The Critic in the Orient Part 9

Remarkable preparations had been made; a series of arches spanned the princ.i.p.al streets, all designed in native style. At the end of the Apollo Bunder was erected a pretty, white pavilion that looked like a miniature Taj, while a splendid avenue, lined with pillars, led up to the great amphitheater, in front of which, under an ornate pavilion, were the golden thrones of the King and Queen. This amphitheater was reserved for all the European and native notables, as well as the Maharajahs and chiefs from the neighboring States.

After the reception to the royal party came a parade through the princ.i.p.al streets and when this was concluded all restrictions were relaxed and the populace and the visitors from surrounding towns gave themselves up to an evening of enjoyment. The buildings were illuminated, some with white and others with red electric lights, while many large structures were lighted by little oil lamps, in a cup or gla.s.s. The main streets were filled with long lines of carriages, crowded with richly dressed natives and Europeans, although the natives outnumbered the foreigners by one hundred to one. Never in my life have I seen so many valuable jewels as on this night, when I roamed about the streets for two hours, enjoying this Oriental holiday. At times I would stop and sit on one of the stands and watch the crowd flow by in a steady stream. Walking by the side of a Pa.r.s.ee millionaire and his richly dressed family would pa.s.s a Hindoo woman of low caste, one of the street sweepers, in dirty rags, but loaded down on ankles and arms by heavy silver bangles and painted in the center of the forehead with her caste mark. She was followed by a poverty-stricken Mohammedan leading a little boy, stark naked, while a girl with brilliant cap held the boy's hand. A naked Tamil, with only a dirty loin cloth, brushed elbows with three Pa.r.s.ee girls, beautifully dressed. And so this purely democratic human tide flowed on for hours, rich and poor showing a childlike pleasure in the street decorations and the variegated crowd. And in the midst of all this turmoil native parties from out of town squatted on the deserted tiers of seats, ate their suppers with relish and then calmly composed themselves to sleep, wrapped in their robes, as though they were in the privacy of their own homes. It was a spectacle such as could be seen only in an Oriental city with a people who live in public with the placid unconsciousness of animals.

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BOMBAY Pa.r.s.eES

The Pa.r.s.ees of Bombay--a mere handful of exiles among millions of aliens--have so exerted their power as to change the life of a great city. Proscribed and persecuted, they have developed so powerfully their apt.i.tude for commercial life that they represent the wealth of Bombay.

Living up to the tenets of their creed, they have given far more liberally to charity and education than any other race. Some idea of the respect in which the Pa.r.s.ee is held may be gained from the fact that customs officers never search the baggage of one of these people; they take the Pa.r.s.ee's word that he has no dutiable goods. The commercial success and the high level of private life among the Pa.r.s.ees is due directly to their religion, which was founded by Zoroaster in ancient Persia three thousand years ago. As Max-Muller has well said, if Darius had overthrown Alexander of Greece, the modern world would probably have inherited the faith of Zoroaster, which does not differ in most of its essentials from the creed of Christ.

The popular idea of a Pa.r.s.ee is that he worships the sun. This is a misconception, due probably to the fact that the Pa.r.s.ee when saying his prayers always faces the sun or, in default of this, prays before a sacred fire in his temples; but he does not worship the sun, nor any G.o.ds or idols. His temples are bare, only the sacred fire of sandalwood burning in one corner. The Pa.r.s.ee recognizes an overruling G.o.d, Ahura-Mazda, the creator of the universe; he believes that Nature with its remarkable laws could not have come into being without a great first cause. But he believes that the universe created by Ahura-Mazda was invaded by a spirit of evil, Angra-Mainyush, which invites men to wicked deeds, falsehood and ignorance. Over against this evil spirit is the good spirit, Spenta-Mainyush, which represents G.o.d and stands for truth, goodness and knowledge. The incarnation of the evil spirit is known as Aherman, who corresponds to the Christian devil.

The whole Pa.r.s.ee creed is summed up in three words, which correspond to good thoughts, good words and good deeds. If one carries out in his life this creed, then his good thoughts, good words and good deeds will be his intercessors on the great bridge that leads the spirit from death to the gates of paradise. If his evil deeds and thoughts and words overbalance the good, then he goes straight down to the place of darkness and torment. If his good and evil deeds and thoughts exactly balance, then he pa.s.ses into a kind of purgatory.

Fire, water and earth are all sacred to the Pa.r.s.ee; but fire represents the principle of creation and hence is most sacred. To him fire is the most perfect symbol of deity because of its purity, brightness and incorruptibility. The sacred fire that burns constantly in the Pa.r.s.ee temples is fed with chips of sandalwood. Prayer with the Pa.r.s.ee is obligatory, but it need not be said in the fire temple; the Pa.r.s.ee may pray to the sun or moon, the mountains or the sea. His prayer is first repentance for any evil thoughts or deeds and then for strength to lead a life of righteousness, charity and good deeds.

