File:Indian pictures and problems (1907) (14754646496).jpg

Identifier: indianpicturespr00malc (find matches)
Title: Indian pictures and problems
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Malcolm, Ian, Sir, 1868-1944
Subjects: India -- Description and travel Burma -- Description and travel
Publisher: London : E. Grant Richard
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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gtheir curious gyrations to the accompaniment ofweird instruments and still stranger cries. Theorigin of these dances, so my informant told me,can be traced right back to the dark ages ofTibet, when there lived a king so morally de-praved and tyrannical that all his subjects longedfor his death. They took counsel accordingly withtheir wise men, who suggested that a band ofLamas should dress themselves as devils anddance into the kings presence with threats andexecrations. And one of these was to concealwithin his spacious sleeves an arrow and a bow.Audience was then granted by the hatedmonarch, and in the course of the ballet he wasshot dead. This tradition is the authority for devil-dancing, which is so interesting a featureof Tibetan worship. Other tribes are sparsely represented at Darjeel-ing, such as the Mechis and the Limboes, but Ihave called attention to the most prominent ofthose who reside on our Tibetan frontier. Thatthey all live in peace together within British terri- 144
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TRIBES ON THE N.E. FRONTIER tory must be laid equally to their credit and tothat of British administration. Though there iscompetition, there is work for all, and a really poorperson is a strange sight in that far hill-station.Their distinctive racial customs are encouragedby us, and their religious rites are scrupulouslyprotected so long as they do not transgress thoserules of humanity and civilisation which lie at thefoundation of British rule. And as I left theBazaar and zig-zagged seven thousand feet downthe Himalayas in that wonderful mountain railway,through glorious scenery of forest and jungle andtorrent, I could not but feel glad of belonging toa race whose genius for tribe-government has beenso successful in spreading the light of contentment,industry, and peace. 145 XIV THE BOMBAY MILLS The industrial awakening of the East is so real,and so evidently a factor to be seriously reckonedwith in an intelligent forecast of the future balanceof trade-power, that we can understand

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