£vbrarj> of €he Cheolojvcal ^mimxy PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY From the LiJrrry of ^. ^ , DS 413 .M38 1902 Mason, Caroline Atwater, 1853-1939 . Lux Christi Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive in 2015 littps://arcliive.org/details/iuxclnristioutlinOOmaso_0 LUX CHRISTI United Study of Missions Series. 1. VIA CHRISTI. An Introduction. LOUISE MANNING HODGKINS. 2. LUX CHRISTI. A Study of India. CAROLINE ATWATER MASON Other volumes in preparation. Jit THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. LUX CHRISTI AN OUTLINE STUDY OF INDIA CAROLINE ATWATER MA.SON THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1902 All rights retemtd COPYRIRHT, 1902, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set lip and electrotyped August, 1902. PUBLISHED FOR THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE ON THE UNITED STUDY OF MISSIONS. J. 8. Cushini! .t Co. lU rwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. STATEMENT OF THE CENTEAL COMMITTEE ON THE UNITED STUDY OF MISSIONS It is well known to many friends of missions that one of the results of the Ecumenical Conference of Foreign Missions in 1900 was a movement for a system of united study among all the women's foreign missionary societies in the world. During the year 1902 the plan has been tried and proved most successful. The first course in the regular series was introductory and historical, concerning the progress of missions from apostolic times to the close of the eighteenth century, and was entitled " An Intro- duction to the Study of Missions." The general idea and the special topics have been taken up with great and unexpected enthusiasm in nearly all of the forty women's foreign missionary societies in the United States and in Canada, and in some societies in Great Britain. The text-book for the course, " Via Christi," has reached a sale of thirty-five thousand copies, and testimony as (o the value and interest of the course has been almost universal. The Central Committee now present as the second course in the series, for 190.3, "A Study of India," for which " Lux Christi " is the text-book. India is a fasci- V vi STATEMENT OF THE COMMITTEE nating country to study, and encouraged by past success this second outline and text-book are sent out with great confidence in their cordial reception. Miss A. B. CHILD, Chairman, 704 Congregational Home, Boston, Mass. Miss CLEMENTINA BUTLER, Secretary and Treasurer, Newton Centre, Mass. Mrs. J. T. GRACEY, 177 Pearl Street, Rochester, N. Y. Miss ELLEN C. PARSONS, Presbyterian Building, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Mrs. N. M. WATERBURY, Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass. PREFACE The foundation of the United Study of Missions was laid by Miss Hodgkins in "Via Christi." It is fitting tliat the next subject of study should be India, for two reasons : India was the first field of Anglo-Saxon Prot- estant Missions, and by reason of the seclusion and oppression of its women, it is preeminently woman's foreign missionary field. It can be said without hesitation that no portion of the heathen world can offer us a more fruitful sub- ject for study and investigation, whether we regard the kinship of the great Aryan race, the romance and adventure of early missionary his- tory, or whether we consider the land itself, with its wealth of ancient literature, profound j)hilosophy, and wonderful architecture ; with its story of dramatic conquest and its haunting sense of mystery. The present position of India as a dependency of our Anglo-Saxon kinsmen brings it pecul- iarly within the range of our interests; its vii viii FBEFACE prominence in the fiction of the day brings it vividly before our imaginations. May God grant that a year of earnest study shall lay the burden of its Christless millions heavily upon our hearts. In "Lux Christi" the author seeks to furnish simply a starting-point from which students may work out in all directions into the rich store of literature accessible. The little book is an outline, not a picture ; a condensed sum- mary, not a history of India, religious, political, or social. Neither is it a study of Christian missions in India in detail. To enter in any real sense upon that undertaking would require a series of volumes, and but a portion of two chapters was available. The attempt has been made to give the master motives, major powers, and great historical workers tlieir fitting place ; only a few words, however, could be allowed to each, and many worthy names have been of necessity omitted altogether. Technical terms liave been avoided and accents on Indian words have been omitted lest their use should add to the unfamiliar and difficult aspect of the pages. The author's thanks are especially due to Miss Child, Mrs. Gracey, and Mrs. Waterbury of the Central Committee for invaluable aid in PREFACE ix the preparation of this study, and also to many other friends who have helped with timely sug- gestions ; in particular Dr. J. T. Gracey and Dr. T. S. Barbour. During the progress of this work numbers of reports, tracts, periodi- cals, and books, as well as letters, have been received from all parts of the country, from Canada, and also from England, Scotland, and Sweden. All have concerned India and all have been of interest and value. It has been impossible to acknowledge these favors indi- vidually, or to incorporate in " Lux Christi " a fractional part of their important information. May this means be taken for cordial thanks for these welcome aids. They have served a pur- pose, perhaps, above and beyond what was hoped for by those who sent them, for they have fur- nished a revelation of the magnitude of tlie work of God in India, and of the devotion of workers of every name. They have further- more offered convincing evidence of the insig- nificance of the divisive differences between Christians, of the greatness of the underlying unity. Too long have we confined ourselves to tlie detailed study of our own limited fields, missing the sweep and the thrill which come with the wider knowledge of the work of the X PREFACE Church Universal. Nothing, in its way, could be more broadening and illuminating, or more full of encouragement than a systematic study of the work in India of all Christian missions. To this end the author would request that some effective method of exchange of periodical and other denominational literature appropriate to the general theme shall be devised, in order that each may know all, and that we may see henceforth not Methodist India, or Presbyte- rian, or Baptist, but Christ's India. C. A. M. Batavia, N.Y., July 6, liX)2. CONTENTS PAOB Preface v I Table showing Development of Hindu Religions 2 THE DIM CENTURIES 3 The Sacred Literature of the Hindus . . 2(5 II Dates for India's Political History ... 38 INDIA'S INVADERS 39 Map of India facimj 85 III Religious Census, 1891 85 Tables of Languages ...... 86 THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE .... 87 IV Important Dates in the History of Christian Missions in India . . . . . 1.32 THE INVASION OF LOVK 133 xi xii CONTENTS V PAOH Important Dates in the History of Work for THE WOiMEN OF InDIA 184 A CENTURY OF WORK FOR WOMEN . . 185 VI General Statistics of India 231 FORCES OF DARKNESS AND FORCES OF LIGHT 233 APPENDIX List of Twenty Books 269 List of Twenty Periodicals 270 Words often met with in Books on India . . 271 Aids to Pronunciation ...... 273 Table of Christians in India, 1901 . . . 274 INDEX 276 //>d/a /ies — f main/y deftveen para/-\ J /e/s /Oand40',t/ie Fro-J (^-■^p/c of Cancer 6/'- ^sec(/ng //. /( /s cross systems ; t/ie ///ma/ayas, \ fA'e A/g/iesf //t f/ie tyor/a.and t/ie V/nc/nyas. M/. fveresf, conse crate J^s^ ^, tf. /s t//e /}/£hesf pea/f of Me ///ma* /Coromande/) coasts 6y moi/nta/n ranges Anotv/? as GAats (stepsJS r/ie cA/ef r/vers of ///nc/usfan are f/ie /ndus, >/umna,ana tjan- 1 \geS) of £ur/na, t/ie Bra/tmaputra and /rratraddyi of f/ieDec- ciin, t/ie Godaver/ and /(r/sAna. T/ie /Varbada /s sometimes counted t/te d/y/d/ng //ne between JVort/i and Soi/fh /ndia . The extreme fengt/t and iread/h are e^ua/, /900 m//es)f he arctif^ /s as hir^e as that of £urope save /fuss/^.P<^ \288,(tq}p,000 C/fmate trop/ca/ /n genera/. Cu/t/v^ yat/o/i of crops and /rr/gat/on of /anc yyho//y c/epe/ident on monsoon tyh/ch^ hr/n^s ra/ny season f/t>m du/y fo^'^'^ ft Sepfe/nher. fauna anc/ f/ora tAose of 60 th temperate and trop/c zones. Ch/ef products^/ r/ce and other gra/ns, su^ar, cotton, op/um, /nd/^o, sp/ccs, Ca/y cutta the Capita/. \ '' ftbnders of ar- c/dtecture.- fajMa\ ,ha/ etc. at/lfjnj ana fte/hi) dyes off/ , 'orai ^reatTeml o/es ofCudda\ /ore, /an/ore^ /nSoi/th^ 'nd/a/ TABLE I Development of Hindu Religions 1500 B.C.-1900 A.D. First Period. — Vedism, 1500 b.c. to 900 B.C. Age of the Vedas. Chief gods, Varuna, Agni, Surya, Indra, Ushas, Yama, Rudras, Soma. All natural forces. Worship chiefly chanting and thank-offerings of rice, soma, and clarified butter. Non-idolatrous. Mention made of thirty-three gods in the Vedas. Woman held in high esteem. Second Period. — Brahmanism, 900 b.c. to 1200 a.d. Rise of the power of the priesthood, of the systems of animal sacrifice, and of caste. The Brahmanas, Code of Manu, Upanishads, and Sutras, the Great Epics, and the Puranas produced. Third Period. — Buddhism, 543 B.C. to 900 a.d. Growth so great that in 250 b.c Buddhism was de- clared the state religion of India. During the ninth century a.d. it was driven out of the peninsula by a Brah- manical uprising. Survives chiefly in Ceylon and Burma. Jainism is a survival of Buddliism. Fourth Period. — IModern Hinduism, or popular Mythological Brahmanism. This phase had its rise about 400 B.C., coincident with rise of Buddhism, and lias continued down to the present. Idolatrous worship of the Triad, — Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, their wives, and of Krishna, Rama, Kali, etc. Thirty-three millions of deities. Dogmas of transmigra- tion, caste, and Brahman dominance fixed and universal. Worship of demons, spirits, serpents, the cow, the ox, and the bull, the fish, tortoise, and bear (the last three as incarnations of Vishnu), of plants, of the symbols of generative energy (Linga and Yoni). Fetish worship. Degradation and seclusion of women. LUX CHEISTI CHAPTER I THE DIM CENTURIES Here sits he shaping wings to fly ; His heart forebodes a mystery ; He names the name Eternity. Heaven opens inward, chasms yawn, Vast images in glimmering dawn, Half shown, are broken and withdrawn. — Tknnyson. In the period during which the Hebrew people, led by Moses out of Egyptian bond- age, were wandering on their devious course northward, or were entering their Promised Land by the fords of the Jordan, anotlier great exodus was taking place, nearly two thousand miles to the east. Where the Caucasus and tlie Himalaya ranges meet, and the Oxus and the Indus have their sources, lies a vast and lofty ridge known as "the roof of the world." Here dwelt a people of the great Aryan race, i)roud, free, and con- scious of their strength, wlio found their land too narrow for their vigorous growth. 3 4 LUX CHRISTI The Indo-Aryans Led by their seers (Rishis), chanting the earliest hymns of the Vedas, this mighty con- quering horde poured southeastward through the rugged passes of the Caucasus and the Himala)'^as and entered their Holy Land, the Land of the Five Rivers (now known as the Punjab). Delighted with the Avealth of rivers, the newcomers named their new land India, for the river Indus, or Sindhu. Great Asia wears as a belt around her body, from the Red Sea to the Amoor River, a zone of desert plateau, studded here and there along its lower line by mountain ranges. Hanging like three trophies from this belt are three great peninsulas. Of these three, the central and greatest is the mighty pentlant of India, "great, gray, formless India." Between the Himalayas and the Vindhya mountains stretches the great central plain of Hindustan. The tribes which now pushed their way through this plain eastward toward the Jumna and the Ganges were not a nation of newly emancipated serfs, like the Hebrews, neither were they, like them, of Semitic origin (descendants of Shem, first-named son of Noah). Tliey belonged to the splendid Aryan stock, from which the Brahman and the Englishman alike descend. From one and the same root spring the Celts, the Goths, the Slavs, the Per- THE DIM CENTURIES 5 sians, and the Hindus, all tracing their common origin to Japheth. The name "Aryan " means "noble"; the word " Sanskrit," descriptive of the stately language of the Indo-Aryans, signi- fies "polished." ^ They were a highly intellectual people, subtle and profound, poetic and reli- gious in their instincts, skilled in logic, and, even in those shadowy ages, already achieving some skill in astronomical and other science. In person they were handsome, tall, fair, fine-feat- ured, full-bearded. Valiant in war, full of energy and force, these primitive invaders of India are shown by the Vedas to have had high concep- tions of family and domestic life ; marriage was sacred among them and women held a high posi- tion. " Husband and wife were both rulers of the house and drew near to the gods together in prayer." Aborigines of India Like the Hebrews on their entrance into Canaan, the Indo-Aryans, on their victorious march, found it necessary to conquer the abo- rigines, tlie native dwellers in the land. These non-Aryan races of India were of a distin(;tly lower type than their conquerors, dark-skinned, flat-nosed, squat in figui-e. Tliey are described in the Vedas scornfully as " distui bers of sac- rifices," " raw-caters," etc. They designated them the " Dasyus," or enemies, and the " Dasas," or slaves. These lower tribes be- 1 Tlie Sanskrit is no loiij^cr a spokcjn lanpjuagc. 