Indian Superstition.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 2 July 1910, Page 4

Indian Superstition.

SOMI'i RIOMARKAHLE LLLUSTl{ ATIOXW. KAXT A STIC THEORIES. Is Ind'ia participating ill the desire I'or dwinge, _ which is nowadays a di.siinguisiliiiiifj; feature in tihe social liil'e of the Asia-tic nations? I 1)', as lan >M>alc-nlin and other writers have said, slue is, we view with iWohotliiift t!ie .aith'iinpt'-s -of (Mvilalfevtioii . to eradicate the superstitions ill which the country is j-ivaked, which have. KiM'vived tlirotiglmtib the ages, and fl.>tn'i.- : !i at the present day with undiminished vigomr. lit the s'kcUche.s of Indian lile wliic-li .Mr Rdmmid Candler Unas written under title of "The Maiintle of the Isast" (Rlackwoc.d and Sons, (is net), we realise in mm lie degree tiiie hold that DISMAL SIM'ERSTITIOX li'sus on the Hindu. At the railway station in Calcutta Mr Gaudier saw a sick man upon a littur being Ini-r----ried through the crowd miid placed, in >a reserved first-class carriage, lie learnt from a halm on the platform that the nraa was (Mie Chandra Xa rayan, <a. notoriously eviil-liver, mad a consumer of cow's fhsli, who hoped to roauli Meivartfi i.ll the morning, and hy this simple penance wash out all his sins. "Mu't you will see," the hahu added, "lie will never see Ivashi."

It was true'. Chandra 'Xarayan died at Mogibal Srirai ,t\w next morning, when he was almost in sight of salvation. Mr CVind'lar recalls the following conversation which he had with a nrahmin : —"Do you believe that a Hindu has only to die in Benares to roach heaven?" "Certainly- not only a. Hindu, but any man. No wicked man even' does die AT BENARES. Men go there to die, but they are prevented. Something always call* them away, and they die elsewhere." And the Bra'hmin supported his theology by the fantastic story of an I'riya zemindar who lead started on the journey twice, at the point of death, and been no-stored _ to health. in spite of his resolutions to die at Ivasbi, he had come home enly to fall from the roof of his own house and break his neck." Will Oeeidnetal education finally scatter this belief? The faith that

will not tight cannot be m'ade to vield. Let us hear our author further :-

Before 1 left fvashi T nut a strictly orthodox Hindu U.A., one of those elusive, satisfactory beings who stand by the laws of Mann and their gods. ""Why, of Course," he said. "I believe that anyone who dies within the Pa nidi Tvosi road at l!e,o'\res will attain salvation, if he has fa.'itili enough to believe that by so dying he will be saved." In our MODERN CHRISTIANITY we find orthodoxy engaged in n stern bat-tie with the iucrednlity which abounds in evetry quarter. Here, again, the Occident compares unfavourably with the Orient. Mr Candler relates an incident which iie witnessed at Vishnu's tank, a fetid pad of miraculous efficacy. He saw a Brahmin widow seated upon the lower step above the pool. Tim aiii- was nipping, the water hitterlv cold, and the widow w«t> an old

:ad wealc we ma n. A ]>riest bent over her and droned his prayers _ as l;e sprinklerl her body with the icy water. Higher up the. stairs a sedate attendant waited with a cloth in which the old lady was to wrap herself as she unwound her wet. .warlii. ft was an intense moment. "Would m'.'.c dip? Mr Candler says:- The whole interest of Brahminisni centred in that; nothing mattered so much in all Ivashi. If that delicately nurtured old lady enters the cold, filthy, stagnant water and submerges the crown of ber heid. Yhhnu is .'till a potent flame. She re ; " and descended dowly, stop bv stev. t'> her waist to heir armpits. She dipped, and vindicated her faith. "Wo turned a.way. glad at heart, but ashamed. EASTERN COrRTESY. One doubts whether the innate good breeding of the Indian, is equalled on. this side of the world ; certainly it cannot be surpassed. At tin' famous -Mayo College, Ajuuie, a student who was of airistocr'tie and coleie oringin acted as guide to Mr Candler. In their peregrina.tiions thn.iugh the college they got mixed up with another gronp of visitors, and. a pompous old gvmtleir.'in tiMii Hengal, who was very mir.i'i impressed with X., the college student's rank, tried to squeeze' his pertlino'.s against the wall in ordci to let him pass. X.'s airy "Oh, go ahead, please'," was as English as anyone could wish. "Please go ahead," The courttsy of it dissipated one's forebodings of ultimate incompatibility.

The ordinary itavcllor, who dues not recognise the difference between a Mussulman and a Hindu, is likely to be much mystified by the privileges and disabilities which dfPeron.tate -each sect. # He will meet the Brahmin who may not eat mushrooms and the Brahmin who may. but whose wife may nlot; lie will happen on a Saddhu, perhaps, who must bo upon an antelope's skin, another who must not lay his stall on the ground, and a third who eat and drink out of a human skull. The Jains, however, wili interest him most of aT). The.* men wear a white soicen over theii mouths tied by a piece of string to the back of their ears like an eyeshade, because they have A HOLY HORR'OR of swallowing inserts. TJunclcianlin ess, says Mr Candler, "is with theim a. part of godliness. They would rather die than scrub a wriggling microbe. Each carries a soft mop with a lop for the handle to brush tlie insects from his path." There is another side to this vivid picture of the East, just as significant, and nnore inspiring. Theauthor, recalls a manouevre which Ite saw performed by the Patiala Imperial Service troops. Two squadrons o'f Lancers galloped up, dismounted, and threw their horses on the ground, where they Jay like a field of the (lead. Not a' horse rebelled, and, what is more, they lay still while two other squadrons came galloping up behind and subsided in the same mysterious manner fifty yards ahead", as oonipleltel,\ hidden behind a low rise a.s if the'v had been a iV'ginioiijt of inifantrv. At tht sound of a whistle trooper and horse rose as one e>an ,;ke ghosts at the trump of dcioni. "It was pleasant," says Mir Candler, "to think that these men were om tried and prove dallies."—Lloyd's Xows.