INDIA. 



355 



The army in the Punjab consists of the pure- 

 ly native frontier force of about 13,000 men, 

 besides a militia ; the ordinary English and Se- 

 poy troops count 29,000 men, and 130 guns. 



The figures showing the value of the trade 

 of India during the years ending 30th April, 

 1867 and 1868, are suggestive. In a year of 

 continued commercial stagnation, the trade 

 amounted to 101,038,621 in value, or 5,- 

 500,000 more than in the previous twelve 

 months, which almost immediately succeeded 

 the close of the American War : 



The modern question of the national tongue 

 has taken a peculiar shape on India soil. The 

 Urdu and the Hindi languages contend for the 

 predominance in official use and in journalism. 

 The former is employed by twenty-five million 

 Moslems, the latter by a large portion of the 

 one hundred and ten millions who, living un- 

 der English rule, are described as Hindoos on 

 the registers. Yet it is not easy to define 

 wherein the difference between the two con- 

 sists. They are not two languages, nor two dia- 

 lects, but the same language, corrupted in dif- 

 ferent degrees by foreign words of Persian and 

 Arabic origin the Urdu more, the Hindi less. 

 Both are commonly called Hindustani, and the 

 only real distinction of the Hindi is the Indian, 

 of the Urdu, the Arabic characters and writ- 

 ing. "While the contest is thus apparently 

 about the alphabet, in the background lie San- 

 scrit and Arabic, Koran and Veda. 



Both styles of letter are alike inconvenient 

 for a people who read and write much, and 

 rapidly. The Arabic is still in a state as of in- 

 fancy, being destitute of vowel-signs. It is 

 not strange, then, that shrewd persons tell the 

 nationalists who rally for the Hindi, and seek 

 to supply their wants from the treasures of the 

 Sanscrit, as well as the Moslems, who seek their 

 fine phrases in the technical language of the 



Arabians, and in the turgid poetry of the mod- 

 ern Persians, that much better than the use of 

 either would be the adoption of the English 

 language; should they, however, insist upon 

 the Hindustani, it would be desirable to ac- 

 cept a European alphabet. 



We learn from a recent pamphlet * of M. 

 Garcin de Tassy, for many years teacher of 

 Hindustani in the school of modern Oriental 

 languages at Paris; on what ground the con- 

 test is carried on on both sides. It is not very 

 remarkable that the learned and amiable au- 

 thor of the "Histoire de la litterature hindoue et 

 hindoostane " (of which at the close of the year 

 1869 a second edition was in press) inclines to 

 the Moslem view. 



The native journals, which, after the English 

 style, have become very numerous, so far as 

 they appear in the northern provinces, gener- 

 ally adhere to the Urdu, and affect Arabesque 

 titles for example, the "Mirror of Wisdom," 

 " Novelties of Novelties," " Fountain of Knowl- 

 edge," "Star of News," etc. Most of the 

 readers in that section seem also to be follow- 

 ers of the Prophet. On the other hand, the 

 many national unions which the intelligent 

 Hindoo has likewise copied from his latest 

 rulers, and in which most of the efforts for 

 a reform in social and religious concerns are 

 made, address their countrymen in Hindi. In 

 this respect they hold on to the old, and take 

 their titles from the Sanscrit for example, 

 Brahma, Dschnan Prdkasih (Guide to Brahman- 

 ic Knowledge), a monthly review published 

 under the direction of the Brahma Sabha 

 (Brahma Club) ; Pap Motschan (Deliverance 

 from Evil), likewise a periodical of the reform- 

 ers in Agra; Dschagat Samatschar (How it 

 goes in the World), a weekly paper issued at 

 Mirat, and many others. 



The most extensive, most influential, and 

 most active of these societies, which has been 

 some time established, is the above-mentioned 

 Brahma Club, located at Calcutta, a society 

 of theists. They spin out the old threads of 

 the Vedanta philosophy, and interweave them 

 with European nationalism. They have both 

 theoretically and practically abolished all that 

 seemed to them unworthy and childish in the 

 religious traditions of their fathers. They 

 lay claim to a higher point of view, and to a 

 freer horizon than those of the Christians. The 

 chief of this new sect, Babu Ischandr Sen, who 

 has built a temple in Calcutta to the new ser- 

 vice, where " the one true and holy God shall 

 be worshipped in spirit and in truth," is hon- 

 ored by his followers as inspired ; according to 

 their ancient custom of worship, they fall at 

 his feet, and call him good master, and the 

 refuge of sinners. 



Another society has been organized in Cal- 

 cutta, under the presidency of Radscha Kali 

 Krishna Bahadur, with the single purpose of 

 purifying the religious customs of the Hindoos. 



* Cours d'Hindoustani. Discours d'ouverture du 6 De- 

 cembre, 1869. (Paris, 1870.) 



