East of Bombay, 1937

[Music] so [Music] bombay as we enter the harbor the sun rises over age-old india already thousands are at work loading and unloading ships which have come from all corners of the globe primitive ships many of them arab dao is coming in under full sail a thousand miles and more from the red sea on the pirate coast of africa the motley crew on deck chants in greeting to the sun in centuries these boats have changed little in design a pilot wheel is their only modern improvement in every other way they are made and used exactly as the phoenicians made and used them 2 000 years ago [Music] all life is sacred in india that of goats and pigeons and that of the smallest of insects especially holy is the cow the fountain of life and sacred bulls and cows pass unmolested through the busiest streets woe to the reckless driver who knocks down and kills one of them indian law provides for him a harsher punishment than for the killing of a human let us look into the workshops which line the crowded streets in india patience is great and time has little value exquisite ivory carvings gems patiently polished in weeks of work on this hand operated wheel enough lives have been spent humbly polishing bits of precious stone in india to populate an empire [Music] silver hammered into grotesque figures hindu legend and religious mythology rugs on huge looms hand woven into intricate patterns the workers are illiterate they cannot read directions so a foreman who holds in his hands the only copy of the original design calls to them the colors of each thread and the craftsmen monotonously repeat his orders [Music] religious convictions pervade the whole life of the orient and divide its people it was largely interest in the old religions of the east which had brought us to india curiosity about primitive beliefs and the fantastic practices still surviving from religious traditions bombay is largely [ __ ] and in bombay there was little to be seen of this we visit the palace of one of the great maharajas or rulers of india so much of india lives in unhappiness and poverty it is a striking contrast to pass through the monumental gates of marble into these lovely gardens generations have slaved to build these terraces and these domes an unseen army of servants takes care of the comfort of one man the prince some of the maharajas of india have taken seriously their responsibilities as rulers but these are too rare still many live in idleness and the game apart cheesy with some dignitary of their court is the limit of their exertion our host has summoned magicians to entertain us there is nothing in this bag absolutely nothing on every trip to india we see some new trick of magic this time it is the bird trick which we had many times heard of but had never seen perform the basket is empty yes quite empty [Music] that cloth bird is very dead the basket is covered with a piece of cloth a few motions of the hands concealed under the cloth and now the basket is lifted where have the birds so very much alive come from [Music] and what mysterious power makes them go back under the basket hindu animal trainers have a marvelous way with them and under our eyes a trained goat performs almost unbelievable feats of balance to the maharajas of india to their love of pump as well as a true love for the arts are you some of the most beautiful of the world's monuments famed as the architectural wonder of the world the most perfectly proportioned certainly in the east is the taj mahal the mausoleum of marble built by shah jahan to the memory of a beloved wife mumtaz mahal [Music] but few of india's 350 million ever see anything of its wealth and of its glory life is hard in an agricultural overpopulated country which for most of each year is a parched desert dependent on irrigation with the help of bullocks [Music] but many are too poor even to own [Music] bullets [Music] now we have left the plains we have crossed central and northern india and are climbing the lower reaches of the himalayas the huge chain of mountains which holds the world's highest peaks and separates india from the forbidden countries of nepal and tibet our dodge cars and truck climb steadily on mountain trails which become increasingly rough the landscape soon ceases to be tropical pine trees appear and the air grows cold we are too far still from the highest ranges to see snow and the atmosphere is hazy laden with mist but as far as the horizon are range after range of forest covered mountains we are determined to push on with the cars as far as the border town we find no trail so steep that our dodge cars and truck cannot climb it with ease and they take the worst of the bounces without effort [Music] the trails themselves come to an end and for the last few miles we cut our way through with axes [Music] here we must leave behind our modern comfortable transportation and we must take two horses a few days have been spent reorganizing baggage and equipment for our new method of travel we have found a sufficient number of animals accustomed to mountain trails into high altitudes and a villainous looking