Indian Home Rule Part 11

Colonel Thomas Munro.

_Thirty-two years' service in India._

"If a good system of agriculture, unrivalled manufacturing skill, a capacity to produce whatever can contribute to convenience or luxury; schools established in every village, for teaching, reading, writing and arithmetic; the general practice of hospitality and charity among each other; and, above all, treatment of the female s.e.x, full of confidence, respect and delicacy, are among the signs which denote a civilised people, then the Hindus are not inferior to the nations of Europe; and if civilization is to become an article of trade between the two countries, I am convinced that this country [England] will gain by the import cargo."

Frederick von Schlegel.

"It cannot be denied that the early Indians possessed a knowledge of the true G.o.d; all their writings are replete with sentiments and expressions n.o.ble, clear and severely grand, as deeply conceived and reverently expressed as in any human language in which men have spoken of their G.o.d.... Among nations possessing indigenous philosophy and metaphysics, together with an innate relish for these pursuits, such as at present characterises Germany; and in olden times, was the proud distinction of Greece, Hindustan holds the first rank in point of time."

Sir William Wedderburn, Bart.

"The Indian village has thus for centuries remained a bulwark against political disorder, and the home of the simple domestic and social virtues.

No wonder, therefore, that philosophers and historians have always dwelt lovingly on this ancient inst.i.tution which is the natural social unit and the best type of rural life; self-contained, industrious, peace-loving, conservative in the best sense of the word.... I think you will agree with me that there is much that is both picturesque and attractive in this glimpse of social and domestic life in an Indian village. It is a harmless and happy form of human existence. Moreover, it is not without good practical outcome."

J. Young.

_Secretary, Savon Mechanics' Inst.i.tutes._

(_Within recent years_).

"Those races, [the Indian viewed from a moral aspect] are perhaps the most remarkable people in the world. They breathe an atmosphere of moral purity, which cannot but excite admiration, and this is especially the case with the poorer cla.s.ses who, notwithstanding the privations of their humble lot, appear to be happy and contented. True children of nature, they live on from day to day, taking no thought of to-morrow and thankful for the simple fare which Providence has provided for them. It is curious to witness the spectacle of coolies of both s.e.xes returning home at nightfall after a hard day's work often lasting from sunrise to sunset. In spite of fatigue from the effects of the unremitting toil, they are, for the most part, gay and animated, conversing cheerfully together and occasionally breaking into s.n.a.t.c.hes of light-hearted song.

Yet what awaits them on their return to the hovels which they call home?

A dish of rice for food, and the floor for a bed. Domestic felicity appears to be the rule among the Natives, and this is the more strange when the customs of marriage are taken into account, parents arranging all such matters. Many Indian households afford examples of the married state in its highest degree of perfection. This may be due to the teachings of the Shastras, and to the strict injunctions which they inculcate with regard to marital obligations; but it is no exaggeration to say that husbands are generally devotedly attached to their wives, and in many instances the latter have the most exalted conception of their duties towards their husbands."

Abbe J. A. Dubois.

_Missionary in Mysore. Extracts from letter dated Seringapatam, 15th December, 1820._

"The authority of married women within their houses is chiefly exerted in preserving good order and peace among the persons who compose their families: and a great many among them discharge this important duty with a prudence and a discretion which have scarcely a parallel in Europe. I have known families composed of between thirty and forty persons, or more, consisting of grown-up sons and daughters, all married and all having children, living together under the superintendence of an old matron--their mother or mother-in-law. The latter, by good management, and by accommodating herself to the temper of the daughters-in-law, by using, according to circ.u.mstances, firmness or forbearance, succeeded in preserving peace and harmony during many years amongst so many females, who had all jarring interests, and still more jarring tempers. I ask you whether it would be possible to attain the same end, in the same circ.u.mstances, in our countries, where it is scarcely possible to make two women living under the same roof to agree together.

"In fact, there is perhaps no kind of honest employment in a civilised country in which the Hindu females have not a due share. Besides the management of the household, and the care of the family, which (as already noticed) under their control, the wives and daughters of husbandmen attend and a.s.sist their husbands and fathers in the labours of agriculture. Those of tradesmen a.s.sist theirs in carrying on their trade. Merchants are attended and a.s.sisted by theirs in their shops.

Many females are shopkeepers on their own account and _without a knowledge of the alphabet_ or of the decimal scale, they keep by other means their accounts in excellent order, and are considered as still shrewder than the males themselves in their commercial dealings."

THE MODERN PRINTING WORKS, MOUNT ROAD, MADRAS.