Архивы рубрик:English texts

It is very dangerous to go out unarmed, in the evening, into certain parts of the Blue Mountains, near the thick forests inhabited by the Kurumbas. Near one of these forests, between Kotaguiri and Ooty, there lived a well-to-do Eurasian family; the mother, an elderly woman, her two sons and a little nephew, an orphan […]

As far as we have been able to see, the Todas have no conception of divinity and deny even the devas adored by the Badagas, their neighbors. That is why there is nothing in this tribe reminding one of religion; therefore it is very difficult to speak of its religion. The example of the Buddhists, […]

As I am forced in this story to rest upon the testimony of Mrs. Morgan and her family for everything concerning the exceptional powers of the Todas and the Kurumbas, I feel that, in the eyes of the unbelieving crowd, this support is fragile. Perhaps we shall be told: «Theosophists, spiritualists, psychists, you are all […]

«The Truth which I uphold is imprinted on all the monuments of the past. To understand history, it is necessary to study the ancient symbols, the sacred signs of the priesthood, and the art of healing in primitive times, an art which is now forgotten . . . . » Baron du Potet. The event […]

Chapter 2 MT правка CHAPTER II So far, and in spite of the data which I have taken from the reports made by Kindersley and Whish, my story seems altogether legendary. As I do not wish to be suspected of the slightest exaggeration I shall base my story on the words of the Governor of […]

A few words as a preface Recently, a leading London newspaper made sarcastic remarks that the Russian scientists, and the Russian public all the more, have very vague notions about India in general and about its peoples in particular. To this new British «insinuation» every Russian could, on occasion, ask the first Anglo-Indian he meets […]

Instead of several hours, we stayed in Muttra and its surroundings for two and a half days. The Thhakur sent to tell us to stay for the «Spring Festival», Gokula Ashtami [1]. Krishna’s birthday is in August, but has its own prologue in spring, along with the triumph of Gauri, the Rajput Ceres. The coincidences […]

My reflections and thoughts about the absence of a «personal» soul in Ananda were suddenly interrupted in the most unexpected way for us. We were going between two rows of buildings, with terraces protruding almost into the middle of the alley, when something suddenly fell heavily on the linen top of the van over our […]

In the morning everything was done according to the Thakur’s programme. At dawn, that is, half an hour before sunrise, since dawn is not supposed to be in India, we went to some village in the full light of the stars, and got out of the landau at the very minute when, like gas burners […]

Mulji’s story, much abbreviated by me, but overfilled with details in his mouth, was so interesting that we did not notice it was already lunchtime, that is, five o’clock in the afternoon. Unbearable heat was all around us. The day we spent in Deeg was so hot that one could suspect Surya of wanting to […]

I tell you what Mulji told us «about an Anglo-Indian who loved Hindus.» Mr. Peters was the collector of the holy city of Madura, Mecca of southern India. A passionate archaeologist and admirer of ancient manuscripts, he needed Brahmins to track down and translate them; therefore, although, perhaps, at first he did not liked them […]

From Bhurtpore to Deeg the road, smooth and flat, runs like a dusty belt among endless steppes and puddles. Our gilded carriage of the days of yore, followed by a long line of jatkas pulled by trotting dwarf bulls, flew forward with a boom and a shout of coachmen and runners. This procession was very […]

A small possession, once a kingdom with kings and queens, Bhurtpore is famous only for its Semiramides’ gardens, its Deeg. His Raja is extremely proud of his independence in front of the less happy brothers, the Rajas of other possessions of Rajputana, forgetting that he owes his independence to the completely closed geographical position of […]

Days and weeks passed quickly and we moved even faster from place to place; but despite the fact that we did not waste time, we have not seen even the twentieth part of those historically famous places for which India was famous. And heat, meanwhile, was getting more terrible every day. At the beginning of […]

