Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/796

 INDIA

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INDIA

along which the chief business centres and the chief oljjects of interest for the traveller are situated — the rest being accessible by journeys of a few miles by tonga along decent roads. Except in the cities much frequented by Europeans hotels are scarce; but re- freshment rooms and even sleeping rooms are found in the more important railway stations, otherwise resort must be had to " travellers' bungalows ", in some of which food can be obtained by previous notice. In Native States respectable Europeans are accepted as guests of the State, and guest-houses are provided for them. In other remote districts resident European officials can be relied upon for incidental hospitality in case of emergency. In a few large cities such as Cal- cutta, Bombay, and Karachi, European commodities of

Seringham Pagoda. TrichinuI'oly

every kind are obtainable, and the social and domestic life tliffers in no way from that at home. The same is true to a more limited extent in towns occupied as military stations. Elsewhere it is generally impossi- ble even to olitain anything so European as a loaf of bread, except at the refreshment room of the station, if there is one.

One of the peculiarities of Indian life is the hill stations, "suburban towns" they might be called, to which those who have the opportunity flock from the plains in the hot seasons, and occasionally at other times, to recover from the enervating influence of the plains. P^or instance Darjeeling, Simla, Mussourie, Murree, Nainital, etc., on the slopes of the Himalayas; Mount Abu in Rajputana; Khandalla, Poona, Math- eran, and Mahableshwar, in the western Ghats; Ban- galore, Wellington, and Conoor, in the Mysore hills; Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, in Ceylon.

PopuL.vTiON AND LANGUAGE. — According to the census of 1901 the total population of the Indian Em- pire amounted to294,;5(i,0 ), of which 62, ■ll,.i4'.) be- long to the Native States, and 2:n,S'.)(l,.')07 to strictly British territory. The whole of this population is divided racially as follows: (1) The Aryans, mostly in Northern India anil the Deccan, about 221 millions or nearly three-fourths of the total; (2) The Dravidian races of Southern India, about sixty miUions; (3) the

Kolarian aborigines of the Central Provinces, from four to five millions; (4) the Tibeto-Burmese, above eleven millions; (5) Europeans, a fluctuating figure some- thing over 170,000; (0) Parsees about 94,000; (7) Jews, 18,000 — smaller classifications being omitted. The prevailing languages are correspondingly the Aryan (Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujerathi, Uriya, Sindi, etc.); the Dravidian (Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Canarese) ; the Kolarian (Santali) and the Tilietian and Burmese. There are also very rnany minor languages confined to small districts or single tribes. The lingua franca of the country is Hindustani, or Urdu, a mixture of Hindi with Persian and Arabic words, and written in the .\rabic or in the Devanagiri character — its prevalence being due to the Mogul domination.

Political History. — The historical vicissitudes of India have been Ukened to the waves of the ocean flowing into a shallow bay, one following after another, and each obliterating wholly or partially the effects of the preceding. It may also be likened to a kaleido- scope of ever-changing colour and form, as king<lom after kingdom has risen and fallen, coagulated and disintegrated, and as the supremacy has passed from hand to hand. The ancient portion of this history is almost without dates, and even the events themselves are mostly gathered from precarious references. Con- sequently, as regards origins, even what is certain must from the nature of the ca.se be vague. Down to some unascertainable date (possibly about 1500 h. c.) India was inhabited partly by the various aboriginal peoples (Kolarians. etc.) whose remnants are still found sur- viving in the country, and partly by Dravidian immi- grants who had superseded these aborigines at some very early period. About that time the great Aryan family divided into two .sections, one passing south- wards into India. This Aryan race in great part held aloof from the people they subjugated, w^hom they regarded with contempt. But in some degree mixture was inevitable; and thus a large number of local tribes, some pure Aryan, others aboriginal, others mixed, came into existence. When Alexander the (!reat made his expedition to India in .'525 h. c, his sphere of activity did not extend beyond the Sutlej. After his death and the breaking up of his emi)ire, the people of India, under the leadership of a i)riucp of Patna (305 B. c.) forced the Greek invader to r<>linqviish all share in the country. Many of the Indian tribes were then gradually consolidated into an empire which reached its highest organization under Asoka (272-232 B. c). The empire of .\soka comprised practically the whole of the peninsula except the portion south of Madras, which was held independently by the more ancient Chola, Pandya, Chera. and Satuja dynasties. Soon after Asoka's death, his kingdom broke up into .several smaller ones bearing the names of Kalinga. Andhra, Malwa. and Magadha, l.iesides numbers of minor states. Early in the Christian era fresh Scythian hordes poured into India and founded the Kushan Empire, which comprised the whole north-west down to tlie Vindhya Mountains. This empire reached the summit of power under King Kanishka, the great patron of Buddhism who ruled about a. d. 120. By the fourth century a. d. the Guptas and the Western .satraps ro.se in importance, and divided the supremuoy between them till the latter were swallowed up by the former. The Gupta Empire lasted till the end of the fifth century A. V. when it was destroyed by a Mongol tribe, called the White Huns. In the sixth century the White Huns were overcome by the Persians and by Turkish tribes, and their hold on India fell before a confederacy of Indian princes under the King of Magadha. In the beginning of the seventh cent\iry there existed two supremacies — that of the north under a king of Than- eshwar, and that of the south in the hands of the Chalukyas, with the River Nerbudda as the boundary between them. These organizations soon fell to