Sept. 11, 1885.] 



♦ KNO\VLEDGE 



is," says Mr. Talboys Wheeler,* " the first event wbick 

 brings India into historical relations with the outer 

 world," and one of the most interesting episodes of this 

 relationship was Alexander's friendship for the Brahmin, 

 Kalanos. This holy man became so attached to his great 

 master that, having probably through this attachment 

 broken his caste obligations or incurred the displeasure 

 of his bigoted associates, he volunteered to accompanj' 

 him on his return to fircnr. But he never reached his 

 destination, f(ir liudin^- ili, liurthen of age or of travel 

 too much for liiiii, i r In ini;- rather ojipressed by some 

 painful disorder, lie M^iglil, and obtained, permission to 

 take away his own life. Arrian assures us that, accom- 

 panied by his friends, he deliberately mounted a funeral- 

 pyre that was erected in sight of the army and, setting 

 fire to this with his own hands, he perished in the flames. 

 Grant Duff f ascribes a similar disregard of death or 

 dread of suffering to his friends the Mahrattas, and 

 General Sleeman J knew — circiter aimis 1828-30 — "a 

 wealthy Hindu, gentleman who came a distance of two 

 hundred miles or more to the banks of the Nerbu.dda for 

 the express purpose of di-owning himself in that sacred 

 stream. He was accompanied by a large retinue of 

 friends and relatives, of whom, after the usual ceremonial 

 observances of his caste and creed, he took an affectionate 

 farewell. He then entered the boat that took him into 

 the deepest part of the river, and having loaded his body 

 with sand, as a sportsman who is required to carry 

 weights in a race loads himself with shot, he slipped into 

 the water and disappeared." 



" Many poor men," he adds, " do the same every year 

 when afflicted by any disease that they consider in- 

 curable," and the so-called "Ghat-murders" of the 

 Ganges and the Hooghly are relics of the same tradition 

 and spirit. So also were Suttee, the swinging from 

 hooks through the loins, the tongue-piercings, the live- 

 burials, and other horrible tortures of that kind that 

 were formerly .so common in that country. The friends 

 or relatives of the doomed devotee, being unable to afford 

 him the luxury of a boat to carry him into deep water, 

 placed him on the margin of the river, and having 

 stuffed his mouth with mud in the usual orthodox 

 fashion, left him to die as best he may. And so deter- 

 mined on self-destruction were these infatuated victims 

 of superstition, that they bitterly resented any attempts 

 that might be made by outsiders for their rescue. Nay, 

 even they subsequently reproached § their deliverers 

 with having been the cause of their disgrace in this 

 world and ruin in the next ; and I believe myself that 

 were we to withdraw from India to-moiTow, all these 

 frightful practices would be revived again there. 



I am glad to find this, my opinion, confirmed by so 

 competent a witness as Mr. James Fergusson, D.C.L., &c. 

 Discussing the relationship of some of these practices to 

 the monoliths, &c., he is describing, he says ("Rude 

 Stone Monuments," p. 38) that "even now, with all our 

 colonisation and civilising power, we have had mn,rvel- 

 lously little real influence on the native races (of India), 



* "The History of India, from the Earliest Ages," Vol. ii., p. 172. 



+ "The History of the Mahrattas," Vol. i.,p. 424. 



I " The Rambles and Recollections of a Bengal Officer," Vol. i., 



and were our power removed, all traces (of our rule) 

 would rapidly disappear, and the people would revert at 

 once to what they were, and act as they were wont to do 

 before they knew us " at all. He acknowledges further, 



on p. 4.50, tlir.t " tho BUM. flm f M- . tli.- Gond, the Todd, 

 andotliii- 1 1 111. ^ 11 ii[;iiii : - ilii , , ' ;'iid practise their 

 own i-lti-. aiiil fiJNn, i1m- r:.-[ , ili.ir forefathers as 





lA ]h- 



adds (p. 4G1) t 

 once removed, it cannot be doubted but i 

 sacrifices — previously referred to — wciii' 

 resumed." So would suttee, female inf.ij:, 

 murder.s, and self- inhumations, for the spirit that under- 

 lies the whole fabric and framework of what is — derisively 

 or facetiously — called Indian civilisation, alias super- 

 stition glossed over, not buried, is not dead but sleepeth ; 

 and the same may be said of other primitive or semi- 

 civilised tribes and races, tantum (potest) religio suadere 

 malormn. 



With regard to the phenomena .set fort] :. .^. 

 here referred to, I may be permitted i- 

 that I inquired into them on the spot, u :' ' ■ ■. 



that the few Europeans who had luarl . i ' 

 believed them ; while, as regards iln luiir, . i, , , -. 

 as might be expected from tin i i,:. 

 divided on the point. The ^Mali ■ i : 

 they inevitably must be, by the i xir.a i ii;„,._. ,..;.. tic 

 feats * of their own holy men, did nut actually regard 

 such a disposition of the body as this kind of interment 

 implies as necessarily incompatible with its vitality. 

 They were staggered, however, when confronted with the 

 facts of the case as these were translated by me for them, 

 and all I could get from several of them was a, " Shuiud 

 Sahib, perhaps so, sir, there is no knowing." There is, 

 indeed, no knowing, and as to the I[iialii> tl,.y all 

 accepted these narratives witlnmt lusiiati-n ^ i- .("imir. 

 But then the mythology of i!,,. Ilnalus i. u iM, !■ mid 

 madder than that of Olyniiius, and tlinusaiid<. milli. ns 

 amongst them believe thai w dun tin- lajstic union of the 

 Yogi of the period is eftrrtcd with Siv.-i, he "can make 

 himself lighter than the lJi;Iilost sid'siance, heavier than 

 the heaviest : can become as va.st or minute as he pleases ; 

 can travorsc all sparo, .animate any dead body by trans- 

 ferring his (iwn s]irit into it; and, finally, can become 

 acquaiutod witli ilio past, the present, and tlie future."' f 

 What a treasure such a Yogi would be, in 1" ■ la a 



London newspaper oflice in the dull sia-. ,: 



pity it is he cannot be imported for this | ,;: - 

 factured to order on the premises. Bin i' i' , ,. 



(black-water) iiit .a-|H m>s its haiirful p,-. .- ■ 

 one of those (idni'i us wi'i-tliii's 1u sor^ad • :- . ■ \y. 



Shoe 



M,- 



stalled by the local polic 

 (To he continued.) 



Wu.shii)," iJ. 70), ■• It 