6 LUX CHBISTI longed to tliree great roots known as the Tibeto-Burman, the Kolarian, and the Dra- vidian. The descendants of the first-named are still to be found in the foot hills of the Himalayas, chiefly in upper Burma and Assam; the second are now scattered through central India ; while the Dravidians are to be found quite compactly in the south. Each of these three groups has given rise to a large number of native, non-Aryan dialects. Out of twenty belonging to the Tibeto-Burman group we may mention the Burmese, Naga, and Garo ; out of nine Kolarian dialects, the Santali is the chief ; the Dravidian tribes furnish twelve distinct languages, among which are Telugu, Tamil, and Kanarese. The greater portion of these aboriginal tribes have submitted to tiie conquering race, and the mixed descendants of conquerors and conquered now make a large part of the Hindu people. About an equal number of each race have kept their ancient stock comparatively pure. There still linger, in the jungles and mountains, remnants of still earlier aboriginal tribes than these mentioned, for the latter seem to have been themselves invaders of India in some dim, prehistoric past. Contrasted Development of ffebretvs and Indo- Aryans We have begun this study by drawing a par- allel between the contemporaneous exodus of THE DIM CENTURIES 7 two great peoples, the Hebrew and the Hindu. We mark that at tlie outset the Indo-Aryaus were a free, highly developed people, entering a vast and fertile continent ; while the Hebrews were a horde of slave-born wanderers, taking possession of a rocky strip of coast. The ques- tion must arise. Why sliould the Jewish people have advanced in civilization, intellectual force, and in spiritual attainment so far beyond the Hindu ? The answer may be briefly given as geographical and religious. India lies largely within the tropics. The enervating tropical climate has produced in the course of centuries a dreamy and brooding mental habit in place of the early creative and aggressive energy. Palestine, lying well to the north, bred a hardier and more stubl)orn type of men. The Hindus assimilated the semi-civilization of Asia; the Jews the culture of Greece and Rome and of modern Europe. Israel with its lofty, original Jehovistic faith, which was destined indeed to be — " dipt in l)atlis of hissing tears, And battered w itii the shocks of doom," yet in the end rejected evexy form f)f jiagan polytheism, and thus by its unique monotheism became the ciiannel tlirough which the Supreme Revelation of the one God could logically come. The religion of the Indo-Aryans, on the other hand, while starting with a compai'atively pure 8 LUX CIIRISTI nature-worship (althougli the Rig-Veda has allu- sions to thirty-three deities), rapidly degenerated into ritualistic and mythological Brahmanism with its monstrous misconceptions and puerile superstitions. With the degeneration of its reli- gion has come the degeneration of the people. The stoiy of ancient India is in the main tlie story of the rise and fall of its religious systems, as the Hindus, in spite of an enormous bulk of literature, have no history, no records, no an- nals, for a reason we shall find later. I. THE HINDU RELIGION, MARKED BY THREE DISTINCT PHASES I . Vedism. Going back to dim pre-Vedic ages, i.e. the ages before the Vedas were known, we find the first conception of Deity among the Aryans to bear the name Varuna, "the Encompasser," the name given to the infinite vault of heaven — not to the sky, the realm of cloud and wind and rain. The hymns addressed to Va- runa which survive in the Vedas are not only the earliest contained in tliem and the noblest, but they are apparently monotheistic, althougli tliis monotheism was quickly lost. What in tlie Vedas often appears monotlieistic, i.e. the ascription of supreme attributes to some Deity, is in reality due to the practice of worship])ing one god at a time., and seeking to propitiate him by exalting liim as the One and Only. TUE DIM CENTURIES 9 The primitive objects of worship in the ab- sence of revealed religion are sure to be the forces of nature. Such were the gods of the Aryans, known under the general name of Devas, "the bright ones." Agni, the god of fire, Indra, the god of rain, Surya, the sun or god of day, constituted a trinity of divinities. The Sun-god was also worshipped as Mitra, and the three letters, A. U. M., which combine to form the mystic syllable Om, were originally the initial letters of the trinity composed of Agni, Indra,^ and Mitra. This notion of a triad, indefinitely multiplied, runs throughout the whole Hindu religion. The Vedas speak of the gods as " thrice eleven " in number, while later ages give thirty-three millions. To the trinity of Fire, Wind, and Sun were soon added Ushas, the Dawn; Yama, the King of Death; Iludras, the Storm God or Destroyer; and Soma, the Deification of the exhilarating juice of the soma plant. The Ninth Book of the Veda, composed of one hundred and fourteen hymns, is wliolly devoted to the praise of soma. Indra was supposed to be peculiarly addicted to the intoxicating draught, and he is thus ad- dressed in tlie Rig- Veda, " Indra, take into thy belly the full wave of tlie inebriating soma, for thou art lord of libations." Again, with scant ceremony, " Sit down, Indra, upon the sacred ^ Vaxuna (U) was sometimes substituted for Indra. 10 LUX CTTRISTI grass, and when thou liast drunk the soma, then, Indra, go home." Great were the orgies of gods and men on the Indian Olympus ! Agni, the Fire-god, was especially pleased by offerings of clarified butter Q/hee), as the pouring of this substance upon fire produced a brilliant blaze. The favorite epithets for Agni were therefore " butter-haired," " butter-backed," etc. The Vedic religion, in place of the stoical pessimism of later Hinduism, was full of a "joyous sense of life." The Rig-Veda has not a little poetic fire and elevation. Suggestions are found in it of the common traditions of the Creation, the Fall, the Deluge. The Vedas give no sanction to the doctrine of transmigra- tion of souls, the burning of widows, the prev- alence of child-marriage, the tyranny of caste (explicitly), nor the practice of idolatry. But while they are free from many of the corrup- tions of decadent Brahmanism, "they will be found," says Monier Williams, Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, " when taken as a whole, to abound more in puerile ideas than in lofty conceptions." ]\Iax INliiller, the first translator of the Vedas, says, " Large numbers of the Vedic hymns are childish in the extreme"; sentiments and passions unworthy of deity are ascribed to the gods, not one of whom indeed, save Varuna, is of a i)ure and lofty character. Intelligent modern Hindus do not conceal their own dis- appointment at the sterility of the Vedas, which THE DIM CENTURIES 11 for centuries were practically unread. In short, the time has gone by for ejishrouding these interesting memorials in imposing mystery, and seeking to overawe the uninitiated by assertions of their inconceivable grandeur. They are translated now and can be read by any one who has patience to push his way through the " un- arranged, promiscuous mass . . . destitute of system or harmony." Here and there may be found a noble hymn, a lofty prayer ; but between these oases are illimitable deserts of tedious sensuality, fantastic and monotonous beyond belief. The claim of extreme antiquity for the Vedas is surpassed by that of the earlier Hebrew scriptures ; and the moral elevation of the latter, as well as their sustained poetic grandeur, shine with peculiar lustre by comparison. Vedisin,orthe purer early religion of the Vedas with its underlying monotheism, may be said generally to have extended to the eighth century u.c, when it was gradually overgrown by the second phase of Hindu religion, Brahmanism. 2. Brahmanism. This word is formed from the term "Brahma," signifying the Supremo Soul of the Universe, at first known as Atman^ the Breath of Life. The priestly class had now gained great power, and in their hands the Vedas were inter- preted to suit their own ends. The vague sug- gestion of caste in the celebrated Purusha' ' See pp. 31-32 for the origin and significance of caate. 12 LUX CHRISTI hymn of the Rig- Veda was by the priests or Brahmans developed into a fourfold order, an vuiparalleled social tyranny. The Brahmanas, cr ritualistic treatises, " which have hardly their match for pedantry and downright absurdity," were added to the Vedas, and the sacrificial system, which fed the priesthood more than the gods, was enormously elaborated, so that " the land was deluged in the blood of slain beasts." The Code of Manii The Code of Manu, although of gradual growth and indefinite date, belongs to this epoch. It came into being to stem the tide of rationalistic thoiight to which the exaggerations of the sacrificial system had given rise. This Code stands for rigid conservatism, for the iron severity of caste, and for the lex talionis in bit- terest cruelty, as thus indicated, " With what- ever member of the body a low-born man may injure his superior, that very member of his body must be mutilated." (Book VIII.) A once-born man insulting twice-born men with abusive language must have his tongue cut out." (Book IX.) The authors of the Code of Manu were evidently Brahmans, and its undevi- ating purpose is to intrench the Brahman caste finally and forever in its authority. The supe- riority of the Brahmans is the hinge on which the whole social organization turns. Besides these doctrines the Code of Manu discourses THE DIM CENTURIES 13 largely on tlie transmigratiou of souls. The following, in brief, is this theory, which is im- portant as being a pervasive, practical force to-day in all Hindu life and thought, as charac- teristic of Buddhism as of Brahmanism : — Every act and every thought produces either good or evil fruit. As a result of conduct on eartli the spirits of men are reincarnated in an endless succession of forms. The accepted number of rebirths is 8,400,000. A common c()lli)quialism for the attainment of salvation is '•'to cut short the 84." A threefold alternative is presented to the soul : it may pass through deities, through men, or through beasts and plants. It will go through deities if goodness prevails in its nature ; through men if it is ruled by passion ; throiigh beasts and plants if it dwells still lower in the moral scale, as, for instance, the soul may be reborn in the form of a worm in the body of an unclean beast. A lirahman, neglecting his own appointed caste duty, will be born as a vomit-eating demon ; a soldier, as a demon feeding on excre- ment and dead 1)odies ; a husbandman, as a demon feeding on putrid carrion. The deterioration of tlie Vedic writings is well illustrated by comparing these degrading and loathsome terrors with the calm repose and noble faith of the Burial Hymn.^ 1 p. 32. 