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THE BRITISH IM INDIA.
... XX.-HUMJAN VULTURES.
_ (By " Outlander.") ; ;!
. . . v .
'Among- the many evils ^he British in
s ludia were instrumental in suppress-
ing was a notorious gang of human
vuitures^known as tbs Pindarries. Tho
: Pindarries made it their custom to fol
.low up battles, never to-participate in
.them. On the battlefields they robbed^
the dead and dying, and il perchance
-any danger was imminent whilst en-
gaged in their iniquitous work they
disappeared as speedily' as their horses
could carry them. The Pindarries per-
sonified the worst - features of Indian
lite-and some ol it was bad enough
and only tho- British seemed strong
enough to simpross thom.
: It. is .hardly .thinkable that human
beings could exist'who made it the
? business of tlieir lives' to 'prowl round
battlefields* and strip'the dead and dy-.
.' -ing- of whatever valuables they might
g huVo possessed. - ? v-Yet- the Pindarries
. wore, of this class. After a foray they
? would "meet" at some village - and offer
for sale the- property 'they had stolen.'
," The - women appeared ;;;.-,to have been
principally concerned .with the disposal
'of the stolen property, .whilst the- men
. used the opportunity to indulge in dis-
gusting _ debauchery. -;. .''
? How.did the Pindarries originate?. It
..is only certain: that they;-formed, the.
'scum of India.- /Every blackguard
; w.ho tliought his personal .liberty.r-in.
danger joinedthe Pindarries. ? In
'joining them, he -took;; some. '¿kind., of.
'oath; and participated',in -,some ..mys-.
" dirions v initiation,. [ceremony. JTorever,,
, .afterward's he ; wa a%wo: outlaw., preying
..»jnjjpn the unfortunate ''and'the^helpjes?,
'arid continually prepared: -to fly- from
fdahger to himself ¡át tho first, int)ima
, -rion of it-coming. ..The Pindarries
.were always; the' last ¡to, go riear a bat-
tle and the first- tb get on to a battle-
-field.' ?/?r-i- -;'v --.-v. ? ? ? -
; Tho Pindarries- not.onily followed np
battlefields, but.; also by way of variety
carried on highway robbery, inter-
spersed with an occasibhal1;: murder.
..Gifted with ^ peculiarly distorted sense
ol humor, they. imagined/that the mart
?who brid;...thel...misfortune-.'- to ¡fall into
their clutches could only be made to.
disgorge his -wealih by torture. A red
hot bar of iron-was a familiar-weapon,
.and, when the-'-Pindarries' victim . be
~> «h'm«., acquainted, with it .he naturally
enough got a hustle'on;-and delivered
up his'; wealth-that is, .if1 he had any.
Sometimes he 'hadn't much, and- then
'the outraged Pindarries betook them
''solves to 'jumping -on--his chest ' and
-generally manifesting1 their dissatisfac-
tion at being duped. Queer charac
»ters were the Pindarries.; Their mis-,
si'ch in life was surely wasted on the
.Indian-- highways.* They were intended
for human scavengers. To have condemn,
ed them to scavenger work for the term
of their natural" lives mifjht; have sug-
gested itself to' the British-, but they
never .acted-upon" the/suggestion. They
simply rubbed- 'them ? out; 'and India
gained thereby. ;-*'' :''.
The : Pindarries [in their - marauding
expeditions sometimes attached them-
selves to the Mahráttas.-ándvthe Mah
f attas did ;ndt al way's 'object ; to- that
' ?. attachment. In the event of an en e-,
tpy becoming dangerous the Pindarries
were- very convenient, instruments for
getting ?him^oiit ^of - the road.- A Pin
darrie assassination removed ' suspicion
'from the. more reputable Mahrattas,
and ,a't the same time helped .them to .
diFguis'e their rea] feelings.'.. In, dealing
with the Pindarries the .British' had,
.therefore, to. walk warily. V The. ground
was. treacherous. .. "yAll! .manner, of ..pit-,
fiills [had benn dug bv " native, rulers;
AV hiv out'wn rdly pr étend ed to be ' f rierid
. ly .but,wjio,inwardly used^ery .trëach
? ërous'nisjtrislto rid themselves, of -those
on'nosed to ..them and. their -interests.,
The Piiidarries flourished like the green
bay tree" under native ridership..
