other things. There was also a large tank of stone, CHAP. VIII. with steps going down, in which they say their god bathed. The water was stagnant and very foul; it also smelt very badly from the number of flowers they threw into it. The people, however, came in hundreds to wash and pray in this tank, and perform certain ceremonies, believing that by such acts their sins would be forgiven them. Some people also sat near the idols and fanned them.54 The people were naked, with a cloth about the middle. The women decked their necks, arms, and ears with rings of silver, copper, tin, and ivory. In the cold weather the men wore quilted gowns and caps. If a man or woman were sick and like to die, they were placed before the idols all night, which would either mend or mar them. If the sick were not

54 The following description of Benares was written on the spot a few years ago. The author entered a boat, and slowly ascended the river for two or three miles. "Throughout the whole distance the scene was one continued series of temples, houses, and gháts, not simply following each other, but rising one above the other in endless confusion, tier above tier, sometimes to an imposing height. Wherever there is a single square yard of available space, whether on the edge of the river, or on the tall masonry of solid stone which generally faces the river, or on the terraces and dwelling-places which seem to be constructed on the masonry, there is stuck a temple, with an idol inside, and flowers before the idol. Here shoots up a cone-shaped pagoda, bristling with points or pinnacles of gold. Then the palace of some Raja is seen rising seven or eight stories above the river. Next a wide ghát with a stone bull in front. Whilst here, there, and everywhere, at the foot of great temples, or on terraces and verandahs high up in the air, are smaller pagodas of all sizes, each attended by all the emblems of worship. Some are magnificent ruins which have fallen backwards in the mud; whilst new temples have been built with huge stones, which show by the carvings on them, that they have been appropriated from other and older buildings. At the same time, every place is crowded with worshippers, all of whom are washing, bathing, and praying, until one's mind is confused with the myriads of men, and women, and children of all ages, who are moving about like ants on all sides. For miles, the scene may be described as an assemblage of houses, temples, and bathing-places, thronged with bathers and worshippers, and with thousands and thousands of Brahmans. Strange to say, that whilst the river itself is regarded as a divinity whose waters will cleanse away all sin, it is so foully polluted that, even in the pleasant cold weather, the senses of sight and smell are perpetually shocked beyond description."

CHAP. VIII. mended, their friends sat by them and wept, and then carried them to the river and floated them away on rafts of reeds. Marriages were performed in a very simple fashion. A cow and calf were given to a Bráhman. Then the Bráhman walked into the river with the bride and bridegroom. All three took hold of the tail of the cow, and the Bráhman poured water over it. The Bráhman next tied the clothes of the bride and bridegroom together, and required them to walk three times round the cow and calf. The newly-married husband and wife then gave alms to the poor, and money to the idols, and left the cow and calf in the hands of the Bráhman. Finally the pair prostrated themselves upon the earth, and kissed it several times, and then went their way.

Patna.

Tanda, Kooch

Behar, Húghli,

55

From Benares Mr Fitch went to Patna. The whole way was beset with thieves, who were without any fixed abode. Patna was a great long town with large streets. The houses were made of mud and thatched with straw. The women here had rings as before, and so many on their toes that they could not wear shoes. Mr Fitch saw a holy man sitting in the market-place and pretending to be asleep. The people came and touched his feet with their hands, and then kissed their hands. The honest merchant quaintly says, "The people took him for a great man, but I saw that he was a lazy lubber."

Mr Fitch next went to the city of Tanda. At Satgong, Orissa, that time it was a great mart, but the Ganges, bunds. which once flowed past it, was already three miles