The most remarkable result of the Pa.r.s.ee religion is seen in the education of children. This is made a religious duty, and neglect of it entails terrible penalties--for the parents are responsible for the offenses of the badly-educated child, just as they share in the merit for good deeds performed by their children. It is the duty of a good Pa.r.s.ee not only to educate his own children but to do all in his power to help in general education. Hence the large benefactions that rich Pa.r.s.ees have made to found inst.i.tutions for the education of the poor.

Disobedience of children is one of the worst sins. The Pa.r.s.ees are also taught to observe sanitary laws, to bathe frequently, to take all measures to prevent the spread of contagion. Cleanliness is one of the chief virtues. To keep the earth pure the Pa.r.s.ee is enjoined to cultivate it. He is also admonished to drink sparingly of wine and not to sell it to any one who uses liquor to excess.

The Pa.r.s.ee creed urges the believer to help the community in which he lives and to give freely to charity. Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, the richest Pa.r.s.ee Bombay has known, set aside a fund of four million seven hundred and forty-three thousand rupees for charity and benevolence among all the people of his city, regardless of race or creed. The Pa.r.s.ee gives liberally to charity on the occasion of weddings or of deaths. The charity includes relieving the poor, helping a man to marry and aiding poor children to secure an education. The influence of the Pa.r.s.ee religion upon the literature and life of the people is very marked. There is no room for atheism, agnosticism or materialism. Faith in the existence of G.o.d and in the immortality of the soul is the corner-stone of the creed, but the Pa.r.s.ee spends no money and no effort in proselyting others.

Marriage is encouraged by the Pa.r.s.ee religion, because it encourages a virtuous and religious life. The marriage ceremony is peculiar. It is always performed in a large pavilion, whatever the wealth of the couple.

In the case of the rich many invitations are issued and a fine wedding feast is spread. On the day set for the wedding, the bride and groom and the invited guests a.s.semble in the pavilion. The bride as well as the groom is dressed in white. When the time comes for the ceremony the couple sit in chairs facing each other and a sheet is held up between them by friends, so that they cannot see each other. Then two priests begin intoning the marriage service. After several prayers a cord is wound around the two chairs seven times and the chairs are also bound together with a strip of cloth. More prayers and exhortations follow, both priests showering rice upon the couple. Finally the sheet is withdrawn, they and their chairs are placed side by side, each is given a cocoanut to hold that is bound to the other by a string, emblematic of the plenty that may bless the new home, and they are declared man and wife. Then they sign a doc.u.ment certifying that they have been united according to the Pa.r.s.ee ritual and witnesses sign their names.

Far stranger than the wedding customs of the Pa.r.s.ees are their burial rites. They believe that neither fire, earth nor water must be polluted by contact with a dead body, so neither burial nor cremation is permitted. Instead, they expose their dead to vultures which strip the flesh from the bones within an hour. This occurs in conical places, called towers of silence, which are shut off from human gaze. The Bombay towers of silence are on Malabar head, a beautiful residence district overlooking the city. Here, in a fine garden planted to many varieties of trees and shrubs, are five circular towers, each about twenty feet high, made of brick, covered with plaster.

While you are admiring the flowers and trees a funeral enters the gates.

The body is carried by four professional bearers and is followed by two priests and the relatives and friends. All the mourners are clothed in white. They walk two by two, no matter how distant may be the house of death, each couple holding a handkerchief as a symbol of their union in sorrow. When the procession reaches the top of the hill the mourners diverge and take seats in the house of prayer, where the sacred fire is burning, or they seat themselves in the beautiful garden for meditation and prayer. The priests deliver the body to the two corpse bearers, who throw open the great iron door and enter with the body. The floor of the tower is of iron grating, arranged in three circles--the outer for men, the next for women and the inner for children. As the bearers lay the body down, they strip off the shroud. Then the iron door closes with a clang. This is the signal for a score of vultures to swoop down upon the body. No human eye can see this spectacle, but the imagination of the visitor pictures it in all its horror. Within a few minutes the gorged vultures begin flapping their way to the top of the tower, where they roost on the outer rim.

The bones of the corpse are allowed to remain for several days exposed to the fierce sun. Then they are thrown into a great central well, where the climate soon converts them into dust. This is washed by the rains into underground wells. Charcoal in these wells serves to filter the rain water before it enters the ground. Thus do the Pa.r.s.ees preserve even the earth from contamination by the ashes of the dead. No expense is spared by the Pa.r.s.ees in the construction of these towers of silence, which are always placed on the tops of hills. According to the testimony of some of the ablest medical men of England and America, who have examined these burial grounds, the Pa.r.s.ee method of disposing of the dead is the most sanitary that has ever been devised. It avoids even the fumes that are given off in cremation of the dead. It is also cheap and absolutely democratic, as the bones of the rich and poor mingle at last in the well of the tower of silence.

