New-York tribune., 1907-12-05
Recent Studies of India and the Far
East
East.


INDIAN PICTURES AND PROBLEMS. By Ian Ian
TalcolTe With af-y Illustrations sVo pp- w
- IS = Dutton * CO
SIGNS AND PGRTENTs N The e. IN ~ r tAS /
.. 7 PutnsIns Sons
c1,,ito one Of the best Of current books o.
travel is a Vision Of india by Sidney Low
Tho author IS a trained journalist. and III the
Interest Of the London standard" accompanied
The Prince and Princess Of Wales on their re
cent four his hook i not. however, d Per
f,nctor, chronicle OF royal doings misdoinss
indeed it has very little 10 say Of these eE-
alted personages-but association with their
r.arty gave the writer access 10 information rot
ouer TO tie ordinary traveller and enabled him
10 meet people from whom he derived novel.
varied and illuminating views on the questions
of the day. These questions are numerous, IN
sistent and grave. The atmosphere Of the
Orient Is heavy with discussion, and Nj Low
has the art OF touching vital topics lightly
and brightly. First Of all there is the great
problem OF race. India. Of course. i a sub
sect country and its inhabitants are continually
reminded. fancy they are reminded. of their
5uferioTity- Then there Is the potent fact Of
color. Consciously or unconsciously. generally
the former. the line IS drawn between natives
and Europeans. Anglo-India. says Mr.. Low,
does not care TO be too familiar with the in
habitants Of the country He disCerns GER
tain acerbity in the sentiments OF many infu--
entiaI Indians toward the English and English
rule He dimes with q number Of native dig
7itaries OF wealth and standing. and finds when
they are properly warmed up by French cook
cry and judicious contradiction that one and all
suffering under 2 sense OF injustice and
slight \ great Parsee mill owner can't under
stand why his white forelnen should be admit
ted at the railway station 10 apartments from
which he, the employer, is excluded in common
with coolies and day laboTers- The Parsee mill
fonaire who may ask half OF London 10 his en-
tertainr1ents when he Is living in Ptccadilly
would be requested TO withdraw at once if he
Put foot inside the grounds Of the Bombay
Yacht Club. The grievance is rather social
than political or legal. and hence all the harder
10 cope with, though none the less real. The
writer treats such a subject with abundance
Of amusing illustration. and even has the hardi-
hood to intimate that the young British officer
IS often wanting in tact and consideration in
his dealings with natives
The fascinating subject o. widows afor s the
author a rich field for the display Of interesting
fact and sound reflection According TO
cent census, there are some twenty million
Hindu widows. Of whom more than three hun
dred and twenty thousand are under fifteen years
Of ege. The government, which has tried to put
p stop TO female infanticide and has abolished
self-tnrnoIation by widows. has been unable TO
prevent child marriages, with all their attendant
perils. a feeble and Utopian effort TO raise the
age of marriage 10 twelve has met with re-
sponse. Even the much heralded abolition of
slttee may be q doubtful blessing, since multi
trdes OF women only exchange the swift and
passing agony Of the funeral pyre for years Of
oppression. neglect and misery Many thou
sands OF widows have TO choose between a life
OF degradation and shame II they leave their
they remain with them
OF the Intricate and absorbing system OF
caste the author writes informingly and enter
tainngly. The classification OF society in India
is guarded by the stFictest observance Of the
principle Of heredity and includes most Of the
population, who are shut I'D. II were. in air
tight compartments rigidIy marked off from the
rest Religion with what seems malign in
genuity has succeeded IN heaping complication
round the two essential functions of eating and
marrying. As for the higher sort of Brahran,
nothing IS easier than 70 sully his purity. There
ere some iuferior castles N the south. who are
not supposed 20 approach even within speaking
distance Of the elect. A regular table has been
drawn up of what may be called the degrees OF
pollution; 50 that, while some Of these low per-
sons can poIute a man OF a superior caste only
by touching him, it is held that blacksmiths.
nasons, carpenters and leather workers can
pollutS at q distance OF tWef1ty-TOUr 1eet, tcCQy
drawers at thrtv-six feet and cultivators az
forty-eight feet. while the pariahs who eat beef
have a pollution range Of no less than twenty
one yards twelve inches. Luckily. these
injunctions are subject 10 certain convenient
legal hctions- Sweetnaeats, it appears, are not
food and soda water the Dundits at BenareS
have decided is not water within the meaning
IF the act SO speak AS TO the prohibited de-
grees OF consanguinity in marriage table Of
them would include nearly everybody except
cousins several times removed. A commentator
imagines as an analogy a great tribe of Smiths
who could only be united to fellow-Smiths and
by ne possibility to Browns Joneses or Robin
sons Then the Smiths would be split up into
smaller fiercely endogamous clans, shooting
Smiths and hunting Smiths. temperance Smiths
and brewing Smiths all forced to be accommo-
dated with life partners in their particular
section of the Smithian multitude And having
played about the subject with much twinkling
gayety he sums it up sobery:
Hut the crudities and crueIties of the caste sys-
tenn need blind its other aspects. There is
doubt that it IS the main the funda-
mental stability and contentment by which Indian
society has been braced fer centuries against the
shocks of politics and the catacy SINS OF nature It
to g.e his % rce "5f Of fends tG pact # nsks hs him. m m
The outset q member OF a corporate body; II pro,
jealousy and unfullled aspirations; II insures him
SePs IN Ike caee ao with Himself The cat organ gam
tzation s the Hindu his club his trade union
are no WorkhouSss IN inda. and none areas yet
needed The obligation 10 provide for kinsf2lk and
nor can il be questioned that this IS due TO that
recognition Of the srengts 81 5a mn S ana 1p OF
india without caste as things stand at present 1t
Is not quite easy 70 imagine
More epher,eraI in character than Mr. Lows
1f-,