Observations on the Mussulmauns of India Part 28

The method of collecting ice is tedious and laborious, but where labour is cheap and the hands plenty the attempt has always been repaid by the advantages. As the sun declines, the labourers commence their work; flat earthen platters are laid out, in exposed situations, in square departments, upon dried sugar-cane leaves very lightly spread, that the frosty air may pa.s.s inside the platters. A small quant.i.ty of water is poured into the platter; as fast as they freeze their contents are collected and conveyed, during the night, to the pit prepared for the reception of ice. The rising sun disperses the labourers with the ice, and they seek their rest by day, and return again to their employ; as the lion, when the sun disappears, prowls out to seek his food from the bounty of his Creator. The h.o.a.r frost seldom commences until the first of January, and lasts throughout that month.

'Roshunie'[51] (Ink).---Ink, that most useful auxiliary in rendering the thoughts of one mortal serviceable to his fellow-creatures through many ages, is here an article of very simple manufacture. The composition is prepared from lampblack and gum-arabic; how it is made, I have yet to learn.

The ink of the Natives is not durable; with a wet sponge may be erased the labour of a man's life. They have not yet acquired the art of printing,[52]

and as they still write with reeds instead of feathers, an ink, permanent as our own, is neither agreeable nor desirable.

There is one beautiful trait in the habits of the Mussulmauns: when about to write they not only make the prayer which precedes every important action of their lives, but they dedicate the writing to G.o.d, by a character on the first page, which, as in short-hand writing, implies the whole sentence.[53] A man would be deemed heathenish amongst Mussulmauns, who by neglect or accident omitted this mark on whatever subject he is about to write.

Another of their habits is equally praiseworthy:--out of reverence for G.o.d's holy name (always expressed in their letters) written paper to be destroyed is first torn and then washed in water before the whole is scattered abroad; they would think it a sinful act to burn a piece of paper on which that Holy name has been inscribed. How often have I reflected whilst observing this praiseworthy feature in the character of a comparatively unenlightened people, on the little respect paid to the sacred writings amongst a population who have had greater opportunities of acquiring wisdom and knowledge.[54]

The culpable habit of chandlers in England is fresh in my memory, who without a scruple tear up Bibles and religious works to parcel out their pounds of b.u.t.ter and bacon, without a feeling of remorse on the sacrilege they have committed.

How careless are children in their school-days of the sacred volume which contains the word of G.o.d to His creatures. Such improper uses, I might say abuses, of that Holy Book, would draw upon them the censure of a people who have not benefited by the contents, but who nevertheless respect the volume purely because it speaks the word 'of that G.o.d whom they wors.h.i.+p'.

'Mayndhie' (A shrub).--The mayndhie and its uses have been so fully explained in the letters on Mahurrum, that I shall here merely remark, that the shrub is of quick growth, nearly resembling the small-leafed myrtle; the Natives make hedge-rows of it in their grounds, the blossom is very simple, and the shrub itself hardy: the dye is permanent.

'Sulmah.'[55]--A prepared permanent black dye, from antimony. This is used with hair-pencils to the circle of the eye at the root of the eye-lashes by the Native ladies and often by gentlemen, and is deemed both of service to the sight and an ornament to the person. It certainly gives the appearance of large eyes, if there can be any beauty in altering the natural countenance, which is an absurd idea, in my opinion. Nature is perfect in all her works; and whatever best accords with each feature of a countenance I think she best determines; I am sure that no attempt to disguise or alter Nature in the human face ever yet succeeded, independent of the presumption in venturing to improve that which in His wisdom, the Creator has deemed sufficient.

It would occupy my pages beyond the limits I can conveniently spare to the subject, were I to pursue remarks on the popular cries of a Native city to their fullest extent; scarcely any article that is vended at the bazaars, but is also hawked about the streets. This is a measure of necessity growing out of the state of Mussulmaun society, by which the females are enabled to purchase at their own doors all that can be absolutely requisite for domestic purposes, without the obligation of sending to the markets or the shops, when either not convenient, or not agreeable. And the better to aid both purchasers and venders, these hawkers p.r.o.nounce their several articles for sale, with voices that cannot fail to impress the inhabitants enclosed within high walls, with a full knowledge of the articles proclaimed without need of interpreters.

[1] _Dukan_.

[2] _Tatti_.

[3] See pp. 57, 173, 174.

[4] The fat of meat is never eaten by the Natives, who view our joints of meat with astonishment, bordering on disgust. [_Author_.]

[5] Many Hindoostaunie dishes require the meat to be finely minced.

[_Author_.]

[6] Known as _gargarasaz_.

[7] Baniya.

[8] _Sarraf_.

[9]: Cowries are small sh.e.l.ls imported from the Eastern isles, which pa.s.s in India as current coin, their value fluctuating with the price of corn, from, sixty to ninety for one pice. [_Author_.]

[10] _Hundi_.

[11] _Dasturi_.

[12] _Sipiwala gila sukha_.

[13] _Jonk_, a leech; _kira_, a worm, _laganewali_.

[14] _Kan saf karnewala_: more usually _Kanmailiya, kan_, the ear; _maila_, dirt.

[15] _Gota, chandni bikau_, silver lace to sell! The dealer is _Gota, kinari farosh_.

[16] _Tel ka acharwala_.

[17] _Mithaiwala_.

[18] _Khilaunewala_.

[19] _Abrak_, talc.

[20] _Pankahwala_.

[21] _Tar_, the palmyra palm.

[22] _Tarkari, mewa_.

[23] _Sag_.

[24] _Chitra_, spotted, speckled.

[25] Quicksilver is used by Native physicians as the first of alternative tonics.

[26] _Machhli_.

[27] Being considered to be like snakes.

[28] _Rohu_, a kind of carp, _Labeo rohita_.

[29] _Chiryawala_.

[30] _Bulbul, Daulias hafizi_, the true Persian nightingale.

[31] _Sabza, sabzak_, green bird, usually a jay, _coracias_.

[32] A shrike, one of the _laniadae_.

[33] _Maina_, a starling, _Aeridotheres tristis_.

[34] The black cuckoo, _Eudynamys orientalis_.

[35] The note of the bird at night, detested by Anglo-Indians, gives it the name of the brain-fever bird.

[36] _Lal, Estrelda amandava_, the avadavat, is so called because it was brought to Europe from Ahmadabad.

[37] _Atishbazi_, fire-play.

[38] Holi, the spring festival of the Hindus, at which bonfires are lighted, coloured water thrown about, and much obscenity is practiced.

[39] See p. 161.