158.—AN AGED SIKH.
Among the people belonging to the Hindoo family we may name the Sikhs, a warlike people, remarkable for the beauty of their oval countenances; the Jats, the Rajpoots, and the Mahrattas; the Bengalese, a peaceful people, devoted to trade, and the Cingalese, or inhabitants of the island of Ceylon.
An accomplished traveller, M. Alfred Grandidier, has published in the “Tour du Monde,” in 1869, the account of a “Voyage dans l’Inde.” We learn from him a few general facts that perfectly sum up the social condition of the India of to-day, especially that of the central portion of the peninsula, for it would perhaps be difficult to generalize on the manners and customs of the whole of India, of which the population amounts to more than a hundred and eighty millions, and the superficies to that of the whole of continental Europe with the exception of Russia.
India is, in fact, divided into three distinct basins; that of the Indus, that of the Ganges, and the plain of the Deccan, constituting Central India. This last is classic India, that is to say, the only part of the country thoroughly known to Europeans. M. Grandidier’s travels were in the Deccan, to which refer the remarks we are about to quote:—
“The Hindoos of the Deccan,” says M. Grandidier, “resemble the Aryan (Caucasian) race in the oval shape of their head, in the formation of their cranium, and in their facial angle. They are distinct from it, however, in colour. Their bodies are frail; the low caste native is thin and slight, but makes up for his lack of strength by his activity and lightness. His skin varies from a light copper colour to a dark brown; his hair is a fine glossy black, and grows plentifully on his face.
“Gentle and timid, the Hindoo is wanting in perseverance and firmness; gifted with a rapid comprehension, he is yet incapable of any sustained effort. A double yoke, from time immemorial, has weighed him down; caste distinctions and a foreign sway have made him a flexible creature, possessing more prudence and cunning than energy and uprightness; more keenness of wit than nobility of soul.
