DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0462
CHAPTER XVIII.
Caste in relation to Trades and Industries.
In India, caste, custom, and industrial occupations are not
only closely connected with one another, they are all three
intimately bound up with religious thought and life.
According to the last Census1 the Queen's Indian Empire
now possesses more than 252 millions of inhabitants, or at
least one-sixth part of the whole human race, and its
foreign trade amounts to 124 million pounds sterling, or
nearly ten shillings per head of the population. Whereas
the population of the United Kingdom amounts to only
thirty-five millions, and the foreign trade is to the annual
value of 697 million pounds sterling, or more than £20 per
head of the population. On the above difference of figures
an assertion has been founded that India is a poor country.
But is this exactly the case ? During two journeys through
the length and breadth of the land I myself witnessed abun-
dant instances of extreme poverty among the people, but on
each occasion I returned to England convinced that India
is one of the most productive countries of the globe. Her
material resources, her potential wealth, are incalculable.
India is, in fact, a small world in itself. India can offer
you a specimen of every form of climate. She can scorch
1 This chapter was originally delivered as a lecture at the London
Institution and Ventnor, and illustrated by specimens of Indian industry
lent by Her Majesty and by the South Kensington Museum.
Caste in relation to Trades and Industries.
In India, caste, custom, and industrial occupations are not
only closely connected with one another, they are all three
intimately bound up with religious thought and life.
According to the last Census1 the Queen's Indian Empire
now possesses more than 252 millions of inhabitants, or at
least one-sixth part of the whole human race, and its
foreign trade amounts to 124 million pounds sterling, or
nearly ten shillings per head of the population. Whereas
the population of the United Kingdom amounts to only
thirty-five millions, and the foreign trade is to the annual
value of 697 million pounds sterling, or more than £20 per
head of the population. On the above difference of figures
an assertion has been founded that India is a poor country.
But is this exactly the case ? During two journeys through
the length and breadth of the land I myself witnessed abun-
dant instances of extreme poverty among the people, but on
each occasion I returned to England convinced that India
is one of the most productive countries of the globe. Her
material resources, her potential wealth, are incalculable.
India is, in fact, a small world in itself. India can offer
you a specimen of every form of climate. She can scorch
1 This chapter was originally delivered as a lecture at the London
Institution and Ventnor, and illustrated by specimens of Indian industry
lent by Her Majesty and by the South Kensington Museum.