Star.
London, England, 1828-11-18 00:00:00

INDIAN SERVANTS.

• •
A Bengal Officer, except when on active service.
leads an idle and luxurious life. He ha, the greater
!nation of his time entirely :t hi, own di.posal, rid is
attendei by a crowd f menials. M 4ny s-f our country..
men at home are apt to listen wish bier...Mous wondee
to the accounts th t are given there of Vie nureiheriend
variety of Indian setvants ; but it they were well ace
quainted with the system of caste. which ha, so long
tweet the curse of India, they would cease to matvel at
the extent of a domestic establishment in Bengal. At
Madras, where religion, distinctions are lesiinsisted on,
the servants ate leis numeious and more active and
efficient. A hladtas .016:er is satisfied' with an esta•
140mm:a that would cssite the surprise and vita
tempt .4 the Bengalees. Oa ibis first areiVai in
Cabmen an Etip,h,limaii, if i.e ha, no fr;end to meet
and advi,e lion, is soon pounced upon by some
plausitile shear, who piolessts his readiness to fur.
iii,h him with servants, to assist him in the put.
chase of Ibis furniture, and superintend his house.
11,4.1.1 n point of Carle ti e sircars are very respectable, tut
,he•r dishonesty is notorious. As they usually both speak
and write English, and prssess much tact and info, ma.
do ',they co, trive to render v e ves extremely useful
the capacity of interpreters., secretaries, and gime, al
agents. In tact, until the stranaer acquires some little
knowledpe of the native lanetiages, their att• n.!auce,
though it is dearly putchased, is a nece.s try ev 1. 13 ifs
cow se • f r single day the sircar a ill rrocore a decent wt
of servants, and put a Reuse in tote, able order. fie makes
no demand Ins any regular sal yor remonera.ion, but
receives a (onside, able giatuity from every servant he
nittoduces to a situation, and is e titled t • a shaa tau ie
or ceutage hum the I: aJes; eaple upon eery amide
that is putchwed. He takes especial care also to
charge his employee twice the actual cost, and conse•
qurnay makes, in the end, a prodigious profit of his
agency. if his master is mily a sutalttro t Ricer, the
list of servants that he has to procure for him, th.
it might surprise an untiavelted Londoner, is compara-
tively very limited. It may be as well perhaps to et it-
inerate them, promising that the follow ing scale is
ac,ually a fair average of nsoieiate dome.aic vita.
blishinents in Bengal-1. A khonsama, or butler. 2.
A kitinutgar, or table attendant. 3. A masaulchee,
to clean plates and len* s and f.rks, and to rut with a
lamp before the carriage or palanquin at night. 4, A
habtchee, or colic. 5. An *tibia', or water confer. 6.
A balirie wallah, or shepherd (as every ofhct r in
the interior t f the countiy keeps a flock of :beep and
goats). 7. A moorgee wallah, or poultry keeper. 8.
A durzee, or tailor (who has generally also an assistant
or two). 10. Two dobins, or wa,hermen. 11. A sitdar
bearer, or valet. 12. A mate bearer, or under valet.
18. Six palanquin bearers. 19. A syce, or groom. 20.
A gbauscaut,or grass cutter. '2l. A blieestie, or water
carrier. 22. A malee, or gardener. 23. A clashie, or
tent servant. 24.. A hookah burdar, or hookah keeper
and attendant. 25. A chuprisse, or letter carrier. 26.
A chckedar, or watchman, to guard the house at night,
as all doors are left wide open na account of the exec*.
sive heat. '27, and lastly, a mater, or sweeper, who
is a person of the lowest grade, and cleans cr clears
away those things which no other set vant can touch
without the loss of caste.
Here ate '27 servants for a steady bachelor ! A dashing
youth would require nearly as many again, as would
also a mart ied man ; and even unmarried civilians and
Officers of tank would liare at least three times
the number. Most of these servants are Hindons; the
rest are plus ulmans. The peculiar castes of the former
are known by their occupations, which remain the same
from generation to generation, and they cannot be in.
duced, under any circumstances, to interfere with each
other's duties, or to change their own. A bearer, fur
instance, ss ould as soon be shot as be compelled to hand
his master's dinner to the table, as by a contact, how-
ever slight, with the food of an unbeliever, he would
forfeit the advantages of his religion, and become an
outcast from s .ciety. It is this circumstance that ex-
(plains our hold upon the country. It is an effectual bar
to ambition and intellectual improvement, while it
renders the people, divided among themselves, an easy
limy to the invader.