.Human life is sd prolific in India
that tho crime pf assassination appears
to have -been regarded with little .con-
cern, and as. for robbery-well, that
was a mere trivial indiscretion. Before
the:'British .came assassinations were-;
frequent ; and ' robberies > almost daily
events. , If, like.'the"Pindarries, they :
did not stick a man up on the road-
way arid jump on; his chest, they re-
sorted to ? weapons of a more insidious
character:,. A drop of . poison in a
guest's., food was - an .ordinary occur-
rence. So' cautiously^ and cunningly
was their form of .getting rid of a riyal
or an enemy'.devised that, the -British
.had" extreme, difficulty^ when attempt-
ing to .suppress it, ¡n securing 'tan
1 gable evidence leading ;tp a conviction
of ' the guilty parties'/. > Who" was' to
prove that* a ."guest, taken seriously ill
at a friend's banquet, had been poi-
soned P Any' suspicion of such a
character woujdhave been-immediately
disclaimed .by the. wily Indian.;' So
affectionate.'so ténd'er-héâTtèd, so con-
siderate, was he that the last thing in
'the world .he"would attempt would bo
the poi¿o]Mrig of'a guèàt-that is. if
'anybody was looking. And .so thought-
ful was he of, his own .skin that if a
üknife wak necessary., to - dispatch his
victim he 'made it impossible that - he
himself should be hurt1 in the struggle
likely to ensue. -Strangulation was an-,
other, pleasant little interlude in the
monotony of '-the'native rulers' exist-
ence. A kind of caressing regard-for
en invited guest's throat was a par-
ticular weakness, though'ruffians of the
Pindnrrie^ class .' were mostly engaged.
to_ handle' the business. - India in- the
'Pindarrie'days was honeycombed with
human vultures, ready for the smallest
.consideration to - 'pounce down , upon
thejr proyi whether ; at tho bidding of
[their own; fiendishness or that of some
.equally fiendish native ruler. Human
life was; not sufe, and accordingly was
treated as of "no value. A spirit of
.fatalism settled-upon"'the- people^ and
jthey sank into a condition ;of slothful
indifference, from which, only British
(energy could ever have'aroused them.
, That human life was sacred and not
?to be destroyed fftr the whim of a de-
signing and-.frequently cowardly ruler
was1 the lesson taught by the British
conquest abd occupation of India. That
bands çf thieves and murderers could
not roam the country "af their own
sweet Will, plundering the dead and
dying arni wounded on . battlefields,.
;"holdihg up" inoffensive travellers and
torturing them; indulging in wild and
.brutal orgies, and thon escaping inm
ïshment. was further made manifest
iiy the. British in India.. The Pindar
tries and similar gang«- had little cau-e
.to be pleased at. the successful efforts
of the British to stamp out highway
robbery and assassination. The na-
tive rulers,- whose retention of their
power depended; frequently . upon the
poison cup or the knife, or.the strangle
hold, 'conspired unavailingly: tb rid In-
dia bf the white man's presence. Every
human vulture dreaded -and hated' the
white man! s administration'. ;, In effeot,
tho Pihdarriés were the logical- results
bf a wretched system of .government^-'!
whicji. ha^d made .India : a .'hunting !
ground, for " marauders and scoundrels !
bf all descriptions- ; : If the Pindarries j
formed, the lower strata ofthe-Indian í
people,' the colored .men in higher j
grades who pretended to govern India
set the Pindarries a magnificent^exam-
ple in the work ,of pl under r and assas-
sination. It was a disputable proposi-
tion of who were the worse-4the miser-
able wretches who plundered the dead
and '. the dying, on battlefields,. -of .the
equally miserable and treacherous char-
acters who used such as the Pindarries
to carry out their nofarious.wbrk. when
the occasion suited them. ',In ^getting
rid bf these human vultures -.-the Bri:;
tish conquest and occupation"?'óf 'Indi*'
wa¿ abundantly justified. . j". '' ,'?-' .".
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