Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 45

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
5
Hindu princes, and often that of the Mahomedans, was,
properly speaking, Brahminical rule, since all posts of
confidence were held by Brahmins.
If it be possible to ameliorate the condition of the people
of India I am convinced that this desirable result will be
attained under the new regime, whatever may be said by
detractors who are ready to find fault with everything.
Whatever truth indeed there may be in the prejudiced
charges, engendered by ignorance and interested motives,
which are brought against the new order of things, and
which are perhaps inseparable from every great administra-
tion, I for one cannot believe that a nation so emin ently
distinguished for its beneficent and humane principles of
government at home, and above all for its impartial justice
I for one cannot believe that this
to all classes alike
nation will ever be blind enough to compromise its own
noble character by refusing participation in these benefits
to a subject people which is content to live peaceably under
its sway.
At the same time I venture to predict that it will attempt
in vain to effect any very considerable changes in the
social condition of the people of India, whose character,
principles, customs, and ineradicable conservatism will
always present insurmountable obstacles. To make a
people happy, it is essential that they themselves should
desire to be made happy and should co-operate with those
who are working for their happiness. Now, the people of
India, it appears to me, neither possess this desire nor are
anxious to co-operate to this end. Every reform which is
obviously devised for their well-being they obstinately push
aside if it is likely in the least degree to disturb their manner
—
most absurd prejudice, or their most puerile
custom.
Nevertheless the justice and prudence which the present
rulers display in endeavouring to make these people less
unhappy than they have been hitherto the anxiety they
above all,
manifest in increasing their material comfort
the inviolable respect which they constantly show for the
customs and religious beliefs of the country and, lastly,
the protection they afford to the weak as well as to the
of living, their
;
;
;
strong, to the
Brahmin
as to the Pariah, to the Christian,