Joguth Chunder Gangooly

“ I cannot close this chapter without making some remarks on the Hindoo marriage. Escaping the maladies of superstition, and standing under the light of true religion, with feelings of love and refinement in my heart, I shudder at, and clearly see, the defects in the system we have considered. The very thought of marrying a person whose joys and sorrows I am to participate in, who is to become one with me, without knowing her character and seeing her face at all, makes me shudder. How many hundreds in Bengal are spending their days in wretchedness! ”

“ In the dark days of their widowhood, which lasts with life, there is nothing to comfort them, no hope, no promise to calm their troubled spirits, no knowledge of literature, science, or true religion to draw instructions therefrom. Sad, dark, dismal, pitiable, their conditions are! Nothing but the lights of the true religion can emancipate them from their servitude, strengthen them in their weakness, and exalt them from the low and degraded surface they stand on. Let pity awake in your tender breasts, ye women of America and England, towards the suffering millions! ”

“ The great mass of the people, properly speaking, have no idea of God, true humanity, and a future life. In this country, I notice the death of men does not excite so great a horror as it does among the Hindoos. A Christian mother calmly resigns herself to the decree of her God, and commits her treasures to His safe keeping; for she has hopes of meeting them again in her “Father’s mansion.” But I have seen Hindoo mothers who in their ignorance beat their breast, and curse their gods, at the death of their children! They believe that death breaks the chain of love and affection forever! ”

“ Their dwelling stood upon peace, supported by pillars of brotherhood, and roofed by love. The inmates were simple in their dress, temperate in their food, childlike in their temper, pure in their affection, and strong in their faith towards God. The lion and the lamb met at the same crib in these cottages of love. No gods or goddesses were known or worshipped then except the Creator, “the Father of all.” They used to address each other by the terms debŏ, dabe, god and goddess, and to treat, regard, and recognize each other as the creations of Krishto, or by another word, the image of the same. ”

“ If I hear that a certain man in my city is an infallible physician to cure consumption, I would not feel afraid to call my slight cough by that fatal name—consumption. It troubles me to know what became of the millions of souls born totally sinners, and who died before the blood of the Lamb had been shed. Is it possible that our good Father filled hell with human creatures, who bloomed in their infancy in the garden of creation,—those simple, pure-minded ones, whom “no murder clothed and no murder fed,”—who spent their lives in doing good? ”

“ I had to fear the gods of my fathers, but when I sat at the feet of the Divine Wisdom which presented to me one God, a Father, I wished to love him.
Secondly, that man is my brother, no matter whatever be his caste, creed, color, or country, because the same Father has given us life; we are alike the recipients of his blessing, and have equal claims upon his unbounded love. I learned that the best and truest way to love God is to love man ”

“ I have often asked of my Hindoo friends, that if it pleases Jogger-nauth to see love and equality cherished in us for one another, why cannot we do that wherever we live,—at our homes in Bengal as well as in his temple in Orissa? Wherever be our bodies, we are before his presence; the walls cannot hide us from his sight. If he is God Almighty, his eyes will easily penetrate the massive walls to watch his children without. ”

“ In what sense is man the image of God? Is he the image of God’s person? No, it cannot be so. If we say that, we become pagans, and give a physical form to God. Now, the safest and most rational way to answer is, to say that he is the image of God’s nature, spirit, and love; because we recognize glimpses of these Godly graces in man, more or less. Here comes a proposition that the image of anything must contain the peculiarity, or some likeness of the original, otherwise it would not be an image. ”

“ The young bird, the moment its wings are covered with down, leaves its mother’s nest to look out for itself; so you, Joguth, you are grown up now; my advice, my guidance would not be of any service to you (at least you think so) . I do not blame nor hate the Christians. Let them follow their own customs faithfully. Jesu Kisto is their God; let them worship him; I have no objection to that. As Brahmuns, we ought not to hate the gods of other nations. Still we cannot worship them, for they are not ours; we have gods over us. ”

“ By religion of the Hindoos, I do not mean the genuine Hindoo religion which was prevalent in India in remote ages,—not the Hindoo religion as it was, but as it is; not what the Bathăs taught, or the Rheeshies lived under, but what the Shastars, Poorans, and Tuntros teach, and the mass, both the Brahmuns and other castes, observe to-day, as the “life and light,” and the absolute way to reach Goluck (pleroma of Krishto, Happiness) . What mighty revolutions time achieves in the religious, moral, social, intellectual, and political conditions of men! ”

