XVII 

 A HINDU FESTIVAL 



Poets may sing, 



" Let the ape and tiger die," 



but they are not quite dead yet, only caged, and 

 where is the man in whose bosom there lurks no 

 wish that he could open the door just once in a way 

 and let them have a frisk ? In the East there is 

 no hypocrisy about the matter. The tiger's den 

 is barred and locked, and the British Government 

 keeps the key, but the ape has an appointed day 

 in the year on which he shall have his outing. They 

 call it the Holi, which is a misnomer, for of all 

 Hindu festivals this is the most unholy ; but of 

 that anon. 



I asked a Brahmin what this festival comme- 

 morated, and he said he did not know. He knew 

 how to observe it, which was the main thing. Of 

 course, there is an explanation of it in Hindu 

 mythology, which the Brahmin ought to have 

 known, and very probably did know, but was 

 ashamed to tell. But it matters little, for we may 

 be well assured that the explanation was invented 



174 



