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■I 


tihvavy  of €:he  trheolo^ical  ^tminavy 

PRINCETON    .    NEW  JERSEY 

V//  VVV" 

PRESENTED  BY 

Prof.    Edwin  H.    Kellogg 


HINDUISM 


AND  ITS 


RELATIONS  TO  CHRISTIANITY 


BY 


REV.  JOHN   ROBSON,  M.A. 


FORMERLY   OF   AJMER. 


EDINBURGH  :    WILLIAM  OLIPHANT  &  CO. 

GLASGOW  :    DAVID  ROBERTSON. 

LONDON  :    HAMILTON,  ADAMS  &  CO. 

1874 

[A  II  rights  >  e served.  ] 


MUIR  AND  PATERSON,  PRINTERS,  EDINBURGH. 


TO  THE 

OF  THE  FREE   CHURCH  MISSION,   BOMBAY, 

WHO,    DUrJXG   FORTY-FIVE    YEARS,    WHILE    SEEKING    FAITHFULLY 

TO   COMMEND   TO   THE   HINDUS   THE   TRUTH    OF    CHRISTIANITY, 
HAS   SHOWN  HIMSELF   A   DILIGENT   AND   APPRECIATIVE 

STUDENT   OF   THEIR   LITERATURE   AND   RELIGION, 

^fjts  Boolt  is  Dctiicatcli 
AS  A  MARK  OF  AFFECTION  AND  ESTEEM. 


PREFACE. 


rriHIS  book  is  offered  to  those  who  take  an  interest 
in  India,  and  especially  in  Indian  missions,  as 
an  attempt  to  enable  them  better  to  understand  the 
religion  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  that 
land.  I  have  found  prevalent  in  this  country  ideas 
of  Hinduism  very  different  from  those  which  a 
twelve  years'  practical  study  of  it  in  constant  contact 
with  its  followers  has  led  me  to  form.  Generally, 
among  friends  of  missions,  there  is  an  undue  deprecia- 
tion of  Hinduism, — an  ionorinix  or  an  ioiiorance  of  the 
amount  of  truth  and  vitality  still  to  be  found  in  it ; 
whilst,  amoug  those  indifferent  or  hostile  to  missions, 
there  is  an  equal  ignoring  or  ignorance  of  the  false- 
hood which  vitiates  that  truth  and  poisons  that 
vitality.  ISTot  only  does  Hinduism  contain  a  subtle 
philosophy,  express  high  moral  truths  and  enjoin 
many  social  virtues;  it  even  in  one  guise  or  other 
embodies  many  of  the  leading  religious  truths  which 
Christianity  teaches.      But  that  there  is  in   it   an 


vi  Preface. 

ineradicable  vice  which  neutralizes  all  that  is  good, 
which  has  paralyzed  and  must  paralyze  all  those 
efforts  at  reform  within  Hinduism  that  more  en- 
lightened Hindus  have  made  and  are  now  making, 
and  which  leaves  Christianity  the  only  hope  for 
India — is  what  I  have  endeavoured  to  show. 

The  present  religion  of  India  can  be  better  under- 
stood with  some  knowledge  of  those  faiths  which 
preceded  it.  I  have  therefore  prefixed  a  short  sketcli 
of  the  earlier  religions  of  India,  for  which  I  have 
availed  myself  of  the  results  of  the  investigations  of 
others,  principally  JMax  JMiiller's  Early  Sanskrit 
Literature,  and  Science  of  Religion  ;  Professor  H.  H. 
Wilson's  Translation  of  the  Pdg  Veda;  Dr.  John 
Wilson's  India  Three  Thousand  Years  Ago  ;  liassen's 
Indische  Altcrthumskunde ;  and  that  thesaurus  of 
Indian  literature,  Sanskrit  Texts,  by  Dr.  John  Muir,  to 
whose  hints  and  assistance  I  am  otherwise  indebted. 
The  remainder  of  the  book  is  mainly  the  result  of 
my  own  observations  and  study  of  the  sacred  litera- 
ture now  most  current  among  the  Hindus.  But, 
being  unable  to  procure  in  this  country  many  of  the 
books  I  wished,  I  have  been  obliged  to  depend 
greatly  on  memory,  and  to  leave  out  many  ^^articular 
references  which  I  could  have  desired  to  give. 


Preface  vii 

Since  tliis  volume  was  sent  to  the  press  I  have 
read  the  third  volume  of  Talboys  Wheeler's  History 
of  India}  I  was  glad  to  find  that  many  of  my 
positions  were  confirmed  by  his  investigations, 
though,  as  was  perhaps  inevitable  in  a  field  so  vast 
and  still  so  uncertain,  many  of  our  conclusions  are 
quite  different,  I  have  been  able,  in  the  latter 
chapters  on  Hinduism  and  in  the  Appendix,  to  in- 
troduce some  notes  from  his  work  where  it  bears  on 
the  question  in  hand. 

A  discussion  has  lately  appeared  in  the  pages  of 
the  Fortniglithj  Revieio  between  ]\Ir.  Lyall  and  Max 
[Miiller  on  the  missionary  character  and  vitality  of 
the  Brahmanical  religion.  It  has  evidently  in  a 
great  measure  sprung  from  a  misconception  of  the 
meaning:  of  the  latter  in  his  lecture  on  Missions  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  and  might  not  have  been  raised 

^  This  tliircl  volume,  publislied  by  Triibner  and  Co.,  is  complete 
in  itself,  and — wliile  not  presenting  the  same  complete  chronicle  of 
events  which  other  histories  do — presents  a  far  more  interesting  and 
vivid  picture  of  what  is  characteristic  and  permanent  in  India,  of 
the  inner  life  and  social  condition  of  the  people,  of  all  that  it  is  im- 
portant for  us  to  know  about  them,  than  any  other  history  with 
which  I  am  acquainted.  The  first  and  second  volumes,  dealing 
rather  with  Indian  histories,  do  for  Sanskrit  literature  what  the 
'  Greek  and  Latin  Classics  for  English  Readers '  have  done  for  Greek 
and  Latin  literature,  and  enable  the  English  reader  pleasantly  and 
profitably  to  become  acquainted  with  the  voluminous  historical 
poems  of  the  Hindus. 


viii  Preface. 

had  Mr.  Lyall  seen  the  Lecture  in  its  published 
form  instead  of  the  report  in  the  Times.  This,  how- 
ever, is  hardly  to  be  regretted,  as  it  has  led  to  the 
appearance  of  Mr.  Lyall's  vivid  account  of  Brah- 
manical  propagandism,  which  will,  I  believe,  be 
vouched  for  as  true  in  its  main  features  ^  by  those 
who  have  had  to  do  with  Brahmanism,  where  it  has 
been  less  affected  by  European  enlightenment.  It 
is  perhaps  unfortunate  that  the  term  Brahmanism 
should  be  used,  for  in  its  strict  sense  it  means  merely 
the  religion  of  the  Brahmans,  and  is  utterly  non- 
expansive.  It  can  be  professed  only  by  them,  and 
no  one  can  be  a  Brahman  who  is  not  born  one.  But 
if  we  take  that  system  which  places  the  Brahmans  at 
the    head,   but    includes   also   the   religion   of    the 

2  Mr,  Lyall  seems  to  me  to  speak  somewhat  unguardedly  as  to 
the  miraculous  agency  employed  by  the  Brahmans.  They  pretend 
to  have  the  power  to  bring  the  god  into  the  image  by  the  use  of 
charms,  but  I  never  met  or  heard  of  a  Brahman  who  pretended  to 
have  the  power  of  working  miracles,  as  we  understand  them,  or 
who  ax>plied  to  any  one  who  pretended  to  have  it  any  other  name 
than  Pcikhand — cheat.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the  Rajputana 
Mission,  several  persons  pretended  to  be  inspired  by  the  goddess 
Mata,  and  to  have  the  power  of  working  miracles,  but  they  were  all 
ignorant  and  illiterate  members  of  low  castes.  Dr.  Valentine,  then 
medical  missionary  at  Beawr,  on  one  occasion  gave  one  of  them, 
when  he  pretended  to  be  inspired,  some  liquor  ammonicB  to  smell, 
which  so  stunned  and  confounded  him,  that  he  confessed  himself  a 
cheat.  Since  then  the  miracle-mongers  have  kept  out  of  reach  of 
the  padre's  medicine-bottle. 


Preface.  ix 

Eajputs,  the  religion  of  the  Baniyas,  and  of  every 
caste  that  may  come  within  its  pale,  and  which  may 
more  appropriately  be  termed  Hinduism,  then  it  is 
expansive,  though  it  is  proselytizing  rather  than 
missionary ;  and  it  proselytizes  by  absorbing  tribes, 
not  by  converting  individuals. 

But  Hinduism  has  still  great  vitality.  Max 
Miiller,  after  describing  in  his  Lecture  the  most 
popular  gods  of  the  Hindu  pantheon,  adds :  '  But 
ask  any  Hindu  who  can  read  and  write  and  think, 
whether  these  are  the  gods  he  believes  in,  and  he 
will  smile  at  your  credulity.'  And  in  his  article  he 
says,  '  I  ask  ]\Ir.  Lyall,  is  this  true  or  is  it  not  ? '  If 
he  will  allow  me  to  answer  this  question,  I  would 
say  that  perhaps  a  definition  of  the  word  'think' 
might  remove  misconception,  but,  in  so  far  as  I 
understand  his  words,  and  in  so  far  as  my  experience 
goes,  I  would  say  '  it  is  not  true.'  I  have  met  Hindus 
who  could  read  and  write  and  think,  and  who  soberly, 
firmly,  and  acutely  maintained  their  faith  in  Vishnu 
and  Siva,  and  even  in  the  efficacy  of  worshipping 
their  images.  And  if  he  has  any  difficulty  in  conceiv- 
ing how  it  should  be  so,  I  would  relate  a  rencontre,  to 
which.  I  was  witness,  between  a  Christian  Brahman, 
who  had  visited  this  country,  and  an  American. 


X  Preface. 

*  I  am  very  miicli  surprised/  said  tlie  American, 
'  that  any  of  a  race  so  intelligent  as  yours  should  he 
idolaters.' 

*  I  am  very  much  surprised/  replied  the  Brahman, 
'  that  any  of  a  race  so  intelligent  as  yours  should  he 
idolaters.  I  came  to  England  hy  Eome,  and  I  saw 
English  and  Americans  kissing  the  toe  of  Jupiter, 
said  to  he  St.  Peter,  and  worshipping  images  just  as 
much  as  the  Hindus  do.' 

I  do  not  write  this  hecause  I  take  any  despairing 
view  of  the  future  of  Christianity  in  India,  hut 
because,  as  JMr.  Lyall  puts  it, '  those  who  go  to  war 
there  must,  for  many  a  long  day,  take  Brahmanism 
into  their  strategic  account.'  In  writing  this  hook  I 
had  the  hope  and  prospect  of  returning  to  hear  my 
part  personally  in  this  great  war.  Though  I  have 
been  obliged  meanwhile  to  relinquish  this  hope, 
neither  my  interest  in  the  work  of  evangelizing 
India,  nor  my  confidence  in  its  ultimate  triumph,  is 
at  all  abated  ;  and  if  this  book  should  succeed  at  all 
in  strengthening  these  sentiments  in  Christians  in 
this  country,.  I  shall  consider  myself  amply  rewarded 
for  any  labour  I  may  have  expended  on  it. 

Langside,  Glasgow,  Scptemhcr  1874. 


CONTENTS. 


INTEODUCTION. 

Conflicting  Elements  in  Hinduism, 
Macaulay's  Oj)inion  of  Hinduism,     . 
Ballantyne's  Opinion  of  Hinduism, 
Cliaracteristics  of  Hindu  Philosophy, 
Practical  Application  of  Hindu  Philosophy, 
Materials  for  a  History  of  Hinduism, 


PAGE 

3 

4 
5 
6 
6 

7 


PAET    I. 

EARLIER  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA. 

CHAP.  I. — Earliest  Vedic  Religion, 

Earliest  Record  of  Religion  in  India — the  Rig  Veda, 
India  Three  Thousand  Years  Ago — the  Aryas, , 

the  Aborigines, 

Aryan  Religion — Primitive  Monotheism, 

Modes  of  expressing  God — by  His  attributes, 

by  His  works,  . 
Aryan  Gods — Dyaus,  the  Sky, 
Aditi, 
Varuna, 
Deterioration  of  Religious  Ideas, 
Indra,  the  Rain  god. 
Other  gods,  . 
Each  god  supreme, 
The  Unknown  God, 
Early  "Worship — Sacriiice, 
Ideas  of  a  Future  Life, 
Religion  of  the  Aborigines, 


11 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
16 
17 
18 
22 
23 
24 
24 
25 
27 
28 
28 


xu 


Contents, 


CHAP.  II. — Brahmanism, 

Changes  among  the  Aryas, 
Origin  of  Caste — the  Suclras,     . 

The  Sudras  at  the  time  of  Rama, 
Subjection  of  the  Sudras, 
Caste  among  the  Aryas — Brahmans, 
Kshatriyas,  Vaisyas, 
Caste  Legislation, 
Religious  Ideas — the  Brahmans, 

Brahman  Priests,    .... 
The  Brahmanas, 
Development  of  Polytheism, 
Brahma, 

Brahmanical  and  Levitical  Sacrifices, 
Levitical  Sacrifice,  ty^iical, 
Brahmanical  Sacrifice,  sacramental. 
Difficulties  of  this  Idea, 
Brahman  Sages — the  Upanishads, 
Pantheism, 
Origin  of  Metempsychosis  and  Asceticism, 
Eftect  of  Philosophy  on  Religion, 
Other  Sources  of  Religious  Ideas,  . 

Struggle  between  Brahmans  and  Kshat- 
riyas, 
Rama's  Expedition  to  Ceylon, 
The  Panda vs  and  Krishna, 
Aboriginal  "Worship, 
Extent  of  Brahmanism, 

CHAP.  III.— Buddhism,     . 
Buddha's  Life — His  Birth, 
Married  Life, 
Change  caused  by  seeing  Old  Age,  Disease,  Death 

and  a  Recluse,    . 
He  renounces  Royalty, 
Studies  with  the  Brahmans, 
Retires  to  the  Forests, 
He  discovers  the  Way  of  Deliverance, 
And  communicates  it  to  others — subsequent  life, 
Connection  between  his  Life  and  Relii^ion, 


PAGE 

30 
30 
30 
32 
33 


Contents. 


Xlll 


Buddha's  System — Transmigration, 

Atheism,    ..... 

Nirvana,     ..... 

Better  Elements  of  his  System, 

"Way  of  Deliverance — Asceticism, 

Religion  for  the  Laity — Morality, 

Abolition  of  Caste, 

Tenderness  to  the  Brute  Creation, 

AVorship  of  Relics, 
Causes  of  the  Spread  of  Buddhism — Character  of  its 
Founder,  .... 

Buddhism  a  Religion  of  Humanity, 

Persuasion  the  sole  Instrument  of  its  Spread, 

Influence  of  his  Example — Legend  of  Purna, 
Effects  of  Buddhism,     .... 
Defects  of  Buddhism — Atheism, 

False  Views  of  Duty  and  Human  Life, 

Absence  of  Revelation, 

Absence  of  Power, 
Fall  of  Buddhism,  .... 

The  Jains — the  Representatives  of  Buddhism, 

Founders  of  Jainism — Pars^vanath  and  Mahavirn, 

Jain  Doctrine,        .... 

Origin  of  the  Sect,  .  .         ■    . 


PAGE 

64 
65 
66 
^^ 
67 
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69 
70 
70 

71 
73 

74 
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79 
81 
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82 
83 
85 


PAET    II. 


HINDUISM. 

Introduction — Rise  of  Hinduism,     ....  89 
Difficulties  of  the  Subject,          .             .             .             .90 

Two  Features  of  Hinduism — Philosophy  and  Religion,  91 

CHAP.  I. — Hindu  Philosophy,     ....  92 

Cause  of  the  Intellectual  Revival,          .              .             .  92 

The  chief  end  of  Man — Liberation,        .             .             ,  93 

Fundamental  Principles,  ex  ?ii7a7o  ?n7a7yi^,      .             .  94 

The  Supreme  Spirit  the  only  existent  Being,         .  94 

The  Supreme  Spirit  Unconditioned,      .              .             .  95 

The  Vedantic  and  Christian  Trinity,          .             .  96 


XIV 


Contents. 


Man's  Sj)irit  and  Matter, 
Maya  or  Delusion, 

Analogy  of  Dreamland  and  Monomania, 
Nature  of  the  Illusion, 
Difficulties  to  be  Explained, 
Metempsychosis  proved  by  Reminiscence 
and  Moral  Necessity, 
Vicarious  Atonement, 
Deeds,  Bonds  of  the  Spirit, 
Analogy  of  Vapour, 
The  Eighty-four, 
Difficulties  to  be  Explained — Origin  of  Illusion, 

The  Law  of  Transmigration — the  Unseen, 
"Way  of  Liberation, 

Knowledge, 
Hindu  Philosophy  and  Buddhism, 

Causes  of  the  Triumph  of  Hinduism, 
Hindu  Philosophy  and  Christianity, 
Popular  Hindu  Philosophy — Transmigration, 
Deeds  are  Bonds,   . 
Man's  Spirit  part  of  the  Supreme, 
Failure  of  the  Philosophical  Solution, 


PAGE 

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98 
99 
100 
101 
102 
102 
103 
104 
105 
107 
107 
108 
109 
110 
111 
112 
113 
114 
114 
115 
117 


CHAP.  11. — Pantheism  and  Caste, 

Meaning  of  Caste,  .... 

Occupations,  .... 

Family  System,      .... 
Pantheistic  Explanations  of  Caste, 
Punishment  for  Caste-breaking, 
Lower  castes  recognized,  .  .  , 

Consequences — Sub-divisions  of  the  Brahmanical  caste 

Disappearance  of  the  intermediate  castes, 
Power  of  caste,  .... 

Vitality  of  caste,  .... 

Native  testimony  with  regard  to  caste, 
Effect  of  caste  on  the  English, 
Caste  a  means  of  propagandism. 
The  Worship  of  the  Cow  the  Sacrament  of  Caste, 

The  common  bond  of  Hinduism, 


119 

119 

120 

121 

123 

124 

125 

126 

127 

128 

129 

131 

132 

133 

134 

134 


Contents, 


XV 


Origin  of  cow  worsliip, 
Legend  of  Prithu, 

Manu's  laws,  .... 

Growth  Df  cow  worship,     . 

CHAP.  III.— Pantheism  and  Polytheism, 

Place  of  idol  worship  in  Hinduism, 

Apparent  contradictions. 

The  gods  means  of  mediate  Liberation, 

Pantheistic  basis  of  worship,     . 

Facilities  offered  thereby  for  propagandism,      . 

Main  divisions  of  Hinduism — Vishnu  and  SivaWorshij 

Principle  of  these  divisions — faith  and  merit. 

Limitations  of  the  distinction, 


Religious  Eecords- 


-the  Puranas, 


CHAP.  IV.— Vishnu  Worship,    . 

Vishnuism  starts  from  God's  Supremacy, 
Abstract  Conception  of  Vishnu, 
His  Avatars  analogous  to  man's  transmigrations. 
Fish,  Tortoise,  and  Boar  Avatars, 
Man-lion  and  Dwarf  Avatars, 
Sixth  Avatar  historical. 
Seventh,  Rama  Chandra, 
Eighth  Incarnation  as  Krishna,    . 
Krishna's  youth, 

Brahmanical  adaptation  of  the  story, 
Brahmanical  inventions, 

and  explanations, 
Justification  of  Sin,     . 
Images  of  Krishna, 
Ninth  Avatar — Buddha,    . 
Fresh  Incarnations  of  Krishna, 
Tenth  Incarnation — the  English, 
Forms  of  "Worship,         .... 
Invocation,  .... 

Story  of  Valmiki, 
Image  Worship,     .... 
Three  explanations  of  Image  Worship, 


PAGE 

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136 

137 

138 

140 

140 
141 
142 
143 

144 
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147 
148 

149 

149 

150 

151 

151 

152 

155 

155 

156 

157 

158 

159 

160 

161 

163 

163 

164 

164 

167 

167 

168 

169 

170 


XVI 


Contents. 


Charms, 

Disappearance  of  Sacrifice, 
Vislinu  Worship, 

Worship  of  his  images, 

The  Bombay  Maharajas,    . 

Vice  a  fruit  of  Hinduism, 
Vaishnava  Reformers — Ramanuja, 

Ramananda  and  Tulsidas, 

Other  Reformers, 


CHAP,  v.— Siva  Worship, 

Principles  of  Siva  Worship, 

Rudra,  .... 

Popular  conception  of  Siva, 

Representations  of  him, 

Saiva  Legends, 

Other  worship  connected  with  his, 

The  Recluses  the  mainstay  of  his  religion, 

Common  ideas  of  Asceticism, 

Drying  up  of  the  blood, 

Practices  of  modern  Ascetics, 

Their  degraded  character, 
Saiva  Propagandism,     . 

Siva's  wives  and  servants, 

Pushkar — explanation  of  tirths, 
Primitive  worship  of  Pushkar, 
Saiva  manipulation  of  the  legends, 

Object  of  the  Brahmans  to  assimilate, 

Parihar  Minas, 

IMoral  influence  of  the  Brahmans, 

The  Bhils  of  the  Aravalis, 
Saiva  Worship, 
Secret  sects,      .... 


PAGE 

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173 

175 
175 
177 

179 

180 
181 

182 

183 

183 
184 
185 
186 
187 
188 
188 
189 
190 
191 
192 
193 
194 
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196 
197 
198 
199 
200 
201 
203 
204 


CHAP.  VI. — Reconciliation  of  the  Sects- 
Hinduism, 

Original  enmity  of  the  Sects,    . 
Sectarian  Controversies, 
Reconciliation  of  the  Sects, 


-Review  of 


206 

206 
207 
208 


Contents. 


xvii 


The  Trimurti  Analogy  with  the  Christian  Trinity, 

Date  of  the  Pantheistic  Reconciliation, 
Summary,  .... 

Eeview  of  the  "Work  of  Hinduism, 

Hindu  tolerance. 

Blind  faith  of  Hinduism, 

Effects  of  Hinduism, 


PAGF. 

209 
211 
212 
213 
214 
216 
217 


PART    III. 

HINDUISM  AND  MAHOMMEDANISM. 

Hinduism  and  Mahommedauism,          .             .             .  223 

Eise  of  Mahommedauism — its  Principles,          .             .  223 

Way  of  Salvation,  .  .  .  .224 

Morality,    ......  225 

Spread  of  Mahommedauism,      .             .             .      '        .  226 

Spread  of  Mahommedanism  in  India,                 .             .  227 

Cause  of  the  Resistance  of  India,                .             .  228 

Mahommedan  Conquest  of  India,                .             .  229 

Akbar's  Policy,       .....  230 

Aurangzeb's  Policy — fall  of  Mahommedanism,      .  231 

Effect  of  Mahommedanism  on  Hinduism  very  small,    .  234 

Deteriorating  effects,           ....  236 

Effect  of  Hinduism  on  Mahommedanism,          .             .  237 

Present  position  of  the  two  faiths — triumph  of  Hinduism,  238 

Mahommedan  Revival,               ....  239 


PART    lY. 


HINDUISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY. 

Introduction — Contest  between  the  two  Faiths  begun,      243 
Conditions  of  the  Contest,         ....         244 

CHAP.  I. — Affinities  and  Antagonisms  of  Christianity 

AND  Hinduism,     .....         245 

Elements  of  Natural  Religion  in  both  Systems,  .         245 

True  grounds  of  comparison,  their  teaching  about  sin,  246 

h 


XVIU 


Contents. 


PAGE 

Distinction  between  Hindu  and  Christian  principles,  .  247 

Salvation — Hindu  and  Christian  conceptions,                .  248 

Way  of  Salvation,          .....  250 

Vicarious  Atonement,  Christian  doctrine,              .  251 

Objections  to  the  Christian  doctrine,               .  252 

Hindu  doctrine.  Transmigration,                .             .  253 

Moral  failure  of  this  doctrine,              .             .  254 

The  Incarnation — the  Christian  solution,               .  255 

Sin,  non-trust  of  God,             .              .             .  256 

Distinction  between  Divine  and  human  law,  257 

Christian  remedy  for  sin,  trust  in  God^        .  258 

This  removes  not  the  metaphysical,  .            .  259 

but  the  ethical  difficulty,        .             .             .  260 

Hindu  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,            .             .  260 

Striving  to  be  like  God,  Christian  conception,      .  262 

Hindu  counterpart,     ....  264 

Difficulties  occasioned  by  these  resemblances,                .  266 

Antagonism  of  Christian  and  Hindu  Anthropologj',     .  267 

Caste  productive  of  Antipathy,  Terrorism,              .  268 

and  Isolation,               .             .  269 

Points  seemingly  favourable  to  Hinduism,        .             .  270 

Degraded  condition  of  many  Christians,    .             .  270 

High  character  of  many  Hindus,    .  .  .272 

CHAP.  II. — Religious  Reform  in  India,            .            .  275 

What  change  will  reform  Hinduism,     .             .             .  275 

Holiness  destructive  of  Hinduism,         .             .             .  276 

Hindu  Reformers,  .  .  .  .  .277 

Brahma  Samaj,       .....  278 

The  Progressive  Brahmists,            .             .             .  279 

Defects  of  their  system,  .  .  .280 

The  Adi  Samaj,       .....  282 

Their  relapse  into  Orthodox  Hinduism,           .  283 

Christianity  the  only  reformation  of  Hinduism,             .  286 

Other  causes  of  decay  in  Hinduism,      .             .             .  287 

Dangers  of  mere  Secular  Education,      .             .            .  289 


CHAP.  III. — Attitude  OF  Christianity  WITH  regard  to 

Hinduism,  .....        291 

Intolerance  and  Confidence,       .  .  ...         291 


Contents,  xix 


PAGE 

Christian  Tolerance  and  Intolerance,         *.             .  291 

Intolerance  necessary  to  the  success  of  Christianity,  292 

Popular  Hindu  toleration  of  Christianity,               .  295 
Duty  of  the  Church,           .             .             .             .296 
Confidence  in  the  success  of  the  means  employed  for  pro- 
pagation,            .             .             .             .            .297 

Attitude  of  Government,    ....  298 

Government  interference  favourable  to  Hinduism,  299 

Difficulties  in  employment  of  the  means,  .             .  300 

Christianity  not  ascetic,           .             .             .  300 

Christians  excluded  from  Social  Intercourse,  .  302 

Christianity  opposed  to  Hindu  Patriotism,     .  302 

Lives  of  Europeans  in  India,  .             .             ,  303 

Christian  Sects,           ....  304 

Christianity  a  persecuted  Religion,     .             .  305 

Establishment  of  a  Native  Christian  Church  in  India,  306 

Character  of  the  Native  Church,    .             .             .  307 

Christianity  not  a  Foreign  Faith,  .             .             .  309 

Characteristics  of  Indian  Christianity,        .             .  310 

Encouragement  to  prosecute  Mission  Work,      .             .  312 

Hinduism  opposed  to  Human  Nature,       .             .  313 

The  History  of  Hinduism  a  Search  for  Christ,       .  315 


APPENDIX. 

A. — Buddha's  System,  . 

B. — Schools  of  Hindu  Philosophy, 

C. —  Hindu  Logic, 

D. — Mahommedan  Doctrine  of  Sin, 

E. — Natural  Religion  in  Hindu  Literature, 


ERRATA. 

Page  13,  line  21,  for  glimpses  read  glimpse. 
,,101,     ,,     3,    ,,    equipose     ,,     equipoise. 


137,     ,,  23,    ,,    evidenly     ,,     evidently. 


,,       dU_/,         ,,         O,       ,,       ,  ,, 

„      81,  Note  5,  delete  (50). 


319' 
322 

324 
325 
326 


*  History  seems  to  teach  that  the  lohole  human  race  required  a 
gradual  education  before,   in  the  fulness  of  time,  it  could  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  truths  of  Christianity.     All  the  fallacies  of  human 
reason  had  to  be  exhausted  before  the  light  of  a  higher  truth  could 
meet  vnth  ready  acceptance.     The  ancient  religions  of  the  world  were 
but  the  milk  of  nature,  which  was  in  due  time  to  be  succeeded  by  the 
bread  of  life.     After  the  primeval  physiolatry,  which  was  common  to 
all  the  members  of  the  Aryan  family,  had,  in  the  hands  of  a  wily 
priesthood,  been  changed  into  an  empty  idolatry,  the  Indian  alone,  of 
all  the  Aryan  nations,  produced  a  new  form  of  religion,   which 
has  well  been  called  subjective,  as  opposed  to  the  more  objective  wor- 
ship of  nature.     That  religion,  tlie  religion  of  Buddha,  has  spread 
far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Aryan  world,  and,  to  our  limited  vision, 
it  may  seem  to  have  retarded  the  advent  of  Christianity  among  a 
large  portion  of  the  human  race.     But  in  the  sight  of  Him  with 
whom  a  thousand  years  are  but  as  one  day,  that  religion,  like  all  the 
ancient  religions  of  the  world,  may  have  but  served  to  prepare  the 
ivay  of  Christ,  by  helping  through  its  very  errors  to  strengthen  and 
to  deepen  the  ineradicable  yearning  of  the  human  heart  after  the 
truth  of  God.' — Max  Muller,  Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature. 


INTRODUCTION. 


-♦♦- 


A  N  Englishman,  entering  for  the  first  time 
-^^  a  native  town  in  India,  will  probably 
not  proceed  far  without  having  his  attention 
di^awn  to  an  open  shrine,  containing  a  rudely 
carved  stone,  worshipped  with  rites  as  sense- 
less as  their  object  is  shapeless.  Let  him 
ask  one  of  the  worshippers  a  '  reason  of  the 
faith  that  is  in  him,'  and  he  will  as  probably 
be  taken  aback  with  a  subtle  reply,  revealing 
a  system  of  thought  entirely  distinct  from 
his,  depending  on  other  bases  and  proceed- 
ing by  other  methods,  and  the  fallacy  of 
which  he  cannot  at  the  moment  seize.  Fur- 
ther experience  will  show  him  that  the  reply 
he  has  received  is  a  stock  reply,  the  fruit  of 
the  thinking  of  the  nation  rather  than  of  the 
individual ;  but  the  first  impression  produced 
will  be  one  of  bewilderment,  perplexing  his 
reason,  and  throwing  him  back  on  his  in- 
stincts for  evidence  of  the  truth. 


Introduction. 


A  similar  bewilderment,  I  fancy,  must  be 
produced  on  many  when  they  read  accounts 
of  the  religion  of  the  Hindus  by  persons  who 
have  had  op]Dortunities  of  observing  it  from 
different  points  of  view.  Some  speak  of  it  as 
the  grossest  of  superstitions  ;  others,  as  the 
deepest  and  subtlest  of  speculations.  Macau - 
Macaiiiay's  lay    who  had  to  do  with  the  Hindus  as  a 

opinion  of         *^ 

Hinduism,  legislator,  Can  hardly  find  words  strong 
enough  to  denounce  their  faith.  ^  In  no  part 
of  the  world,'  he  says,  ^las  a  religion  ever 
existed  more  unfavourable  to  the  moral 
and  intellectual  health  of  our  race.  The 
Brahmanical  mythology  is  so  absurd  that 
it  necessarily  debases  every  mind  which  re- 
ceives it  as  truth.  And  with  this  absurd 
mythology  is  bound  up  an  absurd  system 
of  physics,  an  absurd  geography,  an  absurd 
astronomy.  Nor  is  this  form  of  Paganism 
more  favourable  to  art  than  to  religion. 
Through  the  whole  of  the  Hindu  Pantheon 
you  will  look  in  vain  for  anything  resembling 
those  beautiful  and  majestic  forms  which 
stood  in  the  shrines  of  ancient  Greece.  All 
is  hideous  and  grotesque  and  ignoble.     As 


Intro  dice  tion. 


this  superstition  is  of  all  superstitions  the 
most  irrational  and  of  all  superstitions  the 
most  inelegant^  so  is  it  of  all  superstitions 
the  most  immoral.  Emblems  of  vice  are 
objects  of  public  worship.  Acts  of  vice  are 
acts  of  public  worship.  The  courtesans  are 
as  much  a  part  of  the  establishment  of  the 
temple,  as  much  ministers  of  the  god  as  the 
priests.  Crimes  against  life,  crimes  against 
property,  are  not  only  permitted  but  enjoined 
by  this  odious  theology.  But  for  our  inter- 
ference human  victims  would  still  be  offered 
to  the  Ganges,  and  the  widow  would  still 
be  laid  on  the  pile  by  the  corpse  of  her 
husband,  and  be  burned  alive  by  her  own 
children.'  ^ 

Compare  this  testimony  with  that  of  an-  Baiian- 

■fyjip  g 

other,  who  had  to  deal  with  the  Hindus  as  a  opiuion. 
scholar  and  a  philosopher,  and  who  declares 
Hindu  philosophy  to  be  'a  calm,  clear, 
collected  exposition  of  principles,  which  Ger- 
many constantly  and  England  occasionally 
gropes  after,  without  ever  grasping  them 
with  any  such  grasp  as  that  with  which  India 

^  Speech  on  the  Gates  of  Somnauth. 


Inirodicction. 


has  taken  hold  on  them.'  2  This  is  the 
language  not  of  an  opponent  of  Christianity 
but  of  an  advocate,  taken  from  a  book  de- 
signed to  lead  Hindu  pundits  to  a  careful 
study  of  its  truths.  It  is  moreover  on  the 
Character-  wholc  a  fair  statement  of  the  case.     Hindu 

istics  of  ,  .  .  IIP 

Hindu  phi-  philosophers  live  m  a  world  of  thoug^ht  such 

losophy.        ■'■■'■  ^  ^  " 

as  Europeans  can  form  little  idea  of.  The 
practical  and  real  questions  that  are  ever 
present  to  the  mind  of  the  German^  and  still 
more  of  the  Englishman,  leading  them  to 
tread  with  doubt  and  hesitation,  if  not  with 
humility,  never  trouble  the  Hindu  meta- 
physician at  all.  He  moves  in  the  region  of 
pure  thought,  unimpeded  by  the  contradic- 
tions which  retard  the  course  of  his  Western 
brethren,  on  to  the  goal  of  a  transcendental 
abstraction  from  which  the  most  daring  of 
them  would  shrink. 
Practical  But  man  is  not  all  thought ;  he  has  an 
ot  Hindu    outward  life  which  he  must  lead,  actual  rela- 

philosophy.      ,  .  n    ^  n^ 

tions  which  he  must  fulfil,  yearnings  and 
aspirations  of  the  soul  which  he  must  satisfy. 
The  real  value  of  a  system  is  found  when  it 

^  BallantyDe's  Bible  for  the  Pundits. 


Iiitrod^ution, 


comes  to  deal  practically  with  these  questions, 
and  the  practical  result  of  Hindu  philosophy 
in  dealing  with  them  is  that  hideous  picture 
which  Macaulay  has  drawn,  not  one  trait  of 
which  is  too  dark,  but  of  which  he  saw  only 
the  outer  form  without  notinsf  the  subtle  soul 
of  Pantheism  that  pervades  it,  justifying  its 
grossest  excesses  and  wildest  extravagances. 
It  is  this  union  of  a  subtle  Pantheistic  philo- 
sophy with  a  gross  popular  idolatry  that  con- 
stitutes modern  Hinduism,  and  makes  it  the 
most  redoubtable  foe  with  which  Christianity 
has  to  contend  in  India  if  not  in  the  world. 

Looking  at  this  system  as  it  now  exists,  History  of 
examininof"  the  books  that  are  current  amonof 
the  people,  conversing  with  them  and  debat- 
ing with  their  teachers,  we  can  form  some 
idea  of  the  bases  of  thought  on  which  it  now 
rests  and  of  the  hold  which  it  has  on  the 
Hindu  mind.  But  the  question  irresistibly 
occurs.  How  did  men  come  to  believe  in  such 
a  system  ?  Can  there  possibly  be  any  kin- 
ship between  it  and  the  faith  which  we 
profess  ?  Are  there  common  principles  in 
our  nature  to  which  both  alike  appeal  ?    Hin- 


8  Introduction. 


duism  as  it  now  is  was  not  always  the  re- 
ligion of  India,  and  indeed  in  its  present 
form  it  is  of  comparatively  modern  date. 
Just  as  in  looking  at  the  rocks  of  the  Jura  or 
the  red  sandstone  of  Cromarty,  and  studying 
the  fossils  imbedded  therein,  we  feel  sure  that 
we  are  looking  on  the  vestiges  of  a  former 
world ;  so  in  studying  modern  Hinduism,  we 
feel  that  we  have  the  fossilized  remains  of 
former  faiths,  gathered  into  new  combinations 
and  welded  together  by  a  new  power.  But 
as  to  the  real  history  of  the  changes  that 
have  taken  place,  we  are  still  comparatively 
in  the  dark.  The  student  of  Hinduism  has 
indeed  more  to  guide  him  than  the  student  of 
Geology,  but  after  all  that  has  been  done 
much  is  still  uncertain,  much  is  left  to  con- 
jecture. 

Yet  the  main  features  of  the  past  religious 
history  of  India  have  been  determined  with 
sufficient  accuracy  for  practical  purj)oses,  and 
modern  Hinduism  can  be  best  understood  by 
looking  first  of  all  at  those  religions  which 
preceded  it.  I  will,  therefore,  begin  by  giving 
a  short  sketch  of  the  earlier  religions  of  India. 


PART  I. 


EARLIER  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

EARLIEST    VEDIC    RELIGION. 


THE  earliest  records  we  have  of  the  Hindu  Earliest 
records  of 
reHofion,  as  of  the  Hindu  race,  are  certain  religion  in 

^         ^  ^  ^  ^  India. 

old  hymns  now  known  in  their  collected  form 
as  the  Kig  Veda.  Of  these  the  oldest  are 
certainly  not  later  than  twelve  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  or  more  than  three  thousand 
years  from  the  present  date.  They  are  im- 
portant not  only  for  the  light  which  they 
cast  on  the  early  history  of  India,  but  also 
for  that  which  they  cast  on  the  early  history 
of  mankind,  and  especially  of  that  family  to 
which  English  and  Hindus  alike  belong,  called 
from  the  word  used  in  these  hymns  the  Aryan 
race.  The  language  in  which  they  are  written 
supplied  the  key  to  the  relationship  of  the 
various  languages  spoken  from  Caithness  to 
Cape  Comorin,  showing  that  they  were  origi- 
nally one^  and  the  peoples  that  speak  them 


1 2  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

originally  one  tribe — that  the  Hindus  are 
our  brethren  not  merely  as  being  members 
of  the  same  human  race^  but  as  members 
of  the  same  family  of  that  race — that  our 
common  forefathers  at  one  time  dwelt  to- 
gether in  the  highlands  of  Central  Asia  ;  but 
the  progenitors  of  the  Hindus,  after  seeing 
their  brethren  go  in  successive  emigrations 
westward  to  overrun  and  occupy  Europe,  by 
some  unknown  impulse  turned  south  towards 
the  sunny  plains  of  India. 
India  three      ^.t  tlic  time  theso  livmus  were  written  the 

thousand  "^ 

S  A^^as  ^^y^^  1^^^  advanced  only  as  far  as  the  Pun- 
jab and  the  banks  of  the  Indus.  They  had 
but  recently  emigrated  from  a  colder  clime, 
for  they  reckoned  their  age  by  the  number  of 
their  winters  ;  and  they  still  retained  the  fair 
complexion  of  their  northern  source.  Their 
chief  wealth  seems  to  have  consisted  in 
flocks  and  herds,  but  they  also  practised 
agriculture  largely.  They  had  made  con- 
siderable progress  in  the  arts ;  they  had 
built  cities,  and  they  traded  in  ships.  Be- 
sides husbandmen  and  herdsmen,  priests, 
warriors  and  merchants  existed  among  them, 


Earliest  Vedic  Religion.  1 3 

but  merely  as  professions,  and  not  in  any 
sense  like  the  castes  of  modern  India. 
Neither  had  they  any  particular  rules  about 
food  :  they  even  ate  the  flesh  of  the  cow 
and  praised  it  as  the  best  of  food.  We  can 
indeed  trace  among  them  scarcely  any  cor- 
respondence with  the  habits  and  customs  of 
the  Hindus  as  we  now  know  them.  But 
besides   these    Aryas   there   were    also    the  The  Abori- 

•^  ^  gines. 

Dasyus,  of  whom  we  learn  little,  but  that 
they  were  dark  in  complexion,  and  constantly 
at  war  with  the  Aryas ;  they  had  also  built 
cities  and  made  some  progress  in  civiliza- 
tion. Who  they  were  I  do  not  mean  now 
to  discuss.  The  word  means  natives  ^  or 
nations.  They  were  the  inhabitants  of  India 
when  tlie  Aryas  entered  it,  and  bore  to  them 
much  the  same  relation  as  the  Gentiles  did 
to  the  Jews  or  the  Barbarians  to  the  Greeks. 
It  is  well,  however,  to  bear  distinctly  in  mhid 
that  the  first  glimpses  we  get  of  India  three 
thousand  years  ago  reveals  the  ancestors  of 
the    present   Brahmans,   Bajputs    and   high 

^  H.  H.  Wilson,  Mg  Veda,  vol.  i.  p.  xlii.  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson, 
India  Tliree  Thousand  Years  ago,  p.  19. 


14  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

castes  of  India,  living — a  fair-complexioned 
race — in  the  north-west  corner  of  the  Penin- 
sula, whither  they  had  descended  from  the 
cool  heights  of  the  Himalayas,  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  Peninsula  occupied  by  a  darker 
and  more  savage  race,  the  ancestors  probably 
of  the  hill  tribes  and  low  castes,  called  by 
the  Aryan  conquerors  then,  as  they  are  called 
by  the  English  conquerors  now,  Dasyus — 
natives. 

Religious  Qu  returning  to  the  religious  beliefs  ex- 
pressed in  these  hymns  we  get  glimpses,  or 
rather  remains,  of  a  pure  primitive  faith,  but 
in  the  very  earliest  already  draped  in  error, 
which  in  the  later  ones  becomes  grosser  and 
more  complete.     It  is  possible  that  originally 

Primitive    the  various  tribes  of  the  Aryan  race,  ere  they 

Monothe-  ^  ,  '^ 

ism.  separated  from  each  other,  worshipped  the  one 

true  God.  But  the  proof  for  this  is  anterior 
to  literature,  and  is  derived  entirely  from 
philology.^  By  the  time  the  earhest  Sanskrit 
hymns  were  written,  we  find  physiolatry,  or 
nature -worship,  obscuring  Monotheism.     The 

*  Compare  (leva  in  Sanskrit  with  the  Latin  deus  and  Greek 
tlieos. 


Earliest  Vedic  Religion.  1 5 

Aryas  seem  to  have  sought  to  realize  the 

presence  of  God  by  naming  Him  after  some 

of  the  noblest  of  His  visible  works.     The 

hymns  of  the  Yedas  are  addressed  to  various 

deities,  whose  names  also   express  some  of 

the  j)henomena  of  nature,  or  may  be  traced 

to  them.     But  while  this  is  the  case,  there 

is    also    evidence   in  the   language  that  the 

worshipj)er  originally  looked  ^  from  nature  up 

to  nature's  God/  and  sought  to  worship  the 

Creator  by  the  name  of  His  works. 

It  was   a   fine   sentiment   which   led   the  ^T^  ^^^^^^ 

of  express- 
Hebrew  priests  of  old  to  omit  the  name  of"^°^°^- 

Jehovah   in  public  worship,   and    substitute 

for   it   Hhe  incommunicable'   or    some    such 

expression  ;   for  human  language  can  never 

give  a  name  to  the  Supreme.     All  that  we 

have  been    able   to    do   has    been    to    take  By  His 

.  attributes, 

some  attribute,  and  ascribe  to  it  the  other 
attributes  of  Deity.  This  will  be  found  to  be 
the  case  with  nearly  all  the  names  which  we 
employ,  whether  God — the  good,  Jehovah 
— the  existent,  the  Eternal,  the  Lord,  the 
Almighty,  or  the  Supreme.  All  these  are 
names  which  our  moral  consciousness  testi- 


r6  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

fies  to  us  must  be  applicable  to  God  ;  each, 
describes  only  a  part  of  His  nature,  but 
we  think  of  it  as  comprehending  the  whole. 
This  difficulty,  which  we  have  got  over  by 
taking  an  attribute  for  the  possessor  of  that 
attribute,  the  old  Aryas  got  over  by  taking 
and  by  His  the  work  for  the  Maker — creation  or  part  of 

works.  '  c*  r^  m 

creation  for  the  Creator.  These  are  the  two 
currents  of  religious  thought,  originally  little 
apart,  which  seem  to  have  divided  mankind 
when  left  to  their  own  efforts  to  feel  after 
and  express  God — the  one  looking  at  Him 
as  concealed  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  human 
heart,  the  other  as  concealed  behind  the  veil 
of  nature.  The  former  tendency  was  most 
clearly  exemplified  among  the  Jews,  the 
latter  among  the  Greeks  and  the  Aryas  of 
India. 
Dyaus,  the      The  visiblc  obioct  which   most  naturally 

sky.  ♦^  ^  -^ 

calls  out  man's  thoughts  to  a  being  above 
him  is  the  sky  or  heaven,  which  in  all 
languages  is  used  also  to  designate  the  abode 
of  the  Supreme.  But  the  Aryas  went  a 
step  further  and  designated  God  from  His 
abode.       This    seems   to    have    been    done 


Earliest  Vedic  Religio7i.  17 

before  the  various  branches  broke  off  from 
one  another,  before  the  Greeks  went  towards 
Greece  or  the  Latins  towards  Italy ;  for  the 
Greek  Zeus,  the  Latin  ?/^ipiter,  possibly  our 
word  divine,  are  explained  by  the  Sanskrit 
root  diju,  forming  the  noun  dyaus,  genitive 
divas.  This  is  the  name  of  one  of  the 
gods,  possibly  originally  one  of  the  names 
of  the  one  God,  but  in  Sanskrit  it  retains 
also  its  primitive  meaning,  which  it  has  lost 
in  all  the  other  languages,  namely,  ^  the  sky 
or  heaven.'  By  the  time  the  earliest  hymns 
were  composed,  he  was  conceived  of  as  a  dis- 
tinct god,  and  the  husband  of  Prithivi,  the 
earth — heaven  and  earth  being  spoken  of  in 
them  as  the  parents  of  all  things. 

Bevond  the  visible  heaven  the  mind  tries  Aditi. 
to  imagine  what  may  be,  and  the  idea  of  the 
Infinite  arises.  This  name  Aditi  is  again 
identified  with  the  Deity,  and  as  all  things 
are  contained  within  it,  it  is  personified  as 
a  goddess  and  the  mother  of  all  beings  :  of 
gods  and  men.  In  the  Yeda  indeed  its 
signification  as  an  appellative  has  been  lost, 
and  it  is  used  only  as  the  name  of  a  goddess, 

B 


1 8  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

but  in  some  of  the  addresses  to  her  we  can 
trace  the  influence  of  the  original  meaning, 
identifying  her  with  everything,  and  thus 
sowinof  the  seeds  of  Pantheism  in  the  Indian 
'■  mind.  '  Aditi  is  the  sky  (dyaus)  ;  Aditi  is 
the  air  ;  Aditi  is  the  mother,  and  father, 
and  son  ;  Aditi  is  the  collective  gods  ;  Aditi 
is  the  five  persons  ;^  Aditi  is  whatever  has 
been  born ;  Aditi  is  whatever  is  to  be  born/ 
Varuna.  The  idea  of  the  Infinite  is  calculated  to 

produce  in  man  a  feeliug  of  insignificance 
and  consequent  humility  and  fear  ;  and  we 
accordingly  find  Aditi  addressed  for  forgive- 
ness of  sins.  But  there  is  one  aspect  of 
nature  which  more  powerfully  and  immedi- 
ately evokes  such  feelings,  and  that  is  the 
appearance  of  the  nightly  heavens.  The 
8th  Psalm  is  perhaps  the  most  devout 
and  sublime  expression  of  these  sentiments 
which  is  to  be  found  anywhere ;  but  to  them 
the  Yedas  owe  some  of  their  finest  poetry, 
and  the  highest  conception  of  God  which  is 
to  be  found  in  the  first  stage  of  Yedic  re- 

3  Probably  the  same  as  tbe  modern  'j^anclia'^at,  a  court  of 
five  arbitrators. 


Earliest  Vedic  Religion.  19 

ligion.  The  original  name  of  this  aspect  of 
the  heavens  seems  to  have  been  Varuna.^ 
By  the  time  the  Vedic  hymns  were  written 
the  meaning  of  the  word  as  an  appearance 
of  nature  had  been  entirely  lost.  It  never 
occurs  in  them  as  a  name  of  the  sky^  only 
as  the  name  of  a  god ;  but  in  the  hymns  ad- 
dressed to  him  we  can  trace  the  sentiment 
still  ruling,  which  the  gaze  on  the  nightly 
heavens  is  calculated  to  rouse  in  the  soul. 
The  thousand  stars  have  become  in  them 
the  thousand  eyes  of  the  god,  searching  out 
all  that  passes  on  earth,  from  which  even 
darkness  cannot  hide.  The  feelings  of  awe, 
sinfulness,  and  contrition  remain  in  them, 
and  make  them  liker  the  Hebrew  Psalms 
than  anything  else  in  profane  poetry.  Here 
is  one  that  irresistibly  recalls  the  139th 
Psalm.  I  give  it  in  Dr.  Muir's  spirited 
metrical  translation,  which  will  brinsf  the 
resemblance  more  vividly  before  English 
readers  : — 

^  The  same  as  the  Greek  ouranos;  from  a  root  meaning  to 
cover.  In  the  Vedas  Varuna,  as  the  god  of  night,  is  associated 
with  Mitra,  the  god  of  the  day.  In  hiter  Hindu  mythology  he 
is  the  regent  of  the  waters. 


20  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

'  The  mighty  Lord  on  high  our  deeds,  as  if  at  hand,  espies  : 
The  Gods  know  all  men  do,  though  men  would  fain  their 

deeds  disguise. 
Whoever  stands,  whoever  moves,  or  steals  from  place  to 

place. 
Or  hides  him  in  his  secret  cell — the  Gods  his  movements 

trace. 
Wherever  two  together  plot  and  deem  they  are  alone, 
King  Varuna  is  there,  a  third,  and  all  their  schemes  are 

known. 
The  earth  is  his,  to  him  belong  those  vast  and  boundless 

skies  ; 
Both  seas^  within  him  rest,  and  yet  in  that  small  pool  He 

lies. 
Whoever  far  beyond  the  skies  should  think  his  way  to 

wing. 
He  would  not  there  elude  the  grasp  of  Varuna,  the  King.'*^ 

In  the  following  hymn  we  find  the  senti- 
ment of  guilt  and  the  need  of  mercy  more 
strongly  expressed  : — 

'  1.  Let  me  not  yet,  0  Varuna,  enter  the  house  of  clay  ; 
have  mercy,  Almighty,  have  mercy  ! 

'2.  If  I  go  along  trembling,  like  a  cloud  driven  by  the 
wind,  have  mercy,  Almighty,  have  mercy  ! 

'  3.  Through  want  of  strength,  thou  strong  and  bright 
God,  have  I  gone  to  the  wrong  shore;  have  mercy, 
Almighty,  have  mercy  ! 

s  The  waters  above  the  firmament,  and  the  waters  under 
the  firmament.     See  Gen,  i.  7. 

^  Atharva  V.  iv.  16,  Sanshit  Texts,  v.  p.  64. 


Eaidiest  Vedic  Religion.  2 1 


'  4.  Tliirst  came  upon  the  worshipper,  though  he  stood 
in  the  midst  of  the  waters ;  have  mercy,  Almighty,  have 
mercy ! 

'  5.  Whenever  we  men,  0  Varuna,  commit  an  offence 
before  the  heavenly  host ;  whenever  we  break  thy  law 
through  forgetfulnessj  have  mercy,  Almiglity,  have  mercy.''' 

The  language  of  this  hymn  scarcely  grates 
on  the  Christian  sense^  and  if  by  Varuna 
we  understand  Him  who  dwells  in  heaven, 
little  fault  can  be  found  with  its  theology. 
The  same  or-od  is  elsewhere  addressed  as 
^  Lord  of  All,  of  heaven  and  earth.'  In  the 
following  verse,  addressed  also  to  him,  we  find 
the  sentiment  of  the  Psalmist,  '  My  soul 
thirsteth  for"  Thee/  expressed  by  an  external 
pastoral  image  : — 

'Yearning  for  him,  the  far-seeing,  my  thoughts  move 
onward  as  kine  move  to  their  pastures.'  ^ 

In  the  following  prayer  for  forgiveness  we 
find  the  germ  of  the  tendency,  now  universal 
in  India,  to  attribute  sin  to  fate,  contrastino' 
strongly  with  the  feeling  of  responsibility  and 
guilt  expressed  in  the  Hebrew  Psalms  : — 

7  R.   V.   vii.   89.      Trans.  Max   Midler's   Ancient  Sanskrit 
Literature. 

8  R.  V.  vii.  86.     Ihid. 


2  2  Earlie7^  Religions  of  India, 

*  Absolve  us  from  the  sins  of  our  fathers  and  from  those 
which  we  committed  with  our  own  bodies. 

'  It  was  not  our  own  doing,  0  Varuna,  it  was  necessity, 
an  intoxicating  draught,  passion,  dice,  thoughtlessness. 
The  old  is  near  to  mislead  the  young :  even  sleep  brings 
unrighteousness.'  ^ 

Deteriora-        I  havG  dwelt  at  some  length  on  this  for  the 

tion  of  reli-  ^  ^  ^ 

gious  ideas.  iUustratioii  it  affords  of  the  relation  of  man  to 
rehgion.  If,  as  some  maintain,  his  powers 
gradually  developed  and  his  ideas  of  God 
gradually  rose,  we  should  expect  to  find  the 
oldest  ideas  of  God  in  any  literature  the  most 
degraded  and  obscure,  and  subsequent  ones 
more  gradually  approaching  the  truth.  In- 
stead of  this  we  find  in  the  oldest  hymns  of 
India,  with  all  their  faults,  the  higliest  ideas 
of  God,  follow^ed  by  constant  deterioration. 
And  the  source  of  this  deterioration  is  evident. 
It  is  the  tendency  to  express  God  by  His 
Avorks.  While  the  Hebrews,  following  the 
evidence  of  their  moral  consciousness,  pre- 
served the  idea  of  the  spirituality  of  God,  till 
the  hope  of  their  nation — the  '  Word  made 
flesh  '• — presented  to  the  world  what  it  had 
vainly  been  feeling  after,  the  Aryas,  folio w- 

9  R.  V.  vii.  86. 


Earliest  Vedic  Religion.  23 


ing  their  observation  of  God's  works^  soon 
clothed  their  idea  of  Him  with  a  material 
garb,  which  gravitated  ever  more  rapidly  to 
its  earthly  centre.  They  lost  sight  of  the 
Creator  and  worshipped  the  creature,  whether 
the  phenomena  of  nature  or  the  heroes  of 
their  nation.  It  is  only  in  the  very  earliest 
hymns  that  we  get  a  glimpse  of  the  soul  of 
nature-worship.  In  the  later  ones  it  is  the 
mere  body.  It  is  noticed  that  the  pheno- 
mena are  distinct ;  hence  the  gods  whom  they 
represent  are  distinct  also. 

After  the   Aryas  had  entered  the  plains,  worship  of 

'^  ^  ^  /  Indra,  the 

and  seen  how  by  the  blessing  of  the  rain  ^ain  god. 
they  were  changed  from  dry  sandy  wastes  to 
verdant  pastures,  that  aspect  of  nature  came 
to  be  of  more  importance  to  them,  and  was 
symbolized  as  Indra,  whose  worship  super- 
seded that  of  Varuna.  He  is  the  favourite 
god  of  the  Yedas,  though  a  later  conception 
than  those  already  named.  He  had  from  the 
begfinningf  a  more  material  character  than  the 
others ;  his  birth  is  spoken  of  and  in  general 
the  progress  of  anthropomorphism  is  visible. 
This  is  not  to  be   wondered   at.       Even   to 


24  Emdier  Religions  of  India. 

persons  less  under  the  influence  of  natural 
phenomena  than  the  Vedic  bards^  the  ap- 
proach of  the  monsoon  sweeping  over  the 
plains,  the  piled  clouds  moving  up  in  sharp 
distinction  against  the  clear  blue  sky,  with 
the  liofhtninof  flashinof  beneath  and  the  thunder 
rolling,  readily  suggests  the  idea  of  a  king 
leading:  his  hosts  to  battle. 

other  gods.  After  ludra,  Agni,  the  god  of  fire,  mani- 
fested in  the  firmament  as  the  sun,  in  the  air 
as  lightning,  and  on  the  altar  as  fire,  was  most 
revered,  and  he  was  especially  the  god  of 
sacrifice.  So  too  Vayu,  the  wind,  Surya,  the 
sun,  and  other  objects  of  nature,  were  ad- 
dressed as  gods  ;  and  as  conceptions  of  the 
Deity  became  more  gross,  a  census  of  the 
gods,  numbering  thirty-three,  was  taken. 

Each  god        There  is,  however,  even  in  this  early  stas^e 

siipreme.  .  . 

a  marked  difference  between  Indian  and 
Greek  mythology.  In  the  latter  the  places 
and  relations  of  the  various  gods  are  dis- 
tinctly arranged;  in  the  former  the  sentiment 
of  there  being  one  sujDreme  God,  who  alone 
should  be  worshipped,  seems  to  have  remained, 
and  made  the  worshippers  of  each  god  exalt 


Earliest  Vedic  Religion.  25 

him  as  such.  In  each  liymn  the  god  who  is 
addressed  is  often  spoken  of  as  though  he 
alone  existed,  and  as  though  the  writer  were 
not  conscious  of  any  other.  Sometimes  he  is 
expressly  identified  with  others.  ^  Whatever 
we  offer  in  repeated  and  plentiful  oblations 
to  any  other  deity  is  assuredly  offered  to 
thee  (Agni).'i<^  But,  again^  several  gods  are 
occasionally  addressed  in  one  hymn  ;  and  by 
degrees,  as  the  conceptions  become  grosser, 
jealousies  and  quarrels  take  place  among 
them.  Tliis  is  characteristic  of  the  Hindu 
religion  in  the  present  day.  Vishnu,  Shiva, 
Ganpati,  and  other  gods,  are  worshipped,  but 
each  is  addressed  by  his  worshippers  as  the 
supreme  God. 

But  alongside  of  this  there  was  also  a  The  un- 
struggling  after  a  retention  of  the  conception  God. 
of  the  one  true  God.  While  a  daily  de- 
teriorating polytheism  satisfied  the  majority, 
some  more  thoughtful  minds  recoiled  from  it, 
and,  unable  to  find  satisfaction  elsewhere, 
looked  to  the  unknown  God.  The  following 
hymn  is  perhaps  the  most  striking  expression 

^°  R.  V.  i.  2,  3,  6. 


26  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

of  this  yearning  of  the  mind  to  be  found  in 
any  literature  : — 

'  Then  there  was  neither  Aught  nor  ISTought,  no  air  nor 

sky  beyond. 
What  covered  all  %     Where  rested  all  ]     In  watery  gulf 

jDrofound  % 
Kor  death  was  then,   nor   deathlessness,    nor  change   of 

night  and  day, 
That   One   breathed   calmly,  self-sustained  j   nought    else 

beyond  It  lay. 
Gloom  hid  in  gloom  existed  first — one  sea,  eluding  view. 
That  One,  a  void  in  chaos  wrapt,  by  inward  fervour  grew. 
Within  It  first  arose  desire,  the  primal  germ  of  mind. 
Which  Nothincf  with  Existence  links,   as  sacres  searching 

find. 
The  kindling  ray  that  shot  across  the  dark   and   drear 

abyss. 
Was  it  beneath  ?  or  high  aloft  %     What  bard  can  answer 

this  % 
There  fecundating  powers  were  found,  and  mighty  forces 

strove, — 
A  self-supporting  mass  beneath  and  energy  above. 
Who  knows,  who  ever  told  from  whence  this  vast  creation 

rose? 
No  gods   had  then  been   born — who    then   can  e'er  the 

truth  disclose? 
Whence  sprang  this  world,  and  whether  framed  by  hand 

divine  or  no, — 
Its  Lord  in  heaven  alone  can  tell,  if  even  he  can  show.'  ^^ 


"  R.  V.  X.  129.     Trans,  by  Dr.  Muir  in  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  v. 