14 LUX CHRISTI The Xinth Book of the Code of Manu relates to women and fixes their status of inferiority and subservience as we find it in India to- day. " Women have no business with the text of the Veda ; this is fully settled ; therefore hav- ing no knowledge of expiatory texts, sinful women must be as foul as falsehood itself. This is a fixed law,*' etc. Hindu cosmogony and cosmography are dealt with in the code in a manner equally intelligent. Systems of Philosophy As an outgrowth of the rationalistic tendency which the Code of Manu was framed to meet, we find at about this time a body of speculative doctrine put forth called the Upanishads. The dread of continued passing from one form of life to another had become the one haunting thought which colored the whole texture of Indian philosoph}-." To liberate the spirit of man from this bondage of transmigration was known as "the Way of Knowledge," and con- stituted "the summum honum of Brahmanical philosophy." Upon the Upanishads are built the three ruling systems of Hindu philosophy, viz., Nyaya, Sankhya, and Vedanta. The last named is the leading jdiilosophy of India. The name means " the end or scope of the Veda." Its two cardinal principles are Illusion — Maya THE DIM CENTURIES 15 — and Pantheism. Maya is " a play which the Absolute plays with himself." The " great saying" is Om, i.e. I am Grod or / am Me. Again, " The whole universe is God." " There is nothing else." "Ignorance makes the soul think itself different from God, and it also pro- jects the appearance of an external world," in short, the finite world with all its appearances is all illusion. We can now understand why the history of the Hindu people has never been written or preserved. Vedautic and other similar doctrine have so practically and universally permeated the popular mind with the conception that all is illusion, that no human being and no earthly events or conditions have the slightest value, or are in any Avay worthy of record or investiga- tion. Pantheism Pantheism, the theory that all is God and God is all, — there is nothing real in the uni- verse but God, for God is the universe, — lies at the foundation of every phase of Hinduism, and expresses itself in the polytheism whicli regards all things, from tlie soul of man to the blade of grass, as wornhipahle, since all alike are pervaded by divinity. Kvnn the most uneducated Hindus state that they ani tliemsclves parts of the Deity, as are all otlicM" l)eings in the universe. Tliis cardinal doctriiu; is suiniiicd up in liie Chandogya Upauishad, " Tldx atom belonjeth to 16 LUX CHRISTI the Over-Soul^ is the All, is the Truth, is the Over-Soul. That art thou.'" The lack of a sense of sinfulness, characteristic of the people, finds here its obvious explanation. There can be no guilt where all that we call good or evil is but the necessary self-manifestation of the one unconscious essence. All that we behold or conceive, — animals, men, natural forces, and gods, — are, according to the theory of Brah- manism, alike divine. Hence the rapid multi- plication of deities to thirty-three millions in decadent Hinduism. Reaction under Gautama In the sixth century B.C. there was born the son of a rajah of the Sakya tribe of Aryans, named Gautama, and afterward called the Buddha, or Enlightened One. Of the religion which was founded by this remarkable re- former, we shall speak more fully later. We mention it at this point only to consider its effect upon lirahmanism, against the tyranny and exaggerations of which it was a noble protest and one which for a time bade fair to prevail. Wherever the new religion spread, it produced a profound revolution in Indian thought and was enthusiastically accepted. With marvel- lous adroitness and subtlety the Brahmans met this reaction ; proved themselves able to assim- ilate all that they chose of the new cult, to THE DIM CENTURIES 17 popularize new aspects of ancient gods and heroes, and to weave all into one vast system, known as Hinduism, the lineal descendant of Vedism and Brahmanism. " Like an immense glacier," says Rowe, " slowly descending from the mountain, gather- ing up and incorporating stones, earth, and debris of whatever kind comes in its way, but at the same time accommodating itself to the configuration of the mountain side, so has Hin- duism come down through the ages, gathering up and incorporating whatever gods and god- desses, heroes and saints, religious theories and doctrines, rites and ceremonies, came in its way. So flexible is Hinduism, and in a certain way so tolerant, that Christianity, its deadly foe, could at once be incorporated into this huge system if Christians would but consent to have Jesus Christ regarded as one of the innumerable gods of the Hindu pantheon, form a caste subdivision by themselves, and pay proper homage to the Brahmans." 3. Modern Hinduism or Mythological Brah- manism. Jiuddliism grew to a great popularity in the century after the death of its founder, and it appears to be coincident with this movement that the Hi'ahmans l)egan to popularize their own religion, and to seek to satisfy the craving of tlie people for personal gods with human attributes. Tlience jjroceedcd tlie gross degen- o 18 LUX CHRISTI eration of Hinduism, i.e. mj^thological Brali- mauism. The s^'stein is briefly this : the prime universal essence is Brahma (neuter), which when united to Maya, or Illusion, gives birth to tlie primeval male god, Brahma, the Creator of all inferior forms, from himself to a tuft of grass. Two other essential functions, Preser- vation and Destruction, made it necessary to associate with Brahma two other personal deities, — Vishnu, the Preserver, and Rudra- Siva, the Dissolver and Reproducer. These three gods, concerned in the threefold ojiera- tion of integration, maintenance, and disinte- gration, constitute the Tri-murti, or Sacred Triad of decadent Brahmanism. Of these three Brahma is practically ignored in the popular mind, and the original spiritual essence is lost in the very earthly personalities of Vishnu and Siva. Hindu Tri-murti A Hindu poet of the third century a.d. thus idealizes the unity and the equality of the Tri- murti : — " In those three Persons th(> one God was sliown — Eacli first in jilace, eacli last, — not one alone ; Of Braluua, \'isluni, Siva, each may be First, second, third, among the blessed Three." From a work on India, by W. (i. Williams, we take the diagram hei-e given of the three members of the Tri-murti antl their wives : — THE DIM CENTURIES 19 Brahma, the Supremo") Maya — Illusion / I \ \ i Brahma, Creator, Vishuu, Preserver, Siva, Destroyer, and and and Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Parvati, his wife. his wife. his wife. Parvati, wife of Siva, is also known as Durga and Kali. Her son is Ganesa, the elepliant-lieaded s^od of wisdom, who is, moreover, a great glut- ton, devoted to soma and pancakes. The whole pantheon, indeed, teems with horrible and gro- Lcsque creations, half monster and half god. I Vaishnavism While each of the three persons of the Tri- ■nurti has its own proper following, Vaishnavism, ,he especial worship and exaltation of Vishnu, ;he Preserver, has the popular heart. The chief distinction of Vishnu is that he las condescended to infuse his essence at dif- Went times into animals and men, in a series •f descents or incarnations, known as avatars, ["he ten great avatars are : 1. The Fish. !. The Tortoise. 3. The Boar. 4. The Man- ion. 5. The Dwarf. 6. Rama with the axe. . Rama-candra, the hero of tlie Ramayana. . Krishna, the most popular, and perhaps he most demoralizing, of all the Hindu gods. , • Buddha (adopted as an avatar of Vishnu, ccording to some authorities, in a spirit of irewd comproniise ; according to others, as a 20 LUX CUBISTI Lying Spirit let loose to deceive men until the final descent of Vishnu). 10. Lalki. This descent, which is the last, is reserved for an indefinite future, when the wicked shall be destroyed and the world renovated. It is needless to attempt to enumerate the later Hindu gods and goddesses. They range from varying conceptions and expressions of the universal essence to the most loathsome fiends and ogresses. Kali Worship Tlie female principle is worshipped under countless forms. The most appalling concep- tion is that of Kali, who is thus described in the Tantras, or sacred books of Goddess- worship : " One should adore with liquors and oblations that Kali, who has a terrible gaping mouth and uncombed hair ; who has four hands and a splendid garland formed of the heads of the giants she has slain and whose blood she has drunk," etc., ad nauseam. Says a Hindu gentleman : " Popular ideas on the subject of Kali-worship by no means reach the mysterious vileness it suggests. Its real mean- ing cannot be explained. Those inclined tc dive into such filth must study the ritual foi Kali-worsliip." Decline from Varuna to Krishna Place beside t liis hideous distortion the figup of Krishna, the grossly immoral, coarse, nm THE DIM CEXTUEIES 21 low-minded cowherd whose cult was worked out in the sixth century of the Christian era, and which is now the popular religion of India. Then glance back to the " roof of the world," and see the steady road of decadence and de- generation by wliich Hinduism has travelled from the free, high-hearted, conquering Aryans with their worship of tlie pure, all-encompass- ing infinitude of Varuna. Nevertheless the seed was in itself, ior a taint of polytheism resided in the earliest Vedic conceptions of deity, — a taint which, in the course of ages, has poisoned the blood in every minutest vein of the great Hindu organism. This third and worst stage of Hinduism is now the religion of probably over two hundred and seven millions of souls in India, to which it is confined, since Hinduism is essentially an ethnic religion, like Confucianism and Zoroas- trianism. II. BUDDHISM We have spoken, on an earlier page, of the birth of Sakya-Muni, or Gautama, the Buddha, or Enlightened One, in the sixth century B.C. Space cannot l)c given in this study to a detailed account ot" liis life; and teaching. The main events ami features are easily accessible, and as Buddliism is not an accepted or established religion at tlie present time in peninsular India, its detailed consideration Ixloiigs elsewhere. 22 LUX CHP.ISTI The legends narrate that Gautama, son of a rajah of the Aryan race, born at Kapilavastu, in northern India, thwarted his father's desire for his worklly pleasure and advancement by his meditative and ascetic habit. Finally, at the age of twenty-nine, he broke away from the court altogether, and made what is known as his " Great Renunciation," forsaking his palace, father, wife, child, and assuming the dress and entering upon the life of a mendicant. For six years Gautama practised the auster- ities of a Brahman ascetic, but found no peace. Then he returned to the ordinary life of com- mon people, and after sitting lost in contempla- tion under the sacred pipal tree at Gaya for a week and suffering from divers fiery tempta- tions, he attained to the vision of the Way of true peace and holiness. After this experience Gautama was known as the Buddha. Buddhist Doctrine Although he broke with the current Brahman- ism of his day at many points, Buddha re- moulded without discarding its most monstrous fiction, viz., the transmigration of souls. This doctrine, indeed, in a somewhat idealized form, was the essential foundation of his whole system. Starting with tlie conviction tliat the delusion of individuality is the chief Fetter of the soul, and the desire for preserving the identity, the promoting cause for the myriad rebirths, Buddha THE DIM CENTURIES 23 sought and found " the Way " to the only re- lease, the only salvation, i.e. Nirvana, literally the " going out," as of the flame of a candle. The Buddhist books (the Tripitaka, three baskets) are full of descriptions of means by which to get rid of the delusion of individuality, to enter the Path to Extinction. The con- ception of moral discipline, love, charity, and fraternity, as " the Path," in place of sacrifice and ceremony, is the nobly distinguishing note of Buddhism in contrast with Brahmanism. For poly theism, the Buddha substituted atheism, without however breaking sharply with the established system. He never claimed divinity, and was a saviour only in that he taught his rules for perfection, which were an immense advance over the teaching of Brahmanism, but far below the level of the teachings of Christ. He died of indigestion at Kusinara, at the age of eighty years. Spread of Buddhism Buddliism was from the first a missionary religion, unlike Brahmanism, which has never gone beyond India. Multitudes accepted its teachings in Nepaul, Thibet, Burma, Ceylon, China, Siam, and Japan, and it is now the popular religion of all eastern Asia save India, numbering four linndred millions of adl)erents. In India the new religion in a few centuries largely took tlie place of Brahmanism, being zealously promulgated l)y the renowned Indian 24 LUX CHEISTI monarch, Asoka, the