{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_28117/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_28117","id":"gutenberg_28117","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28117","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Politics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Sociology","India -- Civilization","India -- Religion","Missions -- India"],"text":"Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: A HOLY MAN OF INDIA]\n\n\n\nINDIA\n\nITS LIFE AND THOUGHT\n\n\n\n\nBY\n\nJOHN P. JONES, D.D.\n\nSOUTH INDIA\n\nAUTHOR OF \"INDIA'S PROBLEM, KRISHNA OR CHRIST,\"\nETC., ETC.\n\n\n\n\nNew York\n\nTHE MACMILLAN COMPANY\n\n1908\n\n\n\n\n\nCOPYRIGHT, 1908,\n\nBY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nDedicated\n\nTO MY DEAR CHILDREN\n\nWHO HAVE\n\nBRAVELY AND CHEERFULLY ENDURED\n\nTHE SEPARATION AND THE LOSS OF HOME\n\nFOR THE SAKE OF INDIA\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nTo the people of the West, the inhabitants of India are the least\nunderstood and the most easily misunderstood of all men.\n\nIt is partly because they are antipodal to the West--the farthest\nremoved in thought and life. They are also the most secretive, and\nfind perennial delight in concealment and evasion.\n\nAccording to Hindu teaching, the Supreme Spirit forever sports in\nillusion. It continuously manifests itself through unreal and false\nforms, which delude and lead astray ignorant man. In harmony with this\nphilosophy of the Divine--and may it not be as a result of it?--the\npeople of India too often delight in unreal and deceptive exhibitions\nof themselves. At any rate, it is exceedingly difficult for a man of\nthe West, especially he of the Anglo-Saxon type, to apprehend the full\nsignificance and the correct drift of life and thought of this land.\n\nIt is amusing, when not discouraging, to witness travellers, who have\nrushed through India in a winter tour, publish volumes of their\nmisconceptions and ill-digested theories about the people with an\noracular emphasis which is equalled only by their ignorance.\n\nThe author of this book makes no claim to a right to speak _ex\ncathedra_ upon this subject. Nevertheless, thirty years of matured\nexperience in this land, living in constant touch with the people and\nstudying with eagerness their life and thought, gives him an humble\nclaim to speak once more upon the subject.\n\nEven now, however, his pride of knowledge is chastened by the\noft-recurring surprises which the Oriental nature and life still bring\nto him. And he does not cease to pray, with a western saint, who, at\nthe end of a half century of work for the people of India, daily cried\nout,--\n\n\"O Lord, help me to know these people and to come into intimate\nrelations of life with them!\"\n\nIf, in these pages, he can help others of the West to come face to\nface with the immense and intricate problems which confront all who\ndesire to know, to help, and to bless India, and shall enable them to\nunderstand better the conditions and characteristics of life in the\nLand of the Vedas, he will feel amply repaid for his labours.\n\nI express my deep gratitude to the Rev. J. L. Barton, D.D., for his\nkind encouragement in the publishing of this book; and also to the\nRev. W. W. Wallace, M.A., for his generous aid in the proof-reading.\n\nJ. P. JONES.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nCHAPTER\n\nI. INDIA'S UNREST\n\n i. Extent of the Movement\n\n ii. Causes of Unrest\n\n iii. Conditions of Unrest\n\n iv. Results\n\n v. How shall the Unrest be Removed\n\n\nII. THE HOME OF MANY FAITHS\n\n Hinduism--Madura and Benares\n\n Demonolatry--Madura\n\n Christianity--Travancore and Cochin\n\n Judaism--Cochin\n\n Parseeism--Bombay\n\n Jainism--Bombay\n\n Mohammedanism--Agra and Delhi\n\n Buddhism--Delhi, Sarnath\n\n Sikhism--Amritsar\n\n\nIII. BURMA, THE BEAUTIFUL\n\n The Extent of the British Empire\n\n Burma's Triple Produce\n\n The Land of Pagodas\n\n Mandalay\n\n A Land where Woman is Honoured\n\n A Land where Caste is Unknown\n\n The American Baptist Mission\n\n The Karens and their Conversion\n\n Ko San Ye\n\n\nIV. THE HINDU CASTE SYSTEM\n\n What is Caste\n\n i. Origin of Caste\n\n (_a_) Religious Theory\n\n (_b_) Tribal Theory\n\n (_c_) Social Theory\n\n (_d_) Occupational Theory\n\n (_e_) Crossing Theory\n\n ii. Characteristics of Caste\n\n Intermarriage\n\n Inter-dining\n\n Contact\n\n Occupation\n\n iii. Penalties of Caste\n\n Boycott\n\n Caste Servants Interdicted\n\n Domestic Isolation\n\n Prayaschitta. (Travelling)\n\n\nV. THE HINDU CASTE SYSTEM (_Continued_)\n\n iv. Occasions of Punishment\n\n Change of Faith\n\n Marrying a Widow\n\n Beef-eating\n\n Officiating as Priest to Outcasts\n\n Marrying outside of One's Caste\n\n v. The Results of the Caste System\n\n Possibilities of Good\n\n It arrays Caste against Caste\n\n It narrows the Sympathies\n\n It degrades Manual Labour\n\n It opposes Commerce\n\n A Foe to Nationality\n\n A Foe to Individualism\n\n It is Unethical\n\n vi. The Dominance of Caste\n\n Seen even among Christians\n\n Roman Catholicism and Protestantism\n\n Signs of its Decadence\n\n Opposed by Western Progress\n\n Government Opposition\n\n Christianity its Foe\n\n\nVI. THE BHAGAVAD GITA--THE HINDU BIBLE\n\n i. What is this Song\n\n ii. What are its Purposes and Contents\n\n 1. Its Teaching concerning God\n\n Incarnation\n\n 2. The Doctrine of the Living Soul\n\n 3. The Doctrine of Liberation\n\n (1) Through Knowledge\n\n (2) Through Asceticism\n\n (3) Through Works\n\n Caste\n\n Detachment\n\n Bhakti\n\n (4) Altruism.\n\n 4. The Doctrine of Salvation\n\n Reincarnation\n\n iii. Conclusion\n\n\nVII. POPULAR HINDUISM\n\n i. The Higher Faith\n\n The Evolution of Faith\n\n ii. Popular Hinduism\n\n 1. Caste\n\n 2. Polytheism\n\n 3. Idolatry\n\n 4. Devil-worship\n\n 5. Fetichism\n\n 6. Immorality\n\n 7. Treatment of Woman\n\n 8. The Hindu Ascetic\n\n 9. Hindu Pessimism\n\n 10. Astrology\n\n\nVIII. HINDU RELIGIOUS IDEALS\n\n i. The Ideal of God\n\n ii. Ideal of Incarnation\n\n iii. Ideals of Life\n\n Asceticism\n\n Ceremonialism\n\n Quietism\n\n iv. Ultimate Salvation\n\n Transmigration\n\n Absorption\n\n\nIX. THE HOME LIFE OF HINDUS\n\n The Home Sanctuary\n\n The Building of the House\n\n The Joint Family System\n\n Priest and Astrologer\n\n Place of Woman in the Home\n\n The Devotion of Woman\n\n The Influence of Woman\n\n Marriage in the Home\n\n The Hindu Widow\n\n Mother-in-law and Daughter-in-law\n\n Love of Jewellery\n\n Clothing and Cuisine\n\n Sickness and Death\n\n Funeral Obsequies\n\n Shradda\n\n\nX. KALI YUGA--INDIA'S PESSIMISM\n\n i. The Astounding Length of the Chronological System\n\n History and Legend in India\n\n ii. The Cyclic Character of Hindu Chronology\n\n No Progress in Time\n\n The Source of Pessimism\n\n iii. The Moral Characteristics of the Time System\n\n Every Yuga has its Own Character\n\n The Evil Character of Kali\n\n _Cui Bono_\n\n Astrology\n\n Lucky Days\n\n\nXI. ISLAM IN INDIA\n\n i. The History of Islam in India\n\n ii. The Present Condition of this Faith in India\n\n Ill-adapted to India\n\n Its Conception of Deity\n\n Intolerance and Tolerance\n\n Contact with Hinduism\n\n Compromise\n\n Islam's Attempt at Reform\n\n Islam's Redeeming Qualities\n\n Muslim Sects\n\n iii. The Mohammedan Population\n\n iv. Christian Effort for the Mussulman\n\n\nXII. THE CHRIST AND THE BUDDHA\n\n i. The Conditions of their Lives\n\n ii. The Common Principles which controlled Them\n\n Sincerity\n\n Ethics\n\n Universal Charity\n\n iii. The Teachings which differentiate Them\n\n 1. Teaching concerning God\n\n 2. Their Conceptions of Human Life\n\n 3. Their Ideals of Life\n\n Character and Wisdom\n\n Final Consummation\n\n\nXIII. MODERN RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT\n\n Hindu Reformers\n\n i. Hindu Sects\n\n ii. Modern Movements\n\n Ram Mohan Roy\n\n Brahmo Somaj\n\n Chunder Sen\n\n Athi Somaj\n\n Sadharna Somaj\n\n New Dispensation\n\n iii. Progress of the Movement\n\n Weak in Numbers\n\n Indian Spirit\n\n Christian Basis\n\n \"The Oriental Christ\"\n\n Chunder Sen's Words.\n\n Other Testimony\n\n The New Dispensation\n\n iv. The Arya Somaj\n\n Its Progress\n\n Its Principles\n\n Its Antagonism to Christianity\n\n v. The Theosophical Society\n\n Its Reactionary Spirit\n\n Mrs. Besant\n\n The \"Masters\"\n\n\nXIV. THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\n\n i. Early History of Christianity\n\n Converts\n\n The Character of the Christian Community\n\n Influence of Christianity\n\n \"Swadesha\"\n\n Protestant Effort\n\n ii. Ultimate Triumph of Christianity\n\n Not the Western Type\n\n The Kingdom of God\n\n iii. A Conquest of the Spirit\n\n 1. Conquest of Principles\n\n 2. Conquest of the Christ Ideal\n\n 3. Conquest of the Incarnation of Christ\n\n 4. Conquest of the Cross of Christ\n\n 5. Conquest of the Christian Conception of Sin\n\n\nINDEX\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nA HOLY MAN OF INDIA _Frontispiece_\n\nTHE GOLDEN LILY TANK IN THE MADURA TEMPLE\n\nTAJ MAHAL, AGRA\n\nMARBLE SCREEN IN TAJ MAHAL\n\nSHAH JEHAN'S FORT, AGRA\n\nAKBAR'S TOMB\n\nKUTAB-MINAR, DELHI\n\nCASHMERE GATE, DELHI\n\nSCHWEY DAGON PAGODA, RANGOON\n\nTHEEBAW'S PALACE, MANDALAY\n\nJUNGLE PEOPLE OF INDIA\n\nA DRAVIDIAN SHRINE, SOUTH INDIA\n\nTWO HINDU IDOLS, SOUTH INDIA\n\nHUMAYAN'S TOMB, DELHI\n\nTHE GREATEST IMAGE OF BUDDHA\n\nA CHRISTIAN VILLAGE SCHOOL IN SOUTH INDIA\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nINDIA: ITS LIFE AND THOUGHT\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nINDIA'S UNREST\n\n\nIndia has been called the land of quiet repose, content to remain\nanchored to the hoary past, and proud of her immobility. Invasion\nafter invasion has swept over her; but--\n\n \"The East bowed low before the blast,\n In patient, deep disdain;\n She let the legions thunder past,\n And plunged in thought again.\"\n\nYet this same India is now throbbing with discontent, and is\nbreathing, in all departments of her life, a deep spirit of unrest.\nThis spirit has recently become acute and seemed, for a while, in\ndanger of bursting into open rebellion, not unlike the Mutiny of half\na century ago.\n\n\nI\n\nThis movement is but a part of the new awakening of the East. The\nworld has seen its marvellously rapid development and fruitage in\nJapan. It is witnessing the same process in China and Korea. The\npeople of India, likewise, have been touched by its power and are no\nlonger willing to rest contentedly as a subject people or a stagnant\nrace.\n\nThis movement is not only political, it permeates every department of\nlife; and it partakes of the general unrest which has taken possession\nof all the civilized nations of the earth. It is really the dawning of\nIndia's consciousness of strength and of a purpose to take her place,\nand to play a worthy part, in the great world drama.\n\nThis spirit found its incarnation and warmest expression in the\nopposition to the government scheme, two years ago, under Lord Curzon,\nfor the partition of Bengal. The Bengalees keenly resented the\ndivision of their Province; for it robbed the clever Babu of many of\nthe plums of office. He petitioned, and fomented agitation and\nopposition to the scheme. Then, in his spite against the government,\nhe organized a boycott against all forms of foreign industry and\ncommerce. This has been conducted with mad disregard to the people's\nown economic interest, and has, moreover, developed into bitter racial\nanimosity.\n\nThe Bengalee has striven hard to carry into other Provinces also his\nspirit of antagonism to the State. Though he has not succeeded in\nconvincing many others of the wisdom of his method, he has spread the\nspirit of discontent and of dissatisfaction far beyond his own\nboundary. Even sections of the land which denounce the boycott as\nfolly, if not suicide, have taken up the political slogan of the Babu\n(_Bande Mataram_--Hail, Mother!) and are demanding, mostly in\ninarticulate speech, such rights and privileges as they imagine\nthemselves to be deprived of.\n\nThe movement is, in some respects, a reactionary one; and race hatred\nis one of its most manifest results. It is not merely a rising of the\nEast against the West; it is also a conflict between Mohammedans and\nHindus. In Eastern Bengal, where the Mussulmans are in a large\nmajority, and where the Hindus have become the most embittered, the\nformer have stood aloof from the latter and have opposed the boycott.\nThis has led to increasing hatred between the members of these two\nfaiths,--a feeling which has spread all over the country, and which\nhas carried them into opposing camps. This is, in one way, fortunate\nfor the government, since it has given rise to definite and warm\nexpressions of loyalty by the whole Mohammedan community.\n\nDisgruntled graduates of the University and school-boys take the most\nprominent place in this movement. The Universities annually send forth\nan army of men supplied with degrees--last year it was 1570 B.A.'s;\nand it is the conviction of nine-tenths of them that it is the duty of\nthe government to give them employment as soon as they graduate. As\nthis is impossible, many of them nurse their disappointment into\ndiscontent and opposition to the powers that be. Many of them become\ndangerous demagogues and fomenters of sedition. Not a few such are\nfound in every Province of the country. And they find in the High\nSchool and College students the best material to work upon. These boys\nhave been the most numerous and excited advocates of this movement. As\nin Russia, so in India the educational institutions are becoming the\nhotbeds of dissatisfaction and opposition to the State. But there is\nthis difference. In Russia the University student is much more truly\nan exponent of public sentiment, and more ready to suffer for that\nsentiment, than are the dependent youth of colleges in India.\n\nThis movement has not, to any considerable extent, reached the\nmasses. Nine-tenths of the population of India are satisfied with the\ngovernment and have no desire to change the present order of things.\nIndeed, they are deeply ignorant of the grievances which the higher\nclasses nurse into bitterness. And yet it should not be forgotten that\nthe ignorance of the people, coupled with their narrow superstition\nand lively imagination, make them very inflammable material under the\ninfluence of eloquent demagogues.\n\n\nII\n\nOne of the most marked causes of this activity and discontent is the\nrecent victory of Japan over Russia. It is hard for the West to\nrealize how much that event has stirred the imagination and quickened\nthe ambition of all the people of the East. They regard that war as\nthe great conflict of the East and the West. India had not the\nslightest idea that Japan would come triumphant out of that conflict.\nBut the victory of Japan instantly suggested to all men of culture in\nIndia the question, \"Why should our land be subject to a far-off, and\na small, western country? Why should we be content with our dependence\nand not reveal our manhood and our prowess, as Japan did?\" These are\ninquiries which have opened up new visions of power and greatness to\nthe people of India. Japan and its people have been immensely popular\nin India since their recent victory. And Hindus believe that the peace\nperfected at Portsmouth was the harbinger of a new era of liberty and\nindependence for all the East.\n\nThe growing influence of western education in India has had much to do\nwith the present state of things. It is true that India is still a\nland of ignorance. It is a lamentable fact that only 1 in 10 of the\nmales and 1 in 144 of the females can read. Only 22.6 per cent of the\nboys of school-going age attend school, and only 2.6 per cent of the\ngirls. And yet the enrolment of more than five million scholars in the\npublic schools is a significantly hopeful fact as compared with the\npast history of India.\n\nThis education is distinctly on _western_ lines. And connected with\nthe five Universities of India there are many thousands of young men\nand women who are devoting themselves to a deep study of western\nthought and of western ideas of liberty. The Calcutta University alone\nhas, in its affiliated colleges, more students registered than\nHarvard, Yale, Princeton, and Toronto combined. In that city, which is\nthe centre of the present unrest, there are 12,000 young men in the\nColleges, and 30,000 pupils in the High Schools. This host of young\nmen and women are imbibing modern ideas of manliness, independence,\nand liberty such as India never knew in the past; and they go out into\nthe world with new ambitions for their country and inspired with not a\nlittle \"divine unrest.\"\n\nIn close connection with this educational influence is that of western\ncivilization and Christian ideals. The government of this land is\nbuilt upon Christian principles and is animated by that spirit of\ncivilization which dominates the West. And we know that these make for\nmanhood and independence everywhere. It would be a sad thing for Great\nBritain, as it would be for the Christian missionary in India, if\nthese lofty principles, which they inculcate, did not acquire\nincreasing power over these youth.\n\nAnd it should not be forgotten that an increasing number of the elect\nyouth of India go to England for the completion of their training, and\nreturn well equipped with Anglo-Saxon ideas of human rights and of\nmanhood's claims.\n\nNor is this merely a movement of the people of India. There is a\nstrong body of Englishmen, several of whom are members of Parliament,\nbanded together in England, for the purpose of promoting the political\ninfluence of the people of India in the conduct of the affairs of\ntheir own country. These men believe that India has a right to a much\nlarger meed of self-government than she now enjoys. And they seize\nupon every opportunity to urge upon the Home Government the duty of\ngranting added power to the people, and also to advise the leaders of\nIndian thought as to their wisest methods of procedure. There are not\na few radicals in Britain who believe that India should govern herself\nas an independent colony. And they rouse within Hindu youth who go to\nEngland a radical spirit of discontent and disloyalty. It was only the\nother day that Lord Ampthill warned these men, because of the\ninsidious influence which they were exercising for the overthrow of\nthe British power in the East.\n\nThe National Congress, which has just reached its majority, has a\nprofound influence in the development of a national consciousness, and\nin the furtherance of the cause of independence and political power in\nthe land. The very existence of this institution is one of the highest\ncompliments to British rule in India. It would be impossible for one\nto imagine the Russian government permitting such a body of men to\ngather every year in solemn conclave to devote several days to a\nvehement criticism of all the principal acts of the State, to give\nvent to disloyal sentiments, and to promote the spirit of disaffection\nthroughout the country. This Congress has devoted nearly all its time\nto a denunciation of the powers that be; and during these twenty-one\nyears the writer has not seen one word of commendation or one vote of\nappreciation of the State in the reports of the proceedings of the\nCongress. And the demands of the Congress, inspired as they are by\nAnglo-Saxon friends in Great Britain, are becoming annually more\ndefinite and urgent.\n\nUntil the meeting of 1906 there was no divergence of sentiment among\nCongress-wallahs. No dissentient voice or conflicting opinions were\nallowed. It is to the honour and highest interest of the Congress that\nthis stage has now been passed and the healthy rivalry of parties is\nfelt and heard in Congress councils. It is to be regretted that at the\nlast Congress meeting, in Surat, these two parties--the Moderates and\nthe Extremists--came into bitter conflict. It was largely due to the\npast supineness of the Moderates who permitted the other party (which\nis a small but noisy minority) to resort to bluster in order to force\ntheir pet and bitter schemes of disorder upon the Congress. When,\nultimately, the Moderates determined to exercise the rights of the\nmajority, the others resorted to force and caused the Congress to be\nsuspended in disorder, thus revealing the sad spectacle of the present\nincapacity of the leaders of the people to govern themselves and the\ncountry.\n\nThis is, however, perhaps the best thing that could have happened for\nthe highest interest of the Congress itself. The two parties are now\nclearly defined--the one seeking, through constitutional agitation,\nself-government on colonial lines, like Canada; the other determined\nto overthrow the government of the foreigner and to establish its own\nupon the ruins. And agitation in this behalf is to be conducted in\nevery possible way, constitutional or otherwise.\n\nThe Moderates are now thoroughly roused and have driven out from their\ncouncils the irreconcilables and fire-eaters, and can now work with\nmore harmony and success for the attainment of their wiser plans and\nmore reasonable aims.\n\nA few years ago, the State ignored, when it did not ridicule, the\nNational Congress. To-day none recognizes its power more than does the\ngovernment.\n\nAnd it is most suggestive and instructive to see this body, of fully\nthree thousand men, gathered together from all parts of this great\npeninsula--men who represent peoples that speak more than four\nhundred languages and dialects! They conduct their sessions in\nEnglish, which is the only universal tongue of the country. And a\npurer English is hardly spoken in any deliberative or legislative body\nin any other land; and some of the addresses are delivered with a\nforce, and are adorned with a logic and a rhetoric, which are truly\neloquent. Verily, the weapon of popular power, though largely used\nagainst the government, is the best compliment possible to the State\nwhich has created it.\n\nThe Press also has marvellously grown in power and in dignity during\nthe last quarter of a century. At the present time there are scores of\ndailies, and many more weeklies and monthlies, published in the\nEnglish tongue by the natives of the land. And they discuss, with\nintelligence and discrimination, if not with moderation, all matters\nof State and of political interest. Recently some of these papers have\nbecome thoroughly radical and oppose the government at all points.\n\nBut it is the vernacular Press, representing, as it does, hundreds of\nnewspapers in all the tongues of India, that carries its influence\ninto the villages and homes of the uneducated millions. The present\ncondition of discontent with the government has been disseminated\namong the common people more by these vernacular papers than by any\nother agency. Many of these are thoroughly disloyal and seditious.\nVery occasionally they are prosecuted for their inflammatory\neditorials, and their editors are imprisoned.\n\nAs a matter of fact, there is hardly any country where the Press has\ngreater liberties than in India; and there is no land on earth where\nthat liberty is more abused. The very toleration of the government is\nturned as a keen weapon against it.\n\nThe same thing is true of the freedom of public speech. There is not\nanother land, save perhaps America, whose citizens have greater\nprivileges in this matter. The seditious speeches which have been made\nin many parts of India during the last two years, by Bengalees\nspecially, and by a few other radicals, have been such as would in\nEurope lead to imprisonment if not to deportation. Bepin Chandra Pal,\nof Calcutta, has just closed a tour during which he has made many\naddresses, attended, in all cases, by thousands of students and\ndisaffected members of the community, and has not only denounced the\ngovernment as the very incarnation of unrighteousness and cruelty, but\nhas also urged the people to do all they can, both constitutionally\nand otherwise, to defeat and overthrow it and to establish a native\nrule upon its ruin. Any government, in order to ignore such language\nuttered in immense public assemblies, must feel very secure in its\npower. Mr. Pal is only one of many who have thus far been granted\nabsolute freedom to sow broadcast the seed of revolution.\n\n\nIII\n\nWhat is there in the recent condition of the country and of the\npeople, which warrants this unrest and discontent?\n\nDisinterested persons will not say that the State is unprogressive or\nis administering its affairs unwisely. In its recent Annual Financial\nStatement we discover evidences of prosperity in all departments of\nState. There is no extensive famine to distress the people and harass\nthe government. The revenue of the year exceeds, by nearly 30 million\nrupees, the estimates; there was a surplus at the end of the year of\n20 million rupees. Owing to this the government has reduced the opium\ncultivation, which has wrought, for many years, so much injustice to\nChina. It has also increased postal facilities, which renders them\ncheaper and more convenient than in any other land. Moreover, the\nobnoxious salt tax has been reduced by 50 per cent; and it is hoped\nthat the whole tax will be remitted shortly. The grant for education\nis also much enhanced beyond any former year, and the State is even\nplanning for the introduction of a Free Primary Education, which will\nbe an unspeakable boon to the people.\n\nAnd when it is said that taxation in India has been reduced, we should\nalso remember that in this land \"the taxation per head is lighter than\nin any other civilized country in the world. In Russia, it is eight\ntimes as great; in England, twenty times; in Italy, nineteen; in\nFrance, twenty-five; in the United States and Germany, thirteen\ntimes.\" In other words, taxation in India comes to only one dollar, or\nthree rupees, per head.\n\nBut it is claimed that India is a land of deepest poverty. This is\nperfectly true. But it is not true that her poverty is increasing. The\nParsee Chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange, in his last annual\naddress, said that \"it was the conviction of merchants, bankers,\ntradesmen, and captains of industry that India is slowly but steadily\nadvancing along paths of material prosperity, and for the last few\nyears it has taken an accelerated pace.\" The poverty of the people is\na very convenient slogan of the political party; but there is\neverything to prove that the condition of the people, deplorable\nthough it be, is, nevertheless, slowly improving.\n\nThe State is, moreover, constantly yielding to the growing demand of\nthe people for a larger share in the conduct of public business and in\nthe emoluments of office. Even at the present time the Secretary of\nState for India has introduced a scheme, at the instance of the\ngovernment, which will add materially to the power of India in the\nconduct of its own affairs.\n\nThe British were never more firmly entrenched and possessed of more\npower in India than at the present time. The lesson of the Mutiny, of\na half-a-century ago, was not lost upon the administrators of India.\nSince then, no Indian regiment can be stationed within a thousand\nmiles of its own home, and thus be able to enter into collusion with\nthe people. And the artillery branch of the army is entirely in the\nhands of the British force. Moreover, as we have seen, the Mohammedans\nand the Sikhs are loyal to the government, and would stand with the\nBritish against the Hindus in any conflict of arms.\n\nThe Hindus themselves realize this situation perfectly well. One of\nthe best-known Hindu gentlemen recently wrote as follows: \"The truth\nis in a nutshell and may be described in a few words. The British\ncannot be driven out of India by the Indians, nor by any foreign\nPower. This fact is known to more than 90 per cent of the people. Of\nall the foreigners, the British are the best. We, as we are now, are\nthe least able to govern India, being not equal to the worst and\nweakest foreign Power.\"\n\nThe best class of Hindus are not only sensible of their own weakness,\nfrom a military standpoint; they are also dissatisfied with the action\nof extremists and believe that the present unrest is evil. A\nwell-known Hindu writer describes the situation in the following\nwords: \"The class of people the Indian Extremists appeal to, consists\nof irresponsible and impressionable students and the ignorant\npopulace; and the agitator, who is thoroughly cognizant of this fact,\nuses it for his purposes. He appeals to their feelings, and succeeds\nin making them believe in the soundness of his fallacies and\nmischievous preachings. The authorities have therefore to see that\nthis class of people is protected from the insidious appeals of\nmischievous pseudo-patriots. After over a century of beneficent\nBritish rule in India, it is scarcely necessary to attempt to justify\nits existence or continuance. At the same time, it has to be\nrecognized that discontent prevails among the people; though, speaking\ngenerally, it does not by any means partake of the character of\ndisaffection or disloyalty. Discontent is by no means inconsistent\nwith loyalty to government. On the other hand, it may even be said,\nwith a certain degree of truth, that the deep-rooted and abiding sense\nof loyalty in the people has engendered the spirit of discontent, the\nhealthy discontent with their lot.\"\n\nIt should also be remembered that the Hindu caste system is an\ninsuperable barrier to the progress of the people toward independence.\nThe unity of the Mohammedans of India, who are only one-fifth of the\npopulation, is in healthful contrast to the myriad caste divisions and\nsocial barriers which separate Hindus one from another. One must be\ncompelled to deny the sincerity of many who claim that this people is\na nation which prides itself upon its patriotism, so long as the caste\nsystem dominates them and their ideas. The only tie which binds\ntogether these people is the spirit of opposition to this foreign\ngovernment. Among the classes and the masses there is absolutely no\ncoherence or unity of sentiment in any line of constructive activity.\nSo that in the matter of self-government they would prove themselves\nto be sadly incompetent.\n\n\nIV\n\nThe action of the Indian government, in view of the present situation,\nhas been the subject of criticism. Anglo-Indians feel that the Viceroy\nand his Council have, for some reason or other, been too deliberate in\ntheir action. For two years things have been going from bad to worse.\nWhen, recently, Sir Bampfylde Fuller, the Lieutenant-Governor of East\nBengal, took prompt and vigorous action to suppress the uprising in\nhis Province, which was the centre of trouble, the Indian government\ndeclined to support him. He therefore resigned, and India lost one of\nthe men who are the most competent to deal wisely and well with\nsedition-mongers. The State may have thought, and was probably right\nin thinking, that while the Bengal Babu is capable of unlimited noise,\nhe has a mortal aversion to converting his noise into action. So the\ngovernment preferred patiently to endure odium rather than suppress\nthe movement.\n\nIt was different in the Panjaub, whose people are less talkative, but\nare more given to action. These warrior tribes were being rapidly\ndisaffected by political agitators; and they doubtless had definite\ngrievances of their own to agitate them. The time came when government\nwas compelled to do something to suppress the rising tide of feeling.\nIt decided to act upon a law of nearly a century ago, and deported two\nof the leaders of the movement. They were at once sent to Burma, where\nthey were held in surveillance for six months and then released. This\naction of the State was effective; for it quieted the people and\nnipped what promised to be a rebellion, in the bud. But it raised a\nstorm of denunciation from all the Hindu papers, which spoke of it as\na violation of the Queen's Proclamation and an act subversive of the\nmost sacred rights of the people of the country and of the most\nelementary form of justice! One writer claims that \"the meanest\nBritish subject is entitled to a writ of _Habeas Corpus_, and thus\nsecure an effective protection against arbitrary imprisonment and\narrest by the government.\" This is certainly true in ordinary times of\npeace; but the government had every reason to believe that the state\nof things in the Panjaub was anything but peaceable, and that it must\nact in view of the extraordinary condition of the Province. And its\nmethod of procedure has proved itself to be the most bloodless and\ninexpensive possible. It has been claimed that the chief deported man,\nMr. Lala Rajpat Rai, is not an extremist; but this has to be proved,\nand it may be presumed that the government was more conversant with\nhis acts and their influence upon the people, and the native army,\nthan some of his defenders are. All must regret the necessity of so\nunconstitutional a method of dealing with this great evil; but when\nsuch a man as the Hon. Mr. Morley, the Secretary of State for India,\nagrees with the Indian government in this matter, it may be presumed\nto have been necessary.\n\nThe government has also proclaimed and prohibited the assembling\ntogether of the people for political purposes in the most disaffected\nparts of the country, and more especially where the Hindus and\nMohammedans are fighting each other. None can question the wisdom of\nthus saving the people from bitter feuds and the power of agitators.\n\nAnother very important action of the State has been to warn the\nstudents of the Universities against participating in political\nagitation, and to threaten the withdrawal of affiliation from\ninstitutions of learning in which political agitation is encouraged.\nNobody will dispute the wisdom of this action; for the school-boys of\nIndia seem as disloyal as they are irresponsible, and are the most\npliant tools of radical demagogues.\n\nThe Press also is receiving the attention of the government. The\nvernacular Press is in special need of being taught the lesson of its\nresponsibility to the people and to the State. And the best elements\nof the community, both Anglo-Indian and Indian, believe heartily that\neditors and proprietors of papers should be brought to account for\ntheir seditious utterances.\n\n\nV\n\nMany are now asking, \"How shall this trouble be removed and peace and\ngood-will be restored to the land?\"\n\nNothing is more necessary than the cultivation of mutual understanding\nbetween the two races. It is very unfortunate that, in this matter,\nthe situation has not improved during the last quarter of a century.\nIndeed, the racial problem is more acute now, as it is in America,\nthan it was ever before. All seem too ready to accept, as conclusive,\nthe statement of Kipling,--\n\n \"O! the East is East and the West is West,\n And never the twain shall meet,\n Till earth and sky stand presently\n Before God's great judgment seat.\"\n\nAnd they too easily ignore the other part which conveys his lesson,--\n\n \"But there is neither East nor West,\n Nor border, nor breed, nor birth,\n Where two strong men stand face to face,\n Though they come from the ends of the earth.\"\n\nThe parties concerned in India to-day must learn the lesson of mutual\nforbearance and study to understand each other's peculiarities and\nenter more fully into each other's thoughts, sentiments, and\nidiosyncrasies.\n\nThe Anglo-Indian stands most in need of this lesson of aptitude. The\nAnglo-Saxon is notoriously conceited and given to thinking that he has\nnothing to learn from other people, especially those who are\npolitically subject to him. He looks with contempt upon the \"mild\nHindu,\" and maintains that it is the business of Brahman and Sudra\nalike meekly to submit to, and obey, his lordship. He tramples upon\ntheir sensibilities and declines to learn any lessons of wisdom from\nthem. On the other hand, Brahman and Sudra have ineradicable\nprejudices, which they nurse with extraordinary fondness and cherish\nwith unyielding tenacity. The leader of this people, the Brahman, is,\nin his way, even more haughty than the Anglo-Indian.\n\nThis situation is full of difficulty. Here we have two races, the\nAryan of the East and the Aryan of the West, standing face to face.\nEach in its way claims dominance. The Westerner claims superiority by\nright of conquest and of advanced civilization and general progress.\nAnd he is not backward in presenting his vaunted claims! The\nEasterner, on the other hand, has ruled India by right of intelligence\nand by every claim of social and religious distinction, for at least\nthirty centuries. He stands to-day a match for any individual, East or\nWest, in intellectual prowess. But, more than this, socially and\nreligiously he regards himself as the first son of heaven. Contact\nwith an Englishman, even with the King-Emperor himself, is for him\npollution, which must be removed by elaborate and exacting religious\nceremonies. To eat with any such would be a sin of the deepest dye.\nHow can one expect such a man to meet with a foreigner on even terms,\nor to treat him with equality and true friendship? Before India loves\nits conquerors, and sympathy and good understanding are established\nbetween them, both parties need to be born again. At least they must\nendeavour to lay aside their prejudices and to cultivate the kinship\nof their united destiny. The writer recently listened to an eloquent\naddress delivered by a cultured Hindu gentleman, in which he implored\nAnglo-Indians to cultivate their friendship and to forget the\ndifferent shades of their complexion. The prejudice of colour is, he\nmaintains, as strong in India as it is in America, and is perhaps more\nbitter than ever. A man, said he truly, should not be condemned by his\nbrother because of his slightly different shade of colour, which is\nonly skin deep.\n\nIt is also certain that Great Britain should and must give to the\ninhabitants of this land more influence and higher position in the\ndirection of the affairs of the State. After a training of more than a\ncentury by England herself, India is prepared for a larger place in\nthe direction of her own political destiny. Western civilization,\nwestern education, and the Christian religion have wrought wonders in\nIndia in the development of a new life and a new consciousness among\nmany of the people. There are thousands of men, to-day, who are in\nevery way competent to occupy high positions in government. And it is\nimpossible that they should be kept loyal and contented under a regime\nwhich constantly reminds them of their subjection and their lack of\nworthiness to fill any but subordinate positions. It is true, as we\nhave seen, that government is extending the privileges and multiplying\nthe opportunities of such men. But it is not doing this with the\npace, the grace, and the heartiness that circumstances demand.\n\nOn the other hand, Indians must seek, increasingly, to cultivate\nsocial and moral aptitude, rather than to be forever claiming and\ndemanding rights. The best friends of India believe that she has just\nas many political rights as she is able wisely to exercise.\nRepresentative Institutions have already been established here both in\nthe conduct of Municipalities, District Boards, and of the Provincial\nand the Imperial Governments. The people are being trained for the\nwisest exercise of political rights. But many who have carefully\nobserved the political corruption which they reveal in the exercise of\nalready acquired rights, think that no greater evil could befall India\nthan that of a sudden bestowal, by the State, of a great extension of\nthese privileges.\n\nThe root of India's present incapacity for self-government is not\nintellectual, but social and moral. No one doubts that there is\nability enough; but many believe that India must develop much upon the\nlower ranges of domestic sanity and social ethics before it is\nprepared for enhanced political privileges. The ignorance and the\ndisabilities of women in India are a crying injustice, whose influence\npenetrates every department of Indian life, and for the removal of\nwhich educated Indians will hardly raise a finger.\n\nThe caste system, with its numberless stereotyped divisions, its\nmyriad insurmountable barriers between class and class, and its\ncountless petty jealousies and mutual antagonisms, is well known to\nall. And so long as Hindus continue to worship this demon, caste, it\nis impossible for them to become a united body to which, with any\ncourtesy, the name Nation can be applied. Nor can they blend into such\naction as can in any sense be called National or patriotic. India is\nwofully lacking in the first essential of self-government--public\nspirit.\n\nIn other words, the most urgent need of India at present is social\nreform, which depends entirely upon the people, and not political\nreform, which must come from the State. And yet the social reform\nmovement in India is less rapid to-day than at any time during the\nlast quarter of a century. And those who cry loudest for political\nrights are the ones who cast a sinister eye upon the social reform\nmovement.\n\nAnd it must be remembered that the people who cry most loudly for\nnational independence to-day are the very ones whose antecedents and\nwhose fundamental conceptions of life and of society would forbid\nthem to grant even the most elementary social, not to say political,\nrights to one-half of the population of the land. The way the Brahman\nand the higher Sudras, who are clamouring for what they regard\nGod-given rights from the British government, deny in principle and\npractice, to their fellow-citizens, the so-called outcasts and other\nmembers of the community, the most elementary principles of liberty\nand privilege which they themselves now enjoy, is a significant\ncomment upon their political sanity and sense of congruity.\n\nIn connection with this same problem, Indians should not forget that\nin the multiplicity of antipathies which exist between the many races\nof India, and in the religious conflicts, which too often arise, there\nis need, and there will be need for many years, of one supreme power\nwhich has the ability to hold the balance of justice evenly between\nrace and race, and to command social and religious liberty to the\nthree hundred millions of the land. And this is what Great Britain has\ndone and is doing for India. _Pax Britannica_ has been one of the\ngreatest boons that the West has conferred upon the East.\n\nIt may also be well to add that Indians should have regard to the\nlimits of the rights of a subject people. It is useless to talk of\nself-government, until they are able to exercise the same; and even\nthe most rabid Hindu cannot dream that India is ripe for\nself-government and could maintain it for a month if the British were\nto leave the country. And if the British must remain here at all, it\nmust be as the dominant power. Canada and Australia, in their\nindependence, may be ideals for India to pattern after; but India\ncannot enjoy the rights of those two independent colonies until her\ncharacter becomes as steady, her ideas of liberty and her practice of\nsocial equality and her conception of human rights become as\nclarified, as they are in those two countries.\n\nThe recent proposal of the Government of India to enlarge the\nLegislative Councils and to create an Imperial Advisory Council\nreveals the purpose of the State to grant to the people all that is\nconsistent with the paramountcy of the British in India. But it is\nthis very paramountcy which the extremists deny to Great Britain.\nHerein lies the gist of the trouble. It will erelong create a serious\n_impasse_.\n\nGreat Britain cannot remain in this land and efface herself. At the\nsame time, when India is prepared for absolute self-government, she\nwill receive the blessing, and Great Britain will leave the land with\na blessed consciousness that she has wrought for India the greatest\nblessing and the noblest achievement that any people has wrought for\nanother and a foreign people in all the history of the world. And\nuntil that time comes, both India and Great Britain need to thank God\nthat He has so strangely blended together their destinies for the\nhighest elevation of both races.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE HOME OF MANY FAITHS\n\n\nThe land of the Vedas justly boasts of being the mother, or the\nfoster-mother, of nine great religions.\n\nIt has given birth to the greatest ethnic religion the world has seen;\nit is also the motherland of one of the three great missionary faiths\nof the world. These two religions--Hinduism and Buddhism--count among\ntheir followers more than a third of the human race, and are, in some\nrespects, as vigorous now as at any time in their history.\n\nIt is the foster-mother of Mohammedanism and counts among her sons and\ndaughters more of the followers of the Prophet of Mecca than are found\nin any other land.\n\nIt has also been the asylum of many followers of the Nazarene for at\nleast sixteen centuries; many even claim that Christianity has found a\nhome here since apostolic days.\n\nThere is no land comparable with India in the variegated expressions\nof its beliefs which add picturesqueness to the country and diversity\nto the people.\n\nI purpose to take the reader with me on a tour with a view to\nfurnishing glimpses of these religions at those places where they\nreveal special interest to the tourist.[1]\n\n[Footnote 1: The principal faiths of the land, with their adherents,\nwere as follows, according to census of 1901:--\n\nHindu 207,147,026\n\nSikh 2,195,339\n\nJain 1,334,148\n\nBuddhist 9,476,759\n\nParsee 94,190\n\nMohammedan 62,458,077\n\nJewish 18,228\n\nChristian 2,923,241\n\nThese figures include Burma.]\n\nIndia is a land of immense distances. But its thirty thousand miles of\nrailroad will enable the traveller, within a couple of months, to scan\nall its points of interest, and to feast his eyes upon visions of\nOriental charm and splendour, of architectural beauty and grandeur,\nand of such monuments of religious devotion as no other land can\npresent to the traveller and student.\n\nLet not the Westerner indulge his fears about the discomforts and\ndangers of travel in this tropical land. To an English-speaking\ntourist there are a few lands only which furnish more conveniences and\nfacilities for travel than this same India; and travelling is cheaper\nhere than in any other country. Comfortable second-class travelling\nrarely costs more than one cent a mile. And many, like the writer,\nhave travelled thousands of miles in third-class compartments at less\nthan half a cent a mile, and without much other inconvenience than an\nexcess of dust and stiffened bones. The writer has seen many\nglobe-trotters pass through India of whom few were not surprised at\nthe relative comforts of travel here during the winter months, and no\nother time of the year should be chosen for travelling in India.\n\nIt will be convenient to start upon our tour from Madura, the\nmissionary home of the writer. It is a large, wide-awake centre of\nenthusiastic Hinduism in the extreme south of the peninsula. In the\nheart of this town, of more than a hundred thousand people, stands its\ngreat temple, dedicated to Siva. The principal monuments of South\nIndia are its temples. They are the largest temples in the world. The\nMadura temple is only the third in size; but in its upkeep and\narchitectural beauty it far surpasses the other two, which are larger.\nIt covers an area of fifteen acres, and its many _Gopuras_, or\ntowers, furnish the landmark of the country for miles around. It is\nerected almost entirely of granite blocks, some of which are sixty\nfeet long. Its monolithic carving is exquisitely fine, as it is most\nabundant and elaborate. Hinduism may be moribund; but this temple\ngives only intimation of life and prosperity as one gazes upon its\nelaborate ritual, and sees the thousands passing daily into its shrine\nfor worship. It represents the highest form of Hindu architecture,\nand, like almost all else that is Hindu, its history carries us to the\ndim distance of the past. But the great Tirumalai Nayak, the king of\ntwo and a half centuries ago, spent more in its elaboration than any\none else. And it was he who built, half a mile away, the great palace\nwhich, though much reduced, still stands as the noblest edifice of its\nkind south of a line drawn from Bombay to Calcutta.\n\nIn this same temple we find, transformed, another cult. It is called\nthe Temple of Meenatchi, after its presiding goddess, \"the Fish-eyed\nOne.\" When Brahmanism reached Madura, many centuries ago, Meenatchi\nwas the principal demoness worshipped by the people, who were all\ndevil-worshippers. As was their wont, the Brahmans did not antagonize\nthe old faith of the people, but absorbed it by marrying Meenatchi to\ntheir chief god Siva, and thus incorporated the primitive\ndevil-worship into the Brahmanical religion. Thus the Hinduism of\nMadura and of all South India is Brahmanism _plus_ devil-worship. And\nthe people are to-day much more absorbed in pacifying the devils which\ninfest every village than they are in worshipping purely Hindu\ndeities.\n\nThe prevailing faith of the Dravidians, therefore, is demonolatry; and\nthe myriad shrines in the villages and hamlets, and the daily rites\nconducted in them, attest the universal prevalence of this belief and\nthe great place it has in the life of these so-called Hindus.\n\nA run of a hundred and fifty miles directly south brings us to Cape\nComorin, the southernmost point of India. It is also the extreme south\nof Travancore, \"the Land of Charity,\" and one of the richest and most\ncharming sections of India. It is a Native State under the control of\nthe Brahmans.\n\n[Illustration: THE GOLDEN LILY TANK IN THE MADURA TEMPLE]\n\nIt is unique in the large proportion of Christians which are among its\ninhabitants. Though the Christian community in India averages only one\nper cent of the population, in the State of Travancore it amounts to\n25 per cent. It is here that we find the ancient Syrian Church, with\nits three hundred and fifty thousand souls. Though it calls itself\n\"the Thomasian, Apostolic Church,\" and though the Romish Church\naccepts the legend, modern historians deny its apostolic origin, and\nclaim that it was founded no earlier than the third century. Even\nthus, it furnishes an intensely interesting study. The writer was\ndeeply interested to see and enter its two churches at Kottayam, both\nof which are at least eight hundred years old.\n\nFour centuries ago, Roman Catholicism used all the resources of the\nInquisition in order to absorb this Church. They succeeded only too\nwell, and half of the Indian Syrian Church is now subject to Rome.\nNearly a century ago, the Church Missionary Society of England lent a\nhelping hand to the Syrian Church, and has brought new life and\nprogressive energy, and a new spiritual power and ambition, into a\nportion of that decrepit type of ancient Christianity.\n\nFurthermore, a century of work given by the London Missionary Society\nand the Church Missionary Society has created a Protestant Christian\ncommunity of more than one hundred thousand souls in that little\nkingdom alone.\n\nWe pass from Travancore into the little State of Cochin, on the\nnorth. We are impressed by the colossal Christian church in the town\nof Cochin, in which, however, only a small handful of English people\nworship every Sunday evening. It was erected by the Portuguese four\ncenturies ago, and is a charming study. It is here, shortly after\nVasco da Gama had completed the first round-the-Cape journey, that\nthis house of God was erected by his followers. Two centuries later,\nthe Dutch came, conquered the Portuguese, occupied their house of\nworship, and desecrated their tombs. In that church to-day one can\nfind tombstones inscribed on one side by the Portuguese to their\ndeparted friends, and, on the other side, in Dutch, to commemorate\ndeparted Hollanders.\n\nBut the most interesting sight, by far, in this quiet old Indian town,\nis the community of white Jews who live on its southern side. No one\nknows when they came here. They probably arrived at the Dispersion of\nthe first century of our era; or it may be later. But the community\nmust have been reenforced from time to time, as they have maintained,\nin a marvellous way, the fairness of their complexion. It will not\nrequire much imagination, as one enters their synagogue, to think of\nthe synagogue of Nazareth of old. As we ascend the stair-way into the\nlittle schoolroom above, and hear the little ones reciting, in pure\nHebrew, passages from the Pentateuch, we can easily imagine that we\nare listening to the voice of a dear little Boy, nineteen centuries\nago, reciting to His master those same passages in that same tongue in\nPalestine. There is hardly a place on earth where Judaism has met with\nfewer vicissitudes and changes than on this western coast of India.\n\nIt is only a couple of hundred yards farther away that we find the\nsynagogue of the black Jews--the descendants of those who were given\nby the ancient king to be slaves to the white Jews. They adopted the\nreligion of their masters, and are still praying, like their masters,\nfor the coming of the Messiah, of whose arrival and triumphs in India\nthey seem to be oblivious.\n\nLeaving Cochin, we pass along the coast as far as Bombay, which has\nbeen called the \"Eye of India,\" and also the \"Gateway of India,\" two\nnames which are equally appropriate to this beautiful city. There is\nhardly another city on earth where more races and religions blend. And\nits streets are made exceedingly picturesque by the many costumes of\nits polyglot population. Before the arrival of the plague, some eight\nyears ago, Bombay was perhaps the most populous city in India. But\nthis fell scourge has decimated its population and has robbed it of\nmuch of its ambition.\n\nPerhaps the most interesting people that we see here are the Parsees,\nwith their \"Towers of Silence.\" According to their belief, earth is\ntoo sacred to be contaminated, and fire too divine to be polluted, by\nthe bodies of their dead, which, therefore, they expose in the towers,\nerected upon an adjacent hill, to be consumed by a crowd of hungry,\nexpectant vultures. One usually sees forty or fifty of these filthy\nbirds standing around the edge of each tower, watching the funeral\ncortege as it slowly winds its way up the hill, eager to pounce upon\nthe body as soon as exposed by the bearers in the centre within. And\nfrom the time of exposure it takes hardly ten minutes before every\nparticle of flesh has been consumed.\n\nThe one hundred thousand Parsees of Bombay are almost the only\nrepresentatives of the ancient faith of Zoroaster, perhaps the purest\nof all ethnic religions. They were driven out of their home land of\nPersia in the early onrush of Mohammedan fury, and fled, twelve\ncenturies ago, to India, where they found asylum.\n\nThe Parsees have the distinction of being the most advanced people of\nIndia, alike in wealth and philanthropy, in their treatment of woman,\nand in education and general culture. Their influence throughout the\nland is far beyond their numbers. And yet they are so narrow in their\nconception of their faith, that they declined, the other day, to\nreceive into their fold the English bride of one of their number. Thus\nthey decided that there is no door of entrance into their religion for\nany one who is not a born Parsee.\n\nIt is in this city, also, that we find a large representation of\nanother ancient cult--Jainism.\n\nJainism is closely kin to Buddhism. It represents the same type of\nreaction from a debased Brahmanism. As its name indicates, it is a\ncult for the worship of \"The Victorious Ones,\" that is, men who by\nself-discipline have triumphed over their passions and have attained\nperfection. Buddhism succumbed to, and was absorbed by, a new militant\nBrahmanism, which we call Hinduism. Jainism, on the other hand, has\nmaintained itself as a distinct faith and now has 1,334,148 followers.\nLike Buddhism, it is an agnostic religion, knowing no object of\nworship save the seventy-two Victorious Ones.\n\nOne of the leading characteristics of Jainism is its love of life,\neven in its lowest manifestation. Their devotion to this article of\ntheir faith is carried to such an extent that the devout will sweep\nthe road lest they step upon insects, and cover their mouth with gauze\ncloth lest they swallow and destroy minute forms of life. In the city\nof Bombay, Jains have a hospital for animals, for the maintenance of\nwhich they spend large sums of money annually. Maimed cattle, stray\ndogs and cats, and decrepit animals of all kinds are sought and\nbrought here for asylum and care. It is even said, I cannot say with\nhow much truth, that they employ men to come and spend nights here\nwith a view to furnishing food for the many kinds of vermin which\ninfest the place.\n\n[Illustration: TAJ MAHAL, AGRA]\n\nIn a sumptuous through train we now pass rapidly over nearly one\nthousand miles of a country which is intensely interesting,\nhistorically and ethnologically, and finally arrive in the famous city\nof Agra, which stands supreme among Indian cities as a centre of\narchitectural beauty. We have here come into a distinctively\nMohammedan region; and the edifices which crown the city with glory\nare not only connected with the Mohammedan faith, they are also the\nmasterpieces of the greatest minds of the Mogul Empire, and culminate\nin the Taj Mahal, which is the most valued gem of Mohammedan\narchitecture, and, perhaps, the most beautiful edifice in the world.\nWe first turn our face toward the Fort, which is one of the\nmagnificent fortresses of India. Two and a half centuries ago, Shah\nJehan was the ruling Mogul. He was not only one of the greatest rulers\nof the dynasty; he had also a passion for building, and was a man of\nrare taste as an architect. The Agra Fort, whose stern walls of red\nsandstone extend about a mile and a half, represents to us, at\npresent, not strength and protection, but an enclosure within which\nthe emperor built his great palace, which is a marvel of beauty and of\nsuperb architectural workmanship. The most attractive of the many\nparts of this palace is the Pearl Mosque, which \"owes its charm to its\nperfect proportions, its harmony of designs, and its beauty of\nmaterial, rather than to richness of decoration and ornament. In\ndesign it is similar to most temples of this kind; a court-yard with a\nfountain in the middle, surrounded on three sides by arcaded\ncloisters; while on the entrance side and that facing it are\nexquisitely chaste marble screens.\" \"Into the fair body of the India\nmarble the Moguls could work designs and arabesques borrowed from the\nPersia of ancient history, and flowers of exquisite hue and symmetry\nsuggested by the more advanced and civilized Florentine artists, who\nwere tempted over by the well-filled coffers of Shah Jehan.\" As the\nPearl Mosque was a part of the palace, it was only used by the royal\ncourt. Days of pleasure and improvement could be spent in the study of\nthe various parts which have been preserved of this ancient palace.\nBut we pass on a few miles to the Taj Mahal, which, like most of the\nbest buildings of Mohammedan art in North India, is a mausoleum and\nwas erected by Shah Jehan to his favourite wife, Mumtaz-i-Mahal. The\nTaj is erected in a beautiful garden, the gateway into which is\nperhaps the finest in India and is \"a worthy pendant to the Taj\nitself.\" The garden is exquisitely laid out, with a view to setting\noff the unspeakable charms of that \"dream of loveliness embodied in\nwhite marble.\" The Taj has well been described as a work \"conceived by\nTitans and finished by jewellers.\" The grandeur of the conception and\nthe wonderful delicacy of the workmanship cannot fail to impress even\nthe most unlearned in the architectural art. Much has been written,\nand all in unstinted praise, of this incomparable edifice; and yet,\nlike the writer, every visitor comes to its presence, feels the\ngrowing thrill of its beauty, and exclaims, \"The half was never told!\"\nAnd few leave the place without returning to be enthralled once more\nby a moonlight view of this thing of beauty. How great, indeed, must\nhave been the love of that otherwise cruel monarch for his departed\nempress that he should have exhausted so much of wealth (some say that\nthe Taj cost thirty million rupees) and conceived so much of beauty\nwherewith to embalm her memory. And as we enter the mausoleum and\nstand in the presence of the lovely shrines which it encases,--that of\nMumtaz-i-Mahal, and that of the emperor himself,--the mind is awed and\nmay find expression in Sir Edwin Arnold's poetic fancy,--\n\n \"Here in the heart of all,\n With chapels girdled, shut apart by screens,\n The shrine's self stands, white, delicately white,\n White as the cheek of Mumtaz-i-Mahal,\n When Shah Jehan let fall a king's tear there.\n White as the breast her new babe vainly pressed\n That ill day in the camp at Burhanpur,\n The fair shrine stands, guarding two cenotaphs.\"\n\n[Illustration: MARBLE SCREEN IN TAJ MAHAL]\n\nAnd upon a panel of his own shrine the mourning emperor had inscribed\nthese significant words from ancient traditions: \"Saith Jesus, on whom\npeace be, this world is a bridge. Pass thou over it, but build not\nupon. This world is one hour; give its minutes to thy prayers, for the\nrest is unseen.\"\n\nWe cannot but feel that the Taj is the highest expression of art that\nhuman affection and domestic affliction have ever achieved. This is\nnot religion; but it is closely kin to it.\n\nNot far from the Fort is found another great mosque, or _musjid_,\nwhere the Mohammedans crowd for worship. This, also, is a wonderful\nspecimen of art, and in its combination of simplicity and beauty is\nwell calculated to rouse to enthusiasm the many worshippers of Allah.\n\nAbout six miles away from Agra is another specimen of architectural\ngenius. It is the tomb of Akbar the Great. Some believe it to be\nalmost equal to the Taj. It commemorates with great beauty the noble\nname of that most distinguished man of the whole Mogul dynasty,--a man\nwho was famed for his breadth of view and sympathy, his wise\nstatesmanship, and religious tolerance. He did more than any other to\ncreate sympathy between Hindus and Mohammedans. It was in this\nmausoleum that the famous Kohinor diamond found its place and was\nexhibited for years. It is a striking fact that this precious stone\nwas undisturbed there, in the open air, for over seventy years,\nuntil the Shah of Persia, in 1739, invaded India and sacked the palace\nof the Moguls, and, with other fabulous wealth, carried this diamond\nalso back to his own country.\n\n[Illustration: SHAH JEHAN'S FORT, AGRA]\n\nDelhi is only a few hours' ride to the north from Agra. It is perhaps\nthe most interesting city in all India. From the earliest times of\nBrahmanic legends down to the present, it has been the centre of war\nand conflict, of royal display, extravagance, and treachery. Here,\nagain, Mohammedanism has, from the first, exercised its power and\nrevealed its religious warmth and enthusiasm. The Mohammedan mosques\nare equal to any in the land. And though the Persian sacked the city a\nhundred and seventy years ago, and robbed it of most that was\nbeautiful and valuable, there still remains a part of what was\nprobably the loveliest palace that was ever erected. It reveals to us\nalso \"the imperial grandeur of the Moguls, whose style of living was\nprobably more splendid than that of any monarchs of any nation before\nor since that time. Their extravagance was unbounded. Their love of\ndisplay has never been surpassed.\" It is claimed that the Peacock\nThrone of this Delhi Palace was of sufficient value to pay the debts\nof a nation. The marble walls are richly adorned with exquisite\nmosaics. Indeed, they are regarded as incomparable specimens of the\nart. One can pardon the builder who engraved over the north and south\nentrances to this palace of the Moguls the following lines:--\n\n \"If there be a Paradise on Earth,\n It is This! It is This! It is This!\"\n\nEleven miles from the city are found splendid ruins which are crowned\nby the celebrated tower known as Kutab-minar, which is another of the\nmost ancient and interesting monuments of India. Originally, this\nremarkable structure was a Hindu temple, and was erected probably in\nthe fourth century of our era. But upon the invasion of the Mussulmans\nthe temple was converted into a Mohammedan mosque, and the famous\ntower, which is 238 feet high, and is one of the most beautifully\nerected in the world, was allowed to stand. \"The sculptures that cover\nits surface have been compared to those upon the column of Trajan in\nRome and the Column Vendome in Paris; but they are intended to relate\nthe military triumphs of the men in whose honour they were erected,\nwhile the inscription on the Kutab-minar is a continuous recognition\nof the power and glory of God and of the virtues of Mohammed, his\nProphet.