Historic Incidents and Life in India |
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Ahalya Allahabad animals become Benares Bengal Bhowanee blood body Boora Pennu Brahmins Calcutta Capt carried caste Cawnpore celebrated ceremonies commenced consecrated dancing death deceased deity demons devotees divine Durga earth Ellora enemy European EVIL SPIRITS favor feet female Feringeea festival fire Ganesa Ganges Gautama goddess gods hands head Hindu holy honor human hundred husband idol images India inhabitants Kali Khonds length LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS lingam living Lucknow manner ment miles Mohammedan multitudes murder mutinied Nana Sahib native never night offerings omen party pass Pennu performed persons pickaxe pilgrims priest PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR Ravana regarded religious rice rites river rods rope round sacred sacrifice Sahib sect seized sepoys Shasters Shiva sick soul spectators strangle Sudra superstition supposed Tari Telingana temple thousand Thuggee Thugs tion travellers trees tribes various Varuna Veddahs victim village wife woman women worship YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Popular passages
Page 247 - Whenever a rebel is caught, he is immediately tried, and unless he can prove a defence, he is sentenced to be hanged at once ; but the chief rebels or ringleaders I make first clean up a certain portion of the pool of blood, still two inches deep, in the shed where the fearful murder and mutilation of women and children took place.
Page 67 - ... of chariots, — a hundred and twenty thousand millions of elephants, — and soldiers beyond the power of arithmetic to number. Parvati, having assumed a thousand arms, sat down upon a mountain, coolly awaiting the approach of her formidable foes. The troops of the giant poured their arrows at her, thick as the drops of rain in a storm ; they even tore up the trees and the mountains, and hurled them at the goddess : she turned them all away, and caused millions of strange beings to issue from...
Page 111 - The most excellent of all good works she can perform, is to gratify him with the strictest obedience. This should be her only devotion. Though he be aged, infirm, dissipated, a drunkard, or a debauchee, she must still regard him as her god. She must serve him with all her might, obeying him in all things, spying no defects in his character, and giving him no cause for disquiet. If he laughs, she must also laugh. If he weeps, she must also weep. If he sings, she must be in an ecstasy.
Page 67 - ... dethroned all the gods, except the sacred Triad ; banished them from their respective heavens to live in forests ; and compelled them, at his nod, to come and bow down and worship before him, and celebrate his praise He abolished all religious ceremonies. The Brahmans, through fear of him, forsook the reading of the Vedas. The rivers changed their courses. Fire lost its 'energy. The terrified stars retired from his sight. He assumed the forms of the clouds, and gave rain whenever he pleased ;...
Page 34 - Behind my premises there was a long building formerly used as a rope walk, the flat roof of which was their favorite place of resort to gambol and chatter. When a European approached the spot, they would instantly ascend to the top of some almond trees in their vicinity ; but if a native came quite near to them, they took no more notice of him than if he had been one of their own species. One of these monkeys became quite familiar with the shopkeepers in the bazaar, and would help himself plentifully...
Page 36 - The Brahmin eats but his own food ; wears but his own apparel ; and bestows but his own in alms : through the benevolence of the Brahmin, indeed, other mortals enjoy life.
Page 159 - Their sole property is to consist of dogs and asses. Their clothes should be those left by the dead. Their ornaments, rusty iron. They must roam from place to place. No respectable man must hold intercourse with them.
Page 141 - ... no previous acquaintance. On such occasions, some of the gang are employed as emissaries, to collect information, and, especially, to learn if any persons with property in their possession are about to undertake a journey. They are often accompanied by children of ten years of age and upwards ; who, while they perform menial offices, are gradually initiated into the horrid practices of Thuggee, and contribute to prevent suspicion of their real character. Skilled in the arts of deception, they...
Page 153 - ... in her hands to destroy them : that if we do not kill them, she will never be again propitious to us, and we and our families will be involved in misery and want.
Page 26 - O thou that shinest like a tree With summer blossoms overspread, Wearing that woven kusa robe, And lotus garland on thy head, Why art thou dwelling here alone, Here in this dreary forest's shade, Where range at will all beasts of prey, And demons prowl in every glade ? Wilt thou not leave thy cottage home, And roam the world, which stretches wide — See the fair cities which men build, And all their gardens and their pride? Why longer, fair one, dwell'st thou here, Feeding on roots and sylvan fare...