Earliest  Vedic  Religion.  27 

Turning  from  the  gods  to  the  worship  paid  ^fi^jL^ac- 
them,  the  following  passage  may  be  taken: — ^■^^^®- 

*We  deprecate  thy  wrath  with  prostrations,  with 
sacrifice  and  with  ohlations;  averter  of  misfortune,  wise  and 
illustrious,  be  present  amongst  us,  and  mitigate  the  evils 
we  have  committed. 

'  Varuna,  loose  for  me  the  upper,  the  middle,  the  lower 
band  (of  sin);  so,  son  of  Aditi,  shall  we,  through  faultless- 
ness  in  thy  worship,  become  freed  from  sin.'  ^^ 

These  verses  show  the  kind  of  worship 
paid  and  its  purpose.  The  object  of  the  wor- 
shipper was  to  be  freed  from  sin  and  to  avert 
the  wrath  of  God  consequent  thereon.  For 
this  purpose  hymns  were  chanted,  prostra- 
tions performed,  and  flowers  and  clarified 
butter  offered  in  oblation ;  but  the  chief 
means  to  this  end  was  the  sacrifice,  which 
was  of  four  kinds — the  goat,  the  cow,  the  Kinds  of 

Sticriticcs 

horse,  and  man.  This  last  is  the  most  re- 
volting feature  in  early  Aryan  worship,  but 
it  is  one  which  we  find  in  almost  all  ancient 
relii2fions.  The  sacrifice  of  the  horse  seems  to 
have  been  considered  the  most  important, 
and  is  one  rite  which  links  the  Aryas  with 
northern  tribes.     As  to  how  sacrifice  delivered 

"  Wilson's  Rig  Veda,  p.  64. 


28  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

the  sacrificer  from  sin  we  find  no  attempt  at 
explanation  till  a  later  period ;  and  I  there- 
Future  life,  fore  defer  further  consideration  of  it.  Of  a 
future  life  the  Aryas  seem  at  first  to  have 
had  no  idea.  Immortality  seems  afterwards 
to  have  been  looked  on  as  a  gift  that  might 
be  granted  by  the  gods^  but  not  an  inherent 
property  of  man's  nature.  The  good  and 
virtuous  man  might  attain  to  it,  while 
annihilation  awaited  the  sinner. ^^  Future 
blessings  they  did  not  desire.  The  boons 
they  asked  of  their  gods  were  temporal  gifts, 
abundance  of  cattle,  increase  of  children,  life 
to  a  good  old  age,  freedom  from  pain,  triumph- 
ing over  their  enemies.  They  seem,  from 
their  hymns,  to  have  been  a  vigorous,  hearty 
race,  enjoying  life,  and  living  and  acting  only 
for  the  present. 
Religion         In  all  tliis  WO  find  but  little  resemblance  to 

of  the  abo-  . 

rigines.  modom  Hmduism.  But  we  must  remember 
that  this  was  the  creed  of  the  inhabitants  of 
only  a  small  corner  of  Hindustan.  From  the 
Sutlej  to  Cape  Comorin  were  spread  the 
Dasyus,  tribes  and  nations  of  an  alien  race 

'3  See  Miiir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  v.  pp.  284,  ff. 


Earliest  Vcdic  Religion.  29 

and  alien  religion,  of  which  the  Vedas  take 
no  account,  but  which  has  probably  helped  to 
mould  Hinduism  as  much  as  the  purer  faith 
of  the  Aryas.     Of  the   primitive  religion  of 
these  tribes  we  have  now  no  literary  remains, 
the  Tamil  and  Telugu  literature  having  grown 
up   since    these  nations   were   Brahmanized. 
But,  judging  from   ruined   monuments  and 
from  tradition,  from  the  elements  which  we 
see    conserved   in    Hinduism    and   from   the 
present  state  of  many  aboriginal  tribes,  we 
may  conclude  that  fetichism  and    devil-wor- 
ship prevailed  among  the  ruder  tribes,  and 
^  tree  and  serpent '  and  phallic  worship  among 
the  more  advanced.     The  whole  of  India  was 
thus  before  the  Aryas,   a  vast  field  for  con- 
quest and  colonization,  and  for  civilizing  with 
their   hio^her   social    and    relio^ious    culture. 
How    they   fulfilled   this   mission   we    shall 
shortly  see. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BRAHMANISM. 

Changes      T  ET   US   HOW   pass   OYGr   a  period  of  six 

among  the      I     ■  ■'■  ^  ■■■ 

Aryas.  XJ  hundred  years  to  the  time  preceding 
the  first  great  religious  movement  in  India, 
which  shook  not  only  it,  but  all  Asia  to 
its  utmost  extremities.  The  Aryas  have 
pushed  forward  their  conquests  as  far  as 
the  Nerbudda,  and  have  even  effected  settle- 
ments beyond  it.  Changes  have  come  alike 
over  their  social  system  and  their  religion  : 
Caste  rules  with  its  iron  sway  ;  a  degraded 
polytheism  and  a  rigid  sacerdotalism  have 
been  developed  from  the  original  faith. 

Origin  of         The  orimn  of  caste  must  be  looked  for  in 

caste.  '^ 

the  relation  of  the  Aryas  to  the  conquered 
nations.  Of  these  the  most  important  was 
TheSudras.  tlio  Sudras — possibly  the  Hudrahoi  of  Hero- 
dotus. As  in  Europe,  from  numbers  of  the 
Sclavonic   race  being  reduced  to  servitude, 


Brahmamsm.  3 1 


the  name  esclave  or  slave  came  to  be  applied 
to  all  bondmen,  so  in  India  the  name  Sudra 
came  to  be  applied  to  all  the  conquered  tribes. 
We  know  what  a  difference  exists  in  any 
society  between  master  and  bondmen,  espe- 
cially when  the  latter  are  of  a  different  race 
or  of  a  different  colour ;  and  colour  is  the  first 
meaning  of  the  Hindi  word  for  caste/  It  is 
not  so  long  since  Ave  have  seen  in  a  kindred 
state  how  low  and  deofraded  the  condition 
of  a  subject  race  may  become,  even  when 
modified  by  the  presence  of  the  Christian 
religion.  We  have  seen  how  the  words  of 
the  Bible  may  be  twisted  into  supporting 
iniquities  utterly  opposed  to  its  spirit ;  and 
we  may  imagine  how  vast  the  distinction 
between  the  rulers  and  the  ruled  would  be- 
come, when  a  plastic  religion  lent  itself  to  be 
moulded  in  the  hands  of  the  former  to  con- 
firm their  claims.  The  position  assigned  to 
the  slaves  bv  the  laws  of  the  Southern 
States  of  America,  was  noble  compared  with 
that,  assigned  to  the  Sudras  by  the  old  code 
of  Manu.     No  Southern  planter  ever  dreamt 

'  Varan. 


Position  of 
the  Sudras 
at  the  time 
of  Rama. 


3  2  E curlier  Religions  of  India. 


of  refusing  to  allow  the  negroes  to  be  bap- 
tized ;  but  in  India,  while  the  lordly  Aryas 
were  the  twice-horn,  the  Sudras  were  only 
the  once-horn.  They  could  assume  no  sacred 
thread,  the  symbol  of  the  second  birth,  ad- 
mitting them  to  the  privileges  and  hopes  of 
religion,  and  they  were  menaced  with  death 
if  they  dared  to  engage  in  any  of  the  acts  of 
worship  allowed  to  their  superiors. 

The  following  story  from  the  Ramayana, 
one  of  the  two  old  epic  poems  of  India,  will 
show  the  sentiment  with  which  any  attempts 
of  the  Sudras  to  rise  into  the  religious 
sphere  were  then  regarded.  When  Rama 
was  reigning  happily  in  Ayodhya,  the 
modern  Oude,  a  Brahman  came  into  his 
court  one  day  and  complained  that  the 
kingdom  w^as  under  a  curse  owing  to  his 
heedless  rule,  adducing  as  a  proof  that 
his  son  just  five  years  old  had  died.  Kama, 
unable  to  gainsay  this  evidence,  proceeded, 
sword  in  hand,  to  search  his  kingdom  to 
discover  the  cause.  By  the  side  of  a  lake 
j  he  saw  a  man  engaged  in  intense  devotion, 
\jwlio,   when   interrogated,    confessed   himself 


B7^aJunan2sm.  33 


to  be  a  Sudra.  For  a  servile  man  thus  to 
seek  admission  to  heaven  was  an  iniquity 
quite  sufficient  to  account  for  the  calamity 
which  had  befallen  the  kingdom.  Rama  by 
one  stroke  of  his  sword  severed  his  head  from 
his  body,  whereupon,  it  is  added,  the  gods 
expressed  their  delight  by  showering  down 
flowers,  and  the  son  of  the  Brahman  was 
restored  to  life. 

In  accordance  with  such  sentiments,  the  Subjection 
privileges  of  the  twice-born  were  guarded  Sudras. 
by  jealous  legislation.  If  a  twice-born  man, 
for  instance,  abused  one  of  the  same  caste^  he 
was  to  be  punished  by  a  small  fine  ;  if  a 
once-born  man  spoke  disrespectfully  of  the 
caste  of  one  of  the  twice-born,  an  iron  style 
ten  fing^ers  lono^  was  to  be  thrust  red  hot  into 
his  mouth. 

But  this  tvranny  of  race  could  not  exist  ^''^f"^  ^^ 

^  '^  caste 

without  reacting  on  the  twice-born  them-  ^JJ°°|  *'^^ 
selves.  We  know  in  America  what  a  gaj) 
existed  between  the  slave-owners  and  the 
poor  whites,  and  so  too  class  distinctions 
sprang  up  among  the  Aryas,  though  on  quite 
different    principles,    and    with   much    more 


34  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

inexorable  rules.  The  language  of  the  old 
hymns  had  become  obsolete,  and  was  known 
only  to  a  class  of  men  who  had  made  it  their 
business  to  study  it,  and  who  thus  held  the 
key  to  all  religious  service.     These  were  the 

Braiimaus.  Worshipping  or  praying  ones,  the  Brahmans, 
who  had  come  to  be  looked  on  as  demi- 
gods, the  highest  of  castes,  safe  in  unap- 
proachable sanctity.  It  was  the  greatest 
of  all  crimes  to  put  them  to  death,  and, 
therefore,  of  whatever  crime  they  might  be 
guilty,  the  utmost  the  king  could  do  was 
to    banish    them  from   his   kingdom.       The 

Kshatriyas.  warriors  naturally  imitated  their  religious 
teachers,  and  claimed  privileges  which  the 
priests,  who  depended  on  them  for  protec- 
tion, readily  granted.  They  formed  the 
second  caste,  with  a  position  but  little  in- 
ferior to  the  Brahmans,  while   under    fchem 

vaisyas.  the  merchants  and  agriculturists  formed  the 
third  caste.  These  were  the  three  castes 'of 
the  twice-born,  w^hile  the  whole  of  the 
Sudras,  or  once -born,  were  slumped  together 
as  the  fourth  caste. 

Caste  legis-      Tlic  followiuo"  is  the  accouut  griven  in  a 

lation.  ^  * 


Brahmanism.  35 


book   of  subsequent   legislation   to    account 
for  tliis  division  : — 

*  That  the  human  race  might  be  multiplied,  he  (Brahma) 
caused  the  Brahman',  the  Kshatriya,  the  Yaisya,  and  the 
Sudra  to  proceed  from  his  mouth,  his  arm,  his  thigh,  and 
his  foot.' 2 

This  is  made  the  basis  of  legislation^  — 

*  A  once-born  man  who  insults  the  twice-born  with 
gross  invectives  ought  to  have  his  tongue  slit;  for  he 
sprang  from  the  lowest  part  of  Brahma.'  ^ 

Each  caste  had  its  distinctive  duties — 
the  Brahmans  to  teach  and  to  sacrifice  ; 
the  Kshatriyas,  or  warriors,  to  rule  and  de- 
fend the  people ;  the  Vaisyas,  or  merchants, 
to  trade  and  to  tend  cattle ;  the  Sudras  to 
serve  the  other  three.  The  distinctions  be- 
tween them  were  sought  to  be  maintained 
by  strict  laws  about  food  and  intercourse, 
and  by  restrictions  upon  intermarriage. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  account  that  the  Brahmans. 
Brahmans  were  at  the  head  of  the  social 
system,  and  that  it  was  their  knowledge 
of  the  old  hvmns  which  was  the  foundation 
of  their  superiority.  This  knowledge  had 
different  effects,  as  it   always   will  have  on 

=  Inst,  of  Manu,  i.  31.  3  jj.  yiii.  270. 


Priests. 


36  Earlier  Religio7is  of  India. 

different  minds.  Some  used  it  as  a  means 
of  impressing  their  superiority  on  the  more 
ignorant.  Others  were  led  into  deeper 
speculation  as  to  the  meaning  of  what 
they  learned.  Hence  arose  the  two  classes^ 
Brahman  priests  and  Brahman  sages, 
i  J'he  former  developed  an  elaborate  cere- 
•  monial  of  sacrifice,  that  tended  to  surround 
them  with  religious  awe.  The  ancient 
hymns  were  gathered  into  the  collection 
known  as  the  Big  Veda,  and  two  other 
Vedas  were  compiled  by  selections  from  it 
— one  called  the  Yajur  Veda,  the  liturgy 
of  a  lower  order  of  priests,  to  whom  was 
intrusted  the  material  part  of  the  sacrifice  ; 
and  the  other,  called  the  Sama  Veda,  the 
hymn  book  of  a  higher  order  of  priests, 
who  sang  in  chorus  at  certain  points  during 
its  performance.  The  Sanskrit  word  for 
these  hymns  is  Mantra,  which  in  Hindi 
and  in  Modern  Sanskrit  means  a  charm. 
Some  of  these  charms  consist  of  parts  of  the 
hymns  of  the  Big  Veda,  which  the  Brah- 
mans  now  use  Avithout  having  the  slightest 
idea   of  their   meaning   or  of  whence   they 


Brahmanis^n.  3  7 


are  derived.  A  fourth  Veda,  called  the 
Atharva,  was  afterwards  added,  more  as  a 
collection  of  charms  than  to  aid  in  sacrifice/ 

It  would  be  tedious  to  enter  into  all  the  ^'^^  ^^^''^' 

mauas. 

details  of  ceremonial  which  were  at  this 
time  instituted,  and  which  were  all  calcu- 
lated to  surround  the  Brahmans  with  a 
halo  of  sanctity  and  power.  Attached  to 
each  of  the  Vedas  a  new  literature  sprang 
up,  called  the  Brahmanas,  professing  to  be 
a  sort  of  rubric  for  the  use  of  the  Vedas 
during  the  sacrifice  ;  but  in  reality  contain- 
ing many  additional  commands  or  stories. 
They  may  be  considered  the  priestly  litera- 
ture of  the  age,  and  they  show  in  a 
strikino^  manner  the  bliohtingf  effect  which 
their  assumed  power  and  priestly  formalism 
had  on  the  minds  of  the  Brahmans  them- 
selves. ^  No  one  would  have  supposed 
that  at  so  early  a  period  and  in  so  primi- 
tive  a   state   of    society,   there   could   have 

■♦  Many  of  the  hymns  in  the  Atharva  Veda  are  probablj^  as 
old  as  any  in  the  Rig  Veda  ;  but  they  are  collected  for  an 
entirely  different  purpose,  for  imprecation,  and  not  sacrifice. 
The  beautiful  hymn  quoted  p.  20  is  found  in  the  Atharva,  but 
it  is  there  degraded  into  an  introduction  to  an  imj)recation. 
— See  Prof.  Roth^  in  Muir's  Saiukrit  Texts,  vol.  v.  p.  64. 


38  Earlm"  Religions  of  India. 

risen  up  a  literature  which  for  pedantry 
and  downright  absurdity  can  hardly  be 
matched  anywhere.  ...  It  is  most  impor- 
tant to  the  historian  that  he  should  know 
how  soon  the  fresh  and  healthy  growth  of 
a  nation  can  be  blighted  by  priestcraft  and 
superstition.  It  is  most  important  that  we 
should  know  that  nations  are  liable  to  these 
epidemics  in  their  youth  as  well  as  in  their 
dotage.  These  works  deserve  to  be  studied 
as  the  physician  studies  the  twaddle  of 
idiots  and  the  raving  of  madmen.  They 
Avill  disclose  to  a  thoughtful  eye  the  ruins 
of  faded  grandeur,  the  memories  of  noble 
aspirations.  But  let  us  only  try  to  trans- 
late these  works  into  our  own  language, 
and  we  shall  feel  astonished  that  human 
language  and  human  thought  should  ever 
have  been  used  for  such  purposes.'^ 
Develop-  On  tumiug  to  the  ideas  of  God  ex- 
poiy theism,  hibitcd  in  these  and  other  records,  we  see 
one  result  of  the  first  error  of  expressing 
the  Deity  by  His  works — a  great  develop- 
ment of  polytheism.     The  original  meaning 

s  Max  Miiller,  Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  p.  380. 


BraJimanism.  39 


of  the  names  of  the  gods  of  the  Vedas 
had  with  the  change  of  language  been  lost, 
and  the  phenomena  were  now  looked  on 
as  persons.  Some  had  dropped  out  of 
worship,  and  others  had  assumed  a  foremost 
place.  Indra  was  still  one  of  the  principal 
gods,  but  Vishnu,  a  very  inferior  god  in 
the  Vedas,  was  coming  to  dispute  his  supre- 
macy. An  entirely  new  god,  Brahma,  had  Brahma. 
appeared.  The  origin  of  the  conception  of 
this  god  cannot  now  be  determined,  but  the 
name  seems  to  have  originated  with  the 
Brahmans,  and  they  as  his  worshippers  seem 
to  have  been  called  after  him.  Brahman 
means  prayer  or  sacred  rite,  and  Brahma, 
he  of  prayer.  It  was  possibly  a  name  given 
originally  to  whatever  god  was  honoured  in 
sacrifice,  and  we  find  him  identified  with 
other  gods.  The  root  however  means  also 
increase,  and  we  find  Brahmk  more  definitely 
conceived  of  as  the  Creator.  Some  of  the 
myths  with  regard  to  him  are  merely  gross 
conceptions  of  the  process  of  creation.  He 
is  sometimes  represented  as  producing  the 
universe    from   an    ^gg^    and   sometimes   by 


40  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

separating  himself  into  male  and  female. 
He  was  specially  the  god  of  the  Brahma- 
nical  caste,  but  he  never  came  to  be  popular 
with  the  other  castes.  As  old  gods  assumed 
new  places,  or  new  ones  were  created,  fresh 
myths,  grown  constantly  more  sensuous, 
gathered  around  them. 
^l\\ul^'  -^^  ^'^  already  be  seen  that  at  this  period 
sacrifices  sacrifice  was  the  great  centre  of  religion.  It 
was  as  priests  of  sacrifice  that  the  Brahmans 
obtained  their  power,  and  in  connection  with 
sacrifice  that  the  sacred  hymns  were  sung. 
The  word  itself,  yajna  or  yaga^  preserves 
the  sacred  significance  attached  to  the  act 
in  primitive  worship ;  and  some  of  its  prin- 
cipal features  corresponded  closely  with  those 
which  gave  significance  to  sacrifice  under 
the  Levitical  law.  I  give  these  as  they 
are  epitomized  by  Mr.  Hay  in  the  Indian 
Evangelical  Review. 

^  '  The  memory  of  the  sacredness  of  the  yajua  or  yaga,  from 
yaja  to  worship,  has  been  preserved  and  handed  down  to  us  in 
the  liagno  and  liagio  of  the  Greeks  ;  and  probably  also  in  the 
sacer  of  the  Latins  ( =  sak  with  the  formative  affix  er),  ?/,  h, 
and  s  being  exchangeable  according  to  well-ascertained  laws 
of  etymology.' — Rev.  John  Hay,  in  hid.  Ev.  Eev.,  Jan. 
1874. 


Bi^ahmanism.  4 1 


*a.  It  was  substitutionary.  ''The  sacrificer  ransomed 
himself  by  it."  ^  "  The  sacrificer  is  the  animal."  ^  "  The 
animal  is  as  it  were  ransoming  the  man."^ 

'  I).  The  yajna  was  the  means  of  liberation  from  sin  and 
death.  "  Those  who  sacrifice  remove  their  sin."^^  "  Them 
all" — i.e.  the  thousand  lethal  ropes  of  death — "by  the 
power  of  sacrifice  we  sacrifice  away."^^  "  He  who  sacrifices 
l)ropitiates  the  gods."^^ 

'  c.  It  secured, heayfin.  "  What  is  offered  by  fire  is  an 
oflferincc  relatinoj  to  heaven."  ^^  "  Let  him  who  desires 
heaven  sacrifice."  "  Sacrifice  is  the  ship  that  ferrieth 
over."  1* 

'  d.  The  yajna  was  offered  byj'^iii^  "  -^J  faith  the  fire 
of  sacrifice  is  kindled;  by  faith  the  offering  is  ofiered."^^ 
"  By  faith  and  trutli  together  they  gain  the  heaven  world." '  ^*^ 

These  passages,  similar  to  many  more  that  Difference 

•     11  11  iiT^i  between 

might  be  quoted,  show  that  the  iirahmans  at-  them. 
tached  to  their  sacrifices  a  significance  not  very 
different  from  that  which  we  now  attach  to 
the  old  Levitical  sacrifices.  Still  more  start- 
ling is  the  point  of  difference  between  the  two. 
The  latter  was  typical,  the  former  sacramentaL 
The  utter  impossibility  that  Hhe  blood  of  bulls 
and  of  goats  should  take  away  sins/  is  a  truth 
that  must  be  felt  by  every  one  who  realizes 

7  Ait.  Br.  ii.  3.  s  Tait.  Br.  ii.  8,  2.     ' 

9  Tait.  Sam.  vi.  1,  11,  6.  '°  Ait.  Br.  v.  25. 

"  Tait.  Br.  xi.  2,  2,  5.    '  ^^  S.  P.  Br.  i.  9,  1,  3. 

^3  Ait.  Br.  i.  16.  ^^  Ait.  Br.  i.  13. 

^s  R.  V.  X.  151,  1 ;  Tait.  Br.  ii.  8,  8,  6. 
^s  Ait.  Br.  vii.  10. 


42  Ea7die7^  Religions  of  India. 

what  sin  is.  MakiiiQf  an  animal  the  in- 
voluntary  substitute  for  man  to  atone  for  his 
Sfuilt  is  shockinof  to  man's  idea  of  God's  holi- 
ness  and  justice.  It  is  only  the  fact  of  a 
primitive  divine  institution  that  can  account 
for  this  universal  mode  of  man's  expressing 
his  desire  for  peace  with  God,  and  only  the 
supposition  of  its  being  symbolical  that  can 
account  for  its  institution.  But  what  did  it 
Leviticai     svmbolize  ?     The    Hebrews  felt  more  than 

sacnnces         "^ 

typical.  ^j^y  others  its  utter  inadequacy,  and  at  the 
same  time  more  than  any  others  persisted  in 
a  simple  observance  of  it,  as  it  had  been 
instituted,  without  attempting  any  explana- 
tion of  its  hidden  meaninof. 

'  For  Thou  desirest  not  sacrifice,  else  would  I  give  it : 
Thou  delightest  not  in  burnt- ofFerincj. 
The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit ; 
A  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  0  Lord,  Thou  wilt  not 
despise.' ^"^ 

Thus  the  Psalmist  expresses  the  convic- 
tions of  his  conscience  as  to  the  inadequacy 
of  mere  sacrifice ;  but  again,  in  the  conviction 
that  it  had  been  divinely  a]3pointed,  he 
adds — 

^^  Psa.  li.  16,  17. 


Brakmanism.  43 


'  Then  slialt  Thou  be  pleased  with  the  sacrifice  of  right- 
eousness, 
AYith  burnt-offerings  and  whole  burnt-offerings  ; 
Then  shall  they  offer  bullocks  upon  Thine  altar.'  ^^ 

The  same  antagonism  may  be  observed 
constantly  througliout  the  Psahns  and  the 
prophets — conscience  struggling  against  faith ; 
man's  sense  of  what  is  right  and  of  what  is 
due  to  God  protesting  against  an  ordinance  1 
of  God  which  it  cannot  understand.  But 
with  the  Jews  faith  prevailed ;  they  accepted 
the  institution  simply,  without  trying  to  put 
into  it  anything  of  their  own ;  and  by  de- 
grees the  idea  of  the  Antitype  was  developed. 
Isaiah  in  vision  saw  One  who,  like  the 
sacrificial  lamb,  was  to  bear  the  sins  of  His 
people.  At  length,  in  the  death  of  Christ  on 
Calvary,  the  whole  course  of  Jewish  sacrifice 
was  fulfilled,  and  since  then  it  has  ceased. 
Then  it  was  shown  that  divine  power_alone 
can  bear^man's^^ins,  that  sacrifice  is  effectual 
only  when  Deity  is  present  in  it. 

But  well-nigrh  a  thousand  years  before  the  Biahmani- 

^  *^  cal  sacri- 

cominof  of  Christ,  the  Brahmans  of  India  had  fices  sacra- 

•^  ^  mental. 

felt;  and  in  their  own  way  expressed,  this 

^8  Psa.  li.  19. 


\ 


44  Earlier  Religio7is  of  India. 

_ . . # 

truth.  Conscious  seemingly  that  the  animal 
sacrificed  could  not  of  itself  bear  the  sin  that 
it  was  to  atone  for,  or  accomplish  the  work 
that  by  its  offering  was  to  be  accomplished, 
they  boldly  declared  that  God  Himself  was 
in  the  animal  sacrificed,  and  that  thus  it 
was  efficacious.  In  this  respect  Brahmanical 
sacrifice  was  sacramental  rather  than  typical ; 
it  resembled  the  sacrifice  of  the  host  in  the 
Koman  Catholic  Church  rather  than  the 
Levitical  sacrifice.  The  Creator,  under  the 
name  of  Prajapati,  is  said  thus  to  be  offered 
in  sacrifice,  and  how  this  is  possible  is 
explained  with  a  subtlety  that  a  Jesuit 
apologist  might  envy. 

'  Prajapati  is  this  sacrifice.  Prajapati  is  both  of  these  two 
things,  uttered  and  unuttered,  finite  and  infinite.  What 
the  priest  does  with  the  Yajus  text,  with  that  he  con- 
secrates the  form  of  Prajapati  which  is  uttered  and  finite. 
And  what  he  does  silently  with  that  he  consecrates  the 
form  of  Prajapati  which  is  unuttered  and  infinite.'  ^^ 

But  it  is  more  frequently  Vishnu  that  is 
thus  sj)oken  of.  He  is  said  to  have  become 
incarnate  in  the  animal  slain — to  have  be- 
come incarnate  in  order  to  be  sacrificed,  and 

^5  Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  v.  p.  393. 


Brahmanism,  4  5 


by  his  sacrifice  to  have  become  the  greatest 

of  the  gods. 

'Then  the  gods  said,  "  Whoever  among  us,  through  toil, 
austerity,  faith,  sacrifice  and  oblation,  first  comprehends  the 
issue  of  the  sacrifice,  let  him  be  the  most  eminent  of  us ; 
this  shall  be  common  to  us  all."  To  this  they  consented, 
saying,  "  Be  it  so."  Yishnu  first  attained  the  proposed 
object.  He  became  the  most  eminent  of  the  gods.  .  .  . 
He  who  is  this  Yishnu  is  sacrifice ;  he  who  is  this  sacrifice 
is  Vishnu.' 20 

This  idea  has  never  been  entirely  forgotten, 
and  even  in  the  latest  of  the  Puranas,  the 
Bhagavata,  sacrifice  is  given  as  one  of  twenty- 
two  incarnations  of  Vishnu.  Amid  all  the 
puerilities  and  absurdities  of  the  texts  re- 
lating to  this  subject,  the  truth  sought  after 
must  not  be  lost  sight  of 

But  this  only  increased  the  original  dif-  S'tTiSTv^'^^ 
ficulty,  and  by  seeking  a  premature  fulfilment 
of  sacrifice  hastened  its  rejection  by  India 
altogether.  If  it  was  difficult  to  believe 
that  an  animal  could  bear  man's  sin,  it  was 
much  more  difificult  to  believe  that  it  could 
be  God.  We  know  the  repugnance  of  some 
earnest,  philosophic  minds  to  accej^t  the  idea 

=°  For  this  and  similar  texts  see  Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol. 
iv.  pp.  121-129. 


lew. 


4-6  Emptier  Religions  of  India. 

that  Christ  was  God,  even  though  they  exhaust 
the  powers  of  human  language  in  praise  of 
His  Godlike  character.  So  too  the  idea  that 
God  was  sacrificed  as  an  animal  could  not 
but  provoke  a  reaction  and  alienate  the  best 
thought  of  the  country.  It  was  an  idea 
that  could  consist  only  with  a  blind  and 
1  tyrannical  sacerdotalism,  which  it  helped  to 
exalt,  but  which  it  must  also  help  to  destroy. 
Brahmau        Wo    find,    accordingly^    alongside    of   this 

sages.  .         , .      .         ,  . 

ritualistic  development  a  rationalistic  de^ 
Yelopment,  the  records  of  which,  called  the 
Upani-  UjDanishads,  may  be  looked  on  as  the  litera- 
ture  of  the  Brahman  sages,  as  the  Brah- 
manas  are  that  of  the  priests.  They  are  the 
only  parts  of  the  Yedas  now  extensively 
read  in  India.  They  come  at  the  end  of  the 
Vedas,    and    are    therefore     called    Vedant 

— r — 

(Veda  end)  ;  whence  the  name  of  the  most 
influential  school  of  modern  Hindu  philo- 
sophy, which  professes  to  be  founded  on 
them.  It  would  be  hard  to  say  what  philo- 
sophical opinion  might  not  be  supported  on 
their  authority,  for  the  most  contradictory 
statements  find   a   place   in   them,    yet   the 


Brahmmiis7n.  47 


tendency  is  on  the  whole  towards  pantheism.  Pantheism. 

We   have    seen   that   the    orio^inal    error of 

expressing  God  by  His  \VQrks  developed,  on 
the    one    hand,    into    erecting    each    of    the 
natural   phenomena    into   distinct  gods,   and 
thus  led  to  polytheism.     In  the  Upanishads, 
on  the   other  hand,  we   see  the   same   error 
developing  into  confounding  God  with   His 
works   and  His  works  Avith   God.       In  the 
earlier  hymns  of  the  Vedas,  too,  when  poly- 
.tlieism  had  made  some  way,  the  worshippers 
of  each  individual  god  souglit  to  exalt  it  to 
the  position  of  the  one  God,  by  identifying  it 
with    other   gods,    and   even    with    creation. 
What   was   at   first   merely    figurative    was 
afterwards  viewed  as  real,  what  was  at  first 
mysticism  was  afterwards  considered  perfect 
philosophy.      We    find    accordingly,    in   the 
latter  parts  of  the  Vedas,  attempts  to  explain 
on  a  rational  basis  all  the  poetical  figures  of 
the  former  parts.     In  one  place  it  is  stated 
that  Self  or    Spirit   alone    existed,    and    he 
thought  let   me    create  the  worlds,   and   he 
created    these   worlds.      Again   delusion   is 
called  the  great  principle,  and  this  world  the 


48  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

effect  of  delusion  on  the  Spirit,  while  else- 
where  delusion  is  called  one  of  the  powers  of 
Spirit.  In  a  word,  we  find  much  pantheistic 
thought  but  no  pantheistic  philosophy.  The 
elements  existed,  but  they  had  not  been 
systematized. 
Origin  of         Qno  rcsult  of  this  process  of  thought  was 

metemiDsy-  ^       _  \  ^ 

chosis.  modifying  the  belief  in  a  future  state  into 
the  doctrine  of  the_ transmigration  of  souls. 
This  doctrine,  which  makes  a  man  in  a  future 
birth  atone  for  the  errors  of  this,  strikes  at 
( the  ro(yLQf  the  original  idea  of  sacrifice ;  but 
as  it  is  only  in  modern  Hinduism  that  we 
find  it  fully  developed,  I  defer  the  considera- 
tion of  it,  merely  noting  that  at  this  time 
it.  first  appeared  on  the  horizon  of  Hindu 
thought     and     religion.       One    consequence 

Asceticism,  wliicli  it  had  was  the  growth  of  asceticism 
and  the  practice  of  austerities.  When  happi- 
ness in  a  future  state  was  made  to  depend  on 
a  man's  exertions  in  his  present  state,  it 
naturally  led  him  to  seek  to  be  free  from 
those  attachments  which  might  lead  him  into 
incurring  guilt,  and  this  led  again  to  giving 
up  the  plain  duties  of  life  for  meditation  and 


Brahmaiiism.  49 


penance.  These  came  at  last  to  be  exalted 
by  some  as  superior  to  everythinc^  else. 
Self-denial  was  sublimated  into  self-torture, 
and  became  the  most  generally  accepted 
symbol  of  sanctity. 

These  two  currents  of  thought — pantheism  Effect  of 

philosophy 

and  polytheism,  philosophy  and  sacerdotalism  on  religion. 
— could  not,  in  such  a  country  as  India,  co- 


exist without  interpenetrating  one  another. 
The  demon  of  heresy  had  not  yet  appeared, 
the  sages  and  ascetics  professed  to  be  devout 
worshippers  of  the  gods,  and  the  priests 
adapted  their  religion  to  the  ideas  of  the 
philosophers  with  a  consistent  logic  such 
as  could  be  witnessed  in  no  country  but 
India.  It  was  natural  enough  that  they 
should  take  advantaofe  of  the  doctrine  of 
transmigration  by  prescribing  ceremonies  and 
purifications  to  attain  beatitude  in  a  future 
state  of  existence.  It  was  natural  enousfh, 
too,  that  they  should  not  be  behindhand  in 
the  practice  of  those  austerities,  which  gave 
them  an  odour  of  sanctity  with  the  people 
and  of  ridicule  with  the  sceptics.  But  what 
shall  we  say  of  their  declaring  austerities  to 


D 


other 
sources  of 
religious 
ideas. 


50  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

be  the  source  of  the  power  of  the  gods  thera- 
selves  ^^ — the  origin  of  their  very  divinity,  of 
their  calHng  even  the  sacrifice  of  Vishnu  an 
act  of  penance  performed  to  gain  power  ? 
When  rehgion  had  reached  this  point  it  had 
evidently  run  to  seed  and  was  smitten  with 
decay. 

Thus,  by  the  disintegration  and  reintegra- 
tion of  ideas,  we  see  that  many  of  the 
elements  of  modern  Hinduism  had  already 
been  developed  out  of  the  primitive  faith  of 
the  Vedas.  But  other  elements  were  im- 
struggie  ported  from  other  sources.  While  the  Brah- 
Brahmans   maus  had  bccu   drivellinsf  and  speculatinsf, 

anclKslia-  ,  . 

triyas.  the  Ksliatriyas,  the  warrior  caste,  had  been 
fighting  and  conquering.  In  one  conflict, 
indeed,  they  seem  to  have  been  worsted. 
They  did  not  at  once  yield  to  the  Brahmans 
the  superiority  which  they  desired  without  a 
'  bloody  struggle.  The  details  of  it  are  alto- 
gether lost  to  us,  and  the  results  epitomized 
with  an  exaggeration  which  subsequent 
events  prove  to  have  been  altogether  false. 
But  this  much  is  known,  that  a  great  war- 

""^  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  iv.  p.  181 ;  vol  v.  p.  15. 


Brahmaiiism.  5 1 


rior,  called  Parasu  Kama — possibly  himself  a 
Brahman — espoused  the  cause  of  the  Brah- 
mans,  and  fought  against  the  Kshatriyas  with 
such  success  that,  in  later  myths,  he  is  said 
three  times  to  have  extirpated  them  from 
the  earth.  At  all  events,  after  this  the 
Brahmans  were  left  undisturbed  in  their 
religious  and  social  superiority — the  coun- 
sellors, the  priests,  the  gods  of  the  warriors 
and  kings,  while  these  were  carving  out  the 
history  of  their  people. 

Two    OTeat   events  belonof  to  this  period.  Rama's  ex- 

,  ,.    .  peditionto 

The  first  is  the  expedition  of  Rama  Chandra  Ceyion. 
from  Oudh  to  Ceylon  to  recover  his  wife 
Sita,  who  had  been  carried  off  by  the  king  of 
that  island.  On  the  way  he  had  to  encounter 
many  of  the  savage  or  semi-civilized  tribes 
south  of  the  Nerbudda,  and  with  many  of 
them  he  formed  alliances.  He  triumphed  at 
last  over  Ravana,  king  of  Ceylon,  and  re- 
turned with  his  wife  to  Oudh.  This  was  th( 
first  great  expedition  of  the  Aryas  to  th( 
south,  and  it  is  imprinted  indelibly  on  th( 
Hindu  mind.  It  became  the  theme  of  sonir 
—  a    mass    of    tradition    and    exaggeration 


5  2  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

gathered  round  it,  and  in  after-ages  it  be- 
came the  subject  of  an  epic  poem,  the  Rama- 
yana,  which,  though  full  of  absurdities  and 
overlaid  with  Brahmanical  conceits,  yet  con- 
tains some  of  the  purest  and  noblest  thoughts 
to  be  found  in  profane  poetry. 
Legend  of  \     Tlic  socoud  great  fact  was  the  struggle  for 

the  Pan-       \  .  . 

.iavsand     'supremacv    between     two    rival    Kshatriya 

Krishna.  r  J  J 

vraces,  the  Pandavs  and  the  Kauravs.  After 
a  bloody  war  the  former  triumphed,  with  the 
assistance  of  Krishna,  a  celebrated  Indian 
prince  and  hero,  and  their  rivals  were  de- 
stroyed. This  has  produced  an  even  greater 
impress  on  the  mind  of  India  than  the 
former.  Three-fourths  of  the  Hindus  are 
ignorant  of  all  that  has  happened  since. 
The  rise  and  fall  of  Buddhism,  the  rise  and 
fall  of  Mahommedanism,  even  the  progress 
of  the  English  by  whom  they  are  now  ruled, 
are  for  them  blank  pages  of  history ;  but  the 
adventures  of  the  Pandav  brothers,  two 
thousand  five  hundred  years  ago — their  mis- 
foitunes,  their  patience,  their  sufferings,  their 
ultimate  triumph,  and  the  valour  of  their 
great  ally  Krishna,  are  present  realities  for 


B7^ahmanis7n.       •  53 


them,  and  still,  as  they  are  yearly  recited  at 
their  festivals,  melt  them  into  tears,  move 
them  into  laughter,  or  excite  them  to 
triumph  with  all  the  intensity  of  personal 
interest.  The  poem  in  which  their  deeds  arejHero-wor- 
preserved,  the  Mahabharat,  has  been  so  en-\ 
crusted  with  later  additions  of  the  Brahmans, 
didactic  pieces,  extraneous  traditions,  and 
episodes,  that  it  is  now  almost  impossible  to 
say  what  the  original  poem  was.  But  we 
may  safely  conclude  that,  at  the  time  of 
which  we  are  speaking,  the  exploits  of  these 
warriors  were  sung  and  heard  with  an  in- 
terest not  inferior  to  that  which  they  now 
excite ;  and  thus  the  foundation  was  being 
laid  of  hero-worship,  which  afterwards  came 
to  exercise  such  an  important  influence  on 
Hinduism. 

And  there  was  yet  another  element  which,  Aboriginal 

*/  ^  worship. 

though  altogether  latent  in  so  far  as  extant 
literature  is  concerned,  we  must  believe 
existed  with  an  extent  and  power  which 
subsequent  revolutions  fully  showed.  All 
that  we  have  been  considering,  in  so  far  as 
religion,    pliilosophy,    and   history    are    con- 


54  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

cerned,  relates  only  to  the  twice-born.  The 
once-born  Sudras  were  out  of  the  pale  alto- 
gether, and  considered  unfit  for  any  religious 
exercise  or  worship.  Yet  we  cannot  but 
suppose  that  they  sought  God  after  their 
own  fashion — that  they  had  a  religion,  a 
worship  of  their  own,  which  their  lords  might 
ignore,  but  which  was  afterwards  to  throw  its 
yoke  over  their  own  heads.  We  may  sup- 
pose that  most  of  the  Sudras,  the  majority  of 
the  population  of  India,  worshipped  their 
own  fetishes  and  deities,  trees  and  serpents, 
stones  and  idols.  Already  they  were  begin- 
ning to  exercise  some  effect  on  the  upper 
castes,  for  we  find  the  worship  of  images 
noticed  in  Manu. 
.Summary.  Such,  thcu,  was  the  stato  of  society  before 
Buddhism  appeared  in  India.  An  inexor- 
able caste  system  consigned  the  bulk  of  the 
people  to  a  grinding  slavery  and  hopeless 
perdition,  while  it  exalted  the  priesthood  to 
the  level  of  the  gods,  and  left  the  warriors  to 
fight  and  rule,  and  the  merchants  to  trade 
and  get  gain — both  to  indulge  in  luxury  and 
sensuality  to  the  extent  of  their  power.     A 


Brahmanism.  5  5 


Extent  i)f 


debasing  sacerdotalism  had  been  impregnated 
with  a  scei^tical  philosophy,  which  needed 
only  to  be  dissociated  from  it  to  ensure  its 
overthrow.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that 
this  represented  the  society  of  the  whole  of 
India  at  that  time.  It  represents  only  the  Bniu- 
Brahmanical  conception  of  society :  what 
the  Brahmans  had  made  it  where  their 
power  was  established,  and  what  they  wished 
to  make  it  throusfhout  India.  But  their 
power  was  fully  established  only  in  a  few 
parts — in  others  it  was  less  so,  and  in  others 
not  at  all.  The  Sudras  in  some  parts  might 
be  able  to  assert  their  equality  even  with  the 
Brahmans,  and  for  whole  nations  these  latter 
would  be  but  foreign  priests.  The  two  op- 
posite extremes  of  consolidated  Brahmanism 
and  undisturbed  aboriginal  worship  existed, 
and  between  the  two  every  shade  of  opinion 
existed  in  a  seethinof,  unsettled  state — a 
fertile  soil  for  a  new  and  strong  religion  to 
take  root  in. 


Buddha's 
birth. 


CHAPTEK   III. 

BUDDHISM. 

"OUDDHA,  or  Gotama,  to  whom  Bud- 
-■-^  dhism  owes  its  rise,  was  born  about  six 
hundred  years  before  our  era/  in  the  city  of 
Kapila  Yastu,  the  capital  of  a  kingdom  at 
the  foot  of  the  Himalayas,  of  which  his 
father  was  king.  The  family  or  clan  to 
which  he  belonged  was  the  Sakya,  one  of  the 
divisions  of  the  Kshatriya  or  warrior  caste. 
His  mother,  Maya,  died  seven  days  after  he 
was  born,  an  event  the  knowledge  of  which 
in  after-life  is  said  to  have  produced  a  great 
effect  on  him.  He  early  showed  a  predilec- 
tion for  meditation  and  seclusion,  which  pro- 
bably led  the  astrologers  to  predict  that  he 
would  one  day  leave  his  kingdom  and  become 
an  anchorite.     His  father,   to  prevent  this, 

^  Buddha  died  at  the  age  of  80.  The  date  of  his  death 
is  usually  fixed  at  543  B.C.  ;  but  Max  Miiller  has  advanced 
strong  reasons  for  fixing  it  at  477  B.C. 


Buddhism.  5  7 


urged  him  to  marry,  and  demanded  for  him 
the  hand  of  a  beautiful  princess.  The  prince 
yielded  to  his  father's  solicitations,  and,  ac- 
cording to  Kshatriya  custom,  conquered  in 
combats  of  various  kinds  the  other  competi- 
tors for  the  hand  of  the  princess,  ere  he 
married  her. 

Some  years  of  his  life  passed  in  the  mar-  Married 
ried  state,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  he, 
during  them,  yielded  to  the  seductions  and 
luxury  which  characterize  Eastern  courts, 
and  with  which  tradition  represents  him  to 
have  been  surrounded,  though  it  also  repre- 
sents him  as  uncontaminated  by  them.  It  is 
more  natural  to  suppose  that  he  did  yield  to 
the  temptations  with  which  he  was  beset, 
but,  doing  so  against  the  natural  bent  of  his 
mind,  a  feeling  of  nausea  and  disgust  was 
fomented,  which  ultimately  exploded  and 
drove  him  to  burst  asunder  all  restraints, 
and  give  himself  up  to  the  opposite  extreme 
of  asceticism.     The  occasion  of  this  chanoj-e  change 

caused  by 

in  his  life,  and  in  the  whole  religious  history  seeing  age, 
of  the  East,   was  the  following  : — One  day, 
when  he  was  driving  as  usual  to  his  pleasure- 


5  8  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 


garden^  he  saw  a  man  covered  with  wrinkles, 
scarcely  able  to  speak  from  feebleness,  walk- 
ing tremblingly  along,  leaning  on  his  staff. 
He  asked  the  driver  who  that  man  was. 
The  charioteer  replied  that  he  was  a  man 
suffering  from  old  age,  and  the  consequent 
decay  of  all  his  powers.  ^  Is  that  a  con- 
dition to  which  he  and  his  family  alone  are 
liable,  or  all  mankind  ? '  asked  the  prince. 
^  He  is  no  exception,'  replied  the  charioteer; 
^  all  must  fall  into  age  and  decrepitude.' 
*  Then  drive  my  chariot  home  again,'  said 
the  prince ;  ^  what  have  I  to  do  with  plea- 
sure who  am  the  future  abode  of  ao-e  and 

Disease,  docay!'  On  another  day  he  met  a  loath- 
some leper,  and  learned  from  his  charioteer 
that  all  men  were  liable  to  disease.     On  a 

Death,  third  occasion  he  saw  a  dead  body,  and 
learned  that  death  is  the  end  of  all  men. 
All  happiness  in  his  life  of  luxury  had  fled, 
and  he  set  himself  to  ponder  how  he  might 
escape   the   woes   of    which    he    had    been 

and  a  witucss.  As  ho  was  driving  out  on  a  fourth 
occasion  he  saw  a  recluse,  and  learned  from 
his  charioteer  that  he  was  a  man  who  had 


Buddhism.  59 


renounced  this  world's  wealth  and  pleasure, 
lived  on  alms,  and  spent  his  time  in  medita- 
tion. This  suggested  to  the  prince  how  he 
miofht  attain  his  end  :  he  did  not  return  at 
once  to  his  home,  but  drove  on  to  the  garden 
with  his  mind  at  ease  and  settled,  and  then 
returned  to  the  palace. 

That  same  night  his  wife  had  given  birth  He  re- 

nouiices 

to  her  first-born  son.  He  went  to  take  a  loyaity. 
farewell  look  of  her  and  of  the  babe  lying  in 
her  breast;  but,  fearful  lest  his  resolution 
might  fail,  he  tore  himself  away,  and  calling 
on  his  groom  to  saddle  his  horse,  and  taking 
him  as  his  only  companion,  he  left  the  palace 
and  rode  all  night  through  the  forest. 
When  morning  dawned  he  gave  his  horse 
and  best  robes  to  the  groom,  and  sent  him 
back  with  a  message  to  his  father  and  wife 
not  to  follow  and  seek  him,  ^for,'  said  he, 
^  I  will  not  return  till  I  can  bring  them 
tidings  of  deliverance.'  Then  he  assumed 
the  garb  of  a  mendicant,  and  set  out  on  his 
quest  to  find  a  way  of  deliverance  from  age, 
disease  and  death.  « 

Brahmanism  does  not  seem  to  have  been 


6o  Earlier  Religions  of  India, 


wSthe  doniinant  at  Kapila  Vastu,  and  Gotama's 
laimaus.  £j,g^  religious  impulses  were  independent  of 
it.  He  had  settled  in  his  mind  the  main 
object  of  all  religion  before  he  came  in  con- 
tact with  the  teaching  of  the  Brahmans,  and 
thus  brought  to  it  a  mind  free  to  observe 
and  to  criticize.  But  they  were  the  holders 
of  the  holy  mysteries,  and  to  them  he  turned 
first  for  instruction.  Some  of  their  teaching 
evidently  affected  him,  but  he  soon  saw  that 
they  were  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.  Their 
ideas  of  transmigration  and  works  he  could 
assent  to,  but  he  saw  that  the  gods  whom 
they  worshipped  were  no  gods,  that  a  power 
obtained  by  austerity  was  but  the  same 
\  power  as  man  could  gain,  and  did  not  entitle 
Ithem  to  adoration.  Sacrifice  he  saw  to  be  a 
hollow  sham,  and  as  causing  pain  and  death 
to  an  animate  being  it  was  abominable  to 
him.  Tiie  end  of  religion,  he  had  decided, 
was  mercy,  and  was  valueless  if  it  could  not 
assuage  or  remove  human  misery. 

Retires  to        Dissatisficd  with  their  teaching",  he  retired, 

the  forests.       ,  o'  ^ 

with  ^YQ  Brahmans  who  accompanied  him, 
to  the  forests,  to  seek  how  he  might   gain 


BiLddhisin.  6 1 


this  great  end.  This  led  to  his  getting  the 
name  of  Sakya  Muni  (the  Sakya  sage  or 
rechise),  by  which  he  is  most  generally 
known  in  India.  In  his  retreat  he  beheld 
those  same  great  objects  of  nature  by  which 
the  early  Aryas  had  named  their  gods^  and 
which  they  had  come  to  deify  ;  but  their  faith 
had  now  run  its  course,  had  been  tried  and 
found  wanting.  He  looked  on  them  all 
only  as  things  which  must  pass  away  and 
perish,  and  they  became  for  him  the  greatest 
symbols  of  dissolution.  He  saw  that  the 
wild  beasts  of  the  forest  paid  no  more  respect 
to  him,  a  king's  son,  than  to  the  meanest 
outcast,  and  he  was  thus  led  to  see  the  utter 
vanity  of  all  caste  distinctions.  He  turned 
to  his  own  thoughts  to  see  what  they  could 
teach  him,  and  continued  six  years  to  afflict 
himself  with  fastinof,  but  he  found  no  solu- 
tion  of  his  difficulty,  and  all  his  strength 
was  wasting  away.  He  resolved  at  last  to 
change  his  plan  and  take  more  food.  This 
seemed  to  his  Brahman  followers  relapsing 
into  worldliness ;  they  returned  to  Benares, 
and  left  him  alone  to  solve  the  problem  of 


62  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

humanity.  He  was  nearly  on  the  point  of 
giving  up  the  search,  but  again  he  took  with 
him  food  enough  to  support  him  for  forty- 
nine  days,  took  up  his  position  beneath  a 
mimosa  tree,  and  gave  himself  up  to  severe 
meditation.  He  had,  while  there  alone,  to 
endure  a  frightful  mental  struggle.  Tempta- 
tions came  thick  upon  him  ;  demons,  accord- 
ing to  the  after  legend,  assailed  him,  and  he 
had  to  maintain  sore  conflicts  with  them. 
But  at  length  he  was  triumphant,  and  he 
saw  what  he  had  been  searching  for.  The 
iTvemict'  ^^^"^  verities  that  constituted  the  way  of 
deliverance  rose  clearly  before  him.^ 

He  had  now  obtained  for  himself  the 
desired  knowledge,  and  had  he  been  as  other 
sages  he  might  have  been  satisfied  with  this, 
and  his  name  and  influence  been  lost  to  the 
East.  But  the  mind  of  Buddha  was  intensely 
human;  sympathy  with  the  sufferings  of 
man  was  what  prompted  him  to  undergo  all 
the  hardships  he  had  undergone,  and  he  felt 
that  his  knowledge  would  be  valueless  if  it 
did  not  benefit  his  fellows.     He  had  to  pass 

^  See  Appendix  A,  Buddha's  System. 


He  dis- 
covers the 


BuddJiism.  63 


through  another  conflict  before  he  could 
make  up  his  mind  to  this ;  but  at  last  he 
triumphed,  and  was  prepared  to  bring  de- 
liverance to  the  Avorld.     He  sought  out  the  and  com- 

niunicates 

five  Brahmans  who  had  originally  accom- ^t  to  others. 
panied  him,  and  told  them  the  truths  he  had 
discovered.  He  sought  out  his  Brahman 
preceptors,  but  found  to  his  grief  that  many 
of  them  had  died  without  the  knowledge  of 
final  deliverance  ;  so  he  turned  to  teach  those 
that  remained.  His  doctrines  spread  with 
rapidity ;  kings  even  became  his  followers. 
He  returned  to  Kapila  Vastu,  and  taught  his 
doctrines  to  his  father,  wife,  and  all  his 
family  ;  and  they  too  became  his  disciples. 
Yet  he  never  swerved  from  the  manner  of 
life  he  had  chosen  ;  he  continued  a  recluse, 
without  a  single  worldly  possession,  refusing 
even  to  ask  for  food,  but  taking  with  con- 
tentment w^hatever  was  given  him.  So  he 
went  about  from  city  to  city  and  village  to 
village,  till  he  was  eighty  years  of  age,  when 
one  day,  having  partaken  of  some  unwhole- 
some food  that  had  been  given  him,  and 
having  w^alked  a  long  distance  after,  he  was 


life  and  re- 
ligion. 


64  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

seized  Avith  dysentery,  and  died,  or,  as  the 
Buddhists  say,  entered  Nirvana. 
Connection      J    j^^^^   myen   these    details    of  Buddha's 

between  Ins         -^     -^  ""        ^ 

Ufe,  for,  without  knowing  them,  it  is  im- 
possible to  appreciate  his  religion  or  under- 
stand the  rapid  success  which  it  had.  It 
is  not  exclusively  the  offspring  of  his  own 
intuitions,  nor  is  it  a  mere  modification  of 
Brahmanical  theology.  It  is  rather  the  re- 
sult of  a  review  of  that  system  by  an  in- 
dependent mind  of  pure  moral  tone,  deep, 
human  sympathies  and  fearless  logic.  He 
had  formed  his  conception  of  man's  needs 
before  he  resorted  to  the  Brahmans,  and 
when  he  found  their  teaching  unsatisfying,  he 
fled  to  the  woods,  and  for  six  years  the 
lessons  he  had  heard  from  them  matured  in 
the  soil  of  his  intense  feeling  and  experience ; 
and  the  result  was  Buddhism. 

The  key-stone  of  this  system,  as  conceived 
in  the  mind  of  its  founder,  was  the  trans- 
migration of  souls.  This  was  really  the  only 
point  of  contact  between  it  and  Brahmanism. 
He  accepted  this  doctrine  as  the  only  solu- 
tion of  the  miseries  and  inequalities  of  this 


Transmi- 
gration. 


Buddhism.  65 


life.  Present  joy  was  the  reward  of  good 
deeds  in  a  previous  birth,  present  sorrow  the 
punishment  of  previous  sin  ;  while  present 
virtue  and  vice  would  be  requited  in  future 
births.  A  man's  future  state  thus  depended 
on  his  own  works ;  therefore,  he  deduced, 
it  did  not  depend  on  any  divine  will.  We 
have  seen  that  already  in  Brahmanism  the 
gods  were  by  some  considered  to  have 
attained  their  divinity  by  religious  austerities. 
This  view  Buddha  accepted   in   a  modified  ^^'}^  "^ 

-L  gods. 

sense  ;  but  he  drew  from  it  the  conclusion 
that  they  were  in  no  sense  better  than  men. 
They  were  the  inhabitants  of  the  heavens,  as 
the  devils  were  of  the  hells,  fish  of  the 
waters,  men  and  animals  of  the  earth.  They 
had  gained  their  high  position  by  good 
deeds,  but  they  were  liable  to  decay,  and 
miofht  aofain  become  mortals  or  beasts. 
Their  high  state  was  one  to  be  compara- 
tively desired,  but  to  worship  such  beings 
was  an  absurdity.  In  the  same  wav  he  could 
conceive  no  Supreme  Being  influenced  by 
worship  ;  that  would  have  been  to  suppose 
him  liable  to  motives,  desire,  and  consequent 

E 


66  Earlie7^  Religions  of  India. 

Atheism,  decaj.  Thus  he,  with  terrible  logic,  excluded 
God  from  his  system,  not  absolutely  denying 
His  existence,  but  ignoring  it,  and  construct- 
ing a  religion  independent  of  Him.  But 
could  he  have  constructed  anything  better 
out  of  the  system  which  the  Brahmans  gave 
him  ? 

Nirvana.  He  tlius  lookcd  ou  a  univcrse  without  God 
— this  world,  with  a  series  of  hells  beneath  for 
the  punishment  of  the  wicked,  and  of  heavens 
above  for  the  reward  of  the  good,  to  which 
spirits  were  sunk  or  raised  by  their  own 
acts,  but  in  no  one  of  which  could  they 
permanently  continue.  Decay  would  seize 
them,  and  quit  it  they  must,  to  enter  on  a 
similar  course  of  birth  and  decay  in  another 
state.  To  be  quit'  of  all  this  was  the  end  to 
which  men  should  ultimately  look  ;  but  to 
be  quit  of  this  was  to  be  quit  of  existence. 
Final  quiescence  and  final  annihilation  are 
thus  equally  the  meaning  of  Nirvana,  the 
Buddhist  summum  honiim. 

Better  eie-       Up   to   this  poiut    wc   scc     Brahmauism 

system.  workiug  its  owu  dcstruction^  leading  a 
logical   mind   to    utter     nihilism.       Buddha 


BtiddJiisvi.  67 


had  thus  cut  himself  off  from  God ;  but  in 
the  rest  of  his  system  we  see  the  better  part 
of  his  nature,  his  moral  purity,  and  strong 
human  sympathy  gradually  asserting  itself, 
and  leading  to  a  system  of  benevolence  and 
philanthropy  so  thorough,  as  to  seem  to  show 
that  the  loss  of  one  pole  of  religious  thought 
— God — had  developed  with  all  the  greater 
intensity  and  even  excess  the  attraction  of 
the  other  pole  of  religion — man,  or  rather 
living  creatures. 

In   pointing  out  the    way  to  Nirvana  he  way  ut  .le- 

i'ir»i  pr>  liveraiice. 

could  not  shake  himself  altogether  free  from 
his  false  conception  of  it.  Considering  pain 
to  be  caused  by  affections  and  desires,  he 
taught  that  it  could  be  removed  only  by 
the  removal  of  affection  and  desire.  Neofa- 
tion  of  God  led  thus  directly  to  negation 
of  humanity.  Having  deprived  man  of  the 
object  of  his  desires,  of  an  eternal  God  to 
satisfy  them  fully  and  eternally,  he  could 
cure  the  longing  only  by  destroying  it. 
But,  in  the  method  to  lead  to  this  annihila- 
tion of  desire,  we  see  his  better  nature 
coming  out.     The  best  way  he  indeed  taught  Asceticism. 


68  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

to  be,  becoming  a  recluse  and  practising 
meditation,  which  might  conduct  the  mind 
to  a  quietude  nearly  approaching  Nirvana. 
But  the  Buddhist  recluses  had  none  of  the 
repulsiveness  of  the  Brahman  recluses,  and 
they  were  not  freed  from  duties  of  bene- 
Reiigion     volenco.     Bccoming   recluses,   however,   was 

for  tlit^ 

laity.  not  a  religion  adapted  for  all  men.  He 
therefore  taught  the  laity  to  seek  rather  to 
secure  a  happy  condition  in  their  next  birth, 
entrance  to  heaven,  or  a  state  on  earth  which 
would  allow  of  their  becoming  recluses,  and 
give  them  a  hope  of  entering  Nirvana. 

Morality.  It  is  horo  that  the  immense  superiority  of 
his  system  to  that  of  the  Brahmans  appears. 
They  taught  that  this  end  was  to  be  attained 
by  austerity  and  penance,  or  by  sacrifice  and 
other  religious  ceremonies,  which  had  become 
empty  forms.  Buddha  having  rejected  God, 
could  not  accept  worship  as  a  means ;  he 
therefore  adopted  works,  but  he  taught  that 
these  works  were  not  penance,  but  fulfilling 
the  moral  law — which  he  taught  both  nega- 
tively and  positively, — practising  charity  and 
benevolence   towards   all    animated   beings ; 


Buddhism.  69 


honesty,  chastity,  truthfuhiess,  and  temper- 
ance. It  is  the  glory  of  Buddhism  that  it 
has  asserted  this  law  as  the  great  laAv  of 
religion. 

