost unknown, while attention was even then actively drawn to rhea or China grass, which remains to the present day unmanageable by any cheap process. From time immemorial, jute has been grown in the swamps of Eastern Bengal, and has been woven into coarse fabrics for bags and even clothing. As early as 1795, Dr. Roxburgh called attention to the commercial value of the plant, which he grew in the Botanical Gardens of Calcutta, and named ‘jute,’ after the language of his Orissa gardeners, the Bengali word being pat or koshta. In 1828-29, the total exports of jute were only 364 cwts., valued at ,£62. From that date the trade steadily grew, until in the quinquennial period ending 1847-48 JUTE EXPORTS.] INDIA. 45 1 the exports averaged 234,055 cwts. The Crimean war, which cut off the supplies of Russian flax and hemp from the Forfar- shire weavers, made the reputation of jute. Dundee forthwith adopted the new fibre as her speciality, and the Bengal culti- vators as readily set themselves to meet the demand. Taking Later quinquennial periods, the export of jute rose from an average of ^g’^g 969,724 cwts. in 1858-63 to 2,628,100 cwts. in 1863-68, and 4,858,162 cwts. in 1868-73. The highest figures reached were in the year 1872-73, with 7,080,912 cwts., valued at T4, 330, 759. There has since been a falling off, partly owing to the com- petition of the weaving-mills in the neighbourhood of Calcutta ; but the trade continues on a permanent basis. By far the greater bulk of the exports is consigned to the United King- dom, and a large proportion direct to Dundee. In 1877-78, out of a total of 5,450,276 cwts., 4,493,483 were sent to the United Kingdom, 845,810 to the United States, and 110,983 to ‘other countries,’ chiefly France, which has prosperous weaving-mills at Dunquerque. The exports from India are almost monopolized by Calcutta, although Chittagong, which is nearer the producing Districts, is beginning to take a share. The export of grain, as already noticed, reached in 1878 a Export of higher total than that of cotton. The two staple cereals are f°ocl£rams- rice and wheat. Rice is exported from British Burma, from Rice. Bengal, and from Madras. The latter Presidency usually despatches about 2J million cwts. a year, chiefly to its own coolies in Ceylon; but in 1877-78, this trade was almost entirely checked by the famine. In that year, besides supply- ing the necessities of Madras, Bengal was able to send nearly 6 million cwts. to foreign ports. As compared with Burmese rice, the Bengal exports are chiefly intended for food, whether in Ceylon, the Mauritius, the Straits Settlements, the West Indies, or Europe. From the point of view of the English produce Burmese market, rice means only Burmese rice, which is annually ex-nce‘ ported to the large amount of about 13 million cwts., valued at 3 millions sterling. In the Indian tables, this is all entered as consigned to the United Kingdom; although, as a matter of fact, the rice fleets from Burma only call for orders at Falmouth, and are there diverted to various continental ports. Bur- mese rice is known in the trade as ‘five parts cargo rice,’ being but imperfectly husked before shipment, so that it contains about one part in five of paddy or unhusked rice. It has a thick, coarse grain, and is almost entirely utilized either for distillation or for conversion into starch. In 452 INDIA. [wheat exports. Rice trade in 1878. Export duty on rice. Export of wheat. Wheat trade in 1878. Exports of oil-seeds. 1877- 78, the exports of rice to the United Kingdom amounted to 10,488,198 cwts., being slightly less than the average, — but about half of this total is known to be re-exported to foreign countries ; the direct exports to the Continent were only 68,839 cwts. to Germany, and 20,117 t0 France. Siam and Cochin China supply the wants of China and the Straits Settlement, but India has a practical monopoly of the European market. In 1878-79, after India had begun to recover from the famine, the total export of rice was 21^ million tons, valued at 9 millions sterling (^8,978,95 1). An export duty is levied on rice in India at the rate of 3 annas per maund, or about 6d. per cwt. A similar duty on wheat was repealed in 1873, and that trade has since conspicuously advanced. In 1874-75, the export of wheat was about 1 million cwts. Forthwith it increased year by year, until in 1877-78 it ex- ceeded 6-£ million cwts., valued at nearly 3 millions sterling. In 1878- 79, the quantity fell to 1 million cwts., valued at ^£520, 138, owing to the general failure of the harvest in the producing Districts. But as railways open up the country, and the cultivators find a steady market in England, India may, as already mentioned, some day become a rival to America and Russia in the wheat trade of the world. The Punjab is a great wheat-growing tract in India, but hitherto the chief supplies have chiefly come from the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, being collected at Cawnpore and thence despatched by rail to Calcutta. In 1877-78, out of the total of 6,340,150 cwts., Bengal exported 4,546,062 cwts., Bombay 1,159,443, and Sind 607,470. The chief countries of destination were — the United Kingdom, 5,731,349 cwts.; the Mauritius, 154,888; and France, 116,674. It is said that Italy is beginning to utilize the hard, white Indian wheat for making macaroni. Oil-seeds were freed in 1875 from their former export duty of 3 per cent, ad valorem. During the ten previous years, the average annual export was only about 4 million cwts.; but the fiscal change, coinciding with an augmented demand in Europe, has since trebled the trade. In 1877-78, the total export amounted to 12,187,020 cwts., valued at more than millions sterling. Of this, Bengal contributed 7,799,220 cwts., and Bombay 3,179,475 cwts. Linseed and rape are consigned mainly to the United Kingdom, while France takes almost the entire quantity of til or gingelly. In 1879, the export of oil-seeds fell to 7^ million cwts., valued at .£4,682,512. In actual amount, although not in relative importance, indigo DYE EXPORTS.] INDIA. 453 holds its own in the face of competition from aniline dyes. Exports of The export of 1877-78 amounted to 120,605 cwts., valued at 1Iulig0 ’ ^3,494,334, being the highest figures on record. Of this total, Bengal yielded 99,402 cwts., and Madras 16,899 cwts. In 1878-79, the export of indigo amounted to 105,051 cwts., valued at ^2,960,463. The most noticeable feature in this trade is the diminishing proportion sent direct to England, and the wide distribution of the remainder. In 1877-78, only 51,641 cwts. their were consigned direct to the United Kingdom, as compared with 72,494 cwts. two years previously; 29,999 cwts., or just 1877-78. one-fourth, to France; 12,417 cwts. to Egypt, and thence pro- bably reshipped to England; 9832 to the United States; 6618 to Austria ; 4148 to Persia ; and 1392 cwts. to Italy. Of other dyes, the export of safflower has fallen off, being only in demand Safflower, for a rouge in China and Japan ; the export in 1877-78 was 3698 cwts., valued at ^14,881. The export of myrobalams, on Myro- the other hand, was greatly stimulated by the Russo-Turkish balams- War, which interrupted the supply of valonia and galls from Asia Minor. The quantity rose from 286,350 cwts. in 1875-76 to 537,055 cwts. in 1877-78, valued in the latter year at ^230,526. Practically the whole is sent to the United Kingdom. Tur- Turmenc- meric, also, exhibits an increase to 146,865 cwts. in 1877-78, valued at ^123,766, of which the United Kingdom took about one-half. Lac-dye, like other kinds of lac, shows a Lac. depressed trade, the exports in 1877-78 having been 9570 cwts., valued at ^£2 9,009. No Indian export has made such steady progress as tea, Exports of which has multiplied more than fourfold in the space of ten tca' years. In 1867-68, the amount was only 7,81 1,429 lbs. ; by 1872-73, it had reached 17,920,439 lbs.; and in 1878-79, without a single step of retrogression, it had further risen to 34,800,027 lbs., valued at ^£3, 170,118. It is estimated that the crop of 1880, available for export, will be 42,000,000 lbs. Indian tea has now a recognised position in the London market, generally averaging about 4d. per lb. higher in value than Chinese tea; but it has failed to win acceptance in most other countries, excepting Australia. Its growing importance as compared with Chinese tea appears from the following figures. In 1872, the imports of Indian tea into England were to those of Chinese tea as 1 to 97; in 1874, as 1 to 7-5; in 1876, as 1 to 5-6; and in 1878, as 1 to 47. The exports of coffee from India Coffee, are stationary, if not declining. The highest amount during the past ten years was 507,296 cwts. in 1871-72, the lowest amount 298,587 cwts. in 1877-78, valued at ^1,338, 499. In 454 INDIA. [manufactures. Export of cotton manufac- tures. Exports of jute manu- factures. Gunny. Countries with which India trades. 1878-79, the export of coffee was 342,268 cwts., valued at .£1,548,481. Of manufactured goods, cotton and jute deserve notice, though by far the greater part of the produce of the Indian mills is consumed locally. The total value of cotton goods ex- ported in 1877-78 was£i, 142, 732;and in 1879-80, £1,644, 125, being an increase of nearly threefold as compared with 1874-75. The exports of twist and yarn, spun in the Bombay mills, increased from 3 million lbs. in 1874-75 to 15J million lbs. in 1877-78, valued in the latter year at £682,058. The chief places of destination were — China, 13,762,133 lbs. ; Aden, 1,181,120 lbs. ; and Arabia, 393,371 lbs. The export of twist and yarn in 1878-79 was valued at £937,698. Piece-goods belong to two classes. Coloured goods, woven in hand-looms, are annually exported from Madras to Ceylon and the Straits, to the value of about £230,000, the quantity being about 8 million yards ; while in 1877-78, grey goods from the Bombay mills were sent to Aden, Arabia, Zanzibar, and the Mekran coast, amounting to over 10 million yards, and valued at £141,509. Jute manufactures consist of gunny bags, gunny cloths, and rope and twine, almost entirely the produce of the Calcutta mills. In all of these, the value of the exports is increasing faster than the quantity, having multiplied nearly fourfold in the last five years. In 1877-78, the total export of jute manufactures was valued at £771,127, and in 1879-80 at £1,098,434. Gunny bags, for the packing of wheat, rice, and wool, were exported to the number of more than 26^ millions, valued at £729,669. Of this total, £298,000 (in- cluding by far the most valuable bags) was sent to Australia, £162,000 to the Straits, £80,000 to the United States, £77,000 to Egypt, £32,000 to China, and £81,000 to other countries, which comprises a considerable quantity destined for England. In 1878-79, the export of gunny bags had increased to 45 J millions. Of gunny cloth in pieces, nearly 3 million yards were exported, almost entirely to the United States; in 1878-79 these exports had increased to upwards of 4I- million yards. Of rope and twine, 4428 cwts. were exported in 1877-78, valued at £5443- The following figures, being taken from Indian returns, do not in all cases show the real origin of the imports or the ultimate destination of the exports, but primarily the countries with which India has direct dealings. London still retains its historical pre-eminence as the first Oriental mart in the world, India’s customers.] INDIA. 455 whither buyers come from the other countries of Europe to satisfy their wants. Germans come here for wool, Frenchmen for jute, and all nations alike for rare dyes, spices, and drugs. The opening of the Suez Canal has restored to the maritime cities of the Mediterranean a share of the eastern business which they once monopolized. But, on the other hand, the advantage of prior possession, the growing use of steamers, and the certainty of being able to obtain a return freight, all tend to favour trade with England, carried in English bottoms. As the result of these conflicting influences, the trade of India with the United Kingdom, while in actual amount it remains pretty constant, shows a relative decrease as compared with the total trade. Taking merchandise only, the average value of English India’s exports and imports during the two years 1867-69 amounted to slightly more than 58 millions sterling, out of a total of nearly 86 millions, being 66 per cent. Ten years later, the average value of English trade for 1877-79 was also 5 8 millions, but the total value had risen to 100 millions, and the proportion had therefore fallen to 58 per cent. Next comes China, with an Indian trade of about 15 millions (imports and with exports), or 14 per cent. Of this, nearly 12 millions represent 1 ’ opium, the only other articles which China takes from India being raw cotton and cotton twist, and gunny bags. In return, China sends silver, copper, raw silk and silk goods, sugar and tea, the balance of trade being adjusted through England. It is said that Chinese tea is now only consumed in India by natives, or sent across the frontier into Central Asia. The annual quantity imported into India is about 1^ million lbs., and the price is extremely low. The trade with the Straits may be regarded as with the a branch of the Chinese trade. The exports are valued atStraits’ about millions sterling, of which more than a half consists of opium, the rest being principally made up by rice and gunny bags. The imports are tin, betel-nuts, and pepper and raw silk, valued altogether at little more than one-third of the exports. The trade with Ceylon is merely a form of coasting with trade, large quantities of rice being shipped in native craft Cc>lon> along the Madras coast to feed the Tamil coolies in that island. The imports are hardly a sixth of the exports in value. With Mauritius, rice is exchanged for sugar to a large amount on both sides. Of European countries, France and Italy alone deserve India’s notice beside England. In 1877-78, the Indian exports to France reached the large total of nearly 6 millions sterling, 456 INDIA. [india’s customers. with Italy with the United States ; with Australia. consisting chiefly of oil-seeds (rape and gingelly), indigo, cotton, silk, and coffee. The direct imports in the same year were valued at only ^451,000, principally apparel and milliner}-, brandy and wines, and silk goods ; but the same articles are also sent in considerable, although unascertained, quantities via ; England. The trade with Italy shows a steady increase within the last five years, the exports having risen from £1,1 00, 000 to ^1,670,000, or 52 per cent., and the imports from ^250,000 to ^380,000. The exports are cotton, silk, oil-seeds (sesamum), and hides ; the imports — corals, glass beads and false pearls, spirits and wines, and silk goods. The trade with the United States comes next to that with Italy, both aggregating a little over 2,000,000 sterling. The exports are indigo, hides, raw jute, and gunny bags, lac, saltpetre, and linseed ; the imports are almost confined to ice and mineral oils. In 1878-79, the import of ice fell off greatly, under competition from local manufacture at Calcutta and Bombay ; while the imports of kerosene oil rose to 3 million gallons (chiefly to Burma). In the same year, America sent direct to India nearly 1 million yards of grey cotton goods, taking advantage of the abolition of duty ; and a still larger quantity is known to be received through England. The trade of India with Australia (valued altogether at about ^800,000) is limited to the export of rice, gunny bags, and castor-oil, and the import of copper and horses. A little coal is sent from Australia, and a little coffee from India. Hitherto Australia has preferred to drink Chinese tea ; but a considerable development of trade in this and other Indian products is hoped for, from the Melbourne Exhibition of 1880. Experimental shipments have already been made. The following tables summarize the foreign trade of India in 1877-78 : — Distribution of Foreign Trade of India in 1877-78 ( excluding treasure). United Kingdom. France. Italy. United States. Imports, . , Exports, . £ 32,211,303 29,298, 152 £ 451- 105 5.963.057 £ 349.229 1,867,690 £ 279.717 1,930,340 Total, Percentage of 1 grand total, . ) 61,509,455 49 6,414,162 5 2,216,919 i'8 2,210,057 i*8 SUEZ CANAL TRADE.] INDIA. 457 Australia. China and Hong-Kong. Straits Settlements. Ceylon. Mauritius. Imports, Exports, £ 298,298 449.74° £ 1. 403.673 12,634.935 £ i, °79» 7°2 2.343.285 £ 530.555 2,496,323 £ 642,471 1.117.975 Total, Percentage of > grand total, . ) 748,038 o*6 14,038,608 13 3,422,987 3 3,026,878 2*6 1,760,446 1 '4 Distribution of Principal Exports of Raw Produce in 1877-78, in cwts. Cotton. Jute. Rice. Wheat. Indigo. United Kingdom, 1,440,000 4,493.483 10,488,198 5.73ri349 51.641 France, 611,000 20,117 116,674 29,999 Germany, . 109,000 68,839 Austria, 407,000 6,618 Italy, . United States, . Egypt, Persia, 434,000 845,810 126, 824 1,392 9,832 12,417 4.148 Mauritius, . China, 219,000 1,461,931 154,888 Straits Settlements, 1,022,431 The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, while it has stimu- Trade vici lated ever)’ department of trade into greater activity, has not ^n^uez materially changed its character. The use of the Canal implies steam power. In 1871-72, the first complete year for which statistics are available, the total number of steamers which sailed via the Canal was 422, with a tonnage of 464,198. Every subsequent year shows an increase until the great fall in trade in 1878-79. The highest figures reached were in 1877-78, with 1137 steamers and 1,617,839 tons, being 64 per cent of the total steam tonnage. As might be anticipated, the imports, being for the most part of small bulk and high value, first felt the advantages of this route. In 1875-76, 85 per Growth of cent, of the imports from Europe and Egypt (excluding |^^anal treasure) passed through the Canal, but only 29 per cent, of the exports. In 1878-79, the proportion of imports was substantially the same, while that of exports had risen to 64 per cent., showing that such bulky commodities as cotton, grain, oil-seeds, and jute are now beginning to participate in the advantages of rapid transport. The actual values of Canal trade in 1877-78, the year of its greatest development, were 29 millions sterling for imports, and 23 millions for exports. The Canal has reduced the length of the voyage from London 2 o 45 8 INDIA. [balance of trade. Balance of trade. Indian commerce for thirty- six years. The balance ; how accounted for. Govern- ment re- mittances. Private re- mittances. to Calcutta by about thirty-six days. The route round the Cape was more than 11,000 miles, and occupied nearly three months ; that through the canal is less than 8000 miles, and takes from 30 to 45 days. Sir R. Temple, when Finance Minister in 1872, drew up a valuable State Paper, in which he placed in a clear light the various means by which the apparent excess of exports over imports is liquidated. During the thirty-six years between 1835 and 1871, the value of merchandise exported from India amounted to ^1,012,000,000, say one thousand millions sterling; the value of merchandise imported into India, to ^583,000,000, showing an excess of ^429,000,000 in the exports. The value of treasure imported in the same period was ^312,000,000, against ^3 7,000,000 exported, being a net import of ^2 7 5,000,000. Deducting this from the excess of merchandise exports, a balance of ;£i 54,000,000 has to be accounted for otherwise than in the ordinary operations of trade. The first item to be considered is freight. Next come all payments made in England, whether by the Indian Government or by private persons resident in India. During the thirty-six years taken, the aggregate amount of payments in England on Government account (now represented by the Secretary of State’s bills) amounted to ^113,000,000. These bills are drawn to meet charges due in England under such heads as civil and military pensions, interest on debt and on railway capital, military stores, etc. ; and they are bought by bankers or merchants, who require to meet their own pay- ments in India. They operate, financially, as if treasure had been sent to India, and thus reduce the apparent balance of trade at one stroke from ^154,000,000 to ^[41,000,000. The remaining item to be considered is the remittances to England on private account, which it is impossible to ascertain with any pretensions to accuracy. In 1872, this item was estimated at ^3,500,000 a year ; but in former years it had been much less, and it is now probably much more. It includes such divers matters as the savings of officials, profits of trade and planting, interest on capital invested. Together with freightage, it would make up the balance of ^41,000,000 yet unaccounted for, and thus finally equalize the trade of India. Elsewhere I have endeavoured to express in a more popular form the balance of trade during the five years ending 1879. The phenomena of the trade between India and China are to be explained on the same principles. In 1872-73, the total COAST TRADE.] INDIA. 459 exports from India to China were valued at ^12,074,347, to Balance which opium alone contributed ,£10,529,673. The total Q1'“esc imports from China were valued at only £1,355,171, showing trade, an excess of £10,719,176 in exports, for which India receives no direct return from China. In this case, China pays her debt to India by the excess of her exports to England, which are there placed to the credit of India. During the twenty years between 1852 and 1871, the aggregate balance of trade in favour of China in her dealings with England amounted to £ 1 1 2,000,000. This amount was available to settle the equally unfavourable balance with India, and was in fact paid by Indian opium, as certainly as if the opium had been sent to China via England. It is evident, therefore, that if the Chinese were to greatly increase their imports of English goods, the exchanges of India might be seriously affected. Coastwg Trade. — The foreign trade of India is monopolized Coasting by four great ports,1 but the entire seaboard along both sides tracle- of the peninsula is thronged by native craft, which do a large coasting business. In the Gulfs of Kachchh and Cambay, on the Malabar coast, and in the southern Districts facing Ceylon, a large portion of the inhabitants are born sailors, conspicuous alike for their daring and for their skill in navigation. In 1873-74, which may be regarded as a normal year, the total number of vessels engaged in the coasting trade which cleared and entered was 294,374, with an aggregate of 10,379,862 tons ; the total value of both coasting exports and imports was £34,890,445. Of the total number of vessels, 280,913, with Statistics 4,843,668 tons, were native craft. Bombay and Madras divided °1fa^°a*tIli| between them nearly all the native craft ; while in Bengal and shipping, Burma, a large and increasing proportion of the coasting traffic i874 ’ is carried in British steamers. In 1877-78, the year of famine, in 1S78. the number of ships increased to 319,624; the tonnage to 15,732,246 tons ; and the value to £67,814,446. By far the largest item was grain, of which a total of 1,137,690 tons, valued at 13 millions sterling, was thrown into the famine- stricken Districts from the seaboard. Next in importance Staples of come raw cotton and cotton goods. The trade in raw cotton [|1ne(^oast amounted to 387,438 cwts., valued at £957,90°, much of which 1878.’ was merely transhipped from one port to another in the Bombay Presidency. Cotton twist and yarn amounted to 17,425,993 lbs., valued at £965,038, of which the greater part was sent from Bombay to Bengal and Madras. The total 1 See ante, p. 442. 460 INDIA. [frontier trade. Frontier trade. Three main trade routes to Afghan- istan. value of the cotton piece-goods was ^620,866, including about 24 million yards of grey goods sent from Bombay to Bengal and to Sind in nearly equal proportions, and about 2 million yards of coloured goods from Madras. Stimulated by the activity of the grain trade, the exports of gunny bags from Calcutta coastwise rose to a total value of nearly ,£960,000. The trade in betel-nuts amounted to nearly 44 million lbs., valued at over £"500,000. Burma consumes most of these, obtaining its supplies from Bengal ; while Bombay gets considerable quantities from Madras, from the Konkan and Goa, and from Bengal. Sugar (refined and unrefined) figures to the large amount of£9oo, 000, of which the greater part came from Bengal. The movements of treasure coastwise show a total of just 5 millions sterling, being exceptionally augmented by the convey- ance of silver to Burma in payment for rice supplied to Madras. Frontier Trade. — Attempts have been made to register the trade which crosses the long land frontier of India on the north, stretching from Baluchistan to Independent Burma. The re- turns obtained show a total of about 7f millions sterling, of which nearly half belongs to Burma ; the imports being about 4^ millions, and the exports 3^ millions. The figures are, I regret, not based upon trustworthy evidence, but it is interesting to examine some of the details. Three main trade routes pierce the Sulaiman Mountains, which form the western frontier of the Punjab and Sind. These are — (1) the Bolan Pass, which collects the trade both of Kandahar and Khelat, and debouches upon Sind at the important mart of Shikarpur, whose merchants have direct dealings with the remote cities of Central Asia; (2) the Gomal Pass, leading from Ghazni to Dera Ismail Khan, which is followed by the half-military, half- trading clan of Povindahs, who bring their own caravans of camels into the heart of India; (3) the Khaibar Pass, from Kabul to Peshawar. The aggregate value of the annual trade with Afghanistan cannot be less than 1 million sterling each way, or a total of 2 millions. But for Sind no statistics are avail- able, and those for the Punjab are evidently incomplete. So far as they go, they show that in 1875-76 the total imports from Kabul were valued at £914,000, consisting chiefly of raw silk, dried fruits and nuts, matijit or madder and other dyes, charas (an intoxicating preparation of hemp) and other drugs, wood, and furs; the total exports were valued at £8 16,000, chiefly cotton goods both of native and European manufacture, Indian tea, indigo, and salt. INDIA . 461 FRONTIER MARTS.] The Punjab also conducts a considerable business via, Kash- Trade with / • ... Central mir with Yarkand, Kashgar, and Chinese Tibet, estimated Asia at about 1 million sterling altogether. The chief marts on the side of India are Amritsar and Jalandhar, from which latter place the route runs northwards past Kangra and Palampur to Leh, where a British official has been stationed since 1867, in which year also a fair was established at Palampur to attract the Yarkandi merchants. Merchandise is usually conveyed Himalayan across the Himalayan passes on the backs of sheep and yaks ; ’ but British enterprise has successfully taken mules as far as Leh. In 1875-76, the total imports from Kashmir were valued at ^484,000, chiefly pashmina or shawl-wool, charas, raw silk, gold-dust and silver ingots, and borax ; the exports were valued at^342,°°o, chiefly cotton goods, food grains, metals, salt, tea, and indigo. Farther east, the Independent State of Nepal cuts off direct with intercourse with Tibet for a total length of nearly 700 miles, ^ePaI- bordering the North-Western Provinces, Oudh, and Behar. Though but little trade is allowed to filter through to Tibet, a very large traffic is everywhere carried on along the fron- tier between the Nepalis and British subjects. The Nepal Government levies transit duties impartially on all commo- dities ; but it is asserted that their fiscal tariff is not intended to be protective, and does not in fact operate as such. Markets are held at countless villages along the boundary, Frontier for the exchange of rural produce and articles of daily marts, consumption ; and many cart tracks cross the line from our side, to lose themselves in the Nepal tardi The principal trade route is that which starts from Patna, and proceeds nearly due north through Champaran District to the capital of Khatmandu ; but even this is not passable throughout for wheeled traffic. From Khatmandu, two routes branch off over Nepal the central range of the Himalayas, which both ultimately come trade • . . routes down into the valley of the Tsanpu, or great river of Tibet. In 1877-78, the registered trade with Nepal (which is doubt- less under-estimated) amounted to a total of ^1,687,000, of which more than two-thirds was conducted by Bengal. The exports from Nepal were valued at ^1,054,000, the principal items being food grains and oil-seeds, cattle, timber, and horns. Other articles of export which do not figure prominently in the return are musk, borax, chireta, madder, cardamoms, chauris or yak-tails, ginger, balchar or scented grass, furs, and hawks. The Indian imports into Nepal were valued at ,£633,000, chiefly European and native piece-goods (of cotton, 462 INDIA. [frontier trade. Bhutan. North-east frontier trade. Trade with Indepen- dent Burma ; in 1878. Exports. I m ports. wool, and silk), salt, metals, raw cotton, sugar and spices. To these may be added the miscellaneous articles which may be usually found in a pedlar’s pack. The trade with Sikkim and Bhutan is too insignificant to require notice, although it is possible that our future entry into Tibet may lie through these States. A certain amount of traffic is conducted with the hill tribes on the north-east frontier, who almost surround the Province of Assam from Bhutan to Manipur. According to the returns for 1877-78, the total frontier trade of Assam amounts to under £100,000 a year. It consists chiefly of the bartering of rice, cotton cloth, salt, and metals, for the raw cotton grown by the hill tribes, and for the caoutchouc, lac, bees- wax, and other jungle produce which they collect. The trade with Independent Burma has a special character, and it has for some years past been subject to a fairly accurate system of registration. The main route is by the Irawadi river, which is navigable by large steamers. The tradeon theTsit-toung (Sittang or Sitoung) is chiefly confined to the export of timber. Registration is also attempted at six land stations. The total trade in 1877-78 was valued at £3,426,000, almost equally divided between exports and imports, being considerably the largest figure yet recorded. The principal exports from Independent Burma were timber (£213,000), raw cotton (£1 63,000), sesamum oil (£130,000), manufactured silk (^IO7)°0O)> jaggery sugar (£98,000), cattle (£88,000), and ponies (£20,000), cotton goods woven from European yarn G£46,ooo), earth-oil (,£65,000), and cutch (£41,000). Many of these articles are liable to be declared royal monopolies, and consequently the figures fluctuate greatly year by year. Other exports of interest, though of smaller value, are pickled tea (,£19,000) and jade (£ 18,000). The principal imports are rice (£[435,000), cotton piece-goods (£”207,000), and cotton twist and yarn (£188,000), manufactured silk (£173,000), nga-pi or salted fish (£159,000), raw silk (£84,000), woollen goods (£43,000), salt (£33,000). Many of these goods, also, are the subjects of royal monopoly, or they compete with the products of manufactories started by the king at Mandalay. Such articles as salt and piece-goods are exempted from the ordinary customs duties at Rangoon, and pay only a transit duty of 1 per cent, if declared for Independent Burma. The trade between British Burma and Siam was estimated in 1 877-78, at the total value of £126,000, being £69,000 for exports from Siam, and £57,000 for imports. INTERNAL TRADE.] INDIA. 46 Registered Frontier Trade of India in 1877-78. Imports. Exports. Total. Afghanistan and adjoining hill ) tribes, . . . . . \ Kashmir, Ladakh, and Tibet, Nepal, North-East Frontier tribes, Independent Burma, . Siam, Total, . £ 671.000 630.000 1.054.000 77.000 1.664.000 69.000 £ 718.000 374.000 633.000 30.000 1,762,000 57.000 £ 1.389.000 1.004.000 1.687.000 107.000 3.426.000 126.000 4,165,000 3,574,000 7,739,000 The Internal Trade of India greatly exceeds her foreign com- internal merce ; but it is impossible to estimate its amount. On the one tra']e of hand, there is the wholesale business, connected with the foreign commerce, in all its stages — the collection of agricultural pro- duce from a hundred thousand villages, its accumulation at a few great central marts, and its despatch to the seaboard ; in return for which manufactured articles are distributed by the same channels, but in the reverse direction. On the other hand, there is the interchange of commodities of native growth and manufacture, sometimes between neighbouring Districts, but also between distant Provinces. With unimportant exceptions, free trade is the rule throughout the vast peninsula of India, by land as well as by sea. The Hindus possess a natural genius for commerce, as is shown by the daring with which they have penetrated into the heart of Central Asia, and to the east coast of Africa. Among the benefits which British rule has conferred upon them is the removal of the internal duties and other restraints which native despotism had imposed upon trading energies. Broadly speaking, the greater part of the internal trade Internal remains in the hands of the natives. Europeans control the native" shipping business, and have a share in the collection of some hands, of the more valuable staples of export, such as cotton, jute, oil-seeds, and wheat. But the work of distribution, and the adaptation of the supply to the demand of the consumer, naturally fall to those who are best acquainted with native wants. Even in the Presidency towns, most of the retail shops are owned by natives. The Vaisya, or trading caste of Trading Manu, has now scarcely a separate existence ; but its place is castes : occupied by offshoots and well-marked classes. On the western coast the Parsis, by the boldness and extent of their operations, tread close upon the heels of the great English houses. 464 INDIA. [trading castes. In the interior of the Bombay Presidency, business is mainly divided between two classes, the Banias of Guzerat and the Marwaris from Rajputana. Each of these profess a peculiar form of religion, the former being Vishnuvites of the Vallabha- in charya sect, the latter Jains. In the Deccan, their place is l°dia^m ta^en by Lingayats from the south, who again follow their own form of Hinduism, which is a species of Siva-worship. Throughout Mysore, and in the north of Madras, Lingayats are also found, but along the eastern seaboard the predominating classes of traders are the castes named Chetties and Komatis. Many of the trading castes still claim Vaisya descent, in In Bengal, however, many of the upper classes of Sudras l'ndia'ern have devoted themselves to wholesale trade ; although here also the Jain Marwaris from Rajputdna and the North-West occupy the front rank. Their headquarters are in Murshidabad District, and Jain Marwaris are found throughout the valley of the Brahmaputra, as far up as the unexplored frontier of China. They penetrate everywhere among the wild tribes ; and it is said that the natives of the Khasi Hills are the only hillmen who do their own business of buying and selling. In the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, the traders are generically called Banias ; and in the Punjab are found the Khatris (Kshattriyas), who have perhaps the best title of any to regard themselves as descendants of the original Vaisyas. According to the general Census of 1872, the total number of persons throughout British India returned as connected with commerce and trade was 3,224,000, or 5^2 per cent, of the adult males. Local trade of India. The village money- lender. The Local Trade of India is conducted in the permanent bazars of the great towns, at weekly markets in the rural villages, at annual gatherings held for religious purposes, or by means of travelling brokers and agents. The cultivator him- self, who is the chief producer and also the chief customer, knows little of large cities, and expects the dealer to come to his own door. Each village has at least one resident trader, who usually combines in his own person the functions of money-lender, grain merchant, and cloth-seller. The simple system of rural economy is entirely based upon the dealings of this man, whom it is sometimes the fashion to decry as a usurer, but who is often the one thrifty person among an improvident population. If his rate of interest is high, it is only proportionate to the risks of his business. If he some- times makes a merciless use of his legal position, the fault FAIRS.] INDIA. 