Constantine of Buddhism. Asoka even sent missionaries to Syria, Egypt, and Greece to proclaim the doctrines of Buddha. Buddhism driven out of India In its turn Buddliism, however, became en- feebled and corrupt. After a fierce struggle, confused and protracted, against the rehabili- tated Brahmanism, with its tempting array of social and dramatic deities, it was annihilated in India, save as absorbed into the great Hindu system. Its monasteries and temples were de- stroyed, its priests and people slain, exiled, or brought over to the ancient faith. Burma and the island of Ceylon are the only parts of India where Buddhism now lingers. In them both, Buddhism in its purest and least adulterated form can be found. The latter is the seat of Buddhist scholars and devotees. At Kandy is the temple in wliich is preserved the so-called " tooth of Buddha," the object of intense adoration. Buddhism survives also to a certain extent in southern India in the form of Jainism, which is a product of mixing Brah- manism and Buddhism. Its temples are par- ticularl}^ noteworthy. Together Biiddhism and Jainism munbcr a little more than seven millions of the population of India. Defects of Buddhism, It is noticeable that to no one of the nations professing it lias Buddhism given advanced THE DIM CENTURIES 25 civilization or a liigli type of personal religion. Its theories are lofty but singularly barren, as are all stoical systems. It has been common of recent years to refer to Arnold's "Light of Asia " as an authoritative utterance concerning Buddha. That perfervid piece of hero-worsliip, however, bears slight resemblance to the sim- ple dignity of the real story of Gautama, and is looked upon by philosophical Buddhist scholars as a species of metaphysical Lalla Rookh. It may be added in passing, concerning the cult known in England and America as " Esoteric Buddhism," tliat Dr. Rhys Davids, our chief authority on the religion of Gautama, says it may be all very well, but it is not esoteric, and it is not Buddliism. The Pitakas have not all, as yet, been trans- lated. When complete they will cover ten thousand pages. They are said to be turgid and wearisome in the extreme. Much as it has been vaunted by recent en- thusiasts, early Buddhism was atheistic, and it remains a gloomy religion, bloodless and lifeless, and has become grossly degraded by superstition. Says James Freeman Clarke: " It is an outward constraint, not an inward inspiration. Niliilism arrives sooner or later, (iod is notliing, man is nothing, life is nothing, death is nothiiig, eternity is nothing. Hence the profound sadness of Buddhism. . . . The only emancipation from self-love is in the 26 LUX CHRISTI perception of an infinite love. Buddhism, ignoring this infinite love, incapable of com- munion with God, aiming at morality without religion, at humanity without piety, becomes at last the prey to the sadness of selfish isolation. . . . Christianity touches Buddhism at all its good points, in all its truth. . . . but to all this it adds how much more ! It fills up the dreary void of Buddhism with a living God. ... It gives a divine as real as the human, an infinite as solid as the finite. And this it does, not by a system of thought but by a fountain and stream of life." THE SACRED LITERATURE OF THE HINDUS, to all of which the inclusive term Veda (Divine Knowl- edge) is applied by the Brahmans. The original text of aU is Sanskrit, but many parts have been translated into the Vernacular. I. The four Vedas proper. While existing orally for many centuries before Christ, these productions remained unwritten until the fifteenth century a.d. The four books are each divided into two parts : first, the Mantra, or liymns of praise and prayer; .second, the Brah- inana, a ritualistic treatise, generally in prose, .somewhat akin to the book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Scriptures. 1. The Rif/-Veda, or Ilymn-Veda. This is the first Bible of the Hindu religion, the oldest and only important ])art of the four Vedas. It is a collection of 1017 hymns, containing 10,580 verses, chiefly addressed to tlie gods. It is the great literary memorial of the entrance of the THE DIM CENTURIES 27 Aryan race iuto India, about 1500 b.c. It shows them on their victorious march through Cabul to the Punjab, among the great river systems of the Indus and the Jumna, and moving eastv\'ard to the Ganges. 2. The. Sacrificial -\'eda, or Yahur-Veda,^ belongs to a later phase of the Hindu system, and is mainly liturgical. 3. The Chanl-Veda, Sama-Veda, closely resembles the second. It contains hymns to be chanted at certain ceremonies where tlie juice of the soma plant was the chief offering. 4. The Spcll-Veda, Atharva-Veda, is much later in origin than the rest, and was not perhaps recognized as a fourth Veda until about the fifth century n.c. The most prominent characteristic feature of the Atharvan is the multitude of incantations which it contains. II. The Code of Manu. Date, about GOO n.c. according to Monier Williams. The body of Hindu law, whose originator is unknown. It is the chief authority in Hindu jurisprudence, and contains precise rules for the constitution of the Hindu social fabric, for the due coordination of its different orders, and for the regulation of everyday donu^stic life. These rules are contained in three principal codes wiiich together constitute a kind of Bible of legal Brahmanism, and remain, in tlicir control of Indian social and domestic life, little changed by the lapse of more than two thousand years. Tlie rules of caste are rigidly enforced. Book I is on Creation. Book II on Education and the 1 A few years ago a part of the Yahur-Voda was translated into the Vernacular for general circulation. Cautious as is the British government in offending the religious prejudices of the people, those concerned in the translation and pub- lication were punislied as having violated the law against obscene literature. 28 LUX CHEISTI Priesthood, rooks III-IV on Private Morals. Book V on Diet. Book VI on Devotion. Book VII on the Duties of Rulers. Book Ylll on Civil and Criminal Law. Book IX on Women, Families, and the Law of Caste. Book X on Mixed Classes and Times of Distress. Book XI on Penance and Expiation. Book XII on Transmigration and Final Beatitude. III. The Upanishads and Sutras. Date, about 500 b.c. The Upanishads, or '• instructions," formed the Bible of philosophical Brahmanism. At least two hundred and fifty of them are known to exist. They had their origin in the ascetic tendency which led many Brahmans to flee to the forests for seclusion in which to pursue their flights of si>eculative thought. These recluses gradually composed and built up a series of forest ti'eatises kno'^-n as the " Aranyakas," out of which grew the later and more systematized Upanishads. The systems of philos- ophy which are founded on these mystical and specula- tive writings are known as Shastras, a term which is also used to cover the Vedas and the whole body of laws, letters, and religion. The Sutras are concise sentences which contain " the distUled essence of all the knowledge which the Brahmans have collected during centuries of meditation." IV. The two great Epic Poems, the Ramayana and the Maha-bharata, which may be called " the Bible of the Mythological Phase of Brahmanism." Date, variously placed from 500 or 400 n.c. to the beginning of the Christian era. These two poems are called The Iliad and Odyssey of the Hindus," and there is some reason to believe that the motifs of them were borrowed from Homer. The llamuyaua, souietimes termed '-The Iliad of the THE DIM CENTUBIES 29 East," treats of a war undertaken to recover the •wife of one of the warriors, who was carriod ofE by the hero on the other side. Rama is the hero ; the chaste and beauti- ful Sita, his wife. The poem consists of twenty-four thousand verses. The Maha-bharata is the most gigantic poem in exist- ence, containing two hundred and twenty thousand lines, and is not a single poem, but an unwieldy collection of Hindu mythology, legend, and philosophy. Different por- tions can be traced to different dates. Included in the great epic is an interpolation known as the Bhagavad-Gita, or "Divine Song," consisting of a long discourse in dialogue form by Krishna. It affirms the divinity of Krishna, and is an attempt to reconcile the various Hindu jihilosophies. It is usually assigned to. the third century a.d. V. The Puranas. Date, GOU and 700 a.d., and later. The name Purana signifies an old tradition. These, the most modern of Hindu sacred books save the Tan- tras, ai'e sometimes called a fifth Veda, being designed to teach Vedic doctrines to women and low caste men. The theology and cosmogony of these books are largely drawn from earlier writings. As far as actual history or chronology goes, the Puranas are valueless, but their myths and legends shed light on the customs of the people and times. Contending sects have contributed to them many absurd fictions for tlie glorification of Vishnu, Siva, and other favorite deities. The Puranas contain one million six hundred thou.sand lines, and may be called the Bible of Saivism and Vaishnavism. VI. The Tantras. Date not fixed, probably soniewlial, later than the Puranas. The Bible of Saktism, inculcating exclusive adoration of Sakti, wife of the god Siva. The Tantras present 30 LUX CHBISTI Hiuduisin " at its worst and most corrupt stage of devel- opment." They identify all force with the female prin- ciple in nature. " A vast proportion of the inhabitants of India are guided in their daily life by Tantrik teaching and are in bondage to its gross superstitions." (Monier AVilliams.) The Tanti-as have never been translated. FAMOUS PASSAGES FROM HINDU LITERATURE Hymx to Varuna Let me not yet, O Vanma, enter into the house of clay ; have mercy, almighty, have mercy ! If I go trembling, like a cloud di-iven by the wind, have mercy, abnightj^, have mercy ! Through want of strength, thou strong and bright god, have I gone to the wrong shore ; have mercy, al- mighty, have mercy ! Thirst came upon the worshipper, though he stood in the midst of the waters; have mercy, almighty, have mercy 1 Whenever we men, O Varuna, commit an offence bo- fore the heavenly host ; whenever we break thy law through thoughtlessness; have mercy, almighty, have mercy ! _ Rirf-Verfa. Hymn of Chkatiox In the beginning there was neither naught nor aught; Tlien there was neither sky nor atmosphere above. What then surrounded all this teeming universe? In the receptacle of what was it contained? Was it enveloped in the gulf profound of water? Then there was neither death nor immortality ; Thon theio was neither day, nor niglit, nor liglit, nor darkness, Only the Existent One breathed calmly, self-contained. THE DIM CENTURIES 31 Naught else but he there was — naught else above, bej'ond. Then first came darkness hid in darkness, gloom in gloom ; Next all was water, all a chaos indiscrete, In which the One lay void, shrouded in nothingness. Then turning inwards, he, by self-developed force Of inner fervor and intense abstraction, grew. First in his mind was formed Desire, the primal germ Productive, which the wise, profoundly searching, say Is the first subtle bond connecting Entity And Nullity. — Rig-Veda. How many births are past, I cannot tell ; How many yet to come no man can say; But this alone I know, and know full well, That pain and grief embitter all the way. — South India Folk Song. A Brahman who holds the Veda in his memory is not culpable though he should destroy the three worlds. — Code of Manu. The PfRusHA Hymn The embodied spirit has a thousand heads, A thousand eves, a thousand feet, around On every sid(; enveloping the earth, Yet filling space no larger than a span. He is himself this very universe ; He is whatever is, has been, and sliall be; He is the lord of immortality. All creatures are one-fourth of him, three-foiii ths Are that wliicli is immortal in the sky. From him, called Purusha, was born Viraj, And from Viraj was Purusha produced, Whom gods and holy uien made their oblation. With Purusiia as victim they })erf()rnied A sacrifice, ^\■h(■ll they divided liini. How did they cut iiiui up? What was his moutli V 32 LUX CHRISTI What were his armsV and what his thighs and feet? The Brahnuiii was liis mouth, the kingly soldier Was made his arms, tlie husbandman his thighs, The servile Sudra issued from his feet. — Ritj-Vrdn. This hymn (generally admitted to be a comparatively modern production) is the only hymn in the Rig-Veda which alludes to the distinctions of caste. As set forth in the hymn the divine order of caste seems to bo : — 1. The Brahman, who is supposed to issue from the mouth of Brahma. The Brahmans are therefore re- garded as divinities, whose teaching is an infallible authority. Tliey only can teacli the Veda. 2. Kshatriya, or tho " kingly soldier," who issues from the arms of Brahma. This caste ranks next the Brah- mans in position and influence, cooperating with them in retaining ascendency over the lower classes. To it belong the famous Rajputs. 