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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2011
* A proposition has, I understand, been made by an able and zealous officer of this presidency (Capt. T. B. Jervis) to the different governments of India, relative to the periodical publication of the returns of population, revenue, and cultivated and waste lands.
* Six Fargards of the Vendidád can also be procured in Sanskrita.
† See Journal R. A. S. vol. ii. p. 81.
* Some interesting information on this subject is to be found in the Controversial Tracts by the Rev. Henry Martyn, and his opponents in Persia, and the preface prefixed to them by Professor Lee, and in the last of the letters addressed to me by Hàjí Muhammad Hàshim, and published in Bombay. As the discussion of the points at issue, however, is an ancient one, it seems desirable that a collection should be made of the hints respecting it which are to be found in the Mussalmán works of theology.
† To any person, whose leisure -may permit inquiry into this body of Mussalmáns, the following memorandum, written by me on a visit to Surat in the beginning of last year, may not be unacceptable. “The Bohorás of Surat are divided into three sects, respectively denominated Ali, Sulimán, and Dàud. In the first of these, there are only five or six families; in the second, about fifty; and in the third, about five thousand, with a population of about twelve thousand. They have accounts of their tribe, one of which I have seen in Arabic, which carry back their history about six or seven hundred years. They generally support themselves by the vending and manufacture of cloths, hardware, household furniture, &c. They profess to be quite distinct from the agricultural Bohorás, who are to be found in the Baroch districts, and of whom a considerable number of families have now also settled in Surat.
“The Bohorás are under the religious, and, to a great extent, the civil government of a Mullá, whose head-quarters were originally in Arabia. The Mull in Surat sits upon a throne, and is highly respected. He is thrice saluted by every person when he is in cathedrâ; and his attendants give him all the attentions which the princes of the land receive when they are in Darbár. He has deputies in all the towns in India where Bohorás are to be found, and even in Maskat, Basora, Jadda, and Mokha. He has a very large income, arising principally from donations at births, marriages, and deaths; but from his funds, the poor of the sect, whether resident in Surat, or occasional visitors, are supplied. He nominates his successor, having a principal regard to his talents, information, and capacity to govern.
“The Mullá, or Mulláji, as he is called, by way of distinction, reads the Kúrán, and addresses the people during five or six days of the Muharram, and one day during the month of Ramazán, when his auditors are numerous. In the part of Surat principally inhabited by Bohorás, there are many courts, in each of which there is a Mullá to conduct worship early in the morning. The people, however, seem most to relish praying at the tombs, or great mausoleums, which contain the sepulchres of some of the ancient Mullás, and their relatives. They actually, as we observed, kiss the chunam covering of the graves!
“In regard to marriage, it may be observed, that the number of wives permitted by the Kúran is allowed, as in the case of other sects.of Miissalmáns. The follies of the Hindús have found a place among them, in the manner in which marriages are contracted and celebrated. Girls are espoused at the early age of five years, and without much regard, on the part of their parents, to the age of those with whom they are united. The processions and feastings are conducted much as among the other classes of the natives.
“The shaving off the hair, which is viewed as a kind of sacrament, is performed on the seventh or twenty-first day after the birth either of a son or daughter.
“Expulsion from caste follows the practice of gross immoralities, and particularly the drinking of ardent spirits.
“Funerals are conducted with considerable solemnity. Those of the higher classes are attended by the Mullá.”
* Among the fullest and most interesting of these, is the History of the Rámoshis, lately published by Captain Mackintosh.
* See particularly Mr. Baber's answers to the queries of a Committee of the House of Lords on the state of slavery in the south-west of India.
† Page 310.
‡ In the works of the Mystics, and of the pious writers, to whom Sir William Jones alludes in the course of his reasonings, there are figures of speech, and other expressions, very similar to those used by the Vedántists. Others, still more strikingly similar, could easily be produced. I give one from the poems of Richard Baxter.
“But Oh! how wisely hast thou made the twist!
To love thee and myself do well consist.
Love is the closure of connaturals;
The souls return to its originals:
As every brook is toward the ocean bent,
And all things to their proper element;
And as the inclination of the sight,
How small soever is unto the light:
As the touch'd needle pointeth toward the pole;
Thus unto thee inclines the holy soul:
It trembleth, and is restless till it come
Unto thy bosom, where it is at home.”
No person who is familiar with the Upanishads, can fail to mark the coincidence of the language of Baxter in the preceding passage, with that of the Transcendentalists of India. This coincidence of language, however, does not warrant the inference that there is the least agreement of sentiment. In proof of this position, we have merely to quote the lines which follow those now given.
“Yet no such union dare the soul ḍesire—
As parts have with the whole, and sparks to fire;
But as dependent, low, subordinate,
Such as thy will of nothing did create.
As tendeth to the sun the smallest eye
Of silly vermin, or the poorest fly.
My own salvation, when I make my end,
Full mutual love is all that I intend;
And in this closure, though I happy be,
It's by intending, and admiring thee.”
* Of one of these, the Mánbhavís, whom I had particularly in view in making this remark, I have just received an interesting account from Captain A. Mackintosh, the author of the “History of the Rámoshis.”
* Written by Messrs. Salt, Erskine, Colonel Sykes, &c.
* Such coins are occasionally worn as personal ornaments by natives, who have no idea of their value.
* See Asiatic Society Journal for December 1835.