Another  excellence  which  it  owes  to  Bud-  Abolition 

of  caste. 

dha's  strong  benevolence  is,  that  it  abolishes 
the  distinction  of  caste.  This  might  seem  to 
be  a  natural  consequence  of  the  Brahmani  • 
cal  doctrine  of  metempsychosis ;  for  if  the 
spirit  of  a  Brahman  may  be  a  Sudra  in  next 
birth  and  a  Chandala  in  the  subsequent  one, 
why  should  there  be  any  difference  between 
these  castes  at  all  ?  We  shall  see,  however, 
in  treating  of  Hinduism,  that  this  doctrine 
may  be  made  to  teach  the  very  opposite,  and 
if  this  reasoning  were  carried  out,  it  would 
show  that  there  is  no  difference  between  man 
and  the  animals.  It  Avas  probably  the  strong 
common  sense  and  intense  human  sympatliy 
of  Buddha  that  made  him  reject  the  doctrine 
of  caste,  and  receive  all  men  as  brethren. 
No  doubt  the  psychological  argument — the 
transmigration  of  souls — might  have  some 
influence  with  him,  and  it  was  this  probably 
that  led  him  to  lay  so  much   stress  on  the 


70  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

t^oTheXu?  ^^ty  ^f  preserving  animal  life,  which  has  in 
creation,  guhsequent  developments  of  his  religion  come 
to  overshadow  even  duty  to  man.  Thus  this 
'humanitarianism,  which  is  the  chief  glory  of 
Buddhism,  being  disjoined  from  worshij)  of 
God,  has  been  betra^^ed  into  an  excess  which 
tends  even  to  lower  man. 
Worship  But  man  cannot  live  without  some  object 
of  worship.  Even  the  author  of  Positivism 
in  France  found  this,  and  tried  to  invent  a 
worship  having  as  its  object  woman  in 
her  threefold  relation  of  mother,  wife  and 
daughter.  So,  too,  the  greater  author  of  a 
greater  system  more  than  two  thousand  years 
ago  found  that  he  needed  an  object  of  wor- 
ship. One  of  his  dearest  friends  having 
been  killed  by  some  of  his  enemies,  he  pre- 
served some  reHcs  of  him  with  a  care  and  de- 
votion amounting  to  worship,  and  thus  the 
worship  of  relics  was  introduced  into  Bud- 
dhism. The  central  object  of  worship  in 
Buddhist  tenijoles  is  a  tomb  in  which  relics 
are  supposed  to  be. 
BiSurm  Such  was  the  system  which  Buddha  ex- 
cause-s.       pouudcd,  and  which  soon   began  to   spread 


Buddhism.  71 


throughout  India  with  a  rapidity  that  even  its 
intrinsic  suj)eriority  to  its  rival,  Brahmanism, 
can  scarcely  account  for.  It  did  indeed 
appeal  to  a  law  which  was  confirmed  by  the 
law  in  the  hearts  of  all  men,  and  it  set  before 
the  multitude  of  its  adherents  an  end  which 
they  could  easily  understand — a  future  happy 
birth  as  a  reward  of  good  conduct  and 
obedience  to  the  law.  But  we  cannot  doubt  character 
that  the  character  of  its  founder  contri-  founder. 
buted  greatly  to  its  spread.  Mistaken  he 
may  have  been,  and  the  desertion  of  his  wife 
and  child  was  certainly  reprehensible,  but  we 
must  recollect  that  he  had  been  forced  into 
these  relationships  against  his  natural  inclina- 
tions and  conscientious  desire,  and  he  felt 
impelled  by  an  inward  call  which  he  could 
not  resist.  Havino^  once  set  out  on  his  career 
as  a  religious  inquirer  and  teacher,  he  showed 
himself  earnest,  self-denying,  self-sacrificing. 
He  is  the  one  example  of  a  human  teacher 
w^ho  in  his  life  was  more  than  his  religion. 
Whatever  he  mitrht  call  on  his  followers 
to  do,  lie  had  done  more.  None  of  them 
could  renounce  more  than  lie  had  renounced, 


*]2  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

* 

none  of  them  could  endure  greater  hard- 
ships and  privations  than  he  had  endured. 
The  spectacle  of  him  renouncing  all  that 
man  most  prizes  ;  going  into  the  desert,  and 
agonizing  there  for  six  years  ;  and  at  last, 
alone  and  deserted,  without  even  a  ray  of 
hope  in  a  God  to  cheer  him,  withstanding 
all  the  temptations  that  came  on  him,  work- 
ing out  his  conception  of  man's  deliverance ; 
then  hastening,  in  overflowing  sympathy,  to 
communicate  it  to  all  who  would  hear  him ; 
and,  when  he  had  attracted  thousands  of 
followers,  still  continuing  the  poorest  of  the 
poor, — is  one  of  the  grandest  pictures  of  self- 
denial  and  service  which  the  world  has  pro- 
duced, and  was  a  constant  testimony  before 
all  men  to  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions, 
the  depth  of  his  sympathy.  Let  us  try  to 
imagine  what  must  have  been  the  effect  of 
this  example  on  the  downtrodden  Sudras 
and  low  castes,  who  had  been  trained  to 
believe  that  they  were  beyond  the  pale  of 
religion,  that  they  merited  death  if  they 
sought  to  hear  the  sacred  books  read,  or  to 
perform  any  of  the  religious  acts  of  the  twice- 


Buddhism.  73 


born — to  be  told  that  there  was  no  difference 
between  them  and  their  lords — to  find  them- 
selves welcomed  to  instruction  in  the  mys- 
teries of  religion,  no  difference  being  made 
between  the  lowest  and  the  highest  if  there 
was  but  a  sincere  desire  for  the  truth — to 
learn  that  there  was  but  one  way  of  deliver- 
ance for  the  high  caste  and  the  out-caste,  for 
the  Brahman  and  the  Sudra.  They  saw  all 
that  he  had  endured  to  do  them  this  good, 
and  they  could  say,  though  in  an  altogether 
earthly  sense,  ^  though  he  was  rich,  yet  for 
our  sakes  he  became  poor/  What  must  the 
effects  of  this  have  been  on  all  those  among 
the  higher  castes  who  had  any  noble  or 
generous  feelings  left  ?  When  we  remember 
all  this  we  may  cease  to  wonder  at  the  effect 
which  his  life  and  teaching  had. 

Buddhism  not  only  rose  above    caste ;    it  Buddhism 
rose  above  nationality.     It  was  the  first  re-  iuimauity^ 
ligion   of  humanity.      The   germs  of   Chris- 
tianity were    indeed    contained   in  Judaism. 
Long  before  this  time  the  Jews  had  sung 
in  the  Temple  service, — 


74  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

'  God  be  merciful  unto  us  and  bless  us,  and  cause  His 
face  to  shine  upon  us  ; 

'  That  Thy  way  may  be  known  upon  earth,  Thy  saving 
health  amons^  all  nations.' 

But  it  was  not  till  six  hundred  years  after 
Buddha  that  this  seed  fructified,  and  He  in 
whom  Judaism  was  fulfilled  gave  the  com- 
mand, ^  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature.'  Buddha  was 
the  first  to  teach  a  reliction  which  miofht  be 
common  to  all  men,  and  to  seek  to  awaken 
in  man's  heart  the  idea  of  a  brotherhood  as 
Persuasion  broad  as  the  human  race.     In  spreading  his 

his  sole  in-     ,  .  i         i       i     i 

strument.  doctrmcs  he  had  but  one  instrument — per- 
suasion. Subsequent  legends  do  represent 
him  as  performing  miracles,  but  this  was  a 
power  which  he  himself  disclaimed.  When 
urged  by  a  king  to  perform  miracles  so  as 
to  confound  his  enemies,  he  replied,  'The 
law  which  I  teach  my  disciples  is  not — Go 
before  the  Brahmans,  and  by  the  help  of 
supernatural  power  perform  miracles  greater 
than  men  can  perform.  The  law  I  give 
them  is  this — Be  silent  about  your  good 
deeds,  and  confess  your  sins.'  He  likewise 
repudiated  all  force  or  constraint  in  sj)reading 


Buddhism.  75 


his  doctrine.  Even  when  the  most  powerful 
kings  had  become  his  disciples,  and  were 
ready  to  put  their  armies  at  his  disposal, 
he  refused  all  means  but  persuasion  and 
teaching  ;  and  in  this  respect  Buddhists  have 
obeyed  the  teaching  of  their  master  better 
than  Christians  have  obeyed  the  teaching  of 
theirs/^  His  own  example,  however,  inspired  ^^^^^^' 
many  to  become  missionaries  of  his  religion 
with  a  devotedness  Hke  his  own.  The  follow- 
ing legend  may  serve  as  an  illustration  : — • 

A  rich  merchant  of  the  name  of  Purna  had  become  a  Legend  of 

Pll  Till, 

convert  to  Buddha's  teaching,  and,  renouncing  all  his 
wealth,  resolved  to  fix  his  abode  among  a  neighbouring 
savaixe  tribe,  whom  he  wished  to  convert  to  the  law. 
Buddha  at  first  tried  to  discourage  him. 

'  The  men  of  Sronaparanta,  whither  thou  wilt  go,'  he 
said  to  him,  '  are  violent,  cruel,  furious  and  insolent. 
When  they  utter  wicked,  gross  and  insolent  words  to  thy 
face,  when  they  grow  angry  with  thee  and  abuse  thee, 
what  wilt  thou  think  % ' 

'  This  is  what  I  will  think  ;'  replied  Parna,  '  these  men 
are  certainly  good  and  kind,  who  do  not  strike  me  either 
with  their  hands  or  with  stones.' 

'  But  if  they  strike  thee  with  their  hands  and  with 
stones,  what  wilt  thou  think  of  them  ?' 


3  Admirers  of  Buddhism  claim  that  it  has  never  been  spread 
by  force.  But  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  between  King  Asoka's 
edicts  to  abolish  sacrifice  and  establishing  religion  by  force. 


76  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

*  I  will  think  that  they  are  good  and  kind,  as  they  do 
not  strike  me  mtli  sticks  or  with  the  sword.' 

'  But  if  they  strike  thee  with  sticks  or  with  the  sword, 
what  wilt  thou  think  of  them  ? ' 

'  I  will  think  them  good  and  kind,  as  they  do  not  take 
my  life.' 

*Eut  if  they  take  thy  life,  what  wilt  thou  think  of 
them?' 

'  I  will  think  the  men  of  Sronaparanta  good  and  kind, 
to  deliver  me  with  so  little  pain  from  this  body  full  of 
vileness.' 

'  It  is  well,'  replied  Buddha, '  w^ith  such  perfect  patience 
thou  canst  live  among  the  Sronaparantas.  Go  then,  0 
Purna,  delivered  thyself,  deliver  others  ;  thyself  arrived 
on  the  other  shore,  bring  others  there  ;  thyself  consoled, 
do  thou  console  ;  thyself  arrived  at  JN^irvana,  teach  others 
the  way.' 

Purna,  thus  encouraged,  went  to  dwell  among  that  tribe, 
and  by  his  gentleness  and  resignation  won  them  from  their 
savage  customs  to  the  law.* 

Whether  this  story  be  true  or  not,  its 
very  conception  shows  a  standard  of  mis- 
sionary courage  and  devotedness  that,  with 
all  its  exaggerations,  accounts  for  the  rapid 
spread  of  Buddhism  through  India. 
Effects  of        The    permanent    effects    of  Buddha's    life 

Buddhism. 

and  teaching  on  India  have  been  very  great. 
He  has  imbued  all  Hindus,  from  the  highest 

"*  For  this,  as  for  most  of  the  incidents  here  given,  I  am 
indebted  to  St.  Hillaire's  Bouddha  et  sa  Religion. 


Bttddhism.  "jj 


to  the  lowest,  with  a  tenderness  for  animal 
life.  Even  the  Kajput  who  delights  to 
hunt  and  slay  the  boar  looks  on  the  kill- 
ing of  a  fly  as  a  sin.  We  shall  see  when 
we  come  to  consider  modern  Hinduism  the 
great  influence  which  Buddha  has  exercised 
on  it.  But  Buddhism  has  also  defects  and  Defects. 
weaknesses  which  proved  fatal  to  it  in  the 
land  of  its  birth,  and  which  must  ultimately 
prove  fatal  to  it  throughout  the  world. 

These  defects  may  all  be  summed  up  in  Atheism 
one  w^ord — Atheism.  The  absence  of  God 
prevents  a  true  conception  of  duty  and  of 
human  life.  The  idea  of  all  that  we  receive  false  views 
being  talents  intrusted  to  us  by  our  Maker, 
and  for  the  use  of  which  we  are  accountable 
to  Him,  is  impossible  in  Buddhism.  The 
words  of  King  Arthur, — 

'  This  life 
I  guard  as  God's  high  gift  from,  scathe  and  wrong/ 

could  never  have  been  uttered  by  a  Bud- 
dhist king.  Duty  as  duty  and  right  as 
right  are  ignored.  They  cannot  be  referred 
to  the  will  of  a  righteous  Father,  but  only 
to  their  effects  in  producing  an  end  in  itself 


78  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

andofiiu-  falsG.       TliG    coTiception    of  human   life,  too, 

man  life.  ,  r^      ^      ' 

is  erroneous.  Without  God  it  cannot  be 
looked  on  as  a  discipline,  but  merely  as  a 
state  of  existence,  in  which  as  few  seeds  of 
future  existence  as  possible  should  be  sown. 
Loss  of  life  is  rather  a  blessing  than  a 
sorrow,  and  that  not  because  it  is  the  gain- 
ing of  life  eternal,  but  because  it  is  a  step 
towards  final  extinction. 
Absence  of       Buddlia  also,   bv  his    atheism,  shut  him- 

revelation.  ^        ^j 

self  out  from  the  possibility  of  having  any 
divine  revelation ;  he  based  his  authority 
only  on  knowledge,  and  that  knowledge 
intuitional.  He  indeed  claimed  to  have 
arrived  at  perfect  knowledge,  and  those 
who  became  his  disciples  were  required  to 
acknowledge  this,  but  it  was  an  authority 
which  other  men  could  claim  to  have  in 
an  equal  degree  with  him.  His  religion 
contrasts  in  this  way  most  markedly  with 
that  of  Moses.  The  Hebrew  lawgiver,  on 
the  broad  basis  of  a  divine  revelation 
and  authority,  promulgated  a  religion  which 
offered,  in  the  first  instance,  only  an  earthly 
rest  and  earthly  rewards,  and  the  truth   of 


Buddhism,  79 


which  every  one  could  test  by  its  fruits. 
The  Indian  lawgiver,  on  the  narrow  basis 
of  his  own  intuition  and  deductions,  which 
every  one  could  test  by  his  own,  sought  to 
establish  a  system  of  rewards  and  jDunish- 
ments  passing  through  thousands  of  millions 
of  ages  and  thousands  of  worlds,  the  evi- 
dence of  which  was  beyond  the  reach  of  all. 

But  a  more  important  defect   consequent  Absence  of 

power  con- 

on    atheism    is    the  absence  of    all   power,  sequent  on 

"  atheism. 

Buddhism  is  a  moral  system,  but  it  is  not 
a  moral  power.  It  offered  India  a  perfect 
morality  without  God,  but  it  failed  to  make 
India  moral,  or  to  secure  any  hold  on  it. 
It  offered  nothing  to  satisfy  the  religious 
sense  in  man.  Its  appeal  was  to  knowledge, 
not  to  faith.  This  want  was  indeed  felt 
by  Buddha's  immediate  successors,  and  a 
canon  of  sacred  literature  was  compiled  by 
them;  legends  attributing  to  him  superhuman 
power  gathered  round  the  story  of  his  life. 
He  was  represented  as  the  last  of  twenty- 
four  Buddhas,  successive  appearances  of  the 
same  being  on  earth  to  teach  mankind  the 
way  of  deliverance.       Huge  images  of  him 


8o  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

are  erected  in  his  temples  which  quite  dwarf 
all  the  idols  of  Hinduism.  A  system  of 
sacerdotalism  and  caste  was  grafted  on  the 
simple  rules  prescribed  in  his  teaching, 
Tvhich  makes  Buddhism  in  those  lands 
where  it  prevails  as  different  from  wliat 
it  originally  was,  as  the  Vatican  is  from 
the  ujDper  chamber  in  Jerusalem  ;  but  no- 
thinof  has  ever  been  able  to  fill  the  orio^inal 
void,  or  to  ofier  to  man's  instinct  aught  to 
take  the  place  of  God,  whom  it  orginally 
set  aside.  Buddhism,  within  a  couple  of 
centuries,  is  said  to  have  spread  over  all 
India,  but  I  question  whether  one  idol  the 
less  was  worshipped  in  consequence.  Even 
now,  in  Ceylon,  where  it  is  suj)posed  to  have 
had  undisputed  sway  for  twenty  centuries, 
it  fails  to  satisfy  the  religious  wants  of  the 
people.  '  In  Ceylon  the  people  look  to 
Buddhism  for  deliverance  as  to  the  future 
world.  By  its  instrumentality  they  sup- 
pose that  they  can  gain  merit ;  but  for  jDre- 
sent  assistance,  when  the  burden  of  affliction 
is  heavy  upon  them,  their  resort  is  to  the 
demon    priest,    with    his    incantations    and 


Bitddhism.  8 1 


sacrifices."^  We  cannot  suppose  that  in 
its  rapid  sj)read  over  India  it  was  anything 
more  satisfying.  It  was  accepted  by  the 
people  as  a  protest  against  priestly  preten- 
sions and  caste  tyranny,  but  when  the  test 
of  reliofion — the  hour  of  trial  and  affliction — 
came  upon  them,  they  still  resorted  to  the 
idols  and  fetishes  which  they  had  been 
wont  to  worship.  A  system  thus  defective 
and  one-sided  is  smitten  with  decay ;  it  has 
foes  in  its  own  stronghold,  with  which  an 
enemy  has  only  to  unite  in  order  to  accom- 
plish its  overthrow. 

This  was  what  took  place  with  Buddhism  Fail  of 

■^  ^         ^  Buddh  sm. 

in  India.  In  two  or  three  centuries  it  was 
triumphant  throughout  the  peninsula,  while 
Brahmanism  was  confined  to  the  small  kinof- 
dom  of  Kanauj  on  the  Ganges.^  But  a 
struDfoie  then  begfan,  which  continued  till  the 
twelfth  century,  and  resulted  in  the  com- 
plete expulsion  of  Buddhism  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  Hinduism  throughout  India. 

The  only  relic  of  Buddhism  which  now  jain?. 


s  Hardy,  Legends  and  Theories  of  the  Buddhists,  L.  (50\ 
^  Marshman's  History  of  India,  vol.  i.  j).  11. 


^2 


Earlier  Religions  of  India. 


Founders 
of  Jainism, 
Pars- 
wanath. 


Mahavira. 


remains  there  is  the  sect  of  the  Jains,  whose 
faith  is  in  many  respects  different,  but  has 
evidently  sprung  from  that  of  Buddha/ 

The  original  founder  of  the  sect  was  Parswa, 
or  Parswanath,  as  he  was  afterwards  called. 
He  was  the  son  of  King  Aswasena,  and  of 
one  of  the  noblest  royal  families  in  India. 
He  became  an  ascetic  when  he  was  thirty 
years  old,  and  died  about  the  age  of  a 
hundred,  on  Sikhar,  a  mountain  in  Southern 
Behar.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  years  after 
him,  according  to  Jain  chronology,  Maha- 
vira was  born  of  the  same  stem.  He  be- 
came an  ascetic  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight, 
and  died  when  he  was  about  seventy-two. 
The  chief  difference  between  him  and  Par- 

7  The  Jains  indeed  maintain  that  they  are  older  than  the 
Buddhists,  and  that  their  founder  Mahavira  was  the  teacher 
of  Buddha,  They  fix  his  death  about  570  B.C.,  or  about  thirty 
years  before  the  usually  accepted  date  of  the  death  of  Buddha. 
Some  European  scholars,  such  as  Colebrooke  and  Stevenson,  are 
inclined  to  agree  witli  this,  while  others,  such  as  Ben  fey,  make 
the  origin  of  this  sect  to  have  been  about  the  tenth  century  after 
Christ ;  but  this  again  is  obviously  too  late,  as  we  have  evidence 
of  a  distinction  between  Buddhists  and  Jains  as  early  as  the 
fifth  century.  Lassen  (Indische  Alterthumskunde,  iv.  763), 
while  inclined  to  fix  the  date  about  the  first  or  second  century, 
allows  that  we  must  wait  further  light  on  the  subject  before  it 
can  be  decided. 


Buddhism.  "^^^^ 


swanath  was,  that  while  the  latter  always 
wore  one  garment,  Mahavira  carried  his 
mortification  of  the  body  further,  and  dis- 
pensed Avith  every  sort  of  covering.  Hence 
the  two  divisions  of  the  Jains  have  sprung 
up,  the  Swetambras,  clothed  in  wliite,  and 
the  Digambras,  clothed  in  space.  The  latter, 
however,  while  still  the  stricter  sect,  do  not 
carry  out  their  principles  with  regard  to 
dress. 

These  two  are  said  to  be  the  last  of  the  J^i^^  (doc- 
trine. 

twenty-four     Jinas     or    Tirthankaras,^    who  Twenty- 

'^  ^  ^  ^  four  sages. 

constitute  the  chief  object  of  Jain- wor- 
ship. The  preceding  twenty-two  are  evidently 
fictions,  but  in  the  first  of  them,  Rikhab 
Deva,  we  have  some  trace  of  real  historic 
tradition.  Like  the  Buddhists,  the  Jains 
are  atheists.  They  believe  in  the  eternity  Atheism. 
of  the  universe  both  of  matter  and  of  mind, 
— the  latter  including  the  elements  of  human 
souls — which  has  been  undergoing  a  series  of 
revolutions  produced  by  the  inherent  powers 

8  Jiiia  means  conqueror,  one  who  luis  triumplied  over  the 
passions.  This  was  also  a  name  of  Buddha.  Tiithankara 
means  the  '  author  of  a  tirth^  or  place  of  pilgrimage,  visiting 
which  confers  salvation.     But  '  the  Jain  tirili  is  a  moral  tirili.^ 


84  Earlier  Religions  of  India. 

of  nature  ^vithout  the  intervention  of  any 
eternal  Deity,  no  such  being,  according  to 
them,  existing  independent  of  the  world. 
Certain  of  the  world's  elements  may  be 
sublimated  into  gods,  who  inhabit  the  vari- 
ous heavens  that  exist,  but  they  are  inferior 
to  the  Tirthankaras,  and  must  again  enter 
the  various  hells,  or  become  animals  and 
men  as  they  hai^e  been  before,  till  they 
finally  triumph  over  matter,  and  can  exist 
Final  i)iis-.  free  from  its  trammels.  This  has  by  medi- 
tation been  attained  by  the  twenty-four 
Tirthankaras,  and  through  their  merit  by 
several  thousand  disciples  who  were  on 
earth  when  they  attained  beatitude.  This 
is  the  only  way  in  which,  according  to  the 
Jain  religion,  -final  beatitude  can  be  attained, 
and  they  themselves  acknowledge  that  the 
way  of  salvation  is  thus  limited  to  very 
few.  In  their  cosmical  system  they  are 
nearer  the  Hindus,  while  they  agree  with 
the  Buddhists  in  their  moral  code,^  and  in  the 

9  This  consists  in  enjoining  five  duties  and  forbidding  five 
sins.  The  duties  are — 1st,  Mercy  to  all  animated  beings  ;  2nd, 
almsgiving ;     3rd,   venerating  the    sages    while    living    and 


Bitddhism,  85 


the  sect. 


extreme  respect  which  they  pay  to  animal 
and  even  insect  life.  They  have  even  in 
some  cities  erected  and  endowed  hospitals 
for  diseased  animals. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  this  religion  WvXm  of 
resulted  from  the  influence  of  Buddhist 
and  Brahmanical  teaching  on  the  minds  of 
those  who  founded  it^  though  I  cannot  see 
that  there  is  any  reason  for  supposing  that 
it  is  the  result  of  a  compromise.  In  the 
earlier  Jain  books  the  Brahmans  are  spoken 
of  with  great  contempt  and  bitterness.  In 
the  Kalpa  Sutra,  the  history  of  Mahavira, 
that  Tirthankara  is  represented  as  having 
been  conceived  in  the  womb  of  a  Brahman 
woman ;  whereupon  Indra,  the  chief  of  the 
gods,  is  represented  as  reflecting,  ^  Surely 
such  a  thing  as  this  has  never  happened  in 
past,  happens  not  in  present,  nor  will  happen 
in  future  times,  that  an  Arliat,  a  Chakravarbi, 
a  Baladeva,  or  a  Vasudeva.  should,  be  born  in 
a  low  caste  family,  a  servile  family,  a  degraded 


worsliippiiig  their  images  when  deceased  ;  4th,  confession  of 
faults  ;  5th,  religious  fasting. 

The  sins  are — 1st,  Killing  ;  2nd,  lying  ;  3rd,  stealing  ;  4th, 
adultery  ;  5th,  worldly-mindedness. 


86  Eaidier  Religions  of  India, 

family,  a  poor  family,  a  mean  family,  a  beg- 
gar's family,  or  a  Brahman's  family.'  He 
is  accordingly  represented  as  sending  a  mes- 
senofer  to  remove  him  to  the  womb  of  a 
woman  of  the  royal  caste.  Now,  however, 
the  Brahman s  seem  to  have  regained  their 
authority  among  the  Jains.  Some  of  the 
Swetambras  are  even  glad  to  have  them 
as  priests  in  their  temples.  At  one  time 
Jain  ism  had  spread  extensively  through 
India,  but  its  adherents  are  now  numeri- 
cally small,  though  still  commanding  a  great 
part  of  the  Avealth  of  the  country.  They 
now  exercise  no  influence  on  Hinduism,  and 
indeed  practically  have  come  in  faith  and 
practice  to  differ  little  from  it.  By  a  recent 
decision  of  the  Bombay  High  Court  it  has 
been  ruled  that  the  laws  of  the  orthodox 
Hiudus  are  binding  on  the  Jains. 


PART   II. 


HINDUISM. 


HINDUISM. 


BUDDHISM  seems  to  have  culminated  Kise of 
Hindui 
in  India  about  the  beginning  of  our  era. 

Two  hundred  years  before  that  time  it  assumed 
a  character  decidedly  hostile  to  Brahmanism. 
At  first,  though  utterly  opposed  in  principle 
to  its  claims,  it  seems  to  have  existed  along- 
side of  it  on  a  basis  of  mutual  toleration.  But 
the  decrees  of  King  Asoka,  a  convert  to 
Buddhism  and  paramount  sovereign  of  India, 
showed  an  intention  to  make  the  new  faith 
universal  in  India,  to  the  destruction  of  the 
older  one.  This  stirred  up  the  Brahmans  to 
do  more  earnest  battle  for  their  religion, 
quickened  their  intellectual  life,  and  made 
them  more  pliable  in  adapting  their  system 
to  the  religious  ideas  of  the  various  tribes  and 
castes  with  whom  they  came  in  contact.  This 
Brahmanical  revival  continued  to  struggle 
w^ith  Buddhism,  and  by  the  twelfth  century 


90  Hinduism. 


of  our  era  had  extirpated  it  from  India.  It  is, 
to  it  that  modern  Hinduism  owes  its  charac- 
ter ;  and  it  is,  therefore,  of  more  practical 
interest,  and  more  deserving  the  study  of 
those  who  wish  to  know  the  religious  condi- 
tion of  the  miUions  of  our  fellow- subjects 
whom  it  has  influenced,  than  any  form  of 
religious  thought  that  preceded  it. 
?/ tiiTsvib-  ^^Q  brief  survey  we  have  taken  of  the  ear- 
ject.  YiQY  religions  of  India,  w^hile  leaving  many 

questions  still  unanswered,  will  yet  prepare 
us  for  better  understanding  that  complex  and 
subtle  system  with  which  Christianity  has  now 
to  contend.  I  will  not  touch  on  the  political 
movements  which  aided  it,  or  the  warriors  and 
kings  who  established  it  by  force  of  arms,  but 
will  rather  seek  to  indicate  those  principles 
and  methods,  still  in  operation,  by  which  it 
triumphed  over  its  great  foe,  and  attached  to 
itself,  or  is  still  attaching  to  itself,  the  various 
races  of  India.  I  must  now  ask  the  English 
reader  to  follow  me  into  a  somewhat  abstruse 
and  difficult  field  ;  to  enter  a  region  and  me- 
thod of  thought  most  likely  quite  foreign  to 
him,  but  which  it  is  necessary  to  master  to 


Hinduism.  9 1 


some  extent  in  order  to  understand  Hindu 
idolatry.  To  try  to  explain  this  on  the  basis 
of  English  ideas,  is  about  as  hopeful  as  try- 
ing to  explain  Indian  jugglery  on  the  basis 
of  English  regimental  drill.  I  can  only  pro- 
mise to  endeavour  to  make  the  subject  as 
clear  as  it  is  capable  of  being  made  to  per- 
sons accustomed  to  entirely  other  modes  of 
thouo^ht. 

There    are    two    distinct    features    in    theTwofea- 

.  .  ,  tnres  of 

Brahmamcal  revival  which  must  be  under-  Hinduism. 
stood  in  order  to  grasp  the  present  character 
of  Hinduism, — the  intellectual  revival  amono- 
the  Brahmans,  producing  Hindu  philosophy, 
and  the  application  of  that  philosophy  to  the 
popular  superstitions,  producing  the  Hindu 
religion. 


CHAPTEE  I. 


HINDU    PHILOSOPHY. 


Cause  of  the  TpHE  first  step  ill  tlie  establishment  of 
revival.  J-  modem  Hinduism  was  the  revival  of 
intellectual  activity  among  the  Brahmans. 
Appeal  to  the  authority  of  the  Vedas  was 
now  of  no  use  to  them.  Their  Buddhist  ad- 
versaries required  them  to  prove  all  things. 
They  therefore  strove  to  combat  them  with 
their  own  weapons,  and  in  succession  rose  the  . 
six  schools  of  Hindu  j)hilosophy.^  These  all 
started  w^ith  the  professed  acknowledgment  ' 
of  the  Vedas  as  the  rule  of  faith,  but  except 
one  (which,  strangely  enough,  while  ignoring 
God,  made  the  eternity  of  the  Word  its  fun- 
damental principle),  they  all  practically  ignore 
the  Vedas,  and  found  their  systems  on  the 
deductions  of  pure  reason.  The  Vedas  are 
now,  for  the  majority  of  the  Hindus,  only  the 

^  See  Appendix  B,  Schools  of  Hindu  Philosophy. 


Hindit  Philosophy.  93 

shadow  of  a  name  ;  so  that  in  this  respect 
Buddhism  has  practically  remained  victor, 
while  it  again,  by  accepting  a  sacred  canon  of 
its  own,  may  be  said  to  have  been  vanquished 
by  Brahmanism, — a  fact  which  its  opponents 
have  not  been  slow  to  point  out.  I  do  not 
propose  to  give  any  account  of  these  various 
systems,  or  of  the  dialectics  by  which  they 
are  supported,  but  will  seek  to  exhibit  their 
effect  in  mouldinof  Hindu  thouofht  to  the  form 
'  in  which  we  actually  find  it. 

To  understand  aiiy  philosophy  or  religion  The  chief 
aright,  we  must  know  what  it  teaches  to  be 
the  highest  good.  Ask  a  Hindu  what  is  the 
chief  end  of  man's  existence  ?  and  he  will 
answer.  Liberation.^  This  is  the  answer  which 
will  be  given  alike  by  the  peasant  and  the 
philosopher  of  any  one  of  the  schools.  Ask 
him  what  he  means  by  Liberation  ?  and  he 
will  say  that  it  is  '  to  cut  short  the  eighty- 
four.'  ^  Here  we  are  already  in  a  sphere  of 
thought  and  expression  quite  foreign  to  the 
European,  and  requiring  explanation. 

The  Hindus,  then,  believe  man's  spirit  to  Liberation. 

^  Mukti.  2  Cliaurassi  Katna. 


94  Hinduism. 


be  a  part  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  an  emanation 
from  it  wliicli  must  return  to  it  again.  Mean- 
while it  is  in  bondaofe  from  its  union  with  the 
body  or  with  matter,  and  the  great  aim  of 
man  should  be  to  free  his  spirit  from  this 
union,  so  that  it  may  again  be  at  liberty  to 
join  the  Supreme.  Or  as  the  Hindus  say  : 
Man  and  God  are  one ;  but  man,  owing  to 
io-norance  and  delusion,  cannot  now  recosrnise 
this  identity;  his  chief  aim  should,  therefore, 
be  liberation  from  this  ignorance  and  delusion, 
so  as  to  recognise  his  oneness  with  God. 
Such  is  the  briefest  possible  statement  of 
what  is  meant  by  liberation,  but  I  must  dwell 
on  it  more  in  detail. 
Fuuda-  The  fundamental  principle  of  Hindu  pliilo- 


principies,  sopliy  is,  that  out  of  notliiug  nothing  can  be 

ex  nihilo  ,  .  ^ 

nihiifit.  made  ;  hence  whatever  now  exists  must  be 
accounted  for  by  what  has  previously  existed, 
and  therefore  our  spirits  must  have  existed 
before.  Another  principle  now  almost  univer- 
sally adopted  is  that  of  the  great  Unity ;  ^  that 

Only  one    tlicro  is  ouly  0110  really  existent  Being,  who  is 

existent         r  i       j.-  j.  1       x"  xi        O 

Being.       irom  overlastiiig  to  everlasting — the  bupreme 

^  Ekamevadwitiyam,  one  only,  witliout  a  second. 


HindiL  PJiilosophy.  95 

Lord/  or  Supreme  Spirit.^  He  alone  is,  every- 
tLiiig  else  is  not.  Our  spirits  must,  therefore, 
be  part  of  Him.  Such  is  the  argument  of  the 
Vedantic,  the  most  influential  school  of  mo- 
dern Hindu  philosophy. 

Now  the  question  comes,  Who  or  what  is  The 

S'lpreme 

this  Supreme  Spirit?  It  has  often  been  ob-  Spmt 
jected  to  the  Vedantic  Deity,  that  it  is  a  mere  ^ioned. 
abstraction  and  negation,  and  tliat  therefore 
the  system  is  atheistic  as  much  as  Buddhism. 
This  is  founded  on  the  word  always  used  in 
characterizing  the  Supreme,  which  in  popular 
language  means  void  of  qualities.  But  the 
word  means  primarily  without  bonds  or  un- 
fettered, and  this  is  rather  the  sense  in  which 
it  is  used  in  Hindu  philosophy.  Man's  spirit 
is  fettered  by  union  with  the  body,  but  not  so 
the  Supreme  Spirit.  He  is  free.  The  word 
which  in  modern  European  philosophy  corre- 
sponds most  nearly  with  it  is  Unconditioned. 
Those  who  are  not  familiar  Avith  philosophical 
expressions  may  form  some  idea  of  what  that 
means,  by  trying  to  conceive  the  existence  of 
^  God  before  anything  was    created.     Tliis  is 

^  Panimesliwara.  ^  Paramdtman. 


96  Hiiididsm. 


the  point  which.  Ballantyne  maintains  Brali- 
manical  philosophers  have  grasped  with  a  far 
clearer  and  firmer  hold  than  Enoflish  or  even 
German  thinkers, — the  distinction  between 
the  Unconditioned  ^  and  the  Conditioned.^ 
Now  what  do  the  former  declare  Uncon- 
ditioned Spirit  to  be  ?  They  say  that  it  is 
Being,  Thought,  and  Joy.^ 

^c  Trinity.  ^ ^,  trained  alike  by  the  testimony  of  our 
own  consciousness  and  by  the  teaching  of  the 
Bible  to  believe  in  the  personality  of  God, 
and  to  think  of  Him  as  distinct  from  our- 
selves, have  difficulty  in  conceiving  an  imper- 
sonal God,  and  in  perceiving  the  full  bearing 
of  the  above  definition.  But  let  us  try  to 
introduce  into  it  the  idea  of  personality  and 
consequent  relationship,  and  chiefly  the  rela- 
tionship of  the  Creator  to  the  creature,  im- 
parting what  He  Himself  has  ;  and  we  have  : 
the  imparter  of  Being — the  Creator ;  the 
imparter  of  Thought — the   Word ;    the   im- 

Anaiogy  partor  of  Joy — the  Comforter.  Here,  then, 
we  have  in  the  Vedantic  Trinity  a  certain 


-with  the 


Christian 
Trinity. 


7  Nirofim.  ^  Sao^im. 

^  Sat,  Chit,  Anand,  Sachchiclananda. 


Hindu  PJiilosophy.  97 

analogy  to  tlie  Christian  Trinity.  How  this 
may  have  arisen  we  cannot  now  determine. 
We  cannot  say  what  interchanges  of  thought 
may  have  taken  place  in  the  earlier  ages  of 
the  world.  Long  before  this  idea  of  the 
Supreme  Spirit  had  been  formulated  by  Hindu 
philosophy,  the  germs  of  the  idea  of  a  Trinity 
had  been  introduced  into  Grecian  philosophy, 
and  may  have  been  carried  into  India  in  the 
intercourse  which  the  Greeks  kept  up  with 
it  in  the  second  and  third  centuries  before  our 
era.  There  Avas  also  constant  communication 
between  Egypt  and  India  at  the  time  when 
the  Judoeo- Grecian  school  of  philosophy  flour- 
ished at  Alexandria,  ere  the  Vedanta  school 
rose  in  India.  But  I  refrain  from  entering 
on  the  field  of  investigation  thus  opened  up, 
merely  noting  the  fact,  however  it  may  be 
accounted  for  and  whatever  may  be  its  value, 
that  such  is  the  Hindu  idea  of  the  Supreme 
Spirit,  and  that  on  this  prime  question  of 
theology  the  distinction  between  Christianity 
and  Hinduism  is  as  to  the  personality  of  God. 

But  in  maintaining  that  the  human  spirit  Man's  spirit 
is  part  of  the  Divine  Spirit^  the  Hindu  is  met 

G 


98  Hinduism. 


by  those  facts  which  for  the  EngUshman  at 
once  decide  the  question^  and  against  which 
the  whole  of  Hindu  philosophy  is  a  vain 
struggle, — the  facts  of  consciousness.  We  are 
not  conscious  that  we  are  parts  of  the  Supreme 
Spirit ;  we  are  conscious  of  limitation  and  im- 
perfection contradictory  of  our  idea  of  God. 
These  facts  the  Hindus  too  acknowledge ;  but 
'so  much  the  worse  for  the  facts;'  they  are 
Maya,  or    the   cffccts  of  Mdvci,     And  what  is  Maya  ? 

delusion.  ^  «^ 

This  it  is  very  difficult  to  explain.  It  means 
1  properly  illusion  or  delusion.  It  is  an  attempt 
to  explain  the  consciousness  of  man  and  the 
existence  of  an  external  world,  in  accordance 
with  the  sole  existence  of  God  and  the  prin- 
cij)le, — nothing  from  nothing.  They  say  that 
the  visible  universe  is  a  projection  of  the 
spirit,  as  the  shadow  is  the  projection  of 
I  the  pillar,  or  the  figure  on  the  screen  the 
projection  of  the  picture  in  the  magic 
lantern.  Thev  attribute  to  it  two  effects, — 
enveloping  the  soul,  which  gives  rise  to  the 
conceit  of  personality,  and  projecting  the 
appearance  of  a  world,  which  the  individual 
imagines  to  be  external  to  himself     Spirit 


Hindu  Philosophy.  99 

thus  invested  or  deluded  is  what  the  universe 
consists  of. 

This  abstract  speculation  will  be  better  Analogy  or 
understood  by  means  of  a  simile  which  the  land. 
Hindus  often  employ.  They  say  that  the 
world  is  just  like  a  dream.  We  fall  asleep  ; 
Ave  imaofine  thinofs  to  be  about  us  which  are 
only  the  creations  of  the  brain,  but  which 
have  for  us  all  the  value  of  realities  ;  we  wake 
up  and  find  that  they  are  all  a  delusion.  So 
shall  we  one  day  wake  up  and  find  that  all 
the  external  universe,  which  we  now  imagine 
to  be  about  us,  has  been  but  the  play  of  our 
spirit,  and  has  vanished  '  like  the  baseless 
fabric  of  a  vision.' 

A  pundit,  who  had  some  acquaintance  with  Analogy 

-riTiT  1  ir»n'  from  mono- 

Jinglish  literature,  quoted  to  me  the  lollowmg  mania. 
incident,  which  I  had  previously  read,  as  a 
proof  of  the  truth  of  the  Hindu  theory  : — ^  A 
man  was  once  labouring  under  the  influence 
of  a  mania  that  he  was  so  enormously  swollen 
that  he  could  not  pass  through  an  ordinary 
door.  Some  of  his  friends  tried  to  persuade 
him  that  he  was  quite  able  to  do  so,  but  he 
listened  to  them  very  much  as  if  they  had 


TOO  Hmdiiism. 


been  trying  to  persuade  him  to  go  through 
the  key-hole.  At  last  they  thought  the  best 
way  to  convince  him  he  was  wrong  was  to  pull 
him  through,  and  this  they  did,  notwithstand- 
ing his  struggles  and  screams.  When  he  had 
been  got  through  in  this  way,  he  fell  down  in 
an  agony,  as  if  he  had  been  bruised  all  over, 
and  died  from  the  effects  on  his  mind.'  The 
door  evidently  did  not  appear  the  same  to  him 
as  to  his  friends  ;  but  what  right  have  we  to 
explain  it  by  his  madness  ?  The  Hindus 
maintain  that  it  is  all  delusion,  and  the  prac- 
tical effect  on  the  unfortunate  madman  showed 
that  his  delusion  was  real  enough  for  him. 
Nature  of  Meauwliile  spirit  is  under  the  influence 
of  this  Maya  or  illusion,  and  it  is  there- 
fore subject  to  conditions  or  qualities. ^^ 
As  to  what  these  conditions  are,  they  fall 
back  for  explanation  on  an  earlier  philo- 
sophy,— the  Sankhya,  which  accounted  for  the 
creation  of  the  world  bv  an  eternal  Prakriti, 
which  modern  European  philosophers  would 
probably  translate  by  cosmic  vapour.  It  in 
fact  means  matter,  but  the  Yedantists  have 

"  Gun. 


the  illu- 
sion. 


Hindu  Philosophy.  loi 

discovered  it  to  be  really  a  delusion,  though 
practically  a  reality.  It  is  supposed  to  con- 
sist of  an  equipose  of  three  conditions  or 
qualities, — intelligence,  passion,  and  darkness 
or  indifference.^^  "Where  intelligence  prevails, 
we  have  such  beings  as  men ;  where  passion 
or  foulness  prevails,  such  beings  as  the  lower 
animals ;  and  where  darkness  or  indifference 
prevails,  such  beings  as  trees  and  stones.  The 
Spirit  or  Self,^^  imprisoned  in  all  these,  is  the 
same  with  the  Supreme  Spirit,  and  the  final 
end  of  it  is  to  be  freed  from  all,  and  identified 
with  its  parent  source.  After  this  liberation, 
man  must  consciously  strive.  Thus  the  Hin- 
dus, groping  after  the  same  truth  as  that 
expressed  by  Paul,  '  The  whole  creation  groan- 
eth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now,' 
have  chang^ed  it  into,  '  The  whole  Creator 
groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until 
now,  waiting  for  the  liberation,  to  wit,  redemp- 
tion from  the  body.' 

It  might  seem  at  first  that  at  the  time  of  Difficulties 
death,  Avhen  the  spirit  quits  the  body,  it  will  piaiiied. 
be  free  to  join  the  Supreme.     But  call  it  by 

"  Sat,  Kaj,  Tamas.  "  Atman. 


T02  Hinditism. 


what  names  they  chose,  ilkision  or  eternal 
matter,  the  same  problems  of  the  world — joy 
and  sorrow  unequally  meted,  vice  prosperous 
and  virtue  oppressed — faced  the  Brahmanical 
philosophers  which  faced  Buddha,  and  for 
them  they  could  give  no  better  solution  than 
Metempsy-  he, — the  trausmiofration  of  the  soul.  They 
proved  by   indeed    argue   for  this  partly  on  the    same 

reminis-  ^  x  e/ 

cence,  grouuds  that  Plato  does,  namely,  that  all 
knowledge  is  reminiscence,  and  that  what  we 
call  instinct  in  a  child,  leading  it,  for  instance, 
to  take  its  mother's  milk,  is  but  a  recollection 
of  what  it  has  learned  in  a  previous  existence. 

and  moral  But  tlic  great  argument  is  the  moral  one, 

necessity.      ,^       ,  i  i  •  i  i        i      • 

that  we  are  moral  and  responsible  beings. 
AYe  commit  deeds  which  merit  reward  or 
punishment ;  happiness  and  misery  in  this 
life  are  not  proportioned  to  the  good  and  evil 
deeds  of  each  individual.  We  see  babes,  who 
have  done  neither  good  nor  evil  in  this  life, 
born  some  to  plenty  and  some  to  poverty ; 
some  surrounded  with  every  temptation  to 
sin,  and  with  an  inherent  proclivity  towards 
evil,  others  surrounded  with  ever}^  influence 
for  good,  and  with  a  natural  leaning  to  virtue 


Hindic  Philosophy.  103 

and  uprightness.  Hence  they  conclude  that 
there  must  be  another  life,  in  which  present 
inequalities  are  redressed,  and  a  past  life,  by 
which  present  inequalities  have  been  caused. 

The  idea  of  vicarious    atonement    has  in  vicarious 

.  atouement. 

one  lorm  or  another  lound  a  place  m  nearly 
all  systems  of  religion,  certainly  in  all  earlier 
systems.  The  instinctive  feeling  of  man, 
that  sin  j)laces  him  in  opposition  to  God 
and  must  be  punished,  found  refuge  first  of 
all  in  sacrifice,  in  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  principle  of  vicarious  atonement  had  a 
place.  But  this  left  many  of  the  mysteries 
of  Providence  unexplained ;  how,  for  in- 
stance, sufferings  that  could  aj)parently  not 
be  traced  to  any  cause  were  to  be  accounted 
for,  how  sacrifice  might  be  attained  by  some 
and  not  by  others.  This  the  Hindus  ac- 
count for  by  saying  that  men  are  now  reap- 
ing the  fruit  of  what  they  themselves  have 
done,  in  a  previous  life,  though  from  the 
effects  of  maya  they  are  ignorant  of  it. 
They  thus  try  to  reconcile  the  jDrinciple  of 
natural  justice — that  every  one  should  suffer 
for   his    own    deeds — with   the   principle    of 


I04  Hmdtnsm. 


vicarious  atonement^  which  seems  mans  in- 
stinctive refuge  from  the  mysterious  ine- 
qualities and  consciousness  of  sin  in  the 
present  hfe.  We  suffer  for  what  we  our- 
selves have  done^  but  the  deeds  for  which 
we  suffer  are  deeds  which  we  are  not  con- 
scious of  having  done.  We  are  not  recom- 
pensed for  what  we  are  doing  now,  but 
we  shall  be  recompensed  in  a  future  birth. 
This  brings  us  to  the  second  bond  of  the 
spirit,  according  to  Hindu  philosophy,  that 
which  binds  it  within  its  first  bond,  the 
chain  which  prevents  its  escaping  the  prison- 
house  of  illusion — Deeds/^ 
Deeds  A  puudit  witli  whom  I  had  once  occasion 

the  spirit,  to  discuss  the  subject  used  the  following 
illustration  :  ^  We  are  bound  to  our  exis- 
tence,' he  said,  ^  by  two  chains,  the  one  a 
golden  chain  and  the  other  an  iron  chain. 
The  golden  chain  is  virtue  and  the  iron  chain 
is  vice.  We  perform  virtuous  actions,  and  we 
must  exist  in  order  to  receive  their  reward ; 
we  perform  vicious  actions,  and  we  must 
exist  in  order  to  receive  their  punishment. 

*3  Karma. 


Hindu  Philosophy.  105 

The  golden  chain  is  pleasanter  than  the  iron 
one,  but  both  are  fetters,  and  from  both 
should  we  seek  to  free  our  spirit.'  This 
comparison  is  a  good  illustration  both  of  the 
principles  and  of  the  spirit  of  Hinduism. 
All  action,  whether  good  or  bad,  binds  us, 
and  there  is  an  aim  to  be  sought  beyond 
happiness.  If  a  man  of  low  rank  discharges 
his  duty  aright,  he  may  in  his  next  birth  be 
a  king.  If  a  king  rules  well,  and  especially 
uses  his  power  in  the  promotion  of  religion, 
he  may  in  his  next  state  be  born  in  heaven, 
and  spend  thousands  of  ages  there.  That 
miofht  be  a  state  to  be  desired  if  there  were 
any  certainty  of  its  permanence,  but  in  it 
he  may  at  any  moment  commit  a  slip,  or  he 
may  unconsciously,  in  a  previous  birth,  have 
been  guilty  of  a  sin  still  unexpiated,  w^iich 
will  require  his  being  born  again  in  the  form 
of  a  demon,  an  animal,  or  one  of  the  lower 
castes.  There  is  no  security  of  rest  till  the 
spirit  is  delivered  from  the  idea  of  its  own 
personality. 

The  Hindus  try  to  explain  this  to  them-  Analogy  of 
selves  by  another  simile,  and  with  them  a  '  ' 


io6  Hindtdsni. 


simile  has  all  the  force  of  an  arofument.^* 
They  say  :  Spirit  is  one  as  water  is  one  ; 
but  some  water  may  be  drawn  up  from  the 
ocean  in  the  form  of  vapour  ;  then  it  may 
become  a  cloud  ;  then  fall  on  the  earth  in 
the  form  of  rain  ;  be  absorbed  by  some  plant 
and  become  its  sap^  be  exhaled  from  it  again 
to  be  absorbed  in  another,  and  so  on,  chang- 
ing from  form  to  form,  till  at  last  it  may  fall 
into  some  river  and  find  its  way  to  the  ocean. 
In  this  figure  the  ocean  will  represent  the 
Supreme,  Free  Spirit,  and  the  other  con- 
ditions of  water,  spirit  in  connection  with 
matter  or  illusion.  .  When  any  portion  of 
the  Supreme  Spirit  is  as  it  were  exhaled  and 
comes  under  the  power  of  illusion,  it  must 
pass  through  men  and  animals,  through 
gods  and  devils,  through  trees  and  rivers, 
and  even  stones, — always  when  it  quits  one 
body,  being  forced  by  the  deeds  which  it 
may  have  committed  in  that,  or  in  some 
previous  body,  to  enter  another,  in  order  to 
receive  their  recompense.  So  it  must  con- 
tinue its  devious  path,  ignorant  of  whence 

^'^  See  Appendix  C,  Hindu  Logic. 


Hindit  Philosophy.  107 

it  has  come  and  whitlier  it  is  going,  till  tlio 
full  tale  of  appointed  birtlis,  said  to  be 
eio'bty-four    lakhs,    or    eighty-four    hundred  Tiie  eigiity- 

.  ,  .  -■  -,  four. 

thousand,  is  completed.  Then  its  good  and  _,.— 
evil  deeds  may  be  fully  atoned  for  by  its 
joys  and  sorrows,  the  sj)irit  may  regain  its 
origin,  be  emancipated  from  matter,  and  free 
to  rejoin  the  Supreme./  But  the  Hindus 
have  also  a  vague  hope  that  they  may  not 
need  to  endure  all  this ;  that  they  may  find 
a  clue  out  of  this  interminable  labyrinth  of 
births  ;  that  they  may  find  a  direct  passage 
as  it  were  to  the  Supreme,  and  be  freed  from 
the  necessity  of  being  again  born  either  for 
joy  or  for  sorrow.  This  is  what  they  mean 
when  they  say  that  ^  Liberation  is  to  cut 
short  the  eighty-four.' 

Thus  far  the  Hindu  system  has  developed  Difficulties. 
itself  with  a  certain  logic.  But  two  testing 
questions  naturally  occur  here — What  led 
any  portion  of  spirit  to  come  under  the 
power  of  illusion  ?  and,  According  to  what 
law  do  these  transmigrations  take  place  ? 

To  the  first  of  these   questions  the   Hin-  origin  of 
dus  give  some    such   answer  as   this  :    The 


1 08  Hi7tduis7n. 


Supreme  Spirit  was  one,  and  he  thought,  '  I 
will  become  many.'  There  is  here  a  certain 
recognition  of  supreme  will,  but  if  asked 
again  what  led  him  to  wish  to  become  many, 
they  are  silent,  and  allow  that  there  is  some- 
thing there  for  which  they  cannot  account. 
The  law  of      The  sccoud  Qucstion, — What  is  the  principle 

transmigra-  ^  ^  ^  ■'-■'■ 

tion.  which  requires  certain  deeds  to  be  followed 
by  certain  births  ?  what  is  the  power  that 
binds  spirit  by  the  bond  of  deeds  to  ignor- 
ance and  illusion  ?• — is  a  question  which 
Hindu  philosophy  has  felt  the  need  of 
facing,  but  for  which  it  has  only  one  answer 

The  — the  Unseen.-^^     Here  too,  when  it  has  with 

Unseen.  ' 

its  terrible  logic  worked  out  its  system  to  the 

^5  Adrishta.     Even  God  is  powerless  in  presence  of  Adrishta, 
according  to  this  pliilosophy.   '  God  being  dependent  creates  tliis 
world  of  inequalities.     If  you  ask  on  what  is  He  dependent  ? 
we  reply.  He  is  dependent  on  Merit  and  Demerit.     That  there 
I  should  be  an  unequal  creation  of  the  merit  and  demerit  of  the 

souls  created  is  no  fault  of  God.  God  is  to  be  looked  upon  as 
the  rain.  As  the  rain  is  the  common  cause  of  the  production 
of  the  rice  and  wheat,  but  of  their  specific  distinctions  as  rice 
and  wheat  the  causes  are  the  varying  powers  of  their  respec- 
tive seeds  ;  so  is  God  the  common  cause  in  the  production  of 
men,  gods  and  others,  but  of  the  distinctions  between  gods, 
men  and  others,  the  causes  are  the  varying  works  inherent  in 
the  varying  souls.'  —  Sankaracharya,  quoted  in  Bannerjea's 
Hindu  Philosophij. 


Hindu  Philosophy.  109 

crushing  of  all  moral  principle  and  all  human 
instinct,  it  must  confess  itself  baffled.  When 
it  has  climbed  to  its  most  exalted  height, 
from  which  it  can  look  down  on  good  and 
evil  as  inferior  accidents,  even  here  it  is  con- 
strained, like  the  early  Vedic  poets,  to  erect 
an  altar  ^  To  the  unknown  God/  ^^ 

And  how  is  liberation  to  be  obtained  ?  Way  of 
How  are  these  eighty-four  hundred  thousand V^ 
births  to  be  cut  short  ?  It  might  seem  that 
as  there  was  a  power  beyond  their  ken, 
which  ultimately  ordered  all,  it  would  be 
wiser  for  the  philosophers  to  confess  their 
own  inability  to  discover  what  it  had  or- 
dained as  the  final  mode  of  escape.  But  the 
Brahmans  have  here  a  better  foundation  to 
go  on  than  the  Buddhists — they  profess  to 
believe  in  a  revelation,  however  inconsis- 
tently, and  however  little  their  method  may 
be  found  in  the  books  which  they  receive  as 
inspired.  But  the  answer  w^hich  Hindu 
philosophy  gives  is  practically  the  same  as 
that  given  by  Buddhism.  Liberation  is  not 
to  be  attained  by  virtuous  life  or  by  works  of 
any  kind.    Bad  works  require  to  be  punished 


1 1  o  Hinduism. 


and  good  ones  to  be  rewarded.  We  must 
seek  a  higher  end — dehverance  from  pain 
and  pleasure  alike — and  look  for  it  by  nobler 
means,  by  being  free  from  works  altogether. 
ledgZ"  Knowledge  ^^  is  the  instrument^  meditation  ^^ 
the  means,  by  which  our  spirit  is  to  be  freed. 
To  avoid  all  contact  with  the  world,  to  avoid 
distraction,  to  avoid  works,  and  to  meditate 
on  the  identity  of  the  internal  with  the  ex- 
ternal spirit  till  their  oneness  be  realised,  is 
the  ^way  of  salvation'  prescribed  by  the 
higher  Hinduism.  The  following  are  the 
words  of  one  of  their  principal  authori- 
ties :  ^^ — '  The  recluse,  pondering  the  teacher's 
words,  '^  Thou  art  the  Supreme  Being,"  and 
receiving  the  text  of  the  Vedas,  ^'  I  am  God," 
having  thus  in  three  several  ways — by  the 
teacher's  precept,  by  tlie  Word  of  God,  by  his 
own  contemplation — persuaded  himself  ^'  I 
am  God,"  obtains  liberation.'  This  is  the 
Hindu  philosophical  answer  to  the  question, 
^  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?'  It  is 
called  the  ^  w^ay  of  knowledge,'  ^^  and  is  said 

^6  Gyan.  ^7  Dliyan. 

^8  Sankaracharya. — Bannerjea's  Hindu  Philosophy. 

^9  Gyan  Marg — Knowledge  way. 


Hindu  PJiilosophy.  1 1 1 

to  be  the  highest  and  only  infallible  way ; 
the  other  ways,  at  which  we  shall  have  to 
look,  being  supposed  to  conduce  to  it. 

Such  is  a  brief  outline — little  more,  in  ^^Jj^^^  j^ 
fact,  than  an  indication — of  Hindu  philo-  Xl^?'^" 
sophy,  yet  sufficiently  full  to  enable  us  to 
understand  how  it  has  affected  Hindu  society 
and  Hindu  religion.  It  will  be  seen  that,  in 
many  of  its  aspects^  it  differs  but  little  from 
Buddhism.  It  may  indeed  be  called  a  pan- 
theistic protest  against  it.  It  is  an  attempt 
to  supply  the  void  which  the  absence  of  all 
idea  of  God  occasioned  in  the  rival  system. 
It  thus  supplies  a  solution  of  man's  problem 
more  agreeable  to  human  nature  than  Bud- 
dhism does.  It  is  pleasanter  to  think  of  the 
inner  /  as  eternally  existent,  coming  from 
the  Supreme  Spirit  and  destined  to  return  to 
It  again,  than  to  think  of  it  as  destined  to 
ultimate  annihilation.  It  also  supplies  after 
a  fashion  a  basis  for  worship,  as  we  shall  see 
by  and  by,  and  thus  helps  to  fulfil  a  craving 
of  man's  soul.  But  it  shows  how  nearly 
pantheism  and  atheism,  the  ^all  god'  and 
the    ^  no   god,'   meet.      The   immortality    of 


I  r  2  Htndtcism. 


Hinduism  differs  but  little  from  the  annihila- 
tion of  Buddhism,  for  it  is  an  annihilation 
of  that  individuality  and  self-consciousness 
apart  from  which  man  can  hardly  conceive  of 
his  own  existence.  Yet  it  enables  the  Brah- 
mans  to  charge  the  Buddhists  with  atheism, 
and  to  call  their  own  system  theistic  as 
opposed  to  it.  In  other  respects — especially 
the  doctrine  of  transmio^ration  of  souls,  the 
way  of  knowledge,  the  employment  of  medi- 
tation— it  is  liker  a  rival  than  an  antagonist. 
Causes  of  Had  the  Brahmans,  in  carrying  out  their 
principles,  been  as  consistent  as  the  Bud- 
dhists, it  is  probable  that  they  too  would 
have  perished  from  Hindustan,  as  at  one 
time  seemed  not  unlikely.  So  long  as  they 
confined  themselves  to  abstract  teaching, 
the  Brahmanical  power  made  no  progress. 
At  last  they  united  it  with  the  popular 
superstitions,  and  rallied  the  various  tribes 
of  India  around  them,  though  to  this  day 
there  are  some  which  have  escaped  their 
influence,  and  which  they  are  now  seeking  to 
attach  to  themselves. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  system  which  I 


HindiL  Philosophy.  1 1 3 

have  tried  to  describe  is  not  very  far  removed  Hindu 

philosophy 

from    many    European   pantheistic    systems,  au<i  chris- 

though  possibly  it  is  more  consistently  logical 

than  they  are.     It  will  be  seen  also  that,  in 

its  ultimate  principles,  there  are  two  points 

on  which  it  joins  issue  with    Christianity — 

one    metaphysical    and    the    other    ethical. 