465 rests rather with the inflexible rules of our courts, which enable him to push the cultivators to extremes not allowed under native rule. Abolish the money-lender, and the general body of cultivators would have nothing to depend upon but the harvest of the single year. The money-lender deals chiefly in grain and in specie. In those Districts where the staples of export are largely Travelling grown, the cultivators commonly sell their crops to travelling brokers, who re-sell to larger dealers, and so on until the commodities reach the hands of the agents of the great ship- ping houses. The wholesale trade thus rests ultimately with a comparatively small number of persons, who have agencies, or rather corresponding firms, at the central marts. Buying and selling, in their aspects most characteristic of India, are to be seen not in the large cities, nor even at the weekly markets, but at the fairs which are held periodically at certain spots in most Districts. Religion is always the original cause of these Religious gatherings or melds , at some of which nothing is done beyond fairSl bathing in the river, or performing pious ceremonies. But in the majority of cases, religion merely supplies the opportunity for secular business. Crowds of petty traders attend, bringing the medley of articles which can be packed into a pedlar’s wallet ; and the neighbouring villagers look forward to the occa- sion, to satisfy alike their curiosity and their household wants. The improvement in means of communication, by the con- Increase of struction of railways and metalled roads, has directly developed internal no less than foreign trade. Facilities for rapid carriage tend to equalize prices not only over large areas of country, but also over long periods of time. As wheeled carts supersede pack-bullocks, and as railroads supersede carts, the whole of India will gradually become one country for the J purposes of food supply. It is by this means alone that a guarantee can be provided against the ravages of famine. The vicissitudes of a tropical climate will always cause local The chief failures of the harvest, whether by drought or by flood, which science indeed may learn to foresee, but which no practicable famine, schemes of irrigation or embankment can altogether avert. But India as a whole has never yet been unable in any single year to yield sufficient food for her population. The real problem of famine is a problem of distribution. In former times, the inhabitants of one District might be How trade perishing of starvation, while plenty was reigning in a District ^mine but 100 miles distant. In 1866, the people of Orissa were decimated, not by drought or by inundation, but by the 466 INDIA. [internal trade. impossibility of transport. In 1877, the distress in Madras was alleviated by the importation of nearly 1 million tons of grain, all of which was carried inland by two lines of rail in twelve months. Supplies were drawn, not only from the seaboard of Bengal and Burma, but from the most remote Provinces. In the year 1877-78, the Central Provinces exported grain to the amount of more than 300,000 tons, and the Punjab to the amount of 400,000 tons, all of which was conveyed south by rail. Trade has never known such a stimulus as was afforded on this occasion, when the carrying power proved barely equal to the strain. If the famine had happened before the opening of the railway, it would have resulted in a loss of life without parallel even in the annals of India. Normal But the utility of local trade is not to be judged of only at internal suc^ a cr'sis- normal seasons, it tends alike to regulate trade, prices and to promote a higher standard of comfort. Within the last twenty years, the cultivators have learnt for the first time the real value of their produce. In the old days, little was grown beyond grain-crops for the year’s food. The slightest failure meant local distress ; while a bumper harvest equalizes so depreciated the value of grain, that part of the crops was prices; often left unreaped to rot in the fields. In 1780 and 1781, a suspension of revenue had to be granted to the District of Sylhet, because the harvest was so bountiful that it would not pay the cost of carriage to market, and consequently the farmers had no means of obtaining money. Even so late as 1873, the Collector of Rangpur reported that ‘the yield of rice was considered too good by the rdya/s, as prices were thereby introduces kept down.’ The extended cultivation of staples for export, more valu- such as cotton, jute, and oil-seeds, together with the substitu- “ ’ c ‘■rop:’' tion of more valuable crops for the inferior grains, is now in course of modifying the entire system of Indian agriculture. Land is not being withdrawn from food crops to any appreciable extent, but the ray at is everywhere learning to cultivate high- priced subsidiary crops which will help to pay his rent. Statistics It is impossible to express in figures the precise extent of t°radetema* 'nterna^ trade of India. But the following statistics will serve in some measure to show both its recent development and its actual amount. They are based upon the registration returns which have been collected for some years past in certain Provinces. In 1863-64, the total external trade of the Central Central Provinces, both export and import, was estimated to Provinces. amount to 102,000 tons, valued at ^3,909,000. By 1868-69, LOCAL MARTS.] INDIA. 467 after the opening of the Jabalpur railway, it had increased to 209.000 tons, valued at £6,795,000. In 1877-78, the year of the famine in Southern India, the corresponding figures were 635.000 tons, and ,£9,373,000, showing- an increase in 14 years of more than sixfold in quantity, and considerably more than twofold in value. The comparatively small increase in value is partly to be attributed to the exclusion of opium, which merely passes through in transit from Malwa. In 1874-75, the total external trade of the Punjab amounted to Punjab, about 600,000 tons, valued (but probably overvalued) at about £16,000,000. In 1877-78, it had increased to nearly 900,000 tons, valued at £17,500,000. The total trade of Behar in Beliar. 1877-78 was valued at £1 6,000,000. But perhaps the significance of such enormous totals will become plainer if we take the case of a single mart, Patna, which may claim to be considered one of the most important centres of inland traffic in the world. Favourably situated on the Ganges, near the confluence of the Son and the Gogra, where the principal trade route branches off to Nepal, it has become a great changing station for the transfer of goods from river to rail. In 1876-77, the imports and exports of Patna town (ex- Trade of eluding the Government monopoly of opium, and probably ^g^a’ omitting a good deal besides) were actually registered to a value of 7^ millions sterling. Many articles are included twice over as exported and imported, but the imports alone amounted to more than 4 millions. Among the principal items on one side or the other may be mentioned — European piece-goods, £1,217,000; indigo, .£789,000; oil-seeds, £557,000; salt, £389,000; sugar, £274,000; food grains, £258,000; hides, £185,000; saltpetre, £156,000. A still more characteristic Growth of example of local trade is afforded by the case of Dongargaon, as described in the Report on the Trade a?id Resources of the gaon. Central Proznnces for 1877-78, — a model of what such a re- port should be. Dongargaon now forms the principal market for grain on the fertile plateau of Chhatisgarh, which is perhaps destined to become a regular source of wheat supply to England. Twenty years ago, it was a petty hamlet of about 20 houses, buried in wild jungle, and only distinguished from the neighbouring villages by a weekly bazar held on Sunday. In 1862, the enterprising agent of a Nagpur firm of native merchants settled here, and began to make purchases of grain. The number of houses has now risen to about 2000, of which the majority are tiled. In the busy season, the total concourse 468 INDIA. [a yearly fair. A yearly fair, Karagola. of persons daily present in the bazar is estimated at 100,000, with 13,000 carts and 40,000 bullocks and buffaloes. Buyers come from as far west as Bombay, while the grain of all the adjoining Districts is brought here for sale. A third example of the varying methods of Indian trade may be found in the annual fair held at Karagola in Purniah. This fair dates from the beginning of the present century, although its site has changed from time to time. It lasts for about ten days in the month of February. During that season a little town of shops, constructed of bamboos and matting, rises on the sandy plain that stretches between the village and the bank of the Ganges. The business is entirely of a retail character, the local staples of grain, jute, and tobacco being conspicuously absent. But every article of necessity or luxury for a native household is to be seen. Cloth of all kinds, from thick English woollens to fine Dacca muslins ; ironmongery and furniture from Monghyr ; boots, shawls, silks, and brocades from the cities of the North-West ; hand-mills, curry-stones, and lac ornaments from the hills of Chutia Nagpur ; knives, yaks’ tails, ponies, musk, and other drugs, brought down by the Nepali's ; miscellaneous ware from England, such as umbrellas, matches, soap, paper, candles, buttons, etc.,- — all find a ready sale. In 1876, the attendance was estimated at 40,000 persons ; and the fees upon shops levied by the landowner realized ^150. Such fairs are always protected by a special body of police, and the European official in charge of the District or Subdivision is usually present. MANUFACTURES.] INDIA. 469 CHAPTER XIX. ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. India may be truly described as an agricultural rather than Manu- a manufacturing country, yet it must not be inferred that she is destitute of the arts of civilised life. She has no swarming hives of industry to compare with the factory centres of Lancashire ; nor any large mining population. But in all manufactures requiring manual dexterity and artistic taste, India may challenge comparison with Europe in the last century ; in many of them, with England at the present day. The rival kingdoms into which the country was formerly divided, gave birth to many arts of luxury. When the first European Art work, traders reached the coast of India in the 16th century, they found a civilisation both among ‘ Moors ’ and ‘ Gentoos ’ at least as highly advanced as their own. In architecture, in fabrics of cotton and silk, in goldsmith’s work and jewellery, the people of India were then unsurpassed. But while the East has stood still, as regards manufactures on a great scale, the West has advanced by gigantic strides without a parallel in the history of human progress. On the one hand, the downfall English of the native courts deprived the skilled workman of his chief c°mpeti- market ; while on the other, the English capitalist has enlisted in his service forces of nature against which the village artisans in vain try to compete. The tide of circumstances has com- pelled the Indian weaver to exchange his loom for the plough, and has crushed many of the minor handicrafts. Some consolation can be found in the establishment, within The tide the past few years, of mills fitted out by English capital with j English machinery. A living portion of our own industrial activity has been transplanted to Indian soil. Manchester is growing up in miniature at Bombay, and Dundee at Calcutta. The time may yet come when India shall again clothe her people with her own cotton ; she already supplies sacks from her jute for the commerce of the world. Historically the most interesting, and still the most important Native in the aggregate, of all Indian industries are the simple crafts industries- in every rural hamlet. The weaver, the potter, the blacksmith, 47° INDIA. [cotton-weaving. The village craftsmen. Fortified weaving settle- ments. Cotton- weaving in India, an indi- genous industry. Causes of its decline. the brazier, the oil-presser, are members of a community, as well as inheritors of a family occupation. On the one hand, they have a secure market for their wares ; and on the other, their employers have a guarantee that their trades shall be well learned. The stage of civilisation below these village industries is represented by the hill tribes, where the weaving of clothes is done by the women of the family. An advanced stage may be found in those villages or towns which possess a little colony of weavers or braziers noted for some speciality. Yet one degree higher is the case of certain arts of luxury, such as ivory - carving or the making of gold lace. One other form of native industry owes its origin to European interference. Many a village in Bengal and on the Coromandel coast still shows traces of the time when the East India Company and its continental rivals gathered large settlements of weavers round their little forts, and thus formed the only industrial towns that ever existed in India. But when the Company gave up its private trade in 1813 and 1834, such centres of industry rapidly declined ; and the once celebrated muslins of India have been driven out of the market by Manchester goods. Cotton-weaving is a very ancient industry of India. In England it dates back only a couple of centuries, wool and linen having been our own historical staples ; but in India it has been practised from the time of the Mahdbharata. The Greek name for cotton fabrics, sindon, is etymologically the same as that of India, or Sind ; while in later days, Calicut on the Malabar coast has given us ‘ calico.’ Cotton cloth has always been the single material of Indian clothing for both men and women, except in Assam and Burma, where silk is preferred, per- haps as a survival of an extinct trade with China. The author of the Periplus, our earliest authority on the trade of India, enumerates a great variety of cotton fabrics among her exports. Marco Polo, the first Christian traveller, dwells upon the ‘cotton and buckram’ of Cambay. When European adven- turers found out the way to India, cotton and silk always formed part of the rich cargoes they brought home. The English, in especial, appear to have been careful to fix their earliest settle- ments amid a weaving population — at Surat, at Calicut, at Masulipatam, at Hugh'. In delicacy of texture, in purity and fastness of colour, in grace of design, Indian cottons may still hold their own against the world. But in the matter of cheap- ness, they have been unable to face the competition of Man- chester. Many circumstances conspired to injure the local industry. In the last century, England excluded Indian cotton COTTON-WEAVING.] INDIA. 47 1 fabrics, not by fiscal duties, but by absolute prohibition.1 A change of fashion in the West Indies, on the abolition of slavery, took away the best customer left. Then came the cheapness of production in Lancashire mills, due to improve- ments in machinery. Lastly, the high price of raw cotton during the American War, however beneficial to the cultivators, fairly broke down the local weaving trade in the cotton-growing tracts. Above all, the necessity under which England lies to export something to India to pay for her multifarious imports, has permanently given an artificial character of inflation to this branch of business. Despite all these considerations, hand-loom weaving still Still a holds its own with varying success in different parts of the ;luiustrv country. Regarded as a trade, it has become unremunerative. Little is made for export, and the finer fabrics generally are dying out. The far-famed muslins of Dacca and of Arm' are now well- nigh lost specialities. But as a village industry, weaving is still carried on everywhere, though it cannot be said to flourish. If Manchester piece-goods are cheaper, native piece-goods are universally recognised as more durable. Comparative statistics Supplies are, of course, impossible ; but it may be roughly estimated ^ree-fifths that about three-fifths of the cotton cloth used is woven in the consumpt. country from native thread or from imported twist. In 1870, the Madras Board of Revenue published a valu- Cotton- able report on hand-loom weaving, from which the following ''^^dras figures are taken. The total number of looms at work in 1870; that Presidency, with its population of 31 millions, was returned at 279,220, of which 220,015 were in villages and 59,205 in towns, showing a considerable increase upon the corresponding number in 1861, when the mohartarfa , or assessed tax upon looms, was abolished. The total estimated consumption of twist was 31,422,712 lbs., being at the rate of 1 12 lbs. per loom. Of this amount, about one-third was imported twist, and the remainder country-made. The total value of the cotton goods woven was returned at 3^ millions sterling, or £12, 10s. per loom; but this was believed to be much under the truth. The export of country-made cloth in the same year was about -£2 20,000. In the Central Provinces, in Central where hand-loom weaving is still fairly maintained, and where fs°gI.nces’ the statistics are more trustworthy than in other parts of India, the total number of looms is returned at 87,588, employing 145,896 weavers, with an annual out-turn valued at ,£828,000. In 1878-79, the export of Indian piece-goods from the Central 1 See ante, p. 448. 472 INDIA. [fine muslins. in Bengal in Bom- bay. Special Indian fabrics. Dacca muslins. Madras muslins. ; Provinces was valued at ^[162,642. As regards Bengal, hand- loom weaving is generally on the decline. The average con- sumption of piece-goods throughout the Province is estimated at about 5s. per head, and the returns of registered trade show that European piece-goods are distributed from Calcutta at the rate of about 2s. 5d. per head. In Midnapur, Nadiya, and Bardwan, the native weavers still hold their own, as appears from the large imports of European twist; but in. the eastern Districts, which have to balance their large exports of jute, rice, and oil-seeds, the imports of European cloth rise to the high figure of 2s. 7d. per head. No part of India has more cruelly felt the English competition than Bombay, where, how- ever, the introduction of steam machinery is beginning to restore the balance. Twist from the Bombay mills is now generally used by the hand-loom weavers of the Presidency, and is largely exported to China. But it is in the finer fabrics produced for export that the Bombay Districts have suffered most. Taking Surat alone, the export by sea of piece-goods at the beginning of the century was valued at ^360,000 a year. By 1845, the value had dropped to ^67,000, rising again to ^[134,000 in 1859; but in 1874, it was only ^[4188. It is impossible to enumerate all the many special fabrics which are still produced in various parts of the country. First among these are the far-famed muslins of Dacca, which can still be obtained to order, although the quality is far inferior to what it was when Dacca was the capital of a luxurious Muhammadan court. Most of the weavers are Hindus, and the high development which their industry has reached may be judged from the fact that they employ no fewer than 126 distinct implements. The finest muslins are woven plain, but patterns of coloured silk are afterwards embroidered on them by a separate class of workmen. (For the decay of the Dacca manufactures, and the transfer of the weaving communities to agricultural employments, see article Dacca.) Fine muslin is woven in small quantities at Sarail in the adjoining District of Tipperah ; and Santipur, in Nadiya, still retains its reputation for delicate fabrics. But with these exceptions, cotton-weaving in Bengal produces only coarse articles for common use. In Madras, the fine fabrics maintain their ground at more places, although at none is the trade flourishing. Among those deserv- ing mention are the muslins of Ami, the cloth woven by the Nairs on the Malabar coast, the chintzes of Masulipatam, the panjatn or ‘120-thread’ cloth of Vizagapatam, and the blue salampurs of Nellore. At Bangalore, the descendants of the INDIA. SPECIAL FABRICS.] 473 old court weavers still manufacture a peculiar kind of cloth, Bangalore printed in red and black with mythological designs. In the cloths' Bombay Presidency, Ahmedabad, Surat, and Broach are the Bombay chief centres of the manufacture of printed saris, for which fatjrics' Guzerat is celebrated ; while Poona, Yeola, Nasik, and Dharwar produce the fabrics dyed in the thread, which are much worn by the Marhatta races. Silk is often combined with cotton on the looms, and the more expensive articles are finished off with a border of silk or gold lace. Chanda and Hoshangabad are the largest weaving towns in the Central Provinces. Silk-weaving is also a common industry everywhere, silk Indian fabrics, or at least an admixture of silk in cotton, being uni- silk' . ° m weaving : versally affected as a mark of wealth. Throughout British Burma, and also in Assam, silk is the common material of clothing ; usually woven by the women of the household. In Burma, the bulk of the silk is imported from China, generally ;n Burma in a raw state ; but in Assam it is obtained from two or three and • • • Assum * varieties of worms, which are generally fed on jungle trees, and ’ may be regarded as semi-domesticated.1 Bengal is the only jn Bengal, part of India where sericulture, or the paring of the silk-worm proper on mulberry, can be said to flourish.2 The greater part of the silk is wound in European filatures, and exported in the raw state to Europe. The native supply is either locally con- sumed, or sent up the Ganges to the great cities of the North- West. A considerable quantity of raw silk, especially for Bombay consumption, is imported from China. Tasar silk, or that obtained from the cocoons of semi-domesticated worms, does not contribute much to the supply.3 As compared with cotton-weaving, the silk fabrics form a town rather than a village industry. These fabrics are of two kinds — (i) those composed of pure silk, and (2) those with a Classes cotton warp crossed by a woof of silk. Both kinds are often ?f,sllk embroidered with gold and silver. The mixed fabrics are known as mashru or sufi, the latter word meaning ‘ permitted,’ because the strict ceremonial law will not allow Muhammadans to wear clothing of pure silk. They are largely woven in the towns of the Punjab and Sind, at Agra, at Haidardbad in the Deccan, and at Tanjore and Trichinopoli. Pure silk fabrics are either of simple texture, or highly ornamented in the form of kinkhabs or brocades. The latter are a speciality of Benares, Brocades. 1 For farther details, see ante, p. 405. * For a full account of sericulture and the mulberry growth, see ante, pp. 404, 405. 3 See ante, p. 405. 2 H 474 INDIA. [shawls. Steam silk- factories. Embroi- dery. Camel’s hair. Kashmir shawls. Leather- work. A jewelled shawl. Murshidabad, Ahmedabad, and Trichinopoli. Their gorgeous hues and texture may be inferred from the following names : — Shikargah, ‘ hunting-ground ; ’ chand-tara , ‘ moon and stars ; ’ mazchar, ‘ripples of silver ; ’ viurgala , ‘peacock’s neck.’ Printed silks are woven at Surat for the wear of Parsi and ■ Guzerati women. Quite recently, mills with steam machinery have been established at Bombay, which weave silk fabrics for the Burmese market, chiefly hbigyis, tamains , and patsoes. The silk manufactures exported from India consist almost entirely of the handkerchiefs known as bandannas and corahs, with a small proportion of tasar fabrics. The trade appears to be on the decline, the total exports having decreased from 2,468,052 yards valued at ^238,000 in 1875-76, to 1,481,256 yards valued at ^147,000 in 1877-78. But in 1878-79, the value had again risen to ^195, 897 ; and the returns for 1874-77 were unusually high. Embroidery has already been referred to in the two pre- ceding paragraphs. The groundwork may be either silk, cotton, wool, or leather. The ornament is woven in the loom, or sewn on afterwards yith the needle. The well-known choga, which has recently come into popular use in England for dressing-gowns, is made of patu or camel’s hair, embroidered in Kashmir, the Punjab, and Sind. The still better known and more valuable Kashmir shawl, made either in Kashmir itself or at Ludhiana, and a few other towns of the Punjab, is composed of pashmina , or the soft wool of the so-called shawl- goat, which is a native of the Himalayan plateaux. Muslin is embroidered with silk and gold thread at Dacca, Patna, and Delhi. Sind and Cutch (Kachchh) have special embroideries of coloured silk and gold. Leather-work is embroidered in Guzerat. In some of the historical capitals of the Deccan, such as Gulbargah and Aurangabad, velvet ( makhmal ) is gorgeously embroidered with gold, to make canopies, umbrellas, and housings for elephants and horses, for use on State occa- sions. Not only the goldsmith, but also the jeweller lends his aid to Indian embroidery. A chadar, or shawl made by order of a late Gaekwar of Baroda, is thus described by Dr. Birdwood : ‘ It was composed entirely of inwrought pearls and precious stones, disposed in an arabesque fashion, and is said to have cost a kror of rupees (say 1 million sterling). Although the richest stones were worked in it, the effect was most har- monious. When spread out in the sun, it seemed suffused with an iridescent bloom, as grateful to the eye as were the exquisite forms of its arabesques.’ CARPETS.] INDIA. 475 Carpets and rugs may be classified into those made of Carpets cotton and those made of wool. The former, called satranjis and rugs’ and darts, are made chiefly in Bengal and Northern India, of cotton ; and appear to be an indigenous industry. They are usually white, striped with blue, red, or chocolate, and sometimes ornamented with squares and diamonds. The woollen or pile of wool, carpets, known as kalin and kalicha , are those which have recently attained so much popularity in England, by reason of the low price at which the out-turn of the jail manufactories can be placed on the market. The pile carpet is indigenous to Persia and Turkistan, where the best are still made. The art was probably introduced into India by the Muham- madans. ‘The foundation for the carpet is a warp of strong cotton or hempen threads ; and the peculiarity of the process consists in dexterously twisting short lengths Process of coloured wool into each of the threads of the warp, so p[c^"U" that the two ends of the twist of wool stick out in front. The projecting ends are then clipped to a uniform level, and the lines of -work are compacted together by striking them with a blunt instrument ’ (Birdwood). The historical seats of the industry are in Kashmir, the Punjab, and Sind; Seats of and at Agra, Mirzapur, Jabalpur, Warangal in the Deccan, Malabar and Masulipatam. Velvet carpets are also made at Benares and Murshidabad, and silk pile carpets at Tanjore and Salem. At the Exhibition of 1851, the finest Indian rugs came from Warangal, the ancient capital of the Andhra dynasty, about 80 miles east of Haidarabad. Their characteristic feature was the exceedingly numerous count of the stitches, about 12,000 to the square foot. ‘They were also perfectly harmonious in colour, and the only examples in which silk was used with an entirely satisfactory effect’ (Birdwood). The price was not less than ^10 per square yard. The common rugs, produced in enormous quantities from the jails at Lahore, Jabalpur, Mirzapur, Benares, and Bangalore, sell in England at 7s. 6d. each. Gold and silver, and jewels, both from their colour and their Gold- intrinsic value, have always been the favourite material of ,d oriental ornament. Even the hill tribes of Central India and jewellery, the Himalayas show skill in hammering silver into brooches, and armlets, and necklets. Imitation of knotted grass and Hill-work, of leaves seems to be the origin of the simplest and most common form of gold ornament, the early specimens consist- ing of thick gold ■wire twisted into bracelets, etc. A second archaic type of decoration is to be found in the chopped gold 476 INDIA. [jewellery. Cube jewellery. Trichino- poli. Cuttack. Kashmir. Cutcb. Precious stones. jewellery of Guzerat. This is made of gold lumps, either solid or hollow, in the form of cubes and octahedrons, strung together on red silk. Of artistic jeweller’s work, the best known examples are those from Trichinopoli, Cuttack, and Kashmir. Throughout Southern India, the favourite design is that known as swami , in which the ornamentation consists of figures of Hindu gods in high relief, either beaten out from the surface or fixed on to it by solder or screws. The Trichinopoli work proper, which has been to some extent corrupted to suit English taste, includes also chains of rose gold, and bracelets of the flexible serpent pattern. The silver filigree work of Cuttack, identical in character with that of ancient Greece and of Malta at the present day, is generally done by boys, whose sensitive fingers and keen sight enable them to put the fine silver threads together with the necessary rapidity and accu- racy. The goldsmith’s work of Kashmir is of the kind known as * parcel-gilt,’ and is further distinguished by the ruddy colour of the gold used. ‘ Its airy shapes and exquisite tracery', graven through the gilding to the dead white silver below, softening the lustre of the gold to a pearly radiance, give a most charming effect to this refined and graceful work ’ (Birdwood). The hammered repousse silver work of Cutch (Kachchh), although now entirely naturalized, is said to be of Dutch origin. Similar work is done at Lucknow and Dacca. The goldsmith’s art contributes largely to embroidery, as has already been mentioned. Gold and silver thread is made by being drawn out under the application of heat. The operation is performed with such nicety, that i rupee’s worth of silver will make a thread nearly 800 yards long. Before being used in the loom, this metallic thread is generally twisted with silk. For the manufacture of cloth of gold (sonari) or cloth of silver ( rup'iri ), the wire is beaten flat, so as to form the warp to a woof of thin silk or cotton. A third kind of metallic orna- mentation is practised at Jaipur in Rajputana and Haidardbad in the Deccan, by printing muslins with patterns of gold and silver leaf. Precious stones are lavishly used by Indian jewellers, who care less for their purity and commercial value than for the general effect produced by a blaze of splendour. ‘ But nothing can exceed the skill, artistic feeling, and effective- ness with which gems are used in India both in jewellery proper and in the jewelled decoration of arms and jade’ (Birdwood). The general character may be learned from the following description of a hair-comb in the Prince of Wales’ IRON-WORK.] INDIA. 477 collection, made at Jaipur : * The setting is of emerald and ruby Jaipur enamel on gold, surmounted by a curved row of large pearls, all on a level, each tipped with a green glass bead. Below is a row of small brilliants, set among the elegantly designed green and red enamelled gold leaves which support the pearls. Then a row of small pearls, with an enamelled scroll-work set with brilliants between it and a third row of pearls ; below which comes a continuous row of minute brilliants forming the lower edge of the comb, just above the gold prongs.’ The chief duty of the village smith is, of course, to make Indian the agricultural implements for his fellow-villagers. But in ir°n-work. many towns in India, chiefly the sites of former capitals, iron- work still retains a high degree of artistic excellence. The manufacture of arms, whether for offence or defence, must always be an honourable industry ; and in India it attained a high pitch of excellence, which is not yet forgotten. The magnetic iron-ore, found commonly in the form of sand, yields a charcoal steel which is not surpassed by any in the world. The blade of the Indian talwar or sword is sometimes Cutlery, marvellously watered, and engraved with date and name ; sometimes sculptured in half-relief with hunting scenes ; some- times shaped along the edge with teeth or knotches like a saw. Matchlocks and other fire-arms are made at several towns in the Punjab and Sind, at Monghyr in Bengal, and at Viziana- gram in Madras. Chain armour, fine as lacework, and said to Chain be of Persian derivation, is still manufactured in Kashmir, armour- Rajputana, and Cutch (Kachchh). Ahmednagar in Bombay is famous for its spear-heads. Both fire-arms and swords are often damascened in gold, and covered with precious stones. In fact, the characteristic of Indian arms, as opposed to those of other Oriental countries, is the elaborate goldwork ham- mered or cut upon them, and the unsparing use of gems. Damascening on iron and steel, known as kuft, is chiefly Damn- practised in Kashmir, and at Gujrat and Sialkot in the Punjab, scened The process consists of encrusting gold upon the surface of the harder metal. Damascening in silver, which is chiefly done upon bronze, is known as bidari work, from the ruined capital of Bidar in the Nizam’s Dominions, where it is still chiefly carried on. The village brazier, like the village smith, manufactures the Brass and necessary vessels for domestic use. Chief among these vessels C0PPer- is the lota, or globular bowl, universally used in ceremonial ablutions. The form of the lota, and even the style of orna- 478 INDIA. [brass-ware. The lota. Temple bells. Bidari ware. Indian pottery. mentation, has been handed down unaltered from the earliest times. A lota now in the India Museum, which was disinterred from a Buddhist cell in Kullu, and must be at least fifteen centuries old, represents Prince Siddhartha going on a high procession. Benares enjoys the first reputation in India for work in brass and copper, producing not only vessels for domestic and ceremonial use, but also images and religious emblems. In the south of India, Madura and Tanjore have a similar fame ; and in the west, Ahmeddbad, Poona, and Nasik. At Bombay itself, large quantities of imported copper are wrought up by native braziers. The temple bells of India are well known for the depth and purity of their note. In many localities the braziers have a speciality, either for a peculiar alloy or for a particular process of ornamentation. Silver is sometimes mixed with the brass, and in rarer cases gold. Bidari work, or the damascening of silver upon bronze, has already been alluded to. In this case, the metal ground is said to be an amalgam of copper, lead, and tin, made black by dipping in a solution of sal-ammoniac, saltpetre, salt and blue vitriol. At Moradabad, in the North-Western Provinces, tin is soldered upon the brass, and incised through in floriated patterns, which are marked by filling in the ground with a black composition of lac. At Purniah in Bengal, a variety of bidari ware is made of zinc and copper, damascened with silver, the processes of which are described at length in my Statistical Account of Bengali The brass or rather bell-metal ware of Murshidabad, known as khagrai , has more than a local reputation, owing to the large admixture of silver. The demand for enormous quantities of brass-work at the lowest possible price for the London market, is rapidly deteriorating both the designs and the workmanship of the Benares articles. The native braziers are almost compelled to degrade their in- dustry, when they find that the most vulgar patterns, deeply but hastily carved, command a ready sale ; while their old faithful work can scarcely find an English customer. Next after the loom of the weaver, the potter’s wheel is the characteristic emblem of an ancient civilisation. From time immemorial, the potter has formed an essential member of the Hindu village community. Pottery is made in almost every village, from the small vessels required in cooking to the large jars used for storing grain, and occasionally as floats to ferry persons across a swollen stream. But although the industry is universal, it has in few Provinces risen to the 1 Vol. xv. pp. 355-357- INDIA. 