\"\n\n[Illustration: AKBAR'S TOMB]\n\nIt is in this city that one is impressed most thoroughly with\nmemorials of the great Mutiny of half a century ago, where the British\nwere so hard pushed and suffered so terribly in those days of\nbitterness which tried men's souls. And there is no memorial of this\nbitter struggle, to which the British refer with so much of pride and\nglory, as they do to the Cashmere gate, which they blew up and thereby\nforced an entrance into the city, with a loss of much precious blood.\n\nBut it was not the Mutiny nor the massive and gorgeous emblems of\nMohammedanism which impressed the writer most in this city. It was a\nvision just outside the walls of the city--a vision of great\nsimplicity--which thrilled his heart a few years ago. It was a very\nunattractive little ruined tower, from the centre of which rose a\npolished granite pillar, some thirty or forty feet high. It was\ninscribed from top to bottom, and the inscription was quite legible.\nIt spoke not of the triumphs of war nor of the glory of human rule and\nconquest. It is one of the most eloquent testimonies to the nobility\nof the Buddhist faith. It was carried here only a few centuries ago by\nan enlightened Mohammedan monarch from the far-off plains of the\nnorth. It is one of the celebrated \"Asoka Pillars.\" Asoka was the\nemperor of twenty-two centuries ago who wrought for Buddhism what\nConstantine the Great, at a later day, wrought for Christianity. He\nwas converted to Buddhism and at once became the devout propagator of\nthat faith. As the great emperor of his time, he exalted Buddhism and\nmade it the State religion of India. He not only sent his missionaries\nall over the land; he decreed that its principal teachings should be\neverywhere inscribed upon rocks and upon pillars; and that these\npillars should be erected in public places for the instruction of the\npeople. This pillar in Delhi is one of about a dozen already\ndiscovered and preserved in North India. And it is, perhaps, the most\nfully inscribed of all that have been found. And of the fourteen\nAsokan edicts inscribed, most of them inculcate a high morality, and\nsome of them a noble altruism. For instance, the first is a\nprohibition of the slaughter of animals for food or sacrifice. The\nsecond is the provision for medical aid for men and animals, and for\nplantations and wells on the roadside. The third is a command to\nobserve every fifth year as a year of mutual confession of sins, of\npeace-making, and of humiliation. The ninth is the inculcation of true\nhappiness as found in virtue. In all these inscribed edicts of that\nmost tolerant and cosmopolitan Buddhist emperor, we see nothing of\nwhich Buddhism should be ashamed, and much of which it may be proud,\nin the way of ethical injunction. It is more than ten centuries since\nBuddhism, which had been the common faith of India for a thousand\nyears, was absorbed into a new militant Hinduism and ceased to exist\nas a separate faith in this land. To-day, India proper has hardly half\na million Buddhists. And yet we behold these mute prophets of far-off\ndays scattered in many parts of the land, still pressing their\nmessage, but vainly, indeed, upon a people of unknown tongues. Buddha\nhimself is now a part of the Hindu Pantheon; and his principal\nteachings have become an essential part of the faith which he tried to\noverthrow. But these pillars stand for Buddhism that was tolerant\ntoward all save, perhaps, the Brahmanism which it existed to\noverthrow.\n\n[Illustration: KUTAB-MINAR, DELHI]\n\nFrom Delhi we pass on northward to the beautiful city of Amritsar,\nwhich is comparatively a modern town of one hundred and fifty thousand\npeople. In the heart of this town stands the far-famed Golden Temple\nof the Sikhs, built by Ranjit Singh,--\"The Lion of the Panjaub.\" The\ntemple is not a large one, being only fifty-three feet square, and is\nbuilt in the centre of a water tank, called \"The Pool of\nImmortality.\" The peculiar external feature of the temple is that it\nis largely covered with gold plate; hence its name. It is a beautiful\nobject to behold; and we are in haste to take off our shoes, which are\nprohibited in the sacred precincts, and to put on the shapeless holy\nslippers presented to us! We enjoy perfect freedom in passing through\nall parts of the temple, while devotees, under the guidance of the\npriests, sing their songs of praise with devout impartiality to their\ngod and to their bible.\n\nThe temple is the centre and inspiration of the Sikh religion. The\nSikhs are an interesting people. They rallied round one of the\nmultitude of the Hindu religious reformers, named Nanak Shah, who\nestablished this cult about the end of the fifteenth century. It may\nbe called an amalgam of Mohammedanism and Hinduism. It unites the\nmonotheism and the stern morality of the former with much of the petty\nritual of the latter. It does not observe caste. Still, in outer\nmatters of observances, Sikhs are not easily distinguishable from\nordinary Hindus. They, also, have bound themselves into a military\norder, which gives them almost the distinction of a nation. For this\nreason they are among the very best material which the country\nfurnishes for the native army, and are worthy to stand shoulder to\nshoulder with European soldiers.\n\n[Illustration: CASHMERE GATE, DELHI]\n\nThis religion is peculiarly a _book_ religion. It has degenerated into\na species of bibliolatry. Their bible contains the teachings and\nsermons of the founder of the faith; and it presents the highest\nstandard of morality and courage, and appeals with special power to\nthis sturdy tribe of the north. This book is called \"Granth,\" and is\ngenerally spoken of as \"Granth Sahib,\" which we may translate as \"Mr.\nBook\"! That is, they give it a dignity and a personality which is\nunique in any faith; and the Golden Temple is largely used as the\nreceptacle of the \"Granth,\" of which they keep a few copies protected\nby covers, which, however, they remove in order to show them to us as\nwe pass by.\n\nIn several particulars this faith is unique. They have no idols or\naltars, but meet once a week for prayer and praise. Their preacher\nreads passages from the \"Granth\" and prays to their god, who may be\nreached through the intercession of Nanak Shah, his prophet and their\nredeemer. They sing hymns similar to those used in Protestant worship,\nand celebrate communion by partaking of wafers of unleavened bread.\nTheir congregation do not object to the presence of strangers, but\nusually invite them to participate in the worship. There are about\ntwo and a quarter million Sikhs in the Province of the Panjaub,--the\nland of the \"five rivers.\"\n\nWhile in this city, one is tempted to look at the Khalsa College, one\nof the institutions established by government in different parts of\nthe land for the suitable training of native princes. Here one may\nfind young Sikh nobles and wealthy landlords, to the number of five\nhundred, being qualified for the high responsibilities which are\nbefore them.\n\nWe hurry back from the north in a southeastern direction over a\ndistance of eight hundred miles and reach the city of Benares, on the\nriver Ganges. There is hardly a river in the world which produces more\nfertility and which brings sustenance to more people than the divine\nGanges. The river is not only deified, but is regarded as one of the\nmost potent deities of India.\n\nFrom time immemorial, Benares, or \"Kasi,\" which is built upon the\nbanks of the Ganges, has partaken of the sanctity of the river, and is\nregarded by devout Hindus as the most sacred spot in the world. To die\nwithin the radius of ten miles from its centre is sure and eternal\nbliss, even to the outcast and the defiling white man! Many thousands\nare brought annually from all parts of the land to die at this sacred\nplace, and have their ashes scattered upon the waters of the holy\nriver. Many thousands of others who die in all parts of the land have\ntheir bodies burned and their ashes brought, by loving relatives upon\npilgrimage, to this city to be sprinkled upon the tides of the Ganges,\nwhich insures eternal rest to the departed souls.\n\nWhat Mecca is to Mohammedans, more than Jerusalem is to Jews, is\nBenares to devout Hindus. It has more temples and shrines than any\nother equal area in the world. Its priests, who are called\n_Gangaputhira_ (\"the Sons of the Ganges\"), are legion. They have their\nemissaries at principal railway stations for hundreds of miles from\nthe city, always on the lookout for pilgrims, and gathering up pilgrim\nbands to lead them on with ever increasing numbers to their temples.\nThe idols of this city are legion.\n\nBut there is nothing here which impresses one more than its squalid\nfilth, and the abject degradation of the people which crowd its\nstreets. The temples are extremely dirty. There is not one of imposing\nsize or of decent attractiveness. There stands the monkey-temple,\nwhere scores of mangy, tricky brutes are daily sumptuously fed by\ndevout pilgrims. On one side of the precinct a clever butcher-priest\nsevers with one stroke the heads of goats which are brought for\nsacrifice to the thirsty deity. As in Madura, so in Benares, the great\ngod of the Hindu is Siva. But the character of the worship which is\nrendered to him and to others of his cult is far from ennobling when\nnot actually revolting. And the phallic emblem of this god is\neverywhere found in his temples and is suggestive of definite evils\nconnected with his worship.\n\nThe saddest and most grewsome of all objects which impress one in this\ncentre of Hinduism is its burning Ghaut. To the side of the river many\nbodies are brought daily, each wrapped in a white cloth, and are\ndeposited just where they are half covered by the water. Within ten\nfeet of this place we see parties of pilgrims bathing in and drinking\nof the sacred water of the river, utterly regardless of the proximity\nof corpses above stream! From time to time corpses are picked out of\nthe water and placed upon piles of wood near by. Each pile is ignited\nand the body reduced to ashes. These ashes are carefully collected,\nlater on, and sprinkled, with appropriate ceremonies, on the face of\nthe river. Day after day, and year after year, this ceaseless\nprocession of the dead takes place, while up stream and down stream\nthe bank of the river is covered with men and women who fatally\nbelieve that by bathing in this dirty stream they are washing away\ntheir sins and preparing themselves for final absorption and eternal\nrest in Brahm!\n\nBenares reminded the writer of Rome. He never realized the degradation\npossible to Christianity until he visited \"The Eternal City,\" with its\nhuge shams and ghastly superstitions. He never saw Hinduism with its\nmyriad inane rites and debasing idolatry half so grotesque, idiotic,\nand repulsive, as in this city of Benares, where one ought to see the\nreligion of these two hundred odd million people at its best, and not\nat its worst.\n\nIt is a positive relief to go out of the city, a distance of four\nmiles, to Sarnath, where the great Buddha--\"The Enlightened\nOne\"--spent many long years in establishing his faith and in\ninculcating his \"Doctrine of the Wheel.\" It is a beautiful drive to\nthe birthplace of one of the greatest world faiths. Very little but\nruins meets the inquiring gaze of the visitor. Some of these, however,\nare very impressive, especially the great _stupa_, or tower. It now\nstands a hundred and ten feet high and ninety-three feet in diameter.\nIt was very substantially built, the lower part faced by immense\nblocks of stones which were clamped together with iron. And this\nfacing was covered with elaborate inscriptions. The upper part was\nbuilt of brick. At the foot of this striking ruin, built in the remote\npast as a monument to an ancient faith, devout Buddhists from all\nparts of the world come for worship and meditation upon the vanity of\nlife. The day before the writer arrived, the Lama of Tibet spent here\na few hours worshipping and seeking the blessing of the \"Enlightened\nOne.\" Near by, government is making a series of excavations and is\ndiscovering very interesting relics connected with this ancient\nmonastery founded by the Buddha. Already a beautiful specimen of an\nAsoka pillar and a variety of interesting sculptures have rewarded\ntheir industry. One can imagine no place more dear to the\ncontemplative Buddhist than this centre of the activities of his great\nMaster, where he spent many of the best years of his life in\nexpounding the teachings of his new cult, and in leading many souls\ntoward the light for which he had struggled with so much of heroic\nself-denial, and which had ultimately dawned upon him under the sacred\nBoh tree at Buddha Gaya.\n\nIn this extended pilgrimage, during which we have sought ancient and\nmodern expressions of the many faiths which have dominated, or which\nnow dominate, the people of this land, we have come into touch not\nonly with those tolerant faiths which have found their origin here, or\nwhich have found refuge and popularity in this peninsula,--such as\nHinduism, Demonolatry, Buddhism, Jainism, Zorastrianism, and Sikhism.\nWe have also come into touch with the three most intolerant faiths of\nthe world,--Christianity, Mohammedanism, and Judaism. There is no land\nwhere these three religions have suffered less of opposition than in\nIndia. Indeed, it is not from persecution and opposition that they\nhave stood in most danger, but from fraternal contact, growing\nappreciation, and ultimate absorption. The Hindu mind, like the Hindu\nfaith, has a fatal facility for accepting, semi-assimilating, and\nfinally absorbing, all of religious belief and conviction that may\ncome into contact with it. And this never necessarily involves the\nabandoning of the old beliefs.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nBURMA, THE BEAUTIFUL\n\n\nIn order to appreciate the wide extent of the British Empire in the\nEast, one needs to travel over the main lines of India and then steam\na thousand miles across the Bay of Bengal to Burma. Landing at\nRangoon, which is the doorway of the land, he reembarks upon one of\nthe sumptuous Irrawady River boats and steams northward another\nthousand miles into the very heart of the country. Thus without\nleaving the eastern empire one can spend weeks of most interesting\ntravel, and pass through territories inhabited by peoples of separate\nracial types and of totally different tongues. Perhaps no other region\nof the world can furnish such a variety of climes and such marked\ncontrasts of national habits and costumes. And yet, all this vast\nterritory has been brought into subjection to the British crown and\nfurnishes facilities and conveniences of travel which are really\nmarvellous in the East. Burma is politically and industrially a part\nof India.\n\nIt is a rich country, with four magnificent rivers reaching nearly its\nwhole length, furnishing abundant facilities for cheap travel and\ncommerce, and carrying fertility into all sections of the land.\n\nIt is the land of rice, of teak, and of oil. These are the triple\nsources of Burmese industry, commerce, and wealth. Never was a land\nricher than this in alluvial soil, in refreshing rains, and in\nbountiful rivers. It is one great expanse of living, paddy green. The\nteak timber furnished by the mighty forests of this land is carried to\nmany lands. The extent of this trade may be imagined from the\nstatement that the Bombay-Burma Trading Company in Burma employs three\nthousand elephants for hauling its timber to the river. Every two\nelephants are under the care of three men; so that there are\nforty-five hundred men in charge of these animals alone.\n\nBurma is called the \"Land of Pagodas.\" The first object which attracts\nthe eye soon after the ship enters the river, and while still twenty\nmiles from the harbour, is the far-famed pagoda of Schwey Dagon, in\nRangoon. Buddhism is preeminently the faith of Burma. All the people\nhave been for many centuries its adherents. And the pagoda is the\noutward emblem of that faith. What the church is to Christianity, and\nthe temple is to Hinduism, the pagoda (sometimes called \"dagoba\") is\nto Buddhism. It is the farthest removed from the Christian conception\nof a place of worship. In Christianity, large edifices are erected\nwhere the multitude can meet to unite in public worship. In Hinduism,\na temple is largely the abode of the idol, which is the outward emblem\nof their god. In it there is no place for public worship or for an\nassembled audience. In Buddhism, there is not even a god to worship,\nso that there is no interior to the pagoda. It is like the pyramid of\nEgypt, one massive solid structure, but of an elongated bell shape.\nThe highest part of it, corresponding to the handle of the bell, is\ncalled \"hti,\" and is usually covered with precious metal. It is a\nreliquary rather than a place of worship; and every pagoda of note is\nsupposed to be the receptacle of a few hairs or bones of the Buddha!\nIndeed, if one believe the members of that faith, the anatomy of that\ngreat man was marvellous and is still very promiscuously distributed\nthrough various lands of the East!\n\n[Illustration: SCHWEY DAGON PAGODA, RANGOON]\n\nThe Schwey Dagon pagoda is a very prominent object; for it is not only\nthree hundred and seventy feet high, but is also built on an\nartificial mound which is a hundred and seventy feet in height. It is\nelaborately decorated, and its \"hti\" is mostly of solid gold,\nencrusted with precious stones presented to the pagoda by King Mindoon\nMin. But while the pagoda itself impresses one with its massive\nproportions, it is the exquisite group of numberless little shrines or\ntemples which surround the pagoda, every one of which holds one or\nmore large images of the great Buddha, that furnish the rich sense of\nbeauty and charm which prevail. These little shrines are either built\nof marble or of richly carved teak, or of glass mosaic; and every one\ntries to excel every other in its delicate charm. And upon nearly\nevery one of these shrines there are sweet little bells, which, as the\nwind blows, seem to respond to spirit hands and ring forth their\ngentle peals of sacred music to the great founder of the faith.\n\nHere, also, is a massive bell of forty tons,--the third in size in the\nworld. It was once carried away by the British and lost in the Rangoon\nRiver. But the people later received permission to search for it. They\nfound it, and with genuine pride and triumph raised it and restored it\nto their pagoda.\n\nIt is one of the peculiar ironies of history that in this land of the\nBuddha, who was the greatest iconoclast, and who not only abhorred\nidolatry but also ignored deity, there should exist to-day numberless\nimages of him in every town and hamlet. These are of all sizes, from\nthe immense reclining Buddha of Pegu, which is a hundred and\neighty-two feet long, and is built of brick and mortar, down to the\ntiniest figures carried on the persons of individuals. There is no\npagoda or shrine in Burma around which is not found a large number of\nthese images. They have not the hideous deformity of Hindu idolatry;\nbut present either the benign and complacent, or the calm and\ncontemplative, expression which cannot fail to impress itself upon the\nnational character of the people. And one may say, with confidence,\nthat in this matter the truth of the proverb is verified,--\"Like god,\nlike people.\"\n\nOne may leave Rangoon in a comfortable train, and in about eighteen\nhours reach the old capital of Upper Burma, the beautiful Mandalay,\nwhich is nearly four hundred miles distant. The same journey may be\ntaken by the river Irrawady if one has more leisure and means; and he\nmay thus enjoy one of the most beautiful and sumptuous river journeys\nin the world.\n\nIt was only twenty years ago that this part of the country was seized\nby the British without bloodshed, and the foolish and dissolute King\nTheebaw was made prisoner for his stupid insolence, and deported, with\nhis two wives, to India, where they are still spending their days in\nretirement. Upper Burma has, however, put on new beauty and prosperity\nsince the British have taken it over; and the people are abundantly\nsatisfied with the new regime. Mandalay has also its famed Arrakan\npagoda, which claims to have the only contemporary likeness of Buddha\non earth. It is an immense brazen image; and it is the occupation of\nthe devout to gild the same with gold-leaf. At least a dozen men and\nwomen can be seen thus constantly expressing their devotion. In a few\nyears there will be tons of gold thus pasted upon his sacred body! But\nalas for the vandalism which lights up its shrine and the calm face of\nBuddha by electricity!\n\nAnother famous pagoda of Mandalay is the so-called \"Four Hundred and\nFifty Pagodas of the Law.\" This is a kind of Buddhist bible in stone.\nIt has four hundred and fifty small shrines, every one of which has a\nlarge polished granite slab, upon which is engraved a precept of the\nfaith; and the whole make up a complete body of the law, which every\nmember of the faith may come and read at his leisure.\n\nHere, as at all shrines, we notice the beautiful custom of these\nBurmese people in practising their public devotion with bouquets of\nflowers in their hands. It is touching to see this constant blending\nof beauty with piety. The abundant use of the candle, also, in their\nworship reminds us of the Romish ritual.\n\nWe are taken through the royal gardens and the deserted palaces of\nMandalay, which are constructed largely, as many of the houses of\nBurma are, of exquisitely carved teak, rising here and there in\npointed spires, which are indeed beautiful, but which give the\nimpression of the so-called gingerbread style of architecture.\n\nUpon one who has lived for many years in India there are two things in\nBurma which make a deep and a very pleasing impression.\n\n[Illustration: THEEBAW'S PALACE, MANDALAY]\n\nIn the first place, the charm of the Burmese woman is marked. She has\nnone of the cringing, retiring, self-conscious mien of the Hindu\nwomen. She is possessed of liberty and of equality with man. Her\nappearance in society is both modest and self-respecting. She is\nconscious of her own beauty, and knows how to enhance it with\nexquisite taste. She is a great lover of colours, as is the Hindu\nwoman. But the latter loves only the primitive and elementary colours;\nthe former, on the other hand, cultivates the delicate shades, and\nadorns herself with silks of various tints, such as attract and\nfascinate. It is for this reason that Burma is called \"The Silken\nEast.\" Her dress is clumsy and uncouth in form, and, in this respect,\nis incomparably inferior to the graceful cloth of India. But the woman\nherself is lovely, and the taste which she displays in her personal\nadornment is very attractive. It does not surprise one to know that\nnot a few Europeans marry these Burmese ladies of beauty. But above\nher beauty is that pose of freedom and self-respect which commends her\neverywhere. Nor is this assumed. The woman of Burma is \"the man of the\nfamily.\" In business, and in all forms of trade, she is far superior\nto her lord, and much of the support and the honour of the family\ndepends upon her industry, cleverness, and independence. Certainly\nBuddhism has produced, in many respects, a higher type of womanhood\nthan has Hinduism.\n\nAnother aspect of life in Burma is one that instantly captivates one\nwho goes there from India. It is a land free from the trammels of\ncaste. The trail of this serpent is upon all things in India. It\ndivides men at all points, and robs social life of much that is sweet\nand beautiful in other lands. The great Gautama vehemently attacked\nthe Brahmanical caste system, and one is glad to see in Burma that\nthat faith has adhered to this primitive enmity. One rejoices to see\nat the temples and on the public streets, everywhere, common eating\nand drinking houses, where the people meet for refreshment and for\nquiet social chat, without any thought of caste to disturb their\nrelationship and mar their convivial pleasures.\n\nThat which impresses the observant Christian visitor to that land is\nthe triumph and wonderful achievement of missionary effort there\nduring the last half century.\n\nAll know the works, the sufferings, and the results attained by that\ngreat prophet of Burma, Adoniram Judson. He was a saint of the heroic\nmould, and his influence will affect the history of that people for\ncenturies to come.\n\nThe American Baptist Mission overshadows, by its numbers and success,\nall other bodies of missionaries in the land. And at the present time\ntheir splendid force of workers is making a deep impress upon the\ncommunity.\n\nBut their success has been mostly achieved among a very peculiar\nhill-tribe of that country,--the Karens. It was long after the\nBaptists had begun work there that this low hill-tribe, of less than\ntwo million people, was in the lowest depths of barbarism. Their\nlanguage was not reduced to writing, and consequently, they had no\nliterature whatever. But they had one interesting tradition. It had\ncome down to them, generation after generation, that their bible had\nbeen lost, and that some day the Great Spirit would send a fair\nbrother from the West to restore unto them the message of God which\nhad disappeared. The \"Fair Brother\" came in the person of the American\nmissionary; and his message was received in the assured faith that it\nwas divinely sent and was the long-lost tradition of their tribe. From\nthat day forward, thousands of the Karen tribe have everywhere\naccepted the Gospel of the Christ, until there are, at the present\ntime, connected with that mission alone, more than one hundred and\nfifty thousand Karen converts.\n\nAnd this is by no means all of the wonderful story of the regeneration\nof this barbarous tribe. Either by a very wise missionary\nstatesmanship, or by a rare inspiration, such as we do not see\nelsewhere in the East, these people have almost entirely assumed the\nfinancial burdens of their own religious training and institutions,\nand are always quick, even beyond their means, to respond to every\nGospel claim upon their purse. The story of their offerings, in view\nof their extreme poverty, is marvellous in its self-denial and\noutgoing generosity. The writer spent a few days at the missionary\ncentre in the outskirts of Rangoon. Upon that compound there was a\nmemorial church that had cost $30,000, of which the Karen Christians\nhad given all, save a grant made by government for a few adjoining\nclass-rooms. Three bungalows and other buildings of value are also\nfound there, and the whole property is owned, not by the mission, but\nby the Karens themselves. Ten miles away from this is the largest\ntheological seminary in the East, with more than one hundred and forty\nstudents under training. For the maintenance of this, again, those\npoor Karen Christians gladly impose upon themselves a family tax, and\nhave the sweet consciousness that their youth are being trained for\nChristian service through their own self-denying endeavour.\n\nThese people were in social scale so low that they had practically no\nmusic of their own. They have therefore readily taken to western\nmusic. And it is astonishing to hear how well they sing our western\ntunes, and even render solos and quartettes at public European\nfunctions in a way that calls forth hearty encores. It is verily the\nbirth of a nation in a day. So that in this land of many wonders the\nmovement among the Karen people seems to be the most wonderful of all.\n\nAmong the Karens, Ko San Ye stands forth as a unique figure of intense\ninterest. He has been called the \"Moody\" of Burma. He is absolutely\nilliterate. When about thirty years old, he lost his wife and his only\nchild; and finding no comfort in his ancestral demonolatry, he turned\nto Buddhism for relief and retired to a mountain retreat and became\nknown and esteemed among his people as a devout ascetic and a holy\nman. With the offerings of his people he built two pagodas and a\nmonastery. But his soul found no rest there. In 1890, he was baptized\nas a Christian, with one hundred and forty of his followers. He then\nobtained a grant of twenty thousand acres of waste land from\ngovernment, and established a village which now numbers several\nhundred houses. His influence over his own people is amazing, and is\nthe result of superstitious reverence and awe.\n\nHe regretted that his ignorance prevented him from preaching the\nGospel; but he thought that his influence over the people should be\nrightly used in the Lord's service. So he devoted himself to the\ncollection of funds for religious purposes among his people. And in\nthis work he has had almost fatal success, for his fellow-Christian\nKarens have responded to his appeals for money to the extent of at\nleast $130,000. In view of the exceeding poverty of the people, this\nsum seems almost fabulous. Mr. Ko San Ye is known by all to be\nperfectly disinterested in the use of the money intrusted to him. Not\na cent sticks to his hands; and he reverently and truthfully speaks of\nit as the \"Lord's money.\" But his judgment is not commensurate with\nhis piety. Even the most friendly cannot say that he has wisely\nadministered this sacred trust of his poor brethren. He has erected\nchurches, schools, and rest-houses which are altogether too sumptuous\nfor the people. He spent thousands in the purchase of a fine\nsteam-launch for the convenience of his people on the river side. He\nthen purchased a rice-mill which brings a fair income to the mission.\nHe has added to these two fine and expensive automobiles, in the\nsmaller of which the writer had, for him, the unique pleasure of a\ndelightful spin through the city of Rangoon and its suburbs, under the\nguidance of a Karen chauffeur! It was his first automobile ride; and\nto think of it as being enjoyed in a vehicle bought by poor Christians\nof Burma! Strange to say, the people continue to repose implicit\nconfidence in him, even to the extent of mortgaging their property, in\norder to add to this public fund. It is to be hoped that this good man\nmay soon submit more to missionary guidance.\n\nKo San Ye is but an interesting episode in the wonderful progress of a\nnation from the depth of barbarism to Christian privilege and\ncivilized life. The missionaries often dare not have him present\nduring the baptism of new converts, lest they should think that they\nwere baptized in the name of Ko San Ye rather than in the name of\nChrist! And yet it is said that the two leading characteristics of\nthis strange man are his humility and his unselfishness!\n\nThe Karens, with all their lowliness and barbarous antecedents, are\nexcellent material to work upon, and are responding with wonderful\neagerness to the missionary endeavour made in their behalf, and are\nalready, in many noble qualities, revealing to the native Christians\nof the East the way of ascent to nobility of character and to the\nhighest Christian possession.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE HINDU CASTE SYSTEM\n\n\nThe word \"caste\" is derived from the Latin term _castus_, which\nsignified purity of breed. It was the term used by Vasco da Gama and\nhis fellow-Portuguese adventurers, four centuries ago, as they landed\nupon the southwestern coast of India and began to study the social and\nreligious condition of the people. The word expressed to them the\nremarkable bond which held the people together; the subsequent\ngenerations of foreigners and English-speaking natives have adopted it\nas the most appropriate term to express the unique system which\nprevails all over India. No other people, in the history of the world,\nhave erected a social structure comparable to this of India. For\ntwenty-five centuries it has controlled the life of nearly one-sixth\nof the human race. Other countries have, or have had, tribal\nconnections, class distinctions, trade unions, religious sects,\nphilanthropic fraternities, social guilds, and various other\norganizations. But India is the only land where all these are\npractically welded together into one consistent and mighty whole,\nwhich dictates the every detail of human relationship and controls the\nwhole destiny of man for time and eternity. For it should be\nremembered that India has consistently declined to recognize any\ndistinction between the social and the religious. These are the\nreverse and the obverse of life; they are brought to the same rules\nand must yield obedience to the same authority. Religion, to the\nHindu, permeates the whole social domain; and social order draws its\nsanctions from, and is enforced by the penalties of, religion. To\nmarry outside one's caste, to eat food cooked by an outcast, to cross\nthe ocean, to delay unduly the marriage of a daughter,--these, and a\nthousand other delinquencies which may seem absolutely harmless to a\nWesterner, are not only regarded as social irregularities, but also as\nsins whose penalties will harass the soul beyond the grave or\nburning-ground. Herein does caste reveal its uniqueness, and from this\ndoes it pass on to the exercise of its extraordinary tyranny over the\npeople.\n\n\nI\n\nThe origin of caste is a subject of much uncertainty and debate. In\nancient Vedic times, caste was unknown. Society, in those days, was\nmore elastic and free, and resembled that of other lands. And yet it\nshowed a tendency toward a mechanical division which later grew into\nthe caste system. It was not until the time of the great lawgiver,\nManu, about twenty-five centuries ago, that the system crystallized\ninto laws, and the organization became so compact as to force itself\nupon all the people and become an integral part of recognized Hindu\nlaw. Manu and other lawgivers found the basis of caste rules in the\ntraditions of an ancient Brahman tribe. These they elaborated and\nenforced.\n\nThe ancient name for caste was _varna_, which means \"colour.\" This\nname is suggestive, and has led many authorities to trace back the\nwhole system to original race-purity, as indicated by the colour of\nthe skin. The first incursion of the fair Aryans from the northwest\nsettled down, it is claimed, in the northern portions of the country.\nThey gradually mingled and intermarried with the dark-skinned\nDravidian and aboriginal population, with the natural consequence of\na loss of race-purity and of whiteness of complexion. A subsequent\ndescent of a new Aryan host upon the plains of northern India found\nthe descendants of their predecessors of darker hue than themselves,\nwhich bespoke their race degeneracy; so they kept aloof from them.\nLater, however, they began to mingle with the former inhabitants, so\nthat their descendants partly lost the ancestral complexion. A still\nlater Aryan incursion declined to have intercourse with the\ndescendants of those who last preceded them. Thus we have four classes\ndivided upon the basis of colour, or _varna_, which may correspond\nwith the four great original castes of India.\n\nThe traditional theory of the Hindus themselves, in reference to caste\norigin, is admirably simple and quite adequate to satisfy ninety-nine\nper cent of the devotees of that faith to-day. Brahma, the first god\nof the Hindu triad, the Creator, was the immediate source and founder\nof the caste order; for he caused, it is said, the august Brahman to\nproceed out of his divine mouth, while the warlike and royal Kshatriya\nemanated from his shoulders, the trading, commercial Vaisya, from his\nthighs, and the menial Sudra, from his feet. And from these four\nprimal classes have descended, through myriads of permutations and\nminglings, the present hydra-headed caste organization.\n\nBut modern and scientific students of the social order of India\nentirely discard and ignore all Hindu mythical explanations and\n_Puranic_ legends concerning this subject, and endeavour to trace the\npresent system to its sources and primal causes through patient\nhistoric research and through a most elaborate system of\nanthropometric and ethnographic examinations conducted all over the\nland. The subject, however, is so vast and complicated that\nauthorities upon the subject are still considerably at variance in\ntheir theories of origin. We may conveniently classify the prevailing\ntheories, according to their emphasis, as follows:--\n\n(_a_) _The Religious Theory._--This gives emphasis to the religious\ninfluence as the dominant one in the formation of the social order of\nthe land. It is maintained that the clever and unscrupulous Brahman\nhas, to a large extent, originated it and nursed it into its present\nwonderful proportions, in order to create and perpetuate his own\nsupremacy among the people of India. As the spiritual head of\nHinduism, and the recognized source of religious power among its\ndevotees, he required and devised this organization, with himself as\nits undisputed head, and with a distinct recognition by all others of\nhis supremacy in the Hindu faith as a _conditio sine qua non_ of their\nadmission as castes into the Hindu system. Up to the present day, the\npublic acceptance of the supreme religious authority of the Brahman is\none of the two conditions which qualify any people to admission into\nthe sisterhood of Hindu castes. The other condition is separation from\nall other peoples in matters which will be hereafter mentioned.\n\nThere are potent reasons for accepting this theory; for the strongly\nentrenched position which religion still holds in the system, both as\na basis and as a regulator, notwithstanding other antagonizing\ninfluences, is a testimony to its original place and power therein.\nAny social order whose direction is regulated by social injunctions\nand whose forms and ritual are enforced by religious penalties must be\nrecognized as a mighty religious system.\n\n(_b_) _The Tribal Theory._--Moreover, there were many aboriginal\ntribes which entered the ranks of Hinduism through the formation of\nnew castes. Mr. Risley, in the Census of 1901, refers to such. (See\nVol. I, p. 521). They gradually abandoned their old tribal customs and\nentered upon new paths which brought them into conformity with Hindu\nusages. Or in some cases they preserved tribal habits and even their\ntribal _totems_, and baptized them into the new faith and thus became\nseparate castes in the Hindu order.\n\nAs in the past, so \"all over India at the present moment there is\ngoing on a process of the gradual and insensible transformation of\ntribes into castes. The stages of this operation are in themselves\ndifficult to trace.... They usually set up as Rajputs, their first\nstep being to start a Brahman priest, who invents for them a mythical\nancestor, supplies them with a family miracle connected with the\nlocality where their tribes are settled, and discovers that they\nbelong to some hitherto unheard-of clan of the great Rajput\ncommunity.\" (Census 1901, Vol. II, p. 519.) It is precisely the same\nprocess which brought the many Dravidian and even more primitive\ntribes of South India into the Hindu fold; and it is a curious fact\nthat these same people are to-day the greatest sticklers in the land\nfor caste and its myriad rules.\n\n(_c_) _The Social Theory._--Some hold with Sir Denzil Ibbetson, in the\nCensus Report of 1881, \"that caste is far more a social than a\nreligious institution; that it has no necessary connection whatever\nwith the Hindu religion, further than that under that religion\ncertain ideas and customs common to all primitive nations have been\ndeveloped and perpetuated in an unusual degree.\" This is acknowledged\nto be an exaggerated statement. It may possibly be true that \"caste\nhas no _necessary_ connection with Hinduism,\" but it is emphatically\ntrue that caste, as understood by all, does not exist apart from that\nfaith.\n\nIt is, however, a fact that divisions have occurred within castes,\nowing to the development of slight social differences between the\nmembers. For instance, several castes have been created by the\ndegradation of members of the existing castes on account of their\nmarriage of widows. The Pandarams of South India are held in\ndistinction among the begging castes because of their abstention from\nmeat, alcohol, and widow marriage. Indeed, it is interesting to note\nthat a former caste status has been more frequently lost by, and\ndegradation to a new caste has been consequent upon, the adoption of\nwidow marriage, than through almost any other act. And, at present,\nthis prohibition of the marriage of widows, including child widows, is\nthe most tenaciously and unrighteously enforced caste custom in India.\n\n(_d_) _The Occupational Theory._--All regard fellowship in the same\ntrade, or occupation, as the most prolific source of caste alignment,\nin modern times at least. Ibbetson contends that \"the whole basis of\ndiversity of caste is diversity of occupation. The old division into\nBrahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Sudra, and Mlechha, or outcast, who is\nbelow the Sudra, is but a division into the priest, the warrior, the\nhusbandman, the artisan, and the menial.... William Priest, John King,\nEdward Farmer, and James Smith are but the survivals in England of the\nfour _varnas_ of Manu.\" (Census of 1881.) This statement needs serious\nqualification. Farming, which is followed to-day by a majority of the\npopulation of India, is an occupation which is subsidized by no caste\nand is followed practically by the members of all castes. The Brahmans\nare the only ones who are degraded by following the plough. And there\nis a growing number of trades, introduced by modern civilization,\nwhich have not yet been touched by the caste system, and which the\nenterprising youth of different grades of Hindu society are entering\nwith eagerness. And yet, while this is a fact, it is equally true that\nthe functional type of castes is developing and spreading much more\nrapidly than any other. In the town of Madura, a few of the families,\nfrom the weaver caste, opened a remunerative trade in the manufacture\nof fireworks. They at first began it as an extra, to add to their\nvery meagre income. Gradually it encroached upon their time until it\nbecame their sole occupation. To-day they are prospering in their new\ntrade. But to them and their castemen their change of trade involves\nthe transfer of caste relations. No longer being weavers, they do not\nsee how they can continue to be bound by ties to their former castemen\nor former fellow-tradesmen; hence the old connubial and convivial\nbonds of caste are relaxing, and the weavers decline to have\nfellowship with them as formerly on these lines. Thus, in all parts of\nthe land, we have present-day illustrations of the creation of\nfunctional castes. And it is an interesting inquiry whether this mania\nfor creating a new caste for every rising trade and occupation will\nfinally overcome and absorb all occupations created by the demands of\nmodern life and advancing civilization, or whether it will in time\nsuccumb to the spirit of modern progress until all occupations shall\nbe emancipated from the tyranny of caste and shall be open to all men\nwho desire to enter them.\n\n(_e_) _The Crossing Theory._--According to Manu's _Dharma Sastra_ one\nmight be led to believe, as Hindus do stoutly maintain, that nearly\nall modern castes have been created by interbreeding. Those caste laws\nof twenty-five centuries ago taught that the offspring of the union\nof a woman of higher with a man of lower caste could belong to the\ncaste of neither parent, and therefore formed a new and a separate\ncaste. The names of castes thus formed are given with much detail in\nManu's works. But it does not require much wisdom for one to perceive\nthe absurdity of the working out of such a system, and the\nimpossibility connected with it as an adequate basis for the caste\norganization of the present day. Yet interbreeding has doubtless been\nan important element in the elaboration of the stupendous caste\norganization. We have abundant illustration of this very process and\nits results in modern times. Among the Dravidians, especially, there\nare many castes which trace their origin to miscegenation. Among the\nMunda tribe we find nine such divisions; also five among the Mahilis,\nwho themselves claim their descent from the union of a Munda with a\nSanthal woman.\n\nThis will not be unexpected when it is remembered that endogamy is the\nprime law of most Hindu castes; and this, too, in a land where\nimmorality and adultery are so prevalent. Other sources of Hindu\ncastes are mentioned. Some, like the Mahrattas, have behind them\nnational traditions, and a history to which they refer and of which\nthey are proud. Others, still, have, by migrating from the home of the\nmother caste, severed their connection from the parent stock and have\nformed a separate and independent caste.\n\nIt is unnecessary to state that not one of the above theories is\nadequate to account for all the existing castes of the land. These\nforces have entered, with varying degrees of efficiency, into their\nstructure,--one being dominant as a causal power in one, and another\nin another. And yet it may be stated that of all these caste-producing\nforces religion and occupation have had marked preeminence; and they\nare more influential to-day than ever before.\n\n\nII\n\nWe shall next consider the various Characteristics or Manifestations\nof Caste. The system is a very flexible one; and yet its\ncharacteristics are practically the same in all parts of the country.\nPerhaps the best way to clearly describe these to a western reader is\nto quote at length what we may call Mr. Risley's capital western\nparaphrase of the system in _Blackwood's Magazine_, a decade ago. \"Let\nus,\" he writes, \"imagine the great tribe of Smith ... in which all the\nsubtle _nuances_ of social merit and demerit have been set and\nhardened into positive regulations affecting the intermarriage of\nfamilies. The caste thus formed would trace its origin back to a\nmythical eponymous ancestor, the first Smith, who converted the rough\nstone hatchet into the bronze battle-axe and took his name from the\n'smooth' weapons that he wrought for his tribe. Bound together by this\ntie of common descent they would recognize as the cardinal doctrine of\ntheir community the rule that a Smith must always marry a Smith, and\ncould by no possibility marry a Brown or a Jones. But, over and above\nthis general canon, two other modes or principles of grouping within\nthe caste would be conspicuous. First of all, the entire caste of\nSmith would be split up into an indefinite number of in-marrying\nclans, based upon all sorts of trivial distinctions. Brewing Smiths\nand baking Smiths, hunting Smiths and shooting Smiths, temperance\nSmiths and licensed victualler Smiths, Smiths with double-barrelled\nnames and hyphens, Smiths with double-barrelled names without hyphens,\nConservative Smiths and Radical Smiths, tinker Smiths, tailor Smiths,\nSmiths of Mercia, Smiths of Wessex,--all these and all other\nimaginable varieties of the tribe Smith would be, as it were,\ncrystallized by an inexorable law forbidding the members of any of\nthese groups to marry beyond the circle marked out by the clan\nname.... Thus a Hyphen-Smith could only marry a Hyphen-Smith, and so\non. Secondly, and this is the point which I more especially wish to\nbring out here, running through this endless series of clans we should\nfind another principle at work breaking up each clan into three or\nfour smaller groups which form a sort of ascending scale of social\ndistinction. Thus the clan of Hyphen-Smiths, which we take to be the\ncream of the caste--the Smiths who have attained the crowning glory of\ndouble names securely welded together by hyphens--would be again\ndivided into, let us say, Anglican, Dissenting, and Salvationist\nHyphen-Smiths, taking ordinary rank in that order. Now the rule of\nthese groups would be that a man of the Anglican could marry a woman\nof any group, that a man of the Dissenting group could marry into his\nown or the lowest group, while the Salvationist Smith could only marry\ninto his own group. A woman could, under no circumstance, marry down\ninto a group below her. Other things being equal, it is clear that\ntwo-thirds of the Anglican girls would get no husbands, and two-thirds\nof the Salvationist men no wives. These are some of the restrictions\nwhich would control the process of match-making among the Smiths if\nthey were organized in a caste of the Indian type. There would also\nbe restrictions as to food. The different in-marrying clans would be\nprecluded from marrying together, and their possibilities of\nreciprocal entertainment would be limited to those products of the\nconfectioners' shops into the composition of which water, the most\nfatal and effective vehicle of ceremonial impurity, had not entered.\nFire purifies, water pollutes. It would follow in fact that they could\neat chocolates and other sweetmeats together, but could not drink tea\nor coffee, and could only partake of ices if they were made without\nwater and were served on metal, not porcelain, plates.\"\n\nMr. Risley might have added considerably to these restrictions and\nlimitations without exhausting the catalogue.\n\nLet us briefly enumerate those elements which enter into caste. The\nfirst and the most important is intermarriage within the caste. None\nexcept members of totemistic castes can, with impunity, look beyond\nthe sacred borders of their own caste for conjugal bliss. So long as\ncastes remain endogamous they will preserve their integrity, and their\nfoundations will never be removed. This is the _fons et origo_ of\ncaste perpetuity. All other characteristics may pass away; if this\nremain, all is well with the organization. And it is this which\nremains with devilish pertinacity and mischief-working power in the\ninfant Native Christian Church of India. It is this same extreme evil\nwhich the social reformers of India are trying to puncture. But all\nthat they dare to struggle and hope for is the right of members of\nsubdivisions of any caste to intermarry. A generation ago, there were\n1886 divisions in the Brahman caste alone, no two of which could enjoy\nconnubial or convivial privileges together. It is not up to the most\nsanguine reformer of India to seek that all Brahmans enjoy the right\nof intermarrying,--he only asks that the divisions among the Brahmans\nmay be reduced, and intermarriage may be sanctioned among\nsubdivisions. Yet even this meagre quest is not likely to be\ngratified. This is not surprising, for the defenders of the system\nwell know that if this stronghold of caste is at all weakened, the\nwhole will speedily yield to modern attack. This, doubtless, is the\nreason why orthodox Hindus are so vehement in their opposition to any\nand all endeavour to remove the many disabilities and cruelties which\nthe marriage regulations of the land inflict upon Hindu women. There\nis no land under the sun whose weaker sex suffer more from marital\nlegislation than India; and yet the people can do nothing practically\nto remedy the crying evils of the same, simply because the mighty\nengine of caste is arrayed against them. Its perpetuity is linked\nclosely with the resistance of all efforts at reform.\n\nNext in importance to the connubial is the convivial legislation of\ncaste. It is the business of every member of a caste to conserve the\npurity of his _gens_ by eating only with his fellow-castemen. Under no\ncircumstance can he inter-dine with those of a caste below his own.\nThe dictates of caste in this matter are sometimes beyond\nunderstanding. Not only must a man eat with those of his own\nconnection; he must be very scrupulous as to the source of the\narticles which he is about to eat; he must know who handled them, and\nespecially who cooked them. Some articles of food, such as fruit, are\nnot subject to pollution; while others, preeminently water, are to be\nvery carefully guarded against the polluting touch of the lower\ncastes. The writer has entered a railway car and accidentally touched\na Brahman's water-pot under the seat, whereupon the disgusted owner\nseized the vessel and immediately poured out of the car window all its\ncontents. It has been truly said that that monster of cruelty, Nana\nSahib of Cawnpore, was able, without any violation of caste rules, to\nmassacre many innocent English women and children at the time of the\ngreat Mutiny; but to drink a cup of water out of the hand of one of\nthose tender victims of his treachery and rage would have been a\nmortal sin against caste, such as could be atoned for only in future\nbirths and by the fiery tortures of hell! The rationale of this\ninterdiction is doubtless the desire to preserve the purity of caste\nblood. As food becomes a part of the body, and, as the Hindu thinks,\nof the life, it is imperative that all the members of a caste shall\neat only the same kind of food, and also that which has not been\nsubjected to the ceremonially polluting touch of outsiders.\n\nThis urgency is increased by the fact that different castes proscribe\ndifferent articles of diet. The _Sivar_, so-called, are strict\nvegetarians, and will have absolutely no communion in food with\nmeat-eaters, even though the latter may belong to a higher caste than\nthemselves. Meat of any kind is an abomination to them. Other\nrespectable castes will touch only chicken meat, others mutton, a very\nfew pork, while no caste will permit its members to eat beef. No sin\nis regarded by the orthodox with more horror than that of killing and\neating the flesh of the cow,--the most sacred and most commonly\nworshipped animal of India.\n\nThese convivial rules of caste are the greatest obstacles to social\nunion and fellowship among the people of India. Westerners hardly\nrealize the extent to which their communion is based upon the\nconvivial habit. Many times a friendship which lasts a lifetime is\nformed by strangers sitting together at the common dinner table. And,\nin the same way, are the old friendships of life generally renewed and\ncemented in the West. And it is a significant fact that the Christian\nfaith antagonizes Hinduism at this very point by enacting that its\ngreat Sacrament of love and communion of life in Christ be embodied in\na perpetual and universal \"drinking of the same cup and eating of the\nsame bread.\" In nothing is Hinduism becoming more manifestly a burden\nto the educated community than in this restriction about inter-dining;\nand in nothing are they more ready, as we shall see later, to violate\ncaste customs than in this matter.\n\nThen comes, as a natural consequence of the above, limitations to the\ncontact of persons of differing castes. If a Brahman cannot eat with a\nSudra, because it supposedly brings a taint to his pure blood, no more\ncan he, with impunity, come into personal contact with him. The touch\nof such is pollution to his august and pure person; and the very air\nthe low castes breathe brings to his soul and body taint and poison.\nThis idea of ceremonial pollution by contact causes great\ninconvenience and trouble, and for that reason has been considerably\nmitigated or modified in recent times. The Rajah of Cochin, who lives\ntemporarily near the writer, and who is evidently a stickler for caste\nobservances, receives calls from European friends only before nine\no'clock in the morning, for the obvious reason that that is the hour\nof his daily ablution. The Maharajah of Travancore bathes at 7 A.M.\ndaily; hence, intending European guests find reception only before\nthat early hour. In the State of Travancore, in which Brahmanical\ninfluence is great, even the high caste _Nair_ cannot touch, though he\nmay approach, a Namburi Brahman. A member of the artisan castes will\npollute his holiness twenty-four feet off; cultivators at forty-eight\nfeet; the beef-eating Pariah at sixty-four feet. Like the Palestinian\nleper of old, the low-caste man of that part of India was, until\nrecently, expected to leave the road when he saw a Brahman come, and\nremove his polluting person to the required number of feet from his\nsacred presence. Low-caste witnesses were not allowed to approach a\ncourt of justice, but standing without, at the requisite distance, to\nyell their testimony to the Brahman judge who sat in uncontaminated\npurity within. The falling of the shadow of a low-caste person upon\nany Brahman in India necessitates an ablution on the part of the\nlatter. It is this frequency of contaminating and polluting\ncontingencies in the life of the Brahman which requires of him so many\nablutions daily, and which renders him perhaps the cleanest in person\namong the sons of men. So many are the dangers of contamination which\ndaily beset him in the ordinary pursuits of life that relief in the\nform of dispensations is granted him, so as to reduce the ceremonies\nand diminish the extreme burden of religious observance. This law of\ncontact and pollution must weigh heavily upon any genuine Hindu of\nhigh caste. The relation of the Maharajah of Travancore to his Prime\nMinister, who is a Brahman, is an interesting illustration. The Rajah\nis not a born Brahman; he is by many of his people regarded as a\nmanufactured Brahman. But His Highness himself does not regard himself\nas equal, in sacred manhood, to his Brahman Prime Minister; hence he\nwill never be seated in his presence. Nor will the Brahman Dewan\ndeign to sit in the presence of his royal master, the Maharajah. Hence\nall the business of State (sometimes requiring conferences of three\nhours a day) is transacted by them while standing in each other's\npresence.\n\nOccupational limitations are observed, as we have already seen, by\nmany modern castes. Trade castes not only prescribe the one ancestral\noccupation to their members; they also, with equal distinctness and\nseverity, prohibit to all within their ranks any other work or trade.\nSo in all those legion castes not only has a man his social sphere and\nstatus assigned to him, he is also tied to the trade of his ancestors;\nyea, more, he is expected to confine himself to ancestral tools and\nmethods of work in that narrow rut of life. One day the writer was\naccosted by a weaver who was in a famishing condition. He made a\npathetic plea for charity. Manchester cloths were flooding the market;\nthey therefore could not sell the products of their labour at living\nrates. It was suggested that they take up some other trade that could\nfurnish them a decent living. He lifted up his hands in horror at the\nimpious suggestion, that they abandon their caste-prescribed\noccupation! He felt that he and his were ground between the upper and\nnether millstones. To suggest to him that they even change the kind or\nstyle of article which they prepared upon their looms for the market\nwould have been equally impossible. Out in the villages, where these\npeople live, it would seem almost as absurd for the weaver to become a\ncarpenter as for the weaver who uses only cotton thread to become a\nsilk-weaver, or for those who weave coarse white cloths to produce the\nfiner coloured cloths worn by the women. No; for generations their\npeople have given themselves to the production of only one article.\n\"It is the custom of our people\" is the final word. And what has\nbecome customary is by caste enactment made obligatory. And woe be to\nhim who defies caste. And thus the caste-prescribed trade becomes the\nbe-all and the end-all of life.\n\nThese four--the connubial, the convivial, the contactual, and the\noccupational--are the constant factors of the caste existence and\nactivity in India. But in addition to these, caste takes other\nfunctions and assumes other forms in certain localities and under\ncertain circumstances. Definite forms of religious observance are\noften enjoined, certain places of pilgrimage are sanctioned, marriage\nforms prescribed, marriage obligations defined, divorce made possible\nor impossible, and the limit of marriage expenses set. There is hardly\na department of life or a duty which men owe to their dead which does\nnot enter the domain of caste legislation somewhere or other.\n\nA strange and very interesting peculiarity of certain castes is their\ntotemistic aspect. This characteristic has only recently been\ndiscovered. \"At the bottom of the social system, as understood by the\naverage Hindu, we find, in the Dravidian region of India, a large body\nof tribes and castes each of which is broken up into a number of\ntotemistic septs. Each sept bears the name of an animal, a tree, a\nplant, or some material object, natural or artificial, which the\nmembers of that sept are prohibited from tilling, eating, cutting,\nburning, carrying, using, etc.\" (See Census of 1901, Vol. II, pp.\n530-535.)\n\nMr. J. G. Frazer, in the _Fortnightly Review_, gives the following\ndescription of the totem: \"A totem is a class of natural phenomena or\nmaterial objects--most commonly a species of animals or\nplants--between which and himself the savage believes that a certain\nintimate relation exists.... This relation leads the savage to abstain\nfrom killing or eating his totem, if it happen to be a species of\nanimal or plant. Further, the group of persons who are knit to any\nparticular totem by this mysterious tie commonly bear the name of the\ntotem, believe themselves to be of one blood, and strictly refuse to\nsanction the marriage or cohabitation of members of the group with\neach other. This prohibition to marry within the group is now\ngenerally called by the name Exogamy. Thus totemism has commonly been\ntreated as a primitive system, both of religion and of society.\"\n\nIn absorbing the Dravidian tribes, Brahmanism appropriated the\ntotemistic cult and incorporated it into the caste system. And many\nDravidian castes which are identified with this cult have the striking\npeculiarity of being exogamous as contrasted with the endogamy of the\nAryan section of Hindu castes.\n\n\nIII\n\nThe penalties which are inflicted by caste for violation of its rules\nare many and very severe. It is hardly too much to say that there is\nnot on earth an organization more absolute in its power, more\nwide-reaching in its sweep of interests, and more crushing in its\npunishment, than is caste. In the first place, it so completely hems\nin the life of a man, imperatively prescribes for him the routine of\nlife, even down to the most insignificant details, and thus shuts him\nup to his own clan, and with equal completeness cuts him off from the\nmembers of other castes, that it can reduce any recalcitrant member to\ncertain and speedy obedience, simply because there is no one to whom\nhe can flee for sympathy and refuge. Even if this whole system had\nnot, as its first aim and achievement, the alienation of members of\ndifferent castes, who is there among Hindus that would interfere with\nthis function of a caste to discipline its members? For is not \"Thou\nshalt obey implicitly thy caste,\" the first law of the Hindu\ndecalogue, and the one most sincerely believed by all Hindus? The\nfollowing are among the penalties inflicted upon one who is under the\nban of his caste:--\n\nAll the members of his caste are prohibited from accepting his\nhospitality. Not even his own household are permitted to dine with\nhim. He is boycotted, absolutely, by all his best friends, associates,\nand companions. Not one of them dares, under penalty of complete\nostracism, to harbour or favour him. Nor will he be invited to their\nhomes. They dare not receive him under the shelter of their roofs nor\noffer him food. More than once the writer has seen the bitter tyranny\nof caste brought to bear upon those who had abandoned caste by\nbecoming Christians. Here is a youth known to the writer. He is a\nmember of a respectable caste. He accepts the religion of Christ\npublicly as his own. His parents and brothers and sister will cling to\nhim with the hope of bringing him back to the ancestral faith. But\ncaste authority steps in. It forbids the family to receive the son and\nbrother, or to offer him a morsel of food. In that household a sad war\nof sentiment is inaugurated. Parental love and family tenderness cling\nto the Christian youth; and is he not the hope of the family for the\nyears to come? But to harbour him means to be outcast as a family; and\nhow can they endure that? And are they not at heart loyal to the caste\nof their fathers? So the conflict runs on for months. One night only\nthe tender heart of the sister compels her to defy caste to the\nextent, not of eating with the dear brother and companion of her\nyouth, but so far as to bring him the remnant of their meal, not in\none of the home vessels from which he had eaten so often as a Hindu in\nthe past, but on a plantain leaf and behind the house!