( 32 )
In this space are placed food and sweetmeats of various kinds in seven vessels of
brass or earthenware. They could not explain why the number was always seven ;
but the Jewish preference for the same number, as expressive of completeness, is signi-
ficant. Over the gurra is thrown a reddish yellow cloth, which is covered with neem and
mangoe leaves. Chaplets of flowers are suspended around it, and in front is placed a
lamp over which ghee is gently poured—"so that the odour arising therefrom may
please the nostrils of Seetla." Pieces of cloth, brass vessels, money and jewels, are
deposited in front of the lamp. These are the offerings of the parents to the goddess,
as represented by her high-priest the malee, who continues his songs until he is
satisfied with the contribution ; when this is the case, he pats the child on the back
(which is the expression of his satisfaction), sprinkles some water from the gurra on
its face, and tells it to "go and be happy."
Some of the food he distributes to the child, its parents, and such others as may
happen to be present on the occasion; and from every recipient thereof he expects a
reward of some description. Many give the rings off their fingers for a small portion of
this consecrated bread. The malee then collects the spoil and takes his departure, while
the gurra is thrown into the nearest river.
34. It seems to me that it would be vain to expect a development of the vac-
cination of the future from the principal performer in this comedy of quackery and
superstition. A month or two of training will not divest him of his superstition,
nor modify his want of breeding, slovenly appearance, and uncouth manners. We
might as soon expect that a year or two of college would have converted a barber-
surgeon into a model practitioner.
35. It would be giving the malee credit for an amount of intelligence which he
does not possess to suppose that he was indifferent to the religious ceremonials in which
he took so prominent a part. Nay, rather, he believed as firmly as did his employers that
the goddess was a living person, inhabiting the village neem, and not a mere abstraction,
the product of his own fancy; and notwithstanding his conversion, he believes that still.
It is not surprising therefore that he is not over-zealous in his new work; nor that he
takes every opportunity of recurring to the old songs and pooja which he so much
relished.
As our best chance of ultimate success lies in removal of every trace of the leaven
of "mythology" from small-pox and its prophylactic, we cannot expect that to happen
so long as we engage the superstitious malee. The best classes of vaccinators are
Brahmins, Rajpoots, and "Hakeem" Mahomedans. The lower castes, such as Kahars,
Koomars, and Malis, are notoriously unsuccessful.
36. The scant measure of success in proportion to the requirements of this
division is almost discouraging. It has an annual birth-rate of nearly 300,000, and the
number of children vaccinated under one year old was only 4,524. If those vaccinated
at that age bore a direct proportion to the total unprotected, we should have 3,000,000
of the population exposed to the scourge. But the fact stated in the paragraph
regarding "age" introduces a fallacy into the calculation, which raises the hope that
the number is in reality much under that represented.
37. In the Indian Medical Gazette for April I have expressed my opinion regard-
ing the advisability of compulsory vaccination ; and I need here only re state my con¬
viction, that if gradually introduced, and enforced without unnecessarily irritating
the prejudices of the people, it would be about the greatest boon we could confer upon
the country.
38. Apart from compulsory vaccination, a case which occured in Bustee seems
suggestive of the course to be pursued. Narayan Dutt, the village schoolmaster of Ka¬
leelabad, when in the Mission School in Goruckpore, read in an English book of the
benefits of vaccination; and without any reference to me, he had himself vaccinated, and ten