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BEHRAMJI  M  MALABARI 


A   BIOGRAPHUCAL  SKETCH 


KY 

DAYARAM    GIDUMAL,    LL.B.,    C.S. 

Acting  District  Judge,  Shikarpur 

WITH 

INTRODUCTION 

BY 

FLORENCE     NIGHTINGALE 


O  Father,  touch  the  East,  and  light 

The  light  that  shone  .when  Hope  was  born 

Tennyson's  "In  Memoriam  ' 


T.     FISHER     UN  WIN 

PATERNOSTER   SQUARE 

MDCCCXCn 


^  1 


tto  tlje 
NOBLE   ENGLISHWOMEN 

WHO    HAVE    DONE    SO    MUCH 

TO    MAKE    MALABAEl's    MISSION    A    SUCCESS 

THIS    BOOK   IS 


INTKODUCTION. 


The  most  interesting  portions  of  this  book  are 
those  which  give  us  a  peep  into  an  Indian 
home — that  of  Mr.  Malabari  and  his  family, 
reveahng  the  hfe  of  the  j^oung  reformer ;  his 
aspirations ;  the  weakness  and  the  strength 
of  his  character ;  the  influence  of  women  on 
his  youthful  training ;  his  devotion  to  their 
cause  in  after  life.  We  see  how  much  he  owed 
to  his  mother,  a  remarkable  woman,  of  strong 
will,  niasterful  mind,  and  irresistible  energy ; 
yet  a  simple,  homely  housewife,  with  the 
tenderest  heart.  She  said  :  "  All  the  boys  in 
the  street  are  my  own  sons,"  when,  for  her 
own  son,  thought  to  be  dying,  a  specific  was 
pressed  upon  her  which  would  have  injured 
another  boy. 

The  mother's  influence  in  India  is  so  great 


Ti  INTEODUCTION. 

that  in  truth  it  moulds  the  character  of  the 
nation.  Of  this  influence  Mr.  Malabari  is  an 
instance  in  point.  His  mother  transmitted  to 
him,  by  inheritance  and  example,  many  of 
her  characteristic  qualities ;  amongst  them  a 
keen  susceptibility,  and  the  power  of  patient 
endurance.  The  sympathy  existing  between 
mother  and  son  determined  the  choice  of  his 
work  in  life,  and  devoted  him  to  the  service 
of  his  countrywomen. 

The  mission  which  he  led  against  infant- 
marriage  has,  no  doubt,  stirred  up  a  strong 
feeling  of  hostility  in  some  quarters.  But  on 
reading  this  book  it  will  be  seen  that  much  of 
that  hostility  has  arisen  from  a  misunder- 
standing of  his  objects  and  methods,  and  that 
it  is  only  a  temporary  feeling,  which  will  sub- 
side when  the  excitement  has  calmed  down  : 
the  evils  he  has  attacked  will  be  acknowledged 
to  be  those  which  most  endanger  the  physical 
and  moral  well-being  of  the  Indian  race.  It 
will  be  seen  that  if  he  has  offended  by  the 
vehemence  of  his  advocacy,  that  vehemence 
has  been  caused  by  a  just  indignation  and 
by  an  intense  sympathy  with  the  Indian 
people,  especially  with  the  weakest  and  most 


INTBODUCTION.  vu 

suffering  classes.  His  work  as  a  reformer  of 
Indian  social  life  cannot  fail  to  set  English- 
men, and  especially  Englishwomen,  thinking 
of  their  duty  towards  their  Indian  brethren 
and  sisters.  We  Englishwomen  understand 
as  little  the  lives  and  circumstances,  the  ideas 
and  feelings,  of  these  hundred  millions  of 
women  of  India  as  if  they  lived  in  another 
Planet.  They  are  not  reached  by  us,  not  even 
by  those  of  us  who  have  lived  in  powerful 
positions  in  India.  Yet  the  women  of  India 
possess  influence  the  most  unbounded.  In 
their  own  households,  be  it  in  hut  or  palace, 
even  though  never  seen,  they  hold  the  most 
important  moral  strongholds  of  any  women  on 
earth.  Did  not  a  well-known  Indian  gentle- 
man declare  that  it  was  easier  to  defy  the 
Secretary  of  State  than  to  defy  one's  own 
mother-in-law  ?  Supported  by  ancient  custom, 
Indian  women  are  absolute  within  their  sphere. 

How  may  we  hope  to  reach  this  great 
influence,  and  utilize  it  for  the  cause  of 
social  progress  ?  The  answer  seems  to  be 
that  the  women  of  India  can  only  be  reached 
by  educated  ladies  of  their  own  country — ladies 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

of  pure  life  and  enlightened  enthusiasm  in 
doing  good.  They  have  ready  access  to  their 
poorer  sisters — they  understand  their  circum- 
stances and  feelings.  It  is  to  the^n,  there- 
fore, that  we  must  appeal  to  convince  their 
countrywomen,  by  example  and  precept,  of 
the  evils  of  the  present  marriage  system,  and 
to  suggest  the  remedy.  They  can  prevail,  we 
cannot.  But  what  we  can  do  is  earnestly  to 
support  and  strengthen  the  educated  Indian 
ladies  who  have  already  entered  on  the  path 
of  social  progress.  To  them  we  English- 
women must  look  in  the  first  instance  for 
instruction,  and  with  them  lies  the  power 
effectually  to  carry  out  this  perhaps  the 
greatest  reform  the  world  has  yet  seen. 


PKEFACE  TO  THE  ENGLISH  EDITION. 


Tms  sketch  was  first  published  m  1888,  under 
the  title  of  "The  Life  and  Life-Work  of 
Behramji  M.  Malabari,"  with  selections  from 
his  writings  and  speeches  on  Infant  Marriage 
and  Enforced  Widowhood,  and  with  his 
"  Eambles  of  a  Pilgrim  Eeformer."  Having 
been  advised  to  bring  out  a  second  edition  of 
the  sketch,  I  have  taken  the  opportunity  to 
add  considerable  new  matter,  which  will  be 
mainly  found  under  the  headings,  "Early 
Keminiscences,"  "Early  Associates,"  "Early 
Aspirations,"  "Father  Peepal,  Alchemy  and 
Magic,"  and  "  Malabari' s  Creed."  I  have  also 
brought  down  the  history  of  the  Social 
Eeform  movement  in  India  after  the  passing 
of  the  Age  of  Consent  Bill. 


X  PBEFACE  TO  THE  ENGLISH  EDITION. 

The  net  proceeds  of  this  booklet  will  be 
kept  in  trust  for  a  Social  Eeform  Mission, 
which  is  about  to  be  organized  in  India. 

1891. 


PEEFACE. 


Men  of  originality  are  apt  to  be  misunderstood. 
While  some  consider  Malabari  sufficiently 
enthusiastic  to  be  a  "Western  Eeformer," 
there  are  others  who,  utterly  ignorant  of  the 
almost  ascetic  life  he  leads,  have  dubbed  him 
"  a  Luther  of  rose  and  lavender."  It 
occurred  to  me  that  a  plain  unvarnished 
narrative  of  his  career  was  likely  to  do  good, 
and  I  therefore  induced  Malabari  to  permit 
me  to  publish  what  I  knew  about  it. 

I  also  thought  that  a  selection  from  his 
writings  and  speeches  on  the  Hindu  Social 
Eeform  question  would  be  welcome  to  all 
interested  in  it.  It  seemed  an  anomaly  that 
while  the  opinions  elicited  by  his  writings 
should  be  before  the  public  in  two  bulky 
volumes,  the  writings  themselves    should  lie 


xii  PREFACE. 

scattered  in  the  files  of  the  Indian  Spectator. 
It  was  no  part  of  my  plan  to  publish  all  his 
writings  on  the  subject,  and  this  volume  con- 
tains only  what  appeared  to  me  to  be  worth 
preserving. 

The  net  proceeds  of  this  book,  should  there 
be  any,  will  be  set  apart  as  a  nucleus  of  a 
fund  to  be  handed  over  to  any  Social  Eeform 
Association  or  Mission  which  the  educated 
Hindus  might  organize.  It  is  sad  to  see  that, 
in  spite  of  so  much  talk  about  social  reform 
from  within,  during  the  past  three  years  and 
a  half,  nothing  has  yet  been  done  to  create  a 
machinery  for  carrjdng  out  such  reform.  The 
creation  of  such  machinery  means  self- 
sacrifice,  and  self-sacrifice  ought  certainly  to 
be  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  all 
really  educated  men.  I  trust  they  may  still 
fulfil  the  just  expectations  of  all  our  well- 
wishers,  and  found  a  National  Association, 
equipped  with  even  larger  funds  than  the 
Countess  of  Dufferin's  Association,  and  sus- 
tained by  a  genuine  unselfish  missionary 
spirit,  without  which  there  is  no  hope  for 
India. 

1888. 


CONTENTS. 

CIIAPTEE  I 
BOYHOOD   (1853-1866). 


PAUE 


Malabari's  Father  and  Adoptive  Father    .  .  ,3 

Malabari's  Mother  .....  5 

Early  Eeminiscences  .  ....         7 

First  Lessons  in  Praying  and  Weaving         .  .  KJ 

First  Lessons  in  Gujarati  .  .  .  .  .19 

The  Parsi  Panchayat  School  at  Surat  .  .  28 

Early  Associates — Good  and  Bad  .  .  .32 

Early  Aspirations  .....  38 

Father  Peepal,  Alchemy  and    Magic         .  .  .42 

Another  School  ......  49 

Life,  "  A    Light    and    Lasting    Frolic  "  Marred  by  the 

Presence  of  the  Schoolmaster      ...  50 

Juvenile  Picnics       .  .  ...        58 

Swimming  and  Drinking  and  Walking  .  .  60 

Eiding  on  the  Sly  ......        G2 

The  Little  Knight  of  La  Mancha        ...  64 

Fast  and  Furions  Fun       .  .  .  .  .70 

A  Caning  and  What  Came  of  It        .  .  .  73 

An  Irreparable  Loss  and  Its  Lesson         .  .  .75 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE   II. 

YOUTH    (1866-1876). 


PAGE 


Malabari  a  Pupil  and  a  Tutor      .  .  .  .81 

Malabari's  Struggles      .....  83 

Schoolboy  Ambition  .  .  .  .  .84 

His  Guardian  Angels    .....  85 

Jivaji,  the  Generous  Jew   .  .  .  .  .87 

At  the  Door  of  a  Bombay  Dives        ...  89 

Arithmetic  Revenges  Itself  .  .  .  .91 

A  Good  Samaritan         .....  92 

A  Narrow  Escape    ......        92 

Matriculates — at  last      .....  93 

The  Rev.  Van  Someren  Taylor  and  Dr.  John  Wilson    .      94 
Marriage  ......  96 

The  "  Niti  Viood  " 97 

How  the  "Niti  Vinod"  was  Received  .  .  106 

In  the  Bombay  Small  Cause  Court  .  .  .110 

"The  Indian  Muse  in  English  Garb"  .  .  112 


CHAPTEE   III. 

MANHOOD.     (1876-1891.) 

Fame  .  .  .  .  .  .  .125 

Malabari  as  a  Journalist  ....  130 

Malabari  as  a  Tourist  .....     144 

Malabari  as  a  Literary  Man    .  .  .  .  152 

Max  Miiller's   Hibbert   Lectures  in  the   Vernaculars   of 

India  ......  158 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


Gujarat  and  the   Gujaratis  " 
Malabari's  Creed 

Malabari  as  a  Politician  and  Publicist 
Malabari  as  a  Social  Reformer 
The  Hindu  Widow  and  Her  Woes 
The  HoiTors  of  Infant  Man-iage 
General  Impressions  of  England    . 
The  Subject  Proper 
The  Points  at  Issue 
The  Protected  Age 
The  Restitution  of  Conjugal  Rights 
Infant  Marriages 
The  other  Proposals 
A  Word  with  Hindu  Friends    . 


PAGE 

169 
175 
182 
195 
197 
201 
238 
239 
240 
241 
242 
242 
245 
245 


BOYHOOD  (1853-1866). 


My  boast  is  not  that  I  deduce  my  birth 
From  loins  enthroned,  and  rulers  of  the  earth  ; 

But  higher  far  my  proud  pretensions  rise, 
The  son  of  parents  pass'd  into  the  skies." 

Cowper. 

"  Howe'er  it  be,  it  seems  to  me, 
'Tis  only  noble  to  be  good. 
Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets. 
And  simple  faith  than  Norman  blood." 

Tennyson. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BOYHOOD  {1853-1866). 

Malabaei's  Father  and  Adoptive  Fathee. 

The  name  of  Malabari's  father  was  Dhanjibhai 
Mehta.  He  was  a  poor  clerk  in  the  service  of 
the  Gaekwar  of  Baroda,  on  a  salary  of  Rs.  20. 
I  know  nothing  more  about  him  than  that  he 
was  a  mild,  peace-loving  man,  with  a  some- 
what feeble  constitution  and  not  overmuch 
force  of  character.  Malabari  lost  him  at  the 
age  of  six  or  seven. 

Malabari's  adoptive  father  was  Merwanji 
Nanabhai  Malabari.  He  was  a  relation  of 
Malabari's  maternal  grandmother,  had  con- 
signed two  wives  already  to  the  Towers  of 
Silence  at  Surat,  was  in  1856  about  fifty  years 
old,  and  in  easy  circumstances.  He  had  a 
large  druggist's  shop,  and  was  an  importer  of 
sandalwood,  sugar,  scents  and  spices  from  the 


4  BOYHOOD  (1853-186G). 

Malabar  Coast — hence  his  surname  Malabari. 
He  had  no  issue,  and  therefore  thought  fit 
to  adopt  the  child  who  has  made  his  family 
name  famous  throughout  India,  and  favour- 
ably known  even  in  Europe  and  America. 
Merwanji  also  married  the  boy's  mother — a 
union  she  accepted  from  a  sense  of  filial  duty, 
and  which  turned  out  very  unhappy. 

Merwanji  is  not  highly  spoken  of.  A  few 
years  after  his  adoption  of  little  Behram,  a 
serious  misfortune  fell  upon  him.  A  country 
vessel  bringing  an  uninsured  cargo  for  him 
from  the  Malabar  Coast  sank  in  the  sea,  and 
Merwanji  was  reduced  to  great  straits.  He 
had  to  cut  down  his  business  and  take  to 
humbler  pursuits,  practising  for  some  time  as 
a  sort  of  Hakim.*  This  latter  accomplish- 
ment he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  exercising 
even  in  his  palmy  days,  but  now  it  became  a 
source  of  a  small  income  which  was  exceed- 
ingly welcome.  His  adopted  son  had  often  to 
do  a  great  deal  of  pounding  and  pulverising 
for  him  in  both  the  branches  of  his  calling, 
the  Hakim's  and  the  druggist's,  and  at  the 
age  of  twelve  was  able  to  bring  him  10  or  12 

'•=  Native  doctor. 


MALABABl'S  MO  THE B.  6 

rupees  a  month,  besides  keeping  his  accounts 
and  assisting  him  generally.  The  first  con- 
cern of  the  young  man  when  he  came  to 
Bombay  was  to  redeem  the  family  house, 
which  had  been  mortgaged  for  Es.  300 ;  but 
the  money  was  not  forthcoming  for  a  long 
time,  and  when  it  was,  the  house  could  not 
be  redeemed,  the  mortgage  having  been  fore- 
closed. The  mortgagee  seems  to  have  borne 
a  grudge  to  Merwanji's  next-door  neighbour, 
and  as  soon  as  he  was  master  of  the  house  had 
it  pulled  down  in  order  to  make  the  neigh- 
bour's house  shelterless.  For  the  same  reason 
he  refused  to  sell  the  plot  for  any  considera- 
tion, or  to  build  on  it.  An  eccentric  man 
this  !  I  do  not  know  what  provocation  he  had 
received.  Let  us  hope  it  was  not  as  bad  as 
his  retaliation. 

Merwanji  passed  his  latter  days  in  peace. 
He  died  about  nine  years  ago. 

Malabaei's  Mother. 

Malabari  owes  a  great  deal  more  to  his 
mother  than  either  to  Dhanjibhai  or  to 
Merwanji.  For  Bhikhibai  was  no  ordinary 
woman.      Rather  undersized,  like   her  son — 


G  BOYHOOD  (1853-18GG). 

with  the  same  light  brown  complexion,  but  a 
romided  face  and  large  almond-like  eyes,  she 
was  a  homely  humble  housewife,  handy  at  all 
kinds  of  domestic  w^ork — an  expert  in  cookery, 
a  deft-fingered  sempstress,  and  a  first-rate 
nurse.  She  had  what  her  husband  lacked — a 
strong  will,  a  masterful  mind,  and  an  irrepres- 
sible energy.  With  these  she  combined  a 
tenderness  for  the  poor — she  was  one  of  them 
— and  a  large-heartedness  not  rare  in  her  sex. 
She  had  truly 

"  A  tear  for  pity,  and  a  hand 
Open  as  day  for  melting  charity." 

She  was  often  to  be  seen  in  the  sick-room  of 
her  neighbours,  Hindu  or  Parsi,  w^ith  little 
Behram  toddling  behind  her,  or  holding  on  to 
the  skirts  of  her  simple  sari.  She  knew  many 
of  those  well-tried  herbs  which  bring  almost 
instant  relief  to  ailing  children,  and  her  skill 
was  seldom  exerted  in  vain.  She  was  freely 
consulted  by  the  women  in  her  street  in  their 
troubles.  What  was  most  admirable  in  her 
was  her  catholicity  and  impulsive  unerring 
goodness.     I  know  of  no  Hindu  woman  who 


I 


EABLY  REMINISCENCES.  7 

would  care  to  tend,  far  less  to  suckle,  a  gasping 
little  waif  lying  in  a  basket  near  her  house, 
without  first  inquiring  to  what  caste  it  be- 
longed. But  Bhikhibai  did  such  a  thing  one 
day,  though  she  had  to  brave  a  scandal,  for 
the  waif  turned  out  to  be  the  street  scavenger's 
child.  It  was  a  very  small  infant,  and  so  weak 
that  one  would  be  almost  afraid  to  handle  it. 
But  the  good  woman  at  once  yielded  to  her 
first  impulse  when  she  heard  it  moaning 
piteously,  and  taking  it  up  tenderly,  put  it  to 
her  breast.  Its  mother  came  up  shortly  after- 
wards, and  relieved  our  heroine  of  her  charge. 
But  Bhikhibai  had  a  bad  time  of  it  for  several 
days  with  her  Parsi  neighbours.*  Still,  few 
could  help  loving  this  utterly  unselfish  woman, 
and  when  she  died  she  was  sincerely  mourned 
by  all  who  had  known  her.  Her  memory 
remains  embalmed  in  her  son's  poetic  tributes 
of  afi'ection. 

Eaely  Eeminiscencss. 
"  I  was  about  two,"  writes  Malabari  to  me, 

'■=  This  incident  forms  the  subject  of  a  poem  in  Malabari's 
"  Indian  Muse  in  English  Garb."  It  is  headed  "Nature  trium- 
phant over  Caste."  The  merit  of  the  act  is  given  to  a  Hindu 
widow. 


8  BOYHOOD  (1853-1866). 

''  when  my  mother  had  to  leave  Baroda. 
She  and  her  elder  sister  had  been  married, 
respectively,  to  two  brothers.  I  am  told  that 
my  aunt  was  as  strong-willed  as  my  mother  ; 
and  my  uncle,  senior  to  my  father,  was  as  mild 
and  peace-loving  as  the  latter.  The  result 
was  that  the  two  sisters,  now  jetlidni  and 
derdni  *  also,  had  frequent  differences.  My 
mother,  like  her  mother-in-law,  still  re- 
membered for  her  kindliness,  made  friends 
with  the  Hindu  neighbours,  tended  them  and 
their  children  in  sickness,  paid  them  visits  of 
condolence,  even  took  part  in  their  post- 
funeral  ceremony,  called  pdtharnu.  My  good 
aunt  thought  this  to  be  infra  dig.,  and 
scolded  her  younger  sister.  My  grandmother, 
Dinbai,  who  loved  my  mother  dearly,  took  her 
part ;  but  as  she  had  retired  from  the  com- 
mand of  the  household,  my  aunt  had  every- 
thing pretty  much  her  own  way.  My  mother 
stood  the  persecution  for  a  time ;  she  appealed 
to  her  husband,  who,  being  the  younger 
brother,  could  not  do  more  than  say  to  his 
Y.ifo,  '  be  patient  for  my  sake.'      But  if  my 

■■'•  Jethdni  or  jeshtdni  means  the  wife  of  the  elder  brother ; 
derdni,  the  wife  of  the  younger. 


I 


EARLY  BEMINISCENCES.  9 

aunt  had  a  will,  so  bad  my  mother.  One 
night,  after  consulting  her  mother-in-law  and 
other  friends,  probably  with  their  aid,  she 
set  out  for  Surat,  with  me,  in  a  hay-cart. 
There  was  no  railway  in  Gujarat  in  those 
days,  and  the  road-sides  of  the  district  were 
infested  by  Bhil  robbers.  But  my  mother 
risked  this  and  the  '  talk  of  the  town '  rather 
than  put  up  with  the  waywardness  of  her 
jetJuini  sister.  She  used  to  tell  me,  in  after 
years,  how  she  concealed  herself  and  me  under 
the  hay,  how  about  Nowsari  the  cart  attracted 
a  gang  of  robbers,  how  they  swooped  down 
upon  us,  how  she  pinched  me  to  make  me  cry 
(the  only  time  in  her  life)  in  order  to  excite 
pity,  how  I  declined  to  cry,  how  the  old  head- 
man of  the  gang  took  me  in  his  arms  and 
proclaimed  peace,  saying  it  was  only  a  girl 
and  a  baby  in  the  cart,  how  my  mother 
volunteered  to  cook  hhicliri*  for  the  robbers 
whilst  I  was  playing  with  them,  and  the 
faithful  cartman  was  preparing  bhang, \  how 
the  robbers  were   completely  won   over,  and 

■■'•  A  dish  of  rice  and  peas  mixed. 

f  A  preparation  of  cannibus  Indicus,  much  in  favour  with 
freebooters,  highwaymen,  and  other  desperadoes. 


10  BOYHOOD  (1853-I8CG). 

how  they  sent  a  small  escort  with  us  to  the 
outer  gate  of  Surat,  to  see  us  safe  in,  with 
some  presents  for  myself  and  my  mother.  As- 
a  boy  of  five  I  used  to  have  this  narrative 
repeated  to  me  by  my  mother  whenever  I  was 
ill,  after  which  we  both  of  us  prayed  to  God. 

"  Our  return  to  my  mother's  birthplace  was- 
very  ominous — she  was  never  happy  thence- 
forth. Fire,  flood,  domestic  bereavements- 
and  difi'erences  —  all  these  aggravated  her 
troubles — and  finally,  to  help  me  to  a  decent 
sort  of  life,  but  more  to  oblige  her  parents, 
she  remarried.  This  marriage  was  a  disastrous- 
failure.  But  she  put  up  with  it  for  my  sake, 
though  I  gained  little  and  lost  much  by  an 
undesirable  contact.  Her  own  life  was  a  daily 
martyrdom,  except  when  we  two  were  left 
together.  What  a  mother  mine  was  !  A 
picture  of  self-sacrifice.  Some  people  live  to 
die ;  others  are  prepared  to  die,  so  that  they 
may  live.  My  mother  was  one  of  these.  She 
died  at  thirty-three,  but  still  she  lives  in  the 
memory  of  many  who  knew  her.  To  me  she 
has  been,  and  will  be,  alive  always.  How  can 
a  mother  die  ?  There  is  an  aroma  of  immor- 
tality about  the  word  and  the  idea  it  clothes. 


EABLY  BEMINISCENGES.  11 

Firdousi  sings  of  Kiistom  having  carried  the 
dead  bones  of  his  son  Sorab  round  his  neck  in' 
a  string,  to  remind  him  of  his  irreparable  loss. 
I  carry  my  mother  about  in  the  spirit.  She 
is  always  present  to  me.  In  every  good  woman 
I  see  my  mother  ;  I  pity  every  bad  or  ill-used 
woman  for  my  mother's  sake. 

"Besides  our  natural  relations,  my  mother 
and  I  were  the  dearest  friends  on  earth.  This 
was  due  partly  to  her  intense  affection,  partly 
to  our  common  misfortune,  and  partly  to  her 
simplicity  of  heart  which  never  allowed  her  tO' 
assert  her  rights  as  a  parent.  It  was  owing 
to  this  latter,  I  believe,  that  we  lived  a  life 
of  perfect  friendship  and  confidence.  My 
mother  taught  me  singing,  for  all  occasions 
that  a  Parsi  or  Hindu  family  has  to  face, 
from  birth  to  death.  She  taught  me  cookery,, 
sewing,  preparing  domestic  medicines,  nursing, 
&c.  We  sometimes  used  to  be  visited  by  a 
cousin  named  Rati,  a  terrible  tomboy,  who 
poked  fun  at  her  poor  husband  and  drove  him 
away  from  Surat,  in  order  that  she  might  lead 
a  '  free  manly  life,'  as  she  put  it.  We  used  to 
have  jolly  times  at  home  when  my  stepfather 
was   out   money-grubbing.      We  would  have 


12  BOYHOOD  (1853-1806). 

primitive  concerts — Rati  playing  on  a  brass 
vessel  and  I  singing  quaint  old  songs.  We 
would  have  plays  and  games  of  all  sorts. 
Rati  would  become  a  thief  and  I  a  constable, 
with  my  mother  for  a  magistrate.  I  would 
bully  the  thief,  caught  red-handed ;  and  Rati, 
who  was  a  clever  actor,  would  blubber  and  sit 
down  pouting  and  suing  for  mercy.  I  would 
whip  her  up  to  the  magistrate,  when  she  would 
faint — at  which,  forgetting  my  constabulary 
dignity,  I  would  fling  myself,  on  her  and  assure 
her  it  was  all  play.  The  girl  would  then  tease 
me  for  a  greenhorn,  and  say  I  could  not  sustain 
a  part.  At  other  times  I  would  undertake 
the  part  of  the  thief,  with  Rati  for  the  con- 
stable. She  would  catch  me  at  it  in  a  minute, 
and  lay  it  about  rather  briskly.  I  would  put 
up  with  that  rather  than  be  dragged  before  the 
magistrate,  in  which  case  my  mother  would 
come  out  of  her  room  and  explain  that  a  thief 
is  none  the  less  of  a  thief  because  he  has  not 
been  brought  up  to  the  court ;  that  he  who 
thinks  of  stealing  is  as  much  a  thief  as  he  who 
actually  steals,  and  that  if  he  evades  a  human 
magistrate  he  cannot  evade  the  Divine  Magis- 
trate.   At  other  times  they  would  dress  me  up 


EARLY  REMINISCENCES.  13 

as  schoolmaster — turban,  spectacles,  the  rod 
of  office,  and  all — and  sit  down  at  my  feet, 
taking  their  lessons  as  mildly  as  the  fierce 
scolding  I  gave  them  for  laziness,  want  of 
attention,  and  so  on.  Eati  would  sometimes 
dress  like  a  soldier  and  strut  up  to  the 
neighbouring  houses,  demanding  eggs,  cheese, 
and  other  eatables  in  the  name  of  the  Sirkar.* 
At  other  times  she  would  dress  like  a  Parsi 
corpse-bearer  (with  an  ordinary  Parsi  hat,  and 
the  hair  hanging  loose  behind),  and  would  ask 
superstitious  housewives,  'Who  is  dead  in  this 
house  ?  '  The  poor  women,  sick  at  the  sight, 
would  propitiate  our  Nasisalar  with  presents, 
and  beg  he  would  never  visit  them  again. 
Eati's  pranks  were  endless.  Even  my  step- 
father stood  in  awe  of  her,  leaving  the  house 
whenever  she  chanced  to  be  there.  That  was 
nearly  thirty  years  ago.  You  will  be  glad  to 
hear  that  Eati  is  to-day  an  exemplary  wife 
and  mother.  How  completely  one's  character 
changes  at  times !  She  honours  and  obeys 
the  same  husband  whom  she  used  to  chaff. 
I  have  not  met  her  all  these  years,  but  she 
write'fe  to  me  now  and  then. 

■'-  The  Government. 


14  BOYHOOD  (1853-18CG). 

"  Though  uneducated,  my  mother  was  not 
a  superstitious  woman,  as  most  of  her  sex  were 
in  those  days.     The  only  time  I  remember  her 
having  yielded  to  a  superstitious  dread,  and 
that  in  a  very  small  way,  was  when  I  was 
taken  ill  with   small-pox.     It   was  a   serious 
and  complicated  case,  and  recovery  was  con- 
sidered almost  hopeless.     Vaids  and  Hakmis  * 
were   consulted,   but   they   gave   little   hope.. 
One  of  these,  a  Hindu  astrologer  and  man  of 
medicine,  told  my  mother,  who  w^as  frantic 
with  grief,  that  the  only  way  of  saving  my 
life  was  by  cutting  off  the  live  nails  and  eye- 
brows of  a  neighbour's  son,  to  be  dedicated  to 
the  goddess  of  small-pox.     This  practice  was 
prevalent  at  Surat,  and  boys  and  girls  used  to 
be    disfigured,    and    even    killed    by    selfish 
parents.  My  mother  listened  to  the  astrologer, 
and  then  begged  him  to  suggest  somethiug 
else.     She  would  never  do  harm  to  another 
boy  who  was  as  dear  to  his  mother  as  I  was 
to  her.     Dearly  as  she  loved  me,  and  knowing 
that  my  death  would  mean  her  own,  she  yet 
held  out.     She  asked  the  astrologer  to  con- 
sider the  cruel  position  in  which  he  sought  to 

'■'  Hindu  and  Maliomedan  doctors  of  the  indigenous  schools. 


I 


EABLY  BEMINISCENCES.  16 

place  her.  All  the  boys  m  the  street  were  her 
own  sons.  Would  it  please  God  to  do  harm 
to  her  one  son  in  order  to  save  another  ?  She 
■could  not  understand  the  proposal.  Anything 
but  that,  or  Khuddni  marji,  God's  will.  She 
was  willing  to  pay,  to  suffer  anything  her- 
self. The  old  astrologer  then  prescribed  an 
alternative  —  so  many  silver  images  of  the 
goddess  of  small-pox,  to  be  placed  beside  a 
light  which  must  be  kept  burning  constantly 
in  the  room,  the  mother  of  the  patient  to 
keep  vigils  night  and  day,  have  no  food  save 
parched  rice  once  a  day,  the  patient  to  be 
kept  on  milk  only,  and  the  front  wall  of  the 
room  to  be  decorated  (?)  with  a  figure  of  the 
dread  Sitld  Mdtd,*  before  which  prayers  and 
supplications  were  to  be  offered  twice  a  day 
by  my  mother  and  friends.  On  recovery  the 
silver  images  were  to  be  given  to  the 
astrologer,  with  sundry  other  '  dues,'  and 
goats  and  fowl  were  to  be  sacrificed  at  the 
shrine  of  Sitld  Mdtd  outside  the  city  gate. 
My  poor  mother  accepted  this  proposal,  and 
carried  it  out  to  the  letter;  she  practically 
starved  herself  for  a   fortnight.     For   me   it 

■■'•  The  goddess  of  small-pox. 


16  BOYHOOD  (1853-1866). 

was  a  truly  miserable  time,  except  when  Rati 
or  her  brother  came  in,  unknown  to  the 
father,  for  a  game  or  a  chat,  or  when  mother 
had  done  praying,  and  would  lead  me  into 
fairy-land,  or  soothe  me  to  slumber  by  a  thril- 
ling recital  of  the  renunciation  of  Gopichand 
Raja."  * 

FiKST  Lessons  in  Pbaying  and  Weaving. 

Little  Behram  was  finally  weaned  some 
time  after  he  was  sent  to  school.  This  may 
sound  curious,  but  it  is  a  fact.  He  was  the 
only  solace  of  his  mother,  and  she  loved  him 
as  only  such  a  mother  could  love.  The  boy 
was  fond,  too  fond  of  his  mother's  milk — and 
he  has  too  much  of  it  in  him.  He  would  cling 
to  her  breast  even  after  returning  from  school ; 
and  his  school,  I  am  afraid,  was  not  a  par- 
ticularly pleasant  one.  The  schoolmaster  was 
believed  to  have  been  a  centenarian,  for  he  had 
taught  not  only  old  Merwanji  but  Merwanji's 
father  also.  His  son  was  a  greybeard,  and  it 
must  have  been  a  sight  to  see  this  patriarchal 
family  assembled  at  their  meals.      Our  "  old 

f  One  of  the  most  popular  ballads,  sung  in  almost  all  the 
vernaculars  of  India. 


FIBST  LESSONS  IN  PBAYING  AND  WEAVING.     17 

Antiquity's  "  name  was  Minochehr  Dam.  He 
sat  in  a  small  room  with  about  twenty  little 
Parsi  boys,  among  whom  was  our  Behram. 
He  held  a  mighty  long  elastic  bamboo  cane  in 
his  hand,  which  worked  quite  like  an  auto- 
maton, and  could  put  a  girdle  round  the  little 
flock  in  less  than  a  second.  It  is  a  venerable 
face,  Minochehr's,  but  his  eyes  are  "  awful." 
His  limbs  are  rather  stiff,  and  he  cannot  move 
about  freely ;  so  he  has  a  comfortable  seat, 
which  he  seldom  leaves,  especially  as  his  wiry 
cane  does  everything  for  him.  It  is  his  dainty 
Ariel  in  away,  though  he  has,  unlike  Prospero, 
not  a  library  full  of  magical  lore,  but  a  com- 
mon, primitive,  humdrum  loom,  and  the  boys 
have  to  weave  as  well  as  to  pray  :  our  school- 
master does  not  teach  out  of  the  educational 
primer,  but  the  Parsi  prayer-book.  As  soon 
as  all  the  boys  have  mustered,  after  doing 
some  domestic  drudgery  in  Minochehr's  house, 
and  the  threads  have  been  ranged  length- 
wise, the  veteran  centenarian  is  out  with  his 
monotonous  sing-song,  and  you  hear  twenty 
little  throats  repeating  at  the  top  of  their 
voice   the    sacred  formula  Ashejii  VoJiu,*  the 

*  This  celebrated  formula  has  been  variouBly  translated.     My 
friend,  Mr.  Navroji  Dorabji  Khandalevala,  has  discussed  the 

3 


18  BOYHOOD  (1853-1866). 

master  and  his  favourite  disciples  plying  their 
shuttles  at  the  same  time.  The  little  ones 
do  not  know  what  these  mysterious  words 
mean,  or  that  scholars  have  differed  about 
their  meaning.  They  only  know  that  any 
mistake  made  in  following  their  dominie  means 
a  taste  of  that  tingling  ubiquitous  cane,  and 
they  have  a  salutary  dread  of  it.  In  this  way 
Behram  learned  to  make  pretty  little  wefts 
out  of  warp  and  woof  and  to  mumble  the 
mystic  words  of  "  Ahuno  Yairyo  *  "  and 
*'  Ashem  Yohu  "  and  such  others.  Before  we 
take  leave  of  Minochehr  Daru,  we  might  as 
well  read  a  little  sketch  of  this  worthy  by 
Malabari  himself : — 

various  meanings,  and  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  right 
translation  is  as  follows : — "  Parity  is  the  best  good,  a  blessing 
it  is,  blessing  to  him  who  (practises)  purity  for  the  sake  of  the 
Highest  purity."  {Vide  "  Primitive  Mazdayasnyan  Teach- 
ings," p.  18.) 

"-•=  There  is  more  conflict  regarding  the  meaning  of  this 
formula  than  that  of  "Ashem  Vohu."  Mr.  Khandalevala's 
translation  is  as  follows  :  "  As  is  the  Will  or  (Law)  of  the  Eternal 
Existence  so  (its)  Energy  solely  through  the  Harmony  (Asha) 
of  the  perfect  mind  is  the  producer  (Dazda)  of  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Universe  and  (is)  to  Ahura  Mazda  (the  Living  Wise 
one)  the  power  which  gives  sustenance  to  the  revolving  sys- 
tems." The  accomplished  and  genial  Bishop  Meurin  gives 
another  rendering  of  this  most  ancient  formula,  and  establishes 
a  common  origin  between  "  Ahuno  Vairyo "  and  one  of  the 
oldest  Christian  prayers. 


I 


FIRST  LESSONS  IN  GUJARITI.  19 

"  White  flowing  beard,  small  chirping  voice, 
White  white  his  all,  but  red  his  blinking  eyes. 
A  man  mysterious  of  the  Magus  tribe — 
A  close  astrologer,  and  a  splendid  scribe — 
A  faithful  oracle  of  dread  Bformuzd's  will — 
A  priest,  a  patriarch,  and  a  man  of  skill. 
A  master  weaver,  and — to  close  details. 
He  weaved  long  webs  and  Lord  !  he  weaved  long  talcs. 
Hard  murd'rous  words,  that  wisdom's  lips  defied, 
Would  thick  portentous  from  his  nozzle  glide. 
And  here  we  stuck,  tho'  long  and  hard  we  tried  ; 
He  cursed,  and  caned  by  tui-ns,  we  hummed  and  cried. 
This  could  not  last ;  our  nmtual  failings  seen, 
He  left  his  preaching,  and  we  left  our  dean.* 

FiKST  Lessons  in  Gujarati. 

Behram's  next  teacher  was  Narbheram,  a 
nephew  of  Jivanram  Mehtaji,  who  was  then 
a  well-known  astrologer  and  mathematician. 
Here  is  a  picture  by  Malabari  of  his  little 
school,  which  was  quite  a  curiosity  in  its  way. 

"  I  am  not  '  the  oldest  man  living.'  But  it 
may  surprise  the  oldest  man  liviug  to  know 
something  of  my  first  school  and  earliest 
school-days.  What  a  marvellous  improve- 
ment is  1885  upon  1860  in  matters  educa- 
tional !  And  yet  it  would  be  scarcely  fair  to 
call  the  change  an  iinproveinent  in  all  respects. 

*  "  Indian  Muse,"  p.  82. 


20  BOYHOOD  (1853-18GG). 

Let  the  reader  judge  for  himself.     My  first 
school  was  just  behind  our  house  at  Nanpura, 
Surat,  and  Narbheram  Mehtaji  was  my  first 
teacher.     He  was  a  Bhikhshuka  Brahman — 
tall,  majestic  and  taciturn,  the  sort  of  man 
who  inspires  awe  by  his  Shiva-like  habits.     In 
his  nature,  as  in  name,  he  was  truly  a  Nir- 
bhaeram  * — fearless    and   fear-inspiriog.      He 
made  a  most   efficient   teacher.     The   school 
was  a  commodious  little  shop,  with  the  floor 
strewn  over  with  street  dust  and  an  elevated 
square  for  the  master.    On  the  square  squatted 
the  master  and  on  the  floor  squatted  his  flock, 
Hindu   and   Parsi.     There  was   no  fee  to  be 
paid   for   the   instruction — only  a   handful  of 
grain,  a  few  flowers  or  some   fruit  now  and 
then.     There  were  no  tables  nor  benches,  nor 
.slates  nor  pencils,  nor  books  nor  maps ;  not 
one  single  item  of  the  literary  paraphernalia 
of  the  modern  schoolroom.     Each  pupil  had 
a  wooden  board,  pati,  which  served  him  for 
slate,  and  a  pointed  stick,  leJthafia,  which  he 
used   as   pencil.     He   also   carried   with  him 
a   rag.     With  this    piece   of    cloth  he   sifted 
the   dust   over  the   board,   and   on   that   bed 

■-:=  Nirhhae  means  fearless. 


I 


FIBST  LESSONS  IN  GUJABATf.  21 

he  traced  figures  and  numerals,  wrote  letters, 
petitions,  &c.  This  task  work  was  submitted 
every  noon  to  the  master,  who  held  a  rod  in 
his  hand,  with  one  end  pointed.  Glancing 
over  the  dust  work,  he  would  now  give  a 
grunt  of  satisfaction,  and  strike  the  board  with 
the  pointed  end  of  his  stick.  The  figures  of 
dust  would  at  once  disappear,  and  so  would 
the  lucky  pupil — for  lunch.  If,  unluckily,  the 
task  was  badly  done,  Narbheram  would  apply 
the  butt  end  of  the  rod  to  the  pupil,  instead  of 
to  his  board,  often  gently,  sometimes  heavily 
too.  The  pupil  was  condemned  for  the  day. 
There  were  worse  methods,  of  course,  the 
sharp  and  supple  cane,  the  thong,  the  pebble 
under  the  knee,  the  stone  across  the  shoulders, 
the  twisting  of  the  nose,  the  shaking  by  the 
neck  or  by  a  knot  made  with  the  delinquent's 
topi,*  or  chotli.\  Worse  still,  sometimes  the 
little  urchin  was  swung  across  the  beam,  and 
at  times  stripped  of  his  scanty  dress.  Oh  the 
tortures  of  the  mid-day  ordeal !  How  my 
heart  sank  within  me  as  I  crawled  up  to  the 
master's  gadi  !  I     Life  or  death — what  was  it 

*  Cap.  f  Tuft  of  hair  in  the  centre  of  the  head, 

t  Cushion. 


22  .  BOYHOOD  (1853-1866). 

to  be  ?  I  died  on  an  average  two  deaths  a 
month.  That  was  because  I  was  too  small  to 
deserve  attention,  quite  a  beginner.  Besides, 
was  not  Narbheram's  uncle  and  patron,  Jivan- 
ram  the  one-eyed,  the  famous  mathematician, 
astrologer  and  match -maker,  a  particular 
friend  of  my  foster-father's  ?  But  for  all  that, 
wiienever  Narbheram  condescended  to  notice 
me,  he  did  it  heartily.  I  have  not  yet  for- 
gotten his  heaviness  of  hand  and  ferocity  of 
looks.  What  added  to  the  misery  of  the 
situation  w-as  the  inviolable  silence  on  both 
sides.  It  was  something  like  a  struggle 
between  the  lion  and  the  mouse,  the  one  too 
proud  to  roar,  the  other  too  timid  even  to 
squeak. 

''  But  to  return  to  the  schoolroom.  The 
written  work  was  gone  through  in  the  fore- 
noon. Everything  was  done  on  a  versified 
system.  The  numerals  w^ere  draw^led  out  in 
versified  form.  The  different  processes — addi- 
tion, subtraction,  multiplication  and  division, 
were  gone  through  in  the  same  manner. 
Eigid  accuracy  was  enforced  throughout.  The 
system  of  multiplication  was  elaborate  to  a 
degree.     Integers    and    fractions    were    alike 


FIRST  LESSONS  IN  GTJJABATl.  23 

treated  from  the  minutest  to  the  most  magni- 
ficent scale. 

''  The  boy  was  expected  to  say  by  rote  the  ^, 
the  J,  the  f ,  the  1|,  the  1^,  the  2J,  and  3J,  of 
any  number  up  to  100.  These  were  respec- 
tively calledpaT/^z,  ardha,  2Jauna,sava7/a,  dohda, 
adhijja,  and  iitJia.  A  good  deal  of  this  system 
was  gone  through  by  the  boys  on  their  boards 
in  the  forenoon,  and  verbally  in  the  afternoon. 
The  dux  of  a  group  was  now  and  then  chal- 
lenged by  the  dux  of  another  group,  the  master 
arbitrating.  Jth  of  95,  3J  of  79,  |  of  65  ?— the 
questions  had  to  be  answered  no  sooner  than 
they  were  asked.  And  woe  be  to  the  poor 
wight  who  halted  or  made  a  slip.  Like  the 
fractions  came  the  integers  up  to  100  x  100. 
Thus,  Paclii  jjacliiram  chhapachisa  (25x25= 
025),  and  so  on,  from  1  x  1=1  up  to  100 X  100 
=10,000.  The  process  was  a  powerful  aid  to 
memory.  I  doubt  if  the  ablest  professor  of 
mathematics,  or  even  the  readiest  finance 
minister  of  the  day,  commands  such  an  elastic 
and  almost  intuitive  power  of  manipulating 
figures.  We  had  quite  an  exhibition  of  mne- 
monic wonders  every  afternoon.  I  am  not 
sure  if  this  mode  of  acquiring  knowledge  is 


24  BOYHOOD  (1853^1806). 

a  permanent  aid  to  memory.  I  myself  happen 
to  have  a  weak  memory  so  far  as  the  form  of 
things  is  concerned,  though  the  spirit  is  easy 
enough  to  catch  and  retain.  I  cannot  recite 
from  memory  ten  Hues  of  even  my  favourite 
poets,  but  can  reproduce  the  image  of  a  whole 
poem  in  my  own  words.  But,  speaking 
generally,  the  discipline  above  referred  to  is 
found  most  useful  in  after-life.  The  Native 
system  of  accounts  is  immensely  superior  to 
the  European  system.  In  dealing  with  the 
heaviest  and  most  intricate  figures,  the  Native 
accountant  has  merely  to  sing  a  verse,  and 
there  the  result  is  ready  to  hand ! 

"  We  learnt  the  alphabet  also  on  the  same 
plan.  Every  letter  had  a  nickname  and  a 
familiar  versified  description.  That  is  to  say, 
the  form  of  the  letter  was  likened  to  some 
object  of  common  use  and  thus  impressed 
upon  the  mental  vision.  It  was  what  I  may 
call  an  object  lesson — kako  kevelo,  khakho 
khajelo,  &c.  Europeans  are  coming  to  that 
system,  judging  from  recent  publications  of 
juvenile  literature.  There  was  a  fair  amount 
of  literary  instruction,  too,  imparted  at 
Narbheram's     school.       Some     verses     from 


FIRST  LESSONS  IN  GU JAR  ATI.  25 

Eamayan  and  Mahabharat,  done  into  simple 
Giijarati  for  the  occasion,  served  as  history  as 
well  as  poetry.     I  excelled  in  this  as  also  in 
letter-writin.2f  orally,  so  to  say.     What  splen- 
did letters  I  dictated  to  my  seniors,  myself 
ignorant  of  the  art  of  writing  !     Letters  from 
wife  at  Surat  to  husband  at  Miimbai  Bander, 
now   gushing,    now   whining,  now  asking  for 
remittance,   now   threatening    to   go   to    the 
parents'  house.     Letters   from   the   principal 
of    a   firm   at    Cambay   to    his   factotnm    at 
Karachi,  advising  the  departure  of  the  good 
ship  Euparel,  laden  with  pearls  and  precions 
stones.     Letters  from  father  at  Broach  to  his 
son  at  Delhi,  with  the  love  of  the  distracted 
mother   and  with  basketfuls   of  advice  as  to 
how   to   live    in    "  this    remote   and    foreign 
country."     I   enjoyed   these  studies   exceed- 
ingly well,  and  was  often  presented  with  fruit 
or  flower  and  the  cheering  words— /a.  bacha 
aj  tane  chhittti  clilie  ('  Gro,  boy,  you  are  free 
to-day  ').     But  when  it  came  to  figures,  I  was 
usually   an   '  uncle   of  the    camel,'    '  born   of 
blind  parents,'  and  other  things  indescribable. 
I  was  bad  at  receiving  the  rod,  also  ;  so  much 
so  that  the  flogging  of  a  neighbour  would  send 


120  BOYHOOD  (1853-18G0). 

me  directly  into  fever.  Narbheram  knew  this, 
and  was  kind  enough  usually  to  send  me  out 
of  the  room  when  a  culprit  had  to  be  hauled 
up. 

"  In  asking'for  permission  to  retire,  boys  had 
to  hold  up  the  thumb ;  for  a  drink  of  water, 
to  raise  the  least  finger;  to  bend  down  the 
middle  -with  the  forefinger,  for  the  other  pur- 
poses, and  so  forth. 

"  One  day  a  refractory  boy  had  to  be  brought 
to  his  senses.  Narbheram  had  tried  all  his 
punitive  regulations  on  him.  This  time, 
therefore,  he  made  him  kneel  upon  pebbles 
and  placed  a  heavy  slab  on  his  back,  and  over 
the  stone  he  himself  pretended  to  sit.  This 
was  the  last  straw,  and  the  boy  gave  such  a 
shriek  of  agony  and  fricht  that  his  male 
relatives,  who  knew  he  llad  to  be  punished, 
came  running  into  the  school..  But  Narb- 
heram was  no  respecter  of  persons ;  he  took 
up  his  rod  of  office  and  kept  the  men  at  a 
distance.  The  boy,  in  the  meantime,  was 
shrieking  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  and  I  was 
very  nearly  fainting.  It  may  be  mentioned 
that  the  stone  was  by  no  means  top  heavy  for 
the  fellow :  the  agony  ^vas  all  mine,  his  was 

•f     • 


FIBST  LESSONS  IN  GU JAB  ATI.  27 

merely  the  shrieking.  But  it  brought  his 
mother  and  grandmother  to  the  scene  :  they 
Hved  next  door  to  the  school.  These  dames 
were  well  known  for  their  muscular  develop- 
ment and  the  free  use  they  made  of  it.  They 
went  up  to  Narbheram,  gave  him  a  good  deal 
of  Billingsgate  and  some  clawing,  and  re- 
leased the  boy.  He  was  withdrawn  that  day. 
I  too  went  home,  never  to  return  to  the 
school  again.  At  night  I  was  in  high  fever, 
.•and  shortly  after  in  the  clutches  of  Sitla  Mata, 
the  goddess  of  small-pox.  For  weeks  I  was 
'Confined  to  bed,  dreaming  of  the  boy  who  had 
heen,  as  I  felt,  crushed  to  death.  I  was  not 
expected  to  outlive  the  shock,  but  was  some- 
how brought  round,  as  my  poor  mother  said, 
by  daily  prayers  and  sacrifices  on  her  part, 
and  by  nightly  vigils  before  a  small  silver 
figure  sprinkled  with  red  ochre,  the  Mata. 
For  weeks  together  she  had  lived  upon  parched 
rice  and  water  once  a  day.*  And  this  was 
her  reward,  she  explained  to  our  friends,  in 
meek   thankfulness,  when   they   met    at    our 

'■'-  "  I  too  had  a  very  strong  attack  of  small-pox,  and  my  mother 
_prayed  and  watched  and  sang  for  over  a  fortnight.  She  was 
a  strong-minded  woman,  but  yielded  to  superstition  during  my 
illness." — Private  letter.  ^ 


28  BOYHOOD  (1853-1806. 

house  to  do  justice  to  the  good  thmgs  prepared 
in  honour  of  my  '  second  birth.'  One  of  the 
first  things  I  heard  on  recovery  was  the  death 
of  poor  Narbheram  Mehtaji,  from  cholera.  I 
was  informed  of  it  in  a  whisper.  It  was  hard 
to  reahze  how  a  man  Hke  my  dear  old  guru,* 
born  to  command  and  to  conquer,  could  have 
succumbed  to  even  such  enemies  as  cholera 
and  death.  Narbheram  had  appeared  to  me 
to  be  a  special  dispensation  from  Providence 
to  lick  the  youth  of  Nanpura  into  public 
usefulness.  Strange  that  such  a  mighty  one 
found  one  who  was  more  than  a  match  for 
him  !  My  respect  for  the  great  man  under- 
went a  sudden  diminution,  but  my  love  for 
him  remains."  f 

The  Paeqi  Panchayat  School  at  Sueat. 

Having  taken  his  first  lessons  in  Gujarati, 
we  next  find  our  little  man  in  the  Parsi 
Panchayat  School,  which  gave  religious  as 
well  as  secular  instruction.  The  religious 
education  was  in  the  hands  of  a  Parsi  priest — 
another  Daru — who  was  about  forty-five  years 

*  "  Guide  and  philosoplier,"  though  not  friend. 
f  Indian  Spectator,  January  3,  188G,  pp.  10-11. 