The    metaphysical    difference    is    that    Hin-  ^.'^etaphy- 

■1-     o'  sical  dmer- 

duism  teaches  the  impersonality,  while  Chris-  ^^^^®- 
tianity  teaches  the  personality  of  God.     The 
ethical   difference  consequent  on  the  former  Ethical 

difference. 

is,  that  while  Christianity  makes  good  an 
essential,  Hinduism  makes  it  au  accident, 
classinof  it  along^  with  evil  as  a  bond  to  the 
spirit.  These  seem  to  me  to  be  the  two 
great  antagonistic  principles  of  the  two  sys- 
tems in  their  most  philosophical  aspects ; 
and  if  we  examine  their  practical  develop- 
ments, we  shall  find  this  antagonism  only 
more  clearly  brought  out.  And  as,  after  all, 
practical  results  are  the  best  test  of  any 
system,  an  examination  of  the  practical 
popular  developments  of  Hinduism  wdll  be 
the  most  conclusive  demonstration  of  the 
falsity  of  its  higher  doctrines.     Let  us,  then.. 


1 1 4  Hinduis7n. 


look  at  the  effects  which  they  have  on  the 
society    and    the    popular    religion    of    the 
Hindus. 
Popular  But,  before  proceeding  to  this,  one  ques- 

philosophy.     .  . 

tion  remains  to  be  answered,  Is  the  account 
I  have  given  of  Hindu  philosophy  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  belief  of  all  Hindus,  or  of  the 
learned  only  ?  I  have  stated  it  as  I  have 
heard  it  explained  by  the  more  learned 
pundits  and  read  it  in  their  books  on  the 
subject,  and  the  reader  may  imagine  all  the 
different  stages  of  acquaintance  with  and  be- 
lief in  it  down  to  the  utmost  ignorance.  The 
following  tenets  I  have  found  held  generally 
by  all  classes  of  Hindus. 

Trangtai-  Tlic  transmigration  of  souls  is  universally 
accepted.  Every  Hindu  that  I  have  met 
with  believes  that  he  has  previously  in- 
habited other  bodies,  and  that  he  must  again 
tenant  others  after  quitting  his  present  one. 

Deeds  are  Docds  are  lookcd  on  as  the  power  binding 
him  to  his  existence,  causing  his  present  con- 
dition, and  even  forcing  him  to  his  present 
action.  If  I  were  to  translate  the  word 
Karma  \y^  fcttCj  instead  of  deeds,  it  would 


gration. 


bonds. 


Hindu  Philosophy.  1 1 5 

perhaps  be  more  intelligible.  But  the  Euro- 
pean fatalist  looks  on  himself  as  impelled 
by  a  power  altogether  external  to  himself, 
which,  while  it  deprives  him  of  liberty, 
excuses  him  at  the  same  time  from  respon- 
sibility. The  Hindu  looks  on  himself  as  im- 
pelled by  what  he  himself  has  previously 
done,  as  reaping  the  fruit  of  his  own  deeds, 
though  not  deeds  of  his  present  conscious- 
ness. Thus  a  dreadful  sense  of  retribu- 
tion and  responsibility  is  superadded  to  that 
of  helplessness,  making  it  tenfold  more 
gloomy  and  terrible.  The  full  force  of  this 
can  be  understood  only  by  one  who  has  seen 
a  Hindu  under  sentence  of  death  for  a 
heinous  crime,  and  who,  to  all  a23peals  to  his 
conscience  and  responsibility,  can  only  reply 
by  a  stolid  ^' Karm."  His  crime  and  his 
punishment  alike  are  the  fruit  of  deeds  done, 
he  knows  not  when  or  where.  How  can  he 
escape  ? 

Lastly,  nearly  all  Hindus  believe  more  or  Man's  spirit 
less  that  their  inner  self — that  w^hich  passes  supreme. 
from  body  to  body — is  the  Deity.     When  I 
have   asked   a   Hindu  'Who  is  God?'  the 


1 1 6  Hinduism, 


answer  I  have  received  about  as  often  as  any 
other,  and  from  peasant  as  well  as  priest,  is, 
'  Jo  hole ' — he  who  speaks.  It  is  possible  he 
may  never  have  thought  of  the  meaning  of 
this  answer,  but  it  shows  how  deeply  the 
pantheistic  principle  has  penetrated  into 
Hindu  thought,  when  even  the  most  unedu- 
cated define  the  Deity  as  that  within  them 
which  gives  them  the  power  of  thought  and 
consequent  utterance.  The  same  idea  is 
shown  by  the  words  used  by  many  castes  in 
performing  the  last  rites  for  the  dead.  As 
the  body  is  borne  along  to  be  burned,  the 
bearers  and  mourners  unite  in  the  chant — 

*■  Earn,  Earn  sat  hai ; 
Jo  bole  gat  hai.' 

'  Bam  Kam  (God)  is  existent :  he  who  speaks 
is  passed.'  This  is  their  creed  of  immortality. 
Man  perishes,  but  God  is  ever  existent.  The 
body  dies  and  is  burned,  but  not  so  ^  he  who 
speaks ' — he  has  only  passed  on  another  step 
towards  his  supreme  source.  Hence  the  word 
gati,  or  passing — the  final  passing  into  God 
— is  the  popular  word  for  emancipation  or 
salvation. 


Hindu  Philosophy.  1 1 7 

But  when  the  question  came  to  be,  What  Failure  of 

the  philo- 

were  the  multitude  to  do  to  obtain  salvation  ?  sophicai 

solution. 

the  philosophical  solution,  the  '  way  of  know- 
ledge/ failed  altogether.  For  every  one  to 
become  a  recluse,  to  abandon  the  world,  and 
to  devote  himself  to  meditation,  w^ould  have 
been  to  destroy  the  faith,  by  causing  all  who 
received  it  to  perish  from  the  face  of  the 
earth.  It  was,  besides,  utterly  opposed  to 
human  nature,  and  especially  opposed  to  the 
Brahmanical  supremacy,  as  it  involved  the 
sinking  of  all  caste  distinctions.  The  Brah- 
mans,  therefore,  left  the  various  tribes  and 
castes  to  seek  salvation  by  their  own  way, 
and  sought  to  gain  them  rather  by  showing 
how  their  various  ways  practically  led  to 
the  same  result  which  recluses  attained  by 
severest  meditation.  TJms  the  various  po- 
pular gods  and  demons,  idols  and  fetishes, 
Avhich  the  proud  twice-born  had  so  long 
ignored,  at  last  rose  up  in  power  to  avenge 
themselves  on  the  Brahmans,  by  debasing 
their  high  creed  to  the  lowest  idolatry  and  to 
the  vilest  worship ;  while,  at  tlie  same  time, 


1 1 8  Hinditism. 


the  lowest  orders  of  Suclras  obtained  a  recoo-- 
nition  and  a  place  in  the  caste  system.  This 
union  of  pantheism  with  caste  and  poly- 
theism we  now  proceed  to  consider. 


CHAPTER  II. 

PANTHEISM  AND  CASTE. 

THE  great  vitality  of  Hinduism  lies  in  its  f^^lf'^^  °^ 
institution  of  caste.      I    have    already 
had  occasion  to  speak  of  it  more  than  once, 
but  a  fuller  explanation  of  its  leading  prin- 
ciples   will    be    necessary    to    enable    us   to 
understand    its    nature    and    power.      Caste, 
then,  is  an  institution  to  preserve  purity  of 
tribe  and  class  by  preserving  purity  of  blood. 
The  most  obvious  way  to  preserve  this  is  by 
preventing  intermarriage.      Accordingly  all 
the   castes  of   India  are   endogamous — they 
marry  only  within  themselves,  beyond  cer- 
tain  degrees  of  relationship  varying  in  dif- 
ferent  castes.       This    misfht    be   considered 
sufficient   to    secure    the    desired    end,    but 
eatingf  and  drinkinsf  also  affects  the   blood. 
Members  of  one   caste   must  not,  therefore, 
eat  or  drink  with  those  of  another — must  not 


1 20  Hmduism. 


eat  food  that  has  been  cooked  or  touched  by 
them ;  and  some  even  go  so  far  as  to  believe 
their  food  polluted  if  one  of  another  caste 
comes  near  it  while  it  is  being  cooked. 
Some  of  the  lower  castes  are  considered  so 
unclean  that  contact  with  their  shadows  is 
regarded  as  pollution  by  the  higher  castes. 
Jt  is  no  uncleanness,  however,  for  those  of 
lower  castes  to  come  into  contact  with  the 
higher.  All  may  eat  food  prepared  by  Brah- 
mans  and  drink  water  from  their  vessels. 
Some  castes  of  Brahmans  even  take  wives 
from  the  lower  castes,  in  which  case  the 
offspring  are  considered  to  belong  to  the 
mother's  family ;  but  Brahmans  who  do  this 
generally  marry  one  wife  of  their  own  caste 
in  order  to  preserve  it. 
occupa-  Besides    these    rules    about    eating    and 

drinking,  each  caste  has  its  peculiar  occupa- 
tion and  peculiar  customs.  Barbers  con- 
stitute one  caste,  carpenters  another,  iron- 
founders  a  third,  brass-founders  a  fourth,  and 
so  on.  Some  have  indeed  a  wider  range  of 
occupation.  Brahmans  may  be  priests  or 
soldiers,  beggars  or  teachers.     Bajputs  may 


tions. 


Pantheism  and  Caste,  1 2  r 

be  farmers  or  servants  as  well  as  soldiers,  but 
there  are  always  some  occupations  which  it  is 
forbidden  them  to  enter  on.  This  community 
of  occupation  is  thus  another  bond  to  bind 
together  members  of  one  caste,  and  to  draw  a 
distinction  between  them  and  the  rest  of 
society. 

But  tlie  full  strens^th  of  the  caste  system  Family 

^      ^  ^  *^      ^         system. 

cannot  be  rightly  appreciated  without  taking 
into  account  the  family  system  of  the  Hindus. 
Its  tendency  is  completely  to  annihilate  indi- 
viduality. The  Hindu  child  finds  himself  in 
a  family  consisting  of  grandj^arents,  parents, 
uncles  and  aunts,  and  cousins  to  the  second 
or  third  degree.  His  grandfather,  or  pos- 
sibly his  grandfather's  elder  brother,  is  the 
head  of  the  family,  and  when  he  dies  he  is 
succeeded  by  his  younger  brother,  or  the 
eldest  of  the  second  generation.  He  finds 
that  he  has  been  betrothed  ere  he  could 
understand  anything  about  it,  or  when  he  is 
seven  or  eight  years  old  the  head  of  the 
family  chooses  a  wife  for  him,  and  the  be- 
trothal takes  place  with  great  rejoicings. 
Among  his  sisters  is  one  to  whom  he  may 


122  HindiLism. 


not  give  any  present,  and  who  may  not  wear 
any  ornament.  She  was  betrothed  when  an 
infant ;  her  husband  died  when  she  was  a 
few  years  old :  she  is  now  a  widow,  looked  on 
as  branded  with  a  curse,  and  must  continue 
the  disgrace  and  reproach  of  her  family 
to  the  day  of  her  death.  He  hears  of  no- 
thing but  the  affairs  of  his  caste  ;  lie  looks 
forward  to  no  career  but  assistingf  his  father 
and  uncles  in  their  trade  or  profession  ;  and 
when  he  gains  anything  it  does  not  belong  to 
him  individually,  but  is  thrown  into  the 
common  income  of  the  family.  When  he 
is  seventeen  or  eiofhteen  he  takes  his  wife  to 
his  father's  house,  and  a  new  branch  is  added 
to  the  family.  He  performs  religious  cere- 
monies at  his  father's  death,  others  a  year 
after,  and  at  least  once  thereafter  he  must 
perform  a  pilgrimage  to  some  sacred  stream 
or  lake,    to   burn  the   j)ind^  to  his  father's 


^  A  large  leaf  is  bent  up  into  a  shape  like  a  boat.  Tliis  is 
filled  with  glii^  or  clarified  butter ;  a  wick  is  inserted  into  it, 
and  lighted.  The  frail  bark  is  then,  with  certain  invocations, 
set  to  float  on  the  waters.  If  the  flame  continues  burnino;  till 
the  g\ii  is  exhausted,  or  till  the  stream  bears  it  out  of  sight, 
it  is  considered  a  good  omen.  If  it  should  be  extinguished, 
then  it  is  considered  the  spirit  is  not  satisfied,  but  there  has 
been  some  failure  in  the  required  ceremonies. 


Paiitheism  and  Caste.  123 

manes.  As  his  grandfatlier^  father,  and 
uncles,  elder  brothers,  or  father's  elder 
brotliers'  sons,  die — for  all  these  relationships 
are  attended  to  and  distinguished  by  separate 
names  in  India — he  floats  on  to  the  patri- 
archate of  the  family  to  look  after  the  duties 
and  marriages  of  the  younger  members. 
Thus  throughout  his  whole  life  there  is  no 
room  for  any  play  of  individuality.  His 
whole  course  is  marked  out  for  him  by  the 
lines  of  inexorable  custom ;  he  cannot  disen- 
tangle himself  from  family  ties,  much  less 
break  loose  from  caste  fetters. 

We  have  already  seen  how  caste  may  have  Pantheistic 
originated,  and  we  have  seen  how  Buddha  tious  of 
sought  to  overthrow  it.  He  taught,  as  a 
consequence  of  his  doctrine  of  transmigration 
and  final  liberation,  that  all  men  were  equal, 
and  caste,  therefore,  a  sin.  But  it  had  struck 
its  roots  too  deej)ly  into  society  to  be  speedily 
eradicated,  and  when  the  Brahmans  sought 
to  regain  their  power,  they  turned  Buddha's 
own  doctrines,  or  rather  their  modification  of 
them,  into  an  argument  in  its  favour,  and 
thereby  of  establishing  their  own  supremacy. 


124  Hinduism, 


For,  they  say,  just  as  a  man's  deeds  in  his 
former  life  may  have  led  to  his  being  born  a 
god  or  a  demon,  or  an  animal,  so  they  have 
led  to  his  being  born  a  Brahman,  a  warrior, 
or  a  sweeper.  There  is  this  disadvantage  in 
having  been  born  a  man,  that,  having  free- 
dom of  judgment  and  action,  he  may  leave 
the  duties  appropriate  to  his  own  caste  and 
discharge  those  of  some  other ;  he  may  quit 
the  society  of  his  own  people  and  eat  and 
drink  with  others.  But  so  surely  as  he  acts 
thus  he  is  involving  himself  in  some  miser- 
able birth  in  the  future — he  is  forging  a  new 
link  in  the  iron  chain  of  his  existence. 
Punisii-  If  a  man  is  born  in  the  highest  caste  for 

caste-        instance,    that   of  a    Brahman,  the   Hindus 


breaking, 


believe  that  it  is  on  account  of  merit  acquired 
in  a  previous  birth.  If  a  Brahman  should 
quit  his  appropriate  duty — if  he  should  seek 
to  gain  his  food  by  manual  labour  rather 
than  by  begging,  by  merchandise  rather 
than  by  teaching  ;  if,  above  all,  he  should 
mingle  socially,  eat,  and  drink  with  the  lower 
castes,  or  teach  the  sacred  books  to  the  out- 
castes,  he  is  leaving  some  of  his  merit  not 


Pant/ieism  and  Caste.  \  2 


0 


fully  rewarded ;  he  must  undergo  another 
Krth  in  order  to  receive  its  full  reward,  and, 
meanwhile,  he  is  committing  a  sin  which  will 
necessitate  his  being  yet  again  born  in  some 
miserable  condition,  that  expiation  may  be 
made  for  it. 

And    as    it   was   for   themselves,    so    the  Lower 

p  castes  re- 

Brahmans    taught    it   was   lor   every   man.  cognised. 
^Yhatever  the   condition    in   which   he   was 
born,  it  had  been  determined  by  his  previous 
deeds ;  he  could  expiate  them  only  by   ful- 
filling the  duties  of  that  condition,   but,   by 
fulfilling  them  aright,  he  could  gain  a  step 
towards  future  bliss  as  surely  as  the  Brah- 
mans.    Thus  the  Brahmans  no  longer  ignored 
the  Sudras  ;  they  recognized  them  by  teach- 
ino-  that  they,  too,  were  bound  by  the  same 
order  of  things,  and  that  by  accepting  and 
obeying    that    order,   they   could   in    future 
births  rise  to  be  their  equals   or  superiors. 
But    one   point   on    which    the     Brahmans 
always  insisted  was  that  they  must  be  ac- 
knowledged as   the   supreme  caste — served, 
worshipped,    and    fed    as     gods    on    earth. 
Each    tribe     or    family    or     trade     amon 


126  Hinduism. 


the  Suclras  was  glad  to  accept  this  condition, 
and  to  have  its  respectabiUty  and  importance 
in  the  social  system  increased  by  its  being 
recognized  as  a  distinct  caste.  Thus  they 
were  one  after  the  other  attached  to  the 
Brahmanical  system,  and  instead  of  the  four 
old  castes,  w^e  have  now  writers,  carpenters, 
iron  workers,  brass  workers,  barbers,  and 
others,  too  numerous  to  mention ;  each  with 
its  old  customs,  its  rules  of  eating  and  drink- 
ing, marriage  and  social  intercourse,  erected 
into  sacred  duties.  Many  of  the  lower  castes 
are  now  much  greater  sticklers  for  caste 
customs  and  privileges  than  are  the  Brah- 
mans. 
Subdivi-  Two   consequences  flowed  from  this — the 

sions  of  the 

Brahmani-  brcakinof-up   of  tlic    Bralimans  into  various 

cal  caste.  ^       ^ 

castes,  and  the  disappearance  of  the  two 
intermediate  castes.  The  Brahmans  are  now 
broken  up  into  numerous  sub- castes,  which 
refuse  to  intermarry  or  eat  and  drink  with 
one  another.  Each  of  these  has  its  separate 
clients  in  one  of  the  lower  castes,  though  the 
distinctive  character  of  some  is  determined 
by   the   places   of    their    origin    and    their 


Pantheism  and  Caste.  1 2  7 

sacrificial  duties.  It  would  be  vain  to 
attempt  here  any  description  of  all  tlie  dis- 
tinctions that  exist  among  them,  so  I  merely 
indicate  the  principles  on  which  these  dis- 
tinctions proceed.^  But  a  more  important 
result  of  this  movement  was  the  disappear-  Disappear- 
ance of  the  warrior  and  mercantile  castes  as  inter- 
mediate 

such.  Many  of  the  present  mercantile  castes  wastes. 
do  indeed  claim  to  be  descendants  of  the  old 
Vaisyas,  and  the  Kajputs  claim  to  be  de- 
scendants of  the  old  Kshatriyas  or  warriors. 
But  the  Brahmans  refuse  this  claim,  or  allow 
it  only  where  it  is  politic  in  them  to  do  so. 
In  Bajputana,  where  the  Bajputs  rule,  they 
are  acknowledged  as  the  second  caste,  but 
in  Gujerat  they  are  looked  on  as  inferior 
to  many  others.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Kayaths,  or  writers,  who  do  the  principal 
business  in  the  courts  in  the  North- West 
Provinces,  and  who  are,  therefore,  much 
more   useful  to  the  Brahmans  there  than  the 

'^  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  constitutes  a  Braluuan.  The 
Puslikara  Brahmans  are  said  to  be  descended  from  a  Mer—  one 
of  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  India — wlio  was  taught  the  Atharva 
Veda  by  a  recluse  in  return  for  certain  services  he  performed. 
This  would  seem  as  if  the  possession  of  a  Veda  gave  the  right 
to  Brahmanical  distinction. 


128  Hmduism. 


Power  of 
caste. 


Kajputs,  have  obtained  a  declaration  from  a 
Bralimanical  college  in  Benares  that  they  are 
not  ordinary  Sudras^  but  are  sprung  from  the 
warrior  caste.^  But  this  does  not  imply  any 
restoration  to  those  privileges  of  intercourse 
with  the  Bra.hmans  themselves,  or  to  that 
deo^ree  of  intermarriaofe  with  them  that  was 
allowed  to  the  Kshatri^^as  in  the  code  of 
Manu.  The  general  state  of  Hindu  society 
may  now  be  described  as  being  divided  into 
two  great  castes — the  Brahmans  or  twice- 
born,  who  are  worshipped  as  gods,  and  the 
once-born,  who  worship  them,  and  who  con- 
stitute the  great  mass  of  the  people. 

Meanwhile,  I  trust  I  have  exhibited  with 
sufficient  clearness  how  pantheistic  doctrine 
has  been  allied  to  caste  practice.  It  may  be 
conceived  what  an  iron  hold  universal  custom, 
backed  up  by  such  doctrine,  has  on  the  minds 
of  the  people.  Accordingly,  we  find  that 
the  Hindus  pay  much  more  attention  to  the 
law  of  caste  than  to  tlie  law  of  conscience. 
A  Brahman  may  be  guilty  of  theft,  adultery, 
or  murder,  and  he  will  yet  be  received  without 

3  Friend  of  India. 


Pantheism  and  Caste.  129 

hesitation  by  his  caste  fellows.  But  let  him 
be  guilty  of  eating  and  drinking  with  tliose 
of  another  caste — let  forbidden  meat  cross 
his  lips,  even  though  this  be  by  no  fault  of 
his  own,  but  by  violence  have  been  forced 
upon  him,  and  he  then  becomes  an  out-caste, 
with  whom  it  is  pollution  to  eat,  drink,  or 
have  any  dealings.  Caste,  in  some  of  its 
features,  is  fast  being  obliterated.  The  dis- 
tinction of  occupations  is  no  longer  insisted 
on  with  the  same  rigidity  as  before,  but  the 
rules  with  regard  to  intercourse  between  the 
various  castes  are  still  religiously  adhered  to 
over  the  greater  part  of  India.  There  are,  I 
suspect,  few  Hindus  who  would  not  shun 
one  of  their  own  caste  who  had  eaten  w^ith 
those  of  another,  much  more  than  they  would 
shun  one  who  had  been  convicted  of  a  heinous 
crime. 

It  was  hoped  some  time  ago  that  railway  vitality  of 

CiiSuC* 

travelling  and  the  facilities  that  now  exist  for 
visiting  Europe  would  soon  put  an  end  to 
caste ;  but  a  system  so  deeply  rooted  does  not 
die  so  quickly  or  so  easily.  There  did  seem 
not  lonof  ao'o  to  be  a  movement  ao^ainst  it, 


130         .  Hinduism. 


but  there  is  now  a  decided  reaction^  and  caste 
seems  again  to  be  reasserting  its  superiority. 
One  respectable  Babu  in  Bengal,  a  pleader 
in  the  High  Court,  who  had  been  trying  for 
some  time  to  fight  against  caste,  and  to  pro- 
mote intermarriaofes,  has  found  the  fio^ht  too 
hard,  has  undergone  expiation,  and  re-entered 
into  caste.  The  expense  of  the  ceremony 
was  ^NQ  thousand  rupees  (£500),  and  he  had 
to  spend  a  similar  amount  in  erecting  a 
temple  of  Siva,  and  feeding  the  Brahmans/ 
In  Bombay  a  most  respectable  native  judge, 
whose  son  had  visited  England,  was  asked  by 
the  Bombay  Government  to  go  to  England 
at  public  expense,  to  give  evidence  before  the 
Indian  Finance  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  He,  however,  declined,  assigning 
as  a  reason  the  persecution  to  which  he 
w^as  subjected  by  the  Brahmans  for  having 
received  his  son  into  his  house  on  his  return 
from  England,  and  his  inability  to  obtain  the 
sanction  of  his  caste-fellows  to  his  visiting 
that  country.     He  adds — 


Bombay  Guardian. 


Pantheism  and  Caste.  1 3 1 


'  I  therefore  think  tliat  it  woukl  be  a  farce  for  me  to 
appear  as  a  witness,  and  at  the  expense  of  the  public,  when 
a  considerable  and  intelHgent  portion  of  that  public  not 
only  disapproves  of  my  doing  so,  but  is  sure  to  persecute 
me  by  excommunication,  against  which  no  human  ingenuity 
in  India  has  yet  devised  a  remedy,  and  no  law  of  the  land 
or  earthly  power  can  give  any  protection.' 

On  this,  a  native  reformingr  iournal — the  ^^ajive 


with  I'egard 


lony 

Indii  Prakash — has  the  following  remarks,  ^^  ^^^^^ 
which   may  give    the    English   reader  some 
idea  of  the  tyranny  of  caste  : — • 

'  The  question  is  not  about  going  to  England,  but  about 
an  unmanly  submission  to  the  vilest  and  most  absurd 
prejudices  of  the  caste  system  and  Hinduism,  which  no- 
thing can  check  and  uproot  but  a  spirit  of  noble  indepen- 
dence, rigid  moral  firmness,  and  genuine  patriotism.  The 
prohibition  to  go  to  England  is  the  least  of  our  complaints 
against  the  t3^ranny  of  caste.  Does  a  Brahman  wish  to 
marry  his  daughter  at  a  mature  and  properly  marriageable 
age  ?  There  comes  the  tyrant  caste,  and  says  "  You  shall 
not  keep  your  daughter  unmarried  beyond  the  age  of 
eight  or  ten,  unless  you  choose  to  incur  the  penalty  of 
excommunication."  Does  a  man  wish  to  countenance 
either  by  deed  or  byword  the  marriage  of  little  girls  plunged 
into  life-long  misery  and  degrading  widowhood  ?  Caste 
says  "  No,  you  will  be  excommunicated."  Does  a  Brahman 
wish  to  dine  with  a  man  of  another  caste?  However 
thick  friends  they  may  be  of  one  another,  caste  says  "  No, 
you  must  not  do  that  or  you  will  be  excommunicated." 
Does  a  man  wish  to  dispense  with  any  of  the  unmeaning 
idolatrous  ceremonies  with  which  Native  society  is  ham- 


132  Hmduism. 


pered  ?  Caste  says  "  No,  or  you  will  be  excommunicated." 
Does  a  man  Avisli  to  dispense  with  silk  cloth  and  wear 
ordinary  clothes  at  the  time  of  meals  ?  Caste  says  "  1:^0,  or 
you  will  be  excommunicated."  If  a  Brahman  feels  thirsty 
and  has  no  other  water  but  such  as  is  brought  by  a  Sudra 
near  him,  he  cannot  drink  it ;  for  caste  forbids  it  at  the 
pain  of  excommunication.  Why,  the  tyranny  of  caste 
extends  from  the  most  trifling  to  the  most  important 
affairs  of  Hindu  life.  It  cripples  the  independent  action 
of  individuals,  sows  the  seed  of  bitter  discord  between  the 
difl'erent  sections  of  society,  encourages  the  most  abomin- 
able practices,  and  dries  up  all  the  springs  of  that  social, 
moral,  and  intellectual  freedom  which  alone  can  secure 
greatness,  whether  to  individuals  or  to  nations.  It  has 
pampered  the  pride  and  insolence  of  the  Brahmans,  by 
teaching  them  to  look  upon  themselves,  notwithstanding 
all  their  weaknesses,  as  the  favourites  of  gods,  nay,  the 
very  gods  on  earth,  who  are  to  keep  the  lower  orders  in  a 
state  of  utter  degradation  and  illiterate  servitude.  Such 
is  our  caste  system  ;  so  unjustifiable  in  principle,  so  unfair 
in  organization,  and  so  baneful  in  its  consequences  to  the 
highest  interests  of  the  country.' 

caste  on  the  Sucli  is  tliG  testimoiiy  of  a  Hindu  with 
^^^^  '  regard  to  caste.  One  other  effect  of  it 
I  would  notice,  the  gap  that  it  has  kept 
up  between  the  EngHsh  and  the  Hindus. 
Englishmen  in  this  country  often  reproach 
their  countrymen  in  India  with  the  antagon- 
ism, the  enmity,  the  total  want  of  sympathy 
that  seems  to  exist  between  them  and  the 


Pantheism  and  Caste.  133 

natives.  It  is  a  sad  fact  that  such  a  feehng 
does  exist,  but  it  is  the  natives  who  are 
mainly  responsible  for  it.  It  is  they  who 
have  made  friendly  social  intercourse  between 
the  rulers  and  ruled  impossible.  Governed 
as  they  are  by  the  English,  owning  their 
sway,  and  acknowledging  that  it  is  a  just 
one,  they  yet  look  down  on  them  as  unclean. 
It  is  the  Hindu  who  looks  on  himself  as 
polluted  by  the  touch  of  an  Englishman, 
who  will  throw  away  his  food  as  unfit  for 
beinof  eaten  if  an  EnQ^lishman  comes  within 
a  few  feet  of  it  while  it  is  being  cooked, 
not  the  Enoflishman  who  looks  on  himself  as 
polluted  by  the  touch  of  the  Hindu.  This 
has  no  doubt  reacted  on  the  English,  and 
produced  in  their  mind  a  feeling  of  dislike 
and  antaofonism  to  the  Hindus  :  but  the 
original  blame  lies  with  the  latter. 

Not    only    has  the   system   of  caste  thus  Caste  a 

*^  «^  means  of 

riveted  Hinduism  on  the  Hindus,  but  it  also  p^^p^ 

^  gandisin. 

gives  facilities  to  the  Brahmans  for  gaining 
over  those  of  the  aborigines  who  are  still  out- 
side the  pale  of  Hinduism.  Whenever  they 
undertake  the  conversion  of  any  tribe,  the 


134  Hinduism. 


first  lesson  they  teacli  them  is,  that  they 
must  continue  performing  the  customs  of 
their  tribe  as  sacred  duties — as  duties  to 
which  they  are  bound  by  their  j)i'G^io^s 
births,  attending  in  addition  to  those  relative 
duties  which  are  the  result  of  their  new  posi- 
tion, especially  worshipping  the  holy  Brahman 
and  reverencing  the  holy  cow.  AVhen  these 
points  have  been  acceded  to,  they  are  raised 
out  of  the  position  of  out-castes  and  become 
part  of  the  Hindu  system,  enforcing  with  all 
,  .  the  zeal  of  neophytes  the  old  customs  and 
the  new  privileges  and  duties. 

The  iDorsliip  of  the  Cow  the  Sacrament 

of  Caste. 

The  wor-         I  havo  mentioned  as  one  of  the  duties  im- 

ship  of  the 

cow  the      posed  on  all  Hindus  thereverencmof  of  the  cow. 

common        ■■■  ^ 

bond  of      'j^j^jg  jg  [^  fact  the  only  common  bond  of  union 

Hmduism.  »^ 

for  all  castes.  It  would  be  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  to  name  anything  else  that  com- 
mands the  assent  of  all.  Some  castes 
worship  one  god  and  some  another,  some 
have  Brahmans  for  their  priests  and  some 
have  priests  of  other  castes,  but,  in  whatever 
they  disagree,  on  one  point  they  agree,  and 


Cow  Worship,  135 


that  is  in  considerinof  the  cow  a  sacred 
animal,  and  in  looking  to  the  attainment  of 
ceremonial  purity  through  it.  It  is  the  sacra- 
mental symbol  of  Hinduism  in  whicli  sectaries 
of  all  shades  unite.  The  formal  acknow- 
ledging of  its  sanctity  is  the  act  by  which 
an  aborit^inal  tribe  is  erected  into  a  caste 
and  received  within  the  pale  of  Hinduism  ; 
just  as  receiving  baptism  is  the  act  by 
which  any  one  is  received  into  the  Christian 
Church.  The  bullock-driver  whose  clothes 
have  been  defiled  by  contact  with  a  sweeper 
will  rub  the  polluted  part  on  the  nose  of  his 
bullock,  and  thus  restore  himself  to  purity. 
The  Brahman  who  has  lost  caste  may  be 
restored  to  it  by  taking  the  sacred  pills  com- 
posed of  the  five  products  of  the  cow.^  As 
far  as  I  have  noticed,  however,  it  is  only  for 
the  conservation  of  caste  and  purity  that  it 
is  thus  honoured.  The  Hindus  do  not  pray 
to  it,  or  seek  temj)oral  and  spiritual  blessings 
from  it,  as  they  do  from  their  idols. 


s  Viz.,  milk,  curds,  butter,  urine  and  dung.  Notices  some- 
times appear  in  the  newspapers  of  Hindus  wlio  have  visited 
this  country  undergoing  purification,  of  which  ceremony  par- 
taking a  compost  of  these  five  elements  forms  a  part  ! 


1 36  Hindjtism. 


Origin  of 
cow  wor- 


The  origin  and  growth  of  this  idea  it  is 
^^^P-  difficult  to  trace.  It  is  probable  that  even 
in  ante-Vedic  times,  before  the  worshippers 
of  fire  had  separated  from  the  worshippers 
of  Varuna  and  Indra,  a  certain  reverence  was 
attached  to  the  bull  or  cow.  The  Parsees  in 
Bombay  preserve  a  sacred  white  bull  in  one 
of  their  fire  temples,  and  the  whole  of  Par- 
seedom  was  lately  thrown  into  consternation 
by  the  announcement  that  its  tail  had  been 
cut  off  during  the  night  by  some  mischievous 
rascal.  This  recalls  the  worship  of  Apis  in 
Egypt.  It  is  probable  that  among  the 
Hindus  too  only  one  bull  or  cow  was 
originally  regarded  as  sacred.  We  can 
imagine  how  with  a  pastoral  people  it  would 
come  to  be  looked  on  with  a  certain  deofree 
of  sacredness,  especially  when  they  also  be- 
came an  agricultural  and  more  civilized 
people,  and  used  the  same  animal  for  draw- 
ing the  plough  and  pulling  their  carts  and 
chariots.  In  some  of  the  Puranas — the  more 
modern  religious  books  of  the  Hindus — an 
Legend  of  aucicut  legend  is  referred  to,  telling  how  the 
^^  ^^^'      earth  at  first  gave  its  products  w4th  difficulty, 


Cow  Worship.  137 


and  how  a  certain  great  king  called  Pritliii, 
havinof  made  a  ofreat  sao^e  the  calf  before  it — 


Scotice  tulchan — obtained  milk  from  it.  This 
was  probably  originally  a  simple  allegory  to 
express  that  the  '  rugged  all-nourishing  earth/ 
Prithivi,  supplied  food  to  those  who  wrought 
it,  as  the  cow  supplied  milk  to  those  who 
milked  it.  Ultimately  the  cow  came  to  be 
the  symbol  of  the  earth,  and  the  bull  of 
reliction.  But  this  for  a  lonof  time  did  not 
seem  to  imply  any  sacredness  in  the  whole 
genus.  In  the  Vedas  the  cow  is  spoken  of 
as  used  both  for  sacrifice  and  for  food,  and  is 
praised  as  the  best  of  all  food.  In  the 
chapter  of  Manu's  Institutes  relating  to 
assault,  the  cow  is  classed  with  other  large 
animals.       '  For    killinsf    a    man     (uninten-  Mann's 

^  ^  laws. 

tionally)  a  fine  equal  to  that  for  theft  shall 
instantly  be  set — half  that  amount  for  large 
brute  animals  as  for  a  bull  or  cow,  an 
elephant,  a  camel,  or  a  horse.' ^  In  the 
chapter  on  penance,  which  is  evidenly  much 
later,  the  cow  occupies  an  intermediate 
position  between  man  and  the  other  animals, 

^  Manu,  viii.  296. 


138  Hmd2ns7n. 


and  killing^  it  is  classed  along  with  adultery 
and  other  crimes  as  a  sin  of  the  third  deofree, 
to  be  expiated  by  a  long  and  heavy  j^enance. 
In  it  too  we  find  the  ^yq  products  of  the 
cow  prescribed  as  a  means  of  ceremonial 
purification. 
Growth  of       When  once  this  start  had  been  made  we 

COW*  wor~ 

siiip.  can  easily  conceive  how  the  idea  grew.  The 
Buddhists  might  oppose  to  the  reverence 
which  the  Brahmans  paid  to  the  cow  the 
care  Avhich  they  took  of  all  animals,  might 
ridicule  them  for  their  attention  to  one  in 
particular,  and  call  on  them  for  reasons  for 
their  preference.  The  cow  would  thus  come 
to  be  identified  with  the  existence  of  the 
Brahmanical  reliofion.  At  all  events,  when 
the  Bajputs  conquered  the  Buddhists,  the 
cow  was  for  them  the  symbol  of  triumph. 
In  the  temples  erected  to  celebrate  the  victory 
of  Hinduism  over  Buddhism,  a  bull  is  repre- 
sented as  standing  on  a  prostrate  Buddha. 
In  later  ages,  when  they  again  struggled  with 
the  Mahommedans  and  expelled  them  from 
Bajputana,   the   point  which   the  chronicler 

7  Mann,  xi.  109. 


Cow  Worship.  139 


always  notices^  when  he  records  the  triumphs 
of  a  Rajput  prince,  is  that  he  put  a  stojD  to 
the  slauQfhter  of  kine.  There  is  no  article 
in  their  treaties  with  the  British  Government 
on  which  modern  Hindu  princes  insist 
more  strenuously  than  that  prohibiting  the 
slauo-liter  of  kine  within  their  territories.  It 
is  a  crime  on  which  they  now  look  as  mucli 
greater  than  that  of  murder.  About  ten 
years  ago  the  regent  of  one  of  the  native 
states,  having  adjudged  a  man  guilty  of  this 
crime,  punished  him  by  having  him  tied  to 
the  foot  of  an  elephant  and  dragged  about 
till  he  was  dead — an  act  for  which  he  was 
deprived  of  the  regency  by  the  British 
Government,  but  for  which  he  had  the 
sympathy  of  all  good  Hindus. 


CHAPTER   III. 

PANTHEISM  AND  POLYTHEISM. 

fdoTwor-     "P  EVERENCE  of  the  cow  is  the  common 
HiuduLm.  characteristic  of  all  Hindu  castes,  but, 

as  I  have  said,  it  is  not  the  object  of  adora- 
tion and  worship  in  the  way  of  seeking 
temporal  or  spiritual  benefits.  The  Hindus 
do  not  look  to  it  for  deliverance  from  sick- 
ness or  misfortune,  for  success  in  business  or 
for  ^  cutting  through  the  eighty-four/  for 
obtaining  future  happy  births  or  for  final  de- 
liverance. For  these  they  look  to  their 
various  sfods  and  idols.  Each  caste  has  its 
own  gods,  sometimes  the  same  as  those  of 
other  castes,  though  perhaps  originally  dif- 
ferent. We  hav'e  seen  that  it  is  probable 
that,  during  the  supremacy  of  Buddhism,  the 
people  resorted  to  their  various  gods  and 
fetishes  in  those  conjunctures  of  life  where 
they  found  the  atheism  of  that  system  in- 


Pantheism  and  Polytheism.  141 

sufficient.  When  the  Brahmans  tried  to  re- 
conquer India^  ^^J  alHed  their  reHgion  with 
those  aboriginal  deities,  which  Buddhism  - 
had  not  availed  to  overthrow.  They  thus 
strengthened  their  own  influence  and  formed 
what  may  be  more  appropriately  termed  the 
Hindu  than  the  Brahmanical  relioion,  as  it 
embraces  elements  to  which  all  cartes  of 
Hindus  have  contributed. 

We  are  thus  brought  face  to  face  with  the  Apparent 

contradic- 

countless  gods  of  Hinduism — the  thirty-three  tions. 
of  the  Vedas  having  swelled  to  thirty-three 
crores,  or  three  hundred  and  thirty  millions. 
It  may  seem  at  first  to  be  somewhat  con- 
tradictory to  the  doctrine  of  there  being  one 
Supreme  Spirit^  that  the  w^orship  of  so  many 
gods  should  be  admitted,  and  that^  if  we  are 
ourselves  parts  of  the  Supreme  Spirit,  we 
should  be  required  to  worship  other  parts. 
But  pantheism  cannot  conquer  fetichism  any 
more  than  atheism  can,  while  it  does  what 
atheism  does  not,  supplies  a  philosophic 
basis  for  such  worship.  There  is  a  complete 
logic  running  through  the  various  parts  of 
the    Hindu   system,    never   indeed   formally 


142  Hiitduism. 


expressed^  in  so  far  as   I   have  known,  but 
indefinitely  present  to  the  minds  of  its  votaries 
— welding  it  into  a  consistent  whole. 
The  gods         The  position  which  these  poiDular  deities 

means  of  •   i  i  n 

mediate      occupv  With  roofard  to  the  Supreme  may  be 

emancipa-  ^  .  " 

tion.  understood  by  recurring*  to  the  image  of 
water  which  I  used  to  illustrate  the  theory 
of  transmigration.  A  drop  of  water  may  be 
far  away  from  the  ocean,  and  it  may  be 
impossible  for  it  to  return  thither  directly. 
Nevertheless,  if  it  fall  into  a  stream,  its  own 
existence  will,  so  to  speak,  be  absorbed  in  that 
of  the  stream  till  it  reaches  the  ocean.  So, 
too,  are  we  by  our  connection  with  ignorance 
and  illusion  hopelessly  far  away  from  the 
Supreme  Spirit.  By  no  effort  of  our  own  can 
we  hope  to  overcome  this  separation,  but 
these  gods  are,  like  the  rivers,  brought  nearer 
to  us.  They  are  themselves  under  the  power 
of  Maya — the  illusion  of  the  universe — as  we 
'  ourselves  are.  Hence  they  have  desires  and 
passions  similar  to  ours.  They  can  be  in- 
fluenced by  motives  and  considerations  as  we 
are,  can  be  induced  to  grant  temporal  and 
spiritual  blessings,  to  aid  our  being  introduced 


Pantheism  and  Polytheism.  143 

into  a  liappy  state  when  we  are  again  born, 
or,  best  of  all,  in  certain  cases,  can  grant  us 
mediate  liberation,  by  absorbing  us  into 
themselves.  We  then  lose  existence  except 
as  part  of  them,  the  burden  of  merit  or 
demerit  which  may  attach  to  us  is  borne  by 
the  deity  who  may  absorb  us,  and  so  we  shall 
continue  till  the  final  cataclysm,  when  all 
shall  be  absorbed  in  the  universal  Brahm. 
The  Hindus  thus,  quite  consistently  with 
their  own  system,  attach  themselves  to  the 
worship  of  their  inferior  deities,  while,  for  the 
most  part,  neglecting  that  of  the  Supreme. 

We   thus   see  how  pantheism  supplies   a  Pantheistic 

basis  of 

basis  for  idolatrous  worship.  Buddhism  worship. 
taught  that  the  gods  w^ere  subject  to  the 
same  laws  as  men,  and,  having  no  supreme 
spirit  to  which  to  refer  them,  forbade 
their  worship  altogether,  and  thus  afforded 
no  outlet  for  a  cravinof  of  man's  nature. 
Hinduism,  admitting  the  gods  to  be  subject 
to  the  same  laws  as  men,  yet  referring  them 
to  the  Supreme  Spirit,  made  them  media- 
tors leading  to  It.  Their  very  weaknesses 
and   subjection    to    laws    make    worshipping 


1 44  Hinduism. 


them  more  reasonable  than  worshipping  It ; 
for  they  can  be  influenced  by  motives  Avhile 
It  cannot;  and  can  thus  be  brought  under 
the  jDower  of  their  worshipper,  though  he 
may  be  weaker  than  they.  This  apparent 
contradiction  again  the  Hindus  explain 
by  a  simile.  One  man  may  be  much  more 
powerful  than  another,  inasmuch  as  he  may 
be  richer ;  but  the  poor  man  may  go  to 
him  at  night,  and,  putting  a  pistol  to  his 
breast,  force  him  to  part  wdth  some  of  his 
riches.  So  the  gods  are  more  powerful  than  we 
are  ;  but  at  the  same  time  we,  by  certain  acts 
of  worship,  may  bring  them  under  our  control, 
and  force  them  to  grant  whatever  we  desire. 
Facilities         Such   principles    as    these     offered    sfreat 

for  propa-  ... 

gandism.  facilities  to  the  Brahmans  for  adapting  to 
their  own  system  the  various  gods  and  wor- 
ships, with  which  they  came  into  contact. 
When  they  met  any  idol  that  was  worshipped 
by  any  tribe,  they  had  only  to  represent  it  as 
one  of  the  many  streams  leading  into  the 
ocean  of  Liberation,  needing  only  to  be  wor- 
shipped in  the  way  in  which  its  devotees  had 
been  wont  to  worshi^D  it. 


Pantheism  and  Polytheism.  145 

But  there  are  two  srreat  streams  in  which  ^^"^"^  '^Y'^' 

o  sions  01 

the  current  of  reh<xious  thouofht  has  flowed  i^^i^^i^ni- 
in  India  since  the  era  of  Buddhism,  the  wor- 
ship of  Vishnu  and  the  Avorship  of  Siva, 
called  also  Hari  and  Har.  Those  who  attach 
themselves  to  the  former  are  called  Vaish- 
navas ;  those  who  attach  themselves  to  the 
latter  are  called  Saivas,  and  these  two  great 
parties  include  nearly  all  the  modern  Hindu 
sects.  The  former  are  distinguished  by  a 
tilah,  or  frontal  mark,  consisting  of  three  per- 
pendicular lines,  the  latter  by  a  frontal  mark 
of  three  horizontal  lines.  There  are  also 
various  differences  in  the  time  they  observe 
fasts,  the  shape  of  their  temples,  the  form  of 
their  worship,  and  so  forth,  with  a  mere  enu- 
meration of  wdiich  most  who  have  written 
about  Hindu  sects  are  satisfied. 

But  such  external  and  superficial  distinc-  pSidpfe  of 
tions  could  not  account  for  the  bitter  anta-  sions/taith 
gonism  that  used  to  exist  between  the  tw^o ' 
sects,  as  is  evident  from  their  old  sacred  books; 
and  which  even  now  breaks  out  occasionally 
between  them,  notwithstanding  the  reconcilia- 
tion that  has  been  made,  and  the  essential 

K 


14^  Hinduism. 


quietism  of  modern  Hinduism.  One  must 
have  seen  the  kindling  eye  and  quickening 
breath  of  a  Saiva  teacher  when  encountered 
by  a  Vaishnava  teacher,  the  violent  fury  to 
which  the  preaching  of  the  former  excited  a 
Vaishnava  audience,  —  exceeding  anything 
which  Christian  teaching  produced, — in  order 
to  understand  the  latent  hostility  that  still 
exists  between  the  two  sects.  The  cause  of 
this  must  be  looked  for  in  the  ideas  which 
they  respectively  represent.  They  typify  two 
opposite  poles  of  religious  thought  which 
have  always  been  found,  and  must  always 
be  found  among  men, — the  one,  the  Vaish- 
nava, looking  to  God  as  the  Author  of 
all  good,  the  other,  the  Saiva,  looking  to 
man,  as  by  his  own  deeds  attaining  to  the 
good  he  desires.  The  discussion  thus  corre- 
sponds somewhat  to  that  between  the  up- 
holders of  Free  Grace  and  of  Works,  of  Anti- 
nomianism  and  Arminianism  in  the  Christian 
Church.  We  know  what  violent  animosities, 
resulting  in  war  and  persecution,  have  existed 
between  these  two  parties  in  Christendom, 
even  when  they  had  a  common  object  of  wor- 


Pantheism  and  Polytheism.  147 

sliip,  and  we  need  not  be  surj)rised  that,  when 
in  India  they  were  symbohzed  by  distinct 
gods,  a  simihir  hostility  should  be  found. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  distinction  ^"nJ^^j  ^i^^ 
is  absolute  between  the  two.  On  the  con-  t^J"'^" 
trary,  the  worshippers  of  each  god  tried  to 
exalt  him  and  extend  his  worship  by  appro- 
priating some  of  the  forms  more  proper  to 
the  other,  and  thus  we  find  certain  traits  of 
Sivism  shot  through  Vishnuism,  and  vice 
versd.  The  range  of  controversy  is  also  much 
narrower  than  in  Europe.  The  extremest 
npholder  of  the  efficacy  of  '  works'  in  India  is 
a  more  rigid  predestinarian  than  the  extremest 
Calvinist.  The  firmest  Hindu  believer  in  the 
power  of  '  faith'  looks  on  it  as  meriting  a 
recompense  from  God.  Yet  these  indicate 
the  main  principles  of  the  two  sects,  as  will  be 
better  understood  by  a  short  survey  of  their 
historical  development. 

The  sacred  books,   in  which  we  may  trace  P"ranas. 
the  progress  of  these  two  w^orships,  are  called 
the  Pur^nas,  which  may  be  translated  ^  Anti- 
quities.'     They   constitute   the    real    sacred 
literature  of  the  great  body  of  Hindus  ;  they 


14S  Hindtdsm. 


embody  their  actual  religious  beliefs^  and  tell 
about  the  gods  whom  they  presently  worship ; 
while  the  Vedas  are  repeated  as  incomprehen- 
sible incantations  in  that  worship,  and  the 
deities  they  extol  are  forgotten.  The  Puranas 
j)rofess  to  give  an  account  of  the  various  gods, 
especially  A^ishnu  or  Siva,  as  they  belong  to 
the  Yaishnava  or  Saiva  sects.  They  give  an 
account  of  the  creation  of  the  world, — as  being 
j)roduced  from  Brahma,  which  they  consider 
a  name  of  Vishnu  or  Siva,  in  the  character  of 
creator,  and  they  look  forward  to  its  being 
again  absorbed  into  him  at  the  final  cataclysm. 
They  give  an  account  of  the  various  ages  of 
the  world's  history  as  they  conceive  it.  We 
find  many  old  legends  embodied  in  them,  and 
can  trace  the  amalgamation  of  older  objects 
and  modes  of  worship  with  Brahmanical  gods 
and  Brahmanical  worship.  I  will  touch  only 
on  the  most  prominent  points  contained  in 
them,  beginning  with  the  worship  of  Vishnu. 


I 


CHAPTEH  IV. 

VISHNU  WORSHIP. 


N  Yisliiiu  we  find  typified  that  form  of  visinmism 

starts  from 

relioious  thoucrht  which  starts  from  God,  God's  su- 

^  ^  premacy. 


and  considers  Him  as  the  source  of  man's 
strength  and  salvation, — that  type  of  pan- 
theistic thought  which  starts  with  the  idea 
of  God  pervading  all  things.  The  pundits, 
indeed,  derive  his  name  from  a  root  signifying 
to  pervade,  but  it  has  with  more  probability 
been  traced  to  one  meaning  to  go  forth.  It 
may  originally  have  been  a  name  of  the  sun, 
and  he  was  at  all  events  first  worshipped  as 
the  sun-Qfod.  We  have  seen  that  he  was  an 
old  Yedic  god  who  assumed  some  importance 
during  the  Brahmanical  period;  and  in  him  we 
can  trace  the  continuity  of  the  old  Brahmani- 
cal religion  preserved  in  modern  Hinduism. 
We  find  in  his  worship  and  legends  the 
influence  of  many  cross  currents  of  religious 


150  Hindtnsm. 


thought^  such  as  tree  and  serpent  worship  and 
arkite  typology,  and  many  adaptations  of  the 
faith  and  worship  of  the  aboriginal  races  ;  but 
these  are  blended  into  a  more  harmonious 
whole  than  in  the  case  of  Siva  worship. 
Abstract         Vishnu  is  represented  as  restinof  in  a  state 

conception  ■"■  ^ 

ofVisimu.  Qf  blissful  rcposo  ou  the  flood,  supported  on 
the  great  mundane  serpent,  which  raises  above 
him  its  graceful  spreading  hood ;  sometimes 
it  is  supposed  to  be  many-headed,  and  all  the 
heads  combine  to  form  one  large  canopy. 
Thus  reposing  he  is  said  to  typify  the  Eternal 
Spirit,  and  it  is  possible  that  as  some  such 
conception  the  Brahmans  originally  adored 
him ;  but  it  had  too  little  human  sympathy 
to  attract  the  common  people  to  his  worshijD. 
He  is  therefore  represented  as  being  occasion- 
ally roused  out  of  his  slumbers  by  the  solicita- 
tions of  gods  and  men,  and  moved  to  take 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  when 
something  had  gone  wrong  in  them.  Then 
he  becomes  incarnate,  or  rather,  as  the  Hindu 
expression  means,  he  takes  a  descent  or 
Avatar.  These  avatars  form  the  main  fea- 
tures of  his  history,  and  it  is  by  means  of 


Vishnu  Worship.  1 5 1 

them   that   his    worship    is    linked    to    Hin- 
duism. 

These  avatdrs  extend  to  the  Divine  life  on  His  avatars 
earth  the  analoo^y  of  man's  life.      Thus  we  to  num-s 

^'^  ,  trausmigra- 

Christians,  believinof'  that  man  is  born  buttions. 
once^  believe  that  God  has  become  incarnate 
once  for  man's  salvation ;  the  Hindus,  believ- 
ing that  man  is  born  many  times,  believe  that 
Vishnu  has  become  incarnate  many  times.  As 
they  believe  that  the  spirit  of  man  may  pass 
through  animals  also,  so  they  believe  that 
Vishnu  has  become  incarnate  in  the  bodies 
of  animals.  This  gave  the  Brahmans  great 
facilities  in  dealing  with  the  aboriginal  tribes 
whom  they  tried  to  gain  over,  or  with  the 
votaries  of  other  worships  which  they  tried  to 
amalgamate  with  their  own.  They  found  one 
tribe    that   worshipped    the    fish,    and    they  Origin  of 

.  .  .    ,        tlie  tish, 

taught  them  that  the  worship  was  quite  right, 
but  was  so  only  if  they  recognised  the  fish  as 
Vishnu,  who  had  become  incarnate  in  it.  They 
found  another  tribe  or  caste  who  worshipped 
the  tortoise  ;  this  they  said  was  also  an  incar-  tortoise, 
nation  of  the  same  god  ;  another  that  wor- 
shipped the  boar  :    this  too  was  a  form  in  avatars. 


152  Hindinsm. 


which  Vishnu  had  taken  birth.  Each  tribe 
was  in  this  way  encouraged  to  exalt  Hs  own 
pecuhar  deity,  but  to  recognise  in  it  also  a 
manifestation  of  the  one  Supreme  Spirit ;  to 
continue  its  own  worship,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  correlate  it  with  that  of  others.  This 
is,  I  believe,  the  most  probable  explanation  of 
the  origin  of  the  accounts  of  the  first  three 
incarnations  which  are  attributed  to  Vishnu. 
I  have  found  among  the  Minas  traces  of  fish 
and  boar  worship  still  existing,  and  it  is  pro- 
bable that,  before  the  influence  of  Brahmanism 
spread,  such  worship  was  more  pronounced. 
We  may  look  on  the  stories  of  these  incarna- 
tions, then,  as  first  of  all  attempts  to  gain  over 
some  of  the  aboriginal  tribes,  though  elaborate 
myths  afterwards  grew  round  tliem.  The 
story  of  the  fish  incarnation  has  so  many 
points  of  resemblance  with  the  story  of  the 
flood  in  Genesis,  as  irresistibly  to  suggest  that 
it  must  be  a  reminiscence  of  the  same  event 
linked  with  this  form  of  worship. 
Fourth  and  The  fourtli  dcsceut  of  Vishnu  was  as  a  man- 
lion,  and  it  had  probably  an  origin  similar 
to  the  three   previous  ones,  in   an  attempt 


Vishmt  Worship.  153 

to  attach  the  worshippers  of  an  idol  of  this  ^/J^  ^^^" 
form.  The  fifth  descent,  that  of  the  dwarf, 
is  more  imjDortant  than  any  of  the  preceding, 
for  it  hnks  the  worship  of  Vishnu  with  the 
pre-Buddhistic  worship  of  the  Brahmanas, 
with  the  worship  of  the  sun,  and  with  a 
worship  in  Southern  India.  The  outHne  of 
the  myth  is  this  : — A  king  called  Bali  had 
by  his  austerities  gained  power  over  the  gods, 
and  at  last  performed  a  sacrifice  so  potent  that 
even  Indra  lost  his  sovereignty.  The  gods 
appealed  to  Vishnu  to  help  them.  He 
appeared  before  the  king  in  the  form  of  a 
dwarf,  and  asked  as  a  boon  as  much  land 
as  he  could  cover  in  three  paces.  The  king 
granted  his  request,  whereupon  the  dwarf 
enlarged  his  form  so  as  to  fill  all  space ; 
at  one  step  he  put  his  foot  on  the  earth, 
at  the  second  on  the  firmament,  and  at  the 
third  on  heaven,  so  that  there  was  no  place 
left  for  Bali  but  'patCda  or  hell.  This  myth 
is  a  later  form  of  the  story  of  Vishnu's  be- 
coming a  sacrifice  w^iich,  we  have  seen,^  had 
its   origin  in   early  times,  and  was  probably 

^   See  anU^  pp.  44,  45. 


1 54  Hindinsm. 


the  earliest  conception  of  his  ^  Descent.'  In 
this  form  indeed  he  appears  as  the  destroyer 
of  sacrifice  rather  than  as  a  sacrifice  itself, 
but  that  shows  the  revolution  that  had  taken 
place  in  India  with  regard  to  the  ideas  of 
sacrifice.  In  later  Hindu  literature  it  is  the 
enemies  of  the  gods  who  are  represented  as 
thus  gaining  power  and  threatening  their 
sovereignty^  and  it  was  thought  more  con- 
sistent with  the  divine  character  for  Vishnu 
to  gain  his  end  by  deception  than  by 
sacrifice — to  make  the  former  defeat  the 
efficacy  of  the  latter.  The  three  steps  have 
been  variously  explained,  but  the  most 
obvious  and  probably  the  original  one  is 
the  rise,  the  meridian,  and  the  setting  of  the 
sun,^  while  the  introduction  of  the  dwarf 
probably  came  from  some  form  of  worship  in 
Southern  India,  where  it  still  survives.^ 

^  Two  explanations  are  given  : — '  Vishnu  strides  over  this, 
whatever  exists.  He  pLants  his  step  in  a  threefold  manner, — 
i.e.  "  for  a  threefold  existence,  on  earth  (as  fire  or  Agni),  in  the 
atmosphere  (as  lightning  or  as  wind,  Vayu),  and  in  the  sky 
(as  the  sun,  Surya),"  according  to  Sakaj)uni ;  or  "on  the  hill 
where  he  rises,  on  the  meridian,  and  on  the  hill  where  he  sets," 
according  to  Aurnavabha.' — Nirukta,  xii.  19  ;  Smishrit  Texts, 
iv.  64. 

3  Lassen,  hid.  Alt.  iv.  583. 


Vishnu  Wo7^sh{p.  155 

With  the   sixth  incarnation  we   enter  on  ^^'^l^ 

avatar, 

clearly  historical  ground.  We  see  hero  ^^^^^o^'^^^^- 
worship  being  woven  into  Hinduism,  and 
the  desire  of  the  Brahmans  to  represent  the 
great  events  of  history  as  the  result  of  the 
interference  of  their  god.  This  time  Vishnu 
is  said  to  have  come  to  the  earth  as 
Parasu  Rama,  to  extirj^ate  the  power  of  the 
Kshatriyas  and  to  establish  that  of  the 
Brahmans/  This  was  not  a  worship  likely 
to  be  pleasing  to  any  but  the  Brahmans,  and 
it  was  probably  not  their  interest  to  seek  to 
continue  it.  At  all  events  few,  if  any, 
traces  of  the  worship  of  Vishnu  under  this 
form  now  exist. 

