mysteries of existence, they are content to be, to labour, to suffer,
to die when their time comes like a dog, because it is _Kismet_--their
fate. Many of them never strive to avert any impending calamity, such,
for example, as sickness. A man sickens, he wraps himself in stolid
apathy, he makes no effort to shake of his malady, he accepts it with
sullen, despairing, pathetic resignation as his fate. His friends
mourn in their dumb, despairing way, but they too accept the
situation. He has no one to rouse him. If you ask him what is the
matter, he only wails out, 'Hum kya kurre?' What can I do? I am
unwell. No attempt whatever to tell you of the origin of his illness,
no wish even for sympathy or assistance. He accepts the fact of his
illness. He struggles not with Fate. It is so ordained. Why fight
against it? Amen; so let it be. I have often been saddened to see poor
toiling tenants struck down in this way. Even if you give them
medicine, they often have not energy enough to take it. You must see
them take it before your eyes. It is _your_ struggle not theirs. _You_
must rouse them, by _your_ will. _Your_ energy must compel _them_ to
make an attempt to combat their weakness. Once you rouse a man, and
infuse some spirit into him, he may resist his disease, but it is a
hard fight to get him to TRY. What a meaning in that one word TRY! TO
ACT. TO DO. The average poor suffering native Hindoo knows nothing of
it.
Of course their moods vary. They have their 'high days and holidays,'
feasts, processions, and entertainments; but on the whole the average
ryot or small cultivator has a hard life.
In every village there are generally bits of uncultivated or jungle
lands, on which the village herds have a right of pasture. The cow
being a sacred animal, they only use her products, milk and butter.
The urchins may be seen in the morning driving long strings of
emaciated looking animals to the village pasture, which in the evening
wend their weary way backwards through the choking dust, having had
but 'short commons' all the day on the parched and scanty herbage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account