Natives of Northern IndiaA. Constable, Limited, 1907 - 270 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
agricultural animal animistic Aryan Assam Baiga Baloch Baluchistan Behar believed Bengal Bhil Bhopa Bhotiyas blood Brahman bride bridegroom British caste cattle Central Provinces chief child Chota Nagpur cloth coarse colour common corpse crops cultivation custom dead death Deccan deities Dravidian evil spirits eyes fertile forest tribes Ganges girls goddess gods Gonds grain hair head Hence hill-country hills Himalayas Hindu Hinduism industries Jats jungle kind Kumaun Kunbi labour land lower Magic marriage married menial Mohammedan Mongoloid mother Naga Nāgas native Northern India occupied Oraons origin Oudh Pathāns peasant performed plains plough practically priest primitive Punjab race Rajput Rajputana rank recognised regarded religion rice Risley rite river rule sacred Santāls says Sikh social sometimes Southern stone supply supposed taboo tion tract tree tribal United Provinces usually valley village wild woman women worship
Popular passages
Page 87 - ... regarded by those who are competent to give an opinion as forming a single homogeneous community...
Page 227 - ... are held to affect or control the events of the material world, and man's life here and hereafter; and it being considered that they hold intercourse with men, and receive pleasure or displeasure from human actions, the belief in their existence leads naturally, and it might almost be said inevitably, sooner or later to active reverence and propitiation. Thus Animism in its full development, includes the belief in souls and in a future state, in controlling deities and subordinate spirits, these...
Page 62 - The Pathan is one moment a saint, and the next a devil." For centuries he has been, on our frontier at least, subject to no man. He leads a wild, free, active life in the rugged fastnesses of his mountains ; and there is an air of masculine independence about him which is refreshing in a country like India. He is a bigot of the most fanatical type, exceedingly proud, and extraordinarily superstitious.
Page 35 - To me an ethnologist who speaks of Aryan race, Aryan blood, Aryan eyes and hair, is as great a sinner as a linguist who speaks of a dolichocephalic...
Page 32 - Ceylon, cutting rice in the swamps of Eastern Bengal, or doing scavenger's work in the streets of Calcutta, Rangoon, and Singapore, he is recognizable at a glance by his black skin, his squat figure, and the negro-like proportions of his nose.
Page 224 - Animism is, in fact, the groundwork of the philosophy of religion, from that of savages up to that of civilized men. ... It is habitually found that the theory of animism divides into two great dogmas forming parts of one consistent doctrine: first, concerning souls of individual creatures, capable of continued existence after the death or destruction of the body; second, concerning other spirits, upward to the rank of powerful deities.
Page 24 - Thus, it is scarcely a paradox to lay down as a law of the caste organisation in Eastern India that a man's social status varies in inverse ratio to the width of his nose.
Page 45 - Within twenty miles of country five or six different dialects are often met with. Monosyllabic languages, like that of the Nagas, possessing no literature and uncertain rules of pronunciation, are bound to change very rapidly and quite independently of each other. This process has been facilitated here by the savage manners of the race. The tattoo marks, which each successful head-hunter is permitted to wear, differ in pattern with each tribe, and afford a means of recognising strangers. Without...
Page 235 - The females of each house take out water to wash his feet as he approaches, and, kneeling before him, make a most respectful obeisance. He then dances with them, and places over the door of the house, and in the hair of the women, some of the Sal flowers.
Page 224 - Spiritual beings are held to affect or control the events of the material world, and man's life here and hereafter; and it being considered that they hold intercourse with men, and receive pleasure or displeasure from human actions, the belief in their existence leads naturally, and it might almost be said inevitably, sooner or later to active reverence and propitiation.