479 POTTERY.] dignity of a fine art. Perfection has been reached neither in the substance, as in the porcelain of China, nor in the ornamentation, as in ancient Greece. The clay in many Its imper- places works up well, but the product remains mere fections- earthenware, and rarely receives a high finish. Sind is the chief Province of India where the potter’s craft has risen to a high art ; and here the industry is said to have been introduced by the Muhammadans. Sind pottery is of Sind two kinds, encaustic tiles and vessels for domestic use. In Potter>‘ both cases the colours are the same — turquoise blue, copper green, dark purple or golden brown, under an exquisitely transparent glaze. The usual ornament is a conventional flower pattern, pricked in from paper, and dusted along the pricking. The tiles, which are evidently of the same origin as Tiles, those of Persia and Turkey, are chiefly to be found in the ruined mosques and tombs of the old Musalman dynasties ; but the industry still survives at the little towns of Saidpur and Bubri. Sind ware is made at Haidarabad, Karachi, Tatta, and Hala. Good pottery is also manufactured across the border, at Lahore and Multdn in the Punjab. Efforts Punjab have been made by the Bombay School of Art 1 to foster this , • t ■, • Bombay indigenous industry ; but, as in other cases of European pottery. patronage, the Indian artisan loses his originality when set to copying alien models. Something, however, has been done in the right direction by reproducing the old designs from the cave temples of Ajanta and Karlf, in the pottery made at the Bombay School of Art. The Madura pottery also deserves mention, from the elegance of its form and the richness of its colour. Stone sculpture is an art of the highest antiquity in India, Sculpture, as may be seen in the early memorials of Buddhism. Borrow- ing an impulse from Greek models, the Buddhist sculptors at the commencement of our era freed themselves from the Oriental tradition which demands only the gigantic and the grotesque, and imitated nature with some success. But with the revival of Brahmanism, Hindu sculpture again degenerated ; and so far as the art can still be said to exist, it possesses a religious rather than an aesthetic interest2 In the cities of Guzerat, and in other parts of India where the houses are built of wood, their fronts are ornamented with elaborate carving. Wood-carving in Western India is said, Wood- i „ carving. 1 See ante, pp. 121, 368. 2 For Indian architecture, painting, and musical instruments, see ante, pp. 118-121. 480 INDIA. [carving. Inlaying. Ivory carving. European industries. Cotton mills, 1854-79. perhaps erroneously, to owe its origin to Dutch patronage 3 the models of the carvers are evidently taken from the native Indian temples. The favourite materials are blackwood, sandal-wood, and jack-wood. Blackwood ( Dalbergia latifolia ) is used for those highly decorated objects which have attracted attention in Europe from their excess of elaboration ; while jack-wood is made into articles of furniture, more simple and more useful. The supply of sandal-wood comes from the forests of the Western Ghats in Kanara and Mysore, but some of the finest carving is done at Surat and Ahmedabad. From the examples of 17th century Indian carving which I have examined, I believe that the art received a powerful impulse from the Dutch along the Bombay coast. But it existed long before that date, as may be inferred from the patterns and designs, some of which may be seen in the exquisite open carving in marble, or open lattice-work windows in hard stone. The more durable material has survived, and now tells its tale. Akin to wood - carving, is the inlaying of the articles known as ‘ Bombay boxes.’ This art is known to be of modern date, having been introduced from Shiraz in Persia towards the close of the last century. It consists of binding together in geometrical patterns, strips of tin-wire, sandal-wood, ebony, ivory, and stag’s horn. At Vizagapatam in Madras, similar articles are made of ivory and stag’s horn, with scroll- work edged in to suit European taste. At Mainpuri, in the North-Western Provinces, wooden boxes are inlaid with brass wire. The chief seats of ivory-carving are Amritsar, Benares, Murshidabad, and Travancore, where any article can be obtained to order, from a full-sized palanquin to a lady’s comb. Human figures in clay, dressed to the life, are principally made at Krishnagar in Bengal, Lucknow, and Poona. The preparation of tea, coffee, and indigo have been already described in connection with agriculture. It remains to give some account of those manufactures proper, conducted by steam machinery, and under European supervision, which have rapidly sprung up in certain parts of India during the past few years. These comprise cotton, jute, and silk, and beer. The first mill for the manufacture of cotton yarn and cloth by machinery worked by steam, was opened at Bombay in 1854. The enterprise has since grown with scarcely a check, until, in 1879, the total number of mills throughout India was COTTON MILLS.] INDIA. 481 58, with about a million and a half spindles, and twelve thou- sand looms, giving employment to upwards of 40,000 persons — men, women, and children. Of this total, 30 mills, or Their dis- more than half, were in the island of Bombay, which now tvibntion 1 . J throughout possesses a busy manufacturing quarter with tall chimney- India, stalks, recalling the aspect of a Lancashire town ; 14 were in the cotton-growing Districts of Guzerat, also in the Bombay Presidency ; 6 were in Calcutta and its neighbourhood ; 3 at Madras ; 2 at Cawnpore in the North-Western Provinces ; x at Nagpur in the Central Provinces ; 1 at Indore, the capital of Holkads Dominions ; and 1 at Haidarabad, the residence of the Nizam. This rapid and wide - spread development sufficiently Sound proves that the new industry7, though still in its infancy, ^'manu- is being carried on under wholesome conditions, and facture. meets a real demand. It is true that a cloud has recently risen at Bombay, caused partly by competition with European goods recklessly thrown upon the market regardless of profit, and partly by that mismanagement to which joint - stock enterprise is peculiarly exposed. But with the return of prosperity to agriculture, and the consequent revival of the home demand for cotton goods, there can be little doubt that the Bombay mills will start upon a career of renewed activity. Their advantages over the English manufacturer are manifest. The crop of raw material and the market for the manufactured Cheap article are both at their very doors, thus saving a double freight. matenal- Labour is cheap, abundant, docile, and not liable to strike. Cheap A certain amount of prejudice exists in favour of their products, labour- partly because of their freedom from adulteration, and partly No adul- from the patriotic pride naturally felt for a native industry. teratlon- Lastly, up to March 1879 they had the slight protection of a moderate customs duty of 5 per cent, ad valorem (imposed for fiscal purposes solely) upon imported goods. On the other hand, they labour under not a few countervailing disadvan- The draw- . backs. tages. The cost of erection, including spindles and fitting up, is Cost of said to be about three times as much in India as in England. erectlon- Thus a mill containing 50,000 spindles, which in Lancashire might be set up for about £ 1 per spindle, or a total of £50,000, would cost at Bombay about £150,000. On this capital the initial charge for interest would be only £2500 a year in England, calculated at 5 per cent., as compared with -£13,500 in India, at the rate of 9 per cent. Again, the cost High of fuel and all stores, which require to be imported from interest. 482 Short staple. Only coarse qualities made. Joint-stock cotton mills. Bombay wages. Statistics of Bombay cotton manu- factures. INDIA. [cotton mills. England, tells greatly against the Bombay mills. Another important consideration, which it is difficult to estimate in all its bearings, is the quality of Indian cotton, known as ‘ short stapled,’ which does not admit of being spun into the finer kinds of yarn. Consequently the Indian mills can only turn out the lower ‘ counts ’ of yarn, and the coarser fabrics of piece-goods, leaving English imports of the higher classes without competition. Adopting the technical language of the trade, the great bulk of the yarn spun in Indian mills consists of numbers 6, io, and 20 mule twist. Water twist is spun in smaller quantities, generally of number 16. The maximum of either kind is number 30. The mills are capable of spinning up to 40 ; but as a matter of fact, they never attempt this number, owing partly to the inferior quality of the cotton, and partly to the carelessness of the work-people. As regards ^piece- goods, the kinds principally woven in the mills are those known as T cloths, domestics, sheetings, drills, and jeans, made entirely from the yarn spun in the same mills. Long- cloths, chadars and dhutis, are also manufactured ; and recently attempts have been made to turn out drawers, stockings, night- caps, and towelling. But Manchester still possesses a practical monopoly both of the higher ‘counts’ of yam which are used by the hand-loom weavers, and of the superior qualities of cloth. The Indian mills are almost without exception the property of joint-stock companies, the shares in which are largely taken up by natives. The overlookers are skilled artisans brought from England, but natives are beginning to qualify them- selves for the post. The operatives are all paid by the piece ; and, as compared with other Indian industries, the rates of wages are high. In 1877, at Bombay, boys earned from 14s. to £1 a month ; women, from 16s. to 1 ; and jobbers, from £$ to £6, 1 os. Several members of one family often work together, earning between them as much as ^10 a month. The hours of work are from six in the morning to six at night, with an hour allowed in the middle of the day for meals and smoking. A Factory Act, to regulate the hours of work for children and young persons, and to enforce the fencing of dangerous machinery, etc., is under the consideration of the Government. Besides supplying the local demand, these mills are gradually beginning to find a market in foreign countries, especially for their twist and yarn. Between 1872-73 and 1878-79, the export of twist from Bombay increased from 1,802,863 lbs. JUTE MILLS.] INDIA. 483 valued at ^97,162, to 21,271,059 lbs. valued at ^883, 665, or an increase of nearly twelvefold in quantity and upwards of ninefold in value. Within the same period of eight years, the export of grey piece-goods increased from 4,780,834 yards valued at ^75>495» t0 I4,993>336 yards valued at ,£198,380. The twist and yarn is mostly sent to China and Japan, the piece- Sent to goods to the coast of Arabia and Africa. The figures for the China and coasting trade also show a corresponding growth, the total value of twist carried from port to port in 1878-79 having been £804,996, and of piece-goods (including hand-loom goods), ^654,553. The general character of the business may be inferred from the following returns supplied by the Empress Spinning and Weaving Mills Company at Nigpur, which has Nagpur 30.000 spindles and 450 looms at work, and employs about 1600 hands. Their consumption of raw cotton has averaged 1.707.000 lbs. a year; their out-turn has averaged 1,040,000 lbs. of yam valued at £45,358, and 627,700 lbs. of cloth valued at £30,661. Mr. O’Conor, who has devoted much attention to the matter, thus summarizes his opinion regarding the future of the Indian cotton mills in his Review of Indian Future of Trade for 1877-78: — ‘ Whether we can hope to secure an tlie trade- export trade or not, it is certain that there is a sufficient outlet in India itself for the manufactures of twice fifty mills ; and if the industry is only judiciously managed, the manufactures of our mills must inevitably, in course of time, supersede Manchester goods of the coarser kinds in the Indian market.’ The Jute mills of Bengal have sprung up in rivalry to Jute mills. Dundee, as Bombay competes with Manchester ; but in Bengal the capital is almost entirely supplied by Europeans. The jute mills cluster thick round Calcutta, extending across the river into Hugh District. One has been planted at Sirajganj, far away up the Brahmaputra, in the middle of the jute-producing country. In 1879, the total number of jute mills in India was Number 21, of which all but 2 were in Bengal ; and the number is in lS"9- annually increasing. The weaving of jute into gunny cloth is an indigenous hand-loom industry in Northern Bengal, chiefly in the Districts of Pumiah and Dinajpur. The gunny is made by the semi-aboriginal tribe of Koch, Rajbansi or Pali, both for clothing and for bags ; and, as with other industries practised by non-Hindu races, the weavers are the women of the family, and not a distinct caste. The mills turn out bags, and also cloth in pieces to a limited extent. The bags vary in size, according to the markets for which they are intended, bags. 484 INDIA. [jute mills. Out-turn of Calcutta jute mills. Indian consumpt. Sea-borne exports of jute. Growth of the trade. The largest are the twilled wool packs sent to Australia, which measure 56 inches by 26 and weigh about io£ lbs. each. The smallest are the Hessian wheat sacks for Cali- fornia, measuring 36 inches by 22, and weighing only 12 ounces. The average weight may be taken to be from 2 to 2 \ lbs. The mills in Calcutta and its neighbourhood are estimated to keep about 4000 looms at work ; and the total amount of raw jute worked up annually is about million cwts., which yields about 90 million bags. The activity of the trade, and the general direction of the exports, will be seen from the following figures for 1877-78. In that year 3 million bags were also brought into Calcutta from Pabna District, being the product of the Sirajganj mills. The total exports by sea and land of both power-loom and hand-made bags numbered 80 millions, of which not more than 6 millions were hand-made. The East Indian Railway took 20 millions for the grain marts of Behar and the North-Western Provinces (chiefly Patna and Cawnpore) ; and 1 million went as far as Ludhiana in the Punjab. The total exports by sea exceeded 57 millions, of which 32 millions represent interportal, and 25 millions foreign trade. Bombay took as many as 16 millions, and British Burma 12 millions. In fact, Calcutta supplies bagging for the whole of India. The foreign jute trade may be given in greater detail, for gunny-weaving is perhaps the single Indian manufacture that has secured a great foreign market. The sea-borne export of jute manufactures (bags and cloth) in 1872-73 was valued at ^188,859. By 1878-79, the value had risen to ^1,098,434, or an increase of fivefold in six years. Within the same period the exports to the United Kingdom alone increased from 21,200 bags valued at ^585, to 7 million bags valued at ^184,400. These figures seem almost to justify Mr. O’Conor’s statement in his Review of Indiati Trade for 1878-79, that ‘there is little room to doubt that in course of time India will be able, not only to supplant the manufactures of Dundee in the American and other foreign markets, but to supply England herself with bags more cheaply than they can be made in Dundee.’ On the other hand, it must be recollected that large figures, and even growing figures, do not necessarily show that a business is remunerative. Calcutta, like Bombay, sometimes suffers from the mismanagement inci- dental to joint-stock enterprises. The other countries, besides Great Britain, which take Indian gunny-bags are: — Australia, BREWING.] INDIA. 485 £298,186; Straits Settlements, £161,772; United States (California), £79,795; Egypt, .£76,726; China, £32,121. Brewing has been established on a large scale at the hill Brewing, stations. There are now about 12 breweries in India; 5 in the Punjab and 5 in the North-Western Provinces, at Mari (Murree), Simla, Kasauli, Masuri (Mussoorie), and Naini Tal; and 2 in the Madras Presidency, at Utakamand and Bellari. The total Statistics quantity of beer brewed was returned at 2,162,888 gallons in brewinir 1877, and 1,522,769 gallons in 1878, the diminution being due 1879. to the termination of a contract between the Commissariat department and one of the Masuri breweries. The total quantity of beer imported in 1878-79 was 2 million gallons by Government, and 1 million gallons on private account ; so that the Indian breweries now satisfy just one-third of the entire demand. At Simla, imported beer sells at over 18s. per dozen quarts, while that from the local brewery can be obtained for ns. per dozen. The hops are entirely imported; for the experimental plantation of 100 acres established by the Raja of Kashmir has not yet proved a practical success. The imports of hops show a steady increase from 1529 cwts. in 1875-76, to 1807 cwts. in 1876-77, and 2135 cwts. in 1877-78. The steam paper-mills established in the neighbourhood of paper- Calcutta and at Bombay have almost entirely destroyed the makinS- local manufactures of paper which once existed in many parts of the country. The hand-made article, which was strong though coarse, and formed a Muhammadan speciality, is now no longer used for official purposes. Besides manufacturing munitions of war, the Government possesses a large leather Leather, factory at Cawnpore, which turns out saddlery, etc., of excellent quality. Indeed, leather manufactures are an important local industry in Oudh and the North-Western Provinces. They are conducted on such a scale as to preclude the import from England, except in the case of articles de luxe, and saddlery or harness for the richest classes. 486 INDIA. [iron-smelting. Mines and minerals. Indian iron. Indigenous methods. Failure of English efforts, 1825 ; CHAPTER XX. MINES AND MINERALS. The Indian peninsula, with its wide area and diversified features, supplies a great store of mineral wealth. In utilizing this wealth, English enterprise has met with many rebuffs. Capital has been expended in many cases with no result except disappointment. But the experience has not been thrown away; and mining industry, now established on a sure basis, is gradually rising into an important position. In purity of ore, and in antiquity of working, the iron deposits of India probably rank first in the world. They are to be found in every part of the country, from the northern mountains of Assam and Kumaun to the extreme south of Madras. Wherever there are hills, iron is found and worked to a greater or less extent. The indigenous methods of smelting the ore, handed down unchanged through countless generations, yield a metal of the finest quality in a form well suited to native wants. But they require an extravagant supply of charcoal ; and notwithstanding the cheapness of native labour, the product cannot compete in price with imported iron from England. European enterprise, attracted by the rich- ness of the ore and the low rate of wages, has repeatedly tried to establish ironworks on a large scale. But hitherto each of these attempts has ended in failure. The most promising efforts were those undertaken in Madras by Mr. Heath of the Civil Service, the anticipator of the Bessemer process. In 1825, he founded a company which opened works at Porto Novo on the Coromandel coast, in the hills of Salem District, and at Beypur in Malabar. The iron and steel produced were of first-rate quality ; and all went well so long as an unlimited supply of charcoal could be obtained in the neighbourhood of the furnaces. But when this essential condition of cheap production gradually ceased, the enterprise became unremunerative, and had to be abandoned. Within the last few years, an attempt has been made to smelt ore by means of coal, according to English methods, in the neighbourhood of Raniganj and in Bfrbhum. COAL-MINING.] INDIA. 487 Coal abounds, and also limestone as a flux ; but in this case, again, the Company made no profit, and has been compelled to wind up. Similar experiments in the Central Provinces and in Kumaun have met with similar results. At the present time, iron is manufactured only by peasant families of smelters, each working on a very small scale. The initial difficulty in India is to find the three elements of Difficulties iron - working, namely, the ore, the flux, and the fuel, suffi- °rf0*ndian ciently near to each other. The second difficulty is the choking works. of the furnaces from the excessive quantity of ash in the coal. Coal has been known to exist in India since 1774, and is Indian said to have been worked as far back as 1775. The first coal. English coal-mine was opened at Raniganj in 1820 ; and there are now altogether 58 collieries in the country, with an annual out-turn of about 1 million tons. In India, as elsewhere, coal and railway extension have gone hand in hand. Coal is com- paratively worthless unless it can be brought to market by rail ; and the price of coal is the chief element in determining the expenses of railway working. The history of coal in India History of has, on the whole, been one of continual progress. The first Bengal mine, as already mentioned, dates from 1820 ; and has been C0.aV ’ J 1 7 mining, worked regularly up to the present time. In 1878, its out- g put was 50,000 tons. Until about 1840 no other mine was opened ; but the commencement of the East India Railway in 1854 gave a fresh impetus to the industry, and since that 1854; date collieries have been set on foot at the rate of two or three every year. The largest number of additions was seven in 1874. From these are supplied not only the railway itself, but also the jute mills of Calcutta, and the river steamers of Lower Bengal. In 1877-78, the railway used 308,000 tons of coal from its own collieries at Karharbari and Srirampur, and sent exactly the same quantity to Calcutta. In the same year, the importeci imports of coal into Calcutta by sea were only 80,000 tons, so coal, in that Calcutta now uses about 80 per cent, of Indian to 20 per Ca]catta cent. of foreign coal. Bombay and Madras are entirely supplied bay. with coal from England. The collieries in the Central Provinces, the only other Indian coap ones worked on a large scale, are limited to the supply of the mining in Great Indian Peninsula Railway. They consist of — (1) the Provinces Warora colliery, under the management of the Public Works Department ; and (2) the Mohpani colliery, which has been leased to the Narbada Coal Company. In 1878-79, the former had a total output of 43,000 tons, of which 11,000 tons con- sisted of slack. The gross receipts were ^18,686, and the net 488 INDIA. Excessive ash of Indian coals. Raniganj coal-field. Distribu- tion of coal in India. Outlying beds in Assam, [coal-fields. receipts ^5873, being about 8-3 per cent, on the estimated capital expenditure of ^£70,000. Cost of raising coal in the Central Provinces, Rs. 2. 10. (5s. 3d.) per ton; price paid by the Railway Company for large coal, Rs. 5 (10s.) per ton. In 1877-78, the cotton mills at Nagpur took 4872 tons. The Mohpani colliery had an output in 1878-79 of 8900 tons, valued at ^8000. Almost the whole of this was taken by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. The principal drawback of Indian coal is its large pro- portion of ash; varying from 14 to 20 per cent., as against 3 to 6 per cent, in English coal. This places Indian coal measures at a great disadvantage, alike for iron-smelting and locomotive purposes. But it has been proved that, with efficient fire-grates and proper manipulation, 135 lbs. of Warora coal will do the work of 100 lbs. of English coal. The Raniganj coal-field has been estimated at 500 square miles. In this ‘ black country ’ of India, which is dotted with tall chimney-stalks, 6 European companies are at work, besides many native firms.1 At first coal was raised from open work- ings ; but regular mining is now carried on, according to the system known as ‘ pillar and stall.’ The seams are entirely free from gas, so that the precautions usual in England against explosion are found unnecessary. The miners are all drawn from the aboriginal races, chiefly Santals and Baurfs, who are noted for their endurance and docility. Bauris work with the pick, but Santals will consent to use no other instrument than the crowbar. Wages are high, and the men look well-fed, although they waste their surplus earnings in drink. The coal-fields of India lie almost entirely in the broad centre of the peninsula, between the Ganges and the Godavari. South of the Godavari no carboniferous strata exist ; and the whole Presidency of Madras is thus compelled to depend for its supply upon importation. North of the Ganges, the only extensive fields are to be found in the outlying Province of Assam. There, in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, mines have been worked on a small scale for many years ; but the aggre- gate of the deposits is insignificant, and the difficulties of carriage almost insurmountable. Still farther away, in the frontier District of Lakhimpur, there is a large coal-field of excellent quality, which it is proposed to open out by a light railway running down to the Brahmaputra. Coal is also found 1 For a full account of the Raniganj coal-field, see article Raniganj, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. viii. ; and for its geological aspects, see a subse- quent section of the present volume, post, pp. 501, 502. SALT- SOURCES.] INDIA. 489 in the neighbourhood of Ddrji'ling, and in the Salt Range of Darjiling, the Punjab. Apart from these outlying beds, the central coal- Punjab, fields of India have been divided by Mr. Blanford, of the Geological Survey, into the four following groups : — ( 1 ) The The four Damuda valley, including both Raniganj and Karharbari, jjgjjgCoa1' which yields at least nine-tenths of all the coal now produced in India, and finds a ready market at Calcutta. (2) The Chutia Nagpur group, extending over a wide area of mountainous and difficult country, and as yet but imperfectly explored. (3) The Narbada valley, south of the Satpura range, where actual borings have hitherto proved disappointing, except in the case of the Mohpani colliery, which is connected by a short branch with the main line of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. (4) The Godavari valley, where coal has been traced from Nagpur southwards as far as Ellore : In this coal-field the only successful works are at Warora. Of the future of Indian coal it is difficult to speak with Future of certainty. On the one hand, the demand is constant, and *"^ian increases with the construction of every fresh mile of railway, and every new factory'. On the other hand, the quality is dis- tinctly inferior to English coal, which comes out to India at a low freight — almost at ballast rates. Raniganj coal, which is the best of the Indian coals, can do only from one-half to two- thirds of the duty performed by the same amount of English coal. It contains a low proportion of fixed carbon, and an excessive amount of ash. Salt, an article of supreme necessity to the Indian peasant, Indian who eats no butcher’s meat, except a festival goat or kid at salt- rare intervals, is derived from three main sources, exclusive of importation from Europe.1 (1) By evaporation from sea- Its three water along the entire double line of seaboard from Bombay S0urces- to Orissa, but especially in Guzerat and on the Coromandel coast. (2) By evaporation from inland salt lakes, of which the Sambhar Lake in Rajputana affords the chief example. (3) By quarrying solid hills of salt in the north-east of the Punjab. The last is the only source in which salt in I ndia can be said to exist as a mineral. It occurs in solid cliffs, which for extent and purity are stated to have no rival in the world. The Salt Range runs across the two Districts of Jhelum and The Pun- Shahpur, from the bank of the Jhelum river to Kaldbagh |a^alt in Bannu District. Similar deposits are found beyond the 1 For the administrative aspects of Indian salt, see ante, pp. 347, 348 ; and for its geological aspects, post , p. 498. 49° INDIA. [saltpetre. Indus in Kohat District, where the salt is of two kinds, red and green ; and in the Hill State of Mandi bordering on Kangra District. The salt is found in the red marls and sandstones of the Devonian group. In some cases it can be obtained from open quarries; but more generally it is approached by regular mining by pick and blasting, through wide galleries. The principal mine is at Keora in Jhelum District, now called after Lord Mayo. The total annual out- turn in the Punjab is returned at about 50,000 tons, yielding a revenue to Government of more than ^£400,000. In 1877-78, the actual figures of revenue were — (1) from the Salt Range, ^426,000; (2) from Kohat, ^8000; (3) from Mandi, ^6000. Salt supply in Southern India, salt made by evaporation is almost univer- and Ben- sally consumed. Lower Bengal, and especially Eastern Bengal, gal. use salt imported from Cheshire, at low rates of freight, and paying the excise duty at Calcutta or other port of entry. In Orissa and South-Western Bengal, both imported salt and salt made by solar evaporation are consumed ; the solar salt being alone considered pure for religious purposes or for the priests. Indian saltpetre. System of manufac- ture. Process of manufac- ture. India has almost a monopoly of the supply of natural saltpetre, upon which Europe largely depends for the manu- facture of gunpowder. It occurs with other saline substances as a white efflorescence upon the surface of the soil in many parts of the country, especially in the upper valley of the Ganges. Its preparation leaves common salt as one of the residuary products ; and fiscal restraints have accordingly tended to limit the manufacture to the most remunerative region, which is found in North Behar. The manufacture is simple, and entirely in the hands of a special caste of natives, called Nuniyas, who are conspicuous for their capacity of en- during hard work. As is the case with most Indian industries, they work under a system of money advances from middle-men, who are themselves sub-contractors under the large houses of business. In former times, the East India Company engaged in the manufacture on its own account ; and when it gave up its private trade, the works were taken over by European firms. But these have in their turn retired from the business, which is now in a state of decline (almost killed in Southern India), partly owing to the general fall in price, and partly to the restrictions imposed by the salt preventive department. The manufacturing season begins with the cold season in November. The presence of saltpetre in the soil is revealed by efflorescence after a heavy fall of rain. This earth is GOLD-MINING.] INDIA. 491 scraped together, and first placed in a large vessel, through which water is filtered. The brine is then boiled in pots, and crude saltpetre mixed with common salt is the result. The proportion of salt to saltpetre is said to be about one-sixth. The sale of this salt is prohibited under stringent penalties. The crude saltpetre is now handed over to the refiners, who work on a larger scale than the Nuniyas. It is again subjected to a process of boiling in large iron boilers of English manu- facture, and is allowed to crystallize gradually in open wooden troughs. In refining, it loses nearly one-half its weight, and is now ready for the market. In 1873, the single District of Tirhut contained 22,528 filters, and 305 refineries. The exports of saltpetre from Calcutta are fairly constant, Exports of averaging about 450,000 cwts. a year, of which one-half goes to sallPetrc- the United Kingdom. More than two-thirds of the total comes from Behar, chiefly from the Districts of Tirhut, Saran, and Champaran, though Patna is the railway station for despatch to Calcutta. Cawnpore, Ghazipur, Allahabad, and Benares, in the North-Western Provinces, send small quantities ; while a little comes from the Punjab. Although silver has ever been the currency of India in his- Indian torical times, that metal is nowhere found in the country, nor goI<1’ in the adjoining States of Central Asia. Gold, on the other hand, exists in many parts of India, and probably in large quantities. The ‘ Ophir ’ of King Solomon has been identified by some critics with the Malabar coast. However that may be, India claims to rank as a gold-producing country. Many hill streams are washed for gold, alike in the extreme south, in the central plateau, and on the north-east and north-west frontiers. Gold-washing is everywhere in India a miserable business, affording the barest livelihood ; but the total amount of gold obtained cannot be insignificant. In recent years, attention has been prominently drawn to Gold- the possibility of extracting gold from the quartz formation of Southern India, which bears many points of resemblance to the auriferous quartz reefs of Australia. The principal locali- ties are in the Wainad (Wynaad) Subdivision of the Nilgiri District, and in Kolar District of Mysore. Gold-washing has always been practised here ; and the remains of old workings show that at some unknown period operations have been con- ducted on a large scale. Since about 1870, individual pioneers have been prospecting in this region. Crushing the quartz by rude native methods, they proved that it contained a INDIA. [gold-mining. 