New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-01-03
.Some Fragments from the Panorama
of Life IN India.

when KipIing wrote his KIM" and filed 1t
IN OVERLOOKING with pictures of life as it is lived
q India in city and In country. and along the
,dless roads, he made the subject more diff
o,,I, than ever for all who might follow him In
eact II Is hard to how any traveller in that
land Of picturesqueness can quite screw his
courage I'D TO the point OF trying to paint scenes
md figures that have been painted once for al
nv a brilliant artist in words But that courage
&c not lacking for enterprises Of the sort is
.boup by Mr.. Hallam Murray, q son Of the
well known English publisher. who in THE
nigh Road Of Empire &c. P. Dutt'on & Coz, has
written bis own text for collection OF his own
water color and pen sketches Of Bombay Cal
.,-ta Benares Delhi. Lahore and half dozen
ether historic spots IN the Indian panorama he
travels q long way after Kim producing q
hook which IN comparison with that blaze OF
oo1or seems an affair Of mere milk and water
hut in his modest way the artist-author con-
4rtves 70 give US some interesting impressions
As a water colorist especially he commands re-
.-+ He has had the good sense to AVOID the
rsr,sh tints with which many painters nave
eought TO interpret the binding East, making US
raaize that the country is not always so pima
,ng after all, but has its cool as Wen as It's
A-Ding effects. He has chosen his subjects
well. and the color printing is SO good that MS
..e+ches nearly all have q delightful freshness,
y come Of them like the one of the Man Sing
Ta1ace ct Gwalior, he carries the reader as
+.orrb beneath the very shadow Of the ancient
walls represented.
NJ Murray's text offers the usual notes of the
Ieased tourist the usual ambitious descriptions
~ historic monuments and the usual gleantngs
4-or history. Where it strikes a Ivelier note
- interest is in those passages which aim at
giving some idea Of the familiar life of the
neople. we like Mr.. Murray best when, for
example he Is strolIing through the native ba-
zaars and tells US of girls washing the family
linen IN copper pots in the street, or Of goat
wing On the family bedstead. with another look
,1g 81 from the upstairs balcony; and once,
~ adds "a big COW came bouncing down the
front stairs and upset a dj~~ifed old gentleman
who sat, smoking his hookah in the gutter
below" With such little vignettes he varies the
nonotony Of a conventional narrative. Like
other Observers in India, Mr.. Murray has been
profoundly impressed by the way in which re-
ligion pervades It's civilization From the be-
ginning Of life TO its end" he says. every de-
tail Of the existence of these $50 100000 Of Him
docs is gripped By the dead hand Of ceremonial
ritual. A man may be an atheist or q
derer his religious status IS unimpaired; but
let him unconsciously drink water touched by
a man of lower caste. and his doom is sealed
He illustrates the point with a reference TO
the closing hours Of any pious Hindoo. Religion
DEGREES that the last breath of the true believer
should be drawn on the banks Of the Gauges,
or If that is not. possible. at least By the side
Of some neighbor:ng body of water. 1.-THE dying
man IS carried on his string bed. or charpoy, at
a jogTot, for miles perhaps. TO the sacred
stream, by relays Of friends, grunting and
shouting as they 90. Hari hariboP; and there
he may linger for days. if he is sufficiently
tenacious Of life to survive the repeated i'm
mersions to which his attentive guardians sub
ject him Old people have sometimes returned
home after nine or ten dippings. but more often
means are taken 70 prevent this disgrace, and
The patient expires correctly"
Mr. Iurray has some grtu1ly interesting pages
on those innumera bic ascetics Of INDIA who sub
ject themselves ID incredible fortunes in the
hope that this dis cipiine of the body may win
sanctity md powe!, for the soul. Some remain
with their limbs so long IN one position that
they become aJroEihied and immovabIe, or lie
with their heads buried in the earth: Others
hang for hours head downward from their
knees; still another has a couch Of thorns. and
another bed OF nails, on whicl, he lies in re-
membrane Of the ,arrowy bed of Bhisna- the
San Sebastian Of the Mahabarata-" Constantly
matters Of this sort balance the sunshine in
the book descriptions Of the strange Towers of
Silence at Bombay, in which the Parsis hurry
their dead or glimpse Of those amazing
'cnaWls, or lodging houses, q single one Of
which viii often shelter from five hundred to
a thousand natives. But Mr.. Murray is not by
any means gloomy guide. on the contrary,
his book taken a whole. forms q light and
entertaining introduction to Indian life In
taking leave Of II we must quote an anecdote
he tells Of z Maharaja Of GWalior:
A friend told me a curious story about this SIND
ha Illustrating the peculiar love Of the Hfndoo for
s1cns there vast population in half starving
CONDITION. In the State OF Gwalior, British
government gave the Maharaj ia to understa nd that
ne must institute public works TO give them en-
ployrlent. This he readily consented to do II the
British government advanced the funds with which
70 pay them Accordingly ESQ 600 was sent him for
carried through, the MaharaJa meanwhile punctu-
ally paving interest The loan When he died.
and the pits fu the fort where ne Kept his treasure
were examined there was tne tou5.UD Stlu In the
same original bags in which It had been sent 10
htrl-neveT touched He had incurred the cost of
the works with the interest. for the pleasure Of
knowing that he had half q million OF English gold
II his c=l-ara.
London continues to follow IN the footsteps OF
the Parisians IN naming streets after persons
known for their Intellectual achievements. She
now has z HaIlam-st., named after the his
torian Henry HaIlam- Concerning HalIam and
his family, by the way, that recently published
work, aafrs. Brookheld and Her Circle" gives
many interesting details. Hanan was Jane
Bro5kfeIds dearly beloved uncle, and she shared
afecticnately IN his Joys and sorrows. At the,
death Of his son Arthur-the gifted youth on
whose grave Tennyson laid tribute in In Me
rnoriarn'-an the family Joined in sympathy
Tlth the young betrotned. the sister of the poet
49, -aV,