THE  PARSI  PANCHAYAT  SCHOOL  AT  SUBAT.    29 

old,  and  was,  according  to  Malabari,  "a  very 
nngodly-looking  man  of  God,  and  the  terror 
of  all  city  imps  and  street  arabs."  *  Surat 
housewives  called  him  by  a  Gujarati  sobriquet 
which  may  be  translated  "  urchin-herd,"  if 
such  a  compound  is  allowable.  He  certainly 
deserved  the  title.  Here  is  a  description  of 
this  terrible  teacher : — 

^'  A  zealous  man  he  was,  a  man  of  parts, 
With  scanty  science,  but  a  host  of  arts. 
With  pointed  paws  his  fierce  moustache  he'd  twirl, 
And  at  the  culprits  the  direst  vengeance  hurl. 
His  jaws  he'd  rub,  his  grizzled  beard  peck. 
Till  rubbed  and  pecked,  the  whole  appeared  a  wreck. 
A  wag  by  nature  and  a  stoic  sour, 
'Tis  hard  to  fix  his  equivocal  power. 
Good  cheer  he  loved,  and  oft  a  dainty  dish 
His  wrath  diverted,  as  we  well  could  wish. 
When  thus  begorged,  joy,  joy  was  all  his  work. 
His  air  all  blandness,  and  his  face  all  smirk. 
But  woe  betide  the  hour,  if  e'er  his  meal 
Was  late ;  that  would  his  hidden  traits  reveal. 
His  zeal  rose  higher,  as  his  stomach  fell ; 
And  hard  his  fervour  on  our  skins  would  tell. 
Sharp  went  the  whizzing  whip,  fast  flew  the  cane. 
And  he  fairly  caper'd  in  his  wrath  insane. 
He  chanted  pray'rs,  oh  Lord  !  in  such  gruff  tones 
'Twould  set  on  rack  the  hoar  Zoroaster's  bones. 

-•=  "  Indian  Muse,"  p.  82  note. 


80  BOYHOOD  (1853-18G6). 

He  shrieked  and  staggered  in  his  zealous  rage, 
Till  he  looked  an  actor  on  a  tragic  stage. 
But  when  our  whines  the  neighbouring  women  drew^ 
The  man  of  zeal  at  once  persuasive  grew — 
Expounded  doctrines,  in  a  fervid  breath. 
Preached  patience,  virtue,  truth,  and  tacit  faith. 
Thank  God  I'd  then  too  small  religious  wit 
To  understand  that  canting  hypocrite."  ■'' 

There  was  one  characteristic  of  the  man 
which  has  not  been  well  brought  out  in  these 
lines.  It  was  this.  Whenever  he  wanted  to 
administer  a  flogging,  he  used  to  order  his. 
class  to  pray  vociferously  in  order  to  drown 
the  cries  of  his  victim.  The  school  contained 
both  boys  and  girls,  and  Malabari  well 
remembers  how  the  ruffian  used  sometimes  to 
seize  a  girl  by  her  tresses,  and  whisk  her 
violently  about  in  the  air,  as  if  she  was  a  life- 
less marionette,  while  the  room  was  resound- 
ing with  invocations  to  Aburmazd  recited 
by  her  school-fellows.  Another  favourite 
amusement  of  this  monster  of  a  school- 
master was  to  roll  up  an  erring  boy  in  a 
carpet-piece,  or  put  the  poor  wretch  under 
his  capacious   Jama,f  and  then   strut  about 

■■■•  "  Indian  Muse,"  pp.  83-84. 

f  The  long  robe  worn  by  Parsi  priests. 


THE  PABSI  PANCHAYAT  SCHOOL  AT  SUB  AT.     31 

from  one  end  of  the  schoolroom  to  the  other. 
His  gesticulations  on  such  occasions  used  tO' 
send  a  shiver  through  the  little  ones  who 
witnessed  his  performances.  Often,  when 
angry,  he  would  dash  off  his  turban,  and 
glare  so  ferociously  with  his  bull  eyes,  and 
contort  his  face  into  such  frightful  grimaces, 
that  some  of  the  more  nervous  children  would 
swoon  at  the  sight  of  these  exhibitions.  If  a 
boy  was  late,  this  zealous  priest  was  forthwith 
at  his  door  and  walked  off  with  him  without- 
notice,  though  the  boy  might  be  just  washing 
his  face,  or  taking  a  morsel  of  food  from  his 
mother.  I  have  said  he  had  a  capacious 
Jama.  That  sufficed  not  only  for  kidnapping 
little  boys,  but  even  for  confining  the  diminu- 
tive master  who  used  to  teach  reading  and 
arithmetic  in  the  last  class.  Behram  and  his 
class-mates,  after  having  their  turn  with  the 
Daru,  used  to  go  upstairs  to  this  diminutive 
teacher.  Once  it  so  happened  that  they  went, 
up  later  than  the  appointed  hour,  as  they  had 
been  detained  by  the  Daru,  and  of  course 
assigned  this  reason  to  the  teacher.  Shortly 
afterwards  the  Daru  came  up,  and  the  teacher 
addressing  him  rather  roughly  inquired  why 


32  BOYHOOD  (1853-18GG). 

the  boys  had  not  been  sent  up  at  the  usual 
time.  The  Darn's  reply  was  a  swift  and 
sudden  jerk  which  sent  the  inquirer  flying 
into  space,  followed  by  another  which  sent 
him  softly  under  the  folds  of  the  Darn's 
Jama ;  and  thus  enveloping  the  Liliputian 
knight  of  the  three  E's  he  stood,  with  a 
Harlequin's  grin,  in  the  midst  of  the  amazed 
children.  Of  course,  since  that  day  little 
Chagan  lost  the  respect  of  his  boys,  while 
the  Daru  continued  to  be  dreaded,  if  possible, 
more  than  formerly.  He  had  influential 
friends  among  the  visitors,  and  was  moreover 
a  priest,  a  silk  mercer,  and  a  toddy-seller,  and 
thus  he  always  managed  to  escape  scot-free. 
Such  teachers  were  not  very  rare  in  those 
days,  and  may  even  now  be  met  with  in 
some  indigenous  schools  in  out-of-the-way 
villages. 

Eaely  Associates — Good  and  Bad. 

"My  best  friend  in  early  school-days," 
writes  Malabari  to  me,  "  was  Gulbai,  daughter 
of  at  Surat.  She  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  be  at  school  with  me,  under  that 
tyrant  MehervanDaru,  of  whom  I  spoke  to  you 


EARLY  ASSOCIATES— GOOD  AND  BAD.  33 

at  Ahmedabad.  She  had  the  additional  mis- 
fortune to  be  clever  and  obliging.  So  she 
must  come  to  school  an  hour  or  two  earlier 
than  the  other  children,  must  help  the  master's 
wife  in  cooking  and  other  household  duties, 
must  teach  the  little  ones  whilst  the  master  is 
away,  on  pleasure  or  business,  offering  prayers 
for  so  many  coppers  a  piece,  or  selling  toddy 
for  so  many  coppers  a  gallon.  Woe  be  to  poor 
Gul  if  she  is  detained  at  home  some  day, 
an.d  puts  in  appearance  after  the  master.  Up 
jumps  the  barbarian,  performing  a  wild  war 
dance,  such  as  you  read  of  in  stories  about  Red 
Indians,  catches  hold  of  her  beautiful  hair, 
and  whisks  her  about  in  empty  space.  She  is 
accustomed  to  the  treatment,  my  poor  Gul ; 
but  sitting  in  a  corner,  away  from  the  horrible 
scene,  I  feel  as  if  I  should  spring  upon  the 
monster  and  throttle  him.  Gul  reads  the 
thought  in  my  face,  in  the  close- clutched 
fingers  and  body  convulsed  with  emotion,  as 
she  approaches  the  mattress  on  which  I  am 
sitting.  She  gives  me  a  grateful  look  that 
makes  me  hate  the  tyrant  almost  less  than  I 
hate  myself.  Next  time  she  is  to  be  late,  I 
offer  to  work  for  her.     She  smiles  at  the  pro- 


3-1  BOYHOOD  (1853-18GG). 

posal,  being  my  senior  by  several  years,  and 
inucli  taller.  During  the  recess  hour  we  often 
sit  together,  without  exclianging  many  words. 
I  caress  her  hair,  and  rub  her  forehead  after  the 
outrage  that  has  been  offered  to  them.  She 
takes  my  head  gently  down  on  her  lap,  and 
thus  we  pass  the  minutes  in  mute  sympathy. 
There  was  something  of  the  elder  sister  in 
poor  Gul,  that  I  have  seldom  come  across  in 
others.  She  had  been  a  light-hearted  child 
before  she  was  brought  within  the  sphere  of 
the  brutal  discipline  I  have  referred  to.  With 
me  she  was  always  thoughtful.  Her  friendli- 
ness I  cannot  forget.  Every  day  she  brought 
me  some  presents — sweets,  fruit,  pencil,  and  so 
on.  Sometimes,  when  the  ogre  was  away,  and 
I  was  in  fever,  she  would  sing  to  me  in  whispers. 
How  strange  we  should  hardly  ever  have  talked 
together,  as  friends  usually  do  at  that  age,  of 
our  hopes  and  ambitions,  of  our  pursuits,  of 
everything  that  could  be  called  a  topic  !  The 
fact  is,  I  felt  we  were  two  brothers  or  two 
sisters — Gul  and  I — who  knew  everything 
about  each  other  in  the  present,  and  cared  for 
little  beyond  that.  I  have  never  thought  of 
sex  in  friendship,  except  when  reminded  of  it 


EABLY  ASSOCIATES-GOOD  AND  BAD.  35 

hy  accident.  I  may  sit  with  a  lady  friend  by  the 
hour,  chatting  as  if  to  my  own  brother,  or 
hstening  as  one  sister  hstens  to  another.  The 
same  is  the  case  pretty  innch  with  my  cor- 
respondence— I  do  not  feel  constrained  to 
adopt  the  artificial  language  that  obtains  so 
largely  as  result  of  an  obtrusive  distinction  of 
the  sexes.  Of  course,  I  am  speaking  oi  friends ; 
and  poor  Gul  was  the  dearest  of  them  all  in 
my  school-days.  They  tell  me  she  lived  to  be 
a  happy  wife  and  mother,  and  died  a  few  years 
ago.  This  makes  her  perhaps  more  living  to 
me  in  the  present,  and,  I  trust,  in  the  future, 
where  all  shall  be  perfect  love,  without  the 
jarring  elements  of  sex,  caste,  creed,  position. 

"  About  a  year  after  this,  I  was  thrown  into 
the  society  of  w4iat  might  be  described  as  bad 
boys,  who  went  by  nicknames,  were  the  de- 
spair of  their  parents  and  a  terror  to  the 
neighbourhood.       The    most    troublesome    of 

these  was  Jamsu  ,  a  young  priest,  who 

assisted  his  father  in  saying  vicarious  prayers. 
Jamsu  was  known  to  have  the  magnetic  current 
in  his  hands  too  highly  developed.  Wherever 
he  placed  the  hands  they  lifted  up  things  not 
belonging  to  him,  of  course  without  his  ever 


36  BOYHOOD  (1853-18G6). 

knowing  it.     This  is  how  we  spoke  of  Jamsu's 
lifting  propensities. 

''  The  other  fellow  went  by  the  name  of 
Washerman's  Bullock.  He  was  a  great  bully, 
and  used  to  make  some  of  us  small  boys  slave 
for  him,  for  the  privilege  of  having  his  company. 
If  any  of  us  adjured  his  society,  he  would 
waylay  and  thrash  us.  But  he  had  one  weak- 
ness which  I  found  out,  and  that  made  him 
behave  himself  to  me,  that  is,  to  leave  me 
severely  alone.  It  was  his  inordinate  love  of 
newly-washed  clothes.  Whenever  he  lifted 
his  arm  against  me,  I  simply  said,  'I'll  tell.' 
Those  magic  words  unnerved  him.  What  I 
threatened  to  '  tell '  was  that  he  took  off  his 
clothes  every  night,  swathed  himself  in  a  bed- 
sheet,  washed  the  clothes,  and  then  turned  in ; 
he  got  up  in  the  morning,  ironed  the  clothes 
and  came  out  into  the  streets  a  dandy.  That 
was  the  secret  of  his  ever- white  dresses ;  it 
was  the  skeleton  in  his  cupboard.  Of  course, 
this  was  a  caricature  of  what  the  poor  fellow 
actually  did.  But  the  thing  told  when  it  got 
talked  about.  Hence  his  name — Washerman's 
Bullock ;  hence  the  loss  of  his  influence  over 
his  victims.    Jamsu,  the  magnet-fingered,  and 


EABLY  ASSOCIATES— GOOD  AND  BAD.  37 

Washerman's    Bullock    are   both   respectable 
members  of  society  at  this  day. 

"  The  third  of  my  earlier  friends  v>as  an 
incorrigible,  and  has  grown  worse  with  years. 
He  betted,  gambled,  and  pilfered  whilst  offici- 
ating as  a  priest.  And  neither  Mehervan 
Darn's  brutal  thrashing  nor  the  irons  by  which 
he  tied  him  up  by  the  hours,  without  food  or 
drink,  could  check  the  flights  of  his  erring 
genius.  The  fellow  had  a  wondrous  elastic 
constitution,  both  of  mind  and  body ;  and  his 
conscience  was  even  more  elastic.  His  uncle 
would  bundle  him  up  in  every  form  conceivable, 
to  see  if  he  could  break  some  of  his  limbs,  and 
thus  keep  him  from  mischief.  It  was  all  use- 
less. In  less  than  an  hour  after  the  operation 
the  boy  would  be  himself  again,  ready  to  be  at 
his  old  games.  He  would  walk  up  coolly  to  the 
railway  station,  ask  the  porter  to  take  up  any- 
thing lying  handy,  show  it  to  the  clerk  in  an 
offhand  manner,  and  walk  off  leisurely,  with 
all  the  air  of  rightful  ownership.  He  would  go 
up  to  the  Postmaster  and  obtain  registered 
articles,  representing  himself  as  the  addressee. 
He  would  go  to  the  housewife  and  ask  for  the 
husband's    watch    in    the    husband's     name, 


3S  BOYHOOD  (1853-1860). 

having  ascertained  that  the  watch  had  been 
left  behind.  He  would  go  from  one  doctor  to 
another,  and,  with  compliments,  ask  for  a  loan 
of  his  surgical  instruments.  He  would  order 
bales  of  cotton  in  the  name  of  a  merchant,  and 
dispose  of  them  in  the  next  street.  Latterly 
he  is  believed  to  have  developed  into  a  j^^icl-a 
swindler,  housebreaker,  and  man  about  the 
town." 

Early  Aspirations. 

The  influence  of  such  associates  was  neu- 
tralized by  the  salutary  home  surroundings  of 
the  boy,  and  the  high  aspirations  aroused  in 
him  by  listening  to  the  tales  of  Persian  heroes 
and  heroines. 

"  Gujarati  recitations  from  the  Shah- 
Nameh,"  he  writes,  "were  my  first  pabulum. 
The  Shah-Nameh  *  was  then  kept  only  in 
manuscript,  and  was  prized  above  all  things 
by  the  few  families  that  could  afford  to  have  it 
— generally  a  portion  of  Firdousi's  immortal 
work.  They  kept  it  with  their  most  precious 
possessions — horoscopes,  genealogical  papers, 
(&c.     On  important  holidays,  especially  in  the 

*  History  of  Kings,  the  Great  Epic  of  Persia. 


EABL  Y  A  SPIBA  TIONS.  89 

month  of  Farvardeen  (when  the  names  of  the 
departed  great  and  the  dear  ones  have  to  be 
remembered,  and  their  spirits  praised  and 
commended  to  the  mercy  of  Heaven),  you 
might  have  seen  Httle  family  groups  sitting  on 
a  mattress,  after  supper  on  unleavened  bread, 
fruit  and  wine  consecrated  during  the  Baj,  or 
the  Afringan  ceremony.  Men,  women,  and 
children  sat  together.  Yes,  even  thirty  years 
ago  Parsi  women  enjoyed  all  the  freedom  of 
life  that  is  due  to  them  as  human  beings,  less, 
perhaps,  in  secular  matters,  wherein  the  tenor 
of  everyday  life  had  been  somew4iat  ruffled  by 
contact  wdth  Hindus  and  Mahomedans,  than 
in  matters  spiritual.  You  will  be  delighted  to 
know  that  our  women  could  not  only  offer 
prayers  and  sacrifices  of  sandalwood  on  the 
domestic  hearth,  of  flowers,  fruit,  bread,  wine, 
(fee,  but  were  even  prayed  to  and  invoked. 
In  Hushbam  (Husha  is  Sanskrit  Usha,  the 
Dawai),  one  of  the  oldest  of  our  morning 
hymns,  we  are  asked  to  pray  for,  or,  as  I  feel, 
pray  to,  the  souls  of  '  all  good  women  that 
were,  all  good  women  that  are,  all  good  women 
that  will  be.'  That  is  Zoroaster's  teaching. 
In  my  search  of  good  things  said  about  the 


40  BOYHOOD  (1853^1860). 

sex  to  which  my  mother  belonged,  I  have 
not  come  across  anythmg  better  than  this 
chivalrous  vindication  of  the  status  of  woman. 
Probably  you  have  something  like  it  in  the 
earlier  Yedic  hymns. 

"  Well,  the  Shah-Nameh  would  be  read  out 
to  us  by  a  cunning  priest  or  scribe ;  and  as  the 
poet  dwelt  on  the  wisdom  of  some  great  prince, 
the  valour  of  some  brave  knight,  or  the  virtue 
of  some  lady  fair  at  his  court,  we  felt  the  chief 
characters  of  Firdousi  Tusi  living  over  again 
before  us,  inspiring  us  with  a  strange  love  of 
the  romantic.  The  reciter  took  us  back  to 
Jamshid  and  Fredun,  to  Kershasp,  Kaikaus, 
Kaikhusro,  to  Asfandiar  and  Tus,  to  Rustom 
and  Sorab  and  Barzor,  to  Godrez  and  Gaiu  and 
Gurgin,  making  us  laugh,  and  cry,  and  clap 
our  hands  by  turn.  The  most  interested  of 
the  audience  were  the  women  and  the  children 
— the  men,  I  remember,  were  indifferent,  being 
mostly  in  their  cups.  They  would  either  drink 
'  once  more  '  to  the  health  of  some  hero  whose 
exploits  the  reader  had  just  narrated,  or  indulge 
in  a  strain  of  maudlin  sentimentality  over  his 
discomfiture — quaffing  the  bowl  of  punch  to 
the  health  of  a  favourite  victor,  or  drowning 


E ABLY  A SPIBA TIONS.  41 

their  grief  in  the  sarae  bowl  when  the  favourite 
was  in  danger.  I  also  remember  how  these 
gentlemen  got  up  a  sham  fight,  called  Gabardi, 
in  which  they  pretended  to  celebrate  some  of 
the  main  incidents  of  the  Shah-Nameh.  The 
Gabardi  was  a  vile  affair,  and  we  despised  our 
elders  for  the  part  they  took  in  it — those 
knights  in  buckram,  or  rather  in  gunny  bags, 
any  two  of  whom  gave  each  other  their  paws 
and  took  a  round  over  a  small  arena  improvised 
in  the  bazaar,  pretending  a  trial  of  strength. 
We  youngsters  managed  the  thing  in  another 
spirit.  We  would  set  up  a  girl,  a  live  Parsi 
lass,  as  the  Peri,  the  Princess  of  Shamangan, 
or  the  typical  damsel  in  distress,  and  fight 
over  her  in  real  earnest,  till  sometimes  we 
drew  blood. 

''  These  Shah-Nameh  recitals  and  readings — 
I  was  one  of  the  privileged  readers  and  actors — 
fired  my  imagination  as  nothing  else  did.  So 
great,  indeed,  was  my  ambition  in  those  days 
of  early  boyhood,  that  I  hardly  think  an 
empire  would  have  satisfied  it.  Many  a  dream 
would  I  dream  by  day  and  by  night,  of  taking 
up  the  double  role  of  Eustom  and  Kaikhusro. 
IBut  a  glance  at  the  bleak  interior  of  our  house. 


42  BOYHOOD  (1B53-180G). 

with  a  severely  matter  -  of  -  fact  stepfather^ 
brought  me  back  to  my  senses  soon  enough. 
And  then  I  would  go  in  for  Fakiri,  an  utter 
forgetfulness  of  self.  For  a  good  long  while 
did  my  soul  thus  fluctuate  between  this  Fakiri 
and  that  fantastic  imperialism." 

Father  Peepal,  Alchemy  and  Magic. 

"  I  was  initiated,"  continues  Malabari,  "  into 
some  other  kinds  of  knowledge,  of  which  a 
mention  may  amuse  you.  The  first  of  these 
was  a  worship  of  Pipda  Bapa — Father  Peepal 
— a  large  old  tree  which  was  believed  to  be  the 
abode  of  a  beneficent  genius.  This  latter,  I 
was  told,  was  a  venerable  saint,  walking  about 
at  night  in  a  muslin  dress  and  high  sandals. 
His  business  was  to  do  good.  But  he  was  a 
jovial  spirit  withal.  He  tested  the  faith  of  his 
followers,  sometimes  by  setting  fire  to  their 
houses,  sometimes  by  removing  the  babies 
from  their  cradles,  and  so  on.  Those  who 
trusted  him  and  said  Pipda  Bapa  meant  it  all 
for  the  best,  were  not  only  relieved  of  their 
temporary  distress,  but  most  handsomely 
rewarded.  I  know  of  ladies  who  believed  in 
Papda  Bapa,  and  who  have  assured  me  and 


FATHER  PEE  PAL,  ALCHEMY  AND  MAGIC.      43-- 

others  that  the  good  old  saint  has  helped  them 
with  food,  employment,  with  gold  and  silver 
ornaments  on  occasions  of  marriage,  &g.  For 
such  favours,  of  course,  a  daily  offering  was 
necessary  ;  and  I  have  seen  maunds  of  sweet- 
meats, basketfuls  of  flowers,  and  fruits,  strewn 
at  the  foot  of  this  historic  tree,with  canfuls  of 
milk  placed  before  it  for  the  use  of  the  holy 
one,  evening  after  evening.  My  mother  was- 
one  of  the  votaries,  though  her  offerings  con- 
sisted only  of  flowers  and  milk.  She  inspired 
me  with  great  respect  for  Pipda  Bapa,  and  the 
stories  I  used  to  hear  from  all  sides  had  a 
powerful  effect  on  my  imagination.  My  faith 
was  all  the  easier  to  cherish,  because,  often  of 
an  evening  we  street-boys  would  approach 
Pipda  Bapa  barefooted,  bow  low  to  him,  and 
eat  up  as  mucli  of  the  offerings  as  we  could.  Did 
we  not  know  that  the  Bapa,  being  a  spirit,  never 
ate  or  drank  ?  Often  and  often  did  I  dream 
in  those  days  of  Pipda  Bapa  walking  up  to 
my  bed  majestically  and  saying,  BacJia,  hlmshal 
raJio  ('  Child,  be  happy  ').  And  happy  indeed 
I  was  in  the  evening  under  the  umbrageous. 
Peepal  shade,  munching  mitliai  and  other 
sweebs,  and  quaffing  handfuls  of  milk.     This 


44  BOYHOOD  (1853-1866). 

same  Pipda  Bapa  used  to  '  possess '  some  of 
our  neighbours,  whereby  they  got  the  gift  of 
prophecy.  I  knew  an  old  lady,  a  virgin  widow, 
whose  life  was  pure  and  above  reproach,  but 
who  was  known  to  be  rather  '  innocent.' 
Well,  ordinarily,  this  lady  could  not  speak  or 
understand  a  word  of  Hindustani,  but  when 
she  was  inspired  by  Pipda  Bapa  she  w^ould 
speak  beautiful  Hindustani  and  Persian.  At 
such  times  people  used  to  flock  to  her,  to  have 
their  fortunes  told.  It  was  a  sight  to  see  the 
handsome  old  spinster  sitting  on  a  _/^ai/a,  or 
footstool,  dressed  in  thin  muslin,  with  her  jet 
black  tresses  hanging  down  to  her  knees,  and 
telling  each  one  of  the  consultants  the  Jmhikat 
(details)  of  the  future — how  A.  would  have  a 
fine  boy,  how  B.  would  have  to  leave  Surat, 
how  C.  should  give  up  business,  how  D.  should 
launch  upon  another  business,  and  so  on — all 
in  delightful  Hindustani,  spoken  as  if  the 
speaker  was  born  with  the  gift  of  prophecy.  I 
remember  this  very  well,  as  I  was  one  of  the 
'  virgin-boys  '  who  had  to  surround  my  lady 
prophetess  within  a  certain  radius,  to  keep  the 
profane  and  corrupt  away  from  her  by  our  looks 
that  were  supposed  to  search  the  hearts  of  the 


FATHER  PEEPAL,  ALCHEMY  AND  MAGIC.     45 

wicked.  The  ceremony  was  of  an  imposing 
character,  though  private.  I  have  heard  of  a 
parallel  case  since  coming  over  to  Bombay. 
Who  can  say  there  is  no  power  of  inspiration, 
and  that  there  are  not  some  favoured  ones  who 
are  inspired  for  the  good  of  the  community  ? 

"As  boys  we  came  across  a  good  deal  of 
humbug  and  unreality  in  this  line.  For 
instance,  we  heard  of  a  '  charmed  rupee  '  which 
had  the  power  of  reproducing  itself.  The 
owners  were  a  Parsi  family  of  weavers,  special 
favourites  of  Pipda  Bapa  who  used  to  weave 
for  them  of  a  night  when  they  were  tired. 
Well,  a  member  of  the  family  would  buy  ghee,* 
or  cloth,  or  mutton,  with  this  charmed  rupee  ; 
but  so  potent  was  the  charm  attaching  to  it 
that  the  rupee  would  return  to  the  box  the 
same  day,  after  the  purchase  had  been 
effected.  Some  of  us  young  fellows  were 
taken  up  with  the  idea,  and  besought  an 
opium-eating  ustdd,\  a  Purbhaya  disciple  of 
Bahadur  Singh,  to  reveal  the  secret  of  making 
such  a  rupee.  He  held  out  for  a  long  time, 
saying  we  were  not  '  safe.'     One  day,  when  he 

*  Clarified  butter. 

t  A  master  of  music,  magic  and  gymnastics. 


46  BOYHOOD  (1853-.1866). 

had  taken  a  larger  pill  of  opium  than  usual,  we 
got  round  the  old  fellow,  promising  to  do  any- 
tliing  if  he  revealed  the  secret  which  he  told 
us  he  knew.  He  exacted  a  promise  of  ahsolute 
secrecy,  and  dictated  a  prescription :  On  a 
certain  day,  at  a  certain  hour  and  minute, 
under  a  certain  stellar  conjunction,  when 
•certain  animals  are  half-asleep,  others  fully 
asleep,  we  must  recite  certain  Mantras,  and 
place  an  ordinary  rupee  into  the  mouth  of  a 
she  frog  in  labour  !  Por  months  some  of  the 
boys  tried  to  meet  these  impossible  require- 
ments, till  at  last  they  began  to  see  that  the 
ustcid  was  a  humbug  and  the  charmed  rupee  a 
myth. 

"We  lost  some  time  in  discovering  another 
mare's  nest  of  magic,  Kimiun,  or  alchemy. 
The  ustdd  taught  us  half  a  dozen  processes  of 
making  gold  from  brass,  silver  from  zinc,  &g. 
There  was  some  chemical  half-sense  in  the 
processes,  I  believe,  and  many  of  my  juvenile 
•colleagues  gave  their  time  to  realizing  the 
dream  ;  one  or  two  have  gone  crazy  over  it  for 
life.  For  myself,  there  were  two  things  that 
made  me  very  indifferent  about  the  matter. 
Firstly,  I  did  not  care  much  for  gold,  real  or 


FATHER  PEE  PAL,  ALCHEMY  AND  MAGIC.      47 

otherwise  ;  and  secondly  and  chiefly,  the  pro- 
cesses suggested  by  the  ustcicl  involved  such 
labour  and  expense  that  I  thought  it  would  be 
easier,  and  cheaper  and  honester,  to  buy  gold 
rather  than  to  concoct  it  from  base  metals. 

"  Another  trick  of  magic  we  were  taught  by 
the  ustcid  was  about  MoJiini,  or  fascination. 
The  process  was  rather  funny :  Whip  down  a 
female  lizard,  cut  off  her  tail  while  alive,  pass 
it  through  a  number  of  '  magical '  and  other 
operations ;  and  then  if  you  have  that  tail  on 
your  person  and  glance  at  any  passer-by,  he  or 
she  will  follow  you  like  a  slave.  I  had  already 
taken  these  charms  to  be  frauds.  But  a 
cousin,  named  Hirji,  a  brother  of  Rati,  wlio 
was  my  senior  and  a  particular  chum,  could 
not  get  over  the  infatuation.  He  fed  the 
ustdd  on  opium,  and  the  tistdd  fed  Hirji  on 
magical  frauds.  Poor  Hirji  took  a  violent 
fancy  to  this  particular  trick.  One  day  he 
thought  he  had  mastered  it,  and  would  try  it 
on  some  girl  coming  to  the  Tapti  bank  to  fetch 
water.  The  trick  was  common  in  those  days. 
Honest  women  knew  how  to  deal  with  the 
tricksters,  and  those  who  were  not  honest 
found  the  jnohini  to  be  a  convenient  excuse 


48  BOYHOOD  (1853-18GG). 

for  flirtation.  On  the  evening  in  question 
Hirji  was  determined  to  try  his  kick.  Of 
course  he  was  too  young  to  mean  harm,  but 
the  demon  of  pride  had  worked  within  him. 
So  down  he  goes  to  a  handsome  woman 
coming  up  the  steps,  balancing  her  burnished 
water-pots  skilfully  on  her  head,  and  touches 
her  with  the  tail  of  the  lizard.  The  woman 
seems  to  love  a  joke.  So  she  leisurely  puts 
down  her  water-pots.  Hirji's  heart  jumps  for 
joy.  He  stands  there,  like  a  bullock,  waiting 
for  his  inamorata  to  confess  that  she  was 
conquered.  But  far  from  succumbing  to  the 
subtle  charm  of  the  lizard,  she  seizes  the  boy- 
lover  with  both  his  hands,  and  cries  out  at  the 
top  of  her  voice,  '  Well,  lover  mine,  so  you 
want  to  be  put  to  the  breast  ?  '  She  pretends 
to  suit  the  words  to  action,  and  gives  Hirji  a 
thump  on  the  head,  that  moistens  his  eye, 
dries  up  his  throat,  and  drives  the  calf  love  out 
of  his  bullock's  heart.  He  is  dumfoundered. 
The  incident  is  followed  by  loud  laughter  from 
among  the  bevy  of  fair  ones  who  have  come  to 
fetch  water.  Poor  Hirji  comes  gingerly  up 
the  steps,  a  sadder  but  wiser  magician ;  and 
the  sight  of  his  '  rejected  addresses  '  makes  me 


I 


ANOTHER  SCHOOL.  49 

laugh  as  if  I  am  going  to  split.  He  is  very 
angry  at  first,  but  on  being  reasoned  with  he 
promises  to  give  up  the  ustclcl.  Next  day  we 
had  a  capital  swim  across  the  river,  and  were 
very  near  drowning.  I  remember  poor  Hirji's 
words  after  we  had  been  rescued  :  '  I  wish  I 
had  been  drowned  yesterday.'  Two  years 
later  Hirji  died,  some  said  of  cholera,  others 
of  poison.  He  was  a  fine  fellow,  simple  and 
trusting,  but  wayward  like  all  our  family." 

Anothee  School. 

Having  learnt  a  little  Gujarati,  Behram  was 
sent  to  the  Sir  Jamsetji  Anglo- Vernacular 
School  at  Surat.  His  first  master  was  a  Parsi 
getting  the  handsome  pay  of  Es.  4  a  month ; 
but  he  made  up  for  this  scanty  allowance  by 
employing  his  pupils  to  "hew  wood  and  draw 
water  "  for  his  household,  and  even  to  shampoo 
his  legs.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  snob  of 
the  first  water,  although  one  would  hardly 
expect  snobbery  from  such  a  low-paid  teacher. 
Behram  was  about  a  year  under  him. 

The  boy's  next  teacher  was  Mr.  Dosabhai. 
He  is  still  working  as  a  teacher,  and  is  on  very 
friendly  terms  with  his  former  pupil.     Malabari 

5 


50  BOYHOOD  (1853-1866). 

also  remembers  Mr.  Hardevram,  a  Braham, 
who  spoke  excellent  English,  and  Mr.  Fakir- 
bhai,  a  Bania,  who  was  a  first-rate  arithmetician. 
This  latter  was  deaf,  and  was  often  deceived  by 
his  pupils,  as  he  could  not  make  out  if  the  oral 
answers  given  to  him  were  right  or  wrong. 
Mere  motion  of  the  lips  sometimes  sufficed  for 
him — and  the  little  ones  used  often  to  have  a 
laugh  at  the  expense  of  their  worthy  master. 

Behram  had  a  lift  from  the  2nd  Standard 
class  to  the  4th.  He  wrote  a  pretty  hand,  and 
Mr.  Curtis,  the  Educational  Inspector,  liked  it 
so  much  that  he  sent  the  boy's  copybook  to  all 
the  schools  in  his  Division  as  a  model.  But 
in  the  4th  Standard  class  the  teacher  was  a 
martinet  and  a  Pharisee.  His  pupils  had  to 
fetch  his  lunch  and  do  other  little  menial 
services  for  him.  He  used  often  to  come  late, 
and  then  go  to  prayers.  In  short,  he  had  no 
idea  of  his  duty,  and  the  boys  consequently 
made  but  little  progress  under  him. 

Life,  "A  Light  and  Lasting  Eeolic"*  Maered 
BY  THE  Presence  of  the  Schoolmaster. 

I  have  purposely  given  no  dates  above,  as. 

■•■  "Indian  Muse,"  p.  81. 


LIFE.  51 

exact  dates  are  not  ascertainable.  But  I  take 
it  that  Malabari  was  born  in  1853,  went  to 
school  when  six  years  old,  was  for  two  or  three 
months  with  Minochehr  Darn,  about  as  many 
months  with  Narbheram,  about  a  year  and  a 
quarter  in  the  Gujarati  school,  then  about  a 
year  with  a  carpenter  to  learn  carpentering 
(his  mother  belonged  to  a  bhansali  or  house- 
building family) — and  about  two  or  three  years 
in  the  Anglo-vernacular  school.  He  lost  his 
father  when  he  was  six  and  his  mother  when 
he  was  in  the  twelfth  year.  These  facts  taken 
together  might  lead  to  an  inference  that  he 
could  not  have  led  a  gipsy  life  for  a  long  time, 
but  the  truth  is  that  Behram,  before  the  death 
of  his  mother,  was  quite  a  different  being  from 
what  he  became  after  his  sad  bereavement. 
Up  to  eight,  he  liked  nothing  so  well  as  fun 
and  play.  He  was  skilful  in  flying  kites  and 
in  other  boyish  sports.  When  he  w^as  nine, 
Merwanji  lost  his  little  fortune,  and  Behram 
and  his  mother  had  to  look  poverty  in  the  face. 
But  the  spirit  of  the  boy  was  no  way  damped, 
and  he  apparently  did  not  see  why  a  poor  boy 
should  not  be  merry  on  even  nothing  a  day. 
He  had  a  capital  voice,  that  of  "  a  lark  and  of 


52  BOYHOOD  (1853-18CG). 

a  nightingale  together  " — and  he  could  sing. 
The  streets  of  Surat  were  in  those  days  fre- 
quented by  the  Khialis,  and  the  poor  itinerant 
minstrels  who  ought  to  be  (but  are  not)  the 
pride  of  the  country.  The  Khialis  are  now 
dead  at  Surat,  and  the  minstrels  are  probably 
singing  their  last  lays.  But  Malabari  re- 
members both  yet,  and  is  not  likely  to  forget 
them.  We  may  as  well  pause  for  a  minute  or 
two  to  see  what  manner  of  men  the  Kldalis 
and  the  street-singers  were  in  those  days. 

The  street-singer,  fortunately,  is  not  yet  an 
extinct  species,  and  may,  therefore,  be  studied 
by  any  one  who  does  not  deem  it  infra  dig.  to 
talk  with  such  a  humble  creature.  He  can 
sing  you  historical  ballads  and  religious  myths, 
love  tales  and  devotional  songs.  His  dress  is 
generally  ragged,  and  he  has  often,  nay  almost 
always,  to  live  from  hand  to  mouth.  He 
timidly  approaches  your  door,  strikes  up  a  tune 
on  his  one-stringed  guitar,  and  then  breaks  out 
into  a  ditty  of  Premanand  or  Dayaram,  of 
Kabir  or  Tukaram,  full  of  lively  or  pathetic 
music,  or,  diving  into  aphoristic  philosophy, 
speaks 


LIFE,  53 

"  To  mortals  of  their  little  week  ; 
Of  their  sorrows  and  delights  ; 
Of  their  passions  and  their  spites  ; 
Of  their  glory  aud  their  shame  ; 
What  doth  strengthen  and  what  maim." 

Sorrow  knows  not  how  to  sit  heavily  on  this 
humble  "  bard  of  passion  and  of  mirth,"  who  is 
content  with  a  largess  of  a  pice  or  two,  wiio  cares 
not  for  the  smiles  or  frowns  of  fortune,  and 
though  in  this  w^orld  appears  to  be  hardly  of  it. 

The  Surat  Kliiali  was  of  another  breed. 
KJdal,  which  literally  means  "thought"  or 
"  fancy,"  is  one  of  the  varieties  of  what  is 
called  the  Desi  system  of  music,  as  opposed  to 
the  Margi.  A  learned  Hindu  expert  in  musical 
lore  would  call  the  Margi  system  "classical" 
and  the  Desi  system  "  romantic."  Mr.  Bal- 
want  Trimbak  Sahasrabudhe,  an  undoubted 
authority  on  Hindu  music,  wTites  : — "  Desi, 
with  its  numerous  ramifications,  is  the  system 
now  obtaining  in  India.  .  .  .  The  Desi  system 
first  acquired  importance  from  the  Buddhist 
musicians,  and  received  fuller  development 
from  Mussalmans,  who  introduced  lihial  from 
the  Hindu  Dhruvapada  system."  In  Gujarati 
Wiial  is  a  particular  kind  of  metre. 


54  BOYHOOD  (1858-1860). 

The    Siirat    Jihiali  was   a   poet-philosopher. 
There  were  two  sects  of  these  wonderful  men 
— the  Kalgiwalas  and  tbe  Tiirrawalas,  so  called 
from  the  instrument  of  music  used  by  them  or 
the  dress  worn  by  the  leaders.     The  Kalgiwalas 
were  Sakti  worshippers,  in  other  words,  they 
held  the  female  energy  to  be  superior  to  the 
male,  and,  therefore,  the  Hindu  goddess  Par- 
Yati   superior    to   her   husband    Shiva.      Tbe 
Turrawalas,    on    tbe     contrary,    held     Shiva 
superior    to   Parvati,    and    the    male   energj^ 
superior   to  the  female.      Curious  as  it  may 
seem,  though  much  of  the  poetry  and  thought 
of  the   khialis  was   Hindu,  their   creed  was 
eclectic  and  knew  no  distinction  of  caste,  race, 
or  colour.     Indeed,  the  tradition  is  that  Alali- 
bax,   a  Borah,  who  used  to  sew  gunny-bags, 
was  the  leader  of  the  Kalgiwalas  at  one  stage 
of  their  career,  while  Bahadursing,   a   small 
gatekeeper  at  Line-no-rasto  (Soldiers'  Lines)  at 
Surat   was   his   rival.      Bahadursing  was,    of 
course,  a  Turrawala  and  a  disciple  of  Maba- 
rajgir,  who   was   a  disciple  of  Tukangir,  the 
founder  of  that  system.     In  Malabari's  days, 
the  Kalgiwalas  were  in  the  ascendant,  but  as 
usual  with  Malabari  in  after-life,  he  attached 


LIFE,  55 

himself  to  the  weaker  party.  An  opium-eating 
pupil  of  Bahadursing  took  kindly  to  him,  and 
taught  him  about  2,000  KJdals,  Gliazals  and 
Thumris.  Some  of  the  Khials  or  controversial 
songs  of  Bahadursing  and  Alahbax,  it  is  said, 
were  almost  Miltonic  in  their  grandeur. 

Socrates  had  his  symposia,  and  the  Khialis 
had  theirs.  Let  us  go  to  one  of  these,  and 
see  what  takes  place.  Bahadursing  and  Alah- 
bax are  of  course  no  more,  but  their  disciples 
are  alive,  the  initiated  as  well  as  the  un- 
initiated. In  a  prominent  part  of  the  Bazar, 
a  carpet  is  spread,  and  the  Khialis  of  one 
school  seat  themselves  on  it  and  commence 
their  songs.  It  is  a  still  evening  or  twilight 
gray,  and  the  people  have  leisure  to  listen.  A 
large  crowd  assembles,  but  the  singing  at  first 
goes  on  smoothly  enough.  The  leader  of  the 
party,  however,  suddenly  espies  a  Khiali  of 
the  other  school,  and  without  naming  him, 
challenges  him  in  an  impromptu  verse  to 
answer  a  knotty  question  in  history,  science, 
or  metaphysics.  After  a  few  minutes  there  is 
a  reply — and  a  rejoinder  follows,  and  a  sur- 
rejoinder, all  in  extempore  verse.  The  smaller 
fry  take  their  part  in  the  controversy,  and  soon 


56  BOYHOOD   (185a-18GG). 

descend  from  high  and  dry  philosophy  to  vulgar 
satire  and  abuse.  Our  Behram  is  among  the 
Turrawalas,  and  he  is  often  trotted  out  on 
special  occasions.  Like  the  others,  he  has  his 
shoes  in  his  hands,  in  order  to  display  the 
better  part  of  valour  in  case  the  stronger  side 
should  show  their  teeth — makes  an  impromptu 
attack  on  the  Kalgiwalas,  not  philosophical  but 
sarcastic,  and  then  takes  to  his  heels  with  the 
other  young  Khialis,  followed  by  the  enraged 
Kalgiwalas.  And  so  the  symposium  ends. 
It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  this 
picture  does  not  belong  to  the  palmy  days  of 
Khials. 

The  initiated  Khialis,  wdien  they  took  care 
to  exclude  the  uninitiated,  used  to  have  calmer 
sittings,  sometimes  extending  over  a  w^eek  or 
two  together.  My  idea  is  that  their  difference 
mainly  turned  upon  whether  the  Creator  should 
be  worshipped  as  our  Father  in  heaven,  or 
as  our  Mother  in  heaven.  The  Yaishnavas 
imagined  the  relation  of  the  human  soul  to 
the  Eternal  Spirit  to  be  that  of  wife  and 
husband  or  lover  and  beloved,  but  inifortu- 
nateiy  they  embodied  this  conception  in  the 
loves  of  Krishna  and  the  Gopis.     Our  Khialis 


LIFE.  57 

drew  on  the  mythological  biography  of  Shiva 
and  Parvati  and  their  children,  Ganesh  and 
Okha,  and  thus,  like  the  Yaishnavas,  found 
themselves  in  a  vortex  of  materialistic  legends. 
Every  pure  fresh  current  of  religious  thought 
has  fared  in  India  (as  in  other  countries)  like 
a  pellucid  stream  descending  from  mountain 
heights  to  the  plains  below,  and  growing 
muddier  and  darker  in  its  progress  to  the  sea. 
The  Ganges  in  the  Himalayas  is  quite  different 
from  the  Ganges  at  Hardwar,  Benares,  or 
Calcutta.  The  farther  it  goes  from  its  lofty 
source,  the  more  has  it  to  mingle  with  the  dirt 
and  debris  of  the  lowlands,  and  the  more  im- 
pure it  becomes.  Similarly,  when  a  "  towering 
phantasy  "  has  given  birth  to  a  great  religious 
truth,  its  dissemination  would  seem  to  keep 
pace  with  its  corruption.  The  history  of  Latin 
Christianity,  as  well  as  of  Buddhism,  bears  out 
this  view;  but  the  history  of  Hinduism,  more 
than  that  of  any  other  religion,  affords  its 
aptest  and  saddest  illustration.  It  ought, 
therefore,  to  surprise  nobody  that  the  latter- 
day  Kliialis  often  indulged  in  ribald  and 
obscene  songs  unworthy  of  the  founders  of 
their   schools — unworthy   of    philosophers    as 


■58  BOYHOOD  (1853-1806). 

much  as  of  poets — and  that  at  times  they 
ended  their  controversies  with  the  unanswer- 
able argument  of  fisticuffs. 

Behram  was  not  one  of  the  initiated,  and 
did  not  then  understand  the  philosophy  of  his 
sect.  But  he  appreciated  their  poetry,  and 
could  compose  his  own  kliials.  There  are 
several  good  ones  in  the  Niti  Vinocl.  They 
are  on  homely  subjects — for  the  Kliialis  often 
descended  from  their  altitudes  to  discuss  the 
affairs  of  everyday  life,  or  the  merits  of  their 
€ity  or  river  or  their  place  of  pilgrimage. 
But  we  have  had  enough  of  the  Khialis  now. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  they  exercised  a  powerful 
influence  on  Behram. 

Juvenile  Picnics. 

We  have  seen  Behram  at  a  Khiali  sym- 
posium. We  may  now  accompany  him  to  a 
picnic.  It  is  as  strange  as  the  symposium. 
He  has  a  rival  improvisatore  among  the  Kalgi- 
walas,  a  Borah  boy  of  the  name  of  Adam. 
Though  rivals,  the  two,  unlike  other  rivals,  are 
great  friends.  Both  have  good  voices ;  Beh- 
ram's  is  noted  for  its  volume  and  its  melody — 
and  both  have  not  much   of  pocket   money. 


JUVENILE  PICNICS.  59 

They  can,  however,  afford  a  pice  between 
them,  and  with  this  they  have  bought  some 
parched  rice,  and  now  proceed  on  a  moonhght 
night  to  enjoy  themselves  on  the  bank  of  the 
Tapti.  The  parched  grains  are  thrown  on 
the  sand,  and  the  two  friends  are  picking 
them  up  one  by  one,  and  singing  away  for 
dear  love.  Behram  has  a  rude  liute  or  a 
sarangi*  and  he  varies  his  singing  with 
instrumental  music  while  his  companion  keeps 
time  on  a  fJiali  (a  metal  platter).  Women 
turn  up,  and  take  an  unconscionably  long- 
time to  fill  their  pitchers  from  the  river,  for 
they  are  filling  their  ears  with  the  music  of 
the  two  boys.  Women  in  Gujarat  have  a 
;song-literature  of  their  own,  and  they  are 
obliged  to  sing  on  certain  occasions.  Their 
songs  are  mostly  garbas,  and  I  have  occasion- 
ally seen  a  mother  with  two  or  three  water- 
vessels  well  balanced  on  her  head,  hearing 
her  little  daughter  repeat  a  garha  taught  on 
the  previous  night,  as  the  two  wend  their 
way  home  from  the  Sabarmati.  These  garbas 
are  well  worth  study.  I  would  specially  com- 
mend them   to   the  attention   of  those   who 

*  Fiddle. 


60  BOYHOOD  (185a-186G). 

deny  that  there  is  any  premature  marriage 
among  the  Hindus,  or  that  such  marriage  is 
an  evil.  The  Garbas  and  EJdals  of  Gujarat 
are  full  of  this  subject ;  they  mostly  take  the 
form  of  a  lament  by  a  widow  who  has  lost 
her  husband  in  her  prime,  or  by  a  girl  married 
in  infancy  to  a  greybeard,  or  by  a  grown-up 
bride  whose  wedded  lord  is  yet  in  his  cradle. 
It  was  only  the  other  day  that  I  heard  of  a 
Yisa  Nagara  Brahmin  girl  married  at  the  age 
of  a  year  and  a  half,  who  is  now  a  widow  at 
two.  Behram  was  fond  of  these  garbas  and 
hJdals,  and  could  sing  them  with  an  irresis- 
tible pathos  ;  and  I  take  it,  this  was  the  best 
preparation  for  the  future  campaigner  against 
social  vices. 

Swimming  and  Drinking  and  Walking. 

Behram  was  an  early  riser,  especially  when 
he  had  to  go  to  school  in  the  morning.  His 
house  was  very  near  the  Tapti,  and  I  am 
sorry  to  say  he  learned  swimming  and  drink- 
ing almost  at  one  and  the  same  time.  I  have 
not  kept  back  the  fact  that  our  hero  before  he 
lost  his  mother — for  we  are  now  talking  of 
that    period    only — took  part    sometimes    in 


SWIMMING  AND  DBINKING  AND  WALKING.     Gl 

obscene  songs,  and  I  am  bound  to  state  that 
•once  upon  a  time  he  tossed  off  no  less  than 
nine  copper  cups  containing  not  under  a  half 
pound  each  of  that  seductive  liquor  called 
Surti  Daru  (i.e.  Mhowra  liquor),  though  now 
he  is  practically  a  teetotaler.  His  antidote 
and  that  of  his  companions— for  he  took  care 
to  sin  in  company — was  generally  a  plentiful 
quantity  of  lemons,  a  plunge  into  the  Tapti  from 
the  parapets,  a  swim  across  to  Adajan  on  the 
•opposite  bank,  a  deep  draught  of  toddy  there 
{Adajan  is  famous  for  its  toddy),  and  a  swim 
across  again.  Many  of  my  readers  perhaps  do 
not  know  what  a  Parsi  jasaii  or  ghamhar  is. 
I  am  only  concerned  with  the  jasan,  for 
Behram  was  more  than  partial  to  this  "  rouse 
before  the  morn,"  though  his  means  would  not 
permit  of  his  indulging  in  it,  except  occasion- 
ally. Slices  of  pomegranate,  pommeloes,  pine- 
apples and  guavas  in  the  first  place,  a  piece 
of  unleavened  bread  in  the  next,  and  last  but 
not  least,  the  "  all-softening,  over-powering  " 
daru  were  the  three  courses  of  Behram's  jasan ; 
and  after  taking  his  antidote  he  did  not  seem 
to  be  much  the  worse  for  his  dissipation.  He 
would  dry  his  clothes  with  his  fellow-sinners. 


62  BOYHOOD  (1853-1806). 

and  quietly  walk  to  the  school,  as  if  nothing- 
had  happened.  Behram  also  used  to  join 
walking  matches,  and  would  tramp  it  to  Nau- 
sari  from  Surat.  Even  now,  he  is  a  splendid 
walker  and  climber,  doing  fifteen  to  twenty 
miles  at  a  stretch,  and  climbing  the  steepest 
ascents  when  in  health. 


Biding  on  the  Sly. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  Merwanji,  and 
therefore  Behram,  had  no  horse,  and  yet  the 
boy  taught  himself  to  ride.  Here,  too,  it  is 
necessary  to  make  a  confession.  There  w^as  a 
timber-seller  in  Surat  of  the  name  of  x\bdul 
Kadur.  He  did  not  sell  his  timber  himself, 
but  employed  agents.  He  kept  also  several 
ponies  for  hire,  but  did  hot  give  them  out  on 
hire  himself.  He  was  a  religious  man,  busy 
with  his  God,  and  while  so  busy,  Behram  and 
his  hiends  used  often  to  take  out  the  ponies 
for  exercise,  and  have  a  ride  free  of  charge. 
The  good  man  never  even  once  resented  these 
trespasses,  but,  on  the  contrary,  often  did  a 
kindness  to  those  who  offended  against  him 
and  his  property.     "  He  was,"  Malabari  tells 


BIDING  ON  THE  SLY.  63- 

me,  "my  boyhood's  hero,"  and,  later  on,  we 
shall  see  him  quoting  Abdul  Kadur's  famous 
prescription  against  fever  : — "  Starve  out  thy 
fever,  my  son,  and  make  Jier  sick  of  thee  by 
constantly  moving  about."  Abdul  Kadur  was 
certainly  a  remarkable  man.  His  business 
throve,  though  he  did  not  attend  to  it.  It 
was  his  ancestral  trade,  and  he  kept  it  up» 
But  what  right  had  he  to  the  income  ?  It 
was  given  by  God,  and  to  God's  wards,  the 
poor,  it  must  go.  Abdul  Kadur,  with  such 
thoughts,  kept  little  of  his  earnings  to  himself. 
But  they  were  not  his  earnings,  and  there  was 
no  merit  in  giving  them  away.  Hence  this- 
strict  bondsman  of  his  conscience  used  to 
put  on  a  cooly's  coarse  garments  every  second 
night  (in  those  days  steamers  used  to  leave 
Surat  for  Bombay  every  second  night),  earn 
a  few  pice  by  carrying  loads  in  the  harbour, 
buy  a  little  oil  and  milk,  with  these  return  to 
his  Mosque,  distribute  the  milk  among  the 
blind  and  the  maimed  at  the  Mosque,  give 
some  drops  of  it  to  the  old  dog  there,  and 
then  lighting  a  little  lamp  with  the  oil,  offer 
his  meed  of  praise  and  prayer  to  Allah.  No 
wonder  he  excited  the  admiration  of  Behram. 


