From the caves and jungles of Hindostan

FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN.

Alas! Gone is the glorious time when, proud of our white skin (which, after all, may be nothing more than the result of fading under the influence of our northern sky), we looked down upon Hindus and other "niggers" The author uses this term ironically to mock European colonial arrogance. with a feeling of contempt suited to our own magnificence. No doubt Sir William Jones's soft heart ached when translating from the Sanskrit such humiliating sentences as the following: "Hanuman is said to be the forefather of the Europeans."

Râma, being a hero and a demi-god, was well entitled to unite all the bachelors of his useful monkey army to the daughters of the Lanka (Ceylon) giants, the Râkshasas demons or titans in Hindu mythology, and to present these Dravidian beauties with the dowry of all Western lands. After the most pompous marriage ceremonies, the monkey soldiers made a bridge using their own tails and safely landed with their spouses in Europe, where they lived very happily and had many children. We Europeans are those children. Dravidian words found in some European languages—in Basque, for instance—greatly rejoice the hearts of the Brahmans, who would gladly promote philologists to the rank of demi-gods for this important discovery, which so gloriously confirms their ancient legend.

But it was Darwin who completed the proof with the authority of Western education and scientific literature. The Indians became even more convinced that we are the true descendants of Hanuman, and that if one only took the trouble to look carefully, our tails might easily be discovered. Our narrow trousers and long skirts only add to the evidence, however uncomplimentary the idea may be to us.

Still, if you consider it seriously, what can we say when Science, in the person of Darwin, grants this hypothesis to the wisdom of the ancient Aryans? We must necessarily submit. And, really, it is better to have Hanuman—the poet, the hero, and the god—as a forefather than any other monkey, even a tail-less one.

Sîtâ-Râma belongs to the category of mythological dramas, similar to the tragedies of Aeschylus. Listening to this work from the remotest antiquity, the spectators are carried back to the times when the gods, descending to earth, took an active part in the everyday life of mortals. Nothing reminds one of a modern drama, though the outer arrangement is the same. "From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step," and vice versa.

The goat chosen for a sacrifice to Bacchus gave the world tragedy original: "Trăgos ōdē" (Greek for 'goat song'). The death bleats and head-butting of the four-legged offering of antiquity have been polished by time and civilization. As a result of this process, we get the dying whisper of Rachel a famous French actress in the role of Adrienne Lecouvreur, and the fearfully realistic "kicking" of the modern Croisette Sophie Croizette, a famous actress in the poisoning scene of The Sphinx. But while the descendants of Themistocles the Greeks gladly accept all the changes and improvements considered as such by modern taste—viewing them as a corrected and enlarged edition of the genius of Aeschylus—the Hindus, fortunately for archaeologists and lovers of antiquity, have not moved a step since the times of our much-honored forefather Hanuman.

We awaited the performance of Sîtâ-Râma with the liveliest curiosity. Except for ourselves and the theater building, everything was strictly native, and nothing reminded us of the West. There was no trace of an orchestra. Music was only to be heard from...