The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-11-09
Mental sociusisn I'm India.
From tie sIocntor.l


"a far as we know no man has recorded
tbi,. the pleasantest OF all the many special
nies in the native mind an ineXhaustible
AMOUNT of grave, sweet, essily-moved hui
nervousness. But i'm his most facile moments
A, Indian never unlocks his mind, never
nuts Il to YOURS, never reveals his real
thought, never stands with his real and
whole character confessed, like the western
European. You may know bit OF 1t, the
dominant passion, the ruling temper, even
hereigning prejudice, but never the whole
n il. After the intercourse Of years your
Indian friend knows you better, per-
hips, than YOU know yourself, especially
On your weaker side; but you only know
him as YOU know character in second
rste noyel-that il, know as much as the
suthor has been Sble to reveal, but never
mife the whole. In exceptional cases,
6uite exceptional, you may know as much
+ Won know OF Hamlet, know so much
hst is. that YOU could write a book OF re-
actions uDon the character-but you
viii sfi1 be aware OF the supreme puZ-
y'e that YOU know all OF Hamlet
lnt Hamlet. This seclusion OF the
mind is universal, runs through every
made. exists under any intimacy, and Is
seknovledeed by every thoughtful Euro
nan in India about those natives upon
whom he relies, often iustifaDly, with
confidence as profound rs his reliance upon
,bemost Trustworthy OF his Englishfriends;
md Webelicye. on the testimony OF one o1the
ieH cultivated Europeans who ever lived
hppily with a native wife, that II extends
N both SEXES. The why OF this mental
,eelusjon. the cause which induces ma
tv, az India, intelligent, inquisitiye, and
hungry for knowledge, not only able TO
converse. but eager 70 converse, 20 keep
BIZ mind in a casket, is the single puzzle
n fbe situation which so peTplexes the
Tin>s. and every one OF the very few
Fnropeans who has 30 far overcome the
.snss nj DESPAIR and bewildorment always
sycited by the immensity Of the native
yroblem, so ~ 10 look the perplexity larry
IA the face.
We certainly cannot solve 1t, though we
are voing % state in all humility theory
In Which we believe, which, II correct,
hardly EXPLAINS il. and which Will at least
interest The DREAMER minds among our
readers. We doubt il any European
ever fully realizes how great the mental
eject of the segregRtiYeneSs, the sepsra-
ion into atoms. Of Indian society, con-
tnued. AZ II has been, for three thousand
unbrosen years. has actually been: We
speak Of that society as divided into
e,tes. - but il is, and has always been, d.
rded into far more minute divisions or
ay,isls, each in way complete, but each
absolutely separated from its neighoor Oy
rules, laws, preiudices, traditions, ana
Principles Of ceremonial purity, which, III
he aggregate, form irspassable lines Of de-
narEation. Ii is not the European 70
whom the Indian will not reveal hini-
sh, but mankind, outside circle usu-
ally wonderfully small, and oitcn
single family, from whom he men
lilly retreats. His first pre0ccupatloh
n lie Is to keep his "caste," MS sepa-
nieness, his ceremonial purity, from any
contact with any other equally separate
eVual; and in that prcoccupatlon, perihs,
nent and all-absorbing for thousands OF
ye'r, be has learnt TO shroud his inner
mind an IN revealing II he feels as IL ne
sere revealing some shrine which " u
eAsphemy % open, as II be had earned
ron Heaven the misfortune he thinks sure
bioow.