3. The Vaisya, or husbandman caste, which comes from the thighs of Brahma. To this caste belong endless subcastes iiccording to kind of occupation. These three ranks claim to be " twice born," and are all invested with the sacred thread, which is of cotton for the Brahmans, hemp for the Kshatriya, wool for the Vaisya. 4. The Sudra, or servile class, issuing from tho feet of Brahma, comprising those only "once born." All below the Sudras are oulcaste, or Pariahs. The Sudra and the nnmaiTied woman of any caste, even the highest, are left outside the pale of Brahmauical salvation. BuiuAi, Hymn Open thy arms, O earth ! receive the dead With gentle ^iressure and with loving welcome. Enshroud him tenderly, oven as a mother I'-olds hor soft vestment round the child she loves. Soul of tho dead, depart ! lake thou the path — TnS DIM CENTURIES 33 The ancient path by which our ancestors Have gone before thee ; thou shalt look upon The two kings, mighty Varuna and Yama, Delighting in oblations; thou shalt meet The Fathers and receive the recompense Of all thy stored-up offerings above. Leave thou thy sin and imperfection here ; Return unto thy home once more ; assume A glorious form. — From the Sutras. ■ Simple Confession of a Vedantist's Faith All this universe indeed is Brahma; from him does it proceed ; into him it is dissolved; in him it breathes. So let every one adore him calmly. — Chandogya Upanishad. Moral Precepts An archer shoots an arrow which may kill One man, or none ; but clever men discharge The shaft of intellect, whose stroke has power To overwhelm a king and all his kingdoms. — Maha-hharata. Do naught to others which, if done to thee. Would cause thee pain ; this is the sum of duty. — lUd. When men are ripe for ruin, e'en a straw Has power to crush them l.ke a thunderl)olt. — lUd. Enjoy thou the prosperity of others, Altliough thyself unprosperous ; noVjle men Take pleasure in their neighbor's liappincss. — Ibid. An evil-minded man is quick to see His neighbor's faults, though small as mustard-seed ; But when he turns his eyes toward his own, Though large as Bilva fruit, he none descries. — Hid. 34 LUX CHRISTI Treat no one with disdain, with patience bear Reviling language ; with an angry man Be never angry ; blessings give for curses. — Code of Manu. The soul is its own witness ; yea, the soul Itself is its owu refuge : grieve thou not, O man, thy soul, the great internal witness. — Code. Thou canst not gather what thou dost not sow, As thou dost plant the tree so will it grow. — Code. He who by firmness gains the mastery Over his words, his mind, and his whole body, Is justly called a triple governor. — Code. 'Tis a vain thought that to attain the end And object of ambition is to rest. Success doth only mitigate the fever Of anxious expectation ; soon the fear Of losing what M'e have, the constant care Of guarding it, doth weary. — Hindu Drama, Kalidasa. The most prolific source of true success Is energy without despondency. — Ramnyana. Where'er we walk. Death marches at our side ; Where'er we .sit, Death seats himself beside us ; However far we journey. Death continues Our fellow-traveller, and goes with us home. — fhid. Opinion of an Expert After a life-long study of the religious books of the Hindus I feel compelled to express publicly my opinion of them. They begin with muoii promise amid scintilla- tions of truth and liglit, aii to all other subjects; and those obligatioas, by the lili 'ssing of Ahnighty God, we shall faithfully and con- scientiously fulfil. Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude the ' ice of religion, we disclaim alike the right and the ire to impose our convictions on any of our subjects. U (■ declare it to be our royal will and pleasure that none li ' in any wise favored, none molested or disquieted, by 11 ason of their religious faith or observances; but that all shall alike enjoy the equal and impartial protection of the law ; and we do .strictly cliarge and enjoin all those w ho may be in authority under us, that they abstain from all interference with the religious belief or worship of aijy of our subjects, on pain of our highest displeasure. Of the Mutiny it is truly said that it divides all Anglo-Indian history into two parts. Understand the Mutiny, and you understand India. . . . The East India Company had been sowing the wind ; it was now to reap the whirlwind. It had leagued itself with idolatry; out of this unholy alliance came its death . — Edward A. Lawrence. Flashlights on the Country If one could look down u])on India from a balloon, one would .see that it was more or less divided into three regions. The first is the Himalayas, the second is the 74 LUX CBIilSTI plains of Hindustan, the third is the Deccan, a great three-sided tableland which covers the southern half of India. It slopes upward from the plains, and its north- ern wall and buttresses (the Vindhya Mountains) stood in former times as a vast barrier of mountain and jungle between northern and southern India, greatly increasing the difficulty of welding the wliole into one empire, until at length pierced by road and rail. The eastern and western sides of the Deccan are knoM n as Ghats. In the Bombay presidency the Ghats rise in magnificent preci- pices and headlands almost out of the ocean, and trulj' look like colossal landing stairs from the sea. Tlie east- ern and western Ghats meet at an angle near Cape Comorin at the southern extremity, and so complete the sides of the tableland. — Isabel Savory. The front door of India, Bombay, is magnificent; the back door, the Khyber Pass, is shabby. Out of the rose hedges of Peshawar a dust-yeUow road carries you through a dust-gray plain, heading for dust-drab moun- tains. India seems worn out, giving up the weary effort to be soil, reverting limply to rock, sand, mud. A new India — the Deccan. Uneven, colorless table- land, undecided shapes of colorless mountains, gemmed here and there with dazzling green and scarlet — that is the type of tlie whole vast triangle. Haidarabad — not so much a city as a m.asque of mediaeval A.sia. Everywhere I breathed Islam and the Middle Ages. Think of the sheer joy of riding on an elephant through the streets of a city where they still maintain a royal regiment of Amazons. — (r. W. Steevkns. The white dust in the highways and the stenches in the byways are a very present evil ; with tlie flies, mos- quitoes, weary heat, and endless glare, they swell the items in the long bill which the wliite man pays for serving his grim stepmotlier country. — Isaiiki. Savchjy. INDIA'S INVABERH 75 Bombay is half Oriental, half Occidental. It has the rush of Chicago, the fashion of Paris, and the cosmopoli- tanism of London. — II. C. .Mabie. Stand on the Hughli bridge at Calcutta at sunset, on the east side the factory smoke lying in a sullen bank under the glowing scarlet ; on the west, the corn-field of masts, and the funnel smoke and the city smoke foul- ing the ineffable stillness of Indian evening, and the liengalis crossing the bridge. On one side going into ( alcutta, on the other coming out, an endless drove of iiKjving, white-clothed people, never varying in thickness, iii ver varying in pace, never stopping, no interval, just moving, moving like an endless belt running ou a wheel. Just population — that is Bengal. Madras! At last here is the India that was expected — the India of our childhood and of our dreams. The air is moist, the sky intensely blue. You drive on broad roads of red sand, through colonnades of red-berried banyans and thick groves of dipping palms, by pools and streams of soft gi'een water. And the people are just as you have always seen them in your mind — naked above the loins, petticoated below, any color from ochre to umber . . . lithe little coolies in loin-cloths, they pass by in a perpetual panorama of popular India — the India you knew before you came. I am convinced that Little Henry's Bearer was a Madrasi. India is amazing and stupefying at the first glance, and amazing and stupefying it remains to the last. . . . It strikes you as very, very old — burned out, sapless, tired. Its people for the most part are small, languid, effeminate. . . . Everywhere the .same grotesque con- tradictions — si)lendor and squalor, divinity and dirt, super.stition and manliness. The \vcstrery exalted one and a token of their aristo- cratic superiority, although they may never aave enjoyed a good ride or walk in their lives, 3r seen anything of the world outside their 30rafortless quarters. The women's apartments, 5ven in elegant marble mansions in the great jities, are in the back of the house, gloomy and nferior, dull and prison-like. Tlie native dress )f the women consists of a small jacket and I mri, i.e. six to nine yards of cloth, one 96 LUX CHRISTI end of which is wrapped around the waist, gathered into folds in front, and secured by tucking under. When required, this end may be readily loosed and used as a head covering. If the husbands are wealthy, the women load themselves with the gorgeous, barbaric jewels of which all Indian women are so fond, and spend their time in vacant idleness or in elaborate, voluptuous baths and anoint- ings. Otherwise, they have the resource of cookery and other domestic occupation. The sole subjects for conversation in the belittling life of the Zenana are the pettiest gossip, and the tedious intrigues of the complex household in which four generations may be included, with several wives and concubines for every man. Intellectual life, philanthropy, patriotic and public interests there are none. So deep is the prejudice against the movement for the education of women that the recent severe droughts have been ascribed to the displeasure of the gods on this account. It has been a popular belief among high-caste women that their husbands would die if they should even learn to read or write. Common Characteristics Notwithstanding these and many depressing influences, the ties of family life are strong in India, perhaps the most hopeful fact in the problem of ui)lifting the people. The mother THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 97 of sons enjoys a species of honor and respect, and a mother-in-law rules her sons' wives with despotic authority. The married women, while held as servile inferiors to their hus- bands, are gentle, retiring, and not devoid of jersonal beauty ; patience and tenderness are shief characteristics, and the love of children imounts in many cases to a passion ; while, on ihe other hand, instances of most unnatural jruelty are not uncommon. In the gentler "eatures of Hindu womanhood above mentioned Iwell the promise and potency of a noble future ov the race ; but there are social conditions vhich stand like an almost insurmountable )arrier between actual conditions and such a ionsummation. For women of moral and in- ellectual excellence are exceptions, and until \.siatic women, wliether Hindu or Moslem, are ilevated and educated, all efforts to raise Asiatic lations to the level of Anglo-Saxon will remain ruitless. Of the average Hindu woman it can be ruly said : her birth is unwelcome, her physi- ial life is outraged, her mental life is stunted, ler spiritual life is denied existence. Female nfanticidc, while no longer openly committed, 3 known to be still prevalent, especially among he Rajputs, who are too proud to make ijiforior (Uiances for their daughters, or too poor to rovide several with the large dowry which xtravagant custom has fixed, and therefore 11 98 LUX CHRISTI quietly put superfluous girl babies out of the way. Family Life The " joint-family system " of India is a dangerous one to family peace ; jealousy and hatred, discord and deceit, rule. Family feuds and litigations are everyday occurrences. The Hindu family is an incoherent and cumbrous mass. Upon the children are concentrated the power of evil example and every aspect of domestic unhappiness. A sad feature of home life is the prurient precocity of children, who begin their vile language in their infant prattle, and grow old in pollution while young in years. " The child's life is full of misery. Tlie in- decent speech of the home is one of its