crew of guides and helpers amazing landscapes of snow-covered peaks soon surround us day after day we climb higher toward the eighteen thousand foot mountain passes which we must cross much of the trip is along perilous ledges where a misstep would mean a horrible fall and the thin air and biting cold of the high altitudes are trying after the heat of the planes at last our goal is before us a great tibetan monastery built on a promontory of hills between two deep ravines in which flow raging torrents to reach the monastery we must cross one of these ravines on a precarious bridge of ropes [Music] from the foot of the cliffs the buildings of the monastery appear tremendously impressive the wide streets seem deserted and we hear the reason for this a great festival is in progress in the monastery and most of the inhabitants have left their homes the few people we meet appear to be pilgrims from distant regions whose costumes do not recall the local costume in the courtyards of the houses some women remain at work weaving and spinning they are a rugged mountain type sturdily built and incredibly dirty their hair resembles the stuffing of an old-fashioned hair sofa but it supports a heavy headgear studded with great lumps of turquoise [Music] we enter the monastery through a narrow unguarded gate a few late arrivals are still hurrying to the festival but they stop on their way to spin the prayer wheels a prayer is engraved in tibetan characters on each wheel and each revolution of the wheel means a prayer sent on its way to heaven this one is water driven perhaps the original fluid drive and it is an efficient labor-saving device it pays some dividends in merits acquired without exertion the old vigors at the entrance to the monastery cling to the old methods and spin their little wheels tirelessly by hand the simplest of these prayer wheels is in a way elaborate and beautiful a cylinder of hammered copper and silver the tibetan prayer hammered into the metal in beautiful characters a lead weight at the end of a chain to keep up the spinning we have acquired a few merits in heaven ourselves before we give his prayer wheel back to the blind old [Music] the beggar courtyard of the monastery contains only privileged spectators a mass dance is about to take place preceded by dignitaries the performers emerge from the monastery and make their entrance in more or less solemn recession they are monks and the dance which they will perform has religious significance but a weirder and more fantastic collection of grotesque characters and faces can scarcely be conceived [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] we were waiting for the high priest and now he is about to enter a group of the younger monks precedes him a drum beat announces his approach [Music] there is the high priest himself and everyone bases himself before him [Music] foreign [Music] this [Music] we have decided to attempt to return to india on one of the mountain rivers which ultimately must reach the plane we will float down on a raft made of inflated goat skins it proves a dangerous and exciting journey there is scarcely a reach of the river which is not treacherous with unexpected rapids and with hidden boulders our boatmen are extraordinarily skillful and untiring all day on the alert and in and out of the icy water on the fourth day we have reached our destination and we land from our left for the last time with relief [Music] our horses are waiting three more days on horseback will take us back to our cars and we will start south again towards central india [Music] the ganges binaries the holy city i'm sure it would be almost impossible to make our way through the crowded streets and we are going to visit the holy city by boat floating slowly down the river past an endless succession of ghats or holy bathing places devout hindus performing complicated ritualistic ablution [Music] sacred cattle wandering aimlessly through the crowd of pilgrims and merchants the pilgrims do not even give us a passing glance the washing does not need to be efficient from a hygienic standpoint its purpose is only ritualistic [Music] the water of the ganges is good for man and beast all sorts of commercial activities are carried on around the bathing gap perfectly appointed barbershops supply anything from a holy eyebrow shave to a holy shampoo the water of the ganges sanctifies if it does not sterilize everything it touches there are holy massage parlors [Music] and well relaxed on a comfortable bed his body dusted with white ashes a pilgrim may indulge in a holy nap all life's activities can be carried on around the bathing [Music] it s every hindus greatest hope that death will overtake him in binaries and that his ashes may be thrown into the sacred river death in benares has no bitterness and every day many bodies of the dead are carried down the steps of the burning gates without fuss and without tears wood is scarce expensive to most families the purchase of enough wood for a decent funeral fire is a serious problem one last time the body is dipped in the ganges a place has to be swept in