THE increasing number of converts who were
baptized shortly after Dr Duff's return was a splendid testimony to
the valuable work of his colleagues during his absence and to the fact
that the system had life in itself, but it raised the very important
question :—How were the converts to make a livelihood? The loss of
caste is the most dreadful ill that can befall a Hindu, and it
inevitably follows baptism. His kindred, however much he may continue
to love them, desert him; it is abomination to eat with him, even to
speak to him. The hand is accursed that ministers to him. He is
avoided as if plague-stricken. His only refuge is a solitary,
friendless and uncomfortable death amid the scoffs and revilings of
his fellows. Until their number made this impracticable, the converts
lived with the missionaries. In order, however, to relieve the
missionaries of this burden twelve British merchants and officials in
Calcutta, nine being members of the Church of England, sent Dr Duff
£1000 to build a home for the converts, while in the church a special
collection was made each year for their support, until, as tutors in
some families, they could earn their own living.
In the alarm which these
conversions caused, one lad was removed from the missionaries' house
to which he had gone, and kept chained at home. At first force was
used but in vain to make him change, but when that failed the attempt
was made to tempt him to sin, and so become unworthy to make Christian
profession. This would not prevent his continuing to be a consistent
Hindu, for, as one of their own people has said, "A Hindu sins
religiously." It was all in vain, however; the place of the convert's
captivity was discovered, and with the aid of the law he was rescued,
baptized, and lived an earnest Christian life.
Another lad who had been
removed from the Institution for the same reason, but who never forgot
what he had learnt, could hold out no longer, and, six years after
this occurred, made profession and was baptized. The Hindu community
was now thoroughly roused and resolved to start an Institution for the
teaching of English and Western science on purely secular grounds. The
result of such teaching would surely result, as has been seen, in
disbelief in Hinduism or any religion. Two years later a Hindu society
was formed to prevent anyone belonging to any caste, sect, or party
from educating his son or ward at any of the missionary Institutions
in Calcutta under pain of ex-communication. Even threats of violence
towards Dr Duff were soon suggested. Still the work went on.
Invitations from Home
When Dr Chalmers died, Dr Duff
was deeply exercised by a proposal made by the Church at home that he
should leave Calcutta and become Principal of the Free Church College
in Edinburgh. He fully appreciated and acknowledged the honour
conferred upon him. That men of the world would regard this offer as
contemplated elevation or promotion he recognised, but he was saddened
beyond measure by the receipt of letters of congratulation from
friends. As he considered the claims of the mission field were
supreme, he asked to be allowed to magnify his office by remaining a
missionary to the heathen. For the sake of the heathen, and
"especially the people of India, let me cling all my days to the
missionary cause." When the proposal became known in Calcutta,
evidence of the changed regard for him was strikingly manifested. He,
who had been told before that his coming to India would prove a curse,
was now assured by colleagues, other missionaries and friends, and by
the Eurasian community that his leaving Calcutta would be a public
calamity. His own converts implored him to stay. Hindu students and
ex-students urged him not to leave them, and, most striking of all, a
remonstrance to the people of Scotland from twelve learned Brahmans,
written in Sanskrit, deplored the loss to education and to the
community which his leaving Calcutta would involve.
Though he declined the
Edinburgh Principalship, Dr Duff willingly accepted the invitation to
come home and rouse the Church again, for he was tired and very badly
needed rest, for, as he wrote to the Convener of the Foreign Mission
Committee in Edinburgh, "work of this sort, which was once my delight,
is far too much for me now. One hour of it now tells on my frame more
than six hours were wont to do when I first landed on these shores."
But however wearied he might feel, he would never rest on a couch
unless compelled by sickness to do so, lest he might thereby encourage
native lethargy. He did all he could to stir up the people. He even
sent home for a set of quoits in the hope that he might induce them to
take exercise by interest in the game. The quoits were used once! On
another occasion he tried to interest them in battledore and
shuttlecock.
During the financial crisis which fell upon Calcutta in 1848, Dr Duff
wrote thus to a friend:-
"You must know what a sad state of things we have
had in connection with mercantile affairs. I always dreaded the
influence of Britain's great idol, Mammon, fully as much as that of
'the Man of Sin,' or infidelity, because it is, if possible, more
insidious. The idolatry of Mammon has been increasing with such
fearful strides that it threatens to swallow all other idolatries,
which is nothing more than the swallowing up of gigantic evils by
another more gigantic. For the idolator of Mammon is one in whom the
love of God and of neighbour becomes extinguished."
