The Echo repeats a rather old joke, that an eminent
Brahmin of Benares, named Suradschi,rwho has visited Australia, intends to establish a Mission to convert the English in that region to a better faith, and more especially to teetotalism. He thinks their drunkenness shocking. Portions of the "Veda" have accordingly been translated into English for the use of the Brahmin Mis- sionaries, and a large sum of money subscribed in Benares. As- no Benares Brahmin could cross the sea, as the " Veda " cannot be translated without impiety, and as Brahminism is a pedigree creed, the story is clearly a mere repetition of a sarcasm as old as " Gentoo " !lathed. There are Brahmin mis- sionaries in India, nevertheless, and it is a curious evidence of the unobservant indifference of the English in India to what passes below them, that nobody knows what they teach. They' make converts occasionally of entire tribes, but it is by preaching a new philosophy and a new social system, and not by teaching morals. One Hindoo sect—the Sikh—drinks hard, and openly.
Previous page