64  boyhood  (1853-18gg). 

The  Little  Knight  of  La  Mancha. 

''The  child,"  it  has  been  said,  "is  father 
of  the  man,"  and  it  is  instructive  to  see  Beh- 
ram,  in  the  morning  of  his  life,  interesting 
himself  in  the  cause  of  the  girl-widow  and  the 
child  -  bride.  The  following  two  instances 
related  by  Malabari  speak  for  themselves : — 

"  It  may  amuse,  but  will  scarcely  surprise, 
the  reader  to  hear  of  me  as  a  match-maker. 
I  have  had  fair  training  in  the  match-making 
line,  and  have  at  times  tried  my  hand  at  match- 
breaking,  too.  The  first  match  that  I  helped, 
in  a  humble  way,  to  render  happy,  was  in  the 
case  of  Manchha.  Manchha  was  a  Hindu 
maiden  of  the  milk- seller  caste  at  Surat.  She 
happened  to  have  lost  her  boy-husband  when 
only  a  child,  and  at  about  twenty  she  was 
married  to  a  widower  of  her  own  caste.  The 
marriage  was,  of  course,  very  strongly  opposed 
by  her  people  ;  but  her  husband  had  some 
means,  and  was  the  wife's  brother  of  a  wealthy 
money-lender,  Tapidas.  So  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Tapidas  patronized  the  match, '  and  installed 
Manchha  and  her  husband  in  a  new  milk-shop 
at  Nanpura,  so  that  they  might  be  out  of  harm's 


I 


THE  LITTLE  KNIGHT  OF  LA  MANCHA.         65 

way.  But  here  the  pair  were  no  better  off 
than  they  might  have  been  elsewhere.  The 
rival  shopkeepers  kept  aloof  from  them, 
spreading  all  manner  of  rmiiours  to  their  dis- 
credit. The  new  shop  was  virtually  boy- 
cotted. When  this  came  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  Parsis  of  Nanpura  (including  school- 
boys), they  swore  a  big  oath  to  befriend 
Manchha.  They  transferred  their  patronage 
almost  in  a  body  from  Dullab  and  Vallab, 
hitherto  their  favourite  milk-sellers,  to  Man- 
'chha.  Thus  Manchha's  shop  was  besieged 
every  morning  by  scores  of  Parsi  customers 
in  search  of  milk  and  cream  and  curd  and 
butter.  Well  do  I  remember  her  smile  of 
gratitude  as  she  dispensed  the  products  of  her 
dairy.  She  was  particularly  kind  to  us  school- 
boys, because  it  was  we  who  had  brought  her 
case  to  notice.  Por  a  time  all  went  merrily 
with  Manchha  and  her  spouse,  as  merrily  as 
a  marriage  bell.  But  all  this  while  their 
enemies  were  hatching  a  plot  against  their 
peace.  Now  Manchha  was  a  big  strapping 
body,  not  particularly  proud  of  her  lord.  She 
was  handsome,  too,  and  extremely  sociable  in 
an  innocent  sort  of  way.     So,  unhappily  for 

6 


Go  BOYHOOD  (1853-186G). 

her,  she  made  friends  with  an  elderly  Parsi 
who  monopolized  her  afternoons,  whom  she 
served  with  paii  supari,  and  with  whom  she 
discussed  local  scandals.  There  was  nothing 
wrong  in  all  this.  Manchha  was  not  to  her 
husband  what  Anarkali  was  to  Akbar,  whom 
the  old  stupid  is  said  to  have  ordered  to  be 
buried  alive  for  having  unconsciously  returned 
a  smile  from  Mirza  Selim.  Manchha  flirted 
with  her  venerable  beau  in  open  day,  as  the 
jolly  milkmaids  and  the  malans  *  and  the 
tambolans  f  of  Surat  often  do.  But  in  this 
case  her  caste  people  made  it  too  hot  for  the 
poor  girl,  and  one  morning  we  found  Man- 
chha's  shop  deserted  by  her  and  her  husband. 
"Whither  they  went  we  could  never  find  out. 
Por  months  we  grieved  over  the  loss,  and 
thought  it  was  a  shame  that  our  Manchha 
should  have  elojjed  with  her  husband  without 
taking  friends  into  confidence.  Her  aged 
lover  took  to  bed  the  day  after  the  elopement, 
some  said  from  unrequited  love,  others  said 
because  Manchhabai  had  forgotten  to  return 
sundry  ornaments  she  had  borrowed  from  him. 

'•-  Women  Belling  floweiv, 

f  Women  selling  betal  leaves  and  nuts. 


THE  LITTLE  KNIGHT  OF  LA  MANCHA.         67 

This  latter  was,  I  think,  an  invention  of  her 
enemies. 

*'  My  next  lesson  was  in  match-breaking,  or 
rather  an  attempt  at  it.  An  old  tamboli  [pan 
sujpari  seller)  one  day  surprised  his  customers 
by  bringing  up  from  the  district  a  girl  whom 
he  represented  as  his  wife.  She  was  about 
fifteen,  whilst  he  was  over  fifty,  besides  being 
a  morose,  taciturn,  miserly  beast,  whom  no- 
body hked  to  exchange  words  with  except  by 
way  of  teasing.  The  schoolboys  of  Nanpura 
found  in  the  girl  an  excellent  handle  for  per- 
secuting her  husband.  Returning  from  school 
they  would  go  up  to  him,  and  one  of  them 
would  ask,  '  Kaka,*  where  is  your  — 
daughter  ?  '  —  and  he  would  reply  :  '  You 
fool,  she  is  your  mother.'  Then  would  the 
boy  retort,  '  Yery  well,  Kaka,  I'll  inform  my 
forgetful  father  about  it,'  at  which  the  out- 
raged husband  would  shriek  like  mad,  flourish- 
ing his  lime -stick. 

"  Many  were  the  annoyances  to  which  the 
boys  subjected  him ;  they  sang  songs  in  his 
wife's  honour,  they  praised  her  beauty,  they 
advised    her   aloud  not   to  throw   away  her 

''''  Uncle, 


68  BOYHOOD  (1853-1806). 

charms  on  a  scarecrow,  a  mumbling  opium- 
eater,  and  so  forth.  One  evening  they  col- 
lected copper  pieces  amongst  themselves,  had 
them  converted  into  a  four-anna  silver  piece, 
and  then  went  to  the  tamboli's  shop.  The 
spokesman  went  forward,  and,  holding  out 
the  silver  coin,  said  :  '  Kaka,  let  us  have  four 
annas'  worth  of  pan,*  supari,f  chuno  I  and 
katho.  §  Look  sharp,  there  is  to  be  a  sing- 
ing party.'  The  tamboli  executed  the  order 
cheerfully,  advising  the  boys  in  a  fatherly 
spirit  not  to  be  truants,  and  not  to  tease 
elderly  men  like  himself,  &c.,  &c.  They 
listened  to  him  with  bowed  heads,  but  as  soon 
as  he  held  out  the  packages,  asking  for  the 
coiii,  the  leader  of  the.  gang  remarked,  '  Not 
this  way,  Kaka ;  I  must  have  the  packages 
from  Kaki's  hands.'  A  shout  of  cheers  from 
his  companions  greeted  the  remark.  This 
was  too  much  for  the  ud  suspecting  tamboli. 
'  You  son  of  a  she-demon,'  he  yelled,  '  why 
were  you  born  to  be  the  plague  of  my  life  ? ;  at 
your  birth  you  ought  to  have  been  turned  into 

'•=  Betal  leaf, 

f  Betal  nut. 

I  Lime  to  apply  to  the  leaf. 

§  Catechu.- 


THE  LITTLE  KNIGHT  OF  LA  MANCHA.         69 

a  stone.  Have  you  no  shame  in  speaking 
thus  of  an  honest  man's  wife  ?  '  '  Don't  I 
pay  for  it  ?  '  replied  the  young  profligate,  with 
an  insolent  leer  which  maddened  his  opponent, 
and  exhibiting  the  silver  coin.  '  But,  you 
black-faced  villain,  she  is  in  the  kitchen 
above,'  explained  the  tamboli,  half  relenting. 
'  Send  for  her,  Kakaji,  send  for  her — shall  I 
call  her  down  ?  '  that  was  the  boy's  rejoinder. 
The  tamboli  again  lost  his  temper,  and  re- 
marked, sulkily,  '  Go  away,  I  don't  want 
your  custom.'  '  Very  well,'  said  the  boy, 
*  I'll  go  to  the  other  shop.'  Then  followed 
a  struggle  in  the  tamboli's  breast  between 
jealousy  and  avarice,  and  in  a  minute  or  so 
avarice,  the  stronger  passion,  triumphed.  He 
called  out  his  wife,  abusing  her  as  the  cause 
of  his  misery;  she  came  down,  half  crying, 
half  smiling,  protesting  against  the  old  man's 
injustice.  In  answer  he  thrust  the  packages 
into  her  hands  with  the  injunction,  '  Give 
these  to  that  dog.'  The  boy  reached  out  his 
hand  eagerly,  but  as  the  fair  tambolan's  hand 
approached  his,  he  slowly  withdrew  his  hand 
till  he  made  her  lean  more  than  half  her  body 
forw^ard.     He  then  pretended  to  kiss  her  hand. 


70  BOYHOOD  (1853-186G). 

took  the  packages,  and  gave  her  the  four-anna 
piece  with  a  smile  she  could  not  help  returning. 
The  old  man  sat  all  this  while  grinding  his 
teeth  and  cursing  everybody  before  him,  in- 
cluding his  innocent  wife. 

"  It  may  be  mentioned  here  that  the  boys 
were  too  young  to  be  serious.  But  light- 
hearted  as  these  frolics  were,  they  were  a 
terror  to  many  a  jealous  husband  or  cruel 
father.  The  young  women,  as  a  rule,  en- 
couraged their  little  gallants."  * 

Fast  and  Fueious  Fun. 

These  merry-makings  were  innocent  enough, 
but  I  can't  say  the  same  thing  about  some 
other  achievements  of  Behram.  For  example, 
he  and  ten  or  eleven  of  his  school- chums, 
going  early  to  school,  see  a  Bania  shopkeeper 
snoring  away  on  a  cot  lying  outside  his  shop. 
Instantly  they  put  their  shoulders  to  the  cot 
and  remove  it  to  the  Killa  maidan.  That  was 
too  bad — for  the  Bania  was  sure  to  think  his 
house  was  haunted  by  hobgoblins,  or  perhaps 
start  some  equally  beautiful  theory  to  account 
for  his  translation.    Curious  to  say,  the  police- 

-'•=  Indian  Spectator,  p.  533. 


FAST  AND  FUlUOUS  FUN.  71 

men  on  the  beat  often  enjoyed  this  fun.  One 
of  them  was  a  special  friend  of  Behram,  and  I 
am  sorry  to  say  taught  him  some  questionable 
songs. 

Early  one  morning,  while  on  their  way  to 
school,  some  of  the  merry  boys  took  it  into 
their  heads  to  carry  off  a  poor  sweetmeat- 
seller,  as  he  lay  fast  asleep  outside  his  shop. 
Four  stalwart  Parsi  lads  gave  their  four 
shoulders  to  the  four  legs  of  his  primitive  cot, 
and  walked  leisurely  toward  the  riverside 
(where  dead  bodies  used  to  be  burnt),  in  a 
funeral  procession,  with  the  usual  funeral 
chant  of  "Kama  bolo  bhai  Rama"  ("Utter  the 
name  of  Rama,  brothers,  utter  the  name  of 
Rama ").  As  the  cortege  approached  the 
grounds,  the  confectioner,  who  had  probably 
gone  to  bed  on  a  heavy  stomach,  or  a  cup  to  a 
much,  awoke  in  a  half-conscious  way,  and 
began  sobbing  piteously  and  asking  Heaven  to 
have  mercy  on  him.  He  thought  he  was  on 
his  death-bed ;  so  calling  his  wife,  he  ran  over 
the  list  of  his  debtors,  among  whom  was  one 
of  the  practical  jokers  that  were  bearing  him 
to  the  burning-ground.  As  he  grew  a  little 
more  conscious,  his  looks  wandered  about,  and 


72  BOYHOOD  (1853-18G€). 

he  scratched  his  head.  He  then  felt  the  round 
tuft  of  hair  on  his  skull,  to  make  sure  it  was 
there,  and  then  bellowed  out  his  objurgations 
to  drown  the  funeral  cries  of  "  Eama  bolo." 
The  bearers  quietly  laid  down  their  burden, 
and  with  a  ringing  cheer  ran  off  with  their 
following  to  school. 

Another  amusement  of  these  street  imps  was 
to  tease  Borah  Jamalji — "  one  of  those  noble 
fellows,  you  know,"  Malabari  told  me,  ''who 
seldom  dun  you  for  a  debt."  But  woe  unto 
the  poor  old  Borah,  if  he  ever  dunned 
Behram  and  his  merry  band.  Early  in  the 
morning  before  he  was  up  from  his  bed,  they 
would  stealthily  remove  the  little  ladder  used 
by  him  for  getting  down  from  his  shop,  and 
place  it  against  the  stall  of  his  rival  on  the 
opposite  side.  Jamalji  coming  to  the  edge  of 
his  shop  would,  as  usual,  make  for  the  ladder, 
and  have  a  fall,  to  the  delight  of  his  tor- 
mentors awaiting  this  event  in  a  corner. 
Then  there  would  be  a  volley  of  curses  upon 
all  and  sundry,  but  the  Borah,  not  much  hurt, 
would  soon  pick  himself  up,  and  seeing  the 
boys  would  inquire  about  the  lost  ladder. 
"Have  we  the  ladder  in  our  pockets,  Jamalji?  " 


A  CANING  AND  WHAT  CAME  OF  IT.  73 

the  ringleader  would  ask ;  "  look  about  you  and 
then  foul  your  tongue."  He  would  look  about 
him,  and  noticing  the  ladder  at  the  opposite 
shop-keeper's,  would  call  that  man  to  account. 
The  naughty  boys  would  then  hasten  to 
school,  having  had  enough  of  mirth  for  the 
day. 

A  Caning  and  What  Came  of  It. 

But  of  all  the  naughty  deeds  of  our  hero, 
perhaps  the  naughtiest  was  his  treatment  of 
the  new  head-master  of  his  school.  It  hap- 
pened in  this  wise.  Behram  was  a  good 
pugilist  and  a  good  wrestler.  He  had  strong 
muscles  and  strong  bones,  and  his  animal 
.spirits,  as  the  reader  might  have  already 
■concluded  for  himself,  were  abnormally  high. 
While  studying  for  the  Fourth  English 
Standard  Test,  he  was  one  day,  during  the 
half-hour  recess,  challenged  to  force  open  a 
door  held  from  the  other  side  by  four  or  five 
other  boys.  None  of  the  boys  knew  that 
the  hinges  were  rotten,  and  none  therefore 
anticipated  the  catastrophe  that  was  to  ensue. 
JBehram,  accepting  the  challenge,  pressed 
against   the   door   with   all   his  might,   when 


74  BOYHOOD  (1853-1860). 

the  hinges  creaked,  and  the  door  all  of  a. 
sudden  gave  way  and  fell  down  upon  the  poor 
boys  on  the  other  side  with  his  own  weight 
upon  it.  Fortunately,  no  serious  injury  was 
done,  but  the  crash  frightened  the  school 
masters.  The  new  head-master,  Mr.  Jevach- 
ram  (the  old  one  had  been  transferred)  was  a 
rigid  disciplinarian,  though  not  an  unjust  man. 
The  boys  were  marched  up  as  criminals  before 
him,  and  after  a  long  trial  he  sentenced  them 
to  receive  each  a  dozen  stripes  on  the  hand. 
Behram  would  not  submit  to  this  order.. 
His  other  masters  tried  their  influence  with 
the  head-master  in  his  favour.  But  Mr. 
Jevachram,  being  a  stickler  for  his  authority, 
adhered  to  his  decision,  while  Behram,  equally 
obdurate,  adhered  to  his  own.  At  length  Mr. 
Dosabhai  procured  a  concession  that  the 
school-peon  should  not  inflict  the  punishment 
on  Behram — but  Mr.  Dosabhai  himself.  This 
was  something,  and  Mr.  Dosabhai  in  his  most 
persuasive  tone  came  up  to  the  culprit,  and 
"now  my  boy,"  said  he,  "you  won't  feel  my 
caning  you,  would  you  ?  Do  be  a  good  boy,, 
and  hold  out  your  hand."  Behram  held  out 
his  hand  ;  but  with  the  first  stroke,  the  over- 


AN  IRBEPABABLE  LOSS  AND  ITS  LESSON.      75 

sensitive  lad  was  in  a  tremor  and  was  about 
to  fall  down  in  a  swoon.  The  masters  were 
frightened  and  did  their  utmost  to  revive  him. 
The  boy  did  revive,  but  the  first  thing  he  did 
on  coming  to  was  to  throw  his  books  at  poor 
Mr.  Jevachram,  and  bolt.  He  had  to  descend 
a  staircase  of  about  thirty  steps,  but  three  or 
four  plunges  brought  him  to  the  landing,  and 
he  rushed  frantically  home  to  complain  to  his 
mother. 

An  Ieeeparable  Loss  and  Its  Lesson. 

But  his  mother  was  laid  up  with  cholera. 
She  had  had  an  attack  some  time  previously 
and  had  recovered  ;  that  day  she  had  ex- 
perienced a  relapse.  To  this  day  Malabari 
remembers  the  revulsion  of  feeling — call  it^ 
rather  a  mental  cyclone — which  swept  "  the 
offe-iding  Adam  "  out  of  him,  and  sobered  him 
down  to  the  gravity  and  stillness  which  have 
since  then  been  his  main  characteristic.  I  do 
not  think  that  there  was  much  dross  in  his 
nature.  Those  who  know  him  as  he  is  now 
can  never  believe  that  his  instincts  could  have 
been  other  than  good  even  in  his  boyhood. 
Boys  of  course  will  be  boys— and  who  is  thera 


76  BOYHOOD  (1853-1866). 

among  us  who  can  blame  him  for  bemg  often 
up  to  a  lark  ?  But,  unless  I  have  misread  him 
egregiously,  I  am  sure  he  was  a  loveable 
boy.  Indeed,  the  man  who  could  not  have 
loved  this  frank,  genial,  gifted  little  one,  sing- 
ing like  a  bird  and  pouring  out  his  melody  so 
freely,  must  have  had  little  "  music  in  his 
soul,"  and  still  less  of  human  nature.  Let  us 
not,  therefore,  uncharitably  judge  the  remorse- 
stricken  boy  for  disobeying  his  master.  Let 
us  rather  give  him  our  best  sympathy,  while 
he  is  standing,  shame-faced,  crest-fallen,  and 
almost  dazed,  beside  his  mother's  bed. 

I  may  mention  here  that  in  his  tenth  year, 
when  Behram  was  most  given  to  singing,  and 
much  in  request  on  that  account,  his  mother 
had  got  him  to  promise,  after  one  of  their  quiet 
home  talks,  never  to  sing  again,  nor  to  go  to 
professional  singers.  To  this  promise  Behram 
has  faithfully  adhered.  It  was  probably  about 
this  time,  or  a  little  later,  that  he  betook  him- 
self to  that  course  of  self-discipline  which  has 
now  culminated  in  the  life  of  a  recluse.  About 
this  time  he  also  conceived  a  loathing  for 
drink  at  the  sight  of  a  Panjaubi  dancing  girl, 
Nuri,   lying   dead-drunk   one   afternoon   near 


AN  IBBEPABABLE  LOSS  AND  ITS  LESSON.     77 

one  of  the  gates  of  Snrat.  Nuri  appeared 
to  have  been  made  to  drink  till  she  was 
practically  dead,  and  then  cruelly  ill-used  by 
Native  soldiers.  Behram's  mother,  with 
whom  he  was  going  towards  the  gate  at  the 
time,  asked  him  to  buy  some  curds,  thrust 
them  down  the  poor  woman's  throat,  turned 
her  on  one  side,  and  then  left.  The  sight  and 
the  surrounding  circumstances  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  the  boy's  mind.  Hence  his 
hatred  of  the  so-called  regimental  orders  regu- 
lating vice  of  this  kind. 

Behram  ministered  to  his  dying  parent  as 
only  such  an  affectionate  son  could,  for  two 
nights  and  three  days.  She  was  all  in  all  to 
him,  and  she  was  dying.  He  could  not  go  to 
bed  even  though  his  mother  would  implore 
him  to  take  rest.  He  sits  there  fascinated — 
rubbing  her  feet  and  watching — watching — 
watching !  At  four  o'clock  in  the  evening  of 
the  third  day  her  head  and  feet  grow  cold, 
then  the  chest,  then  the  hands,  one  of  which 
holds  Behram's  to  the  last.  She  hovers 
between  life  and  death  for  half  an  hour,  and 
then  the  boy  first  sees  the  sight  of  death.  He 
does  not  weep — for  the  tears  have  frozen  at 


78  BOYHOOD  (1853-18GG). 

their  fount  and  there  is  a  mist  before  his  eyes. 
He  is  not  able  to  reahze  for  some  time  that 
his  mother,  who  had  just  now  passed  her  hand 
over  his  head,  is  no  more.  He  sits  Hke  a 
statue  until  the  neighbours  come  and  the 
body  is  removed.  He  follows  it  and  returns 
with  the  neighbours,  and  sits  again  like  a 
statue.  "Next  morning,"  he  tells  me,  ''I 
became  an  old  man.  All  my  past  associations 
were  discarded."  * 

■■'•  Bhikhibai  was  only  thirty-three  when  she  died.  There 
is  a  touching  allusion  to  her  death  in  the  "  Indian  Muse," 
pp.  86-87:— 

'*  One  day  the  sun  as  his  decline  began, 
Declined  the  sun  of  this  my  earthly  span. 
Her  latest  breath  below  my  safety  sought : 
To  bless  her  orphan  was  her  dying  thought. 
No  tear  I  shed,  when  first  my  loss  I  viewed ; 
My  sense  was  smothered,  and  my  soul  subdued. 
She'd  clasped  a  child,  with  sad  emotions  wan  ; 
But  when  the  clasp  relaxed,  there  was  left  a  man." 


TOUTH  (1866-1876). 


"  The  prize  is  in  the  process  !  knowledge  means 
Ever  renewed  assurance  by  defeat 
That  victory  is  somehow  still  to  reach  : 
But  love  is  victory,  the  prize  itself : 
Love — trust  to  !     Be  rewarded  for  the  trust, 
In  trust's  mere  act." 

Broioning's  "  Ferishtah's  Fancies." 

"As  if  there  were  sought  in  knowledge  a  couch  where- 
upon to  rest  a  searching  and  restless  spirit ;  or  a  terrace 
for  a  wandering  and  variable  mind  to  walk  up  and  down 
with  a  fair  prospect ;  or  a  tower  of  state  for  a  proud 
mind  to  raise  itself  upon ;  or  a  fort  or  commanding 
ground  for  strife  and  contention  ;  or  a  shop  for  profit  or 
sale ;  and  not  a  rich  storehouse  for  the  glory  of  the 
Creator,  and  the  relief  of  man's  estate. — Bacon's  "Ad- 
vancement of  Learning." 

"  Half  grown  as  yet,  a  child,  and  vain, 
She  cannot  fight  the  fear  of  death. 
What  is  she,  cut  from  love  and  faith, 
But  some  wild  Pallas  from  the  brain 

Of  demons  ?  fiery  hot  to  burst 

All  barriers  in  her  onward  race 
For  power.     Let  her  know  her  place ; 

She  is  the  second,  not  the  first." 

Tajinyson' s  "  In  Memoriam." 


CHAPTEE  11. 

YOUTH  {1866-1876). 

Malabaei's  life  may  well  be  divided  into  three 
periods.  The  first  period  is  one  of  play  and 
song ;  the  second  of  study  and  poetry ;  the 
third  of  politics,  literature,  and  social  reform. 
The  third  thus  overlaps  the  second  to  some 
extent ;  but  the  division  is  convenient. 

Malabaei  a  Pupil  and  a  Tutoe. 

With  his  mother's  death,  the  orphan  boy  of 
twelve  found  himself  friendless  in  the  world, 
for  Merwanji  in  his  old  age  had  become 
cantankerous,  and  was  in  straitened  circum- 
stances. Fortunately,  the  people  in  his  street 
and  thereabouts  knew  of  the  lad's  astonishing 
powers,  and  so  it  came  about  that,  although 
he  was  yet  in  pupilage  himself,  he  found  no 
difficulty  in  securing  pupils,  some  of  whom 
were  his  seniors  in  age.     He,  however,  de- 

7 


82  YOUTH  (186G-1876). 

voted  only  his  mornings  and  evenings  to  their 
tuition,  for  he  was  himself  now  hungering  and 
thirsting  for  knowledge,  and  was  anxious  to  go 
to  school  again.  The  Anglo-vernacular  School 
would  have  been  only  too  glad  to  take  him 
back,  but  he  preferred  to  join  the  Irish  Pres- 
byterian Mission  School,  then  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Dixon.  Mr.  Dixon, 
an  exemplary  Christian  and  a  gentleman  in 
the  best  sense  of  the  word,  took  the  boy  by 
the  hand,  and  gave  him  every  encouragement. 
The  head-master  of  the  school,  Mr.  Navalkar, 
and  also  Mr.  Motinarayan,  thought  highly  of 
the  new-comer  and  were  very  friendly.  Thus, 
under  sympathetic  guidance,  Behramji  com- 
menced his  study  of  English  in  real  earnest. 

Mr.  Dixon,  as  head  of  the  school,  used  to 
teach  Shakespeare  to  the  boys  in  the  first  class. 
Behramji  had  been  put  in  the  third  class,  and 
was  at  this  time  in  the  second,  but  was,  never- 
theless, allowed  the  benefit  of  these  lessons. 
This  was  a  great  privilege,  and  the  boy  was 
grateful  for  it.  He  made  very  rapid  progress 
in  speaking  and  understanding  English,  and 
one  day  surprised  Mr.  Dixon  by  giving  a  lucid 
explanation   of    a    very   difficult    passage    in. 


MALABABVS  STRUGGLES.  8S 

Shakespeare,  which  had  puzzled  the  master 
himself.  His  admiring  teacher  foretold  the 
hoy's  greatness,  and  heartily  helped  him  in 
his  pursuit  of  knowledge. 

Malabari's  Steuggles. 

But  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  was  no  easy 
task  to  one  situated  as  the  poor  boy  was. 
Imagine  a  lonely  orphan  who,  in  his  thirteenth- 
year,  has  to  earn  his  own  livelihood,  who  has 
sometimes  to  cook  for  himself,  who  has  none 
at  home  to  speak  to  hut  a  snappish  old  man, 
who  has  to  attend  his  school  from  10  a.m.  to 
4  p.m.,  and  to  school  others  often  from  7  to 
9  in  the  morning  and  6  to  8  in  the  evening ; 
and  you  have  an  idea  of  Malabari's  hard  lot  in 
those  days.  He  seldom  slept  more  than  four 
hours,  for  his  nights  alone  were  his  own,  and 
he  spent  many  an  hour  in  poring  over  the 
pages  of  Shakespeare  and  Milton,  Wordsworth 
and  Tennyson,  Premanand  and  Akha,  Samal 
Bhat  and  Dayaram.  He  was  given  to  musing, 
and  would  often  take  up  a  scrap  of  paper  to 
jot  down  those  "  short  swallow-flights  of 
song"  which  come  so  naturally  to  born  poets. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  most  of  the  Gu- 


84  YOUTH  (186G-1876). 

jarati  poems  in  the  ''  Niti  Vinod  "  and  several 
in  the  "  Sarod-i-Ittifak  "  were  composed  about 
this  time.  On  the  whole,  though  chilled  by 
poverty,  Malabari  at  this  period  of  his  life  was 
not  quite  unhappy,  and  he  often  longs  to  move 
again  in  those  "  shadowy  thoroughfares  of 
thought  "  and  imagination,  amidst  which  his 
prime  was  passed,  to  weave  again  the  wreaths 
of  poesy  which  were  the  delight  of  his  youth, 
and  to  prove  himself  what  Colonel  Olcott  once 
wished  him  to  be,  "  the  song- writing  redeemer 
of  his  country." 

Schoolboy  Ambition. 

This,  however,  is  the  dream  of  his  after-life. 
In  those  hard  days,  when  he  was  toiling  for 
bread,  his  one  ambition  was  to  matriculate. 
This  may  look  like  an  anti-climax,  but  it  is  a 
fact.  Matriculation  in  1866  was  considered 
by  many  a  young  scholar  as  the  be-all  and 
end-all  of  study,  and  as  an  unfailing  portal 
to  preferment  in  Government  and  private 
service.  Behramji  set  his  heart  on  matricu- 
lating, and  studied  all  the  subjects  prescribed 
for  this  examination,  with  commendable 
assiduity,   except  arithmetic.     He   could   not 


HIS  GUARDIAN  ANGELS.  85 

conquer  his  aversion  to  arithmetic,  and  used 
often  to  despair  of  passing  the  test  on  this 
account.  But  his  teachers  used  to  hearten 
him  to  his  work  by  assuring  him  that  he  would 
make  up  the  necessary  marks  in  other  subjects, 
if  he  only  succeeded  in  securing  the  minimum 
number  in  the  intractable  science  of  calcula- 
tion. This  minimum  number,  however,  proved 
tantalizingly  unattainable  for  several  years,  as 
we  shall  see. 

His  Guardian  Angels. 

"  I  have  somehow  had  more  sympathy  from 
the  angels  than  from  the  brutes  of  my  own  sex 
— begging  your  pardon,"  So  wrote  Malabari 
some  time  ago.  He  speaks  of  many  women, 
European  and  Native — Hindu,  Mahomedan 
as  well  as  Parsi — "who  have  been  kind  to 
me,  kind  as  mother's  milk."  This  was,  I 
presume,  in  early  life,  for  Malabari  is  not  now 
a  society  man.  He  studied  in  the  Mission 
School  for  about  two  years  only,  as  he  went 
up  for  his  matriculation  from  the  second  class, 
but  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  example  of  the 
good  missionary  who  presided  over  it,  and  of 
his  noble  wife,  deeply  influenced  the   young 


80  YOUTH  (180C-187G). 

student's  life.  This  is  clear  from  his  first  book, 
which  abounds  with  the  loftiest  sentiments, 
and  from  the  tenor  of  his  own  life.  Malabari 
still  corresponds  wdth  Mrs.  Dixon,  now  at  Bel- 
fast, and  with  her  son,  a  distinguished  graduate 
of  Dublin  University,  w^hom  Malabari  still  re- 
members as  "little  Willie"  of  the  happy 
mission-house.  Mrs.  Dixon  had  another  child 
— a  daughter — who  died  in  her  infancy  at  Surat, 
and  whom  her  father  followed  shortly  after- 
wards, lamented  by  the  whole  town.  I  have 
sometimes  speculated  as  to  what  Malabari 
would  have  been  if  those  benevolent  men  who 
founded  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Mission  had 
never  thought  of  India,  and  provided  no 
mission  school,  or  closed  it  on  seeing  no 
visible,  tangible  results.  I  feel  little  doubt 
that  his  good  instincts  would  have  asserted 
themselves  sooner  or  later ;  but  I  have  as 
little  doubt  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dixon  evoked 
and  fostered  these  instincts  much  sooner  than 
would  otherwise  have  been  the  case. 

There  were  other  lady  friends  who  often 
cheered  the  sadness  of  the  lonely  boy.  He 
fondly  recalls  the  days  he  spent  at  Munshi 
Lutfullah  Khan's.     Munshi  Lutfullah,  whose 


JIVAJI,  THE  GENEBOUS  JEW.  87 

"Autobiography"  is  well  known,  liad  a  son, 
Fazal,  who  studied  in  the  mission  school  and 
became  a  fast  friend  of  Behram's.  The  two 
boys  used  often  to  spend  their  evenings  to- 
gether, and  on  those  nights  when  Behramji 
had  not  to  attend  to  his  pupils,  he  enjoyed  the 
pleasure  of  hearing  Fazal's  sister  sing  and 
play.  She  had  a  sorrow  of  her  own,  and 
perhaps  felt  drawn  to  the  pensive  orphan. 
The  accomplished  old  Munshi  was  himself 
particularly  fond  of  entertaining  Behramji, 
Vijiashankar  and  other  schoolboys  who  fre- 
quented his  house.  Malabari  gratefully  re- 
members the  friendship  of  two  of  his  own 
cousins,  as  also  of  several  Parsi  and  Hindu 
ladies. 

JiVAJI,    THE    GeNEEOUS    JeW. 

Nearly  two  years  have  now  elapsed  since 
that  "dark  day  of  nothingness"  when  Beh- 
ramji's  mother  breathed  her  last.  He  is 
now  fairly  ready  for  his  matriculation,  though 
he  is  doubtful  about  his  arithmetic.  But 
there  is  no  money  forthcoming  for  his  passage 
to  Bombay,  where  the  examination  is  to  be 
held.     Mr.  Dixon  tells  him,  "  Mind,  don't  fail 


88  YOUTH  (1866-1876). 

to  prosecute  your  studies  after  you  matricu- 
late. Draw  upon  me  for  money,  if  need  be  ;  " 
but  the  good  Padre  does  not  know  that 
his  favourite  pupil  almost  despairs  of  going 
to  Bombay  for  w^ant  of  money.  The  boy  is 
too  proud,  too  sensitive  to  take  a  loan  ;  but 
he  is  the  admiration  of  his  class,  and  his  class- 
mates know  his  circumstances.  Curiously 
enough,  help  came  to  him  from  a  quarter 
the  least  expected.  There  was  an  old  Parsi 
gentleman,  Jivaji,  at  Nanpura — a  remarkable 
man,  who  had  burnt  his  fingers  in  the  Share 
Mania  of  1864-65,  but  w4io  had  sufficient 
money  to  lend,  especially  to  butchers.  He 
was,  however,  by  reputation,  such  a  tight 
screw  to  deal  with,  that  he  had  himself  come 
to  be  nicknamed  after  the  class  with  whom  he 
had  business  relations.  He  was  Malabari's 
opposite  neighbour,  and  one  of  his  sons  was 
in  the  mission  school.  Learning  how  the 
case  stood  with  the  boy,  old  Jivaji  behaved 
with  a  generosity  which  few  would  have  given 
him  credit  for.  He  sent  for  the  youth,  w^ormed 
out  his  secret,  and  thrust  Es.  20  upon  him. 
This  was  all  that  was  wanted.  "  Don't  b3 
sad,   my   boy,"    said  good   old  Jivaji,    "  your 


AT  THE  DOOB  OF  A  BOMBAY  DIVES.  89 

honest  face  is  security  enough  for  my  money," 
and  he  actually  took  no  bond  or  note  of  hand. 
His  confidence  was  eventually  well  rewarded. 
Meanwhile  let  us  follow  Behramji  to  Bombay. 
He  had  to  pay  Ks.  10  for  the  usual  examina- 
tion fee,  and  he  required  the  remaining  Es-  10 
for  his  passage.  So  with  this  little  amount 
in  his  pocket,  and  with  a  little  bed  and  a  few 
books,  he  left  Surat  for  the  capital  of  the 
Presidency. 

At  the  Door  of  a  Bombay  Dives. 

Behramji  was  barely  fifteen  when  he  came 
to  Bombay,  and  so  green  was  he  that  he  did 
not  realize  the  enormous  gulf  between  the 
rich  and  the  poor  in  that  great  city.  He  knew 
how  Jivaji  had  treated  him,  but  he  forgot  that 
Jivaji  had  started  in  life  with  perhaps  a  couple 
of  rupees,  and  had  known  what  it  was  to  be 
poor.  Our  Surati  ingenue  had  heard  of  a  rich 
Parsi  at  Bombay,  and  had  read  some  of  his 
public  utterances  and  of  his  public  charities. 
Surely  such  a  man  would  be  but  too  glad  to 
help  an  orphan.  Old  Merwanji  was  very  un- 
happy owing  to  the  mortgage  of  his  house. 
He  had  found  out  the  sterling  worth  of  his 


•90  YOUTH  (18G6-187G). 

adopted  son,  and  this  latter  on  his  side  was 
anxious  to  see  the  house  redeemed.  It  was  a 
matter  of  Es.  300  only,  and  surely  a  boy  ready 
for  his  matriculation,  with  such  excellent  testi- 
monials from  Messrs.  Curtis  and  Dixon,  could 
get  this  trifle  on  his  word  of  honour  from  a 
sympathising  benefactor.  He  would  pay  it 
back  with  interest.  So  one  day,  pocketing 
his  pride  for  the  sake  of  old  Merwanji, 
Behramji  presents  himself  at  the  door  of 
the  public-spirited  Parsi  Dives.  He  is  called 
in,  and  modestly  states  his  case.  The  reply 
is  a  withering  smile  and  an  offer  of  a  cup  of 
tea.  But  the  young  man,  who  had  thought 
;so  much  of  his  word  of  honour  and  read  so 
much  of  the  brotherhood  of  men,  finding  his 
cup  of  hope  dashed  to  pieces,  turns  his  back 
on  the  man  of  the  world  and  is  off.  This  was 
one  of  his  first  experiences  at  Bombay.  "I 
felt  too  stunned  even  to  be  able  to  give  him 
the  parting  salaam,"  writes  Malabari.  ''  I 
never  met  him  since  but  once,  when  he  was 
in  need  of  my  good  oflSces.  Little  did  the 
Sheth*  know  that  the  man  whom  he  paid 
such  lavish  attentions  was  the  same  who  had 

'•■  An  honorary  epithet  given  to  bankers  aud  rich  men. 


ARITHMETIC  BEVENGES  ITSELF.  91 

-come  to  him  for  a  little  loan  to  help  his 
adoptive  father.  I  do  not  blame  him  now; 
perhaps  he  had  been  deceived  by  others  before 
I  appealed  to  him." 

Aeithmetic  Kevenges  Itself. 

But  a  sadder  disappointment  was  in  store 
for  him.  He  failed  in  arithmetic  on  going  up 
for  the  examination.  He  did  well  in  all  the 
•other  subjects,  but  had  to  give  up  in  despair 
some  of  the  hard  nuts  from  Colenso  which  he 
was  asked  to  crack.  Had  it  been  possible  to 
solve  a  puzzle  of  decimal  fractions  with 
Gujarati  or  English  poetry,  our  hero  would 
have  easily  scored  the  highest  number  of 
marks.  But  there  was  as  little  poetry  in 
.arithmetic  as  in  the  Parsi  Dives  he  had  en- 
countered. He  had  a  bulky  bundle  of  poems 
in  English  as  well  as  in  Gujarati,  but  then 
who  would  believe  that  a  mite  of  a  boy  could 
be  a  poet  ?  He  had  no  patron  and  no  friends. 
He  had  put  up  at  Bombay  with  a  relation  of 
Merwanji's,  and  must  now  either  return  to 
Surat,  or  make  up  his  mind  to  draw  on  Mr. 
Dixon.  He  was,  however,  soon  helped  out  of 
these  embarrassments. 


92  YOUTH  (186&-1876). 

A  Good  Samaeitan. 

While  at  Surat,  Behramji  had  given  free 
lessons  to  several  boys.  One  of  these  was  a 
son  of  a  Parsi  lady  who  was  his  mother' & 
friend.  This  lady  had  a  brother  in  Bombay, 
Dr.  Rastomji  Bahadurji,  and  had  commended 
Behramji  to  his  care.  Well,  Dr.  Bahadurji,. 
who  rather  liked  this  shy  little  stranger  from 
Surat,  came  to  the  boy's  rescue,  and  intro- 
duced him  to  the  owner  of  the  Parsi  Proprie- 
tary School  in  the  Fort,  who  was  so  pleased 
with  the  boy's  English  and  general  acquire- 
ments, that  he  formed  a  new  class  for  him. 
He  had  to  start  with  only  Es.  20  a  month  ; 
but  after  a  few  months  he  was  promoted  to 
a  post  of  Es.  40,  and  then  to  one  of  Es.  60. 
The  young  man  also  took  pupils  privately,, 
and  was  able  soon  to  make  between  Es.  100 
and  Es.  150  from  tuitions  alone.  Behramji 
was  no  longer  oppressed  by  poverty. 

A  Naerow  Escape. 

But  a  new  danger  turned  up  at  this  stage- 
Having  now  a  moderate  income,  he  was  an 
eligible  son-in-law ;  and  the  wife  of  the  rela- 


MATBICULATES—AT  LAST.  93 

tion  with  whom  he  had  hved  for  a  year  from 
the  date  of  his  arrival,  was  a  great  match- 
maker. She  had  a  widowed  sister,  older 
than  Behramji,  and  she  didn't  see  why 
these  two  should  not  be  a  happy  couple.  But 
Behramji  was  not  quite  a  greenhorn  now,  and 
had  eyes  to  see  and  understanding  to  judge 
for  himself.  He  declined  the  offer  with 
thanks,  and  quietly  removed  to  other 
lodgings. 

MaTEICULATES AT    LAST. 

Mr.  Kavasji  Banaji  had  offered  our  poet- 
pedagogue  Es.  40  a  month  for  teaching  his 
son,  and  Behramji  now  became  a  lodger  in 
his  house.  He  was  also  for  a  while  with  Mr. 
Kavasji  Bisney.  After  some  time  he  com- 
menced to  live  on  his  own  hook  in  a  house 
in  Dhobi  Talao,  rented  for  Es.  20  a  month, 
and  then  in  another  in  Hanuman  Lane,  Fort. 
All  this  time  he  had  not  forgotten  his  matricu- 
lation. He  had  failed  first  in  1868 ;  he  failed 
again  in  1869,  and  for  the  third  time  in  1870. 
But  at  last,  in  1871,  the  goddess  of  integers 
and  fractions  had  pity  upon  the  persevering- 
young  votary  and  pulled  him  safely  through 


94  YOUTH  (18G6-1876). 

his  ordeal.     He  was  no  longer  an  orphan  now 
in  the  educational  service. 

The  Eev.  Van  Someren  Taylor  and  Dr.  John 
Wilson. 

If  sorrows  come  in  battalions,  joys  alsO' 
sometimes  come  in  a  goodly  band.  Behramji 
had  borne  the  shock  of  the  battalions  bravely. 
Poverty,  the  loss  of  his  mother,  his  repeated 
failure  in  the  matriculation  test,  were  all  so 
many  "  blows  of  circumstance  "  which  he  had 
courageously  breasted.  And  now  a  better 
day  dawned  upon  him,  and  he  emerged  from 
his  obscurity.  One  of  his  examiners  had  been 
the  Eev.  Mr.  Taylor,  whose  name  is  still  a. 
household  word  in  Gujarat.  He  was  the 
author  of  a  standard  Gujarati  Grammar  and 
some  Gujarati  poems.  Behramji  had  heard 
a  great  deal  about  him,  and  one  day,  mustering 
courage,  took  his'  own  Gujarati  poems  to  him. 
They  were  in  a  neat  manuscript,  written  like 
print,  and  Mr.  Taylor,  turning  over  the  pages,, 
and  struck  with  the  beauty  of  the  verses, 
exclaimed — ''Do  you  mean  to  say  you  have 
had  this  for  three  years  and  it  has  not  yet 
been  printed  ?  "     No,  of  course  not.     It  had 


BEV.  VAN  SOMEEEN  TAYLOR.  95- 

not  been  printed,  and  was  not  to  be  printed 
for  some  years  yet.  But  Mr.  Taylor's  en- 
couraging words  put  new  life  into  the  author, 
and  by  Mr.  Taylor  he  was  introduced  to  one 
who  moulded  his  life  and  shaped  his  ends  in 
a  remarkable  degree.  This  was  the  great 
linguist,  the  devoted  missionary,  and  the 
enlightened  educationist — the  Kev.  Dr.  John 
Wilson. 

Dr.  Wilson  read  Behramji's  little  volume, 
found  the  versification  "remarkably  good," 
and  the  ideas  expressed  indicative  of  "  poetical 
imagination,"  stood  sponsor  to  the  book, 
named  it  the  ''Niti  Viuod"  ("The  Pleasures- 
of  Morality  "),  and  exerted  himself  in  its  favour. 
The  Director  of  Public  Instruction  subscribed 
for  three  hundred  copies,  Sir  Cowasji  Jen- 
hangir  Eeadymoney  for  seventy-five,  and 
several  others  followed  the  example.  The 
book  nevertheless  came  out  only  in  1875. 
This  requires  an  explanation,  and  I  give  it 
with  reluctance,  because  I  shall  have  to  say 
that  Behramji  carried  as  little  of  the  spirit 
of  calculation  into  his  life  as  he  did  into 
his  examination ;  in  other  words,  to  praise 
him   for  what  he  does  not   wish    to  be  pro- 


OG  YOUTH  (18GG-1870). 

claimed  or  praised.  The  truth  is,  his  earn- 
ings, except  what  he  sent  to  Merwanji 
and  what  he  spent  on  books  and  sometimes 
on  good  cheer,  went  to  others — some  of 
them,  I  am  afraid,  idlers,  w^ho  imposed  upon 
the  young  donor.  He  had  even  borrowed 
money  to  relieve  their  necessities.  This 
was  one  cause  of  the  delay.  Another  was 
that  he  was  shy  and  knew  nothing  about 
printers  and  publishers.  At  length,  how- 
ever, he  overcame  these  difficulties  with  the 
aid  of  his  friend,  Mr.  Shapurji  Dadabhai 
Bhabha.  But  before  the  firstborn  of  his  genius 
came  into  the  world,  an  important  event  took 
place,  which  I  must  not  pass  over. 

Maeeiage. 

This  w^as  his  marriage  in  his  twenty-first 
year.  My  fair  readers,  if  I  should  have  the 
good  fortune  to  have  any,  will  ask  several 
questions,  but  they  had  better  put  them  to 
Mrs.  Malabari,  for  I  cannot  answer  them.  I 
shall,  however,  try  to  satisfy  their  legitimate 
curiosity.  Was  she  pretty  ?  Yes.  Was  she 
young  ?  Yes,  only  nineteen.  Where  did  the 
tw^o  meet  ?     Why,  in  the  house  of  Malabari's 


THE  ''NIT I  VINOD."  97 

landlady,  close  to  Malabari's  own  lodgings. 
Was  there  any  courtship  ?  A  short  one. 
Was  it  an  affair  of  the  heart  ?  Both  thought 
so.  At  any  rate,  it  was  not  a  question  of 
money — there  was  no  dower  and  no  settle- 
ment. All  that  could  be  gathered  now  is  that 
it  was  a  matter  of  intense  devotion  on  one 
side  and  intense  pity  on  the  other.  Was  the 
marriage  celebrated  in  the  orthodox  style? 
Yes.     I  think  this  much  ought  to  suffice. 

The  "Niti  Vinod." 

By  a  fortunate  coincidence,  Malabari  brought 
out  the  "  Niti  Yinod  "  about  the  time  his  first 
child  was  born.  In  a  short  time  a  second 
edition  was  called  for.  It  was  the  first  work  of 
the  first  Parsi  poet ;  *  but  it  had  other  merits. 

The  Gujarati  of  the  "Niti  Vinod"  is  not  Parsi 
Gujarati,  but  Hindu  Gujarati.  The  two  in 
many  respects  differ  as  much  as  Hindustani 
and  Hindi.  Malabari,  thanks  to  his  associa- 
tion with  the  minstrels  and  the  JiJiialis,  and 
his  study  of  pure  Gujarati  poets,  had  obtained 
a  wonderful  mastery  over  Hindu  Gujarati. 
From  the  Shah-nameh  he  had  gone  over  to 

■■'•  East  Goftar. 


98  YOUTH  (186G-187C). 

the  homely  vein  indigenous  to  Gujarat — the 
creation  of  Narsi  Mehta,  Premanand,  and 
other  Gujarati  bards,  whom  he  had  in  his 
boyish  days  heard  interpreted  at  night  by  a 
Brahmin  to  mixed  Hindu  audiences,  men 
and  women.  His  mother,  who  was  always 
on  the  best  of  terms  with  her  Hindu  neigh- 
bours, used  to  attend  these  readings,  and  he 
used  to  go  with  her.  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  his  lifelong  attachment  to  Gujarati 
literature.  He  took  it  up  very  earl}^  for  a 
regular  study,  especially  on  the  metrical  side, 
in  which  the  literature  of  Gujarat,  and  really 
the  whole  Hindu  literature,  is  the  richest. 
His  favourite  authors  were  Dayaram,  Pre- 
manand, and  Akha,  ''  the  last  for  aphoristic 
wisdom  and  manly  spirit,  the  second  for  dig- 
nity and  true  poetic  sentiment,  and  Dayaram 
for  his  luscious  sweetness  and  captivating 
imagery."!  He  was  also  very  fond  of  Kabir, 
Nannik,  Dadu,  and  other  poet-saints  endowed 
with  plenty  of  the  "  saving  grace  of  common 
sense."  A  natural  gift,  so  diligently  culti- 
vated, could  not  but  produce  the  very  best 
poetic  style. 

I   Private  letter. 


THE  "  NIT  I  VINOD.''  99 

There  is  another  thing  remarkable  in  the 
"'Niti  Vinod."  It  is  the  bewildering  number 
and  variety  of  the  metres  employed.  I  am 
afraid  the  title  of  the  book  is  forbidding.  It 
would  lead  Englishmen  to  suppose  that  it 
is  something  like  Pope's  "  Moral  Essays  "  or 
Tupper's  prosaic  verses,  or  at  the  most,  like 
Bogers'  "Pleasures  of  Memory"  or  Campbell's 
"Pleasures  of  Hope."  But  the  "  Niti  Yinod" 
is  almost  wholly  lyrical.  There  are  few  pieces 
in  it  which  are  not  pure  songs. 

The  book  is  divided  into  five  parts — moral 
subjects,  miscellaneous  subjects,  questions  and 
answers,  short  lives  of  great  men,  and  reli- 
gious subjects.  The  first  part  takes  up  only 
thirty-seven  pages  out  of  215,  and  deals  wdth 
such  subjects  as  Youth,  Friendship,  Flattery, 
Jealousy,  Swearing,  Procrastination,  Idleness, 
Drunkenness,  Sensuality,  Worldliness,  Suicide, 
and  Death.  But  even  this  purely  moral  por- 
tion is  full  of  gems,  such  as  the  piece  which 
tells  us  what  things  are  good  to  buy  in  the 
market  of  life,  and  that  other  w4iich  shows 
how  to  prepare  to  meet  death  patiently.  In 
this  part  also  there  is  a  faithful  and  artistic 
translation  of  the  Indian  schoolboy's  favourite 


100  YOUTH  (1866-1876). 

— "You   are   old,   Father  William."     Father 

William  becomes  "  Kaka  Karsanji"  in  Guja- 

rati,  but  acquits  himself  in  it  as  well  as  in 

English.    There  is  also  "  a  word  of  advice  to 

the  body,"   which  is  worth  reproducing  as  a 

whole.     I  quote  the  refrain  of  the  song,  which 

may  one  day  pass  into  a  popular  saying,  at 

least  with  the  Salvationists  : — 

"  Dunyd  ulat  sulat  che  khel 
Sdtiin  mukti  nun  mushkel."  " 

The  third  part  contains  pithy  answers  to 
such  questions  as  "  Why  God  gives  happi- 
ness?" ''  Who  is  truly  happy  ?  "  "  Wlio  is 
the  true  hero  ?  "  "  Wliere  is  God  ?  "  "  Who 
is  the  true  God?"  "Who  should  weep?" 
"Who  should  laugh?"  "Whose  wife  is  a 
widow  ?  "  and  so  on. 

