Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-27
Fifty-Four Languages Acquir.
ed by Elizabeth S. Cotton.
CAN READ HEIROGLYPHlCS
Cuneiform Inscriptions Cannot Hide
Meaning From Her.
HAS READ BIBLE IN ZULU
Studied Sanscrit Poetry and Drama
With Learned Hindu Pundit.
Now in Washington.
BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
Miss Elizabeth s. Cotton. an agreeable
and graceful citizen Of Easthampton
Mass, has a great advantage over the
rest Of her sex. because she can express
her thoughts in fifty-four different Ian
guages, while the most of them have to
get along the best they can with one.
Probably only one other woman-in
America at least-approaches Miss Cotton
as a lnguist Miss Mary Montgomery.
daughter Of a Presbyterian missionary In
Turkey. astcnished' the faculty OF the
University OF Berlin by her linguistic &C.
complishments. and is now editing a die
tionary of oriental languages In New
York.
Miss Cotton has studied the live and
dead languages at various schools on
three continents. She has recently re-
turned from a stay Of a year and a half
in India, where she went to qualify her
self in the various Hindu dialects. and to
study Sanscrit poetry and drama In its
natural atmosphere with Hart Shankara,
a Brahmin pundit at Benares, the sacred
city of India. which is to the Brahmins
Jerusalem to the Jews.
While she was there Miss Cotton had an
enviable opportunity of witnessing ON
cial archaeological Investigations con-
Quoted by j. H. Marshall. chief archie
ologist Of the Indian government, and
Mat Taw sien Ko. a Burmese archeolo-
gist. and one of the most learned men IN
the world. These Investigations took place
at Sarnath. a village four miles from
Benares, where, surrounded by heaps OF
IL
or towers, the larger of which marks the
spot where Buddha preached his first
sermon.
There used to be an enormous monastery
in the neighborhood. of which the ruins
still remain. Half mile distant are an
other tower and the ruins of other mon
asteries. Every inch of earth in that part
of India is associated with the life and
labors Of the great apostle Of peace and
love. whose theology Of sweetness and
light and gentleness was in startling con-
trast with the atrocious practices Of the
Brahmins and the hideous rites performed
at the shrines Of the Hindu gods
Assyrian influence on India.
Miss Cotton says that the investigations
disclosed many evidences Of Assyrian in
fluence upon the art and architecture OF
India. and demonstrated that the culture
OF the Semitic races penetrated Indian In
the earliest times.
'Mr. Marshall who is in charge of the
work." she says. asked me to write q
book giving a history OF the influence OF
the Semitic race upon the art, archeol-
ogy and religion Of India. 1 am going to
begin soon.
Last July, near Peshawur, on the
northwestern frontier Of India" continued
Miss Cotton, DIR. D. Brainard Spooner
archaeological superintendent on thai
frontier who has been excavating fol
several years, made a surprising discovery
in the ruins of a monastery just outside
the city. Concealed In q relic chamber
he found q crystal casket containing four
bones. which are believed to be the
remains # Buddha, whose body was
cremated shortly after his DEATH about
the year $50 3. c.
These relics were sent to King Edward
VII of England, because he Is Emperor
Of India. 1t was Buddha's command that
the ruler of the country, wherever relics
OF himself were found should he consid.
cred the rightful owner.
There has been no announcement az
to the disposition OF these precious relics
which will command the veneration OF
haps 1t will be decided to deposit them In
the British Museum. but they should &c
to Siam, where other relies of Buddha
are kept In the royal temple.
THE King of Siam is recognized al
the most prominent Of all the Buddhist
Of this age. and the doctrines Of Buddha
are taught there in purer form thar
elsewhere.
mo; although Buddhism originated In
India, the followers of Buddha have al
been driven out of that country or exter.
minated. Siam, Burma, China, Japan and
Tibet have the largest Buddhist popula-
tons today. There are Buddhist COM
munities and temples in this country a,
Los Angeles and Chicago"
Nationalism in India.
Where did you study Buddhism" ]
asked.
cat Harvard University and at Berlin
before going to India: afterward In Cey.
lon. where / met many learned Budd.
hists," responded Miss Cotton, but am
not Buddhist.
II believe that the problems which con.
front India. and which are the basis OF
Indian religious life, can only be solved BY
Christianity. Were the leaders of Indiar
thought to accept Jesus, to accept tho
cross. they would have that which their
religions do not give-a common ground
on which all might stand and from which
the many aspirations they have SO much
at heart might be worked out"
"What Is the cause OF the present agi-
tations in India7' I asked.
1.-The unrest in India is due to an awak.
ening of spirit Of nationalism. and 1t il
caused by the broadening influence Of ed.
ucatiOn and the example Of Japan, where
the development Of national character and
individuality and the progress in wealth
industry and commerce has attracted the
admiration and inspired the ambition OF
all thinking Hindus.
THE victory Of Japan in the late wal
with Russia also had a powerful influ.
ence upon public sentiment in India AL
races In India say to each other. II
Japan has done all this. why not weT
This inspiration. this germ of nationa
independence. is developing in all the In
dian races. The Hindus have a deeper
feeling, but the Mohammedans are als<
demanding education and civil rights.