Art. VIII.—Traits of Indian Character

Extract

It is less my object in the present paper to give national characteristics than traits of individual character. To attempt the Former with the twenty one nations and twenty-one languages of India, and in the absence of trustworthy history, could only mislead, but with the latter, the richness of the field offers the assurance of a plentiful harvest. Nevertheless, as the twenty-one nations belong to the great family of man, there will necessarily be certain features common to them all, and I will give a running commentary upon such of these common features as occur to me. And, first, with respect to the long-received and constantly-iepeated opinion of Western nations, of the immutability of the customs, habits, and opinions, whether religious or moral, of the nations of India; or at least of the Hindús. No doubt since the institution of caste, classes of men have been fettered and confined within certain rules, prescribing to them not only modes of action, but modes of thought. Nevertheless, we find that natural impulses, by leading to the irregular intercourse of the sexes, have broken down these conventional barriers, and that state of society which comprised only four great divisions, Brahman, Rajpút, Vaisya, and Sudra, has ramified into scores of castes, each with its own exclusiveness, its own habits, its own polemics, and its own intermarriage limitations. Here has been ceaseless change, and ceaselessly is it going on.