darkest features. "Worse than all is the woe of Indian childhood which befalls the opening mind when, led by their mothers to the Indian temple, their eyes are met with sights, their ears assailed with songs, of such loathsome import, that innocency may not sustain the strain, and the child mind perishes in that awful hour." The average Indian mother never thinks of paying attention to the moral or mental devel- opment of her little children, while, as they usually go unclad and often unwashed, her cares for their physical life are simple. The lack of sanitary knowledge involves habits of life filthy beyond description. Polygamy is not common among the lower THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 99 class of Hindus, although permitted to the Hrahmans, and to all if the wife fails to bear a son after seven years. Among Mohamme- dans it is prevalent, while open concubinage is common to all classes in India. The wide- spread ignorance of Indian women is evidenced by statistics which show that in 1897 there were but six women out of every thousand who could lead or write. If the women above twenty- five 3'^ears of age are reckoned, we find that the })ercentage of illiterates is ninety-nine and one- lialf, indicating that female education is almost confined to this generation. A Mohammedan ffousehold " In a rich man's harem," says Isabella Bishop, " there are women of all ages and colors, girl childi-en, and very young boys. There are the favorite and other legitimate wives, concubines, who have recognized, but very slender, rights, discarded wives who have been favorites in their day, and who have passed into practical slavery to their successors, numbers of slaves and old women, daughters-in-law, and child or girl widows whose lot is deplorable, and many others. I have seen as many as two liundred in one house, a great crowd, privacy being unknown, grossly ignorant, with intolerable curiosity forcing on a stranger abominable or frivolous questions, then relapsing into apathy but rarely broken, exce])t by outbreaks of hate and tlio 100 LUX CHRISTI results of successful intrigue." The INIoslem population remains a sullen and ominous ele- ment in the life of India. The youths are proverbially slow to acquire education. The men and women are in no way superior in in- telligence, morality, or industry to the Hindus. Child Marriage At the foundation of all the wrongs to Indian womanhood lies the practice of enforced child- marriage, with its concomitant of child-widow- hood. The custom of child-marriage is at least five hundred years older than the Christian era, and doubtless sprang from the belief that a man had no claim to the funeral ceremonial rites of his religion unless he was the father of a son, and that for an unmarried Avoman there was no salvation. Little girls are betrothed in their cradles, or at the age of three or four, to boys a little older, of whom they know nothing, until, at tlie age of seven or eight, and from that up to twelve as the maximum, they are claimed as wives, and conducted to the homes of their husbands. Motherhood at the age of ten or twelve is not infrequent, and many grandmothers are but twenty-five. Thus Hindu custom ordains that the women of India shall bear children while they are still children themselves, and a stunted, TUE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 101 degenerate, and ill-developed race is tlie inevi- table result. " It must be borne in mind," says Ramabai, " that both in northern and southern India the term ' marriage ' in infancy does not mean any- thing more than an irrevocable betrothal. The ceremony gone through at that time establishes religiously the conjugal relationship of both parties; there is a second ceremony which con- firms the relationship both religiously and so- cially, which does not take place until the chil- dren attain the age of puberty." The Hindu people, as we now see, are not merely a "nation of children " but of the children of children. Marriage contracted and children born when there is no adequate means of support is further- more a productive cause of the grinding poverty of the country. Hindu Swamis boast that there is no divorce in India. No, for marriage — unconsciously contracted child-raarriage — is irrevocable for the wife, while the husband has no need of divorce, since he can desert liis Avife if he choose, and can install other women in his household if so minded. Child Widotvs Child-marriage entails the yet more awful system of (;hild-wi(lowhood, so blasting to all which makes life worth living that it lias been termed "cold suttee," and many persons have felt that the ancient and now ff)rbi(lden prac- 102 LUX CHBISTI tice of widow-biu-ning, by wbicli tbe wido^y passed by death from tbe long martyrdom of life now her portion, was almost preferable. Sir William Hunter quotes the following, which we will give as a typical case of child- widowhood : "• Let us take the instance of a child of three years. This is not an excep- tional but a fairly general instance. Of the fact that she has been once married and has become a widow she knows nothing. She, therefore, mixes with children not widowed. Supposing there is a festivity, children run to the scene ; but the sight of a widowed child is a bad omen to the persons concerned in the fes- tivities. She is removed by force. She cries, and is rewarded by her parents with a blow accompanied by remarks such as these: 'You were a most sinful being in your previous births, you have, therefore, been widowed already. Instead of hiding your shame in a corner of the house, you go and injure others.' . . • The child can wear no ornaments. She cannot bathe in the manner that other children bathe. Her touch is pollution. In tlie mean- while, if the priest happens to visit the place where the child is, her head is immediately shaved and she is dressed in the single, coarse garment of the widow. She is then asked to eat only once in the day, and required to fast once a fortnight, even at the risk of death, the fast sometimes continuing for seventy-two liours." THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 103 The name "rand," by which the widow is generallj'^ known, is equivalent to the term "har- lot." Ill treated by her family, or the family of her dead husband, in which she may dwell, as a contemptible, disgraceful being, it is no wonder that the young widow often seeks escape. But whither can she go? No respect- able family will have her for a servant. She has been rendered repulsive in appearance by the shaving of her head ; she is absolutely ignorant, absolutely destitute, owning only her single garment. The alternatives before her are submission to her wretched lot, suicide, or a life of infamy. Suicide is common ; still more common the life of shame. It is largely from the class of child-widows that the ranks of the temple girls are recruited. Religious Prostitution of Womanhood The social and religious system of Hinduism brings in its train the dishonoring of women in a degree little understood by the western world. Tlie service of the temples demands large numbers of dancing-girls, or priestesses, who are dedicated in infancy to this vocation. When ariived at womanhood, they give their bodies to the service and maintenance of tlie temple, and form one of the most fruitful sources of the depravity of the Braliman priest- hood, to whose pleasure thoy ai-e primarily de- 104 LUX CHEISTI voted. These temple girls are called devadasis, meaning slaves of the god. Another class of courtesans, more familiar to European travellers in India, are the nautch girls. The institution of the nautch is a very ancient one, based upon the example of the god Krishna, who sported with thousands of dancing-girls. Hence social custom sanctions their presence at all weddings, receptions, and functions of every kind. The nautch girl, being the only woman in India, until recent times, who had intellectual life or training, or any freedom in society, has held a somewhat honored place, corresponding in a way to the professional courtesan in the old Greek social fabric. All other women in India are strictly forbidden to dance, and edu- cation in a girl is still regarded in conservative Indian circles as a mark of loose morality. The nautch girl is taught from earliest child- hood to read, dance, and sing, and instructed in every art of seduction. Tliese girls are usually beautiful and graceful, and they follow their profession with the characteristic submission of all Hindu women. They frequently acquire large fortunes, receiving extravagant gifts from wealthy Brahmans who come under the fascina- tion of their wit, beauty, and accomplishments. The muralis are girls devoted by their parents in infancy to the god Khandoba, a deity of the Maratha country. Tlie rites of this dedication THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 105 are termed "being married to a sword," the weapon of Khandoba. These muralis are licensed by law and dedicated to impure lives in the name of their religion. If you ask what can justify such action on the part of the parents, you will be told by the natives, " It is our custom." Custom in India is indeed religion. III. THE PRACTICES OF THE HINDU RELIGION In certain theoretical points Hinduism pos- sesses affinities for Christianity, and the Hindu is more accessible than the Mussulman to Chris- tian motives. Hinduism is a theistic religion ; it Upliolds belief in a trinity, in divine self-revela- tion and incarnation ; it inculcates the deepest reverence for and submission to God. The Hindus are a naturally religious people ; and the resignation and patience which so peculiarly characterize them, with the exception of the Brahman caste, predispose them to the recep- tion of the meek and lowly Redeemer. So much on the theoretical side. We must now look at the practical working of tlie system in the connnon life of the people. It is not a congenial task to point out the weak- ness and failure of religious conceptions which are accepted b}' nearly one-fifth of the human race. It would be far more agreeable at this point to seek to discover something pure and lielpful in the practices of Brahmanism, if this 106 LUX CHEISTI were honestly possible. The curse of India is, that its gods are the base productions of the polluted imaginations of its people. Apologists for Hinduism Great in the past has been the restraint of missionaries and travellers. Too great, perhaps, in view of the glamour which certain cham- pions of Hinduism have of late striven to throw over it. As if by tacit consent, the darker fea- tures of Hindu worship have been left shrouded in silence and mystery, as being too repulsive to mention. It has been reserved, however, until these later days for civilized and Christianized men and women to dream of apologizing for idolatry and the nameless rites of Hindu shrines. But the time has now come when idolatry is not only apologized for as an innocent aid to devo- tion, but the system of which it is the concrete expression is idealized, when it is even held \ip, and not in vain, for the admiration of the Chris- tian world. These tendencies are leading to a distinctly felt reaction and to a crisis in the history of missionary endeavor which a gener- ation ago no one could have foreseen. It must be borne in mind that tlie apologists for Brahmanism who have gained influence in England and America, even though tliey be Brahman priests have been trained in Englisli schools and sliaped by English environment, until they have learned how to present their THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 107 system in a foi-m artfully idealized to suit the western mind, and stripped for the time being of all repulsive features. Idolatry However subtle their pantheism in theory, in practice the Hindus are grossly idolatrous. Straightforward Hindu testimony utterly dis- j)roves the fine-spun theories of Brahman apolo- gists. Over and over do the heathen themselves testify that the material form of the idol fills the mind and unfits it for any spiritual concep- tion. "Idolatry is the curse of Hindustan," s;iys Keshub Chunder Sen, " the deadly canker ^\•]uch has eaten into the vitals of native society." The famous Rajah Rammohuu Roy says : " I liave observed that both in their writings and (onversation many Europeans feel a wish to palliate and soften the features of Hindu idola- 1 1 y, and are inclined to inculcate the idea that ;ill objects of worship are considered by their votaries as emblematical representatives of the Supreme Divinity. The truth is, the ffindus