And here we are in Delhi — the great city of the Moguls. If other cities and places in India kept us, as if enchanted, under the influence of a magical dream with its fleeting visions of everything that was ever charming in architecture, then Delhi remained forever imprinted in our memories as the embodiment […]

I tell you what Mulji told us «about an Anglo-Indian who loved Hindus.» Mr. Peters was the collector of the holy city of Madura, Mecca of southern India. A passionate archaeologist and admirer of ancient manuscripts, he needed Brahmins to track down and translate them; therefore, although, perhaps, at first he did not liked them […]

About four miles from Cawnpore, on the rocky right bank of the Ganges, in a dark and almost dense forest, there are wonderful ruins. These are the remains of several huge ancient cities, one built on the ruins of another. From the latter, only colossal blocks of walls, parts of loopholes, temples remained, and the […]

We are back in dark stuffy carriages. In five minutes the train will rush us with a deafening roar across the long bridge over the Jumna, and in six hours we will be in Cawnpore, where Anglo-India turned the bloodiest page of its history. Our bare-footed friends, the Pandits, in gold-embroidered shawls, accompany us; they […]

The peoples of India do not do anything by half: they are either the greatest fanatics, or absolute atheists. Their love, like their hatred, is limitless, and when a Hindu calls you, without being forced, a «brother» or «friend», it is not an empty phrase. All of our companions were «reformers» (as they are called […]

Near such monuments as the pillar of Asoka, old pipalas (Ficus religiosa), the direct descendants of Bodhidruma («the tree of knowledge»), a favourite tree, according to legends, of the founder of Buddhism can usually be found. There was once such a tree near the pillar, but there is no more: it was cut off by […]

Leaving Malwa and the «independent» (?) Holkar territory, we soon found ourselves again in strictly British possessions, going by railway to Jabbalpore and Allahabad. In the former we stayed — just for a few hours to look at the famous Marble Rocks. Having no desire to lose a whole day, we set out by boat, […]

The island was a tiny one, and so overgrown with tall reeds that, from a distance, it looked like a pyramidal basket of verdure. With the exception of a colony of monkeys, who bustled away to a few mango trees at our approach, the place seemed uninhabited. In this virgin forest of thick grass there […]

At four o’clock in the morning we crossed the Vagrey and Girna, or rather, comme coloris local, Shiva and Parvati. Probably, following the bad example of the average mortal husband and wife, this divine couple were engaged in a quarrel, even at this early hour of the day. They were frightfully rough, and our ferry, […]

A few days before we left Bombay we read in a small local newspaper two announcements of marriages: the first the marriage of a Brahman heiress, the second of a daughter of the fire-worshipers. The first announcement was something to the following effect: «The family of Bimbay Mavlankar, etc., etc., are preparing for a happy […]

The direction of our pilgrimage of self-improvement lay towards the north-west, as was previously decided. We were very impatient to see these status in statu of Anglo-India, but…. Do what you may, there always will be a but. We left the Jubbulpore line several miles from Nassik; and, to return to it, we had to […]

Our kind host Sham Rao was very gay during the remaining hours of our visit. He did his best to entertain us, and would not hear of our leaving the neighborhood without having seen its greatest celebrity, its most interesting sight. A jadu wala—sorceress—well known in the district, was just at this time under the […]

In order to wipe away the traces of the morning’s perplexities from our minds, Sham Rao invited us to sit on the verandah, by the wide entrance of his idol room, whilst the family prayers were going on. Nothing could suit us better. It was nine o’clock, the usual time of the morning prayers. Sham […]

After many nights spent in a tent, it is more than agreeable to sleep in a regular bed, even if it is only a hanging one. The pleasure would, no doubt, have been considerably increased had I but known I was resting on the couch of a god. But this latter circumstance was revealed to […]

Hindus take their food only twice a day, at ten o’clock in the morning and at nine in the evening. Both meals are accompanied by complicated rites and ceremonies. Even very young children are not allowed to eat at odd times, eating without the prescribed performance of certain exorcisms being considered a sin. Thousands of […]

