The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-03-11 00:00:00

CENTRAL INDIA.

The following interesting account of the state of domes-.
tic society in Malwa, and the adjoining provinces of
Central India, taken from Sir John Makelm's highly
amnia' Memoir, is worthy of attentlon. Slavery, to a
certain extent, for centuries, has prevailed throughout the
East, and we regret to know from this authentic work that
it has taken deep root in Central India. Its evils, however,
of late, have greatly ditninishol ; the extension of the
power and influence of Great Britain to this portion of
'lndia has done much for its amelioration :--

1. ... - ..
.• Slavery in Ilalwa, and adjoining provinces, is chiefly
limited to female a; but there is, perli.eps, no part of India
where there are so litany slaves of this sex. The dancing
girls arc all purclu.sAl when young by the Nuking, or
heads of the different sets or companies, who often lay
out large sums (a) in these speculations. Female children,
and grown up young women, arc bought by all ranks.—
A g the ltajpoot chiefs these slaves are very numerous,
as also in the houses of the principal Brahmins. The
usage, however, descends to the lowest classes, and few
merchants or cultivators are without mistresses or servants
of this description; male slaves are rare, snit never seen
but with men of some rank and property, with wham they
are usually the confidential servants.
" There are a variety of ways ill which slaves arc pro-
cured in central India. Numbers date their condition from
a laiiiiiie or scarcity, when men sold their children to those
who were aide to support tht to, with a natural view of 1
pres.rving the lives of their offspring, at the same time
that they obtained means of protracting their owii. A
great number of the slaves of this country are from Raj-
pootana, (6) where the excesses of the Maltrattas drove the!
inhabitants to exile, and to such distress, that they were
compelled to part with their children. But besides these!
sources of slavery, there are others of a more criminal ma- I
tore. 'levee are many instances of Itajpoots and men of
other tribes, particularly Sondies, selling the children
whom they have by their slaves, who ars cor.sielered horn
in a state of bondage. This only takes place when the fa-
ther i:: in distress, or when he is tempted by a large price.
The sale, however, of the offspring of these women by other .
fathers than their masters, is more common. The slaves
bred (to use 1 term suited to their condition) in this man-
lier are not iminerous ; but the farther demand is supplied I
by the Briojarries (e) or grain carriers, who import le- I
malts into and front I tuzerat, (I) and other c,:traiihs, I
which they usually pretend to have bought, and by the :
tribe of Ilwarriah, who have been already noticed as open !
and professed stealers of female children. !
" %%hen these slaves are bought, au inquiry is made as
to their tribe ; and the general answer (particularly from '
the liwarriabs) is, that they are Brahmins or lisjpuots.— '
The children are taught to make pretensions to high birth,'
and daily hest:tut:es teem of whole families losing caste in
consequaltx of the se being too hastily credited. (c) When •
persons of inferior tribes discover their daughters or hus-
bands their betrothal wives, in the houses of daughter,
which often happens, they are compelled to undergo 1..0
and expensive penances to recover the purity from which
they and their tinnily have fallen, in consequence of being
defiled by Int rcourse with females so far below them. It
is a remarkable fact, and one of the few creditable to the
late community of the l'intiarries, that among the numeral
prisoners of all ages and sexes whom they took, though
they employed them as servants, gave them to their chiefs,
and accepted ransoms for them from their relations, they
never sold them into bondage, nor carried on, like the
Brinjarries, a traffic in slaves.
" Females in Malwa, except in times of scarcity, or
general distress from any cause (a hen they are very
cheap), are sold from 40 and So, to too and ISO rupees ; (f)
the price is accordant to their appearance. They have been
at times an article of considerable commerce, many being
annually sent to the southward, particularly to the Poona
territories, where they sold high. This trade, which has
of late years decreased, was principally carried on by the
Slabratta Brahmins, (g) some of whom amassed great
sums by the shameless traffic.
" Mal r slaves, it has been stated, are not common in cen-
tral India, and they are generally treated more like adopted
children than menials. The case is very different with fe-
males, who, almost in every instance, are saki to prostitu-
tion; some, it is true, rise to be favourite mistresses of
their master, and enjoy both power and luxury, while
others are raised by the sitcom of their sons--but thew
art =lons. The dancing wants, who are all slaves,
arecondemned to a life of toil and vice, for the profit of
1 °theta ; and tome of the first Rsdpoot Chiefs or Zemin-
darn, (Ii) who have from 50 to 200 female slaves in their
family, after employing them in the menial labour of their
boo: during the day, send them at night to their own
dwellings, where they are at liberty to form such connex-
ions as they please; but a large share of the profits of that
promiscuous intercourse into which they fall, is annually
exacted by their masters, who adds any children they hap-
pen to produce to his list of slaves. The female slaves
in this condition, as well as those of the dancing sets, are
not permitted to marry, and are often very. hlyshly used.
The latter, from this cause, and the connexions they form,
are constantly in the habit of numinLoway. if disco
vered, they are always given up, provide the deeds of pur-
chase can be produced, which must be registered at the
police-office (i) of a market-town at the period the slave is
bought.
" It is not die habit of the Native Governments of cen-
tral India to take any cognizance of the punishment which
masters inflict upon slaves, except such as extends to their
life, when they are responsible: the/ are, in sonic cases,
cruelly treated, but this is not general; it is, indeed,
against the interest of the master to do so, when there arc
so many opportunities of escaping from his authority.
" The state of cential India for the last thirty years has
been flivourablt• to the species of slavery described ; and
dist province is tilled with the mixed progeny of these un-
fortunate women. This traffic must, however, now de-
' cream!, as the 4 warrialis and others who carried it on, can
I no long, r steal or conceal children with that confidence of
impunity which they had long done. A few years ago no
man dared to leave his own district, to inquire after his.
wife or daut„liter ; the whole country can be now traversed
in saf ty : this change, and the discoveries of guilt that
hive recently fern made, will hasten the end of this
abominable usage."
(n) They obtain advances (rem Sotwars, upon interest, like
1 other lenses. 1

