The subject of caste, by the way, is also one which is generally misunderstood, and which, if developed on Christian lines, would give us the perfection of human society, and solve many of the problems with which we are dealing in Europe in more advanced civilisations. I have just read with concern some remarks against caste by Sir John Petheram, who has been in India some three or four years. I think that before people speak on subjects of such intricacy, they should take the position of students of the question, learn at least one of the classical and one of the vernacular languages of India, and then alone assume the role of teachers whilst continuing to be learners; even in regard to such subjects of infant-marriage and the prohibition of widow re-marriage, there is a side of the question which has not yet been put sufficiently before the British public. Infant-marriage, when properly carried out in the higher castes, is an adoption of the girl into the family where she and the husband grow up together and join in prayer in common, which is necessary for their respective salvation; there is much to learn in the way of tenderness, charity, and love, from some of the households in India, where we find a community constituted on the noblest principles of “the joint family,” with an admirable and economical subdivision of labour, which enables them to live for a mere trifle, and yet so to prepare their food that in every dish you can see the tender care of the woman who prepares it for the good of the husband and of the household.
Then, as to the widow re-marriage, it has not been sufficiently pointed out to the British public that spiritual marriage renders the re-marriage of the Hindu widow impossible, because she is necessary for the spiritual salvation of the husband, and because as the representative of his property she may be called on to be the head of the family, for many of them are at the head of the family, and their position, therefore, renders it simply impossible for them to re-marry. These are matters that we should treat with respect, especially if we seek to adapt them to the spirit of the age. There are also differences amongst Muhammedans as great as there are between a Christian who tries to follow the Sermon on the Mount and a nominal Christian. Science and religion, according to a Muhammedan saying, are twins, and if I understand the object of this Society, it is in order to make this twinship (if I may be allowed to use the expression) more real that your labours have been initiated, and that, under Providence, they have been carried to the successful results that have followed them both here and abroad.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Strabo II. I., XV. I.—Arrian de Exped. Alex. V. 4 Indica c. 5.—Dio-Chrysos. Orat. XXXV.—Philostrat. de vitâ Apollon. Tyan. VI. I.—Clem. Alex. Paed., II. 12.—Aelian de Nat. An. XV. 14.—Harpokrat, s. v. χρυσοχοεῖν, Themist. Orat. XXVII.—Heliodor. X. 26.—Tzetz. Chil. XII. 330-340.—Pseudo Kallisth. II. 29.—Schol. ad Sophocl. Antig., v. 1,025.
[2] Propert. Eleg. III. 13.—Pomp. Mel. III. 7.—Plin. H. N. XI. 36, XXXIII. 21.—Solin, c. 30.
[3] Indeed, there is no other country between Kaspatyros and the Paktyan country excepting Dardistan.
[4] This is the Bunji of recent Chilás fights (1893).
[5] General A. Cunningham very kindly sent me the quotation last year. It runs as follows: Κασπάπυρος πόλις Γανόπρικὴ, Σκυθὼν άκτὴ.
[6] Who refers to my “Results of a Tour in Dardistan, Kashmir, Little Tibet, Ladak, etc., in 1867-70,” and other papers in his pamphlet on the origin of that legend.