The  great  Kshatriya  or  warrior  hero  was  Seventii, 
Eama  Chandra,^  who,  with  his  wife  Sita  and 
brother  Lachman,  was  represented  as  the 
seventh  incarnation  of  Vishnu.  Kama  was 
the  type  of  manly  virtues,  as  Sita  of  feminine 
grace  and  fidelity,  among  the  Hindus.  His 
character,  though   not   altogether  free  from 

*•  See  anU^  p.  50. 

s  On  this  occasion  one  half  of  Vishnu  is  said  to  liave  Ijeen 
embodied  in  Rama,  one  quarter  in  Sita,  and  one  quarter  in 
Lachman, 


156  Hinduism. 


blemishes,  is  one  of  the  best  and  noblest 
in  history,  and  it  is  accordingly  to  the 
worship  of  this  incarnation  of  Vishnu 
that  most  reformers  among  the  Vaishnavas, 
such  as  Ramanuja  and  Kamananda,  have 
attached  themselves.  Under  this  name  he 
is  still  worshipped  by  many  powerful  sects, 
such  as  the  Sita  Kams  and  Ramawats,  or 
disciples  of  Ramananda. 
Incarnation      g^i^  uioro  important  than  any  of  these — the 

as  Krisliua.  J-  «/ 

great  feature  in  fact  of  the  Brahmanical 
revival — was  the  adopting  of  Krishna  as  the 
eighth  incarnation  of  Yislinu.  As  it  shows 
all  the  force  and  all  the  vice  of  this  move- 
ment, I  will  dwell  on  it  more  in  detail.  I 
have  already  had  occasion  to  refer  to  Krishna, 
the  ally  of  the  Pandavs^  in  the  great  war 
recorded  in  the  Mahabharat.  In  the  later 
additions  to  that  poem  he  is  spoken  of  as  a 
divinity.  Traditions  about  him  beyond  what 
are  recorded  in  it  were  handed  down,  and  were 
current  among  the  Vaisya  and  other  castes  ; 
these,  with  many  exaggerations  and  accre- 
tions, had  assumed  a  definite  form,  and  his 

^  -See  ante^  p.  52. 


Vishnu  Worship.  157 

worship  had  taken  firm  hold  on  the  popular 
mind,  when  the  Brahmans  begun  to  mani- 
pulate it  for  their  own  purposes.  According 
to  the  general  story,  he  lived  in  his  youth  in  J^J^^h"^ '' 
Brindaban,  a  beautiful  forest  on  the  banks 
of  the  Jumna.  He  was  supposed  to  be  the 
son  of  Nanda,  a  cowlierd  of  the  district.  He 
was  noted  in  his  boyhood  for  roguery,  theft, 
and  falsehood.  As  he  grew  up  he  performed 
several  feats,  amongf  others  killinof-  a  bull 
by  which  he  was  attacked,  now  the  un- 
pardonable sin  of  Hinduism.  He  thereafter 
entered  on  a  course  of  open,  shameless  de- 
bauchery— the  part  of  his  history  most  often 
celebrated  in  story  and  song.  When  he  had 
grown  up  he  slew  Kansa,  king  of  Mathura, 
and  ruled  there  for  some  time ;  but  he  was 
attacked  by  Jarasandh,  the  king  of  Magadh, 
a  relation  of  Kansas,  and,  after  a  stout  re- 
sistance, obliged  to  flee.  He  led  his  tribe,  the 
Yadavs,  away  to  the  far  west  of  India,  and 
there  founded  the  city  and  kingdom  of 
Dwarka,  by  the  edge  of  the  ocean.  From 
there  he  aided  the  Pandavs,  and  became  one 
of  the  most  renowned  warriors  in  India — his 


158  Hinduism. 


whole  life  being  characterized  by  the  greatest 
licentiousness.  He  was  at  last  wounded  by 
an  arrow,  which  a  Bhil  had  shot  at  him  by 
mistake,  and  died  of  the  wound. 
S^aSa-  The  whole  story  of  Krishna  is  possibly  as 
siory°^''''  gi^eat  a  myth  as  the  story  of  William  Tell  is 
believed  by  some  to  be.  But,  mytliical  or 
historical,  it  had  laid  as  firm  a  hold  on  the 
minds  of  the  Hindus  as  the  story  of  Tell  has 
on  the  minds  of  the  Swiss,  and  had  been 
associated  with  a  belief  in  the  divinity  of  the 
hero.  We  may  acquit  the  Brahmans  of  hay- 
ing invented  it,  for  it  is  in  many  points  quite 
opposed  to  their  general  teaching,  but  they 
found  it  too  deeply  rooted  in  popular  faith 
for  them  to  tamper  with  it.  They  therefore 
adopted  it,  supplemented  it,  and  directed 
their  pantheistic  philosophy  to  justifying  its 
most  revoltinof  extravao^ances.  Krishna  was 
represented  as  the  eighth  incarnation  of 
Vishnu.  The  object  of  this  incarnation  was 
represented  as  being  the  destruction  of 
Kansa,  the  tyrannical  king  of  Mathura,  a 
worshipper  of  Siva.  Hinduism  has  never 
been  able  to  conceive  of  one  incarnation  to 


Vishnu  Worship.  159 

put  away  sin  once  and  for  ever.  Something 
is  constantly  going  wrong  in  the  course  of 
mundane  affairs,  and  to  rectify  that  a  god 
becomes  incarnate,  without  seemingly  having 
the  power  to  affect  future  events. 

To    get    over   the    difficulty    of  Krishna's  Bi;'^]"i'''^»i 

o  J  cal  inveii- 

being  born  of  low  caste  parents,  he  was  re-  ^^'^"^' 
presented  as  a  changeling.  His  real  parents 
were  said  to  be  Vasudeva  and  Devaki,  the 
former  being  the  rightful  owner  of  the 
throne  of  Mathura,  but  dethroned  by  Kansa. 
Vasudeva  is  a  name  of  Vishnu.  The  writinof 
of  the  Bhagavat  Purana,  the  chief  authority 
now  for  the  worship  of  Krishna,  is  said  to 
have  been  prompted  by  a  desire  on  the  j)art 
of  the  author,  Boppadeva,  to  establish  the 
worship  of  Vasudeva.  We  must  look  on 
these  names,  therefore,  as  being  entirely 
mythical,  and  as  meaning  simply  that  the 
worship  of  Vishnu  had  been  supj^ressed  by 
Siva,  and  that  Krishna  was  raised  up  to  re- 
establish it.  It  is  now,  however,  accepted 
as  a  substantial  fact  by  the  Hindus.  Kansa 
is  said  to  have  been  warned  by  a  voice  from 
heaven   that   the    child    of    Devaki    would 


i6o  Hindtnsm. 


destroy  him.     When  the  time  of  her  deUver- 
ance  approached^  she  and  her  husband  were 
by  his    orders  manacled    and   confined   in  a 
tower  surrounded  with  guards,  but  all  in  vain. 
"When  Krishna  was  born,  the  manacles  fell 
off,   the  guard  fell  asleep.      Vasudeva  bore 
Krishna   across   the    Jumna,    w^hose    waters 
dried  up  at  the  touch  of  Krishna's  foot,  to 
the   house  of  Nanda,    whose  wife  had  just 
been  delivered  of  a  daughter.     He  changed 
the  two  children,  and  returned  with  the  female 
infant  to  his  prison.     He  and  his  wife  were 
miraculously  bound    as   before ;   the    guards 
w^oke  up,  and  informed  Kansa  that  the  child 
was  born.     He  rushed  in  to  destroy  her,  but 
she  was  carried  up  to  heaven,  and  escaped. 
andexpia-       ^\x\^    storv   mav   bo    taken    as    a    purely 

nations.  J  J  l  j 

Brahmanical  invention.  In  the  subsequent 
parts  of  the  story,  Brahmanical  influence  is 
seen  rather  in  the  mystic  explanation  given 
of  traditions,  which  had  taken  too  deep  a 
hold  to  be  forgotten  or  ignored.  Once,  when 
his  mother  had  caught  him  stealing  some 
cheese,  and  was  about  to  whip  him  as  he 
deserved,    he    is   said   to   have    opened   his 


VisJmu  Worship.  i6i 

mouth  and  shown  her  the  iUusion  of  the 
three  worlds  therein,  whereby  she  became 
convinced  that  everything  belonged  to  him, 
and  that  she  could  not  question  his  right 
to  take  the  cheese  if  he  liked.  The  bull  he 
killed — the  hardest  nut  for  the  Brahmans 
to  crack — is  represented  as  having  been  a 
demon  sent  in  that  form  to  destroy  him. 
The  part  of  his  life  most  shocking  to  the 
moral  sense  is  the  story  of  his  adultery 
with  the  gopis,  the  wives  of  the  herdsmen 
of  Brindaban.  In  the  Bhag^avat  Purana — 
where  we  have  the  latest  philosophizing  on 
the  subject — the  story  is  supposed  to  be 
related  by  a  sage  called  Sukhdeva  to  a  king 
Parikshit ;  and  when  he  comes  to  this  pas- 
sage the  king  objects  that  the  story  is  highly 
immoral.  The  sage  replies  :  that  these  gopis 
were  heavenly  nymphs,  who  had  come  to 
earth  to  enjoy  the  society  of  God,  when  He 
became  incarnate  ;  that '  he  who  moves  within  justifi 
the  gopis,  their  husbands,  and  indeed  all 
embodied  beings,  is  their  ruler,  who  only  in 
sport  assumed  a  body  upon  earth/  In  the 
popular  version  of  the  story,  too,  the  follow- 


ca- 
tiou  of  siu. 


1 62  Hinduism. 


ing  verse  is  quoted,  which  might  almost  find 
a  place  in  a  Christian  work  : — 

*  The  rosary  vain,  and  vain  to  call  "  Lord  !  Lord  !"  by  day 
and  night ; 
If  false  the  heart,  then  vain  the  show  \  in  truth  doth  God 
delight; 

This  seems  a  noble  sentiment,  but  as  applied 
in  the  context  it  means  that,  if  the  heart  be 
right,  outward  conduct  matters  nothing,  that 
consequently  there  was  nothing  wrong  in  the 
conduct  of  Krishna  and  the  gopis,  as  he  was 
god,  and  they  looked  to  nothing  but  his 
divinity.  This  to  us  sounds  like  disgusting 
blasphemy,  but  it  shows  what  jDantheism  has 
done  for  Hinduism.  The  pundits  allegorize, 
the  common  people  gloat  over  the  plain 
narrative.  Nothing  is  more  marked  than 
the  different  ways,  in  which  the  best  educa- 
ted pundits  and  the  common  people  meet  an 
attack  as  to  the  character  of  their  god.  The 
former  fence,  explain  away,  spiritualize  all 
the  indecent  stories,  till  they  say  they  derive 
edification  from  them.  The  latter  answ^er 
plainly  :  He  had  power,  why  should  he  not 
use  it  to  please  himself  in  any  way  he  chose  ? 


Vishmc  Worship.  163 

Why  should  we  quarrel  with  the  play  or 
pranks  of  the  deity  any  more  than  with 
those  of  a  boy  ? 

This  is  by  far  the  most  popular  incarnation  images  of 

'^  .  ^     ^  Kri.sluia. 

of  Vishnu,  and  indeed  the  most  popular  god 
in  India.  Images  of  him  are  more  frequent 
than  of  any  other.  These  are  generally 
attempts  to  represent  him  performing  some 
of  his  feats,  but  there  are  also  many  adapta- 
tions of  other  images  that  had  become 
celebrated  in  certain  districts.  The  best 
known  of  these  is  that  of  Juof^ernauth  in 
Orissa.  It  is  a  shapeless  hideous  idol,  no- 
thing but  a  black  stump  with  a  head  upon  it. 
It  was  probably  an  old  idol  reverenced  in 
that  part  of  the  country,  and  when  the 
worship  of  Krishna  spread,  it  was  adoj)ted 
as  one  of  his  names  (Lord  of  the  World)  and 
one  of  his  representations,  the  difference 
between  it  and  the  others  beingf  accounted 
for  by  saying  that  his  limbs  had  dropped  off 
on  account  of  his  immorality  ! 

Since  Krishna,  a  ninth  incarnation  of  Vish-  Ninth 
nu  as  Buddha  is  said  to  have  taken  place. ' 
This  was  introduced  probably  for  the  purpose 


164  Hinditism. 


of  conciliating  the  Buddhists,  and  also  of 
ascribing  to  Vishnu  all  the  great  movements 
that  have  taken  place  in  India.  There  is 
still  a  sect  of  Buddha- Yaishnavas,  who  wor- 
ship Vishnu  under  the  name  of  Pandurang, 
but  the  worship  of  Krishna  overshadows  his; 
it  has  still  more  vitality,  and  is  undergoing 
fresher  developments  than  any  other  form  of 

faraaJon's  Hiuduism.  A  tcntli  incarnation  is  looked  for, 
lib  ua.  1^^^^  meanwhile  the  sovereignty  of  Krishna  is 
maintained  by  repetitions  of  his  incarnation. 
There  is  a  god  of  the  name  of  Bam-Deva 
worshipped  by  some  castes  in  Bajputana. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  Bajput  who  set 
himself  uj)  for  a  teacher,  and  was  after  death 
deified  by  his  followers.  The  Vaishnavas 
secured  his  disciples  by  representing  him  as 
an  incarnation  of  Krishna.  How  often  this 
god  has  become  incarnate  it  would  be  indeed 
difficult  to  say. 

Tentii  in-        J   j^^ave  mentioned  that  a  tenth  incarnation 

carnation, 

is  looked  for,  called  in  the  Puranas  Kalkin. 
Who  or.  what  this  is  to  be  is  not  very  clearly 
decided.  I  would  merely  notice  an  idea  that 
seems  to  have  some  adherents  in  India,  that 


the  Eng- 


lish. 


Vishmc  Worship.  165 

the  Enoflisli  are  this  tenth  incarnation  of 
Vishnu.^  I  once  found  this  expressed  in  a 
part  of  India,  where,  I  believe,  no  missionary 
had  gone  before.  When  I  was  remonstrating 
with  some  Hindus  on  their  worshipping  a 
being  w^ho  had  been  guilty  of  such  acts  as 
Krishna,  one  man  replied  very  warmly,  '  Why, 
these  were  but  his  sports.  You  English 
have  your  sports.  You  have  the  railway 
and  the  steamboat  and  the  telegraph,  and  no 
one  blames  you.  Why  should  you  blame 
Krishna  for  sporting  in  liis  way  ? ' 

That  this  idea  is  held  not  merely  among 
the  illiterate,  the  following  quotation  from  a 
work  by  a  Hindu,  a  native  of  Bombay,  will 
show  : — 

'  There  are  traditions  in  this  land  which  perhaps  none 
has  yet  attended  to  with  due  concern — that  the  East  will 
be  completely  changed  by  a  nation  from  the  West ;  and 
the  tenth  avatar  of  Vishnu,  a  man  on  a  white  horse,  so 
current  among  the  prophecies  of  the  sacred  Brahmanical 
M^ritings,  must  be  looked  on  to  typify  the  advent  of  the 

''  But  some  consider  too  that  the  English  are  afraid  of  this 
tenth  avatar.  When  vaccination  was  introduced  into  the 
Ajmere  district,  the  report  spread  that  it  was  a  device  of  the 
English  to  discover  a  new  incarnation  of  Vishnu,  who  was  to 
have  white  blood,  and  Avho  they  feared  was  to  extirpate  them 
from  India. 


t66  Hmduism. 


English  in  India.  Statesmen  vainly  look  upon  the  Anglo- 
Indian  empire  as  an  accident,  something  that  will  not 
last  long ;  and,  though  events  like  the  Mutiny  of  1857 
frequently  give  to  that  expression  a  significance  it  can 
never  otherwise  bear,  the  prophecy  of  the  West,  "  Japheth 
shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem,"  and  the  prophecy  of  the 
East  relating  to  the  tenth  incarnation  of  Vishnu,  a  man  on  a 
Avhite  horse  coming  from  the  West,  and  destroying  every- 
thing Brahmanical,  render  it  imperative  on  us  to  accept, 
however  reluctantly,  that  European  supremacy  in  Asia  is 
one  of  the  permanent  conditions  of  the  world  ! '  ^ 

These  are  the  principal  incarnations  of  this 
god.^     It  will  be  seen  that  he  embodies  the 

8  Lights  and  Shades  of  the  East.  By  Framji  Bomanji, 
Alliance  Press,  Bombay.  The  'man  on  a  white  horse  comiug 
from  the  West '  is  the  popular  idea  of  the  tenth  incarnation. 
But  it  is  not  so  stated  in  the  Purauas.  The  following  is  the 
prophecy  as  it  stands  in  the  Vishnu  Purana : — '  When  the 
practices  taught  by  the  Vedas  and  the  institutes  of  law  shall 
nearly  have  ceased,  and  the  close  of  the  Kali  age  shall  be 
nigh,  a  portion  of  that  divine  being  who  exists  of  his  own 
spiritual  nature  in  the  character  of  Brahma,  and  who  is 
the  beginning  and  the  end,  and  who  com23rehends  all  things, 
shall  descend  upon  earth  ;  he  will  be  born  in  the  family  of 
Vishnuyasas — an  eminent  Brahman  of  Sambhalu  village — ;as 
Kalki,  endowed  with  the  eight  superhuman  faculties.  By  his 
irresistible  might  he  will  destroy  the  Mhlechchhas  and 
thieves,  and  all  whose  minds  are  devoted  to  iniquity.  He 
will  then  re-establish  righteousness  upon  earth ;  and  the  minds 
of  those  who  live  at  the  end  of  the  Kali  age  shall  be  awakened, 
and  shall  be  as  pellucid  as  crystal.' — Vish.  Pur.  iv.  24. 

9  The  Bhagavat  enumerates  twenty-two,  including,  besides 
those  mentioned  here,  sacrifice  (see  ante,  p.  45),  Rikhabha 
(p.  83),  Prithu  (p.  137). 


Vishnu  Worship.  167 


natural  tendency  to  hero  worship — that  he 
presents  the  Hindu  conception  of  ^  God  in 
history/  It  will  be  seen  that  the  conception 
is  one  of  might,  not  united  with  moral 
purity ;  and  that  the  pantheistic  philosophy 
has  justified  the  wickedness  and  violence  of 
the  god  on  grounds  quite  consistent  with 
itself. 

I    now   turn   to  speak  of  the  worship  of^^^'^*^.  °^ 

J-  J-  worship. 

this    god,    but   will    first   say  something    of 
Hindu  worship    in    general.      It   is   of  two 
kinds,  ^  the  way  of  devotion '  ^^  and  the  '  way 
of  works/  ^^  the  former  being  more  specially 
Vishnu    worship    and   the   latter   Siva   wor- 
shijD,   though   both   are    now    mingled    to   a 
great  degree.     Those  wlio  have  learned  the 
higher    philosophy    try   to    show  that   both 
resolve  themselves  into  the  philosophic  way 
of   knowledge.       Vishnu    or    Siva,    as    the 
Supreme  Spirit,  is  worshipped  by  invoking  invocation. 
him  under  the  name  of  Ram  or  Rama.     This, 
the    pundits    say,   is    an    aid    to    meditation. 
We  are  apt  to  forget  God,  but,  by  repeating 
His  name,  we  are    kept  in  mind   of  Him. 

^°  Bhakti  Marg.  "  Karma  Marg. 


1 68  Hinduism. 


Such  may  have  been  the  original  meaning 
of  this  worship,  but  power  is  generally 
supposed  to  exist  in  the  mere  sound ;  and 
its  repetition  is  supposed  to  impose  an  obli- 
gation on  the  god,  in  return  for  which 
he  is  bound  to  grant  favours,  as  much 
as  the  merchant  is  bound  to  give  goods 
in  return  for  the  money  which  he  re- 
ceives. The  oftener  the  name  is  repeated, 
the  greater  the  obligation  on  the  part  of  the 
god  becomes.  Sincerity,  even  purpose  and 
intelligence  are  not  necessary  to  give  efficacy 
to  the  invocation.  A  story  is  currently  told 
story  of     of  a  Bhil,  who,  havingf  unwittinofly  killed  a 

Valmiki,  ^  ^  ^  ^  '^ 

Brahman,  was  told  constantly  to  repeat  the 
word  Mara  (dead)  as  an  expiation.  He  did 
so  for  years,  and  the  transposition  of  the 
syllables  ^  Mara  mara '  formed  the  invocation 
*  Rama,  Rama,'  till  at  last  Vishnu,  hearing 
himself  invoked,  appeared  to  the  man,  granted 
him  enlightenment,  and  promised  him  libera- 
tion on  condition  that  he  would  write  a  book 
to  promote  his  worship.  The  man  then  be- 
came a  Brahman,  and  was  known  as  Valmiki, 
the  author   of  the  Ramayana.     Even  more 


Vishnu  Worship.  169 

absurd  stories  are  told  to  illustrate  the  same 
idea,  and  it  has  come  to  be  fixed  in  the 
minds  of  the  Hindus  that  the  mere  repetition 
of  this  name  is  suflScient.  Hence  they  use  it 
on  almost  all  occasions — the  Vaishnavas  to 
invoke  Vishnu  and  the  Saivas  to  invoke 
Siva,^"  They  use  it  as  a  salutation  on  meeting, 
they  use  it  as  an  exclamation  of  wonder. 
When  not  otherwise  employed,  they  mecha- 
nically turn  round  their  rosary  and  mutter 
the  name  at  each  bead. 

But  it   is   more    g-enerally   throuo^h    their  ima?e 

^  .  .     worship. 

images  that  the  gods  are  worshipped.  This 
brings  up  the  whole  question  of  image  wor- 
ship or  the  worship  of  material  objects. 
'  Stone  Avorship '  is  as  common  a  name  in 
India  as  image  worship,  and  many  of  the 
objects  of  w^orship — more  however  among  the 
Saivas  than  the  Vaishnavas — are  mere  stones 
or  rocks  with  a  red  daub  upon  them.  This  form 
of  idolatry  does  not  seem  to  have  belonged 
originally  to  Brahmanical  worship,  but  to 
have  been  engrafted  on  it  from  the  w^orship 

"  The  distinctive  Vishnu  invocation  is  Kari  Earn,  and  the 
Siva,  Har  Ram. 


1 70  Hinduism. 


of  the  aboriginal  tribes  or  earlier  settlers  in 
India.  But  it  now  flourishes  in  it  with  all 
the  viofour  of  a  strono^er  life,  and  the  Brah- 
mans  have  come  to  be  as  deofraded  stone  and 
image  worshippers  as  any. 
Three  views      There  are  three  views  with  repfard  to  this 

01  image  o 

worship:  ^vorship  in  India.  The  first  is  the  philo- 
Phiio-  sophical,  held  by  the  educated  and  thinking 
few,  that  the  image  is  an  aid  to  meditation 
and  devotion.  We  are  apt,  they  say,  to 
forget  God  ;  but  when  we  see  the  stone  it 
reminds  us  of  Him,  we  meditate  on  Him,  and 
invoke  His  name.  But  a  much  more  general 
Mystical,  viow  is  the  mystical  one,  that,  according  to  the 
charm  originally  pronounced  at  the  consecra- 
tion of  an  idol,  indicated  by  certain  red  marks 
on  the  stone  or  by  the  form  of  the  image, 
some  particular  deity  is  present  in  it.  This 
doctrine  is  somewhat  analoo^ous  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  doctrine  of  the  real  presence ;  but 
the  Hindus  do  not  believe  in  a  corporeal, 
only  in  a  spiritual  presence — that  the  spirit 
of  the  god  comes  at  the  bidding  of  the 
priest  into  the  idol,  as  a  man  might  go  into 
a  house   to  dwell,  and  that  he  knows  and 


Vishmt  Worship.  171 

accepts  what  is  offered  to  tlie  idol  as  offered 
to  himself.  And,  lastly,  there  is  the  literal  Literal. 
view,  held  by  the  most  ignorant  of  the  popula- 
tion, that  the  idol,  by  the  Brahman's  charm,  is 
itself  made  a  god,  and  by  its  own  power  and 
will  can  accomplish  for  its  worshippers  what 
they  desire.  Hence  the  Hindus,  if  their 
prayers  are  not  fulfilled,  sometimes  scourge 
their  idols  or  cast  them  out  of  their  temples. 
Sometimes  the  priests  exhibit  them  loaded 
with  chains,  and  tell  their  devotees  that  their 
god  is  in  debt,  and  has  been  put  in  chains  by 
his  creditors,  and  so  must  remain  till  his 
debts  are  paid.  This  is  made  the  means  of 
extracting  money  from  the  deluded  wor- 
shippers. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  mantras  or  charms  charms. 
which  the  Brahmans  use  in  consecrating 
idols.  These  are  mostly  passages  from  the 
Vedas,  repeated  still  in  their  archaic  language 
■ — a  language  quite  unintelligible  to  those 
who  use  them,  as  the  source  whence  they  are 
derived  is  unknown.^^     They  are  thus  nothing 

^3  A  pundit,  well  read  in  ordinary  Sanskrit  literature,  calling 
on  me  one  day,  happened  to  look  over  a  volume  which  I  had 


172  Htndtiism. 


better  than  unmeaning  formulae,  but  tliey  are 
supposed  to  have  power  over  the  gods ; 
hence  the  common  saying,  that  the  gods  are 
subject  to  the  mantras,  and  the  mantras  are 
subject  to  the  Brahmans.  These  last  are 
thus  supposed  to  be  able  to  compel  the  pre- 
sence of  the  god  into  the  image  which  they 
wish  to  consecrate.  But  many  sects  hold  that 
each  worshipper  is  able  at  pleasure  to  enjoy 
the  presence  of  his  deity,  and  for  this  purpose, 
when  he  is  initiated  into  the  sect,  its  peculiar 
mantra  or  formula  is  taught  him.  This 
generally  consists  of  a  short  Sanskrit  form, 
meaning  '  I  salute  Krishna,'  or  ^  I  salute 
Narayana,'  or  some  such  thing.  By  repeat- 
ing this  at  the  commencement  of  any  act  of 
worship,  they  believe,  the  presence  of  the 
god  they  invoke  is  secured,  as  really  as  in 
the  idol.  The  philosophical  explanation  of 
this  is,  that  the  re23etition  of  the  formula 
helps  to  concentrate  the  mind  on  God,  and  to 
enable  us  to  meditate  better  on  Him. 

of  the  Rig  Veda  with  commentary.  He  was  quite  startled  to 
find  in  it  certain  mantras  which  he  had  been  using  for  years;  to 
learn  that  they  were  in  the  Veda,  and  had  a  meaning. 


VisInuL  Woi^ship.  I  ']'i^ 


One  of  the  most  striking  facts  in  modern  Disappear- 
Hinduism  is,  that  in  acts  of  worship,  whether  sacrifice. 
of  these  idols  or  of  the  deity  conceived  as 
spiritually  present,  sacrifice,  which  formed 
the  centre  of  early  Vedic  worship,  is  con- 
spicuous by  its  absence.  Offerings  are  in- 
deed made  to  the  idols,  but  they  are  not  con- 
sidered expiations  for  sin.  They  are  looked 
on  as  food  for  the  gods ;  they  are  allowed  to 
remain  before  the  idol  long  enough  for  it  to 
be  supposed  to  have  consumed  their  essence; 
and  then  their  apparent  remnant  is  taken  by 
the  priests.  Bloody  offerings,  sacrifices  of 
goats  and  buffaloes,  are  common  in  many  parts 
of  India,  as  were  also  sacrifices  of  children 
till  the  British  rule  was  firmly  established. 
But  these  are  acts  of  fetish  worship  more  akin 
to  the  worship  of  the  African  tribes  than  of 
the  early  Aryas — different  alike  in  name  and 
in  purpose — bloody  food  offered  to  propitiate 
a  bloodthirsty  deity,  instead  of  symbols  of 
the  sins  of  the  sacrificer  being  borne  by 
another.  They  are  found  chiefly  among  the 
aboriginal  tribes ;  the  tendency  of  Hinduism 


T  74  Hinduism. 


is  to  put  them  down/*  and  where  they  have 
been  incorporated  into  it  they  form  one  of  its 
greatest  stains.  Brahmanical  sacrifice  has 
disappeared  from  Hinduism  as  completely 
as  Levitical  sacrifice  has  disappeared  from 
Judaism.  In  the  latter  it  has  been  fulfilled, 
in  the  former  it  has  been  superseded.  It 
was  impossible  that  it  should  continue  after 
the  revolution  in  Indian  thought  which  Bud- 
dhism had  accomplished.  Primitive  sacrifice 
could  not  consist  with  the  idea  of  transmiofra- 
tion.  Vicarious  atonement  by  sacrifice  could 
have  no  meaning  for  persons,  who  looked  for 
vicarious  atonement  through  another  con- 
sciousness of  their  own  selves.  When  the 
human  soul  is  considered  part  of  the  divine 
spirit,  there  is  no  one  to  whom  atonement  can 
be  made. 

'^'^  Near  Todgurh  in  Mairwara  is  a  temple  to  Pii^laj  or  Devi, 
where  the  Mairs,  an  aboriginal  tribe,  nsed  to  sacrifice  children, 
till  the  district  was  subdued  by  the  English  about  the  year 
1820,  and  where  till  within  a  few  years  thirty  or  forty  buffaloes 
were  annually  sacrificed  with  the  most  savage  cruelty.  A 
Vaishnava  Brahman  was  appointed  Tahsildar  of  the  place  for  a 
few  years,  and  forbade  the  sacrifice,  but  under  his  successor 
thev  were  renewed.  The  attention  of  Government  beine:  called 
to  the  subject,  the  sacrifice  was  allowed,  but  the  cruelties  attend- 
ing it  forbidden. 


Vishnu  Worship.  175 

These  general  remarks  on  Hindu  worship  ^'^'jl^Jj^l^ 
and  ceremony  will  enable  us  better  to  under- 
stand the  peculiarities  of  Vishnu  worship.  It 
suits  the  character  of  tlie  god.  He  is  the 
sovereign  source  of  power,  and  his  wor- 
shippers need  only  to  make  a  formal  ac- 
knowledgment of  this.  Their  Avorship  is 
therefore  the  ^way  of  devotion.'  They  go 
to  his  temples,  and  make  a  presentation 
of  ^  wealth,  body  and  soul/  ^^  but  this  with 
the  majority  is  a  mere  form ;  it  does  not 
mean  renouncing  any  gain,  pleasure  or  sin. 
A  god  who  so  pampered  his  own  body 
while  on  earth,  cannot  ask  anything  very 
severe  of  his  followers — a  god  who  com- 
mitted such  sins  as  he  did,  will  not  require 
any  very  strict  renouncement  of  sin  from  his 
worshippers.  Their  main  idea  seems  to  be 
just  paying  to  the  idol  the  same  respect  as 
they  would  pay  to  the  god  if  he  were  still  in- 
carnate as  a  prince  on  earth.  The  idol  takes 
the  place  of  the  king ;  the  temple  is  his 
palace. 

When  George  I.  became  King  of  England,  Eage?.^ 

'5  Dliaiij  Tan,  Man. 


1 7^  Hmduis7n. 


liis    Court  was   still   ke23t   up   in    Hanover. 
His  usual  levees .  were  held,  but  in  his  place 
a  portrait  of  him  w^as  set  on  the  throne,  and 
the  courtiers  bowed  to  it  as  they  would  to 
the  king.     In  the  same  way  the  Hindus  bow 
to  the  images  of  Vishnu — as  they  would  to 
Rama  or  Krishna  were  they  still  on  earth, 
and  they  have  a  better  reason  for  it   than 
these  Hanoverians  had,  for  they  believe  that 
their  god  'pervades  the  image,  and  is  conscious 
of  service   done  to  it  as  of  service  done  to 
himself.     They  therefore  go  every  mornino- 
to  his  temple  to  jDay  their  respects  to  him  as 
they  do  to  their  Rajas  or  Thakurs.^^     In  fact, 
the  popular  name  for  an  image  of  Vishnu  is 
Thakurji.     They  believe  that,  just  as  a  prince 
is  satisfied  with   the  appearance   of  his  sub- 
jects at  his  court,  and  as  he  will  grant  their 
23etitions,    so    is   the  idol   satisfied  with  the 
presence  of  his  worshippers  in  his  temple,  and 
ready  to  grant  their  prayers.     So  too  as  a 
subject,  when  he  wants  any  great  boon  from 
his  raja,  must  make  him  and  his  ministers 
large    presents,    must    they   occasionally  be 

^^  A  noble  or  landed  proprietor  next  in  order  to  a  raja. 


Vishiu  Worship.  177 

ready  to  make  large  gifts  to  the  idol  and 
to  his  priests — even  to  the  extent  of  wealth, 
body,  and  soul — espacially  if  they  are  seeking 
liberation.  Some  idols  are  more  specially 
worshi23ped  on  certain  days — as  kings  have 
greater  levees  on  their  birthdays.  Tlien 
pilgrims  throng  from  all  parts  of  India  in 
crowds ;  the  god  is  carried  out  in  procession, 
and  exhibited  to  the  attendant  multitudes, 
who  are  told  that  a  glimpse  of  it  removes  all 
sin.  The  most  famed  of  these  festivals  is 
that  of  Juggernauth  in  Orissa,  whose  identi- 
fication with  Krishna  I  have  already  noticed. 
At  it  the  Hindus  make  a  sacrifice  of  some- 
thing dearer  to  them  than  wealth,  viz.,  caste, 
for  then  all  castes  mingle  promiscuously, 
and  the  worship  of  the  god  is  supposed 
to  sanctify  the  breaking  of  caste  rules. 
Formerly  devotees  used  to  throw  themselves 
before  the  wheels  of  the  huge  car  on  which 
the  idol  was  mounted,  to  be  crushed  to  death, 
assured  that  thereby  they  would  attain  union 
with  him. 

This    consecration   of    wealth,   body,    and  Tiie  Bom- 

.  liay  Maha- 

soul,    as    worship,   produces    m    some   sects  ^jas. 

M 


1 78  Hinduism. 


still  more  pernicious  results.  Some,  sucli 
as  the  Maharajas  of  Bombay,  teach  that  the 
god  is  not  present  in  the  idol,  but  incarnate  in 
the  priest,  and  that  it  is  to  him  that  the  con- 
secration must  be  made.  As  the  worshippers 
throng  into  the  temples,  where  the  Maharajas 
sit  enthroned  to  receive  their  homage,  guards 
are  stationed  at  the  gates  with  whips  to 
scourge  all  who  enter,  so  that  they  may  ex- 
perience the  effects  of  the  anger  of  the  god, 
and  this  is  considered  part  of  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  body.  In  more  esoteric  worship 
they  emulate  the  example  of  their  prototype 
Krishna,  and  justify  their  doing  so  on  the 
same  principles  as  those  on  which  the  Puranas 
justify  his  conduct.  But  ^  it  is  a  shame  even 
to  speak  of  those  things  which  are  done  of 
them' — in  worship.  When  the  books  of  a 
similar  sect — the  Bahm  Margis — were  first 
discovered  by  Professor  Wilson,  he  declared 
that  he  believed  there  must  be  some  alle- 
gorical meaning  attached  to  them,  because 
no  human  beings  could  be  found  so  debased 
as  to  practise  what  w^as  therein  inculcated 
as  the  worship  of  God.    But,  about  ten  years 


Vis/urn  Worship.  1 79 

aofo,  a  trial  on  an  action  for  slander  brouQ^ht 
by  one  of  these  Maharajas  against  a  native 
editor,  who  had  exposed  him,  revealed  the 
practices  of  the  sect  in  an  English  court 
before  English  judges.  It  showed  that  these 
sacred  books  were  no  allegories,  that,  on  the 
contrary,  they  did  not  sufficiently  depict  the 
vile  licentiousness  of  the  orgies  which  they 
sanctified  with  the  name  of  worship. 

And  this  is  only  a  legitimate  deduction  ^^J^^^'^^ 
from  the  higher  principles  of  Hinduism.  ^^^^^'^^^^■^"^• 
"When  once  Pantheism  has  shown  that  virtue 
and  vice  are  alike  indifferent  for  salvation, 
and  thereby  cleared  the  way  for  the  accej)t- 
ance  of  such  a  character  as  Krishna  as  an 
embodiment  of  Deity,  the  way  is  further 
cleared  for  his  worshippers  seeking  to  be 
like  him.  Happily  the  power  of  conscience 
within  even  them  is  not  altogether  effaced, 
and  the  worst  of  them  is  better  than  their 
deity,  while  it  is  only  a  small  section,  I 
Avould  fain  trust,  that  belong  to  these  more 
degraded  sects.  Many  Yaishnavas  walk 
according  to  the  light  of  nature,  and  are 
exemplary  in  all  the  relations    of  life ;   but 


I  So  Hinduism. 


the  strange  thing  is,  that  when  they  feel 
their  sin,  their  need  of  forgiveness  and  of  the 
aid  of  divine  power,  they  should  resort  to  a 
god  capable  of  appearing  in  such  forms  and 
doing  such  deeds  ;  and  that  they  should  be 
satisfied  with  the  slight  ceremonies  imposed 
by  his  worship.  The  Vishnu  religion  is  well 
termed  by  the  other  sects  in  India  the  self- 
indulgent  way  of  salvation.^^ 
Vaisionava       ^\\q    Vaishnavas    have     produced    many 

reiormers.  ■>■  «^ 

reformers  both  philosophic  and  popular. 
Ramanuja.  Forcmost  among  these  was  Ramanuja,  who 
lived  early  in  the  twelfth  century,  to  whose 
influence  subsequent  reformers  owe  most  of 
their  impulse.  He  held  the  theistic  doc- 
trine of  the  personality  of  God  and  of  His 
distinction  from  the  universe  and  from  the 
human  soul.  He  attacked  the  pantheism  of 
the  Vedanta  with  a  dialectic  power  and  high 
moral  tone  such  as  few  controversialists 
have  reached.  He  denounced  as  blas- 
phemous the  doctrine  of  God's  being  active 
only  when  conditioned  by  Maya,  or  ignorance, 
and   maintained   that   all   the   conditions  of 

^^  Puslit  Marg. 


Vishmc  Wo7^sJiip.  i8r 


sovereignty  and  activity  were  eternally  God's. 
But  he  did  not  get  quite  clear  of  all  pan- 
theistic ideas.  He  maintained  that  at  the 
final  liberation  souls  were  absorbed  in  God, 
but  not  unified  with  Him.  He  looked  on  the 
union  as  a  mechanical  mixture,  while  the 
Vedantists  would  consider  it  rather  a 
chemical  mixture.  As  milk  thougfh  mino-led 
with  water  does  not  become  water,  so  neither 
do  human  souls,  though  absorbed  in  the 
Supreme  by  virtue  of  meditation,  obtain 
identity  with  Him. 

One  of  his  successors,  Kamananda,  modi-  Rama- 
fied  this,  and  maintained  that  the  Supreme 
Spirit  might  be  both  unconditioned  and  con- 
ditioned, becoming  the  latter  out  of  love  to 
his  worshippers.  The  concrete  form  which 
this  speculation  assumed  was  that  God,  out 
of  love  to  man,  became  incarnate  ;  and  the 
most  popular  WTiter  of  his  school,  Tulsidas,  Tuisidas. 
author  of  a  version  of  the  Kamayana  in  the 
vulgar  dialect,  exjDresses  this  in  language  that 
a  Christian  might  almost  use.  The  followers 
of  Kamananda,  called  Ramanandis  or  RamiX- 
wats^  worship  Yishnu  in  the  incarnation  of 


1 8  2  Hinduism. 


other 
reformers. 


Rama  Chandra.  Their  philosophical  reform 
was  accompanied  by  a  practical  reform, 
which  sought,  among  other  things,  loosen- 
ing the  distinctions  of  caste  and  spreading 
sacred  knowledge  in  the  vernacular  instead 
of  the  obsolete  Sanskrit. 

As  they  fell  from  their  first  zeal  other 
reforming  sects  sprang  from  them,  some  of 
them  emulating  in  their  self-denial  the 
severest  of  the  Saiva  sects.  But  the  Nemesis 
of  their  origin  seems  to  have  followed  them 
all.  Starting  from  the  worship  of  a  sensual 
god,  they  all  sunk  to  his  level.  After  a  pro- 
test against  religious  corruption,  which  en- 
dured for  little  more  than  the  life  of  their 
founder,  their  worship  sank  to  a  grossness 
emulating  that  against  which  they  first  pro- 
tested. The  latest,  and  in  some  respects  the 
most  earnest  Vaishnava  attempt  at  reform — 
the  Ram  Sneh  sect,  which  admits  other  castes 
as  well  as  Brahmans  to  be  ministers  of  reli- 
gion, and  discards  all  idol  -  worship — has 
sunk  as  low  as  the  lowest,  and  confounds  the 
practice  of  uncleanness  with  the  service  of 
God. 


CHAPTER  V. 

SIVA  WORSHIP. 


TURNING  to  the  worship  of  Siva,   the  Principles 
■^  _  of  Siva 

other  great  god  of  the  Hindus,  w^e  find  worship. 

the  opposite  pole  of  pantheistic  thought  at 
work.  Vishnu  worship  starts  from  the  idea 
of  God  condescending  to  man,  Siva  worship 
from  the  idea  of  man  raising  himself  to  be 
God.  Vishnuism,  considering  that  God  per- 
vades everything,  has  recognised  Him  espe- 
cially in  the  heroes  of  the  nation;  Sivaism, 
considering  our  souls  to  be  part  of  God, 
teaches  us  to  seek  to  realise  that  union  by 
subduing  the  body  and  mortifying  the  flesh. 
We  have  seen  that  the  idea  of  the  power  of 
austerity  entered  early  into  Indian  religion, 
and  was  by  some  considered  the  source  of  the 
power  of  the  gods^  even  before  the  rise  of 
Buddhism ;  but  it  was  after  the  rise  of  that 

*  See  ante,  p.  50. 


1 84  Hinduis7it. 


system  that  this  stream  of  thought  gained 
power  in  India,  and  it  was  possibly  in  seek- 
ing to  combat  Buddhism  with  its  own  wea- 
pons that  the  Brahmans  were  led  to  exalt 
the  worship  of  Siva. 
Eudra,  \^  jg  difficult  to  Say  how  he  came  to  take 

the  place  he  has  done  in  the  Hindu  pantheon. 
The  meaning  of  his  name  is  '  Gracious.'  The 
word  does  not  occur  in  the  Vedas  as  the 
name  of  a  god^  but  it  occurs  as  an  epithet  of 
Hudra,  with  whom  Siva  was  afterwards 
identified.  This  was  the  name  of  the  god  of 
the  storm^  and  it  explains  a  number  of  the 
attributes  of  Siva.  The  storm^  rushing  down 
from  the  mountains,  led  to  the  mountain 
being  considered  his  abode ;  the  constant 
muttering  of  the  thunder,  which  the  echoes 
appear  to  make  incessant  for  hours,  might 
suggest  his  constant  invocations  on  the  moun- 
tain top ;  the  irresistible  power  with  which 
the  lightning  strikes  those  on  whom  it  falls 
might  originate  the  glance  from  his  eye  that 
consumed  those  who  excited  his  wrath ;  the 
destructive  fury  of  the  storm,  overthrowing 
houses,  tearing  up  trees,  raising  the  torrents 


Siva  Worship.  185 

to  sweep  away  their  banks,  explain  his  attri- 
butes as  the  god  of  destruction ;  the  aspect 
of  the  phxin  after  the  storm  has  swept  over  it 
— the  plough  turning  up  the  soft  earth, 
formerly  a  hardened  cake — a  tinge  of  ver- 
dure clothing  w^hat  was  formerly  a  barren 
waste — is  sufficient  to  account  for  his  being 
called  also  the  god  of  fertility  and  reproduc- 
tion ;  whilst  the  effect  of  the  storm  in  purify- 
ing and  clearing  the  atmosphere,  and  bracing 
up  the  frame,  may  account  for  the  medical 
power  attributed  to  him. 

Such  is  the  Vedic  s^od  with  whom  Siva  is  Popular 

^  conception 

now  identified ;  and  so  we  may  account  for  °^'  ^^^■^• 
some  of  the  attributes  now  attached  to  the 
latter.  But  this  is  a  more  recent  identifica- 
tion, and  it  is  probable  that,  as  he  is  now 
generally  conceived  of  in  India,  he  was  ori- 
ginally the  god  of  some  of  the  aboriginal 
tribes.^  The  myths  about  his  first  forcing 
Brahma  and  Yishnu  to  acknowledge  his 
power — too    coarse   to    be    repeated    here — 


2  i 


Two  deities  were  especially  worshipped  by  the  Brahman 
priests,  and  appear  to  have  been  the  types  of  two  different  races 
— the  Aryans  and  the  Turanians.  These  were  Vishnu  and 
Siva.' — Wheeler's  Hut.  of  India,  vol.  iii.  p.  07. 


i86  Hinduism, 


him. 


point  to  the  reluctant  acknowledgment  of  his 
claims  bj  older  sects.  There  is  little  human 
interest  in  the  leo^ends  reofardinof  him — no- 
thing,  as  in  the  case  of  Vishnu,  to  intertwine 
him  with  the  history  of  India.  The  popular 
idea  with  regard  to  him  is  that  he  was  a 
mendicant  who  gained  and  maintains  his 
power  by  austerities,  meditation,  and  invoca- 

tlt'onfof  ^^^^-  I^^  ^^i^  statues  he  is  represented  with 
his  hand  open,  as  if  begging  for  alms  :  he  is 
said  to  have  gone  about  begging,  riding  on  a 
bull,  which  is  consequently  now  considered 
his  sacred  animal.  Stories  of  drunkenness, 
licentiousness  and.  ferocious  cruelty  are  attri- 
buted to  him ;  but  his  vice  differs  from  that 
of  Krishna's  very  much  as  a  half  idiotic 
boor's  might  differ  from  that  of  a  prince.  The 
conception  of  a  man  becoming  god  through 
godlike,  because  most  perfectly  human,  con- 
duct, has  no  place  in  Sivaism.  The  men- 
dicant becomes  a  terrible  god  by  becoming  as 
un-human  as  possible,  and  all  the  representa- 
tions of  Siva  carry  out  this  idea.  He  is  repre- 
sented as  having  a  third  eye  in  his  forehead, 
with  a  glance  from  which  he  strikes   dead 


Siva  Worship.  187 


those  who  offend  him ;  his  rosary  is  composed 
of  human  skulls,  in  which  he  is  said  to  de- 
light, and  his  necklace  is  of  the  same ;  while 
serpents  mingle  with  his  hair  and  wreathe 
round  his  neck.  He  is  said  thus  to  be  sitting 
on  Kailas,  an  unseen  mountain  of  the  Hima- 
layas, still  engaged  in  meditation,  turning  his 
rosary  and  engaged  in  invocation,  thereby 
continually  increasing  his  power.  This  power 
is  not  connected  with  any  moral  or  even  in- 
tellectual greatness,  or  any  power  of  will. 
It  seems  to   be  very  little   under  his    own  Saiva 

^  ^  _  legends. 

control.  One  unfortunate  god  is  said  once  to 
have  disturbed  him  at  his  invocations ;  his 
anger  was  aroused,  and  a  glance  from  his  eye 
reduced  him  to  ashes.  When  reproached  for 
what  he  had  done,  he  granted  him  to  be  born 
aofain  as  Krishna.  So  too  in  a  drunken  fit 
he  is  said  once  to  have  struck  off  the  head  of 
his  son  Ganesha,  and  when  reproached  by 
his  wife  for  so  doing,  he  replaced  it  with  an 
elephant's  head.  One  name  by  which  he  is 
known  among  the  common  people  is  the 
simple  or  half-witted  lord.^     Their  idea  seems 

3  Bhola  Nath. 


1 88  Hinduism, 


to  be  that  this  snuplicity  makes  it  easier  to 
cajole,  and  at  the  same  time  more  dangerous 
to  disturb  him. 
other  wor-       jJq  ig   g3^i(j   ^q  \^q  married  to  a  ofoddess 

snip  con-  c> 

nected  with  named  Parvati,  which  means  daughter  of 
the  mountain.  The  linga  or  symbol  by 
which  he  is  now  generally  worshipped  is 
considered  by  some  to  have  been  adopted 
from  some  of  the  aboriginal  tribes,  and  incor- 
porated with  his  worship  before  it  was  re- 
cognized by  the  Aryan  castes.  But  the 
main  feature  in  his  religion  is,  that  he 
symbolizes  the  results  that  may  be  attained 
by  austerities  and  invocation.  The  very 
absence  of  inherent  greatness  or  power  in 
the  character  of  the  god  tends  to  exalt  the 
principle  which  he  represents. 
duse?  Ii^  conformity  with  this,  the  worship  paid 

stay^?^"    "to  him  starts  from  the  idea  of  getting  power 

hisrelmon.  !•  n  ••!  ±*x*  i  t 

over  mm  by  smiilar  austerities  and  medi- 
tation. It  is  therefore  called  the  way  of 
works*  or  the  way  of  hardships.''^  Accord- 
ingly it  is  the  ascetics  and  devotees  who 
form  the  main  strength  of  the  Saiva  sects. 

'^  Karma  ]\Iarga.  s  Kaslit  Marga. 


Siva  Worship.  189 


Some  of  these  include  men  of  real  learning 
and  power,  who  discard  all  the  gross  tradi- 
tions with  regard  to  their  god,  look  on  him 
as  the  representative  of  the  Supreme  Spirit, 
and  endeavour  by  study  and  learning  to 
acquire  such  knowledge  as  shall  enable 
them  to  realize  their  unity  with  him. 
Sankaracharya,  perhaps  the  greatest  master 
of  the  Yedanta  philosophy,  belonged  to  the 
Saivas ;  its  most  strenuous  and  able  sup- 
porters at  present  are  to  be  found  among  • 
them,  especially  in  the  sect  called  the 
Dandis,  among  whom  alone,  as  far  as  I 
have  observed,  are  iconoclasts  and  zealous 
reformers  on  a  purely  Hindu  basis  to  be 
found.  These  adopt  in  its  highest  sense  the 
Saiva  principle  of  man  raising  himself  to 
unity  with  the  divine. 

But  in  general  it  is  a  mere  mortification  of  Common 

,    .  ideas  of 

the  flesh,  a  mere  unhumanizmo:  of  the  man  themean- 
that  is  looked  to  as  the  means  of  attaining  asceticism. 
power.     A  story  is  told  of  one  who  for  a 
thousand   years    continued   standing   on  the 
tip  of  his  left  toe,  during  the  first  hundred 
years  of  which  period  he  lived  on  fruits,  the 


iQO  Hindidsrn. 


second  hundred  on  withered  leaves,  the  third 
hundred  on  water ^  and  the  remaining  seven 
hundred  on  air.  At  the  end  of  this  period 
Mahadeva,  or  Siva,  appeared  to  him,  and 
granted  him  what  boons  he  desired. 
Drying  up       There  is  a  local  tradition  at  Pushkar,  near 

of  the  .  ^ 

blood.  Ajmer,  to  the  effect,  that  on  the  occasion  of 
a  great  gathering  of  gods  and  Brahmans  at 
the  place,  some  of  the  latter  went  to  pay 
their  respects  to  a  celebrated  recluse  of  the 
name  of  Mankan.  One  of  them  had  some 
coarse  grass  in  his  hand,  with  which  he 
accidentally  cut  the  recluse's  finger,  when 
instead  of  blood  a  green  fluid  came  out. 
Seeing  the  effect  which  his  devotions  had 
had,  he  began  to  dance  with  joy  and  pride, 
till  Siva,  to  humble  him,  went  and  opened  his 
own  finger  before  him,  when  a  stream  of 
white  ashes  came  out.  Mankan,  seeing  proof 
of  a  devotion  so  much  more  powerful  than 
his  own,  became  silent,  and  worshipped  him. 
Then,  after  asking  and  obtaining  the  promise 
of  certain  blessings  for  those  who  should 
visit  his  hermitage  on  certain  days,  ^Mankan 
became  absorbed  in  Siva.' 


Siva  Worship.  191 


This  story  points  to  an  idea  held  by  others  Practices  of 

•^    ■*■  modem 

as  well  as  Hindu  recluses,  that  the  source  of  ^-s^etics. 
corruption  is  especially  in  the  blood,  and  that 
if  it  can  be  dried  up  the  passions  will  be  sub- 
dued. Among  the  present  ascetics,  however, 
we  find  little  more  than  a  mere  symbolism  of 
ancient  ideas.  They  do  generally  succeed  in 
making  themselves  appear  very  unhuman,  as 
unlike  men  as  men  can  be,  though  whether  it 
be  a.  sublimation  or  degradation  of  their  na- 
ture depends  on  the  point  of  view  from  which 
they  are  looked  at.  The  body  is  covered  with 
ashes,  to  signify  the  drying  up  of  the  blood, 
the  scorching  up  of  the  passions.  It  is  some- 
times further  mortified  by  self-inflicted  tor- 
tures. One  arm  is  held  out  straight  till  it 
is  stiffened,  and  cannot  ag^ain  be  bent.  The 
hand  is  clenched  and  the  nails  allowed  to 
grow  through  the  flesh.  Occasionally  a  vow  of 
silence  for  a  period  of  twelve  years  is  taken. 
Some  live  alone  in  the  woods  or  in  caves,  but 
more  frequently  they  wander  about  from  one 
shrine  of  Siva's  to  another.  Some  classes  of 
these  recluses — and  there  are  as  many  kinds 
as  there  are  of  monks  and  friars — are  more 


192  Hinduism. 


exclusive  as  to  the  castes  which  they  admit 
into  their  fraternity.  But  in  general  men  of 
any  caste  may  join  one  or  other  of  the  various 
Their  de-  ]^inds  of  mendicauts,  and  a  short  conversation 
character,  ss^^}^  ^uy  of  them  will  rovcal  the  utterly  sor- 
did;  selfish  soul  that  exists  beneath  these 
outer  disguises  and  self-inflicted  tortures^  sym- 
bolizinof  the  mortification  of  the  flesh  and  its 
lusts.  ^  Whose  god  is  their  belly'  may  be 
said  of  most  of  these  holy  men,  and  is  said  of 
them  by  the  Hindus  generally.  Many  pro- 
verbs and  rhymes  are  current  among  the 
common  people  satirizing  these  jogis,  as  they 
are  called,  for  their  sordid  or  cowardly  mo- 
tives in  becoming  recluses,  and  for  their 
gluttony  and  rapacity  since  they  assumed 
their  profession.  But  with  all  that  they  fear 
them,  dread  their  curse,  supply  them  with 
what  they  want,  and  even  worship  them. 
They  often  ask  them  to  obtain  favours  for 
them  from  Siva,  believing  that  in  some  way 
their  austerities  have  brought  him  under 
obliofation  to  them. 

These  constitute  the  mainstay  of  the  Saiva 


Siva  WorsJiip.  193 


sect.^  They  are  the  principal  worshippers  of  p;™  S. 
the  god,  but  they  have  also  a  large  lay  fol- 
lowiiiQf  amonof  various  tribes  and  castes,  whose 
objects  of  worship  they  have  identified  or 
connected  with  Siva.  The  Vaishnavas,  we 
have  seen,  represented  the  deified  heroes  of 
India  as  successive  incarnations  of  their  god, 
thus  utilizinof  the  doctrine  of  transmicrration. 
The  Saivas,  on  the  other  hand,  rather  took 
up  the  primitive  objects  of  worship  of  the 
various  tribes,  and  represented  them  as 
beinof  either  manifestations  or  servants  of 
Siva.  Their  system  consequently  does  not 
present  the  same  unity  as  that  of  their  rivals  ; 
there  are  no  broad  lines  by  which  to  mark 
their  workings  and  we  have  to  pick  up  and 
put  together  numbers  of  disjointed  legends 
in  every  district  of  India,  to  learn  how  they 
propagated  their  faith.  In  some  cases,  indeed,  ^7^^''' 
their  course  of  action  is  plain  enough.  A 
god  or  goddess  may  have  more  than  one 
name.  Thus  Devi,  who  was  worshipped  by 
the  Rajputs,  Mata,  a  goddess  of  some  of  the 

^  In  saying  this  I  refer  especially  to  Nortliern  India,  to 
whicli  alone  my  personal  observation  has  extended. 

N 


194  Hinduism. 


hill  tribes,  Durga  and  Kali,  Bengal  divini- 
ties, were  all  identified  with  Parvati,  the  wife 
of  Siva.  These  were  all  more  or  less  sanguin- 
ary deities,  and  had  thus  an  affinity  with  the 

servants,  gavago,  un-human  nature  of  Siva.  Again, 
the  favourite  deities  of  many  agricultural 
castes  were  Bhairon  and  Khetrpal.  These 
were  allowed  to  remain  and  be  worshipped  as 
of  old,  but  they  were  represented  as  atten- 
dants on  Siva.  The  Hindus  often  say,  that  if 
any  one  wishes  to  get  a  hearing  of  the  magis- 
trate, he  must  tip  his  servants ;  and  so  the 
farmers  think  that  the  best  way  to  secure 
Siva's  protection  for  their  fields  is  by  paying 

and  priests,  attention  to  his  subordinates.  Another  point 
to  be  noticed  is,  that  the  priests  in  many  of 
the  temples  of  these  deities  are  not  Brahman  s, 
but  members  of  other  castes,  the  former  not 
seeming  to  have  cared  to  disturb  the  usual 
arrangements  for  worship  among  those  whom 
they  sought  to  proselytize,  if  they  only 
acknowledged  their  supremacy. 

Instances        ^^^  i^  i^  ^^J  whcn  we  begin  to  examine 

gandSm.  into  tlic  liistory  of  each  old  shrine  that  we 
find   with   what    marvellous    ingenuity   the 


&' 


Siva  Worship,  195 

Brahmans  have  made  themselves  ^  all  thinofs 
to  all  men.'  Of  this  I  will  give  one  or  two 
examples,  that  have  come  under  my  own 
observation  in  India. 

About  six  miles  distant  from  Ajmer  is  a  Pushkar. 
lake  of  the  name  of  Pushkar,  with  a  town  of '^^^^^'^' 
the  same  name  on  its  banks,  considered  one 
of  the  most  holy  places  in  India.  As  a  god 
may  be  present  in  a  stone  or  image,  so  he  may 
be  present  in  any  locality — in  a  grove,  a 
stream  or  lake.  There  are  some  streams,  such 
as  the  Ganges,  and  some  lakes,  such  as  Push- 
kar, which  are  supposed  to  be  the  abodes  of 
powerful  deities,  who  are  bound  to  grant  for- 
giveness of  sins  to  all  who  may  worship  them 
by  bathing  in  their  waters.  These  localities 
are  called  by  the  people  tirths,  or  places  of 
pilgrimage,  but  by  the  initiated  this  name  is 
applied  only  to  the  deity  who  gives  sanctity 
to  the  place.  The  lake  and  town  of  Pushkar 
are  there  throughout  the  year,  but  the  tirtli 
is  there  for  only  five  days  at  the  beginning  of 
winter.  The  explanation  of  this  given  in  the 
sacred  books  is :  tliat  such  multitudes  were  ob- 
taining salvation  by  his  means,  that  the  gods 


196  Hindttism. 


complained  that  heaven  was  becoming  too 
crowded,  and  remonstrated  with  Brahma,  who 
thereupon  removed  Pushkar  to  the  sky  except 
for  these  five  days.  On  other  occasions  he 
can  be  drawn  into  the  waters  by  the  use  of 
certain  charms.  The  probable  explanation 
seems  to  be,  that  from  time  immemorial  a 
fair  has  been  held  at  that  time,  as  being  the 
most  convenient  time  of  the  year,  and  the 
Brahmans  afterwards  tried  to  give  it  a  reli- 
gious reason. 
Primitive        In  the  traditions  and  rites  connected  with 

worship 

of  Pushkar.  this  lake,  we  can  see  different  stages  of  reli- 
gious thought  and  worship  fossilized,  as  in 
the  successive  strata  of  a  fissure  of  the  earth 
we  find  traces  of  successive  developments  of 
life.  We  see  first  of  all  the  aboriginal  inha- 
bitants with  their  tree  and  serpent  worship. 
Then  came  the  Gujars,  a  pastoral  tribe,  who 
worshipped  a  goddess,  Gaitri,  and  who  seem 
to  have  been  the  first,  as  they  are  still  the 
most  devout,  believers  in  the  efficacy  of  Push- 
kar.    Then  came  the  Brahmans,  at  a  time 

"^  when  Brahma  was  still  their  god,  and  they 

had  not  yet  found  it  politic  to  adopt  either 


Siva  Worship.  197 

Vishnu  or  Siva.  They  performed  a  great 
sacrifice  at  the  time  of  the  fair,  which  they 
represented  as  being  a  sacrifice  performed  by 
Brahma.  To  symbolize  the  adherence  of  the 
Gujars  to  their  faith^  they  invented  a  legend  to 
the  effect  that  Brahma,  in  the  absence  of  his 
wife,  Savitri,  had  been  obliged  to  espouse 
Gaitri,  in  order  to  accomplish  the  sacrifice. 
They  likewise  accounted  for  the  serpent  wor- 
ship by  representing  a  Brahman  as  having 
been,  by  the  curse  of  another,  changed  into  a 
serpent,  and  having  been  solaced  by  Brahma 
with  the  assurance  that  divine  honours  would 
be  paid  him.  Pushkar  is  now  the  only  place 
in  India  where  the  worship  of  Brahma  occu- 
pies a  conspicuous  jDlace. 