of tin', present day have no such vieiv of it. Neither do the Hindus regard the images of their gods merely in the liglit of instruments for elevating the mind lo the conception of those supposed beings; they are simply in themselves made ob- jects of tvorship'^ It is well to put this statement of a learned Hindu beside the futile benevolence of Sir Edwin 108 LUX CHRISTI Arnold, who describes the Brahman priests in the temples at Benares giving him " flower wreaths from the necks of their idols and smiling assent when I said that no 'Twice- born ' who had read his Bhagavad-Gita could believe in stone Mahadeos (Sivas) and wooden Gunpatis (Ganesas) except as symbols." Truly if all that is wanted in defence of Hinduism is a "smile of assent" in response to a leading question, the defence may not be lacking. The Singer of the "Light of Asia," who is certainlynot biassed by anti-Hindu prejudice, fur- ther tells us that while " Sakya-Muni's teaching did away with the bloody rites of the Brahmanic period, there are still immolations of a sad kind practised secretly in India. The Bheels and Chamars cast themselves occasionally from lofty rocks near Jairad, hoping to be Rajalis in the next state of life. In 1877 a GcJsain of Benares sac- rificed a boy of twelve in order to discover treas- ure. In 1883 a Banya family of twelve persons committed suicide in unison to ' please the gods,' " etc. Indifference to sufJering and to human life are deeply ingrained in the disposi- tions of the people, less from cruelty than from fatalistic apathy. Animal and Plant Worship Again Sir Edwin Arnold exclaims : " One cannot be a day in this land without observing THE OFT-COyqUEEED PEOPLE 100 how the ancient worship of the coiv still holds the minds of the Hindus. . . . Good Brahmans will feed a cow before they take their own breakfast, exclaiming, 'Daughter of Surabhi, formed of five elements, auspicious, pure, and holy, sprung from the sun, accept this food from me. Salutation and peace ! ' Everything which comes from the cow is sacred and purifying, — the droppings are plastered with water over the floors and veran- das of all native houses and upon the cooking places ; the ashes of the same commodity are used with coloring powders to mark the fore- heads, necks, and arms of the pious," etc. So efficiently hallowing is the cow in popular esteem that the serious pollution of a visit to England may be done away by the penance of Santapana, i.e. by swallowing a pill composed of the five products of the sacred beast. There is a famous Hindu saying, " There are many sects in India, but upon two main points we all agree, — the sanctity of the cow and the depravity of women." The bull ranks next to the cow, and the wor- ship of snakes and monkeys is universally prev- alent. Hanuinau, the black-faced monkey-goil. is the especial guardian of Mahratta villages. Witchcraft and demoniacal possession enter essentially into the common consideration of the people, whose superstition is wellnigh incredi- ble, and who are at the mercy of the most appalling and sickening fears. 110 LUX CHRISTI The fish, the tortoise, and the bear are wor- shipped as incarnations of Vishnu. The slirub called tulasi, or holy basil, is regarded as divine, and is par excellence a woman's deity. The pipal tree is supposed to be a residence of the god Brahma, and is sometimes invested with the sacred thread, all the ceremonies of investi- ture being performed over it. The bilva tree, with its triple leaf, is sacred to Siva, and its leaves are continually placed on the ling and on the bull. Water Worship Running water is everywhere held to be "instinct with deity." The famous Ganges (" Mother Gunga ") is the holiest river of In- dia. "No sin is too heinous to be removed, no character too black to be washed clean by its waters." Countless temples line its banks : countless priests stand ready to aid the wor- shippers in their ablutions. The couflvix of tlic Jumna and the Ganges is the very holy of holies to the Hindu. Bottles of Ganges watei- are sent to all parts of the country, and have been used by local justices in administering oaths side by side with the Christian Bible and the Koi'an. The Narbada River is also counted peculiarly sacred. Death on the banks of either of these rivers is ardently desired by every orthodox Hindu. THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 111 Goddess Worship Yet lower than all forms of nature worship is that of the female principle, or goddess wor- ship, of which Monier Williams, the famous Sanskrit scholar, writes as follows : " It might lave been expected that a creed which admits of an infinite multiplication of female deities would be likely to degenerate into various :orms of licentiousness on the one hand and of witchcraft on the other. In Saktism we are indeed confronted with the worst results of the worst superstitious ideas that have ever dis- graced and degraded the human race. It is by offering to women the so-called homage of sensual love and carnal passion, and by jield- ing free course to all the grosser appetites, wholly regardless of social rules and restric- tions, that the worshippers of the female power (Sakti) in nature seek to gratify the goddess. Incredible as it may appear, these so-called worshippers actually affect to pride themselves on their debasing doctrines, because to indulge the grosser appetites and passions, with the mind fixed on union with the Supreme Being, is believed to be the highest of all pious achievements." These detestable rites of Saktism are known as the "left-liaud" method of worship, and the initiated call themselves "■ the perfect ones." 112 LUX CHRISTI Distorted Conceptions " These are our gods ! " cry the Hindus com- placently, as they point to the monkey-faced Hanuman, the elephant-headed Ganesa, tlie unspeakable Linga, the shapeless Mata Devi, the bloodthirsty Kali, the licentious Krishna, and many millions more. No religion known to humanity possesses a subtler mysticism, com- bined with a more manifold or more brutal pollution, than does Hinduism. "The grave Brahman will unreel you systems of metaphys- ics compared with which tlie ' Critique of Pure Reason ' is simple and concrete ; then he will depart and make his offering to a three-headed goddess covered with grease and red paint." Undoubtedly the popular Krishna has done more for the debauclicry of Hindu youth tliar any other god or demigod. He was the eight!; great avatar of Vishnu, and his cult is one ol the most modern as well as most universal oi the Hindu system. His jovial democratic na- ture and limitless amours seem to endear hiir peculiarly to the mind of the lower classes. The story of his life and the details of his wor- ship are unfit to print or read. Brindaban, the unholy city, famed as the birth- place of Krishna, is the seat of one tliousanc temples to this most popular deity. Hundred! of thousands of Hindus make pilgrimage to i j every year. It is one of the vilest cities oi THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 113 earth. Six thousand girls, mostly child-widows, serve as temple prostitutes in the Krishna ser- vice. The devotees on the occasions of these, as of most of the great festivals, give them- [selves up to the vilest orgies, equal in grovelling sensuality to those of the ancient Baal and Ashtaroth worship. Heathenism remains now- as of old a filthy abomination. A very curious coalition of Brahman and Buddhistic doctrines is found in the Vaishnava worship of Jagan-nath, literally "the Lord of the World." The apostle of this cult was Caitanya, a contemporary of Lutlier, who lived for many years at Pouri in Orissa, in close proximity to the temple of this most uncouth of ieities. The triple image of Jagan-nath repre- sents without doubt the Brahman Tri-murti^ whereas his car festival is a re[)roduction of ;he Tooth Festival of the Buddhists. The most ugnificant features of this festival, furthermore, the temj)orary abolition of caste and the worship jf relics (Krishna's bones are supposed to re- jose inside the image), are essentially non- 3ralnnan and Buddhistic. The former suicide )f Brahman fanatics, by throwing themselves inder tlie wheels of the car of Jagan-nath, is »ow forcibly prevented by mounted policemen, lyho guard the annual processions. I It is impossible to pass over in silence tlie hirty millions of Linga scattered everywhere hrough India, as the Moliammedans found I 114 LUX CHRISTI them in the seventh century, by the roadside on temple walls, and on idol chariots. Thif phallic emblem is the symbol of Siva, th( regenerator, and is thought by some theorists and scholars to be wholly mystical in meaning and not to involve sensual ideas. To thost who have lived long, however, in India, anc have observed the intimate working of Lingf worship, it is plainly seen to be the source oi much of the impurity of life and corruption oi morals. A certain small temple at Benares, with its spire overlaid with gold, contains a stone lingam so sacred that to have performed acts of worship before it once in one's lifetime insures entry to the Brahmanic paradise. Tliis revolting symbol is the focus of the great an- nual pilgrimage to Benares. Here the eagei worshippers throng by the thousand, prostrat- ing themselves before the emblem and drinking from the " holy well " of Siva, hard by, draughts of fetid, greenish water. Said a well-known lecturer on India, writing on the spot in 1881 : " India is so much worst than any one can describe it ; the people are so much more vile than can be imagined ; the forms of vice are all so disgusting ! If you will consider that for generations every power that wicked imaginations can devise has beer used to develop tlie lowest passions of both men and women, when the most widely worshipped god is the mere personification of the most de- THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 115 basing of sins, you can imagine the condition of things." We have purposely drawn the statements given above from sources almost wholly secular, non-partisan, and non-missionary. They are the undeniable facts of common observation familiar to all residents in India and students of Hinduism. Religion divorced from Morality Perhaps the most significant characteristic of Hinduism, as it is one of the most difficult for the Occidental mind to grasp, is its utter divorce of morality and i-eligion. The duties of life, says a recent writer, " are never inculcated in any Hindu temple, nor are any prayers ever offered for divine help in the performance of duty. It would be hard indeed even to con- ceive the possibility of prayer for purity being offered in a Hindu temple to a divinity sur- rounded by a bevy of dancing-girls." To meet with a devout Hindu who leads a flagrantly immoral life is a cause for no surprise or com- ment. The Hindu believes that a religious motive justifies every immorality, however gross. To abstain from certain meats and drinks, to avoid ceremonial defilement, are sacred duties, while lying and stealing and every form of deception are matters of indiffer- ence to the gods ; indeed, immorality has their explicit sanction. The common failings of the 116 LUX CHRISTI Hindu people are accordingly deceitfulness and immorality. Unhappily the government schools, while increasing the spread of knowl- edge, never touch upon ethics in any form, and have thus far proved powerless to elevate the moral tone of the people. Public Woi'ship There is among the Hindus, aside from the great assemblies of the high festivals, no such thing as a worshipping and listening congrega- tion. Hindu temples have no accommodations for such, the average temple being commonly only about ten feet square, just large enough for the image it shelters and the priest who oiUci- ates at tlie altar. None of them, not even the enormous pagodas of southern India, are ar- ranged with a view to an audience. The people simply make their genuflexions and offerings, and pass on. It must be understood that not all the gods in the Hindu system are worshipped alike in all parts of India. Each god has his own following, limited by locality, class, or sect, although many of the pco])le adopt a large number of deities. Of the Tri-murti, liralima, Siva, and Vishnu, the former is not often made a subject of wor- ship ; Siva is tlie ruling god in central and northwestern India; Vishnu is usually wor- shipped in one of his incarnations. Worship- pers of Siva usually bear upon the forehead THE OFT-COyQUEIiED PEOPLE 117 three horizontal mai-ks made with w hite ashes. An upriglit mark, briglit red, yellow, and white, stamps the