TEMPLE MUSICIANS 537
God forbid, however, that any one should believe me to wish to say a word in defence of the comparative modesty and reserve of the dancing-girls of India! Actions can only be judged by their motives; and certainly, if these
Indian women are more reserved in public than their sisters
in other countries which call themselves more civilized, the
credit is due not to their innate modesty but to national prejudice. In fact, however loose the Hindus may be in their morals, they strictly maintain an outward appearance of decency, and attach great importance to the observance
of strict decorum in public. The most shameless prostitute would never dare to stop a man in the streets;
and she in her turn would indignantly repulse any man
who ventured to take any indecent liberty with her. The man who behaved familiarly with one of these women in public would be censured and despised by everybody who witnessed the scandal. Is it the same among ourselves % After the dancing-girls come the players of musical instruments attached to the service of the temples. Every
pagoda of any importance always has a more or less numerous band of them. They, as well as the dancing-girls,
are obliged to attend the temple twice a day, and to fill it with discordant sounds. Their presence at all feasts and
ceremonies is likewise obligatory. Moreover, they cannot be dispensed with during the great family feasts and ceremonies. The Hindu taste for music is so marked that there is not a single gathering, however small, which has not
some musicians at its head.
Those who are regularly attached to a pagoda receive
a fixed salary. The instruments on which they play are for the most part clarionets and trumpets; they have also cymbals and several kinds of small drums. The sounds produced by these instruments are far from pleasing, and may even appear hideous to European ears. The Hindus recognize a kind of harmony, however, in two parts: they have always a bass and a high counter-tenor or alto. The
latter is produced by a wind instrument in the form of a tube widened at its base, the sounds of which have some resemblance to those of the bagpipe.
The vocal part is executed by a second band of musicians, who take turns with the dancing-girls in singing hymns in