The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 7/Translation of writings/Addenda
MEMOIRS OF EUROPEAN TRAVEL
ADDENDA
(These interesting jottings were found among Swamiji's papers — Ed.)
The first view of Constantinople we had from the train. It is an ancient
city, with big drains running across the walls, narrow and crooked lanes
full of dirt, and wooden houses, etc., but in them there is a certain beauty
owing to their novelty. At the station we had great trouble over our books.
Mademoiselle Calvé and Jules Bois tried much, in French, to reason with the
octroi officers, which gradually led to a quarrel between the parties. The
head of the officers was a Turk, and his dinner was ready; so the quarrel
ended without further complications. They returned all the books with the
exception of two which they held back. They promised to send them to the
hotel immediately, which they never did. We went round the town and bazar of
Stamboul or Constantinople. Beyond the Pont or creek is the Pera or
foreigners' quarters, hotels, etc., whence we got into a carriage, saw the
town, and then took some rest. In the evening we went to visit Woods Pasha,
and the next day started on an excursion along the Bosphorus in a boat. It
was extremely cold and there was a strong wind. So I and Miss MacLeod got
down at the first station. It was decided that we would cross over to
Scutari and see Pére Hyacinthe. Not knowing the language we engaged a boat
by signs merely, crossed over, and hired a carriage. On the way we saw the
seat of a Sufi Fakir. These Fakirs cure people's diseases, which they do in
the following manner. First they read a portion of their scriptures, moving
their body backward and forward; then they begin to dance and gradually get
a sort of inspiration, after which they heal the disease by treading on the
patient's body.
We had a long talk with Père Hyacinthe about the American Colleges, after which we went to an Arab shop where we met a Turkish student. Then we returned from Scutari. — We had found out a boat, but it failed to reach its exact destination. However, we took a tram from the place where we were landed and returned to our quarters at the hotel at Stamboul. The Museum at Stamboul is situated where the ancient harem of the Greek Emperors once stood. We saw some remarkable sarcophagi and other things, and had a charming view of the city from above Topkhana. I enjoyed taking fried chick peas here after such a long time, and had spiced rice and some other dishes, prepared in the Turkish fashion. After visiting the cemetery of Scutari we went to see the ancient walls. Within the walls was the prison — a dreadful place. Next we met Woods Pasha and started for the Bosphorus. We had our dinner with the French chargé d'affaires and met a Greek Pasha and an Albanian gentleman. The Police have prohibited Père Hyacinthe's lectures; so I too cannot lecture. We saw Mr. Devanmall and Chobeji — a Gujarâti Brahmin. There are a good many Indians here — Hindustanis, Mussalmans, etc. We had a talk on Turkish Philosophy and heard of Noor Bey, whose gradfather was a Frenchman. They say he is as handsome as a Kashmari. The women here have got no purdah system and are very free. Prostitution is chiefly a Mohammedan practice. We heard of Kurd Pasha and the massacre of Armenians. The Armenians have really no country of their own, and those countries which they inhabit have generally a preponderating Mohammedan population. A particular tract called Armenia is unknown. The present Sultan is constructing a Hamidian cavalry out of the Kurds who will be trained in the manner of the Cossacks and they will be exempted from conscription.
The Sultan called the Armenian and Greek Patriarchs and proposed to them
conscription as an alternative for payment of taxes. They might thus serve
to protect their motherland. They replied that if they went as soldiers to
fight and died by the side of the Mohammedans, there would be some confusion
about the interment of Christian soldiers. The Sultan's rejoinder to this
was that it might be remedied by providing for both Mohammedan and Christian
priests in each regiment, who would conduct the funeral service together
when in the exigencies of battle the dead bodies of Christian and Mohammedan
soldiers would have to be buried in a heap all together, and there could
possibly be no harm if the souls of men of one religion heard in addition
the funeral services meant for those of the other religion. But the
Christians did not agree — so they continue to pay taxes. The surest reason
of their not acquiescing in the proposal was their fear lest by living with
the Mohammedans they might turn Mohammedan wholesale. The present Sultan of
Stamboul is a very hard-working man and he personally supervises everything,
including even the arrangement of amusements, such as theatrical
performances etc., in the palace. His predecessor, Murad, was really a most
unfit man, but the present Sultan is very intelligent. The amount of
improvement he has made in the condition of the State in which he found it
at his accession is simply wonderful. The Parliamentary system will not be
successful in this country.