The  "  Short  Lives  of  Great  Men  "  com- 
mence with  Mr.  Dixon,  whose  untimely 
death  is  deplored  in  pathetic  verse. 

"  Garibo  bhandve,  suniti  shikhave 
Pashii  bal  ne  je  ghadimfln  rijhave 
Gayo  svarge  sadhu  kharo  upkari 
Vidia  mdta  roti  pharechhe  bichari."  t 

'■^'  "  The  world  is  a  game  of  ups  and  downs, 
The  bargain  of  salvation  is  a  difficult  one." 
f  He  who  taught  the  poor,  inculcated  morality,  won   the 


THE  ''NITI  VmODr  101 

Then  follow  the  first  Napoleon  Buonaparte, 
Karsandas  Mulji,  Lady  Avanbai  (the  first 
Lady  Jamsetji  Jijibhoy),  Nelson,  Wellington, 
Sir  Jamsetji  Jijibhoy  (the  first  Parsi  baronet), 
Prince  Albert,  Jagannath  Sankarsett,  Rustomji 
Jamsetji  Jijibhoy,  T.  C  Anstey,  and  lastly.  Dr. 
Bhaii  Daji.  There  are  also  a  couple  of  other 
poems,  one  on  the  murder  of  Lord  Mayo,  and 
the  other  on  the  calamities  which  befell  the 
third  Napoleon. 

The  fifth  part  treats  of  salvation,  devotion 
to  God,  prayer,  and  like  topics  from  the  point 
of  view  of  a  pure  theist.  The  language  is  very 
terse,  limpid,  and  musical,  and  the  thoughts 
are  as  pure  as  Keshub  Chunder  Sen's. 

But  decidedly  the  best  poems  in  the  book 
are  to  be  found  in  the  second  part,  and  of  all 
his  best  poems,  the  pathetic  ones  on  the  woes 
of  enforced  widowhood  and  the  horrors  of  in- 
fant marriage  *  are  the  very  best.  Here  is 
one  of  them  : — 

hearts  of  little  cliildren  in  a  moment — he,  the  true  saint  and 
philanthropist,  is  gone  to  heaven,  and  the  bereaved  Mother 
Learning  wanders  about  weeping. 

■'-  The  headings  of  some  of  the  pieces  on  these  subjects  may 
be  mentioned: — "How  to  Relieve  Bharat  Khand  (India)  of 
"Woman's  Curse  ;  "  "  Contrast  between  the  Condition  of  Hindu 
"Women  in  Ancient  and   Modern  Times;"    "Advice   to   the 


102  YOUTH  (1866-187()). 

"  He  hina-hathila,  jama  jatila,  hilatila  kema  karo  ? 
Shubha  avasara  pase,  ve'mo  na'se,  kan  jitaashe,  jutha 

varo  ? 
Sau  dukhi  abalane,  marada-bhalane,  satapAlane,  sonpi 

do, 
Jagasukhahin  nari,  garib  bichari,  bedi  akari,  kapi  do. 
A-'desha  sudharshe,  ridha  sidha  vadhashe,  papa  utarshe^ 

chhiit  didhe, 
Dinabandhu  ke'she,  desba  videshe,  kirati   re'sbe,  am. 

kidhe ; 
Je   hasbe  akarmi,  puro  adhanni,  vipati  garmi,  nahi 

talasbe, 
Jo  ishwarjaya,  karshe  sfibya,  to  ishmaya,  jhat  malashe 
Pashu  bala  kapaye,  udarmanhe,  nahi  niklae,  mana  vati,. 
Bani  mata  nirashi,  nirashaphansi,  ghale  trasi,  krura 

mati 
Manama  bahu  lage,  baltdnage  ;  vidbwa  mage,  sukha 

radi, 

Leaders  of  Hindu  Caste  ;  "  "A  Heartbroken  Lady's  Lament ; " 
"  A  Sujiplicalion  to  the  Hindu  Mali aj an  ;  "  *'  The  Sorrows  of  a 
Widow  on  the  Death  of  her  Husband  ;  "  "  An  Erring  Widow'* 
Prayer  to  God ;  "  "  A  Widow's  Prayer  to  her  Father  ; "  "  The 
Sorrows  resulting  from  Infant  Marriage."  The  first  four  lines- 
of  this  last  song  run  as  follows : — 
"Pita  bachapanthi  na  paruavo  re 
Jaldi  khao  na  lagan  no  lavo 

Pita,  &c. 
Prabhu  kero  didhel  hawulo  re,  tene  dhiraj  thi  sanlhalo  re- 
Pachi  va'Ii  hoe  ke  va'lo 

Pita,  &c." 

"  Fathers,  do  not  marry  your  children  in  infancy  ; 
Do  not  be  in  a  hurry  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  a  marriage  (in 

your  family). 
(Children  are)  a  sacred  charge  from  God  ; 
Rear  them  with  patience,  whether  they  be  daughters  or  sons.'* 


THE  "NITI  VINOD."  108 

Behnim  vicharun,  chale  marim,  to  ugarun,  aja  ghadi."" 

To  appreciate  the  beauty  and  melody  of 
this  piece,  as  also  its  warmth  of  denuncia- 
tion, one  should  have  it  sung,  and  then  he 
would  see  what   deep   earnestness   has   been 

'•'  Eead  a  as  in  all,  o  as  in  lo,  a  as  ia  attempt,  u  as  in  bull,  u 
as  00  in  fool,  i  as  in  British,  i  as  ee  in  eel.  The  verses  may  be 
loosely  translated  as  follows  : — 

"  Oh,  ye  God-forsaken,  perverse  fiends  of  caste,  why  make  you 

these  shuffling,  shambling  excuses  ? 
Good  times  are  near  ;  superstitions  must  now  flee.     Why  (at 

such  a  time)  do  you  wed  untruth  to  obtain  a  (fictitious) 

victory  (over  truth)  ? 
Entrust  all  unhappy  women  to  the  care  of  men  good  and  true. 
Cut  off  the  miserable  fetters  of  poor  weak  woman  desirous  of 

worldly  happiness. 
This  country  will  improve,  (its)  weal  and  bliss  will  increase, 

sins  will  go  away,  if  you  liberate  (widows  from  their 

thraldom). 
He  who  does  this  will  be  called  the  friend  of  the  poor ;  his 

fame  will  spread  in  his  country  and  in  foreign  lands. 
He  who  is  an  evil-doer  and  utterly  irreligious,  his  fire  of 

misery  will  never  be  removed. 
But  heaven-born  beings  rendering  help  (to  the  helpless)  will 

soon  attain  God's  grace. 
Poor  (innocent)  infants  are  cut  off  in  the  womb — cannot  see 

the  light  of  day  with  any  welcome. 
The  mother,  becoming  hopeless,  casts  the  noose  of  despair  (on 

the  infant)  through  fear,  and  with  a  hardened  heart 
Burniog  in  the  flames  (of  sorrow);  the  widow,  with  her  heart 

in  distress,  weepingly  asks  for  relief. 
I,  Behram,  think,  if  I  had  the  power,  I  would  save  her  this 

very  moment." 

The  mention  of  the  poet's  name  in  the  last  line  is  usual  in 
such  songs. 


104  YOUTH  (1866-1876). 

infused  into  it.  Indeed,  it  is  the  young 
poet's  depth  of  feeUng,  almost  phenomenal, 
which  is  the  most  salient  feature  of  his  work. 
This  will  not  appear  at  all  sui-prising  to  those 
well  acquainted  with  Malabari,  for  he  is  by 
nature  extremely  sympathetic,  and  his  is  not 
a  "  painless  sympathy  with  pain."  "  When  I 
see  a  lame  person,"  he  once  wrote,  "  I  feel 
lame  for  a  moment ;  when  a  blind  person,  I 
feel  blinded.  I  feel  corresponding  pain  or  loss 
in  witnessing  it.  When  I  first  look  at  a  leper 
or  other  foully  diseased  object  I  feel  a  shiver, 
but  the  feeling  passes  off,  and  I  have  tended 
many  diseased  persons."  *  We  have  seen  how 
quick  his  mother's  hands  were  unto  good,  and 
there  is  very  little  doubt  that  Malabari  in- 
herits his  ready  benevolence  from  her. 

In  this  second  part  there  are  numerous 
other  subjects  discussed.  For  example,  we 
have  a  graphic,  but  chaste,  description  of  what 
an  innocent  Hindu  girl  saw  at  a  sensual- 
Vaishnava  Maharaja's;  a  touching  lament  by 
a  husband  who  has  lost  a  good  wife  ;  an 
amusing  analysis  of  the  thoughts  of  the  super- 
stitious regarding  the  Kali  Age ;  an  appeal  to 

'^•'-  From  a  letter. 


THE  ''NITI  VINOD:'  105 

Banais  to  educate  their  children ;  a  scathing 
condemnation  of  the  high -pressure  system 
pursued  in  children's  schools  ;  besides  several 
purel}'  Enghsh  topics,  like  the  bravery  of  the 
English  sailor,  and  our  Queen's  sorrow  on  the 
death  of  her  Consort.  This  last  is  a  most 
spirited  piece  of  composition. 

It  may  be  asked  why  Dr.  Wilson  named  the 
book  ''Niti  Vinod  "  when  the  bulk  of  it  dealt 
with  other  subjects  than  morality.  But  the 
truth  is,  that  a  profoundly  religious  and  moral 
tone  pervades  the  whole  work,  and  its  ten- 
dency is  certainly  to  bring  home  to  the  reader 
the  delights  of  virtue  and  the  miseries  of  vice. 
Even  before  he  came  in  contact  with  Dr. 
Wilson,  Behramji  was  a  "  prayerful  animal,"  * 
and  it  was  his  earnestness,  as  much  as  his 
precocious  genius,  that  made  him  so  attrac- 
tive to  Dr.  Wilson.  The  burden  of  many  of 
his  songs  is  a  simple  lesson — "  Do  good  "  ; 
and  in  vai'ious  ways,  and  with  considerable 
originality  and  freshness,  he  enforces  that — 

*'  The  gods  hear  men's  hands  before  their  hps, 
And  heed  beyond  all  crying  and  sacrifice 
Light  of  things  done,  and  noise  of  labouring  men." 

'^  From  a  letter. 


106  YOUTH  (18G6-1870). 

How    THE    "  NiTI    YiNOD  "    WAS    EeCEIVED. 

The  "Niti  Yinod"  appeared  with  some  capital 
testimonials.  One  Hindu  scholar  certified  that 
''  the  poetry  was  without  prosodical  defects  ;  " 
another  that  "  the  language  was  natural  and 
the  style  graceful ;  "  while  the  Parsi  High 
Priest  went  into  raptures  over  the  "  pure 
Gujarati  verses  "  and  stated  that  they  had  '*  no 
precedent."  The  book  was  received  by  the 
vernacular  press  generally  with  equally  hearty 
praise.  The  Bast  Goftar  welcomed  it  as  the 
production  of  the  first  "  genuine  poet  "  among 
the  Parsis,  who  had  expressed  his  sentiments 
"  in  pure  Gujarati  "  and  in  ''  sweet  and  beauti- 
ful verses."  The  Shamsher  BaJiadur  was 
struck  most  with  his  "  sweet  and  harmonious 
versification "  and  his  "  deep  moral  tone." 
The  Vidya  Mitra  WTote  :  "  We  are  glad  to  see 
that,  though  a  Parsi,  the  author  has  succeeded 
in  writing  such  polished  and  harmonious  lines 
in  Gujarati.  The  different  metres  seem  to  us 
to  be  faultless  in  their  construction  ;  and  most 
of  the  lines  smooth  and  graceful.  Some 
passages  are  really  of  the  highest  order.  Some 
subjects  have  been  most  graphically  treated ; 


HOW  THE  '«  NITI  VINOD  "   WAS  BECEIVED.     107 

while  in  other  lines  the  author  displays  the 
powers  of  a  painter."  The  Gujarat  Mitra  was 
likewise  very  appreciative.  "  There  is  hardly 
a  page,"  it  said,  "  in  which  we  do  not  meet 
with  lines  which  are  very  good  and  creditable, 
and  the  metre  is  faultless.  Looking  to  the 
composition  and  the  language  of  the  verses, 
one  Avould  irresistibly  be  led  to  believe  that 
they  were  the  production  of  a  learned  Hindu 
writer ;  he  would  hardly  think  a  Parsi  capable 
of  such  chaste  and  classical  language.  We 
pray  that  this  gentleman  may  go  on  making 
the  same  laudable  use  of  his  pen." 

The  reviewers  in  the  English  press  were  no 
less  eulogistic.  The  book  was  "  an  agreeable 
surprise  "  to  the  Indian  Statesman,  and  recom- 
mended by  it  "  as  a  fit  text  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  students  and  introduced  as  a  reading 
book  in  families."  The  Bombay  Gazette 
noticed  that  the  young  poet  had  "  displayed 
an  amount  of  observation  which  is  seldom  to 
be  found  in  works  of  native  authors,"  and  that 
he  was  equally  "  at  home  in  didactic,  humorous 
and  pathetic  poetry."  The  Times  of  India 
regarded  the  book  as  an  attempt  "to  infuse 
into  the  Eastern  mind  something  of  the  lofty 


103  YOUTH  (1866-1876). 

tone  of  thought  and  feeling  which  distinguishes 
the  most  approved  literary  productions  of  the 
West,"  and  in  reviewing  the  second  edition 
that  journal  wrote :  "These  verses  display  to 
great  advantage  the  author's  wonderful  com- 
mand over  pure  Hindu  Gujarati.  But  that  is 
not  their  only  merit.  They  evince  considerable 
originality  and  reflect  a  lofty  tone  of  moral 
teaching.  We  cannot  withhold  our  admiration 
of  Mr.  Malabari's  success  in  the  line  of  study 
he  has  adopted."  To  crown  all  these  plaudits 
of  the  press,  two  living  Gujarati  poets  w^elcomed 
him  heartily  to  their  ranks.  Kavi  Shivlal 
Dhaneshwar  wTote:  "Such  wide  acquaintance 
with  Gujarati,  such  beauty  of  versification,  and 
such  a  delightful  combination  of  sentiment  and 
imagination  would  do  honour  to  the  pen  of  an 
accomplished  Hindu  poet."  And  Kavi  Dalpa- 
tram  Dayabhai  wTote :  "It  is  a  general  belief 
amongst  us  that  Parsis  cannot  excel  in  versifi- 
cation, through  the  medium  of  correct  and 
idiomatic  Gujarati ;  but  Mr.  Malabari's  '  Niti 
Vinod '  effectually  dispels  that  belief.  It  will 
be  a  proud  day  for  Gujarat  when  the  odious 
distinction  between  Parsi  Gujarati  and  Hindu 
Gujarati  ceases  to  exist.     I  concur  with  the 


HOW  THE  "NITI  VINOD ''  WAS  BECEIVED.     103 

opinions  that  several  competent  critics  have 
given  of  the  book,  and  hope  it  will  meet  with 
greater  success  than  before."  There  are  pieces 
in  the  "  Niti  Yinod  "  which  will  live  so  long  as 
the  vernacular  of  Gujarat  endures.  Among 
their  special  merits  may  be  mentioned  a 
striking  originality,  both  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression, and  a  simplicity  and  spiritual  grace 
in  which  Gujarati  literature  appears  to  be  very 
poor.  I  believe  many  of  these  poems  will  bear 
an  English  translation ;  they  ought  certainly 
to  be  introduced  into  the  school  curriculum. 

Probably  the  earliest  of  Malabari's  literary 
friends  at  Bombay  is  Mr.  Mansukhram  Sur- 
yaram,  well  known  as  a  Yedant  scholar  and 
author  of  numerous  books  in  Gujarati,  written 
with  the  object  of  enriching  that  vernacular 
and  improving  the  taste  of  the  reading  public. 
Mr.  Mansukhram  was  the  first  Gujarati  Hindu 
to  advise  and  encourage  the  author  of  ' '  Niti 
Vinod."  The  acquaintance,  which  began  at 
Mr.  Taylor's,  has  ripened  into  friendship ;  and 
many  are  the  literary  and  educational  subjects 
in  which  these  friends  take  a  common  interest. 
Malabari  speaks  highly  of  the  valuable  aid 
given  him  by  Mr.  Mansukhram  in  getting  up 


110  YOUTH  (186C-187G). 

the  translations  of  Max  Miiller's  "  Hibbert 
Lectures."  What  he  prizes  more,  however,  is 
the  fact  that  this  sympathy  between  an  intel- 
lectual Brahman  and  an  emotional  Parsi  in 
India  should  have  been  created  by  a  Christian 
missionary  from  Ireland  ! 

In  the  Bombay  Small  Cause  Coukt. 

The  "  Niti  Yinod"  was  a  success,*  and  one 
would  think  Malabari  was  happy.  But  his  life 
has  been  truly  a  "pendulum  between  a  smile 
and  a  tear,"  and  just  w^hen  he  was  drinking  in 
the  delicious  compliments  of  the  press  and  of 
his  brother-poets,  he  found  himself  summoned 
to  answer  a  suit  in  the  Court  of  Small  Causes. 
It  was  brought  by  a  person  who  was  under 
deep  obligations  to  Malabari,  and  who  should 
have  been  the  last  to  bring  it.  He  had  been  a 
teacher  at  the  same  school  where  Malabari  was 
still  teaching,  and  having  a  large  family  had 
often  been  assisted  by  Malabari.  But  he  was 
a  nettle  who  onght  not  to  have  been  so 
tenderly  treated.     He  had  been  made  to  leave 

■'•  Tliere  must  have  been  some  critics  who  could  not  have 
found  anything  good  in  the  book ;  but  I  am  sorry  I  have  not 
been  able  to  set  at  their  reviews. 


IN  THE  BOMBAY  SMALL  CAUSE  COUBT.      Ill 

the  school,  and  now  filed  an  action  to  recover 
Es.  200  as  commission  for  the  sale  of  the  "  Niti 
Vinod,"  for  the  collection  of  subscriptions,  and 
for  other  services  rendered  in  connection  with 
the  book,  including  the  revision  of  the  verses 
themselves.     This  last  count  almost  maddened 
our  young  poet,  and,  though  extremely  shy,  he 
resolved  to  contest  the  claim.     Moreover,  Rs. 
200  was  a  large  sum,  and  Malabari  following 
the  Biblical  maxim  that  the  love  of  money  was 
a  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil,  and  having  an  itch 
for  giving  away  which  amounted  almost  to  a 
disease,  was  unable  to  pay  even  one-half  of  it. 
Fortunately,  the  judge  was  a  discerning  and 
patient  man,  and  saw  through  the  plaintiff  as 
he  gave  his  evidence  in  the  witness-box.     His 
witnesses  also  deserted  the  plaintiff,  when  they 
found  the  case  going  against  him.    The  revising 
charge  was  withdrawn,  and  the  plaintiff  got  a 
decree  for  Rs.  30,  and  a  reprimand  for  his  sharp 
practice.     The  thirty  rupees  were  awarded  by 
the   court   for   service   rendered   in  obtaining 
subscriptions,  a  service  for  which  Malabari  had 
offered  him  Rs.  60  before  the  case  was  taken 
to  the  court.     Thus  our  author  tasted  his  first 
and   last   law-suit,   to    which    the    reader   of 


112  YOUTH  (1866-1876). 

"Gujarat  and  Gujaratis  "  is  indebted  for  the 
very  amusing  "  Scenes  in  a  Small  Cause 
Court." 

The  Mehtaji,  however,  had  his  revenge. 
He  prompted  a  Hindu  paper  to  repeat  the 
calumny  he  had  withdrawn.  Malabari  had 
had  a  plentiful  share  of  the  ills  that  assail  the 
life  of  a  struggling  poet ;  he  had  had  toil  and 
want,  the  garret  and  a  Small  Cause  Court 
suit,  and  he  was  not  to  escape  the  worst  of 
all  these  ills — envy.  He,  however,  silenced 
his  adversaries  by  offering  to  compose  as  good 
verses  as  could  be  found  in  the  "  Niti  Yinod," 
under  any  conditions  prescribed  by  them. 
The  challenge  was  not  accepted,  and  Malabari 
was  left  in  peace  to  bring  out  a  second  edition, 
and  to  publish  his  "  Indian  Muse  in  English 
Garb." 

"  The  Indian  Muse  in  English  Garb." 

I  have  said  that  Malabari,  when  he  came  to 
Bombay,  had  some  English  poems  with  him 
in  manuscript.  To  compose  verses  in  a 
foreign  language  is  no  easy  matter,  but  Mala- 
bari has  natural  gifts.  He  has  an  ear  for 
rhyme  and  rhythm   which   few  have.     He  is 


"  THE  INDIAN  MUSE  IN  ENGLISH  GABB."    113 

extremely  responsive  to  good  music,  and  bad 
music  frets  liis  nerves  and  makes  him  un- 
happy. He  had  read  a  good  deal  of  English 
poetry,  and  had  his  favourites.  "  Words- 
worth," he  once  wrote,*  "  is  a  favourite  of  my 
soul  and  intellect ;  Shelley,  Byron  and  Burns 
of  my  heart.  Shakespeare  and  Milton  I 
admire  most,  but  there  is  something  intensely 
practical  in  the  former,  and  something  awfully 
stilted  in  the  latter,  that  keeps  one  from  loving 
them  quite."  On  another  occasion  he  said  : — 
^'  I  have  ranged  aimlessly  over  a  very  wide 
field  of  poesy,  English  as  well  as  Indian  in 
several  vernaculars  ;  also  Persian  and  Greek 
translated.  But  ask  me  to  quote  ten  lines 
accurately  even  from  my  favourites,  and  you 
might  as  well  knock  me  down.  I  could  tell 
whose  lines  they  are ;  sometimes  I  feel  as  if 
I  could  improve  upon  the  original  in  a  turn 
of  thought  or  expression.  But  I  could  not 
quote  by  the  yard,  as  most  of  my  school- 
fellows used  to  do  in  the  class-room,  and  as 
most  of  them  do  even  now.  1 1  cannot  quote 
my  own  verses,  except  the  refrains  and  some 
special  favourites  here  and  there.     But  I  am 

-•=  In  a  letter. 
9 


114  YOUTH  (18G6-1876). 

a  fairly  good  reader,  and  may  read  myself 
entirely  into  the  writer's  frame  of  mind  whilst 
at  the  same  time  entering  fully  into  the 
character  depicted. 

"As  to  English  masters,  Shakespeare  was 
my  daily  companion  during  school-days,  and 
a  long  while  after  that.  Much  of  my  worldly 
knowledge  I  owe  to  this  greatest  of  seers  and 
practical  thinkers.  Milton  filled  me  with 
awe.  Somehow,  I  used  to  feel  mihappy  when 
the  turn  came  for  '  Paradise  Lost.'  His 
torrents  of  words  frightened  me  as  much  hy 
their  stateliness  as  by  monotony.  Nor  could 
I  sympathize  with  some  of  the  personal 
teachings  of  this  grand  old  singer.  Words- 
worth is  my  philosopher,  Tennyson*  my  poet. 
I  have  given  away  hundreds  of  volumes  after  a 
perusal.  But  a  little  book  of  selections  from  the 
Laureate's  earlier  poems  I  have  kept  jealously 
for  over  twenty  years.  Amongst  my  many  prizes 
at  school  I  remember  having  received  a  very 
bulky  volume  named  '  Selections  from  British 
Poets,'    carried    home    for  me   by   an   older 

*  There  is  a  beautiful  translation  of  the  song  in  the 
"Princess,"  "Home  they  brought  her  warrior  dead,"  ia 
Malabari's  "Sarod  Ittifak." 


"  THE  INDIAN  MUSE  IN  ENGLISH  GARB."     115 

companion.  I  used  to  dip  into  this  unwieldy 
folio,  and  got  to  know  a  little  of  Chaucer, 
Spenser,  and  other  stars,  earlier  as  well  as 
later,  through  it.  At  school  I  had  Campbell 
for  another  favourite ;  preferred  Dryden  to 
Pope,  and  Scott  to  several  of  his  greater  con- 
temporaries. Cowper  and  Goldsmith  I  have 
always  valued  as  dear  old  school-masters  ; 
Byron  and  Burns  as  boon  companions  when 
in  the  mood ;  Shelley  and  Keats  as  ex- 
plorers of  dreamland,  who  fascinate  one  by 
their  subtle  fancies.  But  having  become 
more  of  a  worker,  I  seldom  go  back  now  to 
the  dreamers  or  the  laughers  and  scoffers. 
'  Life  is  real,  life  is  earnest ' — that  reminds  me 
of  the  great  American  whom  I  cultivated  a 
little  during  the  seventies.  There  are  others, 
Eastern  and  Western,  whose  acquaintance 
I  could  claim.     How  precious  their  memory  !  " 

Malabari  more  or  less  studied  the  works 
of  these  poets,  but  he  read  many  more. 
English  numbers,  he  found,  came  to  him 
almost  as  easily  as  Gujarati,  and  so,  in  1876, 
he  published  his  "Indian  Muse,"  and  dedicated 
it   to   one   who   had   done    so   much  for   her 


116  YOUTH  (1866-1870). 

sisters  in  India — Miss  Mary  Carpenter.  Before 
rushing  into  print,  he  showed  some  specimens 
of  his  poetry  to  Dr.  Wilson,  whose  loss  he 
keenly  deplores  in  the  verses  headed:  "  To 
the  memory  of  one  of  the  noblest  friends  of 
India."  Dr.  Wilson's  opinion  was  that  the 
lines  "  displayed  an  uncommonly  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  English  language,"  and 
were  "  the  outcome  of  a  gifted  mind,  trained 
to  habits  of  deep  meditation  and  fresh  and 
felicitous  expression."  The  good  doctor  also 
spoke  of  the  author  as  "  a  young  man  of  most 
excellent  character  and  talents,  and  of  rare 
literary  accomplishments."  Few  knew  the 
young  man  so  well  as  this  venerable  scholar. 
Even  in  his  boyish  days,  Malabari  used  often 
to  sing  to  himself  in  a  meditative  spirit,  and 
though  he  gave  up  singing  after  his  mother's 
death,  he  did  not  give  up  meditating.  The 
influence  of  Dr.  Wilson  on  his  character  was 
very  great.  He  was  already  earnest,  but  Dr. 
Wilson  made  him  more  so.  He  was  already 
prayerful,  but  Dr.  Wilson  chastened  his 
prayers.  The  two  used  at  times  to  pray 
together,  with  another  young  Parsi,  and 
whenever  Dr.  Wilson  was  ill  or  fatigued,  he 


"  THE  INDIAN  MUSE  IN  ENGLISH  GAEB."    117 

loved  to  hear  his  young  friends  read  to  him 
the  Psalms  of  David,  and  some  of  Bishop 
Heber's  beautiful  poems.*  They  had  had 
many  religious  discussions,  and  Dr.  Wilson 
had  put  forth  all  his  learning,  eloquence,  and 
zeal  to  win  over  his  favourite  to  Christ. 
Looking  back  to  those  days,  Malabari  often 
wonders  how  he  escaped  becoming  a  Christian. 
His  main  difficulty  was,  he  tells  me,  the  need 
of  a  Mediator.  He  believed  in  salvation  by 
faith  and  by  work,  but  did  not  think  the 
mediation  of  another  absolutely  necessary  for 
salvation.  I  imagine  his  heart  was  as  much 
against  changing  his  religion  as  his  under^ 
standing.  Bunsen  places  Zoroaster  at  least 
six  thousand  years  before  Christ,  and  the 
oldest  Gatha  of  the  Avesta  says  about  this 
great  Prophet — "  Good  is  the  thought,  good 
is  the  speech,  good  is  the  work  of  the  pure 
Zarathushtra,"  and  quotes  a  saying  of  his, 
"I  have  entrusted  my  soul  to  heaven,  and  I 
will  teach  what  is  pure  so  long  as  I  live." 
A  pure,  ancient,  hereditary  creed,  with  its 
hallowed  associations,  its  historical  grandeur, 

■:■  «<A  dying  man  to  his  soul,"  at  page  24  of  the  "Indian 
Muse,"  was  suggested  to  Malabari  when  so  employed. 


118  YOUTH  (18GG-187C). 

its  touching  memories  of  persecution  and 
tribulation,  would  naturally  have  a  greater 
attraction  for  a  poetic  mind  than  a  foreign 
faith.  Zoroastrianism,  like  its  sister — some 
say  its  mother,  and  others,  its  daughter — 
Vedism,  has  been  debased  by  later  corrup- 
tions, but  Malabari  looked  to  its  essence,  and 
not  to  its  accidents.  He  did  not  care  for 
ceremonials  of  any  kind,  and  his  real  prayer 
was  "  to  think  well,  to  speak  well,  to  act 
well."  He  bowed  to  that  Truth  which 
includes  all  creeds  and  transcends  all.  He 
read  or  recited,  five  times  a  day,  little  gems 
of  thought  which  are  commentaries  on  the 
original  texts,  and  the  under-lying  sentiment 
of  which  is  the  worship  of  the  Creator 
through  the  noblest  of  His  works,  like  the 
Sun  and  the  Sea.  Malabari  is  still  the 
prayerful  poet  he  was  in  1876.  He  has  still 
the  same  habits.  He  is  not  an  orthodox 
Parsi,  but  a  primitive  Zoroastrian.  None, 
therefore,  need  feel  surprise  that  he  withstood 
Dr.  Wilson's  powerful  attempts  to  convert 
him.  His  companion  and  class-brother, 
Shapurji  Dadabhai  Bhabha,  embraced  Chris- 
tianity after  fearful  persecutions,  and  is  now 


"  THE  INDIAN  MUSE  IN  ENGLISH  GABB."     119 

a  Licentiate  of  Divinity  and  a  Doctor  of 
Medicine,  practising  in  London.  Shapurji 
and  our  Behramji  were  like  twin  brothers. 
The  latter  stood  by  his  friend  amid  all  his 
trials.  "If  anything  could  have  made  me  a 
Christian,"  Malabari  once  told  me,  "it  was 
Shapurji's  example."  "  His  faithfulness  to 
Christ  and  his  fortitude  were  most  edifying. 
Dr.  Wilson  loved  Shapurji  as  a  son,  and  I 
myself  owe  much  of  Dr.  Wilson's  kindly 
regard  to  Shapurji.  I  look  upon  Shapurji's 
family  as  my  own.  His  father  is  one  of  the 
worthiest,  and  yet  one  of  the  most  unlucky, 
men  I  have  known." 

But  though  Malabari  did  not  become  a 
Christian  in  form,  he  is  not  one  of  those  who 
think  lightly  of  Christ,  or  who  take  a  gloomy 
view  of  the  work  of  Christian  missionaries. 
This  is  what  he  said  about  them  in  replying 
to  a  passage  in  Mr.  Wordsworth's  letter  on 
Hindu  social  reform  : — 

"  And  how  much  do  we  owe  to  Christian 
missionaries  ?  We  are  indebted  to  them  for 
the  first  start  in  the  race  for  intellectual 
emancipation.  It  is  to  them  that  we  are 
beholden    for    some    of    our   most    cherished 


120  YOUTH  (18G6-1876). 

political  and  social  acquisitions.  Our  very 
Brahmo  Samaja,  Arya  Samaja  and  Prarathna 
Samaja  are  the  offshoots,  in  one  sense,  of  this 
beneficent  agency.  And,  apart  from  its  active 
usefulness,  the  Christian  mission  serves  as  a 
buffer  for  the  tide  of  scepticism  usually  in- 
separable from  intellectual  emancipation.  At 
a  time  when  doubt  and  distrust  are  taking  the 
place  of  reasoned  inquiry  among  the  younger 
generation  of  India,  I  feel  bound  to  acknow- 
ledge in  my  own  person  the  benefits  I  have 
derived  from  a  contact  with  the  spirit  of 
Christianity.  But  for  that  holy  contact  I 
could  scarcely  have  grown  into  the  staunch 
and  sincere  Zoroastrian  that  I  am,  with  a 
keen  appreciation  of  all  that  appeals  readily 
to  the  intelligence  and  a  reverent  curiosity 
for  what  appeals  to  the  heart,  knowing  full 
well  that  much  of  what  is  mysterious  to  man 
is  not  beneath,  but  beyond,  the  comprehension 
of  a  finite  being." 

A  similar  generous  feeling  inspires  his  poem, 
To   the    Missionaries    of   Faith,"    in     the 
"Indian  Muse." 

Malabari  is  himself  a  missionary.     Turn  to 
his  poems,  turn  to  his  prose,  turn  to  the  Ufe 


"  TEE  INDIAN  MUSE  IN  ENGLISH  GABB."      121 

he  is  living ;  and  you  feel  lie  is  a  missionary 
with  a  definite  mission.  The  "  Indian  Muse  " 
has  something  to  say  on  the  celebrated 
"Fuller  Case,"  on  the  treatment  of  Malharao 
Gaekwar,  on  the  time  of  famine,  on  the  glories 
of  the  West,  and  on  the  British  character. 
But  the  poet  is  at  home  when  describing  the 
woes  of  widows  and  social  tyrannies.  He  has 
a  stirring  poem  in  imitation  of  Campbell's 
"  Men  of  England,"  which  can  only  be  fully 
appreciated  by  those  who  know  w^hat  Eajput 
chivalry,  what  Aryan  "  chastity  of  honour," 
was  in  days  of  yore,  and  how  low  their 
descendants  have  fallen  in  these  days.  His 
own  ideal  is  a  very  high  one,  and  he  has  kept 
true  to  it  through  all  his  troubles  and  sad 
experiences.  This  appears  from  the  last  poem 
in  his  book,  "  Manhood's  Dream,"  and  it 
forms  a  fitting  conclusion  to  this  chapter. 
Here  it  is  : — 


"  O  life  is  but  a  stagnant  sea,  a  weary  trackless  main  ; 
Its  waves,  if  undisturbed  for  long,  the  soul  with  poison 

stain. 
The  glory  of  good  work  it  is  our  better  part  can  save ; 
I'll  rush  to  glory  deathless,  then,  to  glory  or  the  grave  I 
The  ice  of  silence  will  the  soul  to  selfish  languor  freeze; 


122  YOUTH  (18G6-1876). 

While  mine  is  yearning  for  some  work  of  merit  here  she 

sees ; 
So  fly  to  works  of  charity  and  love,  my  spirit  brave, 
To  glory  bear  me  on  thy  wings — to  glory  or  the  gi-ave  ! 
There's  Pleasure  Im-ing  me  to  ruin  ;  I'll  ne'er  the  siren 

heed; 
If  once  my  soul  is  wrecked,  she's  naught  but  shame  to 

wed  indeed. 
But  no,  I'd  honest  death  prefer  to   being  Pleasure's 

knave ; 
So  up  and  on  to  glory,  soul, — to  glory  or  the  grave  !  " 


MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

•*'  How  well  in  thee  appears 
The  constant  service  of  the  antique  world, 
When  service  sweat  for  duty,  not  for  meed  ! 
Thou  art  not  for  the  fashion  of  these  times, 
When  none  will  sweat,  but  for  promotion  ; 
And,  having  that,  do  choke  their  service  up. 
Even  with  the  having." 

Shakespeare's  "  As  You  Like  It. 


And  he,  shall  he, 
"  Man,  her  last  work,  who  seemed  so  fair, 
Such  splendid  purpose  in  his  eyes. 
Who  rolled  the  psalm  to  wintry  skies. 
Who  built  him  fanes  of  fruitless  prayer — 

Who  trusted  God  was  love  indeed, 

And  love  Creation's  final  law, 
Though  Nature,  red  in  tooth  and  claw, 

With  ravine  shrieked  against  his  creed — 

Who  loved,  who  suffered  countless  ills. 
Who  battled  for  the  True,  the  Just — 

Be  blown  about  the  desert  dust, 
Or  sealed  within  the  iron  hills  ?  " 

Tennyson's  "  In  Memoriam." 

"  Thronging  through  the  cloud-rift,  whose  are  they,  the 
faces 
Faint  revealed,  yet  sure  divined,  the  famous  ones  of  old  ? 
'  What ' — they  smile — '  our  names,  our  deeds  so  soon 

erases 
Time  upon  his  tablet  where  Life's  glory  lies  enrolled  ? 
.  Was  it  for  mere  fool's  play,  make-believe  and  mumming,. 
So  we  battled  it  like  men,  not  boy-Hke  sulked  or  whined, 
Each  of  us  heard  clang  God's  '  come,'  and  each  wa& 

coming  : 
Soldiers  all,  to  forward  face,  not  sneaks  to  lag  behind  !  "■ 
Broioning's  "  Ferishtah's  Fancies." 

"  Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us, 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us, 
Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time." 

Longfelloiv. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

Fame. 

The  "Indian  Muse  "made  Malabari  famous, 
and  secured  him  many  friends.  Professor 
Wordsworth  praised  his  "  skill  in  versification" 
and  *'the  sentiments  expressed"  in  his  verses. 
Mr.  Gibbs  congratulated  him  "  on  having 
produced  poems  superior  to  any  I  have  yet 
seen  from  the  pen  of  a  Native  author."  Mr. 
E.  B.  East  wick,  the  veteran  scholar  and 
Orientalist,  "hailed  the  appearance  of  a  true 
poet  and  master-mind  in  India."  William 
Benjamin  Carpenter  acknowledged  "the 
tribute  of  affectionate  respect"  paid  to  his 
sister,  and  Mr.  J.  Estlin  Carpenter  wrote  : — 

"  I  have  often  been  surprised  at  the  knowledge  of  the 
English  language  and  literature  displayed  by  some  of 
your  countrymen  ;  but  your  verses  indicate  an  even  com- 


126  MANHOOD  (187ff-1891). 

pleter  mastery,  and  exhibit  a  quite  remarkable  power  of 
fulfilling  the  numerous  and  complex  requirements  of 
poetical  composition 

"  Your  lines  to  Wordsworth  prove  that  you  have  found 
your  way  into  the  secret  of  perhaps  the  deepest  poetic 
influence  of  this  century,  and  I  rejoice  to  learn  that  his 
profound  teachings  thus  make  their  way  into  wholly  new 
modes  of  thought  and  feeling  with  penetrating  sympathy. 

"  Throughout  your  verses  I  recognize  the  same  high 
tone  of  aspiration  which  your  dedication  leads  your 
readers  to  expect ;  and  I  heartly  congratulate  you  on  this 
early  and  rich  promise  of  poetic  skill." 

Miss  Florence  Nightingale  was  touched  by 
many  of  the  pieces,  and  ended  her  letter  with 
a  blessing — 

"  May  God  bless  yom'  labours  !  May  the  Eternal 
Father  bless  India,  bless  England,  and  bring  us  together 
as  one  family,  doing  each  other  good.  May  the  fire  of 
His  love,  the  sunshine  of  His  countenance,  inspire  us  all !  " 

The  late  lamented  Lord  Shaftesbury  bore 
witness  "to  the  excellence  of  the  work,  the 
high  character  of  its  poetry,  and  its  senti- 
ments." Mr  John  Bright  read  the  book  with 
interest,  and  wrote  : — 

"  I  thank  you  too  for  your  good  wishes  for  myself.  I 
fear  it  is  not  possible  for  any  Englishman  to  do  much  for 
your  unhappy  country.  The  responsibility  of  England 
with  regard  to  India  is  too  great — it  cannot  adequately 
be  dischai'ged. 


FAME.  127 


Max  Miiller  acknowledged  a  copy  with  the 
followins:  letter : — 


'■(=) 


"  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  present.  It 
is  certainly  highly  creditable  to  you  to  be  able  to  write 
English  verse.  To  me  also  English  is  an  acquired 
language,  but  I  have  never  attempted  more  than  English 
prose.  However,  whether  we  write  English  verse  or 
English  prose,  let  us  never  forget  that  the  best  service  we 
can  render  is  to  express  our  truest  Indian  or  German 
thoughts  in  English,  and  thus  to  act  as  honest  inter- 
preters between  nations  that  ought  to  understand  each 
other  much  better  than  they  do  at  present. 

"...  Depend  upon  it,  the  English  public,  at  least  the 
better  part  of  it,  like  a  man  who  is  what  he  is.  The  very 
secret  of  the  excellence  of  English  literature  lies  in  the 
independence,  the  originality  and  truthfulness  of  English 
writers.  ...  It  is  in  the  verses  where  you  feel  and 
speak  like  a  true  Indian  that  you  seem  to  me  to  speak 
most  like  a  true  poet. 

"  Accept  my  best  thanks  and  good  wishes,  and  believe 
me 

"Yours  sincerely, 

"F.  Max  Mullee." 

The  Poet  Laureate  also  sent  a  most 
encouraging  little  note. 

"  My  Deab  Sib, — I  return  my  best  thanks  for  your 
'  Indian  Muse  in  English  Garb.'  It  is  interesting,  and 
more  than  interesting,  to  see  how  well  you  have 
managed  in  your  English  garb. 


128  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

"  I  wish  I  could  read  the  poems  which  you  have 
written  in  your  own  vernacular ;  for,  I  doubt  not,  they 
deserve  all  the  praise  bestowed  upon  them  by  the  news- 
papers. 

"  Believe  me, 

"  Your  far-away  but  sincere  friend, 

"A.  Tennyson." 

The  Crown  Princess  of  Germany  and  Her 
Majesty  the  Queen-Empress  commmiicated  to 
him  their  gracious  thanks,  and  the  Princess 
Alice,  through  Baron  Knesebeck,  wrote  as 
follows  : — 

"  H.E.H.  The  Grand  Duchess  of  Hesse  has  ordered  me 
to  express  Her  Eoyal  Highness'  most  sincere  thanks 
for  the  copy  of  your  '  Indian  Muse.' 

"  Her  Eoyal  Highness  has  read  a  part  of  the  poems 
with  deep  interest ;  and  it  afforded  Her  Eoyal  Highness 
.great  pleasure  to  see  a  foreigner  write  English  with  so 
much  taste  and  feeling,  and  the  expression  of  such  loyal 
sentiments. 

"  Her  Eoyal  Highness  equally  appreciates  the  motives 
which  prompted  you  to  dedicate  to  Miss  Carpenter  the 
work,  which  Her  Eoyal  Highness  accepts  with  the  greatest 
pleasure. 

All  these  honours  brought  our  poet  into 
great  prominence.  Sir  Cowasji  Jehanghir 
Eeadymoney  had  become  his  friend  long  be- 
fore the  publication  of  the  "  Indian  Muse,"  and 


FAME.  129 

by  him  and  by  Dr.  Wilson,  Malabari  had  been 
introduced  to  the  highest  functionaries  as 
well  as  to  influential  citizens.  Had  the  young 
poet  been  ambitious  or  sordid-minded,  he 
could  have  easily  made  a  name  for  himself 
and  won  a  fortune  in  other  walks  than  those 
of  literature  or  journalism.  But  Malabari 
prized  his  independence,  and  was  proud  of 
his  poverty.  He  lived  altogether  by  his  pen, 
and  has  up  to  date  faithfully  adhered  to  his 
vocation.  He  contributed  to  newspapers  and 
periodicals,  and  cultivated  his  genius  for  poetry. 
He  was  always  at  the  disposal  of  the  poor  and 
the  aggrieved,  and  spent  no  small  portion  of 
his  time  in  writing  memorials  and  appeals  for 
the  latter,  with  a  tact  and  ability  which  seldom 
failed  with  the  authorities.  His  reputation  as 
an  adviser  and  interpreter  brought  him  into 
close  acquaintance  with  some  of  the  Native 
States,  but  he  was  often  cheated  by  unprin- 
cipled officers  in  their  service.  Once  he  went 
to  a  State  on  the  sea-coast  during  the  mon- 
soons, at  the  risk  of  his  life.  The  Parsi  Diwan 
had  implored  him  to  come,  and  promised  him 
a  large  sum  for  a  representation  to  Govern- 
ment ;    but   this   worthy  did   not    scruple   to 

10 


130  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

trick  him  by  giving  him  an  empty  bag  sup- 
posed to  contain  currency  notes.  Malabari 
was  so  trustful  and  so  careless  in  money 
matters,  that  it  was  not  until  he  reached 
home  and  opened  the  bag  that  he  discovered 
the  fraud.  He  wrote  to  the  Diwan,  and  the 
Diwan  made  an  apology  and  begged  for  time. 
Malabari  replied  by  sending  him  back  the 
promising  letters  and  releasing  him  from  all 
obKgations.  He  has  done  this  in  several 
other  cases.  If  his  constituents  had  been 
honest  he  would  have  been  to-day  worth  at 
least  a  lakh  of  rupees. 

Malabaei  as  a  Journalist. 

Early  in  1876  a  couple  of  enterprising 
schoolboys  and  a  clerk  in  the  Bombay  Mu- 
nicipality started  a  cheap  weekly  under  the 
name  of  the  Indian  Sjjectato?'.  Malabari  used 
now  and  then  to  assist  them.  Later  on  he 
was  made  co-editor  with  another  friend,  who 
went  in  for  politics,  while  Malabari  was  all  for 
social  subjects.  The  political  editor  was  a 
fellow  student  and  a  particular  chum  of  Mala- 
bari's,  described  by  him  as  "  my  superior  in 
general  knowledge,  perhaps  my  equal   in  his 


MALABABI  AS  A  JOURNALIST.  131 

distaste  for  mathematics,  pure  or  otherwise; 
but  with  a  command  of  EngHsh,  cool  judg- 
ment, and  powers  of  organization  which  I 
envied."  In  Mr.  Perozesha  Pestanji  Taleyar- 
khan  Malabari  found  a  congenial  spirit.  Many 
a  time  has  he  spoken  to  me  with  a  flush  of 
pleasure  how  the  two  lads  spent  their  time 
together  "lotus-eating."  They  hunted  up 
quaint  old  volumes  of  poetry,  devoured  their 
contents  over  a  basket  of  delicious  fruit  and 
ice-cream,  or  discussed  their  merits  over  a  hot 
dinner.  "  We  lived  in  a  sort  of  dreamland," 
adds  Malabari,  "by  no  means  a  fool's  para- 
dise. The  only  pity  was  we  neglected  the 
practical  side  of  life." 

AVhile  this  strange  literary  partnership 
continued,  Malabari  fell  in  with  a  proposal 
of  Mr.  Martin  Wood,  who  had  then  left 
the  Times  of  India,  to  start  a  new  paper 
devoted  to  the  advocacy  of  the  rights  of 
Native  States  and  of  the  masses  at  large. 
He  had  been  introduced  to  this  veteran  pub- 
licist by  Sir  Cowasji  Jehanghir,  after  the 
publication  of  the  "Indian  Muse."  Mr.  Wood 
took  very  kindly  to  him,  and  gave  him  his 
journalistic  training.      He  became   now  Mr, 


J  82  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

Wood's  coadjutor,  and  at  his  own  expense 
undertook,  in  March  1878,  a  journey  to  Gujarat 
and  Kathiawar,  in  order  to  interest  Native 
princes  in  the  enterprise,  and  to  secure  their 
support.  ''Gujarat  and  the  Gujaratis"  was  the 
result  of  this  tour,  besides  about  Es.  2,000 
in  cash,  and  promises  of  some  Rs.  15,000 
more,  which  were  never  fulfilled.  Mr.  Wood 
started  the  Bombay  Beview,  a  small  weekly 
of  the  size  of  the  Pall  Mall,  in  which  many 
of  the  descriptions  of  places  and  people  that 
are  to  be  found  in  "Gujarat  and  the  Gujaratis" 
were  first  published.  The  editor  set  a  high 
value  on  Malabari's  writings,  and  paid  him  at 
the  rate  of  Rs.  20  to  Rs.  25  a  column.  Mala- 
bari  has  had  offers  of  the  same  rate  of  remu- 
neration from  other  proprietors,  but  has  seldom 
or  never  contributed  for  money.  The  Bovibay 
Bevietv,  in  spite  of  the  great  abilities  and  ex- 
perience of  its  conductor,  was  financially  a 
failure,  and  after  a  couple  of  years  ceased  to 
exist.  The  Indian  Spectator,  too,  had  had  its 
struggles,  and  eventually  the  proprietors  be- 
came so  sick  of  it  as  to  be  glad  to  sell  the 
plant  as  well  as  the  goodwill  to  a  Bori,  who 
some  time  after  sold  the  goodwill  to  Malabari 


MALABABI  AS  A  JOUBNALIST.  133 

for  Es.  25  !  Thus,  about  the  beginning  of 
1880,  Malabari  entered  upon  his  journalistic 
career  with  plenty  of  brains,  but  a  plentiful 
lack  of  the  sinews  of  journalistic  enterprise — 
money.  In  fact,  he  would  not  have  under- 
taken the  task  but  for  the  promise  of  pecuniary 
aid  from  a  wealthy  and  enlightened  Hindu 
gentleman.  The  two  entered  into  a  contract, 
the  one  to  supply  brains,  the  other  money. 
The  profits  were  to  be  shared  in  equal  pro- 
portion. But  here  arose  a  difficulty.  To  make 
the  story  short,  Malabari  was  startled  by  a 
proposal  to  send  his  sub-editor  twice  a  week  to 
the  capitalist  for  instructions.  On  objecting 
to  the  proposal,  our  journalist  was  curtly  told — 
*'  You  see,  two  men  have  to  ride  one  horse. 
One  of  us  must  ride  behind."  ''Well,"  re- 
plied Malabari  as  laconically,  "I  am  not  going 
to  be  that  one;'^  and  without  further  parley 
he  left  the  astonished  sowcar.*  Unfortunately, 
he  had  drawn  one  month's  expenses  in  ad- 
vance from  the  partner  that  was  to  be.  But 
he  sold  a  trinket  and  paid  off  the  debt.  "  For 
the  first  few  months,"  writes  Malabari,  "I 
struggled   with   the    Spectator,   only  to  show 

-■■■  Banker. 


134  MANHOOD  (187C-1891). 

that  money  was  not  everything.  It  was  a 
cruel  hardship,  and  there  were  moments  when 
I  almost  felt  the  Walpolian  theory  to  be  cor- 
rect. But  I  struggled  on,  writing,  editing, 
correcting  proofs,  at  times  folding  and  posting 
copies,  and  even  distributing  them  in  town, 
going  the  round  in  a  cab,  with  the  driver 
to  deliver  the  copies  as  instructed  by  me." 
Malabari  had  started  on  his  tour  with  borrowed 
funds.  He  never  had  recourse  to  professional 
lenders,  but  though  his  creditors  w^ere  his 
friends,  the  money  had  of  course  to  be  repaid. 
The  Indian  Spectator  added  to  his  embarrass- 
ments. It  had  hardly  fifty  bonii  fide  sub- 
scribers. Only  a  couple  of  ornaments  were 
left,  and  these  were  now  sold  to  pay  at  least 
the  interest  due  to  the  clamorous  creditors 
and  to  support  the  paper.  There  were  many 
to  whom  Malabari  had  given  pecuniary  help  ; 
some  who  had  used  him  as  their  security  for 
loans  which  he  had  to  liquidate.  None  of 
them  came  to  his  aid,  and  it  was  at  this  time 
that  Malabari  realized  fully  why  prudence  was 
counted  one  of  the  cardinal  virtues.  His  de- 
voted wife  and  children  (he  had  a  daughter 
and  a  son  now)  shared  his  privations.     But 


MALABABI  AS  A  JOUBNALIST.  13r» 

there  is  a  silver  lining  to  every  cloud,  and 
although  Malabari  had  found  many  for  whom 
he  had  toiled  and  even  borrowed,  ungrateful, 
he  came  across  one  as  unselfish  as  himself  at 
this  crisis  of  his  life.  This  was  the  Parsi 
gentleman  to  whom  the  "  Sarod  Ittifak"  is 
dedicated,  and  who  acted  like  a  brother.  He 
helped  the  young  journalist  on  hearing  from 
a  friend  of  the  struggles  he  was  undergoing. 
"  Though  he  lent  me  the  money,  he  showed 
as  if  he  were  borrowing  it  of  me,"  writes 
Malabari.  Some  years  later  the  money  was 
thrust  upon  him  by  force ;  and  he  had  to 
take  it  back,  though  with  great  reluctance  and 
with  even  bitterness  of  feeling,  as  Malabari 
was  unwilling  to  keep  it  when  he  no  longer 
needed  it. 

