e befell me, it would simply kill her....."
But why should he not free himself from every bond to Brahmanism and
caste? Why not join, once for all, the ever-growing community of men
who are guilty of the same offence? Why not ask all his family to form a
colony and join the civilization of the Europeans?
All these are very natural questions, but unfortunately there is no
difficulty in finding reasons for answering them in the negative.
There were thirty-two reasons given why one of Napoleon's marshals
refused to besiege a certain fortress, but the first of these reasons
was the absence of gunpowder, and so it excluded the necessity of
discussing the remaining thirty-one. Similarly the first reason why a
Hindu cannot be Europeanized is quite sufficient, and does not call for
any additional ones. This reason is that by doing so a Hindu would
not improve his position. Were he such an adept of science as to rival
Tyndall, were he such a clever politician as to eclipse the genius of
Disraeli and Bismarck, as soon as he actually had given up his caste and
kinsmen, he would indubitably find himself in the position of Mahomet's
coffin; metaphorically speaking, he would hang half-way between the
earth and the sky.
It would be an utter injustice to suppose that this state of things
is the result of the policy of the English Government; that the said
Government is afraid of giving a chance to natives who may be suspected
of being hostile to the British rule. In reality, the Government has
little or nothing to do with it. This state of things must be attributed
entirely to the social ostracism, to the contempt felt by a "superior"
for an "inferior" race, a contempt deeply rooted in some members of
the Anglo-Indian society and displayed at the least provocation.
This question of racial "superiority" and "inferiority" plays a
more important part than is generally believed, even in England.
Nevertheless, the natives (Mussulmans included) do not deserve contempt,
and so the gulf between the rulers and the ruled widens with every year,
and long centuries would not suffice to fill it up.
I have to dwell upon all this to give my readers a clear idea on the
subject. And so it is no wonder the ill-fated Hindus prefer
temporary humiliations and the physical and moral sufferings of the
"purification," to the prospect of general contempt until death. These
were the questions we discussed with the Brahmans during the two hours
before
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