Beast and Man in India
Date
1978
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AL - BIRUNI
Abstract
Description
WHEN, on the 21st March 1890, under the auspices
of the Hon. Sir Andrew Scoble, the Legislative Council
of India passed an Act (XI. of I 890) for the prevention
of cruelty to animals, some surprise was expressed
in England that legislation should be necessary for a
people who have long been quoted as an example of
mercy. It was hinted that Orientals must have learned
cruelty, as they have learned drunkenness, from _ brutal
Britons. Those who know India need not be told that
this insinuation is groundless, since both vices have for
ages been rooted in the life of Eastern as of all the
nations under heaven. The general conclusion of
cultivated Europe as to the temper of Orientals
towards animals is expressed by Mr. Lecky, in a
clause of the sentence with which he concludes a
survey of a growth of consideration for animals as an
element of public morals, in his l{istory of European
lVlorals from Constantine to Charlemagne, and runs thus:
"The ~luhammadans and the Brahmans have in this
sphere considerably surpassed the Christians."
Keywords
Beast and Man in India, John Lockwood Kipling