\n\nThen, of course, comes the connubial ban whereby all the members of\nthe caste are prohibited from giving any of their children in marriage\nto those of his household. To the Hindu who believes that marriage is\nnot only the God-given right of every human being, but who also\nimplicitly believes that it is a heavenly injunction whose fulfilment\nrests as a duty upon every father in behalf of his children, this\ninterdict is the most oppressive of all. But it is enforced with\nheartless severity in every case; and any family which may defy the\ncaste in this respect by entering into conjugal relationship with that\nof the one under ban, is at once outcast.\n\nAnother mighty resource of the organization, in this connection, is to\ninterdict to the recreant member the use of all caste servants. For\ninstance, the caste barber and washerman are commanded to serve him\nand his no longer. The severity of this interdiction cannot possibly\nbe realized by westerners, who are not always dependent upon these\nfunctionaries. But in India every one depends upon the barber and\nwasherman for their service even more than a westerner does upon the\nservice of the butcher or the doctor. The Hindu never dreams of the\npossibility of doing for himself the duties performed by these caste\nservants for him. Moreover, the barbers and washermen of other castes\nwould, under no circumstance, be allowed to render him the service\nthus prohibited to him by his own caste.\n\nAdd again to these inflictions the further one of complete isolation\nin times of domestic bereavement. Should a member of his family die,\nnot one of the caste members is permitted to help in the last sacred\nrites for the dead. Even at that moment, when one would expect the icy\nbarriers to melt away, the heart of caste is as hard and its severity\nas rigid as ever. The helplessness of a family under these\ncircumstances is, to any one who is not a slave to the whole accursed\nsystem, most pitiful and heartrending.\n\nAnother caste penalty which has received undue public prominence of\nlate is called _prayaschitta_, which means atonement. It is usually\napplied as punishment to those who have had the temerity to cross the\nocean for foreign travel, business, or study. More correctly, it is\nrather a process of cleansing and ceremonial rehabilitation than an\nact of punishment. The exclusiveness of caste delighted in calling all\nforeigners Mlechhas, which, though perhaps not as vigorous a term as\nthe Chinese sobriquet, \"black devils,\" connoted, and still connotes,\nto the caste Hindu, \"unclean wretches,\" contact with whom brings\nceremonial pollution and sin. He who crossed the ocean would\nnecessarily be debased by these defiling ones and would be, as a\nmatter of course, engulfed in the pollutions of their life! To\nprohibit travel, which necessarily involved such sin and degradation,\nbecame therefore the concern of the ancient lawmakers of India. Hence\nthe _prayaschitta_, under which the educated community of India chafe\nso much at the present time. For many of the best and most promising\nyouth of India travel abroad or reside temporarily in England, with a\nview to perfecting their educational training so as to qualify\nthemselves for highest positions of usefulness in the homeland. Others\ngo abroad on business or to behold and study the wonders of western\nlife and civilization. All men of culture and power in India, at the\npresent time, are convinced of the evil and absurdity of this caste\nlaw, which is common to all castes, because it is a part of the\ngeneral legislation of their religion. They decline to believe that it\nis either sin or pollution to go in search of the best that the West\nand the East have discovered and can bestow upon one, and that which\nis to-day doing most in the elevation and redemption of India herself.\nAnd many of them are defying this obsolete and debasing law of their\nfaith. Many others are crying for a modern interpretation of the\nlaw--an interpretation which will explain away its bitterness and\nrender it innocuous. For it is not simply or chiefly the reactionary\nand absurd character of this legislation which exasperates the\nintelligence of the land; it is the very offensive and revolting\n_nature_ of the expiation which preeminently stirs up the rebellion.\nIn former centuries of darkness, Hindus may have been willing to\nsubmit to the humiliation of eating the five products of the cow as an\natonement for the supposed sin of sea-travel. The culture and\nintelligence of the present time is neither so abject nor so\nsuperstitious as to submit to this, without, at least, a vigorous\nprotest. And yet, what the culture of India seeks to-day is not the\nabolishing of this law, which is equally repulsive to their taste and\nto their intelligence; it asks only that some way of avoiding the\npenalty may be found! And all that Hinduism and caste require of these\nforeign-travelled men is not an intelligent submission to its behests,\nbut an outward observance of them. So the faith and its conservative\ndefenders are satisfied to see these men of culture, as they return\nwith the acquired treasures of the West, submit outwardly to this\noffensive rite, while their sensitive nature rises in rebellion\nagainst it. And these young scions of the East willingly practise this\nhypocrisy and submit to this indignity in order to live at peace with,\nand indeed to live at all in, their ancestral caste! It is only an\nillustration of the hollowness of the major part of the life of the\neducated community in this great land. Well may one exclaim, what can\nbe expected from a people whose leading men of culture are living this\ndouble and mean life! This is verily \"peace with dishonour\"!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE HINDU CASTE SYSTEM (_continued_)\n\n\nIV\n\nThe agency through which, and the occasion upon which, caste penalizes\nits members are manifold.\n\nFormerly, Hindu kings, under instruction from their pandit ministers,\nwould enforce caste observances. But under the present non-Hindu State\nno such action could be expected. In many instances pandits have to be\nconsulted both as to whether a member has really violated _shastraic_\ninjunctions and as to the penalty which should be inflicted in that\nspecial case. In doubtful cases, pandits of various trainings and\nleanings are called who present conflicting opinions which end in\nconfusion.\n\nIn Southern India important cases of caste violation among\nnon-Vishnuvite Hindus are under the jurisdiction of the Superiors of\nSankarite monasteries. Some of these assume and exercise Papal\nauthority in such matters among their people. Usually, however, each\nlocal caste organization deals directly with infractions of its own\nrules, and is competent to deal drastically, and as a court of final\nresort, with all cases of caste infringement within its own\nmembership. It may be done in public assembly, when all male members\nare present and have a voice; or the caste _panchayat_, or council of\nfive, may sit in judgment upon the case and have right of final\naction. This latter tribunal is the more common in South India, and is\nmore in harmony with the spirit and methods of the land.\n\nThere are a number of courses of action which are adequate as causes\nof removal from caste.\n\nOne of these is a change of faith. The abandonment of the ancestral\nreligion, which is the mother of caste spirit and organization,\nespecially when the newly accepted faith repudiates openly caste and\nall that belongs to it, inevitably leads to expulsion from caste. In\nmost cases this has resulted upon conversion to either Christianity or\nMohammedanism. But this is not as universal as we could wish or as\nmany suppose, as we shall see later on. It may be seen how, in a mass\nmovement of a large body of men toward Christianity, for instance, the\npeople may easily, and would naturally, carry with them into the new\nfaith many of their old customs and habits, including much that\npertains to, and is of the essence of, caste.\n\nRoman Catholicism has interpreted caste chiefly from a social\nstandpoint, and has therefore regarded it as a social institution\nwhich can be adapted to, and adopted into, the Christian religion.\nProtestantism, or, at least, Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, has regarded\ncaste as primarily and dominantly a religious institution, whose\nspirit antagonizes fundamentally our faith, and which must be opposed\nat all points. Hence it is a part of the pledge of every one who\nenters into the Protestant fellowship in India that he will eschew and\noppose caste at all times. And it may be said that, though Hinduism\nloves dearly compromise and evasion, it has in the main held that a\nman who has accepted the Christian faith and has been publicly\nbaptized into its conviction of the \"fatherhood of God and the\nbrotherhood of all men,\" has no place in its own caste system, and it\nconsistently deals with him as with an outcast. As we have already\nseen, every man who has travelled abroad has lost thereby caste and\nhas to undergo expiation before reinstatement. It matters not how\nthoroughly he has tried to preserve caste customs during his travels\nand in the foreign land, he is regarded by all as a _de facto_\noutcast.\n\nMarrying a widow is also an act which severs caste ties and places a\nman under the ban. Of course, this applies not to the few castes which\nallow widow-remarriage. But as the bulk of Hindus deny the right of a\nwidow to remarry (though there is no caste obstacle to a widower\ntaking unto himself a new virgin wife every year of his life), a man\ncannot enter into an alliance with a widow without losing caste\nthereby.\n\nBeef-eating is regarded as so heinous a sin that no member of a\nrespectable caste would expect consideration for a moment. And yet Dr.\nJ. H. Barrows has said that the famous Swamy, Vivekanantha, when with\nhim at Chicago, ate a whole plateful of beef in his presence and with\na great deal of relish. But he, of course, had graduated out of the\nordinary level of Hindu-hood into the sacred heights of Swamyhood, in\nwhich a man is exempt from the mean limitation of caste, and when the\nvulgar sins of common Hindu life are transmuted into the ordinary\nblessings and privileges of saintdom.\n\nIn like manner, vegetarian castes punish their members for the eating\nof any meat. The Hindu aversion to meat is very common; it is also\nsanitary and wholesome; for meat-eating in the tropics is neither\nnecessary nor conducive to health. And yet the Pariah outcast has no\nscruples in this matter. It is indeed true that he would deem it a sin\nto butcher a cow or an ox; but he will not hesitate to poison his\nneighbour's cattle, that he may thereby have enough carrion to eat.\nFor the carcases of the dead cattle of the village are the perquisite\nof the Pariah; and it is upon finding such that he enjoys his only\nfeasts of plenty. But to the ordinary Hindu all bovine kind are\ndivine, and the flesh of the same is strictly and vehemently tabooed.\n\nPunishment is also dealt out, as we have seen, to those who eat any\nfood cooked by an outcast, whether he be Christian, Mohammedan, or\nPariah. And the same is true of eating with an outcast, or with one\nwho is of a lower caste than himself. Indeed, so far is this spirit\ncarried by certain high castes that to be seen eating by a member of a\nlower caste, or to allow the shadow of a stranger to fall upon one's\nprepared food, is pollution. Hence the care with which all Hindus seek\nprivacy and avoid the gaze of men during mealtime.\n\nOfficiating as a priest in the house of a low-class Sudra is strictly\nprohibited to a Brahman, and he loses caste thereby. He and other\n\"twice born\" are also driven out of caste if they throw away the\nsacred thread which is the outer badge of their second birth and\ndignity.\n\nA woman, when found in open sin with a man of another caste, and a\nwidow, when she can no longer hide the consequence of her immorality,\nare no longer in caste.\n\nIt is hardly necessary to mention that marrying outside of one's own\ncaste is a sin which finds no countenance, but severest punishment, in\nnearly all castes.\n\nGenerally speaking, we may say that caste authority is exercised only\nin cases where ceremonial observance and social usages are violated.\nIn matters that are purely ethical, and which bear upon the character\nand moral elevation of the individual and the clan, caste rarely acts;\nfor it does not consider that its honour is compromised or its organic\nlife impaired by such conduct.\n\nIt should also be mentioned that caste is not even in the distribution\nof its dispensations and punishments. A man of wealth and social\ninfluence succeeds in staving off many acts of caste displeasure which\nwould fall heavily upon the poor and friendless man. Such a man may,\nand often does, trample under foot every command of the decalogue,\nand at the same time defy and violate a good moiety of the injunctions\nof his caste. And yet, because of his wealth and general importance in\ncaste councils, he stands unimpeached and unrebuked.\n\nIn matters of caste observance and discipline, villages are much more\nconservative and strict than cities. In the latter, as we shall see,\ncaste observance is much relaxed, and life is more on modern lines.\n\n\nV\n\nThe results of the caste system in India are many and manifest. It has\nsown its seed for many centuries and to-day reaps a rich harvest in\nlife and conduct. It should not be assumed, and it cannot be asserted,\nthat this great system has always been an unmixed evil to the people\nof this land.\n\nNo organization which has bound by its fetters for eighty generations\nnearly a sixth of the population of the globe, and which continues to\ngrip them to-day with tyrannical power, can be devoid of any redeeming\nfeature. The very perpetuity and prosperity of the scheme argues for\nits possession of some rational features, originally connected with\nit, which gave it sanction to the myriads who have submitted to its\nreign over them. But it is exceedingly difficult to discover that\nexcellence which originally commended it to the people of this land.\nNor do the writings of those who have striven to defend the system\nassist us in making this discovery. A modern Brahman defence by\nJogendra Nath Bhattacharya (see \"Hindu Castes and Sects,\" pp. 1-10)\ngives only one ray of light upon the subject when he observes that\n\"the legislation of the Rishis was calculated not only to bring about\nunion between the isolated clans that lived in primitive India, but to\nrender it possible to assimilate within each group the foreign hordes\nthat were expected to pour into the country from time to time.\" In\nthose remote days when weakness through isolation threatened their\nvery existence, and when there was no possibility of a general union\nof all the people for defence, thorough organization of clans into\ncastes brought strength and confidence and was a conspicuous blessing.\nIt was in those days a convenient and effective way of enforcing\nreligious obligations upon the heterogeneous clans. It also was then\nprobably useful in preserving purity of blood among the higher races,\nand in conserving the nobility of the Aryan who was destined to rule\nthe mixed races of India for many centuries.\n\nNor is the system without possibilities of good in modern times, as\nwas illustrated recently by the action of a prominent North India\ncaste in prohibiting large expenses in marriage and in raising, by\nlegislation, the limit of the marriageable age of its girls.\n\nBut, alas, any good that may possibly inhere in the system has largely\nremained _in posse_ rather than _in esse_. The history of caste has\nbeen one of evil, and it is no wonder that such a fair-minded writer\nas Mr. Sherring, who has probably made a more thorough study of the\nsubject than any other man, should call the organization \"a monstrous\nengine of pride, dissension, and shame\" (see Preface to his \"Hindu\nTribes and Castes\"). Considering the subject, therefore, in its\nbearing upon the life of India to-day, and studying its results as we\nnow find them among all classes of the people and in their definite\nbearing upon the future of the land, we are compelled to pronounce\nagainst it at all points.\n\nIt is, in the first place, the source of interminable discord and\ndissension all over the land. It not only arrays caste against caste;\nbut bitter animosity is the order of the day among the subdivisions of\ncastes. In every one of the numberless castes in the land there are\ndivisions and subdivisions galore. And while the Sudras acknowledge\nthe supremacy of the \"twice born,\" among the myriad clans of the\nSudras themselves there is endless assumption and contention, every\none, fomented by pride, claiming primacy and distinction above the\nothers. Recently, in South India, this feeling led to a serious riot,\nin which not a few lives were lost and villages devastated.\n\nIt also narrows the sympathies of the people in a most lamentable way.\nAmong the common people of India it is held that a man's duties to his\ncaste embrace his whole obligation. When a fellow-being is in\ndifficulty and his condition strongly appeals for sympathy, the first,\nand often the last, question asked is, \"Is he a member of my caste?\"\nIf not, like the priest and the Levite of old, his conscience allows\nhim to \"pass by on the other side.\" Recently a woman perished in the\nstreets of a town near Madura. She was a resident of a village some\ntwenty-five miles away, and was, therefore, a stranger in this town,\nwhere she sickened and was carried to a public rest-house. But when\nher condition became serious and no relatives or caste friends came to\nher support, she was put out into the street, where she lay helpless\nfor three days in the rain and sunshine. Hundreds of people saw her\ndying agonies as they passed by during those days; but no heart of\nsympathy went out to her; for was she not a stranger? And it was left\nto an American, who happened to pass that way on the third day, to\ndemand of the town officer that she be put back in the rest-house,\nwhere she shortly afterward died. Let it not be thought that this is\nan isolated case. He who is familiar with Indian life knows it is not,\nfor daily he has to witness the woful limitations which caste imposes\nupon human sympathy.\n\nCaste has also degraded manual labour. The loss of caste by any\nBrahman who follows the plough is only an application of this rule in\nthe highest quarters. Caste has taught the people of this land that\nhumble toil, however honest it may be, is more than mean; it is\nsinful. There are millions of the higher castes of India who deem it\nhonourable to beg, and dignified to spend their years in abject\nlaziness, but who would regard it as unspeakable degradation to take\na hoe or a hammer and earn an honest living by the sweat of their\nbrow. Nor will their caste rules permit of their undertaking such\nwork. And this spirit has passed down the ranks until it pervades the\nwhole of society in India, with the consequence that manual labour is\nuniversally regarded as degrading, and with the further natural result\nthat a horde of five and a half millions of lazy, wretched, immoral,\nable-bodied, religious beggars are burdening this land. And thus\nmendicancy is made honourable at the expense of honest toil. It should\nbe further remarked that there are a number of begging castes, in\nwhich all work is proscribed and mendicity exalted into a divinely\nordained profession!\n\nMoreover, caste makes it impossible for India to become a commercial\ncountry. So long as foreign travel is banned and contact with other\nlands is regarded as a sin against heaven and caste, there is little\nhope that the people of this land will distinguish themselves in that\nkind of trade and commerce which has made India's mistress, Great\nBritain, so illustrious in wealth and dominion.\n\nAnd it is this caste spirit which so easily made the great peninsula\nof India a prey to the \"tight little island\" many thousands of miles\naway. For not only has caste made the Hindus an insular people, it has\nalso so divided them that they do not realize any common sentiment,\nsave that of opposition to the State, or seek any common good. Hence\nthey have for many centuries been the easy prey of any adventurers who\nsought to overcome and despoil them. A genuine national feeling and a\npatriotic sentiment are all but impossible in the land. And all\nintelligent Hindus acknowledge this sad condition at present, and many\nof the best of them publicly maintain that national consciousness,\nself-rule, and a glowing, triumphant patriotism can be built only upon\nthe ruins of the caste system.\n\nAnd even as it is a foe to nationality, so is it the mortal enemy of\nindividualism. The caste system is really a glorification of the\nmultitude as against the individual. Individual initiative and\nassertion, liberty of conscience, the right of man to life and the\npursuit of happiness,--all these are foibles of the West which it has\nbeen the chief business of caste to crush; and upon their ruin it has\nerected this mighty tower of Babel. In India, it has been the business\nof men, from time immemorial, not to do what they think to be right,\nnor to find out, every one for himself, what they consider to be the\nbest and to act according to the dictates of conscience; it has rather\nbeen submission to caste dominance. And it is the unblushing teaching\nof the _Shastras_ that obedience to caste is the fulfilment of duty\nand the _summum bonum_ of life. So omnipotent and omniscient is the\narm and head of caste that men dare not defy it. Hence we are\ncompelled to look in India to-day upon the saddest spectacle of abject\nmanhood the world has known. To those who, like the writer, have spent\na lifetime in trying to raise the outcasts and the lower strata of\nIndian society, the most difficult and discouraging obstacle is the\ninertia and the abjectness of the people themselves. Through a bitter\nexperience of many centuries they have learned that it does not pay\nfor the individual to assert himself against the dictates of the\ncaste, or for the lower castes to rise in rebellion against their lot.\nThey discovered that they were merely butting their heads against an\nadamantine rock. So they have lost every ambition and hope; and he who\nwould lift them up must first remove that leaden despair which rests\nupon them like a mighty incubus.\n\nNor is it much better with the educated classes of India. There are\nhundreds of thousands of these men of western university training who\nannually assemble in Congress and in Convention, and who in spotless\nEnglish of Addisonian accent and in the sonorous phraseology of a\nMacaulay, discourse upon human rights and who denounce the bondage of\ncaste tyranny. And yet they submit, in their own homes, to that same\naccursed tyranny and are in life as abject as the meanest Pariah in\nthe face of caste edicts which they know to be unrighteous and\ndemeaning to the core.\n\nIt should also be remembered that caste is the foster-mother of all\nthe manifold social evils of the land. In pre-caste days in India such\nevils as child marriage, prohibition of widow remarriage, temple\nwomen, excessive marriage expenses, etc., did not exist. They are a\npart of the caste regime supported and perpetuated by its authority.\nRemove this mighty compulsion, and these institutions would soon\nbecome things of the past.\n\nAnother evil of this organization is that of ignoring the ethical and\nspiritual standard and of measuring everything from a purely formal\nand ceremonial standpoint. All life is reduced into an unceasing\nritual under the perpetual priestly surveillance of caste. All that it\nasks of man is outward conformity. He may disbelieve and hate every\ncommandment of his faith; but if he conforms, he is a faithful son. On\nthe other hand, he may be a man of unblemished character, and he may\neven intend to be obedient to caste; but if, some night, a few enemies\nwere to thrust into his mouth and compel him to swallow a piece of\nbeef, no power could save him from the dreadful punishment that would\nfollow. A man may write a tract in condemnation and ridicule of all\nthe gods of the Hindu pantheon and still remain an acceptable Hindu;\nbut if, in the agony of a burning fever, he should drink a spoonful of\nwater from the hands of a Christian or of a Pariah, his caste would\ndoom him to perdition for it.\n\nIn other words, the whole system directly cultivates, in all the\npeople, a hollowness of life which does more than anything else to rob\nIndia of her manhood and which makes nobility of character and ethical\nintegrity most difficult things among the Hindu community. A Brahman\ngentleman described the whole system as a \"vast hollow sham.\" And such\nit is.\n\n\nVI\n\nParadoxical though it may seem, caste spirit is more prevalent and its\ninfluence more dominant in India at the present than in the past; yet\nthere is more defiance and violation of caste rules and more frequent\nand sure evidences of the speedy termination of its reign than at any\nprevious time.\n\nIt has ruled so long and so supremely in this country that the Hindu\naccepts it without questioning; and it has become more than a second\nnature to him, even a necessity of his being. What would be\nintolerably irksome to a Westerner is to the Hindu a matter of course.\nTo the rank and file of the Hindus, caste has ceased to be a matter of\nquestion. It is the only order of life with which he is conversant;\nand while he may be convinced by arguments which prove its cruelty and\nits many evils, he still clings to it as the only system under which\nhe knows how to live and which he cares to obey.\n\nAs we have already seen, the ramifications of caste are more numerous\nand its authority more general to-day than at any former time. Many\nHindu reformers, especially of the Vishnu sects, have followed in the\nsteps of the great Buddha, by denouncing caste, root and branch, and\nhave established their own sects during the last ten centuries on a\nnon-caste basis. But they have all succumbed to the demon which they\nantagonized and now generally observe caste rules with the same\ndevotion as other Hindus.\n\nThe lower the caste spirit has descended to the \"submerged tenth\" of\nthe land, the more vehemently have they become inoculated with its\nvirus. The outcast Pariah is not to be outdone in this matter; and so\nwe have Pariahs and Pariahs. Many divisions are found among this\nwretched class, and they are more exclusive in their divisions and\nmore rigid in their narrowness than are many of the high castes.\n\nEven those who have abandoned the Hindu faith and professed another,\ndo not leave behind them this divisive spirit. Perhaps the converts\nfrom Mohammedanism have eschewed Hindu caste more than converts to\nother faiths.\n\nAmong Christian converts, though caste is professedly abandoned, it\nclings with vital tenacity and almost unconquerable persistence to\ntheir sense of the fitness of things. Their deepest prejudices and\nunconscious tendencies, even against their intellectual convictions\nand sincere professions, unceasingly sway the vast majority of them\nand lead them into affiliations and narrow sympathies which are Hindu\nand not Christian. It is true that the oldest Christian community in\nIndia, the Syrian Church of Malabar, has long abandoned the Hindu\ncaste organization, with even its mean remnant of caste titles. And\nyet that community settled down for many centuries into the\nconviction that it was merely one caste among the many of that region\nand must keep itself aloof from and untainted by the surrounding\ncastes. Roman Catholicism, which has still the most numerous Native\nChristian community in India, has largely adopted the Hindu system and\ntries to utilize it in the furtherance of Christianity in the land! No\ngreater mistake was ever made than this of trying to uphold and\npromulgate the meekness, the humility, the love, and the fellowship of\nChrist by means of the haughty pride, the cruel hate, and the bitter\ndivisiveness of caste.\n\n[Illustration: JUNGLE PEOPLE OF INDIA]\n\nProtestant Christianity is to-day the pronounced foe of caste. It is\nwar to the death between them, and the missionaries have not yet found\na foe to their cause so subtle, deceptive, deep-rooted, persistent,\nand pervasive as this. It is fortified by a thousand ramparts and\npresents more discouragement to the Christian worker than all other\nobstacles combined. Even Buddhism and Jainism, the former of which was\nthe ancient protest against Hindu caste, have fallen oft-times a prey\nto the subtle and damning wiles of this system. In Bengal, a number of\nHindu castes are known to have been formerly members of the Jain and\nBuddhist communities (see Census 1901, Vol. II, p. 523).\n\nHowever, notwithstanding this growing prevalence and the marvellous\ntenacity of caste throughout the land, there are encouraging signs of\nits decadence. Its grip is certainly relaxing in many ways, and its\nasperities are softening.\n\nIt may not untruthfully be said that the growing multiplicity of\ncastes is one of the sure harbingers of the downfall of the system.\nFor the divisions of caste are already beyond computation. The\npopulation is cut up into so many minute sections that the caste\nedifice overtowers everything else, so that it is in imminent danger\nof toppling over. It is claimed that war among civilized nations will\nsoon become an impossibility because of the growing devastating power\nof modern weapons of warfare. In like manner, caste is speedily\npassing through its very excesses to a _reductio ad absurdum_; its\nspirit is so rampant, and its gross evils are becoming so intolerable,\nthat even the patient inhabitants of India will soon cease to endure\nthe ruin which this monster of their own creation carries on among\nthem.\n\nEducated Hindus are already denouncing it with great vehemence and\nwith considerable unanimity. They are convinced that India can never\nwin independence and power under the regime of caste; and they\nproclaim their convictions upon the house-top. It is true, as we have\nseen, that caste has so powerfully thrown its spell over them, its own\nchildren, that they are too abject to withstand it openly and\nunitedly. But I believe that they will erelong be driven to action.\nFurther, obedience and submission will mean ruin to them, their\nfamilies, and their country.\n\nEven now, among the educated, especially in Bengal, caste restrictions\nupon dining are being increasingly ignored. A Bengalee gentleman\nenjoys ordinary hotel fare with apparently none to interfere with his\nliberties. In Madras, the writer has more than once rubbed shoulders\nwith Brahman lawyers and others eating together the common fare of a\nwell-known restaurant of the city. And he has known Brahman patients,\nhigh in society, who did not object even to buy and use nourishment in\nthe form of \"Liebig's Beef-extract,\" so long as they could cover its\noffensiveness to the women of their household by the euphemistic name\n\"meat-extract.\"\n\nAnd to this they are being rapidly carried by a conjunction of many\nforces which are increasingly dominating the land.\n\nIn the first place, they have the potent example of a host of western\nlives among them. This body of white people, from the far-off lands,\nis distributed all over India. They are the rulers of the land. A\nBrahman may deem their touch pollution. But that same Brahman is often\nglad to undergo that ceremonial taint if thereby he can only enjoy the\nwhite man's cultured society. He beholds in these people from the West\na freedom from irksome caste restraints. He notices conjugal relations\namong them, such as furnish richest home blessings. Their social\nrelations are untrammelled and abound in convivial privileges such as\nare denied to Hindu society. All this creates in him an uneasiness. If\nhe is a man of culture and resides in some city of importance, he will\nwish to meet English friends upon lines of social equality; but this\nhe will find to be impossible apart from his defiance of caste rules;\nfor, to the man of the West, the common cup and the festal board are\nthe essential conditions of true friendship and intimacy. Thus the\nlife of the ruling race in India is a constant rebuke to the\nnarrowness of caste and a source of discontent to the caste-ridden\npeople, because it reveals to them a different and a better way of\nliving.\n\nNor is it merely this new type of non-caste western life that appeals\nto them. The modern civilization of the West, with its humanizing\nlaws, its exaltation of the individual, its religious freedom, its new\nand broadening education and culture, its equal rights to every man,\nits many institutions through every one of which there breathes the\nAnglo-Saxon's blessed love of liberty, the home with its sanctified\naffection and its glorified womanhood, philanthropy which carries with\nan even hand its sweet services to the high and the low--to Pariah as\nto the Brahman,--all these institutions and influences are at work\nlike a mighty leaven in the mind and heart of India. And the people\ncannot be blind to this influence; and it is gradually transforming\ntheir ideals and ambition.\n\nConnected with these more subtle western civilizing agencies are found\nthe material agencies which are the dread foes of caste exclusion. The\nchief among these is the railroad, the thirty thousand miles of which\nare so many tongues to proclaim the doom of past narrowness. The\nBrahman, with all his mean pride, cannot forego the wonderful\nconveniences of the \"iron road and the fire-carriage\"; but in order to\navail himself of them, he must sit an hour at a time cheek by jowl\nwith a low-caste--it may be a Pariah--fellow-passenger. The railroad\ngnaws at the vitals of caste life and convictions.\n\nNext to it come the schools. Millions of youth are trained in them\ndaily to regard caste as an unworthy classification. All sections are\ntaught in the same classes; they play in the same playground. In both\nplaces the lower often excels the higher caste boy. The seeds of\nequality and a common regard are thus constantly sown among the youth\nof all sections of the land. If it astonished the recent educational\n(Moseley) Commission which went from England to the United States to\nstudy the educational conditions there, when it saw the children of\nthe President of the country studying side by side with the children\nof day-labourers, so must it seem wonderful, and wonderfully good, to\na student of social conditions in India, to behold the child of a\nPariah and that of a Brahman preparing, side by side, in the\nschoolroom, for the responsibilities and the blessings of life.\n\nMany other agencies similar to the above are doing their benign\nlevelling work.\n\nThe government, however, is the great leveller. In all its gifts of\noffices, in all posts of honour and influence, it distributes its\nblessings with strict impartiality, so far as caste is concerned. It\nwisely ignores all social distinctions and depends upon qualifications\nof culture and character when it seeks men to conduct its affairs.\nThis is something unprecedented in the land of Manu. That the outcast\nshould stand an equal chance with the high castes for positions of\nhonour and emolument was unknown in this land of sharp distinctions.\n\nAnd even more fundamental than this is the blessing of equal personal\nand political rights. In ancient India, such an idea was never\nentertained. Before British rule entered the land it was never dreamed\nthat priest, prince, and beggar--and that Brahman and Pariah--had\nequal rights before the law. To-day they all recognize the justice of\nthis and expect it.\n\nFinally, the advent of Christianity, with power, into the land has\nbrought a new death-knell to caste supremacy. We have seen that Indian\nChristian converts abandon all other customs and superstitions with\ngreater facility than they do those of caste. Its roots have sunk\ndeepest into the soil of their nature. But let it not be thought that\nthey do not grow stronger against caste than they used to be. In the\nIndian Christian community there is developing a most encouraging\nmovement toward the complete eradication of caste sentiment and\nobservance within the Church itself. They are more sensible than ever\nbefore of the gross inconsistency of a man's taking upon himself the\nsacred name of Christ and at the same time submitting to the dominance\nof caste. Indian Christian anti-caste organizations are now at work\nseeking to drive out of the Church of God in India this Antichrist,\nand to cultivate the true spirit and amenities of Christian fellowship\nand fraternal communion.\n\nThe spirit of Christ is abroad in the land in regenerating and\ntransforming power. His great message to the world was the common\nfatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. And the Christian Church\nis growing increasingly true to the message of its Leader and Lord in\nthis country. Men may not accept the Christian call to believe and to\nbe baptized; but they cannot be blind and deaf to the work and call of\nthe Spirit of Christ in these modern times of thrilling changes and\nopportunities.\n\nIt is this Christian ideal which is running athwart the most ancient\nand cherished institutions and customs of India, and has precipitated\na conflict such as the land has never before known.\n\nBut the end is not yet, and caste will not be hurled down from its\nhigh pedestal in a day. It is a mighty institution which has its root\nin deepest sentiments and is sustained by cherished antiquity and by\nthe strongest passions and prejudices. These will not succumb in a\nbrief generation. And even when Christianity shall have triumphed and\nshall have driven out its rival faith from the land, as we have every\nreason to believe that it will, let it not be supposed that the\nChristianity of the East will have the social complexion of that of\nthe West. In the earliest days of Christianity, we are told by the\ngreat Apostle to the Gentiles that there were \"heresies\" in the\nChurch. These were _social_ heresies or class divisions. It was later\nin the West that \"heresy\" became an error of _belief_. The Indian\nChurch will also have heresies of life rather than of thought. The\ncaste spirit will not vanish entirely from India, even when it becomes\nChrist's land; because while India is always indulgent and tolerant\nconcerning beliefs, she is particular about class distinctions. And\nthis, doubtless, will be the weakness of the Indian Church of the\nfuture. But she will have her strong points, also, and in these she\nwill glory and through them glorify her exalted Lord.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE BHAGAVAD GITA--THE HINDU BIBLE\n\n\nThe Bhagavad Gita (translated \"The Song of the Adorable One\" and \"The\nDivine Lay\") is rightly regarded as the gem of all Hindu sacred\nliterature. Hindus maintain (and few will question them) that in\nbeauty of language and in elevation of thought it stands supreme among\ntheir _Shastras_, or sacred writings.\n\nEducated Hindus proudly claim for it superiority to all sacred books\nof other faiths.\n\nOf all ancient Brahmanical writings it is to-day the most cherished by\nthe members of that faith. The ancient Rig Veda is at present only a\nbook of antiquarian interest. The Upanishads, which are the\nfountainhead of Hindu thought and philosophy, are only the text-books\nand treasure-houses of philosophers and metaphysicians. But the Divine\nLay is extolled and used alike by men of western culture, by\nconservative pandits, and by the masses as their highest book of\ndoctrine and their richest treasury of devotion.\n\nEven many Hindus who have come under the fascination of the Christ,\ncarry with them upon their journeyings the New Testament in one pocket\nand the Bhagavad Gita in the other, as the common guide and\ninspiration of their quiet hours of meditation.\n\nIt is thus universally recognized that there is no book which wields a\nlarger influence than this in the religious life of the two hundred\nand thirty millions of Hindus to-day; and there is none which is more\nworthy to be called the Hindu Bible.\n\n\nI\n\nIn strange contrast with the bulky tomes of Brahmanism and of the\ngreat epic, Mahabharata (which, with its two hundred and forty\nthousand lines, is the longest epic ever written, being eight times as\nlong as the Odyssey and the Iliad put together), the Bhagavad Gita\ncontains only seven hundred _slohams_, and is not as long as the\nGospel of St. Mark.\n\nThe date of the origin of the Song is very much disputed. There are\nHindu authorities who would carry it back to the fifth century B.C.,\nthe time which is assigned for the first recension of the Mahabharata,\nof which the Bhagavad Gita is a very small part. But the highest\nauthorities find conclusive proof that it originated about the second\nor third century of our era, and was then inserted as a part of an\nepisode in the narrative of the great epic.\n\nThe Mahabharata is a great poetic narrative of a conflict between the\ntwo branches of the Bharata family--the Pandavas and the Kauravas--for\nthe petty kingdom of Hastinapura, near the modern city of Delhi.\n\nThe two forces are already, in counter array, eager for the fray on\nthe battle-field of Kuruchetra. The call to battle has already been\nblown upon the miraculous conchs of the leaders of both sides, who are\nseated in their chariots drawn by white horses. Over each one waves\nhis personal ensign. Arjuna, the noblest of the five brave Pandava\nleaders, is a man of heroic traits of character; and yet within him\nbreathes the tenderest sentiment of humanity. He pauses a moment ere\nhe leads his mighty hosts against the enemy; and, as he looks upon his\nown kith and kin in the opposing ranks, he is overcome by the stern\nvoice of conscience blending with humanitarian impulses. Is it right,\ncan it _possibly_ be right, for him to go forth to destroy his own\nfriends and relatives; shall he shed the blood of those who are\nnearest and dearest to him upon the earth? This is the agonizing\ndoubt which seizes upon him at this time. And in his distress he turns\nto his friend and relative, Krishna, who has declined to participate\nin the war, but who had volunteered to act as Arjuna's charioteer. And\nhe says unto him: \"Seeing these kinsmen, O Krishna, standing (here)\ndesirous to engage in battle, my limbs droop down; my mouth is quite\ndried up; a tremor comes on my body; and my hairs stand on end; the\nGandiva (bow) slips from my hand; my skin burns intensely; I am\nunable, too, to stand up; my mind whirls round, as it were. Even those\nfor whose sake we desire sovereignty, enjoyments, and pleasures, are\nstanding here for battle, abandoning life and wealth--preceptors,\nfathers, sons as well, grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law,\ngrandsons, brothers-in-law, as also other relatives. These I do not\nwish to kill, though they kill me, O destroyer of Madhu! even for the\nsake of sovereignty over the three worlds, how much less than for this\nearth (alone)?\"\n\nKrishna replied, with a view to soothe Arjuna's perturbed mind, and to\nurge him on to battle.\n\nIt is this dialogue between the hero and the god which constitutes the\nBhagavad Gita. And yet one can hardly call it a dialogue, since\nKrishna's remarks make up more than nine-tenths of the book.\n\nThe dialogue is one of the favourite forms of Hindu literature. Most\nof the Puranas and the Tantras are cast in that form.\n\nIt seems very strange that this book, which is the favourite exponent\nof a faith whose very essence is non-resistance, whose genius is to\ninculcate the passive virtues, should have found its motive in the\npurpose of the god Krishna to overcome, in the warrior Arjuna, those\nworthy, humane sentiments of peace and kindness and that noble\nresolution to forego even the kingdom rather than to acquire it\nthrough the shedding of the blood of his relatives. How incongruous to\nbuild up the lofty structure of a faith upon so unethical, unsocial,\nand cruel a foundation!\n\n\nII\n\nThe Song evidently belongs to the _tendensschrift_ school of\nliterature. It is written with a definite aim and purpose. It is the\nhighest exponent of Hindu Eclecticism. The three great schools of\nBrahmanical thought and philosophy--the Sankya, the Yoga, and the\nVedanta--were founded more than twenty-five centuries ago and have\nwielded resistless power in the shaping of religious thought in\nIndia. And perhaps this power was never more manifest than at the\npresent time.\n\nBut these schools are, in their main issues, mutually antagonistic.\nThe Sankya philosophy is severely dualistic and even has little use,\nif indeed it has any place, for the Divine Being. On the other hand,\nthe Vedanta is uncompromisingly monistic. Its pantheism is of the\nhighest spiritualistic type and is radically opposed to the\nmaterialism of the Sankya school. In one school the Divine Being is\nnothing and materialism has full sway; while in the other Brahm is\neverything, and all that appears to men--the phenomenal--is false and\nillusive.\n\nAgain, as to the method of redemption, the Yoga philosophy advocates\nrenunciation, self-effacement, and all the forms of asceticism. On the\nother hand, the Sankya philosophy inculcates action as the embodiment\nof the duty of man, through which alone he can attain unto absorption.\n\nEven to the present time these different schools of thought not only\nprevail; they have also begotten and are nourishing different schools\nof religious life and practice which present different ideals and\nenforce different methods.\n\nThe Brahman author, or authors, of the Bhagavad Gita was inspired with\nthe laudable ambition of harmonizing these conflicting teachings and\nof blending their peculiarities into one consistent whole, which would\nappeal to all the followers of the many-sided Brahmanical faith. This\nhe accomplished with rare beauty of language, and with a success which\nhas won admiration and acceptance by nearly all the people of India.\nAnd this is the more remarkable since the worship of Krishna is\ndistinctly a part of the Vaishnavite cult of Hinduism, and as such\ndoes not appeal to the Saivites, or the worshippers of Siva.\n\nBut the author, naturally and inevitably, failed to produce a\ncongruous scheme of saving truth and religious appeal. The result is\nthat we see, on almost every page, contradictory teachings and\nconflicting methods of salvation. This, of course, is by no means\nfatal to it in the estimation of Hindus, with whom consistency has\nnever been a foible, and in the eyes of whom two mutually\ncontradictory teachings can rest peacefully side by side.\n\nHere we find dualism and monism locking hands together, and the three\nways of liberation--that of ritual, of asceticism, and of\nknowledge--not only find full expression, but are also supplemented by\nthe inculcation of faith and of the obligations of caste. To a\nWesterner, this jumbling together of such antagonistic ideas and\nmethods would be as repulsive as it would be absurd. But the Oriental\nmind works on different lines from the Occidental, and is never\nhampered by logical inconsistency.\n\nThe Song of the Adorable One is divided into three chapters, of six\ndivisions each.\n\nThe first extols the benefits of the Yoga method; but it also adds\nthat action should be supplemented to Yoga for the speediest\nattainment of beatification.\n\nIn the second part, the pantheism of the Vedanta is inculcated, and\nKrishna identifies himself with the universal Spirit and claims\nadoration as such.\n\nIn the third part, an effort is made to blend the Sankya and the\nVedanta conceptions, an effort which largely permeates the whole book.\nThat is, it claims that _prakriti_, or elemental nature, and the soul,\nor _atma_, find their source in Brahm; and thus it practically\nvitiates the fundamental teachings of both systems. At the same time,\nit also teaches the separate existence of individual souls, which is\nanti-Vedantic.\n\nAs we study carefully the contents of this remarkable work, we are\nimpressed equally with its excellences and defects, with its sublime\nteachings and absurd contentions. Generally speaking, it may be said\nto be characterized by notions which are, at the same time, supremely\nattractive to the East and unintelligible and repellent to the West.\n\n1. Considering first its teaching concerning God, we find emphasized\nthat monistic teaching of Hindu Pantheism which has been the dominant\nnote in the faith of India from the first. But it is not the strictly\nspiritual and the unequivocal Pantheism of Vedantism, which is purely\nidealistic and which bluntly denies the existence of everything but\nBrahm itself. It is rather a mixture of the dual and the non-dual\nteaching of the two dominant, contending philosophies of the land.\nKrishna tells us that he is not only the supreme Spirit, but also that\nthe material universe is a part of himself. \"O Son of Pritha! I am the\nKratu, I am the Yagna, I am the Svadha, I am the product of the herbs,\nI am the sacred verse. I too am the sacrificial butter, I the fire, I\nthe offering. I am the father of this universe, the mother, the\ncreator, the grandsire, the thing to be known, the means of\nsanctification, ... the source and that in which it merges, the\nsupport, the receptacle, and the inexhaustible seed.... All entities\nwhich are of the quality of goodness, and those which are of the\nquality of passion and of darkness, know that they are, indeed, all\nfrom me; I am not in them, but they are in me. The whole universe,\ndeluded by these three states of mind, develops from the qualities,\ndoes not know me who am beyond them and inexhaustible; for this\ndelusion of mine, ... is divine and difficult to transcend.\"\n\n\"There is nothing else higher than myself; all this is woven upon me\nlike numbers of pearls upon a thread. I am the taste in water, I am\nthe light in the sun and the moon.\"[2]\n\n[Footnote 2: The translation which I follow here is that of Mr.\nTelang, in \"The Sacred Books of the East,\" which is, on the whole,\nboth exact and more intelligible than most other translations.]\n\nThese and many other similar expressions represent an evident effort\nto graft the materialistic conceptions of the Sankya upon the Vedanta,\nwhich is in nothing more emphatic than in denying the existence of all\nthat is phenomenal and material.\n\nKrishna gave to Arjuna, at the latter's request, a vision of his true\nSelf separate from, and infinitely higher than, the humble and\nillusive garb of his incarnation. And it was to him \"as if in the\nheavens the lustre of a thousand suns burst forth all at once.\" And\nwhat a vision! Gazing upon it, Arjuna exclaims, \"O God! I see within\nyour body the gods, as also all the groups of various being; and the\nlord Brahm seated on his lotus seat, and all the sages and celestial\nsnakes. I see you, who are of countless forms, possessed of many arms,\nstomachs, mouths, and eyes on all sides. And, O Lord of the Universe,\nO you of all forms! I do not see your end, middle, or beginning.... I\nbelieve you to be the eternal being. I see you void of beginning,\nmiddle, or end--of infinite power, of unnumbered arms, and having the\nsun and the moon for eyes, and having a mouth like a blazing fire and\nheating the universe with your radiance. For this space between heaven\nand earth and all the quarters are pervaded by you alone. Looking at\nthis wonderful and terrible form of yours, O high-souled one! the\nthree worlds are affrighted. For here these groups of gods are\nentering into you.... Our principal warriors, also, are rapidly\nentering your mouths, fearful and horrific by reason of your jaws. And\nsome with their heads smashed are seen stuck in the spaces between the\nteeth. As the many rapid currents of a river's waters run toward the\nsea alone, so do the heroes of this human world enter your mouths\nblazing all around. As butterflies, with increased velocity, enter a\nblazing fire to their destruction, so too do these people enter your\nmouths with increased velocity, only to their destruction. Swallowing\nall these people, you are licking them over and over again from all\nsides with your blazing mouths!\"\n\nHere we verily have a fine combination of the sublime and the\nridiculous! The Apostle of Jesus was given to witness a vision of\nheavenly things such as could not be uttered. This disciple of Krishna\ndoes not hesitate to paint in such glowing terms a vision of the\ndivine, that, to all but a Hindu, the picture seems not only\nincongruous but highly absurd and disgusting. One can hardly imagine\nthat any mortal, to whom a vision of the divine being had been\ngranted, could fail so utterly to furnish us with an edifying\ndescription of the same.\n\nIn this Song, Krishna claims to be, at the same time, absolute Deity\nand the supreme incarnation. In nothing do the East and the West\ndiffer more radically than in their teaching concerning incarnation or\n\"descent.\" In Christianity, God only once became incarnate; and in\nthat Incarnation every believing soul has found its needs fully\nsatisfied. Never, in all these two thousand years, did our Lord Christ\nsatisfy more completely the human soul and bring rest to more human\nhearts than at the present time.\n\nTo the Christian, Jesus represents the ultimate of God's earthly\nmanifestation, as He does the complete realization of human salvation.\n\nBut in Hinduism, incarnation is presented as a continuous passion of\nthe Deity. The absolute Spirit forever amuses itself with the \"sacred\nsport\" of ever changing emanations and manifestations. Myriads of\n\"descents\" are recorded in their sacred books, of all degrees and\nforms of grotesqueness, and not a few of unblushing vileness. It is an\ninteresting fact that the same Krishna who poses, and by millions of\nHindus is accepted, as the Supreme Deity, is nevertheless represented\nin the most popular books of Hinduism to-day--the Puranas, which are\nknown in their legends to all Hindus and which wield a supreme\ninfluence over them in their life--as a very different being. In these\nbooks the story of Krishna is one of fetid, unblushing immorality and\nvoluptuousness. The publishing of these narratives in the English\nlanguage in a western land at the present time would be considered a\ncrime punishable with imprisonment. And thus this Hindu god, who is\nthe most popular in India and who appeals most to the imagination of\nthe people, led a life upon earth whose record is a story of\nimmorality which brings a crimson blush to the pure.\n\nBut, to return to the Hindu conception of incarnation, it must be\nremembered that it is unique in this particular; viz. that it regards\nthe Deity as continually returning to the world to visit and to help\nhuman beings. In the Gita, Krishna remarks:--\n\n \"Whensoever, O Descendant of Bharata! piety languishes and\n impiety is in the ascendant, I create myself. I am born, age\n after age, for the protection of the good, for the\n destruction of evil-doers, and the establishment of piety.\"\n\nThe inadequacy of any one incarnation is here proclaimed, and the idea\nof constant communication with and impartation of himself to humanity\nthrough repeated _descents_ is here inculcated. And it is a\nfundamental conception of Hinduism--a conception which differentiates\nit essentially from the Christian religion.\n\nFrom this remark of Krishna, who speaks here as the Supreme Being, one\nwould suppose that Hindu incarnations have been, and still are,\ndefinitely intended to enhance human piety upon earth, and have been\nsuch as to accomplish this purpose. As a matter of fact, the historic\nor legendary incarnations of India, as they are now recorded in their\nsacred books, have practically no ethical or spiritual content. I defy\nany Hindu to take the narratives of these descents, as found in the\nPuranas and other books, and show from them that there was anything\nmore than physical and social relief to men intended by them or\naccomplished through them. I have yet to find, in those narratives,\nthe conception of human sin and moral depravity and of the purpose of\nthe incarnation to break the fetters of sin and to bring spiritual\nlight and moral beauty to those among whom it manifested itself. The\ngulf which thus stands between the Hindu ideal of incarnation and the\nreal incarnations which are recorded in Hindu literature, including\nthat of Krishna himself, is wide and impassable. One has well said\nthat the incarnation of Krishna is an incarnation of lust, and the\nrecord of his 16,100 wives and 180,000 sons is but a suggestion of the\ncorrectness of this estimate. Even the incarnation of Buddha, which,\ndoubtless, is the highest and best among those incorporated into the\nHindu Pantheon, is expressly stated by Hindu authorities to be for\nthe purpose of deceiving and destroying the people.\n\nWhen one begins to compare the picture of the Christian Incarnation\nwith that of any and of all those that occupy the Hindu mind, and fill\nmany volumes of Hindu literature, we pass from noon-day light into\nEgyptian darkness.\n\n2. The doctrine of _atma_, or the human self, or soul, is more in\naccordance with the Sankya than the Vedantic school. The individual\nsoul is represented, not as a part of the Supreme Soul, which is the\ndistinct doctrine of the _Adwaitha_ philosophy, but as a separate\nentity which is immutable and eternal. Listen to Krishna's argument to\nArjuna, in order to urge him into battle and to shed the blood of his\nfriends: \"Learned men grieve not for the living nor the dead. Never\ndid I not exist, nor you, nor these rulers of men; nor will any of us\never hereafter cease to be. As in this body, infancy and youth and old\nage come to the embodied self, so does the acquisition of another\nbody; a sensible man is not deceived about that.... There is no\nexistence for that which is unreal; there is no non-existence for that\nwhich is real.... These bodies, appertaining to the embodied self\nwhich is eternal, indestructible, and indefinable, are said to be\nperishable; therefore do engage in battle, O descendant of Bharata! He\nwho thinks it to be the killer and he who thinks it to be killed, both\nknow nothing. It kills not, is not killed. It is not born, nor does it\never die, nor, having existed, does it exist no more. Unborn,\neverlasting, unchangeable, and primeval, it is not killed when the\nbody is killed.... But even if you think that it is constantly born,\nand constantly dies, still, O you mighty man of arms! you ought not to\ngrieve thus. For to one that is born, death is certain; and to one\nthat dies, birth is certain.\"\n\nThere is a great deal more in this line of the indestructibility of\nthe soul; but nothing is said of the Vedantic idea that the soul has\nno real, separate existence, and that even this illusory existence, in\nhuman conditions, will terminate when the self shall be recognized to\nbe, as it really is, an unsevered and inseparable part of the Supreme\nSoul.\n\nThe eternal existence of the soul is posited by every school of Hindu\nthought. In the Sankya philosophy, the human self, as we have seen, is\na separate, uncreated entity; and the teaching of the Divine Lay\nconcerning it is in harmony with this. And it must be confessed that\nin many respects this doctrine is inferior to the Vedantic, which\nemphasizes the spiritual character, and the divine origin and destiny,\nof the soul.\n\n3. The doctrine of Liberation, or of Redemption, as found in the\nBhagavad Gita, is a strange combination of all the ways which\nBrahmanism has inculcated through its many schools, with other ways\nhere added. \"In every way men follow in my path,\" declared Krishna. In\nthe pursuance of any religious practices whatever, men were assured\nthat they would be acceptable if they were only Krishna-olaters.\n\n(1) But the highest path which leads unto God is the path of knowledge\n(_Gnana_). \"Sacrifices of various sorts are laid down in the Vedas.\nKnow them all to be produced from action, and knowing this you will be\nreleased from the fetters of this world. The sacrifice of knowledge is\nsuperior to the sacrifice of wealth, for action is wholly and entirely\ncomprehended in knowledge.... Even if you are the most sinful of all\nsinful men, you will cross over all trespasses by means of the boat of\nknowledge alone. As a fire well kindled, O Arjuna! reduces fuel to\nashes, so the fire of knowledge reduces all actions to ashes. For\nthere is in this world no means of sanctification like knowledge, and\nthat one perfected by devotion finds within one's self in time. He who\nhas faith, whose senses are restrained, and who is assiduous, obtains\nknowledge. Obtaining knowledge he acquires, without delay, the highest\ntranquillity.... Therefore, O descendant of Bharata! destroy with the\nsword of knowledge these misgivings of yours which fill your mind, and\nwhich are produced from ignorance.\" \"He who is possessed of knowledge,\nwho is always devoted, and whose worship is addressed to one only, is\nesteemed highest. For to the man of knowledge I am dear above all\nthings, and he is dear to me. All these are noble, but the man\npossessed of knowledge is deemed by me to be my own self.\"\n\nFrom time immemorial Indian sages have looked upon God as the Supreme\nIntelligence; He is the absolute Wisdom, and to know Him or it, and to\nknow that \"I am it\" (_Tat twam asi_), this is the highest wisdom\n(_Brahma Gnana_), and it gives immediate entrance into the heaven of\nbeatification or of absorption. And the only sin which such a man, and\nwhich this system of thought, recognizes is the sin of ignorance\n(_Avidia_); that is, the folly, or stupidity, of thinking that one's\nsoul is separate from the divine Soul. To know, under these mundane\nconditions of delusion (_Maya_), and while under the tyranny of\npassion and of action (_Karma_), that I am, after all, identical with\nthe divine Spirit, and that the thought of a separate existence is a\nsnare and a bondage,--this is the immediate shattering of my earthly\nbondage and the full entrance of my soul (like a drop of water to its\nmother ocean) into the eternal peace and tranquillity (_Sayutcha_) of\nthe godhead--a state of unconscious calm which shall never after be\ndisturbed.\n\nThus the highest way of salvation, as taught by Hindus of all classes,\nis the way of knowledge. It is the highest step in the progress of\nhuman redemption. All other ways of salvation are but preliminary, or\nstepping-stones, to this. There is no return to the bondage of this\nworld of Him who has crossed the river of death \"in the boat of\nknowledge.\" All others must again return and further, by new births,\nthe cause of the soul's emancipation.\n\n(2) The second path of liberation here inculcated is that of\nself-restraint, of asceticism. From time immemorial the ascetic has\nbeen India's ideal of a man of piety. He is a man who has turned his\nback upon the pleasures of the world, even its harmless amusements and\nphysical enjoyments, and has given himself to stern rigid self-denial.\nBy thus denying himself every pleasure that body can bring and every\nsatisfaction that human society can furnish; yea, more, by a\nrenunciation of everything worldly to the extent of supreme physical\npain and social deprivation, he separates and weans himself from all\nthat is temporal, that he may pass on in sadness up the pathway of\nredemption. This is the way of Yoga; and the Yogi to-day finds highest\nadmiration in India as its ideal of life.\n\nIn the Divine Lay also this pathway of Yoga finds emphasis and\nexaltation.\n\n\"The devotee whose self is contented with knowledge and experience,\nwho is unmoved, who has restrained his senses, and to whom a sod, a\nstone, and gold are alike, is said to be devoted.... A devotee should\nconstantly devote himself to abstraction, remaining in a secret place,\nalone, with his mind and self restrained, without expectations and\nwithout belongings. Fixing his seat firmly in a clean place, not too\nhigh nor too low, and covered over with a sheet of cloth, a deerskin,\nand kusa grass--and there seated on that seat, fixing his mind\nexclusively on one point with the working of the mind and sense\nrestrained, he should practise devotion for the purity of self....\nThus constantly devoting himself to abstraction, a devotee whose mind\nis restrained attains that tranquillity which culminates in final\nemancipation and assimilation with me.... The self-restrained,\nembodied self lies at ease within the city of nine portals, renouncing\nall actions by the mind, not doing or causing anything to be done.\"\n\nThis path of abstraction and asceticism leaves the soul to theosophic\nknowledge, which is consummated in the supreme bliss of assimilation\nwith the Divine.