Malabari,  before  he  was  relieved,  was  in  a 
very  pessimistic  mood.  He  thought  he  was 
unfit  for  town  life  and  had  better  be  in  the 
jungles.  But  he  could  not  retire  on  nothing? 
a  year,  and  there  was  his  family  to  be  main- 
tained. Moreover,  there  was  a  vast  field  of 
usefulness  open  to  him  in  his  new  career.  He 
had  taken  up  the  Indian  Sj^ectator  to  make  it 
"  the  people  of  India's  own  paper." 


13G  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

He  was  ''a  people's  man"  himself,  and 
understood  the  pox)r — the  great  majority  of 
the  nation  —  as  very  few  have  understood 
them.  He  could  also  do  justice  to  the  acts 
and  motives  of  the  rulers,  being  in  touch 
with  official  opinion.  He  wanted  to  be  a 
political,  social,  and  even  religious  reformer. 
There  were  moments  when  he  thought  his 
songs  and  his  poetry  would  be  a  better  lever, 
a  better  organ  for  this  purpose  than  a  news- 
paper. But  the  Indian  Spectator  was  alive, 
and,  like  Frankenstein,  refused  to  die.  The 
little  paper  that  was  a  rag  in  1879,  after  a 
creditable  early  career,  rose  into  fame,  and 
compelled  its  editor  to  remain  in  harness. 
To  kill  the  work  of  one's  own  hands  is  very 
much  like  killing  one's  own  children.  That 
has  been  Malabari's  feeling  at  least  about  the 
Spectator;  otherwise,  I  am  afraid,  he  would 
have  preferred  the  obscurity  of  a  village  with 
his  muse  to  the  celebrity  of  a  city  life  with  its 
attendant  evils. 

The  Bombay  Beview,  shortly  before  its 
surcease,  spoke  very  favourably  of  the  new 
journalist. 


MALABABI  AS  A  JOUBNALIST.  137 

"  The  editor,"  it  wrote,  "  is  peculiarly  fitted  for  being 
«.  trustworthy  interpreter  between  rulers  and  ruled,  be- 
tween the  indigenous  and  immigrant  branches  of  the 
great  Aryan  race.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  he  thoroughly 
understands  the  mental  and  moral  characteristics  of 
those  two  great  divisions  of  the  Indian  community,  not 
only  as  presented  in  Bombay,  but  in  other  provinces  in 
India.  We  have  always  felt  confidence  in  the  sincerity 
and  independence  of  its  editor.  His  knowledge  of  the 
various  castes  and  classes  of  Society  in  Western  India  is 
full  and  exact,  while  in  aptitude  for  discussion  of  social 
questions  he  displays  a  discrimination  and  aptness  in 
picturesque  description  and  a  genuine  humour,  suffi- 
ciently rare." 

When  it  is  noted  that  the  Indian  Spectator 
has  often  had  to  try  conchisions  with  Indian 
and  Enghsh  contemporaries,  the  compHments 
paid  to  it  by  these  journals  may  be  better 
appreciated. 

The  Indian  Mirror  praised  the  "  brilhant 
and  pithy  paragraphs"  of  the  new  paper,  and 
the  Hindoo  Patriot  "  its  refreshing  and  tren- 
chant style,"  and  "  the  force  and  inde- 
pendence "  of  its  views.  The  Amrita  Bazar 
PatriJca  passed  even  a  higher  encomium  : 

"  In  wit,  humour,  and  satire,  and  in  the  complete 
mastery  of  the  Enghsh  language,  our  contemporary 
stands  pre-eminent.     His  smart  and  playful  sayings,  so 


138  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

full  of  meaning,  pass  current  in  the  country.  Week 
after  week  the  columns  of  our  contemporary  are  filled 
with  the  treasures  of  a  rich  and  versatile  mind." 

The  Indian  Statesman  called  it  in  1882' 
"  the  best  paper  in  India."  The  Pioneer 
called  it  "  the  ablest  Native  paper  in  the 
Bombay  Presidency."  The  Englishman  bore 
testimony  to  its  "  idiomatic  English  "  and  its 
"  bold  trenchant  style."  The  Indian  Daihj 
Neivs  eulogized  its  remarkable  ability  and 
fairness. 

"In  politics,"  said  this  paper,  "its  tone  is  moderate,, 
and  it  is  thus  a  very  safe  guide  to  native  readers,  its- 
criticisms  having  mostly  a  practical  turn,  and  showing  a 
ready  acceptance  of  facts  as  they  stand.  Looking  at  its- 
varied  and  often  clever  contents,  the  Spectator  is  a. 
marvel  of  cheapness.  It  often  gives  a  sketch  of  some- 
typical  class  or  caste,  which,  by  reason  of  the  special 
information  it  affords,  as  well  as  by  its  piquant  style,  is- 
alone  worth  the  small  subscription  to  the  paper  for  the 
whole  year." 

The  London  Times  in  1882  wrote  : — 

"  A  considerable  portion  of  the  English  press  of  India, 
is  written  by  natives ;  and  many  of  these  so-called  Anglo- 
Native  papers  are  written  with  great  ability  and  in  excel- 
lent idiomatic  English.  Such  are  the  Indian  Spectator 
of  Bombay,  the  Hindoo  Patriot  and  the  Indian  Mirror  of 
Calcutta." 


MALABARI  AS  A  JOUBNALIST.  IS* 

The  Academy  considered  the  Indian  Sj^ecta- 
tor  "no  unworthy  rival  of  its  London  name- 
sake ;  "  and  Allen's  Indian  Mail  spoke  of  it  as 

"  A  journal  representing  in  the  highest  degree,  not  only 
the  intelHgence,  but  also  the  moderation  and  liberality  of 
educated  natives." 

The  Bevue  Critique  of  France  in  1883  wrote 
as  follows  : — 

"  The  Indian  Spectator  has  rapidly  assumed  a  foremost, 
place  in  the  Indian  press,  and  is  not  wanting  in  interest- 
for  a  European  rcad3r,  although  unluckily  it  comments 
on  the  events  of  the  week  more  than  it  shows  them.  Its 
language  is  remarkable  for  its  brilliant  strokes,  its  vigour, 
a,ndi  imngency  of  style,  and  is  very  idiomatic." 

And  the  L'Economiste  Francaise  in  1885 
wrote  : — 

"  The  Indian  press,  notwithstanding  its  infancy,  counts 
in  its  ranks  men  remarkable  as  much  for  their  abilities  as 
writers  as  for  their  sagacity  and  courtesy.  In  support 
of  what  we  say  it  will  be  sufficient  to  cite  the  editor-in- 
chief  of  the  Indian  Spectator  of  Bombay.  By  persevering 
efforts  he  has  to-day  become  one  of  the  most  influential 
men  of  the  true  Indian  Liberal  party,  which,  while  main- 
taining the  general  tendencies  of  the  policy  of  Lord  Eipon, 
is  not  slow  to  recognize  that  this  latter  sometimes  erred 
through  excess  of  liberalism  in  wishing  to  move  too  fast- 


140  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

This  political  party,  which  does  the  greatest  honour  to 
the  good  sense  of  the  Indian  race,  demands  earnestly 
the  gradual  enfranchisement  oftheir  country." 

The  fame  of  the  paper  travelled  even  to 
America,  for  in  1883  the  New  York  Sun 
said  : — 

"There  is  many  an  American^  newspaper  written  less 
correctly  than  the  Indian  Spectator ;  and  there  is  probably 
not  a  British  scholar  living  who  could  use  any  of  the 
Indian  vernaculars  with  the  ease  and  idiomatic  precision 
displayed  by  Mr.  Malabari  in  dealing  with  the  English 
tongue." 

The  highest  officials  in  India  have  recog- 
nized the  merits  of  the  journal.  Lord  Kipon 
admired  it,  and  Sir  E.  Baring  wrote  : — 

"  I  always  read  your  paper  with  interest  for  two  reasons 
— first,  because  it  represents  the  interests  of  the  poorer 
classes  ;  secondly,  because  it  is  opposed  to  class  and  race 
antagonism.  The  last  point  is  especially  important  in 
this  country." 

The  Hon.  Sir  Auckland  Colvin,  his  suc- 
cessor, called  it  some  time  ago  ''  the  leading 
Native  journal,"  and  in  a  resolution  of  the 
Government  of  Bombay  it  has  been  styled 
"  the  foremost  native  paper  in  the  Bombay 


MALABABI  AS  A  JOUENALIST.  141 

Presidency."  General  Sir  LeGrand  Jacob, 
Sir  Erskine  Perry,  Sir  George  Birdwood, 
Colonel  Kobert  D.  Osborne,  Sir  Arthur  (now 
Lord)  Hobhouse,  and  others,  also  warmly 
praised  the  paper  for  its  high  character  and  its 
ability.  But  what  perhaps  Malabari  prizes 
most  of  all  is  a  letter  from  the  late  lamented 
George  Aberigh-Mackay  (Sir  Ali  Baba),  in 
which  he  wrote  : — 

"  I  have  read  a  number  of  your  paragraphs  and  short 
sketches  with  the  greatest  interest  and  pleasure ;  they 
have  point  and  humour,  and  are  charmingly  expressed. 
I  heartily  v?ish  every  success  to  the  Indian  Spectator." 

Thus  the  Indian  Sijectator  has  grown  to  be 
one  of  the  ablest  public  journals  in  the  country, 
certainly  the  most  influential  Native  journal. 
Its  voice  penetrates  into  the  Councils. of  the 
Empire.  The  secret  of  its  success  lies  mainly 
in  its  rigid  impartiality  between  class  and  class, 
as  also  between  the  rulers  and  the  ruled.  It 
may  be  mentioned  that  in  conducting  the 
paper  Malabari  was  valiantly  supported  by  one 
of  his  intimate  friends  and  advisers,  Mr. 
Dinsha  Edulji  Wacha.  Mr.  Wacha  con- 
tributed some  of  the  most  notable  articles  in 


142  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

the  Spectator,  displaying  an  amount  of  political 
and  economical  study,  and  an  aptitude  for 
thinking,  which  are  most  creditable  to  him.* 
"  But  for  Dinsha,"  wrote  Malabari,  "  I  would 
have  been  nowhere,  and  so  also  the  I.  S.  He 
not  only  gave  us  most  valuable  literary  assis- 
tance, but  brought  us  more  than  once  pecu- 
niary help  from  friends  as  disinterested  as 
himself.  My  own  money  affairs  are  even  now 
managed  entirely  by  Dinsha." 

It  is  really  surprising  how,  with  his  limited 
reading,  and  still  more  limited  knowledge  of 
the  world,  Malabari  could  carry  on  his  paper 
so  successfully.  "My  history  is  rather  strong," 
he  once  wrote,  ''  thanks  partly  to  the  love  of 
it  imbibed  from  Green.  Geography  as  weak 
as  mathematics,  owing  to  want  of  talent 
and  bad  teaching.  Of  light  literature  I  have 
had  almost  a  surfeit — my  love  of  novel  and 
romance  being  next  to  the  love  of  poetry. 
But  I  have  hardly  studied  a  single  work  of 
any  of  the  solid  thinkers  of  the  age.  In  this 
respect  you  could  set  me  down  as  a  creature 
of  arrested  growth.     The  fact  is,  my  life  has 

*  He  is  really  a  prodigy  of  facts  and  figures,  and  is  amazingly 
active  and  earnest. 


MALABABI  AS  A  JOURNALIST.  143 

l)een  too  crowded  for  regular  self- culture — a 
misfortune  of  which  I  am  reminded  almost 
every  day.  Last  year  I  laid  bare  my  ignorance 
before  a  friend  from  Europe,  as  we  sat  ex- 
changing confidences  late  at  night.  He  grew 
indignant  as  I  neared  the  end  of  my  igno- 
minious confession,  and  then  jotted  down  the 
names  of  some  thirteen  '  epoch-making  '  books, 
threatening  to  send  them  all  to  me  if  I  failed 
to  read  them  up  in  time.  He  has  carried  out 
his  threat  as  faithfully  as  I  my  promise.  You 
will  ask  how  I  manage  to  get  through  my  daily 
work.  Well,  I  try  to  follow  current  events  so 
far  as  I  can.  The  office  keeps  me  supplied 
with  cuttings  and  markings.  I  am  lucky  in 
contributors  and  correspondents,  and  have 
friends  all  over  the  country  on  whom  I  can 
rely.  I  have  half  a  dozen  friends  with  me 
■every  evening,  who  keep  me  informed  of 
what  is  going  on,  each  in  his  own  line — 
politics,  science,  art,  law,  literature,  gossip. 
Before  he  became  involved  in  matters  muni- 
cipal, Dinsha  Wacha  was  my  cyclopaedia  for 
ready  reference."  Above  all  these  advantages, 
however,  we  must  not  forget  the  human 
sympathy  with  which  Malabari   is    so   richly 


144  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

endowed.  The  success  of  liis  career  as  a 
journalist  lies  mainly  in  his  love  of  truth  and 
his  great  forbearance.  When  stung  into  a 
bitter  retort,  he  keeps  it  over,  revises  and 
re-writes  the  paragraph  before  sending  it  ta 
the  printer.  He  will  revise  it  again  in  proof. 
"  And  yet  of  a  Saturday  night  I  may  be  startled 
from  sleep,  go  down,  have  the  machine 
stopped,  remove  the  ugly  word  or  sentence 
that  startled  me,  and  then  walk  up  with  a 
conscience  at  peace."  The  same  tenderness 
for  the  feelings  of  others  marks  his  private 
life.  "  I  am  unfit  for  journalism,"  he  has 
often  complained  to  me. 

Malabaei  as  a  Toubist. 

The  Indian  Spectator  did  not  absorb  all 
the  energy  of  its  editor.  He  was  very  fond  of 
leading  a  kind  of  Bohemian  life  at  least  for 
a  month  in  the  year,  and  had  his  tours.  This 
is  how  he  describes  his  peculiar  system  of 
travelling. 

"  I  am  now  and  then  asked  by  European 
friends  how  often  I  have  been  to  England, 
and  how  long  I  have  stayed  there  altogether. 
And  when  I  protest  that  I  have  never  been 


MALABAEI  AS  A  TOURIST.  145 

out  of  India,  my  friends  look  at  me  in 
blank  astonishment.  The  fact  is,  I  have 
my  own  ideas  of  travel,  as  more  or  less  of 
everything  else.  The  first  tour  I  remember 
having  made  was  round  grandmother's  kit chen. 
Thence  I  transferred  my  attention  to  the 
front  yard  of  the  house,  thence  to  the  street, 
the  neighbouring  street,  the  whole  suburb  of 
Nanpura,  and  the  surrounding  suburbs— Eus- 
tampura,  Salabatpura,  Gopipura,  and  many 
others ;  next  the  Camp  and  the  villages 
beyond,  Umra  and  Dumas,  and  so  on.  The 
climbing  of  trees  and  roofs  in  search  of  paper 
kites  w^as  another  rouod  of  useful  tours.  (Kite- 
flying is  one  of  the  best  Indian  sports,  and  I 
am  sorry  to  find  it  discouraged.  I  think  it  is 
an  aid  to  the  sight,  and  it  undoubtedly 
steadies  the  hand  and  sharpens  presence  of 
mind.)  Well,  then,  next  to  climbing  of  trees 
or  roofs,  swimming  or  fording  the  Tapti,  and 
running  over  to  Bhatha,  Bander,  Adajan,  and 
other  gaums  *  was  also  a  means  of  touring. 
My  early  local  tours  were  often  extended  to 
Udna,  famous  for  toddy,  and  some  miles  from 
JSFanpura.     My  last  long  tour  from  Surat  was 

*  Villages. 
11 


140  MANHOOD  (1870-1891). 

a  walking  match  to  Nowsari,  when  poor  Mr, 
Rustomji  Jamsetji  gave  his  savoury  and  succu- 
lent   vialida  *    feast.     From    Surat   and   it& 
districts  I  have  passed  on  to  Gujarat  generally, 
•and  from  Gujarat,  of  course,  to  Kathiawar  and 
Kutch.     I  have  seen  much  of  India   during 
the  last  seven  years,  but  Gujarat  and  Kathia- 
war I  know  best.     Much  of  these  two  provinces. 
I  have  done  on  foot,  and  with  my  eyes  open. 
I  know  so  much  about  them,  that  if  I  were  to 
sell   my   knowledge    at  retail  price,  so  much 
for  the  page,  I  think  I  could  make  an  honest 
penny  out  of  it.     And  I  tell  you  again,  my 
dear  respectable  Bombay  reader,  that   much 
of  my  experience  is  the  result  of  good  hard 
tramping.     If  you  w^ant  a  real  guide,  one  Avho 
would  make  you  profit  by  your  travels,  consult, 
me.    One  peculiarity  about  my  travelling  is  that 
I  seldom  return  the  same  way  I  have  gone. 
This  is  a  somewhat  inconvenient  habit,   but 
it  has  grown  upon  me,  and  I  think,  on  the 
whole,  I  have  gained  by  it.     I  hope  one  duy 
to   finish   India  from  end  to  end  ;   and  then, 
who   knows   that   I   may   not  go  to  Europe,. 

■'■  A  confection  made -of  flour,  ghee,'  sugar,  and  spices.. 


MALABABI  AS  A  TOURIST.  147 

America,  and  the  rest  of  the  world?     Less 
likely  things  have  happened.* 

"  But  whether  I  go  to  Europe  or  not,  I  will 
never  give  up  my  habit.  In  study,  as  in 
travel,  I  wish  to  begin  at  the  very  beginning, 
and  to  proceed  by  slow  stages,  gaining  some- 
thing at  every  stage,  and  that  somethiug  such 
as  to  be  of  immediate  practical  use  on  the 
next  stage.  This  is  the  best  way  of  travelling 
and  studying.  Your  globe-trotter  will  laugh 
at  my  antiquated  method,  but  he  cannot 
deny  its  advantages.  When  you  travel  or 
study  by  degrees,  every  fresh  step  or  item 
of  knowledge  is  a  keen  enjoyment.  You 
are  prepared  to  receive  it,  and  thus  received, 
your  knowlege  will  fructify.  But  when  know- 
ledge is  thrust  upon  you  without  previous 
discipline,  that  is,  without  your  being  made 
fit  for  it,  it  will  be  inert  and  unleavened. 
What  is  the  use  of  visiting  foreign  countries 
when  you  know  nothing  of  your  own?  When 
you  go  to  Europe,  ignorant  of  your  own 
national  life,  you  will  miss  those  thousand 
points  of  comparison  and  contrast,  those  thou- 
sand  shades    of    difi"erence,   those    thousand 

*  Malabari  lias  since  been  twice  to  Euiope. 


1-18  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

beauties  and  blemishes,  that  modern  European 
civilization  presents.  At  the  best,  you  will 
look  at  things,  not  see  or  see  through  them. 
Knowledge  is  best  acquired,  take  my  word  for 
it,  by  the  comparative  method.  And  what 
will  you  compare  your  new  acquirements  with, 
when  there  are  not  half  a  dozen  home  ideas  in 
that  empty  head  of  yours  ?  You  go  to  see 
Windsor  Palace  and  are  lost  in  admiration 
at  the  sight.  Have  you  seen  Agra?  Had 
you  seen  some  of  the  architectural  glories  of 
your  own  country,  you  might  at  any  rate  have 
controlled  your  faculty  for  admiration.  You 
might  have  been  quite  at  liberty  to  admire  the 
modern  structure,  but  at  the  same  time  you 
could  have  seen  what  beauty  it  has  which  the 
palaces  of  India  do  not  possess,  aud  vice  versa. 
The  same  is  the  case  with  study.  If  you  learn 
Greek  after  learning  Sanskrit,  Persian  or 
Arabic,  you  will  enjoy  the  process,  recognize 
the  advantage  of  one  over  another,  and  though 
you  may  admire  the  European  classic  as  much 
as  you  like,  you  will  have  no  reason  to  be 
ashamed  of  your  own.  I  honour  you  for  your 
desire  to  examine  the  arts,  sciences  and  philo- 
sophies of  the  West ;  but  you  cannot  do  this 


MALABARl  AS  A  TOUBIST.  149 

with  advantage  to  yourself  and  the  world  unless 
you  have  already  made  yourself  familiar  with 
the  national  systems.  The  worst  result  of  this 
method  of  travel  and  study  that  I  am  com- 
plaining of  is,  that  it  gives  a  man  poor  ideas 
of  everything  in  his  country,  in  proportion  to 
the  exaggerated  notions  he  imbibes  about 
other  countries.  This  is  a  charge  from 
which  very  few  of  our  England-returned  men 
can  escape.  It  makes  me  sick  to  hear  a  man 
rave  about  this  thing  or  that  10,000  miles 
away,  when  a  much  better,  perhaps  the 
original  thing,  is  lying  unnoticed  in  his  own 
land.  Bah !  I  hate  your  Anglicised  Aryan."  * 
It  must  be  admitted  that  no  Anglicised 
Aryan  has  yet  produced  a  work  like  "  Gujarat 
and  the  Gujaratis,"  or  the  charming  sketches, 
so  brimful  of  humour,  which  Malabari  sent  to 
his  paper,  when,  with  Max  Miiller's  "  Hibbert 
Lectures "  on  the  brain,  he  went  about 
collecting  funds  for  translating  them  into  the 
principal  vernaculars  of  India.  He  travels 
with  a  small  quantity  of  luggage,  but  always 
with  a  chest  of  homoeopathic  medicines.  In 
1878,  while   at   Wadhwan,   he   was   snatched 

■■'■  Indian  Spectator,  July  1,  IS^-'S,  p.  411. 


150  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

from  the  jaws  of  death  by  a  Hindu  practi- 
tioner, Dr.  Thakordas,  who  gave  him  his  first 
lessons  in  homoeopathy,  and  ever  since  Mala- 
bari  has  gone  in  strongly  for  it,  and  done  his 
best  to  popularize  it  in  Bombay.  He  was 
instrumental  in  starting  the  largest  Homoeo- 
pathic Charitable  Dispensary  in  that  city,  and 
was  its  Honorary  Secretary.  The  medicine 
chest  is  extremely  useful  to  him  in  his  travels. 
It  has  often  served  to  give  relief,  not  only  to 
him,  but  to  many  a  fellow  traveller  and  to 
many  a  patient  in  the  places  visited  by  him. 
Malabari  on  tour  is  at  his  very  best.  A  keen 
lover  of  nature,  with  observant  eyes  and  a 
sympathetic  heart,  he  finds  true  poetry  in  the 
homeliest  scenes  and  every -day  incidents. 
Many  of  his  sketches  are  bright  little  idylls  in 
prose,  not  unworthy  even  of  Words w^orth. 
"  Gujarat  and  the  Gujaratis  "  has  won  great 
fame  ;  but,  to  my  mind,  the  free  and  easy 
"  Eound-about  Papers,"  which  are  to  be  found 
in  the  Indian  Spectator  of  1882  and  1883,  are 
far  better.  They  abound  with  sparkling  and 
incisive  sayings,  witty  anecdotes,  humorous 
comparisons  and  charming  observations.  One 
example  of  these  last  might  be  quoted.     At 


MALABABI  AS  A  TOUlilST.  151 

Kutlam,  Malabari  put  up  at  the  Musafir 
Bunglow,  and  he  writes  : — "  Musafir  Bunglow 
was  a  few  yards  from  the  Dharmsala.  Khan- 
sama  an  old  man.  I  have  never  known  a 
young  Khansama  in  these  parts.  The  expla- 
nation is  that  when  a  Saheb  cannot  afford  to 
pension  his  old  butler,  he  provides  a  place  for 
him  in  this  manner.  The  Khansama  had  a 
large  family  of  children  and  grand-children,  all 
ready  to  serve  ;  but  he  kept  a  very  spare  table 
— only  curry  rice  for  breakfast,  the  town  being 
so  far.  Had  to  make  shift  on  milk.  About 
2  p.m.,  came  Khansama's  little  grand-daughter, 
with  broom  and  duster.  She  moved  sofas  and 
lifted  chairs  with  an  agility  that  would  horrify 
Bombay  girls  of  twice  her  age.  '  What  is  your 
name,  child  ?  '  '  Pyari ' — Darling.  What  a 
name  !  '  Whose  darling  are  you,  betta  ?  '  * 
■'  Ajisaheb  f  I  am  God's  darling,  my  mother's 
darling,  my  father's  darling,  whose  else  ?  '  So, 
Ood  before  mother  and  father.  Not  bad  for  a 
girl  who  has  never  attended  the  Alexandra 
School.  I  Whatever  their  failings,  the 
Mahomedans  are  remarkable  for  their  ready 
wit,  and  for  those    amiable   accomphshments 

*  Chikl.  f  Oh  Sir.  I  At  Bombay,  for  girls. 


152  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

which  Hindus  and  Parsis  find  it  so  difficult 
to  acquire  or  exhibit.  Pyari  sang  one  or  two 
little  songs  at  my  request,  which  were  de- 
cidedly more  intelligible  than  the  pathetic 
bulialo-song  I  had  at  Indore."  * 

It  is  this  familiarity  wdth  the  poor,  and  his 
heartfelt  sympathy  with  them,  that  endear 
him  most  to  the  reader. 

Malabaei  as  a  Liteeaey  Man. 

After  suffering  "  twitches,  aches,  swellings, 
rawness,  thirst  and  hunger  "  during  a  twenty- 
six  hours'  journey  by  Dak  Tonga  to  Kolhapur, 
Malabari  wrote  : — "  Motion  is  the  poetry  of 
life  ;  so  long  as  you  are  within  an  inch  of 
suicide,  you  can  enjoy  motion.  And  much 
good  may  it  do  you  !  "  I  don't  know  whether  it 
did  him  much  good,  but  I  have  no  doubt  that 
he  enjoyed  writing  poetry  as  much  as  living 
it  and  walking  it.  In  1878  he  published  his 
"  Wilson  Virah,"  in  memoriam  of  Dr.  Wilson, 
and  dedicated  it  to  the  Eev.  Mr.  Taylor.  Its 
contents  may  be  described  in  the  words  of  the 
Bombay  Gazette:  "It  opens  wdth  a  pathetic 

='•  Indian  Spectator^  August  5,  1883,  p.  491. 


MALABABI  AS  A  LITEBABY  MAN.  158 

lament  of  Saraswati,*  and  its  interest  is 
throughout  maintained  with  great  power. 
Under  the  heading  Satishiromani  f  is  given  a 
picture  of  the  amiable  and  accomplished  wife, 
Margaret  Wilson.  He  then  tenderly  touches 
the  period  of  Dr.  Wilson's  marriage,  and 
recounts  the  united  efforts  of  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Wilson  for  the  good  of  the  people.  Much  of 
what  follows  is  taken  up  by  a  spirited  descrip- 
tion of  Dr.  Wilson's  services  to  Bombay — his 
visit  to  Scotland,  his  return,  illness  and  death. 
Then  follow  a  series  of  eulogistic  verses 
devoted  to  the  enumeration  of  Dr.  Wilson's 
erudition  and  personal  merits.  Altogether," 
concludes  the  Gazette^  "  '  Wilson  Yirah  '  is  a 
remarkable  work  of  its  kind,  and  we  hope  that 
the  setting  forth  of  this  great  man's  life  in  a 
captivating  form,  and  in  the  author's  own 
vernacular,  may  not  be  lost  upon  all  who  may 
read  it." 

''  Wilson  Yirah  "  is  mainly  lyrical,  and  it 
moves  its  reader  to  feel  keenly  the  sorrow  of  the 
poet  at  the  loss  of  his  friend  and  benefactor,  and 
to  appreciate  fully  the  worth  and  virtue  of  the 

*  The  Hindu  geddess  of  learning. 
f  The  best  of  virtuous  wives. 


154  MANHOOD  (187C-1991). 

^reat  philanthropist  and  savant.  "  Dr.  Wilson 
was  the  patron  of  thousands  of  the  poor,  the 
supporter  of  the  unfortunate  indigent,  the 
advocate  of  the  people,  the  adviser  of  the 
State,"  *  Malabari  had  enjoyed  his  friendship 
for  three  years,  and  could  do  justice  to  his 
•exemplary  life  in  all  its  manifold  relations. 
'The  result  was  a  work  occupyiug  a  unique 
position  in  Gujarati  literature,  as  it  was  the 
very  first  which  gave  an  attractive  picture  of 
.a  true  Christian  with  almost  an  unapproach- 
able standard  of  duty,  a  marvellous  amount  of 
;solid  learning,  a  genuine  modesty,  and  a  rare 
.sense  6f  self-sacrifice.  It  was  received  by  the 
press  with  a  chorus  of  compliments,  which 
was  certainly  not  undeserved,  f 

Malabari's   next    attempt   was    in   English 

■-■■  Bast  G  of  tar. 

I  "  The  laagiiap;e  of  '  Wilson  Virah,' ''  wrote  the  Jam-e- 
■Jamslied,  "is  simpler  and  more  racy  than  of  *Niti  Yinod,'  and 
its  original  thoughts,  descriptive  power,  and  genuine  poetic  ex- 
pression reflect  credit  on  the  author's  genius."  "  His  readers," 
wrote  the  Gujarat  Mitra,  "  are  not  only  loving  Parsis,  but 
•admiring  Hindus.  And  no  wonder.  For  Mr.  Malabari's 
language  is  not  only  pure — it  is  the  purest  of  the  pure."  "  His 
language  is  very  pure  and  simple,  his  poetry  is  very  sweet  and 
readable,"  wrote  the  Shamsher  Bahadur.  "  Mr.  Malabari's 
poetry  is  so  touching  and  impressive  that  we  are  tempted  to 
read  it  over  and  over  again.  His  works  are  the  ornaments  of 
our  libraries." 


MALABAR!  AS  A  LITERARY  MAN.  155 

^erse.  It  was  a  series  of  sonnets,  in  memory 
of  the  late  Princess  Alice,  in  which  he  drew  a 
noble  picture  of  her  womanly  excellence  with 
•a  "pathos  and  sympathy  very  warm  and 
•deep."  He  received  the  following  appreciative 
.acknowledgment  of  the  sonnets  from  Her 
Majesty  the  Queen-Empress  : — 

"Her  Majesty  sincerely  appreciates  the  very  kind  ex- 
pression of  sympathy  conveyed  in  Mr.  Malabari's  letter, 
•and  thanks  him  for  his  condolence  on  the  death  of  her 
dear  daughter,  the  Princess  Alice,  Grand  Duchess  of 
Hesse. 

"  Osborne,  30th  January,  1879." 

"  This,"  wrote  the  Bombay  Gazette,  "  is  a 
;great  compliment  to  a  young  Parsee  author, 
and  will  prove  a  stimulus  to  him  to  assidu- 
'Ously  cultivate  the  great  talent  which  he 
imdoubtedly  possesses,  and  strive  to  achieve 
.greater  triumphs." 

The  Calcutta  Statesman  wrote  in  the  same 
•.strain.  "  This  is  a  great  compliment  to  the 
poet's  genius  and  character.  Prom  what  has 
been  written  by  Mr.  Malabari,  and  from  what 
has  been  written  of  him,  we  believe  him  to  be 
ii   genuine   poet ;    and   his  writings   certainly 


156  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

evince  all  the  earnestness  and  enthusiasm  of  a. 
poetical  temperament.  The  youthful  poet  and 
journalist  has  our  best  wishes  for  his  future- 
success."  The  Madras  AthencBuvi,  the 
Madras  Mail,  and  several  other  papers^ 
noticed  the  sonnets  very  favourably,  and  the 
Calcutta  Englishman,  in  its  issue  of  April  5^ 
1879,  had  these  generous  words  about  him : — 

"He  is,  we  understand,  a  constant  contributor  to- 
English  newspapers  and  periodicals  ;  and  his  writings, 
are  characterized  by  great  felicity  of  diction  and  vigour  of 
expression.  He  takes  keen  interest  in  the  moral  and 
social  progress  of  his  countrymen  ;  and  his  earnest  and 
manly  endeavours  in  that  direction,  as  also  in  faithfully 
interpreting  the  relations  of  India  to  England,  ought  ta 
be  appreciated  by  both  countries.  Such  men  are  ail  too- 
few  in  this  country." 

In  1881,  Malabari  published  his  "  Sarod-i 
Ittifak,"  and  dedicated  it  to  his  '^  dear 
Jehangir,"  the  friend  who  had  helped  him  in 
sore  need.  It  contains  a  number  of  .beautiful 
songs.  The  Giijarati,  a  critical  Hindu  weekly, 
wrote  rapturously  of  "  the  best  harmony  and 
the  best  poetical  spirit  "  it  displayed,  and  thus, 
dilated  on  its  merits. 

"  When  it  is  seen   that   many  of   these  verses  were^ 


MALABABI  AS  A  LITEBABY  MAN.  157 

written  some  fifteen  years  ago,  it  will  be  granted  that 
Mr.  Malabari  was  born  with  all  the  powers  of  a  first-rate 
poet.  The  fire  of  Eeligion,  the  aspirations  of  Love,  the 
strengthening  of  Virtue,  the  yearning  after  Friendship, 
and  contempt  of  this  false  w^orld,  .  ,  .  these  subjects 
have  been  treated  in  spontaneous  language  and  in  metres 
that  could  be  rendered  into  music.  .  .  .  "What  heart  will 
not  overflow  with  enthusiasm  and  delight  by  a  perusal 
of  the  dramatic  romance,  Pahdaman  (Lady  Chastity),  and 
Shah  Narges  (Prince  Narcissus)  ?  .  .  .  The  lines  on  For- 
tune may  adorn  the  musician's  art  and  may  breathe  hope 
into  those  who  are  discontented  with  their  lot.  Bioga 
Bilap  and  Prabhu  Prarthna  will  prove  refreshing  to  two 
intoxicated  souls — the  love-intoxicated  and  the  faith- 
intoxicated.  .  .  .  These  noble  lines  will  work  powerfully 
upon  the  singer  as  well  as  the  hearer.  ...  In  short,  the 
highest  forms  of  poetry  abound  in  these  verses,  and  they 
are  sure  to  fascinate  the  student  of  Nature  with  their 
deep  meditative  spirit,  like  that  of  Wordsworth  or 
Milton." 


The  DesJii  Mitra,  the  Gujarat  Mitra,  the 
Jami  Jamshed,  the  Dmjan  Vardlialv,  and 
several  others  wrote  almost  as  admiringly. 
The  language  of  "  Niti  Vinod  "  and  "  Wilson 
Yirah  "  was  what  is  called  Sanskrit  Gnjarati; 
that  of  the  "  Sarod "  in  many  pieces  was 
Persian  Gujarati,  and  the  little  work  contained 
some  ghazals  (odes)  after  the  Persian  model, 
and  also  some  pieces   in   Hindi.      The   book 


158  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

was     financially    a     greater     success     than 
"Wilson   Virah." 

Max  Muller's  Hibbert  Lectures  in  the 
Vernaculars  of  India. 

In  1882  came  out  the  first  of  a  series  of 
translations  of  Prof.  Max  Miiller's  celebrated 
Hibbert  Lectures  on  the  Origin  and  Growth 
of  Religion  as  illustrated  by  the  Religions  of 
India.  In  1880  Malabari  had  undertaken  to- 
bring  out  this  series,  after  several  Indian 
scholars  who  had  been  invited  by  Max  Miiller 
to  translate  the  lectures  into  one  or  two  only 
of  the  vernaculars  had  declined  the  honour. 
The  purpose  of  the  Lectures  was  thus, 
explained  by  Max  Miiller  in  a  letter  to 
Malabari,  dated  Oxford,  February  2,  1882. 

"  As  I  told  you  on  a  former  occasion,  my 
thoughts  while  writing  these  lectures  were  far 
more  frequently  with  the  people  of  India  than 
with  my  audience  in  Westminster  Abbey.  I 
wanted  to  tell  those  few  at  least  whom  I 
might  hope  to  reach  in  English  what  the  true 
liistoj'ical  value  of  their  ancient  religion  is,  jis 
looked  upon,  not  from  an  exclusively  European 
or  Christian,  but  from  an  liistorical   point  of 


MAX  MULLEB'S  HIBBEBT  LEG  TUBES.         15^ 

view.     I  wished   to  warn   them   against   two 
dangers,  that  of  undervaluing  or  despising  the 
ancient  national  religion,  as  is  done  so  often 
by  your  half-Europeanised  youths,  and  that  of 
overvaluing  it  and   interpreting  it   as  it  was. 
never  meant  to  be  interpreted — of  which  you 
may   see   a   painful   instance    in    Dayananda 
Sarasvati's  labours  on  the  Veda.     Accept  th& 
Veda  as  an  ancient  historical  document,  con- 
taining    thoughts    in    accordance    with    the- 
character   of   an   ancient   and   simple-minded 
race  of  men,  and  you  will  be  able  to  admire  it 
and   to   retain   some    of    it,    particularly  the- 
teaching   of  the    Upanishads,  even   in   these 
modern    days.       But    discover  in   it   steam- 
engines   and   electricity  and  European  philo- 
sophy and  morality,  and  you  deprive  it  of  its- 
true  character,  you  destroy  its  real  value,  and 
you  break  the  historical  continuity  that  ought 
to  bind  the  present  to  the  past.     Accept  the 
past  as  a  reality,  study  it  and  try  to  under- 
stand it,  and  you  will  then  have  less  difficulty 
in  tinding  the  right  way  towards  the  future." 

Why  Malabari  considered  the  translation  of 
these  Lectures  a  necessity  was  interestingly 
explained  by   him   in   the   following    maiden. 


IGO  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

speech,  delivered  at  Jeypore  on  May  5,  1882, 
at  a  meeting  presided  over  by  Major  Jacob. 
The  speech  is  well  worth  reading,  and  I  there- 
fore make  no  apology  for  reproducing  it  : — 

"  I  must  thank  you  in  the  beginning,  Major  Jacob  and 
gentlemen,  for  your  interest  in  the  passing  visitor,  or,  it 
may  be,  in  his  project.  That  interest  is  implied  by  your 
kindly  presence  here  this  evening.  It  may  be  as  well  to 
tell  you  here  that  I  am  not  going  to  give  you  a  lecture  or 
an  address ;  all  that  I  have  agreed  to  do  is  to  make  a 
general  statement  before  you  of  matters  connected  with 
>my  scheme  of  translations. 

"  Max  Miiller's  theory  of  Language  and  Eeligion  I  may 
place  before  you  in  a  line.  Language,  he  thinks,  has  arisen 
out  of  four  or  five  hundred  roots  or  germs.  These  roots 
have  been  developing  in  number  and  in  strength  since  the 
beginning,  with  the  result  that  the  human  race  possesses 
this  day  so  many  different  and  copious  forms  of  speech. 
Eeligion,  Max  Miiller  thinks,  may  be  gradual  develop- 
ment or  elaboration  of  Sense  and  Eeason  into  Faith,  that 
is,  the  power  to  comprehend  the  Infinite.  Gentlemen, 
you  will  observe  that  there  is  nothing  gross  or  revolting 
in  this  view,  whatever  may  be  our  estimate  of  its  value. 
This  is  called  the  theory  of  Evolution,  or,  what  I  would 
call  by  preference,  the  theory  of  Historical  Development. 
You  will  forthwith  see  that  my  little  scheme,  too,  which 
I  have  the  honour  of  submitting  to  your  consideration,  is 
the  result  of  a  series  of  evolutions.  It  is  now  seven  years 
since  I  published  a  book  of  Gujarati  verse.  It  was  well 
received,  among  others,  by  my  venerated  and  all-worthy 
friend,  the  late  Dr.  Wilson.     The  main  feature  of  the 


MAX  MULLEB'8  HIBBEBT  LECTUBES.        161 

book  was  that  in  it  the  author  had  attempted  to  infuse 
the  spirit  and  tone  of  some  of  the  most  approved  Hterary 
productions  of  tlie  West.  Here  I  am  quoting  the  Times 
of  India.  Well  then,  gentlemen,  you  see  that  this  infu- 
sion of  something  of  the  modern  Western  thought  into 
Gujarati  verse  marked  the  beginning  of  my  literary 
career.  Some  time  after,  I  published  a  little  volume  of 
English  verse.  That  book,  though  a  very  indifferent 
performance,  proved  a  blessing  in  its  way.  Gentlemen, 
it  brought  me  acquainted  with  some  of  the  noblest 
Englishmen  and  Englishwomen.  The  Earl  of  Shaftes- 
bury, Miss  Nightingale,  Tennyson,  Gladstone,  Max 
Miiller,  Le  Grand  Jacob,  Erskine  Perry,  and  many 
others  wrote  to  me,  approving,  suggesting,  correcting, 
and  advising.  It  is  no  business  of  mine,  gentlemen,  to 
tell  you  how  a  local  critic  decried  our  ambitious  versifier. 
Take  that  as  granted.  Many  of  the  English  worthies 
sent  me  their  works  in  return ;  and  it  was  then  that  I 
began  to  realize  what  doing  public  good  was  like.  (Cheers.) 
Gentlemen,  if  there  are  any  saints  treading  God's  earth, 
we  may  fairly  take  that  venerable  nobleman,  noble  in 
birth  and  in  life  and  conversation,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  and 
such  incomparable  Englishwomen  as  Florence  Nightin- 
gale and  Mary  Carpenter,  to  be  such.  (Hear,  hear.) 
The  other  notables  you  know  better  than  I  do,  except, 
perhaps.  General  Sir  Le  Grand  Jacob,  whose  nephew  and 
heir  here  has  done  me  the  honour  of  presiding  on  this 
occasion  ;  and  Sir  Erskine  Perry,  whose  death  only  last 
week  all  India  deplores  and  will  ever  deplore.  Their 
enthusiasm  of  humanity  was  something  phenomenal : 
but  India  was  their  first  and  best  love  ;  it  was  the  object 
of  their  constant,  lifelong  love.  (Applause.)  But  I  must 
not  wander.    Well,  gentlemen,  some  of  my  English  verses 

12 


1C2  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

were  liked,  because  therein  I  had  expressed  myself  as  an 
India?!  thinker.  I  was  true  to  myself  and  my  country. 
Pray  observe,  gentlemen,  that  in  my  Gujarati  verse  I 
had  tried  to  introduce  some  element  of  Western  thought 
— in  my  English  verse  I  introduced  more  or  less  of  purely 
Indian  interest.  In  this  fact  you  may  trace  the  germ  of 
my  theory,  my  pet  theory, — that  the  means  thus  silently 
suggested  are  among  the  best  calculated  for  a  true  and 
lasting  union  between  West  and  East.  Max  Miiller 
seems  to  have  grasped  this  idea,  though  in  me  it  was 
lying  crude  and  inert.  He  wrote  to  me  very  kindly,  and 
sent  me  a  copy  of  his  '  Hibbert  Lectures.'  A  perusal  of 
his  letters  and  his  Lectures  breathed  life  into  that  inert 
idea  of  mine,  and  made  it  a  definite  tangible  entity.  My 
latent  purpose  was  roused,  and  I  longed  to  realize  it. 
The  *  Hibbert  Lectures  '  came  as  a  godsend  to  me.  You 
all  know  who  and  what  Max  Miiller  is.  In  our  parts  we 
call  him  a  Muni,  a  Bishi,  an  inspired  sage.  Gentlemen, 
the  Bast  Goftar  calls  Max  Miiller  a  prophet.  I  dare  say 
there  is  some  amiable  exaggeration  in  that ;  but  you  will 
grant,  that  the  man's  intellect  is  luminous  ;  that  his 
powers  of  investigation  and  expression  are  equally 
marvellous.  Then,  he  possesses  keen  catholic  sympa- 
thies. He  has  laboured  all  his  life  to  bring  about  a 
union  amongst  nations.  That  union  has  long  been 
aimed  at.  A  marriage  between  East  and  West  was 
arranged  even  before  the  days  of  the  illustrious  William 
Jones.  Even  the  silver  wedding  is  gone  and  past.  In 
that  work  of  union  you  trace  the  hand  of  a  higher  Power 
than  of  man.  Modern  Indian  history  teaches  you  that. 
But  I  may  say  that  Max  Miiller  and  his  contemporaries 
have  contributed  largely  to  bringing  to  the  surface  the 
practical  results  of  that  process  of,  let  us  hope,  progres- 


MAX  MULLERS  HIBBEBT  LECTURES.        163 

sive  union.  By  his  "  Eig-Veda  Sanhita  "  and  other  works, 
Max  Miiller  has  given  new  birth,  so  to  say,  to  Sanskrit : 
he  has  resuscitated,  I  say  he  has  helped  to  regenerate, 
the  language  and  literature  of  our  land.  (Loud  cheers.) 
He  has  his  faults,  too,  I  allow.  You  often  wish  that  a 
man  in  his  commanding  position  could  be  a  little  more 
decided,  a  little  more  assertive.  But,  worthy  critics,  let 
me  tell  you  that  the  more  a  man  knows,  the  more 
ignorant  he  will  feel;  knowledge  does  not  breed  con- 
fidence so  much  as  ignorance  does.  And  thus  where  you 
and  I  will  blurt  out  what  we  feel  to  be  the  truth,  this 
man  will  halt  and  hesitate  and  discriminate. 

"  For  these  reasons,  and  others,  I  felt  that  the  '  Hibbert 
Lectures '  were  just  the  thing  for  me  to  begin  with.  In 
these  splendid  dissertations  the  author  gives  us  back  our 
•own,  modernized,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  and  spiritualized. 
We  badly  want  '  character '  in  our  modern  vernaculars. 
Here  you  have  as  much  character  and  originality  as  you 
may  wish  for.  You  will  readily  grant  that,  by  reason  of 
his  special  study.  Max  Miiller  is  best  fitted  of  all  his  con- 
temporaries for  a  work  of  this  nature.  And  let  me  tell 
you,  gentlemen,  that  he  is  decidedly  better  qualified  than 
the  best  of  our  Indian  scholars,  because  he  is  unbiassed 
and  disinterested.  (Hear,  hear.)  His  chief  recommenda- 
tion is  his  catholicity.  Different  systems  of  faith  are  so 
many  paths  leading  to  the  same  goal,  namely,  to  the 
source  of  Truth.  "Well,  gentlemen,  I  have  proposed  to 
myself  to  have  these  Lectures  translated  into  Sanskrit, 
Gujarati,  Marathi,  Bengali,  Hindi,  and  Tamil.  The 
Gujarati  is  already  done  by  my  friend,  Mr.  Naoroji 
Mobedjina,  and  myself ;  the  other  translations  are  more 
or  less  advanced.  The  work  is  entrusted  to  the  best 
available  hands,  and  their  labours  are  to  be  revised  by 


164  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

competent  scholars  before  passing  on  to  the  printer. 
And  I  trust  that,  when  pubhshed,  these  vernacular 
versions  may  do  some  good.  If  I  succeed,  it  is  my 
ambition  to  form  a  standing  association  for  purposes  of 
translation  from  and  into  Indian  languages — a  service 
peculiarly  acceptable  to  the  unlearned  —  the  people. 
And  now  you  will  have  seen,  gentlemen,  that,  like  Max 
Miiller's  theory,  my  little  scheme,  too,  has  grown  up 
after  a  series  of  evolutions,  and  that  all  I  have  just 
told  you  has  not  been  evolved  out  of  the  depths  of  my 
own  inner  consciousness.  It  may  be  that  I  am  growing 
a  monomaniac  on  this  subject ;  but  pray  see,  there  is 
some  method  in  the  madness.  Besides,  the  mania  can- 
not be  so  very  rabid  after  all,  since  I  have  some  of  the 
best  European  and  native  friends  in  sympathy  with  me, 
as  also  the  press  of  the  country.  It  is  no  less  encourag- 
ing than  significant  to  know  that  my  respected  friends, 
Messrs.  Wood,  Wordsworth,  Eyan,  Bird  wood,  Mac- 
naghten.  Candy,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Kemball,  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Gibbs,  the  Hon.  Major  Baring,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Hunter, 
Babu  Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  Babu  Eajendralala  Mitra, 
and  others  have,  fi*om  the  beginning,  evinced  a  common 
interest  in  my  experiment.  The  Government  of  Bombay 
have  generously  strengthened  my  hands  with  a  pecuniary 
grant,  and  I  reasonably  expect  similar  encouragement 
from  the  other  Governments.  I  cannot,  of  course,  be 
sure  that  the  scheme  will  succeed.  Up  to  now  very 
little  practical  success  has  attended  my  itinerary  save 
the  Maharani  Shurnomoye's  munificent  little  gift  of  Es. 
1,000.  But  I  have  sown  the  seed,  and  in  good  time  I 
hope  to  reap  a  harvest.  I  have  spared  no  effort  and  no 
expense ;  will  spare  none.  Others,  too,  have  been 
working,  especially  my  brothers  of  the  Hindoo  Patriot 


MAX  MULLEB'S  HIBBEBT  LECTUBES.        165 

and  the  Indian  Mirror.  And  now,  gentlemen,  I  appeal 
to  you  to  work  with  and  for  me.  Make  my  scheme 
your  own,  I  beg.  It  is  no  more  my  scheme  than  yours, 
of  the  nation ;  yes,  gentlemen,  it  has  been  described  as 
a  national  project.  Life  is  a  precious  blessing.  What  is 
impossible,  with  that  blessing  in  us  and  around  us  ?  With 
you  living,  and  I  living,  and  the  world  living ;  with  the 
English  language  moulding  our  thoughts,  and  the  English 
rule  moulding  our  destinies,  why  despair  ?  Nay,  let  us 
hope  for  the  best." 

Major  Jacob  then  said  a  few  words  to  mark 
the  sympathy  of  the  meeting  with  Malabari's 
efforts,  and  the  meeting  broke  up. 

These  proceedings  took  place  while  Malabari 
was  on  his  way  from  Calcutta  to  Bombay. 
He  had  visited  almost  all  the  important 
centres  of  Bengal,  and  had  received  a  great 
deal  of  praise.  The  leading  newspapers  in 
Bengal,  Native  as  well  as  English,  recognized 
his  venture  as  a  "  national  enterprise,"  and 
called  upon  the  Government  and  patrons  of 
literature  generally  to  support  it.  The  Indian 
Mirror  and  others  went  so  far  as  to  recom- 
mend the  establishment  of  a  permanent 
national  fund  to  help  Malabari  in  his  under- 
takings.    The  project  was  viewed  with  equal 


166  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

enthusiasm  by  Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  Eajen- 
dralala  Mitra,  and  other  leaders  of  thought 
in  India.  But  no  substantial  support  was 
given  to  the  scheme  in  Bengal,  except  by  the 
Maharani  Shurnomoye.  The  work  was  ex- 
tremely expensive,  for  it  was  quite  clear  that 
these  translations  would  not  be  pojndar.  Ma- 
labari  knew  this  well  enough,  but  his  object 
was  not  gain  or  popularity,  but  a  gradual 
religious  revival.  "  India  wants  nothing  so 
much  as  a  religious  revival,  or  rather  a  resto- 
ration. There  is  no  real  unity  for  the  nation 
except  through  one  faith ;  political  unity  is 
always  uncertain.  The  struggle  lies  in  future 
between  a  new  rehgion  for  the  people  and  a 
revival  of  the  old.  And  to  a  consummation 
of  the  latter,  which  will  be  through  a  natural 
process,  I  believe  that  the  labours  of  Max 
Miiller  will  contribute  more  than  of  any  other_ 
living  authority."* 

This  scheme  of  translations  has  cost  Mala- 
bari  no  end  of  trouble  and  sacrifice.  Not 
dispirited  by  his  indifiFerent  success  in  the 
North- West  Provinces  in  1881,  and  in  Bengal 
in   1882,    he    started,  in   January,    1883,   for 

*  Indian  Spectator. 