Lastly  came  the  Saivas.     They  found  the  saiva  mani- 
pulation of 
legends   of  Brahma  too  strongly   rooted   to  the  legends. 

be  ignored  or  displaced,  so  they  recast  the 
story,  representing  Brahma  as  asking  per- 
mission of  their  god  to  perform  the  sacrifice, 
and  frequently  admitting  his  supremacy 
during  its  course.  They  also  identified  Siva 
with  some  of  the  most  popular  objects  of 
worship  in  Pushkar  and  the  neighbourhood. 


iqS  Hhidiiism. 


One  tradition  has  been  already  referred  to.' 
The  cell  of  a  holy  man  called  Atmat,  or  the 
wanderer,  had  been  an  object  of  superstitious 
reverence.  He  was  introduced  into  the  leg-end 
as  a  servant  of  Siva,  absorbed  into  him  durino- 
the  sacrifice.  The  name  of  Atamteshwar, 
or  Lord  of  Atmat,  Avas  given  to  Siva,  and 
a  handsome  Saiva  temple  erected  over  the 
hermit's  cell.  Again,  at  a  j^lace  not  far  from 
Pushkar,  there  is  a  rock  called  Ajogand/  with 
a  mark  on  it,  said  to  be  that  of  a  goat  which, 
on  a  certain  day  of  the  fair,  the  people  had 
been  accustomed  to  visit  and  worship.  The 
Saivas  laid  hold  of  this,  and  represented  the 
goat,  whose  print  was  on  the  rock,  as  a  form 
into  which  Siva  had  transformed  himself  in 
order  to  kill  a  demon.  They  also  represented 
him  as  promising  to  leave  his  Himalayan 
home  for  one  day  in  the  year,  and  to  be  pre- 
sent then  in  that  rock — the  day  of  course 
being  that  consecrated  by  popular  usage.^ 
BiSuians        ^^  ^^il^  ^^  sccu  that  the  whole  object  of 

to  assimi-         ,  o  ,  ^ . 

late.  ^  See  page  190.  s  Tlie  leaping  goat. 

9  There  are  Vaislmava  traditions  also  connected  with  Pushkar, 

but  these  are  evidently  njore  modern,  and  refer  to  historical 

events. 


Siva  Worship.,  199 

the  Brahmans  Avas  to  assimilate^  not  in  any 
way  to  eradicate,  ancient  religious  usages. 
They  seem  to  have  been  as  compliant  with 
regard  to  the  moral  practices  of  those  whom 
they  thus  proselytized.  In  the  ^  Lay  of 
Pushkar/  the  Gujars  are  represented  as 
being^  most  loose  livinof  men,  but  their  ad- 
mission  as  such  seems  to  be  looked  on 
rather  as  an  evidence  of  the  catholicity  of 
the  Brahmanical  religion.  As  they  were 
then  so  they  are  now,  after  centuries  of 
Brahmanical  supremacy. 

To  the  south-east  of  Ajmer  is  a  district  Parihar 
inhabited  by  a  tribe  called  the  Parihar 
Minas.  An  incident  in  the  history  of  one 
of  their  progenitors,  according  to  their  pre- 
sent tradition,  has  led  them  to  look  on  the 
boar  as  a  sacred  animal,  though  this  may  be 
a  relic  of  boar  worship.  When  the  Maliom- 
medans  came  to  India,  the  Minas  seem  to 
have  confounded  their  looking  on  the  boar 
as  an  unclean  animal  with  their  own  reg^ard 
for  it  as  a  sacred  animal,  and  to  have  been 
induced  in  some  degree  to  conform  to  their 
faith.      Their   old  idol,    however,   they  still 


200  Hmdutsm. 


worsliipj)ed,    but  gave  it  the   Mahommedan 
name  of  Father  Adam.-^^     Subsequently  the 
Saiva   Brahmans  got  hold  of  them.     They 
did    not    try    to    persuade    them    to    give 
up  the  worship  of  Father  Adam  or  of  the 
boar,  but  simply  to  allow  that  Father  Adam 
was  a  name  of  Siva,  and  to  worship  the  cow 
as  well  as  the  boar.     Temples  were  erected 
in  their  principal  villages,  and  stones  placed 
in  them  bearing  representations  of  Siva  as 
Father  Adam,  of  a   cow   and   a   boar,   and 
inscriptions  to  the  effect :  that  the  Mahom- 
medans  respected  the  boar  and  the  Hindus 
the  cow,  but  the  true  followers    of  Father 
Adam  respected   both  ;    and  if  they  should 
neglect  the  worship  of  any  one  of  the  three, 
the   worship    of  the    other   two    would    not 
benefit    them.       There    are     several    Saiva 
temples  in   the   district   in   which    I    heard 
the  Brahmans  invoke  Mahadeva,^^  and  the 
Minas  Father  Adam. 


Moral  in- 


fluence of        Here,  too,  the  Brahmanical  influence  has 

Brahmans.   n  ••  iii  i  n    n  i 

been  pernicious  to  the  customs  oi  the  people. 
It  was  an  old  custom  of  the  Parihars  to  kill 

^°  Adam  baba.  "  A  name  of  Siva. 


Siva  Worship.  201 


their  female  infants,  the  object  being,  as  they 
said,  to  avoid  the  expense  of  their  marriage. 
But  some,   who  had   been  more  deeply  in- 
structed in  priestly  lore,  assured  me  that  when 
Father  Adam's  worship  was  introduced,  one 
of  the  Minas,  who  had  been  most  zealous 
in   promoting   it,    obtained  from  the  god  a 
promise  that  his  sons  should  be  as  numerous 
as  the  hairs  on  his  body ;  and,  as  the  divine 
blessing  is  generally  bestowed  through  means, 
he  further  obtained  divine  permission  for  the 
Parihars  to  kill  their  daughters,  that  so  the 
mothers,   being  relieved  from  their  nursing, 
might  be  sooner  able  to   bear  sons.     Thus, 
instead  of  trying  to  eradicate  a  cruel  and  bad 
custom,  the  Brahmans  gave  it  a  divine  sanc- 
tion.   When  English  officers  some  forty  years 
ago  visited  this    district,    and    tried    to  put 
down  female  infanticide,  the  strongest  objec- 
tion they   met   with   was   the  command    of 
Father  Adam. 

This  propagandism  is  still  active  in  India.  The  bmis. 
In  1868  an  attempt  was  made  to  Brahmanize 
the  Bhils  of  the  Aravalis.      They  agreed  to 
obey  the  Brahmans,  to  reverence  the  cow,  to 


202  Hindtdsm. 


refrain  from  eating  its  fleshy  and  to  refuse  to 
eat  and  drink  with  their  neighbours  the 
Mairs,  with  whom  they  had  formerly  mingled 
socially.  They  were  thus  erected  into  a 
Hindu  caste,  and  their  idols  were  received 
into  the  Hindu  pantheon.  In  1869  the 
famine  began  ;  they  were  without  food,  and 
v\^ere  glad  to  eat  the  carcases  of  their  cattle, 
which  were  dying.  They  thus  forfeited  their 
new  dignity,  and  apostatized  from  their  new 
faith.  But  plenty  has  now  returned,  and 
the  attempts  to  proselytize  them  are  being 
renewed. 

These  are  specimens  of  how  the  Saivas 
have  gone  to  work ;  and  if  the  traditions 
throughout  India  about  Siva  and  his  subor- 
dinates were  examined,  they  would  probably 
be  found  to  be  skilful  adaptations  of  older 
objects  of  worship. 


12 


^=  '  In  reviewing  tlie  state  of  India  during  the  period  which 
has  here  heen  distinguished  as  the  Brahmanical  revival,  it  is 
impossible  to  overlook  the  ecclesiastical  organization  of  the 
Brahinans,  by  which  the  varied  populntions  of  India  have  been 
brought  under  their  influence  and  authority.  In  every  village 
and  every  imj^ortant  family  a  Brahman  priest  is  generally 
established  as  a  preceptor  or  Purohita.  Again,  every  sect  or 
district  is  under  the  jurisdiction  of  a  Guru,  or  spiritual  head, 


Siva  Worship.  203 


In  nearly  all  these  cases  the  old  form  of  ^' 
worship  was  still  maintained.  It  is  almost  "^''^' 
exclusively  among  the  Saiva  sects  that  the 
sacrifices  of  blood,  to  which  I  have  referred, 
are  offered.  But  this  is  accounted  for  by 
saying  that  the  god  delights  in  drinking 
blood  and  wearing  skulls ;  thus  his  worship 
was  accommodated  to  the  demon  worship  of 
many  of  the  aboriginal  tribes.     It  is  more 


who  maintains  its  orthodoxy  in  matters  of  caste  and  religion. 
The  Purohita  is  supported  by  the  viUage  or  family  where  he 
has  taken  iij)  his  permanent  abode.  The  Guru  is  generally 
engaged  in  extensive  ecclesiastical  visitations,  during  which  he 
levies  contributions  for  the  support  of  himself  and  his  own  im- 
mediate disciples,  and  confirms  the  younger  Hindus  who  have 
attained  a  suitable  age.  The  missionary  operations  of  the 
Brahmans  are  indeed  worthy  of  special  study.  They  have 
been  carried  on  from  time  immemorial ;  and  the  process  is  still 
going  on  amongst  hill  tribes  and  other  remote  populations.  A 
Brahman  makes  his  appearance  in  a  so-called  aboriginal  village, 
and  establishes  his  influence  by  an  affectation  of  superior  sanc- 
tity, aided  by  t^ie  fame  of  his  spells,  incantations,  mystic  rites, 
and  astrological  predictions.  He  declares  the  village  idol  to  be 
a  form  of  one  or  other  of  the  go-eat  gods  or  goddesses  of  the  Brah- 
manical  pantheon  ;  and  he  professes  to  teach  the  true  forms  of 
worship.  ,  He  divides  the  villagers  into  castes  and  introduces 
caste  laws.  In  this  manner  the  populations  of  India  have  been 
brought  under  the  spiritual  domination  of  the  Brohmans,  and 
the  caste  system  has  been  introduced  into  secluded  regions  in 
which  it  was  previously  unknown.' — Wheeler's  Kist.  of  India, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  401,402. 


Foniis  of 
aiva  wor- 


204  Hinduism. 


generally,  however,  his  spouse,  under  her  dif- 
ferent names,  who  is  thus  honoured.  As 
Mata  or  Devi  she  is  still  worshipped  by 
the  sacrifice  of  goats  and  buffaloes  ;  as  Kali 
she  was  formerly  worshipped  by  children 
being  offered  to  her.  As  worshippers  of  her 
the  Thugs  were  included  in  the  Hindu 
system ;  her  command  and  example  were  cited 
to  make  Sati  a  religious  act.  It  is  chiefly 
through  the  worship  of  these  goddesses, 
and  such  subordinate  gods  as  Bhairon  and 
Khetrpal,  that  Siva  worship  maintains  its 
hold  of  the  populace.  His  own  temples  are 
deserted  throughout  the  year,  except  on  the 
occasion  of  festivals,  and  then  they'  are 
thronged  chiefly  by  wandering  devotees. 
Secret  Qj^g  Qf  ^^q  worst  developments  of  Sivaism 

sects.  J- 

is  the  rise  of  secret,  or  as  they  call  themselves 
left-handed,^^  sects.  These  are  sects  that  meet 
in  private,  when  all  rules  of  caste  are  for  the 
time  set  aside,  and  all  eat  and  drink  together ; 
when  they  meet  again  in  public,  caste  rules 
resume  their  sway.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  in  some  cases  this  is  only   a   way   of 

*3  Bahm.  Margis. 


Siva  Worship.  205 


getting  relief  from  the  tyranny  of  caste  ;  but 
in  many,  if  not  in  the  majority,  of  these  sects 
rules  of  morality  share  the  same  fate  as  the 
rules  of  caste.^*  This  is  especially  the  case 
with  those  called  the  Saktas,  or  the  wor- 
shippers of  Sakti,  the  female  principle.  Some 
of  their  holy  books,  called  the  Tantras,  true  to 
the  jDrinciple  of  Saiva  worship,  teach  a  religion 
of  works,  but  the  works  they  inculcate  are 
violating  the  laws  of  sobriety,  decency,  and 
truth.  The  religion  of  works  and  hardship 
leads  to  as  low  an  abyss  as  the  religion  of 
devotion  and  ease. 

^•^  '  In  the  Siva  cult  novices  were  exposed  to  every  possible 
allurement  and  expected  to  remain  unmoved.  In  the  Kali  cult 
nudity  was  worshipped  in  Bacchanalian  orgies  which  cannot 
be  described.'—Wheeler. 


CHAPTEE  YI. 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  SECTS. REVIEW  OF 

HINDUISM. 


Original 
enmity  of 


^PHE  worship  of  Vishnu  and  the  worship 
the  sects.     _L      Qf  Q[y^^  then,  symbolize  originally  two 

opposite,  almost  antagonistic  tendencies  of 
religious  thought, — the  former  regarding 
Deity  as  becoming  man,  with  all  his  imper- 
fections, and  requiring  to  be  served  as  we 
serve  the  mighty  of  our  race, — the  latter  re- 
garding man  as  by  his  own  exertions  free- 
ing himself  from  all  human  weaknesses 
and  feelings,  and  raising  himself  to  the 
power  of  the  Deity.  This  antagonism  of 
princij)les  produced  a  frequent  hostility  be- 
tween the  rival  sects,  such  as  can  hardly  be 
explained  by  the  external  accidents  of  their 
systems.  There  seems  little  doubt  that 
Vishnu  worship  was  the  older  among  the 
Aryan  castes  at  all  events.    We  find  in  it  the 


Reco7iciliation  of  the  Sects.  207 

continuity  of  old  Bralinianism  better  pre- 
served, and  it  has  altogether  a  milder 
character.  This  mildness  is  apparent  even 
in  its  opposition  to  Buddhism,  and,  as  shown 
in  the  story  of  the  ninth  incarnation,  it  was 
more  ready  to  amalgamate  than  to  oppose. 
Sivaism,  on  the  other  hand,  attacked  Bud- 
dhism with  the  vigour  of  a  newer  faith  and  of 
a  nearer  relationship.  It  animated  the  kings 
who  fought  against  Buddhism ;  it  was  the 
faith  of  the  fire  races  of  the  Bajputs,  whose 
arms  finally  made  Brahmanism  triumphant. 
But  the  Sivas  seem  originally  to  have  been 
opposed  to  the  Yaishnavas  as  much  as  to  the 
Buddhists.  In  the  older  books  of  the  two 
sects  we  find  the  rival  gods  denounced, 
Vishnu  banning  Siva,  and  Siva  banning 
Vishnu,  each  excluding  his  rival's  w^orshippers 
from  salvation,  and  consigning  them  to  hell. 

The   more    popular    arguments    as  to  the  ^q^^J'^v^ 
superiority  of  the  two  gods   did  not  indeed  ^^®^' 
turn  so  much  on   the    deeper   questions    of 
their  faith  as  on  some  traditional  incidents. 
Thus  Krishna  may  have  paid  his  devotions 
at   some   shrine   of   Siva's,    or   some   shrine 


2o8  Hindtcism. 


afterwards  identified  with  his  worship.  At 
all  events  the  Saivas  preserve  the  tradition 
of  Krishna's  worshipping  Siva,  and  argue 
that  the  latter  must  therefore  be  the  greater 
god.  The  Vaishnavas  retort,  by  telling  how 
Siva  was  unable  to  protect  a  certain  wor- 
shi23per  of  his  from  Krishna's  anger^  and  how 
Siva,  on  the  evening  after  his  marriage  with 
Parvati,  entertained  his  bride  with  an  ac- 
count of  Vishnu's  incarnation  as  Kama,  and 
worshipped  him  as  the  greatest  of  gods. 
These  and  similar  legends  are  bandied  about 
in  this  theological  warfare. 
Eeconciiia-       ^ut    by    dogrecs   this    controversy   toned 

tion  of  the     i  it  i         i      i.    xi 

sects.  down,  though  what  the  causes  were  we  can 
only  surmise.  It  may  have  been  the  neces- 
sity of  union  for  triumph  over  their  common 
enemies  the  Buddhists  ;  or  it  may  have  been 
the  influence  of  the  Vedanta  philosophy.  At 
all  events  we  find  the  principles  of  this  philo- 
sophy used  to  effect  a  reconciliation  :  Siva 
and  Vishnu  are  both  one,  works  are  acts  of 
devotion,  and  acts  of  devotion  are  works. 
Both  gods  were  the  same,  adapted  under 
different  forms  to  receive  different  kinds  of 


Tlie  tri- 
inurti. 


Rcconciliatmi  of  the  Sects.  209 

worship  according  to  different  temperaments 
of  men.  For  popular  purposes  the  union 
was  symboHzed  by  the  heads  of  both  gods, 
with  that  of  Brahma  added,  being  carved 
out  of  the  same  stone.  This  constitutes 
the  trimurti — threefold  image — the  popular 
trinity  of  the  Hindus.  For  the  pundits  this 
symbolizes  the  rivals  united  in  the  universal 
Brahm, — the  way  of  devotion  and  the  way 
of  works  united  in  the  way  of  knowledge. 
More  popularly  Brahma  is  called  the 
creator,  Vishnu  the  preserver,  Siva^  the 
destroyer ;  they  are  also  spoken  of  as  past, 
present,  and  future.  Brahma  is  thus  in  both 
cases  made  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  his 
worship  has  almost  entirely  disappeared 
from  India.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  wor- 
shippers of  Vishnu  look  on  him  as  creator, 
and  destroyer  as  well  as  preserver,  and  so  do 
the  worshippers  of  Siva  look  on  him.  The 
main  fact  typified  w^as  a  reconciliation  of 
these  two  sects. 

There  has  often  been  an  analooy  drawn  ^"^^fZ^ 

c>J  Avitli  the 

Christian 
^  In  tins  form  they  receive  also  the  names  of  Hara,  Hari,  trinity. 
Har. 

0 


2IO  Hhiduism. 


between  this  Hindu  and  the  Christian 
trinity,  but  all  that  can  be  said  of  the  former 
is,  that  it  may  have  been  suggested  by  the 
latter.  There  is  a  chapter  in  the  history 
of  Hinduism  that  requires  yet  to  be  in- 
vestigated, and  that  is  the  influence  of  early 
Christianity  upon  it.  We  know  that  in  the 
first  ages  of  the  Church  the  gospel  was 
preached  in  India,  and  that  it  was  not 
without  results  the  existence  of  the  Malabar 
Christians  sufficiently  proves.  This  tells  of 
a  movement,  of  a  struggle  of  some  kind,  of 
which  all  other  traces  have  passed  away,  but 
of  which  the  trace  may  yet  be  discovered  in 
the  effect  it  produced  on  Hindu  thought.  I 
doubt,  however,  whether  to  this  Christian 
teaching  we  can  trace  the  Hindu  conception 
of  the  trimurti,  not  because  it  is  unlikely, 
but  because  it  comes  too  late  for  us  to  sup- 
pose the  connection  probable.  The  first  in- 
dication we  find  of  any  attempt  to  set  up  the 
trimurti  was  in  Bijaynagar  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fifteenth  century,^ — before  the 
Portuguese  had  explored  the  East,  and  long 

^  Lassen,  hid,  Alt.  vol.  iv. 


reconcilia- 
tion. 


Reconciliation  of  the  Sects.  2 1 1 

after  the  influence  of  earlier  Christianity  must 
have  ceased  to  affect  India. 

The  trimurti  was  possibly  an  attempt  to  ^^\^,  °f  I^^ 

■t^  «/  -I-  pantheistic 

give  greater  popular  unity  to  the  Hindu 
faith  under  the  pressure  of  Mahommedan 
attack,  but  the  metaphysical  basis,  on  which 
the  union  of  the  sects  was  attempted,  shaped 
itself  under  the  pressure  of  the  struggle  with 
Buddhism,  and  received  its  final  form  in  the 
early  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  just 
when  the  struofale  with  Mahommedanism 
was  beginning.  It  was  then  that  Bopadeva 
wrote  the  Bhao^avat  Purana,  which  has  had 
more  influence  on  modern  Hinduism  than  any 
other  book.  It  was  written  in  Sanskrit,  but 
parts  of  it,  especially  those  relating  to  the 
history  of  Krishna,  are  translated  into  most 
of  the  modern  dialects  of  India.  In  it  we 
find  the  pantheistic  doctrine  fully  developed. 
Krishna,  its  hero,  is  even  represented  as 
worshipping  Siva,  and  acknowledging  that 
they  were  both  the  same,  while  Siva  acknow- 
ledges the  power  of  Krishna  as  superior  to 
his  own.  It  is  in  it  that  the  various  leo^ends 
of  Vishnu  have  received  their  final  form,  and 


2 1 2  Hinduism. 


been  explained  and  justified  on  those  pan- 
theistic bases  which  are  now  accepted 
generally  throughout  India.    , 

Summaiy.  Sucli  IS  a  brief  outline  of  Hinduism  and  of 
the  various  currents  of  thought  and  of  super- 
stition, which  seem  to  have  contributed  to  its 
formation.  I  have  not  given  anything  like  a 
full  account  of  it,  nor  have  I  even  hinted  at 
the  existence  of  many  of  the  gods  that  enjoy 
a  fair  degree  of  popularity.  I  have  merely 
described  the  main  features  of  the  system. 
The  reader  may  fill  up  the  sketch  with 
almost  anything  he  pleases,  from  monotheism 
to  snail  worship,  from  self-denying  bene- 
ficence to  rapine  and  murder,  and  if  he  only 
acknowledge  the  sanctity  of  the  cow  and 
the  superiority  of  the  Brahmans,  it  will  be 
strangj-e  if  Hinduism  cannot  find  a  niche  for 
it.  Vishnu  and  Siva  are  the  two  great  rivers 
leading  into  the  ocean  of  liberation — the 
Ganges  and  Indus  of  religion  —  and  their 
subordinate  deities  may  be  looked  on  as  their 
tributaries ;    but   there   may    be    as    many 


Review  of  Hinduism.  2 1 3 


smaller  streams  and  rills  leadinsf  to  the  same 


o 


end  as  men  choose  to  nnaofine. 


o 


Review  of 


We  may  now  review  the  work  that  Hin-  ^j^^  ^^.^^.j^  ^^ 
duism  has  done  for  India.  The  Brahmanical  ^^^^'^^^^^^• 
revival  attacked  and  conquered  Buddhism  by 
laying  hold  on  man's  felt  need  of  a  superior 
power,  and  of  all  the  means  of  access  to  it 
which  he  had  imagined,  and  adapting  them  to 
its  own  end.  We  have  seen  that  it  took  the 
gods  as  they  were,  with  all  their  imperfections 
and  sins,  and  sought  to  establish  their  identity 
with  that  universal  spirit,  or  with  parts  of 
that  universal  spirit,  which  it  conceives  of  as 
the  one  existence.  Pantheism  logically  re- 
quires that  good  should  be  correlated  with 
evil,  and  Indian  pantheism  avowedly  does  so. 
Human  passion  naturally  leads  man  to  ima- 
gine a  superior  being  tainted  with  the  same 
vices  as  himself.  When  the  two  meet  they 
confirm  one  another.  Pantheism  justifies  the 
sinful  idol,  and  the  latter  nails  j)antheism 
down  to  the  practical  application  of  its  own 
principles.  Hence  in  all  the  Hindu  con- 
ceptions of  the  Deity  holiness  is  not  an 
essential ;  evil  may  also  j^roceed  from  Him, 


2  14  Hinduism. 


and  in  the  popular  idols  all  that  is  needful  is 
power  of  a  certain  kind  and  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent. That  granted,  they  may  be  either  angels 
or  devils,  patterns  of  virtue  or  monsters  of  vice 
— the  Deity  can  include  both.  This  is  a  vice 
from  which  Hinduism  has  never  been  able  to 
free  itself.  It  has  escaped  in  some  instances, 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  Kamanuja  and 
Hamananda,  from  absolute  pantheism.  But 
even  Tulsidas,  the  most  popular  disciple  of  the 
latter  and  exponent  of  his  system,  says,  '  I 
salute  everything  good,  and  I  salute  every- 
thing evil.' 
Hindu  The  Hindus  often  complain  of  the  bigotry 

and  intolerance  of  Christianity,  and  contrast 
with  it  the  charity  and  tolerance  of  Hin- 
duism. And  truly  it  would  be  difficult  to 
get  a  wider  charity,  a  broader  tolerance,  than 
is  expressed  in  the  above  line.  But  this 
very  breadth  deprives  it  of  all  power  for 
good, — makes  the  good  powerless  to  prevent 
or  repress  the  evil.  This  is  the  fatal  defect 
of  Hinduism.  It  does  not  exclude  good,  but 
it  refuses  to  acknowledge  its  exclusive  claim. 
There  are  in  Hindu  books  passages  of  un- 


Review  of  Hindinsm.  215 

surpassed  beauty  and  purity  even,  and  which 
one  might  almost  think  expressive  of  the 
loftiest  theistic  worship.  Yet  these  passages 
can  influence  but  little  those  who  read  them 
w^hen  they  exist  alongside  of  others  as  vile 
as  these  are  noble.  Nay  more,  they  positively 
hinder  the  spread  of  a  pure  religion.  When 
the  teaching  of  Christ,  for  instance,  is  pre- 
sented to  the  Hindus,  they  acknowledge  its 
purity,  and  they  recognize  many  of  His  moral 
]3recepts  as  very  like  what  they  have  been 
accustomed  to  be  taught.  But  tliey  have 
also  been  accustomed  to  hear  them  along  with 
other  teaching  as  different  from  them  as  night 
from  day,  or  in  connection  with  the  worship  of 
beinofs  Avhose  whole  lives  contradicted  them. 
Of  how  this  may  be  I  have  already  given 
one  example.^  Thus,  for  what  hold  morality 
may  have  on  their  minds  they  are  indebted  to 
the  conscience  which  God  has  given  them — 
not  in  any  way  to  their  religion.  In  it 
morality  is  non-essential ;  and  as  Buddhism — 
looked  on  as  a  popular  system — may  be  de- 
scribed as  ^morality  without  God,'  so  Hin- 

3  See  ante,  p.  162. 


2 1 6  Hinduism. 


duism  may  be  described  as  ^  God  without 
morality/ 
Blind  faitii  Corresponding  with  this  is  the  principle  of 
duism.  the  human  mind  to  which  Hinduism  appeals. 
We  have  seen  that  Hindu  philosophy  imitates 
Buddhism  in  making  knowledge  the  great 
instrument  of  salvation.  But  in  the  popular 
religion  blind  faith  takes  the  place  of  know- 
ledge, and  the  only  function  ascribed  to  the 
latter  is  to  discover  how  the  object  of  wor- 
ship, whatever  that  may  be,  is  one  Avith  the 
Supreme.  With  the  majority,  however,  even 
this  is  not  necessary.  ^  Faith  is  the  great 
thing'  is  an  axiom  that  comes  naturally  to  the 
mouth  of  a  Hindu  whenever  matters  of  reli- 
gion are  discussed.  Faith  in  the  object  of 
your  faith,  whatever  that  may  be,  is  considered 
the  sure  way  of  salvation.  No  matter  how 
morally  bad,  no  matter  how  utterly  contemp- 
tible that  in  which  you  believe,  have  faith  in 
it,  and  you  will  gain  your  end.  Trust  your 
idol,  trust  your  penances,  trust  your  works, 
and  all  will  be  well.  This  is  a  doctrine 
taught  by  others  besides  Hindus,  but  in  the 
mouth  of  these  latter  it  has  some  reason,  for  it 


Review  of  Hinduism.  217 


is  consistent  with  their  view  of  the  relation  of 
man  to  God.  They  do  not  ignore  knowledge 
altogether,  but  they  give  it  quite  a  sub- 
sidiary place.  From  this  point  of  view,  as 
Buddhism  may  be  described  as  a  system  of 
'  knowledge  without  faith/  so  Hinduism  may 
be  described  as  a  system  of  '  faith  without 
knowledge/ 

Thus  •  has    Hinduism    spread    throughout  Effects  of 

Hinduism. 

India,  not  as  a  reformation,  but  as  a  conserva- 
tion. It  has  taken  advantaofe  of  all  existinof 
superstitions,  however  gross,  immoral  and 
criminal,  and  supplying  all  with  a  philoso- 
phical basis,  has  crystallized  each  into  a 
hardness,  and  given  to  the  whole  a  solidarity 
which  makes  it  now  doubly  difficult  to  attack 
any  one  of  them.  It  has  recognized  and  vin- 
dicated the  distinctions  of  class  and  tribe, 
freezinof  all  too-ether  instead  of  fusing*  all 
toofether  :  makinof  different  classes  of  the 
same  village  live  together  with  fewer  common 
sympathies  and  interests  than  the  French  and 
Germans,  making  patriotism  as  we  understand 
it  an  unknown  thing,  nationality  an  impossi- 
bility for  the  Hindus  till  Hinduism  be  swept 


2 1 8  Hiizdznsm. 


from  India.  The  only  thing  to  be  said  for  it 
is,  that  it  has  conserved  some  good  as  well  as 
evil.  The  law  of  caste  is  more  bindinof  than 
the  law  of  conscience,  and  where  the  original 
custom  of  a  caste  has  been  good,  it  has  been 
preserved.  Many  who  would  not  refuse  to 
commit  an  evil  because  it  is  forbidden  b}^  God, 
would  refuse  because  it  was  forbidden  by 
their  caste.  Thus  the  restraints  of  caste  have 
checked  the  s|)read  of  many  vices  through 
some  classes  of  society,  have  enabled  them  to 
look  on  a  vice  indulged  in  by  others  and  excuse 
them  for  it  as  being  tolerated  by  their  caste, 
without  feeling  tempted  to  indulge  in  it  them- 
selves. This  has  given  a  certain  stamina  to  the 
Hindus  which  we  do  not  find  in  other  idola- 
ters. But  the  same  thinof  that  thus  checks 
change  for  evil  forbids  also  change  for  good. 
Change  is  the  one  point  on  which  Hinduism 
is  intolerant.  Let  any  one  ask  a  Hindu  who 
has  been  dilatino^  on  the  intolerance  of  Chris- 
tianity  and  the  tolerance  of  Hinduism,  to 
tolerate  one  of  his  caste-fellows  practically 
carrying  out  his  change  of  belief  by  change 
of  conduct — acknowledging  the  one  true  God 


Review  of  Hinduism.  219 

by  giving  up  the  worship  of  his  caste  gods, 
acknowledging  the  brotherhood  of  man  by 
mino'hnor  and  eatinof  with  those  of  other  castes, 
and  he  will  find  that  he  has  roused  an  intoler- 
ance as  fierce  and  unbending  as  that  of  the 
Spanish  Inquisition.  Hinduism  is  essentially 
a  quiescent  religion,  but  it  was  not  to  be  left 
undisturbed  in  its  hold  in  India,  and  we  now 
proceed  to  its  struggles  with  other  faiths. 


PART  III. 


HINDUISM  AND  MAHOMMEDANISM. 


HINDUISM  AND  MAHOM- 
MEDANISM. 

npHE  first  hostile  faith  ^Yith  which  Hindu- 
-■-  ism  had  to  contend  after  its  triumph 
over  Buddhism  was  Mahommedanism,  and 
the  story  of  this  contest  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  and  instructive  chapters  in  the 
history  of  religion.  The  struggle  was  long 
and  arduous,  but  the  main  features  may  be 
easily  apprehended,  and  as  the  chief  object  of 
our  study  is  rather  the  relations  of  Hinduism 
to  Christianity,  I  will  be  brief. 

Mahommedanism  took   its    rise  with   the  P,^^^  ^^ 

Maliom- 

preaching  of  Mahommed  in  Arabia  in  the  "ledanisiu. 
beginning  of  the  sixth  century.  It  was  a  its  prin- 
strong  monotheism,  and  its  brief  creed  was, 
^  There  is  no  God  but  God,  and  Mahommed 
is  the  prophet  of  God.'  Its  founder  was 
acquainted  with  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
Scriptures^  and   acknowledged   them    as   in- 


2  24      Hinduism  and  MaJiommedanism. 

spired,  but  he  maintained  the  superior 
authority  of  the  Koran,  which  he  was  com- 
missioned to  impart  to  the  world.  He 
allowed  that  Moses  and  the  prophets  and 
Jesus  were  all  prophets  sent  by  God,  but 
he  was  the  last  and  greatest,  and  superseded 
them  all.  He  had  in  his  travels  while  a 
young  man  had  occasion  to  observe  the 
various  sects  of  Christians  and  the  offensive 
prominence  and  almost  material  interpreta- 
tion that  was  given  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  and  he  denounced  that  doctrine  as 
an  abomination.  He  likewise  denounced 
not  only  all  image  worship,  but  the  making 
of  images  for  any  purpose,  as  a  sin,  though 
he  was  obliged  to  give  way  to  the  old  Arab 
superstition  of  worshipping  the  Kabah  at 
Wayof  sal- Mecca. ^     Salvatiou   he    taug-ht    was    to    be 

vation.  ^  ^ 

obtained  by  works,  by  holding  the  true  faith, 
by  repeating   the  above   creed,    by   praying 

^  This  is  simply  a  black  stone — possibly  an  aerolite — that  is 
in  the  Mosque  at  Mecca.  A  learned  Maulvi  seriously  main- 
tained to  me  that  its  worshij^  was  not  a  breach  of  the  second 
Commandment,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  not  the  likeness  of 
anything  in  the  heaven  above,  on  the  earth  beneath,  or  in  the 
water  under  the  earth.  The  same  might  be  said  of  nearly  all 
the  Hindu  idols. 


Hind7usm  and  Mahommcdanism.     225 

five  times  daily,  by  performing  daily  ablu- 
tions^ by  fasting  in  the  month  Ramzan  from 
sunrise  to  sunset  daily,  by  giving  a  fortieth 
of  one's  goods  in  charity,  by  making  the 
pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  and,  above  all,  by  dying 
in  war  for  the  propagation  of  the  faith. 
The  morality  he  inculcated  was  loose,  but  it  Morality. 
was  an  improvement  on  that  of  the  Arabs 
among  whom  he  lived.  He  forbade  the  use 
of  wine,  but  he  sanctioned  polygamy  and 
concubinage.  The  sinfulness  of  sin  is  indeed 
no  part  of  his  system ;  repentance,  as  ex- 
plained by  him,  does  not  imply  hatred  or 
renouncement  of  sin,  and  this  defect  becomes 
more  glaring  in  the  teaching  of  his  followers. 
In  Mahommedan  theology  knowledge  takes 
precedence  of  holiness,  and  what  we  call  the 
fall  of  man  rather  raised  him  in  the  scale  of 
being,  by  giving  him  knowledge.^  God  is 
thus  ultimately  made  the  author  of  sin  in 
man,  and  this  vice  taints  and  weakens  the 
whole  system.  Its  great  merit  and  its  great 
power  is  its  strong  assertion  of  the  Unity  of 
God. 

2  See  Appendix  D. 
P 


2  26      Hinduism  and  Mahommedanism. 


Mahom-^  At  first  its  progress  was  slow,  and  it  was 
medanism.  ^^^  ^-jj  Maliommed  adopted  the  sword  as 
a  means  of  conversion,  till  the  charms  of 
military  enthusiasm  and  political  ascendancy 
were  added  to  those  of  poetry  and  eloquence, 
that  his  religion  became  a  jDower.  Then  it 
spread  with  lightning  speed.  The  Arabs, 
brought  by  their  religion  for  the  first  time 
into  the  community  of  nations,  and  stirred  up 
by  their  religious  enthusiasm  to  be  invincible 
soldiers,  were  everywhere  victorious.  After 
victory  their  propaganda  was  simple  enough 
— to  the  '  people  of  the  book/  the  Christians 
and  Jews,  they  gave  the  choice — become 
Mahommedans  or  pay  tribute  ;  to  idolaters — 
become  Mahommedans  or  die.  A  political 
ascendancy  thus  accompanied  Mahommedan- 
ism wherever  it  spread,  which  proved  an 
irresistible  argument  for  all  those  whose 
faith  was  otherwise  weak  ;  and  when  they 
had  once  joined  the  profession  of  Hhe  faith- 
ful,' the  charms  of  war  and  conquest  trans- 
formed them  into  zealous  propagandists  of 
the  new  faith.  Mahommedanism  is  a  reli- 
gion of  the  sw^ord,  and  has  spread  almost 
exclusively  by  its  means. 


Hinduism  and  Mahomnicdanism.      227 
Shortly  after  the  death  of  Mahommed  the  ^f^^-'^'^  o^" 

'J  M  an  0111- 

Arabs  made  some  nicm^sions  into  India,  but  ",f  Jq^^/^"^ 
it  was  not  till  the  beo^inninof  of  the  eisfhth 
century  that  they  made  any  serious  attempt 
on  it.  In  the  year  705  a.d.  Walid  conquered 
Sind,  and  in  subsequent  years  his  armies 
advanced  as  far  as  the  Ganofes.  His  p-eneral 
Kasim  conquered  Gujerat,  and  attacked 
Chitor,  the  capital  of  Mewar.  But  here  the 
progress  of  the  victorious  Moslem  was  stayed. 
They  were  defeated  and  driven  out  of  India 
by  Bappa,  the  founder  of  the  race  of  kings 
who  to  this  day  sit  on  the  Mewar  throne. 
It  was  not  for  a  hundred  years  thereafter 
that  they  again  attempted  its  subjugation, 
and  then  again  they  were  encountered  by  the 
Baja  of  the  same  kingdom^  at  the  liead  of  the 
chivalry  of  India,  who  flocked  to  his  banner, 
and,  after  being  defeated  twenty-four  times, 
were  once  more  fairly  driven  out  of  the  land. 
For  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  again  the 
Mahommedans  desisted  from  serious  at- 
tempts, but,  in  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century,  the  celebrated  Mahmiid  of  Ghazni 
invaded  India  twelve  times,  and  was  every- 


2  28      Hinduism  a7id  Mahommedanism. 

where     victorious,    compelling     the     native 
princes  to  submit  or  driving  them  from  their 
thrones.      He   left   traces   of  his   victorious 
progress    in    the    idols    he    broke    and   the 
temples  he  plundered.     But  his  career  was 
like  that  of  the  hurricane,  passing  through 
the  land  but  not  remainino"  in  it.     Within 
fifteen  years  after  his  death  the  Hindus  had 
risen  under  Yisala  Deva,  king  of  Ajmer,  and 
driven  his  successors  beyond  the  Sutledge ; 
and   for  a  hundred    and   fifty   years   longer 
India  remained  the  Avya  vartta,  the  land  of 
the  pure  Aryas.     It  was  not  till  the  end  of 
the    twelfth    century   that   the   victories   of 
Mahommed  Ghori  established  Mahommedan 
supremacy  in  India. 
Cause  of       'Thus  whilo  the  Mahommedan  power  had 
anceof     '  Spread  with  unmatched  rapidity  over  Syria 
Maiiom-^    and  Persia,  along  the  north  of  Africa,  and 
into  Spain,  it  for  six  hundred  years  failed  to 
overcome  the  compact  resistance  offered  by 
India.      But  the  cause  of  this  is  not  far  to 
seek.     In  the  lands  where   it   first   spread, 
Christianity  had  sapped  the  old  faiths,  and 
had  in  its  turn  been  so  much  contaminated 


medanism. 


Hindicism  and  Mahonimedanism.     229 

by  tliem  that  its  pristine  vigour  had  decayed. 
It  inspired  its  followers  neither  with  the 
tenacity  of  an  ancient  faith  nor  with  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  new  one,  so  that  they  suc- 
cumbed easily  to  the  fresh  vigour  of  Islam. 
In  India,  on  the  other  hand,  Hinduism  had 
just  triumphed  under  the  great  Brahmani- 
cal  revival.  After  having,  as  we  have  seen, 
been  nearly  quenched  by  Buddhism,  it  had 
in  its  turn  risen  up  and  extirpated  it  from 
the  Peninsula.  The  Hindus  were  thus 
attached  to  their  faith  with  all  the  strength 
which  pride  in  its  antiquity  and  enthusiasm 
on  account  of  its  fresh  triumjohs  could  inspire, 
and  when  a  head  arose  to  combine  the  various 
states,  to  give  unity  to  their  strength  and 
direction  to  their  valour,  they  proved  too 
strong  even  for  the  fanaticism  of  Islam. 

But  jealousies  and  rivalries  among  the 
Hindu  princes,  fanned  by  caste  feelings  and  onS! 
teaching,  produced  destructive  internecine 
wars,  which  left  them  a  prey  at  last  to  the 
Mahommedan  invaders.  At  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  century  they  had  conquered  all  North 
India,    and    their    military   supremacy    was 


MalioTU- 
uiedaii 


230      Hinduism  and  Mahonimedanism. 

established.  The  Mahommedans  had  tri- 
umphed, but  Mahommedanism  did  not.  Their 
first  zeal  had  so  far  abated,  that  they  admitted 
idolaters  too  to  the  payment  of  tribute,  and 
this  the  Hindus  were  content  to  pay  where 
they  could  not  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the 
oppressor.  Many  Hindu  kings  maintained 
their  independence,  and  made  war  against 
the  invaders  with  varying  success,  till  at  last 
the  genius  of  Akbar  established  the  Mahom- 
medan  dominion  on  a  secure  basis.  ,.^^ 

Akbar's  Tliis  basis,  however,  consisted  in  deprivingf 

policy.  '  '  X  o 

Mahommedanism  of  its  political  privileges. 
He  abolished  the  tax  on  infidels,  which  Hin- 
dus who  would  not  profess  Mahommedanism 
.  had  to  pay  ;  and  thus  made  all  his  subjects 
equal  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  no  difference  being 
allowed  on  account  of  their  relimous  creed. 
He  also  united  himself  by  marriage  with 
some  of  the  noblest  royal  houses  of  India,  and 
thus  attached  them  to  his  throne.  He  had 
no  very  firm  religious  creed  himself,  and  set 
himself  with  the  indifference  of  a  philosopher 
and  the  zeal  of  a  politician  to  assimilate  the 
religious  beliefs  of  his  subjects.    While  indif- 


Hindicism  and Mahoinmedanism.     231 

ferent  to  the  special  claims  of  Mahommed,  he 
fostered  the  lower  forms  of  liis  religion,  and 
especially  the  worship  of  saints^ — a  corruption 
that  had  long  been  gaining  ground  in  Islam. 
The  tombs  of  saints  all  over  the  country  were 
sought  out,  mosques  erected  over  them,  and 
leo^ends  with  reg^ard  to  them  invented  or  ofar- 
nished  up.  This  policy  was  so  far  successful 
that  the  Hindus  did  begin  to  worship  many  of 
their  saints,  and  unite  w^th  the  Mahommedans 
in  paying  them  reverence  on  their  great  fes- 
tivals. The  political  result  too  was  obtained  in 
so  far  as  the  stability  of  his  own  throne  was 
concerned,  both  creeds  uniting  to  support  it, 
but  the  effect  on  Mahommedanism  itself  was 
disastrous.  Mahommedanism,  as  a  quiescent 
non-proselytizing  religion,  could  only  become 
corrupt  and  rotten.  The  effect  of  all  this  policy 
on  the  mass  of  Mahommedans  was  to  deprive 
their  relisrious  sentiment  of  that  intolerance 
which  constituted  its  strenofth.  Its  moral 
power  was  gone  when  it  ceased  to  be  in- 
tolerant. 

Yet  this  policy  preserved  the  Mosful  em-  Policy  of 

i-  'J     ^  o  Aurang- 

pire  in  its  integrity  for  upwards  of  a  hundred  ^'^^* 
years,  till  the  principle  and  policy  of  intoler- 


232      Hinduism  and  Mahonimedanism. 

ance  revived  in  Aurangzeb.  He  reimposed 
the  poll-tax  on  infidels,  and  thereby  again 
branded  all  his  Hindu  subjects  with  inferiority 
on  account  of  their  religious  beliefs.  This 
alienated  them,  and  ultimately  drove  them 
into  rebellion.  He  decreed  the  destruction 
of  idols;  and  the  j)rince  of  Mewar  offered  'the 
heads  of  one  hundred  thousand  Kajputs '  for 
the  defence  of  one  of  the  most  popular  of  these 
idols,  thus  making  it  the  symbol  of  Hindu 
nationality.  The  rebellion  often  seemed 
crushed,  but  it  maintained  itself  with  the  vital- 
ity which  only  a  struggle  for  religion  could 
inspire,  and  imparted  in  turn  a  vitality  to  that 
religion  which  only  exertion,  sacrifice  and  suf- 
fering could  beget.  The  Hindus  were  driven 
to  emulate  the  intolerance  of  their  opponents, 
— shaving  the  Kazis,  destroying  the  mosques, 
throwing  the  Korans  into  wells,  and  forbid- 
ding the  call  to  prayer  wherever  they  had 
power.  This  gave  room  for  the  Mahratta 
power  to  rise  in  the  south, — a  Hindu  power, 
though  based  on  plunder  ;  and  when  Aurang- 
zeb, the  ablest  of  the  Moguls,  died,  he  saw 
the  empire  breaking  up  on  every  side.     In 


Hindtnsm  and  MaJiommedanisni.     233 

about  thirty  years  it  received  its  death-blow 
from  another  Mahommedan  power,  the  Per- 
sians under  Nadir  Shah.  Thereafter  the 
Hindu  states  either  assumed  their  old  inde- 
pendence or  established  new  dominions;  while 
the  Mahommedan  emperor,  still  their  nominal 
head,  became  more  and  more  a  mere  puppet 
in  their  hands.  Now  the  last  traces  of  that 
empire  have  j)assed  away  :  the  last  represen- 
tative of  Mahommedan  supremacy  ended  his 
days  a  convict  in  a  penal  settlement.  Of  the 
native  princes  now  in  alliance  with  the  British 
Government,  only  one  or  two  of  any  impor- 
tance are  Mahommedans  :  of  the  220  millions 
who  inhabit  India,  about  fifty  millions  belong 
to  that  religion.  Of  these,  about  twenty 
millions  in  Bengal  are  the  descendants 
of  the  lowest  class  of  Hindus,  who  adopted 
this  faith  to  gain  a  higher  social  standing,  and 
the  rest  are  descendants  of  the  old  Patthan 
and  Mogul  conquerors.  But  they  are  nearly 
all  now  in  a  low  social  position  as  compared 
with  the  Hindus ;  they  are  more  backward 
in  takinof  advantao^e  of  the  educationaP  and 

3  Of  twenty-one  millions  of  Mahommedans  in  Bengal,  only 
twenty-eight  thousand  attend  Government  schools. 


234      Hinduism  and  Mahommedanism. 

other  benefits  which  the  British  offer,  and  are 
sinking  lower  morally  and  socially.  That  is 
the  external  history  of  Mahommedanism  in 
India. 
Effect  of  ^^Xurningf  to  the  internal  history,  the  first 
on  Hiu-"^^  inquiry  is  as  to  the  effect  which  it  has  had  on 
duism.  Hinduism  itself,  what  modification  it  has  pro- 
duced on  the  faith  of  the  Hinrhis  :  and  the 
answer  is,  almost  none.  _It  seems  a  strange 
conclusion  to  come  to  that  a  powerful  religion 
like  Mahommedanism  should  have  been  for 
six  centuries  in  India,  and  produced  no  effect 
on  the  belief  of  the  majority  of  its  population. 
Yet  such  is  undoubtedly  the  fact.  The  chief 
instrument  of  Mahommedan  conversion  is  the 
sword  :  this  may  produce  an  outer  acquies- 
cence, it  may  even  ultimately  force  multitudes 
to  adopt  alike  the  profession  and  faith  of 
Mahommedanism,  but  it  cannot  produce  any 
modification  in  a  hostile  faith,  least  of  all 
could  it  do  so  in  India. //While  war  and  con- 
quest and  violence  were  raging  about  it,  Hin- 
duism was  steadily  developing  itself. 

*  The  East  bow'd  low  before  the  blast, 
In  patient  deep  disdain  ; 


Hindinsm  aiid  MaJionnnedaiiism.      235 

She  let  the  legions  thunder  past, 
And  plunged  in  thought  again.' 

The  only  difference  we  can  now  trace  is 
that  the  theory  and  system  of  Bopa  Deva/ 
which  before  the  Mahommedan  conquest  was 
accepted  only  by  the  Brahmans,  has  now  per- 
vaded nearly  every  caste  of  Hindus.  Take  any 
of  the  points  of  difference  between  Mahomme- 
danism  and  Hinduism,  and  it  will  be  found 
that  in  these  Hinduism  is  stronger  and  more 
intolerant  than  it  was  before  its  rival  appeared 
in  India.  Image  worship  is  as  general  and 
as  devoutly  believed  in,  and  caste  as  tyrannical 
as  before  the  Mussulman  conquerors  set  their 
foot  in  India,  while  the  pantheistic  principles 
on  which  they  are  justified  are  much  more 
extensively  diffused.  The  doctrine  of  a 
Supreme  God  above  and  beyond  Vishnu, 
Siva,  and  the  other  deities,  which  some  have 
looked  upon  as  the  effect  of  Mahommedan 
influence,  is  a  result  ratlier  of  Hindu  philo- 
sophy. It  was  developed  before  the  Mahom- 
medan s  entered  India,  and  even  the  theistic 

"•  See  anU^  p.  211. 


236      Hindtiism  and  Mahommedanism. 

protest  against  pantheism  was  anterior  to 
their  conquest.^ 
S^^effects!'  -^^  some  of  the  sects  which  were  developed 
from  the  last  named  movement  we  no  doubt 
do  see  the  influence  of  the  foreign  faith, — most 
notably  in  the  Kavir  Pantis  ;  but  the  ad- 
herents of  these  sects  are  comparatively  few 
in  number,  and  they  have  themselves  re- 
lapsed generally  into  pantheistic  idolatry, 
from  which  they  could  never  entirely  disen- 
tangle themselves.  The  general  effect  of 
Mahommedanism  on  Hinduism  has  been 
rather  of  a  deteriorating  character.  The 
greater  licentiousness  of  its  followers  has  led 
to  the  greater  degradation  of  women  among 
the  Hindus.  They  have  not  now  the  same 
freedom  and  respect  given  to  them,  which  the 
older  books  of  India  show  they  once  had,  and 
this  change  the  Hindus  attribute  to  the 
license    of   their   Mahommedan    conquerors. 

s  Raman uja  lived  certainly  not  later  than  tlie  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  century,  while  the  Mahommedan  conquest  took  place 
at  the  end  of  it.  If  we  place  Bopa  Deva  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, as  Lassen  does,  we  have  the  remarkal)le  fact  of  panthe- 
istic idolatry  developing  and  strengthening  itself  in  the  face  of 
victorious  monotheists. 


Hind^iism  and  MaJio^nmedanisin.     237 

An  indirect  effect  of  this  has   been  the  in- 
crease of  these  secret  sects,  which  are  the 
greatest  stain  on  modern  Hinduism.    ^-— ^- - 
//   The   bad   influence  which   Hinduism   has  Effect  of 

r  ^  ^  ^  Hinduism 

experienced    from    Mahommedanism   is    no-  o"  Mahom- 

-L  medauism. 

thing,  however,  compared  with  tlie  deteri- 
orating: influence  of  Hinduism  on  Mahom- 
medanism.  It  has  now  desfenerated  in  most 
of  its  adherents  in  India  to  be  little  more 
than  a  caste  of  Hinduism^.  They  have  their 
caste  rules,  as  strong  and  as  binding  as  their 
Hindu  brethren.  Their  priests  repeat  the 
verses  of  the  Koran  as  the  Brahmans  repeat 
the  hymns  of  the  Vedas,  with  just  as  little  idea 
of  their  meaning.  Their  worship  of  Allah — 
the  one  God — is  a  mere  form  ;  their  real 
worship  is  paid  to  the  saints  :  oflerings  are 
brought  to  their  tombs,  or  gifts  given  to  the 
priests  who  officiate  in  the  mosques  erected 
in  their  honour.  Their  religion  is  indeed 
known  in  India  as  saint-worship,*^  while  that 
of  the  Hindus  is  image-worship,^  and  this  for 
the  majority  of  both  creeds  is  the  practical 
difference.     Even  in  this  however  they  are 

^  Pir  parasti.  '  ^  But  parasti. 


238      Hinduism  and  Mahojn7nedanism. 

not  exclusive ;  the  Hindus  join  cordially  in 
the  festivals  in  honour  of  some  of  the  greater 
Mahommedan  saints^  and  in  some  places  the 
Mahommedans  join  in  those  in  honour  of 
Hindu  idols.  The  latter  do  differ  from  the 
former  in  that  they  occasionally  still  attempt 
to  proselytize^  but  for  the  old  power  of  the 
sword  they  now  use  the  enticements  of 
marriage.  If  a  Hindu  should  become 
enamoured  of  a  Mussulman  girl,  that  is  made 
the  means  of  decoying  him  away  from  his 
former  caste  and  joining  her  co-religionists, 
and  he  gains  his  wife  at  the  expense  of  be- 
coming a  Mahommedan, — a  change  of  name 
and  of  companions  without  any  change  of 
life,  faith,  or  worship. 
Present  Thcsc    two    rcligious    have    thus    settled 

Triumph  of  dowu  bcsidc  ouo  auothor  on  terms  of  mutual 

Hinduism. 

charity  and  toleration.  This  does  not  imply 
any  great^hange  or  deterioration  in  Hindu- 
ism, for  its  princij)les  admit  every  belief  as 
truth,  every  religion  as  a  way  of  salvation. 
All  that  it  requires  is  acknowledgment  of 
the  same  principle  from  other  religions^  and 
abstinence  from  efforts  at  winninof  or  forcinof 


Hinduism  and  Alahommedanism.     239 

from  it  its  own  adherents.  This  is  the 
position  which  Hinduism  has  practically 
forced  Mahommedanism  to  assume  in  India. 
But  such  a  position  is  ruinous  for  the  latter 
religion.  When  it  has  lost  the  power  and 
principle  of  expansion  it  must  wither  and  die. 
What  does  it  avail  it  that  its  votaries  repeat 
the  formula  '  There  is  no  God  but  God/  when 
they  have  no  means  to  force  that  truth  on 
others  ?  The  Hindus  too  acknowledge  that 
there  is  one  Supreme  Lord,  and  their  idol- 
worship  they  believe  bears  the  same  relation 
to  their  worship  of  Him  as  the  saint- worship 
of  the  Mussulmans  does  to  their  w^orship 
of  Allah.  Mahommedanism  is  thus  now 
utterly  weak  and  powerless  beside  Hinduism, 
and  the  longer  it  accepts  this  position  the 
weaker  must  its  power  become  over  its  own 
disciples. 

A  Mahommedan  revival  has  indeed  been  Mahom- 
going  on  for  some  time,  but  not  sufficiently  revival. 
long   to    enable    us   to    predict   its    ultimate 
results.     It  is  mostly  a  political  movement. 
It  does  not  protest  against  saint- worship  nor 
aR'ainst  caste  exclusiveness.      It  is  rather  a 


240      Hindtiism  and  Mahommedanism, 

protest  against  European  enlightenment  and 
civilization.  It  is  directed  more  against  the 
supremacy  of  the  hated  infidel  than  against 
the  idolatry  of  the  Hindus  or  the  corruptions 
of  the  followers  of  the  Prophet  themselves. 
Its  object  is  to  inspire  the  great  mass  of  the 
Mussulmans  with  that  bigotry  and  exclusive- 
ness  which  Persian  and  Arabic  literature 
has  cherished  in  the  educated  few,  and  to 
prepare  the  way  for  another  holy  war.  But 
the  opportunity  of  Mahommedanism  becom- 
ing the  religion  of  India  has  passed.  Hindu- 
ism has  vanquished  it  by  the  sheer  force 
of  inertia. 


PART  IV. 


HINDUISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY. 


<j 


HINDUISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY. 


H 


INDUISM    has   thus    triumphed    over  c«"test 


Ijetween 
Chris- 


am. 


two  of  the  great  missionary  religions  fjljj"-^'^  ^^^^^ 
of  the  world/  that  of  Buddha  and  that  of  ^^1;^^^^'^''"^ 
Mahommed  ;  the  contest  has  now  begun  with 
the  third, — that  of  Christ.  The  Church  of 
Christ  is  seeking  by  its  missions  to  convert 
India  to  Him.  Is  this  a  work  to  be  under- 
taken with  hope  or  with  doubt^  one  which  it 
would  be  wise  to  persevere  in  or  to  abandon  ? 
The  command  of  our  Lord — His  marchino" 
orders,  as  the  Duke  of  Wellington  said  to  a 
somewhat  sceptical  chaplain^ — '  Go  ye  into 
all  the  w^orld,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature/  is  a  sufficient  warrant  for 
the  Church  to  continue  her  work,  a  sufficient 
guarantee  that  the  truth  which  He  embodied 
and  which  he  bade  His  disciples  preach  is  the 
best  suited  for  the  Hindu  as  for  all  nations. 

^  See  Max  Miiller's  Lecture  on  Missions. 


244  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 

ofThfcon-       ^^^  ^^  ^^  ^^  ^'^^  carefully  to  examine  the 
test.  conditions  of  the  contest,  to  see  what  are  the 

strong  and  what  the  weak  points  in  the 
enemy's  line  of  defence  ;  by  what  tactics  and 
with  what  arms  we  may  best  conquer  it,  and 
what  reasons  we  have,  from  the  past  history 
and  present  state  of  Hinduism,  to  hope  for 
success.  In  conducting  this  examination  we 
will  first  compare  the  principles  of  the  Chris- 
tian and  of  the  Hindu  faiths,  their  points  of 
approach  and  their  points  of  antagonism ; 
then  look  at  the  attempts  that  are  being 
made  to  reform  Hinduism  independently  of 
Christianity;  and  lastly,  consider  the  attitude 
which  the  Church  must  preserve  to  secure 
final  triumph. 


CHAPTER  I. 

m 

AFFINITIES    AND    ANTAGONISMS    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

AND    HINDUISM. 


HERE  we  must  beware  of  taking  natural  Elements  of 
reliofion  for  either  Hinduism  or  Chris-  religion 

^  ,  in  both 

tianity.  The  sentiment  of  dependence  on  a  systems. 
higher  power  and  the  teaching  of  conscience 
exist  more  or  less  strongly  in  all  men,  lead- 
ing them  to  learn  the  lessons  of  nature  and 
prompting  a  worship  recognized  as  true  by 
true  religion.  ^  He  left  not  Himself  without 
a  witness,  in  that  He  did  good,  and  gave  us 
rain  from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling 
our  hearts  with  food  and  gladness.'^  ^The 
Gentiles,  having  not  the  law,  are  a  law  unto 
themselves  :  who  show  the  works  of  the  law 
written  in  their  hearts.'^'  In  the  literature 
of  every  nation  that  has  produced  a  literature 
we  find  these  sentiments  expressed,  man  giv- 

'  Acts  xiv.  17.  ^  Rom.  ii.  14,  15. 


246  Hindiiism  and  Christianity. 

ing  utterance  to  those  feelings  of  reverence, 
trust  and  truth,  which  show  that  the  image 
of  God  within  him,  though  defaced,  is  not 
destroyed.  In  the  Hterature  of  no  heathen 
nation  probably  is  this  found  more  abun- 
dantly than  in  that  of  the  Hindus.  It  con- 
tains multitudes  not  only  of  stray  verses,  but 
even  whole  hymns,  in  which  a  Christian 
might  express  many  of  his  feelings  of 
devotion.^  All  these  Christianity  gladly 
welcomes  as  proofs  of  its  congruity  with 
natural  religion,  but  they  are  not  Christianity. 
Hinduism  also  uses  them,  but  they  are  not 
Hinduism. 
Ti'^^^6  ,    „       Properly  to  compare  the  two  reliefions  we 

grounds  of  -i-  «/  i  o 

so™Er  ^^^^st  look  not  only  at  their  teaching  with 
ail'oursm.  regard  to  God  and  man,  but  also  at  their 
teachinof  with  reg-ard  to  God  and  the  sinner. 
That  he  is  a  sinner,  that  he  has  sinned,  that 
he  does  sin,  man's  conscience  bears  witness. 
How  may  man,  having  sinned,  be  just  with 
God  ?  How  will  God  deal  with  sinful  man  ? 
These  are  questions  which  man  as  a  reli- 
gious being  is  forced  to  face  ;  these  are  the 

3  See  Appendix  E,  Natural  Eeligion  in  Indian  Literature. 


Their  Affinities  and  Antagonisms.     247 


questions  which  the  various  religions  of  the 
world  seek  to  answer,  and  their  answers  to 
which  modify  and  distinguish  their  views 
both  of  God  and  of  man.  These  also  are  the 
questions  on  which  Hinduism  joins  issue 
with  Christianity.  Yet  even  in  them  we 
may  find  many  points  of  resemblance,  just 
sufficient  indeed  to  make  the  antaofonism 
sharper  and  more  direct.  In  Hinduism  the 
same  wants  and  instincts  are  expressed  as 
those  which  Christianity  professes  to  satisfy. 
But  Hinduism  also  professes  to  satisfy  them 
with  what  is  often  liker  a  hideous  caricature 
of  the  Christian  solution,  than  any  counter- 
part to  it. 