An Indian Tour
This is how Dr Duff took rest!
Before returning to Scotland he visited many of the missionary
stations of the different societies working in India. His medical
adviser sanctioned a tour up the Ganges and Jumna (in the cold
weather) provided, he added, all precautions necessary when travelling
in India were taken, and all needless fatigue and exposure were
avoided. To this programme Duff added a tour through Southern India.
As his journey had to be made
in a land where the sun is king, the heat at times suffocating, the
dust a constant irritation, and even writing can be very fatiguing, he
passed from place to place chiefly durirg the night. He was carried in
a palki, which is like a covered litter sufficiently broad and long to
admit of lying down and deep enough for sitting up in, with sliding
sides, and borne by four bearers by means of a pole attached to either
end.
Where the path was good, sleep might be
enjoyed, but when the very narrow way wound through the jungle, the
lair of wild and venomous animals, rest might not be so easy. The
quickened pace of the bearers, their louder grunt or chant, the
increased glare of the torches must have been very disturbing. One
night, for example, the missionary, who often walked along the narrow
path before turning in, had lain down in the palki, when a sudden
shout from the bearers, together with the jerking of the paiki to one
side, indicated that something was amiss. He found that the bearers
had almost trodden upon a large and deadly snake lying on the narrow
path along which he had just been walking in the dark. Fortunately,
instead of striking, it tried to escape, but was followed and killed.
On another occasion, while Dr Duff was walking
ahead in the dark, the cries of his bearers stopped him as he was on
the point of stepping into another branch of a river they had recently
crossed. At times the overarching of the banyan and other trees made
the darkness so intense that it seemed to oppress one like a mantle.
Then when they passed a collection of huts, the lights, the din of
voices and the surrounding darkness combined to make a scene that
reminded one of the realms of darkness which poets have described.
When passing from Travancore through the Western Ghauts, as the range
of hills is called, the path ran in the bed of a steep
rocky stream, and here, where it was more pleasant to walk than to
bear the inevitable jolting in the palki (the height at which they
were travelling tempered the heat and made this possible), he enjoyed
a reminder of his boyhood days when he leapt from boulder to boulder
along a Highland burn. One evening, after darkness had fallen amongst
these heights, on looking out from the bungalow he saw the steep sides
of the mountains glowing, as if lighted up by the blaze of numberless
stars, with myriads of fireflies. In the extreme south of India he had
to cross a waste of reddish sand, where there were no made roads, and
when the wind blew it carried the sand like snow in a blizzard,
obliterating both sky and path so completely that even the local guide
wandered from the path. When travellers cross this waste at night they
take their direction from the stars.
In this way, as he says, Dr
Duff" galloped" over the country, travelling by night and during the
day sitting grilled in a solitary bungalow (public buildings built at
certain places for the use of travellers), or incessantly employed at
a mission station, talking to friends, inspecting schools, or
addressing adults or children. In one of these places he describes his
experience thus :-
"I touch the table but draw back my hand, it is so
hot. I take a sip of water; it is more than tepid, more than lukewarm,
it is positively hot. When I write, no matter how heavily, the ink is
not out of the pen when it is dry on the paper. The heat compels a man
to remain as quiet as he can in the house in order to have some chance
of barely existing or passively vegetating." What a terrible obstacle
is this to active, all- pervading missionary exertion! (One more proof
that India's children alone can fully overtake missionary work). But
it is noteworthy that even in such exhausting heat Duff would not seek
relief by lying on a couch.
In the Jungle
On the other hand, Dr Duff
noticed as he passed along that with irrigation and cultivation this
climate draws out from what is otherwise a sandy waste the most
luxuriant crops and foliage. Why then, he asks, is there so much
jungle and waste land? His obvious interest in what concerned their
temporal interests endeared him greatly to his pupils and to the
people of India. "Can it he," he adds, "the land tax which renders
these efforts unremunerative? Then as a Christian I would strive to
get the tax reduced." The singing of birds in the jungle refreshed him
amid the dreary waste, as he had never heard such vocal music from the
choristers of the Indian groves before. "It transported me at once to
a Scottish landscape on a fine rosy morning in May, when every branch
of every tree seems animated and vocal with diverse notes, but all
chiming and blending into the harmony of a choral band, with its ten
thousand gay and merry songsters. I was riveted and entranced. I stood
and listened, and stood again. And in the associations excited by
these sweet melodies, which constituted a chime that has been
transmitted unchanged from the dawn of creation, I quite forgot the
surrounding jungle, which might prove the lair of the tiger or the
serpent, till the fire-like rage of the King of day, mounting in the
Orient sky, reminded me there must be an end of all earthly joys, and
that I must hasten on in my solitary journey."