There is nothing offensive to European taste in the towers of silence except the vultures. These disgusting birds, like the Indian crow, are protected because they are admirable scavengers. The Pa.r.s.ees see nothing offensive in exposing their dead to these birds nor apparently does it shock them that alien hands should bare the bodies of their beloved dead; but to a foreigner both these aspects of Pa.r.s.ee burial are repellant and no argument has any weight to counteract this sentiment.

Many sensational accounts of these Pa.r.s.ee burial rites have been printed. Nearly every writer lays stress on the fact that pieces of the dead bodies are dropped by the vultures within the grounds or in the streets outside. This is an absurdity, as the vulture never rises on the wing with any carrion--he eats it on the spot and he will not leave until he is gorged to repletion. An effort was made several years ago to remove these towers of silence on Malabar hill because of complaints that fragments of corpses were found in the neighborhood. When two competent medical experts investigated the matter they reported that there was no foundation for the complaints. So the towers have remained and thousands of Pa.r.s.ees have been borne to them for the last rites of their creed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XLI

One of the Main Gates to Government House, Calcutta. This Gate is of Beautiful Proportions and Has a Fine Lion. Government House is Situated in a Fine Park of Six Acres]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XLII

A Street Scene in Calcutta. The New Building at the Right Has a Staging of Bamboo.

On the Left is the Burka Bazaar, One of the Sights of India, Each Dealer Having a Small Shop of His Own. The Goods Are Cla.s.sified As in An American Department Store]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XLIII

The Great Burning Ghat at Benares.

Here Are Four Funeral Pyres Arranged for Burning, the Heads of the Corpses May Be Detected Among the Wood. The Pyre in the Middle Foreground is Partly Burned. Relatives Watch the Cremation From the Temple Above]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XLIV

View of the Bathing Ghats at Benares. Here May Be Seen Natives Bathing in Mother Ganges, While Above Are the Line of Splendid Palaces and Temples Built by the Maharaja Princes]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XLV

A Holy Man of Benares Under His Umbrella. Each of the Fakers at Benares Has His Own Clientage, But No One Bathes Without Yielding Tribute to Some Holy Man]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XLVI

The Residency at Lucknow. This, the Most Impressive Relic of the British Mutiny In India, Is Now Only a Beautiful Ruin, But it Recalls the Heroic Defense Made By a Handful of English Against Hundreds Of Natives. In Front Is a Memorial Erected by Lord Northbrook to Loyal Native Soldiers]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XLVII

Tomb of Itmad-ul-Daulet at Agra. This Tomb Was Erected in Honor of the Prime Minister of the Emperor Jahangir. It Is of Carved and Inlaid Marble and Overlooks the Jumna River]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XLVIII

The Mutiny Memorial at Cawnpore. This Memorial Was Erected Over the Well Into Which Were Thrown the Bodies of One Hundred and Twenty-Five English Women and Children, Butchered By Order of the Nana Sahib]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XLIX

Detail of Carving in the Jasmine Tower, Agra.

This View Gives a Good Idea of the Wonderful Work in Marble Carving and the Inlaying of Precious Stones, Which Makes This Little Pavilion a Rival of the Taj]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE L

The Jasmine Tower In Agra Fort. This Is a Marble Pavilion, the Home of the Chief Sultana, Overlooking the Jumna River. The Lattice Work Decoration In Marble Is Remarkably Beautiful]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LI

Snap-shot of a Jain Family at Agra. Mr.

Upham's Camera Caught This Woman as She Peeked From Behind the Curtain of the Ekka, or Native Cart]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LII

The Fort at Agra Which Encloses Many Palaces. This Fort Has a Circuit of Over a Mile, With Two Octagonal Towers of Red Sandstone.

Enclosed are Mosques and Palaces Which Rival the Taj In Beauty of Design and Richness of Ornamentation]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LIII

Kutab Minar, the Arch and the Iron Pillar, near Delhi.

The Arch Formed Part of a Mosque built by Kutab, a Viceroy, in 1193 A. D. The Pillar Stood in the Mosque and is of Wrought Iron, Twenty-three Feet High. The Monument is Two Hundred and Thirty-eight Feet High With Three Hundred and Seventy-nine Steps]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LIV

Shah Jehan's Heaven on Earth, Delhi.

The Diwan-i-Khas, or Hall of Private Audience, Is One of the Most Richly Decorated Buildings In India. The Ceiling Was Originally Silver.

Over the Two Outer Arches Is the Persian Inscription: "If Heaven can be on the face of the earth, It is this, oh! it is this, oh! it is this"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LV