Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877 Part 15

[Sidenote: CONTRASTED VIEWS OF SIN.]

I had reason to be thankful for having entered into this department of work. A large amount of Christian instruction was imparted; many of the boys showed remarkable apt.i.tude in committing to memory portions of Scripture, such as the ten commandments and the parables of our Lord.

Much general knowledge was acquired, a number of the pupils became better fitted for their secular calling, and the goodwill of the people was secured. Once, when thirty miles away from Ranee Khet, I met a lad whom I recognized as an old pupil. I asked him if he remembered what he had been taught. He said he did. He went to a house close at hand, brought a copy of St. Luke's Gospel, read at my request the fifteenth chapter, and explained its meaning with an accuracy which surprised me.

At the same place I met a man of a different order. He told me he was going to a mela, to which I was also proceeding. I asked him what he was to do there. He said he was to bathe, to wash away his sins. I asked him what was the sin which oppressed him. He said, "I am a husbandman. In ploughing my fields I destroy much life, which is a great sin. This is the worst thing with which I am chargeable." The lad taught in the school knew something of what sin was, as the poor man did not. I can say nothing about the spiritual results of these school efforts. I can only hope that by G.o.d's blessing good has been done. The Government has now entered largely on primary education in the Province, and with its resources and prestige will, I trust, secure a large school attendance.

All through my residence at Ranee Khet I endeavoured to embrace the opportunities given to me of promoting the spiritual good of our own countrymen. A service was at once commenced with the few residents and visitors at the station. Towards the end of 1869 two companies of English soldiers were sent, and as soon as tolerable accommodation was provided a regiment was stationed at Ranee Khet. As for nearly three years I was the only resident Christian minister, I held two services every Lord's Day--one for Presbyterians, including all non-Episcopalian adherents, and the other for the Episcopalians, the Prayer-book being used at this latter service. I also visited the sick in hospital, and when at home conducted a weekday meeting. We first met in the open air, or verandah of our hut; afterwards in the hut used as a temporary canteen; for some time in the recreation-room; and during our later years in our place of wors.h.i.+p, which we called Union Church. An effort was made to get up a girls' school, but it was unsuccessful, as the attendance of the few native girls in the Bazar could not be secured. So far as native women were concerned, all Mrs. Kennedy could do was to instruct the few living in the Mission compound. She found, however, an interesting sphere among the wives and children of the soldiers. The Sabbath school, commenced and carried on by her, a.s.sisted by others, was attended by all the children, Roman Catholic as well as Protestant; but no sooner was a Roman Catholic chaplain appointed than the order went forth for the withdrawal of the children of his Church, which was obeyed with manifest reluctance. We had much pleasure in these services with our own people, and had every reason to believe lasting good was done.

Some of the boys of the Ranee Khet school expressed a desire to be taught English, and these came every second day to our house to be taught by Mrs. Kennedy.

[Sidenote: MISSION WORK AT RANEE KHET.]

While thankfully availing myself of the opportunities presented of preaching the Gospel to our own countrymen, such opportunities as I never had at any previous period of my Indian career, my chief attention was given to the work for which I had been sent to Ranee Khet. I have already mentioned missionary work done on visits to the schools. At Ranee Khet opportunities were found for conversation with shopkeepers and their customers. Thousands of work-people were employed on the buildings which were being erected, and these, when the work of the day was over, flocked to the Bazar to buy food. After the toil of the day, when eagerly antic.i.p.ating their only cooked meal in the twenty-four hours, they were not inclined to listen to a stranger telling them of his strange religion. Occasionally I did succeed in getting for a time the attention of some not so eager as others to get their evening meal.

Most heard quietly, but sometimes individuals replied with bitter words.

Many of the work-people had come from a great distance. The most prominent of these was a band of Cashmeeree Mussulmans, who spoke against Christianity with a fierceness which showed what they would do if they had the power. From one of them I got a retort, which it was difficult to repel. I tried to put the party into good humour by asking them about their country, and I smilingly said, "Is there no food in your country, that you have come all this way for it?" To which I got the reply: "You, sir, have come much farther than we have done. Had you no food to eat in your country?" I must acknowledge I felt myself shut up under this rebuff.