492 larger proportion of gold than is known to give a profit in Australia. These experiments on the southern ends of six reefs yielded an average of 7 dwts. per ton of quartz, rising in one case to 11 dwts. The best assay of the gold showed a fineness of slightly over 20 carats. In 1879, Government summoned a practical mining engineer from Australia, whose report is eminently hopeful. He describes the quartz reefs as of great extent and thickness, and highly auriferous. One reef in Kolar, laid bare 100 feet longitudinally, has given an average of 1 oz. of gold per ton. In order to attract capital, Govern- ment has proposed to grant mining leases at a dead rent of Rs. 5 (10s.) per acre, subject to no royalty or further tax. Hitherto, the enterprise has scarcely passed beyond the stage of laboratory experiments. But several English companies with large capital have already entered the field, and the reports of their professional advisers hold forth high hopes of ultimate success. If the results of working with elaborate machinery realize these promises, gold-mining will shortly be established as an important industry in Southern India. Other metals. Copper. Nepali miners. ‘ Rabbit- hole ’ mines. Singbhum copper. The other Indian metals comprise copper, lead, and tin. Copper exists in many parts of the country in considerable quantities. The richest mines are in the lower ranges of the Himalaya, from Darjiling westward to Kumaun. The ore occurs in the form of copper pyrites, often accompanied by mundic, not in true lodes, but disseminated through the slate and schist. The miners are almost always Nep^lis, and the remoteness of the situation has deterred European capital. The extent of abandoned workings shows that these mines have been known and worked for many years. The best seams show a proportion of copper slightly above the average of Cornish ore, but the ordinary yield is not more than about 4 per cent. The mines resemble magnified rabbit-holes, meandering passages being excavated through the rock with little system. The tools used are an iron hammer and chisel, with sometimes a small pick. After extraction, the ore is pounded, washed, and smelted on the spot. The price ob- tained for the metal is Rs. 2. 8. per 3 sers, or at the rate of about iod. a pound. Copper-ore, of fair purity and extending over a considerable area, also occurs in Singbhum District of ChutH Nagpur, where there are many deserted diggings and heaps of scoriae. In 1857, a Company was started to reopen the workings at these mines ; but although large quantities of ore were produced, the enterprise did not prove remunerative, PETROLEUM.] INDIA. 493 and was finally abandoned in 1864. A similar attempt to work the copper found in Nellore District in Madras also ended Nellore. in failure. Lead occurs, in the form of sulphuret or galena, along Lead, the Himalayas on the Punjab frontier, and has been worked at one place by an English company. Tin is confined Tin. to the Burmese peninsula. Very rich deposits, yielding about 70 per cent, of metal, occur over a large extent of country in Mergui and Tavoy Districts of the Tenasserim District. The ore is washed and smelted, usually by Chinese, in a very rough and unscientific way. Recent experiments by a European firm tend to show that the deposits, although rich and extensive, are not sufficiently deep to repay more elaborate processes. Antimony, in the form of surma , largely used by Antimony, the natives as a cosmetic for the eyes, is chiefly derived from the Hill States of the Punjab. It is also found in Mysore and Burma. The minerals of Rajputana have not yet been thoroughly investigated ; but they include an ore of cobalt, Cobalt, used for colouring enamel. Petroleum is produced chiefly in Independent Burma, but Petroleum, it has also been found on British territory in Pegu, in Assam, and in the Punjab. Near the village of Ye-nang-yaung in Upper Burma, on the banks of the Irawadi, there are upwards in Burma ; of 100 pits or wells with a depth of about 250 feet, from which petroleum bubbles up in inexhaustible quantities. The annual yield is estimated at 11,000 tons, of which a considerable quantity is exported. Petroleum wells are also found in the British Districts of Akyab, Kyouk-hpyu, and Thayet-myo, which first attracted British capital with most promising results in 1877. In Assam, petroleum occurs in the neighbourhood in Assam ; of the coal-fields in the south of Lakhimpur District, and was worked in conjunction with the coal by a European capitalist in r 866. In the Punjab, petroleum was worked experiment- in Punjab, ally by the Public Works Department at two spots in Rawal Pindi District. In 1873-74, the total yield was 2756 gallons. The commonest and also the most useful stone of India is Stone, etc. kankar, a nodular form of impure lime, which is found in almost every river valley, and is used from one end of the pen- insula to the other for metalling the roads. Lime for building Lime. ( chunam ) is derived from two sources— (1) from burning lime- stone and kankar, and (2) from the little shells so abundantly found in the marshes. Calcutta derives its chief supply from 494 INDIA. [building-stones- Kankar. Pottery. Jluilding- stone. Marble. Slate. Mica and talc. Precious stones. Diamonds, at Gol- conda ; in Sam- balpur ; the quarries of the Khasi Hills in Assam, known as ‘ Sylhet lime,’ and from the Susunia quarries in Bankura District. Except for occasional beds of kankar , the lower valley of the Ganges is absolutely destitute of stone 3 nor does the alluvial soil afford good materials for brickmaking or fine pottery. But a European firm has recently established large pottery works at Ram'ganj in Bard wan, which employ about 500 hands, and carry out contracts for drainage pipes and stoneware. The centre of the peninsula and the hill country generally abound in building-stone of excellent quality, which has been used locally from time immemorial. Among the finest stones may be mentioned — the pink marble of Rajputana, of which the historical buildings at Agra were constructed 3 the trap of the Deccan 3 the sandstone of the Godavari and the Narbada 3 and the granite of Southern India. Quarries of slate are scattered through the peninsula, and sometimes worked by European capital. Mica and talc are also quarried to make ornaments. Among the hills of Orissa and Chutia. Nagpur, household vessels and ornaments are skilfully carved out of an indurated variety of potstone. Despite its legendary wealth, which is really due to the accumulations of ages, India cannot be said to be naturally prolific in precious stones. Under the Muhammadan rule, diamonds were a distinct source of State revenue 3 but at the present day, the search for them, if carried on anywhere in British territory, is too insignificant an occupation to have attracted the notice of Government. The name of Golconda has passed into literature 3 but that city, once the Musalman capital of the Deccan, was rather the home of the diamond- cutters than the actual source of supply. It is believed that the far-famed diamonds of Golconda actually come from the sand- stone formation, which extends across the south-east borders of the Nizam’s Dominions into the Madras Districts of Ganjam and Godavari. A few worthless stones are still found in this region. Sambalpur, on the upper channel of the Mahanadi river in the Central Provinces, is another spot once famous for diamonds. In the last century, a British officer was despatched to Sambalpur by Clive to arrange for remittances home by means of Sambalpur diamonds. As late as 1818, a stone is said to have been found here weighing 84 grains and valued at ^"500. The river valleys of Chutia Nagpur are also known to have yielded a tribute of diamonds to their Muhammadan conqueror. At the present day, the only place where the search for diamonds is pursued as a regular industry is the GEMS.] INDIA. 495 Native State of Panna (Punnah) in Bundelkhand. The stones in Bun- are found by digging down through several strata of gravelly delkhancl. soil, and washing the earth. Even here, however, the pursuit is understood to be unremunerative, and has failed to attract European capital. About other gems very little information is available. The town of Cambay in Guzerat is celebrated for its carving of carnelian, agate, and onyx. The stones come Camelians. from the neighbourhood of Ratanpur, in the State of Rajpipla. They are dug up by Bhil miners, and subjected to a process of burning before being carved. The most valued colour for camelians is red, but they are also found white and yellow. Lapis lazuli is found in the mountains of the north, and is freely used in the decoration of temples and tombs. Inferior pearl fisheries are worked off the coast of Madura Pearl District in the extreme south, and in the Gulf of Cambay j fishenes- but the great majority of Indian pearls come either from Ceylon (which is also rich in other gems) or from the Persian Gulf. In the year 1700, the Dutch obtained a lease of all the pearl fisheries along the Madura coast, and sublet the right of fishing to native boatmen, of whom 700 are said to have taken licences annually at the rate of 60 ecus per boat. I have now sketched the physical aspects of India, its past history, and its present administration and condition under British Rule. It remains to briefly deal with the topics of scientific interest connected with the country : its material framework or geology ; its climatic conditions, or meteorology ; its animal and vegetable products ; and the health statistics of Scientific its population. Each of these forms the subject of elaborate volumes, and the adequate treatment of the entire group would subject, demand a body of scientific coadjutors whose aid I do not possess. But some account of them may be useful for administrative purposes. The following pages are offered not for the instruction of specialists, but to the general reader who wishes to study India in all its various aspects. In previous sections, I have not hesitated to repeat myself, when dealing with several products, such as opium, cotton, and salt, first from the administrative and then from the economic point of view. For I believe that such repetitions are convenient to many who desire a fairly complete view of the subject under each head. In like manner, I shall not hesitate to again repeat myself, in referring to certain productions, such as coal, iron, or forests, in their scientific aspects. INDIA. [geology. CHAPTER XXL GEOLOGY.1 For geological purposes India may be mapped out into the three geographical divisions of — the Himalayan region, the Indo-Gangetic plain, and Peninsular India. The Himalayan Region. — The geolog)’ of this tract is more complex and less fully known than that of the Peninsular area. Until the ground has been carefully gone over by the Geological Survey, many points must remain doubtful ; and large areas of the Himalayas (Nepal and Bhutan) are still inaccessible to Europeans. The oldest rock of the Himalayas is a gneiss, differing in character from the gneiss of the Penin- sula, and from that of Assam and Burma. The Himalayan gneiss is usually white and grey, its felspar orthoclase and albite ; it contains much mica and mica schist, and is more uniform in character than the gneiss of the Peninsula. The latter is usually pink, its felspar being orthoclase and oligo- clase ; it contains little mica schist, but often has quartzite and hornblendic rock. Hornblende occurs in the syenitic gneiss of the Northern Himalayan (or Ladakh) range. The Central Himalayan region may be described as con- sisting of two gneissic axes, with a trough or synclinal valley between them, in which fossiliferous beds have been deposited and are now preserved. The gneiss of the southern or main axis (the ‘ central gneiss ’ of Dr. Stoliczka) is the oldest ; that of the northern or Ladakh axis comes next in age. The gneiss of the Ladakh axis is generally syenitic, or is that variety of the Himalayan gneiss already described as containing hornblende. It is probably an extremely altered condition of ordinary marine sediment The gneiss of the central axis is the ordinary kind ; it is penetrated by granite, which ranges along some of the highest peaks. Between these two gneissic axes occurs the basin-shaped valley, or the Hundes and Zanskar synclinal. In this valley fossiliferous rocks are pre- 1 This section is based upon the official Manual of the Geology of India, by Messrs. H. B. Medlicott and \V. T. Blanford, 2 vols., Government Press, Calcutta, 1879. Mr. W. Topley, of the English Geological Survey, conducted the preliminary condensation. GEOLOGY.] INDIA. 497 served, giving representatives of the Silurian, Carboniferous, Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous formations. All these seem there to have followed each other without important breaks or unconformities; but after the deposition of the Cretaceous rocks of the Himalayan region important changes appear to have taken place in its physical geography. The Nummulitic (Eocene) strata were laid down on the eroded edges of some of the older beds, and in a long trough within the Silurian gneiss of the Ladakh axis. On the south of this true Himalayan region there is a band Lower of country known as the Lower Himalaya, in which the beds are often greatly disturbed, and even completely inverted, over great areas, the old gneiss apparently overlying the sedimen- tary rocks. This Lower Himalayan region is about 50 miles wide, and consists of irregular ridges, varying from 5000 to 8000 feet in height, and sometimes reaching 12,000 feet. Resting upon the gneiss, but often through inversion apparently underlying it, in the neighbourhood of Simla, is a series of unfossiliferous beds (schists, quartzites, sandstones, shales, limestones, etc) known in descending order as the Krol, Infra-Krol, Blaini, and Infra-Blaini beds. In the Krol beds is a massive limestone (Krol limestone) probably representing Krol the limestone of the Pir Panjal range, which is most likely of lime;,tone- Carboniferous age. The Blaini and Infra-Blaini beds are probably Silurian. The Lower Himalayan range ends at the Sutlej valley, west Sub- of which the continuation of the central range is followed immediately by the third or sub-Himalayan range. This occurs almost always on the south of the Lower Himalayas, and is composed of later Tertiary rocks (Siwaliks, etc.), which range parallel with the main chain. Generally the sub-Hima- layas consist of two ranges, separated by a broad flat valley ( diin or ‘ doon ’) ; the southern slope, overlooking the great Indo-Gangetic plain, is usually the steepest. Below Naini Tal and Darjiling (Darjeeling), the sub-Himalayan range is want- ing ; on the Bhutan frontier the whole range is occasionally absent, and the great alluvial plain slopes up to the base of the Lower Himalayan region. It is within the sub-Himalayan range that the famous Siwalik beds occur, long known for Siwalik their vast stores of extinct mammalia. Of about the same beds- age are the Manchhar beds of Sind, which also contain a rich mammalian fauna. The Lower Manchhars probably corre- spond to the Nahan beds, the lowest of the Siwaliks ; they rest upon the Gaj beds, which are probably Upper Miocene. INDIA. [geology. 498 Salt Range. From this it would seem that the lowest Siwaliks are not older than Upper Miocene. The higher Siwalik beds are considered by Mr. W. T. Blandford to be Pliocene, and to this later period he also refers the mammalian beds of Pikermi in Greece. These have a large number of fossils in common with the Siwaliks ; but they contain, at their base, a marine band with Pliocene shells. The Manchhar and Siwalik beds are chiefly of fresh-water origin. The Salt Range in the north-west of the Punjab has, in addition to its economic value, a special geological importance. Representatives of most of the great European formations of Silurian and later epochs are found in it; and throughout the vast length of time represented by these formations there is here no direct evidence of any important break in succes- sion, or unconformity. The lowest beds (salt marl, probably Silurian) and the highest (Siwaliks) are found throughout the range. But the others cannot be traced continuously throughout; some occur well developed in one place, some in another. All the principal fossiliferous beds of the Jurassic, Triassic, and Carboniferous formations are confined to the western part of the range. Indo- Gangetic Plain. Its slope to the sea. Its geo- logical age. Its alluvial deposits. The Indo-Gangetic Plain covers an area of about 300,000 square miles, and varies in width from 90 to nearly 300 miles. It rises very gradually from the sea at either end ; the lowest point of the watershed between the Punjab rivers and the Ganges is about 924 feet above sea level. This point, by a line measured down the valley, but not following the winding of the river, is about 1050 miles from the mouth of the Ganges and 850 miles from the mouth of the Indus, so that the aver- age inclination of the plain, from the central watershed to the sea, averages only about 1 foot per mile. It generally exceeds this near the watershed ; but there is here no ridge of high ground between the Indus and the Ganges, and a very trifling change of level would often turn the upper waters of one river into the other. It is not unlikely that such changes have in past time occurred. Towards the sea the slope becomes almost imperceptible. There is no evidence that the Indo-Gangetic plain existed as such in Pre-Tertiary times. The alluvial deposits made known by the boring at Calcutta, have already been described in sufficient detail.1 They prove a gradual depression of the area through the later Tertiary times. There are peat and forest 1 See ante , pp. 45, 46. GEOLOGY.] INDIA. 499 beds, which must have grown quietly at the surface, alternating with deposits of gravel, sand, and clay. The thickness of the delta deposit is unknown; 481 feet was proved at the bore hole, but probably this represents only a very small part of the deposit. Outside the delta, in the Bay of Bengal, is a deep depression known as the ‘ swatch of no ground ’ ; all around it the soundings give only 5 to 10 fathoms, but they very rapidly deepen to over 300 fathoms. The sediment seems to be carried away from this hole by the set of the currents ; so that it has remained free from silt whilst the neighbouring sea-bottom has gradually been filled up. If so, the thickness of the alluvium is at least 1800 feet, and may be much more. The Indo-Gangetic plain dates back to Eocene times ; the Its geo- origin of the Himalayas may be referred to the same period, Numerous minor disturbances occurred in the area which is now Northern India during Palaeozoic and Secondary times, but the great disturbance which has resulted in the formation of the existing chain of the Himalayas took place after the deposition of the Eocene beds. Disturbances even greater in amount occurred after the deposition of the Pliocene beds. The Eocenes of the sub-Himalayan range were deposited upon uncontorted Palaeozoic rocks, but the whole has since been violently contorted and disturbed. There are some indications that the disturbing forces were more severe to the eastward during middle Tertiary times, and that the main action to the westward was of later date. It seems highly probable that the elevation of the mountain ranges and the depression of the Indo-Gangetic plain were closely related. This view gains some support from a glance at the map, where we see that the curves of the great mountain chains are strictly followed by those of the great alluvial plain. Pro- bably both are due to almost contemporary movements of the earth’s crust ; these movements, though now of vastly dimi- nished intensity, have not wholly ceased. The alluvial deposits prove depression in quite recent geological times ; and within the Himalayan region earthquakes are still common, whilst in Peninsular India they are rare. Peninsular India. — The oldest rocks here consist of gneiss, Peninsular in three tracts : — throughout a very large part of Bengal Inl- and Madras, extending to Ceylon ; among the Aravalli ranges ; and in Bundelkhand. Of these formations, the gneiss of Bundelkhand is known to be the oldest, because the oldest Transition rocks rest upon it ; whereas the same Transition 5°° INDIA. [geology. Vindhyan rocks. Lower Vind- hyans. Upper Vind- hyans. rocks are altered and intersected by granitic dykes which proceed from the gneiss of the other tracts. The Transition rocks are of great but unknown age. The Vindhydn rocks which succeed them are of very old Palaeozoic age, perhaps pre-Silurian. Yet long before the earliest Vindhyan rocks were laid down, the Transition rocks had been altered and contorted. In more recent times there have been local dis- turbances, and large faults have in places been found; but the greater part of the Peninsular rocks are only slightly dis- turbed, and the most recent of the great and wide-spread earth movements of this region date back to pre-Vindhyan times. The Vindhyan series are generally sharply marked off from older rocks ; although in the Godavari valley there is no well- defined line between these and the Transition rocks. The Vindhyan beds are divided into two groups. The lower, with an estimated thickness of only 2000 feet, or slightly more, cover a large area, — extending, with but little change of character, from the Son valley in one direction to Cuddapah, and in a diverging line to near Bijapur — in each case a distance of over 700 miles. The upper Vindhyans cover a much smaller area, but attain a thickness of about 12,000 feet. The Vindhyans are well-stratified beds of sand- stone and shale, with some limestones. As yet they have yielded no trace of fossils, and their exact age is consequently unknown. So far as the evidence goes, it appears probable that they are of very ancient Palaeozoic age, perhaps pre-Silurian. The total absence of fossils is a remarkable fact, and one for which it is difficult to account, as the beds are for the most part quite unaltered. Even if they are entirely of fresh-water origin, we should expect that some traces of life from the waters or neighbouring land would be found. Gondwana The Gondwana series is in many respects the most interest- series. ing and important of the Indian Peninsula. The beds are almost entirely of fresh-water origin. Many subdivisions have been made, but here we need only note the main division into two great groups: — Lower Gondwanas, 13,000 feet thick; Upper Gondwanas, 11,000 feet thick. The series is mainly confined to the area of country between the Narbada and the Son on the north and the Krishna on the south; but the western part of this region is in great part covered by newer beds. The lowest Gondwanas are very constant in character, wherever they are found ; the upper numbers of the lower division show more variation, and this divergence of character in different Districts becomes more GEOLOGY.] INDIA. marked in the Upper Gondwana series. Disturbances have occurred in the lower series before the formation of the upper. The Gondwana beds contain fossils which are of very great Gondwana interest In large part these consist of plants which grew near losslls- the margins of the old rivers, were carried down by floods, and deposited in the alluvial plains, deltas, and estuarine areas of the old Gondwana period. So vast was the time occupied by the deposition of the Gondwana beds, that great changes in physical geography and in the vegetation repeatedly occurred. The plants of the Lower Gondwanas consist chiefly of acrogens (Equisetaceae and ferns) and gymnogens (cycads and conifers), the former being the more abundant. The same classes of plants occur in the Upper Gondwanas ; but there the proportions are reversed, the conifers, and still more the cycads, being more numerous than the ferns, whilst the Equisetaceae are but sparingly found. But even within the limits of the Lower Gondwana series there are great diversities of vegetation, three distinct floras occurring in the three great divisions of that formation. In many respects the flora of the highest of these three divisions (the Panchet group) is more Panchet nearly related to that of the Upper Gondwdnas than it is to £rouP- the other Lower Gondwana floras. One of the most interesting facts in the history of the Talcher Gondwana series is the occurrence near the base (in the Talcher SrouP- group) of large striated boulders in a fine mud or silt, the boulders in one place resting upon rock (of Vindhyan age) which is also striated. There seems good reason for believing that these beds are the result of ice-action. They probably nearly coincide in age with the Permian beds of Western Europe, in which Professor Ramsay long since discovered evidence of glaciation. But the remarkable fact is that this old ice-action occurred within the tropics, and probably at no very great height above the sea. The Damodar series, the middle division of the Lower Gond- Damodar wanas, is the chief source of coal in Peninsular India, yielding ^aT-fields more of that mineral than all other formations taken together. The Karharbari group is the only other coal-bearing formation of any value. The Damodars are 8400 feet thick in the Rani- ganj coal-field, and about 10,000 feet thick in the Satpura basin. They consist of three divisions ; coal occurs in the upper and lower, ironstone (without coal) in the middle division. The Raniganj coal-field is the most important in India. So far as Rinfganj is yet known, it covers an area of about 500 square miles, coal-tield. running about 18 miles from north to south, and about 39 502 INDIA. [geology. Raniganj coal- seams. ljarakhar seams. Karhar- bari coal- field. Damodar iron-stone. miles from east to west ; but it extends farther to the east under the laterite and alluvium. It is traversed by the Damodar river, together with the road from Calcutta to Benares and the East Indian Railway. From its situation and importance, this coal-field is better known than any other in India. Much has been learnt concerning it since the last examination by the Geological Survey, especially from the recent reports by Mr. H. Bauermann. The upper or Raniganj series has eleven seams, with a total thickness of 120 feet, in the eastern district, and thirteen seams, 100 feet thick, in the western district. The average thickness of the seams worked is from 12 to 18 feet, but occasionally a seam reaches a great thickness — 20 to 80 feet The lower or Barakhar series (2000 feet thick) contains four seams, of a total thickness of 69 feet. Compared with English coals, those of this coal-field are of a poor quality ; they contain much ash, and are generally non-coking. The seams of the lower series are the best, and some of these at Sanktoria, near the Barakhar river, are fairly good for coke and gas. The best coal in India is in the small coal-field at Karharbari. The beds there are lower in the series than those of the Raniganj field ; they belong to the upper part of the Talcher group, the lowest of the Gondwana series. The Karharbari coal-beds cover an area of about 1 1 square miles ; and have three seams, varying from 9 to 33 feet thick. The lowest seam is the best, and it is nearly as good as English steam coal. This coal-field, now largely worked, is the property of the East Indian Railway, which is thus supplied with fuel at a cheaper rate than any other railway in the world. Indian coal usually contains phosphoric acid, which greatly lessens its value for iron-smelting.1 The Damodar series, which, as we have seen, is the chief source of coal in India, is also one of the most important sources of iron. The ore occurs in the middle division, coal in the highest and lowest The ore is partly a clay ironstone, like that occurring in the coal-measures of England, partly an oxide of iron or haematite. It generally contains phos- phorus, which prevents its use in the preparation of the finer qualities of steel. A similar difficulty attends the use of the Cleveland ore of North Yorkshire. Experiments have been in progress for years in search of a process which shall, in an 1 The economic aspects of Indian coal have been dealt with ante, pp. 487, 488. For full accounts of the Indian coal-fields, see articles Raniganj, Karhakbarj, etc., in the Imperial Gazetteer of India, vols. viii. and v. GEOLOGY.] INDIA. 5°3 economical manner, obtain iron from Cleveland ore free from phosphorus, latterly, it is hoped, with some success. If this be so, India will be a great gainer. Excellent iron-ore occurs in the metamorphic rocks south of the Damodar river. Laterite (see below) is sometimes used as ore. It is very earthy, with a low percentage of metal; but it contains only a com- paratively small proportion of phosphorus.1 The want of limestone for flux, within easy reach, is generally a great drawback as regards iron-smelting in India. Kankar or gkutin (concretionary carbonate of lime) is col- Kankar. lected for this purpose from the river beds and alluvial deposits. It sometimes contains as much as 70 per cent, of carbonate of lime ; but generally the proportion is much less, and the fluxing value proportionally diminished. The real difficulty in India is to find the ore, the fuel, and the flux, in sufficiently close proximity to yield a profit. The enormous mass of basaltic rock known as the Deccan Deccan trap, is of great importance in the geological structure of the traP- Indian Peninsula. It now covers an area of about 200,000 square miles, and probably extended in former times over a much wider area. Where thickest, the traps are at least 6000 feet in depth. They form the most striking physical features of the country, many of the most prominent hill ranges being the denuded edges of the basaltic flows. The great volcanic outbursts which produced this trap commenced in the Cre- taceous period, and lasted into the Eocene period. Laterite is a ferruginous and argillaceous rock, varying from Laterite ; 30 to 200 feet thick, which often occurs over the trap area, but is also found in other tracts. As a rule, it makes rather barren land; it is highly porous, and the rain rapidly sinks into it. Laterite may be roughly divided into two kinds, high-level and low-level laterite. The former, which covers a high-level ; large area of the high basaltic plains, is believed by Mr. R. B. Foote to be very frequently the product of decomposition of the trap, and to have been thus formed in the place where it is now found. Sometimes the high-level laterite overlies gneiss or other rocks; and in these cases it has probably been transported. The low-level laterite is generally more low-level sandy in character, and is often associated with gravels. In most cases this has clearly been carried down to its present position, probably largely by subaerial action, aided by rains and streams. Possibly in some cases it has been spread out along the coasts by marine action. The low-level laterite 1 For the economic aspects of Indian iron, see ante, pp. 486, 487. /JVD/A. [geology. 5°4 fringes the coast of the Peninsula, from near Bombay on the west and Orissa on the east, to Cape Comorin. It is not continuous throughout these regions ; and it is of very varying width and elevation. The age of the high-level laterite is unknown. Its formation probably extended throughout a long period of time, much of which must be of very ancient date ; for the laterite, together with the underlying basalt, has suffered extensive denudation. Precious As regards gems, the geologist comes to the same con- stones. elusion as the economist, viz., that the precious stones of ancient India were the product of forced labour, and that the search for them in our days can scarcely repay the working expenses. METEOROLOGY.] INDIA. 5°5 CHAPTER XXII. METEOROLOGY. The great peninsula of India, with its lofty mountain ranges Meteor- and its extensive seaboard, exposed to the first violence of ology of the winds of two oceans, forms an exceptionally valuable and Irulia' interesting field for the study of meteorological phenomena. But the Department of Government which deals with these phenomena has had to contend with many obstacles ; and it is only within the last few years that trustworthy statistics have been obtained for a complete system of registration stations. Ever}7 year, however, is now adding to our knowledge of the meteorology of the country, and supplying fresh authentic materials for purposes of comparison and induction. Meteorological Geography. — After the general description of Meteorolo- the country given at the beginning of this volume, it is only gical Geo- necessary to sketch very briefly the meteorological geography Srapfiy- of India. The following paragraphs are condensed from an interesting account in the official Report on the Meteorology of India (for 1875), by Mr. H. F. Blanford. The great mountain ranges of the Himalayas and the Sulaimans, which form the northern and north-western boundaries of India, have been fully described.1 From the gorge of the Indus to that of the Dihong (Brahmaputra), a distance of 1400 miles, the Himalayas form an unbroken watershed, the northern flank of which is drained by the upper valleys of these two rivers ; layas. while the Sutlej (Satlaj), starting from the southern foot of the Kailas peak, breaks through the watershed, dividing it into 1 See ante, pp. 26-30 ; also articles Himalayas and Sulaiman, Imperial Gazetteer , vols. iv. and viii. 2 K 5°6 INDIA. [meteorology. Hima- layan air- currents. Eastern Hima- layas. Western Hima- layas. Vapour- bearing winds. two very unequal portions, that to the north-west being the smaller. The average elevation of the higher Himalayas may be taken at not less than 19,000 feet, and therefore equal to the height of the lower half of the atmosphere ; indeed, few of the passes are under 16,000 or 17,000 feet. Across this mountain barrier there appears to be a constant flow of air, more active in the day-time than at night, northwards to the arid plateau of Tibet. There is no reason to believe that any transfer of air takes place across the Himalayas in a southerly direction ; unless, indeed, in those elevated regions of the atmosphere which lie beyond the sphere of observation. But a nocturnal flow of cooled air, from the southern slopes, is felt as a strong wind where the rivers debouch on the plains, more especially in the early morning hours. This current probably contributes to lower the mean temperature of the belt of the plains which fringes the mountain zone. The Eastern Himalayas present many points of contrast with the western parts of the range. The slopes of the Sikkim and Bhutan Hills, where not denuded for the purposes of cul- tivation, are clothed with a dense impenetrable forest, which at the lower levels abounds in figs, rattans, and representatives of a tropical humid climate. At higher levels they are covered with oaks, chestnuts, magnolias, pines, etc., of the most luxuriant growth. In the Western Himalayas, on the other hand, the spurs of the outer ranges are more sparsely clad with forest, especially on their western faces ; and naked precipitous crags are of constant occurrence. The vegetation of the lower and warmer valleys, and of the fringing belt (the Tarai), is comparatively thin, and such as characterizes a warm but dry region. Pines of several species form a conspicuous feature of the landscape at lower levels. It is chiefly the outer ranges that exhibit these contrasted features ; and they depend partly on the difference of latitude, but mainly on that of the rain- fall. In Sikkim and Bhutan this is abnormally copious, and is discharged full on the face of the range. As the chain recedes to the north-west, the greater is the distance to be traversed by the vapour-bearing winds in reaching it, and the more easterly is their direction. For such winds, whether coming from the Bay of Bengal (apparently their principal source) or from the Arabian Sea, turn on reaching the Gangetic valley, and blow more or less parallel to its axis and that of the mountain range. The country on either side of the Sulaiman range is METEOROLOGY.] INDIA. 