IF) Marvin is :he province from which the ;greatest numbers am
obtained. In the famine of 1813 and 1814, Ameer Khan formed
in that country a battalion of children and youths of this class,
I ,2110 strong.
(.) Fur an account of this tribe see Bombay Transactions,
vol. I. page VU.
(4) (havers' has during the Iste troubled state of central India
draw. annually a large supply of fs✓mtak slaves, thistly dusugh
the Thiniserliii, from duse isometry. . .

( dmong the name ors ft:IA*IH whom my efforts have re-
covered from slavery, several of very low tribes have been dis-
covered in the houses of Brahmins, where they had been treated as
belonging to their own sect.
(,f') That is, from 51. to 151.
( Benoit* Pundit, a Brahmin agent. who resided about 20
years ago as the Chief Government Mime of Plum, in the district
of ILTPish. made a large Metune by this trade. Ile used to send
from fifty to sixty of these female* every year to Poona.
ft. The rearm ltajpoot. %minder of Talon-the-Chumbul,
has at least I:41 slaves. The father of the present Zemindar of
Jsaralt had at tine time :100. The principal Brahmin Aliniatiora at
the 1 nuns of Sindia and Golkar hare from 111 to 50 or CO of
these (slunk slaves in their families. The it•wul of Itanawana
haa 2(41.

(8) This office is termed the Cutwal's Chsbooty, or Town 31a-
georate's sitting place

TO 11. Ir. EI.I.ISTON, ESQ.
PROPRIETOR OF THEATRE ROYAL,

1)RIlt1--1,AN E.

Ste,-1 lake the liberty of addressing you upon the P•tbject of a
theatrical grievance of daily, or rather of sight,, occurrence. which
has lately very considerably increased, and which it is in your
power almgcther to correct and remove. I allude, Sir, to the cast-
mg down hum the galleries of peels of oranges, a,ll sitotentins of '
whole apple, !led other missiles, upon the heads of that part of the
andience which froment the Pit. You hate. Sir, the credit of
having assemblesl together a dramatic company of merit such as
has never before been exceeded, or perhaps eiptalled, in this coun-
try t but you are amply remunerated for this by the crowds which
nightly till your benches, and replenish your treasury. You owe
it as a duty to the public to repress the grievance to which I have
alluded; which object may easily be effected by affixing placards
in several parts of the galleries. to caution the frequenters of them
against an indulgence in habits at, offensive and dangerous to the
persists who attend the Pit, anti by stationing a few police °freers
abuse, to take into custody any one who, in defiance of such a cau-
tion. should persist in conduct so wanton and so outrageous. By
these means f entertain a confident belief that the evil complained
of would soon be remedied. I am, Sir,
loaslou, March IL AN OLD PITTITE.

FART INDIA SHIPPING.

RAT VlA.—The Thalia, 'Munro, from New South Wales, had
arrived at Batavia.
- - -

The Jenuma, Watt, /tailed from Batavia the 3lst October, for
Fo.,gapore, to fill up with pepper, and proceed from thence for
England.
SINGAPORE, ()cr. 6, 1843.—The Ilythe, Wilson, sailed from
hence this morning for China. We have rereived accounts from
I anion that the Stlert Committee would not allow any of the ships
to go higher than I.ioten, tir.tler the appr.hensi:•ti that the Chinese
!mild stiz•• two men in lieu of those killed in the attic or his Ma-
jesty's slop Topaze.
ARRIVALS AT THE 3IAURITII:S, ()CT. 30.—The Juliana,
Webster, front Bengal.