During my residence at Ranee Khet I had much intercourse with two cla.s.ses widely separated from each other--educated young men, and Doms.

I have mentioned that from the Almora Mission School a number of young men had gone into all parts of the Province. Several got situations in the public offices of Ranee Khet, and to them in the course of time persons of the same cla.s.s were added from Bengal. I visited these at their quarters, and did all in my power to maintain friendly intercourse with them. A room in the school-house, supplied, partly at their own expense and partly by the liberality of friends, with newspapers, periodicals, and books, was turned into a reading-room, which was always open in the evening. One evening in the week they met me in cla.s.s, when we had as our text-book the Advanced Reader of the Christian Vernacular Education Society, which furnished full opportunity for conversation on the most useful and important subjects. The attendance was not so steady as could be desired. All were friendly in their bearing, and some seemed much interested in our study and talk. A few professed Brahmist views, but none were inclined to join the Brahmist community and break with their own people. There was no indication of the spiritual concern which compels the soul to earnest investigation, with a view to following truth wherever it may lead.

[Sidenote: MISSION WORK AMONG THE DOMS.]

The other cla.s.s with whom I had much to do at Ranee Khet were the Doms, to whom reference has already been made as in all probability the descendants of the aborigines of the country previous to the Hindu invasion. They are a most useful part of the community. As the artisans of the country, the people of every caste have much to do with them.

They are largely engaged in agriculture. They do things by which the caste people would be defiled, such as carrying away the carcases of animals. In a high-caste village it is not uncommon to see, a little aside from it--if the ground permits, below it--a number of houses occupied by Doms. The pigs and fowls around the meaner dwellings, and the poorer looks of the inhabitants, tell what they are. As artisan work is now in great demand the circ.u.mstances of the Doms are much improved, and there is every prospect of their rising into a higher position. They bear, and for many a year they may be expected to bear, indubitable marks of having been for ages a servile, despised, downtrodden cla.s.s, having no respect from others, and entertaining little respect for themselves. Their improved circ.u.mstances will do something towards raising them in the social scale, but we cannot look for high moral excellence and real manhood till they come under the power of the Gospel.

On account of the abundance of work which the formation of an English station was sure to afford, a colony of these people erected a village for themselves on the side of the Ranee Khet hill below the Bazar. I had when in Almora conversed frequently with Doms. At Ranee Khet I saw much of them, and had more encouragement among them than among any other cla.s.s. To some who expressed regret they could neither read nor write, I said it was not too late; that I would take care that they be taught if they were willing to learn. To test them I opened a night-school, and a number availed themselves of it. It was a gratifying sight to see them, at ages varying from fifteen to thirty-five, conning their spelling-books at the door of the school-house as evening was coming on, or trying to form letters on their slates. A few became soon discouraged, but a number held on, night after night for two or three hours, with the greatest eagerness, till they could read, write, and count very fairly. One result of the school was that they began to attend, with great regularity, a service held every Sabbath afternoon in the hall of the school-house. During the last year of our residence in Ranee Khet, the attendance at this service was larger than at any previous period, and it was mainly composed of Doms. Nothing could exceed the quietness and apparent interest with which they heard the simple addresses given. I cannot say I saw any evidence of spiritual awakening, but the torpor of their previous life was shaken in a way which inspired the hope of their being brought into the fold of Christ.

