few groups of men and woman sitting and
talking around the fires from whence came the gruesome odor of burning
human flesh. "Oh, those are the families you see there," he replied.
And sure enough they were--I suppose--although I had thought them only
the persons hired to help in the cremation. One ghastly feature of the
funerals occurs when the corpse is that of a father. Just before the
cremation is concluded it is the son's duty--in some places I visited,
at least--to take a big stick and crack the skull in order to release
his father's spirit!

But, after all, reverting to the question of mourning, why should the
Hindu mourn for his dead? Human life, in his theology, is itself a
curse, and after infinite rebirths, the soul running its course
through the bodies of beasts and men, the ultimate good, the greatest
boon to be won from the propitiated gods, is "remerging in the general
soul," the Escape from Being, Escape from the Illusions of Sense and
Self; not Annihilation itself but the Annihilation of Personality, of
that sense of separateness from the Divine which our encasement in
human bodies gives us. Where Christianity teaches that you are a son
of God and that you will maintain a separate, conscious, responsible
identity throughout eternity, Hinduism teaches that your spirit is a
part of the Divine and will ultimately be reabsorbed into it. Its
doctrine in this respect is much like that of Buddhism. Inevitably
neither religion {207} lays that emphasis on personality, the sacredness of
the individual life, which is inherent in Christianity and Christian
civilization, just as the absence of this principle is characteristic
of the social and political institutions of the Orient.

{205}

[Illustration: TYPES AT DARJEELING, NORTHERN INDIA, AND AT DELHI,
CENTRAL INDIA.]
India has not a homogeneous population. There are almost as many
races, types, and languages as in the continent of Europe. The
right-hand figure in the upper picture bears a striking resemblance
to a North American Indian. The instrument in his hands is a
praying-wheel.

{206}

TWO RANGOON TYPES.

[Illustration: Supi-yaw-lat and her "whackin' white cheroot."]

[Illustration: A Hindu girl.]

Rangoon is a city of gorgeous colors and varied human types. But one
need not go far to find the Burmese girl Kipling has immortalized:

"'Er petticoat was yaller and 'er little cap was green,
An er name was Supi-yaw-lat--je