\n\nSo enamoured has India been of this method of life throughout the\ncenturies that Yoga has been reduced to a science, and has been\nelaborated to a degree which is ridiculous and almost idiotic. Listen,\nfor instance, to Krishna's instructions where he speaks of the ascetic\nas \"holding his body, head, and neck even and unmoved, remaining\nsteady, looking at the tip of his own nose,\" etc. These ridiculous\nposturings and idiotic attitudes cannot, as has been well said by\nBarth, but lead to idiocy or to a loss of all mental aptitude.\n\nThe ultimate aim of Yoga is to reduce the soul to tranquillity and\nquiescence, by abstracting the mind from all things earthly, and thus\nleading to cessation from action; for action is said to lead to new\nfruit, which must be eaten by the soul; and for this purpose new\nbirths are necessary, which delay final absorption in the deity.\n\nThe spirit of Hinduism is thus evident in its exaltation of this\nmethod of life. It has made the path of abstraction and the\nelimination of every thought, emotion, and ambition, its ideal. In\nother words, man, by self-repression and the effacement of every\nfaculty of mind and body, is to attain unto final beatification or\nemancipation. This is an end in itself, according to the Hindu plan of\nlife.\n\nIn Christianity, on the other hand, self-realization and not\nself-effacement must be the consummation of life. The way of the\nCross, that is, the path of self-denial, is indeed most rigidly\nenjoined; but it is the denial of the lower self, the meanest passions\nof the soul, in order that the highest faculties may find complete\nrealization. Thus, in Christianity, also, asceticism has a place of\nvalue; but it is as a means to a higher end, and that is, perfect\ngrowth and development of the man unto the \"measure of the stature of\nthe fulness of Christ.\"\n\n(3) It also possesses the distinction of emphasizing works or action\nas necessary to salvation. Indeed, the Bhagavad Gita is unique among\nthe books of India in teaching that action is superior to\nrenunciation.\n\nSri Krishna says: \"Renunciation and pursuit of action are both\ninstruments of happiness. But of the two, pursuit of action is\nsuperior to renunciation of action.\"\n\nThis is, indeed, strange teaching in the realm of Hindu literature,\nwhere action is universally taught to be both in itself an evil and to\nbe the cause of sin. Krishna, by some magic of his own power, here\nreverses the ordinary Hindu teaching. \"He who has controlled his\nsenses and who identifies his self with every being, is not tainted,\nthough he performs actions.\" \"He who, casting off all attachment,\nperforms actions, dedicating them to Brahm, is not tainted by sin, as\nthe lotus leaf is not tainted by water.\" Indeed, we are told that some\n\"perform actions for attaining purity of self.\" Thus we see inculcated\nthe peculiarly un-Hindu doctrine that he who works for God is for that\nreason absolved from the fruit of his action; yea, more, by his very\nacts attains unto purity, and approaches the consummation of\nabsorption. Still more, the very motive of Krishna, in this Divine\nSong, is to stir up the warlike courage of Arjuna and to lead him into\nthe bloody activities of war. \"Therefore do you, too, perform\nactions, as was done by men of olden times.\"\n\nBut action, in order that it may be effective, must be according to\nprescribed rules. Any work which is inculcated in the sacred books is\nboth sacred and useful in the scheme of redemption. And among these\nprescribed works, few are more useful than the performance of\nsacrifice. Men \"have their sins destroyed by sacrifice. Those who eat\nthe nectar-like leavings of the sacrifice prepare for the eternal\nBrahm. This world is not for those who perform no sacrifice. Thus\nsacrifices of various sorts are laid down in the Vedas. Know them all\nproduced from action, and knowing this you will be released from the\nfetters of this world.\"\n\nIdolatry, also, is a part of this sacred duty. \"Desiring the success\nof action, men in this world worship the divinities, for in this world\nof the mortals, the success produced by action is soon obtained.\"\n\"Those who worship the divinities go to the divinities, and my\nworshippers, too, go to me.\" \"Even those, O Son of Kunti, who being\ndevotees of other divinities worship with faith, worship me only, but\nirregularly. For I am the enjoyer as well as Lord of all sacrifices.\nBut they know me not truly, therefore do they fall,\" _i.e._ they\nreturn to the world of mortals. This teaching may be called polytheism\nrather than idolatry. And yet at the time this book was written,\npolytheism had already degenerated into idolatry.\n\nThe most definite and multitudinous courses of action are those\nenforced by the caste system. And these also are emphasized in this\nsong. Krishna here informs us that he is the author of the caste\nsystem. \"The four-fold division of castes was created by me according\nto the apportionment of qualities and duties.\" Elsewhere, in Hindu\nwritings, we are abundantly informed that Brahm created these four\ndivisions of men from his head, his shoulders, his loins, and his\nfeet, respectively.[3]\n\n[Footnote 3: See Chapters IV and V, on Caste.]\n\nHe only lives well and works worthily who lives in strict accordance\nwith caste rules, and who works in obedience to the dictates of caste\ntyranny. We are here informed that \"one's own duty, though defective,\nis better than another's duty well performed. Death in performing\none's own duty is preferable; the performance of the duty of others is\ndangerous.\" Here, of course, \"one's own duty\" is the duty prescribed\nto a man by the Hindu caste system. \"The duties of Brahmans,\nKshatriyas, and Vaisyas, and of Sudras, too, O terror of your foes,\nare distinguished according to the qualities born of nature.\nTranquillity, restraint of the sense, penance, purity, forgiveness,\nstraightforwardness, also knowledge, experience, and belief in the\nfuture world, this is the natural duty of the Brahmans. Valour, glory,\ncourage, dexterity, not slinking away from battle, gifts, exercise of\nlordly power, this is the natural duty of Kshatriyas. Agriculture,\ntending cattle, trade, this is the natural duty of Vaisyas. And the\nnatural duty of Sudras, too, consists in service. Every man intent on\nhis own respective duties obtains perfection.\" And, again, \"One's\nduty, though defective, is better than another's duty well performed.\nPerforming the duty prescribed by nature one does not incur sin. One\nshould not abandon a natural duty though tainted with evil.\"\n\nThus the most stupendous system of social and religious evil that the\nworld has ever known--the Hindu caste system--is here boldly taught\nand inculcated as the most sacred duty of life. One man is born for\npious leadership, another born to fight, another born for menial\nservice; and woe be to any one of them who abandons this so-called\n\"natural duty\" and strives for a betterment or a change of life! This\nis the divinely inculcated system of bondage which has enthralled\nIndia for twenty-five centuries.\n\nBut it is gratifying to know that, though taught and inculcated in\nthis highest book of their faith, Hindus are beginning to denounce the\nwhole system. Both a social and a religious consciousness are\nbeginning to rebel against its very existence.\n\nBut we pass from this lowest aspect of \"action\" to the highest when we\nremark that all acts should, according to Krishna, be free from\nattachment. No duty is more frequently enforced in the Bhagavad Gita\nthan that of detachment in religious activity; nor is there any higher\nthan this within the whole compass of this Song. It is the duty of man\nto work out righteousness and to exercise virtue without regard to the\nresults or the fruits of his action. It is the high-water mark of the\nteaching of the book.\n\n\"Your business is with action alone; not by any means with fruit. Let\nnot the fruit of action be your motive to action.\" \"Wretched are those\nwhose motive to action is the fruit of action.\" Therefore, perform all\naction, which must be performed, without attachment. For a man,\nperforming action without attachment, attains the Supreme. \"Forsaking\nall attachment to the fruit of action, always contented, dependent on\nnone, he does nothing at all, though he engages in action. Devoid of\nexpectations, restraining the mind and the self, and casting off all\nbelongings, he incurs no sin.\"\n\nWe must not, however, give to this detachment a Christian value. For\nit is a part of Hindu thought to condemn every emotion and sentiment,\nhowever lofty as an asset of life. It regards every desire, however\nnoble in itself, and every sentiment, however exalted, as essentially\nevil; for it is a momentary barrier to that equilibrium and quiescence\nof soul which the Hindu has always maintained to be the highest\ncultivation of the self. Therefore, action, in order to be of any\npermanent value, must be severed from every passion, desire, or\nexpectation. And thus the Hindu does not here seek so much the\nexistence of pure altruism as he does the absence of desire, which\nmeans soul unrest and the removal of one of the barriers to soul\nemancipation. It is, he says, when love and every other passion cools\noff into a quiet intellectual calm, and the soul is animated, not by\nsentiment, but by clear vision, that _Sayutcha_, or absorption into\nthe Brahm, is attained.\n\nIf, then, detachment is a keyword to Higher Hinduism and man is\nforbidden to seek after any good, even the highest, in connection with\nhis religious activities, what then can be an adequate motive to a\nreligious life of good works?\n\nHere is introduced another keyword of this Eclecticism--the word\n_Bhakti_.\n\nThe doctrine of Bhakti finds a supreme place in the Divine Song.\n_Bhakti_ means devotion or love to Krishna himself. Perhaps the\nChristian word \"Faith\" best expresses the full meaning of the word\n_Bhakti_. Krishna says, in substance, Have no attachment to the\nresults of your acts; but be attached to me who am the supreme God,\nand live and act according to the noble impulse of that attachment.\n\n\"Among all devotees, he who being full of faith worships me, with his\ninmost self intent on me, is esteemed by me to be the most devoted.\"\n\"Even if a very ill-conducted man worships me, not worshipping any one\nelse, he must certainly be deemed to be good, for he has well\nresolved.\" \"Place your mind on me, become my devotee, my worshipper;\nreverence me, and thus making me your highest goal, and devoting\nyourself to abstraction, you will certainly come to me.\" \"On me place\nyour mind, become my devotee, sacrifice to me, reverence me, you will\ncertainly come to me. I declare to you truly, you are dear to me. I\nwill release you from all sins. Be not grieved.\" \"No one amongst men\nis superior to him in doing what is dear to me.\"\n\nIt is probable that the Bhagavad Gita was the first to introduce this\ndoctrine of faith. It is, of course, a doctrine possible only in\nconnection with a _personal_ God, and was doubtless introduced through\nthe new cult of Krishna-olatry. It is foreign to Vedantism, whose God\nis the Impersonal and the Ineffable One; foreign also to the Sankya\nschool, where God is neither known nor needed. It is essentially a new\nteaching, and is a peculiar feature of the worship of the incarnations\nof Vishnu.\n\nBut, introduced by this Song of the Adorable One, it has been\nincorporated into the Hindu religion, and figures now as one of the\nmost powerful motives of that faith. And this new doctrine brings the\nHindu religion into warmer relationship to Christianity than at any\nother point. Sir Monier Williams truly claims that Hinduism, in no\nother teaching, so closely approaches Christianity as in the doctrine\nof faith.\n\nBut, like all other teachings of Hinduism, this doctrine also has been\nconsiderably distorted in the process of appropriation; so that\n\"faith\" in the worship of Vishnu's incarnations, to-day, is more\npotential as an act than is \"faith\" in Christianity. For, in Hinduism,\nit matters not on what god or ritual the _Bhakthan_ places his faith,\nit has power to redeem him from all troubles.\n\nIt should be remembered that _Bhakti_ is perhaps the most distinctive\nand mighty influence in Vaishnavism, if not in all Hinduism, at the\npresent time.\n\n(4) Little is said in Hinduism with a view to inculcate and to reveal\nthe efficiency of altruism, or the love of man for man. In the Bhagavad\nGita hardly any reference is made to this which is so dominant a note in\nthe Christian faith. Krishna does remark that one should have \"regard\nalso to keeping people to their duties,\" in performing action. \"Whatever\na great man does, that other men also do; ... wise men should not shake\nthe convictions of the ignorant who are attached to action, but acting\nwith devotion should make them apply themselves to all action.\" \"He who\nidentifies himself with every being is not tainted, though he performs\nactions.\" \"The sages who are intent on the welfare of all the beings\nobtain the Brahmic bliss.\"\n\nThis certainly is neither very clear, nor at all adequate, as the\ninculcation of the most fundamental of all duties, the love of our\nfellow-men and the sacrifice of self in the interest of common\nhumanity. The Vedantin claims that the unity of all being, as taught\nby him, is a strong injunction upon him to love all the parts of that\nunity. But the Bhagavad Gita does not teach clearly even this Vedantic\ndoctrine. Selfishness is too much stamped upon the Hindu faith. It is\ntoo exclusively an individualistic religion. It is every one for\nhimself in the great struggle of man for redemption. It pre-eminently\ntends to cultivate in man both pride in his own achievement and an\nexclusively selfish devotion to the consummation of his own\nredemption.\n\n4. In the Bhagavad Gita little is said of the character of the\nsalvation which is to be achieved by the devotee of Krishna. Indeed,\nthe nature of this consummation is left very much in mystery. We are\ntold that Krishna's worshipper will come to him. \"He who, with the\nhighest devotion to me, will proclaim this supreme mystery among my\ndevotees will come to me freed from all doubts.\" Again we are taught\nthat such a devotee, \"understanding me, truly enters into my essence.\"\nThis carries the definite and universal thought of Hinduism, that man\nwill be absorbed in the Deity. In another place we are told that the\nworshipper \"who is purified by the penance of knowledge has come into\nmy essence.\"\n\nThis is the eschatology of all Hindu _Shastras_. The peculiar teaching\nof the Bhagavad Gita concerning action and its emphasis upon a\nstrenuous life in this world would have led us to expect the teaching\nof a future of some kind of activity. Instead of that, it falls back\nupon the old and hackneyed pantheistic idea, that the human soul,\nbeing ultimately divested of its human bodies, both gross and fine,\npasses on in its nakedness into oneness with the Absolute, and thus\nloses all the faculties which, so far as we know, constitute its\ngreatness, power, and glory. In this condition of absorption the human\nsoul is not only deprived of its separate existence, but also of all\nself-knowledge, which is the true basis of personality.\n\nAs to the process of this salvation we are here taught, as in all\nHindu writing, that it is attained through metempsychosis, or\nreincarnation. The human soul, like the divine, in Brahmanism, passes\nthrough many incarnations (some writers say 8,400,000) before it\nreceives the crown of perfection, or of absorption. Krishna says: \"As\na man, casting off old clothes, puts on others and new ones, so the\nembodied self, casting off old bodies, goes to others and new ones.\"\n\"I have passed through many births, O Arjuna, and you, also,\" says\nKrishna; \"I know them all, but you, O terror of your foes! do not know\nthem.\"\n\nThis devious and tedious path of reincarnation is the one over which\nevery soul must pass. And between every incarnation and that which\nfollows, the soul, clothed upon with a subtle body, passes through\nmany heavens and hells in order to eat the fruits of its past actions.\nAnd there is a remnant of these fruits left which necessitates the\nreturn to a new body and a new human existence.\n\nThese upper and nether regions through which the soul passes and\nsettles its accounts with the past, are not in any sense permanent.\nConcerning this, the Bhagavad Gita says that men, \"reaching the holy\nworld of the Lord of Gods, they enjoy in the celestial regions the\ncelestial pleasures of the gods. And having enjoyed that great\nheavenly world, they enter the mortal world when their merit is\nexhausted.\" After, perhaps, millions of these human incarnations (and,\nindeed, the incarnation may be of lower animal and of vegetable), the\nself will gradually be perfected, they say, and will pass on into the\ncalm essence of the supreme Soul, as a drop of water descends in rain\nand blends again with the ocean. I see absolutely no reason why this\ninterminable process of metempsychosis should lead to the perfection\nof the soul rather than to its complete demoralization. Indeed, there\nis nothing ethical at all in the character of these reincarnations, so\nfar as they are described by Hindu writers.\n\n\nIII\n\nThis, then, is the \"Divine Lay\" of the Hindu religion, the book most\ncherished and most highly extolled by more than two hundred and thirty\nmillion Hindus.\n\nWe are, first of all, impressed by the many contradictions which\ndisfigure the book. Hardly a page is free from conflicting doctrines\nand methods of life. It could not be otherwise in any effort to\nharmonize the mutually contradictory teachings of the conflicting\nschools of religious thought and practice in this complicated faith.\n\nOn the other hand, we see in this Song an honest and an able attempt\nto bring the many tenets of that faith into a consistent whole. And we\ncannot help feeling that, while the view of God and man here\npresented, and the ways of salvation here enunciated, are not\nsatisfactory, yet we find scattered through its pages gems of thought\nand beauties of religious conceptions and instruction which are beyond\ncavil, and which to-day _seem_ to satisfy many millions of our\nfellow-men.\n\nBut, at the close of a careful perusal of the book, one feels that it\nis radically unsatisfying.\n\nIn the first place, it is wanting in any power for life. In order to\nfeel this, one has only to compare it, for a moment, with the Gospels\nof Christianity. We find here philosophical disquisitions on the\nDivine Being which few men can understand and none can hope to\nharmonize. In the Gospels, on the other hand, we see presented a\nscheme of life which, at the same time, satisfies the highest\nphilosophy and is perfectly intelligible to the most simple-minded.\nHere a bewildering number of mutually contradictory ways of life are\nurged upon us, not one of which can appeal in fulness and power to the\ncommon man. There do we find one clear way of salvation--the way of\nfaith in Christ; and in order to walk in that way the power of the\nDivine Spirit is promised to every one, even to the humblest soul and\nto the greatest sinner, that he might accept the Christ and live in\nand through Him a holy and a righteous life.\n\nAbove all, we have here represented an incarnation the records of\nwhose doings, in the sacred writings of the Hindus, shock us by their\nimmorality and disgust us by their coarseness. And yet he arrogates to\nhimself the nature and the functions, as he makes upon us the demands,\nof the supreme Deity. There, on the other hand, we witness the\nspectacle of the Christ who so lived the divine life, and whose\nimmaculate holiness is so overwhelming, that His claim to be one with\nthe Godhead brings no shock or sense of incongruity to any one to-day.\nHe has so impressed men of all generations that untold millions, in\nall lands, have felt no hesitation in believing Him when He says, \"He\nthat hath seen me hath seen the Father.\" Here do we indeed find the\nsupreme contrast between the manual of Hindu faith and the Gospels of\nChristianity; and it is a contrast at the most vital point of\nreligion.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nPOPULAR HINDUISM\n\n\nIn the last chapter we dwelt upon what may be called the Higher\nHinduism--that system of thought and religious exercise which engages\nthe attention, attracts the thought, and invites the devotion of the\nthinking classes of the Hindu fold. The Bhagavad Gita is only one of\nmany writings which seriously present to the thoughtful Hindu some of\nthe higher conceptions and deepest yearnings of the soul. Of all the\nfaiths of the \"Far East\" none dwells so much upon these profound\nreligious realities, or engages in such lofty flights of spiritual\naspiration, as does this religion of the Brahmans. And no one can\nstudy these products of the greatest minds and most sensitive\nreligious souls of India without entertaining a great and growing\nadmiration for them.\n\nBut it is well to remember these are not all of Hindu literature; nor\ndo they represent the current thought or the general religious life of\nthe people.\n\n[Illustration: A DRAVIDIAN SHRINE, SOUTH INDIA]\n\nThey indeed reveal the highest and the best that has ever come to\nlight in the thought and spiritual culture of this people. For that\nreason, the Bhagavad Gita is worthy of the name we gave it--the Hindu\nbible.\n\nIn view of all these things, who would say that God did not visit this\npeople, or left Himself without witness among them? While He was\nleading the Hebrews in the time of Moses, He was also stirring this\npeople through its old rishis, or sages. While He was rebuking the\ndegenerate Jewish people through their later prophets, He was raising\nand inspiring the great prophet of India, the Buddha, to protest\nagainst a debased Brahmanism.\n\nBut let it not be supposed that this literature of \"Higher Hinduism\"\nis, in any sense, popular in India. Those religious books which engage\nthe mind of the masses are of a very different class. They are the\nwild legends of the Puranas, and inane dialogues and lying\nincantations of the Tantras--two classes of works which are both the\nmost popular and are lowest in the range of their ideas and most\ndemoralizing in the cults which they present.\n\nThese books were ostensibly written for the common people and for\nwomen. And the common people delight in them and are intoxicated by\ntheir religious exaggerations and excesses.\n\nThus the faith of the people, as a whole, is far removed, in its\ngrovelling thought, its idolatrous practices, and its thousand-headed\nritual, from the teaching of Higher Hinduism.\n\nAbove all, we must remember that the Hinduism of to-day is not the\nBrahmanism of thirty centuries ago. It has been the passion of that\nfaith, from the beginning, to absorb all cults and faiths that have\ncome into contact with it. Hinduism is an amorphous thing; it has been\ncompared to a many-coloured and many-fibred cloth, in which are mixed\ntogether Brahmanism, Buddhism, Demonolatry, and Christianity. And all\nthese, utterly regardless of the many contradictions which they bring\ntogether, form modern Hinduism.\n\nThis is true also of the gods of India. The earliest of the Vedic gods\nhad elements of nobility in them. The most universally recognized of\ntheir divinities in primitive times, Varuna, is free from the vain\npassions and moral obliquities of more recent gods. Indeed, as one\nfollows the course of time and the consequent multiplication of\ndeities in India, one sees in their pantheon a steady deterioration of\ncharacter, until we come to the most popular of modern Hindu deities,\nKrishna and Kali, the one well-called \"the incarnation of lust,\" and\nthe other \"the goddess of blood.\" One is the deification of human\npassion, while the other is an apotheosis of brute force. And yet the\ncults of those two deities have attained, at the present time, the\nmaximum of popularity throughout the land.\n\nThe same fact is manifest in connection with the customs of the\npeople. In early Vedic times, hardly one of those institutions which\nnow so disfigure this religion existed among the people. Idolatry, the\ncaste system, and the many forms of degradation of women are of later\ngrowth. Never, in all the history of the country, did they exist and\nflourish as they do at the present time.\n\nThus it will be seen that, while the religion of the Brahmans in its\nearliest, primitive stage was merely an ethnic faith and largely the\necho of the spiritual yearning of the human soul, its development has\nneither added to its power nor broadened its horizon. On the contrary,\nit grows weaker and has, age after age, added superstition to\nsuperstition, until it has reached its maximum of error and of evil at\nthe present time.\n\nIt is wise neither to ignore nor to underestimate the best that is in\na faith; nor is it fair to shut one's eyes to its achievement as\nrevealed in the life of the common people.\n\nIndeed, the religious life of the masses is the truest index of the\nreal value of a religion, if it has wrought upon them many centuries,\nas Hinduism has, in this land.\n\n\nI\n\nIn the West the national evolutionist says to us, \"Let the people of\nIndia alone, that they may evolve their own faith. It is not by\ncataclysmic change, but by growth, that they will ultimately find\ntheir true redemption.\" Others, who have listened perhaps to the\npleasing words of a clever, yellow-robed Hindu Swami, ask the\nquestion, \"Why should we spend our money in sending the Gospel to\nthese wonderfully bright people of the East; are they not able to take\ncare of themselves; and is not their faith adequate to their needs?\"\n\nTo this we simply say: \"Come with us to India and see for yourselves.\nLive, as some of us have, for a third of a century in this land, and\nsee, hear, feel, and understand what this Hinduism is. And, having\nunderstood the situation, ask yourselves whether this ancestral faith\nof India has in itself real saving power and redeeming efficacy for\nany one.\" I maintain that, to know Hinduism, is to feel a deep\nsympathy with the people who have inherited it as their faith, and to\ndesire to bring to them the Gospel of life and of salvation in Christ\nJesus. The people of India are, perhaps, the most religious upon\nearth. In this respect they are very unlike the Japanese and Chinese,\nwho are worldly, prosaic, practical. Hindus are poetic, other-worldly,\nand spiritually minded. They have a keen instinct for things of the\nspirit. They are, also, very unlike the people of the West. Among\nWesterners, religion is largely an incident in life. It has for them a\nseparate department, a small corner, in the life. In the East, on the\nother hand, religion enters into every detail of life. There is hardly\na department or an interest in life which is not subsidized by faith\nand which has not to be conducted religiously.\n\nMoreover, the people of India thought out and elaborated most profound\nsystems of theosophic thought in the far, remote past. When our\nancestors were in the depths of savagery, Indian sages were indulging\nin metaphysical disquisitions which are even to-day the admiration of\nwestern sages. And there were many among those ancient Hindu rishis\nwhose self-propelled flight toward God and divine things, and whose\nspiritual aspirations and yearnings were so beautiful that we can but\nspeak with profound respect and entertain the highest admiration of\nthem. Religion is not merely a philosophy, or even an aspiration; it\nis something vastly more than this.\n\nThe Hindu Swami will visit the West and discourse sweetly, in\npersuasive English, upon Hindu philosophy. But he will not practise\nhis religious rites or reveal his idolatrous habits and his bondage of\ncaste to those western people who admire him. These things would at\nonce create a revulsion of feeling against him and his philosophy. And\nyet these are much more an essential part of his faith than all his\nmoral platitudes and eloquent disquisitions.\n\nAnd it should not be forgotten that this same Swami, in the very act\nof crossing the oceans to visit the West, violates one of the most\nprominent commands of his faith.\n\n\nII\n\n_What, then, is Popular Hinduism?_\n\nI shall endeavour to analyze it and present some of its outstanding\nfeatures, such as are witnessed all over the land.\n\n1. That which obtrudes itself upon all sides and which is, perhaps,\nits most determining factor is its caste system. In other lands, mean\nsocial distinctions obtain and divide the people. In India only, Caste\nis a religious institution, founded by the authority of Heaven,\npenetrating every department and entering into every detail of life,\nand enforced by strictly religious penalties. One has well said that\nHinduism and caste are convertible terms.\n\n2. Another outstanding feature of popular Hinduism is its Polytheism.\n\nWhile pantheism is the essential philosophy of the land,--a pantheism\nwhich denies the existence of all beings and everything save Brahm\n(the Supreme Soul),--nevertheless this pantheism has, in the popular\nmind, degenerated into the greatest pantheon the world has ever known.\nEven ten centuries ago its gods were said to number three hundred and\nthirty millions! And this army of deities has been multiplying ever\nsince. Even twenty-five centuries ago, the fertile imagination of the\nBrahman had so peopled this world with gods and godlets of all grades\nthat the stern and sensible mind of the great Buddha became disgusted\nwith the whole pantheon; and he established his new faith as a\nreaction from the old to the extent of ignoring _any_ Divine Being.\n\nIf, in these earlier days, such a man was unable to endure this\nmanifestation of human folly, what can we not say in these days, when,\nin addition to the acknowledged host of well-known Hindu deities,\nevery family has its god, and every hamlet its protecting demons; and\nwhen trees, rivers, mountains, and a thousand other objects represent\nto the popular mind separate godlets? One can well say that India has\ngone mad in its passion for populating the world with gods.\n\n3. Moreover, this pantheon has been incarnated. It has descended into\na wild and hideous idolatry. There is no other land on earth where\nidolatry is so rampant as it is in India. Images are found everywhere.\nIf the gods are numberless, how much more the idols which represent\nthem, and which are found in every hamlet and house and upon\nroadsides!\n\nIn addition to those idols which are made for regular and permanent\nworship, there are myriad others which are made of clay and other\nperishable substances, to be used for the time only, and then to be\nthrown into the river or to be washed away by the rain.\n\nAnd what hideous objects these idols of India are! The images of the\ngods of the ancient Greeks were beautiful, and one feels sometimes\nalmost inclined to excuse an image-worship where ignorance weds art\nto religion and combines beauty with devotion.\n\nBut there is no such excuse for the idolatry of India. In all my\ntravels through this great land I have hardly seen an image, or an\nidol, which is what may be called an artistically beautiful object. On\nthe other hand, many of them are peculiarly gross and revolting in\nappearance. The most universally worshipped god in all India is\nGanesh. His idols are found all over the land, not only in temples and\nshrines, but on roadsides, and in all places where people assemble.\nAnd this Ganesh, the son of Siva, is represented by the grossest and\nmost hideous idol. This \"pot-bellied god\" has his body crowned with an\nelephant head!\n\nOf course, Hindu taste cannot be judged by western standards. One\ncannot fail to recognize this fact in trying to judge types of human\nbeauty in this land. But even Hindu types of beauty are not at all\nrealized in their idols. It would often seem as if that which was most\nrevolting in appearance is that which appeals most strongly to the\nHindu, as an outward expression of the divine. In any case, it is true\nthat the idolatry of India is farthest removed from the chaste, the\nbeautiful, and the elevating.\n\nAnd this evil is intensified by the fact that all worshipped idols are\nbathed with oil, and therefore attract all the dust, dirt, and grime\nof the immediate vicinity.\n\nEducated Hindus, though they tell you that these idols are only for\nthe ignorant masses, rarely decline to unite with their families in\nbringing their offerings to, and in worshipping, the same.\n\nSome will tell us that in idolatry people do not worship the idol\nitself, but the god who is supposed to reside within it. Even if this\nwere true, one could not admire such a worship did he know the\ncharacter of the god which is supposed to reside therein. But their\nstatement regarding this is not true. I have personally inquired of\nmany of the common people who are idolaters, and I have never yet\nfound a man whose mind, in worship, passes beyond the idol itself. I\nadmit that the educated mind may leap in thought behind the image; but\nthe masses of the people do not. It is, at best, a debasing worship,\nand drags the people down to the level of the hideous objects before\nwhich they prostrate themselves.\n\n[Illustration: TWO HINDU IDOLS, SOUTH INDIA]\n\nA well-known Hindu writer said recently, in the _Christian College\nMagazine_:--\n\n\"I do urge most emphatically that, whatever may have been the\noriginal intention, and whatever may be the esoteric meaning, the\nmillions that perform idolatrous practice in this country see nothing\nsymbolic behind the image and take the whole show quite literally. And\ncan anything be more degrading to an intelligent human being? We know\nthat all religions are necessarily more or less anthropomorphic. But\nour popular Hinduism surpasses everything else in this respect, too.\nThere is a famous shrine in this Presidency where the deity's _chota\nhazri_ [early meal] begins with bread and butter, and he goes on\neating without respite till midnight, when he appropriately takes a\ndecoction of dried ginger to help his digestion before he retires to\nhis bedroom with his consorts; there is another famous shrine where a\ncigar is left in the bedroom every night for his godship to smoke; in\nanother shrine, under the management of a nominal ascetic, fetters are\napplied to the god's feet whenever the temple's exchequer runs low, to\nextort money offerings from the devotees and pilgrims; in numerous\nother shrines the deity is taken out in procession and whipped\npublicly for having committed petty thefts; in one shrine the whole\nprocess of a high-way robbery is acted out in detail during the\nannual festival; births, marriages, deaths, and similar occurrences\nare, of course, as common and frequent in our temples as in our homes.\nGentlemen, can any amount of esoteric whitewashing justify these\ndisgraceful and fairly incredible practices? Then there are the _deva\ndasies_, our 'vestal virgins,' of whom even small and poor temples\nhave one or two to boast. They are the recognized prostitutes of the\ncountry, and many sociologists are of opinion that no 'civilized'\nhuman society can completely get rid of such a class. Is that any\nreason why we should associate them with our religion and tempt the\ndevil himself with their presence in our holiest places and shrines?\"\n\n4. Another marked feature of modern Hinduism is its devil-worship.\nThis is peculiarly manifest in South India. In the Madras Presidency,\nwhose fifty million population is mostly Dravidian, nine-tenths of the\npeople follow the faith of their ancestors, which is Demonolatry.\n\nWhen Brahmanism came to South India, many centuries ago, it found\nintrenched among the people, everywhere and universally, this ancient\ncult. The Brahmans, recognizing this, did what they have always done;\nthey said to the people: \"We have not come to destroy your religion;\nwe will take your demons and demonesses, marry them to our gods, and\ngive them shrines and worship in our temples. Come with them and be a\npart of our religion. We will give to you the privileges, and confer\nupon you the dignity and blessing, of our great religion.\" The people\nwere impressed by this offer, accepted the situation, and were\nabsorbed, with their religion, into the Brahmanical faith. From that\ntime forward they have been recognized as Hindus, and have, after a\nfashion, been loyal members of that faith.\n\nBut let it not be supposed that, by becoming Hindus, they have\ndeserted their ancestral religion, and have ceased to be\ndevil-worshippers. Far from it. Hinduism proper is to them a mere\nplaything, or a festival pastime. On special Hindu holidays, and\nperhaps on occasions of pilgrimage, they will visit these Hindu\ntemples and bring their offering to the deities of Brahmanism. But\ntheir chief concern and their daily religious occupation is found in\nthe appeasing of the many devils whose abode is supposed to be in\ntheir countless village shrines and under well-known trees in their\nhamlets. They have not abated one jot of their belief in the supremacy\nof these devils in their life-affairs; and they always stand in fear\nof them, and do what they can to satisfy their bloody demands.\n\nThus at least nine-tenths of the people of South India are, first of\nall, demonolaters, and secondly, but a long way behind, are Hindus.\nAnd yet a great many people in the West think of these people as the\npure worshippers of the highest type of the Brahmanical faith!\n\nAnd it should not be forgotten that all over India there are probably\nfifty millions of people who are the so-called outcasts of the land,\nthe miserable product of the caste system of Hinduism. They are \"the\nsubmerged tenth\" of India. They are not only socially ostracized, they\nare under the definite ban of the Hindu faith. They are the hewers of\nwood and drawers of water of Brahmanism. They have no place in\nHinduism proper; they are not permitted to enter any of its temples.\nThey have no right to receive whatever comforts religion may confer;\nits rights and its privileges are entirely denied to them. But the\ntyranny of the religion has been such, during the many centuries of\nthe past, as to keep this class of people not only in absolute social\nservitude, but also in religious dependence; and has taught them\n(because it has compelled them) to be satisfied with the spiritual\ncrumbs which are the meanest remnants of what the religion professes\nto give its members.\n\nI have often felt, as I have talked with these poor, miserable\nPariahs, that I was incapable of understanding their willingness to\nremain thus loosely attached to a faith which denied to them its most\nelementary comforts and blessings. The mystery is doubtless to be\nexplained by their supreme abjectness and helplessness, which have\nbeen ground into them by many centuries of bondage. The consequence\nis, that while these many millions of outcast people are numbered\namong the Hindus, and regard themselves as Hindus, Hinduism itself has\nfor them nothing but curses, and, more than all others, they must be\nsatisfied with the devil-worship of their fathers.\n\n5. Beneath all these lower aspects of popular Hinduism is still found\nwhat may be called its lowest stratum--Fetichism. There are many\npeople and tribes in India who have not ascended sufficiently high, in\nreligious conception, to make for themselves definite images of the\ngods they worship. Like the African, they are content to take natural\nobjects, such as a rock or a stone, and regard it as possessed of some\nspirit and worship it. Sir Alfred Lyall, that well-known authority on\nIndia, has told us that one can find in India, as in no other land,\nreligion of all forms and in all grades of development,--from the\nlowest step of animism to the most spiritual and abstruse pantheism. I\nmyself have seen, within the area of one acre of land in South India,\nthe instruments of these varied forms of worship, from a greasy, round\nstone, before which the lowest classes prostrated themselves, to an\nimage of one of the supreme gods of Hinduism. There is not a phase of\nworship, however high or mystic, or however mean or degraded, which\nhas not its devotees in this land.\n\n6. Modern Hinduism is also guilty of harbouring and fostering\nimmorality.\n\nThis is a cruel statement to make concerning any faith. But justice\ncompels me to add this as one of the characteristics of Hinduism. Some\nof the most revered and popular writings of this religion are so full\nof obscenity and impure suggestion, that, to publish them in a\nChristian land, in the English tongue, would make the publisher liable\nto imprisonment. When, years ago, Lord Dalhousie, the Viceroy of\nIndia, enacted a law punishing obscenity, the leaders of the Hindu\nreligion were so exercised by it that the government had to exempt\nreligious writings of Hinduism, and emblems of that faith, from the\naction of the law. There are many religious books in India to-day\nwhich are classical in the beauty of their language, but which the\nUniversities of India decline to use as text-books because of their\ngross obscenity.\n\nAmong the most demoralizing institutions to the youth of India are the\ntemple cars, which are found in every village of any consequence\nthroughout the land. They are erected at great expense, by temple\nauthorities, are most elaborately carved, and are used for the\nconveyance of the gods through the village streets upon festival\noccasions. There is hardly one of these cars, in South India at any\nrate, which is not disfigured by grossly sensual carvings such as\nought to bring blushing shame to any decent and self-respecting\ncommunity. They are open to the public gaze, and children of the\nvillage play under their shadow, and gaze daily upon their vile and\ndisgusting sights. The government would forbid the erection of such\ncars to-morrow, if they had not pledged themselves not to interfere\nwith the religion of the people!\n\nIn the Vaishnava cult of Hinduism there is at least one sect, well\nknown throughout the land, whose worship is loaded with impurity, and\nwhose worshippers, at certain festivals, specially, yield themselves\nto all forms of sexual practices such as cannot be mentioned.\n\nSakti worship, or the worship of the goddesses, lends itself\ndefinitely to this gross evil; and the leading Tantraic books of this\ncult are so filthy that they are not fit to be translated. In Bengal,\nwhere the worship of Durgai, the wife of Siva, is dominant, the Hindus\nthemselves are beginning to protest against the lewdness, obscenity,\nand licentiousness which prevail at their great Holi festival, which\nis the annual festival of the goddess.\n\nAnother institution connected with the temple worship of India, and of\nwhich Hindus ought to be heartily ashamed, is that of dancing-girls.\nLittle girls in their infancy are devoted and dedicated by their own\nmothers to the temples. They are supposed to be married to the gods of\nthe temple, and are called \"the servants of the gods.\" They dance in\nattendance upon the gods, upon festival occasions, and are an inherent\npart of the temple worship. But the sad thing about these women is\nthat their own mothers knew, when they dedicated them in infancy, that\nthey were binding them to a life of shame. For the dancing-girls are\nthe professional prostitutes of India. There are a host of these women\n(twelve thousand in South India alone) who, without their own consent,\nand in the sacred name of religion, have been handed over to this\nlife of shame, to corrupt and debase the youth of the land. Their life\nis a loud cry against their mother-faith, which systematically devotes\nthem to destruction of soul and body. Some educated men of the land\ndenounce this as an evil which should be stopped. But the leaders of\nthe faith turn a deaf ear to all such cries.\n\n7. The treatment of woman within Hinduism is worthy of attention.\n\nHinduism has never looked with kindness or consideration upon women.\nIt seems to have been its settled policy to treat them with contempt\nand unkindness. The consequence is that the girl babe is never welcome\nin the Hindu family. And from the cradle to the grave woman has no\nindependence or right within the pale of this faith. During childhood\nshe is in bondage to her father, during her marriage she must give\nimplicit obedience to her husband, and as a widow she remains the ward\nof her sons.\n\nLook at the disabilities under which the Hindu woman labours to-day.\n\nShe is held in ignorance. Only six Hindu women out of one thousand are\nable to read and write. She has never been regarded as worthy of\neducation. Her ignorance has been regarded as her safety, and has\nbeen the studied policy of Hinduism.\n\nShe has never been regarded as worthy to know the sacred books of her\nown faith. It is a sin in Hinduism to-day for any man to teach a woman\nthe most sacred truths of the faith. Her mind is not a fit receptacle\nfor such truths.\n\nWhile she has nothing to do in choosing for herself a husband, she is\nbound in infancy, through holy wedlock, to a child like herself. Her\nchild husband may die before he attains manhood, when she becomes a\nwidow. And, because her stars are supposed to have had influence in\nhis death, she is treated with cruelty and is regarded as the evil\nstar of the home.\n\nOwing to this evil custom of child marriage, there are to-day\ntwenty-six million widows in this land, of whom four hundred thousand\nare under fifteen years of age. It is not simply that the lot of these\npoor women is one of greatest hardship and contempt; they also become\nthe prey of lustful men and fall into grossest sins. In modern times\nthe government has tried to lighten the burdens of womanhood in the\nland; but the representatives of Hinduism, and its custodians, all\nstand in the way of any helpful legislation, and are determined to\nkeep woman in servitude at all hazards.\n\n8. The religious ascetic represents one of the characteristic features\nof modern Hinduism.\n\nReligious asceticism has been the ideal of the Hindu life from time\nimmemorial. The man who has given up all earthly pursuits and wanders\nwith beggar's cup in hand from place to place, making pilgrimages to\nthe holy places of India, or who separates himself entirely from men\nand devotes years to the solitude of the wilderness in the cultivation\nof piety,--he it is who is the admiration of the whole Hindu\ncommunity. And it is for this very reason that so many men in India\nto-day don the yellow robe of this profession, and make capital out of\nthis sentiment of the people.\n\nThere are millions of these religious mendicants who are entirely\nnon-productive and live upon the common people. A few of them,\ndoubtless, are sincere and are seeking after communion with God. But\nthe vast majority are lazy and rotten to the core. Their life is known\nto be utterly worthless, and they are morally pestiferous in their\ninfluence upon the whole community. And yet the people accept them as\nthe highest types of piety in the land. Even the poorest among them\nwould give his last morsel to these worthless men. There are, indeed,\nvery few in the community who would dare to refuse an offering to\nthese beggars, because they are so ready to invoke dreadful\nimprecations upon those who decline to give anything to them. There\nare few things that an orthodox Hindu dreads more than the curse of a\nreligious ascetic.\n\nThus, though these men are known to trample under foot every law of\nGod and are utterly useless to the whole community, the people\nnevertheless regard them very highly and shower their blessings upon\nthem.\n\nIn any land the maintenance of such an army would be a great burden\nupon the people; in India, where they are so poor, how heavy this\nburden must be, and how great must be the curse of such a host preying\nboth morally and physically upon the rest of the community!\n\nIt is equally disastrous to the conception of the common people\nconcerning their faith that so large a body of recognized hypocrites\nshould, nevertheless, be so highly esteemed as types of piety.\n\nThe existence of this class of worthless men reveals, also, another\nstriking fact which characterizes the religion of India, and that is\nthe utter divorce of faith and morals. Hinduism has never recognized\nany connection, and least of all any essential union, between piety\nand ethics. As we have seen, the most pious men in the land, according\nto Indian ideas, may be the most immoral. This has been one of the\nfatal defects of Hinduism from the earliest times. Conscience has\nfound very small place in this religion of the Brahmans.\n\n9. Modern Hinduism, also, inculcates the spirit of pessimism among its\npeople. The Puranas tell us, and the people universally believe it,\nthat we are now living in _Kali Yuga_, the iron age, in which all\nthings are evil, and in which righteousness is a thing largely unknown\nto the people. All the forces of this age are against the good, and it\nleaves no encouragement to any one to try to do, and to be, good.[4]\n\n[Footnote 4: See Chapter X, Kali Yuga.]\n\n10. Add to this the even more potent belief of the people in\nastrology. The planets and the stars, the moon and the nodes are\nliving gods, they say, which wield an influence over the life and\ndestiny of human beings. The astrologer is perhaps the most important\nfunctionary in the social and religious life of the people. No\nmarriage can be performed unless the horoscope of the bride and the\nbridegroom harmonize. No social or domestic event of importance, and\nspecially no religious ceremony of any consequence, can be carried on\nsave during what are called auspicious days and moments. Astrology is\nthe right hand of Hinduism, and it has supreme authority in the\ndirection of most of its affairs.\n\nAdd to this the belief in omens, which enters very largely into human\nlife and thought. A Hindu will not start upon a journey save on what\nis astrologically an auspicious day; and if even a crow crosses his\npath from left to right, after he has begun his journey, it is\nregarded as an ill omen, and he will at once return home. He spends\nmuch of his time in watching such omens; even an ass's bray carries a\nsignificance to him. If it is heard in the east, his success will be\ndelayed; in the southeast, it portends death; in the south, it means\nwealth; etc. It matters not how important it may be that a man should\nundertake a journey or a task at a certain time, he will not do it at\nthat time if he finds it to be inauspicious. When the new governor of\nMadras recently arrived at his destination, the reception to be given\nto him by the Hindus had to be postponed because it was ignorantly put\nat an hour which was _Rahu Kala_--an inauspicious hour!\n\nIn a thousand similar ways, the Hindu people are controlled and\nhandicapped by silly superstitions which make life a burden to them\nand which rob them of efficiency and sanity.\n\nThis, then, is the Hinduism of the masses; and no other people devote\nthemselves so faithfully to their faith as do these. And none, for\nthis very reason, are more worthy of our sympathy and of our\nassistance to rise to better things in the realm of faith.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nHINDU RELIGIOUS IDEALS AS THEY AFFECT THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY\n\n\nTo the student of comparative religion there appear many striking\nconsonances between Hinduism and Christianity. Many a deep note in\nreligious thought and life finds common expression in these two great\nfaiths. Yet their dissonances are much more marked and fundamental.\n\nIn nothing are Christianity and Hinduism more antipodal than in the\nideals which they exalt, respectively, before their followers; and\nthis conflict of ideals is the most stubborn, as it is the most\npervasive, that Christianity has to face in India. The vision of God\nand of man, of human life and attainment, which we present before an\northodox Hindu, does not impress him as it should, simply because it\ndoes not fit into his thinking. It antagonizes his inherited\nprepossessions; it violates many of the most cherished ideals of\nreligious life and spiritual endowment, which, from time immemorial,\nhave been handed down to him.\n\nIt is an interesting question how much of this difference is of the\nessence of the two religions, and how much is the product of the\nmental and spiritual make-up of the tropical East, on the one hand,\nand of the more northern West, on the other. The climatic and national\nidiosyncrasies are more potential in the complexion of the two faiths\nthan we are wont to think.\n\nBut whether these different ideals are, or are not, essentially\ncharacteristic of the two faiths, is not a question quite germane to\nmy present purpose. It is enough to remember that the western\nconception of Christianity, which the missionary has inherited and\nwhich he is eagerly presenting, and can hardly avoid presenting, to\nthe people of this land, is far removed from what the Hindu has always\nbeen taught to believe that a religion should bring into a man's life\nand possession.\n\nIt is easy enough to prove to the man of ordinary intelligence the\ndebasing influence of idolatry, the accursed slavery of the caste\nsystem, the gross immorality of the Hindu pantheon, and the dwarfing\nand degrading character of the ceremonialism of modern Hinduism.\n\nBut behind and above all these, the Hindu has inherited a number of\nideals which allure and command him. They are his ultimate criteria\nand resort, and they conflict with those which the supplanting faith\npresents as the _summum bonum_ of life. It is not until the Christian\nteacher can show to him, in a way that will move him, the excellence\nof the supreme ideals of Christianity above those of the old faith,\nthat his work can be said to have achieved a triumph in his life.\n\nHence the great--I might almost say the transcendent--importance of\nmission schools of all grades through which are sown the seed of a new\nphilosophy of life. Herein also lies the even more valued service\nwhich a sane and a strong Christian literature in English and in all\nthe vernaculars of the land can render, and is rendering, to the cause\nof Christ in India. For the fight in India is, more than it is or has\nbeen in any other land, one that gathers around basal conceptions and\nfundamental postulates about God and man and life; and Christianity\ncan never seem attractive to an intelligent Hindu until it has\nconquered his assent at these points of vital importance.\n\nLet us consider a few of these ideals which everywhere and always\nobtrude themselves upon us in India.\n\n\nI\n\n_The Divine Ideal_\n\nIn the conception of the Godhead which obtains in Christianity and\nthat which dominates modern Hinduism there is found a difference of\nemphasis which amounts almost to a contrast. To the Hindu, the Supreme\nSoul or Brahm is idealized Intelligence; to the Christian God is\nperfect Will. To the former, He is supreme Wisdom; to the other, He is\ninfinite Goodness. The devotees of each faith aspire to become like\nunto, or to partake of, their Divine Ideal. Hence the goal of the one\nis _brahma gnana_ (Divine Wisdom); of the other, it is supreme love or\ngoodness. Thus at its foundation the religion of India has always\nplaced _perfect intelligence_ as its corner stone, while the basis of\nthe rival faith has been an ideal of _ethical perfection_. Hence, that\nprocess of intellectual gymnastics which so markedly characterizes the\nhigher realms of Hindu sainthood and effort, on the one hand, and the\naltruistic fervour and outgoing charity of the ideal Christian, on the\nother. For this reason, also, the great root of bitterness which\nHinduism has, from the first, sought to remove has been ignorance\n(_avidia_)--that intellectual blindness which persists in maintaining\nthat the self and the Supreme Soul are separate realities and which is\nthe only barrier to the self's final emancipation and final absorption\ninto the Divine. To the Christian, on the other hand, the dread enemy\nis sin--that moral obliquity which differentiates the soul from the\nperfect ethical beauty of God. In consonance with this, the salvation\nwhich is exalted as the _summum bonum_, to be forever sought by the\none, is self-knowledge, by the other self-realization in conformity to\nthe Divine Will. I would not affirm that moral rectitude is absent as\na desideratum from the ambition of the Hindu, nor that the Christian\ndoes not accept with his Lord that \"this is eternal life to _know_\nGod,\" and that he does not aspire with the great Apostle \"to know even\nas I am known.\" But the supreme emphasis which is given by the one to\nnescience as the evil to be removed, and to wisdom as the crowning\ngrace to be achieved, and, by the other, to rebellion of heart against\nGod as the great sin, and to transformation to His moral image as\nperfected salvation, is much too marked to be overlooked by the\nstudent of these two faiths, and by the Christian missionary in the\nland.\n\nAnd all of this comes as a natural consequence from the different\nconcepts which the two religions have of God Himself. Indeed, these\ntwo standpoints from which the Godhead is conceived account for the\ndeepest divergencies of Hindu and Christian philosophy and theology.\n\n\nII\n\n_The Hindu and Christian Conceptions of Incarnation are similarly\nDivergent_\n\nIncarnation is a fundamental doctrine of the religion of Jesus. It is\nalso an overshadowing tenet of modern Hinduism. For this reason, the\nChristian missionary finds in this doctrine the best leverage\nwherewith to raise the Hindu to our faith. Yet at this very point his\nefforts are largely frustrated by the very different conceptions which\nobtain in the two religions. The Christian incarnation must be, and\nis, first of all, of a perfect ethical type--an ideal of transcendent\nmoral beauty and spiritual excellence. The least flaw or crookedness\nin His character would vitiate His pretensions, and would be the\ndeath-blow to the doctrine of His incarnation and divinity. In\nHinduism, on the other hand, moral criteria have no application to\nthe \"descents\" or incarnations of Vishnu. To his three first\nincarnations (of the fish, the tortoise, and the boar), moral tests\nare, of course, out of place; nor are they any more applicable to the\ngrossly sensual Krishna, who is the only \"full\" incarnation of the\ngod, and who is the supremely popular modern incarnation of the Hindu\npantheon. Hindus have never dreamt of squaring the \"going\" of their\nincarnations with ethical demands and standards.\n\nWhatsoever of good Vishnu, in his descent, is said to have come to\nachieve in the world, it certainly was not a moral or a spiritual\ngood. So an appeal to the moral excellence, or to the atoning work and\npurpose, of the Christ does not, at first, in any way impress them as\nan argument for His divine character or heavenly origin, any more than\nthe moral obliquity of their own \"descents\" argues to the contrary.\n\nMoreover, the Hindu conception of incarnation largely resembles the\nJewish. It must be a triumphant descent. Vishnu, in all his\nincarnations, came to destroy rather than to suffer himself to be put\nto death. A suffering and a dying god is to-day, to the Hindu, what it\nwas twenty centuries ago to the Jew and Greek--a stumbling-block and a\nfoolishness. It is true that Buddha, who was in more recent times\nadopted as an incarnation, in order to win over to modern Hinduism the\nfollowers of his faith, is somewhat of an exception to this rule. But\nnot, according to the Hindu interpretation of it.\n\nSo the two elements of glory in the incarnation of Christ--His\nspotless character and His Cross and death--do not ordinarily appeal\nto the inhabitants of this land as in any sense necessary or\nimportant.\n\n\nIII\n\n_Ideals of Life_\n\nFrom the above considerations it will be natural to conclude that the\nideals of life entertained by the East and West are far removed. The\nconflict of these ideals is the primary cause of the many strange\nreligious and social movements which to-day send their ramifications\ninto every town and hamlet of this land; and it creates the mighty\nrevolution now at work in India.\n\nConsider first the religious ideals which dominate this land and the\n\"Far West.\" Hinduism has exalted asceticism as the highest type of\nlife and the best method of holy attainment. From time immemorial the\nreligious mendicant, with his ideals of self-renunciation and ascetic\npractices, has found universal admiration among this people, and his\nmotives and methods stand as the most highly approved in all the\nannals of this religion.\n\nIt is true that this was universally exalted above all other forms of\nlife among Christians also at one time, as it continues to be among,\nperhaps, the majority to-day. And is not the Cross, which is the\nemblem of self-renunciation and self-effacement, the motive power of\nour faith, as it is also the embodied ideal of our Life? True; but\nthere is this marked difference between the two faiths. In\nChristianity the Cross is only a means. The Cross of self-effacement\nis the pathway of Christ and of the Christian to the crown of\nself-realization. We despise the lower good in order that we may\nattain unto the higher.\n\nIn Hinduism, the rigours of asceticism are, indeed, sometimes a means\nto an end; but that end is not character or any spiritual achievement,\nbut power with the gods. Nearly all the notable instances of religious\nausterities and self-torture practised by _yogis_, and recorded in\nHindu legend and history, were undertaken for the purpose of\naccumulating thereby a great store of merit through which power might\nbe acquired over men or gods. Thus many an ascetic is said to have so\nsubdued and afflicted his body that nearly the whole Hindu pantheon\ntrembled in the presence of the power thus acquired by him.\n\nBut when the Hindu ascetic has not this object in self-renunciation,\nhis austerities are an end in themselves. He renounces all--not simply\nthe mean things of life, but also the noblest ambitions and the most\nheavenly sentiments--because they are a fetter which bind him to the\nworld. He indeed calls a good deed, or a holy thought, a \"golden\nfetter,\" but it is, just the same, regarded by him as an evil which\nprolongs his human existence; and these human conditions must be ended\nas soon as possible.\n\nThe Christian, on the other hand, suppresses his passions in order\nthat his holy desires may prevail; the Hindu struggles equally against\nthe worst passions and the noblest sentiments of his heart; for they\nall delay that calm equilibrium of the _self_ which is the doorway\ninto _sayutchia_ (absorption). Thus character, or the prevalence of\nthe nobler sentiments of our nature above the meaner, is not, and\nnever has been, the aim of Hindu asceticism. And in consonance with\nthis fact is the other, namely, that nine-tenths of the five and a\nhalf million ascetics, sadhus, and fakhirs of India are universally\nrecognized as pestilential in their morals, and as distinguished\nexamples of what the laity of the land should avoid being or becoming.\n\nThe Christian seeks, as his ideal, the perfect blending of the ethical\nand the spiritual in his life; in Hinduism, faith has always been\ndivorced from morality, and there has never seemed to be any\nincongruity, in their minds, in the act of ascribing true saintliness\nand spiritual excellence to those who are known daily to trample under\nfoot every command of the Decalogue.\n\nThus the ideal life which has captivated India from time immemorial,\nand which at this present wields a mighty influence over the people,\nis not the generous, the upright, and morally spotless life, so much\nas the wandering, the monastic, or the secluded forest life of the\nascetic, regardless of its spiritual character. In other words, it is\nnot a stern and noble victory over sin and worldliness in the common\nrelationships of life, but a fleeing from the sin and duties and\nresponsibilities of life into the _mutt_, or wilderness, which has\nfascinated the inhabitants of this peninsula as the best type of life\npossible.\n\nNow, in view of all this, what shall the Christian teacher do in this\nland? Shall he also exalt this ideal and temper it with Christian\nwisdom and chasten it with Christian meaning? Doubtless the wise\nmissionary will consider well the amount of emphasis which this aspect\nof life requires in India, in view of the ideal which Hinduism has\npresented to the popular mind. He will also, I think, hesitate, on the\none hand, to bring his faith into comparison with Hinduism in the\nmatter of mere ascetic rigour and severe self-mortification, in which\nthe Christian has always lagged far behind the Hindu devotee and monk.