At 10 in the morning we left Constantinople, passing a night and a day on
the sea, which was perfectly placid. By degrees we reached the Golden Horn
and the Sea of Marmora. In one of the islands of the Marmora we saw a
monastery of the Greek religion. Formerly there was ample opportunity for
religious education here, for it was situated between Asia on one side and
Europe on the other. While out in the morning on a visit of the
Mediterranean Archipelago we came across Professor Liper, whose acquaintance
I had already made in the Pachiappa College at Madras. In one of the islands
we came upon the ruins of a temple, which had probably been dedicated to
Neptune, judging from its position on the sea-shore. In the evening we
reached Athens, and after passing a whole night under quarantine we obtained
permission for landing in the morning. Port Peiraeus is a small town, but
very beautiful, having a European air about it in all respects, except that
one meets now and then with one or two Greeks dressed in gowns. From there
we drove five miles to have a look at the ancient walls of Athens which used
to connect the city with the port. Then we went through the town; the
Acropolis, the hotels, houses, and streets, and all were very neat and
clean. The palace is a small one. The same day, again, we climbed the
hillock and had a view of the Acropolis, the temple of the Wingless Victory,
and the Parthenon, etc. The temple is made of white marble. Some standing
remains of columns also we saw. The next day we again went to see these with
Mademoiselle Melcarvi, who explained to us various historical facts relating
thereto. On the second day we visited the temple of Olympian Zeus, Theatre
Dionysius etc., as far as the sea-shore. The third day we set out for
Eleusis, which was the chief religious seat of the Greeks. Here it was that
the famous Eleusinian Mysteries used to be played. The ancient theatre of
this place has been built anew by a rich Greek. The Olympian games too have
been revived in the present times. They are held at a place near Sparta, the
Americans carrying off the palm in them in many respects. But the Greeks won
in the race from that place to this theatre of Athens. This year they gave
undisputed proof of this trait of theirs in a competition with the Turks
also. At 10 a.m. on the fourth day we got on board the Russian steamer,
Czar, bound for Egypt. After reaching the dock we came to learn that the
steamer was to start at 4 a.m. — perhaps we were too early or there would be
some extra delay in loading the cargo. So, having no other alternative, we
went round and made a cursory acquaintance with the sculpture of Ageladas
and his three pupils, Phidias, Myron, and Polycletus, who had flourished
between 576 B.C. and 486 B.C. Even here we began to feel the great heat. In
a Russian ship the first class is over the screw, and the rest is only deck
— full of passengers, and cattle, and sheep. Besides, no ice was available
in this steamer.
From a visit to the Louvre Museum in Paris I came to understand the three stages of Greek art. First, there was the Mycenoean art, then Greek art proper. The Achaean kingdom had spread its sway over the neighbouring islands and also mastered all the arts that flourished there, being imported from Asia. Thus did art first make its appearance in Greece. From the prehistoric times up to 776 B.C. was the age of the Mycenoean art. This art principally engaged itself in merely copying Asiatic art. Then from 776 B.C. to 146 B.C. was the age of Hellenic or true Greek art. After the destruction of the Achaean Empire by the Dorian race, the Greeks living on the continent and in the Archipelago founded many colonies in Asia. This led to a close conflict between them and Babylon and Egypt, which first gave rise to Greek art. This art in course of time gave up its Asiatic tinge and applied itself to an exact imitation of nature. The difference between Greek art and the art of other countries consists in this, that the former faithfully delineates the living phenomena of natural life.
From 776 B.C. to 475 B.C. is the age of Archaic Greek art. The figures are yet stiff — not lifelike. The lips are slightly parted, as if always in smiles. In this respect they resemble the works of Egyptian artists. All the statues stand erect on their legs — quite stiff. The hair and beard etc. and all carved in regular lines and the clothes in the statues are all wrapped close round the body, in a jumble — not like flowing dress.
Next to Archaic Greek art comes the age of Classic Greek art — from 475 B.C.
to 323 B.C., that is to say, from the hegemony of Athens up to the death of
Alexander the Great. Peloponnesus and Attica were the states where the art
of this period flourished most. Athens was the chief city of Attica. A
learned French art critic has written, "(Classic) Greek art at its highest
development freed itself completely from the fetters of all established
canons and became independent. It then recognised the art regulations of no
country, nor guided itself according to them. The more we study the fifth
century B.C., so brilliant in its art development — during which period all
the perfect specimens of sculpture were turned out — the more is the idea
brought home to our mind that Greek art owed its life and vigour to its
cutting loose from the pale of stereotyped rules". This Classic Greek art
had two schools — first, the Attic, and second, the Peloponnesian. In the
Attic school, again, there were two different types — the first was the
outcome of the genius of the gifted sculptor, Phidias, which a French
scholar has described in the following terms: "A marvel of perfection in
beauty and a glorious specimen of pure and sublime ideas, which will never
lose their hold upon the human mind". The masters in the second type of the
Attic school were Scopas and Praxiteles. The work of this school was to
completely divorce art from religion and keep it restricted to the
delineation of merely human life.
The chief exponents of the second or Peloponnesian school of Classic Greek
art were Polycletus and Lysippus. One of these was born in the fifth century
B.C., and the other in the fourth century B.C. They chiefly aimed at laying
down the rule that the proportion of the human body must be faithfully
reproduced in art.
From 323 B.C. to 146 B.C., that is, from the death of Alexander to the
conquest of Attica by the Romans, is the period of decadence in Greek art.
One notices in the Greek art of this period an undue attention to gorgeous
embellishments, and an attempt to make the statues unusually large in bulk.
Then at the time of the Roman occupation of Greece, Greek art contented
itself merely by copying the works of previous artists of that country; and
the only novelty there was, consisted in reproducing exactly the face of
some particular individual.