“ The long arms of caste cannot reach a victim if he happens to be on its water. In sailing as well as in row-boats, which crowd on the Ganges, the members of all castes sit side by side, talk to each other, smoke their hookas, and take their luncheon; but these things could not be done in a vehicle on land. A Brahmun would eat his luncheon on a boat having a low-caste man,—a shoemaker, perhaps,—only a few feet from him, because the holiness of the river takes away, in some degree, the difference that exists between the two castes. ”

“ He was a true model of Humanity,—a perfect man. He was what man ought to be. Whatever attributes of the Most High could be grasped by a finite nature were fully given to him; so it is no wonder when we call him Immanuel or the “express image of God.” We are all made in the image of God; but it is a pity that we do not long stand in the state of purity, do not retain our original stamp; the world paints us over, and thereby disfigures us. ”

“ As I compare a woman in Bengal with one in America or England, I see plainly the difference between Christianity and Hindooism. Nothing but the divine influence of Christianity has ennobled the female condition in Christendom. May the Christian women be ever grateful to God for his peculiar blessings unto them, and pray for the rescue of their sisters in the bondage of ignorance in heathen lands! ”

“ I do not believe this part of the story; it is contrary to the Hindoo custom; no insult is so great as to touch a man with the foot. Women, especially delicate and learned ones like the princess, could not do such a deed,—it is not only a great insult to a husband, but a real sin. It may be she had left the room disrespectfully, which, too, was not polite. Whatever was the case, poor Kalidass felt very much mortified, rose from his seat, looked towards heaven, and with tears said, “Mother Shoresh-sotee! the man is a mere animal who does not possess thy blessing in his soul. ”

“ We want relief from the overwhelming sins which beset us in every direction; the monster is the representation of them, whom the goddess is cutting asunder. We want wealth, learning, success, children, and behold there are the symbolical representations of all these in the names of the sons and daughters of Doorga. Thus the ancient Brahmuns have painted whatever they have touched with philosophic colors, and arrayed before the people hosts of deities, which are essentially the painted, clothed, personified attributes of One God. ”

“ If I wish to draw a picture or make an image of the sun, I cannot make it an oblong, triangular, or square figure, I must make it a circular one; otherwise, people would call me a poor artist, and the image a wretched one,—the image of some fanciful object, but not the Sun. God is infinitely pure, holy, perfect in his nature. ”

“ After the display of heroic deeds to relieve the world, which was groaning under the heavy yoke of Rabōna, he feels tired; perhaps comes to refresh himself, and spend his time in marriage, music, and romance. Handsome in person, a god in nature, active in movements, a good musician, he casts a net of charms around a host of young women, and draws them all out without breaking the net or sinking the vessel. Hindoo legends say that the prime object of his learning to play his Banay was to sing the praise [89] of Radha, wife of Awe-an, and who is also his own wife from eternity. ”

“ To speak for myself, I will confess that, although a Brahmun, a native of India, I never saw a child thrown alive into the Ganges, nor heard of such stories until I came to America. I have shown, by reasons drawn from the Hindoo scripture, as well as from custom, that the sacrifice of an infant is as monstrous in the sight of a woman in India as in America. I will allege further, that the maternal affection is everywhere the same, implanted in the human breast by the Creator. ”

“ In fact everything seems so sad, so quiet, that a foreigner standing in the very yard of the house would hardly know that there is a baby in the house, unless she herself, by her innocent smiles and occasional cries, lets him know that there is. The rich father, at the birth of a son, sends presents of a brazen jar or pitcher, a piece of new cloth, some sweet things to thousands of Brahmun families, and to the low castes simply sweet things and a little money. ”

“ When a Hindoo gives up the superstitious practices of my country, all the religion which he keeps is by clinging to, and loving and trying to obey, some beautiful lessons of piety and morality scattered over his sacred books, which are just like the best things in the Old Testament. The orthodox missionary tells these Hindoos that their sacred books are all “humbug.” The missionary is ignorant what is in those books. At the same time he tells my countrymen that all the Old Testament was written by God. My countrymen will never change their religion for “orthodoxy.” ”

“ The Total Depravity of Human Nature.—As my time would not permit me to consider this subject in a way I would like, and thereby show my reasons for not believing it, I would simply resort to common sense and the Scriptures to expose the awkwardness of this doctrine. I fully believe that such enormous doctrine as that of calling a child of the Most High a totally depraved creature—having nothing good in him, is not, and ought not to be a part of any man’s creed.
It discourages man. It puts a mountain in his way. ”

“ Luxury succeeds; display and injustice dethrone charity. The heart ceases to be the temple of God. Its every corner is occupied by strange, unchaste, delusive propensities, found where nobler aspirations once dwelt. The altars are to be seen here and there, the offerings of [88] beasts are dedicated unto the gods, ritualism takes the place of the worship in spirit. The great actors upon the stage are Rama and Rabōna, one a god and the other a monster. ”

