BY
H. FIELDING-HALL
AUTHOR OF "THE SOUL OF A PEOPLE"
"THE HEARTS OF MEN," ETC.
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"—that
is to say by ideas
LONDON
HURST & BLACKETT, LTD.
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.C.
1913
Most people when they talk of India,most books when they treat of India,are concerned with its differences fromthe rest of the world. It is the appearance andthe dress of its peoples, their customs and habits,their superstitions and religions, that are explainedand wondered at.
That is not so here. In this book little ornothing is said of any of these matters; they donot interest me; they are superficial, and I donot care for surface things; they are what divide,and truth is what unites.
It is of the humanity which India shares with therest of the world, the hearts that beat always thesame under whatever skin, the ideals that cannever be choked by no matter what customs orreligions, that this book is concerned with.
India sees life through different windows thanwe do; but her eyes are as our eyes, and she hasthe same desires as we have. She has beennearly dead or sleeping for long, but at last shemoves. She is awake or waking. Should it notbe our task, our pleasure and our pride, to helpher early steps along the path of consciousstrength that leads to a national life such as thatwe have been proud of? And to do so must wenot try to understand her?
Have we ever tried?
I do not think we have; but the time is comingwhen, unless we can go hand in hand with heralong her path to nationhood, she will desert us.Her destiny is calling her; shall we keep herback?
We cannot keep her back. "No one can bemore wise than Destiny." And if we stand in herway, who will suffer like we shall? For her sakeand for ours should we not try to understand?
This book is an attempt at a beginning.
CONTENTS
THE OLD INDIA
CHAPTER
I. Indian Unrest
II. The People
III. The Civilian
IV. His Training
V. Criminal Law
VI. Procedure
VII. Civil Law
VIII. The Village
IX. Opium and Excise
COUNSELS OF DESPAIR
X. The Provincial Councils
XI. The Indian as Civilian
A NEW INDIA
XII. The New Civilian
XIII. His Training
XIV. Other Services
XV. ...