HISTORIC INCIDENTS AND .LIFE IN INDIA. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS VOLUME HAS BEEN COLLECTED BY BY COMPILATION FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES. Revised Edition. BY CALEB WRIGHT AND J. A. BRAINERD. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. THIRTY-NINTH THOUSAND. CHICAGO: PUBLISHED BY J. A. BRAINERD. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, BY J. A. BRAINERD, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. PREFACE. INDIA, by a long series of remarkable events, has become a land of great interest, not only to the philosopher and statesman, but to the general reader. The inhabitants of no other country can boast of antiquity more remote, of historic incidents more important, or of warriors, statesmen, and poets more renowned. The modern scholar and antiquarian can revel in the abundance of the literary works of India written thousands of years ago, in a language which excels all others in perfection and refinement. Among these are poems containing four hundred thousand lines, while the longest poem in the English language contains less than eleven thousand. The conquest of India by a European power, and the recent thrilling events of the Sepoy mutiny, have excited a general desire to know more of the history, manners, customs, and superstitions of the various ancient and peculiar races which inhabit that portion of the world. To furnish such information in an attractive and at the same time in a condensed form, is the object of this volume. In its preparation, brevity, clearness, and vivacity of style have been carefully studied, and numerous pictorial illustrations have been introduced, which convey to the mind, in a pleasing and impressive manner, much information which could not be communicated without their aid. As the subject matter has been collected by extensive travel in India, and as the illustrations have been engraved from drawings taken on the spot, the volume is presented to the reading public with the confident expectation that it will be found to possess the merit of accuracy and truthfulness. J. A. BRAINERD. CONTENTS. India from the Earliest Times regarded with Great Interest.. Its Extent, Climate, and Population. The Shasters Their Antiquity — Subjects of which they treat. Abstract of Portions of the Ramayan.. How the Events of the Ramayan are regarded by Hindus. A Temple where 1500 Monkeys are maintained and worshipped. Reverence for, and Anecdotes of, Monkeys. Creation of Man, and Institution of Caste. Incidents illustrating the Influence of Caste.. Brahminical Shrewdness Sitting in Dherna. A Priest sitting in Dherna commits Murder and Suicide.. Great Excitement in Benares, caused by a Tax on Houses. The Hindus a Religious People 330,000,000 of Gods. Character of the Gods portrayed by Extracts from the Shasters. Horrid Forms of the Images by which they are represented. |