\nOn the other hand, he will not be likely to exalt over-much this type\nof life in a land in which, for more than three thousand years, it has\nruled supremely but has had so little of moral significance and has\nachieved such meagre spiritual results.\n\nAnother phase of life which furnishes to the people an ideal is the\n_ceremonial_. Among the myriad gods of the Hindu pantheon and all the\nsages of its history and legend, there is not one who is worthy to be\nexalted as an ideal of character. The reason is not far to find. With\nthis, however, we are not at present concerned. It is enough if we\nremember that this absence of an incarnate ideal in the religion has\nled to the exaltation of rules and ceremonies as the safeguards\nof--yea, more, as the very essence of--a worthy and noble life. There\nis no sadder fact in India at present than that of this great\nreligion, of two hundred and thirty million souls, being largely\nemptied of moral content as related to the common life, and built up\nof numberless petty external ceremonies which harass the individual,\nand grip the life with a dead hand at all points. The ceremonialism of\nthe Scribes and Pharisees in the days of our Lord and which excited\nHis supreme wrath, was not a consequence as compared to that of\nHinduism to-day. From conception even to the burning-ground, every\ndetail of life, individual and communal, religious and social (there\nis no social as apart from religious life in Hinduism), is cast into a\nmould of ceremony or ritual which robs it of ethical content, and\nmakes it into what an indignant Brahman writer recently called \"a huge\nsham.\" To the ordinary Hindu, all of life's values are measured in the\ncoin of external rites. Let one be an atheist if he please, or even a\nlibertine or a murderer, and his status in Hinduism is not impaired.\nBut let him eat beef, even unwittingly, or let him ignorantly drink\nwater which has been touched by a man of lower caste than himself, and\nhis doom is irrevocably sealed! Through this whole system the Hindu\nconscience is perverted, and the true distinction between right and\nwrong is buried deep under this greatest and most elaborate mass of\nceremonial that the world has ever known. To a people who have thus\ninherited the ceremonial instinct, who are Pharisees by a hundred-fold\nheritage and by sweet choice, it is not an easy thing for the man of\nthe West, with his natural distrust of all that is formal and outward\nin life, to present effectively his Lord, whose bitterest woes were\npronounced against the formalists of His time, and whose commands are\nalways ethical, and whose life is, first of all, and last of all,\nspiritual.\n\nAnother ideal of life which has too exclusive emphasis in this land is\nthat which is denominated _quietism_--an ideal which extols the\npassive virtues as distinguished from the manly, aggressive ones. I\nwould by no means claim that these two ideals are Hindu and Christian,\nrespectively. They are rather begotten of the countries and climes\nunder which the two religions have been, for many centuries, fostered.\nTo the eastern and tropical Christian, the teaching of our Lord\nfurnishes abundant warrant for a glorifying of the passive and\nnon-resisting virtues. And I am inclined to believe that we of the\nWest have few things of greater importance and of deeper religious\nsignificance to learn from the East than the appreciation of such\ngraces of life as patience and endurance under evil. We stand always\nprepared to fight manfully for our convictions, and to obtrude them at\nall points upon friend and foe alike. It is not in the nature of the\nEast to do this. We say that he has no stamina. We call him, in\nopprobrium, \"the mild Hindu.\" But let us not forget that he will\nreveal tenfold more patience than we under very trying circumstances,\nand will turn the other cheek to the enemy when we rush into gross sin\nby our haste and ire. His is one of the hemispheres of a full-orbed\ncharacter. Ours of the West is the other. Let us not flatter ourselves\ntoo positively that our assertive, aggressive part is the more\nbeautiful or the more important. Yea, more, I question whether ours is\nthe stronger and more masculine part of life and character; for is it\nnot to most of us an easier thing to fling ourselves in vehemence\nagainst an evil in others than it is to sit calmly and patiently under\na false accusation, as our Lord Himself did? At least it must be left\nan open question as to whether the impulsive and domineering vigour of\nthe West is preferable to the \"mildness\" of the East.\n\nWhat I wish to emphasize is the dissimilarity between our western type\nof life and the eastern, and to warn the Christian worker from the\nWest against the danger of assuming that Christian life must be\nadorned with only those western traits and excellences of character\nwhich are foreign and unpalatable to the East--the very fault which\nalso characterizes the Hindu on his side, and which makes him feel so\nsuperior at times and so inaccessible to Christian influence. For, let\nit not be forgotten that the Hindu regards what we call our foibles of\npetulance, arrogance, and intolerance, with the same disapprobation\nand disgust as we do their more frequent violation of the seventh,\neighth, and ninth commandments of the Decalogue. And who is to decide\nas to which catalogue is the worse and the more heinous in the sight\nof God?\n\n\nIV\n\n_The Hindu Conception of Ultimate Salvation presents Another Point of\nDivergence from the Christian Ideal of Life Beyond_\n\nEven in the methods and processes of redemption pursued by the two\nreligions we see fundamental differences. In Christianity, God is the\nprime Agent in human salvation. He worketh for us, in us, and through\nus. In our own redemption we are only co-labourers with Him.\n\nIn Hinduism, man stands absolutely alone as the agent and cause of his\nsalvation. And, as the stupendous task rests upon his shoulders, it is\nno wonder that he has sought relief in the doctrine of metempsychosis,\nwhereby it is believed that millions of rebirths furnish to him an\nadequate time and a sufficient variety of opportunity for the great\nconsummation. But he has never given to himself, or to us, the first\nreason for believing that this endless fugue of rebirths will\naccomplish that which he accepts without questioning; namely, the\nultimate glorification of all souls. There is nothing in this long and\ntedious process itself which assures us that any soul will reach final\nbeatification rather than permanent and irremediable degradation. And\nyet the ultimate absorption of all souls into the Divine is assumed as\na matter of course by him. This process, and that of Christianity, are\nexpressive of the characteristics of the two faiths and of the two\npeoples. The slow and patient East, and the faith which it has\nbegotten, spins out its theory of time and of human existence almost\n_ad infinitum_. Multitudinous births alone can satisfy the demands of\nthe tedious process of human emancipation. But, in Christianity, one\npassage through this world, with human hands clasped in the Divine,\nsuffices to open the door of eternal bliss to the redeemed soul. And\nthis idea is consonant with the more youthful nature of the West, to\nwhose people one birth, followed by a life of energy, furnishes an\nentrance into eternal joy beyond.\n\nIt is equally important that we take note of that which is connoted by\nthe final consummation offered by each of these two faiths to their\nfollowers. To the Christian there is a conscious, blessed life beyond\ndeath--a separate, personal existence which will last throughout\neternity in the sunshine of the Heavenly Father's presence and in the\nineffable joy and glory of His fellowship. It is the idealized life\nbuilt upon the foundation of what is best and most stirring and\nbeautiful here upon earth. It is _life_, in all that this blessed word\nsignifies of sweet contemplation, of blissful activity, of\nimperishable love, and of unspeakable joy. All the most beautiful and\nenticing imagery of earth has been used to portray, or rather to\nsuggest, the \"eternal life\" of the Christian religion.\n\nBut what is the picture which Hinduism has drawn of the finality of\nlife to its followers? After the weary fugue of births and rebirths,\nwith its interludes of many heavens and hells, the \"self\" passes on\ninto final union with the Divine Soul. It loses all consciousness and\nself-knowledge; every vestige of personality and all that this implies\nis swept away; it is incapacitated for every emotion of joy and for\nevery act of service. There is nothing that we associate with life at\nits best and sweetest which does not find here negation. It is a calm\nblank, a rest, indeed, but from every struggle of thought, will, and\nemotion. This is the consummation which India has for many centuries\nheld aloft as an attraction to its weary pilgrims.\n\nHere, again, we observe how appropriate to the end in view is the\nsupreme difficulty of the way. If the highest struggle of the soul in\nthis world is against existence and its human actions and conditions,\nit is to be expected that a complete riddance of life and of all its\naccompaniments will be the _summum bonum_ of the final consummation.\nAnd if this struggle for emancipation is to continue through\nnumberless births and earthly existences, it is natural that the\ncoveted end should bring a loss of all that life connotes in highest\nsentiment as well as basest passion. I need not dwell upon the\ncontrast between this and the anticipations entertained by every\nhumble Christian.\n\nThis whole eschatological system of Hinduism corresponds, as we have\nseen, to the teaching of that faith in reference to God, man, and\nearthly life and conditions. And the Christian preacher's or teacher's\nvivid portrayal of the Christian's heaven too often denotes to the\nHindu only one of the many purgatorial heavens of his religion, and\nrarely suggests to him the supreme test of the value of our faith as\ncontrasted with his own. The glories of our heaven do not appeal to\nthe stolid, weary, transmigration-ridden soul of the Hindu as they do\nto the youthful, hopeful, buoyant soul of the Christian. And this is a\nfact which the missionary would do well to keep in mind at all times.\n\nI might continue the list of the incompatibilities of Hindu and\nChristian ideals. But I have gone far enough to show, I trust, that\nthe two faiths are at many points antipodal, and that their ideals\nclash in matters fundamental and crucial.\n\nFurther, I wish to repeat that I do not maintain that Christian ideals\nare always, or even ever, represented in their fulness, or with the\nright emphasis, by us of the West. Hinduism is an ethnic faith, and it\nmust be weighed and valued by the ideals which the people of this land\nhave imbibed from it and invariably connect with it. Christianity is\na world faith, and no one nation or continent can be a full exemplar,\nor an all-wise interpreter, of its life and ideals. Hence I claim that\none of the considerations which demand closest attention from a\nwestern teacher, as he imparts his faith to the people of India, is\nthat of the choice and emphasis of ideals which he shall present to\nthem. Let him neither assume, on the one hand, that Hindu ideals are\nunchristian, nor, on the other, that our western ideals, both in their\nemphasis and exclusiveness, are the all-in-all of Christian truth and\nlife. Christianity in the East, when it becomes thoroughly indigenous,\nwill reveal and glorify a different type of life from that of the\nWest. It will be less aggressive and assertive, but more contemplative\nand more deeply pious and other-worldly than anything we have been\nwont to see in the West.\n\nThe day has come when missionaries must study with more seriousness\nthe religion of India, that they may understand its true inwardness\nand discover its sources of power. Above all, they must be conversant\nwith its highest ideals and understand the relationship of the same to\nthose of their own faith. And they must not forget that they must\napproach this study with genuine sympathy and appreciation, in order\nto find the best in Hinduism, as well as to be fortified against its\nworst features.\n\nNever before did the educated men of this land stand up with more\ndetermination for their old ideals, and this is a matter of serious\nconcern to our cause. On the other hand, the most encouraging fact in\nthe realm of Christian work in India at the present time is that of\nthe marvellous place which our Lord has found among the people of the\nland, especially the educated, as the ideal of life. They will have\nnone of Him as a Saviour, and His death has no significance to them.\nBut His blessed life has become the inspiration and the ideal of life\nto the cultured classes of India, in a way which is transforming their\nethical conceptions and which largely eclipses all other\nlife-influences among them. Herein lies our hope and assurance for\nIndia. But what they crave, and what they say they _must_ have, is \"an\nOriental Christ,\" a Christ who is not presented in a western garb of\nlife and thought. Herein do we learn a most important lesson for our\nlife-work, as Christian missionaries in this land of the East.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nTHE HOME LIFE OF HINDUS\n\n\nThe home life of a people is one of the most decisive tests of its\ncharacter and its state of civilization.\n\nIn this chapter I shall attempt only to describe the home life of\nHindus. And even within this limitation I can only refer to the\ngeneral characteristics which obtain among nearly _all_ Hindus, and\nshall pass by the details, which differ so largely in different parts\nof the country and among different castes.\n\nIt is in the home that the natural religious bent of the Hindu finds\nits full scope and most touching manifestations. Generally speaking,\none may say that the house of a Hindu is his sanctuary, where the\ntutelar god has its niche or shrine to which daily worship is\nrendered. There is hardly any event connected with home life which is\nnot religiously viewed and made the occasion of definite family\nworship. Of the sixteen events in the life of a man, from birth to\ndeath, there is not one which is not viewed from a religious aspect,\nand is not accompanied by an elaborate ritual.\n\nThere is hardly a respectable Hindu household in which there is not a\nshrine containing an idol of stone or of some metal which corresponds\nin value to the measure of the family's wealth. \"Every morning and\nevening it is worshipped by the hereditary _purohit_, or priest, who\nvisits the house for the purpose twice a day, and who, as the name\nimplies, is the first in all ceremonies, second to none but the\n_Guru_, or spiritual guide. The offerings of rice, fruits, sweetmeats,\nand milk, made to the god, he carries home after the close of the\nservice. A conch is blown, a bell is rung, and a gong beaten at the\ntime of worship, when the religiously disposed portion of the inmates,\nmale and female, in a quasi-penitent attitude, make their obeisance to\nthe god and receive in return the hollow benediction of the\npriest.\"[5]\n\n[Footnote 5: From \"Hindus as They Are.\"]\n\nEven the building of the house is a matter which must be done\naccording to the rules of faith. The selection of a site, the correct\norientation of the building, the number and location of the rooms, the\nproper material for the structure,--all of these must be determined by\nthe _Vastu Sastri_, or the architects, who do their business not so\nmuch on scientific lines as upon religious. They have their\n_Shastras_, or books of instruction, in architecture, whose basis is\nlargely a consideration of the supposed sentiments of the gods and a\nproper harmonizing in the building of various religious conceits,\ncrude superstitions, and immemorial customs.\n\nEven the day and hour of entering and dedicating the house must be\nfixed by rules of faith, which are as exacting as they are\nmultitudinous. To enter and consecrate a house at the wrong\nastrological moment would bring in its train a number of domestic\ndisasters. The house may be anything, from a most primitive hut to a\nmany-aisled palace; but in every case the astrologer must be consulted\nas to the time; the spiritual architect must give his rules as to the\nstructure; and the family priest must make the house habitable by an\nelaborate ceremonial and offerings to the god or gods of the family.\n\nIt is only after all these have been accomplished that a householder\nmay, with a clean conscience, enter his new home and expect a blessing\nupon his family therein.\n\nTo a stranger who passes through the streets of a town or village it\nmay seem strange that no two adjoining houses have exactly the same\norientation. He may think it an evidence of carelessness, or a want\nof taste. But to the Hindu it is the result of pious conformity to the\nrules of his faith. To a non-Hindu it may seem peculiar that Hindus\ngenerally enter their new homes in the first half of the year. But to\nthe Hindu it is the only half when the gods are awake; it would be\nunpropitious and almost sacrilegious to dedicate a house in that part\nof the year when the gods are supposed to be asleep!\n\nThe Hindu home would not be, to a westerner, either pleasant or\nconvenient. It looks dingy and dark, doors are small and massive,\nwindows are few and generally closed. This is partly because they are\nintended to keep out the tropical glare, and partly because the people\nseem averse to occupying an airy room. A westerner would suffocate in\na room in which Hindus would delight to spend a night. It has always\nbeen a wonder to the writer that they thrive on so little fresh air in\ntheir homes.\n\nHindus, in the main, care very little for elaborate household\nfurniture. Even in homes of wealth, articles of household furniture\nare few and are chosen merely for utility's sake, save in homes where\nwestern ideas are finding their way and a growing desire to ape\nwestern manners takes possession of a family. Some years ago, a\nwealthy Hindu gentleman welcomed the writer into his fine new\nthree-storied bungalow, whose front door was elaborately carved and\nhad cost Rs. 2000. It was furnished with fantastic articles of\nEuropean furniture. Mechanical toys and speaking dolls had places of\nprominence; and among the pictures which adorned the walls the place\nof honour was given to a framed tailor's pattern-plate! A full-sized\npainting of the late British queen was specially honoured by being\nkept in a dark closet! The family did not live in this house, but\noccupied a comfortable one-storied building in the back yard. It was\nadequate to their needs and in harmony with their tastes.\n\nHindus generally sleep on the floor. They spread a mat under them, and\nthis suffices for the ordinary man. Many add to this a dirty pillow,\nwhich is a mark of extravagance and an evidence of degeneracy. The men\nof the house may sleep anywhere within, or in the verandah without,\naccording to the season of the year. Recently, western ideas have\nencroached upon this primitive, sanitary custom, and cots are finding\nan ever increasing place in the household economy.\n\nThe Hindu family system is widely different from that of the West.\nAmong them the Joint Family System prevails universally. It is built\non the old patriarchal idea, according to which three generations\ngenerally live under the same roof and enjoy a community of life and\nof interest. When a man and wife have reared a family, the sons bring\nto the paternal home their wives and live together and raise their\nfamilies in the common home of their father. The supreme authority, in\nthe direction of all their affairs, rests with the father. And the\nmother generally takes charge of the household commissariat. The whole\nincome of all the members of the family is brought into the common\ntreasury, out of which all expenses are met. There is no individual\nproperty, and no rights and privileges which any one can claim apart\nfrom another's in that home. In large Hindu families there is often\nfound a small colony thus living together and dependent for guidance\nand instruction upon the father. This system entails a great deal of\nresponsibility upon the head, whose authority is supreme. And so loyal\nis every Hindu to paternal authority that there is never any question\nraised by any one as to obedience to his commands.\n\nThis system has its advantages. In early times, it brought strength\nand security to households thus consolidated. It is doubtless\nfavourable to general economy. And it has the peculiar merit of\ndeveloping a strong sense of responsibility in the whole family for\nits every member, however incapacitated she or he may be for\nself-support. The weak and the sick and the feeble-minded have the\nsame claim upon the resources of the family as have the others, and\nthe claim is universally recognized. For this reason, poor-houses are\nnot needed in India.\n\nOn the other hand, Hindus themselves are coming to regard this system\nas being out of joint with modern life, under the aegis of a\nprogressive, civilized government. One of its chief defects is its\nencouragement of laziness in members of families. No one feels that he\nis responsible for his own maintenance. And no matter how industrious\na member may be, the product of his labour is not his own--it belongs\nto the family. Such a system saps the foundation of industry and\nenterprise. It furnishes constant temptation to slothfulness and\ninactivity. In former times, this may not have been so manifest; but\nat present, when opportunities open wide their inviting doors, and\nmeans of accumulating wealth and influence multiply, the system has\nbecome a source of discontent and of serious difficulty in the\ncommunity.\n\nA few years ago the educated Hindus of South India were so exercised\nover the injustice of the situation that they urged upon the Madras\nLegislature a new act, called \"the Gains Learning Bill,\" whereby every\nman might claim the financial results of his own labours and\naccumulate wealth apart from the property of the family. The matter\nwas fully argued in the Legislature, and the injustice of the Joint\nFamily System was so clearly revealed in this matter, that the bill\nwas carried through. Thereupon, orthodox Hindus raised such a storm of\nopposition to the bill and decried it so vehemently, as a subversion\nof their faith and an overthrow of their most ancient and cherished\ninstitution, that the governor never signed the bill; and it has\ntherefore never become law.\n\nNevertheless, the agitation against the system is increasing, and the\nincongruity of the Joint Family System with modern social conditions\nis becoming so marked that the day of its overthrow is approaching.\n\nA well-known Hindu writer describes the injustice of this system as\nfollows: \"As one of the usual consequences of a patriarchal system, a\nrespectable Hindu is often obliged to support a number of hangers-on,\nmore or less related to him by kinship. A brother, an uncle, a nephew,\na brother-in-law, etc., with their families, are not infrequently\nplaced in this dependent position, notwithstanding the trite apothegm,\nwhich says, 'it is better to be dependent on another for _food_ than\nto live in his _house_.'\"\n\nMoreover, this system fosters family dissension. It requires an ideal\nfamily, under the strong guidance of an ideal head, to live in peace\nand harmony under this system. The writer above quoted, himself a\nHindu who had long lived under the system, expressed himself strongly\nupon the subject: \"The millennium is not yet come. Seven brothers\nliving together with their wives and children, under one and the same\npaternal roof, cannot reasonably be expected to abide in a state of\nperfect harmony, so long as selfishness and incongruous tastes and\ninterests are continually working to sap the very foundation of\nfriendliness and good-fellowship. Union is strength, but harmonious\nunion, under the peculiar regime indicated above, is already a\nremarkable exception in the present state of Hindu society. On careful\ninquiry it will be found that women are at the bottom of that\nmischievous discord which eats into the very vitals of domestic\nfelicity. Separation, therefore, is the only means that promises to\nafford relief from this social incubus; and to separation many\nfamilies have now resorted, much after the fashion of the dominant\nrace, with a view to the uninterrupted enjoyment of domestic\nhappiness.\"\n\nOutside of the family itself, perhaps the two most important\nfunctionaries are the family priest and the astrologer. And of these\ntwo the latter is doubtless the more influential. It is well known, as\nI have written on another page, that Hindus are not only firm\nbelievers in astrology, but also the abject slaves of this science,\nfalsely so-called, in all the affairs of life. It is wonderful how\nmany events in the life of a family come within the realm of\nastrological guidance and control. From birth to death, most of the\nimportant transactions of life are controlled by astrological\nconsiderations.\n\nAnd with the astrologer we naturally join the sooth-sayer, who is\nfrequently in demand to pronounce his incantations and utter his\n_mantras_, to remove all kinds of maladies and misfortune that may\novertake members of the family. It is impossible for a Westerner to\nrealize how much of the life of the Hindu, in the home and in society,\nis circumscribed by superstitions and directed by omens only. In the\ncase of a man setting out upon a journey forty-three different things\nmay happen which prognosticate good, and thirty-four which forebode\nevil. In household matters, the eye of the Hindu man, and very\nspecially of the Hindu woman, is ever open to any one of a thousand\nindications that may reveal the will of the god or the demon as to\nconduct on the occasion.\n\nThe position of women in the Hindu home is fundamental, and much\nmisunderstood by the people of the West.\n\nIt is sadly true that woman in Hinduism has suffered, throughout the\ncenturies, gross injustice, and has laboured under a thousand\ndisabilities. But it does not follow from this, as those not familiar\nwith Hindu lives are too apt to conclude, that woman is therefore a\nnonentity and a mere helpless drudge in the family.\n\nIt is true that the great lawgiver, Manu, said, \"No sacrifice is\nallowed to women apart from their husbands, no religious rite, no\nfasting; as far only as a wife honours her lord, so far is she exalted\nto heaven.\" In accordance with this, Hinduism has always consistently\nmaintained that woman's well-being is entirely derived from her\nrelationship to man. Her salvation is to be acquired through him. Her\nglory upon earth and her bliss in heaven and final emancipation\ndepend upon her attitude to him, specially her obedience and\ndevotion.\n\nIt is also true, that in no stage of her existence can she be regarded\nas independent. She is dependent upon her father in childhood, the\nslave of her husband so long as he lives, and subject to her son\nduring the days of her widowhood. Hinduism leaves her no opportunity,\nin this human existence, for liberty and independence.\n\nHindu ideas of womanhood have always been low and unworthy. Rather\nthan being considered a help-mate to man, she has ever been regarded\nas his tempter and seducer. The proverbs of India are full of these\nbase insinuations concerning womanhood. \"What is the chief gate to\nhell? Woman.\" This is only one of a host of common sayings which brand\nthe womanhood of India with shame.\n\nIt is for this same reason that woman has always been held unworthy of\neducation. To educate a woman is compared to placing a knife in the\nhands of a monkey. The ignorance of the women of India to-day is not a\nmatter of careless neglect, but rather of studied purpose to deny to\nthem that which might change their relationship of subjection to man.\n\nOne might suppose that in matters of religion, which is the peculiar\nconsolation of the woman of India, a wide door of opportunity might be\ngiven to her. But here again Manu says, \"Woman has no business with\nthe texts of the Vedas; thus is the law fully settled. Having\ntherefore no evidence of law, and no knowledge of expiatory texts,\nsinful woman must be as foul as falsehood itself; and this is a fixed\nrule.\"\n\nThere are texts which command kindness and respect to womanhood. But\nthe above quotations represent the tenor of Hindu literature.\n\nAll of these represent the attitude of man toward woman in the home.\nIn society, she has had no recognized place whatever, until the\npresent, when, under the influence of western civilization, she is\nbeginning to find a very limited scope for her legitimate activities.\n\nNevertheless, in the seclusion of her own home, and inheriting the\nburden of this deep reproach heaped upon her from time immemorial by\nmen, woman has created for herself a place of power in the Hindu home.\nWithin this sanctuary she has erected her throne and reigns a queen.\nHas man kept her in ignorance? She will therefore apply herself the\nmore assiduously to works of faith and piety. Has he heaped upon her\nabuse and called her \"donkey\" and \"buffalo\"? She has repaid the insult\nby a loving devotion to her lord, such as has conquered his pride.\nWhether it be as wife or mother, the women of no other land wield\ngreater power than the much-abused women of India. There is no woman\non earth who reveals, at this present time, more devotion and\nattachment to her husband than does the Hindu wife. The old system of\n_Sati_, whereby a woman immolated herself on the funeral pyre of her\ndead husband, what was it? It was, indeed, a custom instituted by man,\nenforced by religious rewards and penalties, with a view to reveal the\nwoman as the abject subject of her husband. And yet she glorified that\ncustom and often transmuted it into the most sublime exhibition of\nwifely devotion. Hear the description of a _Sati_, given by a Hindu,\nthe subject of which was his own aunt. \"My aunt,\" writes he, \"was\ndressed in a red silk _sari_, with all the ornaments on her person;\nher forehead daubed with a very thick coat of _sindur_, or vermilion;\nher feet painted red with _alta_; she was chewing a mouthful of betel;\nand a bright lamp was burning before her. She was evidently wrapped in\nan ecstasy of devotion, earnest in all she did, quite calm and\ncomposed as if nothing important was to happen. In short, she was\nthen at her _matins_, anxiously awaiting the hour when this mortal\ncoil should be put off. My uncle was lying a corpse in the adjoining\nroom. It appeared to me that all the women assembled were admiring the\nvirtue and fortitude of my aunt. Some were licking the betel out of\nher mouth, some touching her forehead, in order to have a little of\nthe _sindur_, or vermilion; while not a few, falling before her feet,\nexpressed a fond hope that they might possess a small particle of her\nvirtue.... In truth, she was evidently longing for the hour when her\nspirit and that of her husband should meet together and dwell in\nheaven. She had a _tulsi mala_ (string of basil beads) in her right\nhand, which she was telling, and she seemed to enjoy the shouts of\n'Hari, Hari-bole,' with perfect serenity of mind. We reached Nimtalla\nGhat about twelve; after staying there for about ten to fifteen\nminutes, sprinkling the holy water on the dead body, all proceeded\nslowly to the Kultalla Ghat, about three miles north of Nimtalla. The\ndead body, wrapped in new clothes, being placed on the pyre, my aunt\nwas desired to walk seven times round it, which she did while strewing\nflowers, cowries (shells), and parched rice on the ground. It struck\nme at the time that, at every successive circumambulation, her\nstrength and presence of mind failed; whereupon the Darogah\n(government representative) stepped forward once more and endeavoured,\neven at the last moment, to deter her from her fatal determination.\nBut she, at the very threshold of ghastly death, in the last hour of\nexpiring life, the fatal torch of _Yama_ (Pluto) before her, calmly\nascended the funeral pile and, lying down by the side of her husband\nwith one hand under his head, and another on his breast, was heard to\ncall in a half-suppressed voice, 'Hari, Hari,'--a sign of her firm\nbelief in the reality of eternal beatitude. When she had thus laid\nherself on the funeral pyre, she was instantly covered, or rather\nchoked, with dried wood, while some stout men with bamboos held and\npressed down the pyre, which was by this time burning fiercely on all\nsides. A great shout of exultation then arose from the surrounding\nspectators, till both the dead and living bodies were converted into a\nhandful of dust and ashes.\"[6]\n\n[Footnote 6: \"Hindus as They Are.\"]\n\nThe custom of Sati has been outlawed; but the spirit of Sati still\ndominates the womanly heart of the Hindu wife.\n\nIt is this beautiful blending of piety and wifely devotion which has\nbeen the song of Hindu poets, and the admiration of the Hindu\ncommunity, from time immemorial. It is true that a wife dare not utter\nthe name of her husband. The name of the husband of a Hindu woman was\nFaith. When she came to read the Bible, she skipped this word every\ntime it occurred in her reading. Why should she demean her lord by\npronouncing publicly his sacred name?\n\nAnd yet, when it comes to matters of religion, her stern piety and her\nreligious devotion in the home are the most potent factor of the\nhousehold; and husband and father will bow to her supremacy in this\nrealm. All public life and social functions have been proscribed to\nher; therefore, does she see to it that in her narrow home sphere,\nboth religiously and in the training of her children, her influence\nshall be supreme. And it is.\n\nIt is here that the progress of Christianity is much impeded in India.\nA man is often found ready to change his faith, and to abide the\nconsequence of the same. It is much more difficult for a woman to\ntransfer her affection. But the conversion of the husband will not\nabide in permanence so long as the wife persists in her devotion to\nthe ancestral faith. The writer has often seen illustrations of this\nsupremacy of the influence of the woman. But it is not always so. In\n1823, a Brahman child was born in Calcutta. When six years old, he\nlighted, by torch, the funeral pyre of his dead father and living\nmother. When he attained manhood and had received a University\neducation, he became a Christian. He was then not only renounced by\nhis family, but his young wife also spurned and denied him. In\naccordance with her faith, she regarded and treated him as dead,\nperformed his funeral rites, and, with shaven head, unjewelled body,\nand the widow's white cloth, mourned his decease as if he had actually\ndied. For Christ's sake he had been an outcast from his people and was\ntwice dead to his beloved. This experience has been repeated a\nthousand times in India in the case of Christian converts. But, in\nthis particular instance, there was a remarkable denouement. The young\nman, deserted, divorced, and ceremonially buried by his wife, married\na Christian woman, with whom he lived happily for many years. But\nafter her death he returned to his first love and _remarried the\nwidow_ of his youth, who, in the meanwhile, had relented and become a\nChristian. This was the experience of Professor Chuckerbuthy, of the\nGeneral Assembly College, in Calcutta, who died in 1901.\n\nMarriage among Hindus differs in many respects from the same compact\namong western people. It is in no instance dependent upon the\ninitiative of the contracting parties, if such the bride and the\nbridegroom may be called in India. Neither of them is a direct\nparticipant in the arranging of the contract. It is all done by the\nparents or the guardians of the boy and girl. It is entirely a\nbusiness, and not a sentimental, affair. No other system would be\npossible under past and present conditions in India. In the case of\ninfant marriages, the children concerned have, of course, neither\nknowledge of, nor special interest in, the matter. Even in cases where\nthe future bride and bridegroom have attained puberty, no sentiment is\never allowed to enter, as a consideration, into the matter. The first\nquestion asked is whether the parties belong to the same caste and are\nconnected by family ties. If so, the marriage may be a suitable one.\nIt is strange that the children of brothers and sisters furnish the\nmost suitable marriage relationships. But the children of brothers, or\nthose of sisters, furnish a prohibited relationship! It is regarded as\nimproper for a boy to marry the daughter of his mother's sister, or of\nhis father's brother, as it would be to marry his own sister. The\nmarriage of those remotely connected by blood is rarely considered;\nthe marriage of those not at all connected by blood relationship,\nnever.\n\nThe next matter of paramount importance is a consideration of the\nhoroscope of the parties. Were the boy and girl born under\nastrological conditions which harmonize; or does her horoscope so\nconflict with his that their dissonance would bring evil and misery to\nthe family? In the latter case, a marriage will be impossible, even\nthough all other conditions are most inviting.\n\nThen follows the question of dowry; and here comes the great struggle.\nThe girl's parents have to furnish, with the bride, a considerable\ndowry, whose size is directly related to the affluence of the boy's\nfamily, or to his education and prospects in life. The bickerings\nwhich take place in this matter are most unseemly; and the marriage\ncompact is degraded into a sordid, mercenary transaction. Fathers of\ngirls involve themselves in debts which they can never clear, in order\nto marry their darlings to sons of high families of good connection.\nIt is this difficulty of marrying daughters, save at an intolerable\nexpense to the family, which largely accounts for the universal and\nkeen disappointment of Hindu families when they discover, at\nchildbirth, that a daughter, and not a son, has been born.\n\nThe contract having been sealed by definite religious ceremony, the\nchildren wait until the girl attains puberty, which may take place at\nany time, from the age of ten to fourteen. Then the rites of\nconsummation are performed, and they live together as man and wife.\nUntil the marriage is consummated, it is the height of propriety that\nthe parties shall be apart and strangers to each other.\n\nIt is very often the case that there is much disparity between the age\nof man and wife. A married woman is supposed to belong to her lord for\ntime and eternity. A widow is therefore ineligible for remarriage,\neven though her husband may have died when she was an infant. The man,\non the other hand, may contract any number of marriages. The rapidity\nand the businesslike way with which he proceeds to arrange new\nnuptials after the death of his wife seems appalling to a Westerner!\nIt matters not how many wives he may have had, nor how old he has\nbecome, none but the very young is eligible to become his spouse. The\nconsequence is that many men of matured, and even of old, age are\nwedded to mere girls.\n\nThis is partly owing to the fact that the Hindu has not yet realized\nthe need, or importance, of companionship between man and wife. This\nis very marked among the educated men of the Hindu community. Not only\nby age, but also by educational and other qualifications, a wife is in\nno condition to be a sympathetic companion to her spouse. So that the\nrelationship has, to them, little of mutuality in it.\n\nThe lot of the Hindu widow is, proverbially, a hard one. She is\ndespised and hated, even though she be but a child, because her\nhusband's family persist in believing that his death was caused by her\nadverse horoscope. She suffers every obloquy in her husband's home, is\ndeprived of her jewels, has her head shaven, and is clothed only with\na coarse white cloth. Her fastings are long and severe, and she is not\nallowed to attend any festivity; for the presence of a widow would be\ndeemed an evil omen and a curse.\n\nMoreover, she is the object of suspicion, and is frequently the prey\nof men's passions. It is a strange comment upon the religious\nperversity of a people of the tender domestic nature of Hindus, that\nthey should deal with so much cruelty and such apparent indifference\nto the bereavement and suffering of the unfortunate widow who bears\nso tender a relationship to them. Religion has never wrought greater\ncruelty and injustice to any one than to the Hindu widow, specially to\nthe child widow. And, notwithstanding the fact that these suffering\nones are a great host in this land, there are few of their people who\nraise their voice in their defence or strive for their relief.\n\nThe relationship of son-in-law and mother-in-law is always a strained\none. The wife's mother may live with her under very decided\nlimitations. It is not permitted to her to eat in the presence of her\nson-in-law, or to enter a room where he happens to be!\n\nThe situation is still worse between the daughter-in-law and the\nmother-in-law. The vernaculars of India abound in proverbs which\nillumine this relationship and reveal its strange character. The\nhusband's mother apparently delights in nothing more than in\nexercising a cruel restraint over her son's wife. Nothing that the\nyoung woman can do will please her. And the husband too often sides\nwith the older against the younger woman. When, however, the situation\nbecomes intolerable to the wife, she takes French leave, and goes home\nto her parents. This soon brings her husband to terms; and it is\netiquette that he go and ask her to return, apologizing for the\ntroubles that she has endured. And so the situation is improved, for a\nwhile, until another visit to her parents becomes imperative. It is\nnatural enough that the mother-in-law should thus deal harshly with\nher daughter-in-law; for is it not her revenge for the similar\ntreatment which she received many years ago as daughter-in-law? The\nreal attitude of the Hindu toward his wife is doubtless more cordial\nthan it appears to a Westerner. He seems to delight in revealing an\nindifference to her feelings and a contempt for her position. In the\nhousehold, she is not permitted to eat with him; she must wait upon\nhis lordship and take the leavings of his meal. Upon a journey, it\nwould be gross impropriety for her to walk by his side. Etiquette\ndemands that she walk behind him at a respectable distance of, say,\nten paces.\n\nThe love of jewellery is a marked passion with the women of India.\nMillions of money are expended every year in the manufacture of female\nadornments. And in this work there are more than four hundred thousand\ngoldsmiths constantly employed. The wealth of a family, especially\namong the middle classes, is largely measured by the amount of\njewellery which the women of the household possess. No one would\ngrudge to these women a certain amount of these personal ornaments;\nbut when it becomes a mad craze to convert all their wealth into such\nvanity, and thus to render their wealth entirely unremunerative, it\nbecomes a serious matter. The loading down of a woman or a girl with\nprecious stones, gold, silver, or cheaper metal, adds anything but\nattractiveness to the person. It gives them a gross conception of\npersonal attractiveness as well as a monetary value to beauty, which\ndegrades the ideals of the country. When a woman's ears and nose, the\ncrown of her head, her neck, arms, hands, waist, ankles, and toes are\nmade to sparkle with the wealth of the family, and to bear down the\nfrail body of the proud victim, they cease entirely to set off the\npersonal beauty of the woman herself, and become rather a counter\nattraction; and she is admired not for what she is, but for what she\ncarries.\n\nMoreover, it is well known that these women are not satisfied, on\npublic occasions, to wear their own jewels only; they borrow also\nthose of their neighbours and shine with a borrowed light, which\nreflects a great deal more their vanity than their beauty. Many a time\nhas the writer seen bright little Brahman girls carrying upon their\nperson the combined glittering wealth of several families upon\nfestive occasions. Add to this again the fact that there are thousands\nof women and children murdered in India every year for the sake of\nthese personal ornaments which they flaunt before the public, and with\nwhich they tempt criminals.\n\nIt is claimed that higher-class Hindus are cleaner in their personal\nhabits than almost any other people on earth. This is probably true,\nso far as a multiplicity of ablutions can make them. The religious\nwashings of the Brahman are so frequent as to make him largely immune\nto epidemics of cholera and other filth diseases. And yet the lower\nclasses of the people, in their homes and elsewhere, have little to\nboast of in the line of cleanliness. They all aspire to the weekly\noil-bath, which is doubtless a wholesome thing in the heat of these\ntropics, where, through paucity of clothing, the skin is much exposed\nto the sun's rays. But oil has well-known attractive powers for dust,\nfilth, and vermin too!\n\nIt must also be remembered that the Hindu is given much more to\nseeking ceremonial than sanitary cleanliness. It matters not how\nfilthy the water may be, chemically; if it be ceremonially clean, he\nuses it freely. If it be ceremonially polluting, it is eschewed. As\none sees a village community make all possible uses of the village\npond, he wonders why the whole village has not been swept away by\ndisease. They are saved from their folly, doubtless, by the piercing,\ncleansing rays of the tropical sun.\n\nHindu clothing is both beautiful and admirably suited to the tropical\nclimate. The one cloth of the Hindu woman, which she so deftly winds\naround her body, and which is usually of bright colours, is perhaps\nthe most exquisitely beautiful garment worn by any people. And this is\naltogether adequate to her needs. Unfortunately, western habits are\nnow coming into vogue, and, in the case of men and women alike, the\nclothing of the West is partially supplanting that of the East.\nNothing could be more unfortunate, from the standpoint of health,\nbeauty, and economy.\n\nThe culinary arrangements and the cuisine of the Hindu home are\nsomewhat elaborate. Well-to-do Hindus, notwithstanding many caste\nrestrictions, are somewhat epicurean in their tastes, and live well.\nAs we have seen in the chapter on Caste, there are many limitations\nplaced upon the selection of food, the method of its preparation, and\nof eating. Meat is entirely banned by the highest castes. None will\ntouch the meat of the bovine kind, save the outcast Pariah. All are\nvery particular in seeking seclusion for their meals. This is perhaps\nthe reason why the Hindu home is, generally speaking, so much more\nsecluded than that of other people. Hindus believe that fingers were\nmade before knives, forks, and spoons. Consequently they eat their\nfood entirely with their fingers. It seems offensive enough to\nWesterners. It has often taken away the writer's appetite as he has\nfeasted with them, to have the cook dole out his rice to him with his\nbare hands! They eat entirely with their right hand, and never touch\nthe food with the left, reserving that hand for baser purposes.\n\nIn wealthy families, household duties are performed by many servants.\nIt is amusing to see how many servants are required in India to\nperform the ordinary functions of one able-bodied servant in the West.\nThe services which a Hindu will demand from his menials are far\ngreater than those of a healthy Westerner. His languid nature and\ngeneral effeminacy make him entirely dependent upon his servant for\nmost of the activities and amenities of life. Recently the writer\nheard a Hindu companion in a railway car call his servant at night\nfrom an adjoining car to come and turn the shade over the compartment\nlamp that he might have a nap! A well-known writer, in describing the\nlife of a Babu, says: \"The _Khansama_ of a Babu is his most favourite\nservant. From the nature of his office he comes into closest contact\nwith his master; he rubs his body with oil before bathing, and\nsometimes shampoos him,--a practice which gradually induces idle,\neffeminate habits and eventually greatly incapacitates a man for the\nduties of an active life. Indeed, to study the nature of a 'big native\nswell' is to study the character of a consummate Oriental epicure,\nimmersed in a ceaseless round of pleasures, and hedged in by a body of\nunconscionable fellows, distinguished only for their flattery and\nservility.\"\n\nDuring times of sickness, the native doctor is in requisition. This\nfunctionary is not without his merits; for it is a hereditary\nprofession, and not a little medical wisdom and experience have been\ntransmitted from father to son down the centuries. Nevertheless, as\ncompared with modern science, the ignorance of these men is woful, and\nthe unnecessary loss of life through that ignorance is lamentable.\nTheir pharmacy is as defective as many of their remedies are absurd\nand disgusting. The present government, by multiplying its hospitals\nand dispensaries, has done much to arrest disease and remove\nsuffering. And yet the remedies do not reach one-tenth of the\npopulation. And many of the one-tenth are so suspicious of western\nscience that in their extremity they will pass the well-equipped\ngovernment hospital and its diplomaed attendants in order to consult\nthe native doctor and to partake of his concoctions. One of the\nreasons for this prejudice is the largeness of the dose which the\nIndian doctor invariably supplies. How can the diminutive doses of the\nwhite man and his establishment remove important difficulties and heal\nserious diseases? The writer has known not a few well-educated Indian\nChristians living under the shadow of a well-equipped missionary\nhospital which furnished its medicines free, sneak away a few streets\nbeyond to consult the man who is a compound of a quack and an\nastrologer. And yet, doubtless, the new pharmacy of the West brings\nhealing in its wings to millions of this people annually; and it is\none of the causes for the rapid increase of the population.\n\nAt childbirth, the barber's wife is always called. She is the midwife\nof India, and the poor Hindu wife who is about to become a mother is\nthe victim of the ignorance and stupidity of this woman. It is no\nwonder that so many die in childbirth or survive only to become\ninvalids through the remainder of their lives. To remove this serious\nevil, government is putting forth strenuous efforts to bring\nintelligent relief to the mothers of India.\n\nThe entrance of death into a Hindu family brings, as elsewhere,\ninexpressible sorrow. The women of the family resign themselves to\ntheir grief, which is expressed by loud wailings, with beating of\ntheir breast and tearing their dishevelled hair. While professional\nwailers are rare, nevertheless friends and relatives congregate and\nadd volume to the dirge of sorrow. The leading women mourners will\noften express in weird chant and appropriate words their praises of\nthe virtues and the beauties of the departed ones. The men of the\nhousehold mourn in silence, as it is not fitting that the man should\naudibly express his sorrow in public.\n\nHindus make immediate arrangements for burning or burial as soon as\ndeath has occurred; so that, usually, the funeral services are over\nwithin twelve or eighteen hours after death. This is desirable,\nbecause of the Hindu custom of fasting so long as a corpse remains in\nthe house; and is also necessary because of the speedy decomposition\nof the body in the tropics. It is also made possible by the fact that\nHindus do not use coffins.\n\nIt is the custom of most of the higher-caste Hindus to cremate their\ndead; while many of the lowest castes and outcasts resort to burial.\nCremation would doubtless be the more sanitary method, if the fire\nwere not so inadequate in many instances. The Hindu burning-ground is\na place of ghastly and disgusting interest.\n\nFuneral ceremonies do not terminate with the burning or with the\nburial of the body in Hinduism. The ritual connected with the dead,\nwhich is called _Shradda_, is, among the higher classes, a most\nelaborate and complicated one, and lasts, with intermissions, for a\nyear. These are conducted with much effort by, and at great expense\nto, the oldest son of the family. And a great significance is attached\nto their rigid performance. It may be regarded as a part of the great\nancestral worship of the East.\n\nThe function of this ceremony is also kindred to that of Roman\nCatholicism, which, through prayer and offerings, seeks the release of\nsouls from Purgatory. By this ritual, which involves also gifts to\nBrahmans and priests, the son makes more easy the pathway of the\ndeparted parent through the shades into the realms beyond, and\nrelieves the departed soul of its encumbrances and facilitates its\nprogress toward bliss. By some it is claimed that these ceremonies,\nwhen rightly performed, render unnecessary his suffering in hell or\nhis returning to this world for rebirth. It is more likely that the\npurpose is to reduce the suffering and to enhance the progress of the\nsoul between this birth and the next. In any case, all orthodox Hindus\nregard the _Shradda_ ceremonies as possessing great virtue and high\nimportance. And this is one of the principal reasons why every Hindu\nman and woman is so eager for the birth of a son in their family.\nWithout a son, who is there to relieve their soul from destruction,\nand to bring to them future peace and rest through the _Shradda_\nceremony? Thus parents ever pray for male offspring; and the greatest\ndisappointment in the life of a Hindu woman is not to be able to\npresent her lord a son to solace him in this life and to assist him\nthrough the valley of death. One of the questions asked by the dutiful\nson, as he performs this laborious ritual, is,--\n\n \"O my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather!\n Are you satisfied? Are you satisfied? We are satisfied.\"\n\nIf any son, by the dutiful performance of offering and ritual here\nupon earth, can bring help and peace to his dead ancestors, the Hindu\nson may be expected to succeed.\n\nThe following, taken from an ancient Sutra, is regarded as a Hindu\nburial hymn:--\n\n \"Open thy arms, O earth! receive the dead\n With gentle pressure and with loving welcome.\n Enshroud him tenderly, even as a mother\n Folds her soft vestment round the child she loves.\n Soul of the dead, depart! take thou the path--\n The ancient path by which our ancestors\n Have gone before thee; thou shalt look upon\n The two kings, mighty Varuna and Yama,\n Delighting in oblations; thou shalt meet\n The fathers and receive the recompense\n Of all thy stored-up offerings above.\n Leave thou thy sin and imperfection here;\n Return unto thy home once more; assume\n A glorious form.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nKALI YUGA--INDIA'S PESSIMISM[7]\n\n\nMany nations, during the period of their infancy and ignorance, have\ngiven to Time and its divisions the power and qualities of life and\nhave clothed them with moral purpose and attributes. Chronos was to\nthe Greeks of old the god of time, in whose hands were the destinies\nof men. Even up to the present day not a few ignorant people of\nChristian lands are influenced, to some extent, by an inherited\nsuperstition about \"lucky\" and \"unlucky\" days. But I know of no land\nwhich is suffering more than India from traditional, false, and\ninjurious conceptions of chronology. Time is here endowed with life\nand enthroned among the gods. Sivan is \"_Maha-Kalan_,\" the great\nincarnation of Time, and the mighty destroyer of all things. It is\nalso said that \"Time is a form of Vishnu.\"\n\n[Footnote 7: This chapter is a modified form of a lecture delivered to\nHindus.]\n\nWe are told that we are living in _Kali yuga_, and that we are subject\nto all the evil which is the permanent characteristic of this iron\nage. I believe that there are few things in India which so thoroughly\ninfluence the life, habits, and character of the people as do their\nmany conceptions about chronology. And I am convinced that\nincalculable good would come to the country if all these old and\nexploded ideas were to give way to more rational ones--such as are in\nharmony with modern intelligence and civilization.\n\nConsider, then, the various aspects of the chronology which all but\nuniversally prevails in India in order that we may see wherein it\ntouches the life and moulds the thought of educated and uneducated\nalike.\n\n\nI\n\n_The Astounding Length of the Chronological System_\n\nIn ancient Vedic times there obtained here, so far as we can see, much\nmore sober views of chronology than at present. It was much later that\nthe imagination of Hindu writers took full wing and carried the people\ninto the all but infinite reaches of Puranic chronology. One must wait\nfor the elaboration of Vishnu Purana, for instance, in order to meet\nthat apparent sobriety of mathematical detail which is utilized to add\ncredibility to the most fantastic time system that imagination ever\ndevised.\n\nChristians of the West have doubtless erred on the side of excessive\nbrevity in their theories and beliefs about the beginnings of history\nand especially in their attempt to locate the origin of the human\nrace. Until recently, it was thought that our human progenitor, Adam,\nwas created no more than sixty centuries ago, and that the whole\nhistory of mankind is consequently confined to that brief space of\ntime. In the same way the practical mind of the West has pictured to\nitself the termination of human life and history upon earth at some\nnot very remote date in the future. Science has already shown the\nerror of the former, as history is likely to demonstrate the falsity\nof the latter theory.\n\nBut India has, with much greater daring and with more of unreason,\ncarried back many billions of years the origin of mankind and has\npainted vividly a future whose expanse is as the boundless sea.\n\nWe are now, it is said, at the close of the first five thousand years\nof _Kali yuga_. And this same _yuga_, or epoch, has 427,000 years\nstill in store for us and our descendants! Before it arrived, the\nother three _yugas_--_Kritha_, _Tretha_, and _Dwapara_--had passed on;\nand these, together, were equal to more than ten thousand divine\nyears, or to nearly four million human years! These four epochs equal\na total of 4,320,000 human years, and this is called a \"_maha-yuga_.\"\nThis in itself would stagger the practical mind of the West. But it is\nonly the very threshold of Hindu chronology! There are seventy-one of\nthese great epochs in a \"_Manuvanthara_,\" or the period of one Manu,\nor human progenitor. And there are many of these Manus with their\nperiods. For instance, there are fourteen of them required in order to\ncover the time called \"_Karpa_,\" or one day in the life of Brahma. And\nafter Brahma has spent his modest day everything is destroyed and his\ngodship spends an equal period in sleep and rest. Then begins another\nBrahmaic day, in which a new succession of Manus spend, with their\nprogeny, their interminable epochs. And thus one series of epochs\nfollows another, sandwiched in by equally long spaces of lifeless\ndarkness. And this goes on until Brahma has completed his divine life\nof one hundred years; and then comes the final dissolution. Having\ngone on as far as this, there is no reason why the imagination should\nrest at this point; and so Vishnu _Purana_, which, of course, is\ncomposed in praise of that god, claims that one day of Vishnu is equal\nto the whole life of Brahma!\n\nNo one can bring within the range of his thought or imagination one\ntithe of the years, divine or human, which are included in this\nmarvellous chronology. A billion years are but as a day to the Hindu\nmind.\n\nAnd if any one is anxious to know the exact place at which we have\narrived in this chronological maze, the same _Purana_ informs us that\nwe are five thousand years advanced in the _Kali yuga_ of \"_Varaha\nkarpa_,\" or the first day in the second half of Brahma's life. And\nthus we are supposed to live not far (say a few billion years!) from\nthe middle of the Hindu chronological system. One may better realize\nthe length of the system if he remembers that we have yet to spend of\nthe present _Kali yuga_ alone more than seventy times the whole of the\nold Christian chronology from Adam to the present time! And yet, as\ncompared with the whole system described above, _Kali yuga_ is less\nthan one day in a thousand years. And that largely measures the\ndifference between the imagination of the West and the same developed\nfaculty in the East!\n\nIt is quite unnecessary to say that the prehistoric Manus of previous\n_yugas_ are absolutely imaginary creatures, since history can tell us\npractically nothing about the head of our race, even in the present\nHindu dispensation. There is not a line of history or of reliable\ntradition that will enable us to reach farther back than five or six\nthousand years in this quest for the origin of our race. There was, of\ncourse, a beginning of human life on earth; and we may, just as we\nplease, call the progenitor \"Manu\" or \"Adam.\" But, according to the\nHindu chronological system, six thousand years only carries us just\nback into the last _yuga_, and is as but yesterday in the march of the\ndivine aeons of the past. Certainly, writers whose productions are\nunreliable as a guide to the events of the past century or two are\nonly indenting upon their imagination when they descant upon the\nchronological data of the _Puranas_.\n\nOne of the principal evils connected with this measureless time system\nis found in the fact that it helps to destroy the confidence of all\nintelligent men in the historicity of characters and events which\nwould otherwise be worthy of our credence. For example, the question\nis asked whether such a man as Rama Chandra ever existed. We at once\nreply in the affirmative; for does not the Ramayana dwell upon his\nexploits, and are there not other reasons for believing that such a\nhero lived in ancient times in this land?\n\nAnd yet when the _Puranas_ tell us that this same Rama received his\napotheosis and appeared as an incarnation of Vishnu in the _Tretha\nyuga_, say one or two millions of years ago, we are astounded at the\ncredulity of those who could write such a statement as well as those\nwho can accept it; and we are led to question whether, after all, Rama\never existed or is simply a poetic conception carried far away into an\nimaginary time. Thus the chronology of the land tends to cast a cloud\nof doubt and suspicion over all that is historical, traditional, or\nlegendary in the literature of the people.\n\nStill greater than this is the unfortunate influence of such a system\nupon the people themselves, in helping to destroy any appreciation\nthat they would otherwise have of historic perspective. It is well\nknown that the people of India have throughout the ages been the most\nwanting in the ability to write and soberly to appreciate historic\nfacts.\n\nThey are great thinkers and wonderful metaphysicians, but they are not\nhistorians. The meagre history of India which has come down to us was\nnot written by the people themselves. Not until recently, and then\nunder the influence of western training, did any reliable book of\nhistory emanate from the brain and hand of a native of this land. All\nthat we know of the ancient history of India comes to us in two ways.\nIt is known indirectly through the language and literature and ancient\ninscriptions of the past. Historians of to-day have to study the\nscience of language, and especially the growth of the Sanscrit tongue;\nand, through an intimate knowledge of the same, they arrive\napproximately at the time in which many of the most important books of\nthe land have been written and at the dates of the events narrated in\nthem. Or they may be helped, to some extent, to learn this history by\na study of the teachings of the books themselves, which may indicate\nthe time in which they were written. A few inscriptions and coins give\nthe dates of certain reigns, which thus bring us directly and briefly\ninto the correct era of certain important events.