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THE MEMOIRS OF A CAT
ing their intelligence to the task of rationalising institutions which have lost all social usefulness, young Indians should develop the faculty of criticisin.
Let us dwell a little longer on this very familiar topic of cow-worship. No rational man would maintain that there is really any particular godliness in this particular animal. If it were really a question of sccing the World Soul in every form of life, why did the Rishis pick out one particular species to be the object of their pantheistic devotion ? When the typical Hindu attitude towards animals is observed, little of pantheism is detected. I happen to know it from personal experience. The old-fashioned Hindu has a strong antipathy for my race ; and the greater the orthodoxy, that is religiosity, the greater the antipathy. The best part of my short life has been lived in close touch with many Hindus of average orthodoxy. The treatment I received from them would have made my life a hell, had there not been other factors for compensation. And you would be surprised to know the reason for that attitude. I myself, with all my cynicism and sophistication, would scarcely believe it, had I not heard it many times over with my own ears. The cats are considered to be bad animals, worthy not even of ordinary kindness, not to mention worship, because they are not useful,-literally, as I have heard said so often, “one can have no benefit out of them”.