MAX  MijLLEli'S  HIBBEET  LECTVBES.        1C7 

Central   India,    and,  travelling   very   rapidly, 
was  able  to  interest  many  princes  and  chiefs 
in  his   enterprise.     He   saw   the    "  Merchant 
Prince  of  Indore,"  the  father  of  the  present 
Holkar,   on  the  7th  of  June,  reached  Dhar, 
the   old  capital  of  Eaja  Bhuja,  and  Mandu, 
that   "  eloquent   sermon   in    stone   on   human 
vanity,"   on  the  11th,  passed  on  to  "  Mhow 
and  Misanthropy "  and  the  fat  bugs  of  Mhow 
"  as   healthy   and   full   of    blood   as    Bhattia 
millionaires,"  on  the   13th,  missed  the  train 
for  Eutlam,   and  went  to  Ujein,  the  capital 
of  Yikram,  and  thence  travelled  to  Rutlam, 
where   he   met   the    little    Pyari    and    Eaja 
Eanjitsing    (the    pupil    of    Aberigh-Mackay), 
with  whom   he  had   a  most  interesting  con- 
ference.    This  tour  was  not  so  disappointing 
as  the  Bengal  one  ;  but  it  was  not  a  success. 
Malabari  said  as  much  to  an  English  friend 
on   his   return   to   Bombay,    and   this    friend 
advised   him  to  try    the    Southern   Mahratta 
Country.      No   sooner   said   than   done.      On 
July  3,  he  left  for  Poona,  and  thence  starting- 
post-haste  for  Kolhapur  on   July  5,  reached 
his  destination  after  a  most  fatiguing  journey 
of  twenty-six  hours.     He  saw  Colonel  Eeeves 


108  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

and  the  Eegent,  and  passed  half  a  week  at 
Kolhapur,  and  thence  discoursed  on  "  that 
licensed  assassin/'  that  "  poisoner-general  of 
the  population ' ' — the  liquor  seller — on  pottery 
and  poetry,  on  the  Gujri  fair,  on  High  Court 
Judges,  military  politicals,  and  secret  des- 
patches. On  July  9,  he  left  for  Sangli,  got 
a  handsome  little  donation  from  the  Chief, 
and  wrote  about  the  water-famine  on  the 
G.  I.  P.  Eailway,  "  the  insolence  of  office," 
''  the  autocratic  obstructiveness  of  some  Col- 
lectors, and  the  '^naikins  (dancing  girls) 
reciting  the  mantras  of  the  5th  Yeda."  On 
July  10,  he  left  for  Miraj,  and  thence  on  the 
next  day  he  proceeded  to  Bombay,  after  a 
short  but  not  unsuccessful  expedition. 

In  August,  1883,  he  published  the  Mahrathi 
translation,  and  in  the  cold  season  again  set 
out  to  plead  the  cause  of  "  Bhat  Max  Miiller. 
This  time  he  wanted  to  attack  the  Scindhia ; 
and  so  passing  a  couj)le  of  days  at  Agra  (this 
was  his  third  trip  to  the  famous  city),  he 
started  for  Morar,  where,  iinfortunately,  he  was 
laid  up  with  fever.  Nevertheless,  on  November 
11,  he  had  an  interview  with  the  Gwalior  prince 
■ — a  fruitless  one — for  H.  H.  Jioji  Rao  Scindhia 


"GUJABAT  AND  THE  GU J  ABATIS."  169 

knew  nothing  of  literary  charity  or  of  Max 
Miiller,  and  quietly 

"  Smole  a  smile 
A  quarter  of  a  mile  " 

at  his  young  visitor's  enthusiasm.  The  en- 
thusiast returned  to  Bombay,  nothing  dis- 
couraged, and  pushed  on  with  the  translations. 
The  Bengali  version  has  come  out  already,  as 
also  the  Hindi.  The  Tamil  is  in  the  press. 
The  Sanskrit  is  the  most  difficult  one ; 
■attempts  have  been  made,  costing  much 
labour  and  money,  without  satisfying  Max 
Miiller.  But  this  Sanskrit  translation  will 
not  be  long  delayed.  Malabari  himself 
translated  about  one  half  of  the  Lectures  in 
Oujarati — the  other  part  was  done  by  Mr. 
Naoroji  Mancherji  Mobedjina,  Manager  of 
the  Indian  Spectator — and  prefixed  to  this 
translation  a  lucid  essay  of  his  own  on  Eeli- 
.gion.  The  rest  of  the  translations  are  the 
work  of  Hindu  scholars  employed  by  him. 

"  GUJAEAT    AND    THE    GujAEATIS." 

The  only  other  literary  performance  of  Ma- 
labari, excepting  fugitive  poems  like  the  elegy 


170  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

on  the  death  of  Lady  Fergnssoii,  the  sonnets 
m  memory  of  Aberigh-Mackay,   the    "Lines 
addressed  to  a  Photograph,"  the  poem  on  the 
retirement    of    our    noble    ex-Yiceroy,    Lord 
Eipon,  that  on  the  unholy  gains  of  commis- 
sariat contractors,  and  so  on,  is  his  "  Gujarat 
and  the  Gujaratis."     This  had  the  honour  of 
being  published  in  London  by  the  well-known 
firm  of  Messrs.  Allen  and  Co.  at  their  own: 
risk  and  cost.     It  has  already  gone  through  a. 
second  edition  and  a  third,  which  would  have 
been  out  three  years  ago  but  for  the  author's- 
absorption  in  the  social  reform  crusade.     The 
merits  of  the  book  have  been   acknowledged 
by  almost  all  the  leading  journals  in   India^ 
by  many  in   England,   and  by  some  even  in 
France  and  the  United  States.     One  of  the 
best     reviews     appeared    in    the    Civil    and 
Military  Gazette  of  Lahore,  which,  though  it. 
perceived  in  a  few  places  the  faults  of  "  over- 
smartness  "  and  "  vivacity  occasionally  laps- 
ing   into    vulgarity,"    heartily    praised   "  the 
genuine  humour  "  of  the  writer,  "  the  sincerity 
which    seems    inseparable    from    the   gift   of 
humour,"  his  "  unforced  vivacity  and  frank- 
ness   of  style,"   his  "  unmistakable   strain  of 


''GUJABAT  AND  THE  GUJABATIS."  171 

the  comic  faculty  and  sound  moral  inten- 
tions." "  The  result,"  it  summed  up/'  though 
English  enough  in  form,  has  a  fundamental 
independence,  a  national  idiosyncrasy,  which 
is  its  best  feature,  and  is  as  characteristic  and 
piquant  as  though  it  had  been  written  in  the 
flexible  Gujarati  in  which  Parsis  delight. 
The  fiction,  then,  that  a  native  of  India  loses- 
his  national  characteristics  by  English  educa- 
tion is  not  true.  Nor  is  it  true  that  his  moral 
sense  is  blunted.  Nor  is  his  affection  for  the 
poetry  and  learning  of  the  East  in  any  way 
lessened,  but  rather  it  is  intensified.  It  would 
be  mockery  to  ask  whether  the  M.  0.  L's., 
B.  0.  L's.,  and  D.  0.  L's.  of  our  new  Uni- 
versity are  likely  to  produce  anything  in 
Sanskrit  shloka  or  Persian  ode  with  half  the 
vitality  and  direct  bearing  on  the  difficulties 
that  beset  national  development,  as  this  little 
book  possesses."  The  London  press  wrote 
strongly  in  favour  of  the  book.  The  Saturday 
Review  alone  was  of  a  different  opinion.* 

*  The  following  passage  from  a  review  well  describes  the 
varied  contents  of  the  book  : — 

"  The  writer  is  truly  a  humorist  in  the  best  sense  of  the 
word.  He  '  professes  '  to  quote  Thackeray,  '  to  awaken  and. 
direct  your  love,  your  pity,  your  kindness,  your  scorn  for  un- 


172  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

The  third  edition  of  "  Gujarat,"  pubhshed 
in  1889,  ehcited  some  very  interesting  opinions. 

truth,  pretension,  and  imposture— your  tenderness  for  the  weak, 
the  poor,  the  oppressed,  the  unhappy.  To  the  hest  of  his  means 
and  ahihty,  he  comments  on  all  the  ordinary  actions  and  pas- 
sions of  life  almost.  He  takes  upon  himself  to  be  the  week-day 
preacher,  so  to  speak.  Accordingly,  as  he  finds,  and  speaks, 
and  feels  the  truth  best,  we  regard  him,  esteem  him — sometimes 
love  him.  No  one  who  reads  '  Gujarat  and  the  Gujaratis '  will 
fail  to  have  a  vei-y  high  admiration  and  esteem  for  its  aiithor. 
It  awakens  and  directs  our  love  for  men  like  Kareandas  Mulji 
and  Kustomji  Jemsetji,  the  Kev.  Eobert  Montgomery,  Mr. 
Taylor,  and  Mr.  Birdwood.  It  rouses  our  pity  for  the  slaves 
and  victims  of  caste,  the  blooming  brides  married  to  baby 
husbands,  the  youthful  widows  cut  off  at  an  early  age  frona 
matrimonial  bhss  and  consigned  to  the  tender  mercies  of  a 
heartless  soulless  society.  We  learn  to  think  kindly  of  the 
'primitive  peace-loving  Surtis'  and  of  prodigal  Mahomedan 
nobles  of  the  type  of  Mir  Bakhtawar  Khan.  .  .  .  The  untruth, 
pretension,  and  imposture  of  the  Vaishnava  Maharaj,  the  Parsi 
Dastur,  the  Mahomedan  MuUa,  are  here  most  trenchantly  and 
effectively  exposed — and  we  are  made  to  feel  intense  tenderness 
for  those  misguided  creatures,  who,  bred  in  perverted  faiths, 
expect  salvation  from  sensual  or  superstitious  cults.  The  book 
is  full  of  pictures  from  life,  whose 'i-»hotogra[ihic  fidelity'  we 
cannot  praise  too  much.  The  prudish  milkmaid  of  Broach  who 
angrily  refers  her  customer  to  her  '  this '  (husband),  when  asked 
what  she  would  take  for  a  seer  of  her  beverage — the  bullock- 
driver  who  'kisses,  embraces,  lashes  and  imprecates'  his  animal 
by  turns.  .  .  .  The  snobs  with  their  '  reserved-seat'  etiquette, 
their  'purse-pride'  and  '  power-pride'— the  naikin  with  her  in- 
separable appendage  who  serves  as  her  bear-leader,  music- 
master,  and  go-between — the  wrestlers  making  their  make- 
beheve  bows  and  rubbing,  scrubbing,  currycombing,  and  knead- 
ing each  other — the  ultra-patriotic  native  politician  with  his 
maxim,  '  Let  a  hundred  peojile  die  under  Native  misrule  rather 
than  ten  of  them  be  saved  by  British  interference  '-  -the  bloated 


"  GUJABAT  AND  THE  GU JAB  AT  IS."  173 

Sir  W.  Hunter  wrote  : — 

"Formerly,  the   complaint  was    that  Indian  modern 
writers  merely  reproduced  the  abstract  conceptions    of 


Banya  Railway  passenger  giving  vent  to  imbecile  cries  on  find- 
ing the  train  was  about  to  move  from  the  station  at  which  he 
had  to  alight — -the  '  loyal '  sneak  who  curries  favour  with  the 
Collector  in  order  to  terrorise  over  the  people,  and  is  rewarded 
with  a  Khan  Bahadurship — the  Parsi  Sheth,  prim,  old,  well 
shaved,  well  washed,  well  scented,  sitting  down  with  a  grimace, 
standing  up  with  a  yawn,  walking  as  if  he  were  a  basket  of 
newly-laid  eggs,  and  sleeping  with  a  stout  cotton  pillow  tied 
under  his  chest — the  Hindu  paterfamilias  inviting  his  young 
hopefuls,  after  swallowing  plenty  of  substantials,  to  pommel  and 
promenade  on  his  capacious  stomach — the  orthodox  Parsi  crying 
out  '  Defeat,  defeat  to  Shaitan,'  after  giving  a  flap  to  his  '  triple 
cord '  at  daybreak,  '  mumbling  over  an  extent  of  jawbreaking 
jargon '  near  the  seashore,  and  having  even  while  at  prayer  an 
eye  to  business  and  the  main  chance — the  Parsi  graduate  flatten- 
ing his  nose  against  the  Agiari  altar,  on  the  sly — the  Parsi 
reformer  who  in  pubhc  is  honey-sweet  to  his  family,  but  does 
not  mind  pulling  his  daughter  by  the  hair  if  his  shoes  have  not 
the  I'equisite  shine  after  blacking — the  Parsi  fashionable  wife 
who  insists  on  having  a  wet-nurse,  a  dry-nurse,  a  cook,  and  a 
hamal,  though  her  husband  earns  only  one  hundred  rupees  a 
month — the  guests  at  a  Borah  marriage  ogling  the  bride  accord- 
ing to  the  Borah  custom  with  extreme  unction — the  Marwari 
with  his  policy  of  the  '  long  rope '  and  centum  per  centum, 
lending  and  lending  till  his  victims  are  completely  in  his  meshes 
— the  village  Hajam,  barber,  torch-bearer,  herbalist,  and  pro- 
curer, all  rolled  into  one,  retailing  scandal  while  plying  his  razor  or 
his  tweezers — the  mofussil  Vakil,  that '  column  of  vapom-  issuing- 
from  the  ocean  of  emptiness,'  with  his  hrass  and  his  bluster,  and 
his  combative  and  obstructive  tactics — the  terrible  Aghori  be- 
smeared with  ordure,  with  eyes  on  fire,  the  nostrils  wide-dis- 


174  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

older  authors.  Your  work  in  life  has  been  an  answer 
to  imputations  of  this  sort.  As  a  social  reformer  you 
have  seen  clearly  the  great  blot  on  the  domestic  life 
of  India,  and  you  have  devoted  all  your  energies  and 
resources  to  removing  that  blot.  As  an  author  you  have 
looked  out  on  men  and  manners  with  your  own  eyes,  and 
you  have  given  us  the  result  of  your  own  observations  in 
vigorous  language,  with  a  strong  individual  flavour.  I 
sincerely  trust,  my  dear  friend,  that  years  and  health  may 
be  spared  to  you,  to  go  on  with  both  your  great  tasks — 
as  a  reformer  of  the  family  life  of  India,  and  as  a  writer 
of  originality  and  power  on  the  vital  Indian  questions  of 
■our  day." 

Sir  James  Lyall,  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
the  Punjab,  said : — 

"  I  have  looked  into  '  Gujarat '  already,  and  have  been 
interested  in  all  I  have  read.  ...  I  hope  you  will  find 
time  some  day  to  write  companion  volumes  on  other  parts 
•of  India." 


tended,  the  tongue  protruding,  the  hair  full  of  vennin,  and  ilie 
nails  an  inch  long — the  Vaid  with  his  Mantras  and  Tantias,  liis 
charms  and  his  amulets,  and  his  doses  '  pottle  deep  ' — the  luan- 
nish  '  mother-in-law,'  a  plague  to  her  dear  daughter  and  her 
dear  daughter's  lord,  stern,  meddling,  and  mischief-making — 
and  last  but  not  least,  the  Hinduani  '  saturated  with  sweet  silly 
domestic  legends,'  singing  the  garba  with  her  companions,  round 
•  a  bonny  youth  and  maiden  fair  ' — all  these  are  graphic  portraits 
with  the  unmistakable  lineaments  of  truth,  and  tell  us  much 
more  of  native  life  than  j^our  bulky  gazetteers  and  heavy  books 
■of  travel," 


MALABAEFS  CBEED.  175 

The  late  Archbishop  Porter  of  Bombay 
said : — 

"The  book  is  an  old  friend  of  mine.  In  an  earlier 
■edition  it  had  amused  me  and  instructed  me.  .  .  .  What 
a  pity  you  have  not  had  the  leisure  to  write  about  some 
of  the  other  provinces  !  " 

General  Sir  Frederick  Roberts,  Commander- 
in-Chief  in  India,  wrote  : — 

"  '  Gujarat '  is  most  interesting,  and  I  hope  that  some 
day  you  will  have  leisure  to  publish  similar  books  on 
other  parts  of  India  with  which  you  are  acquainted." 

Malabaki's  Ceeed. 

"  The  study  of  Hindu  poetry,"  writes  Mala- 
T3ari,  "tempered  my  fanaticism — the  tendency 
of  a  nature  that  would  protest  against  every- 
thing it  could  not  understand  or  fall  in  with, 
•and  which  sought  to  dissipate  the  fog  of  indif- 
ferentism  around  him  by  volcanic  action.  It 
taught  me  charity  and  forbearance.  What 
makes  me  so  tolerant  to-day  to  my  erring 
Tarother  ?  Even  to  the  votary  of  infant  mar- 
riage I  say — '  Creature  of  God,  go  thy  way. 
Xiive  out  thy  error,  if  thou  canst  not  see  it 
now.     The  truth  that  thou  shalt  grasp  in  time 


176  MANHOOD  (1870-1891). 

shall  be  none  the  less  bright  for  the  darkness 
of  thy  present  ways.'  Hindu  poetry  and  Hindu 
associations  have  taught  me  this,  above  all, 
namely,  that  there  is  room  for  difference  of 
opinion  on  almost  every  phase  of  the  complex 
and  inscrutable  problem  we  call  life. 

"  Now  and  again  I  break  away  from  this 
beneficent  restraint.  The  spirit  of  protest  is 
up  at  sight  of  an  obvious  wrong  or  injustice. 
With  me  poetry  is  no  pastime  for  an  idle 
hour.  It  is  the  language  of  heroes  and  demi- 
gods. It  is  sacred.  Every  good  thought  is 
to  me  a  precious  gift,  to  be  cherished  with  all 
the  strength  of  my  being.  Every  good  word 
is  a  crystallized  form  of  good  thought,  the 
more  to  be  cherished  because  more  enduring 
and  efficacious.  Every  good  deed  is  the 
crystallized  perfection  of  the  original  heritage, 
the  good  thought  inspired  by  God ;  and  there- 
fore the  most  perfect  manifestation  of  the 
Divine  in  the  human.  This  is  my  religion,  so 
far  as  I  can  explain  it  now.  I  have  made  it 
my  ideal.  I  believe  it  is  the  saving  of  wild 
natures  like  mine.  Work,  work,  incessant 
work.  Let  there  be  no  rest ;  because  leisure 
often  feeds  the  self,  and  so  feeding,  destroys 


MALABABT8  CBEED.  177 

it ;  because,  when  idle,  I  am  assailed  by  selfish 
and  by  evil  thoughts.  Do  what  I  like,  I 
cannot  always  shake  these  off ;  when  the  mind 
remains  long  unoccupied,  it  will  stagnate,  may 
perhaps  be  unhinged. 

"  My  favourite  prayers,  as  you  know,  are 
AsJiema  and  Ahunovairyo.  I  cannot  give  you 
the  exact  meaning  of  the  two  verses ;  they  are 
very  hard  of  literal  rendering,  especially  the 
second.  It  were  too  much  to  depend  entirely 
on  any  of  the  translations  extant.  As  to  the 
first,  intuition  and  the  science  of  philology 
both  seem  to  tell  us  that  Asliema  must  mean 
something  like  Truth,  Eighteousness,  the 
supreme  aim  of  our  life,  thS  very  reason  of 
our  being,  its  aptest  symbol  and  completest 
vindication.  In  the  practical  concerns  of  life 
the  Zoroastrian  is  bound  to  expand  this  sense 
of  AsJiema  into  true  (that  is,  real,  or  good,  or 
straight)  thoughts,  true  words,  and  true  deeds. 
I  look  upon  Asha  as  the  pride  and  glory  of  our 
common  Aryan  speech.  May  not  inj  AsJia  be 
the  same  as  your  Isha,  and  the  Esse  of  the 
white  Aryas  of  Europe  ?  Truth,  realness,  or, 
as  I  would  call  it,  be-ness,  is  as  much  the 
pivot  of  our  religion  as  charity  is  that  of  yours 

13 


178  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

(Hindu),  love  that  of  the  Christian,  faith  that 
of  the  Mahomedan. 

"  The  sense  of  Ahunovairyo,  beheved  to  be 
the  oldest  commandment  delivered  by  Ahura- 
Mazd  himself  to  his  first  prophet,  is  all  but 
inscrutable.  Some  consider  it  to  be  the  Word 
of  the  Bible.  Judging  from  its  intonation,, 
and  its  extreme  antiquity,  about  which  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  I  feel  that  it  portrays,  in  the 
first  articulate  speech  vouchsafed  to  man,  the 
fierce  struggle  that  lies  before  him  as  a  respon- 
sible being — ^the  struggle  between  good  and 
evil,*  incessant  and  all  but  co-eternal  with 
conscious  life.  The  lines  of  Aliimovairyo^ 
more  than  Miltonic  in  their  rugged  grandeur, 
seem  to  me  to  proclaim  an  enthusiasm  of 
resistance  and  protest  as  unique  as  it  is  terribly 
realistic.  This  is  my  explanation  of  '  Primi- 
tive Zoroastrianism.' 


■''  Eegarding  the  duration  of  this  conflict  between  good  and 
evil,  Malabari  had  a  very  interesting  discussion  in  1887  with 
Mr.  Samuel  Laing,  author  of  "A  Modern  Zoroastrian"  and 
other  popular  expositions  aiming  to  reconcile  science  with 
religion.  The  question  was  referred  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  who 
wrote  to  Malabari,  sympathizing  with  his  view,  namely,  that 
the  good  principle  must  ultimately  triumph  over  the  evil.  Mr. 
Gladstone's  letter  was  published,  I  believe,  in  the  Indian 
S;^ectatGr. 


.  MALABARrS  CBEED.  379 

''  During  my  stay  in  Europe  last  year  I 
sought  frequent  opportunities  of  inquiry  and 
conversation  regarding  this  dread  problem  of 
life.  I  went  out  of  my  way  to  witness  the 
Passion  Play  at  Oberammergau.  Am  I  satis- 
fied ?  Yes,  I  am.  No,  I  am  not.  The  fact  is 
— I  cannot  tell,  except  that  there  is  a  vacuum 
yet  to  be  filled.  God  alone  knows  if  there  is 
to  be  anything  like  a  fulness  of  peace  for  a 
restless,  hungry  soul  like  mine,  save  in  a 
scheme  of  life  from  which  death  and  its  causes 
shall  have  been  eliminated.  Where  is  this 
spiritual  elixir  to  be  had  within  the  narrow 
bounds  of  our  earthly  existence  ?  All  that  we 
can  do  is  to  work  our  way  onward  under  the 
shadow  of  Asha,  even  as  this  good  ship  is 
working  her  way  to  the  end  of  her  voyage 
with  the  shadow  of  the  skies  overhead.  The 
sea  shall  end  somewhere,  and  his  waters  shall 
disappear  from  view  as  we  proceed  beyond. 
But  the  heavens  above  shall  endure  always 
and  everywhere,  with  nothing  beyond  save 
AsJta,  the  essence  of  life  eternal.* 

"  In  my  relations  with  the  world  I  make  no 

*  This  letter  was  written  on  board  the  Imperator  from  the 
Bed  Sea. 


180  MANHOOD  (187C-1891). 

distinction  of  sex,  religion,  or  nationality ; 
sympathizing  equally  with  all,  most  with  them 
that  most  need  my  sympathy.  I  hold  that 
ultimately  and  in  the  aggregate  every  man  is 
the  equal  of  every  other  man,  every  woman 
the  equal  of  every  other  woman  ;  that  all  men 
and  women  are  the  equals  of  one  another,  the 
apparent  inequalities  of  life  being  matters  of 
accident,  whilst  the  equality  at  the  root  forms 
part  of  an  intelligent  design.  Here  and  there 
one  catches  a  glimpse  of  this  teaching  in 
modern  Zoroastrian  literature ;  but  the 
original,  as  preached  by  the  first  protestant 
against  priestly  as  well  as  kingly  arrogance, 
seems  to  have  been  lost  not  long  after  Zoro- 
aster's death. 

''  Purity  of  thought,  of  word,  and  of  act,  is 
the  cardinal  doctrine  of  our  religion,  with 
charity  as  the  rule  of  life,  and  self-restraint  as 
the  supreme  duty  of  individuals.  This  ideal 
of  purity  I  must  constantly  observe,  not  only 
in  the  moral,  but  also  in  the  physical  world. 
Eeligion  makes  me  a  rigid  sanitarian — I  must 
avoid  all  contact  with  the  dead  and  the  decay- 
ing, with  everything  that  is  injurious  to  my 
health.     It  is  a  sin  for  the  Zoroastrian  to  lose 


MALABAUrS  CBEED.  181 

his  health,  m  however  small  a  degree,  or  for 
whatever  object.  Tandorasti  liazdr  naydmat 
(Health  of  body  is  a  thousandfold  blessing). 
Disease  is  the  work  of  Satan.  I  must  see  to 
it  he  does  not  exert  his  evil  influence  on  me. 
With  parity  of  mind  and  body  as  my  armour, 
I  can  always  withstand  his  assaults.  As  a 
moral  agent  I  must  protect  myself  at  every 
step  from  the  power  of  guilt.  Guneli  sJiikast 
sadhazarhdr  (May  guilt  or  sin  be  broken  a 
hundred  thousand  times).  This  protest  against 
the  tyranny  of  sin  which  so  encircles  our 
existence  may  be  said  to  form  the  basis  of  the 
Zoroastrian  creed. 

"As  it  is  my  duty  always  to  cherish  what 
is  good  and  pure  and  health-giving,  so  it  is  my 
duty  also  to  wage  an  incessant  war  upon  all 
that  is  evil,  impure,  and  noxious  to  health, 
in  the  moral  or  the  physical  world. 

"  Light  is  the  most  perfect  of  the  visible 
emblems  of  purity,  of  incorruptibility ;  the 
giver,  sustainer,  and  nourisher  of  life.  My 
soul  delights  in  doing  homage  to  Light. 
Darkness  is  the  most  obtrusive  type  of  im- 
purity, of  corruptibility  ;  the  cause  of  disease 
and   death.     I   abhor  Darkness   with   all  the 


182  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

strength  of  body,  mind,  and  heart.     Light  is 
my  good  genius,  Darkness  my  evil  genius. 

"  The  recognition  of  this  dual  principle  of 
Light  and  Darkness,  of  Purity  and  Impurity, 
of  Good  and  Evil — of  Ahura-Mazd  and  Ahri- 
man,  to  put  it  technically — is  often  stigma- 
tized as  dualism  in  worship.  It  is  not  so 
really.  The  conflict  between  Ahura-Mazd 
and  Ahriman — that  is,  between  the  bright  and 
the  dark  sides  of  man's  nature — is  doubtless 
incessant,  and  may  perhaps  end  with  his 
life.  But  for  the  soldier  of  Light  the  issue  is 
by  no  means  uncertain.  Ahura-Mazd  will 
help  him,  so  long  as  he  fights  under  his 
banner,  with  pure  thought,  pure  word,  and 
pure  deed.  But  Ahura-Mazd  is  no  more  the 
final  arbiter  than  he  is  the  original  cause. 
There  is  a  yet  higher  than  Ahura-Mazd,  thinks 
the  primitive  Zoroastrian." 

Malabaei  as  a  Politician  and  Publicist. 

We  have  now  only  to  glance  at  Malabari's 
politics,  and  then  pass  on  to  his  latest  labour 
— his  campaign  against  social  abuses.  Of  a 
retiring  disposition  by  nature,  we  do  not  find 
his  name  among  the  political  orators  of  Bom- 


MALABABI  AS  A  POLITICIAN  AND  PUBLICIST.  183 

bay,  and  it  is  noticeable  that  he  has  seldom 
made  a  political  speech.  He  can  speak  well 
enough  when  in  the  mood.  For  instance,  his 
speeches  in  Northern  India  have  been  acknow- 
ledged, even  by  opponents,  as  so  many  gems 
in  their  way.  But  if  he  can,  he  will  avoid 
addressing  a  public  meeting.  It  is  very  seldom 
that  he  attends  one.  There  are  so  many 
capable  workers  in  that  line  of  activity,  that 
he  thinks  he  will  be  excused  for  confining 
himself  to  the  field  in  which  workers  are  few 
and  far  between. 

But  though  not  a  noisy  politician,  Malabari 
has  had  no  small  share  in  moulding  the  political 
history  of  the  last  ten  years.  He  was  the  right 
hand  of  Dadabhai  Naorqji,  and  by  his  moder- 
ation, as  editor  of  the  leading  Native  paper, 
and  by  his  influence  with  the  Native  press,  did 
yeoman's  service  in  times  of  trouble.  It  is  worth 
mentioning  that  though  Dadabhai  and  Mala- 
bari differ  widely  in  age,  in  tastes  and  pursuits, 
they  live  as  friends  on  absolutely  intimate 
terms.  There  is  hardly  any  secret  between 
them.  The  two  families  sometimes  live  as 
one.  Malabari's  acquaintance  with  Dadabhai 
is  not  more  than  ten  years  old — but  the  two 


184  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

friends  trust  each  other  entirely.     Dadabhai 
cordially  supports  Malabari's  views  on  Social 
Reform,    and    Malabari   as   heartily   supports 
Dadabhai's  political  views  in  general.     Even 
when  they  differ,  on  personal  or  public  grounds, 
the   friends   show  each   other   an  amount   of 
forbearance    worthy    of    the    highest    praise. 
They  differ  only  as  friends,  each  going  his  own 
way  in  perfect  good  faith.     Malabari  admires 
Dadabhai's  prodigious  knowledge,  and  Dada- 
bhai  delights    in   what    he    calls    Malabari's 
"mind,"   or  heart.      "There  is   mind  in   all 
that  you  write,"   he  once  remarked.      Dada- 
bhai's earnestness  is  not  less  contagious  than 
Malabari's.      When   the   Voice  of  India  was 
started  in  January,  1883,  at  the  instance  of 
that  true  friend  of  the  country.  Sir  William 
Wedderburn,  Malabari  became  its  editor,  while 
Dadabhai  Naoroji  found  for  it  the  sinews  of 
war.     The  scheme  of  sending  periodical  tele- 
grams to  newspapers  in  England,  to  counteract 
the  effect  of  those  sent  by  Anglo-Indian  politi- 
cians, owes  it  success,  in  no  small  measure,  to 
Malabari's  exertions.      Malabari    was   one   of 
those  who  kept  their  heads  cool  during  the 
agitation  which  followed  the  introduction  of 


MALABAEI  AS  A  POLITICIAN  AND  PUBLICIST.  185 

the  Criminal  Procedure  Code  Amendment  Bill 
and  the  Bengal  Tenancy  Bill.  He  was  in 
correspondence  with  the  highest  in  the  land, 
and  in  touch  with  the  best  thought  of  the 
country.  His  services,  as  a  thoroughly  honest 
and  judicious  interpreter  between  the  rulers 
and  the  ruled,  cannot  be  too  highly  spoken  of. 
How  well  his  labours,  as  a  politician  and  a 
public  journalist,  are  appreciated,  may  be  seen 
from  this  testimony  given  by  an  English  friend 
of  India,  who  has  done  more  than  any  other 
Englishman  in  shaping  the  character  of  what 
is  called  the  National  Party: — "  But  for  him 
Bombay  during  the  late  great  crisis  (the  agita- 
tion on  the  Criminal  Jurisdiction  Bill)  would 
have  had  positively  no  voice  outside  her  own 
narrow  limits,  and  her  distinguished  citizens, 
left  to  the  tender  mercy  of  hostile  or  at  best, 
in  our  cause,  lukewarm  European  journalists, 
would  have  found  her  position  widely  different 
this  day  from  what  it  is.  .  .  .  Many  brave 
men,  we  are  told,  lived  before  Agamemnon, 
but  unsung  by  any  Homer,  have  sunk  into 
oblivion.  Mr.  Malabari  has  not  only  been  in 
this  Presidency  the  voice  of  the  National 
Party — a  voice  which  has  ever  been  a  credit 


186  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

and  an  honour  to  the  province — but  has  been 
the  Homer,  to  whose  vaticinations,  quite  as 
much  as  to  their  own  high  intrinsic  merits, 
•our  poHtical  leaders  owe  the  wide-spread  and 
•distinguished  reputation  they  bear."  The 
same  Enghshman,  writing  later  on,  to  a  friend, 
says  :  "  Lord  Eipon,  who  had  the  highest 
possible  opinion  of  Mr.  Malabari  personally, 
considered  the  Sjyectato?'  the  best  of  the  Indian 
papers,  devoted  to  the  National  Cause.  And 
at  home  I  was  pleased  to  find,  that  amongst 
the  comparatively  small  section  of  intelligent 
politicians  who  are  interested  in  India  and 
will  stand  by  us,  the  Sjyectator  was  the  one 
Native  Indian  paper  read  and  respected." 

Great  as  are  Malabari's  literary  merits,  his 
scrupulous  regard  for  truth  is  even  a  greater 
merit,  for  a  public  man.  In  his  editorial 
■capacity  he  acts  more  like  a  judge  than  an 
advocate,  and  that  is  why  he  is  trusted  equally 
by  the  Government  as  he  is  respected  by  the 
thinking  public.  During  the  heat  of  the  Ilbert 
I3ill  controversy,  for  instance,  Malabari,  who 
had  supported  the  principle  of  the  measure 
throughout,  was  the  means  of  preventing  a 
very  hostile  Native  demonstration  against  it  as 


MALABABI  AS  A  POLITICIAN  AND  PUBLICIST.  187 

iinally  compromised.  Distrusting  the  version 
of  the  compromise  as  telegraphed  to  Bombay 
by  partisans,  he  telegraphed  to  Simla  for 
•correct  information,  and  was  requested  to 
■^' suspend  judgment  "  for  a  time.  That  mes- 
sage was  passed  on  to  responsible  politicians 
in  town,  who  were  thus  saved  from  the  suicidal 
tactics  of  their  countrymen  elsewhere.  Au- 
thentic information  came  in  time  from  the 
seat  of  Government,  and  Malabari  submitted 
the  proposals  to  some  of  the  soundest  jurists 
and  administrators  of  law  in  the  country,  only 
io  find  his  own  opinion  confirmed.  Well  may 
lie  boast  that  within  the  limits  of  his  acquain- 
iiance  with  successive  heads  of  Government  in 
India,  he  has  used  no  less  restraining  influence 
on  the  Liberal  than  stimulating  influence  on 
the  Conservative. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  a  publicist 
occupying  such  a  unique  position  enjoys  op- 
portunities of  usefulness  all  his  own  ;  and  it 
is  equally  unnecessary  to  add  that  Malabari 
always  uses  his  opportunities  for  the  public 
weal. 

Although  Malabari' s  name  is  as  good  as  that 
«of  any  of  his  contemporaries  to  conjure  with, 


188  MANHOOD  (187C-1891). 

he  is  personally  little  known  even  to  the 
Bombay  public.  The  reasons  are  not  far  to 
seek.  In  the  first  place,  he  is  as  shy  as  a. 
schoolgirl  before  strangers.  He  has  no  taste 
for  the  small  talk  of  Society,  and  is  generally 
pre-occupied.  Want  of  time  is  Malabari's- 
usual  complaint,  and  those  who  know  the  life 
of  untiring  beneficence  he  is  leading  will  readily 
understand  it.  Besides,  he  is  far  from  being  a 
methodical  worker,  and  you  often  find  on  his- 
table  "copy"  and  "proofs"  for  the  press^ 
lying  cheek  by  jowl  with  poems  and  petitions,, 
and  pamphlets  and  papers  and  currency  notes^ 
mixed  up  in  admirable  confusion  with  flow^ers 
and  photographs  and  a  score  of  other  sundries. 

Another  reason  why  Malabari  is  so  seldom 
seen  in  public  is  his  failing  strength.  For 
years  he  has  been  more  or  less  out  of  health,, 
suffering  from  loss  of  appetite  and  of  sleep. 
And  in  this  state,  w^ith  his  nerves  often  on  the 
rack,  he  has  had  to  meet  an  increasing  strain 
of  work.  No  wonder  that  this  genial  and  ever- 
obliging  man  is  so  little  in  evidence  in  Society.. 

Nevertheless,  few^  visitors  of  note  from  Europe 
or  America  pass  through  Bombay  without  an 
introduction  for  him.     It  was  at  his  house  that 


MALABABI  AS  A  POLITICIAN  AND  PUBLICIST.  189 

Lord  Eandolph  Churchill,  afterwards  Secretary 
of  State  for  India,  met  a  number  of  our  leading 
politicians,  in  order  to  hear  their  views  on  the 
pressing  problems  of  the  day.     The  Earl  of 
Hosebery  did  the  same  during  his  tour  in  India, 
and  expressed  himself  as  very  highly  pleased 
w^ith  the  interview.     Every  year  Malabari  has 
to  introduce  English  ladies  and  gentlemen  on 
tour,  interested  in  our  educational,  political, 
or   philanthropic   movements,  to  Native   and 
European  friends  all  over  the  country.     Dur- 
ing his  Governorship  of  Bombay,  Lord  Eeay 
appreciated  Malabari's  worth,  and  desired  to 
give  him  the  rich  sinecure  of  the  Shrievalty  of 
Bombay  in  the  Jubilee  year.     It  was  known 
that   in  that  year   the  shrievalty  would   also 
carry  a  knighthood  with   it.      But    Malabari 
rose  superior  to  the  temptation.     The  news- 
papers wrote  in  high  terms  of  his  independence, 
the  loudest  in  praise  being   those  who  were 
most  opposed  to  his  social  reform  movement. 
To  them  such  an  act   of  self-efiacement  was 
scarcely  comprehensible  ;  and  speculation  was 
rife  for  some  time  as  to  the  causes  that  led  to 
it.     Suffice  it  to  say,  in  Malabari's  own  words, 
that  he  considered  himself  fortunate  in  having 


190  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

made  room  for  another  Parsi  citizen,  "a. 
hmidred  times  more  deserving  of  such  honours, 
because  of  his  pubhc  munificence."  Those 
who  know  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  in 
and  out  of  British  India  know  also  that  this  is- 
not  the  first  opportunity  Malabari  has  passed 
quietly  by. 

The  politics  of  Malabari  are,  what  may  be 
called,  the  politics  of  the  poor — not  the  politics- 
of  the  rich.  He  thinks  the  classes  in  India 
have  had  their  day,  and  are  well  able  now  to- 
take  care  of  themselves ;  that  it  is  high  time 
Government  thought  more  of  the  masses — the 
voiceless  millions  who  have  so  few  to  speak  for 
them.  Malabari  is  no  pessimist.  He  con- 
siders the  Civil  Service  of  India  to  be,  on  the 
whole,  perhaps  the  ablest  and  the  most  honour- 
able in  the  world.  As  such  he  does  not  think 
the  Service  to  be  too  highly  paid,  except, 
perhaps,  in  the  highest  grade.  Further,  he 
gives  credit  for  good  intentions  to  the  majority 
of  our  officials,  ascribing  errors  more  to  ignor- 
ance than  to  wilfulness.  But  to  prevent  such 
errors  ending  seriously — if  for  no  higher  con- 
sideration— he  recommends  the  employment 
of  a   larger   Native  agency,   after   open   com- 


MALABARI  AS  A  POLITICIAN  AND  PUBLICIST.  191 

petition,  and  a  wider  scope  for  the  selection  of 
non-official  advisers  of  Government,  as  much 
as  possible  on  the  elective  principle,  for  which 
he  believes  our  municipalities,  universities, 
chambers  of  commerce,  and  other  public 
associations  are  fairly  ripe.  He  holds  that 
India  ought  to  be  rich  enough,  not  only  to  pay 
her  own  w^ay,  but  even  to  find  profitable  em- 
ployment for  thousands  upon  thousands  in 
England,  if  the  financial  and  economic  rela- 
tions between  the  two  countries  are  placed  on 
a  healthy  footing.  At  present  these  relations 
are  more  or  less  unnatural.  This  is  his  chief 
complaint.  In  this  regard  Malabari  asks  for 
justice  to  India,  and  nothing  more.  Nothing 
less,  he  fears,  will  meet  the  requirements  of 
the  case,  either  for  England  or  for  India. 

He  was  one  of  the  very  few  who  supported 
Sir  Auckland  Colvin's  Income  Tax  Bill  rather 
than  see  the  Salt  Tax  raised.  He  approaches 
every  political  question  mainly  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  masses,  the  great  agricultural 
population  and  the  labouring  class,  being  fully 
convinced  that  in  their  welfare  lies  the  stability 
of  the  British  rule.  Eead  his  "  Eamji  bin 
Byroo   of  Mahableshwar,  Bhisti    and   Guide^ 


192  MANHOOD  (1876-1391). 

Naturalist,  Malcontent,  and  Political  Econo- 
mist," and  you  have  not  an  unfair  idea  of  the 
opinions  Malabari  holds  regarding  the  bene- 
ficence as  well  as  the  defects  of  English 
administration.  "  As  for  an  united  India,"  he 
writes,  "  a  national  India,  an  India  kept  in 
peace  and  order,  it  is  not  among  the  possibili- 
ties of  the  near  future."  English  sovereignty 
is  indispensable  to  the  progress  of  India  ;  but 
this  original  publicist  would  have  men  like 
Lord  Eipon  and  Sir  E.  Baring  come  out  to 
India  as  Assistant  Collectors  and  not  as  Vice- 
roys and  Members  of  Council.  He  thinks  we 
have  had  enough  of  good  legislation,  and  that 
what  is  now  necessary  is  good  administration 
of  the  laws.  He  is  not  blind  to  the  faults  of 
educated  natives,  and  has  had  a  great  deal  to 
say  on  the  educational  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment. He  believes  that  there  is  too  much  of 
Jtead  education,  and  too  little  of  heart  education. 
Referring  to  Poona,  he  wrote  in  July,  1883  : — 
"  Its  educational  activity  is  as  great  as  of 
Bengal,  and,  I  think,  more  real.  Bombay  is 
nowhere.  And  yet,  what  has  Poona  done  for 
its  people  ?  It  may  be  a  craze  with  me  that 
the  intellectual  elevation  of  some  of  our  best 


MALABABI  AS  A  POLITICIAN  AND  PUBLICIST.  193 

men  has  removed  them  from  the  sphere  of 
general  usefuhiess.  But  if  this  be  so,  what 
is  the  use  of  a  hundred  highly  developed 
intellects,  where  millions  upon  millions  of 
their  fellow-beings  live  only  a  degree  removed 
from  monkeys  ?  I  will  not  go  the  length  of 
saying  that  education  breeds  selfishness  ;  but 
in  this  country,  especially  in  Bombay,  it  does 
seem  to  me  to  tend  to  exclusiveness.  We  are 
raising  an  intellectual  aristocracy  which  owns 
to  no  concern  in  the  fortunes  of  the  vulgar 
herd.  Under  the  British  Government  this 
class  must  necessarily  grow  in  wealth  and 
influence.  Will  it  ever  give  us  a  Shaftesbiu:y 
or  a  Stansfeld,  a  Howard  or  a  Penn,  a 
Nightingale  or  a  Fry  ?  And  unless  college 
education  quickens  sympathy  with  the  mass, 
is  it  worth  imparting  at  a  high  pressure  ?  I 
know  that  almost  all  the  friends  whose 
opinions  I  value  are  in  favour  of  education  to 
begin  at  the  top  and  to  filtrate.  The  theory 
is  sound  and  consistent  with  the  law  of  nature. 
But  though  here  I  am  in  an  inglorious 
minority,  I  cannot  help  saying  that  the 
peculiar  conditions  of  life  in  India  require 
consideration.     Mr.  Ranade,  for  instance,  is 

14 


194  MANHOOD  (1S7C-1891). 

perhaps  the  ablest  Native  judicial  officer  in 
India ;  few  know  as  I  do  what  marvellous 
sagacity  and  acumen  that  man  possesses.  His 
judgments  would  be  no  way  unworthy  of  a 
Westropp  or  a  Sausse.  Mr.  Bhandarkar 
shines  equally  w^ell  in  his  line  ;  he  may  not 
yield  even  to  Max  Miiller  in  his  special 
branch.  These  are  "  the  forlorn  hopes  "  of 
the  people.  Could  they  do  no  more  for  the 
people  than  at  present  ?  Poor  Ganesh  Joshi 
was  just  showing  the  way  when  his  invaluable 
life  ran  short  of  a  sudden.  India  wants  more 
j)eople's  men.  The  country  (jannot  rise  unless 
its  millions  are  lifted  to  a  higher  moral  atmo- 
sphere and  social  responsibility.  And  this  will 
not  happen  till  w^e  have  a  system  of  heart- 
education  side  by  side  with  head-education. 
Can  colleges  give  heart-education  ?  " 

I  believe  they  can,  but  the  best  heart- 
education  can  only  be  imparted  in  the  family 
and  at  home.  This  is  the  opinion  of  the  best 
Indian  thinkers,  and  holding  this  opinion 
Malabari  commenced  his  crusade  against 
social  evils. 


2ialababi  as  a  social  eeformeh.       195 

Malabaei  as  a  Social  Eeformee. 

^'It   was   the   widow,"   wrote   Malabari    in 
1885,   "who  first  set  me  thinking  about   the 
whole  question.     And  though  I  find  that  her 
cause    is  very  difficult  to  win,  and  that   the 
cause   of    the   girl-bride,    on  which   her   own 
fate  largely  depends,  is  comparatively  easy  of 
success,    still    I   really    cannot    give   up    my 
widow.     And   I   am   sure  every  Irishman,  at 
least,  will    sympathize  with'  me."     We  have 
seen  with   w4iat   deep  feeling   Malabari    por- 
trayed the   sorrows  of  Hindu   widows  in  his 
"  Niti   Vinod."      He   knew    that   there   were 
many   exemplary   widows,  and  personally  he 
was  in  favour  of  strict  monogamy  for  both  the 
sexes.    But  then,  was  it  just  to  enforce  widow- 
hood on  a  girl  who  became  a  widow/before  she 
had  known  what  it  was  to  be  a  wife  ?     And 
was  it  just  to  shave  her  head,  to  make  her  a 
scarecrow   among    her    playmates    and   com- 
panions, and  to  rule  her  life,  as  it  were,  with 
the   iron    rod   of    custom    and    superstition  ? 
Was  it  just,  again,  for  the  male  to  marry  as 
many  wives  as  he  liked,  and  for  the  female  to 
be  prohibited  from  marrying  again  after  her 


19G  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

first  husband's  death,  even  though  she  might 
be  a  child  in  her  teens  ?  A  great  Hindu 
Pandit  —  Yidiasagar  —  had  challenged  his 
brother  Pandits  to  prove  that  enforced  widow- 
hood was  at  all  sanctioned  by  the  Shastras. 
He  had  fought  out  his  battle  almost  single- 
handed,  and  succeeded  in  moving  the  Legis- 
lature to  pass  an  Act  enabling  those  who 
conscientiously  believed  that  widows  could 
re-marry,  to  translate  their  belief  into  action. 
That  declaratory  Act  had  done  very  little 
good,  for  caste  had  proved  too  much  for 
re-married  widows  and  their  husbands.  It 
had,  on  the  other  hand,  emphasized  the 
curious  anomaly  that  though  unchaste  widows 
could  not  be  deprived  of  their  husbands'  in- 
heritance, re-married  widows  could  be.  The 
position  of  Hindu  widows  was  most  unsatis- 
factory, legally  and  socially.  There  was  not 
the  least  doubt  that  most  of  them  were  un- 
happy. Their  misery  was  not  sung  by  Mala- 
bari  alone  in  pathetic  verse.  I  have  said 
before  that  the  Hindu  widow  is  almost  a 
stock  topic  in  vernacular  literature-  The 
Native  papers  often  came  out  with  very  sad 
tales  of  their  sorrows,  and  in  1883  an  ortho- 


MALABARI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.        197 

dox  journal  like  the  Gujarati  actually  proposed 
that  all  Hindu  widows  should  be  called  upon 
by  Government  to  show  cause  why  they  had 
remained  unmarried !  Malabari  was  a  con- 
stant reader  of  Native  papers,  and  often 
noticed  the  cases  brought  to  light  by  them. 
Let  me  quote  a  couple  of  these  from  the 
Indian  Spectator  of  1883. 

"  The  Hindu  Widow  and  Her  Woes. 

"  The  Gujarati  reports  a  case  of  infanticide  at  Jetpur  in 
Kattywar.  A  '  high-caste  '  widow,  long  suspected  by  the 
poUce  and  closely  watched,  gives  birth  to  a  child.  The 
new-comer's  mouth  is  immediately  stuffed  with  hot 
kitchen  ashes.  Thus  '  religiously  disposed  of,'  and  thrust 
into  a  basket  of  rubbish,  its  loving  grandmother  deposits 
the  child  into  the  nearest  river.  The  village  police  then 
come  to  know  about  it." 