“ In the prayer to Shuresh-sotte, or the muse, I find the description of almost every inch and each member of her person, with rich, glowing poetical imagery, which a sensible man ought not to apply to her, his mother goddess. So it will be found that most of the Hindoo prayers are immoral, yet beautiful representations of the personal graces of the male and female deities, which simply please our senses and bewilder our reason, instead of creating a deeper sense of reverence in our religious nature. ”

“ Each widow is required to cook her own food, and to abstain entirely from food and drink two days, aka-thusly, in every month. There are other fasting days for this class of wretched women, but the young ones feel satisfied with observing the two fixed ones. Who can witness the sufferings, the sighs of the Bengalee widow of thirteen or fourteen years, on the fast-days, without pity? In the warm days of April, when the burning sun dries up the ponds of their water, scorches the leaves of the trees, these poor victims to the rigidness of superstition faint and pant in hunger and thirst. ”

“ This seemed to me a beautiful idea, for it enables high as well as low to worship the Creator,—to hold communion with him,—to lay before him all their joys, sorrows, and disappointments, instead of going after him in Jerusalem or Benares. Again, what a great consolation it is to know that a pure and contrite heart, with all its poverty and meekness, is more acceptable to God than the richest offering, than temples of gold! ”

“ Men of humble circumstances cannot bring the image of Doorga into their houses, because it requires a large amount of money to make the necessary preparations. The image itself is always the largest and most expensive; to speak nothing of other things which, though economically arranged, demand a large sum. Fifteen days or more before the worship, the whole country is in excitement. Men who, under various circumstances in life, spend their days as exiles in distant places, come home on this occasion to greet their dearest relations once more. ”

“ After the marriage of Shiba with Parboti (mountaineer) or Giriza (mountain-born) , the daughter of Hymaloy, the god went to reside in Koylas, a romantic chain of the same mountain. The Hindoo poets call this place finer than any in heaven, which I doubt not that it is, otherwise the god would not have made it his favorite abode. The soil is golden, the trees bend under the weight of delicious fruits, while others smile with bright, [111] fragrant flowers; the breeze is balmy, and the birds handsome, merry, and singing. ”

“ Confined as the dancing is to the disreputable people, it is itself a difficult art; every one cannot dance according to rule, unless a systematic instruction is received. There are, I presume, more than forty different kinds of movements. When a girl dances, she imitates the sounds of the music, by means of the ornaments round her ankles. As she gently glides along before you, you will hear the low ringing noise of her ornaments, in perfect harmony with the sound of the music, and this designates the kind of the dancing. ”

“ Paul; a practical believer in human brotherhood; a pilgrim on the face of the world, seeking pearls of knowledge; a servant, minister, and angel of God; a man whose name is written in heaven; a man appointed by God to bring together the ends of the earth; a leader and a pioneer to begin the great work of union between the sincere and devout spirits of America and Bengal. ”

“ When we come to examine well the caste system of the Hindoos, we are led to think that it is something like the dispensation of nature in one respect. It is impossible to transform a dog into an ox, a deer into a camel, or a horse into an elephant; indeed, there is the same difficulty in attempting to make a weaver out of a barber, a physician out of a shoemaker, and a Brahmun out of a physician. To confirm the remarks just made, I will bring an instance from the Hindoo antiquity, and present it to the reader to show the impracticability of changing one’s caste for a higher one. ”

“ Again, the want of a regular system of religious instruction has brought into the minds of the people all sorts of mistaken, erroneous ideas respecting God, man, and duty; life, death, and immortality. The man on the very verge of his life, standing between the edges of this and the next world, hardly knows where he is bound, whom he is going to, and what will be his true destiny. ”

“ Indeed, to love God through love toward man, was his darling motto. He manifested his love towards the low castes as much as his office and his religion allowed him. His door was open to all,—his house was the home for those who had “no place where to lay their heads.” Like other priests, he used to bathe in the Ganges early in the morning throughout the year, but excelled them in his prayer and worship to the idols, which occupied daily nearly four hours on the stretch. ”

“ Sometimes a young woman, with vain heart and handsome casket—body—manages to thrust out to the public gaze her pretty hands, glittering with costly ornaments. Thus the first two days of the Doorga pooja pass by, and the third or last is before us, with its singular, absurd amusements. It is katha matie, amusement with clay. After the usual sacrifices have been offered, they wet the yard, and men of every age fall upon each other, singing and dancing in abominable ways. ”