If stones could only speak
what a thrilling story the ruined fort of St. David, near Cuddalore,
could have told him of the doings of that small and obscure company of
British merchants who depended originally upon the protection of the
fort for their existence in that foreign land, then ruled by the
mightiest emperor in Asia, and their gradual rise from this position
to become themselves the rulers of the vast Empire! When Dr Duff
reached Tanjore and Tranquebar he visited with deep emotion the scenes
of the labours of Ziegenbaig (with whom George I. corresponded),
Schwartz and their comrades, the pioneers of Protestant missionary
effort in that great stronghold of Hinduism.
Hindu Temples and Caste
The architecture of the Hindu
temples amazed him. At Seringham the wealth and magnificence of the
pagoda, with its priceless vessels of gold and the valuable jewels
with which the swami or idol was decked during festivals was beyond
anything he had yet seen, and fully justified the description of these
treasures which he had hitherto regarded as pure romance. The massive
gold suit cover of the idol was made like the armour worn in former
days in separate parts. The hand part alone, from the wrist to the tip
of the finger, reached from his own elbow to the tip of his middle
finger. At Madura the splendour of the halls enabled him to understand
the overwhelming impression they would make upon a warm imagination
when they were lighted up for a festival and there was musical
accompaniment.
Caste, the rule of life for the sincere Hindu, the
greatest obstacle with which missionary effort has to contend, he
found everywhere supreme. By this rule millions of India's people were
regarded by their neighbours of good caste as untouchable, and they
were not allowed to come near, much less to enter, a temple to join in
worship. And to his deep regret Dr Duff found at that time Christian
converts from a higher caste would not worship even with converts from
a lower caste or from the pariahs or untouchables, unless there was a
clear space kept between them on the floor of the church where they
sat. This rule penetrated even to social circles, for an Indian
Christian lady who called with her little girl upon the missionary's
wife would not allow the child to eat a piece of rice cake when it was
offered, because the cook who had made it was of a lower caste. 1± was
more saddening still to him to learn that, after the English service,
which was held in the Syrian Christian College Chapel, water had to be
sprinkled through the building to remove any pollution before the
Syrian service which followed could be held.
At Ramnad the interpreter from
the Rami's palace called on him; he was a member of the Church of
England, who owed his position to his knowledge of both Tamil and
English. He was the son of parents who were members of the Church of
Rome. After learning English he began reading the Bible, though his
father seriously warned him against doing this, as it would only do
him harm. On the principle, as he replied, that you can only tell
whether food was good or bad by tasting, he continued reading. Finally
he left the Romish Church, and became a member of the Church of
England. Because of this change, he admitted that no member of his
former caste would now eat with him, yet when invited to join the
missionary at a meal he declined lest he should lose caste.
As, however, he remembered the
rock from which they had been hewn Dr Duff found much to cheer him in
the sincere character of the converts, the life of the true Christian
villages, and the steadfast endurance of those who had to pass through
bitter persecution. He recognized the greatness of the need of
workers, the earnestness of those in the field, the hopeful outlook,
the grand beginning and the splendid opportunity before the Christian
Church. He was also more than ever convinced of the need for training
an educated Christian ministry familiar with the habits and thoughts
of those whom they addressed.
The following example makes this clear. A tribe,
amongst whom there were Romish and Protestant converts, was addressed
by a European missionary on contending earnestly for the faith. Though
the speaker carefully explained that this meant the use of spiritual
methods, not those of physical violence with which they had been
familiar, hearers understood his address in the way that appealed to
their unregenerate pugnacity. Casting about for some opportunity, they
resolved to make a village of their own serfs Christian by force.
Having surrounded the village they refused to allow their serfs the
use of the village well until they agreed to become Christian. After
three days they gave in, and, in the end, became a respectable
Christian community.
