astonishing brilliancy in their
dresses, seem to be able to do so without producing that amazing
discord of colour which greets the traveller from the East as he comes
back Westwards into the streets of a European city.

CHAPTER X

THE INDIAN VILLAGE

The village Panchayat; a rough and ready tribunal; its
decisions. Magisterial trial of offences on the spot. The
Christian Panchayat; its doubtful results; fans the spirit
of discord; undesirable reiteration of incidents. Want of
wholesome reserve. Knowledge of evil. Out-caste villagers no
longer servile; disposal of dead carcases; burial of
strangers. Mahars growing prosperous.

In Indian villages there is what is called a Panchayat, or committee
of five, for the settlement of disputes, although of late years many
of the Panchayats have become practically moribund. The members of
this council are chosen from the leading men of the village. All kinds
of disputes can be submitted to this court of arbitration, from cases
of cattle trespass, or doubtful land boundaries, to breaches of Hindu
religious custom. It is the Panchayat which has the power to out-caste
a man--a dreaded punishment--which means that his relations and
friends will no longer hold intercourse with him; no one will hand him
food or water; shopkeepers may refuse to serve him; and if he dies,
none of his own people will bury or cremate him, but his body will
be left to be disposed of by the scavengers.

[Illustration: MRS SALOME ZADHAW.]

The Panchayat is only a rough and ready way of settling disputes, or
punishing minor offences. Much of the evidence in the cases which come
before it is either false or else grossly distorted. The members of
the Panchayat are already probably prejudiced either for or against
the offender, and make no attempt to rise above their prejudices. Any
one of them will side with the party who will make it worth his while
to do so.

The final decision may, or may not, be in accordance with the facts of
the case. The guilty person, if an offence has been committed, may
escape; and an innocent person, who has few friends and little to
offer, may get punished. Men who are poor and unpopular sometimes get
sorely bullied, and even ill-treated, in an Indian village.
Nevertheless, at present the Panchayat has its use in Hindu India, and
the prospect of being brought under its power is a wholesome terror.
When India has progressed a stage f