To  show  more  clearly  the  relative  positions  Distinction 
of  Hinduism  and  Christianity,  I  must  recur  Hindu  and 

Ckris- 

to    the    distinctions    which    I    have    already  tian  prin- 

.        .  .       .  .       ciples. 

drawn  between  their  higher  principles.*  Chris- 
tianity teaches  the  personality,  Hinduism 
the  impersonality  of  God.  Christianity 
makes  holiness  an  essential  in  God  and  His 
government,  Hinduism  makes  it  an  accident. 
These  distinctions,  carried  along   the  whole 

^  See  ante,  p.  113.  •         ' 


248  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 

line  of  teaching  of  the  two  faiths,  make  their 
points  of  approach  points  of  antagonism  ; 
and  as  these  are  true  or  false  must  either 
system  win  or  lose. 

Salvation.  Both  roligions  teach  that  salvation  is  the 
chief  end  of  man,  and  that  to  show  the  way 
of  salvation  is  the  chief  end  of  religion.  The 
same  word  which  the  Hindus  use  to  express 
their  idea  of  man's  final  end  is  the  word  used 
by  the  translators  of  the  Bible  to  express  the 
Christian  salvation.  Salvation  may  also  be 
said  in  both  systems  to  include  the  idea  of 
liberation,  but  in  Hinduism  the  liberation 
sought  is  deliverance  from  personal  existence, 
in  Christianity  deliverance  from  sin. 

Hindu  The  Hindu  idea  of  salvation  is  that  of  a 

man  crossing  a  broad  stream.  He  occasion- 
ally steps  on  rocks,  fords  shallows,  swims 
through  currents.  He  may  sometimes  be 
swept  back  from  the  shore  towards  which  he 
is  struggling,  sometimes  borne  nearer  to  it; 
but  the  stream  is  somethiDg  entirely  distinct 
from  him:  he  looks  merely  to  getting  through 

and  Chris-  it  and  out  of  it.     He  does  not  look  to  any 

ceptions.     change  in  himself.       The   Christian  idea  is 


Their  Affinities  and  Antagonisms.    249 

rather  tliat  of  a  man  who  is  smitten  with  a 
deadly  disease  from  which  he  seeks  to  be 
quit.  The  disease  affects  his  whole  frame, 
prevents  him  acting  vigorously,  menaces  him 
with  death.  His  object  is  to  get  the  disease 
out  of  him — to  be  restored  to  a  healthy 
natural  state.  Christianity  teaches  that  man 
is  sinful ;  for  it  teaches  that  there  is  a  per- 
sonal God,  whose  holy  law  man  has  failed  to 
obey.  Deliverance  from  this  failure,  from 
this  sin,  and  a  consequent  eternal  life  of  holy 
service,  it  teaches  to  be  salvation.  Hinduism, 
as  we  have  seen,  is  debarred  from  this  con- 
ception, for  it  denies  a  personal  God ;  deny- 
ing Him,  it  can  have  no  place  for  His  holy 
law,  and  consequently  sin  as  such  is  excluded 
also.  Hinduism  accordingly  teaches  that 
salvation  is  not  deliverance  from  sin  any  more 
than  deliverance  from  holiness.  Sin,  as  we 
conceive  it,  is  not  sin  any  more  than  the 
current  that  sweeps  the  swimmer  into  danger 
is  sin.  It  in  fact  ought  to  have  no  place  in 
the  Hindu  religion  at  all.  But  it  has  a  place. 
Neither  the  word  nor  the  idea  of  sin  is 
strange  to  the  Hindu.     It  does  not  need  any 


2  50  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 


long  argument  to  show  him  that  it  must  be 
punished.  Why  is  this  ?  Simply  because 
the  higher  principles  of  Hinduism  will  not 
square  with  human  conscience  and. conscious- 
ness. They  are  at  enmity  with  the  natural 
law  written  on  the  hearts  of  all  men,  as  much 
as  with  Christianity.  Hinduism  has  tried  to 
escape  from  this  antagonism  by  allowing  sin 
as  an  inferior  calamity,  and  deliverance 
from  it  as  an  inferior  stage  of  salvation, 
but  the  fact  that  it  admits  sin  at  all 
is  fatal  to  its  conception  of  the  higher  sal- 
vation. 
^I'^y,^^  But  it  is  when  we  come  to  the  way  of 

salvation.  <j 

salvation  that  the  resemblances  and  contrasts 
of  the  two  relimons  become  most  strikinof. 
In  both  we  find  the  idea  of  vicarious  atone- 
ment, of  the  incarnation,  and  of  striving  to  be 
like  God.  In  the  Christian  faith  they  are 
all  united  in  Christ,  whose  person  gives  to 
them  a  harmony,  and  a  fulness  of  grace  and 
truth,  which  man  has,  since  His  appearance, 
been  ever  studying,  but  never  able  fully  to 
measure.  In  Hinduism  these  truths,  severed 
one  from  the  other,  as  from  their  true  centre, 


Their  Affinities  and  Antagonisms.     251 


Christian 
trine. 


have  become  corrupted  and  powerless,  as  limbs 
severed  from  the  living  body. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  the  most  dis-  J^j^'^jjli'^^^t . 
tinctive  doctrine  of  Christianity  is  that  ofJ^J 
vicarious  atonement  for  sin  ;  but  this  is  also 
a  doctrine  of  Hinduism.  The  truth  tauo^ht 
in  the  Bible  is,  that  Christ  is  the  vicarious 
atonement  for  sin.  He  says  of  Himself,  '  The 
Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto, 
but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom 
for  many.'  ^  This  is  the  great  doctrine  which 
the  apostles  constantly  pressed.  ^  When  we 
were  yet  without  strength,  in  due  time  Christ 
died  for  the  ungodly.'  ^  '  Christ  also  hath  once 
suffered  for  sins,  the  just  for  the  unjust,  that 
He  miofht  brinof  us  to  God.'  ^  There  is  here  a 
recognition  that  sin  sej^arates  from  God,  that 
it  must  be  removed,  and  its  penalty  borne,  ere 
the  at-one-ment  can  be  made,  that  it  is  borne 
by  one  himself  sinless.  There  is  a  voluntary 
offering  on  the  part  of  the  substitute,  and 
there  must  be  a  voluntary  acceptance  on  the 
part  of  the  sinner.  In  this  the  sinfulness  of 
sin  and  the  love  of  the  person  who  bears  the 

5  Matt.  XX.  28.  ^  Rom.  v.  6.  ^  1  Pet.  iii.  8. 


252         Hinduism  and  Christianity . 

sin  are  botli  exhibited,  and  become  motives 
for  man  to  strive  after  holiness. 
S)^the*^°"^       But  the  idea  of  one  man  thus  suffering  for 
a^Jto"    ^^  crime  of  another  is  an  injustice.      It  is  a 
monstrosity  which  no  court  of  justice,  except 
in  very  inferior  stages  of  enlightenment,  would 
tolerate,  even  with  the  freest  and  most  vol- 
untary   offering   and  acceptance  of  the  sub- 
stitution.     It  is  further  an  encourao^ement  to 
sin,  by  letting  the  sinner  fancy  that  he  will  be 
freed  from  its  consequences,  or,  if  it  does  not 
destroy  the  sense  of  justice  in  man,  it  will 
cause  him  a  greater  torture  than  it  delivers 
him  from,  by  making  him  feel  that  his  sins 
have  caused  suffering  to  one  who  did  not  de- 
serve it.      There  is  therefore  in  this  substitu- 
tion neither  justice  nor  mercy.     Such  are  the 
objections  that  have  been  principally  urged 
against  the  Christian  idea  of  atonement ;  but 
before  noticing  how  Christianity  meets  them, 
it  will  be  well  to  look  at  how  Hinduism  has 
met  them,  for  its  fate  may  well  serve  as  a 
warning  to  those  who  attempt  to  solve  such 
problems  on  the  analogy  of  human  law. 
doctrSie.   j      Hinduism  still  retains   the   conception   of 


vicarious. 


Their  Affiii  ities  and  A  n  tag  on  isms.     253 

vicarious  atonement.      Originally,   we    have 

seen,  the  true  idea  of  substitution  was  typified 

in  sacrifice ;  but  the   unsatisfying  nature   of 

this,    and   possibly   also   the  desire  to   meet 

such  objections  as  the  above,  present  in  the 

mind  though  not  formally  expressed,  led  the 

Hindus  to  look  for  atonement  each  in  himself. 

Hence  this   sentiment  found  satisfaction  in  Transmi- 
gration 
the    transmigration     of    souls,    which,    ever  virtually 

since  Buddha's  time,  has,  in  Hindu  thought, 

taken  the  place  of  sacrifice  as  the  atonement 

for    sin.       But    this    is    practically  vicarious 

atonement,  for  the  element  of  consciousness 

separates  the  person  who  sins  from  the  person 

who  suffers.      He  is  said  to  be  the  same,  but 

he  does  not  know  who  or  what  he  was  before, 

or  what  the  sins  were  whose  penalty  he  is 

now  sufferinof.     There  is  thus  a  real  substitu- 

tion,  but  it  is  quite  involuntary  on  both  sides. 

The  Hindu  is  both  the  atoner  and  the  atoned 

for.       What   he    suffers   now   he    suffers    on 

account  of  sins   committed   by  himself  in  a 

previous  birth,  that  is,  by  another;  and  these 

sufferinofs  he  has  no  choice  but  to  endure. 

Nay,  further,  the  Hindus  are  thoroughly  con- 


254  Hinduism  and  Christianity, 

sistent  in  recoofnizino^  tliat  continuinof  in  sin  is 
the  punishment  of  sin,  for  they  say  that  the 
very  sins  a  man  now    commits    are  punish- 
ments of  previous,  that  is,  of  another's  sins  ; 
and   he    cannot    but    commit    them.       Their 
punishment    again    he    cannot    bear   in   his 
present  birth  if  lie  would,  they  must  be  borne 
by  him  in  another  birth,  wdien  the  loss  of 
all  consciousness  of  the  present  has  made  him 
in  fact  another  person.     But  not  only  does 
he  thus  involuntarily  atone  for  another's  sin, 
he    also    involuntarily    atones   for    another's 
virtue.      His  present  happiness  is  the  reward 
of  a  previous  person's  good  deeds,  his  present 
good  deeds  will  be  rewarded  to  some  future 
person.     In  all  this  there  is  an  absence   of 
tiinef^^'     ^^^^  amount  of  justice  which  the  free  action 
of  the  will  secures  in  the  Christian  system ; 
sin  is  not  made  exceeding  sinful,  but  merely  a 
misfortune,  diiFering  accidentally  from  virtue; 
the  sense  of  responsibility  is  destroyed;  the 
power  of  the  will  annihilated,  the  discipline  of 
suffering  lost ;  the  work  is  never  completed  or 
approaching  completion,  but  goes  on  through 
an  unending  series  of  atonements.     Thus  the 


Moral 
failure  of 


Their  Affinities  and  Antagonisms.     255 

Hindu  doctrine,  trying  to  escape  vicarious 
atonement,  lias  only  imposed  one  of  iron 
necessity,  instead  of  one  of  free  offer  and  free 
acceptance ;  one  which,  instead  of  being  a 
stimulus  to  man  to  struggle  against  sin  and  for 
holiness,  is  rather  a  dead  weight,  tending  to 
make  him  look  on  all  such  struggle  as  hoj^eless. 

How  does  Christianity  meet  the  difficulty  ?  ^iie  chris- 
By  affirming  the  truths  of  which  we  have  seen  jj^^^JJ^vr^^ 
tbat  Brahmanism  in  its  earlier  stages  retained  *^°"' 
a  perception,  that  the  substitute  is  God  Him- 
self.    It   vindicates    the   justice    and    moral 
power  of  vicarious  atonement  by  the  fact  of 
the  Incarnation.     It  teaches  that  ^  the  Word 
was  God,'^  ^  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  amonof 
us;'^  that  in  His  humanity  He  once  for  all 
put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself  ;^^ 
that   ^  whosoever  believeth   on  Him   should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.'^^    The 
truth  here   affirmed  transcends  our  compre- 
hension, as  do  the  ultimate  causes  of  nearly 
all  the  facts  of  nature,  which  we  nevertheless 
accept  as  truths ;  and  it  is  supplemented  by 
other  doctrines,  such  as  the  union  between 

8  John  i.  1.       9  John  i.  14.       ^°  Ileb.  ix.  26.        "  John  iii.  16. 


256  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 

Christ  and  believers,  which  it  would  be  foreign 
to  my  purpose  here  to  enter  on.  I  would 
dwell  merely  on  the  ethical  aspect  of  the 
qviestion,  and  seek  to  show  that  the  Incarna- 
tion solves  the  difficulties  of  vicarious  atone- 
ment, in  attempting  to  solve  which  Hinduism 
has  so  signally  failed,  and  restores  harmony 
and  consistency  to  what  is  otherAvise  dis- 
cordant and  irreconcileable. 
Sin,  non-        What  is  siu,  for  which  atonement  has  to 

trust  of 

G°d.  "be  made  ?  It  is  breaking  God's  moral  law. 
This  law,  as  regards  the  relation  of  the  crea- 
ture to  the  Creator,  of  man  to  his  Maker,  is 
ultimately  trust ;  and  the  breaking  of  it  is 
ultimately  non-trust.  Whether  it  be  called 
disobedience  or  setting  up  man's  own  will  in 
opposition  to  the  Divine  will,  it  finally 
resolves  itself  into  this.  Offences  asrainst 
fellow-men  follow,  but  the  root  of  the  whole, 
for  which  a  remedy  has  to  be  provided, 
is  this  rupture  in  the  law  of  our  relation  to 
God.  The  most  obvious  remedy  for  this 
would  be,  for  man  to  trust  God  as  he  did 
before.  But  the  fact  that  he  has  distrusted 
God  stands  in  the  way. 


Their  Affinities  and  Antagonisms.     257 
If  the  Laws  of  God  had  been  as  the  laws  of  ^^j^.^^ef '"^ 

1  •  J  1  J  r»  J     •  •   1      Divine  and 

man,  arbitrary  enactments  01  certain  punish  luuuau 
ments  for  certain  offences,  that  could  be 
enforced  or  set  aside  at  pleasure,  it  might 
have  been  possible  for  man  to  revert  to  his 
original  position,  and  the  fact  of  his  distrust 
might  have  been  a  mere  episode  to  be  soon 
forgotten  :  no  atonement  would  have  been 
needed.  But  the  laws  of  God,  in  so  far  as 
known  to  us,  are  necessary  sequences,  as  that 
the  fruit  springs  from  the  seed,  that  a  man 
must  reap  what  he  has  sown,  Man  could  not 
sin  without  reaping  the  fruit  of  sin.  And 
what  is  this  fruit?  Just  beino^  and  continuino* 
sinful.  Sin  is  severing  the  bond  of  trust  that 
binds  man  to  God;  its  punishment  is  remainino* 
with  that  bond  severed.  Suffering  and  sorrow 
are  secondary  consequences  of  this,  but  the 
great  penalty  of  sin  is  to  continue  sinning,  to 
continue  sowing  the  seeds  of  sorrow,  and  to  lose 
the  power  of  holiness,  the  power  of  sowing  the 
seeds  of  happiness.  This  truth  the  Hindus  re- 
cognise wlien  they  say  that  their  present  sins 
are  the  fruits  of  former  evil  deeds.  Any  remedy 
to  be  effectual  must  remove  the  root  of  the  evil. 


God 


258  Hindtdsm  and  Christianity. 

remld^^^  And  wliat  is  the  remedy  wliicli  Christianity 
trust  m  offers  ?  It  simply  teaches  man,  in  the  very 
consequences  of  his  non-trust,  to  trust  God. 
Man  after  sinning  could  not  trust  God  merely 
for  what  he  had  trusted  Him  before.  By 
doing  so  he  would  leave  all  the  elements  intro- 
duced by  his  sin  outside  the  range  of  his 
trust,  and  these  would  still  remain  elements 
of  discord  between  him  and  his  Maker,  pro- 
ducing an  ever-widening  breach,  the  course, 
as  we  have  seen,  which  Hinduism  has  taken. 
Trusting  to  a  simple  forgiveness  would  be 
trusting  to  a  suspension  instead  of  a  fulfilment 
of  God's  law,  would  be  distrust  under  the 
pretence  of  trust.  The  Gospel,  however, 
reveals  the  fact  that  God  has  met  the  condi- 
tions imposed  by  man's  sin ;  that,  becoming 
man.  He  has  borne  its  penalty.  When  man 
trusts  God  to  bear  this  penalty,  as  he  trusts 
Him  for  life  and  everything  else,  he  brings 
the  antidote  to  the  very  root  of  the  disease. 
Trust  being  restored  in  the  very  part  of  man's 
relations  most  antagonistic  to  trust — in  the 
consequences  of  non  -trust — it  follows  naturally 
in  everything  else.     Obedience  follows  faith. 


Their  Affinities  arid  Antagonisms.     259 

This  is  why  the  Gospel  is  ^  Beheve  in  Christ' 
— God  incarnate — rather  than  *  Beheve  in 
God.'  The  hitter  is  the  duty  of  man  as  man  ; 
the  former  is  the  duty  of  man  as  a  sinner. 
Trust  is  the  fit  relation  of  the  creature  to  the 
Creator ;  the  Gospel  says,  carry  that  same 
trust  into  the  very  position  in  which  you  have 
been  placed  by  sin. 

This  leaves  difficulties  to  be  explained  on  This  re- 

.     .  r»      1  •  moves  not 

the  Divme  side  of  the  question  as  great  as  the  meta- 

^  ^      phy.sioal, 

ever,  and  seems  even  to  imply  that  God,  in 
bearing  man's  sin,  was  separated  from  Him- 
self. This  is  just  w4iat  Christianity  accepts, 
and  what  Mrs.  Browning  has  expressed  as 
boldly  and  truly  as  beautifully  in  the  words  : 

'  Deserted  !  God  would  separate  from  His  own  essence 

rather, 
And  i\  dam's  sins  have  swept  between  the  righteous  Son 

and  Father. 
Yea,  once  Emmanuel's  orphan  cry  this  universe  hath 

shaken ; 
It  went  up  single,  echoless,  "  My  God,  I  am  forsaken." ' 

I  do  not  enter  on  the  discussion  of  these 
difficulties,  which  have  nothing  to  do  Avith 
the  question  in  hand, — the  ethical  question 
as  to  how  the  Incarnation  removes  the  moral 


26o  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 


but  the 
ethical 


difficulties  of  vicarious  atonement.  It  is  no 
cut).  jj^^^,g  shocking  to  the  sense  of  justice  or  to 
devout  feeling  in  man^  to  trust  God  to  bear 
the  penalty  of  his  sin,  than  it  is  to  trust  Him 
for  life  or  anything  for  which  he  is  dependent 
on  Him.  It  requires  a  much  greater  exertion 
of  faith  and  will  to  do  this,  but  the  very  fact 
that  it  does  so  makes  trust  follow  necessarilvin 
everything  else.  Christ's  atonement,  then,  de- 
stroys sin  by  enabling  man  to  trust  God  for  the 
very  rej)aration  of  his  non-trust,  and  harmony 
being  restored  on  this  point,  the  Divine  law 
of  sequence  necessitates  its  being  restored  in 
man's  whole  nature.  When  the  two  are  taken 
together,  as  they  are  in  the  Christian  system, 
vicarious  atonement  is  seen  to  be  righteous 
and  effective,  and  an  adequate  reason  is  sup- 
plied for  the  Incarnation. 
to^oMhe  I^  Hinduism,  on  the  other  hand,  as  we  have 
lucama-     ^^^^  ^-j^^^  ^-j^^  doctriuc  of  vicarious  atonement, 

separated  from  that  of  the  Incarnation,  is 
contradictory  and  powerless ;  so  too,  in  that 
system,  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  dis- 
connected with  that  of  vicarious  atonement, 
is  meaningless  and  contemptible. 


Their  Affinities  and  Antagonisms.     261 

No  such  connection  could  exist  wlien  man 
had  to  atone  for  his  own  sin  in  a  reproduc- 
tion of  his  own  self.     The  Hindu  conception 
of    the    Incarnation   is,    therefore,    only    an 
evidence   of   the   aspiration    of    the    human 
soul  after  God  and  of  its  inability  to  supply 
that  want  by  any  fiction   of  its    own.       It 
could  not  realize  a  work  done  once  and  done 
perfectly.     The  same  deity,  as  we  have  seen, 
is  said  to  have  become  incarnate  manv  times, 
and  in  animals  as  well  as  in  man.     On  each 
occasion  it  is  to  put  right  something  that  has 
gone  wrong  in  the  ordinary  history   of  the 
world,  to  destroy  a  dangerous  tribe,  to  kill  a 
tyrannical    king,    to    do    deeds    that    might 
have  been  as    well   done  by  men,  and  less 
wonderful  than  many  that  have  been  done  by 
men.     There  is  no  conception  of  any  of  them 
bearing  for  man  what  man  could  not  bear 
himself     His   very  incarnations  are  spoken 
of    as    the    consequences    of    deeds  he    had 
himself  performed ;     one    was   the    fruit    of 
sins  he  had   committed,  another  of  a  curse 
that   had   been   pronounced   on    him.       Yet 
even   to   such   a   being   human  instinct  has 


262  Hinduism  and  Christianity, 

led  his  worshippers  to  turn  for  dehverance. 
Hopeless  themselves  of  being  able  to  reach 
the  end  of  their  long  chain  of  births,  they 
look  to  him  to  deliver  them  from  it,  but  not 
by  delivering  them  from  sin,  only  by  so 
absorbing  them  in  himself,  that  they  may 
perform  sin  and  holiness,  and  reap  joy  or 
sorrow  in  him,  till  all  such  things  shall  have 
ceased.  Even  for  the  attainment  of  this 
boon  they  have  no  security.  It  is  not  even 
pretended  that  any  one  of  their  avatars,  by 
triumphing  over  death,  has  given  evidence  of 
his  abiding  power  to  save  his  worshijDpers. 
striving  to       The  last  point  of  resemblance  and  contrast 

be  like 

God.  between  the  two  religions  which  1  have 
indicated  is — striving  after  likeness  to  God. 
This  in  the  Christian  religion  cannot  be  dis- 
sociated from  the  doctrine   of  the  Incarna- 

christian    tion.     The  Christian  svstem  is  like  an  arch, 

conception.  .  ^  "^ 

in  which  all  the  parts  are  mutually  de- 
pendent, resting  on  man  a  sinner  on  one 
side,  and  on  man  made  like  to  God  on 
the  other.  The  Incarnation  of  Christ  is  the 
keystone  which  gives  compactness  to  the 
whole,  and  the  removal  of  which  would  cause 


Their  Affinities  and  Antagonisms.     263 

the  whole  to  collapse.  As  one  side  of  the 
Incarnation  looks  towards  the  atonement  of 
man's  sin,  the  other  looks  to  perfecting  him 
in  the  likeness  of  God.  As  it  effects  the 
former  by  restoring  trust  in  God,  it  effects 
the  latter  by  revealing  the  character  of  God. 
Jesus  Christ  was  a  revelation  of  perfect 
holiness  and  spotless  purity.  Power,  as  man 
understands  it,  was  indeed  present  in  His 
miracles,  but  the  power  which  He  most 
divinely  manifested  was  the  power  of  holi- 
ness, goodness  and  truth.  He  is  thus  an 
example  of  that  holiness,  that  union  with 
God  and  likeness  to  Him,  the  attainment 
of  which  should  be  the  eud  of  all  reliction. 
It  has  been  attained  once  in  the  history  of 
man,  and  thus  the  obligation  of  it  on  all 
men  has  been  shown.  '  Ye  shall  be  holy,  for 
I  am  holy,'  was  a  call  not  to  mere  ceremonial 
purification,  but  to  that  holiness  of  life 
which  Christ  perfectly  exemplified.  And 
this  holiness  the  Gospel  teaches  is  to  be 
attained  by  an  extension  of  that  principle  of 
trust  which  we  have  seen  vicarious  atone- 
ment restores  to  man.     The  Divine  Spirit  is 


264  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 

promised  to  aid  those  who  seek  to  be  holy 
as  Christ  was,  and  those  who  trust  Christ 
for  forgiveness  are  led,  as  a  consequence,  to 
trust  His  Spirit  for  power  to  be  like  Him. 
This  likeness  the  Bible  teaches  to  consist  in 
a  j)erfectly  holy  life,  in  striving  after  perfect 
conformity  with  God's  will  even  in  the  most 
ordinary  actions  of  daily  life.  ^  Whether 
therefore  ye  eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye 
do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God.'  Thus  the 
holiness  of  heaven  will  be  a  completion  of 
the  obedience  begun  on  earth. 
Hindu  We  find  a  counterpart  to  all  this  in  Hin- 

counter- 

part.  duism,  but  it  is  the  arch  without  the  key- 
stone, and  consequentl}^  in  fragments  and 
ruins.  God-like  life  could  scarcely  start 
from  the  examples  of  the  incarnations,  for 
none  of  their  lives  is  superhuman  in  so  far 
as  holiness  is  concerned.  Even  Rama,  the 
most  blameless  character  conceived  in  Hindu 
literature,  religious  or  profane,  is  by  no 
means  perfect ;  while  the  most  popularly 
worshipped  incarnation,  w^e  have  seen,  com- 
mitted deeds  so  vile,  that  even  the  narrator 
warns  his  hearers  not  to  take  him  for  their 


Their  Affinities  and  A  ntagonisms.     265 

example. ^'^  It  is  accordingly  well  worthy  of 
remark,  .that  the  idea  of  striving  to  attain 
to  likeness  wdth  the  Deity  has  no  j)l^ce 
among  those  sects  of  Hindus,  w4io  trust  to 
or  believe  in  incarnations  of  the  Deity.  The 
Saivas,  w^ho  deny  the  incarnations,  are  the 
sectaries  who  seek  to  work  out  a  likeness  to 
God  and  a  union  with  Him  by  their  own 
lives.  This  is  their  whole  religion,  and  there 
are  no  incarnations  to  whom  they  look  for 
atonement  or  for  substitution.  But,  without 
the  Divine  example  of  One  who  has  come 
down  from  above,  they  seek  to  attain  divinity 
by  destroying  instead  of  perfecting  humanity, 
by  mortifying  all  human  desires  and  inclina- 
tions, as  well  as  all  sinful  desires  and  inclina- 
tions. They  cannot  conceive  anything  god- 
like in  the  faithful  discharge  of  ^  the  daily 
round,  the  common  task ;'  their  conception 
of  being  god-like  is  to  be  quit  of  these  alto- 
gether. The  result  of  this  process  is  rather 
to  destroy  what  remaining  goodness  there  is 

^^  See  ante,  p.  161.  The  sage  follows  up  the  pantheistic  vin- 
dication there  given  with  the  advice  :  '  Listen  to  the  story  of 
Hari,  but  do  not  think  of  doing  his  deeds.' 


2  66  Hindidsm  mid  Clmstianity , 

in  man.  It  is  needful  to  have  seen  some  of 
those  whom  the  Hindus  look  on  as  their  most 
holy  men^  approaching  in  their  perfection 
most  nearly  to  God,  to  understand  how  loath- 
some this  conception  may  become. 
Difficulties       We  thus  SCO,  that  to  the  main  doctrines  of 

occasioned  ...  ^     . 

by  these      Christianity  Hinduism  presents  counterparts, 


resem- 


blances, which  show  how  unable  the  human  heart  is 
to  do  without  somethinof  to  fill  the  void 
occasioned  by  its  own  aspirations,  and  which, 
therefore,  encourage  us  to  offer  the  true  satis- 
faction for  them,  in  the  hope  that  it  will  be 
recognised  and  accepted.  But  they  show  also 
the  extreme  arduousness  of  the  task.  It  is 
not  a  void  that  we  have  to  fill,  not  an  empty 
position  that  we  have  to  occupy,  but  one 
already  held  by  a  powerful  foe.  The  very 
amount  of  similarity  in  the  opposite  doctrines 
tends  to  give  greater  bitterness  to  the  moral 
antagonism  that  divides  them,  and  to  make 
Hindus,  after  hearing  an  exposition  of  Chris- 
tian truth,  turn  back  to  their  own  tenets,  with 
the  conviction  that  they  are  fundamentally 
the  same,  and  much  better  suited  for  them. 
And  this  feeling  is  intensified  by  another. 


Their  Affinities  and  Antagonisms.     267 
Had    it    only   been   with    the    tlieolos^y   ofM^-    „ 

J  Ot/  gonisin  01 

Hinduism  that  Christianity  had  to  fight,  its  and'Hi'^^iu 
converts  might  by  this  time  have  numbered  fogy.^'^^^ 
milHons.  It  is  in  its  anthropology,  its 
doctrine  about  man,  that  the  great  strength 
of  the  Hindu  system  Hes.  On  this  question 
Hinduism  has  not  a  single  point  of  contact 
with  Christianity.  It  is  in  utter,  entire 
opposition.  Christianity  teaches  the  uni- 
versal brotherhood  of  man;  Hinduism  teaches 
the  divine  order,  the  binding"  oblig^ation  of 
caste.  This  we  have  seen  is  the  last  result  of 
its  doctrine  of  impersonality  and  transmigra- 
tion,— to  deny  the  unity  of  the  human  race. 
At  this  we  need  not  be  surprised.  Hindu- 
ism develojDed  itself  in  opposition  to  Buddh- 
ism, which,  as  well  as  the  Christian  religion, 
was  a  religion  of  humanity,  and  it  is  natural 
that  Hinduism  should  be  stronofest  on  those 
points  in  which  it  had  to  struggle  most 
decisively  against  it. 

Caste  is  therefore  in  reality  the  greatest  Caste  pro- 
duces 
strength  of  Hinduism;  the  most  active  foe  with 

which  Christianity  has  to  contend.     Practical 

social  interests  here  come  in  to  give  vitality  to 


2  68         Hinduism  and  Christianity . 

Antipathy,  religious  dogma.  The  equality  and  brother- 
hood of  mankind  is  as  hateful  a  doctrine  to  the 
Hindus  as  was  the  idea  of  the  equahty  of  the 
Negro  and  European  race  to  the  planters  of 
America;  and  as  in  India  it  is  the  distinctive 
social  doctrine  of  a  hostile  creed,  it  makes 
them  look  with  suspicion  and  dislike  on  all 
its  other  teaching.  Even  when  they  have 
been  induced  to  study  the  Christian  religion, 
and  have  become  convinced  of  its  truth  and 
excellence,  of  the  divinity  and  moral  holiness 
of  its  Founder,  they  have  not  been  able  to 
accept  the  idea  of  all  men  being  brethren,  of 
the  sweeper  being  naturally  the  same  as  the 
Brahman,  and  able  throuofh  education  and 
training  to  rise  to  the  same  social  position. 

Terrorism,  jf  they  do  ovcrcomo  their  repugnance  to 
this  thought,  and  become  convinced  of  its 
truth,  the  terrible  social  persecution  and 
ostracism,  which  they  would  have  to  endure 
in  practically  carrying  it  out,  most  frequently 
prove  too  strong  for  their  convictions,  and 
hold  them  bound  to  follow  customs  which 
they  condemn,  to  worship  gods  in  whom  they 
disbelieve.      If  they  take  the  final  step  of 


Their  Affinities  and  Antagonisms.     269 


renouncing:  caste,  tlien  caste  takes  its  final 
step  of  renouncing  them.     Tliey  are  cut  off  ^'°^'''^'°"- 
from   Hindu  society,  they  are  forbidden  to 
live  with  their  families  or  mingle  Avitli  their 
relatives.      The  funeral  rites  are  sometimes 
performed  for  them,  and  their  wives  assume 
widows'    weeds.       Christians    are    for    the 
Hindus  only  an  additional  caste;   Christianity 
is  their  system  of  belief  and  practice,  all  the 
more  abominable  that  it  interferes  with  other 
castes.     Native  Christians  are  thus  nearly  as 
much  isolated  from  the  mass  of  their  country- 
men as  Europeans  are,  and  as  little  able  to 
influence    them,    except    from    the    greater 
sympathy  with  their  w^ays  of  thinking  which 
previous    acquaintance    gives.      Christianity 
accordingly  cannot  come  before  the  Hindus 
in  those  aspects  which   would  help  most  to 
commend  it ;  it  can  spread  only  from   indi- 
vidual to  individual,  without  gaining  in  any 
of  them  a  centre  of  power ;  it  draws  many 
out  of  Hindu  society,  but  cannot  be  professed 
by  any  within  it.     Thus  has  caste  fortified 
Hinduism  against  Christianity  with  the  triple 
wall  of  antipathy,  terrorism,  and  isolation. 


2  70  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 


fee'mingiy  Sucli  then  are  the  points  of  resemblance 
fo^Hii-^^^  and  the  points  of  antagonism  between  the 
two  reUgions,  and  it  might  well  seem  that 
the  latter  are  so  strong  as  to  prevent  our 
having  much  hope  from  the  former.  But 
the  very  strength  of  the  moral  contrast  be- 
tween the  two  should  strengthen  the  desire 
of  all,  who  have  felt  the  beneficent  influence 
of  Christianity,  to  extend  its  benefits  to  the 
Hindus.  There  are,  however,  certain  facts 
which  seem  to  militate  ao-ainst  this  view  of 
the  moral  character  of  the  two  systems,  and  to 
show  that  practically  the  difference  is  not  so 
great.  These  are  the  degraded  character  of 
many  in  Christian  lands,  and  the  excellent 
character  and  high  social  virtue  of  many  of 
the  Hindus.  But  a  close  examination  of  these 
facts  will  show  that  they  have  not  a  direct 
bearing  on  the  question  in  hand. 
Degraded        It  mav  be  granted  that  the  lower  orders 

condition  ^ 

of  many      of  tlic  Hiudus  are  no  worse  than  the  lapsed 

Christians.  •■ 

masses  of  Great  Britain,  that  the  vices  and 
crimes  of  the  one  are  just  as  bad  as  the  vices 
and  crimes  of  the  other.  But,  in  comparing 
the  lapsed  masses  of  this  country  with  the 


Their  Affin  ities  and  A  7i  tag  on  isms.     271 

worst  castes  of  Hindus,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  defect  in  the  former  is 
their  irreligion,  in  the  latter  it  is  their  re- 
ligion. With  the  former  the  religious 
faculty  is  either  dormant  or  deadened,  with 
the  latter  it  is  in  full  exercise.  No  English- 
man, of  whatever  social  status,  thinks  of 
justifying  any  form  of  vice  or  crime  on  the 
grounds  of  religion.  Those  who  do  practise 
thefts  or  violence,  who  commit  robbery  or 
murder,  who  indulge  in  drunkenness  or  un- 
cleanness,  never  think  of  associating  these 
acts  with  the  Christian  religion.  They  are 
either  ignorant  of  what  that  religion  is,  or  it 
has  lost  its  power  over  them,  and  they  know 
they  are  acting  in  opposition  to  it.  But  let 
the  religious  faculty  be  awakened  and  en- 
lightened by  Christian  teaching,  let  it  assert 
its  power  over  them,  and  they  will  cease  to 
perform  such  acts.  Now,  a  Hindu  will  com- 
mit all  these  crimes,  believing  that  in  com- 
mitting them  he  is  not  only  not  offending 
against  religion,  but  even  jDcrforming  re- 
liofious  acts.  It  was  as  a  relimous  act  that 
the    Thug   murdered   his   victims,    that   the 


272  Hindicism  and  Christianity. 

father  killed  his  new-born  infant  daug^hter, 
that  the  son  applied  the  torch  to  the  pile  of 
wood  on  to  which  his  mother  had  mounted. 
Uncleanness  is  as  much  a  part  of  Hindu 
worship  as  it  was  of  the  heathen  worship  in 
Corinth  and  Ephesus  in  the  days  of  the 
Apostle  Paul.  There  is  scarcely  a  crime 
which  Hinduism  will  not  allow  in  some  men, 
because  it  is  a  caste  practice.  The  lapsed 
masses,  then,  in  the  large  cities  of  Great 
Britain  are  low  and  degraded  because  they  are 
not  Christians.  The  masses  of  India  are  low 
and  degraded  because  they  are  Hindus. 
The  former  are  fallen  in  spite  of,  the  latter 
in  consequence  of,  their  religion.  The  same 
may  be  said  in  comparing  the  lives  of  many 
professed  Christians  with  the  lives  of  many 
professed  Hindus.  The  inconsistencies  of  the 
former  are  the  consistencies  of  the  latter. 
This  may  be  a  strong  argument  for  seeking 
to  give  Christianity  a  stronger  and  wider 
hold  on  the  mass  of  Englishmen,  but  it  is  no 
arofument  for  withholdinof  it  from  India. 
The  good        But,    it    is   further   contended,    there    are 

men  among 

Hindiis  and  p^ood    mcu   amonof   the    Hindus   as   well   as 


Their  Affinities  and  Antagonisms.      27 


") 


V  among  Christians,  persons  Avho  teach  a  pure 
morality  and  who  practise  it,  and  we  must 
judge  of  a  religion  by  the  best  examples  it  pro- 
duces, not  by  the  worst.  Again,  it  must 
here  be  decided  whether  what  is  good  in 
these  examples  is  the  fruit  of  their  religion 
or  not.  John  Stuart  Mill  was  a  fine  sj)eci- 
men  of  a  man  and  a  philosopher,  but  his 
excellences  were  in  no  way  due  to  Christian 
teaching,  and  Christianity  must  point  for 
examples  of  its  effects  to  other  instances. 
So  too  we  must  judge  whether  what  is  good 
in  any  Hindu  is  a  special  result  of  Hinduism 
or  of  naturally  good  principles,  and  whether 
what  is  good  in  them  can  influence  their 
countrymen, — whether  Hinduism  can  become 
a  iDOwer  for  good.  That  it  includes  much 
that  is  good,  and  that  it  recognises  good,  I 
have  sought  to  show.  There  are  some  who 
dwell  more  especially  on  this  side  of  it,  and 
those  who  do  so  may  find  in  its  literature 
much  to  encourage  them  and  stimulate  them. 
But  that  it  also  recomises  the  bad,  and  that 
those  who  wish  to  follow  evil  may  also  find 
in  its  sacred  books  much  to  encourasre  them, 

S 


2  74  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 

is  also  true.  Hinduism  does  not  discourage 
good,  except  in  so  far  as  it  does  not  dis- 
courage evil ;  but  that  is  quite  sufficient  to 
prevent  it  being  a  power  for  good. 


CHAPTER   II. 


RELIGIOUS  REFORM  IN  INDIA. 


H 


INDUISM  as  it  is  cannot  be  a  moral  Can  mn- 

cl'iism  be 

power.  But  may  not  the  evil  be  so  leformetU 
eliminated  that  the  good  only  will  remain  ? 
May  Hinduism  not  be  so  reformed  as  to  make 
it  a  power  for  good  ?  This  point  demands 
consideration,  for  it  is  the  point  to  which 
the  controversy  has  practically  come.  No 
Hindus  who  seek  to  maintain  the  friendly 
recognition  of  European  thinkers  will  main- 
tain that  Hinduism  as  it  was,  or  even 
Hinduism  as  it  is,  can  continue  in  India ; 
they  have,  therefore,  set  themselves  to  at- 
tempt its  reformation,  and  make  it  worthy 
of  the  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
What,  then,  is  the  smallest  change  that  will  what 

effect  this  reformation  and  make  Hinduism  a  reform  Hin- 
duism j 

power    for   progress   and  miprovement  ?     It 


276  Hindiiisni  and  Christianity. 


can  be  nothing  less  than  making  good  an 
essential  instead  of  an  accident.      But  this 
cannot  be  done  on  the  basis  of  pantheism. 
Without  belief  in  a  personal,  holy  God  there 
can   be  no   religious  belief  in  the  universal/ 
obligation  to  do  good  and  to  shuu  evil.    Thus, 
unless  theism  be  substituted  for  pantheism, 
obligation  to  seek  virtue  and  to  shun  vice  for 
freedom  from  virtue  as  from  vice,   Hinduism  j 
cannot  be  reformed.     That  is  to  say,  unless 
Hinduism  cease  to  be  Hinduism,  it  cannot  be 
reformed. 
Holiness         Introduce   into  Hinduism  the   element  of 
of  Hiu-      perfect  holiness  on  the  part  of  God,  and  cor- 

duism. 

responding  moral  obligation  on  the  part  of 
man,  and  which  of  its  doctrines  or  institutions 
can  stand  ?  Its  conception  of  the  SujDreme 
Lord,  or  Supreme  Spirit,  is  at  once  destroyed, 
for  it  makes  him  as  free  from  hatred  of  sin  as 
from  love  of  sin.  Its  whole  pantheon  of  gods 
and  goddesses,  made  from  his  parts,  is  swept 
away  into  the  limbo  of  thieves  and  liars,  of 
adulterers  and  murderers.  Its  worship  be- 
comes an  empty  form,  if  not  an  abomination  ; 
its   holy   men   shameless   beggars    and    im- 


Religions  Reform  in  India.  277 

posters.  Even  its  supreme  ordinance,  the 
law  of  caste,  must  perish.  When  the  Hindus 
have  learned  that  falsehood  is  to  be  shunned 
more  than  contact  with  a  sweeper,  dis- 
honesty more  than  allowing  the  shadow  of  a 
European  to  fall  on  their  hearth  while  their 
food  is  being  cooked,  uncleanness  more  than 
receiving  food  from  one  of  anotlier  tribe  or  1 
trade,  the  days  of  caste  are  numbered.  What  ^ 
remains  ?  Vicarious  suffering^  for  sin,  the  in- 
carnation  of  God,  man  striving  to  be  like 
God.  But  that  vicarious  suffering  will  be  a 
free,  personal,  conscious  act,  not  an  inevitable, 
blind,  unconscious  fate  ;  that  incarnation  will 
be  one,  and  not  many — holy,  and  not  sinful — 
Christ,  and  not  Krishna  ;  that  striving  to  be 
like  God  will  be  a  striving  to  make  our 
humanity  holy  as  He  is,  not  to  dry  up  and 
annihilate  our  humanity  altogether.  These 
are,  however,  marks  of  the  reliofion  of  the 
Bible,  not  of  the  religion  of  the  Puranas. 
Christianity  is  the  only  possible  reformation 
of  Hinduism  that  can  make  it  a  power  for 
reformingf  and  elevating^  man. 

Where  Hindus  have  tried  religious  reform  ReSnuers. 


Brahma 
Samaj. 


278  Huidiiism  and  Christianity. 

without  Christianity  one  of  two  results  has 
followed  : — either,  quitting  Hinduism,  they 
have  gone  further  from  it  than  even  Chris- 
tianity; or,  trying  to  remain  within  Hindu- 
ism, they  have  sunk  back  into  its  powerless 
quietism.  This  we  see  exemplified  in  the 
history  of  the  Brahma  Samaj  of  Calcutta. 
This  society  or  church  owes  its  origin  to  the 
well-known  Ram  Mohun  Roy,  who,  towards 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  tried  to  lead  his 
countrymen  to  a  better  faith.  By  his  publica- 
tion of  the  '  Precepts  of  Jesus,'  he  showed 
whence  he  had  himself  derived  his  inspiration, 
and  what  he  looked  on  as  the  best  guide  to 
life,  but  he  was  ready  to  select  also  from 
what  he  considered  good  in  the  Hindu  scrip- 
tures, especially  the  Vedas.  He  did  not 
form  a  sect  or  establish  a  mode  of  worship, 
but  the  Samaj  was  established  in  1830,  three 
years  before  his  death,  by  those  who  had  im- 
bibed his  opinions.  About  ten  years  there- 
after Babu  Debendra  Nath  Tagore  became 
one  of  its  leaders,  and  under  him  it  made  con- 
siderable progress  towards  sejoaration  from 
orthodox  Hinduism;  but  he  could  not  break 


Religions  Rcfomii  in  India.  279 

off  from  it  altogether.  This  step  was  taken 
by  Babu  Keshub  Chimder  Sen,  who  joined 
the  Samaj  in  1857,  and  soon  became  a  leader. 
He  was  much  more  progressive  than  his  col- 
leaofues,  and  in  1865  brouo^ht  matters  to  a 
crisis  by  demanding,  among  other  things,  that 
the  external  signs  of  caste  distinction  should 
be  no  lonofer  used.  When  this  was  refused 
by  the  majority,  Keshub  Chunder  Sen 
formed  the  ^  Brahma  Samaj  of  India,'  called 
also  the  progressive  Brahmists,  while  the 
others  remained  as  the  Adi  or  original 
Samaj. 

The  creed  of  Chunder  Sen  and  his  party  is  The  pro- 
simple, — the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  bro-  Braiimists. 
therhood  of  man.     He  looks  for  its  enforce- 
ment to  the   Scriptures  of  all   creeds,   and 
selects  what  is  best  in  them  for  instruction 
and  for  worship.     His   high  character,   the    / 
strong  moral  tone  of  his  teaching,  and  his    1 
zealous  labours  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
point  him  out  as  one  of  the  likeliest  of  Indian 
reformers.     His  principles  too,  as  being  hos- 
tile to  pantheism,  idolatry,  and  caste,  must 
command  the  sympathy  of  all  who  desire  the 


28o  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 

enlightenment  of  India.  But  liis  system  is 
not  Hinduism,  nor  is  it  Indian  in  anything 
but  name.  It  is  more  un-Hindu  than  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  the  Sj)irituahsm  of  Newman 
and  Parker,  and  it  ignores  those  true  rehgious 
aspirations  in  Hinduism,  which  Christianity 
recognises,  and  for  which  it  offers  satisfaction. 
A  divine  revelation,  a  divine  incarnation,  and 
vicarious  atonement  for  sin,  are  elements 
which  bring-  Christianitv  nearer  than  Brah- 
moism  to  the  faith  of  the  Hindus,  and  make  it 
more  likely  to  be  ultimately  the  refuge  of  those 
who  feel  that  the  old  faith  does  not  satisfy 
their  religious  wants.  Chunder  Sen's  move- 
ment is  too  recent  for  us  yet  to  predict  what 
the  verdict  of  his  countrymen  may  be,  but 
meanwhile  Christianity  can  claim  that,  in  so 
far  as  nationality  or  adaptability  to  the  Hindus 
is  concerned,  it  is  a  better  instrument  of  re- 
formation than  Brahmoism.  This  has  shown 
that  it  is  impossible  to  leave  Hinduism,  and 
not  accept  Christianity,  without  going  further 
from  it  than  even  Christianity  does. 
Defects  of       '^yjX  already  the  fatal  defects  of  the  system 

their  sys-  *'  ^ 

tern.  ^^Q  beginning  to  be  apparent.     It  is  failing 


Religious  Refo7^m  in  India.  281 

in  the  struggle  with  Hinduism,  and  it  is  fail- 
ing to  maintain  a  consistent  position  itself. 
^  There  is  something  in  Pantheism  so  deep, 
that   naught    in   bare    Deism    can   meet   it. 
Deism  is  not  so  deep.     And  Pantheism  may 
well  keep  the  house  till  a  stronger  than  Deism 
comes  to  take   possession  of  it.      In  Jesus 
Christ  I  find  the  only  true   solution  of  the 
mystery.'^    These  words  of  one  of  our  deepest 
thinkers  are  finding  practical  illustration  in 
the  history  of  the  present  attempted  theistic 
reformation  of  Hinduism.     Brahmoism  wins 
more  converts  from  the  educated  classes  than 
Christianity  does,  but  it  fails  to  retain  them. 
They  cannot  find  in  the  system  anything  to 
compensate  for  the  loss  occasioned  by  being 
.out-casted,  nor  anything  which  they  cannot 
believe  as  well  within  their  caste,   and   so 
numbers  of  them  seek  re-admission  to  caste 
privileges.     Christianity  wins  fewer  converts 
from  among  the  educated,  but  it  retains  them 
all.     The  tenets  of  the  Samaj  are  also  keenly 
assailed  by  the  native  Christians,  especially 
on  the  question  of  the  expiation  of  sin.    When 

^  Duncan,  Korea  Peri]jatetic(e. 


282  Hmdtnsm  and  CJmsiianity . 

pressed,  its  advocates  can  present  no  better 
solution  than  that  which  is  the  starting-point 
of  Hinduism,  and  they  seem  to  have  entered 
on  ground  which  will  bring  them  back  to  the 
old  Hindu  solution  of  metempsychosis.^ 
tiiTAdf^  And  what  has  been  the  course  of  the 
samaj.  rosiduo — of  thoso  who  formed  the  Adi  Samaj, 
and  tried  to  reform  Hinduism  by  remaining 
within  its  pale  ?  Their  avowed  object  was 
to  make  the  new  religion  a  fulfilment  of  the 
old  faith  instead  of  an  abrogation  of  it.  The 
texts  they  compiled  were  taken   only  from 

^  '  In  a  letter  to  the  Mirror,  the  well-known  native  Chris- 
tian scholar,  Professor  Earn  Chandra,  now  of  Putiala,  exposes 
the  Brahmo  idea  of  sin  as  that  which  exhausts  itself  and  leaves 
men  holy,  adding  :  "  The  religious  belief  of  the  Brahmos  is  as 
contrary  to  the  will  of  God  as  Atheism,  and  it  is  a  blasphemy 
to  call  it  by  the  name  of  TJieism,  it  being  worse  than  Atheism  ; 
for  while  Atheism  promises  utter  annihilation  after  death,  and 
thus  only  destroys  the  fear  of  punishment  hereafter,  Brahmo- 
ism  gladdens  the  hearts  of  all  those  who  live  and  glory  in  sin 
in  this  world  with  the  certain  hope  of  everlasting  life  and  joy 
in  the  next."  The  Mirror^s  reply  shirks  the  question  :  "  His 
logic  is  wrong,  and  his  heart  seems  unkind  and  unable  to 
realize  the  fulness  of  Divine  love.  Theism  of  all  systems  of 
faith  offers  the  greatest  discouragement  to  sin,  because  it  holds 
that  Christians,  Hindus,  and  Brahmos  will  all  be  adequately 
punished  for  their  sins,  here  or  hereafter,  and  that  no  form  of 
expiation  can  secure  the  remission  of  such  punishment."' — 
Friend  of  India,  June  1874. 


Religioits  Reform  in  India.  283 

the  Hindu  Shastras,  and  they  allowed  what 
they  termed  innocent  Hindu  usages  and 
customs  to  remain.  It  was,  in  fact,  an 
attempt  to  found  a  system  of  Deism  on  a 
system  of  pantheistic  idolatry — a  task  much 
more  hopeless  than  to  exterminate  the  latter. 
They  taught  one  personal  God,  but  to  deno- 
minate Him  they  adopted  the  formula  of 
Vedantic  pantheism — one  only,  without  a 
second.^  They  denounced  idolatry,  but  al- 
lowed it  on  certain  occasions  and  in  certain 
circumstances.  How  long  such  a  system 
might  have  continued  in  other  circumstances  its  relapse 
it  is  impossible  to  say,  but,  exposed  as  it  is  fiox  Hindu- 
to  the  assaults  of  progressive  Brahmoism  and 
of  Christianity,  it  has  been  obliged  to  fall 
back  further  and  further  on  its  orl^final 
source,  and  is  now  scarcely  to  be  distin- 
guished from  orthodox  Hinduism.  When 
one  of  its  leaders,  Kajnarayan  Bose,  could 
defend  Hinduism  as  superior  to  Christianity 
and  other  relictions,  not  althougfh  it  main- 
tains,    but*    because    it    maintains,    inferior 

3  See  anU,  p.  94. 

'^  In  a  lecture  on  the  Superiority  of  Hinduism  to  Christianity, 


ism. 


284  Hindttism  and  Christianity . 

staofes  of  reliofious  belief  in  its  own  bosom — 
these  inferior  stages  including  the  worship  of 
Krishna,  and  of  the  linga,  the  sensuality  of 
the  Maharajas,  and  the  self-torture  of  the 
yogis  ;  not  although  it  grasps,  but  because  it 
grasps  within  its  embrace  all  human  know- 
ledge, though  that  knowledge,  as  taught  in  the 
Shastras,  includes  a  geography  with  oceans  of 
curds  and  continents  of  suo-ar  surroundinof  a 
top-shaped  mountain  800,000  miles  high — he 
had  evidently  begun  to  lose  sight  of  the  nature 
of  true  religion.  The  next  step  soon  followed : 
when  challenged  by  an  esteemed  missionary 
in  Calcutta  for  admitting  the  Tantras  as 
sacred  books,  he  defends  himself  thus  : — 

'  Though  they  are  not  reckoned  as  religious  authorities 


delivered  hy  Bose  in  Calcutta  in  1872,  and  reported  in  the 
Friend  of  India,  the  followdng  are  two  of  the  twelve  merits  of 
Hinduism  adduced : — 

^  IX.  That  Hinduism  maintains  inferior  stages  of  religious 
belief  in  its  own  bosom,  in  harmony  with  the  nature  of  man, 
who  cannot  but  pass  through  several  stages  of  religious  develop- 
ment before  being  able  to  grasp  the  Supreme  Being, 

'  XL  That  the  Hindu  religion  is  of  a  very  comprehensive 
character,  as  grasping  within  its  embrace  all  human  knowledge, 
all  civil  polity,  and  all  domestic  economy,  impenetrating  every 
concern  of  human  life  with  the  sublime  influence  of  religion.' 


Religiotis  Reform  in  India.  2S5 

so  much  in  other  parts  of  India  as  in  Bengal,  and  contain 
many  indecent  passages,  and  therefore  occupy  the  lowest 
rank  among  the  Shastras  even  in  Bengal,  they,  especially 
the  Malianirvana  Tantra,  contain  some  of  the  sublimest 
precepts  of  morality  and  religion.  The  incongruity  may 
appear  strange  to  us,  but  still  such  is  the  case.  Though 
some  Tantras  enjoin  excessive  drinking  and  unlawful  in- 
tercourse, there  are  others  which  deprecate  them  in  the 
strongest  terms.'  ^ 

Here  we  see  the  position  to  which  Adi 
Brahmoism  has  been  brought — the  old  slough 
of  Hinduism,  utterly  impotent  for  any  good. 
The  Tantras  are  sacred  books,  because  they 
contain  some  sublime  precepts  of  morality 
and  religion,  and  these  the  Adi  Brahmists 
accept  and  seek  to  follow ;  but  they  also  en- 
join excessive  drinking  and  unlawful  inter- 
course ;  and  these  passages  the  Saktas  accept 
and  carry  into  practice.  Both  are  founded 
on  the  Shastras,  and  both  are  included 
within  the  pale  of  Hinduism ;  and  this,  Baj- 
narayan  Bose  considers,  shows  the  superiority 
of  Hinduism  to  Christianity.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  their  original  leader,  the  sincere 
and  earnest  Debendra  Natli  Tao^ore,  should 
have  sought  refuge  from  this  position  in  as- 

s  Friend  of  India,  1872. 


2  86  Hinduism  and  Chinstianity . 


Hinduism. 


ceticism,  trying  to  spend  his  days  as  he  thinks 
the  great  Rishis  or  saints  of  old  may  have 
spent  theirs,  among  the  Himalayas.^ 
Sanity  the  ■'-  writo  this  in  no  spirit  of  triumph  or 
mation^of  exultation  over  the  Adi  Brahmists,  but  from 
a  deep  conviction  that  no  reform  attempted 
on  the  basis  of  Hinduism  can  be  permanent. 
Hinduism  is  essentially  quiescent :  it  tolerates 
everything  but  change,  and  forbids  the  attack- 
ing even  of  what  is  false,  as  intolerance  and 
bigotry.  Adi  Brahmoism  set  out  with  the 
design  of  fulfilling  the  old  religion,  and  it  has 
done  so ;  but  it  has  proved  that  no  fulfilment 
of  the  old  religion  can  be  a  reformation.  This 
can  be  accomplished  only  by  fulfilling  what  is 
good,  and  rejecting,  opposing,  denouncing 
what  is  evil — the  principles  of  Christianity, 
not  of  Hinduism.  Already  Christianity  has 
won  some  among  the  Hindus,  who  accept  it 
as  the  fulfilment  of  what  is  best  in  the  old 
religion  of  India,  and  whose  patriotism  re- 
ceives thereby  an  elevation  and  intensity 
such  as  is  not  attained  to  by  their  heathen 
fellow-countrymen. 

^  Bombay  Guardian,  Nov.  24,  1873. 


Rcligioits  Refojnn  171  India.  287 

*  That  our  Aryan  ancestors  did  to  an  appreciable  extent 
comprehend  the  true  meaning  of  sacrifice,  and  had  brought 
to  India  certain  traditions  of  that  primitive  Revelation, 
cannot  be  doubted ;  and,  in  enforcing  the  Gospel  of  Him 
who  came  to  fulfil  the  law  and  the  prophets,  it  is  necessary 
to  2;iiard  a^^jainst  the  rude  assaults  on  the  relics  of  that 
Revelation  which  may  be  traced  in  the  country.  The 
Gospel  preached  to  the  Hindus  should  be  in  adaptation 
to  those  relics  as  much  as  the  integrity  of  the  Truth  will 
allow,  and  not  as  little  as  human  ignorance  or  caprice  will 
tolerate.  The  former  policy  of  action  will  conduce  to  the 
service  of  God  and  Truth,  the  latter  to  that  of  human 
practices  and  corporations,  however  excellent  they  may  be. 
.  .  .  He  would  be  a  sorry  preacher  of  Christ  indeed  who 
would  act  the  part  of  a  Vandal  to  such  texts  as  these, '^ 
instead  of  presenting  the  Saviour  as  their  fulfiller  and 
accomplisher,  whom  indeed  their  authors  may  be  held  to 
have  fervently  desired  to  see,  but  could  not.'  ^ 

This  is  the  language  of  a  Christian  Hindu 
patriot,  appealing  to  what  is  best  in  the  old 
reliofion  and  literature  of  his  nation  as  neither 
a  Yaishnava  nor  a  Saiva,  neither  an  Adi 
Brahmist  nor  a  progressive  Brahmist  could. 

