ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 81 



religion the proposed master is. This may impose upon 

 new-comers to India, perhaps ; no one else wants them 

 if they can arrange otherwise. Therefore we always chose 

 good ' heathen ' servants. Of all words that word ' heathen ' 

 is the most misleading and the most hateful to Anglo- 

 Indian ears. 



Nothing could be further from the truth than the idea, 

 even now to a great extent prevalent in England, that 

 natives — I am only concerned with my own familiar India 

 — worship the idols and images in their magnificent temples 

 or wayside shrines. The hideous or grotesque figures to 

 be met with at every turn — for religion and its observances 

 form part of the daily fife's routine — are merely emblematic 

 of the attributes of Deity, and are not intended to represent 

 the Deity Himself ; not primarily that is, though they 

 have come to do so to the common eye. They are not the 

 ' false gods ' one used to hear so much about at missionary 

 meetings, nor are they ' bowed down to ' as such ; at any 

 rate not by thinking and educated persons. Everywhere 

 are to be found superstitious minds and a crafty priest- 

 hood, from the very beginnings of things to now ; not in 

 India alone nor in savage lands alone. That they turn 

 religion to their own worldly advantage is an old charge 

 laid at the door of the teachers of creeds, and no truer than 

 other sweeping assertions. 



One very hideous image (its name I have forgotten) 

 has the forehead of a man ; the trunk of an elephant, eyes 

 set all round the head ; a serpent with jewelled eyes, its 

 tail in its mouth, pendent from the neck ; innumerable 

 intertwining arms and legs, hands and feet ; with other 

 monstrosities of person. The question naturally arises, 

 What does it all mean, as taught by good priests, of whom 

 there are surely some ? I will endeavour to answer it as 

 explained to me. 



The man's forehead is the emblem of reason and judg- 



F 