In an hour’s time we stopped at the gate of a large bungalow, and were welcomed by the beaming face of our bareheaded Bengali. When we were all safely gathered on the verandah, he explained to us that, knowing beforehand that our «American pigheadedness» would not listen to any warning, he had dodged up this […]

Twelve miles south-east from Chandvad there is a whole town of subterranean temples, known under the name of Enkay-Tenkay. Here, again, the entrance is a hundred feet from the base, and the hill is pyramidal. I must not attempt to give a full description of these temples, as this subject must be worked out in […]

What would be your choice if you had to choose between being blind and being deaf? Nine people out of ten answer this question by positively preferring deafness to blindness. And one whose good fortune it has been to contemplate, even for a moment, some fantastic fairy-like corner of India, this country of lace-like marble […]

On the threshold of the Nassik caves we bid good-bye to the modern pigmy India, to the petty things of her everyday life, and to her humiliations. We re-entered the unknown world of India, the great and the mysterious. The main caves of Nassik are excavated in a mountain bearing the name of Pandu-Lena, which […]

Benares, Prayaga (now Allahabad), Nassik, Hurdwar, Bhadrinath, Matura—these were the sacred places of prehistoric India which we were to visit one after the other; but to visit them, not after the usual manner of tourists, a vol d’oiseau, with a cheap guide-book in our hands and a cicerone to weary our brains, and wear out […]

We saw Logarh, a fortress which was captured by Sivaji from the Moguls in 1670, and the ruins of the hall, where the widow of Nana Farnavese, under the pretext of an English protectorate, became de facto the captive of General Wellesley in 1804, with a yearly pension of 12,000 rupees. We then started for […]

On approaching the entrance of the temple we were struck by the appearance of a young man, who stood apart from the crowd and was of an ideal beauty. He was a member of the Sadhu sect, a «candidate for Saintship,» to use the expression of one of our party. The Sadhus differ greatly from […]

The fair was at its culmination when, having finished visiting the cells, climbing over all the stories, and examining the celebrated «hall of wrestlers,» we descended, not by way of the stairs, of which there is no trace to be found, but after the fashion of pails bringing water out of a deep well, that […]

At five o’clock in the morning we had already arrived at the limit, not only of driveable, but, even, of rideable roads. Our bullock-cart could go no further. The last half mile was nothing but a rough sea of stones. We had either to give up our enterprise, or to climb on all-fours up an […]

It is hardly twenty-five years since, for the first time, a white man ascended Mataran, a huge mass of various kinds of trap rock, for the most part crystalline in form. Though quite near to Bombay, and only a few miles from Khandala, the summer residence of the Europeans, the threatening heights of this giant […]

It is an early morning near the end of March. A light breeze caresses with its velvety hand the sleepy faces of the pilgrims; and the intoxicating perfume of tuberoses mingles with the pungent odors of the bazaar. Crowds of barefooted Brahman women, stately and well-formed, direct their steps, like the biblical Rachel, to the […]

The same evening, in Elphinstone’s Theatre, there was given a special performance in honour of «the American Mission,» as we are styled here. Native actors represented in Gujerati the ancient fairy drama Sita-Rama, that has been adapted from the Ramayana, the celebrated epic by Vilmiki. This drama is composed of fourteen acts and no end […]

We occupied three small banglow, which are buried like nests in the greenery of the garden, with roofs literally covered with roses growing on three-pronged bushes, and with windows covered with muslin, instead of ordinary frames and glasses. These bungalows were located in the indigenous quarter. Thus, we were at once transferred to real India: […]

In Bombay Late in the evening of the sixteenth of February, 1879, after a rough voyage which lasted thirty-two days, joyful exclamations were heard everywhere on deck. «Have you seen the lighthouse?» «There it is at last, the Bombay lighthouse.» Cards, books, music, everything was forgotten. Everyone rushed on deck. The moon had not risen […]