MR. SINHA AND THE CENSUS OF INDIA.
[TO TEE EDITOR Or TI12 " $PECTATOR.1
SIR,—Altbougla "Old Liberal" has not written seriously,I must claim space for a reply as his letters have been published, and the last is mainly to my address, by name. In the Spectator of April 3rd he asks if it is right to call Mr. Sinlia a Hindu, since "ho shed his .Hinduism long ago. The Anglicised Bengalis of Calcutta are not as a rule Hindus." Mr. S. P. Sinha, whom I know pretty well, is a Hindu. So are, or have been, all the Anglicised Bengalis whom I. have ever seen, in Calcutta or elsewhere, except the few who were Christians. Some, like the proprietors and editor of the Amrita Bazar Patrilca, are orthodox by the popular modern standard. Others would claim to be more orthodox because
they have reverted to the Puritan Vedic: religion. To say that an Indian has shed Hinduism because he repudiates caste, polygamy, &c., is something like saying that a Kamtujia 33ralaman must be an aboriginal because be is a native of Bengal. The somewhat forznidable Arya Samaj rejects the rules about caste and food, but is essentially, though not exclusively, Hindu none the less. And so is the Brahma Samaj. There is a wider range for differences in Hinduism than in Christianity ; but Hinduism is one camp as regards other religions, just as Christianity is one camp against heathenism, Islam, and infidelity.
In his next letter (Spectator, April 10th) "Old Liberal" says I do not recognise the revolution caused by anthro- ponsetry, of which he apparently has only just heard; that I prefer to rely on my personal experiences and reminiscences, while the conclusions come to in the Census Report are based partly on anthropometry, partly on the investigations of numerous observers. And he does nob think much of my knowledge of Bengali, and contradicts my statement about it because be has never heard of it. The light of authropometry was brought to us just twenty years ago by Sir Herbert Risley, and I was the very first who bad to act by it, because I was engaged at the time on a little ethnographical treatise. When it was published it was sent by Sir Charles Elliott to all officers engaged on the Census of 1891 with directions to frame their ethnographical reports on its lines, and " Old Liberal" duly received his copy. In 1891 Sir Herbert Risley's "Tribes and Castes" appeared, and on the list of contributors whose services he acknowledged (Introductory Essay, p. x.) my name stands second, and next to it that of a really distinguished ethnographist, the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson. But I had to take my share in the ethnographical investigations for every Census from that of 1872 to 1901, My knowledge of Bengali is so far deficient that, although I lived among the Moslem of Bengal for so many years, I never mastered their separate tongue. Nevertheless, the Government of India gave me the certificate for "High Proficiency" in Bengali, with it reward of Rs. 1,000, and had shortly before given me Rs. 800 for proficiency in Bengali and -Urdu. "Old Liberal" need not go so far as the Linguistic Survey for Musulmani-Bengali. The last or previous Reports of the British and Foreign Bible Society (India Branch) will give him the information, as will the last Bengal Census Report, p. 317.
" Old Liberal" remarks of me: "He seems hurt that the Census Report should call Bengalis Mongolo-Dravidian." It was "Old Liberal," not the Census Report, who said that the Rite of the Bengal Hindus, who alone furnish the holders of important offices, were aboriginals, and it was in correcting this misstatement that the correspondence arose. He opened it with his imposing exordium, Aug disce, ant discede, &c., which would be a striking commentary on his present position if be were only serious. Perhaps he began by being so, but soon turned into the well-known paradoxical atrain, and as his letters have been published, has succeeded in drawing me, as was doubtless his object. The final Specimen of his pleasantry is the sentence : "I am sorry your correspondent should hold that Mr. Sinha, Mr. Gupta, and other Anglicised Bengalis are still tainted with Indian ideas," Sze., &c. It may be superfluous for me to say that nothing I have said or written could be distorted into such an interpretation, but a joke so thoroughly disguised as this is may also give offence to the gentlemen named in it.
In my letter on the racial differences between Hindus and Muhammadans I omitted the interesting fact that in Southern India, the Te/inga and Kanari Hindus call their Moslem fellow-countrymen Turks, and their language (Urdu) Turkish (Thrki Matala). This greatly enhances the local colour, the visibility of which "Old Liberal" mocks at. As regards Shekhs in the Nizam's dominions, he apparently does not know that the Nizam has a considerable number of Arab troops, with their relations and dependents. My companion in Southern India was the well-known Maulvi, Sayyid Nejabat Hueiths, Khan Bahadur, of Deoghar, where he still is. He is a Bokhariot by descent, and was as much interested in my investigations as myself.—.1 ant, Sir, &c., Middle Park, Paig nton. W. B. OLDHAM. [We cannot continue this correspondence.—ED. Spectator.]
Previous page
