The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-30
THE EAST INDIA PROBLEM
A VAST POPULATION WHOSE CHAR
ACTERIsTICS ALWAYS CLASH.
Difficulties That Are Complicated by
AntagOnisms of Race and Language,
and by Religious Beliefs.
st. Louis Globe-Democrat.

IDENTIFY giving no little uneaSiness to the
authorities of the British empire and their
anxiety reflected by the press of Great
Britain, indicates a possibility that the
state of affairs in the peninsula is perhaps
even more serious than the public has been
permitted to learn. The famine followed
by the plague, carried off many thousands
of the population, but the actual loss in
numbers by no means represents the dam
age that was accompanied by these two
agents of destruction, for after the former
had been partially alayed and the latter
stamped out the seeds of discomfort, al
ways present in the soil of India, began to
sprout advantage was taken of the oppOr-
tunity by the warlike northern tribes to re-
volt, and, in addition to a couple of noun
tain wars, the English in India find them
selves III the midst Of a population never
too friendly and now supposed to be in
spired by an unusual hatred of their con-
querors BY some of the English papers
the situation is compared to that which
Immediately preceded the mutiny of the
native regiments in 1857, commonly known
as the Sepoy rebellion. This famous out
break, provoked by an apparently insignit-
cant incident, was the elimination of a
long period of discomfort, and the terrible
bloodshed with which it was subdued ought
to prove warning to one side OF the ever
present peril CT an uprising, to the other
of the danger of bringing on a conflict with
q powerful enemy having all the chances in
| his favor. But 1857 is a remote date and
period of forty years is long enough to
render both sides at least partially blind to
the fact that ever-present irritation may at
any moment eliminate in an outburst.
To obtain proper idea of the situation
| in Ir,1;o
the country and character of it's population
is necessary. The country to which, in this
part Of the world, the general name India
is applied is nearly 1000 miles in extent
! from north to south, about LOO from east
to west. and comprises nearly 1900, OOO
square miles, being thus one-half the size
of the United States, exclusive of Alaska.
A country so vast in size, extending as it
| does from the torrid regions to the temper
! ate, comprising river valleys, plains, des-
! erts plateauS and mountains, is charac-
| ter1Zed by many kinds of climate and a va
| riety of population such as cannot be found
| in an equal extent of territory anywhere
! else on the globe. For thousands of years
| India has been the battle ground OF con-
| tending ASiatiC hosts; ten times has most
| if not all the peninsula been conquered by
| invaders, and the result is a mixture Of diff
| ferent races that has not elsewhere a par
| alel. According to the most recent official
| estimates of the population of India, there
| are on the peninsula to-day upward of 49,
OOO,00O of human beings. If they were all of
the same race, animated by the same So
! cial, political and religious impulses all the
armies Of the world could not Subdue nor
! keep them in subsection but this almost
! inconceivable number is divided into nearly
200 different races or peoples, many of
| whom hate each other with bitterness
| little if any inferior to that felt for the
| foreign conquerors.
THE LANGUAGE PROBLEM.
Not less important than the race problem
! is that of language. 1t is stated by one
| scholar that more than $50 languages or
| dialects are spoken the peninsula, about
! fifty being dialects Of the prevailing Hin
doc, the remainder GENERALLY local and
used by communities comparatively small
| though in several cases their numbers
mount into millions. So sharply defined
are the geographical limits of these local
! languages that it is possible for a traveller
familiar with the language and manners of
one district TO pass, in the course of a
lew hours journey, into another where
| both are as strange to him as though he
| had never set foot in India. Differences Of
| race and language do not always forbid
| unity of political military action Many
| instances to the contrary have taken place
| even in our own time. Every language in
| Europe was spoken in the army with which
| Napoleon marched into Russia. All the
| Ieaulng states are now represented IN the
| fleet gathered before Crete, and, although
| the concert of the powers may prove to be
| merely mockery, even such d mockery of
| union is now impossible, and has always
| been so, among the races of India. Each
| has, so far as permitted by circumstances
| held aloof from the others. When, to
achieve particular purpose, alliance
| has been formed, 1t always dissoveS as
| soon as the end is attained, and frequently
| not even military necessity nor the finesSe
| of Oriental diplomacy has sufficed TO pre-
| vent allies from falling out before the pur
! pose of the alliance was accomplished.
| Race antagonlsmS and differences in lam
| guage are, however, but two of the ele-
ments of inharmony in the peninsula, for
even among the people of the same race
| Of the same language living in the same
! neighborhood there are divisions more Sc
| rious than those already enumerated. AS
! rlanS differ, some attributing this strange
| distinction to the successive conquests of
| the country by invaders, each subjugation
| resulting in the retention of all the former
| castles and the establishment of one more
| while others find the beginnings of the sys-
| tenn in the peculiar observances of the pre-
| Vailing religion. But, whatever its origin,
caste, among the Hindoos, is as elfectual a
| barrier to union as race or language Union
| in the cause of freedom is possible only
| among men who are socially and polite ally
| equal Had there been a caste system in
the Sritish colonies of North America the
| assembled.
The number of pure castles is given by
| various writer's as from four to ten, but all
| agree that besides the pure castles there
! are great numbers of minor social di-
visions equivalent TO caStes which have
! arisen from occupation, by descent and in
! other ways. According TO the census of
| 1881 the population of India by caste race
! and religion" was divided into sixty
| groups but in most cases these groups had
| many subdivisions. There were, for exam
| pie, over 100000 persons termed Brah-
mans, and of these there are enumerated
! 1886 tribes or minor castles. OF the farm
erS there are forty-four castes of the raj
! puts there are more than five hundred.
| There is reason to believe that the stories
| told of the terrible consequences of a loss
| of caste are, in many cases, exaggerations
1 ing urh l-e~
! lost it may be regained by penance in some
by feast given to the members of the
| offended caste, and when these means fail
the delinquent simply goes and joins an
| other caste, and is received gladly as a
seceder from one church is made welcome
lOwance is made for oVerStatements the
caste distinctions are SO clearly recognized
| that they create among the people them
selves differences as wide as those OF race
or language. Political or social co-Opera-
ton among a people, one-half of whom will
have nothing to do with the other half is
an impOsSibiity. Even the HindOos who
form nearly four-fifths of the population,
cannot unite on any plan or purpose, and
thus the caste system, by dividing the pOp-
ulaton. enables the foreign conqueror to
retain his hold.
THE RELIGIOUS FACTOR
More disturbing political factor than
the castles are the different religions of
India, the recent riots in Calcutta and Bonn
bay between the Mohammedans and the
Hindoos serving but to illustrate the in
tense animosity existing between the peo-
pie of the two religions. OF the 2S7 600 900
population 20S GOO 900 are HindoOs and 81