I have mentioned the fierceness of the Cashmeeree Mussulmans. This charge cannot be brought against them all. One of their number, a young lad, came to the school, and was in every respect one of the best pupils in it. With another, one so trusted by the rest that he was the go-between in the arrangements for work with the English engineer, I had much intercourse. Though the head of the party, and himself doing no manual work, he could neither read nor write, and was entirely dependent on accounts being kept by another. To my surprise he came to the night-school, and applied himself so diligently that he acquired a fair measure of elementary education, though his knowledge of the Hindee language was very imperfect. He regularly attended the Sabbath evening service, and seemed to listen most eagerly. One day he came to our house. I at once saw that he was greatly excited. He shut the door behind him, as if afraid of being seen, came close to me, got down on his knees, and said: "Sir, what am I to do? Last night Huzrut Isa" (the name given by Muhammadans to our Lord, which may be translated "His Honour," or "His Excellence Jesus") "appeared to me in a dream, and said, 'Follow me; follow me.' But how can I follow Him? My people will kill me, they will kill me!" I have seldom been more touched than when I looked on the anguish in the face of that poor man, and the tears coursing down his cheeks, as he uttered these words. I need not tell the Christian reader what I endeavoured to say. Shortly afterwards the Cashmeerees left Ranee Khet, and this man with them. I could not find out where they went, and I have lost all trace of my friend.

[Sidenote: ITINERACY.]

A considerable part, sometimes the greater part, of the cold weather was given to itineracy. Some winters we went down to the foot of the hills to prosecute mission work among the large population found there at that season. We moved from place to place, erecting our tent in central spots, from which within a radius of two or three miles we could visit populous villages, some built of rough stones, but most composed of gra.s.s sheds. I was generally accompanied by a catechist. We had many opportunities of speaking to the people on the highest subjects. Not infrequently we met persons whom we had met in the hills, and then we were sure of a special welcome. Once I came on a party of Doms, tailors, whom I had seen a short time previously, and I said to them: "As you have no cattle, and do not cultivate the ground, what has brought you down?" To which I got the reply: "We have come in search of the sun."

This gave me an opportunity of speaking of that Sun in whose warmth and light their spirits might dwell at all times, in all places. I endeavoured to set up schools in the Bhabhur, but had not any encouraging measure of success.

There was much which was pleasant and exhilarating in this movement from place to place, and in camping under the trees: but it was at times very fatiguing, and in bad weather very unpleasant. More than once we were overtaken by severe storms, but happily the worst of these storms came on us in favoured places, where we could find shelter on escaping from our tent.

Hill ponies feel themselves strange when in what a friend used to call the "roomy plains." The pony I had for years was quiet enough in the hills, but I had to watch it narrowly in the plains, as it seemed to have always the sense of danger, and was ready to start in a fas.h.i.+on which more than once almost dismounted me.

Some winters were spent in itinerating in hill districts from which the people did not go to the Bhabhur. In these winters I had the opportunity of going to a mela held at Bageswur, about thirty-five miles from Ranee Khet, at the confluence of the Surjoo and the Kalee. This mela is the greatest held in the Province. To many it is the grand event of the year. The people from all parts flock to it for religious, commercial, and social purposes. In the motley crowd may be seen hill-men from all the districts of the Himalaya, natives from the plains, Tibetans from the other side of the snowy range, and Englishmen.

This mela is held in a low valley not far from one of the pa.s.ses into Tibet. It is attended by many Tibetans, who succeed in bringing their ponies through the tremendous defiles which separate their country from k.u.maon. These ponies bring high prices. They also bring sheep laden with salt and borax. These Mongolians are great stalwart men, with broad faces, clad in homespun woollen cloth of many folds, which is seldom taken off till it is worn off. They are accompanied by a few women and children. They take their religion with them in their praying-wheels, which they keep going. They are an intensely religious people, as Mr.

Gilmour tells us, but it is in the most mechanical fas.h.i.+on which can be conceived. If they were mere machines, wound up like their praying-wheels, they could not to all appearance be more devoid of thought, feeling, and conscience in the exercise of their religion. I marked their countenances, and could only wonder at their stolid look.