5°7 characteristically arid. Dry winds from the desert tracts of Punjab Persia and Buluchistan predominate throughout the year. flolUier' The scanty cultivation on the hills is dependent on the winter snows, or the rare showers which reach them from the eastward, or on the supply of the larger local streams. The lower plains would be uninhabitable but for the fertilizing irrigation furnished by the great river that traverses them. At the foot of the great Himalayan barrier, and separating it from the more ancient land which now forms the highlands of the peninsula, a broad plain, for the most part alluvial, stretches Indus from sea to sea. On the west, in the dry region, this is pla'n‘ occupied partly by the alluvial deposits of the Indus and its tributaries ; by the saline swamps of Kachchh (Cutch), by the rolling sands and rocky surface of the desert of Jaisalmfr The great (Jeysulmere) and Bikaner, and partly by the more fertile tracts to the eastward. Over the greater part of this region rain is of rare occurrence ; and not infrequently more than a year passes by without a drop falling on the parched surface. On its eastern margin, however, in the neighbourhood of the Aravalli Hills, and again on the Northern Punjab, rain is more frequent, occurring both in the south-west monsoon, and also at the opposite season in the cold weather. As far south as Sirsa and Multan, the average rainfall does not much exceed 7 inches. The alluvial plain of the Punjab passes into that of the Gangetic Gangetic valley without visible interruption. Up or down this plain‘ plain, at opposite seasons, sweep the monsoon winds, in a direction at right angles to that of their nominal course ; and in this way the vapour brought by winds from the Bay of Bengal, is discharged as snow and rain on the peaks and hill-sides of the Western Himalayas. Nearly the whole surface is under cultivation ; and it ranks among the most productive as well as the most densely populated regions of the world. The rainfall diminishes from ioo inches at the south-east corner of the Gangetic delta to less than 30 inches at Agra and Delhi, and there is an average difference of from 15 to • 25 inches between the northern and southern borders of the plain. Eastward from the Bengal delta, two alluvial plains stretch Eastern up between the hills that connect the Himalayan system with Bengal‘ that of the Burmese peninsula. The first is that of Assam and the Brahmaputra, long and narrow, bordered on the north by the Himalayas, on the south by the lower plateau of the Garo, Khasi, and Naga Hills. The second, or Sylhet and Cachar 5°8 INDIA. [meteorology. Central table-land. Satpura range. Malvva plateau. Aravalli range. valley, is chiefly occupied by swamps and jhils, and separates the Garo, Khasi, and Naga Hills from those of Tipperah and the Lushai country. The climate of both these plains is damp and equable, and the rainfall is prolonged and gene- rally heavy, especially on the southern slopes of the hills. A meteorological peculiarity of some interest has been noticed, more especially at the stations of Sibsagar and Silchar, viz. the great range of the diurnal variation of barometric pressure, particularly during the cool months of the year. It is the more striking, since at Rurki, Lahore, and other stations near the foot of the Himalayas, this range is less than on the open plains. The highlands of the peninsula are cut off from the Himalayan ranges by the Indo-Gangetic plain. They are divided into two unequal parts, by an almost continuous chain of hills, loosely known as the Satpura range, running across the country from west-by-south to east-by-north, just south of the Tropic of Cancer. This chain may be regarded as a single feature, forming the principal watershed of the peninsula. The waters to the north of it drain chiefly into the Narbada (Ner- budda) and the Ganges ; those to the south, into the Tapti, the Godavari, the Mahanadi, and smaller streams. In a meteoro- logical point of view, this central chain of hills is of much importance. Acting together with the two parallel valleys of the Narbada (Nerbudda) and Tapti (Taptee), which drain the flanks of its western half, it gives a more decided easterly and westerly direction to the winds of this part of India, and condenses a tolerably copious rainfall during the south-west monsoon. Separated from this chain by the valley of the Narbada on the west, and that of the Son on the east, the plateau of Malwa and Baghelkhand occupies the space intervening between these valleys and the Gangetic plain. On the western edge of the plateau are the Aravalli Hills, which run from near Ahmedabad up to the neighbourhood of Delhi, and include one hill, Mount Abu, over 5000 feet in height. This range exerts an important influence on the direction of the wind, and also on the rainfall. At Ajmere, an old-established meteorological station at the eastern foot of the range, the wind is predominantly south-west. Both here and at Mount Abu the south-west monsoon rains are a regular phenomenon ; which can hardly be said of the region of scanty and uncertain rainfall which extends from the western foot of the range and merges in the Bikaner desert. METEOROLOGY.] INDIA. 5°9 The peninsula south of the Satpura range consists chiefly Southern of the triangular .plateau of the Deccan, terminating abruptly plateau‘ on the west in the Sahyadri range (Western Ghats), and shelving to the east (Eastern Ghats). This plateau is swept by the south - west monsoon after it has surmounted the western barrier of the Ghats. The rainfall is consequently light at Poona and places similarly situated under the lee of the range, and but moderate over the more easterly parts of the plateau. The rains, however, are prolonged to the north of the Satpuras three or four weeks later than in Southern India, since they are brought there by the easterly winds which blow from the Bay of Bengal in October and the early part of November; when the re-curved southerly wind ceases to blow up the Gangetic valley, and sets towards the Karnatic. This was formerly thought to be the north-east monsoon, and is still so spoken of by some writers ; but the rainy wind is really a diversion of the south-west monsoon. At the junction of the Eastern and Western Ghats rises the Anamalai bold triangular plateau of the Nilgiris, and to the south ofIIllls‘ them come the Anamalais, Palnis (Pulneys), and Travancore Hills. These ranges are separated from the Nilgiris by a broad depression or pass known as the Palghat gap, some 25 miles wide; the highest point of which is about 1500 feet above the sea. This gap affords a passage to the winds, which elsewhere are barred by the hills of the Ghat chain. The country to the east of the gap receives the rainfall of the south-west monsoon; and during the north-east monsoon, ships passing Beypur meet with a stronger wind from the land than is felt elsewhere on the Malabar coast. According to Captain Newbold, this gap ‘ affords an outlet to those furious storms from the eastward which sweep the Bay of Bengal, and, after traversing the peninsula, burst forth through it to the neighbouring sea.’ In the coast-strip of low country which fringes the peninsula Southern below the Ghats, the rainfall is heavy, the climate warm and damp, the vegetation dense and tropical. The steep slopes of the Ghats, where they have not been artificially cleared, are also thickly clothed with forest. Ceylon should, for meteorological purposes, be included Meteor- in our survey. The country both south and west of the hills which occupy the south centre of the island is very rugged down to the coast. The rainfall is here frequent and Rainy heavy ; and the temperature being high and equable, the south-west vegetation is dense and very luxuriant, such as is characteristic ies‘on' INDIA. [meteorology. 510 Drier east coast. The con- trast. British Burma. Upper Burma. of islands in tropical seas, and also of the coast of Travancore. The plains on the east coast are drier, and both in climate and vegetation bear much resemblance to those of the Karnatic. When the south-west monsoon is blowing in May and June, and discharging torrents of rain on the forest-clad spurs and slopes that face to windward, the contrast presented by the eastward face of the same hills is very striking, and the two phases of climate are sharply demarcated. Newara Eliya (7000 feet), day after day, and even week after week, lies under a dense canopy of cloud, which shrouds all the higher peaks, and pours down in almost incessant rain. But let the traveller leave the station by the Badulla road, and cross over the main range at a distance of two or three miles from Newara Eliya. As he begins the descent towards Wilson’s bungalow, he emerges on a panorama of the grassy downs of the lower hills, bathed in dazzling sunshine ; while on the ridge above he sees the cloud-masses ever rolling across from the west, and dissolving away in the drier air to leeward. Hence the east and west coasts of the island are as strongly con- trasted in climate as those of the southern extremity of the Indian peninsula. In British Burma, the western face of the Arakan Yoma hills, like that of the Indian Western Ghats, is exposed to the full force of the south-west monsoon, and receives a very heavy rainfalL At Sandoway, this amounts to an annual mean of 218 inches. It diminishes to the northwards; but even at Chittagong, it amounts to 106 inches annually. The country around Ava, as well as the hill country of North Burma, is the seat of occasional severe earthquakes, one of which destroyed Ava city in 1839. The general meridianal direction of the ranges and valleys determines the direction of the prevailing surface winds ; subject, however, to many local modifications. But it would appear, from Dr. Anderson’s observations of the movement of the upper clouds, that throughout the year there is, with but slight interruption, a steady upper current from the south-west, such as has been already noticed over the Himalayas. The rainfall in the lower part of the Irawadi valley, viz. the delta and the neighbouring part of the province of Pegu, is very heavy, about 190 inches ; the climate is warm and equable at all seasons. But higher up the valley, and especially north of the Pegu frontier, the country is drier, and is characterized by a less luxuriant vegetation, and by a retarded and more scanty rainfall of about 56 inches. INDIA. METEOROLOGY.] 5” Observatories. — Meteorological observatories have been Observa- established at 109 stations in India (including British Burma tor“"s‘ and the Andamans). These observatories are situated at all elevations, from the highest, Leh (11,538 feet above mean sea- level) and Chakrata (7051 feet), to Negapatam(i5 feet) and Sagar Island, the lowest, which is only 6 feet above mean sea-level. Observations. — The observations taken at the meteorological Observa- stations record — (1) temperature of solar and of nocturnal tlons- radiation, (2) the air temperature, (3) atmospheric pressure, (4) direction and velocity of the wind, (5) humidity, (6) cloud proportion, and (7) rainfall. For full information on each of these subjects, I refer the reader to the valuable and deeply interesting reports of Mr. F. Blanford and Mr. Eliot, printed at the Government Press, Calcutta, and available to all inquirers at the India Office, London. Solar Radiation. — Although, theoretically, differences in golar the height above ground of the registering thermometer radiation, produce little difference in the amount of radiation from the ground, the nature of the surface forms an important feature, the action of which differs very considerably in different parts of India, and interferes with an exact comparison of results obtained from different stations. Thus, the radiation from the parched, heated, and bare surface of the soil in the North-Western Provinces in May, must be considerably greater than from the moist, grass-covered surface of the soil at the coast stations of Bengal and Western India in the same month. The following figures are obtained from Bengal stations where Return';, the instruments are believed to be accurate and comparable. The yearly average maximum equilibrium temperatures of com- pared sun thermometers in vacuo , varied in these stations from 121-5° F. at Darjiling (much the lowest average) and 13 1 ‘3° at Goalpdra (the next lowest), to 145 -6° F. at Bardwan and 147-4° at Cuttack. The excess of the above over the corre- sponding maximum shade temperatures was: — at Darjiling, 59-1° ; at Goalpdra, 48-4° ; at Bardwan, 57° ; and at Cuttack, 55 ’8°. Temperature of the Air. — From the average annual mean Tempera- temperatures of 83 stations (derived from the means of three ture of the or more years), the following figures are taken. In the following four stations in this list, the average mean yearly temperature was over 82° F. : — Trichinopoli, 82-8°; Vizaga- tempera- patam, 82-7°; Madras, 82-4°; and Madura, 82-2°. All oftures- these stations are in the Madras Presidency. The next highest S1* INDIA. [meteorology. Hill stations. Monthly tempera- tures. Atmo- spheric pressure. Wind. Humidity. Cloud pro- portion. means are returned by Negapatam (also in Madras), 81-9°; Cuttack and Port Blair, each 80-5°; False Point, 80-2°; Goa, 79-9°; Cochin, 79-8°; Sagar Island, 79-5° ; Deesa, 79-4°; and Calcutta, 79'2°. The mean annual temperature of Bombay is 78 '8° F., so that it is the coolest of the three Presidency towns. The lowest means are obtained at the hill stations of Darjiling, 53-9° F.; Simla, 54-4°; Murree, 55-8°; and Chak- rata, 56-1° F. Between these and the next coolest stations is a great gap, Ranikhet following with 60 '4°, Pachmarhi with 687°, and Rawal Pindi with a yearly mean of 69 '4° F. The highest mean monthly temperatures given are : — 95° at Multan, in Tune ; 94'3° at Delhi, in June; 94-1° at Jhansi, in May; 93-6° at Agra, in June. The lowest monthly means are returned by the four coldest hill stations mentioned above, the figures being: — Murree — January 377 °, February 39'4°; Simla — January 39'6°, February 41 ’1° ; Chakrata — January 40-8’, February 42 ’9° ; Darjiling — January 407° February 43-2° F. The mean temperature at Leh in January is 17 ’6°, and in December 24-4° F. Atmospheric Pressure. — The Meteorological Report for 1877 contains a table showing the annual mean pressure at 72 stations, corrected (except in the case of Madras) to the Calcutta standard, which reads con inch higher than that of Kew. From that table the following figures are obtained. The mean yearly pressure in inches at the highest stations is: — 23-274 at Chakrata, 23-371 at Darjiling, 24-058 at Ranikhet, 26-416 at Pachmarhi, and 26-932 at Bangalore. The greatest annual mean pressures returned are : — 29-862 at Negapatam, 29-856 at Madras, 29-822 at Bombay, and 29-821 at False Point. These pressures are not reduced to the level of the sea Wind. — The general directions of the wind in different parts of the peninsula have already been noticed in the introductory portion of this section describing the meteorological geography of the country. Humidity. — The humidity figures given in the Report for 1877 are, according to Mr. Eliot, the Officiating Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India, not generally inter- comparable, as the mean relative humidity is deduced from a varying number of daily observations. Cloud Pi-oportion. — The Report for 1877 gives the averages of estimated cloud proportion for 67 stations in India, an overcast sky being represented by 10 and a clear sky by o. Some of the extreme figures follow. The average annual METEOROLOGY.] INDIA. 5r3 proportion of clouded sky is represented at Sibsdgar by 7 *59 ; at Darjiling by 6 '45 ; at Trichinopoli by6-io; at Coimbatore by 5-36; at Salem by 5*29. The lowest proportions recorded are: — for Jhdnsf, 1-48; for Multan, 179; Dera Ismail Khan, 2 'i 3; Sagar (Saugor), in the Central Provinces, 2-15. Rainfall. — The average annual rainfall at 306 stations is Rainfall, recorded in the Meteorological Report for 1877, from which the following figures have been obtained. In the Punjab, the highest average fall (123-21 inches) is at The Dharmsala, which is situated on the face of the hills, and i unJa1’- exposed to the full force of the monsoon ; the next highest recorded is little more than half that amount, or 68'6i inches at Simla. The lowest average falls in the Punjab are: — 6-i6 inches at Muzaffargarh, 6'93 at Multan, 7 *3 5 at Dera Ghazi Khan, and 8 ’23 at Dera Ismail Khan. All these stations are protected by the Sulaiman range from the monsoon. In Rajputana and Central India the minimum is 20-27 Rajputana inches at Taipur (Teypore), and the maximum, 60-85 at Mount an<) f-’erj- Abu, the highest point in this part of India. In the North-Western Provinces the heaviest rainfalls North- are at Naini Tal (94-17 inches) and Dehra (70-06), both of Western x , ' , ' ' Province5, which lie high ; the minimum average fall is 24-32 at Aligarh, the next lowest figures being 26-18 at Muttra (Mathura), 26-46 at Agra, and 26-74 at Etah — all stations on the plains. In Oudh, the maximum rainfall is at Sultanpur, 46-72 inches ; Oudh. and the minimum at Rai Bareli, 3 7 '99 inches. The following stations of Bengal have an average rainfall of Bengal, more than 100 inches : — Jalpaiguri, 122-16 ; Darjiling, 119-25 ; and Kuch Behar, 119-05 — all at the base of the hills ; Noakhali, 107-52; and Chittagong, 105-61, both on the north-east coast of the Bay of Bengal. The lowest averages are returned Kv Chhapra, 37-06 inches; Patna, 38-21 ; and Gaya, 41-38. The average rainfall throughout Bengal is 67 inches. Assam possesses in Cherra Poonjee (Chara Punji) the Assam, station with the largest rainfall in the world. Former returns gave the fall at 368 inches ; later and fuller returns at 523 inches. A total fall of 805 inches was reported in 1861, of which 366 were assigned to the single month of July. In 1850, Dr. Hooker registered 30 inches in twenty-four hours, and returned the fall from June to November of that year at 530 inches. In the four days 9th to 12th September 1877, 56-19 inches were registered. The cause of this extraordinary rainfall is noticed in the section on Physical Geography (pp. 29, 30, ante). INDIA. [sun-spot cycles. Central Provinces. Bombay. Sind. Madras. British Burma. Port Blair. Sun-spot cycles. The following stations in Assam have also a very high average rainfall: — Silchar, 121-07; Sylhet, i53'8o; Dibrugarh, 116-43; and Turd, 115-76. The lowest recorded averages in Assam are at Samaguting (52-58 inches)' and Gauhati (69-23 inches), both on the northern side of the hills separating Cachdr from Assam. In the Central Provinces, the highest average falls are at Pachmarhi, 82-20 inches, and at Balaghat, 64-11; lowest averages, Khandwa, 32-26, and Bednur, 41-21 inches. In Bombay, three stations on the Ghats are recorded as having an average rainfall of over 250 inches, viz. : — Matheran, 256-75 inches; Malcolmpet (Mahableshwar), 252-25; and Baura (Fort), 251-80. Next in order come Lanauli, with 159-63 inches; Honawar, 137-53 ; and Igatpuri, Karwar, Vingorla, and Ratnagiri, with 118-53, 110-07, 105-94, and 102-31 inches respectively. The lowest average rainfalls recorded in Bombay are : — 12-99 inches at Mandargi ; 17-25 at Dhulia; and 19-93 at Gokak. The average rainfall in Bombay is 67 inches. In Sind, the average rainfall is very low, varying from 16-31 inches at Nagar, and 11-78 at Umarkot, to 5-09 at Shikarpur, and 4-28 at Jacobabad. In Madras, the highest averages recorded are : — 135 "6o inches at Cannanore ; 131-91 at Mangalore; 125-63 at Tellicherri; 113-62 at Calicut; and 112-15 at Cochin — all on the west coast. The lightest falls recorded are: — at Bellary, i6-o6 ; Tuticorin (sheltered by the Ghats), 18-50 ; Guti (Gooty), 20-85 1 and Coimbatore, 20-90. All these stations lie low. The average fall at the stations on the east coast is about 41 inches. An average rainfall for Madras Presidency is 44 inches. The rainfall along the coast of British Burma is heavy, as might be expected, the following averages being recorded : — Sandoway, 218-58 inches; Tavoy, 195-47; Maulmain, 191-34; Akyab, 189-23; Khyouk-hpyu, 170-76. The smallest rainfall is at Thayet-myo (51-04) and Prome (56-46), sheltered by the Yoma range. The rainfall at Port Blair, in the Andamans, is also heavy, the average being returned as 116-25 inches. Sun-Spot Cycles. — The results arrived at by the Indian Meteorological Department on the subject of the sun-spot cycles, which have recently been engaging the attention of scientific men, are thus summed up in the Report for 1877 : — ‘ The following are the more important inferences that the SUN-SPOT CYCLES.] INDIA. 5*5 meteorology of India in the years 1877 and 1878 appear to suggest, if not to establish. There is a tendency at the minimum sun-spot periods to prolonged excessive pressure over India, to an unusual development of the winter rains, and to the occurrence of abnormally heavy snowfall over the Himdlayan region (to a greater extent probably in the Western than the Eastern Himalayas). This appears also to be usually accompanied by a weak south-west monsoon. The characteristics of a weak monsoon are, great irregularity in the distribution of the rainfall over the whole of India, and the occurrence of heavy local rainfalls, which tend, by a law of rain- fall and of air-motion, to recur over the same limited areas. The irregularity of rainfall distribution is often shown by persistent and prolonged absence of rain over considerable areas. These areas of drought and famine are partly marked off by nature, depending to a certain extent on the geogra- phical features and position of the district. Thus the rains are more likely to fall below the amount necessary for cultiva- tion in the dry region of the Deccan or in Upper India, than over the Malabar coast area or the Province of Bengal.’ INDIA. [zoology. 5*6 CHAPTER XXIII. ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. Mammals. Wild Animals. — First among the wild animals of India must be mentioned the lion (Felis leo), known to have been not uncommon within historical times in Hindustan Proper and Lion. the Punjab. At present, the lion is supposed to be confined to the Gir, or rocky hill-desert of Kathiawar. A peculiar variety is there found, marked by the absence of a mane ; but whether this variety deserves to be classed as a distinct species naturalists have not yet determined. The former extent of the lion’s range, or the degree to which its presence im- pressed the imagination, may be inferred from the common personal names, Sinh or Sing, Sher, and Haidar, which all signify ‘lion.’ Sher, however, is also applied to the tiger. Tiger. The characteristic beast of prey in India is the tiger (F. tigris), which is found in every part of the country from the slopes of the Himalayas to the Sundarban swamps. Sir Joseph Fayrer, the highest living authority on this subject, believes that 12 feet is the maximum length of the tiger, when measured from nose to tip of tail immediately after death. The advance of cultivation, even more than the incessant attacks of sportsmen, has gradually caused the tiger to become a rare animal in large tracts of country; but it is scarcely probable that he ever will be exterminated from India. The malarious tarai fringing the Himalayas, the uninhabitable swamps of the Gangetic delta, and the wide jungles of the central plateau, are at present the chief home of the tiger. His favourite food appears to be deer, antelope, and wild hog. When these abound, he does not attack domestic cattle. Indeed, the natives of certain Districts consider the tiger as in some sort their protector, for he saves their crops from destruction by the wild animals on which he feeds. But when once he develops a taste for human blood, then the slaughter Man-eat- he works becomes truly formidable. The confirmed man- ing 1 lger. eater) which is generally an old beast, disabled from overtaking TIGER, LEOPARD.] INDIA. 5*7 his usual prey, seems to accumulate his tale of victims in sheer cruelty rather than for food. A single tiger is known to have killed 108 people in the course of three years. Another killed an average of about 80 persons per annum. A third caused 13 villages to be abandoned, and 250 square miles of land to be thrown out of cultivation. A fourth, so lately as 1869, killed 127 people, and stopped a public road for many weeks, until the opportune arrival of an English sportsman, who killed him. Such cases are, of course, exceptional, and generally refer to a period long past, but they explain and justify the superstitious awe with which the tiger is regarded by the natives. The favourite mode of shooting the tiger is from the back of elephants, or from elevated platforms ( mdchans ) of boughs in the jungle. In Central India and Bombay, tigers are shot on foot. In Assam they are speared from boats, and in the Himalayas they are said to be ensnared by bird-lime. Rewards are given by Government to native shikaris for the heads of tigers, varying in time and place according to the need. In 1877, 819 persons and 16,137 cattle were reported to have been killed by tigers. On the other side of the account, 1579 tigers were destroyed by native hunters, and ^3777 paid in rewards ; besides the slaughter by English sportsmen. The leopard or panther (F. pardus) is far more common than Leopard, the tiger in all parts of India, and at least equally destructive to life and property. The greatest length of the leopard is about 7 feet 6 inches. A black variety, as beautiful as it is rare, is sometimes found in the extreme south of the Indian peninsula, and in Java. The cheetah or hunting leopard (Gueparda Cheetah, jubata) must be carefully distinguished from the leopard proper. This animal appears to be a native only of the Deccan, where it is trained for hunting the antelope. In some respects it approaches the dog more nearly than the cat tribe. Its limbs are long, its hair rough, and its claws blunt and only partially retractile. The speed with which it bounds upon its prey, when loosed from the cart, exceeds the swiftness of any other mammal. If it misses its first attack, it scarcely ever attempts to follow, but returns to its master. Among other species of the family Felidce found in India may be mentioned the ounce or snow leopard (F. uncia), the clouded tiger (F. macroscelis), the marbled tiger cat (F. marmorata), the jungle cat (F. chaus), and the common viverrine cat (F. viverrina). Wolves (Canis lupus) abound throughout the open country, Wolf, but are rare in the wooded districts. Their favourite prey is INDIA. [zoology- 5lS sheep, but they are also said to run down antelopes and hares, or rather catch them by lying in ambush. Instances of their attacking man are not uncommon. In 1827, upwards of 30 children were carried off by wolves in a single pargana or fiscal division; and the story of Romulus and Remus has had its counterpart in India within recent times. The Indian wolf has a dingy reddish-white fur, some of the hairs being tipped with black. By some naturalists it is regarded as a distinct species, under the name of Canis pallipes. Three distinct varieties, the white, the red, and the black wolf, are found in the Tibetan Himalayas. Fox. The Indian fox (Vulpes bengalensis) is comparatively rare ; but the jackal (C. aureus) abounds everywhere, making night Jackal. hideous by its never-to-be-forgotten yells. The jackal, and not the fox, is usually the animal hunted by the packs of hounds kept by Europeans. Dog. The wild dog or dhole (C. dhola) is found in all the wilder jungles of India, including Assam and British Burma. Its characteristic is that it hunts in packs, sometimes containing 30 dogs, and does not give tongue. When once a pack of wild dogs has put up any animal, whether deer or tiger, that animal’s doom is sealed. They do not leave it for days, and finally bring it to bay, or run it down exhausted. These wild dogs have sometimes been half domesticated, and trained to hunt for the use of man. A peculiar variety of wild dog exists in the Karen Hills of Burma, thus described from a specimen in confinement. It was black and white, as hairy as a skye- terrier, and as large as a medium-sized spaniel. It had an invariable habit of digging a hole in the ground, into which it crawled backwards, remaining there all day with only its nose and ferrety eyes visible. Among other dogs of India are the pariah, which is merely a mongrel, run wild and half starved ; the poligar dog, an immense creature peculiar to the south ; the greyhound, used for coursing; and the mastiff of Tibet and Bhutan. llyaena. The striped hyaena (Hysena striata) is common, being found wherever the wolf is absent. Like the wolf, it is very destruc- tive both to the flocks and to children. Bear. Of bears, the common black or sloth bear (Ursus labiatus) is common throughout India wherever rocky hills and forests occur. It is distinguished by a white horse-shoe mark on its breast. Its food consists of ants, honey, and fruit. When dis- turbed it will attack man, and it is a dangerous antagonist, for it always strikes at the face. The Himalayan or Tibetan sun- ELEPHANT.] INDIA. bear (U. tibetanus) is found along the north, from the Punjab to Assam. During the summer it remains high up in the mountains, near the limit of snow, but in the winter it descends to 5000 feet, and even lower. Its congener, the Malayan sun- bear (Helarctos malayanus), is found in British Burma, where also there is a smaller species (H. euryspilus), and a very large animal reported to be as big as the American grizzly. The elephant (Elephas indicus) is found in many parts of The Ele- India, though not in the north-west. Contrary to what might rliant be anticipated from its size and from the habits of its African cousin, the Indian elephant is now, at any rate, an inhabitant, not of the plains, but of the hills ; and even on the hills it is usually found among the higher ridges and plateaus, and not in the valleys. From the peninsula of India the elephant has been gradually exterminated, being only found now in the primaeval forests of Coorg, Mysore, and Travancore, and in the Tributary States of Orissa. It still exists in considerable number along the tardi or submontane fringe of the Hima- layas. The main source of supply at the present time is the confused mass of hills which forms the north-east boundary of British India, from Assam to Burma. Two varieties are there distinguished, the gunda or tusker, and the makna or hine, which has no tusks. The reports of the height of the elephant, like those of its intelligence, seem to be exaggerated. The maximum is pro- bably 12 feet. If hunted, the elephant must be attacked on foot, and the sport is therefore dangerous, especially as the animal has but few parts vulnerable to a bullet. The regular Elephant- mode of catching elephants is by means of a kheda or gigantic catching, stockade, into which a wild herd is driven, then starved into submission, and tamed by animals already domesticated. The practice of capturing them in pitfalls is discouraged as cruel and wasteful. Elephants now form a Government monopoly throughout India. The shooting of them is prohibited, except when they become dangerous to man or destructive to the crops ; and the right of capturing them is only leased out upon conditions. A special law, under the title of ‘ The Ele- phants’ Preservation Act’ (No. VI. of 1879), regulates this Elephant licensing system. Whoever kills, captures, or injures an ele- Preserva- phant, or attempts to do so, without a licence, is punishable by a fine of 500 rupees for the first offence; and by a similar fine, together wTith six months’ imprisonment, for a second offence. In the year 1877-78, a total of 264 elephants were captured in the Province of Assam, yielding to Government a revenue 520 INDIA. [zoology. of ^3600. In the season of 1873-74 no less than 53 were captured at one time by Mr. Sanderson, the superintendent of the Kheda Department in Mysore, who has made a special study of the Indian elephant, as Sir S. Baker has of the same animal in Ceylon. Though the supply is decreasing, elephants continue to be in great demand. Their chief use is in the timber trade, and for Government transport. They are also bought up by native chiefs at high prices for ostentation. The Rhin- Of the rhinoceros, four distinct varieties are enumerated, two ocelot. -with a single, and two with a double horn. The most familiar is the Rhinoceros unicornis , commonly found in the Brahma- putra valley, and in the Sundarbans. It has but one horn, and is covered with massive folds of naked skin. It sometimes attains a height of 6 feet ; its horn, which is much prized by the natives for medicinal purposes, seldom exceeds 14 inches in length. It frequents swampy, shady spots, and wallows in mud like a pig. The traditional antipathy of the rhinoceros to the elephant seems to be mythical. The Javan rhinoceros (R. sondaicus) is found in the same localities. It also has but one horn, and mainly differs from the foregoing in being smaller, and having less prominent ‘shields.’ The Sumatran rhinoceros (R. sumatrensis) is found from Chittagong south- wards through Burma. It has two horns and a bristly coat. The hairy-eared rhinoceros (R. lasiotis) is only known from a specimen captured at Chittagong; and now (1881) in the Zoological Gardens, London. The wild The wild hog (Sus scrofa, var. indica) is well known as IIoS- affording the most exciting sport in the world — ‘pig-sticking.’ It frequents cultivated localities, and is the most mischievous enemy which the husbandman has to guard against ; doing more damage than tigers, leopards, deer, and antelope, all put together. A rare animal, called the pigmy hog (Porculia salviania), exists in the tarai of Nepal and Sikkim, and has been shot in Assam. Its height is only 10 inches, and its weight does not exceed 1 2 lbs. The wild The wild ass (Asinus onager) is confined to the sandy Ass. deserts of Sind and Kachchh (Cutch), where, from its speed and timidity, it is almost unapproachable. Sheep and Many wild species of the sheep and goat tribe are to be GoaU found in the Himalayan ranges. The Oris amnion and O. poli are Tibetan rather than Indian species. The urial and the shapu are kindred species of wild sheep, found respectively in Ladakh and the Sulaiman range. The former comes down to 2000 feet above the sea, the latter is never seen at altitudes MAMMALS.] INDIA. 