and the Sunder

55 This primitive ceremony has been superseded in the present day by a more tedious ceremonial.

off. From Tanda he went to Cooch, the modern CHAP. VIII. Kooch Behar. Here there was much silk, musk, and cotton cloth. The king was a Hindú. The people were all Hindús. They would kill nothing, and had hospitals for sheep, goats, dogs, cats, birds, and all other living creatures. From Cooch Mr Fitch went to the Portuguese settlement at Húghli. He went through the jungle because the highway was infested by thieves. The country round Gour was almost all wilderness. He saw many buffaloes, swine, and deer. There were also very many tigers. Satgong, about four miles from Húghli, was an emporium. In Bengal there was a great market every day at some part or other, and traders went from place to place in large boats to buy rice and other things. The boats were rowed by twenty or six and twenty oars. They were of great burden, but were not covered. The neighbouring country of Orissa was also a famous seat of trade. Vessels from India and the islands of the East came to Orissa, and brought away large cargoes of rice, cotton cloth, and a cloth made of grass that looked like silk; as well as long pepper, butter, and provisions. The Sunderbunds was occupied by rebels against the emperor Akber. The Mussulman horsemen could not punish them, because they were protected by the numerous creeks and rivers.56

of India in the

century by

Whilst Mr Fitch was traversing Hindustan, the General account Portuguese had already established their maritime seventeenth empire in the Eastern seas. Their historian Faria Faria y Sousa. y Sousa, who flourished in the seventeenth century, throws a flood of light upon those parts of the Dek

56 A further account of these rebels will be found in the next chapter, on Portuguese India.

CHAP. VIII. han and the Peninsula, which have been already described by Marco Polo. The history of Portuguese India will, however, be separately treated in the next chapter, In the present place it will suffice to bring together the observations of the Portuguese historian as regards the people of India in general. "Those heathens," says Faria y Sousa, "have a book they believe in, and esteem as we do the Holy Scripture. It is writ in verse, and is pleasing and ingenious. They believe in one God, the creator of all things, yet allow other uncreated gods; they also believe that there is heaven and hell, and that the souls of such as die in sin go into beasts, and stay there until, being purged, they go to eternal rest. They esteem cows as properest for this transmigration. When a man is dying they bring a cow to him, and put the tail into his hand, that when his soul departs it may be near the door it is to enter at. They allow no free will. Some are of opinion that the souls return from hell into other bodies till they merit heaven; and that there is an indifferent place without reward or punishment for those who live indifferently. The sins they esteem most heinous are murder, theft, drinking wine, and committing adultery. The sin of murder is wiped off with pilgrimages; the sin of theft with alms; the sin of drinking wine with fasting; and the sin of adultery with sacrifices. Sometimes men are sacrificed, but the greatest of all is the sacrifice of cows.57 Some will lie down under the wheels of the heavy carts of their idols, which crush them to pieces. Others wear irons with spikes that run into them. Others

57 Cows were certainly sacrificed in ancient times, but since the Brahmanical ascendancy the practice has fallen into disuse.

hang themselves on a hook, and there sing verses to CHAP. VIII. their idols. They maintain hospitals, where they look after sick birds and beasts, and send men abroad to bring them in. But they have no compassion for their fellow-men, saying, that their afflictions are sent them for their sins. There are men employed to buy birds or other creatures, only to return them to their liberty. Their chief gods are Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; and these form a body with three heads, called Mahámúrti, signifying the "three chiefs." Hence it is inferred that the Hindús had some knowledge, though imperfect, of the blessed Trinity. They are much addicted to witchcraft and superstition; and believe there are fourteen worlds, and that this we live in is an image of that in heaven. Their several families touch not one another, nor eat together. Tradesmen cannot marry out of their own trade. The most renowned families among them are the Rajas (i. e. Rajpoots), an ingenious people, who would rather lose their lives than their arms in battle; and the Bráhmans, who contend with the Rajas for precedence. The Chetties are the richest merchants. The Vellalers, or country people, are held in such esteem that kings marry their daughters to Vellalers, saying,

organization

operations of

In reviewing the state of India during the period, Ecclesiastical which has here been distinguished as the Brahman- and missionary ical revival, it is impossible to overlook the ecclesias- the Brahmans. tical organization of the Bráhmans, by which the varied populations of India have been brought under

58 The Vellalers are a high caste in Peninsular India. Faria y Sousa also refers to the division into the two Hands, known as the Right and Left Hands, which is peculiar to the Peninsula.