Much that is absurd is found in man's religion, but the Tibetan form of it seemed to me the very _ne plus ultra_ of irrationality. Some of these Mongolians are inveterate beggars, but it would not be fair to judge the people generally by these stragglers into India. There was more life in their dances than in their religion, though not much grace. It seemed to me that if elephants could dance, they would do it somewhat in that style.

[Sidenote: GREAT FAIR AT BAGESWUR.]

In the town of Bageswur there are substantial houses belonging to the merchants of the Province, and these are occupied by themselves or their agents during the greater part of the cold weather. During the rest of the year it is deserted, as the valley is very hot and feverish. During the colder weeks of the year it is a very stirring place, but it is on the occasion of the melas, two of which are held within three months, that there is a large gathering. At the princ.i.p.al mela many thousands must be present. As in all Hindu gatherings, religion, business, and pleasure are eagerly prosecuted. A town of booths rises suddenly in the valley and on the sides of the hills. Whenever I have gone, I have for miles before reaching the place seen many carrying or trailing branches of trees, with which they were to erect their temporary abode. These answer well in good weather, but when rain or snow falls they give no shelter. The morning is given to bathing. One morning is peculiarly propitious, and then from the earliest dawn the people are in the stream, many of them, I suppose, getting well-nigh the only ablution they have in the course of the year. During the day selling and buying go on vigorously. As evening approaches the merry-go-rounds are patronized, and crowds gather round singing and dancing parties. The dancers are young men linked hand in hand, who move about in circles, shuffle their feet, and sing in a very monotonous fas.h.i.+on. Many set to the preparation of the evening meal, and the valley and the hill-sides are aglow with fires and lights. Amus.e.m.e.nt, however, has not come to an end. Singing is kept up till the small hours of the morning, to the no small disturbance of those who cannot sleep except when there is a measure of quiet. Between the singing of the people and the barking--rather the howling--of the Tibetan dogs, such barking as I have never heard in our own country, wearied though I have been by the work of the day I have for hours found sleep to be impossible.

Englishmen attending the mela find a temporary abode in tents, and in a staging bungalow erected for the accommodation of European travellers.

They dine together in the hall of this house, and occupy their tents at night. Officials deputed by the Commissioner of the Province are present, for the double purpose of keeping order and of paying rewards to those who have killed wild beasts. The skins of the tigers, bears, and leopards, for the destruction of which rewards have been paid, are sold by auction under the direction of the officials. The heaps of skins exposed for sale give one a striking impression of the number of wild beasts in the country. There are many keen hunters, both native and European, and there is no likelihood of their occupation coming to an end for want of game. Tea-planters attend this mela to buy mats, which are made by the people in large quant.i.ties, and are required in the preparation of tea for the market. Military officers on leave and travellers from the plains are present from the double motive of seeing this strange gathering and of purchasing ponies.

For many years Mr. Budden, accompanied by native Christians, has been in the habit of going to this mela, and I have been happy to help him and his brethren when opportunity has been given to me. A colporteur has been present with his wares, and succeeds in selling at a small price portions of the Scriptures and tracts. An amusing instance of indecision occurred at the bookstall the last time I was present. A man had purchased a Gospel. He came back saying he was told by his people that he would certainly become a Christian if he took that book to his village, and he laid down the book on the stall and asked for his money.

The colporteur refused to cancel the sale, and the man was sorely perplexed, reluctant to lose both his money and that for which the money was paid. At last he walked away with the book, the colporteur a.s.suring him it would do him only good.

[Sidenote: PREACHING AT THE FAIR.]

We took our stand at different parts of the mela, and spoke to all willing to hear. Many speedily pa.s.sed on, but a number remained for some time, as if desirous to know what this new religion was. Now and then we encountered pundits, and if they were at all reasonable we were pleased with their presence and opposition, as a colloquy with them greatly quickened the interest of the people. On one occasion, after skirmis.h.i.+ng with some pundits, it was arranged they were to meet us at a fixed hour for discussion. Our Christian party were present at the appointed place and hour, but our pundit friends did not put in an appearance. Our going, however, was not in vain, as we succeeded in getting hearers who listened patiently to what we had to say about the Saviour of mankind.