"  A  very  similar  case  is  reported  to  us  from  Viramgaum ; 
high-caste  widow,  new-born  baby  and  hot  ashes,  though 
no  mention  is  made  of  the  loving  grandmother  or  the 
basket  of  rubbish.  Three  persons  are  implicated  in  the 
former  case.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  mother  is 
very  seldom  a  party  to  the  '  act  of  merit.'  After  all  it  is 
her  child,  flesh  of  her  flesh.  Woman's  love  shines  best 
under  trials.  The  wife  of  a  thief  or  murderer  will  cling 
to  him  all  the  closer  the  more  he  is  shunned  by  the  world ; 
the  mother  of  a  bastard  will  love  him  more  intensely, 
perhaps,  to  make  up  for  the  father's  neglect.  In  the 
Jetpur  widow's  case,  we  may  say  she  is  no  more  a  mur- 


198  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

derer  than  is  the  head  of  the  local  police.  The  father  off 
her  unclaimed  child,  whom  your  humane  English  law 
never  thinks  of  calling  to  account,  is  the  prime  mover,, 
with  the  widow's  parents  and  caste-people  as  his  accom- 
phces.  So  cleverly  is  the  affair  managed  that  hardly  one 
case  out  of  twenty  can  be  detected.  In  most  cases  the 
child  dies  before  birth.  The  patient  is  removed  far  from 
her  own  home,  on  a  visit  to  a  friend's  or  on  a  pilgrimage, 
and  there  she  is  absolved  of  the  burden  of  sin.  She  is. 
lucky  if  she  escapes  with  permanent  injury  to  the  system, 
for  the  village  surgeon  is  but  a  clumsy  operator.  If  less 
lucky,  she  succumbs  under  the  operation.  But  least  lucky 
is  the  widow  whose  case  does  not  yield  to  the  manipula- 
tions of  the  Ddi.  And  woe  be  to  her  if  she  belongs  to  a 
respectable  family.  Then  they  get  up  a  ceremony  in  her 
honour,  what  they  call  a  cold  Suttee,  they  serve  her  with 
the  best  of  viands,  they  ply  her  with  sweet  intoxicants, 
and  they  cap  her  last  supper  on  earth  with  something 
that  will  settle  their  business.  The  widow  is  soon  a  cold 
Suttee,  and  is  forthwith  carried  off  to  the  burning  ground 
(the  pious  Hindu  can't  keep  a  corpse  in  his  house  for 
ten  minutes).  This  '  cold  Suttee  '  means  a  double  murder. 
Let  us  hope  it  is  a  very  rare  practice.  But  a  case  is. 
known  where  the  widow  suspected  foul  play  in  the  midst, 
of  the  nocturnal  festivities  in  her  honour.  She  turned 
piteously  to  her  mother  and  asked  to  be  saved,  but  she- 
was  thus  urged  in  reply  : — '  Drmk,  drink,  my  child,  drink 
to  cover  thy  mother's  shame  and  to  keep  thy  father's  abru  ;, 
drink  it,  dear  daughter,  see  I  am  doing  likewise !  ' 

"  The  only  remedy  is  to  dispossess  caste  of  its  power  of 
excommunicating  the  widow  who  marries  again.  Govern- 
ment sanctions  re-marriage,  and  caste  opposes  it.     What, 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMER.         11)0 

a  position  for  the  Government  of  an  empire  !     It  is  all 
very  well  for  English  officials  to  say  that  the  widow  an  1 
her  friends  ought  to  defy  caste.     They  do  not  know  the 
terrible  effect  of  the  Mahajan's  curse.     The  widow  and 
her  husband,  and  very  often  her  and  his  families,  are 
shunned  like  poison.     Thus  some  forty  people  may  suffer 
for  the  courage  of  two.     They  suffer  in  life  and  in  death. 
No  casteman  joins  them  in  any  domestic  ceremony  ;  none 
of  them  can  take  part  in  the  social  affairs  of  any  casteman. 
So  cruelly  rigid  is  the  discipline,  that  it  drevi^  tears  of 
anguish  from  that  most  patient  Hindu  martyr,  Karsandas 
Mulji.     He  used  to  cry  helplessly  when  his  wife  wanted 
to  know  when  her  family  was  to  be  re-admitted  into  the 
caste.     Englishmen  can  have  no  idea  of  the  bitterness  of 
this  social  seclusion  ;  it  is  worse  than  the  bitterness  of 
death.     One  result  of   the   persecution  is   that  few   re- 
married couples  live  happily.     They  are  hunted  out  of 
caste,  out  of  profession,  and  if  we  are  not  quite  wrong, 
out  of  part   of  their   inheritance.     And  not  being  suffi- 
ciently educated  to  take  to  new  modes  of  life,  husband 
and  wife  pine  away  in  despair,  accuse  each  other  of  folly, 
and  under  a  sense  of  injury  they  sometimes  take  to  evil 
courses.     What  a  triumph  for  Caste !     That  the  widow 
marriage  movement  in  India  is  making  head  in  spite  of 
such  crushing  opposition  is  a  proof  of  its  necessity  and 
its  ultimate  success.     If  the  Government  only  rules  that 
Caste  has  no  right  to  prevent  re-marriage  ;  if  the  public 
prosecutor  is  instructed  to  lay  heavy  damages  against  the 
Mahajan  for  putting  a  re-married  widow  out  of  caste,  the 
reform  will  have  an  easy  victory  over  prejudice.    Is  there 
no  Englishman  to  put  down  this  unnatural  interference 
with  a  movement  sanctioned  by  the  law  of  God  and  man? 
Is  there  no  Englishwoman  to  plead  for  the  rights  of  her 
unfortunate  sisters  in  India  ? 


200  MANHOOD  (187(5-1891). 

An  eminent  Mahratta  Sliastri  had  followed 
Vidiasagar's  example  at  Poona  and  Bombay  ; 
but  though  Yishnu  Shastri  spent  himself  in 
the  cause  and  did  much  solid  work,  he  had 
had  scant  support.  At  Madras,  in  1871  or 
1872,  a  *'  Widow  Marriage  Association  "  had 
been  started  by  M.  E.  R.  T.  Muttasamy  Iyer, 
and  in  1880  this  was  revived  by  Eajah  Sir 
T.  Madava  Rao,  Dew^an  Bahadur  Ragoonath 
Rao,  and  others.  At  Bombay  a  Hindu 
gentleman,  Madhavdas  Rugnathdas,  who  had 
married  a  wddow,  used  to  afford  shelter 
and  support  to  all  poor  creatures  wdio  wished 
to  re-marry,  and  had  by  his  unostentatious 
friendliness  helped  not  a  few  widows  to  happy 
homes.  There  w^as,  however,  no  active  sus- 
tained organization,  and  the  problem  of  Hindu 
widowhood  was  as  far  from  solution  as  ever. 
Malabari  had  thought  about  it  for  at  least  ten 
years,  and  knew  well  its  difficulty.  But  he 
felt  no  doubt  on  one  point,  and  that  was  this. 
Infant  marriage  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with 
unhappy  widowhood.  Infant  marriage !  In- 
fant betrothal  might  be  tolerated,  but  Infant 
marriage — irrevocable  so  far  as  the  bride  was 
concerned — and  leading  to  the  wddowhood  of 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFORMEB.        201 

•children  who  in  some  cases  had  hardly  cut 
their  milk  teeth,  was  certainly  most  mmatnral. 
The  Native  Press  was  on  the  whole  alive  to 
its  unnatm^alness,  and  often  condemned  the 
practice  in  no  measured  terms.  Here,  for 
example,  is  a  translation  of  an  article  in  the 
Hitechhu,  which  appeared  in  one  of  the 
Bj^ectators  of  1883. 

"  The  Hobeors  of  Infant  Marriage. 

"  A  Brahmin  betrothed  his  daughter  in  her  infancy. 
'The  girl  never  saw  her  husband  or  the  liusband's  house. 
■On  reaching  years  of  discretion  the  husband  turned  out 
to  be  worthless  and  diseased.  But  knowing  all  this,  the 
father,  bound  by  caste  rules,  &c.,  to  save  the  honour  of 
the  family,  married  his  daughter  to  the  same  man. 
When  without  free  choice  one  cannot  pass  a  single  day 
happily,  how  can  one  pass  a  whole  life  !  The  girl  lived 
all  along  at  her  father's  house.  Now,  when  even  ascetics 
at  times  long  for  social  happiness,  how  could  this  young 
woman  restrain  herself  ?  She  managed  to  have  private 
meetings  with  somebody  in  the  village.  But  secret  inter- 
course means  deception  for  the  woman,  and  thus  shortly 
.after  our  heroine  felt  embarrassed.  "What  to  do  now  ? 
In  spite  of  amulets  and  threads,  and  even  drugs,  her 
■condition  continued  to  grow  worse.  They  then  took 
her  to  her  father-in-law's  house.  People  there  found  out 
the  secret.  They,  therefore,  hesitated  at  first,  but  agreed 
to  receive  the  daughter-in-law  on  condition  that  her 
j)arents  should  pay  hush-money  to  the  outraged  husband. 


202  MANHOOD  (187G-18<J1). 

Where  could  the  wretched  parents  procure  money  from  ? 
They  brought  back  the  girl.  Days  after  days  passed  by 
and  her  secret  was  made  public  by  every  waft  of  wind. 
The  crisis  approached  nearer,  and  just  a  little  while 
before  all  would  be  over,  the  dear  mother  started  with 
her  in  a  cart  with  the  required  amount  for  her  father  in- 
law's. But  unfortunately,  whether  through  the  jostles 
on  the  road  or  otherwise,  the  girl  was  overtaken  by 
labour.  Where  to  turn  now  ? — without  house  or  home, 
without  relations  or  friends.  But  the  shrewd  mother,, 
telling  the  driver  she  had  to  obey  a  call,  at  once  made  for 
an  adjoining  thicket  with  the  daughter.  The  spot  was- 
scarcely  reached  when  the  latter  gave  birth  to  her  child. 
0  !  thou  unfortunate  intruder,  little  dost  thou  know  thou 
hast  to  leave  this  world  within  so  short  a  space  of  time, 
to  be  born  only  to  be  killed  !  In  a  moment  the  fragile 
little  thing  was  despatched  and  buried,  and  the  heartless 
woman  returned  to  the  cart.  Oh  Shiva  !  Shiva  !  Shiva  f 
What  unnatural  cruelty!  But  wait,  reader,  say,  is  this- 
not  the  result  of  child  marriage  ?  " 

A  man  like  Malabari,*  full  of  sympathy  and 

■''  The  following  extracts  from  an  article  in  the  Harvest  Field 
for  March,  1891,  published  after  an  interview  which  the  Editor 
and  a  number  of  European  friends  had  with  Malabari  at  Bom- 
bay, briug  out  very  well  some  of  his  personal  characteristics  : — 

"...  There  is  no  sham  modesty  on  Mr.  Malabari's  part.  You 
cannot  be  with  him  five  minutes  before  feeling  that  he  has  a 
mind  of  his  own  and  will  speak  it  truly,  and  that  there  is 
nothing  more  abhorrent  to  him  than  unreality.  He  is  a  short 
man,  with  a  face  which,  in  repose,  suggests  gentleness, 
reflectiveness,  devotion — the  man  of  contemplation  rather  than 
of  action.  But  it  soon  lights  up,  and  on  occasions  can  shoot- 
forth  flame.  There  is  no  line  of  weakness  in  the  face,  but  all 
the  marks  of  honesty  and  of  intelligent  benevolence.     The  most- 


MALABABI  AS  A  SO  CIAL  BEFORMEB.         20iJ. 

tenderness  for  the  suffering,  could  not  but  feel 
the  acutest  pam  on  readmg  all  such  tales  of 

charming  thing  about  Mr,  Malabari  is  the  absence  of  self-con- 
sciousness. He  strikes  you  quickly  as  a  man  who  is  in  coustant 
communion  with  his  own  convictions,  whose  chief  anxiety  is 
that  they  should  find  exact  utterance.  Given  that,  and  he  is  not 
fettered  as  to  what  you  may  think  of  him  or  them.  As  a  talker 
he  is  admirable.  He  expresses  liimself  with  great  fulness  and 
precision,  and  often  with  enviable  felicity  or  force. 

"  Mr.  Malabari's  surroundings  are  quite  subordinate  to  the- 
man,  Yet  during  a  moment  when  he  is  called  away  we  are 
curious  to  see  something  of  them.  In  the  centre  of  the  room  is 
a  table,  round  which  are  ranged  photographs  of  men  whom  he 
is  in  contact  with — chiefly  politicians  in  England,  some  of  them 
the  first  men  of  the  day.  Three  books  lying  there  catch  the 
eye — Drummond's  '  Greatest  Thiag  in  the  World,'  Phillips 
Brooks'  '  The  Influence  of  Jesus,'  and  the  New  Testament.  .  .  . 

"  Naturally,  Mr.  Malabari  is  the  centre  of  the  movement 
which  has  produced  the  Age  of  Consent  Bill  (now  passed).  He 
stands  like  a  captain  on  the  bridge,  observes  every  variation  of 
wind  and  current  during  the  storm  of  opposition,  and  keeps  his 
head  perfectly  cool  through  it  all.  He  knows  accurately  who 
and  what  are  the  present  agitators  against  the  Bill,  and  has 
special  means  of  gauging  the  value  and  strength  of  their 
reactionary  efforts. 

"  Mr.  Malabari  is  not  a  rich  man,  nor  will  he  ever  be.  He 
pours  all  that  he  has,  without  reluctance  and  without  stint,  into 
the  cause  for  which  he  lives.  He  is  completely  unmercenary,  and 
will  bequeath  nothing  to  his  children  but  the  memory  of  a  life 
nobly  planned  and  grandly  developed.  Bonny  children  they 
are,  too — four  of  them.  We  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  them  all.. 
'  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  your  eldest  boy  ?  '  we  asked 
him.  'I  have  no  idea,  and  very  little  concern.  He  shall  have 
a  g)od  education,  and  for  the  rest,  if  he  fear  God  and  be  an 
honest  man,  I  don't  care  what  he  does.'  That  same  unworldli- 
ness  runs  all  through.  He  has  no  prudence,  as  men  commonly 
call  prudence.     It  is  enough  for  him  to  know  that  he  has  the- 


204  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

wrong  and  misery.  This  custom  of  Infant 
Marriage  had  worked  havoc  for  a  long  time 
among  the  Parsis  who  had  imitated  the 
Hindus,  and  it  had  its  votaries,  or  rather 
victims,  even  among  Mahomedans.  It  some- 
times led  to  evils  the  very  mention  of  which 
would  make  one's  hair  stand  on  end.  For 
instance,  Malabari  knew  at  Surat  of  a  rape  on  a 
Parsi  girl  of  ten  by  her  husband.  Of  course, 
according  to  law,  the  husband  was  not  punish- 
able, for  such  rape  was  not,  and  is  not,  a 
crime.     But  the  heart-rending  shrieks  of  the 

power  to  do  something  ■which  his  country  needs,  and  he  will 
throw  his  last  rupee  into  the  effort  without  a  shiver. 

*'  There  he  Uves  in  his  lofty  garret — courting  no  man,  but, 
with  a  determination  that  never  wavers,  doing  a  work  that  is 
beginning  to  shake  India.  If  he  lives  awhile  he  will  revolutionize 
it.  But  will  he  live  ?  He  is  not  strong,  and  he  works  intensely. 
He  is  spending  his  life  as  willinglj'  as  his  money.  India  does 
not  quite  know,  yet,  all  that  it  possesses  in  having  a  Malabari 
And  Malabari  never  thinks  of  what  he  is  himself.  He  is  utterly 
wilhout  ostentation.  But  it  he  be  spared,  history  will  yet  have 
to  find  a  high  place  for  one  who,  born  a  Parsi,  and  deriving  the 
springs  of  his  influence  really,  though  perhaps  half  unconsciously, 
fiom  Christianity,  is  doing  more  than  any  other  man  in  this 
age  to  emancipate  the  women  of  India  from  the  disabilities  that 
have  harassed  and  debased  them  for  centuries.  The  man  who 
does  that  will  do  more  than  he  means.  He  will  enlarge  the 
social  life  of  India,  but  he  will  inevitably,  also,  transform  its 
religious  life.  We  leave  Mr.  Malabari  in  his  garret,  praying 
heaitily  that  he  may  be  permitted  to  caxiy  out  the  benevolent 
designs  wliith  so  completely  possess  him.'' 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.        205 

outraged  child  still  ring  in  Malabari's  ears. 
The  Parsis — thank  Grod — have  succeeded  in 
making  such  cases  impossible,  for  under  the 
Parsi  Matrimonial  Act  no  Parsi  husband  can 
force  his  wife,  who  is  under  fourteen,  to  live 
with  him.  But  as  the  law  stood  before  1891, 
no  Hindu  girl  at  least  could  deny  herself  to 
her  husband,  if  she  was  ten  years  old. 

Malabari  was  not  a  Sanskrit  scholar,  like 
Eam  Mohan  Eoy  or  Yidiasagar,  and  he  was 
not  a  Hindu.  But  he  felt  vividly  the  sin,  the 
folly,  the  unnaturalness  of  this  custom  of 
Infant  Marriage,  and  traced  the  woes  of 
widowhood  to  this  cause.  How  this  pernicious 
custom  could  be  abolished  was  a  question 
which  long  perplexed  him.  He  knew  full  well 
the  internal  economy  of  Hindu  homes.  He 
was  not  unaware  that  many  of  these  were 
happy  homes  in  a  way.  But  was  there  not  a 
large  amount  of  misery  which  could  be  easily 
avoided  ?  And  was  not  this  practice  a  dead 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  female  education  and  of 
national  progress  ?  The  evil  was  admitted 
all  round.  And  surely  it  could  not  be  an  evil 
without  a  remedy. 

Diffident  and  distrustful  of  himself,  Malabari 


^06  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

■did  not  make  his  debut  as  a  social  reformer 
with  any  quack  nostrums  warranted  to  cure 
the  distempers  of  Hindu  society.  He  was 
willing,  to  quote  his  own  words,  to  be  a  "  mere 
camp  follower,"  if  a  Hindu  leader  would  but 
lead  the  way.  But  he  was  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  tremendous  difficulties  of  Hindu 
reformers  and  the  fate  which  had  overtaken 
some  of  them.  A  Hindu  sovereign  could  have 
•easily  put  an  end  to  such  practices,  if  con- 
vinced of  their  illegality  from  the  Shastric 
texts.  But  an  alien  Government  was  a 
Kumbhakaran  *  in  social  matters,  extremely 
difficult  to  awake  to  its  responsibility,  while 
the  stronghold  of  Hindu  usage  and  supersti- 
stition  v/as  harder  to  conquer  than  Eavan's 
Lanka. 

What,  then,  w^as  an  outsider  to  do  for  the 
victims  of  these  baneful  customs  ?  Was  he  to 
fold  his  arms  and  do  nothing  because  he  was 
an  outsider  ?  Had  humanity  as  ^  whole  any 
outsiders  tvithin  itself?  Was  not  this  a 
patent  contradiction  in  terms  ?  Had  those 
great  and  good  men  who  had  abolished  negro- 
slavery  ever  felt  any  hesitation  on  the  ground 

*  A  sleeping  giant. 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMER.        207 

that  they  were   outsiders  ?     Was  it  not  tlie 
plain  duty  of  every  man  to  do  what  lay  in  his 
power  to  mitigate  the  hard  lot  of  his  brothers 
and  sisters  ?     Were  not  the  suffering  Hindu 
Avidows,  the  suffering  child-brides,  with  their 
heads   shaved   for   the    sin    of    losing    their 
husbands,  his  own  sisters,  though  he  was  a 
Parsi  ?     He  had  not  a  particle  of  vanity  in 
him,   but   he   knew   that   earnestness   was   a 
power  in  itself,  and  that  as  he  felt  keenly  the 
sorrows  of  Hindu  women,  he  could  plead  their 
•cause  with  eloquent  directness   and    moving 
pathos.     Still  there  was  the  question,  "  What 
would  people  say  if  he  placed  himself  in  the 
front   in   this   fashion  ?  ' '      Would   they   not 
attack  him   as    a    presumptuous  youth,    and 
oredit  him   with   no   other   motive   but   self- 
aggrandisement    and    vainglory  ?      Yes,  they 
would.      He  had   won  golden  opinions,  as  a 
poet  and  a  journalist.     His  life  had  been  pure 
and  self-sacrificing.     But  the  world  at  large 
knew  him  only  as  the  editor  of  a  prominent 
paper  and  an    able  writer,  and  the  world  at 
large  would  listen  easily  to  those  who  would 
attribute  worldly  motives  to  him.     It  was  an 
enterprise  "of  great  pith  and  moment."     It 


208  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

would  tax  all  his  energy  and  resources,  and 
would  bring  him  probably  nothing  but  abuse 
and  defamation.     But  was  it  manly  at  all  to 
be  afraid  of  consequences — when  the  finger  of 
Duty  pointed  clearly  to  one  direction  only  and 
to  no  other  ?     Was  it  not  clear  that  female 
education  would  never  make  any  appreciable 
progress  so  long  as  girls  had  to  be  married 
away  in  their  tender  years  ?     Had  not  Keshub 
Chunder    Sen    proved,    by   the    opinions    of 
medical  experts  in  India,  that  Infant  Marriage 
led  to  an   unnaturally  early   development    ot 
sexual  functions,  and  that  such  development 
was  in  the  long  run  ruinous  to  the  physical 
and  therefore  to  the  mental  strength  of  the 
nation  ?     Was  it  not  Infant  Marriage,  again, 
that   led  mainly   to   enforced    and    unhappy 
widowhood  ?     And  were  not  unhappy  widows 
as  great  an  object  of  pity  and  sympathy  as  any 
other  unhappy    creatures  ?      Was  there  any 
religion  or  morality,  any  reason  or  sense,  in 
shaving  and  degrading  them,  and  subjecting 
them  to  a  hard,  almost  merciless,  discipline,  as 
if  every  one  of  them  was  sure  to  go  astray 
without  it  ?     The  picture    of  poor   widowed 
children  undergoing  the  slow  invisible  tortures 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         209 

of  a  ruthless  custom,  bred  of  iniquity  and  un- 
naturalness,  was  ever  present  to  Malabari,  and 
gave  him  at  length  the  courage  of  a  hero  and 
the  meekness  of  a  martyr.  I  am  using  these 
words  advisedly.  Few  know  how  sensitive  is 
this  noble  Parsi's  heart,  and  how  much  he  has 
suffered  during  the  last  six  years.  He  is  not 
likely  to  live  very  long.  Practically,  to  quote 
the  words  of  an  independent  observer,  he  "  has 
given  his  life  and  fortune  away  to  the  cause 
of  the  weak."  He  has  been  judged  most 
micharitably  by  some  of  his  contemporaries ; 
but  posterity  will  do  him  justice. 

Having  resolved  to  devote  himself  to  the 
eradication  of  these  evils,  Malabari  next 
thought  about  the  ways  and  means ;  and 
about  the  j)lan  of  his  campaign.  He  had 
studied  the  question  for  a  long  time,  and  he 
knew  the  _/;7'os  and  cojis  of  every  remedy  that 
occurred  to  him  so  well,  that  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  be  sanguine  about  any  of  them. 
His  main  object  was,  as  so  often  explained 
by  him,  to  draw  the  attention  of  wiser  and 
cleverer  men  to  the  two  evils,  to  see  if  a 
national  association  could  be  started,  and 
then  to  place  at  its  disposal  all  the  ability  that 

15 


210  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

he  could  command.  But  how  could  many 
mmds  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  problem  ?  If 
he  merely  went  on  describing  the  evils  and 
suggesting  the  remedies  that  occurred  to  him^ 
there  might  be  some  academical  discussion^ 
but  there  would  probably  be  no  results^ 
Malabari  well  knew  the  formidable  difficulties 
which  had  presented  themselves  when  female- 
education  was  first  taken  in  hand  by  a  previous 
generation,  and  he  well  knew  how  these- 
difficulties  had  been  overcome  through  official 
co-operation  and  sympathy.  He  had  no 
horror  of  officials.  He  knew  them  too  well  to 
suspect  them  of  evil  motives.  He  knew  what 
help  he  had  received  from  them  in  carrying 
out  his  scheme  of  vernacular  translations.  He 
knew  how  official  guidance  had  served  as  a 
kamarhand  *  for  the  invertebrates  of  society  in 
many  matters  necessary  for  the  well-being  of 
the  people.  He  knew  who  had  abolished  Suttee 
and  Infanticide,  and  introduced  Vaccination 
and  Sanitation.  He  was  averse  to  legislation 
on  the  subjects  which  had.  interested  him  so 
deeply,  but  he  thought  the  moral  support  of 
the   State  was   essential.     Jotting   down  his, 

*  Waistband. 


MALABARI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BE  FORMER         211 

thoughts,  therefore,  in  the  form  of  Notes,  he 
presented  himself  one  day  in  May  or  June,, 
1884,  to  Lord  Bipon,  the  Viceroy,  at  Simla. 

Lord  Kipon,  Mr.  Gibbs,  Mr.  Ilbert,  Sir 
Steuart  Bayley,  and  other  members  of  the 
Supreme  Government,  struck  by  Malabari's 
fervour,  promised  to  consider  the  Nofces,  and 
they  of  course  kept  their  promise.  Lord  Eipon, 
on  August  20,  1884,  wrote  to  him  to  say  that 
the  two  questions  of  Infant  Marriage  and  En- 
forced Widowhood  were  "practically  branches 
of  one  and  the  same  question,  the  position  of 
women  in  India,"  that  the  question  was,, 
"perhaps  the  most  pressing,  at  the  present 
moment,  of  Indian  social  questions,"  that  the 
practices  undoubtedly  led  to  great  evils,  but  did 
not  in  themselves  involve  crime  nor  were  so 
necessarily  and  inevitably  mischievous  as  to 
call  for  suppression  by  law,  if  tbey  were 
sanctioned  by  the  general  opinion  of  the 
society  in  which  they  prevailed ;  and  his. 
Lordship  concluded  his  letter  as  follows : — 

"  In  such  a  case  the  Government  cannot  take  action 
without  having  before  it  full  information  as  to  the  senti- 
ment and  opinion  of  the  community  interested  ;  and  in 
consulting,  as  I  understand  that  you  are  doing,  influential 


212  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

persons  throughout  India  on  this  point,  you  are,  I  believe, 
taking  the  most  practical  step  which  is  at  present  pos- 
sible towards  the  attainment  of  the  objects  which  you 
have  at  heart.  I  shall  rejoice  if  the  result  of  your 
inquiries  should  show  that  there  exists  an  opening  for 
the  Government  to  mark  in  some  public  manner  the  view 
which  it  entertains  of  the  great  importance  of  reform  in 
these  matters  of  Infant  Marriage  and  Enforced  Widow- 
hood." 

The  other  members  of  Government  wrote  in 
the  same  strain,  but  every  one  expressed  his 
sympathy  with  the  cause.  The  Lieut. -Gover- 
nors of  the  North- West  Provinces  and  the 
Panjaub  also  wrote  to  him  encouragingly  at 
this  early  stage,  and  the  Lieut. -Governor  of 
Bengal  followed. 

To  obtain  the  opinions  of  other  influential 
persons,  official  and  non-official,  Malabari  had 
a  large  number  of  his  Notes  printed,  and  on 
August  15,  1884,  submitted  them  with  a 
modest  printed  letter  for  consideration.  The 
result  was  their  discussion  by  the  press,  and 
their  translation  by  the  native  papers  into 
almost  all  the  vernaculars  of  India.  The 
criticisms  were  generally  favourable  at  first. 
On  September  11,  1884,  the  Supreme 
Government    forwarded    the    Notes    to    the 


MALABARI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         213 

Local  Governments  and  Administrations  for 
their  opinion,  and  also  for  consulting  repre- 
sentatives of  nat-ve  opinion.  It  would  have 
been  much  better  if  the  revised  Notes  pub- 
lished by  Malabari  in  October  had  been  so 
referred,  for  these  latter  contained  many 
more  practical  suggestions  than  the  first.  It 
is  curious  to  find  that  in  November,  1884,  Sir 
F.  Koberts,  then  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  Madras  Army,  directed  that  no  recruits 
would  be  allowed  to  marry  until  three  years 
after  their  enlistment.  This  was  in  effect  a 
recognition  of  the  principle  laid  down  by 
Malabari,  that  the  State  could  prefer  un- 
married to  married  men  for  its  services,  in 
order  to  discourage  premature  marriage. 
The  suggestion,  however,  met  with  no 
favourable  reception.  The  suggestions  which 
were  most  approved  were  (1)  the  formation  of 
a  national  association,  (2)  the  introduction  of 
lessons  on  these  subjects  in  educational  books, 
(8)  and  the  enactment  of  a  regulation  by  the 
Universities  that  after  a  certain  number  of 
years  none  who  were  not  bachelors  would  be 
admitted  to  the  degree  of  B.A.  This  hist 
suggestion  was  supported  by  a  gentleman  who 


214  MANHOOD  (187C-1B91). 

was  an  out-and-out  opponent  of  Malabari  in 
other  respects — I  mean  Mr.  Chiplonkar,  the 
able  Secretary  of  the  Sarvajjxiuk  Sabha,  Poona 
— and  by  several  other  distinguished  Hindus 
who  admitted  that,  according  to  the  Hiodu 
Shastras,  as  well  as  Hindu  traditions,  mar- 
riage should  succeed  the  completion  of  the 
long  period  prescribed  for  study. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the  events 
that  followed  the  publication  of  Malabari' s 
Notes — the  Surat  widows'  appeal  to  the  Nagar 
Shett  in  January,  1885 — the  Nowsari  widows' 
appeal  to  the  Gaekwar  in  April — the  cam- 
paign of  Malabari  in  the  Panjaub  in  Septem- 
ber and  October — the  effect  produced  in  India 
by  the  revelations  of  Mr.  Stead  in  November 
— the  strong  advocacy  of  legislation  on  the 
subject  of  Infant  Marriage  by  Mr.  Eanade  in 
December,  in  the  preface  to  the  publication 
of  papers  bearing  on  the  enactment  of 
Act  XV.  of  1856  —  the  speeches  delivered 
by  Malabari  at  Agra,  Alighar,  Bareilly, 
Allahabad,  Benares,  and  Muthra  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1886  —  the  memorial  of  Sir  T. 
Madhao  Kao  and  other  leading  citizens  of 
Madras    to    the    Viceroy   (Lord   Dufi'erin)  in 


IIALABARI  AS  A  SOCIAL  EEFORMEB.         215 

March,  188G,  for  fixing  the  marriageable  age 
of  Hindu  Qrirls  at  ten — the  Viceroy's  reply 
that  the  prevailing  customs  were  "  deleterious 
to  morality  "  and  that  the  movement  had  "  his 
;sympathy  and  approval  "  * — the  letters  to 
Malabari  from  Sir  Maxwell  Melvill  and  Sir 
Haymond  West,  of  May  and  July,  respectively, 
-enclosing  draft  Bills  for  the  consideration  of 

='=  "  H.  E.  the  Viceroy  said  he  was  very  glad  to  meet  the 
•deputation.  The  subject  which  they  brought  to  his  notice  was 
a  very  important  one.  There  was  nothing  so  well  engrained  in 
the  British  system  of  government  as  a  fixed  determination,  as 
far  as  possible,  not  to  interfere  in  the  established  national 
customs  of  the  people.  That  was  the  pohcy  of  his  predecessors, 
and  to  it  he  meant  strictly  to  adhere;  Mit  it  did  not  folloiv  that 
there  should  be  no  dejjarture  front  that  policy,  and  that  the 
present  Viceroy  and  the  members  of  his  Government  should  not 
watch  with  sympathy  and  approval  any  movement  that  had  for 
its  object  the  reformation  of  social  customs.  Personally  he 
Tthouglit  that  no  customs  could  be  more  deleterious  to  morality, 
and  fraught  with  greater  evils,  than  that  mentioned  in  the 
.address.  Every  European  nation  would  look  upon  it  with 
horror,  and  for  his  own  part  he  would  not  like  his  child  to 
•enter  into  so  momentous  a  contract  under  such  conditions.  If 
native  opinion  was  not  absolutely  unanimous,  there  should  at 
least  be  a  general  consensus  of  native  opinion  in  favour  of  the 
movement.  He  had  not  yet  been  suffisiently  long  in  the 
•country  to  gauge  the  character,  force,  and  extent  of  native 
■opinion  on  the  movement.  More  than  that  he  was  not  dis- 
posed to  say  at  present,  and  they  would  not  expect  him  to  say 
anore.  At  all  events,  they  might  go  away  with  the  satisfaction 
tliat  their  movement  had  his  sympathy  and  approval.  He 
was  much  gratified  to  see  so  many  men  of  position  and  intelli- 
gence taking  interest  in  so  important  a  movement." 


216  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

those  concerned — the  Meerut  memorial  in 
August,  1886,  prajdng  that  the  limit  of  age 
might  be  legislatively  fixed  at  12  for  girls  and 
16  for  boys — the  Madhava  Bagh  meeting  in 
September,  1886,  to  protest  against  any  con- 
templated interference,  legislative  or  executive 
— the  interview  of  the  Shastris  with  Lord  Reay 
on  September  13,  1886 — the  Gaekwar's  letter 
to  Malabari  of  July  15th  * — the  publication  of 
a  paper  in  the  September  number  of  The  Nine- 
teenth Century  on  the  Hindu  Widow,  by  Mr. 
Devfendranath  Dass ;  and  another  in  the 
October  number    of    The   Asiatic    Quarterly 

*  H.  H.  tlie  Maharaja  of  Baroda,  the  premier  Hindu  State  in 
India,  wrote  a  letter  to  Malabari,  on  the  15th  of  July,  1886, 
from  which  a  few  extracts  are  here  subjoined  : — 

"...  I  have  all  along  studied  and  watched  with  interest 
the  stirring  controversy  on  Infant  Marriage  and  Enforced  Widow- 
hood agaiut>t  which  you  have  so  ably  raised  your  voice,  and  for 
which  you  deserve  the  thanks  of  every  right-minded  citizen 
who  is  desirous  of  set-ing  the  social  regeneration  of  India. 
Evils  like  these  call  loudly  for  action,  and  action  alone  can 
remedy  them.  .  .  .  Nothing  is  rarer  in  this  woi'ld  than  the 
courage  which  accepts  all  personal  responsibilities  and  carries  it 
uabending  to  the  end.  By  your  agitation  you  have,  in  a  way, 
electrified  the  individual  instinct  of  conversation  into  one  of 
sympathy.  This  awakening,  which  you  have  had  the  honour 
to  effect  by  a,  so  to  say,  intellectual  contagion,  I  would  not  let 
go  to  sleep.  I  am  ready  to  help  on  the  good  cause  by  giving  it 
all  the  support  it  deserves.  .  .  .  Though  I  am  fully  aware  that 
it  is  difficult  to  raise  the  age,  I  would  not  like  to  see  it  under 
full  thirteen  for  consummation." 


MALABABI  A8  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         217 

Bevieia,  by  Dr.  Hunter — tbe  final  Resolution 
of  the  Government  of  India  on  Malabari's 
Notes,  in  October,  1886 — the  publication  of 
the  opinions  of  Hinchi  gentlemen  consulted 
on  the  subject  in  the  form  of  Government 
Selections,  in  January,  1887 — the  attacks  on 
Malabari  and  Ranade  by  some  of  the  Poona 
lecturers,  in  February — and  lastly,  the  pub- 
lication of  the  opinions  given  to  Malabari,  in 
the  form  of  a  companion  volume  to  the  Selec- 
tions. Besides  these  may  be  mentioned  the 
extremely  thoughtful  pamphlet  of  Mr.  Ardesir 
Framjee,  and  several  other  interesting  pub- 
lications. Thus,  those  brief  Notes  of  Malabari 
have  gathered  round  them  a  vast  amount  of 
literature,  and  Malabari  has  certainly  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  the  best  and  wisest 
intellects  to  bear  on  the  question.  This  alone 
is  no  small  achievement,  and  his  worst  de- 
tractors cannot  but  admit  that  this  achieve- 
ment is  to  his  credit.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  ought  also,  in  fairness,  to  admit  that 
they  have  been  guilty  of  the  seven  mistakes 
which  Malabari  has  enumerated  in  the  follow- 
ing extract : — 

"  It   may  be   remembered  that  every   paper    I   have 


■218  MANHOOD  (1870-1891). 

written  upon  the  subject  of  marriage  reform  in  India  has 
been  marked  '  Submitted  for  Consideration.'  The  first 
memo,  was  so  marked,  and  it  was  for  the  reader  to 
■approve  the  contents  or  not,  without  questioning  motives 
a-nd  entering  into  other  personal  details.  Some  people 
did  the  latter,  simply  because  I  happened  to  be  a  Parsi. 
That  was  Mistake  number  One,  since  magnified  a  hun- 
dredfold by  a  hundred  false  steps,  at  each  of  which  the 
man  was  assailed  and  his  measures  almost  entirely  kept 
-out  of  sight. 

"  (b)  It  may  also  be  remembered  that  I  have  invari- 
ably spoken  of  the  two  specific  evils  as  infan  t  marriages 
ajid_  enforce^i_si\(\ owhood,  and  that  my  opponents  have 
made  a  point  of  mistaking  them  for  early  marriages  and 
widowhood  in  general.  This  has  in  most  cases  been 
done  on  purpose,  and  it  has  exposed  me  to  great  annoy- 
ance, as  it  has  greatly  obscured  the  points  at  issue.  I 
have  often  tried  to  explain  incidentally  in  the  course  of 
the  discussion,  that  it  is  infant  marriages  alone  that  I 
•object  to,  and  that  it  is  the  prevention  by  social  con- 
spiracy of  widow  marriages,  declared  valid  by  Shastras 
■and  by  the  British  law,  and  the  endless  persecution  of 
widows  intending  to  re-marry,  that  called  for  a  protest. 
But  the  opponents  knew  that  their  only  chance  was  to 
•*  mix  up,'  and  so  they  went  on  repeating  that  I  wanted 
Hindu  girls  to  remain  unmarried  till  20-25  and  all  Hindu 
widows  to  be  remarried  !  This  was  Mistake  number 
Two. 

"  (c)  The  third  mistake  was  that  I  had  grossly  exagge- 
rated the  evils.  Now  this  is  a  matter  of  difierence  of 
opinion.  The  opponents  say  I  have  overstated  the  case.. 
I  say  I  have  nnderstated  it.  Let  it  be  noted  that  the 
<evils  are  scattered  over  a  vast  area,  and  that  all  through- 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOliMER.         219 

out  they  cannot  be  the  same  in  extent  and  intensity. 
We  have  to  judge  of  tlie  matter  by_caste_as_well  as  by 
tract.-  Thus,  what  obtains  in  one  caste  or  in  one  part  of 
the  country  may  be  more  or  less  absent  from  another 
-caste  or  another  part  o  the  country.  Those  belonging 
to  the  latter,  therefore,  find  it  easy,  perhaps  necessary 
from  their  point  of  view,  to  charge  me  with  exaggeration, 
libel,  &c.,  when  I  am  describing  evils  as  they  actually 
•exist  in  the  former.  This  seems  to  me  to  be  the  secret 
•of  the  Exaggeration  theory  which  is  shared  even  by  two 
■or  three  European  friends.  The  European  is  naturally 
more  sceptical  than  the  Hindu,  because  the  former  can- 
not conceive  of  a  state  of  affairs  which  is,  happily, 
absent  from  European  society.  The  charitable  Hindu 
would  be  equally  sceptical  as  regards  some  of  the  social 
■enormities  prevailing  in  European  countries.  Butbe- 
■cause  one  is  not  personally  acquainted  with  a  particular 
phase  of  social  evil,  is  it  fair  that  he  should  charge 
■another  who  knows  as  libelling  him  and  his  people  ? 
My  statements  are  generally  made  on  accurate  first-hand 
information,  acquired  by  personal  contact  with  the 
victims  themselves  or  a  study  of  the  literature  of  the 
subject  as  relating  to  particular  localities.  Not  to  say 
anything  of  marriage  before  the  babies  are  born  and 
while  they  are  at  breast,  I  ask  if  Hindu  girls  are  not 
usually  married  at  about  8  ?  If  a  mean  average  were 
taken  all  over  the  country  I  fear  it  would  not  go  beyond 
'7.  If  in  some  parts  marriages  take  place  at  11,  in  many 
they  occur  before  9.  When  a  marriage  is  postponed,  it 
is  done  out  of  sheer  necessity,  the  absence  of  a  suitable 
match  or  want  of  means.  Where  marriages,  as  a  rule, 
take  place  so  early,  a  good  deal  of  harm  must  necessarily 
iollow.     I  admit  that  in  some  cases  parental  control  may 


220  MAl^HOOB  (187G-1891). 

avert  this  harm.  But  such  enlightened  parents  in  India, 
are  in  woful  minority.  If  you  advise  an  uneducated 
friend  to  postpone  consummation  till  a  proper  age,  he 
will  turn  upon  you  with  the  unanswerable  question — 
what  were  the  couple  married  for  ?  Then,  as  to  unequal 
marriages,  those  between  50  and  10,  for  instance,  are 
they  so  very  rare  in  all  parts  of  India  ?  And  what  can 
be  the  result  of  such  unions,  with  lifelong  widowhood 
staring  the  brides  in  the  face  ?  What  are  we  to  think 
of  the  public  opinion  of  a  country  in  which  such  mar- 
riages are  possible?  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  cases 
in  which  the  boy-husband  is  younger  than  the  girl-wife. 
The  latter  grows  rapidly,  while  the  former  has  a  com- 
paratively slower  growth,  and  sometimes  does  not  grow"  at. 
all.  Is  not  this  a  gi'eat  wrong  to  both  parties?  But  I 
will  not  pursue  the  subject.  Let  the  critics  go  over 
different  parts  of  the  country,  and  study  the  different 
customs,  and  then  come  forward  to  confirm  or  contradict, 
my  statements.  They  have  never  done  so,  nor  attempted 
to  do  so,  but  have  contented  themselves  with  ignoring 
facts  not  within  their  personal  observation.  This  is 
Mistake  number  Three. 

"  [([)  Another  mistake  on  the  part  of  my  critics  is  that 
I  have  been  clamouring  for  legislation.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  I  declared  in  the  very  first  Note  my  aversion  to 
legislative  interference.  I  '  submitted '  other  methods, 
for  '  consideration,'  which  were  approved  by  some  and 
objected  to  by  others.  As  the  discussion  went  on,  I 
'  submitted '  more  suggestions  made  to  me  by  friends,, 
mostly  Hindus.  It  was  for  the  community  concerned  to- 
accept  or  to  reject  those  suggestions.  Too  much  stress  is 
being  laid  in  some  quarters  on  the  draft  bills  sketched  by 
Messrs.  Melvill  and  West.     It  is  needless  to  refute  the 


MALABARI  AS  A  SO'JIAL  REFORMER.         221 

•assertions  of  mischief-makers  in  this  regard.  The  drafts 
are  still  before  the  public,  who  can  see  that  they  were  not 
at  all  meant  for  immediate  adoption  by  the  whole  com- 
munity or  by  sections  of  the  community,  but  were 
intended  to  guide  those  who  might  in  the  future  think  it 
necessary  to  appeal  to  the  Legislature.  No  one,  who  has 
read  the  drafts  and  the  remarks  prefacing  them,  or  who 
has  any  acquaintance  with  their  authors,  would  take 
them  amiss  for  a  moment.  Let  us  hope  this  too  was  only 
a  Mistake,  Mistake  number  Four. 

"  (e)  But  why  did  you  at  all  consult  the  officials  and 
publish  their  opinions  ? — ask  my  indignant  critics.  Be- 
cause I  knew  my  critics  too  well  to  trust  only  to  their 
co-operation.  In  consulting  official  opinion  I  had  the 
example  of  others  before  me.  What  would  have  been 
the  fate  of  the  agitation  against  Suttee,  Infanticide, 
Compulsory  Widowhood,  Hook-swinging  and  other  pas- 
times, but  for  official  co-operation  ?  IIow  far  would  Ram 
Mohan  and  Keshub  Chunder,  for  instance,  have  succeeded 
without  the  moral  support  of  Bentinck  and  Lawrence  ? 
As  to  publishing  official  and  non-official  opinions,  surely 
they  were  not  intended  to  be  pigeon-holed?  Those  who 
think  so  make  a  bad  mistake.  Mistake  number  Five. 

"  (/)  The  sixth  mistake  has  regard  to  my  motive  ;  that 
I  undertook  this  work  for  cheap  popularity.  The  ab- 
surdity of  such  a  supposition  is  self-evident.  I  was  one 
of  the  most  popular  men  in  India,  if  not  the  most  popular 
of  my  years,  when  I  took  up  the  question.  I  took  it  up 
with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  sacrifices  it  would  entail.  I 
took  it  up  as  my  life  work.  It  is  scarcely  three  years 
now  since  I  began  when  people  are  talking  about  my 
having  become  '  thoroughly  discredited  '  and  abusing  me 
as  never  was  the  worst  enemy  of  the  country  abused 


222  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

before.     All  this  does  not  look  like  popularity,   and  it 
constitutes  Mistake  number  Six. 

"  (g)  The  last  and  the  worst  mistake  is  to  threaten 
to  'crush  that  Malabari.'  Here  the  opponents  have- 
entirely  mistaken  their  man.  There  is  only  one  way  of 
silencing  him,  by  showing  honest  work.  He  does  not- 
claim  their  respect  or  esteem ;  he  never  expected  favours 
from  them,  has  ceased  to  hope  even  for  common  justice 
from  such  quarters.  But  can  nothing  make  these  gentle- 
men see  that  less  than  half  the  labour  and  ingenuity  they 
spend  in  attempting  to  '  crush  '  a  solitary  well-wisher 
might,  if  otherwise  employed,  bring  about  the  reformation 
of  a  whole  community  ?  " 

In  1887  the  social  reform  movement  became- 
less  academical  and  more  practical.    An  associ- 
ation in  Sind,  the  first  of  its  kind,  was  registered 
under  Section  26  of  the  Companies  Act  vi.,  of 
188*2,  after  a  prolonged  correspondence  with 
Government.     A  similar  association  was  also- 
registered   in  Ahmedabad.      These  registered 
associations  were  corporate  bodies  with  per- 
petual  succession,    and    their    rules   required 
certain  pledges  to  be  taken  by  their  members. 
Some  of  the  obligations  imposed  upon  these 
associations  by  the  Act  are  rather  troublesome,, 
and  it  is  well  worth  the  consideration  of  the 
Legislature  whether  the  law  on  this  subject 
should  not  be  modified,     A  few  words  intro- 


MALABARI  AS  A  SOCIAL  REFOBMEB.         223-. 

diiced  into  Section  26,  empowering  the  Local 
Governmenis  in  their  discretion  to  exempt 
such  associations  from  such  obhgations,  will 
be  a  great  boon.  Under  any  circumstances 
Government  should  not  tax  such  bodies. 
Under  Section  26  they  can  be  licensed  and 
registered  only  on  proving  that  they  are  not 
formed  for  profit,  but  for  promoting  some 
useful  public  object ;  and  it  is  not  therefore 
fair  that  they  should  be  made  to  pay  several 
fees,  as  if  they  were  commercial  companies. 
The  Government  of  India  has,  indeed,  reduced 
the  registration  fee  to  Es.  50,  and  remitted  the 
heavy  stamp  duty  leviable  on  the  memor- 
andum and  the  articles  of  association ;  but  the 
fees  which  have  yet  to  be  paid  are  the  same 
as  those  payable  by  companies.  This  is  cer- 
tainly an  anomaly.  The  registration  fee, 
again,  is  susceptible  of  further  reduction. 

Besides  these  registered  associations,  it  may 
be  mentioned  that  the  first  Kayastha  Con- 
ference was  also  opened  in  1887.  The 
Kayasthas  are  a  large  class  of  Hindus  who  are 
mostly  in  official  or  professional  employment. 
The  late  Mr.  Justice  Nanabhai  Haridas  of 
Bombay  was  one  of  them.      Mr.  K.  C.  Dutt,. 


224  MANHOOD  (1B7G-1891). 

the  author  of  "Ancient  India,"  is,  I  beheve,  a 
Kayastha.  Several  Kayastha  youths — and  even 
Kayastha  ladies — have  been  to  England.  They 
have  an  educational  institution  of  their  own, 
and  a  large  fund.  The  Kayastha  Conference 
was  established  with  the  object  of  welding 
together  the  various  sections  of  the  com- 
munity into  a  homogeneoQS,  harmonious  body, 
improving  its  material  and  intellectual  con- 
dition, and  introducing  social  reforms.  The 
Kayasthas  have  since  been  holding  a  Conference 
every  year  at  important  centres,  and  their 
progress  has  been  acknowledged  on  all  hands. 

Another  Conference,  also — the  first  of  its 
kind — was  held  in  December,  1887,  at  Madras. 
It  was  called  the  National  Social  Conference 
of  India,  and,  like  the  Kayastha  Conference,  it 
has  been  since  repeated  every  year.  It  has  its 
circles,  like  the  National  Congress,  and  its  sit- 
tings usually  commence  after  those  of  the 
Congress.  I  shall  have  shortly  to  refer  to  a 
few  of  its  important  resolutions. 

In  1888  the  celebrated  Rajputana  Sabha  was 
established  through  the  exertions  of  Colonel 
(now  General)  Walter,  Agent  Governor-Gene- 
ral,  Eajputana.      One   of    the   rules   of    this 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         225 

association  was  that  "  boys  and  girls  should 
not  be  married  before  the  age  of  eighteen  and 
fourteen  respectively."  Its  other  rules  pre- 
scribed a  scale  of  marriage  and  other  customary 
expenses.  The  Sabha  is  mainly  composed  of 
Bajput  princes  and  chiefs,  and  it  has,  according 
to  all  accounts,  already  done  considerable  good. 
Its  example  has  been  extremely  wholesome, 
and  the  National  Social  Conference,  held  at 
Allahabad  in  December,  1888,  nine  months 
after  the  formation  of  the  Sabha,  recommended 
inter  alia  "  the  gradual  raising  of  the  marriage- 
able age  to  the  standard  fixed  by  the  Eajput 
chiefs." 

In  1889,  the  Government  made  rules  under 
the  Infanticide  Act  (viii.  of  1870)  for  curtailing 
marriage  expenses  among  the  Lewa  and  Kadwa 
Kunbis  of  Gujarat,  and  prescribed  a  fine  for 
their  violation.  The  communities  concerned 
were  in  favour  of  such  a  measure,  and  we  may 
hope  that  this  experiment  will  not  be  a  failure. 
A  similar  experiment,  tried  in  1856  among  the 
Sayads  of  Tatta,  by  Mr.  Gibbs,  who  was  then 
Assistant  Commissioner,  but  who  rose  to  be  a 
member  of  the  Supreme  Council,  had  proved 
.successful. 

16 


226  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

In  1889,  also,  the  agitation  for  amending- 
the  law  regarding  the  "  protected  age,"  which 
had  been  commenced  as  early  as  1885,  at- 
tracted considerable  attention,  and  the  Social 
Conference  which  met  at  Bombay  in  December 
passed  by  a  large  majority,  after  a  very  warm 
discussion,  a  resolution  that  the  Government, 
should  be  moved  to  amend  the  Penal  Code  so 
as  to  extend  protection  to  girls,  married  as 
well  as  unmarried,  at  least  up  to  the  age  of 
twelve — in  other  words,  to  treat  intercourse 
with  such  girls,  with  or  without  their  consent, 
as  a  felony.  A  few  months  later  occurred  the 
case  of  Hari  Maiti  *  at  Calcutta,  and  the  very 
strong  memorial  sent  by  the  president  of  the 
Social  Conference  on  the  subject  of  the  reso- 
lution was  followed  by  another  equally  strong 
from  the  Health  Society  of  Calcutta  ;  a  third,, 
which  was  quite  unique  in  its  character,  from 
fifty-five  lady  doctors  practising  in  India ;  and 
a  fourth  from  two  thousand  ladies  of  all  classes 
in  the  Bombay  Presidency.  This  last  was 
addressed  to  Her  Majesty  the  Queen-Empress. 

During  the  earlier  stages  of  the  Social  Ee- 

■-'•  He   did   to  death  his   child-wife,  Phulmoni,   aged  about, 
eleven,  in  an  act  of  forcible  intercourse. 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  liEFOBMEE.         227 

form  movement,  a  dead  set  had  been  made 
against  legislation  of  any  kind  in  social 
matters,  and  the  resolution  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  India,  already  referred  to,  had  finally 
set  this  question  at  rest.  But  the  well-known 
case  of  Eukhmabai  *  showed  that  the  English- 
made  civil  law,  as  it  stood,  went  far  beyond  the 
ancient  Hindu  law,  and  even  modern  caste 
usage,  in  enforciug  marital  rights  ;  and  the 
case  of  Phulmoni,  which  arose  five  years  later, 
showed  that  the  criminal  law,  instead  ot" 
giving  effect  to  the  prohibitions  of  Hindu  lav/ 
against  premature  intercourse,  practically 
authorized  such  intercourse  with  girls  of  ten. 
Both  these  questions  were  only  indirectly 
social  questions.  They  had  been  admittedly 
dealt  with  by  the  Legislature,  and  the 
Legislature  having  never  given  a  pledge  th^t 
it  would  not  interfere  to  prevent  the  com- 
mission of  offences,  or  to  lessen  the  rigor r 
of  its  own  sanctions,  was  perfectly  free  to 
amend  or  repeal  what  it  had  at  first  ordained. 

*  She  was  married  when  a  child.  Her  marriage  was  nevei- 
consummated;  but  the  High  Court  passed  a  decree  in  favour  cf 
her  husband — whom  she  loathed— awarding  him  restitution  ot" 
conjugal  right?.  The  husband,  under  the  law,  was  entitled  to 
have  his  wife  imprisoned  on  her  refusal  to  cohabit  with  hiin. 


228  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

Ill  the  spring  of  1870,  therefore,  when 
Malabari  visited  England  for  the  first  time,* 
these  two  questions  were  nearly  ripe  for 
solution.  Curiously  enough,  both  had  been 
mooted  in  1885 — for  Eukhmabai's  case  had 

*  Malabari's  second  trip  to  Europe,  in  1890,  undertaken  solely 
for  health,  was  perhaps  niiore  disaiipointing  in  that  respect  than 
his  first  visit.  During  the  previous  visit  he  appears  to  have 
selected  a  little  "  earthly  paradise  "  in  Switzerland,  where  he 
thought  he  might  spend  a  few  weeks  of  complete  rest,  should  he 
ever  go  back  to  Europe.  So  he  slipped  out  of  Bombay  quietly 
on  the  1st  of  April,  1890,  with  Lucerne  for  his  objective. 

