PANDHARPUR, THE REAL INDIA.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—I think it is a pity that our instructors of the Press do not frequently give us such excellent pictures of the life of India as is presented in your article on the Pandharpur pilgrimage. This article, and books like Rudyard KiPling's Kim, and Mr. Chandler's Sin i Rain, are needed correctives to the masses of misleading literature and more misleading speeches which have effectually confused the great questions of India with results which are proving disastrous. You have given us a glimpse of the real India, which political globe-trotters like Mr. Montagu never sec. You have even explained how the peace of India has been maintained by the personal touch of such men as the lonely Briton who arranged the procession of the gods, averting a free fight and being rewarded by the verdict, "Saheb, it is well." When the little band of British public servants, who are always engaged in tasks of this kind, have disappeared, your least imaginative reader can guess what will happen at Pandharpur and the many other holy places of India—what is already happening where the quieting hand has been removed.
Your article can teach more than this. It shows us the real people of India in huge crowds absorbed in the observances of their religion—simple, kindly and child-like in their excitement. The writer significantly asks : "Would any Christian crowd have borne and forborne so much ? " Probably not, judging from some experiences ; but it was the trust reposed in the British officer which softened the slight to Nivrati and brought about a happy ending. The three hundred thousand devotees in the procession of Pandharpur were typical of many raore than two hundred millions of the peoples of India, whose fate is now about to be submitted to the gamble of a general election. Can anyone suppose that the embittered philippics of Mr. Sastri represent the views of these peoples ? What do they know or care about communal election in Kenya ? What to them is the Indian Assembly which, nevertheless, will make great differences in their lives ?
You, Sir, are a staunch believer in democracy. Are you quite convinced that democracy is safe for the fascinating crowds at Pandharpur—the real people of India ?—I am,
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