Creatures of the Night (Boxed Set Edition). Редьярд Джозеф Киплинг

to be a proper object of worship. “If a European speak to the Hindu about eating the flesh of cows,” says an old missionary, “they immediately raise their hands to their ears; yet milkmen, carmen, and farmers beat the cow as unmercifully as a carrier of coals beats his ass in England.” The Jains or Jainas (from ji, to conquer; as subduing the passions) are one of the atheistical sects with whom the Brahmans have of old carried on the fiercest religious controversies, ending in many a sanguinary fight. Their tenets are consequently exaggerated and ridiculed, as in the text. They believe that there is no such God as the common notions on the subject point out, and they hold that the highest act of virtue is to abstain from injuring sentient creatures. Man does not possess an immortal spirit: death is the same to Brahma and to a fly. Therefore there is no heaven or hell separate from present pleasure or pain. Hindu Epicureans!—“Epicuri de grege porci.”]

      171. [ Narak is one of the multitudinous places of Hindu punishment, said to adjoin the residence of Ajarna. The less cultivated Jains believe in a region of torment. The illuminati, however, have a sovereign contempt for the Creator, for a future state, and for all religious ceremonies. As Hindus, however, they believe in future births of mankind, somewhat influenced by present actions. The “next birth” in the mouth of a Hindu, we are told, is the same as “to-morrow” in the mouth of a Christian. The metempsychosis is on an extensive scale: according to some, a person who loses human birth must pass through eight millions of successive incarnations—fish, insects, worms, birds, and beasts—before he can reappear as a man.]

      172. [ Jogi, or Yogi, properly applies to followers of the Yoga or Patanjala school, who by ascetic practices acquire power over the elements. Vulgarly, it is a general term for mountebank vagrants, worshippers of Shiva. The Janganis adore the same deity, and carry about a Linga. The Sevras are Jain beggars, who regard their chiefs as superior to the gods of other sects. The Sannyasis are mendicant followers of Shiva; they never touch metals or fire, and, in religious parlance, they take up the staff They are opposed to the Viragis, worshippers of Vishnu, who contend as strongly against the worshippers of gods who receive bloody offerings, as a Christian could do against idolatry.]

      173. [ The Brahman, or priest, is supposed to proceed from the mouth of Brahma, the creating person of the Triad; the Khshatriyas (soldiers) from his arms; the Vaishyas (enterers into business) from his thighs; and the Shudras, “who take refuge in the Brahmans,” from his feet. Only high caste men should assume the thread at the age of puberty.]

      174. [ Soma, the moon, I have said, is masculine in India.]

      175. [ Pluto.]

      176. [ Nothing astonishes Hindus so much as the apparent want of affection between the European parent and child.]

      177. [ A third marriage is held improper and baneful to a Hindu woman. Hence, before the nuptials they betroth the man to a tree, upon which the evil expends itself, and the tree dies.]

      178. [ Kama]

      179. [ An oath, meaning, “From such a falsehood preserve me, Ganges!”]

      180. [ The Indian Neptune.]

      181. [ A highly insulting form of adjuration.]

      182. [ The British Islands—according to Wilford.]

      183. [ Literally the science (veda) of the bow (dhanush). This weapon, as everything amongst the Hindus, had a divine origin: it was of three kinds—the common bow, the pellet or stone bow, and the crossbow or catapult.]

      184. [ It is a disputed point whether the ancient Hindus did or did not know the use of gunpowder.]

      185. [ It is said to have discharged balls, each 6,400 pounds in weight.]

      186. [ A kind of Mercury, a god with the head and wings of a bird, who is the Vahan or vehicle of the second person of the Triad, Vishnu.]

      187. [ The celebrated burning springs of Baku, near the Caspian, are so called. There are many other “fire mouths.”]

      188. [ The Hindu Styx.]

      189. [ From Yaksha, to eat; as Rakshasas are from Raksha, to preserve.—See Hardy’s Manual of Buddhism, p. 57.]

      190. [ Shiva is always painted white, no one knows why. His wife Gauri has also a European complexion. Hence it is generally said that the sect popularly called “Thugs,” who were worshippers of these murderous gods, spared Englishmen, the latter being supposed to have some rapport with their deities.]

      191. [ The Hindu shrine is mostly a small building, with two inner compartments, the vestibule and the Garbagriha, or adytum, in which stands the image.]

      192. [ Meaning Kali of the cemetery (Smashana); another form of Durga.]

      193. [ Not being able to find victims, this pleasant deity, to satisfy her thirst for the curious juice, cut her own throat that the blood might spout up into her mouth. She once found herself dancing on her husband, and was so shocked that in surprise she put out her tongue to a great length, and remained motionless. She is often represented in this form.]