\n\nBut the bulk of the history of India comes through foreigners. At\ndifferent periods in the history of the land men of other\nnationalities visited India and then recorded their observations\nconcerning the country and the people. The Greeks were great\ntravellers and keen observers in ancient times. They came to India and\nleft in their books such statements about the land as assist us to\nunderstand its condition at that period. Then the Chinese, in the\nearly centuries of the Christian era, visited this land and recorded\nin their works much of interest about the social and religious\ncondition of the people. Later, the Mohammedan conquest brought many\nforeigners into India, and some of the writers of Islam give us\nfurther insight into the affairs of the country. From the fifteenth\ncentury the Romish missionaries have conveyed, through their reports\nto Rome, much of information concerning the people and their life. And\nthus the history of India has largely depended upon the keen and\ncareful observations and statements of men of other lands who came\nhere for travel, trade, or religion. But Indians themselves have, at\nno time, contributed to this most important department of literature.\nWe may search in vain for even one volume of reliable history out of\nthe myriad tomes of embellished narratives which have emanated from\nthe fertile brains of the men of India. How shall we account for this\nstrange and very striking fact? It must be, in part, owing to the\ninnate passion of India at all times for poetic embellishment and\nexaggeration. A cool, scientific, unadorned statement of a fact or of\nan event has never satisfied the soul of the children of the tropics.\nHence, the history of the past becomes legend, human heroes are\npainted as divine, and epochs and eras are lengthened out to almost\neternal proportions.\n\nNow the most serious result of all this is that the people have come\nfirmly to believe that these wild exaggerations, which were written by\nsome dreamy poets of the past, are the sane and cool expressions of\nsimple historic fact; and thus they have largely lost the true sense\nof historic perspective, are unable to distinguish between fact and\nfancy, and are strangers to the lessons of the past. For it must be\nremembered that the teachings of former ages, and especially the\nlife-lessons and character-influences of those generations of men,\nhave less and less of significance to us the farther we throw them\nback into the dim and hazy realm of the prehistoric and legendary. The\nnear past, with its familiar voices and its heroes of real flesh and\nblood, brings to us an appeal to life and noble endeavour to which we\nare always glad to respond; while the remote characters of myth and of\nlegend neither impress us with their reality nor inspire us to a\nhigher and better life.\n\nAnd, in the same way, these immensely drawn-out aeons of the past make\nit impossible for those who believe in them rightly to appreciate the\nsignificance and importance of the present. One's presence in the\nworld and the value of his best activity for the world's good can mean\nsomething to him if he appreciate the fact that there is no great\ndistance to the very beginning of human history. Though his span of\nlife is small, it nevertheless has a definite relationship to the\nwhole of history, and there is some encouragement for a man to work\nfor the good of his race. But this encouragement dwindles into\nnothingness when a man believes in those many aeons of human life, each\naeon being in itself an immense reach of billions of years.\n\n\nII\n\n_The Cyclic Character of Hindu Chronology_\n\nA very unique thing about this chronology is that it revolves in\ncycles. Each _maha-yuga_ is composed of four _yugas_, and these are\never the same series and of the same character. We pass on through the\nlong vista of _Kritha_, _Tretha_, _Dwapara_, and _Kali_ only to begin\nonce more on the same series; and thus forever we move in this\nfour-arc circle without ever getting outside of it. It is claimed\nthat this cycle of _yugas_ has already revolved about twenty million\ntimes and will go on spinning twenty million times more, attaining\nnothing and going nowhere. It is enough to make one dizzy to think of\nthis mighty chronological wheel, spending 4,320,000 years for every\none of its forty million revolutions, with nothing to vary the\nmonotony of these ever recurring epochs!\n\nThe first question which one would naturally ask, after assuming the\ntruth of this breathlessly long system, is whether it could forever\nreturn upon itself after this fashion. Is there no _progress_ in time?\nIs it true, in this sense also, that \"there is nothing new under the\nsun\"? While other people are refreshed by the sense that they are\nmoving forward and upward in the fulfilment of some great destiny, are\never adding new increments to their wisdom, and are rising higher upon\n\"their dead selves\" to ever nobler achievements, is it right that the\npeople of this great land should be doomed to think that there is no\npermanent advance for India, but that she alone must forever return\nwhence she started and repeat the weary cycle of the past?\n\nAs a matter of fact, no people can be thus tied down to any mechanical\norder of time. Every race and nation is either making for progress or\nfor degeneracy. It will never return to its old moorings. The past has\ntold upon it. It has accumulated some wealth of knowledge, of\nexperience, of character, which, as the centuries roll, brings it\nfarther on in its career. It is true that a nation, like a man, may\nhave lapses by which it may fall down a step or more in the ladder of\nits upward progress. But this cannot be a necessity of its nature or a\nrelentless law of its being.\n\nThis chronological system also accounts for much of the pessimism that\npervades the minds and depresses the heart of the people of India\nto-day. It is everywhere claimed that the best things of India were\nfound in the remote past. But, you ask, will not the _Sattia\nyuga_--the golden age--return again? Oh, yes, it is next in the\nprocession, we are told. But we must not forget that there are about\n427,000 long years before this _Kali yuga_ comes to an end. Even\nsupposing that the doctrine of transmigration is true, and that the\nsoul of man must pass through many reincarnations; who can be expected\nto hold on to courage and hope through nearly half a million years of\ndreary existence? What India sorely needs to-day is a conviction that\nshe is moving onward--that there is but one _yuga_ in her calendar,\nand that that is the _yuga_ of _opportunity to rise to higher things_.\nThus alone can she be stimulated to her best efforts and most worthy\nactivity.\n\nIn this connection we must not forget another aspect of these changing\nand ever recurring ages of the _puranas_. Each _yuga_, _maha-yuga_,\nand _karpa_ is followed by a period of more or less complete\ndestruction. The achievements of each period are forgotten, because\nits results are obliterated or consumed by a mighty cataclysm. And\nthus no gain acquired in any past age is available for the coming\nepoch. In this way, the whole idea of the puranic chronology is the\nmost effective ever devised by man in any land to bring discouragement\nand despair into the heart of the people who live under it. Whether we\nlook at the absurd length, the discouraging cycles, or the destructive\ncataclysms which are an essential part of the system, one and all\nbring in their train depression, stagnation, and the spirit of\nreckless waste. While we recognize that this chronology is a natural\nproduct of the dreamy, patient soul of the East, the most important\nfact for us to remember is that it also perpetuates and accentuates\nthe very evil which gave it birth.\n\n\nIII\n\n_The Moral Characteristics of the Hindu Time System_\n\nThis, doubtless, is the most striking feature of this chronology and\ngives it a larger influence than any other in the thoughts and life of\nthe people of this land. And I really believe that it is more\ndeleterious in its influence upon the Hindu character than anything\nelse connected with this system.\n\nAccording to this chronology, in its most elaborated form, every day,\nyea, every hour as well as every _yuga_, or epoch, has its peculiar\nmoral character assigned to it. It is well known that the first era in\nthe _maha-yuga_ is called _Sattia yuga_, or the era of truth. During\nthis period the cow of righteousness stands upon four legs, and all\nliving beings are good, beautiful, and happy. This indeed is the\ngolden age of Hinduism. But, alas, its last departure was some four\nmillion years ago, and it will not return, they say, for nearly half a\nmillion years more. Then it is followed by \"the silver age,\" in which\nthe cow is said to stand on three legs only! In other words, virtue\nand happiness have suffered diminution, and evil and misery have crept\ninto human life. If in the previous age asceticism was the crowning\nglory, in this second age knowledge is supreme. This is said to be\nthe time of Rama's exploits and trials.\n\nWe then come into the bronze era, the so-called period of Krishna's\nincarnation and \"goings.\" The poor cow of virtue has suffered still\nfurther limitations and has but two legs to stand upon in this _yuga_!\nThis is called the age of sacrifice--the time when sacrifice has\npreeminence as a source of power in salvation.\n\nThen we come down to the iron age in which we have the supposed\ninfelicity to live. This is the time of evil, _par excellence_, in\nwhich the cow has been reduced to the last extremity and has to stand\nupon one leg! The gradual deterioration of the ages finds here its\nculmination. Of this fourth age there is a description in the\nVishnu-purana, which is translated as follows:--\n\n \"Hear what will happen in the kali yuga.\n The usages and institutes of caste, of order and rank, will not\n prevail,\n Nor yet the precepts of the triple Veda.\n Religion will consist in wasting wealth,\n In fasting and performing penances\n At will; the man who owns most property,\n And lavishly distributes it, will gain\n Dominion over others; noble rank\n Will give no claim to lordship; self-willed women\n Will seek their pleasure, and ambitious men\n Fix all their hopes on riches gained by fraud.\n The women will be fickle and desert\n Their beggared husbands, loving them alone\n Who give them money. Kings, instead of guarding,\n Will rob their subjects, and abstract the wealth\n Of merchants, under plea of raising taxes.\n Then in the world's last age the rights of men\n Will be confused, no property be safe,\n No joy and no prosperity be lasting.\"\n\n\"Women will bear children at the age of five, six, or seven, and men\nbeget them when they are eight, nine, or ten. Gray hair will appear\nwhen a person is but twelve years of age, and the duration of life for\nmen will only be twenty years.\"\n\nNow the idea in all this is that each _yuga_, or era, has its fixed\ncharacter. Rather than that the men of a _yuga_ should impart their\ncharacter to the age in which they live, the age itself has a\npronounced moral bent which is transferred to all who happen to live\nunder it. Thus we see in the theory a perversion and contradiction of\nthe facts; for an ethical character is assigned to days and hours\nrather than to moral beings, who alone are capable of such values.\n\nTherefore, for a thorough consideration of the system as a whole, it\nis only necessary that we consider the character assigned to this evil\nage in which we live. There is nothing more deeply wrought into the\nconsciousness of the people of this land at the present time than the\nconviction that this time in which we live is indeed _Kali yuga_, that\nit is irremediably bad, and that it taints with its own character\neverything that has life.\n\nPandit Natesa Sastri remarks: \"In India when a young boy or girl\nhappens to break, in eating or dress, the orthodox rules of caste, his\nor her parents will say, 'Oh! it is all the result of the _Kali\nyuga_.' If a Hindu becomes a convert to any other religion, or if any\natrocious act is committed, the Hindu will observe, 'Oh! it is the\nripening of Kali.' Every deviation from the established custom, every\nvice, every crime, in fact, everything wicked, is set down by the\nordinary Hindu to the ascending power of the Lord of the Kali age.\"\n\nNor is this merely a superstition of the ignorant. We remember how, in\nthe year 1899, when it was said that great calamities were due, the\nDewan of Mysore promised to place the matter of preparing for these\ncalamities before the Maharajah. For was it not the five thousandth\nyear of _Kali yuga_?\n\nNow it does not occur to one in ten thousand to ask whether this is\nreally so. It is accepted as a dogma which must not be questioned; and\nall the evil and falsehood which this involves must be a dread of the\nsoul and a bondage of the mind whether it become a fact of experience\nor not.\n\nBut, accepting the universally received belief of India that _Kali\nyuga_ is now five thousand and eight years old, who can tell us what\nwas the condition of things in India before this? Everything before\nthat time is absolutely prehistoric. The best authorities, and indeed\nall authorities, claim that the Vedas were first sung, that the Rishis\nof India came into existence, that the Sanscrit tongue and the Indian\nAryans who spoke it and the religion of Hinduism which they brought or\ncultivated,--all of these find their origin during the last five\nthousand years. All the evidences of history unite to assure us that\nthere is practically nothing existing at the present time in this land\nwhich is not in some way the child of these last fifty centuries of\n_Kali yuga_. Who, then, can dogmatically tell us that these centuries\nhave been better or worse than the eras preceding them? We know no\nmore about the _Dwapara_ and the other previous eras, if any such ever\nexisted, than we know about the inhabitants of other planets, if such\nthere be. It is therefore futile, yea more, thoroughly wicked, to\nimpose upon the people a chronological system which is so pessimistic\nand hopeless in its tenor as this.\n\nBut even looking back through the probably four thousand years which\nembrace all that we really know about India, what do we see to\nencourage this pessimistic view of our era?\n\nLet it not be assumed that the people of India in the days of the\nRishis of old were purer in life or loftier in ideals than many who\nlive in India to-day. It is true that such evils as caste, infant\nmarriage, and many similar customs did not exist at all in Vedic days.\nBut it is also true that not a few serious evils of ancient times,\nsuch as drunkenness, human sacrifice, and slavery, do not generally\nexist in India to-day.\n\nBut if we desire to know what the condition of the present time is, we\nshould compare this beginning of the twentieth with the beginning of\nthe eighteenth century and see what progress has been achieved. During\nthe last two centuries numberless crimes and evils have been swept\naway. I need only mention such enormities as _thuggee_, _sattee_,\ninfant murder, etc., all of which were thriving even a hundred years\nago, but which are now things of the past. And what shall I say of a\nhorde of other customs that have cursed the land, such as infant\nmarriage, _thevathasis_, caste, all of which are beginning to yield to\nthe enlightened thought of the present and will soon be driven out of\nthe country?\n\nI need not add, however, that all of these wonderful changes and\nprogress have not come out of Hinduism. They have been carried out and\nare progressing in the teeth of constant opposition from the orthodox\ndefenders of the ancestral faith. It is the new light of the West that\nhas dawned upon India and has brought to it a new era. Even while the\npeople are insisting that they are in the midst of _Kali yuga_ and are\nconfident that the days are \"out of joint,\" they are nevertheless\nwitnessing such a revolution in religious, social, and intellectual\nlife all around them that any people who were not under the blind\nspell of the Hindu time-fallacy would rejoice with exceeding joy to\nsee it.\n\nAnd herein do we find one of the great evils of this chronology: It\nincapacitates the people to accept or to appreciate any blessing which\nhas or may come to them through religious and social advancement.\nThey think that everything must be bad, as a matter of course, in\n_Kali yuga_, and so nothing can appear good to them, however\nbeneficent and beautiful it may be.\n\nThis conviction that things are now out of joint, and the settled\npurpose that all will continue an unmixed programme of evil, has more\nto do with the sad and universal pessimism of India than anything else\nof which I know. It crushes all buoyancy and cheer out of the mind and\nrests like a pall upon every future prospect.\n\nThen this expectation for the future robs men of any ambition to\nremedy present evils. For, they naturally will say, \"Why flee from\nills which are pressing upon us and which by experience we have\nlearned to endure, if it be only to contract greater troubles in their\nstead; for freedom from evil is an impossibility in this age?\" Is it\nnot, to a very considerable extent, the reason why there are so few\nwhole-hearted reformers in India? Why should a man seek, at the risk\nof opprobrium and enmity, to root out of the country some accursed\ncustom if his inherited belief in the inherent badness of the present\nera is still with him? He must feel that all his efforts will be worse\nthan vain; for even if he and others may succeed in overcoming this\ncustom, it will be only to give room to another that may be worse.\nHence the universal apathy in the face of crying evils and damning\ncustoms; hence also the helpless \"_cui bono?_\" to every effort of\nothers to help the land out of the deep pits of injustice and ancient\nills.\n\nOut of this belief comes another equally portentous danger, viz. that\nof easily yielding to the temptations of the time, and of a readiness\nto participate in the common sins of the day. For, say many, are not\nthese immoralities and evils an integral part of the time; and, if so,\nwhat harm is there in our partaking of them? Or, at least, is it not\nour best interest to harmonize ourselves with the essentially evil\nenvironment of our age rather than vainly to combat the sins of the\nday and to strive to no purpose to remove them?\n\nAnd thus a belief in the divine order and purpose of the evil of our\ntime and in the impossibility of changing the character of our age\nbecomes one of the most prolific sources of sin, of weakness, and of\nmoral and spiritual apathy in the land to-day. Do not many sin without\nfear and with increasing facility because they think it is the only\nlife that best harmonizes with this _Kali yuga_ in which they live?\n\nMuch of this conception of time is connected with the all but\nuniversal belief of the people in astrology. In India, astrology is\nstill fed by popular ignorance and superstition, and continues to rule\nwith an iron rod in this last stronghold among the nations of the\nearth. It would seem as if it controlled the conduct of individuals,\nof families, and of society in general. It claims that for one to be\nborn under the dominant influence, or spell, of one of the heavenly\nbodies is for him to be its slave ever afterwards. And thus the life\nof every human being is said to be largely controlled by certain\nplanets and constellations, some of which are malign, and some benign\nin their character and influence.\n\nFor it must be remembered that it is not only the _yugas_ that are\npossessed of moral attributes; even years, months, days, and hours are\nalso classified as good and bad, auspicious and inauspicious. For one\nto do a thing this month is auspicious, while on the next month it\nwill be the reverse.\n\nIn the same manner, almost every human activity has its \"lucky\" and\n\"unlucky\" times--occasions when effort is much less, or more safe or\nvaluable, than at other times. For instance, the Hindu is warned\nagainst going eastward, Mondays and Saturdays; northward, Tuesdays and\nWednesdays; westward, Fridays and Sundays; and southward, Thursdays.\nThis, we are told, is because Siva's trident is turned against those\npoints of the compass on those particular days, and one would\ntherefore be in danger of being transfixed by this divine weapon!\n\nThen a man must not begin any important work on _Rahu-kalam_. This\ninauspicious time covers an hour and a half of each day of the week\nand is at a different hour every day. The only safe hour is from 6 to\n7.30 each morning. That hour is free from the influence of _Rahu_, and\nis therefore auspicious. And what is Rahu? It is not a planet at all,\nas was thought years ago; nor is it a mighty snake which periodically\nswallows the sun or moon. It is merely the ascending node in astronomy\nwherein alone the eclipses can take place. And yet this imaginary\nmonster has a very real place in the life of this great people, and\nthe foolish dread of it converts a period daily into an inauspicious\noccasion for important effort.\n\nI will present only one other illustration with a view to showing how\nextensively this moral attribute of time is ascribed and emphasized in\nthe serious affairs of life in India. For instance, when a man is\nengaged in the performance of religious duties, it is regarded as of\nsupreme moment that he know when certain acts are of no merit, or, on\nthe other hand, of special merit. Now, there is a regular code of\nrules for this special purpose. By observing these rules carefully one\nmay accumulate religious merit or power with the gods beyond any one\nwho does not observe them. We are told that a rupee contributed in\ncharity during the time of an eclipse, or at the time when the new\nmoon falls upon Monday, brings as much merit to the contributor, with\nthe gods, as an offering of one thousand rupees at any ordinary time.\nWho, then, would not choose the right time for his religious activity\nif time alone is the element which adds value to it, and if motive has\nevidently so little of importance in giving quality or value to our\nefforts in the religious life?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nISLAM IN INDIA\n\n\nThere are sixty-five million Mohammedans in India. This constitutes\nmore than one-fifth of the total population, and is considerably\nlarger than the whole population of the Turkish Empire. There are now\nunder the British Empire more Mohammedans than under any other\ngovernment in modern, or in earlier, times. For at least ninety-five\nmillions of the followers of the Prophet of Mecca are prospering\nto-day under the aegis of Great Britain; which is probably five\nmillions in excess of the Christian population of the same empire.\nThis is a significant fact.\n\nAnd this Islamic population in India is growing, too. During the last\ndecade it increased by 9.1 per cent, while the population of India, as\na whole, increased only by 1.9 per cent.\n\nOf the Mohammedans of India, only a small portion are descended from\nthe Mussulmans of the West; while the remainder are the results of\nconversions from Hinduism.\n\n[Illustration: HUMAYAN'S TOMB, DELHI]\n\nThis population is scattered all over India, though North India is the\nhome of the majority of them. Bengal, also, has a large Mohammedan\nelement in its population. It is that part of the country where Islam\nhas gathered in the largest number of converts; for, of the people of\nthat Presidency, more than one-third (25,264,342) are Mussulmans. And\nin certain portions of East Bengal the Mohammedans are in the large\nmajority.\n\nIn South India, too, there is a fair representation of the members of\nthis faith. One can hardly pass through any section of the country\nwithout seeing and recognizing them by their physiognomy, costume, or\ncustoms.\n\n\nI\n\n_The History of Islam in India_\n\nIt is nearly twelve hundred years since the first military expedition\nof this triumphant faith entered this land. It is an interesting fact\nthat the first attack of Islam (711 A.D.) upon India almost\nsynchronizes with the end of the millennium of Buddhistic rule in\nIndia. Thus the incoming of the new Hinduism under Sankaracharyar\nalmost coincides with the first onslaught of the western hordes of the\nArabian Prophet upon the strongholds of India.\n\nIt was a pure conquest of the sword which gave to Mohammed in India,\nas in other lands, a place and a possession. And those early days of\nMohammedan triumph are, in the main, a record of cruel butchery and of\nwidespread massacre. They fulfilled, to the letter, the command of the\nfounder of their faith, which says: \"When ye encounter the\nunbelievers, strike off their heads, until ye have made a great\nslaughter among them; and bind them in bonds; and either give them a\nfree dismission afterwards, or exact a ransom; until the war shall\nhave laid down its arms. This shall ye do.\" (Quran (Koran), xlviii. 4,\n5.)\n\nThe fanaticism and bigotry of that people carried triumph everywhere;\nand their triumph meant to every Hindu the acceptance of the sword,\nthe Quran, or tribute. For some centuries, indeed, the fortunes of\nIslam in India wavered, and its undisputed sway was not recognized\nuntil the time of Baber, the distinguished founder of the great Mogul\nEmpire in the sixteenth century. It is also true that, among the mild\nand patient population of this land, the spirit of that militant faith\ngradually softened until the era of Akbar the Great--a ruler who was\nnot only illustrious as a lawgiver, but also was justly celebrated\nfor his cosmopolitanism and religious toleration. He was succeeded by\nanother great name, Shah Jehan, a man of wonderful administrative\npowers, but one of narrow sympathies and occasionally given to cruel\nbigotry. And yet, if he did not possess the graces for a noble\ncharacter, he adorned his realm with religious edifices which still\nstand unrivalled in their exquisite beauty.\n\nThe cruel Aurangzeeb practically closed the Mogul dynasty by his\nweakness, bloodthirstiness, and uncompromising bigotry.\n\nIt is strange that during the centuries of cruel dominion, of\nuncompromising fanaticism, and of religious intolerance, the whole\npopulation of the land was not absorbed into Islam. But the Mogul\nEmpire passed away. And, while it left a strong impression on the\ncountry as a whole, and affected somewhat the faiths of this land and\nleft marvellous monuments of architectural beauty, it did not\nseriously change the undercurrents of the life of the whole people.\n\n\nII\n\n_The Present Condition of this Faith in India_\n\nLike all other faiths in this peninsula, Islam is accepted and\npractised in all degrees of purity, from the orthodox worship,\nconducted in the grand and beautiful mosques of Delhi and Agra, to the\ngrovelling, superstitious, heathenish ceremonies which obtain among,\nand which constitute the religious pabulum of, the masses of Islam in\nremote villages and in distant sections of the land.\n\nGenerally speaking, the religion of Mohammed is not calculated to\nappeal to the highly poetic mind of India. It is too severe and\nprosaic in its character. The mind of India delights in mystical\nelaborations and in the multiplication of fanciful incarnations and\nother divine manifestations. The Allah of Islam is almost as remote\nand as unknowable a deity as is the Brahm of the Vedantist. But in the\nabsence of a personal god the Vedantist and Hindus in general have\nbuilt up a system of numberless incarnations which \"play\" upon the\nimagination of the votaries and give ample scope to the remarkably\npoetic genius of this people.\n\nMohammedanism has nothing of the kind; it denies even the possibility\nof divine \"descent,\" and its animus throughout the centuries has been\none of antagonism to the incarnation doctrine of other faiths.\n\nThe Quran is largely wanting in the tropical warmth and legendary\nlore which is such a resource and comfort to the Indian mind, and\nwhich therefore abounds in the sacred writings of the Brahmans.\n\nDoubtless, the simplicity and intelligibility of its creed--one God,\none prophet, one book--commends Mohammedanism to the minds of many.\nBut simplicity is not a foible of the religious mind of India. It has\nalways craved the complex, the mystical, and the unfathomable. It\ndelights in inconsistencies, and indulges freely in the irreconcilable\nmysteries of faith. Hinduism, being the child of the Hindu mind,\nabounds in tropical exuberance of spiritual exercise and \"amusements,\"\nwhich seem childish and inane to all other people.\n\nThe teaching of Mohammed has, therefore, very little that can appeal\nwith power, carry conviction, and bring contentment to the people of\nIndia.\n\nIn nothing, perhaps, is this more manifestly marked than in the\nconception of the deity above referred to. Islam is a most\nuncompromising form of Unitarianism. It is bitterly opposed to any\ndoctrine which brings God down to men and renders Him intelligible to\nthe common mind. It denies the possibility of the divine putting on\nhuman, or any other, nature.\n\nHinduism, on the other hand, is the very antithesis of all this. At\nfirst, this was not so. But its rigid pantheism gradually necessitated\nmanifestations of the divine, in order that faith and devotion might\nbe made possible. And, in later centuries, the doctrine of incarnation\nwas accepted as a haven of rest to the Hindu mind and soon became a\nwild passion of its soul. There is no other people on earth who have\ncarried the doctrine of incarnation (_Avatar_) to such excess of\nimaginings as to create such abundantly grotesque and fanciful\nappearances of their many divinities. Normally, then, the Mohammedan\nfaith, at its very core, must be unsatisfying and even repulsive to\nthe tropical Hindu mind. It was brought here at the point of the\nsword; and, for centuries, it was the faith of a ruling power whose\ncustom was to tax heavily all people who did not conform, outwardly at\nleast, to the State religion.\n\nAfter Islam had become established and secure in its success in India,\nwhen it could relax its grip upon the sword and relinquish something\nof the spirit of intolerance which characterized it, it had to meet\nand cope with a greater foe than that of the battle-field. Hinduism\nhas always exercised a great benumbing influence upon all faiths which\nhave come into contact and conflict with it. It has insinuated itself\ninto the mind of the conquerors and laid its palsied hand upon every\ndepartment of religious thought and life. So that, after a few\ncenturies of prosperity in India, Islam began to forget its narrow\nbigotry and uncompromising severity and fraternized more or less with\nthe religion of the country. Little by little a latitudinarianism\ncrept in, which found its culmination in that remarkable man, Akbar\nthe Great, who entertained the teachers of all faiths and encouraged a\nfearless discussion of their respective merits. Dr. Wherry writes:\n\"The tolerance of Akbar, who not only removed the poll-tax from all\nhis non-Moslem subjects, but who established a sort of parliament of\nreligions, inviting Brahmans, Persian Sufis, Parsee fire-worshippers,\nand Jesuit priests to freely discuss in his presence the special\ntenets of their faith and practice, was remarkable. He went farther,\nand promulgated an eclectic creed of his own and constituted himself a\nsort of priest-king in which his own dictum should override everything\nexcepting the letter of the Quran. His own creed is set forth in the\nfollowing words of India's greatest poet, Abul Fazl:--\n\n \"O God, in every temple I see those who see thee, and, in every tongue\n that is spoken, thou art praised.\n Polytheism and Islam grope after thee,\n Each religion says, 'Thou art one, without equal,'\n Be it mosque, men murmur holy prayer; or church, the bells ring, for\n love of thee;\n Awhile I frequent the Christian cloister, anon the mosque:\n But thee only I seek from fane to fane.\n Thine elect know naught of heresy or orthodoxy, whereof neither stands\n behind the screen of thy truth.\n Heresy to the heretic,--dogma to the orthodox,--\n But the dust of the rose-petal belongs to the heart of the perfume\n seller.\"[8]\n\n[Footnote 8: \"Islam and Christianity,\" p. 68.]\n\nThis religious cosmopolitanism developed into what has been called an\n\"Eclectic Pantheism,\" which welcomed all men and satisfied no one.\n\nEven though Aurangzeeb tried to stem this tide of liberalism and to\nrehabilitate the intolerance and cruelty of ancient Islam, his effort\nwas not only unsuccessful, but was partly instrumental in bringing on\nthe downfall of the Empire. And the faith of Mohammed in India has\nrevealed, ever since, the sickly pallor and want of vigour which\ntropical life and contact with Hinduism necessarily entail.\n\nWhen the government of this land ceased to be Mohammedan, and the\nsceptre passed into the hands of the British, whose glory it has been,\nfor centuries, to protect its subjects from the bloody hand of\nintolerance and to vouchsafe unto all not only the blessed boon of\n_Pax Britannica_, but also the inexpressible right and privilege of\nreligious liberty,--then passed away, never to return, we hope, from\nthis motherland of tolerance, the ghastly sceptre of bigotry and\nfanaticism. And thus Islam ceased to be enforced and propagated by the\nstrong arm of law and by the pointed argument of sword and spear of\nthe legions. It has, since then, enjoyed in this land a free and an\nopen field for the exercise of its powers of persuasion. But its\nincrease has not been marked. And what there has been of progress has\nbeen owing to its other characteristics, which we will mention later.\n\nThus the faith of the Arabian prophet has lost, in India, not only its\nvigour, but also its prestige and purity, by contact with the lower\nfaiths of the land, especially with the ancestral faith of India. From\nthat religion it has taken unto itself many of the base superstitions,\nand not a few of the idolatrous practices, which have characterized\nit.\n\nIndeed, the great mass of the converts from Hinduism, and their\ndescendants, have had but a distorted conception of the lofty faith of\nMohammed, which they have unequally yoked with their ancient\nsuperstitions and errors.\n\nThe Indian census of 1901 tells us how the pure monotheism of Mohammed\nhas been debased by contact with worship at human shrines: \"We have\nseen in the case of Hinduism that the belief in one supreme God, in\nwhom are vested all ultimate powers, is not incompatible with the\nbelief in Supernatural Beings who exercise considerable influence over\nworldly affairs, and whose influence may be obtained or averted by\ncertain ceremonies. Similarly, in the case of Islam, while the masses\nhave, on the whole, a clearer idea of the unity and omnipotence of God\nthan the ordinary Hindu has, they also have a firm belief in the value\nof offerings at certain holy places for obtaining temporal blessings.\nThus the shrine of Saiyad Salar, at Bahraich, is resorted to, both by\nHindus and Mussulmans, if a wife is childless, or if family quarrels\ncannot be composed. Diseases may be cured by a visit to the shrine of\nShaik Saddo, at Amroha in Moradabad; while for help in legal\ndifficulties Shah Mina's dargah at Lucknow is renowned. Each of these\nhas its appropriate offering,--a long embroidered flag for the first,\na cock for the second, and a piece of cloth for the third. Other\ncelebrated shrines are those of Bahauddin Madar Shah at Nakkanpur in\nthe Cawnpore district, and of Ala-uddin Sabir at Piran Kaliar in\nSaharanpur.\" The same writer, in his report concerning Bengal, says:\n\"The unreformed Mohammedans of the lower and uneducated classes are\ndeeply infected with Hindu superstitions, and their knowledge of the\nfaith they profess seldom extends beyond the three cardinal doctrines\nof the Unity of God, the mission of Mohammed, and the truth of the\nQuran; and they have a very faint idea of the differences between\ntheir religion and that of the Hindus. Sometimes they believe that\nthey are descended from Abel (Habil), while the Hindus owe their\norigin to Cain (Kabil). Kabil, they say, killed Habil and dug a grave\nfor him with a crow's beak.\"\n\nBefore the recent crusade against idolatry it was the regular practice\nof low-class Mohammedans to join in the Durga Puja and other Hindu\nreligious festivals, and although they have been purged of many\nsuperstitions, many still remain. In particular, they are very careful\nabout omens and auspicious days. Dates for weddings are often fixed\nafter consulting a Hindu astrologer; bamboos are not cut, nor the\nbuilding of new houses commenced, on certain days of the week; and\njourneys are often undertaken only after referring to the Hindu\nalmanac to see if the proposed day is auspicious. When disease is\nprevalent, Sitala and Rakshya Kali are worshipped. Dharmaraj, Manasa,\nBishahari, are also venerated by many ignorant Mohammedans. Sasthi is\nworshipped when a child is born. Even now, in some parts of Bengal,\nthey observe the Durga Puja and buy new clothes for the festival, like\nthe Hindus. \"Apart from Hindu superstitions, there are certain forms\nof worship common amongst Mohammedans which are not based on the\nQuran. The most common of these is the adoration of departed _Pirs_.\"\n\nIn Rajputana, the Mohammedans of local origin \"still retain their\nancient Hindu customs and ideas. The local saints and deities are\nregularly worshipped, the Brahman officiates at all family ceremonials\nside by side with the Mussulman priest, and, if in matters of creed\nthey are Mohammedans, in matters of form they are Hindus.\"\n\nIn Baluchistan, we are told of the Mohammedan that \"his practice is,\nto say the least of it, un-Islamic. Though he repeats every day that\nthere is one God only who is worthy of worship, he almost invariably\nprefers to worship some saint or tomb. The Saints, or _Pirs_, in fact,\nare invested with all the attributes of God. It is the Saint who can\navert calamity, cure disease, procure children for the childless,\nbless the efforts of the hunter, or even improve the circumstances of\nthe dead. The underlying feeling seems to be that man is too sinful to\napproach God direct, and therefore the intervention of some one worthy\nmust be sought.\"\n\nIn South India, also, Hindus and Mohammedans fraternize not a little,\nespecially in the religious festivities. Mohammedans do not hesitate,\nunder certain conditions, to bring offerings to particular Hindu\nshrines. And it is a very common thing to see Hindus pay their\nrespects to Mohammedan fakirs. The Mohurram, in South India, is\nparticipated in, at least in its festive aspects, by multitudes of\nHindus. Many Mohammedans are feeling keenly the degradation of this\ncontact. A well-known Mussulman writer moans over the situation in the\nfollowing words:--\n\n\"The baneful influence that Hindu customs have had on Mussulmans is\npainful to read of. Many a Hindu ceremonial has been incorporated by\nthe followers of the Prophet. The marriage ceremonies, instead of\nkeeping to the simple form prescribed by the Quran, have been greatly\nelaborated, and include processions. Even in religious matters, Hindu\nand Mussulman practices have become curiously blended. Hindus take a\nleading part in the celebration of Mohurram. Passages from the Quran\nare sometimes chanted in the Hindu fashion; Mohammedan women of the\nlower classes break cocoanuts at Hindu temples in fulfilment of vows.\nStrangest of all, there is said to be a Hindu temple at a village near\nTrichinopoly which is sacred to a goddess called the Mussulmans' lady,\nwho is said to be the wife of the Hindu god Ranganatha at Srirangam.\nThese are some of the sad features which the census report has brought\nto light. They tend to show that, except in a few dead formalities,\nthe life of Mussulmans in South India is nothing different from that\nof the Hindus. In many cases the followers of the Arabian prophet\nwould seem to have forgotten even the root principles of their\nreligion--the unity of God, the formless, and the unincarnate. This\nfact alone is more than enough to fill the mind of the true Mussulman\nwith anxious concern with regard to the future prospects of Islam in\nthis country. His pious soul can find no rest with the view before him\nof hundreds and thousands of his coreligionists sunk deep in the\ndegrading practices of the heathen around.\"\n\nIn this connection it should not be forgotten that the Sikh faith in\nNorth India is really a compromise between these two faiths. Its\nfounder, Nanak Shah, possessed the very laudable ambition of producing\na religion possessed of the best elements of both of these faiths. And\nthough the more than two millions of his present followers have\ndrifted very much toward Hinduism, which is the drift of all things in\nthis land, and are hardly to be distinguished from their neighbours in\ncreed and custom, yet the religion stands as a testimony to the mutual\ninfluence of these two faiths.\n\nNor should one forget what is now going on on this line among Hindus.\nDr. Grierson tells us, in his recent interesting lecture, that \"Allah\nthe God of the Mussulman--the God of the Jews and ourselves--has\nHimself been admitted to the Hindu pantheon, together with His\nprophet, and a new section of the never completed Hindu bible, the\n'Allah Upanishad,' has been provided in His honour.\"\n\nMoreover, Hindus charge the Mohammedan faith with being the cause of\nthe zenana system of this land. The seclusion of women began, they\nsay, on account of the licentiousness of the Arabs. However this may\nbe, it is true that the Mohammedan Purdah system, which separates so\nthoroughly women from the other sex, found adoption, or at least\nemphasis, among the Hindus. In ancient times, so far as we can learn,\nthe women of Brahmanism found considerable freedom and independence of\nlife. Probably the truth is that, as Hinduism developed certain types\nof doctrine which bore heavily upon the weaker sex, the range of\nprivilege and opportunity which women enjoyed found gradual limitation\nand curtailment which found marked impetus upon the advent of the Arab\nhordes.\n\nAnd it should be remembered that the persistent attitude of\nMohammedans toward slavery and toward polygamy has had a deleterious\neffect upon the Hindu people.\n\nThough Islam came to India uninvited, and though its pathway has been\nmarked with blood, it has not been without great opportunity to\nimpress the people of this land with its nobility. But, as we have\nseen, the opportunity does not seem to have been improved. After\ntwelve centuries of active propagandism and some centuries of\npolitical rule and religious oppression, this religion is still an\nexotic, and finds, on the whole, small place in the affection of the\npeople. This is owing in part to its want of adaptation and inherent\nlack of vital power. As Sir Monier William has said: \"There is a\nfinality and a want of elasticity about Mohammedanism which precludes\nits expanding beyond a certain fixed line of demarcation. Having once\nreached this line, it appears to lapse backwards--to tend toward\nmental and moral slavery, to contract with the narrower and narrower\ncircles of bigotry and exclusiveness.\"\n\nAdd again to this the fact, already mentioned, that its new\nenvironment in India has been deleterious to the vitality of the\nMohammedan faith. \"Mohammedanism, as a quiescent non-proselytizing\nreligion, could only become corrupt and rotten. The effect of all this\npolicy on the mass of Mohammedans was to deprive their religious\nsentiment of that intolerance which constituted its strength. Its\nmoral power was gone when it ceased to be intolerant.... These two\nreligions have thus settled down beside each other on terms of mutual\ncharity and _toleration_. This does not imply any great change or\ndeterioration in Hinduism, for its principles admit every belief as\ntruth, and every religion as a way of salvation. All that it requires\nis acknowledgment of the same principle from other religions, and\nthis is the position which it has practically forced Mohammedanism to\nassume in India. But such a position is utterly opposed to the\nprinciples and claims of the latter religion; and in forcing\nMohammedanism to accept it, Hinduism has undoubtedly gained the\ntriumph.\"[9]\n\n[Footnote 9: \"Hinduism and Christianity,\" by Dr. Robson, pp. 168,\n173.]\n\nAnd yet let it not be supposed that Islam in India is either dead or\nmoribund. It is evidently sensible of its defects and has made, from\ntime to time, efforts to reform itself.\n\nUnder the stress of circumstances and the sense of waning power they\nhave even translated the Quran into Urdu, with a view to reaching the\ncommon people. This is an unique effort on their part. Like Romanists,\nin the use of the Latin service, the Mohammedans cling, with deathly\ntenacity, to their Arabic bible and Arabic worship, foolishly\nbelieving that to vernacularize their faith is to degrade and corrupt\nit. In Madura, where there is a mosque of some pretension, there are\nonly two or three who can pronounce their Arabic Quran. And while they\nhave learned to pronounce, in the ancient tongue, their beloved book,\nthey do not understand the meaning of what they say, and merely parrot\nthe whole ritual. But a break has been made from this inane method of\nworship, and their holy book has now been translated into one\nvernacular of India.\n\nIslam has also revealed definite redeeming qualities which seem\ndistinctive and are worthy of enumeration.\n\nIts prohibition of the use of intoxicating drinks is definite, and its\nattitude toward that accursed habit has been consistently and\nvehemently antagonistic. Hence, the Mohammedan of India is recognized\nas a sober man, faithful to his religion in this matter wherein the\nChristian reveals so much weakness. It is true that in some parts of\nthe country Mussulmans are too often addicted to the use of opiates.\nBut a drunken member of this faith is rarely to be found. In this,\nIslam has joined forces with Hinduism itself in proscribing a habit\nwhich is the curse and ruin of too many Christian lands. And it is a\ndistinct blot upon the Christian Church in India that many of its\nfollowers, in this land of sobriety and abstinence, so easily fall\ninto the temptation of the cup and become the victims of intemperance.\n\nIslam also enforces the law of usury among its followers. With the\nJew, the Mohammedan has been strictly forbidden to make money by the\nuse of money. And though they find ways of evading this law, to some\nextent, the ideal which they have before them is a restraint and a\nblessing in a land where the usurer is a ubiquitous curse, because of\nhis rapacity and the expertness with which he draws the common people\ninto his net and leads millions to financial loss and ruin.\n\nThe supreme place given in this faith to the duty of almsgiving, and\nthe effective way with which it is carried out among its members, is\nanother praise-worthy feature. At the time of their political rule and\nextensive sway there was a well-known tax whose purpose was to carry\nrelief to the poor and the suffering. And Mohammedans feel to-day that\nthere is hardly a religious duty which is more sacred and carries with\nit more of reward than that of distributing alms to the poor. Far more\nthan Christianity has it given importance and distinction to this as a\nspecial form of its religious activity.\n\nMoreover, its command to observe the five seasons of daily prayer is\nimportant, with a view to maintaining and enforcing the ordinary forms\nand observances of a living faith. Many a time have I been impressed\nwith the way Mohammedans, in this land, faithfully and boldly observe\nthis rule and privilege of their faith by spreading their mats in\nmost unexpected places, even in the presence of gaping crowds, and\nprostrating themselves in prayer with their faces Mecca-ward as a\nproof of their sincerity and as a testimony to the power of their\nreligion.\n\nBut there is nothing in which Islam exerts a more salutary influence in\nthis caste-ridden land than in its attitude toward this monster evil of\nHinduism. Islam is neither founded upon race, colour, nor nationality.\nIt has been well said that in Islam \"all believers belong to the highest\ncaste.\" It recognizes to the full the brotherhood of all the members of\nits faith. Even its slaves have been exalted to its throne and have\nachieved highest distinction. The last census correctly says: \"On its\nsocial side, the religion of Mohammed is equally opposed to the Hindu\nscheme of a hierarchy of castes, an elaborate stratification of society\nbased upon subtle distinctions of food, dress, drink, marriage, and\nceremonial usage. In the sight of God and of His Prophet all followers\nof Islam are equal. In India, however, caste is in the air; its\ncontagion has spread even to the Mohammedans; and we find its evolution\nproceeding on characteristically Hindu lines. In both communities,\nforeign descent forms the highest claim to social distinction; in both,\npromotion cometh from the West. As the twice-born Aryan is to the mass\nof Hindus, so is the Mohammedan of alleged Arab, Persian, Afghan, or\nMogul origin to the rank and file of his coreligionists.\"\n\nI admit that there are social distinctions and class cleavages among\nthe members of this faith, as among all peoples. These are in no sense\nreligious, however, as they are in Hinduism. Among the members of that\nfaith there is equality of right; and every Islamite, by his own\nindustry and character, can enjoy that right in this land. It is true\nthat Islam has yet to learn the brotherhood of man as such, and to\nrecognize that the non-Mussulman and the Mussulman alike are possessed\nof equal rights and favours in the sight of God. But within the faith\nitself, caste, as such, is unknown. This is much more than can be said\nof the Indian Christian Church at the present day, notwithstanding the\nspirit of our religion and its definite injunctions. The Hindu caste\nsystem has been transferred too much into the Christian fold. Most of\nthe accessions from Hinduism to Mohammedanism at the present time are\nfrom the lowest classes of Hinduism, with a view to securing a\ndefinitely higher social status which Mohammedanism distinctly\npromises and invariably confers upon these newcomers. It were well if\nmodern converts to Christianity from the outcasts could hope for and\nreceive from the Hindus the same recognized advance in social position\nand esteem by becoming members of our religion, as they do by entering\nthe faith of Islam. This is not the fault of Christianity, but the\nfolly of its converts, who do not leave their heathenish conceptions\nand estimates outside the precincts of Christianity. This difference,\nwhich I have emphasized, is, as might be expected, more marked and\nmanifest in South India than elsewhere. A Christian worker in this\nland cannot help envying Islam the noble stand which it has taken\nconcerning caste.\n\nAt the present time the Muslims of India are divided into two sects,\nsomething like the Catholics and Protestants of Christianity. The\nSunnis are the traditionists, and constitute the large majority of\nthat faith. The Shiahs are the dissenters. For twelve hundred years\nhas this division existed, and the two parties are as irreconcilable\nto-day as ever. There is also a sect of mystics known as Sufis.\n\nIn the seventeenth century a new sect of Purists was formed in Arabia.\nThey reject the glosses of _Immams_, will not accept the authority of\nthe Sultan, and make light of the great Prophet himself. They are a\nfanatical sect and delight in proclaiming _jihad_, or holy war,\nagainst the infidels. These are the Wahabbis. This sect was introduced\nto India by Sayad Ahmed Shah, and it has gained many converts. It is\nlargely a movement toward reforming the faith from within. In spirit,\nit is not very unlike the movement of the fanatics known as Ghazis,\nwhose zeal burns against all infidels, especially those of the\nEuropean Christian type.\n\n\nIII\n\n_What is the Character of the Mohammedan Population in India?_\n\nIt will be interesting to appraise them largely by comparing them with\nthe Hindu population which surrounds them. Generally speaking, they\nare morally on a level with their neighbours. In South India,\nespecially, it is difficult to discriminate between the ethical\nstandards which obtain among Mohammedans and Hindus. In both cases\nthey are low and unworthy. This is unexpected, as Islam has always\nstood for a worthy ethical standing, while Hinduism has, from time\nimmemorial, divorced morality from piety. Nevertheless, it is a fact\nthat those who have passed on from Hinduism to Mohammedanism have\nrarely ascended in the ethical standard of life.\n\nThe personal habits of the Indian Mussulman are not clean, to say the\nleast of them. In this they are a contrast to the Brahmans, and to\nsome other high-class Hindus, whose ceremonial ablutions are many. In\nSouth India, the Mohammedan is described by a vernacular expression\nwhich is as uncomplimentary as it is filthy, and which is intended to\nclassify them among the lowest in their habits. When cholera and\nsimilar epidemics prevail in the regions with which I am familiar, the\nMohammedan, with the Pariah, on account of unclean habits, becomes the\nfirst victim of its ravages.\n\nAdd to this their strong belief in fate, which leads them, during\nthese epidemics, to neglect or to decline the use of medical remedies.\nMany a Muslim perishes during such times because of his fatalistic\nconvictions.\n\nThey are also among the most ignorant of all classes in India. While,\nin the total population of the land, hardly more than 5 per cent are,\nin any sense, literate, the Mohammedans, as a class, have only 3 per\ncent. And of the Mohammedan population nearly all the women are\nanalphabet. In the educational system of India the government places\nMohammedans among the \"backward classes,\" and every effort has been\nmade by the State, even to the doubling of educational grants, to\nstimulate the members of this faith on educational lines.\n\nIt is one of the most discouraging facts connected with the Muslim\npopulation that while they are brave in bearing arms and loyal to the\ngovernment, they have an apparent aversion to the schoolhouse, and can\nwith difficulty be induced to secure even an elementary education.\nThis bears very heavily against their prosperity and influence. Public\noffices in India are wisely placed in charge of those who are\ncompetent, by a thorough training and a broad education, to well fill\nthem. The consequence is that the Mohammedan has been gradually driven\nout from nearly all public positions of trust by the intellectually\nmore alert Brahman, and even by lower-class Hindus, who are availing\nthemselves of the opportunities for higher education.\n\nIt is not strange that the political influence of this community has\ncorrespondingly waned, so that only a very small number relatively of\nMuslims is found to-day in the councils of the Empire.\n\nA new ambition, however, seems to be taking possession of the\ncommunity. They have recently organized many schools under the\ndirection of \"The Society for the Aid of Islam.\" These schools,\nwithout neglecting the study of the Quran and their sacred language\nand the tenets of their faith, give instruction on western lines, and\nin the English language.\n\nThey have established, also, under the inspiration of the late Sir\nSayid Ahmed Khan, a college at Aligarh. Though the rationalistic\nteaching of the founder causes the institution to be discredited by\northodox leaders, the college has developed wonderfully, and is\nbeginning to assume the proportions of a Muslim University. Of this\ninstitution a learned Mussulman remarked in an address:--\n\n\"We want Aligarh to be such a home of learning as to command the same\nrespect of scholars as Berlin or Oxford, Leipsic or Paris. And we want\nthose branches of learning relative to Islam which are fast falling\ninto decay to be added by Moslem scholars to the stock of the world's\nknowledge. And, above all, we want to create for our people an\nintellectual and moral capital--a city which shall be the home of\nelevated ideas and pure ideals; a centre from which light and guidance\nshall be diffused among the Moslems of India.\"\n\nMuch may be expected from the institution. But what is one such school\namong the many millions of this community in India? Government is\nanxious to aid and inspire the community on these lines; and the\npresent success of the institution is, in good part, owing to the\nsmile of the State upon it.\n\nThe recent organization of the Pan-Islamic Movement is full of hope.\nThe leading representatives of the community in India seem anxious and\ndetermined to rouse their coreligionists from their lethargy and to\ncreate within them a new ambition for a higher and a more honourable\nplace in intelligence and official usefulness. This is much needed,\nbecause the community has reached its lowest ebb of influence among\nthe people.\n\nIn the present unrest Mohammedans mainly stand with the government\nagainst the Hindu Extremists. They wisely realize that the British Raj\npresents to them, as a community, far better opportunity and larger\nfavours than would accrue to them under any other possible government,\neven though their warlike traits might lead them once more to subdue\nand rule the land themselves.\n\n\nIV\n\n_Christian Effort in India in Behalf of the Mussulman_\n\nMissionaries have everywhere presented to Mohammedan and Hindu alike\nthe Gospel Message. The follower of Mohammed has never been ignored in\nthe proclaiming of Christ and in the work of the Mission school.\n\nGenerally speaking, they are a very hard class to reach; they very\nrarely seem impressed, or are willing to consider the message as a\npersonal call to themselves. The high character of their faith above\nthat of the surrounding people partly accounts for this. Moreover, the\nreligion itself inculcates intolerance, and naturally narrows the\nvision of appreciation and sympathy amongst its followers.\n\nIt is also, in some measure, due to their supreme ignorance of the\nteaching of their own faith. They have many fantastic notions about\nIslam, such as intelligent members of their faith repudiate, and such\nas make them inaccessible to the Christian worker.\n\nAnd yet they are not reached and impressed with more difficulty than\nare the Brahmans and some other high-class Hindus. Though conversions\nfrom among them have been relatively few, accessions from Islam to the\nChristian faith have been continuous during the last century. There\nhave not been many mass movements among them. It has been largely the\nstruggle of individual souls from the trammels of one faith into the\nliberty of the other. Dr. Wherry informs us that: \"In the North,\nespecially the Punjab, and the Northwest Frontier Province, every\ncongregation has a representation from the Moslem ranks. Some of the\nchurches have a majority of their membership gathered from amongst the\nMussulmans. In a few cases there has been something like a movement\namong Moslems toward Christianity, and a considerable number have come\nout at one time. But perhaps the fact that tells most clearly the\nstory of the advance of Christianity among Moslems in India, is this,\nthat among the native pastors and Christian preachers and teachers in\nNorth India there are at least two hundred who were once followers of\nIslam. Among the names of those who have gone to their reward (many of\nthem, after long lives of faithful service), some of my readers will\nrecall the names of the Rev. Maulvie Imaduddin, D.D., Maulvie Safdar\nAli, E.A.C., Munshi Mohammed Hanif, Sayyad Abdullah Athim, E.A.C.,\nthe Rev. Rajab Ali, Sain Gumu Shah, the Rev. Abdul Masih, the Rev.\nAsraf Ali, the Rev. Jani Ali, and Dilawur Khan. These faithful\nservants of God have left behind them memories which still live. Many\nof them have bequeathed volumes of literature, which have added much\nto the literary wealth of all the churches. They give an index\nwherewith to guide us as to what the strength and character of the\nChurch of the future will be when the strong champions of the Crescent\nshall have become the Champions of the Cross.\"\n\nWe are also told by the Rev. Maulvie Imaduddin, D.D., of North India,\nthat \"117 men of position and influence have become Christians, of\nwhom 62 became clergy and leading men in many of the Indian Missions,\nand 51 are gentlemen occupying positions professional and official.\nOut of 956 baptisms of the Church Missionary Society in the Amritsar\nDistrict, 152 were Mohammedan converts. In the Punjab there are at\nleast two congregations made up entirely of Mohammedans, while in\nBengal there is a body of more than 6000 Christians composed almost\nentirely of Mohammedan converts and their descendants, a large number\nhaving come over _en masse_ some years ago. These last were converts\nin the first instance from Hinduism to Mohammedanism, and hence were\nnot bound so strongly to Islam.\"\n\nIn South India, less attention has been paid to Mohammedans as a\nclass, and the results therefore have been very meagre. A few\nindividuals, here and there, have accepted our faith, and that is\npractically all. This is not strange when we remember that out of the\neleven hundred Protestant missionaries, male and female, in Southern\nIndia, perhaps not a dozen have any special training and aptitude for\nwork among Mohammedans, and hardly more than that number are giving\nthemselves entirely to the work.\n\nThe difficulty of this work should appeal more than it does to the\nheroic element in missionaries and missionary societies alike. The\nabove facts indicate that there is encouragement for one who gives\nhimself heartily to this people. In no other land has missionary\neffort for the members of this religion achieved greater results than\nin India. If their numbers are few, they are more resolute and\npronounced in their Christian character than many others. In the roll\nof honour among the converts from Islam have been found the names of\na number of distinguished pastors and able writers.\n\nIn the recent Conference of Missionaries, held in Cairo, a new purpose\nwas manifested to take up with more discriminating and pronounced zeal\nand better methods the work of reaching and converting the Mohammedans\nof the world.\n\nIn India, a better organized and a wider campaign for the conversion\nof Islam is needed. Men and women who are to take up work in their\nbehalf must not only be well trained for this specific work by a\nthorough knowledge of both faiths; they must also be imbued with\nabundant sympathy for the people, and with a sympathetic appreciation\nof the vital truths which have thus far animated the Mohammedan faith.\nThe constructive, rather than the destructive, method of activity must\nincreasingly animate all. The Mohammedans are peculiarly sensitive;\nand there is so much of contact between their faith and ours that\nthrough the pathway of the harmonies of the faiths men must be led to\nknow and feel the supreme excellence and power of the faith of the\nChrist.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nTHE CHRIST AND THE BUDDHA\n\n\nThe study of the life and the character of noted and noble men is the\nmost helpful and inspiring of all studies. It not only illustrates\nlife at its best, it also fills men with an ambition to pursue the\nsame noble purposes and to achieve the same lofty results in life. In\npresenting a brief glimpse of the two most powerful personalities that\never impressed themselves upon the world, I desire to place them side\nby side that we may appreciate the assonances and the dissonances of\ntheir wonderful lives and rise through the study into a true\nconception and love of the most perfect Life ever breathed upon earth.\n\nI have no apology to offer, as a Christian, for comparing the life of\nour Lord with that of any human being; for, though Divine, He was also\nsupremely human; and human glory and achievement appear in their\nfulness only when we gaze upon Him as one of the mighty human forces\nof history.\n\n[Illustration: THE GREATEST IMAGE OF BUDDHA (183 feet long)]\n\nChrist and Buddha lived their brief lives upon earth many centuries\nago; and yet never did they grip so many by the magic of their\nattraction as they do at present. Nearly two-thirds of the whole\npopulation of the world to-day acknowledges the lordship of the one or\nthe other of these and loves to be called by their names. The\ninfluence of the one dominates all the life of the West, while that of\nthe other is supreme in the East. And it is a curious and interesting\nfact that Buddha has not only been exalted as the ninth incarnation of\nVishnu in the faith which he aimed to overthrow, he has also been\nadopted into the Roman Catholic Calendar and is worshipped on the 27th\nof November as a Christian saint under the title \"Saint Josaphat.\"\n\nI am also convinced that the influence of the lives and teachings of\nBuddha and Christ will react upon each other with ever increasing\npower during the coming years. Indeed, we are now witnessing this very\ninfluence developing before our eyes.\n\n\nI\n\nLet us first observe the conditions under which these two lived their\nearthly lives.