521 lower than 1 2,000 feet. The barhal, or blue wild sheep, and the markhur and tahr (both wild goats) also inhabit the Hima- layas. A variety of the ibex is also found there, as well as in the highest ranges of Southern India. The sarau (Nemor- h?edus rubida), allied to the chamois, has a wide range in the mountains of the north, from the Himalayas to Assam and Burma. The antelope tribe is represented by comparatively few Antelopes, species, as compared with the great number peculiar to Africa. The antelope proper (Antilope bezoartica), the ‘ black buck ’ of sportsmen, is very generally distributed. Its special habitat is salt plains, as on the coast-line of Guzerat and Orissa, where herds of 50 does may be seen, accompanied by a single buck. The doe is of a light fawn colour, and has no horns. The colour of the buck is a deep brown-black above, sharply marked off from the white of the belly. His spiral horns, twisted for three or four turns like a corkscrew, often reach the length of 30 inches. The flesh is dry and unsavoury, but is permitted meat for Hindus, even of the Brahman caste. The four-horned antelope (Tetraceros quadricornis) and the gazelle (Gazella benetti) are also found in India. The chiru (Pantholops hodgsoni) is confined to the Himalayan plateaux The nilgai or blue cow (Portax picta) is also widely dis- Nilgai, tributed, but specially abounds in Hindustan Proper and Guzerat. As with the antelope, the male alone has the dark blue colour. The nilgai is held peculiarly sacred by Hindus, from its fancied kinship to the cow, and on this account its destructive inroads upon the crops are tolerated. The king of the deer tribe is the sambhar or gerau (Rusa Deer, aristotelis), erroneously called ‘elk’ by sportsmen. It is found on the forest-clad hills in all parts of the country. It is of a deep-brown colour, with hair on its neck almost like a mane ; and it stands nearly 5 feet high, with spreading antlers nearly 3 feet in length. Next in size is the swamp deer or bara-singha, signifying ‘ twelve points ’ (Rucervus duvaucelli), which is common in Lower Bengal and Assam. The chital or spotted deer (Axis maculata) is generally admitted to be the most beautiful inhabitant of the Indian jungles. Other species include the hog deer (Cervus porcinus), the barking deer or muntjac (Cervulus vaginalis), and the mouse deer (Meminna indica). The musk deer (Moschus moschiferus) is confined to Tibet. The ox tribe is represented in India by some of its noblest The Bison, species. The gaur (Bos gaurus), the ‘bison’ of sportsmen, 522 INDIA. [zoology. is found in all the hill jungles of the country, in the Western Ghats, in Central India, in Assam, and in British Burma. This animal sometimes attains the height of 20 hands (close on 7 feet), measuring from the hump above the shoulder. Its short curved horns and skull are enormously massive. Its colour is dark chestnut, or coffee-brown. From the difficult nature of its habitat, and from the ferocity with which it charges an enemy, the pursuit of the bison is no less dangerous and no less exciting than that of the tiger or the elephant. Akin to the gaur, though not identical, are the gaydl or mithun (B. frontalis), confined to the hills of the north-east frontier, where it is domesticated for sacrificial purposes by the aboriginal tribes ; and the tsine or banting (B. sondaicus), found in Burma. The The wild buffalo (Bubalus arni) differs from the tame buffalo Buffalo. only in being larger and more fierce. The finest specimens come from Assam and Burma. The horns of the bull are thicker than those of the cow, but the horns of the cow are larger. A head has been known to measure 13 feet 6 inches in circumference, and 6 feet 6 inches between the tips. The greatest height is 6 feet. The colour is a slaty black ; the hide is immensely thick, with scanty hairs. Alone perhaps of all wild animals in India, the buffalo will charge unprovoked. Even tame buffaloes seem to have an inveterate dislike to Europeans. Rat tribe. The rat and mouse family is only too numerous. Con- spicuous in it is the loathsome bandicoot (Mus bandicota), which sometimes measures 2 feet in length, including its tail, and weighs 3 lbs. It burrows under houses, and is very destructive to plants, fruit, and even poultry. More interesting is the tree rat (M. arboreus), a native of Bengal, about 7 inches long, which makes its nest in cocoa-nut palms and bamboos. The voles or field mice (genus Arvicola) occasionally multiply so exceedingly as to seriously diminish the out-turn of the local harvest, and to require special measures for their de- struction. Birds. The ornithology of India, although it is not considered so rich in specimens of gorgeous and variegated plumage as that of other tropical regions, contains many splendid and curious varieties. Some are clothed in nature’s gay attire, others distinguished by strength, size, and fierceness. The parrot tribe is the most remarkable for beauty. So various are the species, that I do not attempt even to enumerate them, but refer DiRDS.J INDIA. 523 for details to the scientific works on the subject.1 Among birds of prey, four vultures are found, including the common Birds of scavengers (Gyps indicus and G. bengalensis). The eagles Pre>'- comprise many species, but none to surpass the golden eagle of Europe. Of falcons, there are the peregrine (F. peregrinus), the shain (F. peregrinator), and the /agar (F. jugger), which are all trained by the natives for hawking; of hawks, the shikara (Astur badius), the sparrow hawk (Accipiter nisus), and the crested goshawk (Astur trivirgatus). Kingfishers of various kinds, and herons are sought for their plumage. No bird is more popular with natives than the maina (Acridotheres tristis), a member of the starling family, which lives contentedly in a cage, and can be taught to pronounce words, especially the name of the god Krishna. Waterfowl are especially numerous. Of game-birds, the Game floriken (Sypheotides auritus) is valued as much for its rarity bircls- as for the delicacy of its flesh. Snipe (Gallinago scolopacina) abound at certain seasons, in such numbers that one gun has been known to make a bag of ioo brace in a day. Pigeons, partridges, quail, plover, duck, teal, sheldrake, widgeon — all of many varieties — complete the list of small game. The red jungle fowl (Gallus ferruginesis), supposed to be the ancestor of our own poultry, is not good eating; and the same may be said of the peacock (Pavo cristatus), except when young. The pheasant does not occur in India Proper ; but a white variety is found in Burma, and several beautiful species (con- spicuously the minaul ) abound in the Himalayas. The serpent tribe in India is numerous ; they swarm in Reptiles, the gardens, and intrude into the dwellings of the inhabitants, especially during the rainy season. Most are comparatively harmless, but the bite of others is speedily fatal.2 The cobra The di capello — the name given to it by the Portuguese, from the * cobra- appearance of a hood which it produces by the expanded skin about the neck — is the most dreaded (Naga tripudians). It seldom exceeds 3 or 4 feet in length, and is about an inch and a quarter thick, with a small head, covered on the fore- part with large smooth scales; it is of a pale brown colour above, and the belly is of a bluish-white tinged with pale brown or yellow. The Russelian snake (Daboia russellii), about 4 feet in length, is of a pale yellowish-brown, beautifully variegated with large oval spots of deep brown, with a white 1 Especially those of Jerdon and Gould. 2 Sir J oseph F ayrer’s Thanatophidia is the standard work on Indian snakes. 524 INDIA. [zoology. Death from snake-bite. Crocodile. Fishes. edging. Its bite is extremely fatal. Itinerant showmen carry about these serpents, and cause them to assume a dancing motion for the amusement of the spectators. They also give out that they render snakes harmless by the use of charms or music — in reality, by extracting the venomous fangs. But, judging from the frequent accidents which occur, they some- times seem to dispense with this precaution. All the salt-water snakes in India are poisonous, while the fresh-water forms are innocuous. Sir Joseph Fayrer has demonstrated that none of the reputed antidotes will cure the bite of the cobra, if the snake is full-grown, and if its poison fang is full and be not inter- fered with by clothing. The most hopeful remedy in all cases of snake-bite is the injection of ammonia. The loss of life from this cause in India is painful to contemplate. But the extermination of snakes is attended with great difficulty, from the great number of the species, the character of the country, the rapid undergrowth of jungle, and the scruples of the people. Something, however, is being effected by the offer of rewards. In 1877, a total of 16,777 persons are reported to have been killed by snakes, as compared with only 819 by tigers. In the same year, rewards to the amount of ^811 were given for the destruction of 127,295 snakes. The other reptiles include two varieties of crocodile (C. porosus and C. biporcatus) and the gavial (Gavialis gangeticus). Scorpions also abound. All the waters of India — the sea, the rivers, and the tanks — swarm with a great variety of fishes,1 which are caught in every conceivable way, and furnish a considerable proportion of the food of the poorer classes. They are eaten fresh, or as nearly fresh as may be ; for the art of curing them is not generally practised, owing to the exigencies of the salt monopoly. In Burma, the favourite relish of nga-pi is prepared from fish ; and at Goalanda, at the junction of the Brahmaputra with the Ganges, an important station has recently been established for salting fish in bond. The indiscriminate slaughter of fry, and the obstacles opposed by irrigation dams to breeding fish, are said to be causing a sensible diminution in the supply in certain rivers. Measures of conservancy have been suggested ; but their execution is attended with great difficulty, owing to 1 The latest standard works on Indian fishes and their economic aspects are the Reports and official volume by Dr. Francis Day, late Inspector- General of Fisheries to the Government of India; available to all inquirers, at the India Office, London. FISHES.] INDIA. 525 the habits and the necessities of the poorer population. Among Indian fishes, the Cyprinidce or carp family and the Silurida or cat-fishes are best represented. From the angler’s point of view, by far the finest fish is the viahsir , found in all hill streams, whether in Assam, the Punjab, or the south. One has been caught weighing 60 lbs., which gave play for more than seven hours. Though called the salmon of India, the mahsir is really a species of barbel. One of the richest and most delicious of Indian fishes is the hilsa, which tastes and looks like a sort of fat white salmon. It is caught in immense quantities in the rivers of the Bengal delta, and forms a staple article of food in Calcutta. The Bombay market is equally well supplied by a variety of delicate fishes. But the enhanced price of this important article of native diet throughout the country, the decreased supply, and the ever-increasing fineness of the meshes of the nets employed in catching the fry, are matters of grave concern alike to the Government and to the poorer classes of the population. In this connection may be mentioned the susu or Gangetic Dolphin, dolphin (Platanista gangetica), which is often erroneously called a porpoise. Both the structure and habits of this animal are very singular. It measures from 6 to 12 feet in length, and in colour is sooty-black. Its head is globular, with a long, narrow, spoon-shaped snout. Its eyes are rudi- mentary, like those of the mole; and its ear-orifices are no bigger than pin-holes. Its dentition, also, is altogether abnormal. It frequents the Ganges and Indus from their mouths right up to their tributaries within the hills. A specimen has been taken at least 1000 miles above Calcutta. Ordinarily its movements are slow, for it wallows in the muddy bed of the river, and only at intervals comes to the surface to blow. The susu belongs to the order Cetacea; and inquiries have recently been directed to the point whether its blubber might not be utilized in commerce. The insect tribes in India may be truly said to be innumer- Insects, able ; nor has anything like a complete classification been given of them in the most scientific treatises. The heat and the rains give incredible activity to noxious or troublesome insects, and to others of a more showy class, whose large wings surpass in brilliancy the most splendid colours of art. Stinging musquitoes are innumerable, with moths and ants of the most destructive habits, and other insects equally noxious and dis- agreeable. Amongst those which are useful are the bee, the silk-worm, and the insect that produces lac. Clouds of locusts Locusts. INDIA. [botany. 526 occasionally appear, which leave no trace of green behind them, and give the country over which they pass the appear- ance of a desert. Dr. Buchanan saw a mass of these insects in his journey from Madras to the Mysore territory, about 3 miles in length, like a long narrow red cloud near the horizon, and making a noise somewhat resembling that of a cataract. Their size was about that of a man’s finger, and their colour reddish. They are swept north by the wind till they strike upon the outer ranges of the Himalayas. Indian flora. Upper Hima- layas. Lower Hima- layas. Flora. ’—Unlike other large geographical areas, India is remarkable for having no distinctive botanical features peculiar to itself. It differs conspicuously in this respect from such countries as Australia or South Africa. Its vege- tation is in point of fact of a composite character, and is constituted by the meeting and blending of the various floras adjoining, — of those of Persia and the south-eastern Mediterranean area to the north-west, of Siberia to the north, of China to the east, and of Malaya to the south-east. Space does not admit of a minute discussion of the local features peculiar to separate districts, but regarded broadly, four tolerably distinct types present themselves ; namely, the Hima- layan, the North-Western, the Assamese or Malayan, and the Western India type. The upper levels of the Himalayas slope northwards gradually to the Tibetan uplands, over which the Siberian temperate vegetation ranges. This is part of the great tem- perate flora which, with locally individualized species, but often with identical genera, extends over the whole of the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. In the Western Himalayas, this upland flora is marked by a strong admixture of European species, such as the columbine (Aquilegia) and hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha). These disappear rapidly eastward, and are scarcely found beyond Kumaun. The base of the Himalayas is occupied by a narrow belt forming an extreme north-western extension of the Malayan 1 For a general sketch of the flora of India, recourse must still be had to the introductory essay to the Flora Indica, published by Hooker & Thomson in 1855. The Flora of British India, the preparation of which is (1881) in progress at Kew, will comprise brief descriptions of all the species known to science up to the date of publication. But although no complete analysis of the vegetation is yet possible, its general features are now tolerably well understood. For the following paragraphs on the flora, written by Mr. W. T. T. Dyer of Kew, I am indebted to the courtesy of Messrs. A. & C. Black, publishers of the Encyclopedia Britannia. INDIAN FLORA.] INDIA. 527 type described below. Above that, there is a rich temperate flora which in the eastern chain may be regarded as forming an extension of that of Northern China, gradually assuming westwards more and more of a European type. Magnolia , Aucuba , Abelia, and Skimmia may be mentioned as examples of Chinese genera found in the Eastern Himalayas, and the tea-tree grows wild in Assam. The same coniferous trees are common to both parts of the range. Pinus longifolia extends to the Hindu-Kush ; P. excelsa is found universally except in Sikkim, and has its European analogue in P. Peuce , found in the mountains of Greece. Abies smithiana extends into Afghanistan ; Abies webbiana forms dense forests at altitudes of 8000 to 12,000 feet, and ranges from Bhutan to Kashmir; several junipers and the common yew (Taxus baccata) also occur. The deodar (Cedrus deodara), which is indigenous to the mountains of Afghanistan and the north-west Himalayas, is nearly allied to the Atlantic cedar and to the cedar of Lebanon, a variety of which has recently been found in Cyprus. Another instance of the connection of the Western Himalayan flora with that of Europe is the holm oak (Quercus ilex), so characteristic of the Mediterranean region. The north-western area is best marked in Sind and the North- Punjab, where the climate is very dry (rainfall under 15 west- inches), and where the soil, though fertile, is wholly dependent on irrigation for its cultivation. The low-scattered jungle con- tains such characteristic species as Capparis aphylla , Acacia arabica (babul), Pop2ilns euphratica (the ‘ willows ’ of Ps. cxxxvii. 2), Salvador a persica (erroneously identified by Royle with the mustard of Matt. xiii. 31), tamarisk, Zizyphus , Lotus, etc. The dry flora extends somewhat in a south-east direction, and then blends insensibly with that of the western peninsula ; some species representing it are found in the upper Gangetic plain, and a few are widely distributed in dry parts of the country. This area is described by Sir Joseph Hooker as comprising Assam and * the flora of the perennially humid regions of India, as of Malayan the whole Malayan peninsula, the upper Assam valley, the 1 Khasi Mountains, the forests of the base of the Himalayas from the Brahmaputra to Nepal, of the Malabar coast, and of Ceylon.’ The Western India type is difficult to characterise, and is Western intermediate between the two just preceding. It occupies a India, comparatively dry area, with a rainfall under 75 inches. In respect to positive affinities, Sir Joseph Hooker has pointed INDIA. [INDIAN FLORA. out some relations with the flora of tropical Africa as evidenced by the prevalence of such genera as Grewia and Impatiens , and the absence, common to both countries, of oaks and pines which abound in the Malayan archipelago. The annual vegeta- tion which springs up in the rainy season includes numerous genera, such as Sida and Indigofera , which are largely repre- sented both in Africa and Hindustan. Palms also in both countries are scanty, the most notable in Southern India being the wild date (Phoenix sylvestris) ; Borassus and the cocoa-nut are cultivated. The forests, although occasionally very dense, as in the Western Ghats, are usually drier and more open than those of the Malayan type, and are often scrubby. The most important timber-trees are the toon (Cedrela toona), sal (Shorea robusta), the present area of which forms two belts separated by the Gangetic plain, satin wood (Chloroxylon swietenia), common in the drier parts of the peninsula, sandal- wood, especially characteristic of Mysore, iron-wood (Mesua ferrea), and teak. VITAL STATISTICS.] INDIA. CHAPTER XXIV. VITAL STATISTICS. The vital statistics of India1 are derived from five chief Five sources. Of these, the first or European army consists of^1^ foreigners under special medical conditions, and subject to returns, the disturbing influence of ‘invaliding.’ The second, or native army ; the third, or jail population ; and the fourth, or police ; are all composed of natives, but of natives under special con- ditions as regards food, discipline, or labour. It is dangerous to generalize from returns thus obtained, with regard to the 1 The literature of Indian health statistics and medical aid may be divided into eight chief classes: — (i) Separate treatises by a series of medical observers, dating from the latter part of the 18th century and continuing up to the present time. (2) Official special reports of the Medical Boards of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay on the great outbreak of cholera in 1817 ; the Medico-Topographical Reports (1825-40) of the chief stations of the Madras Presidency, by the Medical Board of that Presidency. (3) The Transactions of the Medical Physical Society of Calcutta (1823-39), and of Bombay (1837-76) ; the Indian Annals of Medical Science (Cal- cutta) (from 1853-80) ; other medical journals at different periods in the three Presidencies. (4) Reports on the Medical Education of the Natives of India, commencing with vernacular medical schools in Calcutta and Bombay (1820-30), developing (1835-57) into the medical colleges of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, and extending into medical schools at Haidarabad (Deccan), Nagpur, Agra, Lahore, Balrampur (Oudh), Patna, Dacca, Poona, Ahmedabad. (5) Reports on Vital Statistics by the various Medical Boards, Medical Departments, and Inspectors-General of Hospitals; since 1827 these assume a prominent place. (6) The Annual Reports ol the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India, since 1874, and of the Sanitary Commissioners to the local Governments ; the Annual Reports of the Inspectors-General of Jails, of the Inspectors-General of Police, and of the health officers to municipal bodies in the various Presi- dencies and Provinces. (7) Reports by special Committees or Commis- sions, such as those on the Bardwan fever, on the cattle-plague in Bengal, the Orissa famine of 1866, the Madras famine of 1878, etc. (8) Annual Reports of the public hospitals, dispensaries, and other medical charities. I have been unable to test all the dates in this footnote ; but reproduce some of them, unverified, from a memorandum supplied to me by Dr. Morehead, formerly of Bombay. 53° INDIA. [death-rate. Registra- tion of general population. Why untrust- worthy. The Census, Sources of eiTor. Death -rate in India. Average duration of life. health statistics of the ordinary population of India. For that population, however, a system of registration exists, and this system forms the fifth source of our data on the subject. In certain Provinces, registration is carried out with some degree of efficiency. But the natives shrink from publicity touching the details of their life. They could only be forced to give uniform and absolutely trustworthy returns of births, deaths, marriages, sex, and age by a stringent legislation, and a costly administrative mechanism, from which the Govern- ment wisely abstains. In municipalities, however, registration furnishes a fairly accurate account of the vital statistics of the urban population. For the rural Districts, special areas have in some Provinces been selected for statistical supervision. The Census operations, conducted under special legislation, will furnish a general picture of the Indian people every ten years. But the complete details have, up to the present time of writing, been obtained only for the Census of 1871. The chief results of the Census of 1881 are given at page 67. In treating of the public health of India, therefore, three points must always be borne in mind. The data are obtained either, first, from limited classes under special medical condi- tions ; or second, from limited areas under special statistical supervision ; or third, from a general system of registration spread over the whole country, but which has hitherto failed to yield trustworthy results. General averages from such sources, struck for the entire population, can only be accepted as estimates based upon the best information at present available. Subject to the above remarks, it may be stated that the evidence goes to show an annual death-rate of 3 2 "5 7 per thousand in India. During the famine of 1877-78, the death- rate in Madras was ascertained to be equal to an annual rate of 53'2 per thousand. In 1877, the death-rate among the European troops in India was 1271 per thousand, being the lowest recorded ; in the native army, 13 ’38 per thousand; in the public jails, 61 '95 per thousand, rising to 176 per thousand in the Madras prisons, which were flooded by the famine- stricken population. The returns of births, as given hereafter for each Province, are too untrustworthy to allow of an attempt to calculate the birth-rate for the whole country. The average duration of life in India is, on slender foundation, estimated at 3o| years. Instead of attempting generalizations, which, although interesting to the speculative statist, might mislead the actuary and be perverted into an unsound basis for induction, I shall confine myself to the returns as furnished for the separate VITAL STATISTICS.] INDIA. 53 1 Provinces ; together with the health statistics of the European troops, the native army, and the jail population. The following paragraphs are condensed from the Report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India, for 1877. In Bengal, the system of collecting statistics over selected areas has been abolished, and an attempt is being made to obtain returns equally from the whole Province. The regis- tration of deaths in 1877 showed a ratio of i7'96 per mille (varying in different Districts from 36 down to 8), which, according to the Sanitary Commissioner, ‘ must be very much under the truth.’ The mortality in towns (where the registra- tion is less incomplete) is returned at 3 2 ‘49, compared with 17 ‘39 in the rural circles. Of the total death-rate, 20-24 was among males, and only 15 -69 among females, ‘a discrepancy which must be due in the main to defective registration.’ The registered number of deaths in 1876 was 16-41, and in 1873, io-oi per inille. The following figures show the causes of the deaths registered in 1877 : — Cholera, 2-58 per inille ; small-pox, 0-13 ■ fevers, 11-85 > bowel complaints, 0-98 ; injuries, 0-34; all other causes, 2-05 per mille. The birth-rate, which averaged io-ao for the whole Province, varied, according to the returns, from 35 in Patna to only 6 in Bardwan and Bakarganj Districts. The male births are returned as exceeding the female births in the proportion of 1 18 to 100. Excess of births over deaths in Bengal Presidency in 1877, 0-07 per thousand of the population. An Act, passed in 1873, f°r the compulsory registration of births and deaths was in force in 92 towns of Bengal in 1877. In the Madras Presidency, both births and deaths were much affected in 1877 by the famine which desolated that part of the country, and registration was conducted under special difficulties. Though many defects are consequently apparent, the Sanitary Commissioner is of opinion ‘that the relative intensity of the famine in different circles is fairly represented by the mortuary registration.’ The registered death-rate was 53-2 per mille ; and in Madras city the rate was 1 16 -7 per thousand (see article Madras Presidency, Imp. Gaz. vol. vi. pp. 137, 138). Among males, the ratio is given as 58-4, and among females 48-06, ‘which points to imperfec- tions in the record of female deaths.’ The following figures show the causes under which the deaths of 1877 in Madras were classified in the Sanitary Commissioner’s Report : — Cholera, 12-2 per mille; small-pox, 3-02; fevers, i6"o6; bowel complaints, 4-5 ; injuries, 0-5 ; all other causes, 16 -8 per mille. Vital statistics of Bengal. Vital statistics of Madras. 532 INDIA. [vital statistics. Vital statistics ofBombny. North- Western Provinces and Oudh. The number of registered deaths in 1876 was 23 '34, and in 1875, 21 'i per mille. The famine resulted in a marked reduc- tion in the birth-rate, the ratio for 1877 being only 16 '3, or less than that of 1876 by more than 5 per mille. For every 100 female births, 107 male births were registered. In the nine Districts where the famine was most severe, the birth-rate was only 12, whereas in the eight where the people suffered less the rate was 20 per mille. Excess of deaths over births in Madras Presidency in 1877, according to the above figures, 36*9 per 1000 of the population. The registration of births and deaths was not compulsory in Madras in 1877. In the Bombay Presidency, famine affected the death-rate in 1877, and the year -was also more than usually unhealthy, cholera and small-pox being both epidemic. The mortality, according to the returns, was at the rate of 3876 per mille , varying in different Districts from a maximum of 101 to a minimum of only 8. The deaths among males were returned at 41 ‘32, and among females at 36-01 per 1000. In the famine-stricken Districts the mortality was 5 5 '09, compared with 2571 per mille in 1876. The following figures show the causes of the deaths registered in 1877 : — Cholera, 3-53 ; small-pox, 1 ‘69; fevers, 2079; bowel complaints, 3 72; injuries, 0-46; all other causes, 8-55 per mille. The deaths registered in 1876 were 21-81, and in 1875, 22-47 per 1000. Besides the causes already referred to as affecting the figures for 1877, the Sanitary Commissioner states that increased attention was paid to registration during the year. The birth- rate in the Bombay Presidency in 1877 was 19-26 per mille (varying from 29 to 6), or 2-09 per mille less than the ratio for 1876 — ‘a result which is for the most part ascribed to the effects of famine ; but also, in great measure, to neglect in registration.’ For every 100 female births, in male births were registered. Excess of deaths over births in Bombay Presidency, 19 "54 per 1000 of the population. The North-Western Provinces and Oudh together returned a death-rate in 1877 of i9'67 per mille , varying from 29 to 12. For Oudh alone, the ratio was 17-1 ; and for the North-Western Provinces alone, 20 ‘6. The mortality in the towns of the amalgamated Province was 29-43, compared with 18-99 >n the rural circles ; and of the total death-rate, 2 1 -06 was among males, and 18-12 among females. The registered number of deaths in 1876 was 21-94 per mille , and in 1875, 19-96. The following figures show the causes of the deaths registered in 1877: — Cholera, 0-74; small-pox, 0-84; fevers, 13-45; bowel VITAL STATISTICS.] INDIA. 533 complaints, i '98 ; injuries, 0-46; all other causes, 2-20. The registration of births was in 1877 confined to the munici- palities in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, but since then it has been carried on throughout the Province. The average birth-rate registered in the municipalities in 1877 was 39-22 per mille, varying from 70 at Orai to 14 at Dehra. Excess of births over deaths per 1000 of the population, 10-27. In the Punjab, the death-rate for 1877 is recorded as 20 Vital per mille, and the same rate applies to both males and females ^fa^ics taken separately. The District average varies from 27 per punjab. mille in Lahore to 8 in Kohat on the frontier. In the towns, the mean mortality was 33, varying between a maximum of 52 (in the town of Delhi) and a minimum of 12 (in Kohat). The registered number of deaths in the Punjab in 1876 was 28-42, and in 1875, 25-7 per mille. The year 1877 was remarkably healthy, and unusually free from epidemics. The following figures show the causes for the deaths registered : — Cholera, o’ooi; small-pox, 0-70; fevers, 12-54; bowel complaints, roi ; injuries, 0-29; all other causes, 5-52 per mille. In 1877, births were registered only in the municipal towns of the Punjab, and the results showed a birth-rate of 31-86 per mille ; number of males to every xoo females, in. Excess of births over deaths per 1000 of the population, 5. In the Central Provinces, the recorded death-rate in 1877 Vital was 23-91 per mille , varying from 38 in Mandla to only 18 in ^j^105 Nagpur District. Among males the death-rate was 25-66, and Central among females, 22-11. In the towns, the ratio was 35-86 Provinces- per mille. The registered number of deaths in the Central Provinces in 1876 was 30-38, and in 1875, 26-32 per mille. The following figures show the causes of the deaths recorded in 1877: — Cholera, 0-46; small-pox, 0-37 ; fevers, 17 -70 ; bowel complaints, 2 -o 1 ; injuries, 0-48; all other causes, 2-89. Births were in 1877 registered throughout the Central Provinces, the ratio being 39-26 per 1000 of the population; varying from a maximum of 45 in Bilaspur to a minimum of 3 1 in Nagpur. The number of male births recorded was 111 for every 100 female births. Excess of registered births over deaths in the Central Provinces in 1877, 15-35 per 1000 of the population. In Berar, the Sanitary Commissioner describes the regis- vital tration as more accurate, and he does not attribute the high statistics death-rate for 1877(28-1 per mille) to exceptional unhealthi- ness, but rather to more careful registration. In the towns alone the mortality was returned at 31-4 per mille. The registered number of deaths in Berar in 1876 was 31-9, and 534 INDIA. [vital statistics. Vital statistics of Assam. British Burma. in 1875, 40 '2 per mille. The following figures show the causes for the deaths recorded in 1877 : — Cholera, 0-4 ; small- pox, 2 ‘9 ; fevers, 15 '8; bowel complaints, 4-8; injuries, 0-4; all other causes, 37 per mille. The birth-rate shown by the returns of 1877 was 39 '5, varying between 47 in Akola and 35 in Wun District. The number of male births recorded was 109 for every 100 female births. Excess of births over deaths in Berar in 1877, 11-40 per 1000 of the population. In Assam, the system of registration in 1877 was that formerly in vogue in Bengal, of which this Province until recently formed part. The returns were taken over certain selected areas, and the results were quite untrustworthy. The death-rate, as ascertained from these returns, was only 10 -9 per mille, varying between a maximum of 29 and a minimum of 5. The registered number of deaths in Assam in 1876 was 9'33, and in 1875, 1 97 per mille. The following figures show the causes of the deaths registered in 1877: — Cholera, 2 '9 per mille; small-pox, 07 ; fevers, 4 '9 ; bowel complaints, 1 -5 ; injuries, 0-2 ; all other causes, 1 per mille. The births recorded in the selected areas were at the rate of 20 per mille, 1 1 being males and 9 females ; the ratios varied between 34 and 10. The figures show an excess of deaths over births in Assam in 1877 of 4-9 per 1000 of the population. In British Burma, registration is declared by the Sanitary Commissioner (1877) to be even more defective than in the worst Provinces of India. The average death-rate, according to the returns, was 17-44 per mille, the ratio for males being 18, and for females 16 per 1000. In Myanoung, the deaths were returned at 1 19, and at Maulmain at less than 13 per mille. In the towns the mortality was 34 per mille, com- pared with 15 in the rural circles. The number of deaths registered in British Burma in 1876 was 14-79, and in 1875, 14-08 per mille. The following figures show the causes of the deaths recorded in 1877 Cholera, 2-47; small-pox, 0-41; fevers, 8-85; bowel complaints, 2-34; injuries, 0-18 ; all other causes, 3-15 per mille. The birth returns showed a rate of only 2 1 per mille ; ‘ and this general average,’ to use the words of the Report in 1877, ‘is made up of such extremes that no reliance can be placed on the figures.’ In one place the birth-rate was no less than 115 per 1000, in another it was under 6. The male births registered were 105 for every 100 female births. Excess of births over deaths in British Burma in 1877, 4 per thousand of the population. After what has been stated in the introductory paragraph of HEALTH OF TROOPS.] INDIA. 535 this section, it is manifest that the figures quoted from the Report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India are of little or no value for the purpose of establishing the comparative healthiness or unhealthiness of the different portions of the country. To construct a comparative table out of the provincial returns would be misleading, if any attempt were made to use it for actuarial purposes. But tables on the following pages, 536-37, may be interesting as showing the defects and uncertainties of Vital Statistics in India. The wide variations in the birth and death rates for various Districts usually arise from different degrees of imperfection in the registration. Health of the European Army. — The sanitary statistics of the Health army in India are, in every way, more trustworthy than those °f tlie . . J European obtained for the general population ; and as they have been Army. regularly collected on a uniform system for a number of years, it is possible to draw valuable inferences. The sanitary history of the European Array during 1877 General was more favourable than that of any previous year of which statistics of the statistics are on record. The total strength of the 1 European Army in India in 1877 was returned at 57,260 men; the admissions into hospital numbered 7x^92 (1257 per 1000 of average strength); daily sick, 3196 (56 per xooo) ; deaths, 728 (1271 per 1000). The corresponding ratios for 1876 were: — admissions into hospital, 1361 per 1000; daily sick, 56; and deaths, 15-32 per 1000. The averages for the five years 1871-1875 were as follows : — admissions into hospital, 1394 per 1000; daily sick, 57; deaths, 17-62 per 1000. * Not only,’ rates the Sanitary Commissioner, ‘ do the results compare favourably with the averages of the five years 1871 to 1875, but, what is deserving of special notice, the admission-rate and death-rate are the lowest which have yet been attained.’ Invaliding reached a minimum in 1876, when the ratio wras 38-90 per 1000 of average strength. The figures for the Bengal Presidency separately were even more satisfactory, the mortality being only 1 1 ‘64 per 1 000, much below what it had ever been before. In the- Madras Presidency, the mortality was 1 6 ’83 per 1000, rather above the ratio for the preceding year. The mortality in the Bombay Presidency was 12-09 Per 1000; invaliding in this Presidency w-as 48-04, a higher figure than had been obtained for seventeen years. In all three Presidencies, the same diseases formed the ten Ten chief chief causes of sickness, with slight variations in the order in ty“ses of \_Sen fence continued on p. 538. slc'nesS' Birth-rate among General Population in Indian Provinces in 1877. 536 INDIA [vital statistics. X O PS tn M rt X >> Births were not registered in Oudh. Death-rate among General Population in Indian Provinces in 1877. VITAL STATISTICS.] INDIA. 537 Death-rate per iooo. Female. Ov m O *-< co 0 vo 'Pr PT* P'PPP vo 00 0 Cl VO V 00 VO M M *-« ^ co Male. rf VO O vO 1^ O O M M O p vp -t p vf p o vo * 00 vb 00 m M M MM *-« ^ rt -t- -I- Ratio of Deaths per iooo of Population in Districts. Mean. vo Q — O O O VO ov vo P 9s r / P ^ Is cv O co 00 r^ O ro CO M M M 10 CO Minimum. CO M CO 00 O *-« ^ N CO -« -* M •-« •- +■ +- Maximum. vOOv r^. 00 rt* Cv Cv Qv *-< COM M CO CO •”< M *-< O Average Population per Square Mile. vo Ov vocotJ-co^MO •- O VO •- CO CO CO M CO rf r}- ~ ~ ~ hh m - Area in Square Miles. Tj- M vo M N fO Cv 00 vO *-•0 vo M 00 OV VO ^ C\ *+ M M CO CO h r? rf 10 veT OcT rC CO r? rt O OVO*“«OOMCOM Population under Registration. M •-» v> r}- in m rf N m COr}- M N ^ CO VO rt* Tt" co *-■ O On Ov co vn r^. COT? N CO*1 rf ■? in cfv M CvM 00 0 00 CO O O CO Cvr^» rf •-« Cv 00 M »-« dv N N N N ff co d vd' vo i-1 M Province. 'Bengal, .... North-Western Provinces and Oudh, 3 g Punjab § § Central Provinces, 03 w _ k Berar, Ph British Burma, .Assam, .... Madras Presidency, .... Bombay Presidency, O £ £ G rO ^ £ 5 H o o c.<2 £ 1 o G Pq 03 <*> H3 £ rt $5 s •- o G G. t}" o r° tID rO »-*-• ci . . £ S .2 a ij « a. VO 00 c/» u 'g .9 I a ? o vO 2 M 538 INDIA. [vital statistics. The chief causes of mortality. Health in Bengal and Madras. Young soldiers. Causes of invalid- ing. Sentence continued from p. 535.] which they occurred. These ten were : — malarial fevers, venereal diseases, wounds and accidents, abscess and ulcer, respiratory diseases, rheumatism, diarrhoea, hepatitis, dysentery, and eye diseases. They are here given in the order of their frequency (1877) in Bengal. Malarial fevers, which stood first in both Bengal and Bombay (408 and 492 admissions per 1000 respec- tively), were replaced at the top of the list in Madras by venereal diseases (231 admissions per 1000); respiratory diseases and rheumatism, which took the fifth and sixth places in Bengal, were eighth and ninth in Madras ; whereas dysentery and hepatitis, which came fifth and seventh in Madras, came ninth and eighth in Bengal, and occupied the same position in Bom- bay. The arrangement of the diseases in all three Presidencies in 1877 accorded generally, to a remarkable extent, with the experience of previous years ; and the year may be taken as a typical one. The ten principal causes of deaths in Bengal in 1877 were, in the order of their frequency : enteric fever, hepa- titis, injuries, apoplexy, heart diseases, phthisis pulmonalis, malarial fevers, respiratory diseases, dysentery, suicide. In all three Presidencies, the ten forms of disease which contributed most to the death-rate were the same, with the exceptions that respiratory diseases did not form part of the list in Madras, nor malarial fevers in Bombay, and that cholera, which is not in the list just given for Bengal, occupied a high place in both the others. The figures quoted in this section show that while the admission rate in Madras was lowest, in all other respects Bengal compared favourably with the other two Presidencies. It showed the lowest sick-rate, the lowest death-rate, and the smallest proportion of loss by invaliding. Cholera was not prevalent during 1877, and added but little to the mortality throughout India; of the cases which occurred, 65 per cent, were fatal. The experience of a number of years goes to show that enteric fever is in the main a disease of young soldiers new to India, the majority of sufferers being men in their first or second year. With reference to the great prevalence of venereal diseases in the European army, it is stated that ‘ the working of the lock hospitals in all three Presidencies during 1877 must be pronounced to have been more or less a failure.’ The most important diseases on account of which men were invalided in 1877 were: — general debility (12 '63 per 1000), hepatitis (5 ‘55), diseases of heart and large vessels (3'62), phthisis pulmonalis (3U4), dysentery and diarrhoea (2-56), HEALTH OF TROOPS.] INDIA. 539 rheumatism (i'98), secondary syphilis (1-40 per 1000). In 1876 and 1875, the same causes occupied the first seven places, except that fevers, which do not appear in the 1877 list, stood sixth in 1875, and seventh in 1876. The ratios for the three years under each head were remarkably similar. The following tables show — (1) the health-statistics of the European troops throughout all India, for a series of years; and (2) the sick- ness, mortality, and invaliding among those troops in 1877, arranged separately under the three Presidencies : — Death-rate among European Troops in India, 1871-1877. Period. Average Strength. Ratio per iooo of Average Strength. Admissions into Hospital. Daily Sick. Deaths. Invaliding. Total Loss. 1871 to 1875, . 58.432 1394 57 1 7 62 43 '°9 60-71 1876, 57.858 1361 56 15-32 38-90 54-22 1877, 57,260 1257 56 12-71 42-25 54-96 Sickness, Mortality, and Invaliding among European Troops in the Three Presidencies during 1877. Presidency. Average Strength. Ratio per iooo of Average Strength. Admissions into Hospital. Daily Sick. Deaths. Invaliding. Total Loss. Bengal, 36,179 1246 54 11-64 39 '07 50'7I Madras, . 10,989 1X77 58 16-83 47 ‘47 64-30 Bombay, . 10,092 1365 58 12*09 48-04 60-13 Health of the Native Army. — The sickness and mortality in 1877 in the regular Native Armies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, the Central India Regiments, Punjab Frontier Field Force, and Haidarabad Contingent, are shown by the following figures : — average strength of troops (present with regiments), 113,966; admissions into hospital, 1030 per 1000; daily sick, 32; deaths from cholera, 1-53; deaths from all causes, 10 ‘90, Health of the Native Army, 54° in Bengal in Madras; inBombay. Results in the three Presi- dencies compared. INDIA. [vital statistics. or, including men dying while absent from their regiments, 1 3 '38 per 1000. In the Bengal Native Army, the death-rate in 1877 was 10 "32 per 1000, a lower ratio than for any one of the previous ten years, during which the average was 13 '84. In the Central India Regiments, the death-rate was 9*7 1, as against ii’io per 1000, the average of the preceding ten years. In the Punjab Frontier Field Force, the mortality was i2'26 in 1877, compared with 15 "88, the average of the ten years preceding. Altogether, the Sanitary Commissioner reports that the health of the Native Army in Bengal was better in 1877 than in any previous year. In the Madras Native Army, the mortality, including deaths among absentees, was 14*36 per 1000. Of the different parts of the country to which the Madras troops are sent, Southern India showed the least sickness, and British Burma, with the Andamans, the smallest mortality. In the Bombay Native Army, the death-rate, including deaths among absentees, in 1877 was i2-96 per 1000, varying from 1 1 '65 in regiments in the northern Division of Bom- bay, to 1 8 -8 1 for those in the Konkan. The figures for Madras and Bombay are given very briefly, as the Sanitary Commissioner accepts the returns from those Presidencies with considerable reserve, owing to statistical discrepan- cies, due to some extent to a want of uniformity in the pro- cedure followed in the three Presidencies. The returns for the Haidarabad Contingent in 1877 were more favourable than those for any other portion of the Native Army. The admis- sions into hospital were only 806 per 1000 ; daily sick, 26; and mortality (including deaths among absentees), 9*61 per 1000. The number of deaths from cholera, however (4 ‘43 per 1000), was much above that recorded in any other part of the Native Army. The sickness and mortality in the Regular Native Armies and other forces are compared in the following statement : — HEALTH IN JAILS.] INDIA. 54 1 Sickness and Mortality among Native Troops in 1877. qJ~ V j- ^ Ratio per iooo. Presidency, etc. i: £ c w = 1 G .0 * S .2 E A O 4) -fl’-o b D rt 3 § 0.- •- G ^ a-s s ? = CO >> *r3 A c/j v pG G cS cS .s 4-> a rG Jg (D *r3 CJ G rt r3 Ph >v j>V •7-. 2: > tv .£P CO 1>0 rt ’ G M z 0 O rG < in W u ►— H Q 2 W Pi Ph < a 2 ~ ^ g c 3 . & 5 ^ C/2 cS (3 .2 > S3 cj "o U ^ -T3 . c a § .2 x> rt <2 'Eb -2 *“* D D O «H-H O >v O G G CJ D > c3 C/3 *G JQ IS x <0 ►» _c t£> 3 O 43 Persons per house. tv CO -f tv O tv O O On XO CO O On tv tv CO H’VO JN On tv On CO M

> C3 S? 1 In calculating the averages for Bengal, the area of the Sundarbans is excluded. 2 The averages for Assam are only calculated on the figures for the Districts in which the number of houses or villages was reckoned. 3 Aden and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are excluded from all the statements, as not, geographically speaking, being in British India. N.B. — The above Table includes about 4 millions of people under Native Chiefs superintended directly by the Provincial Governments. It is taken from the Abstract of the Census of 1871-72 presented to Parliament. APPENDIX II.— Towns and Villages in British India, classified according to Population, in 1871. 546 APPENDICES. Total No. of Towns, etc. N uvf ID -to ID ’to >D tvvO d 7 H CO *t CO "T VO CN CO ON O CO 1-0 O tv. vO G\ N NiD vo VO m CO VO tN. O O ■ rf IO w to CN rf IDO Nh (J\ W COCO w H U)CI 493.429 Having Number of Inhabi- tants un- specified. rt- CO - On Cl :::: h : ; ::::co: * * * • h d * tv TO Numuer of Towns and Villages Having above 50,000 In- habitants* co : co : h loci : ei : h o o $ Having 20.000 to 50.000 In- habitants. 7 1 'tH m -t- 'o ci : : co ci m d 1 M H • • Cl H to On vO UD Having 15.000 to 20.000 In- habitants. co m co h Ttco co : : : co m rf Having 10.000 to 15.000 In- habitants. Cl COVO w d w to to co : con 0 Tj* d W d • ^ co tv O d Having 5000 to 10,000 In- habitants. CO Ct N O OnvO CO N h 0 CO tv NH CO Ttf-CNd dM m On w M M * CO W O vO q M Having 3000 to 5000 In- habitants. d CO CO ON ^ VO ID'l w 10 On CO TO vO d d y CO O H CO VO ON ^ CO TO O CO co O . CO of CO Having 2000 to 3000 In- habitants O CO O TO O ^-VO On On h On h 1 10 >-> CO 1-1 VO | VO m J Q CO H VO 00 VO TO WOO - ^ CO TO M Having 1000 to 2000 In- habitants. d 0 on co mow h CO’tN h vO CO CO VO Tj- TO tv CO M « d O COND w d CN On 0 rj- ON d rf d~ Having 500 to 1000 In- habitants. Tf ON d TO VO CO LO^ ID -t H co 1DN 7 'T- CO VO tv 10 TO WHO rf IO d“ d w COH CON CO 00 O O tv VO ID ID N M On rf 448,320 Having 200 to 500 In- habitants. TO H 00 Tf Ov 00 CO COWVO d *- Cl Tf TOvO CO d TO ON d O covd C0~ O ON TO Cl M rj- O d rf IN CO d rf ID On O vO - rf 10 w ID ^-CO TO TO co coo 0 M Having 1 less than 200 In- habitants. VO rt- ^i-vo CO to CO tv COO 00 -t CO N Oih O ID N NON 4lf, O' 00 TOCO* On m h J TO On CO ON CO CO CO N O h ON d 00 VO 00 w On CN M M J Provinces. Bengal, ..... Assam, North-Western Provinces, Ajmere Oudh Punjab Central Provinces, . Berar,2 Mysore,2 Coorg British Burma, Madras, Bombay, ..... Total, . 3 a as £ M g 3 O £3 tj-B .8“ 9 b •g S 3 E £ g a 3 L-. s Z jj "rt o' u3 O ^ *3 12 "o H s « w z « D H fc3 & H ►J D U Z £ < > H _} D U >< 5 z p-, p- < Total Square Miles. CO d ONCO-tf-KOvO O ON d VO COVO O to rj- ON 00 ON CO O O to w" co w' ^tslscfco 00 d W 00 H d 00 M TO tv d Unspecified, in square miles. co CvVO tv co On(N N Cv co co to : d : : co VO O d Cultivated, in square miles. Tj- Cvvo VfONH fO^t NO O t^Tt-MVO M HLOC^dCOWHTi- O CD pi CD tveo co -tH CDO 0 d tv d CO M Cultivable, in square miles. O' N Tt ID d 0 d tv O VO COrJ-to^d M W VO n-00 d ON W m N 4 pi H CD CD to w d d CO 103,486 Uncultivable, in square miles. tv On CO •'t-vO VO to d dvo H TflDd H 0 NNvOCO vtO Nh vd tovd dvo” to m on Cl ^ CO w 190,842 Total, . . . j Provinces. North-West Provinces, Oudh Punjab, ...... Central Provinces Berar Mysore Coorg, British Burma, ■This Table, No. III., is taken from the Abstract of the Census of 1871-72 presented to Parliament. APPENDIX IV.— Population of British India, classified according to Sex and Age, in 1871. APPENDICES. 547 553>42° Assam, !,287 37* 646 10 1,102,373 1,104,687 N orth-WestProvinces, 152,965 2,128,244 537,391 37,216 1,332,935 4,188,751 Ajmere, . 2,973 53,232 i>779 26,672 4,738 62,722 Oudh, 51,679 166,516 191,880 674,543 1,111,290 9,102,488 Punjab, . 212,540 15,487 716,090 99,026 8,074,832 Central Provinces, 81,708 52,811 8,273 74,594 232,563 Berar, 19,534 88,466 37,787 4,431 4,733 154>95I Mysore, . 208,793 208,793 Coorg. 11,298 11,298 95,631 British Burma, 53 64,606 7,724 561 22,687 Madras, . 89,219 511,112 536,478 70,943 12,407 1,188,533 1,872,214 Bombay, . 181,870 85,579 12,399 1,712,018 2,528,344 Total, 790,984 4,700,320 1,841,693 219,755 32,674,800 40,227,552 Asiatics Non-Asiatics. Provinces. not Na- tives of India. Mixed Races. British. Other Euro- peans. Euro- peans, unspe- cified. Ameri- cans, Afri- cans,Aus- tralians. Total. Unspeci- fied. Grand Total. Bengai, 33,248 20,195 16,841 2,342 ... 2,730 21,9*3 90,680# 60,467.724 Assam, North-West 13,782 84 610 63 21 694 8o,ooo£ 4,132,019 Provinces, 574 2,701 8,157 331 3,822 123 *2,433 3,495 30,781,204 Ajmere, 65 316,032 Oudh, . 467 990 6,771 93/ 6,771 158,281*/ 11,220,232 17,611,498 Funjab, Central Pro- 235,537 1,559 17,803 34 64 17,994 vinces. 371 1,422 288 25 4,052 11 4,376 -n.e 8,201,519 Berar, . 9* ...A 903/1 2,231,565 Mysore, 241 2,920 3,615 103 916 iS 4,652 ... 5,055,412 Coorg, . 18 229 142 18 19 2 181 ... 168,312 British Burma, 14,026 4,189 4,371 403 227 153 5,i54 75 2,747,148 Madras, 2,121 240,448 26,426 ... 14,553 *4,553 4,724 31,281,177 16, 349,206 Bombay, 47,687 23,907 4,681 3,839 32,427 96,625 Total, . 540.989 108,402 75,734 8,000 30,453 6,961 121,148 434>772 190,563,048 a In Jalpaiguri. b In the Garo Hills. c Including those distinguished by nationality only. d. Including 130,548 religious mendicants and 18,848 travellers. e Including Sikhs. f Christians, nationality unspecified. ^•The numbers given under each description exceed the total population by n. Ji There are 903 Christians in Berar, but their nationality is not stated. i Of these, 1,583,792 are Burmese proper. k These are Hindus only, excluding Karengs, etc.; the total number of Native Christians in British Burma is elsewhere stated to be 34,310. N. B.— This Table, No. V., is taken from the Abstract of the Census of 1871-72 presented to Parliament. APPENDIX VI.— Asiatic Non-Indian Population of British India, classified according to Nationality, in 1871. APPENDICES. 549 •poypadsun jo’ ‘JoqiQ •treu£§ | M *3S3U1^|5 •JSJ M •undicrej^ •iirejqojq *M3f •OSOU'BdBf I •osauTq^ •jiaiqsB^i •mq-Bjg ~EUnqg *M3niBa •irciuamjy •q^jy cn 2 *o^q3jv •a-BiuissAqv | O £ U C3 o r w N.B. — This Tabic, No. VI., is taken from the Abstract of the Census of 1871-72 presented to Parliament. APPENDIX VII.— Non-Asiatic Population of British India, classified according to Nationality, in 1871. 550 APPENDICES. Total. CO On Cl *4* ON VO ci co cf H tx tx VO •*4- ON ON tx M vO tx co Cl bO VO CO M Tf* bo bo CO bo bo M tx Cl ■'4- cf CO tx ^4* Cl *treiSBp&qsny ON M co tj- w M NO Cl iO p $ 6 13 3 0« i/f O O .3 6 Ch 13 M O u o' i- 0 to 0 0 vj rt g tS "7n a in d T 3 d >x d B 0 a 13 0 h 1 93 of these belong to ' Miscellaneous ’ Christian races, their nationality being unspecified. N.B, — This Table, No. VII., is taken from the Abstract of the Census of 1871-72 presented to Parliament. APPENDIX VIII.— Population of British India, classified according to Religion, in 1871. APPENDICES. 551 1 90,680 in Jalpaiguri, and 35,173. » 2 In the Hill Districts and Goalpara. 3 Of these, all except 4328 ' others ’ are inhabitants of the Jaipur Zamindart, who were omitted from the Census Report. N.B. — This Table, No. VIII., is taken from the Parliamentary Statistical Abstract relating to British India, 1879. APPENDIX IX.— List of tiif. 139 Towns in British India, of which the Population according to the Census of 1871 EXCEEDS 20,000. 552 APPENDICES. Population. O ON On Pn VO HfOrt-ONO'OONOMO On LOO O CO M 0 « ps* LO LO O t'-OO CO P-s O LO 0 OO -1- CO CO OO CO h N PI O (MOO O' ON Nh t^O VO LOLO>t POP! ON LO lO ’t 0 NnO lO 't CO N N NO rtCOCI Cl VO CO mm VO VO LO 10 VO LO rf ^rf^Tf^fcOCOCOCOCOCi Cl Cl cT Cl cT cT m“mmm Cl Cl Cl Cl Cl Cl Cl dWCICICICIdddCICI Cl Cl Cl Cl Cl Cl Cl Cl Cl Cl Presidencies and Provinces. Punjab . A j mere . Madras . Do. . Punjab . Do. . Do. . Bombay . Punjab . Bombay . Bengal Punjab Bengal N.W.P. . Do. Berar2 N.W.P. . Madras . Punjab . Bengal Bombay . Bengal Madras . Bengal . Madras . Bengal N.W.P. . Madras . Towns. Umballa 1 Cantonment j Ajmere . Karniil . Ellore Sidlkot (town) . Pan i pat . Dera Ismdil 1 Khdn J • Nariad Rewdri Sdtdra Serampur Umballa (town) Vaihdti . Chandausi Hdthras . Amrdoti . Jaunpur . Adoni Peshdwar ) Cantonment j Purl Ndsik . Hajipur . Anndmalai Rdmpur 1 Beauleah j Berhampur Chandrakona . Mdinpuri . M dyavaram Population. Cl Cn.PI ION T4-lO’sJ'CI O CO NO CO CO Cn CJ m -f- Cl rpCO O ^ m cIm^n^mm C^CO CO lo O T ON -t LO On CO 00»OCIOCIvOOCICOCICOmO VO CN Cl N lO On On rfCI m VO NO ■'T Cl 00 m Cl On COCO Cl m 0_ On CO CO 000 h COON CO CO Cl Cl - rr VO VcT vO LO LT) -f -rf CO m O On OCO CO 00 CO tS. fC CnnO vo" nO“ lo rf rf CO Cl" Cl' Cl Cl w Tr^^Tj-Tj-rj-r^^Tj-rt-COCOCOCOCOCOCOcOCOCOCOCOCOCO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO Presidencies and , Provinces. B. Burma Bengal . Do. Cent. Provinces Punjab . Madras . Bengal N.W.P. . Bombay . Madras Punjab Bengal N.W.P. . Bengal Bombay . Madras . Bombay . Oudh Madras . Bombay . Do. Madras . Do. N.W.P. . Bengal N.W.P. . Bengal Bombay . Punjab . Madras . Bengal . T owns. Moulmein Chapra , Murshiddbdd . Sdgar (Saugor) Multdn . Kombakonam . Behar Sahdranpur Haidardbdd Cuddalore Ludhidna Arrah Ghdzlpur . Muzaffarpur . Shikdrpur Vellore . Hubli Faizdbdd . Conjevaram Broach . Ahmednagar . Masulipatam . Coimbatore Amrohah Hugh and ) Chinsurah j ‘ Budaun . Bardwdn . . Belgaum . Bhiwdnl . Vizagapatam . Midnapur Population. to 'lo^lo’cI CN CO O ^00 CO CO°lO 0 VO CO On Cl ^V'lO *+ h vO ’t O nO CO Cl -^-CO PnCO w °ir) + 0 IB PnCO O m Q On m Cl PnOD Pn rfco Cl O' 00 -^CO O CO CO Pn m m On CO LO VO O- LO tN M CN ^ 0 NO LO CN Pv.C0 CO m On On N Cn CO Cl <0 m vO Cl 0100 O-vO^ Cl LO ''f tv. rf 1000“ O1 CN CO Cl CO Cl 00“ no" tN. Cl 00 00 Pv O’ w“ OnO Cl On On PxVO Cl O' OCO~ On -f O' CO P^ioLO-1-O-O-COCI m m O O On O n O' 00 CO N tN P>NO O NO vO VO LO lo lo PnVQ cOCImmmmmmmmmmmh Presidencies and Provinces. Bengal Bombay . Madras . Oudh N.W.P. . Bengal , Punjab . N.W.P. . Do. Mysore . Punjab . N.W.P. . Bombay . Do. Do. N.W.P. . Punjab . B. Burma Bengal Cent. Provinces N.W.P. . Do. Madras . N.W.P. . Bengal Do. N.W.P. . Bengal N.W.P. . Bengal N.W.P. . Punjab . Towns. Calcutta . Bombay . Madras . Lucknow . Benares . Patnd Delhi Agra Allahdbdd Bangalore Amritsar . Cawnpore Poona Ahmeddbdd Surat Bareilly (Bareli) Lahore . Rangoon . Howrah . Ndgpur . Meerut . Farrukhdbdd . Trichinopoli . Shahjahdnpur . Bhdgalpur Dacca Mlrzdpur. Gya . Moraddbdd Monghyr . Muttra Peshdwar. APPENDICES. 553 rt- CO 04 -t-co *f Cl Tt- o ON 04 04 1000 “ ~ “ O O O 00 VO N « — \ >n£_ a meat ;sz: —I . CfJ iZ N 2 s= -3 § u t: « g,is P^j.s^a^^|3c J^Sssl'Slga ■^deSSi?** £ 8 H n £pc tN.O 04 On 04 o 04 CO to rj- 04 NO VO vO O N CO m O O to to 04 tH o CO >-< 00 TfCOCOM 04 too LOCO M o C-x to ON CO 0-s CO NO On N N CO h m O CO CO t^O ; > So’c S-Sj,> Si S-S, :--> = ccc^ccc , - ,.3 ttj 0-0>003-CJ03 ZSZ^ua aZaaaaZaaa a m2 P . . p . p c: • =? g(5|| C ’ O ctf " g C’ § §: 0 o J> £ S • o u C/5 Q. CO . 0 , r- ■ — 1 I— ' 03 0±00>tfl.S,ij±0 b£> c c c 2 c 2 G = 2 o M JS _• o 3 a 2 Zm a 2u2 oZ R.S.- « 3 v a tt 3 9 — ja « .£-333: 2 2 2 S >,3: -fj -a e X S S =J-3 sjs-2»g-S-3 3 §* g c ^ 2 Sl'gSslA-S i < S ' C/D H *5 CQ o U S4 rt _ rt3 *&;- « c5 20 bJO c — 3 rt 3: 3: -P S g Cw a -3 t. a O 0) •O TJ 5a s £ £ O — — ^ a 10 <23 2 a .sl £ 1/3 O ccJ T} *o 2 .S rf S o CJ O o tJD C rt & 3 cu o A £ - £ c n, c3 •5| •p '<- 3 c £ - n . 'a o c *-• rt c «u U T3 > _ ci d ,g r* § t ^a <» O .t2 > o ^ ^ cl ^ Jj u tJ 3 e) ^ CQ E.5S 1 ■a ! § ; JD >N 05 ■| a £ a, a 3 O C5 1 a g — c ;> o O 3 O 3 ° - O a. (/> rH ^ X 2 CQ o TZJ 15 ^ S ’o ^ c ^ vw a. ,-. qj H < ° a I n ■fl o to a a a 2 N N.D. — This tabic, No. IX., is taken from the Parliamentary Statistical Abstract relating to British India, 1879. 554 APPENDICES. APPENDIX X. — Rates of Customs Import Duty in British India, and Gross Amount received in 1878. Articles. Rate of Duty after Notification of March 18, 1878. Duty received Year ending March 31, 1879. Apparel, 5 per cent. .£25,268 Arms, Ammunition, etc., . 1 5,617 Asphalt, Cement, Earthenware Piping, Free. 18 etc., Cabinet ware and Furniture, Do. 16 I Candles, ...... Do. 3 Rupees. Canes and Rattans, .... Do. 20 Caoutchouc, Raw and Manufactured, . 5 per cent. 502 Carriages, etc., Free. 3 I Chemical Products, Brimstone, and Do. 161 other sorts. Chinese and Japanese Ware, 5 per cent. 968 Clocks and Watches, .... Do. 2,398 Coffee, ..... Free. 5 Coir, Raw and Manufactured, . Do. Coral, Real, ..... 5 per cent. 4,040 Cordage and Rope of Vegetable Fibre Free. 54 (excluding Cotton and Jute), Corks, ...... 5 per cent. 1,003 Cotton, Raw (not Asiatic), Free. ,, Twist and Yam, . ^ h per cent. 2 90,205 ,, Piece-Goods,. 5 per cent.3 672,157 ,, Other Manufactures, Drugs and Medicines (except Opium), Do. 8,918 Do. 13.276 Dyes (except Lac), .... Do. 4,712 Earthenware and Porcelain, Do. 6,064 Fireworks, ..... Do. 2,137 Flax, Raw, Free. ,, Twist and Yarn, Do. ,, Piece-Goods, . Do. 4 ,, Other Manufactures, Do. 152 Fruits and Vegetables, Do. 6 Glass, Bottles, ..... Do. ,, Other sorts, .... Gums and Resins, 5 per cent. 16,163 Do. 3,930 Hardware and Cutlery, Do. 21,161 Hemp, Manufactured,4 Free. 4 Carry forward, £878,960 1 By Act XI. of 1878, the maximum duty levied on arms, etc., imported for private use, is 10 per cent. The rates leviable on such articles imported for other purposes are fixed by a schedule (Rs. 50 for each firearm, Rs. 15 for a pistol, etc.). 2 Grey Mule Twist No. 32, and lower numbers, and Grey Water Twist No. 20, and lower numbers, free from 20th March 1878. 3 T cloths under 18 reed, jeans, domestics, sheetings, and drills, free if containing no yarn higher than thirties. Grey cotton piece-goods, how- soever designated, containing no yam higher than thirties, free from 15th March 1879. 4 Raw hemp is free. APPENDICES. 555 Rates of Customs Import Duty in British India, and Gross Amount received in 1878 — continued. Articles. Rate of Duty after Notification of March 18, 1878. Duty received Year ending March 31, 1879. Brought forward, . ^878,960 Hides and Skins, Raw, Free. ,, ,, Dressed, Do. 3 Rupees. Instruments and Apparatus, Musical, . 5 per cent. 1.543 99 )9 Other, • Free. 44 Ivory, Unmanufactured, 5 per cent 6,011 ,, Manufactured, Do. 160 Jewelry and Plate,1 .... Do. 1.725 Lac, ....... Free. Leather, U nwrought and Manufactured , Do. 5 Liquors, Malt, „ Spirits, .... 1 Anna per Gal. 6,790 4 Rupees per Gal.2 286,847 ,, Wines and Liqueurs, . Varying from 1 to 4 Rupees per Gal. 68,104 ,, Other sorts, . 1 Anna per Gal.3 209 Matches, ...... 5 per cent. 4.225 Mats, Free. 2 Rupees. Metals, Brass, 5 per cent. 2,031 „ Copper, .... Do. 70,300 , , Iron, Anchors and Cables, 1 per cent. 326 ,, ,, Cast and Wrought, Do. ) ,, ,, Other sorts, . 5 per cent.4 ) 17,072 ,, Lead, Sheets for Tea Chests, . Do. 3,024 ,, ,, Other sorts, . Do. 2,203 ,, Quicksilver, .... Do. 3,158 ,, Spelter or Zinc, Do. 7,841 » Steel, Do. 3,530 .» Tin, Do. 8,669 ,, Unenumerated,5 . Military Uniforms and Accoutrements,6 Do. 1,301 Free. 18 Oil and Floor Cloth, .... Do. 4 Rupees. Oils,7 Do. 407 Opium, ...... 24 Rupeesper Seer. 4 Paints and Painters’ Materials, . 5 per cent. 10,467 Paper: Wall Paper, .... Free. ,, Other kinds, Pasteboard, etc.,. S per cent ri2 Perfumery,8 Do.9 2,619 Pitch, Tar, and Dammer, . Free. 0 Carry forward, . £1,387,709 1 Precious stones and pearlsjunset are free. 2 If for use in arts, manufactures, or chemistry, 10 per cent. 3 Ginger ale free, 16th July 1879. 4 Iron-ore and kentledge, free. 5 Current coin and bullion are free. 6 Free, if imported for private use by persons in the public service. 7 Cocum and slush fat are free. 8 Musk is free. 9 Perfumed spirits taxed as spirits, if in wood or bottles containing more than half a pint. 556 APPENDICES. Rates of Customs Import Duty in British India, and Gross Amount received in 1878 — continued. Articles. Rate of Duty after Notification of March 18, 1878. Duty received Year ending March 31, 1879. Brought forward, . £1.387.709 Provisions, ..... 5 per cent.1 27.447 2 Railway Plant and Rolling Stock, Free. 941 Salt, from Foreign Ports, . . ) Rs. per ^ 2,198,553 ,, Indian, . . . . \ Maund.3 ( 114,108 Seeds, ...... Free. 327 Shells and Cowries, .... 5 per cent. 1,697 Silk, Raw, ..... Do. 25,989 ,, Piece-Goods, .... Do. 34,523 ,, Other Manufactures, . Do. 2,937 Soap, Free. 3 Spices, S per cent. 20,613 Stationery, ..... Do. 3,948 < Sugar, etc. , Do. 62,803 Tea, ....... Do. 7,906 Telegraph Materials, Iron, . ,, „ Other, 1 per cent. ) 5 per cent, j 16 Tobacco, ...... 5 per cent. 4,075 Toys, etc., Do. 3,008 Umbrellas, ..... Do. 11,898 Woollen Goods, Piece-Goods, . Do. 33,366 ,, Shawls, . Do. 4,932 ,, Other Manufactures,. Do. 3,867 Articles imported by Post, . Various rates. 4,328 Other Dutiable Articles, . 5 per cent. 4,333 Total, .... £3,959,326 1 The duty on salted fish imported from foreign ports or from British Burma is 12 annas per cwt. - Including dried fruits, etc. 3 Reduced to this rate by notification of 31st July 1878, for all parts except in Bengal, where the duty is Rs. 3, 2 annas per maund, and in British Burma, where it is 3 annas per maund. Salt was exempted from duty, if imported at Calcutta, and issued to manufacturers of glazed stone- ware, 14th July 1877. In the Finance accounts the receipts from salt are not included with Customs. * Excluding paper, pasteboard, and millboard. INDEX. Aboriginal criminal tribes, 86. Aboriginal or non-Aryan tribes, 69-88. For details, see Table of Contents. Abu, Mount, in Rajputana, sacred to the Jains, 156. Adil Shahi, Muhammadan dynasty in Southern India (1490-1636), 232. Administration of India (British), 328- 369. For details, see Table of Con- tents. Afghanistan, History of, under the Duranis (1747 - 1826), 308 ; early British dealings with, 308, 309 ; dynastic quarrels, 308 ; installation of Shah Shuja and occupation of Kabul by a British force, 309 ; rising of the Afghan people, murder of the British Envoy and Political Envoy, and massacre of the British army on its retreat to India, 309, 310; the army of retribution, 310 ; Lord Ellen- borough’s proclamation, 310; second Afghan war (1878-81), 326, 327 ; mur- der of Sir L. Cavagnari, the British Resident, 327 ; occupation of Kabul, 327 ; Sir F. Roberts’ march from Kabul to Kandahar, and defeat of Ayvib Khan, 327. Agra, East India Company’s Agency at (in 1620), 276. Agra Canal, 422. Agricultural stock, 411-413, 414. Agriculture and products, 380-431. For details, see Table of Contents. Ahams, tribe in Assam, formerly the ruling race in the Province, 175. Ahmednagar, Muhammadan kingdom of Southern India (1490-1636), 232. Akas, an aboriginal hill tribe in Assam, 73- Akbar the Great, founder of the Mughal Empire (1556-60 A.D.), 235-242; chief events of his reign, 239 ; con- ciliatory policy towards the Hindus, 236 ; reduction of Rajput chiefs, and extension and consolidation of the Empire, 237-239 ; his religious faith, 239 ; army, judicial, and police reforms, 239, 240 ; his revenue survey of India, 240, 241 ; revenues of his kingdom, 241, 242. Ala-ud-din, the second king of the Khilji dynasty (1295-1315 A.D.), 225, 227; his invasion and conquest of Southern India, 225, 226 ; massacre of Mughal settlers, 226. Albuquerque, second Viceroy of Portu- guese India (1509), 267; capture of Goa, and death there, 267, 268. Alexander the Great, his expedition to India, and campaigns in the Punjab and Sind (327-325 B.C.), 158-161. Ali Vardi Khan, Nawab of Bengal (1740-56), 284. Aligarh, Battle of, 300. Aliwal, Battle of, 312. Almeida, Francisco de, first Viceroy of Portuguese India, 267. Altamsh, the third monarch of the Slave dynasty (1211-1236 A.D.) : invasion by Mughals, 223. Ambala darbar. The, 325. Amboyna, Massacre of, 276. Amherst, Lord, Governor -General of India (1823-28), 304-306; first Burmese war (1824-26), 305; capture of Bhartpur, 306. Andaman islanders, The, 70, 71. Antimony, 493. Arab expeditions to Bombay and Sind (636-828 A.D.), 213. Architecture, Ancient Indian, 120, 121. Arcot, Capture and defence of, by Clive (1751), 282. Argaum, Battle of, 300. Armagaon, East India Company’s factory established at (in 1625-26), 276. Army of India, its constitution, 361 ; the armies of the three Presidencies, 361, 362; strength, 362; health and vital statistics, 535-541. 553 INDEX. Arts and manufactures, 469-485. For details, see Table of Contents. Aryan races of India, 89-136. For details, see Table of Contents. Asoka, Buddhist King of Magadha or Behar (257 B.C.), his rock edicts, I44-I47- Assaye, Battle of, 264, 300. Astronomy, Brahmanical system of, 113- 115. Aswamedha or Great Horse Sacrifice of Ancient India, 166. Atharva-Veda, The, 98. Auckland, Lord, Governor-General of India (1836-42), 308, 310; Afghan affairs and our early dealings with Kabul, 308, 309 ; Dost Muhammad and dynastic wars, 309 ; installation of Shah Shuja and occupation of Kabul by a British force, 309 ; rising of the Afghan people and massacre of the British army in its retreat to India, 309, 3io. ' Aurangzeb, sixth Mughal Emperor of India (1658-1707 a.d.), 248-254; chief events of his reign, 248, 249 ; murder of his brothers, 249 ; conquests in Southern India, 249, 250 ; rise of the Marhatta power, 250 ; Aurangzeb’s ‘Grand Army,’ and twenty years’ guerilla war with the Marliattas, 250, 251 ; his despair and death, 251 ; un- successful expedition to Assam, 251 ; his bigotry and persecution of the Hindus, 251, 252 ; revolt of Rajputs, 252 ; revenues of the Empire, 253 ; Aurangzeb’s character, 254. Babar, first Mughal Emperor of Delhi (1526-1530 a.d. ), early life, defeat and overthrow of Ibrahim Lodi at Delhi, 234- Bahmani, Muhammadan dynasty in Southern India (1347-1525 A.D.), 231 ; subjugation by the Mughals, 232. Baji Rao, second Marhatta Peshwa (1720-40), 261; conquest of the Deccan and Malwa, and capture of Bassein from the Portuguese, 261. Baji Rao II., seventh and last Marhatta Peshwa (1795-1S18), 264; second and third Marhatta wars, and annexation of the Peshwa’s territories, 264. Balaji Baji Rao, third Marhatta Peshwa (1740-61), 261 ; expeditions to Bengal and to the Punjab, 261, 262 ; defeat of, by Ahmad Shah Durani at the third battle of Panipat, 262. Balaji Vishwanath, first Marhatta Peshwa (1718-20), extorts chauth from the Delhi sovereign for the Deccan, 261. Balance of trade (India’s), 441, 442. Balasor, East India Company’s factory started at (in 1642), 277. Balban, the last king but one of the Slave dynasty (1265-87), his cruelties to the Hindus, 224 ; Rajput revolts and Mughal inroads, 224, 225 ; his fifteen royal pensioners, 225. Bari Doab Canal, 421. Barid Shahi, Muhammadan dynasty of Southern India (1492-1657), 232. Barlow, Sir George, ad interim Governor- General (1805-1807), 301 ; mutiny of Vellore, 301. Baroda, Marhatta State in Western India, 263 ; deposition of the late Gaekwar for an attempt to poison the British Resident at his Court, 263. Bassein, Capture of, from the Portuguese by the Marhattas, 261 ; treaty of, at the conclusion of our second Marhatta war, 264. Bears, Different varieties of, 518, 519. Beast stories and fables, 134. Bells, Manufacture of, 478. Bengal, Early English settlements in, 276-279. Bentinck, Lord William, Governor- General of India (1828-35), 306, 307 ; his reforms, 306 ; abolition of sati, 306 ; suppression of thagi, 307 ; renewal of Company’s charter, 307 ; Mysore taken under British admini- stration, and Coorg annexed, 307. Bhakta-Mala, the Hindu A eta Sanctorum, I93> 194- Bhars, The, aboriginal tribe in Oudh, 174. Bhartpur, Repulse of Lord Lake before, 300; capture of, by Lord Combermere, 3°6. Bhils, aboriginal tribe of Khandesh and Rajputana, 87, 88. Bhonsla, family name of the Marhatta State of Nagpur, lapsed to the British for want of heirs in 1853, 263, 316. Bhutan war (1864-65), 324. Bidar, Muhammadan kingdom of Southern India (1492-1657 A.D.), 232. Bijapur, Muhammadan kingdom of Southern India (1489-1688 a.d.), 232. ‘ Black Hole,’ The tragedy of the, 284. Bolan, mountain pass into Afghan- istan, 29. Bombay ceded to the East India Com- pany (1661 A.D.), 277, 278. Bor-Ghat, mountain pass in the Western Ghats, 55. Bore, The, or tidal wave in the Hugh' and Meghna, 49, 50- Botany of India, 526-528. Boundaries of India, 25, 26. INDEX. 