One of our number was a converted pundit of Almora, who spoke to the people in a way I thought eminently fitted to make a favourable impression.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XXIII.

HABITS AND CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. MISSION WORK AND RETIREMENT.

During our residence in k.u.maon we had many opportunities of observing the condition and habits of the people. I have mentioned the new resources opened up to them, and yet it must be acknowledged that many are poor. The population is probably much larger than it has been at any previous period. The holdings are small, and by the division made on the occasion of the death of the head of the household they ever tend to become smaller. There are a number in the Province who own no land, and are poorly remunerated for their labour by their countrymen. I have mentioned the new source of wealth opened up to the people by the ca.n.a.ls and cultivation of the Bhabhur. Reference has also been made to the tea-gardens and public works, on which large sums of money have been spent, of which much has reached the people in the form of wages. Thus all cla.s.ses, both those who have land and those who have not, have been benefited. Indeed, apart from income thus obtained it is difficult to conceive how the people could have been supported. If they do not make progress in material comfort the fault must lie in their want of energy.

Like their brethren in the plains, the people in the hills live chiefly on cereals--the cheaper cereals--and vegetables; but, like most below, including even many Brahmans and Rajpoots, they have no objection to animal food when they get it of the kind they approve, and prepared in the way caste rules require. As to Doms, nothing that is at all eatable comes amiss to them. They have no objection, indeed, to much we should deem uneatable. The Hindus eat the flesh of goats and kids offered in sacrifice. They also eat the flesh of short-tailed sheep, but long-tailed sheep are an abomination to them, as they regard them as a kind of dog. We saw once an amusing instance of the notion of uncleanness attached to this species of sheep. A few sheep were being chosen by a purchaser from a flock. The animals were scampering about, showing, according to their nature, their unwillingness to be caught.

Three or four men were engaged in catching them, but one every now and then started back when about to lay his hand on a sheep, exclaiming, "_Wuh doomwala hai!_"--"It is a tailed one! it is a tailed one!"--as if he would be hopelessly defiled by touching it, while his less scrupulous companions of the same caste said, "You fool! what does it matter? It will do you no harm." They would not have eaten its flesh, but their caste spirit was sufficiently relaxed to allow them to touch it.

I have referred to sanitary regulations issued by the authorities to guard the people against epidemics caused by want of cleanliness. One of these regulations forbids the dwelling together of animals and human beings. On our first visit to the hills in 1847 I came unpleasantly into contact with this dual occupation of the same house. As night was setting in I came to the top of a hill, and from it I could see a few straggling houses at a short distance. I had with me two or three men, who proposed to put up a booth for the night. Unhappily for my comfort, a thunderstorm came on with heavy rain, and the booth was no protection.

I was taken to a house a short way off, but on entering it the smell from the animals occupying it with their owners was so strong that it drove me out. I preferred to face the storm to bearing the effluvia of that highland abode. I was told of a little unoccupied gra.s.s-shed a mile down the hill. I found the gra.s.s so thick and well tied that the rain did not get through, and the entrance was on the lee side. Into this I crept, and slept soundly till the morning, for I was very tired with the long walk of the day.

The new sanitary orders have no doubt done good, but it is difficult to secure compliance with them, though fines are imposed on persons convicted of disobedience. If there had been a reward for informers I could have more than once won it by telling what I had seen.

[Sidenote: NYNEE TAL.]

A very pleasant break during our life at Ranee Khet was a yearly visit paid to Nynee Tal, about thirty miles distant, which had become the seat of Government for the North-West for half the year, and a place of great resort from the plains during the hot and wet months. It has many advantages as a Sanitarium. It is within sixteen miles of the Bhabhur, and has an elevation of from 6,300 to 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. There is a small, beautiful mountain lake, from one end of which one looks down on the plains over the intervening hills; while at the other end, beyond a piece of uneven ground, rises a lofty mountain.