Visit to Ceylon
In order to gratify a desire
which he had cherished, Dr Duff resolved, when so near the coast, to
cross to Ceylon to visit the missions there. It was only after a third
attempt that he succeeded in reaching the island. On the first
occasion, as the crew, in spite of strict orders to see that this was
done, had not ballasted the boat, it heeled over so far when running
before the wind that the water washed over the side. The boat was
gradually filling, and the party had to return. Duff's friend, who had
anxiously watched with a glass from the shore, noticed the danger, and
was glad to receive the missionary safely back again. On the second
occasion Duff was warned against making the attempt, because the wind,
which would enable the crossing to be made, might keep him wind-bound
in Ceylon for some time. He succeeded, however, in reaching the island
at last, though, wretched sailor as he was all his life, he never
passed through so miserable an experience. He had to lie on a bench on
the windward side of the vessel, and here he had the greatest
difficulty in preventing himself from rolling off on to the floor,
where two or three inches of water were washing about. As the
port-hole was leaking, he and all his belongings were drenched. But
exhausted as he was, he was able to preach on that Sunday evening for
his friend, Dr M'Vicar, Colombo.
The Ganges and Jumna Valley
In the cold weather Dr Duff
continued his tour, visiting all the stations and historic localities
in the Ganges and Jumna valley. The imposing ruins of Futtehpore Sikri,
which lie about twenty-four miles to the west of Agra, greatly
impressed him. On the inside of the gateway, Akbar, the greatest Mogul
Emperor already referred to, had inscribed in Arabic the words;
"Jesus, on whom be peace, has said the world is merely a bridge; you
are to pass over it and not build your dwellings on it." At Agra he
visited also the tomb of the Light of the Harem, the Taj Mahal, with
its wonderful beauty. At one of the stations, while travelling along
the Ganges valley, though only one person attended, Duff conducted a
regular service. That person became a zealous and liberal member of
the Free Church in Calcutta. Dr Duff always felt that the important
message he had received should be delivered whether his audience was
one, as on this occasion, or twenty thousand, as once happened in
Wales. At Lahore, where he was the •guest of Sir Henry Lawrence, he
preached to upwards of two hundred in the great Hall of Government
House, the great Durbar or audience Hall of the Mohammedan Emperors
and Sikh Maharajas. While at Lahore he was greatly impressed by the
illustrations of "Preaching without words" at the parade of the 4th
Sikhs, when Captain Cohn Mackenzie, who had raised the regiment, bade
them farewell. Like Carey, Duff knew the value to mission work of this
"cordial friendship."
Down the Indus
From Lahore Dr Duff made his
way by boat down the Indus. Here is his description of his
accommodation:-" In the centre of a large flat-bottomed boat there was
erected a small hut of bamboo reeds and thatch of about twenty feet in
length, which was divided into two parts, one for my cabin, the other
for servant and cooking place. The inside of it was hung with a thin
coarse yellow cloth so as to render it more commodious. For flooring I
had strong reedy mats. Inside of it I got my travelling palki, which
served me for a bed at night, and the roof of it for a table by day.
Beside this I had no furniture, not even a chair."
On this trip he found the dust
most trying. "Towards noon every day a strong wind arose, and all
around the dust was raised so that the sky looked as if covered with
thick whitish, yellowish haze, all from the horizon to the zenith.
Then a sudden gust of wind would, here and there, raise up the dust
like a solid column of gigantic stature into the sky, and several of
these columns might be seen moving about like giant warriors engaged
in aerial gymnastics. When a gale blew it was like the densest
snowstorm. The whole canopy of heaven was surcharged with dust; the
sun was invisible. When the gusts were most violent one could not see
from one end of the boat to the other, and at no time during the day
beyond a few hundred feet." In another letter written on the 'Western
border of the Runn of Cutch he said: "I assure you I am now lodged for
the night in a cow- house, and right glad and thankful to God for the
shelter of such a humble dwelling in this dreary and most barren
waste." The Runn of Cutch is a salt marsh which is flooded by the tide
for several months of the year.
It was at Sehwan on the Indus that Dr Wilson and he
met after so many years, compared notes and experience, and together
crossed the Runn of Cutch on their way to Bombay, whence Duff sailed
for home. Whether it was due to weakness of spirit through physical
exhaustion, or that the memory of his former work weighed upon him, he
wrote in his diary "The Church at home is expecting too much from me
as an instrument," and, recalling the words in Isaiah, he prayed that
"the Church would be led to trust less in the servant and more in the
King and give all the glory to Him."