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AUGUST, 1926 ]
GOVERNOR JOSEPH COLLET OF MADRAS
141
GOVERNOR JOSEPH COLLET OF MADRAS ON THE HINDU RELIGION
IN 1712..
BY SIR RICHARD C. TEMPLE, BT.? In the Proceedings of Meetings, vol. VI, of the Indian Historical Records Commission January 1924, pp. 29 ff, occurs an informing paper by Miss Clara E. J. Collet, Fellow of University College, London, on the excellent private letter books of Joseph Collet of Madras (1717-1720), as preserved in her family. They contain the observations of a very capable man, anxious to learn all he could about the natives of the countries in which he travelled or had to work. We consequently obtain from them valuable views on the inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro, of Bencoolen in Sumatra, and of Madras.
Amongst the extracts given by Miss Collet (one cannot but hope that she will some day publish the whole collection of letters) is one of great interest, as it shows how an English enquirer, full of his own religious viewe, looked on Hinduism as he thought he learnt about it. Incidentally it shows also how an educated Indian attempted to expound his religion to an interested and educated European. Collet writes as follows:
"The first time I arriv'd in this place was in the year 1712. I soon found a great variety of religions profess'd here, Christianity of severall sorts, Popish, Protestant or Arminian [native Christians], besides Mahometanism and above all Paganism (Hinduism), which has much more numerous disciples than all the rest together. They are divided into the right. handed cast and the left-hand cast, and these again are sub-divided into eighteen several casts or Tribes. 1
"Here are Churches of all the several Religions I have named, but the most magnificent structures are the Pagan Temples, called the Pagodas. Passing by one of them a few days after my arrival, I made up to the Gate, which was open, with a design to see what sort of Gods dwelt there, but the priests were too quick and shut the Gate before I could enter.
"I asked one of the Religion with me why they would not permit me to see the Pagoda. He told me they did not care to admit Christians, and seem'd to insinuate that the Priests thought that the presence of a Christian would defile their Temple. I told him I rather believed they were ashamed to expose their Gods to our View. He reply'd: 'We are not Buch fools as to think the Images in our Pagodas are Gods. We know very well there is but one Supreme God, Creator and Preserver of all things. The Images in our Temples are no other than symbols and representations of the several perfections of the one Supreme Being. An Image with many hands, holding Arms and Mechanicall Instruments, represents his infinito power: another with an elephant's joyn'd to a Human Face signifies his infinite wisdom, the Elephant being esteem'd the most sagacious of all Brute Animalls.' He added several others.
"I smiled and was about to reply, but he prevented me and went on as follows - There is no greater Difficulty in all this than in your Christian Religion, for you say with us there is but one God, and yet you say, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are each of them God, by which you must mean that the one God is call'd the Father as he is the Maker of all things, and he is called the Son as he is reconciled to Sinners, and he is called the Holy Ghost as he
1 This statement shows that Collet had grasped that Hinduism is divided into an enormous number of secta, which he thought were castos, although, of course, his view thereof is very vague. He evidently thought that the most prominent among them were the Right-hand (Dukshinachårf) and Left-hand (Vama. chari) divisions of the Shaktas, worshippers of the female energy in life (Shakti). The statement is a com. ment on the bold that Shaktism had on Hinduism, when the latter first came under Western observation.
· Here we have a hint of the difficulties that Brahmans must have had in dealing with Europeans of importanod. Neither side had any idea of the notions or religious feelings of the other.
