Morning journal and courier., 1884-03-05
The VagabOnds and CrimIn Is of India

l l From the Atlantic Monthly.l
 | While the first outcasts robbed and mur-
 dersd and begged from necessity, their de-
 scsndants to-day do SO in order to fulfill what they consider to be a social obligation. With I the blindness of the heroes of Greek trage' | dy, they, inan carly period. bound them | selves irrsvecably to their fate by adopting
 distinctions of east similar 10 and memorable
 as those which had wrought their wretched- ness There are csstes even among outcasts. Pariahs are, in consequence, as jealous of their impurity as Brahmans are of their puri- ty. The privileges and restrictions of their own making are moro serious impediments in the way of their improvement than the enmity of the ''twice born" or Hindu aris- tocracy Their vital principle of belief is that the most unpardonRble of all offsnsss is for an outcast to desert the tribe in which he
 is born, or abandon the profession of his fathers. In their social starvation they themselves reject the meat and drink that
 could save them. IntermRrriageg are Rs
 strictly avoided by professional criminals and
 vagrants as if the laws of Manu had been
 made for them. A Hindu Thug, in the
 palmy days of Thuggee, would have dIed
 rather than marry one of his daughters or
 sisters to a brother murderer who professed
 the creed of Mohammsd The Mangs,
 whose poverty and squalor are unrivaled,
 would indignantly refuse Q Brahman who
 might offer himself in marriage. Among these people, 8 Lazarus, while he might
 eagerly seize the crumbs from Dives table
 would scruple sitting at it with him. The Chsnch wars carry their contempt for all castes and tribes but their own to such an extent that they declare they live in the jun gle for the sake of health, because there the smell of other men cannot reach them.
 The criminals estimation of the crime pe- culiar to his family i serious realization of Falstaf's ideas as to the moral value of his purloining of purses "Why, Hal, it is my vocation Iris no sin for a man to labor in his vocation T" When Thug stranglsr was asked whether he never felt remorse after
 killing innocent people, he answered in per junction in following his trade and are not
 all our trades assigned us by Providence ?" Conscientious scruples might as well be ex- pacted of spider feasting on the flies in it's nets, or of tiger deVouriug it's humaA vic tims Nor are the pariah's feelings on the
 subject merely negative. The most confirmed
 criminal and the most good for nothing vaga
 bond alike take real pride in their wickedness and vileness Men of the caste of Oalaris,
 when interrogated ss to their trade, with thorough self satisfaction proclaim them selves robbers. The greRtest compliment which Thug could receive was praise of his skill as single-handed stransler. The very word Thug signifies deceiver. Phansigar, Ari Tulucar, Tanti Callern, Wsrlu Wahudlu,
 as stranplers have been called in different
 parts of India, refer to their use of alnoos ..
 fThieves and beeears, like the Artful Dodger,
 vould scorn all other but their oVa employ
 m snts. This distorted conception of duty
 cannot be wondered at since even the Bhag-
 ayad-Gita, book which contains the highest