559 Brahma, the Creator, the first person in the Hindu triad, 108. Brahmanas, The, sacred Sanskrit writings explanatory of the sacrifices and duties of the priests, etc., 99. Brahmans, the priestly caste of Ancient India, 101 ; struggle between the priestly and warrior castes, and ulti- mate supremacy of the Brahmans, 102, 104; the four stages of a Brahman’s life, 105, 106 ; Brahman theology, the post-Vedic gods, 107, 108 ; the six darsaiias or Brahman schools of philo- sophy, 109, no; Sanskrit grammar and speech, no, in; manuscript and dictionaries, in- 113; Brahman astronomy, 113 -115; mathematics, 115-118; war, 118, 1 19; music, 120; architecture, 120, 121 ; painting, 121 ; law, 121-125 ; secular literature, the Epics, 125-131 ; poetry and the drama, I3I_I33 5 novels, beast stories and fables, 133, 134 ; the Puranas, 135 ; attacks on Brahmanism from the 6th century B.c. to the 19th century A.D., 135, 136; the Brahman caste analyzed, 179, 180. Brahmaputra, one of the great rivers of India, 34-36 ; its course and confluents, 34, 35 ; silt islands, 35, 36 ; changes in course, 36 ; traffic, 36. Brass and copper work, 477, 478. Breweries, 485. British administration of India, 328- 369. For details, see Table of Con- tents. British Burma, its geography, products, etc., 59. British India, its twelve Provinces, area, and population, 60, 61 ; in 1881, 67. Buddhism, and life of Gautama Buddha, r37- r 56. For details, see Table of Contents. Buffaloes, 41 1, 522. Building-stone, 493. Burnes, Sir Alexander, Assassination of, in Kibul (1841), 309. Cabral’s expedition to India (1500 A.D.), 267. Calcutta founded (1686), 277 ; capture of, by Siraj-ud-Daula — the ‘ Black Hole,’ 284 ; recapture by Clive, 284. Camels, 41 1. Campbell, Sir Colin (Lord Clyde), Re- lief of Lucknow by, 321 ; campaign in Oudh, 322. Canning, Earl, Governor - General of India (1856-62), 317; the Mutiny of 1857-58, 318-322; downfall of the Com- pany, 322, 323 ; India transferred to the Crown, and the Queen’s proclama- tion, 323 ; Lord Canning, the first Viceroy, 323 ; financial and legal re- forms, 324. Carnelians, 495. Carpet weaving, 475. Caste : formation of the four castes, 100, 101. Caste system, The, its religious and social aspects, 178-186. Catholic Missions, 372-376; origin of Christianity in India — St. Thomas, 372 ; Nestorianism, 372 ; first Catholic mission (1500 A.D.), 372; Xavier and the Jesuits, 372, 373 ; Syrian rite, 373 ; Nestorian remnants, 373; early Jesuit priests, their literary work, 373, 374 ; Jesuits suppressed (1759-73), 374; re-establishment (1814), 374; organ- ization of Roman Catholic missions, 375 ; Archbishopric of Goa, 375 ; dis- tribution of Roman Catholics, 375 ; Verapoly vicariate, 375 ; Pondicherri Mission, 376 ; Catholic colleges, 376 ; finances, 376. Cattle, Breeds of, 41 1. Cawnpore, The Mutiny at, 320 ; massacre of the garrison, with women and chil- dren, 320, 321. Chain armour, Manufacture of, 477. Chaitanya, Hindu religious reformer (1485-1527 A.D.), his life and teach- ings, 204-206. Chait Sinh, Raja of Benares, Exactions of Warren Hastings from, 293. Chandra Gupta, King of Magadha (316 B.c.), 160, 161. Changes of river-beds and deserted river capitals, 49. Character of the non-Aryan tribes, their fidelity as soldiers, 86, 87. Charak-/w/a or hook-swinging festival, 198, 199. Chera, ancient Hindu dynasty in Southern India, 214, 230, 231. Cherra-Punji, Rainfall at, 29, 30. Chilianwala, Battle of, 313. Chola, ancient Hindu dynasty in Southern India, 214, 230, 231. Christianity in India, 370-379. For details, see Table of Contents. Chronological table of Muhammadan conquerors and dynasties (1001-1857 A.D.), 216. Cinchona cultivation, 402, 403 ; intro- duction of the plant, 402 ; the planta- tions in Southern India and Darjiling, 402, 403 ; statistics of out-turn and financial results, 403. Clive : struggle with Dupleix in the Kar- natic, 281 ; defence of Arcot, 282 ; recapture of Calcutta, 284 ; battle of Plassey. 285 ; Clive’s jagir, 286 ; 560 INDEX. appointed first Governor of Bengal, 287, 289 ; his partition of the Gangetic valley, 289 ; grant of the diwani of Bengal, 289 ; reorganization of the Company’s service, 290. Coal mining, 487-489 ; history of Bengal coal mining, 487 ; coal in the Central Provinces, 487, 488 ; Raniganj coal- fields, 488 ; outlying coal-beds, 488 ; its geology, 501, 502. Coasting trade of India, 459, 460. Cobalt in Rajputana, 493. Coffee cultivation, 395-398 ; its introduc- tion into India, 395 ; area under culti- vation, 397 ; suitable sites for gardens, 397 ; processes of preparation, 397, 398 ; export of, 453, 454. Commerce and trade, 438-468. For details, see Table of Contents. Common origin of European and Indian religions, 90. Communication, Means of, 432-437. For details, see Table of Contents. Coote, Colonel, defeat of Lally atWande- wash (1761), 283. Copper mining, 492, 493. Cornwallis, Marquis of (1786-93), 294- 296 ; the Permanent Settlement of Bengal, 295, 296 ; second Mysore war, 296; second administration of (1805), 301. Cotton cultivation and manufacture, 388- 390 ; the American war, 388 ; cotton Districts in India, area under cultiva- tion and out-turn, 389 ; imports of Manchester goods, 448 ; exports of raw cotton, 449, 450 ; export of manu- factured cotton, 454 ; decline of cotton weaving from Manchester competition, but still a domestic industry, 470, 47 1 ; steam cotton mills, 480-483. Crops of the Himalayas, 30, 31 ; of the river plains and delta, 51-53; of Southern India, 58 ; of Burma, 59. Crushed tribes, 86. Cutlery manufactures, 477. Dalhousie, Earl of, Governor-General of India (1848-56), 312 -317; his ad- ministrative reforms, 313 ; inauguration of the Indian railway system and the Public Works Department, 313 ; second Sikh war and annexation of the Pun- jab, 313, 314 ; second Burmese war and annexation of Pegu, 314; his policy with Native States, 315, 316; annexation of Oudh, and Lord Dal- housie’s justification of the measure, 316, 317. Damascened steel work, 477. Deccan, The, or Southern India, 53-59 ; its mountain ranges and elevated table- land, 54, 55 ; mountain passes, 55 ; rivers, 56, 57 ; scenery, crops, and minerals, 57-59. Decline and fall of the Mughal Empire (1707-1857), chief events, 254, 255 ; the six puppet kings, 255, 256 ; indepen- dence of the Deccan and Oudh, 256; the Marhatta chauth , 256 ; invasions of Nadir Shah the Persian and Ahmad Shah the Afghan, 256, 257 ; misery of the Provinces, 257 ; third battle of Panipat, 257 ; fall of the Empire, 257- Deer, Varieties of, 521. Delhi, Siege and storm of, 321. Delta of Bengal, 42-48. Density of the population, 62, 63 ; over- crowded and under-peopled Provinces, 63, 64 ; population entirely rural, 63 ; unequal pressure of the population on the land, 66. Diamonds, 494, 495. Dig, Battle of, and defeat of Holkar, 264. Districts, Number of, in India, 333. Diwani, or financial administration of Bengal granted to the East Indian Company, 289. Dongargaon, mart in the Central Pro- vinces, 467. Drama, The Indian, 132, 133. Draupadi, the wife of the five Pandava brethren in the epic of the Mahabharata, 126-128. Dravidians, The, aboriginal races of Southern India — their languages, 80- §3- . Dupleix, French general and admini- strator, his straggle in the Karnatic with Clive, 281, 282. Dutch, The, in India, 270, 271 ; their supremacy in the Eastern seas, brilliant progress, and decline, 270, 271. Early Muhammadan rulers, 213-233. For details, see Table of Contents. East India Companies (English), 272- 279 ; first charter, 273 ; amalgamated companies, 273 ; early voyages, 273, 274 ; defeat of the Portuguese at Swally, 274 ; wars with the Dutch, 275, 276 ; massacre of Amboyna, 276 ; early English factories, 276-279; foun- dation of Calcutta (1686), downfall of the Company, and transfer of India to the Crown, 322-324. Ecclesiastical Department, The, 371. Educational statistics, 362-368 ; education in ancient India, 363 ; Sanskrit tols, 363 ; Calcutta Afadrasa, 363 ; mission schools, 364 ; Indian universities, 364, 365 ; colleges, 365, 366; upper, middle, INDEX. 561 and primary schools, 366, 367 ; girls’ schools, 367, 368 ; normal and other special schools, 367. Elephants, Domestic and wild, 413, 519. Elgin, Lord, Viceroy of India (1862-63), 324- Ellenborough, Earl of, Governor-General of India (1842-44) : the Afghan army of retribution under Generals Nott and Pollock, 310 ; Ellenborough’s Somnath proclamation, 310; conquest and an- nexation of Sind, 310, 31 1. Ellichpur, Muhammadan kingdom of Southern India (1484-1572), 232. Embroidery work, 474. Ethnical division of the population, 67, 68. European Settlements, 265-280. For details, see Table of Contents. Everest, Mount, peak in the Himalayas, and highest measured mountain in the world, 28. Excise administration — distilleries, opium, ganja, tobacco, 349, 350. Export trade of India, its origin and growth, 443-447, 451-460. Famines, 426-531 ; causes of scarcity and of real famine, 427 ; means of husband- ing the water supply, 427 ; irrigation area, 419-426, 428 ; summary of Indian famines, 428, 429 ; the great famine of 1876-78, its causes, 429, 430; famine ex- penditure, 430 ; mortality from disease and starvation, 430, 431 ; famine a weak check on population, 431. Ferdousi, Persian poet and historian in the days of Mahmud of Ghazni, 219. Fetish worship in Hinduism, 191. Filatures. See Silk. Finances and taxation of India, 351-361 ; its obscurities and changes in system of account, 351, 352; taxation of British India, 352, 353 ; taxation under the Mughals, 352, 354 ; gross and net revenue and expenditure of India, .356-361. Firozshahr, Battle of, 312. Firuz Tughlak, the third king of the Tughlak dynasty (1351-88 A.D.), his great canals and public works, 229. Fishes, 524, 525. Flora of India, 526-528. Foreign trade of India — exports and imports, 442-459. Forests of the Himalayas, 30, 416; in Southern and South-Western India, 57; in Sind and Punjab, 415, 416; North-Western Provinces, 416 ; Sun- darbans, 416; Assam and Burma, 416, 417. Forest conservancy statistics, 417. See also 526-528. Frontier trade of India, 460-463. Fruits, Varieties of, 3S7. Gandamak, Treaty of, 327. Ganges, The, 36-40 ; its river system and course, 36, 37 ; discharge, 37 ; sanctity, 38 ; the great fertilizer and highway of Bengal, 39 ; traffic, 40 ; great cities, 40. Ganges Canal, 422. Gautama Buddha, the founder of the Buddhist religion ; his life and doctrine. See Buddhism, 137-143. Geographical aspects of India, 25-59. For details, see Table of Contents. Geology of India, 496-504. For details, see Table of Contents. Ghakkars, a tribe in Rawal Pindi Dis- trict, 173, 174; their invasions of India, 222, 224. Ghats, Eastern, mountain range along the eastern coast of India, 54, 55- Ghats, Western, mountain range along the western coast of India, 54, 55-, Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlak, founder of the Tughlak dynasty (1320-24 A.D.), 227. Ghor, Dynasty of, 220-223. Gingi, Surrender of, 283. Gipsy clans, 86. Girls’ schools, 367, 368. Gita Govinda, The, or ‘ Divine Herds- man,’ the song of Krishna, 134. Godavari irrigation works, 424. Goddard, General, his march across India during the first Marhatta war, 294. Gonds, aboriginal tribe in the Central Provinces, 71. Golconda, Muhammadan kingdom of Southern India (1512-1688 A.D.), 232. Gold and gold mining in Southern India, 491, 492. Goldsmiths’ and jewellers’ work, 475- 477- Gough, Lord: battles of Chilianwala and Gujrat, 313. Governors, Governors - General, and Viceroys of India (1757-1881), 287. Greeks in India, The, 157-165. For details, see Table of Contents. Gujrat, Battle of, 313. Gunny-bags, Exports of, 454. Gupta, ancient Indian dynasty in Northern India (319-470 A.D.) : their struggle with and overthrow by an invasion of Scythians or White Huns, 169, 170. Gurkhas, War with the (1814-15), 302; services during the Mutiny, 322. Gwalari, mountain pass, 29. 562 INDEX. Hala Mountains, a southerly offshoot of the Himalayas, 29. Hardinge, Lord, Governor-General of India (1844-48), 311, 212; history of the Sikhs and of the first Sikh war — battles of Mudki, Firozshahr, Aliwal, and Sobraon, 31 1, 312. Hastings, Marquis of, Governor-General of India 11814-23), 301-304; war with Nepal and treaty of Segauli (1815), 302; Pindari war, 302, 303; last Marhatta war and annexation of the Peshwa’s Dominions (1818), 303, 3°4- Hastings, Warren (1772-85), 290-294; his administrative reforms, 290 ; policy towards native powers, 291 ; first Governor - General of India (1774), 291 ; makes Bengal pay, 291, 292 ; sale of Allahabad and Kora to the Wazir of Oudh (1773), 292 ; the Rohilla war, 292 ; plunder of Chait Sinh and the Oudh Begam (1780), 293 ; Hastings’ impeachment and seven years’ trial in England, 293 ; the excuse for his measures, 293 ; first Marhatta war and treaty of Sal- bai, 293, 294 ; first war with Mysore (1780 84), 294. Havelock, Sir Henry : defeat of the Cawnpore mutineers, 320 ; first relief of Lucknow, 321. Himalaya Mountains, The, 25-32 ; the double wall and trough, 27, 28 ; passes and offshoots, 28, 29 ; water supply and rainfall, 29, 30 ; scenery, vegetation, and products, 30, 31 ; animals and tribes, 31, 32 ; geology, 496-498. Hinduism, Rise of, 177-212. For de- tails, see Table of Contents. See also Brahmans. Hiouen Thsang, Chinese Buddhist pil- grim, 152-154. History of British rule, 281-327. For details, see Table of Contents. Holkar, family name of the chief of the Marhatta State of Indore : rise of the family to power, 263. Horses, Breeds of, 41 1, 412; Govern- ment studs, 412 ; horse fairs, 413. Hugh, East India Company’s factory established at (in 1640), 277. Human sacrifice, 92 ; among the Kandhs, 78 ; in Siva worship, 198. Humayun, second Mughal King of Delhi (1530-56), 234; expulsion from India by his Afghan governor of Bengal, 235 ; subsequent recovery of the throne by the second battle of Panipat, 235. Ibrahim Lodi, Defeat and overthrow of, by Babar at the first battle of Panipat (1526 a.d.), 234. Imad Shahi, Muhammadan dynasty of Southern India (1484-1572), 232. Import trade of India, 447-449. Indo-Aryan stock, its European and Eastern branches, 89, 90 ; their march towards and into India, religion, etc., 90, 91- Indigo, Cultivation of, in different locali- ties, 391, 392 ; system of indigo plant- ing, and out-turn, 392, 393 ; export of, 453- Indo-Gangetic plain, Geology of, 498, 499- Indus, great river of Northern India and Sind, 32-34 ; its inundations, 420, 421. Internal and local trade of India, 463- 468. Iron mining and smelting, difficulties of Indian ironworks, 486. Ironwork, 477. Irrigation, irrigated area in different tracts, and statistics, 419-426. Ivory carving, 480. Jagannath, Worship of, 208-211; his Brahmanical and Buddhist origin, the Car festival, 208, 209 ; English calum- nies against Jagannath, self-immolation not practised, 209, 210; bloodless worship and gentle doctrines, 210, 211. Jahangir, fourth Mughal Emperor of India (1605-27 A.D.), 242-244; chief events of his reign, 243 ; his Empress Nur Jahan, 244 ; personal character, justice, and religious toleration, 244, 245- Jail statistics, 362 ; vital statistics of Indian prisons, 541, 542. Jains, the modern representatives of the Buddhists in India, 155, 156. Jaipal, Hindu chief of Lahore, his defeats by Subuktigin and Mahmud of Ghaznf, 217, 218. Jalal-ud-dfn, the first king of the Khilji dynasty (1290-95 A.D.), 225. Jats, The, their Scythian origin, 167, 168. Jayadeva, a celebrated Sanskrit poet, 134- Jhansf, Native State lapsed to the British for want of heirs, 316 ; revolt of the ex-princess in 1857, 322. Journalism and newspapers, 368, 369. Juangs, a leaf-wearing tribe in Orissa, 72. Jumna, great river of Northern India, and chief tributary of the Ganges, 38. INDEX. 563 Jumna Canal, Eastern, 422. Jumna Canal, Western, 421. Jungle products, tasar silk-worm, lac, etc., 405-407. Jungle rites in Hinduism, 192. Jute, Cultivation of, 390, 391 ; export of raw jute, 450, 451 ; of manufactured jute, 454, 455 ; steam jute mills, 483- 485. Kabir, Vishnuvite religious reformer (1380-1420), claimed as a saint by both Hindus and Muhammadans, 194; his doctrines, 203, 204. Kaders, aboriginal tribe of the Anamalai Hills, Madras, 71. Kalidasa, famous Hindu poet and dramatist (56 B.C.), 131, 132. Kanchanjanga, mountain in the Hima- layas, 28. Kankar or nodular limestone, 494, 503. Kanishka, Buddhist king in North- Western India (40 A.D.), his great council, 147, 148. Karagola, large trading fair, 468. Karakoram, pass over the Himalayas from the Punjab into Eastern Turkis- tan, 28. Karma, Buddhist doctrine of, 142. Kamatic, English and French wars in, 281-283. Kasimbazar, East India Company’s factory established at (1658), 277. Kasim’s expedition and temporary con- quest of Sind (714 A.D.), 213. Kauravas, their cjuarrel and struggle with the five Pandavas, as related in the Mahabharata, 126-128. Kaveri (Cauvery) irrigation works, 424. Khaibar, mountain pass into Afghanis- tan from the Punjab, 29. Kandhs, aboriginal hill tribe of Orissa and Northern Madras, 76-79 ; their patriarchal government, 76 ; wars and punishments, ‘blood revenge,’ 76, 77 ; agriculture, 77 ; marriages by ‘ cap- ture,’ 77 ; serfs attached to their villages, 77, 78 ; human sacrifices, 78 ; the Kandhs under British rule, 78, 79- Khilji dynasty, The (1290-1320 a.d.), 225-227. Khusni Khan, renegade Hindu king of the Slave dynasty (1316-1320 a.d.), 227. Koch, an aboriginal tribe in Northern Bengal, 175. Kolarians, aboriginal races of Bengal and Central India, 80-83. Krishna worship, 207. Kshattriyas or wrarrior caste of ancient India, 100- 103. Kumarila, a Brahmanical religious re- former (750 a.d.), 177, 194. Kuram, mountain pass into Afghanistan from the Punjab, 29. Kutab-ud-din, the first of the Slave dynasty, and the first resident Muham- madan sovereign in India (1206-10 A.D.), 223. Kutab Shahf, Muhammadan dynasty in Southern India (1512-1688), 232. Lac industry, 406, 407 ; export of, 453. Lakshman Sen, last independent Hindu King of Bengal, his overthrow by Muhammad of Ghor (1203 a.d.), 222. Lally, Defeat of, at Wandewash by Coote (1761), 283. Land settlement, 334-347 ; ancient land settlement of India, 334 ; Musalman land tax, 334, 335 ; the Company’s efforts at land settlement, 335 ; the growth of private rights, 335 ; the Per- manent Settlement of Bengal (1793), 337, 338 ; oppression of the cultivators, 338 ; land reform of 1859, 338, 339 ; the Rent Commission (1879), and further schemes for reform, 339 ; tem- porary' settlements in Orissa and Assam, 339> 34° ! Madras rayatwdri settle- ment, 340-342 ; survey tenure of Bom- bay, 343 ; Southern India Agricul- turists’ Relief Act (1879), 344, 345 ! land system of the N.W. Provinces and the Punjab, 345, 346 ; the talukddrs of Oudh, 346 ; land system of the Central Provinces, 346 ; the land revenue of India, 346, 347. Languages of non-Aryan tribes, 79'84> common origin of European and Aryan speech, 89, 90. Laswari, battle-field ; defeat of Holkar at, 264. Laterite, 503, 504. Law, Brahmanical codes of, 121-124 ; modern Hindu law, 123. Law, The, of British India, 330, 331. Lawrence, Lord, Viceroy of India (1864- 1869), 324, 325 ; famine in Orissa, 324, 325 ; Bhutan war, 324 ; inquiry into the status of the Oudh peasantry, 325 ; the commercial crisis of 1866, 325- Lawrence, Sir Henry, Resident at Lahore (1845), 3I25 Chief Commissioner of Oudh (1857), death in Lucknow, 321. Lead, 493. Leaf-wearing tribe of Orissa, 72. Leather work, 474, 485- Leopard, The Indian, 517. Limestone, 493. Literature of India, secular, 125-135, 368, 369. 564 INDEX. Lodi dynasty. The (1450-1526 A. D.), 230. Lucknow, Siege and relief of, 321. Lytton, Lord, Viceroy of India (1876- 1880) : Proclamation of the Queen as Empress of India : great famine of 1 877-78 : second Afghan war, 326, 327- Macnaghten, Sir William, Assassination of, at Kabul (1839), 309. Madhu Rao, fourth Marhatta Peshwa (1761-72): the five Marhatta houses, 262. Madhu Rao Narayan, sixth Marhatta Peshwa (1774-95) : first Marhatta war, and treaty of Salbai, 264. Madras, founded in 1639, 277, 281 ; capture of, by the French: seige of, by the English : restoration to the British, 282. Madrasa, Muhammadan college of Cal- cutta, 363. Mahabharata, the epic poem of the heroic age in Northern India : the struggle between the Kauravas and Pandavas, 125-129. Mahmud of Ghazni (1001-1030 A.D.), his seventeen invasions of India, 217, 218 ; patriotic resistance of the Hindus, 218 ; sack of Somnath, 218, 219 ; con- quest of the Punjab, 219. MahmudTughlak, last kingof theTughlak dynasty (1389-1412 a.d.) : invasion of Timur (Tamerlane), 230. Malik Kafur, slave general of Ala-ud-din (1303-15), his conquest of Southern India, 226. Man Sinh, Akbar’s Hindu general and governor of Bengal, 237. Manu, the founder of Sanskrit law, 12 1, 122. Manufactures and arts, 469-485. For details, see Table of Contents. Manure, use of, 381 ; want of, 409, 410. Marble, 493. Marhattas, The, 258-264. For details, see Table of Contents. Marias, aboriginal tribe in the Central Provinces, 71. Maris, aboriginal tribe in the Central Provinces, 71. Masulipatam, East India Company’s factory established at (in 1622), 276. Mathematics, Brahmanical system of, 115- Mayo, Earl of, \iceroy of India (1869- 1872) : the Ambala darbar : visit of the Duke of Edinburgh : administrative reforms : abolition of customs lines : assassination at the Andaman islands, 325- Means of communication, 435-437. For details, see Table of Contents. Medicine, Brahmanical system of, 1 1 5- 1 1 7 ; modern medical schools, 118. Meerut, Outbreak of the Mutiny at, 319. Megasthenes, Seleukos’ ambassador to the court of Chandra Gupta, 157, 161 ; his description of India and of Indian society (300 B.C.), 161-163. Meghna, the estuary of the Brahmaputra river, 35. Metcalfe, Lord, Governor-General of India (1835-36), 307, 208. Meteorology, 505-515. For details, see Table of Contents. Mhairs, aboriginal tribe in Rajputana, .87- Miani, Defeat of the Sind Mirs at, by Sir C. Napier (1843), 311. Millets, Statistics of cultivation of, and the chief varieties, 385. Minerals and mines, 486-495. For details, see Table of Contents. Mines and minerals, 486-495. For details, see Table of Contents. Minto, Earl of, Governor-General of India (1807-13): expeditions to Java and Mauritius : embassies to the Punjab, Afghanistan, and Persia, 301. Mir Jumla’s unsuccessful expedition to Assam in the reign of Aurangzeb, 251. Model farms, the small success hitherto attained, 407, 408. Moira, Earl of. See Hastings, Marquis of. Monson, Colonel, his retreat before Holkar, 300. Mornington, Lord. See Wellesley, Mar- quis of. Mudki, Battle of, 312. Mughal Empire, The, 234-257. For details, see Table of Contents. Muhammad of Ghor, the first king of the Ghor dynasty in India (1186-1206): his conquests in Northern India and overthrow of the Rajput clans, 220, 222 ; subjugation of Bengal and defeat of its last independent king (1203), 222. Muhammad Tughlak, second king of the Tughlak dynasty (1324-51 A.D.), 227-229 ; expeditions to the south, 228 ; his cruelties, enforced change of capital, revolts, revenue exactions, 228, 229. Mulberry cultivation in Bengal, 405. Mundavers, a wandering pastoral tribe in the Anamalai Hills, 71. Municipal administration and statistics, 350, 361. INDEX. 565 Murshid KuK Khan, Nawab of Bengal, 283, 284. Music, 1 19, 120. Muslin manufactures of Dacca and Madras, decline of industry, 472, 473. Mutiny, The, of 1857-58, 318-322; its causes, 318, 319; outbreaks at Meerut and Delhi, 319; spread of the revolt, 320 ; loyalty of the Sikhs, 320 ; mas- sacre at Cawnpore, 320 ; siege and relief of Lucknow, 321 ; siege of Delhi, 321 ; reduction of Oudh : campaigns of Sir Colin Campbell (Lord Clyde) and Sir Hugh Rose (Lord Strathnaim), 321, 322. Naga Hills, the most north-easterly off- shoot of the Himalayas, 29. Nagpur, the territories of the Marhatta Bhonsla family, lapsed to the British for want of heirs, 316. Nairs, hill tribe of South-Western India, their polyandry, 71. Nalanda, famous Buddhist monastery of the 7th century A.D., 153, 154. Nana Sahib, his proclamation as Peshwa at the outbreak of the Mutiny, and massacre of the Cawnpore garrison, 320, 321. Nanak Shah, the founder of the Sikh religion, 31 1. Napier, Sir Charles, Conquest of Sind by (1843), 310, 31 1. Narayan Rao, sixth Marhatta Peshwa (1772), his assassination, 262. Native States of India, their relation to the British paramount power, 60 ; area and population of the twelve groups of States, 62. Natural calamities. See Famines. Nestorianism among early Indian Chris- tians, 372 ; Nestorian remnants, 373. Nicholson, General, his death at the storm of Delhi, 321. Nirvana, Buddhist doctrine of, 142, 143. Nizam Shahi, Muhammadan dynasty in Southern India (1490-1636), 232. Non-Aryan or aboriginal races, 69, 88. For details, see Table of Contents. Nomadic cultivation, 64, 417-419. Normal schools, 368. Northbrook, Earl of, Viceroy of India (1872-76), 325, 326; dethronement of the Gaekwar of Baroda : visit of the Prince of Wales to India, 326. Nott, General, his march from Kandahar to Kabul (1842), 310. Nur Jahan, the Queen of the Emperor Jahangir, 244. Ochterlony, General, his campaigns in Nepal (1814-15), 302. Oil-seeds, Cultivation of, 386 ; export of, 452- Opium, Cultivation of, 392, 393. Orissa famine of 1866, 324; irrigation works in, 423. Oudh, Annexation of, 316, 317 ; Lord Dalhousie’s justification of the measure, 317 ; the Mutiny in, 321, 322. Outram, Sir James, his work among the Bhils of Khandesh, 87, 88 ; annexation of Oudh, 317 ; relief of Lucknow, 321. Painting, Indian art of, 121. Palghat Pass, a remarkable break or gap in the Western Ghats, 55, 56. Palitana, sacred temple city of the Jains, 1 56- Palms, Varieties of, 387. Pandavas, the five brethren : their quarrel and struggle with the Kauravas, as related in the Mahabharata, 126-128. Pandia, ancient Hindu dynasty in Southern India, 214, 230, 231. Panini, the compiler of the Sanskrit grammar (350 B.C.), no, ill. Panipat, celebrated battle-field in Northern India : defeat of Ibrahim Lodi by Babar (1526 A.D.), 234; de- feat of Afghans by Akbar, and restora- tion of Humayun to the throne (1556 A.D.), 235; overthrow of the Marhattas by the Afghans under Ahmad Shall Durani (1761 A.D.), 262. Paper-making, 485. Parasnath, hill in Bengal, sacred to the Jains, 156. Passes of the Himalayas, 28, 29. Patna, East India Company’s agency at, in 1620, 276 ; massacre of, 288 ; trade of, 467. Pearl fisheries, 495. Peshwas, rise and progress of their power (1718-1818), 261-264. Petroleum or mineral oil, 493. Phallic emblems in Hinduism, 190. Physical aspects of India, 25-59. For details, see Table of Contents. Pindari freebooters, Expedition against the (1817), 302, 303. Plassey, Battle of (1757), 285. Police statistics, 362. Pollock, his march from the Punjab to Kabul (1842), 310. Polyandry among the Nairs and Hima- layan tribes, 71 ; polyandry of Drau- padi, the wife of the five Pandava brethren in the Mahabharata, 126, 128, 129. Pondicherri, British siege of (1747), 282 ; capitulation of (1761), 283. Population of India, 60-68. For details, see Table of Contents. 566 INDEX. Portuguese in India, The, 265 - 269 ; Vasco da Gama, 265-267 ; Cabral, 267 ; Francisco de Almeida, 267 ; Albuquerque, 267, 268 ; oppressions of the Portuguese, 268, 269 ; down- fall of the Portuguese power, 269 ; Portuguese Indian possessions in 1871, 269. Pottery manufactures, 478, 479. Precious stones, 494, 495. Presbyterian missions, 378. Products and agriculture, 380-431. For details, see Table of Contents. Protestant missions, 376 - 379 ; first Lutheran mission (1705), 376, 377 ; Schwartz and the Serampur mission- aries, 377 ; translations of the Bible, 377 ; bishopric of Calcutta and other Indian sees, 377, 378 ; statistics, 378, 379- Puliars, a wild aboriginal tribe in the Anamalai Hills, Madras, 71. Pulses, Cultivation of, 386. Puranas, The, their place in Indian literature, 135, 201, 202. Railway system of India, inaugurated by Lord Dalhousie, 432 ; extended by Lord Mayo, 432 ; the eight ‘ guaran- teed ’ trunk lines, 433 ; State narrow- gauge branch railways, 433 ; statistics of traffic and capital invested, 433, 434. Rainfall of the Himalayas, 29, 30. Rainfall statistics, 513, 514; Himalayan rainfall, 29, 30. Rajputs, their reputed Scythian origin, 167. Ramanand, Vishnuvite religious reformer (1300-1400 a.d.) : his low caste dis- ciples, 203. Ramanuja, Vishnuvite religious reformer (1150 A.D.), 202, 203. Rimayana, the Sanskrit epic relating the Aryan advance into Southern India, 129 ; story of Rama : his exile together with his wife Sita, the war with the aboriginal king of Ceylon, and trium- phant return, 129-131. Ranjit Sinh, the founder of the Sikh kingdom, 311, 312. Raziya, Empress of Delhi (1236-39 a.d.), the only lady who ever occupied that throne, 224. Reptiles, 523 ; poisonous serpents, 524 ; deaths from snake-bite, 524. Rhinoceros, The, 520. Rice cultivation in different Provinces : its numerous varieties, 382, 383 ; out- turn, 383 ; export of, 451, 452. Rig- Veda, the earliest Sanskrit hymnal, 9 1 , 92 ; the story of the Aryan advance into India, 92, 93. Ripon, Marquis of, present Viceroy of India (1881) : conclusion of the Afghan war, 327. River communication, 36, 39, 435, 436. River plains of India, 40-53 ; the dif- ferent stages in the life of an Indian river, 41, 42 ; Bengal delta and process of land-making, 42-47 ; rivers as irri- gators and highways, 48 ; destructive floods, 48-51 ; poetry of Indian river names, 51 ; crops and scenery of the river plains and the Bengal delta, 51-53- River systems of Northern India, 32 ; of Southern India, 56, 57. Roads, 434, 435. Roberts, Sir Frederick, his march from Kabul to Kandahar, and defeat of Ayub Khan, 327. Roe, Sir Thomas, first British ambassa- dor to India, in the reign of Jahangir (1615 A.D.), 244, 275. Rohilla war, The (1773-74), 292. Rose, Sir Hugh (Lord Strathnaim) : campaign in Central India, 322. Rotation of crops, 381. Safflower, Export of, 453. Sah, ancient dynasty of Western India (60 B.C. to 235 A.D.), 169. Sahu, son and nominal successor of Sam- bhaji, 261. Sakhi Sarwar, place of pilgrimage in the Punjab, sacred both to Hindus and Muhammadans, 189. Sakuntala, famous Sanskrit drama, 132, 133- Salbai, Treaty of, 264, 294. Salt administration, 347, 348 ; sources of supply and systems of manufac- ture, 347, 489, 490 ; the Madras mono- poly, 347, 348; equalization of duty, 348- Saltpetre, Manufacture of, 490, 491. Salt Range, Geology of, 498. Sama-Veda, The, 98. Sambhaji, son and successor of Sivaji, put to death by Aurangzeb, 260. Sankara Acharya, a Sivaite religious re- former, 195, 196. Santals, an aboriginal tribe of Bengal, 73-76 ; their village government, 73 ; social ceremonies, 73, 74 ; religion, 74 ; the Santals under British rule, 75 ; Santal rising (1855), 75, 76. Satara, Native State, lapsed to the British for want of heirs (1849), 315. Satl, or widow-burning, abolition of the rite by Lord W. Bentinck, 306. Sayyid dynasty, The (1414-50), 230. Schools. See Educational statistics. Sculpture, 479. INDEX. 567 Scythic invasions and inroads, 166-176. For details, see Table of Contents. Segauli, Treaty of, at the termination of the Gurkha war (1814-15), 302. Seleukos, Alexander’s successor to his conquests in Bactria and the Punjab (312-306 b.c.) : cession of the Punjab to Chandra Gupta, 161. Seringapatam, Capture of, and death of Tipu Sultan, 298, 299. Serpent-worship, its influences on Hin- duism, 190. Shah Jahan, fifth Mughal Emperor of India (1628-58 A.D.), 245-248; chief events of his reign, 245 ; loss of Kan- dahar, 246 ; Deccan conquests, 246 ; Taj Mahal and other architectural works, 246, 247 ; revenues, 248 ; de- position by his rebellious son, Prince Aurangzeb, 247, 248 ; magnificence of his court, 248. Shahji Bhonsla, founder of the Marhatta power, 258, 259. Sheep and goats, 412. Shore, Sir John, Governor-General of India (1793-98), 296. Shrines common to different faiths, 189. Sikhs, History of the, 31 1 ; Nanak, the founder of the religious sect, 31 1 ; Ranjit Sinh, the founder of the king- dom, 311, 312 ; first Sikh war (1845) : battles of Mudki, Firozshahr, Aliwal, and Sobraon, 312 ; second Sikh war (1848-49) : battles of Chilianwala and Gujrat, 313, 314; annexation of the Punjab and its pacification, 314 ; loyalty of the Sikhs during the Mutiny of 1857, 320. Siladitya, Buddhist King of Northern India (634 A.D.), 153. Silk and sericulture, 403-406 ; the Com- pany’s factories, 404 ; area and out- turn, 404 - 406 ; silk weaving, 473, 474 ; steam silk factories, 578. Silt islands in the Brahmaputra, 35, 36. Sindhia, the family name of the ruler of the Marhatta State of Gwalior in Central India : rise of the family to power, 263 ; wars with the English, 264. Siraj-ud-daula, Nawab of Bengal ( 1756- 1757), 284, 285 ; capture of Calcutta by, 284; the ‘Black Hole,’ 284; re- capture of Calcutta and battle of Plassey, 284, 285. Sirhind Canal, 421. Sivaji the Great (1627 - 80), his hill forts and guerilla warfare, 259, 260 ; coins money and enthrones himself, 260. Siva, the third person in the Hindu triad, 108. Siva-worship, 195-200 ; twofold aspects of Siva and his wife : their philosophi- cal and terrible forms, 196-198 ; human sacrifice, 190; the thirteen Sivaite sects, 199 ; secret orgies in Siva- worship, 200. Siwalik Hills, an offshoot of the Hima- layas ; geology of, 497, 498. Slate, 494. Slave kings, The (1206-90 A.D.), 223- 225. Sobraon, Battle of, 312. Somnath, Sack of, by Mahmud of Ghazni (1024 A.D.), 218, 219; the Somnath proclamation and procession of the so-called Gates by Lord Ellen- borough, 310. Son irrigation works, 423. Spices, Cultivation of, 387. Subuktigin, first Turki invader of India (977 A.D.), 217. Sudras, the servile caste of ancient India, 101. Sufed Koh, range in Afghanistan, an offshoot of the Himalayas, 29. Sugar-cane, Cultivation of, 387, 388. Sulaiman, range of hills, marking the boundary between British territory and Afghanistan, 29. Sunspot cycles, 514, 515. Sutlej, great river of the Punjab and chief tributary of the Indus, 33. Sutras or sacred Sanskrit traditions, 99. Swally, Defeat of the Portuguese fleet at (1615), 274. Sydapet model farm, in Madras, 407, 408. Takht-i- Sulaiman, mountain in the Sulaiman range, 29. Takshaks, The, an early Scythian tribe in the Punjab, 172. Talikot, Battle of, and overthrow of the Vijayanagar kingdom (1565), 232, 233- Tasar or jungle silk-worm, 405, 406. Tea cultivation and manufacture, 398- 402 ; indigenous to Assam, 398 ; early experiments and failures, 398, 399 ; rapid progress of the industry, 399 ; statistics of out-turn, 399, 400; varieties of the plant, 400 ; soil, 401 ; the work of a tea-garden, 401, 402; export of, 453- Temperature of various stations, 511, 512. Thagi or professional strangling, Sup- pression of, by Lord W. Bentinck, 307. Thall - ghat, mountain pass in the Western Ghats, 55. Tibeto-Burmans, non-Aryan tribes of the lower Himalayas, their languages, 79, 83, 84. 568 INDEX. Tiger, The, 516, 517. Timur (Tamerlane), Invasion of (1398 A.D.), 230. Tin in British Burma, 493. Tobacco cultivation and manufacture, growth of the trade, 394. Todar Mall, Akbar’s Hindu general and finance minister : his revenue settle- ment, 237-241. Trade, commerce and, 438-468. For details, see Table of Contents. Trade-guilds, 183-185. Treasure, Import of, 448, 449. Tughlak dynasty, The (1320-1414 A.D.), 227-230. Tungabhadra irrigation works, 424. Turki invasions of India, 217-219. Turmeric, Export of, 453. Universities, 364, 365. Vaisya or cultivating caste of ancient India, IOl. Valabhi, ancient Indian dynasty in Western India and Sind (480 - 722 A. D. ) : their overthrow by Arab in- vaders of Sind, 169. Vallabha - swami, Vishnuvite religious reformer (1520 a.d.) : Krishna- wor- ship, 206, 207. Valmiki, the reputed composer of the Ramayana, 1 29-131. Vasco da Gama, his three voyages to India, and death at Cochin, 267, 268. Vedas, the four Sanskrit hymnals, 98, 99- Vegetables, Cultivation of, 386, 387. Vellore, Mutiny of (1806), 301. Vijayanagar, Hindu kingdom of Southern India ( 1 185-1565), 231 ; subjugation by the Muhammadans at the battle of Talikot, 232. Vikramaditya, King of Ujjain (57 B.c.) : his wars with the Scythian invaders, 131, 168-170. Vindhyas, Geology of, 500. Vishnu, the second person of the Hindu trinity, 108. Vishnu-worship, 200 -21 1; Vishnu and Siva compared, 200 ; incarnations of Vishnu, 200, 201 ; the Vishnu Purana, 201, 202 ; Vishnuvite religious re- formers (1150-1520 A.D.), 202-207 ; Vishnuvite sects, 207, 208 ; Jagannath, 208-211. Vital statistics of India, 529-542. For details, see Table of Contents. Vyasa, Brahman sage, the legendary compiler of the four Vedas (3001 b.c.), and of the epic of the Mahabharata, 125- Wandewash, Battle of, and defeat of the French under Lally (1761), 283. Wargaum, Convention of (1779), 294. Warren Hastings. See Hastings, Warren. Wellesley, Marquis of, Governor-General of India (1798-1803), 296-300 ; French influence in India, 296, 297 ; Lord Wellesley’s work, 297, 298 ; treaty with the Nizam, 298 ; third Mysore war and storming of Seringapatam, 298, 399 ; second Marhatta war (1802- 1804), 299, 300. Wheat, Statistics of cultivation and out- turn of, 384, 385 ; export of, 452. Wilson, Mr. James, his financial reforms after the Mutiny, 324. Wood-carving, 479, 480. Xavier, St. Francis, and his work in India, 373. Yajur-Veda, The, 98. Yama, the Hindu god of death, 95, 96. Yandabu, Treaty of (1826), 305. Yavanas, The, name applied to Greeks and Scythians by the Brahmans, 165. Yoma, mountain range in Burma, 26. Zoology and botany of India, 516-528. For details, see Table of Contents. MORRISON AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE.