" HINDUISM " [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sni,—A
writer is self-condemned when he has to explain himself, and I ought to have said (though it seems obvious) that my remarks applied only to the South of India, and, of course, to Hinduism as it is, not to the pure religion of the Vedas which differed from its later development as the Sermon on the Mount differs from the aggressive pseudo-Christianity of so many warlike Christians of the present day. I may just add that I had some personal experience of the inside working of a Hindu Temple with its staff of dancing-girls (devadasis), when, as Agent to the Court of Wards, I was in direct charge of a great Hindu Temple in Tanjore ; but I would rather not pursue such an unsavoury subject ; my object was to defend Miss Mayo from what seemed to me unfair attacks. "A seeker" will hardly defend infant mar- riage, which, I believe, is still universal among the higher castes in the North of India also.—! am, Sir, &c.,
High Wycombe. J. B. PENNINGT'ON, I.C.S. (Madras.)
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