MOHAMMEDANISM IN INDIA. BY THE REV. WILLIAM CAMPBELL, MISSIONARY AT BANGALORE. LIKE every other system of error and imposture, Mohammedanism has been characterised by the pomp of its rites, and the pageantry of its festivals. As though the light and simplicity of truth, the spirituality of religion, and the glory and majesty of heavenly wisdom, were the prerogative of the Christian system alone; this imposture was not only established in blood, and propagated with the sword, but it has been upheld by rites and ceremonies subversive of the interests of holiness, and pandering to the base lusts and propensities of mankind. The accompanying plate is descriptive of the Mohurram, as it is celebrated in India. Houssein and Hoossein were brothers, descendants of the Prophet, and heirs of the caliphate. Unable to withstand the treachery and the usurping ambition of Ayseed, who aspired to the throne of their ancestors, they were destroyed in their attempts to uphold their power, and are regarded as martyrs to the faith. To commemorate their martyrdom, and to celebrate anew their funeral obsequies, this festival is held for ten days in their sacred month Mohurram. During its continuance, every kind of labour is suspended; the devotees of the Koran give themselves up, at one time, to mourning, and, at another, to mirth and festivity; temporary houses are erected in every direction, to celebrate the orgies; crowds of people, dressed in the most fantastic forms, their bodies besmeared with ashes, accompanied with music, and going through the most ludicrous dances, perambulate the streets, and, to obtain gifts, visit the houses of the rich and the affluent; the adherents of Houssein often quarrel and engage in fierce conflict with the devotees of Hoossein; feats of strength are performed, and fire-works and other exhibitions are got up, to amuse Europeans and other spectators; while scenes of carnage and blood have been known to close these solemnities. It was in the celebration of this and other festivals during 1832, that several attempts were made in the peninsula of India, to upset the government, and to realise an expectation which prevailed among the professors of the Koran, that their power was again to be established. At Bellary, at some of the stations on the western coast, at Bangalore, and at Cuddapah, riots were raised, and were attended with very serious results. Many Mohammedans who were discharged from the Indian army, and who had nothing to lose but every thing to gain in the struggle, inflamed the minds of the people to rebellion, and carried on a secret and combined system of correspondence with various parts of the country. What with the calamities which were impending over the peninsula; what with the rebellions which his subjects, so oppressed and exasperated, had raised successfully against the Rajah of Mysore; and the changes which kept the people in suspense for a time, as to the nature of the government which was to be established; what with the signs in the heavens above, which not only the astrologers, but the fears and prejudices of the many, interpreted into the most signal and terrible revolutions; the opportunity appeared most favourable to carry on deeds of ambition. In order to arouse the people to resistance, the Christian religion was represented as that of the Galilean; it was covered with scorn and derision; and references were made to the number of missionaries, to the establishment of schools, and to various operations of a benevolent kind, as testimonies that the English government were determined to employ force in the propagation of their faith. As a certain evidence of their success, the greatest stress was laid upon the vast majority of their numbers, when compared with the scattered tribes of Europeans; and nothing, it was maintained, was wanting but the erection of the crescent, to collect together the bands of the faithful, to animate them with a zeal and a fervour in the struggle proportionate to the necessity, and similar to those of former days, to enable them to drive the whole European community into the sea. Defiance of the Company's power was added to scorn for the Christian religion; and contempt of their weak and timid policy, was joined to the defiance of their power; and they rioted in their threats, and in their increasing means of accomplishing their purpose. At Cuddapah, the fire of their enthusiasm burst into a flame; their large drum was beat, as the signal of terror and alarm; the Patans joined with the adherents of the mosque in their rebellious enterprise, and, inspired with rage against Christianity, as well as with implacable hatred against the government, their bands exasperating themselves and their associates to deeds of blood-advanced upon the mission-house, to murder Mr. Howel and his family. As soon as the intelligence of the riot, and of the base designs of the multitude, were known at the magistrate's cutcherry, Mr. Macdonald, the sub-collector, and a gentleman whom all respected for his intelligence and his zeal in the public service, rushed to the spot unarmed, with the hope of using his powers of persuasion to bring them to reason, and of keeping them at bay till the arrival of the troops. But the moment he began to address them, they cut him down, imbrued their hands in his blood, and were triumphing over |