The  sea-voyage  seems  to  have  done  him  much  good.  But  on 
arriving  at  Lucerne  he  found  it  almost  snow-bound.  His  friend. 
Dr.  Bhabha,  took  him  about  to  other  parts,  which  were  equally 
inhospitable.  Malabari  was,  therefore,  taken  over  to  London, 
where  he  lived  in  seclusion  till  August,  resuming  a  study  of 
certain  phases  of  English  life  and  character,  which  he  had  to 
leave  off'  in  the  year  before.  Absolute  rest  was  impossible  to 
this  restless  being.  So  he  began  "vivisecting  the  Briton,"  as 
he  put  it;  bright  and  cheery  as  ever,  in  spite  of  bad  weather, 
and  an  epidemic  of  influenza  raging  around.  Tliis  occupation, 
however,  was  interrupted  by  the  serious  illness  of  his  friend, 
whom  he  had  to  watch  day  and  night  for  some  time,  and  who, 
he  said,  "  had  all  but  gone  "  twice  during  the  period. 

His  letters  in  June  made  me  very  anxious,  as  I  pictured  him 
surrounded  by  sickness  and  gloom,  tending  another  while  he 
himself  needed  friendly  attention.  But  in  the  beginning  of 
July  he  wrote — "  We  have  pulled  the  Doctor  through,  and  I  am 
now  pulling  myself  together.  In  less  than  a  fortnight  I  may 
abandon  myself  to  a  course  of  reckless  dissipation,  walks  and 
rides  and  excursions,  and  no  end  of  sight-seeing.  Business  is 
very  slack.  Just  now  I  am  trying  to  nurse  some  of  our  political 
friends  on  both  sides  of  the  House.  How  little  I  knew  they 
knew  so  little  about  India  !  We  are  ourselves  not  a  little  to 
blame  for  this  bitter  ignorance." 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         229 

arisen  in  that  year,  and  the  revelations  made 
by  Mr.  Stead  having  directed  attention  to  the 
Indian  Criminal  Law,  a  proposal  for  amending 
it  had  been  made  in  the  same  year,  in  a  series 
of  letters  to  the  Indian  Spectator,  which 
were  afterwards  published  by  Malabari  in  the 
form  of  a  pamphlet,  and  which  elicited  a 
large  number  of  opinions  in  favour  of  the 
proposal. 

Malabari  had  been  advised  to  take  a  voyage 
to  England  for  the  benefit  of  his  health.  But 
soon  after  his  arrival  in  London  he  quietly 
commenced  to  interest  influential  persons  in 
what  he  called  his  life-work.  He  had  many 
sincere  friends,  and  with  their  advice  he 
chalked  out  a  programme  for  himself,  which 
he  was  able  to  carry  out  during  his  six 
months'  stay.  But  he  had  to  work  very 
hard,  and  his  health,  instead  of  improving, 
sometimes  grew  worse.  One  night  especially, 
returning  home  from  a  private  meeting  after 
twelve,  he  felt  so  ill  and  worn  out,  that  he 
instructed  his  affectionate  host  and  school- 
brother.  Dr.  Bhabha,  to  bury  his  body,  in  the 
event  of  death,  in  a  poor  man's  grave  in 
London,  but  to  send  his  heart  to  India,   to 


230  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

be   interred  "  at   the  foot  of  the  Himalayas 
under  the  eternal  snows." 

In  spite  of  bodily  sufferings,  however,  his 
will  and  earnestness  never  flagged,  and  his 
Appeal  on  behalf  of  the  Daughters  of  India, 
published  as  a  pamphlet,  and  his  letters  to 
the  Times,  and  other  leading  journals,  followed 
by  discriminating  criticisms  of  such  an  emi- 
nent authority  as  Sir  William  Hunter,  drew 
public  attention  to  the  anomalies  of  the  Indian 
laws  and  to  the  position  of  child-wives  and 
child- widows  in  India.  Almost  the  entire 
English  press  *  expressed  its  sympathy  with 

■^  See  Dally  News,  July  24  ;  The  Queen,  July  30  and  Aug,  2  ; 
The  Woman,  July  31  ;  The  Echo,  July  31  and  Aug.  20 ;  The 
Church  Times,  Aug.  1  and  29,  and  Sept.  26 ;  The  Lancet,  Aug. 
16  ;  The  Times,  Aug.  20  and  Oct.  7  ;  The  Pall  Mall  Gazette, 
July  31;  The  Jewish  Wo7-ld,  Aug.  1;  The  Woman's  Penny 
Paper,  Aug.  2 ;  The  Manchester  Guardian,  Aug.  5  ;  The 
Methodist  Eecorder,  Aug.  14  ;  The  Globe,  Aug.  20  ;  The  P'ree 
Press,  Aug.  21  ;  The  St.  James's  Gazette,  Aug.  21  ;  The  Leeds 
Mercury,  Aug.  21  ;  The  Birmingham  Post,  Aug.  21  ;  The  Home 
News,  Aug.  8  ;  The  Yorkshire  Post,  Aug.  10  ;  The  Liverpool 
Post,  Aug.  19  and  20;  The  Star,  Aug.  20;  The  Yorkshire 
Herald,  Aug.  21 ;  The  Yorkshire  Post,  Aug.  21  ;  The  Christian 
World,  Aug.  21 ;  The  Lady,  Aug.  21  ;  The  Sjyeaker,  Sept.  27  ; 
The  Manchester  Guardian,  Aug.  19  ;  The  Scottish  Leader, 
Aug.  21 ;  The  Western  Press,  Aug.  21  ;  The  Sheffield  Indepen- 
dent, Aug.  21 ;  The  Manchester  Courier,  Aug.  22  ;  The  Evening 
News,  Aug.  23  ;  The  Daily  Chronicle,  Aug.  23 ;  The  Itecnrd, 
Aug.  23  ;  The  Guardian,  Aug.  27  ;  The  Princess,  Aug.  30 ; 
The  Freeman,  Aug.  30  ;  The  Methodist  Times,  Sept.  18  ;  The 


MALABAEI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOEMER         231 

the  cause  advocated  by  Malabari,  thoiigli  of 
-course  there  were  differences  of  opmion  as  to 
the  remedies  suggested  by  him. 

This  appeal  of  Malabari  was  published  on 
the  11th  of  June,  1890,  and  on  the  14th  of 
July,  1890,  a  private  meeting  was  held  at 
Mrs.  (now  Lady)  Jeune's,  37,  Wimpole  Street, 
W.,  to  discuss  some  of  his  proposals. 

The  Eight  Honourable  Lord  Eeay  was  in  the  chair, 
and  amongst  those  present  were  Her  Koyal  Highness 
Princess  Christian,  Her  Eoyal  Highness  the  Duchess  of 
Connaught,  the  Earl  and  Countess  of  Aberdeen,  the 
•Countess  of  Arran,  Mrs.  Gladstone,  Mrs.  Goschen,  the 
■Countess  of  Jersey,  the  Countess  of  Galloway,  Lady 
Wantage,  Lady  Edward  Cavendish,  Lady  George  Hamil- 
ton, Mrs.  Fawcett,  Lady  Eeay,  Lady  Knightley,  the 
Hon.  Miss  Kinnaird,  Miss  Morley,  Lady  Grant  Duff, 
Lady  Lumsden,  Mr.  Munro  Ferguson,  M.P.,  and  Lady 
Helen  Ferguson,  Lady  Eothschild,  Professor  Max  Miiller 
and  Mrs.  Max  Miiller,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jeune,  Lady  Drum- 
mond,  Mrs.  F.  Morrison,  Mrs.  Wynford  Philips,  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Eraser,  Sir  Charles  Aitchison,  Sir  Alfred  Lyall,  Sir 
Charles  Turner,  Sir  William  Markby,  Sir  William  Moore, 
Sir  John  Kennaway,  Bart.,   M.P.,  Sir  Gerald  Seymour 

British  Medical  Journal,  Sept.  20  ;  The  Saturdaij  Review, 
bept.  20  ;  The  Westminster  Gazette,  Sept.  20  and  Oct.  11 ;  The 
JSorth  British  Daily  Mail,  Sept.  20 ;  The  Commonwealth,. 
Sept.  25 ;  The  National  Beformer,  Sej)t.  7  ;  Charity,  Sept.  15  ; 
England,  Sept,  23 ;  The  Morning  Advertiser,  September 
24;  The  Weekly  Bevleiv,  Oct.  11;  The  Leamington  Courier 
September  13. 


232  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

Fitzgerald,  Mr.  Mocatta,  Mr.  McEwan,  M.P.,  and  Mrs. 
McEwan,  Mr.  J.  Noble,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Maclvre,  Mr. 
Tupper,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cowasji  Jehangir,  Mr.  Gazdar, 
Mr.  Malabari,  and  others. 

Letters  of  apology  were  received  from  the  following, 
who  were  unavoidably  absent : — The  Archbishop  of 
Canterbiivy  and  Mrs.  Benson,  the  Marchioness  of  Tavis- 
tock, the  Bishop  of  London  and  Mrs.  Temple,  the  Earl 
of  Northbrook,  the  Earl  of  Harrowby,  Sir  Charles 
Bernard,  Mr.  Ilbert,  the  Lady  Leigh,  Sir  William 
Hunter,  Mr.  Samuel  Smith,  M.P.,  Mr.  McLaren,  M.P., 
and  others. 

The  following  Eesolutions  were  discussed  and  adopted, 
with  a  view  of  their  being  submitted  to  the  Right 
Honourable  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India  and  the 
Indian  Government : — 

Resolution  1.  —  Proposed  by  Sir  William  Moore, 
seconded  by  —  Tupper,  Esq.,  and  supported  by  Dr. 
Fraser — "  That  the  age  of  consent  should  be  raised 
to  12." 

Resolution  2. — Proposed  by  Sir  Charles  Aitchison,  and 
seconded  by  the  Countess  of  Jersey — "  That  provision  be 
made  for  enabling  infant  marriages  to  be  set  aside  unless 
ratified  by  consent  within  a  reasonable  time  of  the  proper 
age." 

Resolution  3. — Proposed  by  Sir  William  Markby  and 
seconded  by  Mr.  Gazdar — "  That  the  suit  for  restitution 
of  conjugal  rights,  which  is  fouaded  upon  ecclesiastical 
law,  and  has  been  repudiated  in  its  coercive  form  in  all 
countries  of  Europe,  ought  never  to  have  been  inti'oduced 
into  India  ;  that  the  continued  prosecution  of  such  a  suit 
is  likely  to  produce  injustice ;  and  that  the  whole  subject 
requires  reconsideration  at  the  hands  of  the  Government, 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         235 

with  a  due  regard  to  the  marriage  law  and  the  habits, 
and  customs  of  the  people  of  India." 

Eesolution  4. — Proposed  by  Professor  Max  Muller  and 
seconded  by  Sir  John  Kennaway,  Bart.,  M.P. — "That 
any  legal  obstacles  that  still  stand  in  the  way  of  the  re- 
marriage of  widows  should  be  removed." 

These  Eesolutions  were,  in  due  course,  sent 
to  the  authorities.  Malabari  was  also  instru- 
mental in  forming  a  strong  committee  in 
England  for  improving  the  position  of  women 
in  India,  which  now  consists  of  the  following 
members  : — 

The-  Earl  of  Northbrook,  Lord  and  Lady  Reay,  the 
Marquis  and  Marchioness  of  Eipon,  the  Marquis  and 
Marchioness  of  Dufferin,  the  Earl  of  Kinnaird,  Sir 
Charles  and  Lady  Aitchison,  Professor  and  Mrs.  Max 
Muller,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ilbert,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel 
Smith,  the  Hon.  Misses  Kinnaird,  Mr.  and  Lady  Helen 
Ferguson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jeune,  Mr.  Dadabhai  Naoroji, 
Miss  Frances  Power  Cobbe,  Cardinal  Manning,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Childers,  Mr.  Leonard  Courtney,  the  Countess 
of  Jersey,  Lady  Hobhouse,  Professor  Bryce,  M.P.,  Sir 
William  and  Lady  Muir  (Edinburgh),  Sir  William  and 
Lady  Wedderburn,  the  Duke  of  Westminster,  the  Lady 
Leigh,  the  Lady  Edward  Cavendish,  Mrs.  Fawcett,  Miss 
Agnes  Garrett,  Sir  John  Kennaway,  Bart.,  M.P.,  and 
Lady  Kennaway,  Lord  and  Lady  Tennyson,  Lord  and 
Lady  Wynford,  Lady  Lyall,  Mrs.  Frank  Morrison,  Sir 
William  and  Lady  Hunter,  Sir  William  and  Lady 
Markby,  Sir  William  Moore,  the  Hon.  Hallam  Tenny- 


^34  MANHOOD  (187(5-1891). 

son  and  Mrs.  Tennyson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Caine,  Miss 
Marston  Miss  E.  A.  Manning,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Percy 
Bunting,  Sir  Andrew  Clark,  Dr.  W.  S.  Playfair,  Sir 
Monier  and  Lady  Williams,  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  the 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  the  Rev.  Canon 
Wilberforce,  Dowager  Lady  Stanley  of  Alderley,  Mr. 
■James  Samuelson,  the  Eev.  Mr.  Barnett  and  Mrs. 
Barnett,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lindsay  (Glasgow),  Mrs.  Jose- 
phine Butler,  Mrs.  Wynford  Philips,  Mr.  Justice  Scott 
.and  Mrs.  Scott,  Lord  Lawrence,  Mr.  Samuel  Laing, 
Lady  Herschell,  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  the  Countess  of 
■Galloway,  Miss  Louisa  Stevenson  (Edinburgh),  the 
Dowager  Countess  of  Mayo,  Lord  Stanley  of  Alderley, 
Mr.  Justice  Kemball  and  Mrs.  Kemball,  the  Bishop  of 
Liverpool,  the  Rev.  Canon  McCormick,  Rev.  the  Hon. 
-Carr  Glyn,  Sir  Henry  and  Lady  Cunningham,  Sir  Rivers 
and  Lady  Thompson,  Dr.  George  Smith,  Mrs.  Rukhma- 
bai,  the  Hon.  Chandos  Leigh,  Mrs.  Henry  Ware,  Rev. 
Prebendary  Forrest,  Sir  George  Campbell,  Eev.  Canon 
Duckworth,  the  Dean  of  Westminster,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Whitley  Stokes,  Sir  James  Fitz-James  Stephen  and  Lady 
Stephen,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Argyll,  the  Duke  of 
Fife,  Archbishop  Plunket  of  Dublin,  Lord  and  Lady 
Randolph  Churchill,  the  Earl  of  Rosebery,  Mrs.  (Dr.) 
Scharlieb,  Miss  (Dr.)  Ellaby,  Mr.  H.  W.  Primrose,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  W.  M.  Wood,  Mr.  Samuel  Digby,  the  Rev.  Brooke 
Lambert,  Mrs.  W.  Dixon  (Dublin),  the  Right  Hon.  Sir 
U.  K.  Shuttleworth,  M.P.,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walter  McLaren, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Geary,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Eraser  and  Mrs. 
Eraser,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  Schwann,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M. 
Chose,  Mr.  J.  T.  Petrocokiuo,  and  others. 

This  is  admittedly  the  most  influential  Com- 


MALABARI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         235 

mittee  yet  formed  in  England  on  India's 
l)ehalf.  It  represents  leaders  of  thought,  as 
iilso  of  the  moral  and  social  movements  at 
work  in  that  country.  The  governing  Anglo- 
Indian  element  is  also  very  strongly  repre- 
sented on  the  Committee.  It  shows  no  small 
a^mount  of  organizing  powers  to  be  able  to 
form  such  an  association,  but  Malabari  insists 
•on  giving  the  credit  of  it  all  to  "the  women 
■of  England." 

Amongst  the  numerous  friends  of  India,  who 
•encouraged  our  reformer  daring  his  sojourn  in 
Eondon,  was  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  wrote  to  him 
once  more,  expressing  "  the  warm  sympathy  " 
with  which  he  had  followed  the  movement. 
"As  to  the  initiative,"  Mr.  Gladstone  added, 
•^' there  must  be  division  of  labour,  and  I  am 
not  in  a  position  to  take  a  leading  or  an  early 
part."  He  concluded,  however,  with  the 
hope  that  "  an  appropriate  opportunity  maij 
arise." 

Malabari  left  London  about  the  middle  of 
.September,  reaching  Trieste  on  the  1st  Octo- 
ber, 1890,  after  a  fortnight  spent  over  the  Conti- 
nent. Before  starting  back  for  India  he  found 
several  farewell  messages  waiting  for  him  on 


236  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

board  the  Imperator.  Professor  Max  Miiller 
bade  him  be  of  good  cheer.  Sir  W.  W.  Hunter 
again  urged  him  to  take  more  care  of  himself, 
adding,  "  Yours  is  far  too  precious  a  Hfe  for 
such  risks."  The  followhig  note  from  Mr. 
Samuel  Smith  expresses  the  feeling  of  what 
may  be  styled  the  Parliamentary  party  of 
reform :  "I  congratulate  you  with  all  my 
heart  upon  the  wonderful  success  of  your 
movement.  I  never  knew  public  opinion  to- 
ripen  so  rapidly  on  any  question  as  it  has  done 
on  this  subject  of  infant  marriages.  We  must 
thank  God,  who  has  put  it  into  your  heart  ta 
move  in  the  matter.  I  trust  that  your  health 
will  not  break  down.  Your  life  is  most  valu- 
able to  India.  Please  take  care  of  it.  I  pray 
God  long  to  bless  you  and  guide  you."  The  last 
letter  to  reach  him  in  Europe  was  from  H.E.H, 
the  Duke  of  Connaught,  who,  after  expressing^ 
his  own  satisfaction  and  that  of  H.R.H.  the 
Duchess  at  "  such  good  results"  of  his  visit, 
and  that  "  such  a  large  and  influential  number 
of  people  at  home  "  had  been  interested  in  th& 
subject,  added,  "  I  hope  we  may  soon  look 
forward  to  seeing  some  results  after  all  your 
labours."    His  Eoyal  Highness  thus  concluded 


MALABARI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMER,         237 

the  letter :  "I  can  assure  you  that  Her 
Majesty  the  Queen-Empress  takes  a  keen 
interest  m  a  question  which  so  deeply  affects 
the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  so  large  a 
number  of  her  Indian  daughters.  Wishing 
you  a  happy  return  home  to  your  country  and 
to  your  family,  Believe  me,  Yours  sincerely, 
Aethur." 

The  public  proceedings  in  England,  between 
July  and  September,  produced  their  inevitable 
reflex  action  in  India.  The  agitation  there, 
regarding  the  age  of  consent,  or  rather  the 
protected  age,  had  already  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  Government  of  India,  and 
in  July,  1890,  they  were  nearly  prepared  to 
amend  the  Penal  Code.  They  were  also  pre- 
pared, at  a  fitting  opportunity,  to  amend  the 
Civil  Procedure  Code  by  making  it  discre- 
tionary with  judges  to  award  imprisonment 
in  execution  of  decrees  for  restitution  of  con- 
jugal rights.  But  the  Government  of  India 
objected  altogether  to  the  second  resolution, 
and  I  think  rightly.  They  were  also  of 
opinion  that  there  were  no  legal  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  the  re-marriage  of  widows. 

Malabari's  own  position  will  appear  clearly 


238  MANHOOD  (1870-1891). 

from  this  interesting  account  of  an  interview 
published  by  the  Bombay  Gazette  *  after  his. 
return  to  India  : — 

"The  leader  of  Indian  reform  has  apparently  gained 
little — except  for  his  good  cause — from  his  sojourn  in 
a  more  bracing  clime.  Those  who  saw  him  before  he- 
started  for  England  and  have  seen  him  since  are  certain 
not  to  think  of  his  journey  as  a  holiday,  for  he  has- 
come  back  with  all  the  signs  of  hard  work,  and  looks- 
as  different  as  can  be  from  the  traveller  returned  from 
a  six-months'  trip  to  England.  To  a  friend  who  wel-^ 
comed  him  back  the  other  day  he  gave  a  quiet  but- 
cordial  greeting,  and  then  seemed  ready  enough  to  speak 
freely  upon  all  that  he  had  seen  and  heard  and  done= 
during  the  last  six  months.  When  asked  what  im- 
pressions he  had  brought  back  from  the  West,  his- 
reply  was  characteristic  : — 

"  GENEKAL    IMPRESSIONS. 

"  '  In  spite  of  pressing  engagements  I  contrived  to  see- 
a  good  deal  of  English  life,  at  home  and  outside,  in 
the  spheres  of  politics,  literature,  science,  the  profes- 
sions, as  well  as  of  philanthropy;  in  regard  to  the 
domestic  relations,  and  as  contrasted  with  life  abroad. 
Much  of  what  I  saw  was  disappointing,  but  there  was 
much  more  of  it  that  seemed  full  of  hope.  I  can  tell 
you  little  of  this  just  now,  as  I  have  to  give  a  connected 
account  of  it  some  time  next  year,  mainly,  I  confess,  in 
order   to   recoup  myself    the  pecuniary  drain  I  had  to- 

-  On  October  23,  1890. 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         23» 

bear  during  the  last  six  months.     I  hope .  England  will 
pay  for  the  account. 

"'But  there  is  one  remark  of  which  I  wish  to  un- 
burthen  myself  at  once  ;  and  that  is  that  the  more  I 
have  seen  of  England,  and  of  Europe  generally,  the  more 
confirmed  have  I  been  in  my  impression  that,  with  all 
their  faults,  our  English  rulers  are  the  good  Providence^ 
of  India.  Take,  for  instance,  the  railways,  amongst 
other  public  works.  From  what  I  have  seen  of  the 
working  of  seme  of  these  I  feel  ashamed  of  the  stupid 
and  spiteful  things  I  have  sometimes  said  of  the  manage- 
ment of  our  State-managed  railways  in  India.  This 
remark  applies  to  several  other  branches  of  public  life.. 
How  much  I  wish  my  countrymen  travelled  more  freely, 
and,  what  is  of  still  more  importance,  they  studied 
history,  modern  and  ancient,  with  a  tithe  of  the  zeal 
they  devote  to  barren  rhetoric  or  still  more  barren  specu- 
lation !  "  History,  history,  travel  " — these  are  the  words 
I  should  place  constantly  before  the  rising  generation.. 
For  our  political  reformers,  especially,  a  love  of  history 
and  travel  is  the  first  essential.' 

"  And  now  as  to  the  subject  nearest  your  heart  ? 


"  THE    SUBJECT    PROPER. 

"  '  There  you  probe  a  sore  point.  But  I  must  not 
flinch.  Of  course,  my  mission,  as  you  have  been 
pleased  to  call  it,  has  entailed  a  heavy  outlay,  almost 
a  pound  for  the  rupee  I  need  have  spent  in  India.  In 
that  huge  and  ever  busy  metropolis  of  yours  there  is 
small  chance  for  a  worker  to  rise  if  once  he  allows 
himself  to  sink  for  want  of  what  the  Persians  call  the 
"oil  of  business."     The  cost  of  postage  was  about  equal 


240  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

to  that  of  printing — each  an  enormous  item  for  a  poor 
man,  and  exceeded  by  cab-hire,  railway-fare,  &c.     And 
never  in  my  life  had  I  to  work  so  hard  and  so  anxiously 
as  during  these  three  months.     It  was  a  perpetual  round 
■of  work  and  worry.     To  obtain  some  of  the  names  for 
our  committee  was  no  pastime,  I  assure  you ;  they  took 
weeks  of  correspondence,  discussion,  appeal,  and  entreaty. 
Yon  will  see  what  conflicting  elements  I  have  gathered 
in — men  and  women  of  all  creeds  and  of  varying  shades 
•of  opinion,  such  as  probably  have  never  been  reconciled 
before.      Here_is_a  miscellaneous  company  of  the  high 
and  mighty  of   England,  with   a    strong   contingent^oi 
perhaps  the  best  Anglo-Indians  living,  and  the  bulk_of 
the  Congress  committee.     I  had  an  important  jjolitical 
object  in  view,  besides  the  immediate  object.     I  am  very 
proud  of  the  committee,  and  do  not  grudge  it  the  ex- 
pense and  effort  it  cost.     It  is  not  everybody  who  can 
thus  spend  the  slowly-acquired  influence  of  twenty  years, 
•of  a  lifetime  almost,  in  a  few  weeks.     In  this  respect 
I  am  very  fortunate.' 

"  THE    POINTS    AT    ISSUE. 

"  But,  judging  from  results,  you  seem  to  have  been 
T^ell  rewarded  ? 

"  '  Certainly.  I  have  cause  to  be  profoundly  thankful. 
At  first  it  was  very  up-hill  work  to  get  at  the  right  sort 
•of  supporters,  the  old  superstition  about  "  religion  "  being 
still  prevalent  in  most  quarters.  I  saw  this  rock  ahead 
at  a  glance,  and  determined  not  to  knock  my  head  against 
it .  I  divested  my  proposals  of  all  ' '  religious ' '_  or  ^social" 
complexion,  confining  myself  entirely  to  the  anomalies, 
and  absurdities,  of  British-made  laws  in  India  as  bejaiiniU 
■on  the  relations  between  the  sexes,  and  to  an  exposition^ 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         241 

of  the  doctrine^  of  false  neutrality  the  Government^  hacU 
been  led  into  adopting.  Here  I  would  repeat  once  more  ' 
what  I  have  said  a  hundred  times  over,  namely,  that  my 
proposals  have  nothing  to  do  with  religious,  social,  or 
domestic  reform  as  such.  They  simply  deal  with  some 
of  the  defects  of  their  own  laws  and  policy,  for  which 
the  British  Government  in  India  are  responsible.  It  has 
been  the  one  war-cry  of  the  anti-reform  party  that  a  foreign 
Government  should  not  interfere  with  the  domestic  con- 
cerns of  our  people.  I  say  Amen.  Thank  you  very 
much,  gentlemen,  for  deprecating  foreign  interference. 
We  go  with  you.  So  far  reformers  and  anti-reformers 
now  occupy  the  same  platform.  Government  ought  to 
rejoice  at  this  combination  of  forces.' 

"  THE   PEOTECTED   AGE. 

"  '  Let  us  now  look  at  the  proposals  themselves.  (1) 
As  regards  the  prqtectedage  being  raised  to  at  least 
twelve.  There  was  practically  no  objection  that  I  could 
find  in  England.  On  the  contrary,  some  of  the  most 
competent  authorities,  and  English  ladies  generally,  de- 
manded a  larger  increase.  Poor  Phulmani's  martyrdom 
facilitated  my  negotiations  with  some  of  the  more  in- 
fluential supporters,  who  once  thought  it  was  impossible 
for  such  a  case  to  arise.  They  were  shocked  by  the 
reports  of  the  occurrence,  and  this  revulsion  of  feeling 
led  to  an  easy  victory  for  us.  In  India  I  do  not  think 
there  can  be  two  opinions  about  the  question  now.  The 
old  argument  about  the  interference  of  the  police,  and 
so  on,  is  suicidal  for  our  few  remaining  opponents.  As 
a  Bengali  friend  pointed  out  the  other  day,  if  there  was 
no  police  interference  when  the  age  stood  at  ten,  there 
ought  to  be  less  than  none  of  the  danger  apprehended 

17 


242  MANHOOD  (187C-1891). 

when  the  age  is  raised  to  twelve.  The  other  argument, 
that  the  average  for  completion  of  marriage  in  India  is 
sixteen,  is  equally  suicidal.  If  that  age  is  sixteen,  why- 
object  to  the  protected  age  being  raised  to  twelve,  or  for 
that  matter  to  fourteen  ?  As  a  matter  of  experience,  how- 
ever, the  average  age  for  completion  of  marriage  amongst 
Hindus  stands  below  fourteen.  Is  it  too  much,  then,  to 
fix  the  protected  age  at  twelve  in  the  case  of  husbands 
and  thirteen  in  the  case  of  strangers  ?  This  is  Sir  W. 
Hunter's  proposal,  and  Sir  William  is  just  now  a  demi- 
god with  some  of  our  juvenile  critics,  though  he  is  not 
likely  to  remain  that  for  a  month.' 

"  THE    RESTITUTION    OF    CONJUGAL   EIGHTS. 

"  '  As  regards  this  proposal  also  I  heard  not  a  single 
dissentient  voice  in  England,  once  the  case  was  fairly 
stated.  Some  of  the  very  friends  of  that  hateful  im- 
portation disowned  it,  and  agreed  to  have  the  coercive 
process  abolished  without  further  delay.  We  need  not 
dilate  on  the  merits  of  this  simple  proposal.' 

"  INFANT    MAKllIAGES. 

"  *  The  proposal  regarding  arrangements  for  infant  mar- 
riages is  apt  to  be  misunderstood.  Let  the  critic  be  so 
good  as  to  remember  that  my  appeal  was  addressed  to  the 
British  public  and  the  British  authorities,  and  directed, 
not  against  the  religious  or  social  customs  of  the  people 
of  India,  as  I  have  repeatedly  shown,  .butagainst  the 
share  which  the  "  neutral  "  British  Government  in  India 

iTJIve  had  in  aggravating  the  lot  of  the  victims  of  thpse 

jsiistoiii^rHyTegaljj^  r^^ 

toms  on  the_weajcer.  jeji^._whila-yfit.4?rjQfessj.ng,  a  policy 

ol'non-interference.      This   being   so,  and    my  position 


MALABARI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEE.         243 

forcing  me  to  be  logical  with  an  intelligent  and  well- 
informed  audience,  I  was  bound  to  submit  that  the 
"neutral"  Government  ought  at  least  to  decline  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  the  results  of  unnatural  social 
arrangements,  leaving  the  parties  to  caste  arbitration 
so  long  as  the  arbiters  did  not  appeal  to  "  the  arm  of 
flesh."  My  first  object  was  to  pin  the  Government  of 
India  to  their  own  declared  policy  of  neutrality.  To 
be  practical  I  had  to  add  that  as  a  foreign  Government 
could  not  prohibit  infant  marriages,  let  them  by  all 
means  permit  such  marriages  to  be  contracted  at  any 
age,  subject  only  to  ratification  before  the  parties  coming 
of  age.  A  draft  of  this  proposal  was  discussed  with 
'eminent  jurists.  The  revered  Catholic  prelate.  Car- 
dinal Manning,  declared  that  infant  marriages  were  not 
•quite  unknown  in  England,  and  that  though  the  Catho- 
lics, like  the  Hindus,  considered  marriage  to  be  a 
sacrament,  still  they  had  always  accepted  the  limita- 
tion I  now  sought  to  secure.  His  Eminence  added  that 
he  would  do  just  the  same  to-day  if  such  a  case  arose, 
and  that  he  could  not  see  why  this  should  not  be  fol- 
lowed in  India.  Much  the  same  view  was  taken  of  the 
proposal  by  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  the  great  apostle  of 
the  laissez  faire  school.  He  fully,  and  perhaps  more 
than  fully,  appreciated  the  difficulties  of  the  Government 
in  India,  and  made  every  possible  excuse  for  them.  But 
he  could  not  resist  agreeing  with  me,  after  all,  that 
Government  might  decline  to  recognize  infant  marriages. 
Added  to  these  distinguished  names  we  had  ex-viceroys, 
lawmakers,  historians,  and  others,  to  approve  of  the 
proposal  generally.  So,  you  see,  I  was  not  in  bad  com- 
pany. In  India;  I  have  a  few  Hindus  of  the  highest 
position  favouring  this  view.     Still,  if  there  are  others 


244  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

who  think  I  am  carrying  them  too  fast,  it  is  open  to 
them  to  correct  and  control  me.  My  only  object  is  to 
serve  them.  Let  them  put  their  heads  together  and 
evolve  a  better  scheme  of  their  own.  They  might  per- 
haps define  an  "infant  marriage  "  to  be  a  marriage  not 
under  twelve  but  under  ten,  as  an  eminent  ex-viceroy 
suggested  to  me.  They  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  my 
attack  is  aimed  not  at  reasonably  early  marriages,  but 
against  those  parodies  of  the  marriage  rite  at  three  and 
five  and  seven,  so  utterly  indefensible  and  fraught  with 
such  terrible  mischief.  The  critics  will  already  have 
seen  that  my  proposal  was  the  groundwork  on  which  the 
resolution  at  Mrs.  Jeune's  meeting  was  based.  Let 
Hindu  leaders  improve  upon  that  resolution,  if  they  can. 
I  am  not  at  all  particular  as  to  whose  proposal  is  finally 
adopted,  so  that  some  action  is  taken  in  time.  But  if 
they  sit  quiet,  or  talk  at  random,  it  will  avail  them  httle. 
How  long  is  the  British  Government  going  to  be  made 
a  cat's-paw  of  ?  Let  them  be  assured  the  British  pub- 
lic will  not  allow  matters  to  drift  like  this.  Government 
will  have  no  excuse  for  the  attitude  they  have  hitherto 
been  led  into  maintaining.  They  will  have  to  vindicate 
their  position  as  a  "  neutral  "  Government  by  adopting 
a  policy  of  righteous  neutrality.  If  our  Hindu  friends 
co-operate  with  Government,  it  will  be  all  the  better 
for  themselves.  It  will,  besides,  have  a  marvellously 
good  effect  on  public  opinion  in  England,  as  Lord 
Eipon  said  in  one  of  his  letters  three  years  ago.  If 
Hindu  friends  do  not  co-operate,  Government  may  have 
to  take  their  own  course. 

" '  Let  me  tell  my  Hindu  brethren  frankly  that  the  object 
with  which  I  have  framed  this  proposal  is  threefold;  firstly, 
to    discourage   baby  marriages,  secondly,  to    leave  the 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         245 

parties  free  in  cases  of  extreme  need,  and,  thirdly,  to  save 
infant  wives  from  the  status  of  widowhood.  Is  it  too 
much  for  such  an  object  to  ask  that  the  "  neutral "  British 
Government  shall  remain  neutral ;  in  fact,  that  they  shall 
neither  prohibit  nor  recognize  infant  marriages?  Of 
course,  I  would  give  timely  notice  of  the  change  of  policy.* 

"THE    OTHEB   PROPOSALS. 

•"All  that  I  need  to  say  about  the  Widow  Marriage  Act 
is  that  Government  be  just  and  consistent.  It  is  their 
own  business.  The  other  proposals,  about  an  Enabling 
Act,  about  rigorously  enforcing  the  provisions  of  the 
Penal  Code  against  the  disposal  of  minors  for  unworthy 
purposes,  about  helping  voluntary  associations  for  social 
reform,  &c.,  are  harmless  enough.' 

"A   WORD   WITH   HINDU    FRIENDS. 

"'What,  then,  becomes  of  the  "revolution"  which  a  cer- 
tain meddlesome  villain  is  going  to  bring  about  ?  Is  it 
not  idle  for  intelligent  men  to  assume  that  because  female 
children  are  not  to  be  married  in  infancy,  therefore  they 
will  never  at  all  be  married?  Why,  if  all  the  Hindu 
fathers  agree  to  delay  parting  with  their  girls  for  a  few 
years,  the  prospective  husbands  will  only  have  to  wait. 
They  are  not  going  to  marry  outside  the  pale  of  Hinduism, 
poor  little  schoolboys !  Where,  on  earth,  is  the  threatened 
disorganization  of  society?  The  critic  who  fears  "de- 
moralization," if  infant  marriages  are  discouraged,  appears 
to  me  to  be  guilty  of  a  heartless  and  senseless  libel  upon 
his  own  children.  Not  the  worst  of  our  enemies  can  say 
that  Indian  children  of  nine  or  ten  are  likely  to  go  wrong 
if  left  unmarried  at  that  age.  And  yet  there  are  Hindu 
fathers  and  brothers  who  are  not  ashamed  of  this  talk  of 


246  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

"  demoralization."  It  is  very  hard  to  bear  the  injustice 
done  me  by  this  class  of  critics,  harder  still  because  the 
injustice  recoils  upon  the  country.  When  these  writers 
call  me  ignorant,  revolutionary,  Europeanized,  and  that, 
do  they  know  what  harm  they  are  doing  to  themselves, 
besides  the  obvious  injustice  done  to  a  friend  ?  But  in 
their  hearts  they  know  that  I  am  much  better  informed 
than  they  are  themselves  ever  likely  to  be.  They  also 
know  that  I  am  quite  the  reverse  of  revolutionary.  If 
my  proposals  were  revolutionary,  would  responsible  Anglo- 
Indians  of  the  highest  rank  have  favoured  them  ?  Would 
members  of  the  Congress  Committee  have  joined  us  with 
alacrity  ?  Would  Sir  W.  Wedderburn,  for  instance,  the 
most  ardent  of  our  political  advocates,  have  accepted  them 
as  "  extremely  moderate  and  reasonable?"  Again,  if  I 
thought  of  myself  and  my  own  hobbies,  why  did  I  set 
my  face  against  tempting  offers  of  a  battle  on  the  floor  of 
the  House  of  Commons  and  a  campaign  throughout  Great 
Britain,  with  myself  as  the  hero  of  the  hour  ?  Why  did 
I  decline  pecuniary  co-operation  and  implored  my  friends 
in  England  not  to  embarrass  the  Government  out  here  ? 
It  cost  me  an  immense  effort  to  keep  the  lions  of  reform 
in  hand.  Two  or  three  of  the  lionesses  actually  told  me 
to  my  face  that  I  seemed  to  be  in  love  with  the  Govern- 
ment of  India — "  and  such  a  Government,"  said  one  of 
them,  with  ineffable  contempt,  of  which  I  was  perhaps 
more  a  subject  than  that  luckless  Government.  A  repe- 
tition of  the  anti-Abkari  or  the  anti-C.  D.  Acts  tactics 
was  not  at  all  difficult ;  and  I  had  nothing  to  fear  from 
this  Government  or  that  party.  But  I  have  an  almost 
morbid  dread  of  moving  the  Government  suddenly,  or  of 
springing  a  mine  under  the  feet  of  Society.  Once  the 
huge  machinery  of  State  is  set  in  motion,  there  is  no  know- 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         247 

ing  when  it  may  stop.  I  have  never  been,  and  never  shall 
be,  a  party  to  precipitate  action.  But  if  ever  such  action 
comes  to  be  taken,  my  critics  will  have  to  thank  them- 
selves mainly  for  it.  What  with  taunts  and  pressure  from 
home,  and  disingenuous  obstruction  in  India,  the  elephant 
of  State  may  be  goaded  into  action  any  moment.  We 
know  what  an  angry  elephant  can  do  or  undo.  Let  our 
friends,  the  critics,  have  care. 

"  '  But  I  must  not  detain  you  longer.  I  am  grateful  for 
your  support,  and  pray  that  your  wise  and  disinterested 
counsels  may  prevail.  As  to  myself,  I  know  that  the 
most  modest  of  our  programmes  will  be  opposed  in  some 
quarters  till  we  are  able  to  carry  the  day.  Once  the 
authorities  make  up  their  minds,  our  opponents  will  ac- 
cept the  situation,  I  believe,  with  thankfulness.  It  has 
been  so  always,  and  will  be  so.  There  are  hundreds  of 
these  opponents  who  in  their  hearts  bless  our  efforts  and 
wish  them  god-speed  ;  for  they  are  wise  enough  to  know, 
whatever  their  pride  of  exclusiveness,  that  it  is  on  the 
success  of  these  efforts,  more  than  of  any  others,  that 
the  growth  of  national  strength  depends — that  national 
strength  which  has  been  drained  away  by  centuries  of 
licensed  profligacy  on  the  part  of  monopolists  of  one  sex 
defiling  what  is  highest  and  holiest  in  the  other.  Some 
Hindus  are  fond  of  reminding  me  that  marriage  with 
them  is  a  sacrament,  and  not  a  contract.  As  if  I  did 
not  know  !  Marriage  being  a  sacrament,  it  is  greater 
shame  to  them  that  they  should  bring  the  sacred  estate 
of  matrimony  to  this  pass.  Marriage  is  undoubtedly  a 
sacrament.  But  whoever  enjoined  it  to  be  performed  on 
babes,  to  be  ever  after  the  victims  of  the  most  cruel  wrong 
that  could  possibly  be  inflicted  on  a  nation  and  its  indi- 
vidual members  ?  '  " 


248  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

Shortly  after  liis  return,  Malabari  had  a 
meeting  of  representative  Hindus  at  the 
Hon.  Mr.  Telang's.  The  four  resolutions 
were  fully  discussed  there,  and  the  meeting 
finally  agreed  that  Government  should  be 
asked  to  raise  the  protected  age  from  ten  to 
twelve,  and  to  abolish  imprisonment  in  execu- 
tion of  restitution  decrees.  As  regards  the 
second  resolution,  they  thought  it  would  be 
better  to  prevent  marriages  under  a  certain 
age  rather  than  enact  a  law  on  the  lines 
of  the  resolution ;  and  as  regards  the  fourth 
resolution  they  said  that  the  law  allowing 
an  unchaste  widow  to  retain  her  husband's 
property,  but  depriving  a  chaste  re-married 
widow  of  such  property,  was  anomalous,  and 
should  be  amended. 

Some  of  the  ablest  men  in  Bombay  had 
taken  part  at  this  meeting,  and  many  others 
had  approved  its  conclusions.  These  men 
did  their  utmost  to  strengthen  the  hands  of 
Government  when,  in  January  last,  a  Bill  was 
introduced  by  Sir  A.  Scoble  to  raise  the  pro- 
tected age  to  twelve.  For  instance,  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Justice  Telang  and  Dr.  Bhandarkar 
showed    clearly    that    the     Hindu     Shastras 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMEB.         249 

were  not  opposed  to  the  measure,  while 
Mr.  N.  G.  Chandavarkar  proved,  from  the 
Jiistory  of  Indian  legislation,  that  Govern- 
ment had  numerous  precedents  in  its  support. 
The  Hon.  Mr.  Zaverilal  Umiashankar  pre- 
•sided  at  a  very  important  meeting  in  Bombay, 
.at  which  the  Bill  was  generally  approved,  and 
he  enumerated  several  facts  which  established 
that  the  Garbhadhan*  ceremony  was  un- 
known in  many  parts  of  India. 

In  the  Supreme  Legislative  Coimcil,  our 
3ombay  member,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Nulkar,  of 
whom  we  are  justly  proud,  took  up  from  the 
very  first  a  position  which  did  honour  both  to 
his  head  and  to  his  heart ;  and  he  maintained 
it  to  the  last  by  irrefragable  arguments  and 
unquestionable  facts.  It  is  too  early  yet  to 
write  a  history  of  the  agitation  which  pre- 
ceded the  Bill  and  which  followed  it.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  that  just  as  the  Ilbert  Bill  effected  a 

'•'  This  word  was  given  different  meanings  in  the  controversy. 
Its  literal  meaning  is  "  placing  the  embryo."  Some  argued  that 
the  Hindu  Shastras  having  enjoined  Garbhadhan  as  a  sacra- 
ment, it  was  to  be  performed  as  soon  as  a  child-wife  attained  a 
certain  well-known  physical  condition,  irrespectively  of  her 
age  or  physical  fitness.  Others  argued  that  abstinence  was 
-enjoined  for  a  certain  period  after  the  attainment  of  the  said 
condition,  and  that  Garbhadhan  was  a  "  conception  "  ceremony, 
.and  not  a  "  consummation  "  ceremony. 


250  MANHOOD  (1876-1891). 

momentous  political  awakening  throughout 
India,  so  the  Scoble  Bill  effected  a  momentous 
social  awakening  and  upheaval.  Through- 
out the  agitation  Bombay  did  her  part  nobly 
and  well,  and  her  sister  Presidency  in  the 
South  stood  by  her  at  this  juncture.  It  was. 
only  in  the  Bengal  Presidency  that  the  Bill 
was  violently  opposed.  But  even  there  some 
of  the  very  best  men  were  in  favour  of  it. 
The  Panjaub  and  the  North- West  provinces,  of 
course,  had  no  objection  to  the  Bill,  as  con- 
summation with  child-wives  under  twelve  was 
almost  unknown  among  their  people,  especially 
the  former. 

The  first  item  of  the  Bombay  programme 
has  thus  been  accepted  by  the  Legislature- 
His  Excellency  the  Viceroy  has  also  given  a. 
pledge  that  a  provision  would  be  introduced,, 
leaving  it  to  the  discretion  of  the  courts  to 
award  imprisonment  in  execution  of  restitution 
decrees ;  and  therefore  the  second  item  also 
may  be  said  to  have  been  practically  accepted. 
The  third,  in  connection  with  re-married 
widows,  remains  yet  to  be  dealt  with.  But  it 
is  a  question  not  altogether  so  free  from  diffi- 
culties as  may  at  first  sight  be  imagined. 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  BEFOBMER.         251 

The  Legislature  has,  on  the  whole,  done  its 
duty.  It  now  rests  with  the  party  of  reform 
to  show  what  stuff  they  are  made  of.  They 
must  show  that  they  can  make  sacrifices,  and 
they  must  learn  to  sink  their  differences  for 
the  sake  of  the  common  weal. 

What  is  the  moral  of  Malabari's  crusade  ? 
It  is  that  earnestness,  like  faith,  can  move 
mountains,  though  not  in  company  with  high 
Sanskrit  scholarship  or  scientific  or  philosophic 
acquirements ;  that  there  is  wisdom  in  guid- 
ing and  utilizing  such  earnestness,  but  crass 
folly  in  allowing  it  to  spend  itself  in  vain,  if 
it  can  ever  be  in  vain.     No  one  can  say  that 
Malabari's  exertions  have  been  futile  or  fruit- 
less.      He    has    succeeded   in   engaging   the 
sympathies  of   the  ruling   class  in  favour  of 
Hindu   widows,  and   against   the   practice  of 
infant  marriages.     He  is  not  an  iconoclast  or  a 
revolutionary   patriot.      He   has   never  advo- 
cated coercion  of  any  kind,  contenting  himself 
always  with  what  he  describes  as  co-operation 
between  leaders   of    Society   and  the   State. 
Even  as  regards  the  amended  law  on  the  Age 
of  Consent  he  has  scrupulously  refrained  from 
suggesting    police   interference ;    on  the  con- 


262  MANHOOD  (1876-1891), 

trary,  he  has  expressed  his  thankfuhiess 
more  than  once  at  the  powers  of  the  pohce 
and  the  magistracy  having  been  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  No  one  could  be  more  gratified 
than  Malabari  to  see  that  the  revised  law  is, 
in  this  respect,  more  elastic  than  the  one  it 
supersedes.  He  is  not  for  introducing  Euro- 
pean customs  wholesale,  and  has  repeatedly 
stated  that  by  infant  marriage  he  means  only  the 
marriage  of  children  under  twelve,  and  that  he 
would  be  quite  satisfied  if  this  modest  reform 
could  be  carried  out.  It  may  be  that  in  cer- 
tain parts  of  India  no  such  reform  is  required, 
though  that  remains  to  be  proved.  But  then, 
the  educated  men  of  these  parts  should  be  the 
last  to  say  that,  because  it  is  not  required 
among  them,  it  is  not  required  elsewhere. 
One  of  the  most  disappointing  features  of  the 
opinions  given  to  Government  is  such  falla- 
cious generalization.  Educated  natives  have 
had  some  hard  hits  at  Malabari's  hand.  But 
they  should  remember  that  their  treatment  of 
him  was  not  generous  or  just.  I  am  myself, 
I  am  afraid,  generalizing  wrongly  when  I  say 
that  educated  natives  have  been  ungener- 
ous or  unjust  to  him.     I  believe  that  no  edu- 


MALABABI  AS  A  SOCIAL  EEFOBMEB.         253 

cated  Hindu  in  his  senses  can  fail  to  perceive 
the  single-heartedness  and  the  conspicuous 
ability  with  which  his  Aryan  cousin  has 
launched  this  scheme  of  social  reform,  and  I 
believe  that,  excepting  a  few  noisy  and  irre- 
sponsible editors,  the  bulk  of  educated  men 
are  on  the  side  of  such  reform,  however  they 
may  differ  as  to  the  ways  and  means.  Mala- 
bar! is  not  a  man  who  would  desist  from  doing 
what  he  feels  is  his  life-work,  simply  because 
of  unpopularity,  and  it  would  be  a  thousand 
pities  if  his  agitation  were  not  kept  up.  Our 
educated  countrymen  ought  now  to  form  them- 
selves into  a  strong  organized  Social  Eeform 
Association,  or  start  a  Mission  with  the  neces- 
sary propaganda.  The  eyes  of  our  rulers  and 
of  the  ruling  race,  and  I  may  say,  of  civiUzed 
people  generally,  are  upon  them.  They  at 
first  thought  of  achieving  political  progress 
and  then  trying  their  hand  at  religious  and 
social  reform.  But  by  this  time  they  ought 
to  see  that  social  reform  will  no  longer  wait 
upon  their  sweet  pleasure,  that  they  are  chal- 
lenged on  all  sides  to  show  themselves  worthy 
of  higher  political  rights  by  adopting  more 
natural  and  enlightened  social   customs,  and 


-254  MANHOOD  (187G-1891). 

that  the  advice  of  their  best  friends — men  Hke 
Lord  Eipon,  Mr.  Wordsworth,  and  others — is 
to  the  same  effect.  If  Malabari  has  done  them 
any  wrong,  they  ought  to  show  they  can  for- 
give him.  We  ought  to  rise  above  petty  spite, 
envy,  and  jealousy,  and  ought  to  band  our- 
selves in  the  holy  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  to  do 
our  utmost  to  bring  about  the  social  regenera- 
tion of  India,  remembering  that  our  fatheis  in 
the  days  of  our  grand  epics  knew  of  no  such 
*'  anthropological  curiosities "  as  baby-brides 
and  virgin- widows,  and  that  the  reform  sought 
for  is,  after  all,  a  mere  return  to  the  customs 
which  prevailed  in  the  palmy  days  of  Aryan 
India. 


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9 

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10 

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•^  J  r  •      M.A.        \ptcember. 

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/  Poole. 

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J  -       Holland      ^^  ^^*   ^*^^    Professor   Thorold  Rogem. 
3  •  *     Second  Edition. 


II 


1 4-.      1  Urkey.     By  Stanley  Lane-Poole.     Second  Edition. 

I  ^       Assyria.         ^^     Z^naide     a.     Ragozin,    Author    of 
•^*  J         *       "Chaldea,"  &c. 

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Q.   The   Saracens :   ^^T  J^p^Y^J,"'  '^if ''/°  '^" 

-^  rail    of    Isagdad.        oy   Arthur 

Oilman,  M.A.,  Author  of"  Rome,"  &c. 

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Edition. 

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of  the  World."     Fifth  Edition. 

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r  Author  of  "  Studies  in  a 

Mosque."     Fourth  Edition. 

c.   Alexander's  Empire.    ^  ^°^- J;  f/c^^^Tr' 

J  r  Author  of  "  Social  Life 

in  Greece."     Fourth  Edition. 


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Edition. 

'?       Oermiinv       ^y    Rev.    S.    Baring-Gould,    Author  of 
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Fourth  Edition. 
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Z.       XllC      JCWO.       ^.j^^^^        g^      p^^^^      j^      j^^      HOSMER. 

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(§io^mp^i^. 


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BehramjiM.  Malabari :  a  Biographical  sketch    By 

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Life  of  John  Boyle  O'Reilly.  R^^,%{g''her 

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13 

The  Autobiography  of  Joseph  Jefferson 

("Rip  Van  Winkle").     With  many  full-page  Portraits  and 
other  Illustrations.     Royal  8vo.,  i6s. 

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AKral^am    T  inroln    •     A  History.    By  John  G.  Nicolay 

ADranam  i^incom  .   a^djoHNHAY.  with  many  fuii- 

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DS  Shahani,   Dayaram  Gidumal 

479  Behramji  M.  Malabari 

.1 

1892