Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/349

The wealthy religious communities, for example, at Kali Ghat in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, at Deoghur in Beerbhoom, at Gya and Bauddah Gya in South Behar, are bound as such, in return for the perfect religious freedom they enjoy, and even in some instances for the peculiar privileges they possess, to be follow-workers with Government in providing for the better instruction of the people—an object which is not only good in itself, but which is specially incumbent on them as religious communities for the maintenance and improvement of that social order under which they live, and of which religion, its institutions, and its ministers are the proper securities and guards. It matters not whether such an obligation would at first be admitted; if it exists, it belongs to Government to make it be heard, felt, and recognized. The voice of the Government in such a matter would be responded to by that of the people, whose claims on these religious bodies are no less strong. They have derived all their accumulated wealth from the offerings of the people, they profess to exist for the benefit of the people, from the depths of their poverty and ignorance, have a right to look to the spiritual guides whom they have enriched and raised above themselves for something more than empty forms and ceremonies, some practical knowledge, and moral instruction. Such an object, however, must be sought not only “without infringing on religious liberty,” but also without “interfering with the most jealous scruples of the people.” All fears on this head must be removed by the terms of the suggestion I have offered, according to which a requisition of three-fourths of the householders, &c., of a village is necessary to create the legal obligation on the proprietor of the estate to establish the proposed endowment of a village school-master. I have no means of ascertaining with accuracy the extent of landed property belonging to those religious establishments, but according to common report it is considerable. In Beerbhoom it was stated to me that the priesthood of Deoghur possess estates not only at Deoghur, Sarhaut, and Giddari in that district, but also in the districts of Bhaugulpore, Patna, Tirhoot, Moorshedabad, and Burdwan, and even in Nepal, a foreign country. I would apply the principle, not only to the landed estates of Hindu temples, but also to those of public endowed institutions wherever they are to be found, whether Hindu or Buddhist, Mohammadan, or Christian. The Mohammadan institution at Kusbeh Bagha in Rajshahi has 42 villages, in each of which a vernacular school might thus be established. The Calcutta Madrissa is reputed to possess landed property. At Bohar and Chaughariya in the Burdwan district, and at Durbhanga in Tirhoot, there are Mohammadan institutions largely endowed. Serampore College has an estate in the Sunderbuns; and there may be other endowed Christian institutions, Protestant, Catholic, Armenian, Greek, possessing similar property in the Mofussil. If any, then all without exception should be required by law under similar circumstances to aid