\n\nOne was born into royal prerogatives and splendour and was surrounded\nin youth with all the luxuries and blandishments of an Oriental\ncourt. The other, though of royal lineage, was born in poverty,\ncradled in a manger, earned a meagre subsistence as a carpenter, and\nwas able to say at the end of His brief career that the foxes had\nholes and the birds of the air had nests, but that He had not where to\nlay His head.\n\nSidhartthan early married and became a father, but later renounced all\nthe pleasures and responsibilities of a _grihastan life_. His great\nrenunciation is one of the most striking and impressive acts in the\nhistory of mankind, and his subsequent asceticism was of the most\nthorough and rigid type.\n\nJesus of Nazareth avoided the entanglements of married life and had a\nsupreme contempt for the wealth and the pomp of the world. Yet He was\nnot an ascetic. So freely did He associate with men, participating\neven in their festivities, that His enemies falsely charged Him with\nbeing a \"glutton and a winebibber.\" He never countenanced the idea\nthat highest sainthood must come through asceticism.\n\nHe found His intimates not among the ascetic Essenes, but among\nhouseholders and men of affairs.\n\nBoth these great souls were similarly oppressed by the prevalence and\nthe tyranny of an exclusive ceremonialism. In the one case, it was\nthe innumerable bloody sacrifices and the all-embracing and crushing\nritual of the Brahmans which roused the anger and opposition of\nGautama; while, on the other hand, the myriad rites, the childish\nceremonies, and the hollow religious hypocrisy of the Scribes and\nPharisees filled Jesus with hatred and led Him to a denunciation of\nthat whole class. \"Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees,\" was the\noft-repeated expression of wrath which He heaped upon them.\n\nThus the religions which both established were, in part, reactions\nfrom the religious excesses and errors of the days in which they\nlived.\n\nIt is strange that neither Christ nor Buddha left any writings behind\nthem, even though writing was a known art in their times. Their mighty\ninfluence was through oral teaching and example. This was different\nfrom the method of other such world-leaders as Moses, Mohammed, and\nConfucius. It proves that whenever any one has truths of saving power\nto commit to the world, there are many who, as his messengers, are\nready to convey them. Better indeed than to convey one's thoughts by\nprinted page is it to impart them through the living voice to\ndisciples who will thrill the world by the message coloured by their\nown mind and transfigured by their own enthusiasm. This was the method\nof Christ and Buddha.\n\nBoth were surrounded by an Oriental environment. Their antecedents and\ntheir prepossessions were of the East, eastern; and at their births\nthey were introduced to scenes and began to breathe the atmosphere of\nthe Orient. All the great founders of the World Religions were men of\nthe East. This was doubtless because the East kept more closely than\nthe West in touch with deepest religious thought and was animated with\nhighest religious emotions and heavenly aspirations. Certainly the\nworld owes more to ancient Asia for its religious life and spiritual\nattainments than to all the other continents put together. And Asia is\nto be thanked, above all, because she gave to mankind the Christ and\nthe Buddha. For the eastern flavour of their messages and the Oriental\ntints of their life we are deeply grateful. To those of the West,\nthese have always brought quiet restraint and a hallowed, peaceful\nrepose to counteract the hurry and worry of life to which they are so\nmuch exposed and which are a part of their very being.\n\n\nII\n\n_The Common Principles which controlled their Lives_\n\nBoth were men of deepest sincerity. All sham and hypocrisy were\nforeign to their nature; they held insincerity in any one to be the\nmeanest and most deadly sin. To this intense loyalty to the truth,\nJesus bore emphatic testimony by an early martyrdom; while Gautama\ngave the same unwavering witness by a long and holy life. They both\nstood in the midst of communities which were rotten with hypocrisy and\nwhich were using religion as a sacred garb of duplicity and were\nraising temples of dishonesty to enraged deity. They stood like\nprophets in the wilderness and pronounced woe upon all hypocrites.\n\nMoreover, both Christ and Buddha were profoundly ethical in their\nteaching. They found that humanity was not only rotten with\ninsincerity, it was also deceiving itself with the vain delusion that\nmoral integrity and ethical nobility can be bartered for a\nmultitudinous ceremonial. Men have always been prone to exalt ritual\nin proportion as they have neglected the eternal demands of conscience\nand the ethical foundation of character. The myriad-tongued\nceremonial of the Brahmans of twenty-five centuries ago was the old\nevasion of righteousness in human life. Gautama saw this, and his\nnoble soul rebelled against a faith which proclaimed that salvation\nwas a thing of outward religious forms and not of the heart within.\n\n \"To cease from all sin,\n To get virtue,\n To cleanse our own heart,\n This is the religion of the Buddhas.\"\n\nThese were the words with which he enunciated his new principles and\ncarried forward his campaign of reaction against the faith of his\nfathers. Nothing less than, or apart from, purity of the soul within\nsatisfied his requirement.\n\nIndeed, he exalted so much the more highly this banner of heart purity\nand holiness, the less he had to say of the spiritual claims upon the\nsoul. He had tried elaborate ceremonial and had found it wanting; he\nhad practised the most severe religious austerities, but they had\navailed him little. In the quiet light which had dawned upon him under\nthe sacred Boh tree he found that nothing wrought so mightily and\nbeneficently as _Dharma_, or righteousness.\n\n \"The real treasure is that laid by man or woman,\n Through charity or piety, temperance and self-control.\n\n * * * * *\n\n The treasure thus hid is secure, and passes not away;\n ... this a man takes with him.\"\n\n\"Let no man think lightly of sin, saying in his heart, 'It cannot\novertake me.'\"\n\nThese are only a few of the many noble ethical deliverances of this\ngreat man's creed.\n\nAnd during all his life, subsequent to the great renunciation, he\nembodied in himself the ethical beauty of all that he had taught.\n\nAnd what shall I say of Jesus, the Christ? In the noble integrity of\nHis heart, in the sublime ethical ideals which He ever exalted, in the\nmoral rectitude which He practised and enjoined upon all His\nfollowers, who was like unto Him? In His day, also, men had forgotten\nthe true foundation of character; and the religious leaders of the\npeople were placing supreme emphasis upon human traditions and upon\nman-made rites as the way of salvation.\n\nThey \"tithed the mint and the cummin\" and forgot the weightier matters\nof the law. To eat with unwashed hands, to consort with a Samaritan,\nto carry a load or raise a sheep from the ditch on the Sabbath,--this\nwas a sin which, to the Pharisees, would weigh a man down to hell\nitself; while to lie or to use other foul language, or to trample\nunder foot the whole decalogue was, by comparison, a venial offence.\nThe whole moral code was rendered impotent by them, while ceremonial\ncleansing was the be-all and end-all of their system. Christ was daily\nthrown into conflict with these \"blind leaders of the blind\"; His soul\nabhorred their whole religious system. He characterized them as\n\"whited sepulchres.\" He showed that it is the heart which defiles a\nman, \"for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,\nfornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.\" \"Blessed,\" says He,\n\"are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.\" \"It was said to them\nof old thou shalt not kill;\" but Christ equally prohibited anger, the\ncause of murder. He not only denounced adultery, but the lustful look\nwhich is the source of adultery.\n\nTo His followers He said \"unless your righteousness exceed the\nrighteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall not enter into the\nkingdom of heaven.\" He prayed the Father that He would sanctify His\nown, and added that for their sakes He sanctified Himself. Holiness\nwas a passion with Him, and at the basis of His teaching He enjoined\nmoral cleanness and ethical integrity. And His life in this, as in\nother things, was a perfect exhibition of the virtues which He taught.\nAnd from that day to this His precept and example have mutually\nsupported each other. In Him were wedded faith and conscience, piety\nand character. So that, where Christ is best known and most loyally\nfollowed to-day, there do we find a perfect sense of human relations\nand a supreme desire after ethical perfection.\n\nFurthermore, these two great souls were consumed with a broad and\nuniversal charity. Their environment was perhaps the most averse to\ngeneral benevolence that the world could then show. In India, there\nhad already grown to great power the caste system with its multiplying\nramifications. Then, as now, it narrowed the sympathies of men, it\narrayed one class against another, it cultivated pride and fostered\nmutual distrust and dissension.\n\nWhen Sakya Muni came upon the scene, he saw the terribly divisive\nsystem sending down its root like the banyan tree on all sides and\nabsorbing the life and thought of the people. It repelled him, and,\nwith all his mighty intellectual and moral energy, he attacked it. He\nproclaimed all men brothers and worthy of human sympathy, love, and\nrespect. He opened the door of his faith to all classes on equal\nterms. He vehemently opposed every effort to divide men except upon\nthe ground of character. He enjoined upon his disciples not only love\nand kindness to all men, he also insisted upon a similar attitude\ntoward all forms of lower life.\n\nThe fact that Buddhism is to-day one of the three great Missionary\nFaiths of the world, seeking all men that are in darkness, is the best\nproof that the founder of that faith had a heart which embraced the\nwhole realm of life in its love. He felt that no man, however humble\nor however far removed in ties of race and kinship, should be deprived\nof the blessings of his love and sympathy. It is an interesting fact\nthat nearly all past religious reformers in India--both those inside\nand outside the pale of Brahmanism--were anti-caste in their\nsympathies and teaching. But it is only Buddha who consistently\nmaintained the broad foundation of a universal brotherhood and\nincorporated it into his faith as a cardinal principle.\n\nIn like manner, Jesus of Nazareth lived His earthly life at a time of\nnarrow sympathies, and with people who were among the most exclusive\nthat ever lived on earth. The Jews believed themselves to be the\nspecially favoured sons of Heaven. And, what was more, they thought\nthat they were exalted because they were _worthy_, because they\nexcelled all other people. Hence, they stood aloof from other\nnationalities and despised them as their inferiors, a social and\nphysical contact with whom would be pollution. There is in many\nrespects a strange correspondence between the Jewish social code of\ntwenty centuries ago and that of Hinduism to-day--the same haughty\nmien and abjectness of spirit--the aloofness of pride and the cringing\nmeanness of social bondage--representing the two extremes of society.\nChrist also turned His face like a flint against this mean artificial\nclassification of men. He had a burning contempt for the proud\nPharisee who lived upon the husks of his own contempt of others, and\nwho trampled under foot men that were infinitely superior to himself,\nso far as character was concerned. But He consorted often with the\noutcast Publican who revealed an aspiration after better things. And\nHe even chose men who were thus socially ostracized to enter His own\ninner circle of disciples and to be the standard-bearers of His cause\nupon earth. He taught that the most abject and socially submerged man\nupon earth is a son of God, and that at his moral and spiritual\nrenovation there would be joy among the denizens of heaven. And it was\nwhile thinking of this same class that He said unto His own, in\ndescribing the judgment scene at the last great day, \"Come, ye blessed\nof my father, inasmuch as ye have treated kindly and lovingly one of\nthe least of my brethren ye have done it unto me, enter ye into the\njoy of your Lord.\" Though He was born a Jew, He opened wide the\nportals of His religion and invited all men of all conditions. \"Come\nunto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you\nrest.\" He sent forth His followers into all lands to disciple and\nbring to the truth all nations. And in all lands His method of\nprocedure has been to reach first the lowest among the people and then\ngradually to rise to the highest, until He has taken possession of the\nwhole land. His universal heart of love took in all men of all social\nstrata. All that He asked was that men should come to Him with purpose\nsincere and with a longing for light and truth.\n\n\nIII\n\n_The Principles and Teachings which differentiate and separate Christ\nand Buddha_\n\nThus far we have seen these two great leaders of men standing side by\nside and revealing the same traits and principles.\n\nBut they also revealed fundamental differences which it were well for\nus to consider.\n\nThough much united them, and that when more than five centuries and\nthousands of miles held them apart, we also discover that a gulf\nwider than that of time or space opened between them.\n\nTheir lives and their doctrines and the faiths which they promulgated\nreveal strangely diverse contentions and tendencies.\n\n(1) First of all, and at the root of all, lies their attitude toward\nthe Divine Being. Jesus was preeminently a God-intoxicated Being,\nwhile the most manifest mental attitude of Gautama was his\nagnosticism. Christ never ceased speaking of and communing with His\nFather in heaven. He was wont to retire regularly from human society\nin order that He might enjoy the Heavenly Presence whose very radiance\nshone in and upon Him daily. He declared that He did nothing without\nconsulting with and receiving direction from God. And this was natural\nenough when we remember His declaration that He came into the world to\nreveal the Father unto men. Listen to His words, \"My meat is to do the\nwill of Him that sent me and to finish His work.\" \"The Father that\ndwelleth in me doeth the work.\" \"The Father is glorified in the Son.\"\n\"I love the Father and go unto Him.\" \"Believest thou not that I am in\nthe Father and the Father in me?\" \"Oh, righteous Father, the world\nhath not known Thee, but I have known Thee.\" In all His expressions\nof oneness with God, of His living unto God, and of His drawing His\ndaily strength from God, His experience was eminently unique. He lived\nmore in heaven than on earth in those days of His incarnation. Apart\nfrom any consideration of His Divinity, He can truly be said to be a\nman of God whose soul was in harmony with the Father.\n\nHow different the words and experiences of Gautama Rishi! Many have\nspoken of him as an atheist. I do not believe that he denied the\nexistence of God. Yet it is evidently true that he has no use in his\nphilosophy, any more than in his religion, for a Divine Being. There\nwas doubtless reason for this in the conditions of his time; for it\nmay be regarded as the reaction of a strong mind against the extreme\nspiritualism and polytheism of the day. For, in those days, the deep\nspirituality of the Brahman had overflowed its banks and had created a\nmultitudinous pantheon which repelled this man of stern mind. It was\nto him only a short step from a disbelief in the _many_ gods to a\ndoubt as to the existence of _any_ god. And in this agnosticism he was\ndoubtless aided by his fondness for the _Sankya_ school of thought,\nwhich is Indian Agnosticism. In any case, his deliverances and his\nestablished religion, if such it really can be called, are such a\nreaction from the Theosophy of India as to lead one to wonder how,\neven with all its other excellences, it could have become in India a\nState Religion for any length of time. A religion without a God, a\nsacrifice, a priest, or a prayer, is certainly a dreary wilderness to\na God-seeking soul. And yet, this is what the Buddha conceived and\npromulgated among his disciples. Under the stress of a growing\nconsciousness of the ills of this life his mind did not, like that of\nothers, rise to heaven for relief; but his salvation was to be a\nself-wrought one. With his own right arm of virtue he wished to carve\nhis way into eternal life--or, shall I say, eternal death? Is it\nstrange that under such a godless religious system its votaries should\nreact from this fundamental error and deify and worship that very\nBuddha who had not a place for God in his whole scheme of life?\n\nAt any rate, Christ and Buddha stand before us in striking contrast in\nthis matter; the glory of the teaching of the one was that He caused\nHis adoring disciple to fall upon his knees with uplifted eye and to\nsay in filial reverence and trust, \"Our Father who art in heaven.\"\nWhile the other taught his followers to lean only upon self, and to\nseek speedy relief from life itself, declaring that heaven returned\nonly an empty, mocking echo to the helpless wail of the human soul.\n\n(2) Corresponding to this difference was another difference in their\nconception of human life. Jesus maintained that the human soul came\nfrom God, was made for God, and that God Himself was forever seeking\nto bring it unto Himself. According to His theory of life, man is not\nleft alone at any stage in his career. He may decline to entertain God\nin his life. He may lead a life of rebellion against his Maker and\nSaviour; he may even deny the very existence of the Father of his\nbeing. But God, in the riches of His infinite patience, does not\ndesert him to his own base thought and life. He follows him like a\nshepherd searching for his lost sheep. He longs for his return like a\ntender, forgiving father for the return of his prodigal son. Human\nlife, according to this view, may be mean and sordid and may be spent\nin the grossest sin; but there is hope. All is not lost while there is\na spark of life left. God is still seeking and trying to bring the\nsoul to new life. The million agents of His loving will conspire to\nhelp man; and so the possibilities of his life are still great. Thus,\nto our Lord Christ, the vision of human life was a bright and\noptimistic one. God will not leave man to himself. He will bring all\nthe resources of heaven and of earth to the work of saving him. \"God\nis in His heaven, All's right with the world.\" Yes, all is hopeful for\nman because the Father is still seeking him.\n\nHow different from this was Gautama Rishi's view of human life.\nAccording to him, man is a lone, helpless creature tossed on the sea\nof destiny. He is the only captain and steersman of his barque, and\nhis own reason is his only compass; he must battle alone with the\nwaves of circumstances and find for himself the unknown harbour of\npeace. There is no heaven above to hear his cry, no help or redemption\noutside of self. Is it a wonder that life is a weariness, and\nexistence itself an unspeakable burden to such a man?\n\nThus the Buddha sought in vain for light and cheer in life, and\npessimism became to him, as it continues to be to his followers, the\nvery atmosphere of life. Even as in Dante's vision of the Inferno, so\nin the Temple of Buddha's scheme of life there is inscribed above its\nportals the words: \"Abandon hope all ye who enter here.\"\n\nI care not who the man may be, I humbly maintain that his scheme of\nlife is seriously wrong if it be a cheerless, uninspiring one; and it\nis perfectly natural that men should prefer to follow a confident,\nbuoyant leader rather than a heartless, despondent one. If God rules\nover the destinies of man, we have a right to expect that success and\nblessing will crown the efforts of the sincere seeker after a better\nlife. Man has received life not that he may destroy it, but that he\nmay cultivate it and find in it life abundant.\n\nA young mother whose child had died carried the dead body to Buddha,\nand, doing homage to him, said, \"Lord and Master, do you know any\nmedicine that will be good for my child?\" \"Yes,\" said the teacher, \"I\nknow of some. Get me a handful of mustard seed.\" But when the poor\ngirl was hurrying away to procure it, he added, \"I require mustard\nseed from a house where no son, husband, parent, or slave has died.\"\n\"Very good,\" said the girl, and went to ask for it, carrying still the\ndead child astride on her hip. The people said, \"Here is mustard\nseed;\" but when she asked, \"Has there died a son, a husband, a parent,\nor a slave in this house?\" they replied: \"Lady, what is this that you\nask? The living are few, but the dead are many!\" Then she went to\nother homes, but one said, \"I have lost my son;\" another, \"I have lost\nmy parents;\" another, \"I have lost my slave.\" At last, not being able\nto find a single house where no one had died, she began to think,\n\"This is a heavy task that I am on.\" And as her mind cleared she\nsummoned up her resolution, left the dead child in a house, and\nreturned to Buddha. \"Have you procured the mustard seed?\" he asked. \"I\nhave not,\" she replied. \"The people of the village told me, 'The\nliving are few, but the dead are many.'\" Then Buddha said, \"You\nthought you alone had lost a son; the law of death is that among all\nliving creatures there is no permanence.\" Little comfort in these\nwords!\n\nOf course, we can see how these two conflicting views of life found\nacceptance and expression in these two great leaders of mankind. For,\nto Jesus, the keyword of life was divine grace or atonement, while to\nGautama it was _Karma_--that word which has for so many centuries been\nto all India the truest expression of its philosophy and of its life.\n\nChrist taught that the grace of God was at the service of every man\nfor his success in this life and for his redemption in the world to\ncome. He ever emphasized the inspiring message that God's work and\nman's effort constitute the warp and woof of the life of every man. In\nHis whole scheme of salvation there is no place for discouragement;\nfor, walking through the path of life hand in hand with God, man can\noverthrow every enemy to his progress and achieve the best and highest\nin God's purposes for him.\n\nBut when the Buddha adopted the doctrine of _Karma_ as the foundation\nof life, he and his system were doomed to despondency, gloom, and\ndiscouragement. It is indeed a noble truth that every man must drink,\nto its last dregs, the fruit of his own action--that the law of\n_Karma_ works with relentless force in every life in the world. Only\nlet us understand that God may enter into each life to enable man to\nface successfully that law, and it is all right. But condemn man to\neverlasting isolation; cut away from him every ray of Divine help, and\nthe working out of his _Karma_ becomes a terrible and an almost\nunending tragedy--a Sisyphean task with no hope of release save in the\nwiping out of life itself. And this is what the great Soul of the East\nbelieved and taught. He faced boldly the problem. He had, at the\nbeginning, ignored the very existence of God, and thus denied himself\nthe least hope of external aid in his own emancipation; and thus he\nheld that stern, cruel, relentless _Karma_ became the all-controlling\nand universal law of life.\n\nTo a Christian, among the most pathetic words ever spoken are those\nspoken by Buddha to his beloved cousin and disciple as death drew\nnear--\"O! Anantha,... My journey is drawing to its close. I have\nreached eighty years, and just as a worn-out cart can only with much\ncare be made to move along, so my body can only be kept going with\ndifficulty.... In future _be ye to yourselves your own light, your own\nrefuge; seek no other refuge.... Look not to any one but yourselves as\na refuge_.\"\n\nAnd that which farther, and very naturally, widens the gulf which\nseparates them is their view of the adequacy or inadequacy of the\npresent human life to satisfy the laws of their being.\n\nThe law which Jesus believed to prevail, and which He constantly\npromulgated and emphasized, was that of the finality of the human\nlife--that man has once only to pass through this earthly life and\nthat then comes death, which introduces him to an eternal future\ncorresponding with the character of his choices and life on earth.\nAccording to Him, this brief earthly existence, which will not be\nrepeated, is a training school for the glorious life beyond. Blessed\nis he who faithfully submits himself to this training and passes\nthrough the gate of death prepared for an immortality of joy in God's\npresence beyond.\n\nIndeed, Jesus never gives the first intimation of any future birth or\nlife, save that which would be permanent and eternal in heaven or\nhell.\n\nHe felt the adequacy of this life as a determiner of the eternal\ndestiny of all men. And He felt that the salvation which He wrought\nand offered to all was able to carry man through the single portal of\ndeath into unending bliss. Why another entrance into this world, if by\npassing through the world God could bring into the life the seed and\npower of His own grace and life which would blossom and bear fruit in\nthe soul throughout eternity? \"Marvel not,\" He sayeth, \"the hour\ncometh in which all that are dead shall hear his voice and shall come\nforth; they that have done good into the resurrection of life; and\nthey that have done evil into the resurrection of judgment.\" And as He\ndescribed the final judgment upon all men after one earthly life He\nsays that \"these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the\nrighteous into eternal life.\" Moreover, in describing the condition of\nthe dead He makes the faithful Abraham say to the soul of a dead\nsinner, \"Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed that they who\nwould pass hence to you may not be able to pass and that you may not\ncross from thence to us.\" That is, He claimed that the life which we\nlive here so fixes the destiny of men that eternity will carry its\nimpress. Hence the urgency and the supreme importance of this one life\nto all men. The universal succession, according to His teaching, is\nlife, death, resurrection, judgment, and eternal reward.\n\nTo the Buddha, who, as we have seen, held that man is the only\narchitect of his own destiny and that he must therefore abide the\nworking of his _Karma_, a single brief apprenticeship in the school of\nlife seemed altogether inadequate as a test of character and as a\nreliable foundation for the edifice of one's eternal destiny, or as a\nbasis for the one irrevocable judgment. It is but natural, therefore,\nthat this great Indian Rishi should have adopted as his own the\ndoctrine of metempsychosis, or transmigration, and that he should add\ngreat emphasis to it. To him, life was a penitentiary rather than a\nschool, a place, or an occasion, for eating the fruits of past action\nrather than a training for the future eternity which awaits every one.\n\nIt is true that Gautama must have had some idea of the corrective\ninfluence and disciplinary character of this earthly existence; for\nthere is a quiet assumption that in some unexplained and\nunintelligible way the soul is improved by this multitudinous process\nof reincarnation. And yet I fail to see any reason for expecting such\na development. Philosophically and morally, the _raison d'etre_ of the\ndoctrine of reincarnation is to explain the inequalities of life; and\nit does it not, as Jesus would do it, by means of the doctrine of\nheredity, but by the retributive power of _Karma_, or actions pursuing\nthe soul through successive births and compelling it to reveal by its\nconditions and reflect by its experiences in each birth the\nexperiences of the previous birth. The moral influence of such a\ndoctrine is rendered all but impossible by the fact that there is no\nconsciousness (the true basis of moral continuity) to connect one\nbirth with another. I know of no one but Mrs. Besant who claims to\nknow what his previous, assumed birth was, and I have not yet met any\none who believes her claim in this matter. There is no moral\ndiscipline for one in his being punished for a thing of which he has\nabsolutely no conscious knowledge.\n\nWe must further consider the character of Gautama's philosophy. It\nwas, as is well known, thoroughly materialistic--the antipodes of the\northodox Hindu philosophy, which is highly spiritual. To Buddha, there\nwas no such thing as a soul apart from the body. What was there, then,\nto connect one birth with another, according to his teaching? In\nBrahmanism the doctrine of transmigration is at this point very clear,\nfor there is the eternal _Atma_, or self, to connect and unify all its\nincarnations. But Gautama, who denied the separate existence of the\nsoul, maintained that it was not the self, but the _Karma_, which\npassed from one birth to another; and thus there became the oneness of\n_Karma_ without an identity of soul passing through and uniting the\nmyriad incarnations of the person involved. How can one substitute\nhere a sameness of _Karma_ for identity of soul? Behold, then, the\ninsuperable difficulties which such a materialism interposes to a\nbelief either in the possibility or in the wisdom of the doctrine of\nreincarnation.\n\nAnd yet let it be remembered here that so long as one accepts the\ndoctrine of _Karma_ he cannot evade the sister doctrine of\nreincarnation. They belong to the same system, and must be accepted or\nrejected together.\n\nIf, however, we emphasize divine grace as an element in the solution\nof human problems and in the salvation of man, then it is natural to\nconclude that one earthly life will suffice for God and man together\nto prepare the soul for the consummation and beatification which\nawaits it beyond death. But if the whole problem is to be solved and\nthe whole work of redemption achieved by man himself, apart from God,\nthen Buddha must have been justified in believing that an\ninconceivable number of births and human lives are necessary in order\nto accomplish this.\n\nIt was just at this point that Christ and Buddha faced the opposite\npoles. And it is just here, for this very reason, that the faiths\nwhich they promulgated represent, the one the perpetual buoyancy and\ncheer of youth, and the other the weariness of discouraged age.\n\nChristianity claims to do its work for the soul, so far as settling\nits destiny is concerned, in the brief life of a few years; and under\nthe inspiring influence of this conviction the pulse quickens,\nyouthful hope and energy multiply, and the whole soul is kindled by a\nclose vision of its speedy triumph and release. The Buddhist, on the\nother hand, knows that it is a long, lonely conflict--the interminably\nlong processions of births weary him and the dim vision of a release\nwhich is far away brings no inspiration. Life palls upon him, courage\nfails him, his steps grow shorter and his pace slackens.\n\n(3) This brings us to the ideals which these two world-leaders\nentertained. Often men's ideals are a better revelation of their life\nand character than are their achievements. These ideals which I wish\nto point out are two--that of inner attainment and that of final\nconsummation.\n\nAnd what was the chief ambition for personal achievement sought by\nJesus and Gautama? I believe that the very names which they acquired\nand which are at the head of this chapter answer this question for us.\n\"Christ\" and \"Buddha\" are not the personal names given in infancy, nor\nare they tribal designations. They primarily represent their official\ntitles. \"Christ\" means \"the Anointed One,\" and \"Buddha\" signifies\n\"the Enlightened One\"--the one is a term expressive of spiritual\npowers for service, while the other means intellectual enlightenment\nfor communion. One sought and found the baptism of the spirit of God\nwhich touched and transfigured His character; the other was seeking\nmore light on the problems of life; and for that light he sought with\na wonderful longing and perseverance until the dawn broke on that\nremarkable day under the sacred Boh tree and he found the light and\nwas hence called \"the Enlightened One.\"\n\nThus, in the Christ-life, the emphasis was upon ethical and spiritual\nattainment, while, in Buddha, the thing sought was the clear vision\nand transcendent illumination.\n\nLet me not be misunderstood. There is a sense in which the\nconsecration and the vision are in the same line. It was Christ\nHimself that said, \"This is eternal life, to know Thee the only true\nGod and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.\" Spiritual knowledge is the\npathway to the highest life--it is life itself. It must be, in large\npart, acquired through spiritual experience.\n\nAt the same time, it is an interesting fact that Buddha laid, as India\nhas always laid, emphasis--_undue_ emphasis--upon knowledge as the\nconsummation to be sought. _Brahma Gnana_ is the _summun bonum_ of\nlife. To rightly know myself in my relationship, this, they say, is\nthe only qualification for beatification. On the other hand, Jesus\ninsisted always upon a right moral and spiritual attitude and\nrelationship to God as the highest point of human attainment in life.\nListen to the beatitudes which he uttered: \"Blessed are the poor in\nspirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that\nmourn; for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek; for they\nshall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after\nrighteousness; for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful; for\nthey shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall\nsee God. Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called sons of\nGod. Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness'\nsake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\"\n\nThese are the beatitudes of His Kingdom, and all refer to the\nspiritual graces which He Himself exemplified and inculcated, and none\nrefer to enlightenment.\n\nThus in both we have, if not a contrast, a different outlook, which\nhas not only impressed the student with a sense of divergence; but\nthat which is more important--it has given to the devotees of these\ntwo faiths widely different aspirations, and has given to the two\ntypes of lives produced very dissimilar traits.\n\nBut, that which is of more consequence, in these ideals, is their\nconception of what life tends to and must ultimately attain unto. The\nfinal consummation of life meant nought else to Jesus than\nGod-likeness, which He called \"Eternal Life.\" To have grown to the\nperfection of those moral and spiritual characteristics which adorn\nGod Himself; to have the human will so subdued and directed until it\nruns parallel with the Divine will; to have the soul consumed with a\nlove of all that He loves and with an abhorrence of all that He\nhates,--this is life indeed and the highest realization of the human\nsoul. Yea, more, to pass out of this life into the conscious bliss and\neternal felicity of the life to come, to dwell with God--one with Him\nin purpose and character, and yet living a separate conscious\nexistence, basking in the eternal sunshine of His Presence and\nfavour,--this is the fulness of blessing which Christ presented before\nHis own as the end to be sought and the consummation which God placed\nwithin their reach.\n\nOn the other hand, Nirvana is the word which holds condensed the whole\nrealm of Buddha's ideals. It is not my purpose to discuss the original\nmeaning of this word. I gladly concede that it meant a state of moral\nachievement when the powers of the soul were at equilibrium and when\nresultant peace pervaded the life. But we also know that it meant,\npreeminently, that state in which the soul had passed beyond contact\nwith body, in which contact alone it found consciousness and sensation\nand human activity; when the soul, freed from births, had returned to\nits elemental condition of semi-nothingness, with neither thought,\nemotion, nor volition. This was a condition in which was found only\nthe negative blessing of release from the turbulence and surging\ndistresses of life. Without calling it non-existence, we claim that it\nis wanting in every element that we connect, or can conceive\nconnected, with human existence.\n\nThere is nothing in it to inspire hope nor to invite cheer. All we can\ndo in its presence is to ask--is this all that man, the flower of\nGod's universe, is to arrive at? Is there nothing better for him than\nto end his long, dreary existence in such an abject failure? Must he\ndescend from the plain of even a wretched human life to this the\nlowest reach of existence, if such we must call it?\n\nIn the eyes of Christ, there issues out of the mighty conflict of life\na purified, glorified human being fit to dwell forever in the\npresence of His Father and adopted to enjoy that presence for\nevermore. To Buddha, this same human life ends in failure and must\nrest forever under the dark pall of oblivion, and robbed by Nirvana of\nall the possibilities of good and of joy that were implanted in it.\n\nIn the absence of higher satisfaction, all that Buddha could do was to\nglory in his achievements, because of their pervasive influence upon\nthe lives of others during all future time. We might imagine him\njoining with George Eliot in her noble aspiration:--\n\n \"O! may I join the choir invisible\n Of those immortal dead who live again\n In minds made better by their presence: live\n In pulses stirred to generosity,\n In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn\n For miserable aims that end with self,\n In thoughts sublime that pierce the nightlike stars,\n And with their mild persistence urge man's search\n To vaster issues ...\n This is life to come.\"\n\nBut Christ gave us a larger hope and a loftier purpose than this, even\nthe conscious possession of abundant life ourselves and the growing\nknowledge of the boundless good which our earthly life has done for\nothers. To live in men is joy indeed; but that involves an ability to\nfeel that joy; and this, again, is a part only of the Eternal Life\nwhich He gives to all who believe in Him.\n\nIt is His disciple only who can say:--\n\n\"Beloved, now are we the Sons of God. But we know not what we shall\nbe; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we\nshall see Him as He is.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nMODERN RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT\n\n\nIn matters of faith, India has always been ultra-conservative. This is\nlargely owing, not to any fettering of thought, but rather to the\nHindu Caste System, which has been the most rigid guardian of the\nBrahmanic faith and the doughty opponent of any new and independent\nmovements.\n\nIndia has offered to her rishis and reformers unbounded latitude of\nthought. And, as a consequence, her faith possesses within itself\nevery shade of religious speculation and philosophic conclusions. The\nmany antipodal and conflicting doctrines, theories, tendencies, and\ninstitutions which obtain under the all-embracing name of Hinduism,\nseem astonishing to every western investigator of this faith.\n\nEven in matters of ritual, Brahmanism has always had its protestants,\nsectarians, and \"come-outers.\" During this stern dominance of the\nCaste System, which is the most rigorous, if not the most cruel,\ninquisition that the world has known, there have always been men free\nto think and determined enough to push forward their ideas and their\nnew religious methods. And these have added picturesque variety to the\nhistory of faith in India.\n\nIt is, however, a remarkable tribute to the power of caste and to the\nunheroic character of Hindu reformers, that, of the myriad reforms and\nprotests against Brahmanism which have bristled throughout the\ncenturies, only one--Buddhism--has stood apart in persistent\nisolation, and has maintained a separate identity and usefulness\nthrough more than two millenniums. Of all these protesting creeds, it\nalone has had sufficient masculine power and moral earnestness\npermanently to impress itself upon the world as a great religion. It\nhas achieved this, however, not in the land of its birth, but in other\nlands and among other peoples. Like all other attempts to reform, or\noverthrow, the mother faith (and even after it had largely\naccomplished this for ten centuries), Buddhism finally yielded to the\nmighty absorptive power of Brahmanism, was overthrown as the dominant\nreligion of India, and lost all power and acceptance among the people.\nThis was because most of its vital teachings were appropriated by the\nrival faith, and Buddha himself was adopted into the Hindu pantheon as\nthe ninth incarnation of Vishnu. Henceforward, it had no distinctive\nmission or message to the people of this land, and died a natural\ndeath.\n\nThe well-known passion of Hinduism for absorbing the faiths that come\ninto contact with it, and the maudlin tendency of the people of India\nto yield to pressure and to sacrifice all in behalf of peace, has been\nthe grave of many a noble endeavour and many an impassioned attempt\nfor new religious life and power.\n\nNevertheless, there is no reform movement which has entered the arena\nof religious conflict in India, whether it still remains entirely\nwithin the Hindu faith or has possessed vigour and repulsive energy\nenough to step outside the ancestral faith, which has not left more or\nless of an impress upon Hinduism, and which does not to-day exercise\nsome power or other over certain classes of the people.\n\n\nI\n\nAll of the many modern sects of Hinduism were originally protests\nagainst the dominant Brahmanism of the day. The most popular Vaishnava\nsect, in South India,--the _Visishdadvaitha_ sect of Ramanuja,--was\nfirst a vigorous protest against the austere pantheism of Sankaran. It\nwas the demand of a thoughtful and an earnest religious man for a\npersonal God which could bring peace and rest to the soul, in\ncontradistinction to the unknowable, unethical, and unapproachable\nBrahm, which the dominant Vedantism had thrust upon the people.\n\nThe _Madhwachariars_ went one step farther and inculcated a dualism,\nwhich many to-day accept as the basis of their faith.\n\nIn the region of Bengal, that other sect of Vaishnavism, which was\ninculcated by Chaitanya four centuries ago, is to-day the popular\ncult. It is a revivalism full of wild enthusiasm and ecstatic\ndevotion; yet it attracts, in a remarkable way, many of the men of\nculture and learning throughout that Presidency.\n\nThe Saivite sectarians, who call themselves _Sangamars_, were, a few\ncenturies ago, a mere uprising against the supremacy of the Brahmans\nand the dominance of caste.\n\nIndeed, nearly all religious reformers in India propelled their\nreforms as anti-caste movements. But, later on, they have, with very\nfew exceptions, been drawn again into the maelstrom of caste.\n\nThe Sikh religion, itself, was originally a religious reform, which\nfound its germs in the mind of the great Kabir, and afterward attained\nbirth in the brave reformer, Nanak Shah, during the fifteenth century.\nIt is a shrewd, an amiable, and also a brave attempt to harmonize\nMohammedanism and Hinduism. At the present time, this also is\ngradually yielding to caste dominance and to the fascination of Hindu\nritual.\n\nThus every century has produced its reformers, and the banks of this\ngreat river of Brahmanism is strewn with the wrecks of protesting\nsects, while many other such barques are to-day adopted as the\nfaithful messengers of orthodox Hinduism and are carrying its message\nto the people.\n\n\nII\n\nModern movements of religious reform in India have not been wanting in\nnumber or vigour. And they have been largely movements away from\nPolytheism, on the one hand, and from Pantheism on the other, toward a\nmodern Theism. Many intelligent men, and many uneducated, but earnest\nsouls, have grown weary of their multitudinous pantheon, and of its\nhydra-headed idolatry, which charms and debases the masses. In like\nmanner, many of them have ceased to be satisfied with the unknown\nBrahm of Vedantism, and are seeking after a personal Deity, who can\nmeet the demands of their craving hearts.\n\nThere is much of this thought and sentiment still inarticulate among\nthe upper classes; but it is manifestly growing with the increase of\nthe years.\n\nThis theistic movement, as a growing search after a personal God, is\nto be traced definitely to the growth of western thought, and\nespecially to the direct influence of Christianity. This is no less\ntrue of those theistic movements which are by no means amiably\ndisposed toward our religion.\n\nThe modern theistic movement first found definite expression and\nimpetus in the life and teaching of that noble son of India, Ram Mohan\nRoy, who hailed from the Brahmanic aristocracy of Bengal. He was born\nin 1774--just before the birth of American Independence. He studied\nwell the ancient writings of Hinduism and translated some of the most\nimportant into English. He also searched eagerly and enthusiastically\nthe Christian Scriptures; for which purpose he made himself familiar\nwith the Greek and Hebrew languages. So mightily did the New Testament\nand its precepts grip him that he wrote and published, in 1819, an\nexcellent tract, \"The Precepts of Jesus the Guide to Peace and\nHappiness.\" This is a remarkable testimony to the ethical preeminence\nof the Bible. He later declared that he \"believed in the truths of the\nChristian religion.\"\n\nBeing unwilling to abide alone in this discovery and in these\nconvictions, he established, in 1815, the \"Atma Sabha,\" or \"Soul\nSociety,\" in his own home. This soon developed into a small church,\nfor which a suitable edifice was erected, that they might worship the\none God free from the contaminating influence of popular idolatry and\nHindu ceremonial.\n\nThis truly great man, without the aid of any European missionary, in\nthe quiet solitude of his own heart, and under the influence of the\nSpirit of God, rose to some of the highest truths of Theism, and,\nunder the mighty influence of Christian literature, became a reformer\nof the first order among his people.\n\nBut, during a visit to England he sickened, and died in 1833; and the\ntheistic movement weakened and waned for a few years, deprived of his\nleadership and inspiring presence.\n\nIt was in 1843 that the Brahmo Somaj of Ram Mohan Roy was united with\nanother _Sabha_ organized by another great soul, Debendra Nath\nTagore. Under the guidance of this sturdy reformer, the Brahmo Somaj\nmovement put on new life and energy. Debendra Nath was very devout and\ncourageous. He was opposed to the religion of his fathers, as\npractised by the people. Nevertheless, he was somewhat anchored to the\npast. He still clung to the Hindu scriptures and regarded the Vedas as\ninfallible. Later, however, as these Hindu writings were studied with\nmore care, his faith in them was considerably shattered, and he began\nto deny their supreme authority.\n\nHe and the other members of the society here entered upon a great\nstruggle which ushered them into an \"Age of Reason.\" The Vedas were\nabandoned as an ultimate authority, and the Brahmo Somaj, for a time,\nbecame \"a Church without a Bible,\" and without any anchorage but the\nhigher reason of its members.\n\nIn 1852, the society was reorganized. Reason was soon found to be\ninadequate as the foundation of faith; and they passed on to an\nintuitional basis. That again seemed to be even more unsatisfactory\nthan reason itself. After a few years, the movement gradually\ndeveloped a doctrine of inspiration, when the utterances of the\nleaders themselves were regarded as inspired and became the voice of\nGod to the members. Thus, within a few years, Brahmo Somaj moved\nalmost in a circle, in its search for a stable anchorage to its faith;\nand it returned to a point dangerously near to the Hindu position\nwhich it had left a few years before.\n\nThe rapid movement above indicated was chiefly owing to an ardent\nyouth, who rallied to the support of Debendra Nath, and who gradually\ntook the reins into his own hands. This young man was Keshub Chunder\nSen; and he soon became the leading figure, certainly the most\nstriking, in the whole theistic movement of India. He acquired growing\ninfluence over Debendra Nath, became the controlling spirit, and\ncontinued until his death to be the central figure of Theism in India.\n\nChunder Sen was a great enthusiast, full of intellectual resource,\nand, withal, a man of deep spirituality. He was an Oriental of the\nOrientals; his mind was of a thoroughly mystic type, and, like the\ndevout Hindu, he loved the rigours of asceticism, and, in not a few\ninstances, yielded to the fascinations of the methods of the Yogi.\n\nHe was a restless soul. Hinduism had so much that was repulsive to\nhim; and he felt that polytheism and idolatry had so crushed out of\nhis people all the beauty of a living faith that he longed to hasten\ncommunication of his message of truth and of life the new and glorious\nday of Theism for India. His pace was so much faster than that of\nDebendra Nath that it took but a few years to make their separation a\nnecessity. This took place in 1865. Thereupon, the old society became\nknown as the \"_Athi Somaj_,\"--\"The Original Somaj,\"--while Sen and his\nparty formed a new organization, which was pretentiously known as \"The\nBrahmo Somaj of India.\" This happened in 1866.\n\nThe old society settled down into inactivity, lost much of its spirit\nof reform, and has never since accomplished much in the realm of\ntheistic advance.\n\nThe new Somaj, however, soon acquired prominence and became the life\nand embodiment of the Indian theistic movement.\n\nBut Chunder Sen had his serious dangers; and those lay in the very\nexcess of his virtues.\n\nHurried on by his intense nature, exalted to power by his brilliant\nintellectual qualities, and yearning with a passion for the release of\nhis beloved India from the religious and spiritual thraldom which he\nwitnessed all about him, he acquired irresistible charm and power with\nhis followers, and his words became their undisputed law; and his\ndeliverances were surcharged with what they regarded as divine\ninspiration. And there is no doubt that he soon came to believe\nhimself to be a direct vehicle of God in the communication of his\nmessage of truth and of life to the world.\n\nUnder the influence of this conviction or delusion (whichever one may\nchoose to call it), he was swept on, and carried with him most of his\nfollowers, into startling novelties of ritual and of organization.\n\nFinally, however, he became so extreme and radical that some of his\nprincipal followers became frightened and grew restless. The occasion\nof another split was found in the marriage of Chunder Sen's daughter\nto the young Maharaja of Cooch Behar, in 1876. Chunder Sen had worked\nheroically for the enactment of a new marriage law for the members of\nthe Brahmo Somaj, whereby no bride should be married before fourteen\nand no bridegroom under eighteen years of age. Yet, in the marriage of\nhis own daughter, he ignored this law, which was passed chiefly\nthrough his own energy. Notwithstanding the fact that the leader\nclaimed divine guidance in this affair, his leading followers\nattributed the marriage to his weakness and pride.\n\nThis led to another secession, in May, 1878, whereby the majority of\nthe societies and their members broke away from the Sen party and\nestablished the _Sadharna Somaj_--\"The Universal Somaj.\" This schism\nwas a terrible blow to Mr. Sen; and yet it released him from the\ntrammels which the dissatisfied had hitherto thrust upon him, and gave\nhim, among the remnant, an opportunity to launch out on new projects,\nand to introduce many religious vagaries, which to most men were\nstriking and, to many, were shocking. Under the banner of the \"New\nDispensation,\" he practised a varied liturgy and cultivated an unique\nceremonial which seemed to be a close imitation, and almost a mockery,\nof some of the most sacred institutions of Christianity and of other\nreligions.\n\nThe schismatic weakness of the theistic movement did not reach its\nconsummation in this last division. It was almost immediately upon the\ndeath of Keshub Chunder Sen, at the beginning of 1884, that his\nimmediate family and a few of his followers proclaimed that his spirit\nstill abode in the Mandir, where he so often spoke, and that no one\nshould succeed him or speak from the Mandir hereafter!\n\nWithin these few short years a new cult had begun to grow around the\nperson of Chunder Sen, like those around a thousand others well known\nin the history of India. He became to some of his followers not only a\ngreat religious teacher, but also something of an incarnation on his\nown account, so that it seemed to them blasphemy for any living being\nto aspire to speak from the pulpit of the beloved dead master.\n\nHis natural successor was Babu Protap Chunder Mozumdar. He protested\nagainst this apotheosis of the departed leader, and insisted upon the\nfact that their movement must be open to new light, and must seek\nafter ever increasing progress and advance. But the family were\nobdurate, and the new split became inevitable; and thus Chunder Sen\nhas passed into the ranks of the Mahatmas of India and will erelong be\npromoted to a place among the incarnations of their deities.\n\nMr. Mozumdar was, intellectually, not inferior to Chunder Sen himself;\nand he was possessed of deep earnestness of spirit and of a beautiful\nEnglish style (both as a writer and speaker) which commended him and\nhis cause to the public, and especially to English and American\nTheists. He visited the West more than once, and charmed many an\naudience of Christian men by his deep sincerity and eloquence.\n\n\nIII\n\nThe progress of this Brahmo movement has not been very encouraging.\n\nWe have already seen its tendency to schism. There seems very little\nin the movement which makes for peace and unity. Any little pique or\ndifference of views has not only created internal dissension, but also\nengendered new sects.\n\nThe leaders of the movement have been both able and absolutely devoted\nto the theistic cause; but they have not revealed the highest\nqualities of leadership, especially that quality which exalts above\nthe leader himself the principles and the cause which he advocates.\nNor have they imparted to the members of the Somaj that altruistic\nfervour which enables them to deny themselves in behalf of their\ncommon cause and purpose.\n\nNumerically, the progress of the Brahmo Somaj has been most\ndisappointing. At the last census there were only 4050 members. And,\nof these, more than three-quarters were in Bengal.\n\nThis, however, by no means represents the strength of the movement;\nfor it is said, with truth, that many who do not register themselves\nas Brahmos are in deepest accord with the movement. And it must,\nmoreover, be remembered that the influence of the society is far in\nexcess of the numbers represented. For the movement has drawn its\nmembership, almost exclusively, from the upper class; and the majority\nof Brahmos are men of education and of position in society. Moreover,\nthey joined this movement under the deep conviction of the utter\nworthlessness of Hinduism as a way of salvation, and with a purpose to\nseek after that which is best in thought and life.\n\nIt is this aristocratic character of the movement which has largely\nmilitated against its popularity. Its appeal has been mainly to men\nand women of English training. It has not been possessed of any\npassion for the multitude; nor has it adequately appreciated the\nimportance, for its own well-being, of a united endeavour to reach and\nbring in the man of the street.\n\nNevertheless, the movement has been thoroughly permeated with an\nIndian spirit. The leaders have been particular in their desire to\nexalt and emphasize the Oriental aspect and method, as distinct from\nthe Occidental. This is the reason why it has been so frequently and\nbitterly criticised. It has been judged by western standards and\ncriticised because it has not squared with western ideals. From time\nto time missionaries and other Christian men, seeing no reason, from\ntheir standpoint, why these Brahmo friends should not come over in a\nbody into the Christian fold, have been impatient with their lack of\nresponse. They failed to understand that, with these western\nprinciples and admiration, there were also eastern thoughts and\nprepossessions, and the invaluable inheritance of a past that kept\nthem aloof from the foreign faith and led them frequently to deliver\nthemselves vehemently against its most western manifestations. Even\ntheir conception of Christ was a distinctly Oriental one. And they\ndenied that a man of the West could compare with them of the East in\nthe deep appreciation of the Christ-character and in loving attachment\nto their \"Brother\" from the East--Jesus of Nazareth.\n\nYet, the Christian basis of this movement is unmistakable. We have\nseen how Ram Mohan Roy received a new baptism of thought and life upon\nstudying the Christian Scriptures. It gave a new direction and\ninspiration to his theistic conceptions.\n\nChunder Sen found nearly all the inspiration from the Bible; and he\nlived under the spell of Christ's own power, and with a passion, such\nas few Christians possess, to follow Him and to be a full partaker of\nHis blessings.\n\nThe writer will never forget his own brief visit to Protap Mozumdar,\nnot long before the latter's death. It was on the eve of Good Friday.\nHe found this devout man with eighteen of his disciples (one of them\nan Oxford graduate) studying together the tender words of our Lord\nuttered to His disciples in the Upper Room on the night in which He\nwas betrayed. They were thus qualifying themselves properly to\ncommemorate His death on the coming morn. And Mr. Mozumdar gave a\nstrong lecture on \"The Suffering Christ\" to a large audience in one of\nthe city halls on the morrow. The thought occurred to us, how many\nChristians had met together that same evening, like these Brahmos, for\nthe purpose of studying our Lord's Words upon that memorable occasion\nand bringing themselves thus _en rapport_ with Him whose atoning death\nthey were to commemorate? As we parted, it was hardly necessary for\nthat man of God to say to the writer in pathetic tones, \"O, sir, I\nonly wish you knew how near we are to you in these matters!\" Some may\nhave read that remarkable book, named \"The Oriental Christ,\" written\nand published by this same gentleman in 1883. In the preface, he gives\nthis strikingly beautiful account of his conversion:--\n\n\"Nearly twenty years ago, my troubles, studies, and circumstances\nforced upon me the question of personal relationship to Christ.... As\nthe sense of sin grew on me, and with it a deep miserable\nrestlessness, a necessity of reconciliation between aspiration and\npractice, I was mysteriously led to feel a personal affinity to the\nSpirit of Christ. The whole subject of the life and death of Christ\nhad for me a marvellous sweetness and fascination.... Often\ndiscouraged and ridiculed, I persisted in according to Christ a\ntenderness of honour which arose in my heart unbidden. I prayed, I\nfasted, at Christmas and Easter times. I secretly hunted the\nbook-shops of Calcutta to gather the so-called likenesses of Christ. I\ndid not know, I cared not to think, whither all this would lead....\nAbout the year 1867 ... I was almost alone in Calcutta. My inward\ntrials and travails had really reached a crisis. It was a week-day\nevening, I forget the date now. The gloomy and haunted shades of\nsummer evening had suddenly thickened into darkness.... I sat near the\nlarge lake in the Hindu College compound.... A sobbing, gusty wind\nswam over the water's surface.... I was meditating upon the state of\nmy soul, on the cure of all spiritual wretchedness, the brightness and\npeace unknown to me, which was the lot of God's children. I prayed and\nbesought Heaven. I cried and shed hot tears.... Suddenly it seemed to\nme, let me own it was revealed to me, that close to me there was a\nholier, more blessed, most loving personality upon which I must repose\nmy troubled head. Jesus lay discovered in my heart as a strange,\nhuman, kindred love, as a repose, a sympathetic consolation, an\nunpurchased treasure, for which I was freely invited. The response of\nmy nature was unhesitating and immediate. Jesus, from that day, to me\nbecame a reality whereon I might lean. It was an impulse then, a flood\nof light, love, and consolation. It is no longer an impulse now. It is\na faith and principle; it is an experience verified by a thousand\ntrials ... a character, a spirit, a holy, sacrificed, exalted self,\nwhom I recognize as the true Son of God. According to my humble\nlight, I have always tried to be faithful to this inspiration. I have\nbeen aided, confirmed, encouraged by many, and most of all by one. My\naspiration has been not to speculate on Christ, but to be what Jesus\ntells us all to be.... I shall be content if what I say in these pages\nat all tends to give completeness to any man's ideas of the life and\nministry of Jesus Christ.... In the midst of these crumbling systems\nof Hindu error and superstition, in the midst of these cold, spectral\nshadows of transition, secularism, and agnostic doubt, to me Christ\nhas been like the meat and drink of my soul. His influences have woven\nround me for the last twenty years or more, and, outside the fold of\nChristianity as I am, have formed a new fold, wherein I find many\nbesides myself.\"\n\nChunder Sen also abundantly expressed himself concerning the Christ,\nHis mission, and message. But to him, again, it is an Asiatic Christ;\nand He must be accepted in a truly Oriental, yes, even in a Hindu,\nway. He says:--\n\n\"It is not the Christ of the Baptists, nor the Christ of the\nMethodists, but the Christ sent by God, the Christ of love and\nmeekness, of truth and self-sacrifice, whom the world delights to\nhonour. If you say we must renounce our nationality and all the\npurity and devotion of eastern faith for sectarian and western\nChristianity, we shall say most emphatically, No. It is _our_ Christ,\n_Asia's_ Christ, you have come to return to us. The East gratefully\nand lovingly welcomes back her Christ. But we shall not have your\nChristianity, which suits not the spirit of the East. Our religion is\nthe religion of harmony.\"\n\nIn further enforcement of this Oriental character he continues:--\n\n\"Was not Jesus Christ an Asiatic? Yes, and His disciples were\nAsiatics, and all the agencies primarily employed for the propagation\nof the Gospel were Asiatic. In fact, Christianity was founded and\ndeveloped by Asiatics and in Asia. When I reflect on this, my love for\nJesus becomes a hundred fold intensified; I feel Him nearer my heart,\nand deeper in my national sympathies.... And is it not true that an\nAsiatic can read the imageries and allegories of the Gospel, and its\ndescriptions of the natural sceneries, of customs and manners, with\ngreater interest and a fuller perception of their force and beauty\nthan an European?... The more this greater fact is pondered, the less,\nI hope, will be the antipathy and hatred of European Christians\nagainst Oriental nationalities, and the greater the interest of the\nAsiatics in the teachings of Christ. And thus in Christ, Europe and\nAsia, the East and the West, may learn to find harmony and unity....\"\n\nAnd let it not be supposed that Mr. Sen was altogether wanting in an\nappreciation of the higher significance and vicarious efficacy of the\ndeath of Christ. Concerning this, he observes:--\n\n\"Humanity was lost in Adam, but was recovered in Christ. He was the\nworld's atonement....\n\n\"His death on the cross affords the highest practical illustration of\nself-sacrifice. He sacrificed His life for the sake of truth and the\nbenefit of the world. In obedience to the will of His Father, He laid\ndown His life, and said, Thy will be done! And surely there is deeper\nmeaning in the fact than even the orthodox attach to it, that the\ndeath of Christ is the life of the world....\"\n\nIn many of the lectures which he gave, and in many of the articles\nwhich he wrote, we have evidence of the wonderful place which Christ\nhad in his heart and of the power which He exercised over his\nthoughts. He exclaims:--\n\n\"Blessed Jesus, immortal Child of God! For the world He lived and\ndied. May the world appreciate Him and follow His precepts!... All\nthrough my inner being I see Christ. He is no longer to me a doctrine,\nor a dogma, but, with Paul, I cry, 'for me to live is Christ!'