There are rather steep hills on either side, but hills with a gradient which admits of houses being built on them. Though so near the plains, this lakelet was till 1842 unknown, except to natives and a few English officials. In that year travellers with difficulty made their way to it, and drew attention to its attractions. We first saw it in 1847, and then it had very few houses. An old General, one of its first residents, told us that one day the preceding year he saw a tiger walking leisurely above his house, and looking down, as if wondering at the change which was coming over the place. Some of the first residents were startled by meeting bears in their walks. Since that time houses have been built on every side, and during the season there is a great population of both Europeans and natives. Four years ago there was a fearful landslip, which carried down a number of houses with it, and buried many under the falling ma.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LANDSLIP AT NYNEE TAL.]

At the beginning of 1857, the American Episcopal Methodist Church entered on mission work in Rohilkund. When the mutiny of that year broke out, the agents of this church in Rohilkund escaped to Nynee Tal, and from that time they continued to occupy it as a mission station, and also as a sanitarium for their brethren in the plains. The Mission has been efficiently conducted. English services have been maintained during the season. They have been well attended by all cla.s.ses, and have done much good. Between native servants and shopkeepers from the plains, and natives of the hills, who flock into the place for service and work, there is a large sphere for mission work, and much has been done in the way of both preaching and schools. The Mission has been extended to other parts of the Province, to Gurhwal in the north, to Petorah in the east, and to other places, with manifest tokens of the Divine blessing.

[Sidenote: ANNUAL MEETINGS AT NYNEE TAL.]

With these American brethren we have been on the most friendly terms, and have co-operated with them in every way open to us. We formed an a.s.sociation with them for mutual counsel and help. One result of this a.s.sociation has been the holding of annual meetings in Nynee Tal in autumn, for the benefit of Europeans and natives, and conducted in both the English and native languages, ending with the celebration of the Lord's Supper. These meetings were largely attended, excited much interest, did, I believe, much good, and were very enjoyable. On these annual visits to Nynee Tal we commonly remained a week or ten days, and had much pleasant intercourse with the missionaries and other friends.

During several years Sir William Muir, as Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West, was resident for half the year at Nynee Tal, and our special thanks are due to him and Lady Muir for hospitable entertainment.

While, during our residence in the hills, time and strength were mainly given to effort for the spiritual good of our own countrymen and the native population, there were times, especially during the rainy season, when I was much at home; and I was glad to avail myself of the leisure afforded of writing for the press what I hoped might prove, and what I trust has proved, of spiritual benefit to natives and others. During our stay in the hills, in addition to articles for the "Indian Evangelical Review" and other periodicals, I wrote a Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans in Hindustanee, and Essays in English, which were published in book form under the t.i.tle of "Christianity and the Religions of India." At an early period of my missionary career, at the request of my colleague Mr. Shurman, to whom the work of revising and in part translating the Bible into Hindustanee was entrusted, I transferred the Pentateuch from the Persian into the Roman character, and translated the book of the Prophet Jeremiah, which, revised by Mr. Shurman and Dr.

Mather, now forms part of the version. Before leaving India I did a little, at the request of the North India Bible Society, towards the revision of the Hindee translation of the New Testament. On this work a large and very able Committee is now engaged. During my Indian career I have written a good deal for the press--I must acknowledge in a very desultory manner.

Thus engaged in prosecuting our work, years pa.s.sed on till the end of 1876, when we felt the time had arrived for retiring from the Indian Mission-field. In July of that year I had a severe illness, which laid me aside, and incapacitated me for carrying on mission work with any measure of efficiency. I might have continued at Ranee Khet, and done the work within my reach there, but by doing so the most important part of the work, the work in the district, would have remained undone; and I deemed it best to retire to make way for one who could fitly occupy the sphere. Medical men whom I consulted strongly advised my departure, and the Directors of the Society gave their prompt and kind sanction to our return to England.

[Sidenote: FRIENDLY HELP.]