the scum and ash which at all times covers the river near the burning gaps relatives casual and dry eyed watch the last ritual the body lifted from the water the bundles of wood so dearly paid for and of which every stick will be counted as it is laid in place [Music] a lighted torch is passed over the head to release the spirit [Music] the ashes quenched with water have been swept into the river they have not made a ripple another of india's countless millions of obscure children has finished his humble cycle of life [Music] the famous ceremonial of juggernaut remains one of the most spectacular exhibitions of the orient the dragging of the image of the god the vast crowds the hysterical fervor the god is still placed on its gigantic altar on wheels british rule however mercifully has put a stop to the dreadful mass suicides which until recently made juggernaut a synonym of horror when religious fanatics would throw themselves under huge chariots to be crushed under one of their many wheels the weight of each one of the chariots built up teak and precious metals inlaid with gold and ivory loaded with priests in attendance has been estimated that over 50 tons carried on 16 enormous wheels and these loads are dragged by hand through the streets by hordes of delirious devotees [Music] we move southward almost to the tip of india temples in the form of truncated pyramids hundreds of these temples all covered with incredible thousands of sculptured figures on every temple every one of the nine thousand gods of the hindu paradise must be shown at least once within the shadow of these temples on rare occasions one of the strangest and most carefully hidden of religious ceremonials takes place the ceremonial of the thai busan those who take a direct part allow long metal skewers to be driven through their cheeks and through their tongues and not one drop of blood flows they allow smaller skewers to be pushed into the flesh of their arms shoulders chest until they look like human pin cushion and they show no sign of pain they are possessed of a religious frenzy akin to hypnotic trance many of the spectators also become affected with this strange hysteria which easily turns to violence and murder and for an unbeliever to dare to mix with the crowd is not without real these pictures were all made with portable cameras held in the hand and used as unobtrusively as possible they are probably the only moving pictures ever made of the taipo sun ceremonial [Music] to our amazement we recognized among the participants among the men with skewers through their cheeks and tongues one of our own servants he gave no sign of seeing us the same evening he was back at his work in our camp his speech was normal his cheeks showed no scar nor any sign of recent injury but he stubbornly refused to discuss the experience modern ideas have come to south india and side by side with the religious fervor there is rollicking merry-go-rounds ferris wheels a regular coney island with everything hand operated [Applause] [Music] among the side shows at any pilgrimage or festival there are always professional snake charmers with their cobras carefully rendered harmless these snake shows are obviously connected in some way with the old snake worship but what a pitiful remnant of what had once been one of the great cults of the east back in ceylon the fragrant isle of spices the contrast strikes us between grim poverty-stricken india and this lovely smiling island old-fashioned bullock carts carry spices to the waiting ships and the air is full of the fragrance of cloves and cinnamon colombo has a busy prosperous looking marketplace homemade pottery made hundreds of patterns of graceful proportions tropical fruits in immense variety the very names of which are often unknown to us we drive to negombo a small village of fishermen on the coast and an old haunt of ours we have been here many times on world tours to watch the catamaran come in with the surf and the children at play a beautiful sandy beach simple people whose honest way of life has not yet changed if only they could in this war-torn world escape change keep their simple unspoiled ways there are few happy places like this left [Music] [Music] 300 years ago the dutch owned ceylon and the dutch housewives taught the nagambo women to make lace dutch fashion some very fine handmade lace still comes from the gumball but the most beautiful never leaves the island it is made for the peregra procession which every year brings 50 000 pilgrims from all over ceylon to the old city of kandy in the mountains for weeks ahead of the great procession in the towns teams of devil dancers practice and rehearse [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] as many as a hundred and twenty-five elephants are sent to candy to take part in the peregero procession gorgeously attired in silk and gold brocade [Music] the high priest of the temple of the tooth the keeper of ceylon's most precious relic a tooth of buddha himself the golden casket in which the tooth of buddha is kept is carried on the largest of the elephant [Music] [Music] [Music] you