I    believe,    then^   that    the   history   of  all  ^^^^^^^  ^f 
attempts  at  reformation  that  have  been  made  HhSuism. 
on  the  basis  of  Hinduism  shows  that  no  per- 
manent result  can  be  looked  for  from  them. 
It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  are 

7  See  ante,  p.  41.  ^  Bengal  Christian  Herald,  Feb.  1874. 


2  88  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 

disintegrating  j)rocesses  at  work  in  India 
which  must  ultimately  destroy  the  old  re- 
ligion of  the  country.  To  mention  nothing 
else,  the  system  of  secular  education  intro- 
duced by  the  British  Government  has  this 
tendency.  Hinduism  cannot  stand  before 
the  culture  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
those  who  make  any  progress  in  acquaintance 
with  modern  literature,  science,  and  philosophy 
find  them  incompatible  with  the  faith  in 
which  they  have  been  born.  But  Govern- 
ment education  cannot  supply  anything  in 
place  of  that  which  it  destroys.  Of  the  effect 
which  it  is  having:  on  the  Hindus  I  will  ao^ain 
let  a  Hindu  speak  : — ^ 

'  Up  to  the  time  of  his  passing  the  entrance  examination 
of  the  Calcutta  University,  he  (young  Bengal)  remains  a 
Hindu  of  more  or  less  degree  of  orthodoxy.  When  he 
crosses  that  Eubicon,  Hinduism  gradually  slackens  its 
grasp  of  him.  He  now  tampers  with  Deism.  He  loses 
all  faith  in  the  religion  of  his  ancestors.  He  does  not 
inquire  into  Christianity,  taking  it  for  granted  that  it  is  a 
system  of  superstition.  Mahomniedanism  he  hates  with  a 
perfect  hatred.  Deism  relaxes  its  hold  upon  him  till  he 
runs  adrift  upon  the  rocks  of  unbelief,  and  by  the  time  he 
has  become  a  graduate  of  the  University  he  ceases  to  be- 
lieve in  anything.     A  few  become  Brahmos,  fewer   still 


Rcligioits  Refo7nn  in  India.  289 

Christians,  but  the  vast  bulk  are  left  stranded  on  the  shoals 
of  scepticism.'  ^ 

This  is  indeed  true  as  yet  of  only  a  very  i^/^gers 

*^  'J  '^01  mere 

limited    number  —  those   who    have    passed  ^T''^^.'^ 

I  education. 

through  the  university  curricuhim.  They, 
however,  come  more  prominently  before  the 
English  public,  and  are  apt  to  be  taken  as 
types  of  all  Hindus.  Hence  a  mistaken 
notion  is  gaining  ground  that  Hinduism  is 
altogether  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  has  no 
hold  on  the  Hindus,  or,  at  all  events,  the 
educated  Hindus.  But  it  is  true  only  of  some 
of  those  who  have  received  a  university  educa- 
tion— possibly  about  one  ten-thousandth  part 
of  the  whole  population.  Hinduism  is  still  a 
living  faith  with  a  hundred  and  forty  millions 
of  our  fellow-subjects.  The  system  I  have 
described  is  still  ^  the  strong  man  that  keeps 
the  house'  which  Christianity  is  seeking  to 
enter.  But  English  education  and  European 
culture  have  only  begun  their  work.  They 
must  increase  and  spread,  and  ultimately 
leaven  the  whole  people ;  and  if  they  be  left 
to   work  alone  the  above   extracts   describe 

9  Bengal  Magazine. 
T 


290  Hinduism  and  Christianity . 

pretty  well  what  the  result  will  be.  It  is  a 
^religious  reform'  that  may  be  contemplated 
with  satisfaction  by  Comptists  and  mate- 
rialists; but  it  is  surely  a  fate  from  which  it 
is  worth  while  for  Christians  to  seek  to 
rescue  India.  It  is  a  duty  which  they  owe 
to  their  Master  as  well  as  to  the  Hindus,  to 
show  these  that  the  material  progress  and 
scientific  enlightenment  which  are  destroying 
their  old  faiths  and  dethroning  their  old  gods, 
do  not  imply  the  renunciation  of  all  faith,  the 
abandonment  of  all  belief  in  divine  power ; 
that  they  may  consist  with  a  faith  which 
fulfils  the  longing  of  man's  nature,  and  draws 
him  to  holiness  infinitely  more  powerfully 
than  that  faith  which  they  destroy. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ATTITUDE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  WITH  REGARD  TO 

HINDUISM. 

rpHE  review  wliich  we  have  taken  of  the 
J-  relative  positions  of  Hinduism  and 
Christianity  must  make  all  Christians  feel 
the  responsibility  that  lies  on  them  to  press 
on  the  Hindus  the  acce23tance  of  Christy  and 
we  now  come  to  consider  the  attitude  which 
the  Church  should  take  in  order  to  insure 
success.  I  will  here  dwell  on  only  two  prin- 
ciples that  must  guide  it^  and  that  are  being 
somewhat  lost  sight  of— Intolerance  and  Con- 
fidence. 

I  use  purposely  the  word  intolerance,  for  it  Pi^^^i*'^" 

i-        i-  '^  ^  tolerance 

is  with  this  that  the  Hindus  reproach  Chris-  ^^^'^  i^itoier- 

l  ance. 

tianity,  and  it  virtually  amounts  to  love 
of  truth.  If  Christianity  once  becomes 
tolerant,  as  they  understand  the  word,  it  falls 
vanquished — it  becomes  Hinduism.  While 
friendly  to  the  Hindus  it  must  be  intolerant 


292  Hinduism  a7id  Christianity . 


of  their  errors.  To  the  false  tolerance  of 
Hinduism  it  opposes  a  true  intolerance,  to 
the  false  intolerance  of  Hinduism  it  opposes 
a  true  tolerance.  To  that  tolerance,  which 
admits  as  true  every  form  of  belief  held  by 
others,  however  much  opposed  to  that  held 
by  one's-self — which  allows  every  kind  of 
worship  and  every  mode  of  life  to  be  equally 
acceptable  to  God  and  equally  conducive  to 
salvation, — it  opposes  the  intolerance  of  de- 
claring the  consistency  of  truth,  and  the  uni- 
versal obliofation  on  all  to  search  it  out  and 
act  according^  to  it — to  seek  to  know  God's 
will  and  to  live  according  to  it.  To  the  false 
intolerance  which  forbids  a  man  liberty  to 
chano-e  his  creed  and  act  out  his  convictions, 
it  opposes  the  tolerance  of  allowing,  nay  re- 
quiring, every  man  to  profess  what  he  believes 
to  be  true,  and  to  act  out  his  belief,  provided 
that  that  does  not  include  practices  opposed 
to  morality. 
Intolerance      Gibbou  assigus  the  intolerance  of  the  early 

necessary  pi  •        •       i  i 

to  the  sue-  Christians  as  one  of  the  prmcipal  secondary 

cess  of 

Salt"        causes  of  the  rapid  spread  of  Christianity  in 
the   first  two    centuries.      The    Greeks  and 


A  ttitiide  of  Christianity.  293 

Romans  were  quite  willing  to  admit  Christ 
into  their  pantheon  as  one  of  their  gods,  and 
to  allow  worship  to  be  paid  to  Him  along 
with  others.  But  this  concession  the  early 
Christians  refused ;  they  insisted  that  He 
alone  was  God,  and  that  the  others  were  no 
gods — that  He  alone  should  be  worshipped, 
and  that  the  worship  of  the  others  was  a  sin 
abominable  in  His  sight.  Had  they  taken 
up  any  more  tolerant  position  than  this,  the 
mission  of  Christianity  would  have  failed. 
By  holding  true  to  this  principle  they  ulti- 
mately overthrew  the  paganism  of  the  Roman 
world.  And  it  is  only  by  a  similar  intolerance 
that  Christianity  can  be  successful  in  India. 
The  j)osition  of  Hinduism  is  indeed  much 
more  subtle  and  dangerous  than  that  of  ancient 
paganism.  The  Hindu  pundit  does  not  say 
Christ  may  be  worshipped  as  well  as  Vishnu. 
He  says  Christ  is  Vishnu ;  he  whom  you 
worship  under  the  name  of  Christ  is  the  same 
whom  I  worship  under  the  name  of  Vishnu  ; 
you  worship  him  after  your  fashion  and  I 
worship  him  after  my  fashion.  In  taking 
this  position,  the  Hindu  considers  he  occupies 


294  Hindiiism  and  Christianity. 


a  position  far  superior  to  the  Christian  ;  and 
there  are  not  wanting  philosophers,  or  per- 
sons who  consider  themselves  philosophers, 
in  this  country,  who  take  the  same  view  of 
the  matter,  who  contrast  the  broad  charity 
of  the  Hindu  advocate  with  the  narrow- 
bigotry  of  the  Christian  advocate — the  clear 
vision  of  the  former  enabling  him  to  rise  to 
the  conception  of  the  one  God,  whom  all 
nations  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth  adore, 
under  whatever  name,  while  the  limited, 
shortsighted  range  of  the  latter  prevents 
him  taking  in  anything  but  the  one  form 
to  which  he  has  been  accustomed.  But 
observe  the  consequence  that  follows.  If 
Christ  and  Vishnu  are  one  and  the  same, 
then  Christ  and  Krishna  are  also  one  and 
the  same — the  holy,  harmless,  undefiled 
Prophet  of  Galilee  the  same  as  the  clever 
thief  of  Brindaban  and  the  adulterous  lover 
of  the  gopis  ; "  He  who  came  not  to  be  minis- 
tered unto,  but  to  minister,  the  same  as  he 
who  spent  his  time  in  luxurious  ease  at 
Dwarka,  with  his  sixteen  thousand  one 
hundred  and  eight  wives.     Both  are  equally 


hris- 
tianity. 


A  ttitiLcie  of  Christianity.  295 

manifestations  of  the  same  God,  the  example 
of  both  equally  binding. 

The  Hindus  thus  do  not  propose  to  admit  ^Xiu^ 
Christ  to  their  pantheon  as  did  the  ancient  ^^.^^T''^^''" 
Komans;  they  say  that  He  is  there  already, 
under  the  name  of  their  own  god.  And  the 
blinding,  debasing  influence  of  their  system 
appears  in  their  not  being  able  to  behold 
any  incongruity  between  these  manifesta- 
tions, or  the  impossibility  of  both  being 
ways  of  salvation.  Recurring  to  the  image 
of  water,  which  I  have  already  given,^  and 
which  is  a  favourite  one  with  them,  they 
will  say  Christ  is  the  river  by  which  Chris- 
tians reach  the  ocean  of  liberation,  and 
Krishna  the  river  by  which  the  Hindus 
reach  it.  They  acknowledge  the  moral 
superiority  of  Jesus.  I  never  had  difficulty 
in  getting  Hindus  to  acknowledge  that 
Christ  was  a  holy,  sinless,  j)erfect  being, 
and  Krishna  a  sinful,  vile,  abominable  char- 
acter ;  but  then  I  w^as  no  nearer  gaining 
my  end  than  before.  They  would  reply, 
though  that  is  the  case,  we  can  gain  our  end 

^  See  anie^  p.  106. 


296  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 

as  well  through  him  as  you  do  through  Christ, 
a  drop    of  water  will  reach  the  ocean   in  a 
muddy  stream  as  well  as  in  a  pure  stream. 
Church^ *^^      Enough  has  been   said  to   show  the  ex- 
tremely subtle  and  dangerous  position  which 
Hinduism  takes  up  with   regard   to    Chris- 
tianity, and  the  great  necessity  that  exists  for 
the  latter  to  maintain  an  uncompromising,  un- 
yielding position  with  regard  to  it.     The  work 
of  the  Church  then  is  plain — to  hold,  with- 
out flinching,  without  yielding  one  iota,  the 
old  message  of  the  apostles,  '  Neither  is  there 
salvation   in  any  other ;    for  there  is  none 
other  Name  under  heaven  given  among  men 
whereby  we  must  be  saved.' ^     While  gladly 
welcoming  all  the  truth  that  is  in  Hinduism, 
there  must  be  no  parleying  with  the  great 
falsehood    that    characterizes    that    system ; 
while  recognising  the  attempts  that  it  has 
made   to   supply   the   wants   of  the  human 
heart   with   the    objects    they    desire,   there 
must  be  no  consenting  to  the  false  as  the 
true  object ;    while   gladly  tracing  all  relics 
of  a  true  primitive  revelation   and  religion 

^  Acts  iv.  12. 


A  ttitiide  of  Christian ity.  297 


that  Hinduism  may  have  preserved,  tliere 
must  be  a  clear  distinction  between  them 
and  the  perversions  and  accretions  of  human 
invention  that  have  so  entirely  covered  them. 
Only  by  a  bold,  unwavering  maintenance  and 
propagation  of  the  truth  cau  Christianity 
hope  to  triumph.  This  is  alike  its  duty  and 
its  safety.  If  nothing  else,  the  fate  of  its 
great  rival  Mahommedanism  in  India  should 
be  a  Avarning  to  it  against  a  false  charity  and 
a  false  liberality. 

While  the   Church  should   prosecute  the  Confidence 

_  -'•  m  the  suc- 

work  of  evano^elizinof  India  Avith  a  spirit  of^^^^^/. 

"  c3  ±  preaching 

true  friendly  intolerance,  it  should  also  carry  ^^^}  ^^^^^^" 
to  it  a  spirit  of  confidence,  inspired  alike  by 
the  means  at  its  disposal  and  the  past  suc- 
cess of  its  efforts.  What  are  the  means  at  its 
disposal, — what  are  Hlie  weapons  of  our 
warfare  ? '  If  anything  is  to  be  learned  from 
the  past  history  of  religion  in  India,  it  is 
that  those  appointed — preaching  and  teach- 
ing— are  the  best.  Mahommedanism,  trying 
force  and  the  sword,  failed  to  gain  any  large 
portion  of  the  Hindus ;  and  these  w^ere  the 
most  w^orthless  of  the  Hindus,  and  became 


298  Hinduism  and  Christianity, 

the   most  worthless  of  the    Mahommedans. 
Buddhism  tried  nothing  but  persuasion,  and 
in  a  short  time  spread  all  over  India.     It 
failed   indeed   to   secure  its   conquests  from 
causes   which  we   have   already   considered, 
and  which  Christianity  will  guard   against ; 
but    the    splendid    fact    remains    that,    by 
preaching,  it  spread  its  way  all  over  India, 
while  its  successor,  trying  the  sword,  utterly 
failed.       This    is    an    encouraging    fact    for 
Christianity,  because  we  may  hope  that  the 
means  which   were   successful  once  will  be 
successful  again. 
Govern^  °^      To    tliis   uicthod   of  propagaudism  Chris- 
"^®^*-        tianity  has  hitherto  confined  itself  in  India. 
It  has  had  the  power  of  the  sword  there  for 
upwards  of  a  hundred  years,  but  it  has  never 
degraded    itself  by  using   that   for  its   own 
advancement.       It    may   be    said    that   the 
Government  there  is  purely  a  political  and  not 
a  religious  power,  and  that  is  true  ;  but  it  is 
also  true  that,  at  the  head  of  the  Govern- 
ment, there  have  been  men  of  high  religious 
principle,  and  these  have  carefully  avoided 
doing  anything  to  interfere  with  the  religious 


Attitude  of  Christianity.  299 

convictions  of  those  whom  they  governed. 
The  declaration  of  the  Queen  in  her  procla- 
mation assuming  the  government  of  India^ — 
^  Firmly  relying  ourselves  on  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  and  acknowledging  with  grati- 
tude the  solace  of  religion^  we  disclaim  alike 
the  right  and  the  desire  to  impose  our  con- 
victions on  any  of  our  subjects/ — shows  the 
true  position  of  a  Christian  government. 

It  was  indeed  impossible  for  such  a  govern-  Govern- 
ment inter- 
ment to  abstain  from  all  interference  with  some  ference  has 

rather 

of  the  relioious  practices  which  were  found  in  strength- 

"  •'■  ened  Hni- 

India.  The  burninsf  of  the  w^idow  on  her  *^^^^^^^"- 
husband's  funeral  pyre,  the  custom  of  female 
infanticide,  the  immolation  of  human  victims 
before  the  wheels  of  Juggernauth's  car,  were 
all  defended  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
religious  ordinances ;  and  were  all  repressed 
with  a  firm  hand  by  a  Christian  government. 
But  this  has  had  the  effect  of  strengftheninof 
Hinduism  by  forcing  it  practically  to  be 
more  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  natural 
religion.  The  rising  generation  of  Hindus 
have  almost  forgotten  that  sati,  thuggism, 
female  infanticide,  and  human  sacrifice,  were 


300  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 


once  j^^i'ts  of  their  religion^  and  they  are 
learning  to  S23eak  of  them  with  a  horror 
scarcely  less  than  that  which  Christians  feel 
for  such  cruelties.  Thus  has  the  very  action 
of  Christianity  in  India  helped  to  strengthen 
its  rival,  by  forcing  it  out  of  some  of  those 
positions  which  weakened  it.  The  contest  is 
now  one  between  ultimate  principles,  main- 
tained solely  by  persuasion  on  the  one  side, 
and  by  persuasion  allied  with  social  terrorism 
on  the  other. 
Difficulties       jj^  estimating:  the  past  success  or  future 

111  employ-  o  y 

meaus"^  ^^^®  prospocts  of  the  coutcst,  we  must  not  forget 
the  immediate  disadvantage  under  which  the 
employment  of  these  means  has  laid  Chris- 
tianity, and  the  special  difficulties  it  has  had 
to  encounter.  Christianity  has  not  come 
before  the  Hindus  in  the  way  most  likely  to 
attract  them.  It  has  been  spread  indeed 
only  by  preaching  and  teaching,  but  the 
preaching  has  not  been  of  the  kind  most 
fitted  to  impress  the  natives  of  India.     The 


Chris-        Buddhist  preachers  were  ascetics  :  they  re- 

tianity  uot  ■"■  "^ 

ascetic.       nounccd  family  life  and  all  worldly  ties  in 
order  to  spread  their  faith,  and  the  people 


A  tiittcde  of  Christian  ity.  3 o  i 


flocked  to  them  in  multitudes.  Every 
founder  of  a  reforming  sect  in  Hinduism  has 
taken  the  same  course,  and  thereby  obtained 
a  reputation  for  sanctity,  and  drawn  a  large 
number  of  disciples.  If  Christian  mis- 
sionaries were  to  become  ascetics  likewise,  to 
clothe  themselves  in  the  coarsest  of  rags,  and 
shun  all  but  the  coarsest  of  food  or  what 
might  be  given  them  by  their  disciples,  if 
they  were  to  travel  barefoot  from  place  to 
place,  measuring  the  length  of  the  way  by 
prostrations  of  the  body,  they  might  soon 
number  their  converts  by  millions  instead  of 
thousands.  But  this  would  be  to  spread 
Christianity  by  renouncing  it, — to  foster  in 
the  minds  of  the  Hindus  the  conviction  that 
in  it,  as  in  their  own  religion,  there  was  a 
distinction  between  the  holy  man  and  the 
family  man,  between  the  man  of  business 
and  the  man  of  piety,  that  no  one  while  dis- 
charging the  ordinary  duties  of  life  could  be 
a  Christian  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word  ; 
instead  of  showinof  them  that  reliofion  directs 
and  sanctifies  every  relation  of  life,  that 
the  whole  life  should  be  a  worship  of  God, 


Christians 
excluded 
from  social 
intercourse 


302  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 

that  there  is  no  order  of  priesthood  but  in 
the  sense  in  which  every  Christian  is  a 
priest,  Christianity '  must  come  before  them 
as  a  religion  of  daily  hfe  attainable  by  all 
and  by  all  alike.  This  will  ultimately  prove 
its  strength  in  India  as  elsewhere,  but  mean- 
while it  hinders  its  acceptance  with  the 
Hindus,  for  it  is  an  idea  new  to  them. 

Not  only  is  the  idea  different  from  what 
they  are  accustomed  to,  but  the  social 
organization  of  the  Hindus  makes  it  doubly 
difficult  for  such  a  religion  to  be  brought 
before  them.  I  have  already  shown  how 
caste  prevents  social  intercourse  with  those 
of  another  race  and  of  another  creed.  The 
result  is,  that  it  prevents  Christianity  coming 
before  the  Hindus  in  its  social  aspect ;  they 
can  judge  it  only  from  its  external  aspect, 
from  its  teaching,  and  not  from  the  view  of 
its  influence  on  daily  life.  Christianity  is 
also  for  the  Hindus  a  religion  of  foreigners, 
and  all  their  patriotic  sentiments  lead  them 
Chris-  to  oppose  it.  Patriotism  as  a  political  power 
opposed      does    not    exist    among^    the    Hindus.      For 

to  Hindu  ^        .  ,.     .  ^ 

patriotism,  attachment  to  country  their  religion  has  sub- 


Attitude  of  CJiristia7iity.  303 

stituted  attachment  to  caste  ;  but  this  very 
fact  gives  their  religion  a  greater  significance 
for  them.  As  with  the  Jews,  so  with  the 
Hindus,  it  is  their  only  symbol  of  nationality, 
and  while  it  remains,  they  care  little  that 
they  have  no  political  existence.  They  look 
to  it  as  the  Swiss  to  their  mountains  and 
the  English  to  the  sea,  as  the  bulwark  of 
their  nation,  in  which  they  have  never 
been  vanquished,  in  which  they  are  as  much 
superior  to  their  conquerors  as  their  con- 
querors are  to  them  in  material  force — as  the 
vantage-ground  from  which  they  can  look 
down  on  them  as  unclean  cow- eaters.  Nor 
must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  lives  of  Euro-  Lives  of 

^  Europea 

peans  in  India  have  been  a  serious  obstacle  ^  L^^^i''^- 
in  the  way  of  the  spread  of  Christianity. 
The  native  cannot  draw  a  distinction  be- 
tween those  who  are  true  in  their  profession 
and  those  who  are  not ;  for  them  all  Euro- 
peans are  Christians,  an'd  their  lives  are  the 
evidence  of  the  practical  effects  of  their  faith. 
Unhappily  their  lives  are  too  often  but  little 
in  accordance  with  the  teaching  of  the  gospel, 
and  do  not  testify  to  the  heathen  its  moral 


sects 


304  Hinduism  and  Christianity, 

superiority  over  the  teaching  of  their  own 
sacred  books. 
Christian  Again,  the  sectarian  form  in  which  Chris- 
tianity has  been  introduced  is  a  stumbHng- 
block  with  many,  who  have  become  some- 
what acquainted  with  its  principles.  The  vari- 
ous missionary  societies  in  India, — with  one 
exception,  which,  claiming  to  be  the  most 
catholic,  is  the  most  narrowly  sectarian, — 
have  agreed  to  sink  their  distinctive  tenets 
in  presence  of  a  common  foe ;  to  avoid  occu- 
pying the  same  ground,  except  in  the  large 
centres  of  population ;  not  to  interfere  with 
one  another's  work,  and  as  far  as  possible  to 
exhibit  the  unity  instead  of  the  diversities  of 
Christianity.  Yet  these  last  cannot  but  be 
noticed  by  the  natives,  and  the  different 
forms  of  worship  and  sacrament,  the  various 
creeds  and  formulae  that  have  been  imported 
to  India,  European  growths  on  Christianity 
rather  than  Christianity  itself,  have  been  to 
it  a  source  of  the  greatest  weakness.  Hindus 
who  have  learned  something  of  its  principles, 
and  been  well  disposed  towards  it,  have 
stumbled  on  this.     Christ  indicated  the  one- 


Attitude  of  Christianity.  305 

ness  and  love  of  His  disciples  as  evidence  to 
the  world  of  their  discipleship,  and  when 
these  are  replaced  by  diversities  and  jeal- 
ousies, it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
heathen  should  be  repelled  from  accepting 
Him. 

Lastly,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  as  a  con-  ciiris- 

*^  tiaiiity  a 

sequence  of  these  obstacles  that  I  have  named,  persecuted 

-■■  religion. 

that  Christianity  is  in  India  a  persecuted  re- 
ligion. It  has  not  indeed  to  endure  the  23erse- 
cution  of  the  prison  and  the  sword,  which  tends 
to  give  strength  and  life  to  the  Church,  when, 
it  has  taken  firm  root  in  any  land,  as  in 
Madagascar.  The  complete  fairness  and 
neutrality  of  the  supreme  government  pre- 
vent this,  and  secure  to  every  one  the  free 
profession  of  his  own  belief.  But  there  is 
the  social  terrorism  and  persecution  of  caste, 
tenfold  more  difficult  to  endure,  and  more 
deleterious  in  its  effects,  and  ao^ainst  which 
no  power  on  earth  has  yet  been  able  to 
devise  a  remedy.  It  neither  confers  on  its 
victim  the  dignity  of  martyrdom,  nor  does  it 
call   out  the   stronger  and  manlier  qualities 

of  human  nature.     It  makes  its  victim  an 

u 


Rise  of  a 
native 


306  Hinduism  and  Christianity . 

object  of  reproach  and  sliame,  a  byword 
and  a  disgrace  to  his  kindred^  an  outcast 
from  family  and  friends.  It  pronounces  an 
inexorable  ban  sufficient  to  daunt  and  keep 
back  all,  except  those  whose  convictions  of 
the  truth  and  trust  in  God  enable  them  to 
rise  above  all  that  man  generally  prizes 
most. 

Taking  into  account  all  these  hindrances, 
churcii^L  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  India 
seems  about  as  hopeless  a  task  as  can  well  be 
imagined ;  but  the  best  evidence  that  it  is 
not  hopeless  is  that  a  Christian  Church 
has  already  been  established  there.  In 
1871  the  number  of  native  Christians  in 
India  was  224,258/ having  increased  one  hun- 

3  Tlie  following  are  tlie  statistics  of  the  Native  Protestant 
Church  of  India  since  1851,  when  a  census  W'as  first  taken : — 

Native  Native 

Ordained     rii„.;o+i..T,o  Increase  during  Decade. 

Agents.       ^"iistians. 

21  91,092 

97  138,731  47,639,  or  52  per  cent. 
225  224,258  85,527,  or  61  per  cent. 
It  will  be  observed  that  the  percentage  of  increase  during  the 
second  decade  is  higl>er  than  during  the  first,  though  it  is  on 
a  laro-er  number.  The  increase  in  the  number  of  foreign  mis- 
sionaries  during  that  period  is  only  nine,  while  the  increase  of 
native  ministers  is  128.     With  regard  to  the  character  of  the 


Foreign 
Missionaries, 

1851 

339 

1861 

479 

1871 

488 

A ttiticde  of  Christianity.  307 

dred  and  forty  per  cent,  in  twenty  years. 
The  very  existence  of  sucli  a  body  dimin- 
ishes, and  as  it  increases  in  numbers 
and  influence  will  completely  remove,  many 
of  the  adventitious  difficulties  with  which 
Christianity  has  hitherto  had  to  contend 
in  India.  Social  persecution  will  lose  much  of 
its  terror  when  it  is  shared  by  a  community 
large  enough  to  protect  its  own  interests.  If 
caste  does  forbid  the  comminoflinof  of  Hindu 
Christians  with  those  who  still  remain  in 
the  religion  of  their  fathers,  they  are  yet 
much  nearer  them  than  are  the  English, 
mingle  more  with  them,  understand  them 
better,  and  have  a  better  opportunity  of  com- 
mendinof   Christianity  to  them.     The  native  ^ 

~  'J  Character 

Christians    of    India   have    no    doubt   many  J^aWve 
defects,    yet  they  are  by  their   lives  better  ^^^^'^^^• 


Native  Churcli  the  only  test  wliicli  statistics  can  supply  is  the 

proportion  of  commiuiicants.     These  numbered 

In  1851  14,661,  or  16  per  cent,  of  the  total  number. 

„   1861  24,976,  „  18 

„   1871  52,816,  „  28 

The  amount  raised  by  Native  Christians  in  1871  Avas  £8473. 
Since  then  two  new  missions  have  been  established  by  them. 
— Reiwrt  of  Allahabad  Conference. 


3oS  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 

exponents  of  Christianity  than  the  majority 
of  the  Eno-Hsh  in  India.  Their  faults  and  vices 
are  the  faults  and  vices  of  their  countrymen, 
and  these  Christianity  does  not  eradicate  in 
a  day.  Thus  it  may  well  happen  that  a 
Hindu,  even  after  he  has  professed  faith  in 
Christ,  and  proved  his  sincerity  by  passing 
through  the  terrible  ordeal  which  such  a 
profession  involves,  will  be  found  inferior 
in  reliability,  truthfulness  and  manliness  to 
an  Englishman  who  makes  no  such  profes- 
sion, but  who  has  from  his  infancy,  by 
precept,  example  and  the  influence  of  public 
opinion,  been  trained  in  these  virtues.  But 
his  faith  will  ultimately  produce  a  marked 
change  in  his  character,  and  raise  that 
of  the  whole  community.  Already  the 
Indian  Church  has  produced  many  noble 
instances  of  the  power  of  Christianity, 
and  has  been  adorned  by  preachers  and 
scholars,  who  show  what  the  Hindu  in- 
tellect may  accomplish  when  it  is  dis- 
ciplined by  Christianity.  Some  of  their 
works  on  the  religion  of  their  country  may 
claim  a   place   alongside    of   the    best    pro- 


Attihtde  of  Christianity,  309 

ductions    of  European  writers  on  the  same 
subject.* 

Another  advantage  that  is  gained  by  the  ^^'^l^^^  ^^^^ 
formation  of  a  church,  led  by  such  men,  is  ^ J^i^^^^ 
that  it  removes  the  charge  of  Christianity 
being  a  foreign  faith.  Christianity  is  no 
more  an  Enoflish  reHg^ion  than  it  is  an 
Indian  rehofion,  but  it  has  hitherto  come  be- 
fore  the  Hindu  as  such,  and  only  when  a 
powerful  native  church  has  been  developed 
will  it  cease  to  appear  in  that  form.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  Christianity  will  assume 
in  India — must  indeed  assume  if  it  is  to  be 
universally  triumphant — an  Indian  form. 
If  the  religion  of  Christ  is  a  world's  religion, 
it  must  be  capable  of  assuming  the  form  best 
suited  for  each  nation  of  the  world.  It  is 
absurd  to  suppose  that  a  race  which  has 
shown  so  strong  an  individuality,  especially  so 

"*  Among  these,  there  are  two  works  on  Hindu  Philosophy 
available  to  English  readers — both  by  converted  Brahnians. 
One  —  Dialogues  on  Hindu  Philosoyhy,  by  the  Rev.  K.  M. 
Bannerjea  (Triibner  &  Co.) — is  written  by  the  author  himself 
in  English  that  will  bear  comparison  Avith  that  of  the  best 
English  writers.  The  other — Refutation  of  Hindu  Philosophy, 
by  Nehemiah  Nilkanth — was  written  in  Hindi,  and  has  had 
the  honour  of  being  translated  by  Dr.  Fitz-Edward  Hall. 


3 1  o  Hindiiisin  and  Christianity. 

strong  a  religious  individuality,  as  the  Hindus^ 
can^  in  adopting  Christianity,  follow  closely 
the  European  models.  To  suppose  so  would 
be  tacitly  to  allow  that  Christianity  was  a 
European,  not  a  cosmopolitan  religion.  The 
countrymen  of  Buddha  and  Kapila,  of 
Sankara  and  Kamanuja,  may  be  trusted  in 
following  Christ  to  follow  Him  directly,  and 
not  merely  as  interpreted  by  their  European 
teachers — to  say  to  the  latter  we  will  follow 
you  only  in  so  far  as  you  are  followers  of 
Christ.  That  they  are  already  beginning  to 
do  so,  that  they  are  beginning  to  take  an 
independent  and  distinct  position,  is  one  of 
the  best  proofs  that  can  be  given  that  Chris- 
tianity may  be  the  religion  of  India,  and  the 
Christian  Church  a  rallying  centre  of  Hindu 
patriotism. 
charac-  I^  uothiug  is  the   distinctive  character  of 

Indian^  ^  Indian  Christianity  makinof  itself  more  felt 
tianity.  than  in  its  utter  impatience  of  all  sectarianism 
and  sectarian  formulae.  European  mission- 
aries in  India,  as  I  have  said,  regret  these, 
and  endeavour  to  kee|)  them  in  the  back- 
ground as  much  as  possible.     But  trained  up 


Attitude  of  Clu^istianity.  3 1 1 

as  they  are  in  them,  closely  connected  with 
powerful  ecclesiastical  organizations  at  home, 
whose  history  and  position  make  their  sym- 
bols indispensable,  they  have  not  been  able 
to  abandon  them.  But  to  Hindu  Christians 
they  are  an  abomination,  a  source  of  weak- 
ness and  reproach  in  the  presence  of  a 
powerful  foe.  Both  in  Culcutta  and  Bom- 
bay, setting  aside  the  distinctive  articles  of  the 
churches  represented  there,  they  are  band- 
inof  themselves  tosf ether  in  Catholic  associa- 
tions,  and  they  are  showing  their  purpose 
and  life  by  establishing  undenominational 
missions  among  their  heathen  fellow-country- 
men. This  is  the  most  hopeful  outcome  of 
Indian  missions  yet.  These  associations  will 
be  the  germs  of  the  future  Church  of  India, 
and  wdll  give  to  it  its  distinctive  character. 
That  it  can  be  creedless  is  impossible,  but  its 
creed  will  be  a  definition  of  Christianity 
against  the  foes  it  has  actually  to  fight, 
asfainst  Hinduism  and  Mahommedanism,  not 
against  European  speculations  and  errors 
that  have  been  slain  centuries  ago.  In  such 
a  result  the  Churches  of  Great  Britain  and 


312  Hmduism  and  Clu^istianity. 

America  should  rejoice.  There  is  abundance 
of  work  for  them  yet,  and  there  will  be  for 
many  years  to  come  a  need  for  them  to  have 
their  missionary  societies  carried  on  under 
•  their  distinctive  organizations.  But  if  their 
object  be  to  introduce  to  India,  not  a  dis- 
tinctive form  of  worship,  or  system  of  church 
government,  but  Christianity,  they  will 
rejoice  to  see  a  church  developing  there 
which  will  take  the  work  out  of  their 
hands,  and  by  aiding  which  they  may  best 
promote  the  great  end  which  they  have  in 
view. 
Encourage-      Lookiuof  forward  to  this,  there  is  a  call  to  all 

nieuts  to  c>  ^ 

K!l^,?o^*^  Christians  of  Great  Britain  and  America  to 
?nndia.^  do  morc  for  India  than  they  have  done.  Five 
hundred  missionaries,  even  backed  as  they  are 
by  two  hundred  native  agents,  are  scarcely 
.  adequate  to  produce  an  impression  on  up- 
wards of  two  hundred  millions  of  people. 
Had  they  been  obliged  in  despair  to  abandon 
the  enterprise  of  converting  that  nation  to 
Christ,  it  would  have  been  a  result  not  to  be 
wondered  at.  Instead  of  this,  what  do  we 
find, — a   native    church    already   numbering 


A  ttititde  of  Chrisliaftiiy.  3 1 3 

upwards  of  two  hundred  thousand,  only  one 
to  a  thousand  Hindus  mdeed,  but  doubling 
itself  in  fifteen  years, — a  rate  of  progress 
which,  if  continued,  would  make  India 
Christian  within  two  centuries, — less  time 
than  it  took  to  make  it  Buddhist ; — and  that 
church  is  showing  a  vitality  which  proves 
that  it  will  continue  to  exist  even  if  it  be  cut 
off  from  the  support  of  Christian  nations ; 
that  it  will  be  triumphant  if  these  do  their 
duty  by  it.  If  ever  there  was  a  time  when 
the  churches  of  Great  Britain  were  en- 
couraged by  past  experience  and  present 
prospects  to  strain  every  nerve  to  win 
India  for  Christ,  the  present  is  that  time. 
Difficulties  and  hindrances,  though  still 
great  and  many,  are  surely  disappearing. 
Those  principles  of  human  nature  wdiich 
Hinduism  has  ignored  are  surely  asserting 
their  sway  to  its  overthrow,  and  the  past 
religious  history  of  India  points  to  Christ  as 
its  only  jDossible  completion. 

These    principles    are    consciousness    and  Hinduism 

-»■  ^  opposed  to 

conscience.     The  former  bears  witness  to  our  Jj^tur^ 
own  personality,  the  latter  to  the  paramount 


314  Hindicism  and  Christianity. 


claims  of  what  is  good.  Man  does  not  re- 
member ever  having  been  born  before,  and 
refuses  to  accept  a  responsibility  for  what  he 
cannot  remember  having  done.  The  pundits 
do  indeed  speak  of  the  delusion  which  maya 
has  throAvn  over  man's  spirit,  but  this  is  only  a 
flimsy  shield  to  protect  their  theory  from  the 
constantly  recurring  attacks  of  man's  own 
consciousness.  It  can  be  effective  only  so 
long  as  he  chooses  to  accept  the  dictum  of 
others  on  a  point  on  which  his  own  ex- 
perience is  quite  as  much  entitled  to  credit. 
In  like  manner,  however  philosophy  may 
teach  superiority  or  indifference  to  good  and 
evil  as  the  summit  of  human  attainment, — 
however  priests  may  exhibit  monsters  defiled 
by  every  sin  as  mediums  to  the  winning  of 
final  bliss,  the  conscience  which  the  true  God 
has  implanted  in  man  bears  testimony  to  His 
displeasure  against  sin,  and  His  delight  in 
holiness.  These  two  great  principles  still  do 
exist  in  the  Hindus, — antidotes  to  the  subtle 
pantheistic  poison  which  has  for  ages  been 
circulating  through  their  national  life.  These 
are  the  auxiliaries  to  which  we  have  resort 


A  ttitude  of  Christianity.  3 1 5 

in  pressing  on  tliem  the  religion  of  Jesus. 
In  recallinir  tliem  to  their  manhood  we  are 
calUng  them  to  Christianity. 

The  past  religious  history  of  the  Hindus,  Theiustory 
too,  points  to  Christ  as  its  only  possible  com-  <iui.sm  a 

^  ^  '^    ^  search  for 

pletion.  In  the  history  of  their  very  errors  cinist. 
we  may  find  encouragement  for  tlie  future. 
A  dreary  history  of  human  darkness  has 
been  the  search  of  that  great  people  after 
God  and  the  truth  for  three  thousand  years. 
Yet  let  us  recognise  that  it  is  the  truth  they 
have  been  feeling  after.  Partial  glimpses  of 
it  they  have  had  and  followed,  till  they  found 
them  unsatisfying  for  man's  whole  nature ; 
then  they  have  followed  other  parts  of  truth, 
going  from  extreme  to  extreme  of  religious 
thought,  like  a  pendulum  whose  beat  is 
through  thousands  of  years.  Impatient  of 
the  dead  sacerdotalism  into  w^hich  primitive 
elemental  worship  and  primitive  sacrifice  had 
developed,  they  sought  rest  first  in  Buddh- 
ism, and  again  in  Hinduism.  That  ofiPered 
them  morality  without  God,  and  that  failed 
to  satisfy  them ;  this  offers  them  God  with- 
out holiness,  incarnations  without  morality, 


3 1 6  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 


and  this  too  is  failing  to  satisfy  them.  Chris- 
tianity offers  them  Christ, — God  and  holiness, 
a  perfect  incarnation,  the  desire  of  the  Hindu 
as  of  all  nations. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


A. 

BUDDHA'S   SYSTEM. 

THE  teaching  of  Bucldlia  may  be  divided  into  two  parts — 
Doctrinal  and  Practical.  The  former  consists  of  what  is 
known  as  the  '  Law  of  the  Wheel,'  or  the  Four  Great  Verities 
which  he  discovered  under  the  mimosa  tree.     These  are — 

1st,  Suffering  exists  wherever  animated  being  exists. 

2nd,  The  cause  of  suffering  is  desire,  i.e.  a  craving  for  what 
is  only  a  temporary  illusion. 

Srd,  Deliverance  from  suffering  can  be  effected  only  by  de- 
liverance from  desire,  or  by  attaining  Nirvana. 

4th.  Nirvana  can  be  attained  only  by  following  the  method 
of  Buddha. 

The  method  included  in  the  fourth  verity  consists  of  eight 
paths  leading  to  Nirvana.  Of  these  the  first  four  applicable  to 
all  are — 1st,  right  vision  or  faith  (cf.  Matt.  vi.  22)  ;  2nd,  right 
judgment  or  thoughts;  3)y?,  right  language;  4th,  right  actions. 
This  is  a  simple  enough  statement,  that  Buddha's  disciples 
must  have  the  right  faith,  and  seek  to  be  perfect  in  thought, 
word,  and  deed.  The  remaining  four  paths  are  api)licable 
especially  to  the  priesthood,  and  show  the  influence  of  his 
false  conception  of  man's  end,  or  Nirvana.  They  are — 5th,  right 
means  of  livelihood,  or  the  profession  of  a  recluse  ;  6th,  right 
application  of  the  spirit  to  the  study  of  the  law  ;  7th,  right 
memory,  or  freedom  from  error  in  recollecting  the  law  ;  Sth, 


320  Appendix. 


right  meditation,  which  conducts  the  intelligence  to  a  quietude 
nearly  approaching  Nirvana. 

The  Practical  part  of  his  system  has  the  same  double  aspect 
both  in  its  negative  and  positive  injunctions.  The  negative 
part  has  five  commandments  binding  on  all :  \st,  not  to  kill — 
extending  even  to  animal  life ;  2n(^,  not  to  steal ;  3rc^,  not  to 
commit  adultery ;  Uh,  not  to  lie — this  extends  to  the  using  of 
improper  language;  5f/i,  not  to  use  strong  drink;  and  five 
binding  specially  on  priests :  Isi,  not  to  take  repasts  at  im- 
proper times ;  2nc?,  not  to  look  at  dances  and  plays ;  3r(^,  not 
to  have  costly  raiments,  perfumes,  &c. ;  Uh,  not  to  have  a  large 
bed  or  quilt ;  Uh,  not  to  receive  gold  or  silver. 

The  positive  part  of  the  moral  law  consists  in  enjoining  six 
virtues  on  all— Charity,  purity,  patience,  courage,  contempla- 
tion, science.  Of  these  the  first— charity— is  the  most  impor- 
tant, and  includes  caring  not  only  for  man,  but  also  for  all 
animate  beings  down  to  the  smallest  insect.  Twelve  obser- 
vances are  further  enjoined  on  recluses  :  Ist^  to  use  clothes  made 
only  of  rags  picked  up  in  burying-grounds  or  on  the  road ;  Ind^ 
to  have  only  three  such  coats  all  sewn  by  the  wearer's  hands  ; 
3rtZ,  to  have  a  cloak  of  yellow  wool  to  cover  all,  prepared  in 
the  same  way ;  4^/i,  to  live  only  on  food  given  in  charity  and 
without  asking ;  hth,  to  take  only  one  meal  daily ;  6^/i,  never 
to  eat  or  drink  after  mid-day;  1th,  to  live  in  the  forests  or 
jungles ;  8i5/t,  to  have  no  roof  but  the  foliage  of  the  trees;  9^/^, 
to  sit  with  the  back  supported  by  the  trunk  of  the  tree  ;  lO^/i, 
to  sleep  sitting  and  not  lying;  Will,  never  to  change  the  posi- 
tion of  the  carpet  or  quilt  when  it  has  once  been  spread  ;  12^/i, 
to  go  once  a  month  to  burying  or  burning  grounds  to  meditate 
on  the  vanity  of  earth, ^  These  are  rules  which  Buddha  is  said 
to   have   followed  himself,   and   which   are   enjoined  on  his 

disciples. 

It  will  be  observed  that  throughout  this  teaching  there  is  a 
complete  distinction,  if  not  antagonism,  between  the  religion 
for  the  masses  and  the  discipline  for  the  priesthood.     The 


Abridged  from  St.  Hilaire. 


Appendix.  321 


former  is  intelligible  and  human,  and  a  clear  expression  of  the 
moral  law  as  regards  human  relationship,  though  defective  as 
ignoring  the  filial  relationship.  The  latter  is  a  cold-hearted, 
unnatural  endeavour  to  attain  a  selfish  end.  Wheeler,  in 
his  History  of  India,  notes  this  antagonism,  and  conceives 
it  '  incredible  that  such  an  enthusiastic  philanthropist  should 
have  formed  the  conception  of  Nirvana,'  and  '  that  he  should 
have  propounded  out  of  his  individual  consciousness  such  an 
artificial  system  of  metaphysical  religion  as  that  which  is  in- 
volved in  the  modern  form  of  Buddhism  and  enforced  in  the 
legend  of  his  own  life.  Accordingly  the  suspicion  arises  that 
the  conception  of  Nirvana  and  the  metaphysical  dogmas  of 
Buddhism  may  possibly  be  more  modern  developments  of  the 
ancient  morality  which  was  taught  by  Siikya  Muni,  and  that 
Buddhism  was  originally  a  pure  and  simple  faith,  which  has 
been  strangely  perverted  by  the  monastic  teachers  of  a  later 
age.'^  The  author  here  seems,  however,  to  omit  to  take  into 
account  the  influence  which  Brahmanism  must  have  exercised 
on  Buddha.  We  can  hardly  suppose  him  to  have  divorced 
himself  from  all  the  thought  of  his  age.  He  did  not  follow  the 
Brahmanical  system  slavishly,  but  transfused  it  in  his  own 
mind,  and  produced  a  system  which,  however  perverted  or 
exaggerated  by  later  teachers,  yet  laid  down  the  lines  on  which 
they  have  proceeded.  It  may  be  granted  that  his  faults  were 
the  faults  of  his  age,  but  we  can  hardly  suppose  him  to  have 
emancipated  himself  from  them  altogether.  The  intensity  of 
his  own  convictions  led  him  to  make  his  profession  as  a  recluse 
subservient  to  the  service  of  his  fellows,  but  as  the  spirit  died 
out  in  his  followers  the  demarcation  between  the  recluse  and 
the  laity  became  complete. 

'  This  line  is  perpetually  slurred  over  in  ancient  and  modern 
Buddhism,  and  yet  it  finds  general  exfiression  throughout  the 
Buddhist  world.  The  monks  scarcely  appear  to  interfere  with 
the  religion  of  the  masses.  They  teach  the  boys  in  the 
monastery  schools,  but  that  is  in  accordance  with  their 
discipline.     Occasionally  they  appear  to  preach,  but  it  is  only 


^  Vol.  iii.  p.  148. 
X 


32  2  Appendix. 


to  recite  certain  precepts  and  observances,  or  certain  passages 
from  the  life  of  Buddha,  in  a  kind  of  chorus.  So,  too,  the 
laity  have  little  to  do  with  the  monks,  unless  they  themselves 
enter  the  monastery.  They  are  ever  ready  with  their  alms  of 
food  and  clothing,  and  ever  ready  to  pay  visits  of  respect  and 
reverence,  but  this  is  only  a  part  of  their  religion.  Still,  on 
all  occasions  there  is  a  genuine  and  kindly  veneration  displayed 
toward  the  monk,  which  is  rarely  exhibited  by  the  peoj)le  of 
India  toward  the  arrogant  and  exclusive  Brahman.' 3 


SCHOOLS  OF  HINDU  PHILOSOPHY. 

There  are  said  to  be  six  schools  or  Darshan  of  Hindu  Philo- 
sophy, but  they  are  arranged  also  in  three  pairs  according  to 
the  views  they  support, 

I.  The  Sensational  School  included,  \st,  the  Nyaya  or 
Logic,  said  to  be  founded  by  Gautama.  He  taught  the  method 
of  reasoning  which  has  been  adopted  by  all  the  schools,  whence 
the  name  of  his.  He  considered  Sensation  to  be  the  origin  of 
our  knowledge,  and  set  himself  to  investigate  it.  He  started  the 
idea  of  Adrishta  the  unseen,  to  account  for  what  cannot  be 
accounted  for  otherwise. 

27id.  The  Atomic  School,  said  to  be  founded  bv  Kanada,  is 
connected  with  the  Nyaya.  But  he  supplemented  it  by  in- 
vestigating the  objects  of  sensation,  and  introduced  the  idea  of 
atoms  as  the  material  cause  of  the  universe. 

II,  The  second  pair  included,  1st,  The  Sankhya  or  numeral 
system,  said  to  be  founded  by  Kapila.  It  starts  with  the  object 
of  our  perceptions  and  sensations,  and  may,  therefore,  be  con- 
sidered materialistic.  It  teaches  the  eternity  of  matter.  God 
could  not  create  the  universe  without  desire  and  consequent 
want  of  power.     If  He  had  desire  He  could  not  have  power, 

3  Wheeler's  Hist,  of  India,  vol.  iii.  p.  152. 


Appendix,  323 


and  if  He  had  power  He  could  not  have  desire.  According  to 
him  Prakriti — which  corresponds  very  much  with  matter, 
as  expLained  by  the  most  advanced  school  of  modern  material- 
ists,— the  rootless  root,  is  the  eternal  cause  of  all  things,  and 
contains  within  itself  '  the  promise  and  potency'  of  every  form 
of  existence.  It  is  inanimate,  non-sentient  and  prolific. 
Beside  it  is  Purusha,  the  soul,  intelligent,  sentient  and  non- 
productive, because  free  and  indifi'erent. 

2nc?,  The  Yoga  or  mystic  system  founded  by  Patanjali  : 
adopted  the  above  system,  but  introduced  the  idea  of  God,  and 
dwelt  more  on  how  the  soul  is  to  be  freed  from  bondage  to 
Prakriti. 

III.  The  third  pair  included,  1st,  the  Purva  Mimansa — 
original  decider — founded  by  Jaimini,  which  sought  to  bring 
back  the  Brahmans  to  the  Vedas  as  the  source  of  authority. 
It  has  but  one  distinctive  tenet,  the  eternity  of  the'  Vedas,  or 
as  he  puts  it,  the  eternity  of  word  or  sound  (Sabda). 

2nc?,  The  Uttara  Mimansa — second  decider — said  to  be 
founded  by  Vyasa.  It  appeals  to  the  Veda  too  as  decider  ;  but 
attaches  itself  to  the  concluding  part  of  it,  the  Upanishads  (see 
anU,  p.  46),  and  hence  is  commonly  called  the  Vedanta.  It 
seeks  to  answer  the  question  what  is  and  what  is  not,  and 
answers  Brahma,  God,  alone  is,  everything  else  is  not.  One 
section,  acknowledging  the  reality  of  the  visible  universe, 
identifies  it  with  God  ;  another,  the  more  general,  denies  the 
reality  of  the  visible  world,  and  calls  it  Maya,  or  illusion. 
This  is  now  the  most  influential  school,  and  the  study  of 
the  others  is  supposed  to  be  incomplete  without  a  knowledge 
of  it. 

With  all  the  schools  two  axioms  are  accepted — ex  nihilo 
nihil  jit,  nothing  from  nothing  ;  and  the  transmigration  of  the 
soul.  Their  object  is  to  explain  the  existence  of  the  world 
and  the  circumstances  of  human  life  in  conformity  with  these 
axioms.  The  authors  of  the  various  schools  are  given  here  as 
generally  accepted  by  the  Hindus,  but  there  is  doubt  whether 
they  are  real  or  mythical  characters.  There  is  also  consider- 
able doubt  as  to  the  date  of  the  rise  of  the  various  schools.     Some 


324  Appendix. 


make  the  older  ones  anterior  to  Buddhism,  but  Bannerjea, 
whom  I  have  followed,  advances  strong  reasons  for  considering 
them  all  subsequent  to  the  rise  of  that  religion  and  designed  to 
combat  it. 


c. 

HINDU  LOGIC. 

The  form  of  the  Hindu  syllogism  goes  far  to  illustrate  the 
Hindu  mode  of  reasoning.     It  consists  of  five  parts. 

Is^,  The  Proposition  {'pratagya)  as  :  The  mountain  is  fiery. 
2nd,  The  Reason  {hetu),  Because    it  gives    forth 

smoke  ; 
3rd,  The  Example  {Udaharna),        For  whatever  is  smoky 

is  fiery,  as  a  culinary 

hearth  ; 
4th,  The  Aj)plication  [TJjpanaya) ,     But  so  is  this  mountain 

smoky  : 
bill,  The  Conclusion  (Nigaman),       Therefore  it  is  fiery. 

The  last  three  members  of  this  syllogism  correspond  very 
much  with  the  Aristotelian,  and  either  the  first  two  or  last  two 
seem  superfluous.  The  advocates  of  Hindu  Logic  defend  it  on 
the  ground  that  it  is  rhetorical  rather  than  philosophical, 
designed  to  convince  an  adversary,  to  display  a  truth  already 
discovered  rather  than  to  investigate  the  truth  itself.  But  this 
is  its  great  vice.  There  is  no  canon  for  the  investigation  or 
discovery  of  truth.  It  is  obvious  that  its  weakness  lies  in  the 
third  member,  the  example.  If  this  were  always  made  a  true 
induction  or  a  carefully  tested  example,  it  would  be  legitimate. 
But  it  admits  of  a  simple  instance  establishing  a  universal 
conclusion,  or  the  most  distant  analogy  being  taken  for  an 
instance  in  point.  This  is  the  defect  of  the  syllogism,  and  it 
is  the  defect  of  all  Hindu  reasoning.  I  once  asked  a  pundit  to 
state  logically  his  argument  that  man's  sjDirit  was  sinless,  which 
he  did  as  follows  : — 

Man's  spirit  is  sinless, 


Appendix.  325 


Because  it  is  distinct  from  the  sin  which  man  commits  ; 
For  all  things  are  distinct  from  that  which  they  contain,  as 
the  water  of  a  muddy  stream  is  distinct  from  the  mud 
which  it  contains  ; 
But  so  is  the  spirit  of  man  distinct  from  the  sin  which  it 

may  be  said  to  contain  : 
Therefore  it  is  sinless. 
This  was  an  attempt  to  put  into  a  logical  form  the  stock  argu- 
ment used  by  the  Hindus — Spirit  is  free  from  sin  as  water  is 
distinct  from  all  the  dirt  which  may  be  mingled  with  it. 


D. 

MAHOMMEDAN  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN. 

The  following  extracts  from  the  Mahommedan  Commentary 
on  the  Holy  Bible  by  Sayad  Ahmad,  C.S.I.,  will  show  the 
Mahommedan  view  of  sin  and  its  origin  : — 

'  When  God  created  man  and  gave  him  life,  he  was  like 
other  animals  wholly  void  of  discernment — he  had  not  the 
power  of  knowing  good  and  evil.  Only  in  so  far  as  God 
showed  him,  did  he  know  anything.  For  this  reason  he  was 
without  vexation,  he  was  wholly  guiltless,  and  he  had  no  fear 
of  any  kind  of  death,  for  what  he  did  at  that  time,  he  did  not 
with  his  own  understanding.  God  revealed  to  him  the  power 
of  knowing  good  and  evil,  and  warned  him  not  to  take  it, 
for,  if  he  did,  he  would  die  a  certain  kind  of  death,  namely 
he  would  fall  into  this  severe  calamity,  that  he  would  be  re- 
sponsible for  his  own  deeds,  would  have  himself  to  distinguish 
between  every  action  as  right  or  wrong,  and,  as  he  would 
receive  the  reward  of  his  good  deeds,  would  receive  also  the 
punishment  of  evil  deeds.  Man  did  not  heed  this  warning  of 
God,  and  acquired  a  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  by  reason  of 
which  we  are  now  responsible  for  our  actions,  are  involved  in 
evil  deeds,  and  receive  the  reward  of  our  good  deeds.  Thus  it 
may  be  said  that  this  is  the  prime  cause  of  the  coming  of  evil 
to  man.' — Pt.  ii.  p.  158. 


326        .  Appendix. 


*  Christian  divines  have  made  it  a  basis  of  their  faith  that, 
by  the  disobedience  of  Adam  and  Eve,  sin  has  passed  upon  all 
men,  and  therefore  all  men  are  guilty.  If  their  sin  was 
pardoned  without  any  punishment,  that  would  be  opposed  to 
justice,  and  if  every  one  had  to  bear  all  his  own  punishment, 
that  would  be  opposed  to  mercy.  Therefore  God  gave  the 
promise  of  a  coming  Saviour,  namely,  Jesus  Christ,  who  is 
God  Himself,  but  who  became  incarnate  in  the  form  of  Christ, 
who  was  the  seed  of  the  woman,  not  of  the  man.  .  .  .  But  we 
Mahommedans  do  not  consider  this  disobedience  of  Adam  and 
Eve  to  have  been  the  beginning  of  sin,  nor  do  we  look  on  this 
event  as  bringing  guilt  on  the  human  race.  We  believe  this 
event  to  have  been  the  cause  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil 
for  mankind,  by  reason  of  which  they  have  not  remained  void 
of  responsibility  like  other  creatures.  If,  therefore,  any  one 
will  walk  according  to  the  guidance  of  God,  he  shall  obtain 
salvation  ;  and  if  any  one  will  act  in  a  way  opposed  to  it,  he 
shall  be  punished.' — Part  ii.  pp.  182,  183. 


E. 

NATURAL  RELIGION  IN  HINDU  LITERATURE. 

Besides  one  or  two  extracts  that  have  already  been  given,  I 
subjoin  the  following  specimens  of  high  moral  and  religious 
sentiments  taken  from  Hindu  poets. 

The  following,  found  in  the  Hitopadesa,  is  translated  by 
Edwin  Arnold  : — 

*  Take,  no  thought  for  your  life^  (Matt.  vi.  23-30). 

For  thy  bread  be  not  o'er  thoughtful,  God  for  all  hath  taken 

thought ; 
When  the  babe  is  born,  the  milk  too  to  the  mothei-'s  breast  is 

brought  : 
He  who  gave  the  swan  his  silver,  and  the  hawk  his  plumes  of 

pride, 
And  his  purple  to  the  peacock — He  will  verily  provide. 


Appendix.  327 


The  following  is  a  translation  of  a  Tamil  liynin  by  Mr. 
Cardwell : — 

''All  Thy  ivorks  praise  Thee'  (compare  Ps.  cxlvii.) 

Whilst  Thee,  with  tongues  of  sj)lendour,  the  orbs  of  heaven 
praise ; 

Whilst  gems  to  Thee  their  voices,  with  tongues  of  brilliance, 
raise ; 

Whilst  unto  Thee  wood-warblers,  with  tongues  of  joyance, 
sing; 

Whilst  wood-flowers  Thy  sweet  praises  from  tongues  of  fra- 
grance fling  ; 

Whilst  Thee,  with  tongues  of  clearness,  the  water-floods 
applaud  : 

Thus,  day  by  day,  from  all  things  dost  Thou  receive  not  laud  ] 
Wilt  Thou  not  deign  to  sufter  the  tongue  Thou  gavest  me — 
Though  I  be  dumb  and  thoughtless — to  off'er  praise  to  Thee  ? 

The  following  are  translated  from  various  Indian  writers  by 
Dr.  John  Muir : — 

'  TVliy  heholdest  thou  the  mote  which  is  in  thy  hrothefs  eye  V  £c. 

Thou  mark'st  the  faults  of  other  men, 
Although  as  mustard  seeds  minute  ; 

Thine  own  escajDe  thy  partial  ken, 
Though  each  in  size  a  Bilva  fruit. 

No  second  youth  for  Man  (compare  Job  xiv.  7). 

The  empty  beds  of  rivers  lill  again, 

Trees,  leafless  now,  renew  their  vernal  bloom. 
Returning  moons  their  lustrous  phase  resume. 

But  man  a  second  youth  expects  in  vain. 

Tlie  lapse  of  Time  not  practically  noticed. 

Again  the  morn  returns,  again  the  night ; 

Again  the  sun,  the  moon,  ascends  the  sky; 

Our  lives  still  waste  away  as  seasons  fly. 
But  who  his  final  welfare  keeps  in  sight? 


328  Appendix. 


Good  and  Bad  seem  to  he  equally  favoured  here;  not  so  hereafter. 

Both  good  and  bad  tlie  patient  earth  sustains, 
To  cheer  them  both  the  sun  impartial  glows, 
On  both  the  balmy  wind  refreshing  blows, 

On  both  at  once  the  god  Parjanya  rains. 

So  is  it  here  on  earth,  but  not  for  ever 

Shall  good  and  bad  be  favoured  thus  alike ; 

A  stern  decree  the  bad  and  good  shall  sever, 
And  vengeance  sure,  at  last,  the  wicked  strike. 

The  righteous  then  in  realms  of  light  shall  dwell. 

Immortal,  pure,  in  undecaying  bliss  ; 
The  bad  for  long,  long  years  shall  pine  in  hell, 

A  place  of  woe,  a  dark  and  deep  abyss. 

Final  Overthrow  of  the  Wicked  (compare  Ps.  xxxvii.) 

Not  even  here  on  earth  are  blest 

Unrighteous  men,  who  thrive  by  wrong 
And  guileful  arts ;  who,  bold  and  strong, 

"With  cruel  spite  the  weak  molest. 

Though  goodness  only  bring  distress, 

Let  none  that  hallowed  path  forsake, 

Mark  what  reverses  overtake 
The  wicked  after  brief  success. 

Not  all  at  once  the  earth  her  fruits 

Produces ;  so  unrighteousness 

But  slowly  works,  yet  not  the  less 
At  length  the  sinner  quite  uproots. 

At  first  through  wrong  he  grows  in  strength. 

He  sees  good  days,  and  overthrows. 

In  strife  triumphant,  all  his  foes ; 
But  justice  strikes  him  down  at  length. 

Yes,  retribution  comes,  though  slow, 

For,  if  the  man  himself  go  free. 

His  sons  shall  then  the  victims  be, 
Or  else  his  grandsons  feel  the  blow. 


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