follower of Vishnu. The essence of religion in the popular mind is to punctiliously keep caste, and by " gaining merit in various ways to ward off as many rebirtlis of the allotted eight millions as pos- sible. Fear is the universally ruling principle in religion; its outworking the desii'e for pro- pitiation. Acquiring Merit "A few," says one familiar with India by long residence, "an almost infinitesimal few, by austerities and prayers, are really seeking freedom from sin ; but the masses of both high and low do not realize the disintegrating and decaying action of sin on the soul. Most are trying to propitiate the evil spirits, or bribe the better ones to grant temporal blessings." Pilgrimages of incredible length and diffi- culty constitute a favorite method for " gaining merit." To journey on foot from the mouth of the sacred river Ganges to its source and back again, occupying six weary j^ars, is sup- posed to secure extraordinary purification and favor with the gods. Mohammedan Wursship In the Mohammedan mosque there are no idols, not even a symbolic suggestion, for the Mussulman is strictly non-idolatrous. Five 118 LUX CHRISTI times a day comes the impressive call to pra3'er, begiuning with the first flush of dawn, Prayer is more than sleep — is more than sleep.''' Per- haps no class of men can be found more scrupu- lous in the performance of their religious forms than are the ]Mohammedans, but their religion leaves heart and character untouched, un- changed. Nevertheless, when compared with the disgusting rites of Hindu temples, the wor- ship in a Moslem mosque presents a tranquilliz- ing and almost spiritual semblance. Women are never admitted to the mosques. It is said that the great difficulty in reaching Moslems with the message of the Gospel is tlieir dislike, amounting to disgust, of the practical idolatry of the old churches of the East. Moslems abhor image worship, and in the old churches they behold pictures and images of Marj- and the saints, before which the worshippers bow down in homage. This is abliorrent to the Moslem, and he associates this idolatry of the Greek and Roman branches of the Church with Christianity. Buddhist Worship The practice of the worship of Buddha in India is confined to the borders of Thibet, to Burma, and to Ceylon, and as it affects so small a portion of the Indian people, it must be left to the consideration of a succeeding volume. lUuldhism in its outworking is but slightly THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 119 in ,'icivaiice of Hinduism, since the images of Buddha aie practically objects of idolatry, and the temple service is alwa3s accompanied by Xat or spirit-worship, while the spinning of prayer wheels and the flutter of prayer flags I'l um poles and tree-tops bespeak its superstitious character. Certain superficial resemblances to Roman Catholicism are to be seen in Buddhism, such as the use of rosaries, the worship of relics, the prevalence of monasteries, and celi- Itcite orders of monks and nuns. The Buddhist ])i iesthood is notoriously corrupt, and life in the monasteries has reached the point of depravity w hich has provoked, complaint to the govern- ment. Buddhist temples are often on a vast ;uid imposing scale, iii contrast to the narrow shrines of Hinduism. Parsi Customs regarding the Dead The Parsis have been spoken of as a superior race in culture, intelligence, and aptitude for civilization. They retain, however, the most barbaric burial customs known perhaps to humanity. In broad, low towers, known as " Towers of Silence," in which iron grates are stretched to receive them, their dead are exposed naked, out of sight or reach of all living, to the ravages of tlie vultures whic-h perch round the walls ready to gorge themselves in horrid greed upon their prey. Thus even in the milder and less corrupt 120 LUX cnmsTi forms of lieathenism we find some abhorrent and depraved features. Everywhere in India is a strange lurking mystery of dark deeds; impassive apathy to suffering inconceivable to the Occidental mind ; deep treachery, and un- seen, unrecorded crime. Caste No influence is more potent in the bondage of the people to this darkened mind than is the mighty thraldom of caste. " On all sides you see the observance of minute caste rules," writes Margaret Denning. " You offer some bread or food to a hungry child ; he refuses, but implores you to give him money, as he can buy raw grain and prepare it himself, so it will not be contaminated by your touch. Your cor- dial handshake is refused by the Zenana womcji for fear it will entail an extra bath of purifica- tion before they can prepare the next meal. Many castes dare not even receive a card from your hand. You must first lay it down, and then the other is free to lift it up." The caste system has extended in considerable measure to the Mohammedans, as in turn the Moslem seclu- sion of women has been taken on by the Hindus. Among the major evils proceeding from caste are [jhysical degeneracy, owing to the narrow- ing circles wherein marriage is permitted ; the destruction of all sense of human brotherhood by the actual consecration of class liatred ; the THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 121 intellectual stagnation involved in the fact that the liighest caste alone, the Brahmans, are con- sidered fit to read and to teach. I7ie Brahmans As laid down in the Code of Manu, the whole system of caste is but an organized scheme for the protection of the Brahmans in their colossal selfishness. "Since the Brahman sprang from the most excellent part, since he has the priority arising from primogeniture, and since he pos- sesses the Veda, he is hy right the lord of this whole creation.'" (Code of Manu.) Tlie Brahmans are never in danger of pov- erty, as they have always been careful to make the efficacy of all rites which they administer dependent upon the gifts with which they are accompanied. In an emergency the Brahman is directed to obey the following rule : " Against misfortune let him preserve his wealth ; at the expense of his wealth let him preserve his wife ; but let him at all events preserve himself, even at the hazard of his wife and his riches." There are four stages in the life of the Brah- man as laid down in the Code of Manu : — 1. The investiture of the sacred thread, which signifies second birth, in his eighth year. 2. The married state. 3. The hermit life. 4. The devotee. The sacred cord, in the case of the Brahman, 122 LUX CHRISTI consists of three slender cotton threads, each consisting of three finer threads tightly twisted into, one, and tied together in a sacred knot of peculiar construction. The cord is worn over the left shoulder and allowed to hangr down diagonally across the body to the right hip. So soon as the Hindu boy has been made regenerate by the solemn putting on of this mystic symbol, his religious education and spiritual life are held to begin. It is only after he has been invested with the sacred thread that he has a right to the title " Twice-born," or can read or recite the Veda, or be known by the name Brahman. The four original divisions of caste have been almost infinitely subdivided, the Brahman caste alone being divided into 1886 subcastes. Yogis There is in India a large class of devotees, drawn in part but by no means altogether from the Brahman caste. These ascetics do no work, do not teach, do good to no one. Their lives are spent in wandering from shrine to shrine, almost if not entirely naked, their bodies smeared with ashes, begging gifts. Self-in- flicted cruelties of an appalling character are common among them ; the most abnormal of tliese, lianging from hooks thrust through the flesli, lias been proliibited by the English gov- ernment. Most of tliese devotees have reduced THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 123 themselves to a mental condition bordering on idiocy. The milder form of asceticism from which these fakirs have drawn their revolting practices is known as Yoga, a system of philos- ophy unworthy the name, the aim of which is the union of the human soul with the Supreme by the suppression of all thought, by intense concentration on nothing, and the constant repe- tition of the mystical word "Om." Conclusion As we look back over the conditions, racial, social, religious, here so rapidly sketched, India seems to lie before us, vast, dusky, unintelligi- ble, peopled by swarming races of enfeebled men and oppressed women. Out of dimness ;uid confusion incoherent voices reach us, wail- ing, mocking, imploring; spirits that peep and mutter flit through the gloom ; famine, pesti- lence, and crime glide by like spectres; in myste- rious temples silent priestesses attend upon rites which no man can name ; cruelty, oppression, the lethargy of fatalism, lie like a pall over the great gray land. The spirit sinks under the almost hopeless gloom. " At last r li(;ar(l a voicr; upon llio slope Cry to the suriiiiiit, ' Is there any hope? ' To which an answer peal'd from that high land, But in a tongue no man could iind<;rstand : And on tluj glimmering limit far willidrawn God made Himself an awful rose of dawn." 124 LUX cmusTi ILLUSTRATIVE SELECTIONS Concerning the Beauties of Hinduism The great majority of the populatioii of India con- sists of idolaters, blindly attached to doctrines and rites which, considered merely with reference to the temporal interests of mankind, are in the highest degree pernicions. In no part of the world has a religion ever existed more unfavorable to the moral and intellectual health of our race. The Brahmanical mythology is so absurd that it necessarily debases every mind which receives it as truth ; and with this absurd mythology is bound up an absurd system of physics, an absurd geography, an absurd astronomy. Nor is tliis form of paganism more favor- able to art than to science. Through tlie whole Hindu pantheon you will look in vain for anything resembling those beautiful and majestic forms which stood in the slirines of ancient Greece. All is hideous and grotesque and ignoble. As this superstition is of all superstitions the most irrational and the most inelegant, so it is of all superstitions the most immoral. Emblems of vice are objects of public worship. The courtesans are as much a part of the establishment of the temple, as much the ministers of the gods, as the priests. Acts of vice are acts of public worship. Crimes against life, crimes against projierty, are not only permitted but enjoined by this odious theology. But for our interference, human victims would still be offered to the Ganges, and the widow would still be laid on the pile with the corpse of her husband, and burned alive by her own children. It is by the command and under the special protection of one of the most powerful goddesses that the Thugs join themselves to the unsuspecting traveller, make friends with him, slip the noose round his neck, plunge tlunr knives into his eyes, hide him in the earth, and divide liis money and baggage. — Lord Macaulay, Member of the Supreme Council of Calcutta, 1834-1838. THE OFT-CONQUERED PEOPLE 125 I hare lived so long in a land where the people wor- ship cows, that I do not make much of the differences wliich separate Christians from Christians. — LoKD Macaulay. Words of a Kashmiri Pundit To live for three or four years in a society in which men and women meet, not as masters and slttves, but as friends and companions — in wliich feminine culture adds grace and beauty to the lives of men; to live in a society in which the prosaic hours of hard work are relieved by the companionship of a sweet and educated wife, sister, or mother, is the most necessary discipline required by our Indian j'outlis in order that they niay be able to shake off tlieir old notions and to look upon an accomplished womanhood as the salt of human society which preserves it from moral decay. There is a very pernicious notion prevalent in India, that a free intercourse between the sexes leads to immorality. I confess that before I visited England I believed there was some truth in this notion. But now I believe no such thing. iNIy own impression is that the chief safety-valve of public and private morality is the free intercourse between the sexes. This is the sore need of India, and we hope the purdah will soon be rent in twain and woman be emancipated. Life in the Zenana I have lived in Zenanas and can speak from experi- ence of what the lives of .secluded women can be, — the intellect so dwarfed that a woman of twenty or thirty is more like a child, while all the wor.st passions of human nature are developed an