\" On\nanother occasion he says:--\n\n\"Where, then, is Christ now? He is living in all Christian lives, and\nin all Christian influences at work around us.... You cannot resist\nHis influence; you may deny His doctrines, you may even hate and\nrepudiate His name, but He goes straight into your hearts, and leavens\nyour lives.\"\n\nOther leaders of this movement are imbued with the same spirit. The\neditor of the New Dispensation remarks:--\n\n\"As a matter of fact the Brahmoists have accepted Christian truth in a\nmore special sense than Hindus, or even some Christian sects, have any\nidea of.... The organization of the Brahmo Somaj of India is framed\nupon an essentially Christian basis. Its missionary staff is\nChristian, being guided entirely by the principle of 'Take no thought\nfor the morrow.' In its mission office, mottoes are found upon the\nwalls which are all Christian. Almost every Brahmo household has a\npicture of Christ. The only Life of Jesus in Bengali is by a\nmissionary of the Brahmo Somaj of India. Its truly evangelistical\nwork, the life and conversation of its members, breathe distinctly\nthe spirit and influence of Christ....\"\n\nAnother Theist writes:--\n\n\"Reverently have I sat at the feet of the Jesus of the Gospels to\nlearn the exalted ethics of the Sermon on the Mount. But Jesus, other\nthan a moral force, _the truer and higher Jesus_, long remained a\nsealed book to me. Who could know the veritable Christ of God without\nlight from above?...\n\n\"Jesus forms the heart-blood of many a Brahmo.... We are ready to\nsacrifice anything if only by that we are enabled to love and cherish\nJesus in our hearts.... The Brahmo Somaj is born to honour and revere\nJesus, whatever the result may be.\"\n\nFrom these quotations, which might be multiplied indefinitely, it may\nbe seen that the movement has been, to a considerable extent, under\nthe Christ spell and imbued with much of His Spirit. Inasmuch,\nhowever, as the movement is an avowedly eclectic one, the Brahmoist\nwas never willing to rest completely under the Christ influence. He\ngave to Christ, perhaps, a supreme place, but not a unique position,\nin his life and thought. Jesus was to him one of many, though perhaps\na _primus inter pares_.\n\nIt is this eclectic character of the Brahmo Somaj which has robbed it\nof much of its power. It may seem, at first, a very fine thing to\ncollect, classify, and codify the best from many religions and dignify\nthem as a religion. But that can never become a unified message of\nlife to any people. It may be ethically immaculate, but it has no\nvital power. The distinctive, life-giving, and inspiring element of\nevery faith has been eliminated, and only the common, unimpassioned,\nand uninspiring elements have been retained.\n\nMoreover, Brahmos have failed to realize that Theism, as such, has\nnever satisfied any people as a way of salvation. It is doubtless a\ncorrect apprehension of the Divine Being. But religion requires a\ngreat deal more than this in the way of exhibiting the characteristics\nof the Deity, and especially of revealing His attitude toward, and His\nwork for, mankind, before it can possess and reveal the potency of a\nsaving faith.\n\nIt would seem as if this movement, up to the present time, has just\nmissed its mark and failed of achieving greatness and power. As we\nhave seen, the leaders have exalted our Lord in a wonderful way, and\nhave exhibited even a passion for Him in some ways. And yet they have\nrobbed Him of the distinct uniqueness of His nature and of His work\nfor man. They are first eclectics, and then they are rigid Unitarians,\nand lastly they are Christians. They need to reverse this order so as\nto add efficiency and potency to the Brahmo Somaj.\n\nIt is a significant fact that Chunder Sen, with all his declared love\nfor Christ and his great admiration for Him and His work, mentioned\nneither the name nor the saving work of Jesus in the final creed of\nthe New Dispensation. That creed is as follows:--\n\n \"One God, one Scripture, one Church.\n Eternal Progress of the Soul.\n Communion of Prophets and Saints.\n Fatherhood and Motherhood of God;\n Brotherhood of Man and Sisterhood of Woman.\n Harmony of Knowledge and Holiness, Love and Work;\n Yoga and Asceticism in their highest development.\n Loyalty to Sovereign.\"\n\nIt must not be forgotten, however, that this movement deserves much\nmore our commendation than our criticism. It is a noble endeavour to\npass out of an inherited bondage, a debased creed, a demoralized\npantheon, and an all-embracing superstition, into the full wisdom and\nblessing of a correct vision of God and Duty. If they have failed of\nthe best, they are, nevertheless, with their faces turned toward it.\nAnd there is every hope that a kind Providence, through the\ninstrumentality of Christian thought and western civilization, will\nlead them unto it. If they have not accepted our western Christianity,\nit may be that God has something better in store for them, in training\nthem toward the realization of that form of Christian life and thought\nwhich will not only be more in consonance with Indian taste and\nideals, but will also grip the country in such a way as the western\ntype of our faith has not yet been able to do, and _seems_ incapable\nof doing.\n\n\nIV\n\nThe Arya Somaj is a movement somewhat kindred to the Brahmo Somaj, in\nso far as it is a definite protest against modern Hinduism and is\ntheistic in its teaching. The Theism of this Somaj, however, is quite\ndifferent in character from that of the Brahmos.\n\nDayanand Saraswati was a Brahman, born in the Gujarati country about\n1825. He developed into a man of keen intellect and of deep\nconvictions. He also studied the Christian Scriptures and was\nslightly versed in the Hindu Shastras. He became dissatisfied with\nthe Pantheism of his mother faith; the caste system grated upon his\nnerves, and the idolatry and the superstitions of the land, and\nespecially the gross immorality of the people, roused him to deep\nthought and activity. He appealed to the Pandits, but found no\nsympathy or help from them. He found his Theism in the Vedas\nthemselves, and ever after proclaimed, with great vehemence, that the\nGod of the Vedas was one and was a personal God; and he found an easy\nway of interpreting those ancient books in harmony with his\nconvictions!\n\nJesus Christ did not appeal to him in the least. Indeed, he indulges\nin very cheap and gross criticism of the life of our Lord. His\nattitude toward Christianity was not at all kindly; indeed, the\nmovement, up to the present, has been distinguished for nothing more\nthan its hostility to the Christian religion. Nevertheless, it is\ndoubtless true that some of the best ideas that Dayanand possessed\nwere gleaned from the Bible; and the Arya Somaj has learned and\ninculcates some of the important lessons of our faith.\n\nWhen Dayanand found no encouragement in his appeal to the Pandits, he\nturned ultimately to the people and founded, in 1875, the Arya Somaj\nat Bombay. And from the first the movement has been a popular one,\naddressing itself to the masses and seeking to bring them over to its\nway of thinking and living. In this it has been, as we have seen,\nentirely removed from the Brahmo Somaj, which has been too content to\nremain a religion of the classes. Like the other movement, however, it\nhas been largely local in its spread and influence. Of its one hundred\nthousand members at the present time, more than 70 per cent are in the\nUnited Provinces, and nearly all the remainder are in the Panjaub.\n\nMoreover, it has recently gathered its recruits mainly from the\neducated classes, among whom the higher castes largely prevail; nearly\nfour-fifths of the Aryas are said to be of the twice-born castes,\nwhich is a very significant fact. So that both in its popular\ncharacter and methods, as well as in the high social position and\neducational training of its members and in its rapidly growing\nnumbers, the Arya Somaj is a movement of considerable importance.\n\nThe principles of this Somaj, as enunciated in its creed, are not such\nas to grip men with power. They emphasize the unity of God, the\ninfallibility of the Vedas; and the general aim of the Somaj is \"to\ndo good to the world by improving the physical, social, intellectual,\nmoral, and spiritual condition of mankind.\" Its moral code is of a\nhigh order.\n\nIt is thoroughly national in its spirit, and makes much capital out of\nthe present spirit of racial antagonism. It is a significant fact that\nduring the recent season of \"Unrest\" the government regarded the Arya\nSomaj as a hotbed of sedition and a nourisher of hostility to the West\nand to western things.\n\nThe Arya Somaj is awake to the importance of training men as\nmessengers of its Gospel of Theism. It has established a _Guru Kula_\nat the foot of the Himalayas, where quite a number of young men are\nbeing trained in its doctrines and supplied with its enthusiasms. From\nthis theological seminary many have already gone forth, in the\northodox style of religious mendicancy, to impart their teaching and\nspread their movement far and wide, without any expense to the\nsociety.\n\nThere is to-day, in North India, no enemy to the Christian cause so\nwide awake and so bitter as the Arya Somaj. It is so thoroughly\nnational in its spirit, is so compactly organized, and lends itself\nso easily to the racial and political agitation of the day, that\nChristianity finds in it its greatest foe in those regions.\n\nLet it not be thought, however, that we do not appreciate the living\nspark of theistic truth which this movement represents, combined, as\nit is, with hostility to the caste system, which is India's greatest\ncurse, and its antagonism to many of the superstitions and unworthy\nceremonials of the ancestral faith.\n\nThat movement must not be condemned too severely which is a bulwark\nagainst drink, caste, idolatry, early marriages, and which vigorously\npromotes female education, the remarriage of widows, and various\nphilanthropic institutions.\n\n\nV\n\nIt may not be improper to close this chapter with a reference to the\nTheosophical Society in India. It is true that the leaders of this\nmovement, which was established in America in 1875, and transplanted\ninto India a short time afterward, disavow its claim to being a\nreligion; though that claim was definitely made and warmly pushed a\nquarter of a century ago. It is now extolled by its members as \"the\ncement of faiths,\" \"the harmonizer of religions.\" It is said that\nArya Somaj became affiliated with it in 1879, though we have seen no\nresult of this affiliation.\n\nThe objects of Theosophy are said to be three: (1) The establishment\nof a universal brotherhood. (2) The study of ancient languages. (3)\nInvestigation of the hidden mysteries of nature and the latent\npsychical forces of man.\n\nThese aims seem thoroughly worthy, though the last mentioned, under\nits original founders, led to mystical claptrap, and to the abuse of\nthe strong superstitious instincts of India.\n\nThe society was founded by a Russian adventuress, Madame Blavatsky,\nand by an American soldier, Colonel Olcott, who was the easy tool, if\nnot the accomplice, of his clever and unscrupulous associate.\n\nIn the early history of the movement, at its headquarters in Madras,\nMadame Blavatsky gathered around her a numerous coterie of ardent\nHindus, whom she duped with various tricks and seances. This was with\na view to convincing them of her constant communication with\n_Koothoomi_ and various other Tibetan Mahatmas, of whom she seemed to\nbe the special agent! These and other similar performances might have\ncontinued had it not been for her French accomplices, who quarrelled\nwith her, because she did not pay them adequately, and who exposed her\nmercilessly. The whole matter was published in the _Madras Christian\nCollege Magazine_, and the Russian lady was speedily sent away from\nIndia to the West for a judicious season of rest. The leaders of\nTheosophy have never been unwilling to impose upon the stupendous\ncredulity of their Indian followers.\n\nNevertheless, it is undeniable that, with all its failings, Theosophy\nhas exercised considerable influence upon the educated classes in this\ncountry. This has resulted largely through its readiness to utilize\nthe recent movement of the people toward higher political privileges\nand their deep spirit of religious unrest.\n\nSince the advent of Mrs. Besant, the society has been largely moulded\nby her erratic powers. She has not hesitated to use her ability and\ninfluence toward the creation and the development of a strong\nreactionary religious spirit throughout the land. She has bitterly\ndenounced every tendency among the people toward Christianity. By her\neloquence, which is remarkable, she has extolled the faith of India,\nand has revived and embalmed many of its worst features which were\nrapidly passing away; and has even defended idolatry and kindred evils\nby trying to harmonize them with modern and scientific ideas! She has\nherself become practically a Hindu, expounds Hindu doctrines, and\npractises Hindu ceremonies. She has persistently maintained eastern\nthought and customs as against western, and has thus endeared herself\nto English-speaking Hindus, who regard her as the goddess Saraswati\nherself, and are willing to give her a place in their pantheon as one\nof the great defenders of their faith against the mighty influences of\nthe West!\n\nIn this matter, Mrs. Besant may be said to have caused irreparable\ninjury to the people, as she has helped to arrest the tendency toward\nreligious reform and progress, and has rendered articulate and given\npower and expression to the reactionary spirit which is now so rampant\nin India. More than any other person, and chiefly because she is of\nthe West, and speaks in the accents of the West, she has antagonized\nprogress in this land, not only religiously but also socially, and has\ndone the greatest disservice to the people of India. In her eyes,\nHindu philosophy and ritual, Hindu institutions and domestic life,\nhave practically nothing to learn from the West, and need only to be\nknown in order to be appreciated and loved!\n\nThis, doubtless, in good part, accounts for her present popularity.\n\nYet, one cannot fail to recognize the value of some things which she\nis doing. She has recently begun to speak with some emphasis upon\nlines of reform. She has been instrumental in stirring within the\npeople a wider desire for higher education; though one can hardly\nunderstand why she has done so much for the establishment of a college\nfor men, and has done practically nothing to advance the educational\ninterests of her much-neglected sex in India.\n\nUpon the death of Colonel Olcott, the President Founder of Theosophy,\nin 1907, Mrs. Besant became his successor. So far as the Indian vote\nwas concerned, this was a foregone conclusion; since her avowed\nsympathy with Hinduism in all its forms had gained for her a strong\nplace in the Hindu heart.\n\nThe method by which she was elected, however, is suggestive of the\nfuture course of the movement in India.\n\nWhen nearing death, Colonel Olcott was induced by Mrs. Besant to\ninvoke and to consult the \"Masters\"--the convenient ghosts of the\ndead--with a view to a choice of his successor in office. There was no\ndoubt about his preference for the Englishwoman. The Mahatmas wisely\nagreed with the Colonel and Mrs. Besant, and a powerful fulcrum was\nsecured for lifting her into the presidency. And Mrs. Besant to-day\nclaims that it is better for her to have been chosen by the dead than\nto have been elected by the living. Upon her inauguration, she\ninsisted upon it that all Theosophists must cling to the \"Masters\" and\nadhere to their decisions.\n\nIf we mistake not, this marks the beginning of a new era in\nTheosophy,--at least in India,--an era during which the movement will\nbe entirely directed and worked by those who are the authorized\nmouthpieces of the glorified dead! Thus the movement is fairly\nlaunched upon a course which will inevitably lead it to something very\nmuch akin to a religion, with its accumulated mysteries and with a\nhost of propelling superstitions of its own. More than any other land,\nIndia will lend itself admirably to the development and the\npropagation of such a cult.\n\nTheosophy is not represented by a very large number of organizations\nand members. But the movement has the sympathy of many who have not\ntaken upon them its name; and the society, at the present time, is\ncertainly in favour with a large number of the educated classes.\n\nOrthodox pandits, however, are thoroughly suspicious of the movement;\nand Mrs. Besant's recent attempts to thrust upon them her own\ninterpretations of certain Hindu doctrines--interpretations, too,\nwhich are foreign to their own--has led to a spirit of opposition,\nwhere but recently appreciation and favour existed.\n\nTheosophy, as a harmonizer of faiths, is not likely to accomplish much\nthat will be permanently good. Religions to-day have lost much of\ntheir asperity one toward the other. The study of Comparative Religion\nhas led men everywhere to magnify the assonances, rather than the\ndissonances, of the Great World Faiths. Theosophy magnifies into a\ncult this function of bringing religions together. It ignores,\nhowever, the fundamental differences which exist, brings all faiths\ninto the same equational value, and assumes that they are equally\neffective as ways of salvation.\n\nWith such profound ignorance of the essential qualities of the faiths\nwhich are to be harmonized, and with a placid assumption that these\nreligions are of the same efficacy, only to different peoples, it is\nimpossible to see how Theosophy can ever render a service to any of\nthe faiths or to the people who are their adherents which will not\nultimately prove a disservice to all. Peace without truth, like peace\nwithout honour, will not ultimately redound to the promotion of\nreligion or to the salvation of men.\n\nWhatever Theosophy may render toward the development of an Oriental\nliterature will depend largely upon its attitude toward truth and\nreligion in general, and toward Hinduism and Christianity in\nparticular. Its bitter attitude toward Christianity in the past does\nnot encourage one to believe that hereafter the literature fostered by\nit will be either very impartial or very sane. And yet we shall be\nthankful for anything it may accomplish in the preservation of\nSanskrit manuscripts and in the development of a wholesome literature\nof any kind on lines purely Oriental.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nTHE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\n\n\nI\n\nFor at least seventeen centuries Christianity has found a home in\nIndia. The Syrian Church was the first to gather converts, and it\nstill exists as a separate sect of 300,000 souls in a small part of\nMalabar. Roman Catholicism, also, has had here its six centuries of\nstruggles and varied fortunes, and now claims its 1,500,000 followers.\nOn July 9, 1906, the Protestants celebrated the bicentenary of the\nlanding of their first two missionaries at Tranquebar, on the\nCoromandel coast. Ziegenbalg and Plutscho were truly men of God, and\ninaugurated a work which to-day has its ramifications in every part of\nthis vast peninsula.\n\nThey introduced a new era of missionary effort for India. Former\nendeavours were ecclesiastical. Great men, indeed, had wrought for\nChrist in this land; but their chief aim had been to establish a\nreligion of forms and ceremonies. In the matter of ritual in\nreligion, Hinduism has little to learn from, and has much to suggest\nto, western ecclesiastics. The early failure of our faith to secure\nmarked and permanent success in this land finds its chief cause here.\n\nZiegenbalg began in the right way. He identified himself with the\npeople; he studied well their language, and hastened to incarnate his\nfaith in vernacular literature; and, above all, he proceeded at once\nto translate into the language of the people the Word of God. Never\nbefore had the Bible been translated into an Indian tongue. After\nthirteen years of service, this great missionary died; but he left to\nhis successors the heritage of a vernacular Bible, which has wrought\nmightily in South India for the redemption of the people. He also set\nthe pace for subsequent missionaries of his persuasion, who, in these\ntwo centuries, have practically translated God's Word into every\nimportant Indian dialect. The Bible in his own vernacular lies open,\ninviting every native of India to-day; and in many vernaculars the\ntranslation has been revised more than once. This stands as a notable\ntriumph of Protestantism during these two centuries in India.\n\nThe writer has a copy of one of the earliest Tamil books prepared by\nthese pioneers of our faith. These books have already grown into a\nlarge library--the best-developed Christian literature in any\nvernacular of the East. All over the land mission presses are annually\npouring forth their many millions of pages both to nourish and cheer\nthe infant Christian community, and to win to Christ the multiplying\nreaders among non-Christians. The press has already become, perhaps,\nthe most important agency in the furtherance of Christian thought and\nlife in this land.\n\nOne is impressed with the manifoldness of the work which began in so\nmuch simplicity two centuries ago. The missionary is no longer the\npreacher under some shady tree, addressing a few ignorant, ill-clad\npeasants. He is actively engaged in all departments of Christian\neffort. A Protestant mission is an elaborately organized activity,\npursuing all lines of work for the elevation of the people. It has not\nonly churches which engage in varied forms of pastoral effort; it has\nalso its staff of evangelists and Bible women who carry the message of\nlife to all the villages. In these missions there are not only 10,000\nday schools, with their 375,000 scholars, besides 30,000 youth who are\nin the 307 higher institutions. There are also thousands of young men\nand women, in many institutions, undergoing careful preparation as\nteachers and preachers. There is also the medical host who treated\n2,000,000 patients last year; there are industrial institutions under\nwell-trained men, peasant settlements for the poor oppressed ryots,\nand schools for the blind and the deaf-mute. There is hardly an agency\nwhich can bring light, comfort, life, and inspiration to men which is\nnot utilized by modern missions in India.\n\n[Illustration: A CHRISTIAN VILLAGE SCHOOL IN SOUTH INDIA]\n\nBut the progress of these two centuries has been chiefly on lines\nwhich defy the columns of the statistician and elude the ken of the\nordinary globe-trotter.\n\nThe number of people that have been brought to Christ, and who now\nrepresent Protestantism in this land are, indeed, far fewer than might\nhave been expected. A round million of a community after two centuries\nof effort among a population of 300,000,000 is not a thing of which to\nboast. And this may seem the more discouraging when it is remembered\nthat there are now engaged in this work ninety-one different\nmissionary societies of many lands, and supporting a missionary force\nof 4000 men and women. There is also a native Pastorate of 1100\nordained men, with a total Indian agency of 26,000 men and women.\n\nSo great a force of workers would, indeed, warrant us in expecting\nlarger results in conversions.\n\nBut it should be remembered that this agency is chiefly the product\nof the last few decades only, and is now multiplying in numbers and\nincreasing in efficiency at a very rapid rate. At the present time,\nfully 200 of the Indian agents of our missions are university\ngraduates, and a still larger number are of partial college training.\n\nThe Indian Christian community itself, though in the main of low\nsocial origin, has made remarkable progress in education and manly\nindependence. It is, already, perhaps the best-educated community in\nIndia. And it is feeling increasingly its opportunities and its\nobligations. It was only recently that its growing sense of national\nimportance and its duties led it to organize a \"National Missionary\nSociety,\" which is directed by Indian leadership, supported by Indian\nfunds, and its work is to be done by India's own sons. This society\nenters upon its career very auspiciously, and is not only symptomatic\nof present conditions, but is also pregnant with hope for the Indian\nChurch of the future.\n\nIt took many years to lay deeply the foundation of our mission\norganization. Indeed, the foundation is not quite completed. And yet\nthe work of superstructure has already begun, and more rapid results\nmay now be expected.\n\nBut the more hidden and indirect results of Protestant Christian\nefforts in this land encourage the Christian worker more than all the\ndirect results.\n\nDuring the last century, at least twenty laws have been enacted with a\nview to abolishing cruel religious rites and removing revolting\ncustoms and disabilities, such as Hinduism, from time immemorial, has\nestablished among the people. These laws were enacted in the teeth of\nopposition from the religious rulers of the land, and, in more cases\nthan one, led to serious riot and religious fanaticism. But the\ngrowing spirit of Christ in the land could not tolerate these\nheathenish customs; so they had to go.\n\nThe new spirit which has taken possession of the classes in India is\nin striking contrast with the spirit of the past. The new education,\nimparted on modern lines, in thousands of institutions scattered over\nthe land, has brought its revenge of sentiment upon former thinking\nand believing. Western philosophy has had a noble share in the\nachievement; and the schoolmaster has been a pioneer in the work of\ntransforming the sentiments and ideals of the people. The holy men of\nIndia,--the ecclesiastics,--by their conservatism, have lost all\ninfluence over the many thousands who have passed through the\nuniversities, and who represent the intelligence, culture, and\nadvancing power of India.\n\nIt is no empty boast to claim that our mission schools and colleges\nhave had a conspicuous share in this work of enlightenment, and in the\ntransformation of popular and fundamental thoughts and sentiments.\n\nThe religious unrest of the day is one of the most prominent features\nof this advance. It is true that, during the last few years, there\npassed over India a peculiar wave of religious reaction in favour of\nold Hindu conceptions and ancient rites. But these are entirely the\nresult of a new and vigorous, though not sane, patriotism. A loud cry\nof \"_Swadesha_\" (homeland) has swept over the country. It demands\naffection and acceptance for everything that is of the East, and the\nopposite sentiments for things western. All that is of Hindu origin,\nand everything of eastern aspect, is, for that very reason, regarded\nas sound and delectable. Of course, this reaction has found its widest\nutterances in matters religious; and Hindu men of western culture\nto-day will applaud, though they will _not_ practise, religious\ncustoms and ideas which were laughed at by their class a quarter of a\ncentury ago. As a matter of fact, however, this wild Orientalism is a\nthing which should neither be discouraged nor condemned. It needs\nbalance and sanity; but it is a true expression of the awakened\nself-assertion and the dawning sense of liberty among the people. In\ntime, the movement will become chastened, and will throw off much of\nits present folly. It will then render for India and its redemption\nmore than anything else has in the past.\n\nIn the meanwhile, however, there is a quiet revolution, both religious\nand social, doing its blessed work in all sections of the community.\n\nNew religious organizations have sprung into existence and are winning\nfollowers among the best members of the community. The Brahmo Somaj\nand various other Somajes furnish, as we have seen, asylum and rest\nfor many men of culture who have abandoned polytheism and all that\npertains to it. The Arya Somaj appeals to, and gathers in, men from\nall ranges.\n\nSocial reform has its organizations and its gatherings all over the\nland where the Hindu orator finds abundant opportunity to denounce the\nsocial evils which are a curse to all the people; and, alas! then\nreturns to his home, where he meekly submits to these same social\ntyrannies which dominate his own family. What India needs to-day, more\nthan anything else, is even a small band of men who are imbued with\nconvictions and who are willing to die for the same. India's\nredemption will be nigh when it can furnish a few thousand such men\nbanded together to _do_ something or to _die_ in the cause of reform.\n\nIt is Protestantism which has laid growing emphasis upon the ethical,\nrather than the ecclesiastical, aspect of our faith; and to this fact\ncan be attributed most of its influence in the development of this new\nlife and thought.\n\nOf course, the British government has politically and socially\nrepresented and promoted these ideas. It could not do otherwise and be\ntrue to its own principles. Its influence has been the most pervasive\nand marked in the development of what is best in thought and truest in\nlife.\n\nPerhaps no change has overtaken Protestant missions during these two\ncenturies greater than that which has transformed the missionaries\nthemselves. There is a wide gulf between Ziegenbalg and Carey. There\nis a still wider one between the Carey of a century ago and his\ngreat-grandson who is a missionary in North India to-day. In devotion\nand zeal for the Master, they are all one; but in their conception of\nChristianity, of Hinduism, and of the missionary motive, they are\nmuch wider apart than many imagine.\n\nIt should also be remembered that Protestant missionaries, as a body,\nare no longer isolated from each other and animated by mutual\nsuspicions and impelled by petty jealousies, as in the past. Their\ndevelopment in amity, comity, and organized fellowship, even during\nthe last decade, is marvellous. Federation and organic ecclesiastical\nunion are becoming the order of the day. Four denominations of America\nand Scotland are now perfecting such a scheme in South India; and this\nis only the beginning of an ever expanding movement for Christian\nfellowship all over the land. No one knows what grand results it will\nachieve. We all know, however, that the fraternal regard, sympathy,\nand confidence is far removed from the sad divisiveness of the past,\nthat it is pregnant with blessing in the coming of the Kingdom of God,\nand that it is far in advance of the spirit of union which prevails in\nEngland or America. In this we believe that the East is to open the\nway for the West.\n\nThese and many other facts encourage those who look to the speedy\nChristianizing of this land. And yet we cannot, I repeat, ignore the\nfact of the relative meagreness of the results. It is a sad truth\nthat the total Protestant Indian community, at the present time, is\nonly one three-hundredth part of the population!\n\nI would not be pessimistic, however, even in this matter of numerical\ngrowth. In the past, we have too much made a fetich of figures, and\nour faith has been too much pinned to statistics.\n\nBut the lessons of history must be well learned and thoroughly\ndigested, if the future of Christianity is to improve upon her past in\nIndia. For, be it remembered, Christianity never met with so doughty a\nfoe as that which confronts it in this land. The ancient faiths of\nGreece and Rome, which Christianity overcame, were infantile and\nimbecile as compared with the subtle wisdom and the mighty resistance\nof Brahmanism. The conditions of the conflict in India are different\nfrom those ever met before by our militant faith. The subtle and\ndeadening philosophy of the land, the haughty pride of its religious\nleaders, the great inertia of the people, the mighty tyranny of caste,\nthe debasing ritual of Hinduism and its debauching idolatry,--all\nthese constitute a resisting fortress whose overthrow seems all but\nimpossible.\n\n\nII\n\nAnd yet I strongly believe in the ultimate triumph of our faith in\nIndia. Under God this mighty fortress of Hinduism will capitulate. Nor\ndo I think that the day of Christian dominance is so far away as many\nmissionaries are inclined to think. There is an accumulation of forces\nand a multiplication of spiritual powers which are now operating in\nbehalf of our faith and against the ancestral religion of India, such\nas will work wonders in the future religious development of the land.\nBut this conquest of our faith will not be that which too many of us\nare wont to anticipate and to pray for. The religious forms of life\nand of thought, which we of the West have inherited and in whose\nenvironment we have grown up, we have come to identify with the\n_essence_ of our religion; and it seems all but impossible for us to\nthink of a Christianity apart from these outward forms. I believe that\nthere is to be a rude awakening for our children and grandchildren, if\nnot for ourselves, in this matter.\n\nThe western _type_ of Christianity will not survive the conflict in\nIndia. Western modes of thought and forms of belief will be supplanted\nby those better suited to the land. Occidental doctrines and aspects\nof our faith will give way to those conceived from the Oriental\nstandpoint. I believe, for instance, that the most mischievous\ndoctrine of pantheism will surrender its elements of truth (for it has\nan important admixture of truth) to the formation of a new conception\nof God, which will appeal to and captivate the Indian mind and heart.\nIndeed, we are witnessing, this very day, even in the far West, the\ninfluence of India in her monistic overemphasis upon the divine\nimmanence, working toward a new Christian conception of God. Modern\ninterchange of thought is thus giving to India, even in America, her\ninfluence in the shaping of modern belief. And if it be thus in\nmatters of fundamental belief, much more will it be so in matters of\noutward expression and in the unessential forms of Christian truth.\nSome of us of the West are seeing increasingly the serious incongruity\nwhich exists between our way of thinking and of putting our thought\ninto living form, and the way of the people about us. And we are not\nconvinced, as we perhaps once were, that it is the obtuseness, or the\nreligious perversity, of the Indian mind which is the cause of this.\nThe sooner the better we realize that between the people of the East\nand of the West there is a wide mental gulf which may, indeed, by our\nassociating together, be narrowed, but never eliminated. And the\noutward type of Christianity, after western pressure has been taken\naway from this land, will depend upon the mental make-up and peculiar\nspiritual aspect of the Indian Christian. And until he is able to\nfurnish and to enforce this, which I call the Oriental type of\nChristianity, he will never be able to make his faith appeal to his\nbrothers, and to make it an indigenous faith in India.\n\nNor do I think that the Christianity which is to prevail in India will\nbe encased in the present ecclesiasticism which assumes and claims\nmonopoly of our faith. I can conceive the possibility of there being a\nvast amount of Christianity--a living and a self-propagating\nChristianity--outside the pale of organized and institutional\nChristianity in India. It is so in the West to-day. The organized\nchurches of the West have within themselves an ever diminishing\nportion of the vital Christian life and aspirations of the country.\nChristianity has overleapt ecclesiastic bounds. Its spirit is\noverflowing, in living streams, into the life of a thousand\norganizations which are altruistic and philanthropic, outside the\nlimits of ecclesiastical Christianity. It will be so in India, and\nthroughout the world. And the Christian Church must take this into\naccount and shape its policy accordingly.\n\nHowever this may be, East Indians will increasingly claim, as the\nJapanese are now claiming, the right to decide for themselves the\nforms of polity and the types of ritual which they will choose and\ncultivate as their own.\n\nI do not say, of course, that the present forms will be entirely\ndiscarded. But they will be so modified and supplemented that they\nwill present an ecclesiastical type of their own.\n\nAnd why should they not, if our faith is to fit well the Oriental\nmind, and is to become a gracious power in its life? The growing\nopposition among the educated men of India, at the present time, is\nnot really antagonism to Christianity itself, but to its western garb\nand spirit. And there is much reason for this attitude of mind.\nConciliation and adaptation has not been the characteristic of the\nmind of the West in presenting its faith to the East. This did not\nmake so much difference, so long as the Indian was submissive and had\nnot waked up to the spirit of self-assertion. But to-day, when that\nspirit is so rampant, and when a new nationalism and a half-spurious\npatriotism glories in everything eastern and is annoyed by all that\nis western, the matter of adaptation has become all-important.\n\nThe relative barrenness of our faith during past centuries in India\nwas largely, if not entirely, due to its foreign ecclesiastical forms\nand its shibboleths pronounced in foreign tongues. The Christianity of\nthe future in India must breathe of the spirit, and speak forth in the\nlanguage and life, of the people.\n\nI am inclined to believe that the battle cry of the Christian Church\nwill soon be lost in the ever swelling tide of enthusiasm for the\nKingdom of God. Christians will seek less to promote this or that\ndenomination, and more and more to cause to come in power the Kingdom\nof Heaven. And India is a land which will lend itself very readily to\nthis transfer of emphasis. There is much in the mystical type of the\nHindu mind that leads us to anticipate preeminence for India in this\nchange of emphasis from outward organization to deep-working spiritual\nforces and realities.\n\nIndia, which has been the most prolific land in giving birth to\nreligions, and in being at present the asylum of all the great faiths\nof the world, will not be slow to give to Christianity that form and\naspect which will most please her.\n\nIt is therefore important that all the Christian leaders of India\nshould not only take note of these facts, but should also do their\nutmost to help in the desired consummation, and make Christianity in\nIndia a faith that will appeal to every man and woman in the land.\n\n\nIII\n\nThe conquest of our faith in India will be not the less, but the more,\nthorough, because it will be not only of the letter but also and\nchiefly of the spirit.\n\nThere are a few things which are fundamental to our faith, and which\nwill become the universal and permanent possession of India.\n\n1. The spirit and principles of Christianity will prevail and will\ndominate the land. Christian, as distinct from Hindu, principles are\nalready making wonderful headway in the country. Many new institutions\nhave been organized in the land, whose principles are those of Christ,\nand not of Manu. Even the oldest institutions of the country are\nbecoming affected by the desire to appear modern, which really means\nan ambition to introduce Christian methods and principles. Educated\nHindus, especially, add to this the peculiar weakness of interpreting\nthings Hindu by a Christian terminology. The philosophy which they\nhave imbibed and the standpoint to which they have been accustomed are\nwestern and, chiefly, Christian. So that when they study their own\nfaith they do so with these Christian prepossessions; and even when\nthey defend their ancestral religion, they really defend not the\nindigenous product of India, such as is taught by the Hindu pandit and\nbelieved by the mass of the people, but Hinduism Christianized and\nclothed in the garb of the West and spoken in the accents of a\nChristian.\n\nHindu Swamis, who have been educated in Christian mission schools, and\nhave spent a few years in the far West, surrounded by a Christian\natmosphere, imbibing Christian sentiments, and unconsciously adopting\nthe Christian viewpoint, return to India upon a wave of popular\nexcitement and give public addresses and receive the plaudits of their\ngrateful countrymen. But what is it that such men as Vivekananda and\nAbhedananda, and all the rest of the _Ananda_ tribe, teach upon their\nreturn to India? It is certainly not an orthodox Hinduism, nor is it\nthe pure philosophy of the East. It is rather a strange compound in\nwhich Christianity figures as prominently as does Hinduism, and,\nperhaps, more conspicuously. What was the caste system recently\nenunciated by Abhedananda in Madras? It is certainly not a thing\nknown in India by that name. And I have no doubt that his whole\naudience smiled when he presented his conception of a caste system so\nforeign to all Hindu ideas and practice. It is just so with his\nVedantism, and with his interpretation of all the religious teachings\nof this land. They are now construed in terms foreign to the rishi and\nto the pandit. But (and this the point I wish to emphasize) these\ninterpretations meet increasingly with the applause and acceptance of\neducated Hindu audiences. In other words, a Christian colouring and\nglamour thrown over Hinduism is adding to its popularity in the land.\n\nIn the general way of looking at religious things, and especially of\napprehending religious thought, there is to-day almost as wide a gulf\nbetween the educated and cultured Hindu, on the one hand, and the\nauthorized religious instructors of India, on the other, as there is\nbetween the same learned man of the East and the thoughtful man of the\nWest.\n\nOr, if we look at the multiplying institutions of the country, which\ntruly represent the thoughts and sentiments of the leading people of\nIndia, we can easily see that they are imbued with non-Hindu, if not\nanti-Hindu, ideas and motives. The various Somajes and other religious\nmovements, which mean so much in the life of India to-day, are more or\nless an endeavour to interpret life from a non-Hindu standpoint, which\noften means a Christian standpoint. In any case, the religious reform\nmovements of India at the present time breathe largely the spirit of\nrebellion against old Hindu conceptions.\n\nWhen we think of such important movements as that of Social Reform, we\ncan see the spirit of Christianity completely dominant, and in sharp\nantithesis to Hindu teaching and ritual. The Social Reform movement in\nIndia is the spirit of Christianity, trying to express itself with as\nlittle offence as possible to orthodox Hinduism, and yet constantly\nantagonizing its deepest principles and eating into its very vitals.\n\nThe two forces which, next to direct Christian effort, do most for the\npromulgation of Christian principles in this land, are the public\nschools and the government itself. The educational system which now\nprevails, and which is growing in power, is distinctly a promoter of\nChristian thought and principle. We often call these schools godless;\nbut we do them an injustice. Their work may be largely negative; but\ntheir teaching turns the mind of the young away from the silly\nsuperstitions and the absurd practices of popular Hinduism, and\nestablishes modern conceptions, which, indeed, are Christian\nconceptions of life and of conduct.\n\nThe government is, in an important sense, established upon Christian\nprinciples; and in all its administrative processes exemplifies the\nChristian, as distinct from the Hindu and Brahmanic, view of justice\nand of right conduct; so that, if one were able to perceive clearly\nthe spiritual forces at work in the institutional and social life of\nIndia, he would see not only that the foundation, but also that\nlargely the superstructure, is becoming Christian in its character.\n\n2. In the second place, the Christ Ideal of Life is acquiring ever\nincreasing attraction and power in the land. India has never possessed\nan incarnated ideal of her own. No god in all her pantheon, and not\none among all her noble sages, has ever posed before the followers of\nHinduism, or has ever been thought of by Hindu devotees, as the\nexemplar of men and the ideal of human life. To many thousands who are\noutward members of the Hindu faith, and who would not dream of being\nbaptized into institutional Christianity, Jesus Christ has become the\nIdeal of Life. He represents to them that moral type of perfection\nand ethical nobility of manhood to which they daily aspire. Krishna\nmay be praised by the millions, notwithstanding his immoralities; and\nRama may be extolled and even loved for his limited virtue; Yudhistra\nmay be called \"Dharman,\" notwithstanding his unrighteous passion for\nthe dice. But Christ only, in the eyes of modern educated India,\nstands the perfect test of character. All over the land, Hindus of\nculture, of serious thought, and of ambition to reach after high\nethical standards see in Jesus Christ the only inspiration and\nimmaculate example of life that all history, myth, and legend present.\nAnd there is not a town in India to-day where there are not found\nthese men of power and influence who are studying eagerly the life of\nJesus, are pondering over the Gospel narratives; and are reading such\nbooks of Christian devotion as Thomas a Kempis's \"Imitation of\nChrist.\" This last-named book is now being translated by a Brahman\ngentleman, a friend of the writer, and published by a Hindu firm for\nits Hindu readers! I have known such men for many years, and am\nassured that their tribe is increasing; they are men who for the first\ntime have found the deepest yearnings of their soul answered in the\nexample of Jesus.\n\nAsk any of them for their reason, and they will tell you that Christ\nis of the East, like themselves, and that His example appeals to them\nwith unique power.\n\nIn India, the ideal of life has been one of restraint. Starting with\nthe conviction that human life is an unmixed evil, the restraint of\npassion and the elimination of every human emotion (the best as well\nas the worst) has been to the Hindu the goal and consummation of life.\nNothing can be more inadequate than this; and the Hindu is beginning\nto feel it. Jesus represents Culture _and_ Restraint. With him the\nrestraint of the lower passions is with a view to the culture of the\nhigher. The man of sin must die, that the man of God may live and\nprosper. This is the Christ ideal, as opposed to the Brahmanic. And\nthe leaven of this ideal of life is spreading all over India and is\ntransforming the aspirations of millions. There is nothing more\ninspiring or comforting than the assurance which we have that the\nChrist life is becoming the dominant ideal among the classes of India,\nas it is to a less degree among the masses.\n\nA Brahman gentleman had the presumption to say to me, recently, that\nhe and his fellow-Brahmans and other Hindus were able to understand\nthe Christ much better than we of the West. He also claimed that they\ncould understand the deep significance and the delicate shading of\nHis thought better than we who are not of the East, like them. As a\nman who had taught and had tried to live the Christ in this land for\nmore than a quarter of a century, I smiled at the audacity of his\nremark. And yet I knew that that man had visions of Christ that I had\nnot; and that he has a fondness for Thomas a Kempis's book, beyond,\nperhaps, what I myself possess. There are aspects of the teaching and\nof the life of Jesus which appeal more powerfully to his Oriental and\ndeeply mystical nature than they can possibly to the minds of all\nwestern men. Of one thing, however, I am assured; namely, that there\nis a growing host of Hindus in high position, and in low, who are\nenamoured of that ideal of life which our Lord taught and exemplified;\nand the fact that they interpret that life differently from myself\ncauses me less sorrow than it does a desire to understand better their\nstandpoint of appreciation.\n\n3. I believe also that the Incarnation of our Lord, in its uniqueness\nand supreme power as the true manifestation of God, is finding rapidly\nincreasing appreciation among the people of India.\n\nIndia is the land of a myriad incarnations. The doctrine has run to\nseed, as it were, among this people. They are burdened with the excess\nof their eagerness to find God, and with their manifold imagination\nin giving Him form and earthly existence. There is no doctrine in\nHinduism which has been carried to such a _reductio ad absurdum_.\n\nHindus to-day would gladly accept Christ as one of Vishnu's\nincarnations, if Christians would permit. I am not sure but that the\ntenth incarnation of Vishnu was meant to represent Christ. In any\ncase, their growing familiarity with Him is gradually creating in\ntheir minds a disgust with the monstrosities of their own\nincarnations. Many of them are learning that God's Incarnation in\nChrist is the only one which has \"descended\" to the earth for the\nspiritual uplifting and redemption of our race; and, therefore, that\nit is the only incarnation which has within itself the seed of\npermanence and of universality. The petty, grotesque, and local\n\"descents\" of India will satisfy no one in these days of growing\nbreadth and union, when the people are aspiring after an all-India\nnationality.\n\nIn Christ only is India finding the perfect revelation of God, because\nHe alone revealed Him as the Father of boundless love; God, the Father\nof all men, loving them with an infinite passion and seeking them even\nunto death,--that is the message of the Christian Incarnation. And\nhow strangely does it contrast with the moral obliquity and selfish\nindifference to human interest which characterize Hindu incarnations!\nIn Christ do we find that God is the ever present, personal, loving\nFather, seeking to bring home again His lost children. He is supremely\njust and holy as Ruler and Provider; but His justice and holiness are\nillumined and transfused by His love. And as the Eternal Spirit He is\nstriving in the hearts of men to bring them to Himself. This is the\nincarnation which is gaining ever increasing power in this land and\nwhose worship is spreading from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas.\n\n4. The cross of Christ will be accepted in India as the highest\nexpression of God's love to man.\n\nIt is true that, among many Hindus to-day, as among the Greeks and\nJews of old, the cross of Christ is an offence and a stumbling-block.\nThe idea of vicarious atonement runs counter to the long-cherished\ndoctrine of _Karma_. And it is possible that the universal prevalence\nof the _Karma_ doctrine in the land will give to the doctrine of\natonement the same one-sided aspect which it has obtained among many\nChristians of the West, in the present day, whereby the element of\nvicariousness, or its God-ward efficiency, has been considerably\neliminated. They may remain content to consider the cross merely as a\nsupreme manifestation of love, as that part of the divine example\nwhich has infinite power to attract men toward the highest life of\nlowest service and self-effacement. However this may be, at present,\nthe cross in India has more significance than the trident to the\nHindu. And the language of the cross appeals with increasing force to\nall men of thought. And I am encouraged to think that the modern\ncommendable habit, among educated Hindus, of harking back to the\noldest and the best of their religious writings, may carry India away\nagain from its emphasis upon _Karma_ to the original, pre-Buddhistic\nidea of vicariousness, when, for instance, in the _Purusha Suktha_ of\nthe Rig Veda, the _Purusha_ is represented as being sacrificed by the\ngods. In the _Brahmanas_, also, it is said that the _Prajabathi_\nsacrificed himself in behalf of the gods.\n\nIndeed, it has been well said that the doctrine of _Karma_ itself, as\nconnected with the doctrine of transmigration, carries within itself a\nstrong element of vicariousness; since the person suffering in this\nbirth knows nothing of the experiences of a supposed previous birth,\nand is, therefore, suffering for a past of which he is ignorant and\nfor which his conscience cannot hold him responsible.\n\n5. I believe, also, that the Christian conception of sin is gaining\never widening acceptance in India and will ultimately prevail as\nagainst the Hindu idea.\n\nThe doctrine of atonement and the doctrine of sin are intimately\nrelated; where the atonement is ignored or slighted, the conception of\nsin is apt to lose its ethical content and to become formal. India,\nthrough Buddha, abandoned, largely, its long-cherished principle of\nvicariousness and the multiplicity of its sacrifices. The consequence\nhas been the gradual emasculation of the principle of atonement, until\nthe word has become emptied of content and degraded so as to mean only\nthe eating of a filthy pill because of a certain ceremonial\nuncleanness, which all the best people of the land know to be no\nuncleanness whatever.\n\nIt is natural, under these circumstances, to see the idea of sin also\ncease to have reference to moral obliquity and violation of ethical\nprinciples, and to refer only to intellectual blindness and (more\ncommonly) to ceremonial laxness and ritualistic malfeasance. It is not\nsurprising, therefore, that under this double departure from the\ntruth, conscience should have lost its place of importance and of\nauthority to so large an extent in this land.\n\nBut the day of better things has dawned upon India. The ethical\nconcept and the moral significance of life are beginning to grip India\nvery thoroughly. And I believe that the day will soon come when sin\nwill cease to be connected with intellectual delusion and ignorance,\nand also with ceremonial irregularity, and will be recognized in its\ntrue moral hideousness as a thing of will, and not of intellect, a\nthing of deepest life, and not of puerile ritual.\n\nThus, with the coming of Christ and the emphasis of western thought\nand western civilization upon moral integrity and nobility of\ncharacter, there is growing also a vision of sin in its right colour\nand perspective. The gradual training of the people in British law and\nin the social ethics of the West, and in the true meaning of the\nrighteousness of the Kingdom of God as promulgated by the Christian\nfaith, will, erelong, drive out the old pantheistic idea proclaimed by\nVivekananda, when he said that the only sin that man was capable of\nwas the sin of regarding himself as a sinner! It will also make it\nimpossible for murderers to excuse themselves, as one did recently to\nour knowledge, as he was led to be executed, by saying that it was not\nhe, but the god within him, that slew the man!\n\nIndia is really passing through a quiet, but, nevertheless, a mighty\nethical revolution. Its fundamental principles of morality and of\nreligion, as the interpreters of life, are being rapidly transformed.\nChristianity is sowing everywhere its seed of life and of character,\nas they are exemplified in the perfect life of Jesus, and are\nelaborated in the four Gospels, in comparison with which the message\nof the four Vedas and of all subsequent Hindu literature is but as the\ndark and feeble groping of the blind after light.\n\nThese, then, are the five fundamental aspects of our faith which are\namong the eternal verities and which have come to India smiling with\nthe impress of universality, and which are finding gradual acceptance\nin all portions of the land. These represent what one has aptly called\n\"Substantive Christianity,\" as distinct from \"Adjectival\nChristianity,\" which men are prone to overemphasize and to exalt unto\nthe heavens. This latter we may love and cherish and promote with all\nour hearts; but it is sectional, partial, and transitory. The former,\non the other hand, is abiding, and will shine throughout the ages of\neternity. It will grow in influence and increase in its prevalence\nthroughout this land until we all can say, with the late Chunder Sen,\nand with much more assurance than he, \"None but Jesus is worthy to\nwear this diadem, India; and He shall have it.\"\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\nAbhedhananda Swami, 431.\n\nAbul Fazli, 311.\n\nAgra, 42, 308.\n\nAkbar the Great, 50, 311.\n\nAligharh College, 331.\n\nAllah Upanishad, 319.\n\nAlmsgiving in Islam, 324.\n\nAltruism in Hinduism, 183.\n\nAmritsar, 61.\n\nAmritsar District, 335.\n\nAnimism, 210.\n\nArjuna and his Vision, 154, 161.\n\nArnold, Sir Edwin, 49.\n\nAryans and Caste, 94.\n\nAryans of the East and the West, 23.\n\nArya Somaj, 400-404.\n\nAsceticism, the Way of, 171, 215, 228.\n\nAsia, the Mother of Faiths, 344.\n\nAsoka's Pillar, 57.\n\nAstrologer, 251.\n\nAstrology, 217, 299.\n\nAthi Somaj, 383.\n\nAtma Doctrine, 167.\n\nAtma Sabha, 380.\n\nAurangzeeb, 307, 312.\n\nAuspicious Days, 218, 299.\n\nAvidia, 170, 223.\n\n\nBande Mataram, 3.\n\nBaptist, Americans, 84.\n\nBarber's Wife, Midwife, 271.\n\nBarrows, Dr. J. H., 126.\n\nBeatitudes, the, 369.\n\nBeef Eating, 126.\n\nBenares, 66.\n\nBengal, Partition of, 2.\n\nBengalees and Caste, 145.\n\nBesant, Mrs., 406, 409.\n\nBhagavad Gita, 152, 189.\n\nBhagavad Gita and Bhakti, 182.\n\nBhakti, 181.\n\nBlavatsky, Madame, 405.\n\nBoh Tree, the, 368.\n\nBombay, 39.\n\nBoycott, 2.\n\nBrahma, 279.\n\nBrahma Gnana, 170, 223.\n\nBrahmo Somaj, 380-400.\n\nBuddha, 227.\n\nBuddha and \"Saint Josaphat,\" 341.\n\nBuddhism, 69.\n\nBuddhism isolated, 375.\n\nBurma's Produce, 73.\n\nBurmese Women, 80.\n\n\nCalcutta University, 6.\n\nCaste and Commerce, 134.\n\nCaste and Contact, 109.\n\nCaste and Inter-dining, 107.\n\nCaste and Intermarriage, 105.\n\nCaste and its Results, 129.\n\nCaste and Totemism, 114.\n\nCaste and Occupation, 98, 112.\n\nCaste Decadence, 144.\n\nCaste Penalties, 115.\n\nCaste System, 17, 22, 91-151, 177, 199.\n\nCaste unknown in Burma, 84.\n\nCensus, 313.\n\nCensus on Caste, 96.\n\nChaitanya, 377.\n\nChakkerbutty, Professor, 259.\n\nCharacterization of Caste, 102.\n\nChild Marriage, 214, 260.\n\nChinese, 109, 284.\n\nChrist and Buddha, 338-373.\n\nChrist Ideal, 434-437.\n\nChrist Incarnation, 225, 437.\n\nChrist, the Cross of, 439.\n\n_Christian College Magazine_, 202.\n\nChristian Effort for Mohammedans, 333.\n\nChristianity and Caste, 149.\n\nChristianity--its Progress in India, 412-443.\n\nChunder Sen, Keshub, 382.\n\nCivilization, Western, 7.\n\nCleanliness of Hindus, 267.\n\nClothing, Hindu, 268.\n\nCongress, National, 8.\n\nContradictions in Bhagavad Gita, 187.\n\nCooch Behar, Maharajah, 384.\n\nCrossing Theory of Caste, 100.\n\nCulinary Arrangements in Hindu Home, 268.\n\nCycles of Hindu Time, 286.\n\n\nDalhousie, Lord, 210.\n\nDancing Girls, 106, 212.\n\nDante's Inferno, 206, 212, 357.\n\nDebendra, Nath, 381.\n\nDedication of a House, 244.\n\nDelhi, 53, 308.\n\nDeportation, 20.\n\nDetachment, 179.\n\nDevil Worship, 206.\n\nDharma, 346.\n\nDowry and Marriage, 260.\n\nDravidians and Caste, 101.\n\nDravidians and Devil Worship, 34.\n\nDurgai Pujei, 315.\n\nDutch Conquest, 38.\n\nDayanand Saraswati, 400.\n\n\nEclecticism, 156.\n\nEducation, 6.\n\nEducational Works of Protestants, 414.\n\nEliot, George, 372.\n\nEpicure, Hindu, 268.\n\nEschatology of Hindu Shastras, 185.\n\nEvolutionist, 196.\n\n\nFate, Doctrine of, 329.\n\nFetichism, 209.\n\nFinancial Statement, 13.\n\nFish Incarnation, 226.\n\nFrazer, J. G., 114.\n\nFuller, Sir Bampfylde, 18.\n\nFuneral Ceremonies, 272.\n\nFurniture of a Home, 245.\n\n\nGanesh, 201.\n\nGolden Temple, 65.\n\nGovernment and Caste, 148.\n\nGreek Images, 200.\n\nGreeks, 276.\n\nGrierson, Dr., 319.\n\nGuru Kula, 403.\n\n\nHindu Architecture, 33.\n\nHinduism amorphous, 194.\n\nHinduism, Higher, 106, 190.\n\nHinduism, Popular, 190-219.\n\n\"Hindus as they are,\" 243, 257.\n\nHindus not Historians, 282.\n\nHome Life of Hindus, 242-275.\n\nHoroscope, 261.\n\nHouse Building, 243.\n\n\nIbbetson, Sir Denzil, on Caste, 97.\n\nIdeal, Divine, in Hinduism, 223.\n\nIdeals, Hindu Religious, 220.\n\nIdolatry, 176.\n\nIdol whipped, 176, 205.\n\nIliad, 153.\n\nImaduddin, Dr., 335.\n\nImmorality in Hinduism, 210.\n\nIncarnation, Hindu and Christian, 163, 200, 225.\n\nIndia, the Mother of Faiths, 30.\n\nIrrawaddy River, 72.\n\nIslam and Caste, 325.\n\nIslam in India, 302-337.\n\nIslam, its History in India, 305.\n\nIslam Purists, 327.\n\nIslam Unitarian, 309.\n\n\nJainism, 41.\n\nJapan, 2.\n\nJapan's Victory, 5.\n\nJapanese, 197.\n\nJesus an Asiatic, 394.\n\nJesus and the Pharisees, 348, 351.\n\nJewels, Love of, 285.\n\nJews of Cochin, 38.\n\nJogendra Nath Bhattacharya, 130.\n\nJoint Family System, 246.\n\n\nKali, 195.\n\nKali Yuga, 276-301.\n\nKarens, 85.\n\nKarma, Doctrine of, 359.\n\nKauravas, 154.\n\nKipling, Rudyard, 21.\n\nKnowledge, the Way of, 169.\n\nKohinoor Diamond, 50.\n\nKo San Ye, 87.\n\nKrishna, 155, 165, 195, 291.\n\nKuruchetra, 154.\n\n\nLala Lajpat Rai, 20.\n\nLaws abolishing Hindu Rites, 419.\n\nLegislative Councils--Enlargement of, 28.\n\nLength of Hindu Time System, 277.\n\nLiberation, Doctrine of, 169.\n\n\nMadura--its Temple and Palace, 32.\n\nMadwachariar, 377.\n\nMahabharata, 153.\n\nMaha Yuga, 279.\n\nMandalay, 78.\n\nManu, 281.\n\nMarriage not a Sentiment, 260.\n\n\"Masters\" of Theosophy, 409.\n\nMetempsychosis, 236.\n\nModerates, the, 10.\n\nModern Religious Movements, 374-411.\n\nMohammedan Loyalty, 15.\n\nMohammedan Population, 302.\n\nMohammedanism, 42, 140, 302-337.\n\nMoral Character of Time, 292.\n\nMother-in-Law, 264.\n\nMourning in a Hindu Home, 272.\n\nMozumdar, Protab, 386-391.\n\nMutiny, the, 1.\n\n\nNana Sahib, 107.\n\nNanak Shah, 319, 378.\n\nNatesa Sastri, Pundit, 293.\n\nNative Doctors, 270.\n\nNew Dispensation, 399.\n\nNew Dispensation's Creed, 396.\n\n\nObscenity, Law punishing, 210.\n\nOccupational Theory of Caste, 98.\n\nOdyssey, the, 153.\n\nOlcott, Colonel, 405, 408.\n\nOmens, 217.\n\n\"Oriental Christ,\" 391.\n\nOrigin of Caste, 93.\n\nOutcastes of Panjamas, 208.\n\n\nPagoda, the Land of the, 73.\n\nPal, Bepin Chandra, 12.\n\nPandavas, 154.\n\nPan Islamic Movement, 332.\n\nPanjaub--its Difficulty, 18.\n\nPantheism, 160.\n\nPariahs and Hindus, 209.\n\nParliament, Members of, 7.\n\nParsees, 40.\n\nPax Britannica, 312.\n\nPessimism, Hindu, 217.\n\nPlutscho, Rev., 412.\n\nPolygamy of Mohammedans, 320.\n\nPolytheism, 199.\n\nPrakriti, 159.\n\nPrayaschitta, 120.\n\nPress in India, the, 11, 21.\n\nProsperity in India, 14.\n\nProtestantism and Caste, 143.\n\nProtestantism, its Bicentenary, 412.\n\nProtestant Missionary Force, 414.\n\nProverbs about Women, 253.\n\nPuranas, 156, 277.\n\n\nQuietism, 233.\n\nQuran, the, 318.\n\n\nRahu Kala, 300.\n\nRailroads and Caste, 147.\n\nRajputana Mohammedans, 316.\n\nRamachandra, 281.\n\nRamayana, 157, 281.\n\nRam Mohun Roy, 379.\n\nRangoon, 72.\n\nReligious Theory of Caste, 95.\n\nRenunciation, 233.\n\nRevenue of Government, 13.\n\nRishis, 295.\n\nRisley, Sir H., on Caste, 102.\n\nRobson, Dr., 322.\n\nRomish Missionaries, 284.\n\n\nSadharana Somaj, 385.\n\nSadhus, 215.\n\nSaivites, 158.\n\nSakti Worship, 212.\n\nSalvation in Hinduism, 184.\n\nSarnath, 69.\n\nSati, 255-257.\n\nSayuchya, 171, 229.\n\nSchools and Caste, 148.\n\nSchwey Dagon, 74.\n\nSedition, 12.\n\nShah Jehan, 45, 307.\n\nSham, a Huge, 232.\n\nShiahs, 327.\n\nShradda, 273.\n\nSidhartthan, 342.\n\nSikhs and their Faith, 62, 319.\n\nSin, Christian Conception of, 441.\n\nSite of a House, 243.\n\nSiva's Trident, 300.\n\nSleeping on the Floor, 246.\n\nSocial Reform, 26, 98, 419.\n\nSocial Theory of Caste, 97.\n\nSoothsayers, 97, 251.\n\nSouth India Islam, 317.\n\nStatistics of Indian Faiths, 31.\n\nSunnis, 327.\n\nSuperstitions of Islam, 315.\n\nSwadesha, 420.\n\nSwami, Hindu, 198.\n\nSword of Islam, 306.\n\nSyrian Church, 34, 140, 412.\n\n\nTantras, 156.\n\nTaxation in India, 14.\n\nTemple Cars, 211.\n\nTheebaw, 79.\n\nTheism, 378.\n\nTheism unsatisfying, 398.\n\nTheosophical Society, 404-411.\n\nThomasians, 35.\n\nTotemism and Caste, 114.\n\nTowers of Silence, 40.\n\nTransmigration, 362.\n\nTravancore, the Land of Charity, 34.\n\nTravancore Maharajah, 111.\n\nTravel in India, 31.\n\nTribal Theory of Caste, 96.\n\nTriumph of Christianity, 425.\n\nTriumph of Christian Principles, 430.\n\n\nUltimate Salvation in Hinduism, 235.\n\nUniversities and Politics, 20.\n\nUniversity Graduates, 6.\n\nUsury, 323.\n\n\nVaishnava Cult, 158.\n\nVedantic Philosophy, 156.\n\nVishnu, 279.\n\nVisishdadvaitha, 376.\n\nVivekananda, Swami, 126, 431.\n\n\nWestern Christianity inadequate, 240.\n\nWestern Medical Science, 271.\n\nWherry, Dr., 311.\n\nWidows, Hindu, 213, 263.\n\nWilliams, Sir Monier, 321.\n\nWomen in Hinduism, 213, 252.\n\nWorks, Doctrine of, 174.\n\n\nYama, 257.\n\nYoga Philosophy, 156, 172.\n\n\nZiegenbalg, 412.\n\n * * * * *","title":"India, Its Life and Thought","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":87937}